The longer Kerii stayed in Era, the more she enjoyed being there. She knew that eventually the novelty of the town she never had been in before would wear off, but at the moment, she really liked pretty much everything about it. Albeit being a bit crowded, Era was still much more enjoyable in her opinion than a town like Magnolia which was simply just too extravagant and energetic for her. She couldn't handle living in a town that constantly threw large parties. Even if she didn't attend the parties herself, she could almost guarantee that she would be kept up by them at night and by annoyed by them during the day. She did not like parties.

Kerii sat down on a bench in one of Era's parks with a vanilla ice cream cone in her hand and looked at the crowds of people walking by. She may have been an introvert, but she oddly enjoyed people watching. She didn't like being around a lot of people, but she did like people in general and watching their behaviors and mannerisms was entertaining to her. She was so entranced, she almost didn't notice a familiar person with blue hair not too far away from her. "Videns!" she said, just loud enough to get his attention. She felt her heart beat faster as she quickly stood up, unfortunately a little too quickly. Combined with the summer heat that melted the ice cream a bit and her not so tight grip, a large portion of it slid off the cone and onto the ground. She looked at it and frowned. She would have to clean that up before an animal got sick from eating it.

The summer days in Era seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. Although it was pleasant to be wearing summer clothes and enjoying the sun and all it's nutrients the Heat was getting to Videns. Although he was perspiring a little the sleeveless top he was wearing would avoid any notibile stains of such. The sun was even beginning to tan Videns which he thought impossible for the longest time being pale almost his entire life and worst of all there was almost no breeze unless he created one for himself which just wasted energy. The one big benefit Videns took howevrr was that the sun made Era dazzling, gleaming and just so radiant that he womdered if he would ever grow tired of the city.

Since it was a warm day Videns was wearing very lighr clothing. Some black ahorts that came up to his quad, a blue tank top with white stripes and just some ordinary trainers to walk around comfortably. As he walked, ignoring the sun he passes an ice-cream stand. It was somehwat large, extreemly shades and had about twenty fans all blowing in the one dorection. Without thinkinf Videns steeped into the shade and felt as if the most refreshing wave had just crashed over him. His sudden sensation caused an odd face which in turn made the seller look quizically at him. Videns going redder from embarrassment bought an ice-cream for himself before continuing on his walk.

As he did he heard a famikar voice call oit his name. As he turned Videns noticed a blob of white fall and hit the cobbled ground. Videns was surprised it had not evaporated immediately in the heat. Although his main surprise was seing the animal that was sniffing at the treat. It looked like an "Eeveelution" Videns read about with his parents, although that one seemed relatovely knew to Videns. Videns walked over to Kerii with a polite smile on his face. "Hey Kerii,
here do ya want mine?" Videns offered without realising. His stomach was bubbling once more and as he offered his cone, he felt as if it was the right thing to do. As he offered Kerii the cone he could feel the eyes of the eeveelution stare up at him, it's eyes a clear deep blue that seemed to pierce him. "And who is this this little guy?" He would then ask as if to please the monster.

Videns came over to where Kerii was and greeted her, followed by him offering her his own cone. "Oh, no that's fine. I still have some ice cream left on my cone. That was nice of you though." Even though she didn't have much left on her cone, it was still something, and she didn't want to waste any food. Besides, in this heat, Videns would need the ice cream. After Kerii politely refused the cone though, she saw Videns' eyes drift downwards and focus on something behind her. Kerii turned around to see a... she wanted to say cat, but she knew that wasn't right. It definitely resembled a cat, but was much larger than the average house cat and was abnormally colored. This feline had fur that was mainly a shade of a pale pinkish cream color. It had really large pink ears and oddly enough had ribbons and bows that seemed to be... part of it? Kerii looked from left to right but couldn't see its owner. It seemed to be attracted to the vanilla ice cream she dropped.

It seemed like Videns was wondering the same thing she was. Except, he said it out loud and in a voice that one would talk to any cute animal in. "I don't know. Have you seen any animal like this before?" Kerii asked, bending down to pet the Sylveon. She purred and rubbed up against her, seeming to take an instant liking to the elf.

Videns half expected Kerii to refuse his offer, as that was the kind of kind hearted person she was. Videns decided to take a lick of his cone which was just plain vanilla with nothing on it. He was slightly strapped for cash and needed to save up so he was living by the skin of his teeth, which he did not mind as much as other would think. Living rather secluded and away from any large town or city he and his family would need to ration out what little food the could afford which often meant going to bed hungry. It also did not help that as a child his family was considerably poor. Just thinking about his former life made him want to shudder and just run, but he stayed there talking to Kerii. He ignored the urge to shudder and instead focused on the feeling in his stomach.

Videns looked mildly surprised as Kerii had asked what that monster eating her dropped ice-cream was. "Oh? You don't know? I thought it was yours to be honest." Videns turned around to face the large four legged creature. The only word to describe it was an overly large feminine cat. It had pale pink skin around its torso followed by darker pink around it's paws and ears, with some blue here and there. It's eyes were big and soulful, full of joy and happiness. Videns was tempted to rub it but Kerii had beaten him to hit. She was down petting it and as it began to purr at her touch, it's neck began to uncoil or so Videns thought. Small whips of pink ribbon from it's neck went around Kerii's wrist. Videns could see the grip was light and it did not mean any harm but he could tell that if it wanted to Kerii's wrist could be broken. Videns could not help but think the monster was trying to hold Kerii as it ate her frozen treat. Like it was trying to be closer. "Ohhh yeah." he murdered to himself. "Yeah I thought it was an eeveelution alright." Videns said as he went down on his hunkers to be on level with the Sylveon. "Most evolve by being in close proximity to an element for an extended period of time, such as fire or water, however some can evolve by happiness and the bond they share with their owner." Videns said. Videns looked up to the sky as he tried to remember the names. "damn, can't remember." Videns said annoyed with himself. "Maybe we could try and find somewhere with info on it?"

Apparently Videns thought that the feline was Kerii's. Although it was true that it would eventually become hers, Kerii didn't even know of the creature's existance until she dropped her ice cream cone. After Videns' comment, it took him a few moments for him to produce an answer to the question Kerii had asked. When he said that the thing she was petting wad called an "eeveelution," Kerii couldn't help but show a puzzled expression on her face. "An eeveelution?" The elf had never heard of that kind of animal before, which was saying something since she was extremely close with nature. She actually really disliked that Videns knew something about animals that she didn't. Kerii wasn't a scientist that studied animals or anything, but she did know a lot about their behavior and, well, which animals actually existed.

Videns crouched down to be closer to Sylveon's height and explained that most "evolved" from either being near an element or being happy and having strong bonds. Kerii didn't know anything about how the cat-like creature in front of her could have evolved, but it did seem very happy. If it evolved from happiness and strong bonds though, where was its original owner? Videns asked Kerii if they should try to find some more information about the cat. "Sure," Kerii said standing up. The pink feline tightened her ribbon's grip around Kerii's wrist as if it didn't want her to leave. "I think she wants to come along too." Well, at least Kerii thought it was a she.

Videns looked at Kerii's puzzled face and apologized. "Sorry that's more the species name given to it by humans." Videns replied to Kerii. "It was only called that because of the monster it evolved from, Eevee. Hence eevee-lution, like evelution. It is weird but Humans are weird too." Videns said with a chuckle. "You probably heard of Eevee, but it was the monster that has all the split evolutionary lines, 8 in total which is practically unheard of." Videns then said. He was surprised to see that Kerii dd not kn ow the beast as Elfs were very one with nature. "They are rare enough now that I think about it. Not legendary but rare enough that they are hardly found in the wild. I only know of them because in some historical cultures they were worshiped like gods of their respective element, especially in egypt considering their feline appearance." Videns said without realizing. Once he got into his nerdy historic talking it was hard to stop him. Luckily Kerii did when she said that the cat wanted to follow them. "Great, let's go! There should be a library or a pet store near by that can tell us something about it." Videns said as he walked with Kerii.

As they walked Videns' eyes kept getting drawn to the cat like creature. "I wonder how strong she is." Videns thought out loud. From what he read almost all of the eeveelutions were strong in their own regard but some were considered at the top of the food chain putting the others to shame. Sadly Videns could not remember which ones were the strongest but was excited to find out. "Weird how it just appeared in town though, right?" Videns asked Kerii as he took some more licks of his ice-cream.

Videns' knowledge of eeveelutions continued to amaze Kerii. She couldn't believe that he not only knew of a creature she didn't, but he also knew a great deal about it too. She wouldn't mind if he just knew of a rare animal, but he seemed to have even more knowledge about it. If he had that much knowledge about eevees and eeveelutions, Kerii wished that she act least knew of at least one of them. She hated to admit it, but she actually felt jealous of Videns. She would never say that to him though. She didn't want him to know. She wouldn't even show a hint of jealousy on her face. It made Kerii feel a little bit better that the creatures Videns spoke of were rare, but she still didn't like it.

Kerii and Sylveon walked together right next to Videns on the way to the library. When Videns made a comment out loud about how he wondered how powerful Syl was, the pink feline's ears perked up and smiled as she summoned a small orb of light that floated right in front of her. Kerii didn't believe that it was the best of her abilities, but it was certainly something. "Well, I think it's safe to say that she knows some level of light magic," Kerii said gesturing towards the orb Sylveon made.

Videns also made another comment about how odd it was that Sylveon just appeared out of the blue. Kerii had to agree. "Yeah, that is pretty weird. A rare creature just randomly appearing in Era? You don't think she had another owner, do you? I mean, she doesn't look lost or sad and I didn't see any wanted posters, but you never know..." Kerii really did hope that Syl didn't have a previous owner. Some part of Kerii really wanted the Sylveon to be hers. She wouldn't consider her a pet though. She would say that she would be more of a companion. With her outlook on and connection with nature, Kerii would never consider any animal of hers to be just a mere pet. There was more to her than that, and Kerii couldn't help but sense a bond already start to form between herself and the Sylveon. It wasn't just that Syl became instantly fond of Kerii, but Kerii also grew an instant liking towards the eeveelution.

[Invading, whether you are attacked depends on your actions]

A pair of crimson red eyes watched the happy couple from the shadows stalking them, taking special note of the creature that walked beside them. The owner of said eyes in appearance was a young woman, hidden behind a pillar watching like a hawk. This was Hateshiginai, Yumi a member of Grimoire Heart and recent arrival to Era. She had been bored as she walked around the capital of the Rune Knight pondering what it is she could do to amuse herself. She had taken to the streets, stalking from the shadows looking for a target or targets in which she could use to amuse herself, to relieve her of her boredom. It had been an unproductive day as time ticked away, finding herself faced with the situation before her.

The three figures drew her focus, why? As a demon her instincts were going wild at the presence of the strange little creature that followed behind them. If was like she could feel the light essence within the beast and it drove her insane. Her anger bubbled to the surface as a deep hatred formed within her crimson hues. Light element was a natural threat to her as a demon and anyone or anything that possessed it must be destroyed. That is what her instincts were telling her, her demonic side wanted the creature and its owner dead.

Yumi raised her left hand placing it on her chest over her heart. Magic coursed through the demon's body as her appearance began to change. Yumi's hair turned bright orange and flowed gracefully down her back ignoring the Viking Helm she wore. Her body grew in height to five foot seven as he bust expanded in size bulging at the confines of her Viking Armour threatening to pop out. Her waist became slender and eyes brown. This was the appearance of a girl Yumi was very familiar with, Alice. YUmi had taken a number of quests with the young woman ages back in Oak, she felt the girl's appearance would be fitting for what she had in mind. Tugging at her long orange locks and fixing the Viking Axe positioned on her back a sinister smile slashed across her lips.

Yumi positioned her hand back over her heart, and began to alert her voice humming until her voice matched that of Alice's With her preparations done, Yumi stepped out of the shadows, crossing a distance of ten meters she arrived shortly in their path. Yumi as Alice would walk until she was only fifteen meters from the three, Sylveon, Kerii and Videns.

Yumi looked in their direction giving a seductive smile, a flutter of her eyelashes and brought her right hand up to her chest. The twin moons heaving under her breath, "MY what a most intriguing companion you have, would you be so kind as to illuminate me to their name and where I could find one?" asked Yumi in a sultry tone.

Spoiler:

As Kerii and Videns walked Videns looked at the creature and wondered if he really knew the name of it. As he wondered out loud how strong it was the beast let out a small or of light. Kerii had said that it must at least have some form of light magic and Videns nodded in agreement. "If I recall correctly only some of them can use light magic so this should make it easier to narrow down what eeveelution this one is." Videns said, the name of the feline on the tip of his tongue. As they walked and Videns expressed his curiosity on how the pet had just wondered into town, Kerii explained that she had thought it must be someone else, but realized that there was no pictures, posters or signs looking for it. "Well if they did loose it it would have only been today and that seems unlikely." Videns said licking his ice-cream cone again as he looked at the ribbons around kerii's wrist. "Wild animals don't imprint on strangers and if they did she should of done so on me. Besides I doubt it could of wondered off considering how tight it's holding your hand." Videns said sounding almost jealous of the creature ofr doing so.

As they began to walk again Videns noticed a familiar sheen of ginger hair as a woman clad in viking attire came up to them asking about the pet. Videns immediately recognized the girl as Alice, the woman he had dinner with the night before. "Hey Alice? It's me!" Videns said perplexed how Alice would not recognize him right away and instead talked more like an upper class woman in search for something expensive to buy. "Wait what are you doing here you have a meeting!" Videns said suddenly remembering that Alice had a ranking up meeting at the Rune Knight Headquarters. Videns was sure this was Alice. It looked like her and sounded like her yet it was odd how she acted. Videns did not want to act just yet, but he made sure to stay close to Kerii and the creature they had found.

Kerii was glad that Videns said that since her Sylveon could use light magic, it narrowed it down to only a few types of eeveelutions that Syl could be. Videns also thankfully said that it was unlikely that she had a previous owner, but also admitted that it was strange that Syl imprinted on Kerii, even though wild animals usually didn't imprint on strangers. She did agree with that. It was strange, but it still wasn't impossible. Videns then went on to claim that the Sylveon should have imprinted on himself instead of Kerii, most likely since Syl was the first person Videns made eye contact with. She couldn't help but grin. He wasn't jealous, was he? She just shrugged, not even knowing why Sylveon seemed more attached to Kerii than Videns. Maybe it was because she was an elf. Maybe it was because Kerii accidentally fed her ice cream. Who knew?

Just as Videns and Kerii were going to continue their walk towards the library, a neko with orange hair came up and commented on Kerii's 'intriguing' companion. She inquired about it, wanting to know its name and where to get one. Being completely honest, Kerii just shrugged and replied, "I don't know." She had literally just met the creature. Ironically, she was going to the library to figure out all of the information the neko wanted to know and more. So, if she really wanted to know, she would just have to wait. Unlike the elf, Videns seemed to know who the neko was. Apparently she was named Alice. Also, evidently, she was supposed to be at some sort of meeting. Kerii thought that was a bit odd, but hid her skepticism. Before she made any assumptions though, she would have to wait for the events to play out.

SO it would seem the young man was an acquaintance of Alice, depending on just how Yumi played this it could go good or bad. Yumi kept her facial expression fixed so not to show any of what she was thinking, not giving anything away. "oooh" A sultry sound parted from her lips, "I didn't recognise you for a moment. How have you been? I didn't expect to run into you again so soon." Said Yumi playing it off as if she hadn't recognised the young man until he spoke. Given she was fifteen meters from him it could be understandable. Yumi hadn't missed a single beat as she acted cooly and calmly the entire way. With a nonchalant wave of her hand that was touching her abundant chest, "My meeting was pushed back and rescheduled as the other's were delayed, unable to make it." YUmi didn't know what meeting Alice had but this could be a plausible excuse, after all, it didn't happen. But it made Yumi curious just what kind of meeting could Alice be undertaking in Era? A lot must have happened since Yumi had last seen the orange haired woman.

Yumi turned her towards the woman, saying she didn't know what the creature was. Yumi merely showed a look of disappointment but on the inside, she was bubbling with rage. Did they really not know what the beast was or were they keeping it to themselves? But Yumi kept her temper in check, restraining it and her own demonic presence. "That's a pity, they are just simply adorable." Cooed Yumi as she smiled at the three. Her attention, of course, was still on the young woman, she turned to videns and frowned a little, "How rude, aren't you going to introduce me to your lady friend?" inquired the disguised demonic lolita as she placed both hands on her hips and leaned her upper half forward, this made her massive chest bounce and protrude out as she cast her gaze onto the young man.

Yumi was careful with every word she spoke. She may not have been able to get a grasp of Alice's personality, but the girl was the complete opposite of the lolita's natural being. Yumi simply needed to play and act nice and try and not allow her own self-meld into the blend. It took all of her being not to burst forth and simply attempt to kill the little creature at their side. Her demon instincts were going wild wanting to end the beast as her instincts said it was a potential threat to her.

Alice had simply said that she had not recognized him, and from that distance he could tell why. That being side Videns was sure he wasn't too plainly dressed to be considered unrecognizable. Now that Videns thought about it he was wearing the same thing he was last night when the two were out to dinner. Videns was becoming more and more skeptical of Alice, or the girl impersonating her. Alice had then said her meeting was pushed back. Videns was not sure how the Rune Knights worked so for all he knew this was true. At the same time however an uncertainty of that statement stayed with him. At their dinner the letter had came to Alice saying how she was promoted to Lieutenant, and to Videns that seemed to be a very large ordeal, something that could not simply be pushed back. Dwelling on it more, Alice had said ti was a rumor for a while, meaning that the meeting must have been planned about for a while and could not simply be pushed back. Videns was thinking this as the Alice was showing her disappointment in not knowing where she could get the pet. He only returned to the conversation when Alice had began to complain that Videns had not introduced Kerii.

A normal man would usually be rendered speechless by the very sight of Alice, and others unconscious by the way she was acting. Videns, however was neither. "Sorry about that." He said, not changing his expression. Although Videns was not close friends with Alice, he was at least sure to know how she would act. The whole posh and higher class atmosphere she was trying to give off did not sound like her at all. She now seemed very full of herself, and more so her body, highlighting her more dominant features, something which Alice had never down before to Videns. Videns was no longer sure this was Alice, and as a result decided to try and trick her. Videns placed his hand behind Kerii and placed his finger a little hard on her back as he spoke. "Her name is Videns. A weird name right?" He said wondering how she would react. Videns made sure that while he said this he would poke kerii as to inform her that he was doing this for a reason. He did not trust this Alice and did not believe this was alice. Her lecherous behavior, her fancy demeanor, how she did not recognize him. And as he thought about it, She had never said that she was looking for a pet to him, even after they had been talking about animals on their first meeting.

Kerii's skepticism faded a little as Alice said that her meeting was rescheduled, with was understandable. Although her skepticism faded a bit, her level of being uncomfortable grew. The way Alice talked and the gestures she made were... odd, to say the least. A bit narcissistic as well. If she acted like this all the time, she wondered why Videns greeted her so nicely. Sure, he could have just been being friendly, but she was also sure that she would have detected at least a little bit of uneasiness as he said hello to the neko.

Alice seemed disappointed that Kerii didn't have much knowledge about the Sylveon, but 'I don't know' was really all the elf could tell her. Well, that and that the pinkish cat knew light magic, but Alice didn't inquire about it. When Alice asked who Kerii was, Videns reached behind her back and poked her. He also introduced her as 'Videns.' Kerii realized the lie was because Videns must have been skeptical of the own person who he supposedly knew too. So, she decided to play along and see what would happen. In response, she smiled and gave a small wave to her.

Yumi disguised as Alice kept a friendly smile situated on her lips eying the two carefully, looking for any signs of mistrust. The boy seemed to apologise but his expression hadn't changed, he didn't seem to react all that much to Yumi's actions, as if impervious to them. He remained steadfast, as a hand placed itself behind the woman and he introduced her saying her name was Viden's, even adding the remark that it was a weird name. A small frown etched its way onto 'Alice's' delicate grow as her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, showing a confused expression as she looked at the woman beside him. Who in their right mind would name a young girl 'Viden's', it didn't sound at all like a girls name, hell it didn't even sound like a name at all to Yumi.

The demonic lolita scrutinised the woman eying her up and down with a fierce gaze. The woman even went along and gaze a smile along with a small wave as if to say it was her name. Yumi wasn't all that trusting in the name as she had her suspicions, "Are you trying yo punk me here?" Asked 'Alice' as she gave the boy a look that threw along the message 'are you for real?'. Her gaze was locked onto the boy looking him deep in the eyes as if searching for something before she turned her focus back to the young woman. The eyes of Yumi's disguise would lock onto the woman and pierce deep into her eyes as if she was looking into the woman's very soul.

A frown appeared on Yumi's brows as her guild mark lit up on her back. IT was hidden beneath her illusion. Yumi took a few steps back creating distance, "Apologies I have to leave. Something has come up." Yumi then retreated waving them off as she slipped into the nearby crowds disappearing from sight.

[EXIT]

Spoiler:

It had seemed that the 'Alice' in front of them had not believed Videns. She had either saw through his trick or this was the real Alice and in fact was being serious. Videns knew however that Alice would not simply ask if he was joking, as he was acting completely serious, and introducing the name as a new one, that he, Videns, had never heard. Before either could confront the impostor the Alice said she had to leave. Videns could smell the crap from where he was standing, but before he could follow suit she was gone. Videns sighed lightly. A wave of relief had overcame him as he realized the two were safe. Whoever was impersonating Alice must have either been a great con-artist or very skilled assassin with a magic to aid in it's kills. "Well that was close." Videns would say turning to Kerii. "Needless to say that woman wasn't who she was claiming to be.
I met her the other day thankfully. If I didn't who knows what could of happened to us..." Said Videns looking mildly concerned. "Anyway we should continue onward."