New morning. New Alice. Which was such a bullshit that didn't exist. Though she was already a bit tired of Oak. Her planning had been to leave today. She had left everything packed because of that. She had left Phantom Lord not that long ago and even though she tried to believe in the freedom that she had now, not much has changed.

She got up from her bed and looked at the small pink ball that was still there. Of course it wasn't a ball it was her new companion called Ophelia. She was a Cleffa that Alice had found on the streets and had taken with her. She softly poked the pet to wake her up. It was like a baby and Alice couldn't let it out of her gaze for she might get into trouble. However in this room in the inn everything was safe. Alice had made sure of that and as Ophelia was still half asleep, the red head could quickly wash her face and upper body in the bathroom and brush her long orange coloured hair. Which was quite a mess and thus took quite a while before all knots were out of there and her wavy hair was back to its original state.

When she was done in her room, that meant after dressing up in dark blue jeans and a black and white striped t-shirt, she pulled on her black leather jacket, swing her small blue backpack over her right shoulder and picked up Ophelia. With everything ready she was able to head out and get some breakfast first. She went to look for a place where she could have some oatmeal with yogurt and an extra spoon so she could feed some of the yoghurt to Ophelia.

What should they do was the question in the woman her mind. Since the planning to leave was there. One more round through town, that was the best idea. After that she would say goodbye and go as far as possible. She could sell the clothing that she had extra and use that to travel as light as possible. Which was a welcome something if you tried to travel as far as possible. Where would Selena be?

Questions for later. Alice finished her breakfast, made sure Ophelia had enough and paid. She kept the little pink pet in her arms because of being able to lose her in the crowd. One round through town, the gallery, the church and from far of the Guild of which she had not heard a single thing which was good. With one last look at the request board she stopped walking. There was a job for today. For around midday. That shouldn't be too difficult and it would mean extra money. She frowned but she had wanted to leave. Eh she could leave after that.

She grabbed the paper of the board, put Ophelia in her backpack which meant her head and front paws where still outside but she couldn't walk away. Alice had figured out Ophelia didn't mind it for most of the time the companion would start to hum. She turned her heel to the castle where she had to go when she spotted someone familiar.

Wordcount: 547/1800

Yumi rose from her bed in the Golden Goose Inn. The inn was in the upper class area of Oak, costing fifty thousand jewels a night, a high price to pay for luxury. It was a luxury inn with a five star rating. Yumi however had managed to persuade the owner to cut the price down to thirty thousand a night with a little seduction. SHe had even managed to get a better room one normally costing one hundred thousand jewels a night at a third of the cost. She had been rather happy with that and when questioned she merely smiled, did a flirty act to distract the question, didn't matter if it was male or female. Now here she was having slept naked on luxurious white satin silk sheets, with matching sheet over her body. The sheet fell as she sat up exposing her youthful, petite developed body and milky white skin.

The demon lolita rose from her bed heading to the bathroom to shower to prepare for the day. She had heard word yesterday that a new quest would be appearing on the dark request board, a C rank. It was rare to find C rank quests lately as she had been forced to stick with D ranks while waiting patiently for higher ranks to arrive. Yumi was growing incredibly bored with these chore like quests and was happy that a C rank would be appearing today. She knew others would be attempting to grab it but even if she had to share it she did not care as long as she was paid and it offered her excitement.

As she continued her thoughts she had already finished her warm shower and was drying her body, wrapping a towel around her body and began drying her hair with a hair dryer. Once she was finished she began brushing a hundred strokes making sure ti keep it luscious and straight. Once done Yumi placed the brush down and headed back to her room where she changed into her classic black and red gothic lolita dress. It was a style of dress Yumi had been wearing when she was younger before she got old and changed to formal kimonos, but now that she was young again she was wearing it once more. Even showing off her body and long legs.

Yumi once changed headed to the door, grabbing something on the way out. The item was a one meter long sword with a handle instead of a hilt, a curved thin blade, and looked like ice. Yumi placed the sword on her left hip, she was right handed so it would be easier to drew from her left. The lolita then walked out, her familiar Venom was remaining behind as he would not be needed. Yumi wanted to try this quest without him.

Yumi left the golden goose heading towards the destination of the quest board. When she arrived a crowd was beginning to move away in disappointment, had the quest already been taken? YUmi walked up spotting someone pocketing the quest, someone she recognised. The lolita approached them, they seem to recognise her as well, "Alice, good to see you. Are you the one who took the C rank quest?" Asked the lolita before she noticed the puffy creature by Alice's side, it seemed to radiate with a dense light that might Yumi take a step back. Even though it was not using magic it seemed to hold the essence of the light element and it reacted badly to her own demonic element within. Her demon instincts were telling her to get away from it.

Yumi forced her instincts down keeping calm, but briefly a visible moment of fear had showed in her eyes that could be seen by Alice, "And who is this?" Asked the lolita keep her cool. She wasn't about to show her fear in her voice. The light element was deadly to her and she didn't want to face it.

WC: 670 | 1800

Alice looked up surprised when the crowd around her seemed to be disappointed, she hadn't really noticed them. She had apparently been the first to arrive and the first to take the C-rank quest that everyone was looking at. This gave her a misschief smile, she looked at Yu who she had seen before she made notice of all this, it was Yu that pointed it out and that made Alice realize what she had done, "Hello Yu, good to see you too. I just took the request indeed, I didn't know that many people gathered it to take it as well. It feels like finally some action is needed. I know you don't like the mundane jobs, so care to join me in this one?" She heard Ophelia humming but was so used to it that she didn't instantly think about introducing her new companion to Yu. She also obviously didn't notice the change in Yu, she wasn't someone that would stare into other people their eyes, she was greeting Venom at that point. When Yu asked who is this, Alice realized she hadn't introduced her new friend to her friend. Or well she considered Yu a friend, for she liked her a lot. Very mysterious and interesting. Friend was maybe a bit too much but with the lack of another word.

"Oh this is Ophelia. She is a Cleffa. I found her in the streets of Oak being tortured by kids. Or well tortured is a bit extreme but I went to find out information about her in the library and search for the owner. This was last week, no one showed up, so I decided to keep her." Alice shrugged a bit, but it wasn't because she was uninterested in the Cleffa, it was that she was a bit afraid that the pet was going away from her, it was still somewhere in the back of her mind. Even though she simply ignored the possible outcome.

When Yu decided to join her, Alice showed her the request, making sure no one else would get the piece of paper so she headed to the Phantasm Castle with Yu, Venom and Ophelia. Which wasn't a long walk and one she had done at least three times now before and twice with Yu. She asked how Yu was doing simply to get a conversation going on her way to the castle. Once they arrived, she showed the Guards that she had a quest from Sirius Phantasm and one of the guards at the front gate brought them to the office of Sirius.

That's where she was now, watching the man going back and forth in front of her, behind his desk. "They are so lazy. I don't get it, we make sure that our Guards are perfectly capable of the job that we give them. We even got close to being raided, this is why we have guards. This is why I put up the request, I want some well dark mages to train them. To put them off guard to let them notice they are barely capable of fighting and standing up to people like you." He didn't even look at her or Yu, he just went on and on about complaining. It was really boring but a job none the less.

Wordcount: 1122/1800

Yumi was somewhat glad Alice hadn't been paying attention to notice Yumi's sudden weakness. Even so once the creature was identified as a Cleffa named Ophelia, yumi nodded her head in greeting to the tiny creature, but she kept her distance the light essence within it was slightly stinging her body, it was like an irritated tickle. Yumi could ignore it for now, as long as none of the creatures spells were aimed towards her she would be okay. She wasn't well versed on Cleffa's only knowing that were rare creatures that possessed a light element. Having been on this planet for seventy-five years she knew of a number of beasts that were in this land, not all but a decent number from the numerous jobs she had undertaken during the years of her youth and old age.

Once Yumi was asked to accompany Alice, she nodded her head in acceptance, not saying a word as no words were really needed. Once she had accepted, Alice would show her the request allowing the gothic lolita to take a look at it. Yumi unrolled the paper quest and began to read examining the quest to see what the details were. The client was Sirius Phantasm the eldest child of the Phantasm family and he was looking to hire a mage or two, dark mages specifically to work at the castle to assist in the training of the new guards. Apparently the guards were slacking off in their skill and training level, so Sirius wanted a Dark wizard or few too knock them back into action to get them off their ass and into shape.

Yumi followed after Alice through oak town and to the castle where they were let in by the guards. Once in they moved to Sirius's office where the man was seated behind his desk and instantly began to talk to them about the quest. The client even said he didn't mind if they roughed the guards up and broke a few bones in order to get the message across. Yumi cracked her knuckles, allowing a loud a crack to echo from them. Yumi began stretching her limbs, it had been a while since she had a decent fight, last one was with Erebus. The fight in White Claudia hadn't counted as she had dealt with the creatures easily. This time she would only use her fists and sword in order to train and teach the guards.

Yumi left the office grabbing a guard to escort her and Alice to the training fields, where they would find a dozen or so guards lazing about laughing and drinking amongst themselves. They clearly had slacked off in their training. Yumi sneered at the sight and took a step forward, "Get on your feet you lazy bums!" shouted out Yumi giving a glare, but her glare looks cute and childish making the guards laugh at her.

One of them approached, standing six feet tall and places a giant hand atop her head, "Cute girls like you should be at home taking care of the kids." He barked out before laughing. Yumi's eyes narrowed dangerously as magic began to surge within her. However she did not activate a single spell. Yumi grabbed the offending hand by the wrist and twisted applying enough pressure the man screamed in pain, dropping to his knees. Yumi looked down at the screaming man with scorn. YUmi released her hold before delivering a swift kick with her right foot to the middle of the guards chest launching him backwards where he crashed into a training dummy.

The other guards looked on in astonishment at what happened. Yumi glared towards them a black aura forming around her as she unleashed her demonic pressure upon the remaining guards. Fear would flow through them making them shake and quiver as Yumi directed her demonic being upon them, "GET UP AND START TRAINING!" roared Yumi as her magic sky rocketed around her forming onyx black flames that shook the ground and rose into a giant pillar. Her mana flared with a wild control before it slowly dropped until it was naught but a low hum around her being.

WC: 706
TWC: 1376 | 1800

Sirius ordered them first to go and start the training, he would come later to check upon them but he had a few things to do. Alice shrugged, she first wanted to see how bad the situation was. She heard the loud cracking sound that Yu made and she tried not to laugh about it out loud. She knew a few things about Yu and she could imagine that the woman didn't mind hitting the guards and using some rough time on them. In the sense of fighting.

Since Sirius wasn't immediately joining them once they left the office Yu managed to find a guard that would escort them to the training space. She had no idea wether this be outside or inside. She made sure Ophelia remained in the bag but she was wondering if she should put her on the ground, hoping that the Cleffa wouldn't be able to walk away with bag and all. Because she knew Venom could fight, she would wonder if he would help with training or that she would ask him to well at least keep an eye on Ophelia. However she decided to not do that and first see where the training was held. They arrived outside and Alice could understand Sirius his concern for it was obvious these guards were not up for the duty. Some were also having problems fitting in the uniform. She had nothing against tough, maybe a bit fatter people, as long as you were still capable of why you were hired in this case.

She stood one step behind Yu and crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched Yu interact. Which was unfortunately for the woman a little too cute. But she didn't doubt that a guard would make a mistake using that against her and one did, "You shouldn't have said that." Was all Alice said in a calm manner and the guard eyed her as if she was an idiot, taking his eyes of Yu for a few seconds, another mistake. Jeez what did they had to learn these guys?

Actually it was funny to see what happened next, the wrist and the flight against the dummy. Alice waved him goodbye with a sarcastic smile on her face. She watched Yu give orders, "You all start training with a dummy. Make sure you do that profoundly because we pick out people to fight. If you are lucky you get me. If you are unlucky." She only let that hang in the air for the guys didn't look to happy about Yu. She didn't know what it was, Yu was still full of mysteries to her but she didn't mind.

"Did you have a better plan than that?" She asked Yu because it was something they didn't discuss yet. But since they had to make sure stamina wise and power wise that the guards could handle it, this was the best idea she had. If Yu agreed, Alice would continue with that plan or else continue with the idea Yu had. She walked along the guards and took the slackers out of there, one by one. To fight them at first in a hand to hand combate match. Which is what the third person expected so he got ready to hit her with a fist in her face. She only ducked and summoned her spear in her right hand, quickly grabbed it with her left and slung it across the person his chest, which tore away the uniform and made him bleed. Where the hell was his breastplate?

That's when she had three guys and she went to look around to see if Ophelia was still on the spot where she left her. That's when she noticed Sirius sitting next to her pet and she walked over to talk to him. "They are indeed lazy. Not even putting on their full uniform, they are idiots. I don't understand how you hired them or more why they slack so much on their job." She obviously didn't want to offend Sirius since he was the client. But she spoke a bit more to him before she returned to give the training.

She continued to do this until the sun was beginning to set. Mainly because Sirius wasn't saying it was over. Which was a bit frustrating as she had planned to leave as soon as possible to another town. But this money was nice. As the sun was setting Sirius said it was enough, most guards were again on the ground trying to catch their breath, hold their broken bones or try to patch up their wounds. Pathetic.

Sirius paid her and Yu and she counted the jewels before walking off. She waited for Yu to be ready too, grabbed Ophelia and her bag and headed out of the castle, "That was interesting." She grinned, it was funny when she thought about their meeting with the guards. Time to go.

Wordcount: 1977/1800
Exit.

Yumi simply nodded her head at Alice's word in regards to having another plan. While Alice would instruct half of the men gathered Yumi would point towards three of them beckoning them over to her. The three would stumble over, shaking slightly now coming to realise the tiny lolita was someone who they should not underestimate or mock. The lolita drew the sword at her hip removing it from her belt and clutched it loosely within her right hand. It had been many moons since she had tested out her sword skills, now would be a good chance to remove the rust. yumi twirled the sword in her right hand before gripping it once more and settling into a simple stance, legs spread, right facing the three and sword pointed at the ground. The lolita inhaled before giving them command for the three to rush her all at once.

The three exchanged a look seeming to believe if it was the three of them they could overpower the lolita. Together they drew their claymores and charged head on, guard wide open, sloppy grips holding their blades. Yumi intercepted immediately speeding in amongst the formation appearing before the one in the middle. Her blade struck like lightning cutting through the air, the tip touched the middle of his breastplate and sent the middle man flying back. Yumi twisted on her right heel bringing the blade cutting to the right blocking a swing from the man on her right. As the man struck from the left she kicked off the ground with her left foot back flipping up over him, her legs stretching through the air to land on her feet behind him in a crouched position. She swung her right leg out sweeping the man off his feet before rising to face the third who had regained himself to charge her.

Yumi tossed her sword up into the air drawing attention to it. She kicked off the ground appearing in front of the guard to deliver a palm strike with her right hand to his chest. The blow knocked him off guard and sent him stumbling backwards flat on his ass. Yumi reached up with her left hand grabbing her sword out of midair. Yumi tossed the weapon back into her right hand just as the one she struck first charged head on towards her lifting his blade high for an overhead swing. Yumi casually raised her blade to block the incoming sword before using her strength to force him back. With a swipe Yumi struck the guard of the sword with enough force to dislodge it from the man's grip before striking him in the through with the pummel, or butt of her icy sword in his throat.

Yumi sighed twirling her sword before sheathing it at her right hip. By this time the sun was beginning to set as Sirius approached saying they were done, sending the guards off to patch themselves up. Yumi didn't exchange a look to them, they were not worthy in her eyes. The lolita retrieved her money from Sirius, Alice said her farewells before leaving with her bag and cleffa. Yumi was slightly glad to see the light creature leave. Now her instincts were no longer raging inside. Yumi shook her head and walked off looking forward to heading home.

WC: 559
TWC: 1935 | 1800

Spoiler: