"Dibs on riding with Missa!" Shannon shouted

"What's so great about Missa's car?" Mayra asked, glancing up from her sketchbook

"Cause its teh Lance!" Shannon chirped back. "And, and, and, she has..." She paused for effect. "Audio crack! Whootness!"

Mayra looked at Missa. “Audio what?”

Missa cackled evilly. "The best, most eargasmic techno in the world." She glanced at the clock tower above her. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"I have class at one, so I’ll see you guys next week." Mayra stood up, dusting off her pants. "Maybe I can try and bring my baby next week."

Missa waved as the crowd of club members drifted towards the parking lot. She looked up to see a tall guy with brown hair walk up. Under his arm was a plush walrus.

"Satoshi! You made it!" And you brought the Lolrus!" Missa squealed, jumping wildly

"He demanded to come." Satoshi grinned. He lobbed the toy at Missa. "He said he had to be here, no matter what."

Missa caught the Lolrus at a flying glomp. "Of course. Everyone wants a Woodbaby!" She clapped her hands. "Okay Satoshi, Mark & Shannon are in my car. Everyone else is in Steven's car."

As Steven led his small group to his car, Missa turned around. "Where's Shannon?" She scanned the parking lot.

They found Shannon beside Missa's car pawing at the window. Under her breath, she repeatedly murmured "Audio crack, audio crack, audio crack. Must have audio crack!"

Slowly Missa circled to the other side. Satoshi glanced at Missa. "She's showing extreme withdraw symptoms."

Missa mutely nodded and unlocked her car.

Several minutes later, with Shannon showing marked improvement, Missa put her car in gear and backed out of her parking spot.

Missa negotiated a turn into traffic. "Now, for the record, I am not a crazy driver. Road rage isn't my thing."

"But it's so fun!" Shannon chirped

"You drive?" Satoshi asked, paling a little

"Nope." Shannon replied. "I mean its fun for the passenger!"

Missa reached for her CD case and handed it to Shannon. "Go to the G's. Pull out the grey one."

Shannon opened the case to the middle. She pulled out the smooth disk while chuckling quietly.

Mark leaned up front. "What is it?"

The speaker spilled out gouts of upbeat Japanese pop. The beat sped up to a fever pitch before the singer blurted out 2 words in English.

"Spicy Marmalade!"

Satoshi sat further back in his seat. "That is Gravitation."

"And that is?" Mark asked

Missa and Shannon answered in unison. "Yaoi!"

Mark groaned loudly

Missa turned down a small road. She checked her mirror to see if Steven's car still followed. Carefully she pulled into a parking spot. "We're here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, hatchlings! This is not a drill." A massive dragon bellowed across the crowded hall. Timbailee cowed a smaller dragon passing nearby. "Get into your groups. Size and species separated!"

Amoren moved to join his group comprised of smaller gryphons. The separate groups maneuvered into lines. Timbailee continued to bark orders. "Strongest Mages take first position. Second Mage, second position. It's an easy dance, so let's get it together!"

Lemidicus stood close by at the head of his line. He chuckled smugly as he caught sight of Amoren's position. The buff and grey gryphon took second position after an older student. "Well, well. Too bad everyone didn't get first position." He preened a feather, smiling smugly.

"Muzzle it, Lemidicus." Amoren hissed. "You'd take second to Tala too!" The gryphon in question turned to face Amoren & Lemidicus with a withering glare.

Lemidicus turned his charm on full force. "Yes, I think I would, Amoren. Hello, Tala." He smiled suavely. "Best of luck to you today." Tala turned back without a word.

Timbailee's voice boomed across the room again. "Come on, hatchlings. Let's get into the proper position! No standing, no sitting. All creatures must have bellies on the floor! We don't want anyone to fall and hurt themselves during transfer." He sneered.

Virva sighed as she dropped her head onto her paws. The other Faerie Cats in her group stopped staring at her and turned to their own business.

Virva snorted and muttered under her breath. "You'd think they weren't the same species as me." With a flick of her tail, she shut her eyes on the world.

Amoren dropped flat on the floor. The gryphon in front of him, at a nod from their instructor, wormed a tendril of energy towards the barrier. Slowly she pushed the needle thin slip of power through the world curtain. Amoren carefully tied his energy lead to the tail of the leader's and used his added momentum to push Tala through. Just before he slipped into the Shadow World, Amoren felt a quick tug as the third in his group latched on the pass the barrier.

Amoren burst into his Shadow World body in an explosion of energy. All around him he felt flowers of magic signatures bloom, lighting up his magic sense where his eyesight failed.

As before, he focused his energy on his ears. Dimly he heard a grating rattle off to the side and the mist faded to a lighter shade of grey. Something off to his left was making a ticking noise. Covering all this noise, yet not blocking it, was the song.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tall man grunted as the large rolling door rose in his hand. With a final push, the garage door slid up into the rack over head with an answering groan.

The man stood facing the small parking lot. He took a deep breath of the city polluted air and laughed harshly. The man shivered, though the day was warm, as the hairs on his neck raised. He turned to the interior.

Several shelves of puppets stood in the dim garage. His eyes slid over them, appraising like a proud parent their children. They didn't look any different than the day before, but there was something new in the air of the studio. Outside as well as inside.

A woman nearby set a stack of papers on the table. She reached over and adjusted some stray sheets. Her eyes sought his. "What's the matter?" she asked.

He glanced up, startled. "What?"

"You're frowning."

"Oh? Guess something just feels off." He replied vaguely. "You know what I mean?"

She placed her hands on her hips. "No, I don't. Now what is the matter?"

His face grew dark. "I don't know." A sound outside drew his attention to two cars pulling in. "Here we go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amoren fought the urge to fidget. Not only would it waste energy, it would cause a problem if the wrong human saw. Off to his left he heard a sigh with a familiar sound. Lemidicus. He thought. He strained his ears for a sign of Virva. Nothing.

The song had been steadily getting louder and louder in his ears.

For a moment, he allowed himself to just listen. The notes rolled over him like a soft breeze, both soothing and exciting. Deep within ran a deeper vein of a fast beat and sharper sounds to get his blood pumping. He heard a soft click outside just before the music rose to the highest point. All other thought fled him mind as he knew his resonant had come.

A small herd of humans strolled in. Instantly his vision cleared, as if the song had driven the mist away. One female strode in, clearly the leader. Close behind came more humans. As they branched off to browse the shop, Amoren frantically searched for the source of the music.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lemidicus watched a group of male humans meander towards his shelf. He cast an appraising glance over them. No weapons, no armor, nothing; how had one of these defeated the Mondane?

The group stopped in front of his shelf. The music in his ears rose to a deafening level as one human stooped to Lemidicus' eye level. Dimly, he heard the human exclaim aloud.

"Oh, my; who's this?" A quiet voice preceded large hands. Lemidicus briefly considered backing out of the dive just before he was lifted up. The music sharply faded back as everything drew into crystal clear focus.

"Just had to be male, didn’t it?" Lemidicus grumbled under his breath halfheartedly. He directed a thread of energy at the human. "Tell me your name."

He picked up a trail of thought. In it lay the various selves of his new resonant. Various aliases floated around in this whirl of identity. Lemidicus shook his head. "Just how many selves do humans hold within?" He thought.

Another human across the hall called out to his human. "Hey, Satoshi, who do you have there?"

Lemidicus rolled the name around in his head for a moment. That will do just fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shannon turned around to see a brilliant ball of green and yellow fur sitting on Satoshi's shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. That's, um, a heck of a color there, Satoshi dude."

Satoshi just grinned in reply. "He called to me."

Missa came over to investigate. She looked the new puppet up and down before pronouncing him wonderful. "You know, in a way, he matches you. Like a contrast."

Shannon turned back to the shelves mildly frustrated. Why couldn't she find one? "It's not like there's any in storage." She thought grumpily. Her eyes slid over the rack of Dragons in front of her. The bright colored eyes reflected her image back at her.

She stared hard at the puppets, willing them to call to her. Nothing happened. Wistfully, she stretched out a finger and traced the beak of a large gryphon. The head turned as she touched it, twisting away from her hand. As pulled her hand back, a stray snatch of music caught her ear. She spun around, searching for the source.

"Missa, did your cell phone ring?" Shannon asked, glancing around.

Missa looked away from the gryphon on Satoshi's shoulder. "No, why?"

"Thought I heard something." Shannon muttered. She drifted back to her search. She soon became frustrated with the large animals shelf and spun turned to the shelf behind her.

"See anyone you like yet?" A voice beside her asked.

Shannon looked up to see a tall man nearby. He smiled, showing a set of straight white teeth and repeated the question. "See anyone you like yet?"

"Oh, um, no, not yet." She stammered. "I'm not really sure if I will."

He frowned slightly. "Just keep looking. I'm sure there is someone here for you."

Shannon mumbled under her breath. “Maybe.” She dropped her gaze to the floor.

A flash of blue caught her eyes. Her breath froze in her throat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cars rushing by on the highway paid no heed to the two people standing on the edge of the pavement. The drivers passed on, as if they were not there.

The woman stared at the small building at the end of a short driveway ahead of her. The man beside her glanced back and forth between the building and her. He shifted foot to foot. "So is this the place?" He asked, continuously moving his hands.

"Must be." His companion twirled a small grey pendant on a chain around her neck. Her eyes were locked on the entrance.

The man nodded stiffly. He fidgeted back and forth, cracking his knuckles and shifting his feet. His head turned to her again. "So are we going to do anything?" He growled.

The woman glared at him. "Calm down, Standard. We can't get in the studio; the Knight's spell prevents that."

"So we wait for them to come out." He pouted. "Then we 'detain' them." He finished with a smirk.

"No." She snapped, her eyes sparking at him. Her thin hand hovered over the pendant at her neck. "Not now. She's not ready."

Standard's face took on a devoted glow. His eyes sought his sister's and dropped his voice to a reverent whisper. "She spoke? What did she say? What?"

The woman rolled her eyes and sneered. "She said to wait. She needs more time to rest."

He looked back reluctantly. "But, Normalcy-"

She began to push him away from the building. "Let's go. We'll meet them again soon enough."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shannon knelt down to the bottom of the shelf in front of her. She slowly picked up a small grey gryphon and pulled the cable free from the tangle behind. Eyes locked on the puppet, she stood up. Dimly she heard music, for just a moment.

The woman watching the table came around the other side. "Try him on. See if he feels right."

Shannon nodded and slipped him onto her shoulder. She fumbled with the cable, struggling to get it around her back and to the hand on the opposite side. With a grumble, she swung the cable hard and caught it on the downswing with her right hand.

"You're doing fine." A voice came quietly in her ear.

Shannon turned around, arm cocked to hit anyone who was standing so close to her. No one was nearby. The gryphon began to slip and she caught it with a yelp. She stared into smoky silver eyes. "Oh my goodness, Missa! I think I understand what you mean now." She breathed.

Missa turned from Satoshi and looked at Shannon. "You both got such handsome gryphons!" She said. "I am going to go get Ayla to meet them." She sprinted for the front door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virva stared across the room at an uninteresting brown support beam. The music she heard in her head made her want to twitch her ears and swing her tail, but she could not. She was forced to remain perfectly immobile.

She had seen her resonant pass by her several times. She had kept an unhurried eye on her while she was in the room. Virva watched as she had fussed over Lemidicus and then as she perused the smaller creatures. Virva felt a pop of energy as Amoren resonated with his partner and when her head cleared, her own resonant was about to run by.

"I guess there is a thing as almost too late." She mused to herself as she pushed energy at the long haired human. The girl stopped dead in her tracks.

A voice beyond Virva's line of sight called out. "What's up, Missa?"

Virva assumed Missa was her resonant. The human jumped up to see on the top shelf, where Virva lay. "I saw-" She jumped again. "Something-" Jump. "That caught-" Another jump. "My eye!"

A tall human walked up behind Missa. Virva felt the presence of a Crafter. "Which one?" He asked quietly.

Virva saw Missa's head pop up again. "The grey one with the blue and yellow wings, I think." The Crafter reached up and carefully lifted Virva from her place. She felt the dormant Mage energies in his hands as she rose over the other puppet forms.

Virva sank to her Resonants eye level. She felt an involuntary thrill as magic surged in her when Missa gave her a huge smile. Missa spoke right to Virva. "I'll be right back!"

Virva felt momentarily confused. Missa ran outside. She returned minutes later, her arms full. Virva recognized Kayla’s puppet form sitting on Missa's shoulder. Missa held up her wallet and grinned. "Only one thing left to do."