"How adorable that you think that you can run away from me." Falcon started laughing at Dee and Ursa.
"We are not running away! We're just… tactically retreating!" Dee argued.
Cecilia facepalmed and sighed, pulling her weapon out again, and began slicing through the monsters.
A large gust of wind suddenly cut three of the beasts in half. They look up and see another girl, flying in the air.
She had long, flowing dark purple hair, tied in a long ponytail, and wearing a white top, with a knee length skirt.
"Is that-?" Dee began.
Cecilia nodded. "Yes, it's Harley."
"What's up?" Harley landed gracefully, and looked at the two of them. "Sorry that I'm late- Oh my goodness! Hi! You're that newbie she told me about! Aren't you a cutie?"
"Uhm…"
"Back it up, she's not used to being babied." Cecilia stepped between the two of them.
"How would you know that?!" Dee questioned, turning her head to Cecilia.
"I have seen what you do." Cecilia countered.
"Can we just focus on the mission?!" Ursa screamed, flailing their arms around.
"It would be for the best." Harley commented, slicing through one of the monsters.
Dee looked around herself. "How? I don't even have-"
"Concentrate!" Harley repeated what they had said to her before. "It's easier if you ignore the noises around you!"
"Fine..." Dee sighed, and looked down at her new weapon. "Come on, come on…"
"Aww, did the Guardian of Air try to save and help the new girl? What a mediocre plan."
"Mediocre?!" Harley shouted, her hand creating a cloud. "I'll show you mediocre!"
"You're making a mess at my- I mean, these kids' school!" Dee said, trying to sound braver than she actually was. "I have a math test to get to…" she mumbled.
"Consider this your excuse to be absent." Falcon smirked, snapping his fingers again, and the huge shadow beneath the school began to form with the others.
"Don't let them touch the students!" Cecilia warned. "If the shadows are consumed, they'll never wake up!"
"Okay, pointy... Don't fail me now." Dee whispered, trying to turn the watering can back into a sickle.
"I have never seen anyone struggle to get a weapon before" Harley shook her head in mock disappointment.
"I'm figuring it out!"
"Maybe if you stopped trying to water the pavement and started focusing on the Void, it would help!" Ursa yelled, dodging a bolt from the monsters.
Dee squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the noises. She ignored the sound of Harley, the clashing of Cecilia's blades, and Falcon's irritating laughter. She felt the weight of the watering can in her hands. "Just… change this stupid thing!"
The handle under her palms began to vibrate, heating up until it turned into something else. When she opened her eyes, the watering can was gone. In its place was a bow.
"A bow?" Falcon raised an eyebrow, genuinely intrigued. "That's too cliché, don't you think?"
"It's classic!" Dee snapped. She pulled back on the empty space where a string should be, and a bolt of pure, jagged lavender energy crackled into existence. "And it's a lot harder to hit myself with this!"
"Finally!" Harley cheered, sending a spiral of wind toward a group of monsters. "Now, aim for the center of the vortex! If we collapse the core, the shadows lose their tether!"
Dee took a deep breath. She aimed upward at the middle of the storm.
"Not so fast," Falcon murmured. He swung his cane at Dee, she yelped as her feet slipped, her shot flying wide and punching a hole through a nearby storage shed instead.
"Hey! No fair!"
"Fair is for fairy tales, 'star girl,'" Falcon retorted, his eyes glowing through his mask. "In the Void, we only care about results."
"Dee! Ignore him! You're the only one with enough range to hit the core while that thing is active! Move!"
Dee scrambled to higher ground, leaping onto the school's air conditioning units. Her heart was beating rapidly, and her mind was full of the most horrible outcomes.
"I am not letting you take my lunch break, my classes, or my family!" she hissed. She drew the string back to her ear. She didn't think of anything else. She just thought of everything good in her life: her family, her new friends, and that annoyingly adorable floating creature.
"Stellar... Snapshot!" She let go of the arrow. And it flew through the sky, and into the portal. And it worked. It cracked in half, then exploded, and finally, it disappeared into thin air.
But the shockwave almost sent the group flying backwards if they hadn't grabbed onto the rails.
Dee tumbled through the air, her wings giving out, and landed face-first into some mud.
"Ten out of ten for that landing," Harley said, standing next to Dee, and giving a thumbs-up.
Falcon looked at the place where the portal was, and then back at Dee, and a small, barely visible amused smile on his face. "Enjoy your math test, Guardian. I will come back later."
He bowed, and teleported away, as time began to move again.
Dee rolled onto her back, staring up at the normal, boring clouds. Her heart was still racing, and her purple skirt was covered in dust.
"We did it!" Cecilia cheered, de-transforming back into her school clothes in just a second, before any of the other students could see them.
Dee landed on the grass, her bow and Guardian clothes disappearing. "I think I'm going to throw up," she groaned.
"No time for that!" Harley patted her on the back. "We have at least five minutes until the bell rings. And Dee?"
"Yeah?"
"Work on the name. 'Stellar Snapshot' is better, but it still sounds horrible."
Dee rolled her eyes, picking up her backpack. "You guys just… don't have taste in names! Right, Ursa?" she looked to her left, but Ursa was back as the tiny keychain again. "You should have backed me up first!"
"Not a chance, Ursa doesn't back anyone up." Cecilia said, pointing an accusing finger at the tiny keychain. "They didn't even like my spell's name, 'Horri-Bubble'"
"Or my 'Hurricane-Cyclon' attack name." Harley added.
"Those are amazing," Dee said. "But aren't Cyclones and-"
Harley put a finger onto Dee's mouth. "Yes, I know."
"So... does this mean I'm late for Math class now?" Dee asked sheepishly.
Cecilia checked her watch. "We still have a few minutes until the time can return back to completely normal."
"Great," Dee groaned, standing up and brushing herself off.
"Welcome to the team," Harley laughed, giving her a playful shove toward the school building. "By the way, we're meeting at the bubble tea shop after school. Guardian business. We'll give you our numbers later."
"But you're paying for it, Harley," Cecilia added.
"I know, boo~" Harley cooed, leaning close into Cecilia's personal space.
"Stop calling me that in public." Cecilia pushed Harley away a bit.
"Never~" Harley proceeded to pull her into a very tight hug. "My waterdrop!"
"Are you two... a thing?" Dee asked, gesturing at the two of them.
Harley just giggled, while Cecilia sighed, and nodded. "Yes. We are."
"And I wouldn't change it for the world!" Harley exclaimed happily, letting Cecilia go, jumping up with joy and clapping her hands together.
"Stop that," Cecilia groaned. "You know I hate doing this in public..."
"Yeah. Yeah. I know." Harley waved a hand.
"Aw," was what Dee replied to everything playing out infront of her with. "That's... actually so cute."
"See? I told you! Nobody would mind!" Harley pointed at Dee and looked at Cecilia.