A Few Weeks before the Sun's Transformation
"HUT, HUT," hollered Steve as he passed the football to Biff, his breathe was showing very visible in the chilly air.
Biff backed up, setting himself to pass the football to another football player. However, before he could throw it, a whistle blew from a far, taking Biff's attention.
"Hey, you lovable boneheads, time for a break," noted what was their couch, "Biff, nice arm position for the throw, but you need to pick up the pace a bit, the enemy won't just stand there for you to toss that ball."
"Yes sir," replied Biff, letting out a cold sighed. However, as he regained poise, he noticed someone was heading toward them just a bit off the football field. As the shape come closer, he recognized the feminine figure in her late thirty. "Mrs. Crawford?! What are you doing here?"
She giggled gently, apparently seems to be holding something in her hands. "Hi, it's nice to see all you doing fine. Sorry about the intrusion, but I had previously made some warm cookies for the children of the elementary school and thought you all would like to have some as well." She reached over the edge of the aluminum foil and peel back to reveal thick warms chocolate-chip cookies.
"Thank, Mrs. Crawford," Biff gradly remarked before he reached for a cookie, followed by the other football players, thanking her as well before getting their own cookie. Even the couch took one and thanked her.
"You're welcome, sweethearts! I'll be cheering you guys on!"
****
"KEEP FOCUS, BECCA, SHE COULD POP OUT FROM ANYWHERE," screamed Trident.
Becca heard her partner, but considering how afraid and jumpy she was, that advice might be a bit unnecessary. She didn't like this whole situation, from being frighten like a little girl would, to Mrs. Crawford's bizarre behavior, and finally being put into this life-threatening event. What frighten her the worst wasn't the fact that she could be kill in any moment, but rather she was afraid that the old kid-loving elementary teacher was gone forever.
She didn't have time to ponder anymore as a spike of darkness launched like a rocket toward her. "WAAAH!" Reacting out of pure instinct, Becca leap into the air into a semi front flip, onto a handstand on the pole-like surface of the spear. Trident was shocked by that, considering that she had entered into a battle unprepared and didn't have the proper training yet.
"QUICKLY, BECCA, SUMMON YOUR MAGICAL WEAPON!"
'He must be kidding,' Becca thought with the same level of nervousness she had before, 'That little thing isn't going to hurt Mrs. Crawford.' She paused at that thought with a sigh, she didn't even want to hurt her at all; she just wished to get the kind-hearted elementary school teacher back. Again, she saw more spikes coming at her, causing her to push off the handstand, dodging barely before they would make contact. As she was in the air, she reluctantly knew she don't have much choice and began to summon her weapon.
Landing on the ground, she held out her palms upward to catch the fallen weapon she materialized into thin air. As she held it, she let out a nervous laugh, wondering how a little toy-like ward would do anything helpful. She quickly dodged another attack, this time with a bit more intention. Becca found the exercise kind of familiar, reminding her back to her football practices and games, as well as the few times that she got into fights.
She actually gotten better at dodging the attacks as they continued onward, which would soon explained why Shadoe Fae must have stopped her attacks, probably decided to go for a different approach. Becca took this moment to recover and rest, still trying her best to stay alert. Maybe she could used this time to convince her to return back to her original self.
"P-please, Mrs. Crawford, s-snap out of th-this. Y-y-you're not like this, y-you're not a bad g-grown-up, you c-cared about p-people! Please s-stop, p-p-pretty pleases, w-with sugar on top!"
There was silent for a few minutes, before a bizarre laughter was heard in the dark veil, a sound that has no point of reference. "Hahaha, foolish blat, do you realized how stupid you sounds right now?! Face reality, the weakling Mrs. Crawford was erased when she was reborn into the lovely Shadoe Fae that I am! I am the living shadow that can haunt your memories, and take everything that precious of your, and rip it apart with joy! So, enough with that sick childish talk, I despise you little brats to death!"
Becca's eyes clenched with sobbing tears, trying her best to hold them back like a floodgate, not wanting to believed what she hearing. 'T-that not true, you always was so k-kind to everyone, even me when I was being bad.'
*
"THAT MY GIRL YOU WAS TRASHING BEHIND HER BACK, YOU GUTLESS COWARD!!!"
Outside the High School, near an area on the side that was hard for onlookers to see, was Biff with another athlete held upward by the collar of his shirt. The teenage boy looked very beat up, bruises was all over his body.
"I WILL MAKE SURE THAT..." was all he hissed, holding his right arm out to about to throw a punch, before a sweet voice was heard from behind him.
"Could you please set him down, Mr. Meadows? I know that you are angry about something this young man did, but this isn't the right way to handle it."
Shocked at the sound of her voice, Biff turned his head to find Mrs. Crawford, just looking at him with a gentle and pleading stare. There was no anger or hateful disappointment, just a sad expression rested on the woman. Sometimes he wondered how she kept creeping up on him like that, as if she was a phantom or a shadow.
"But, Mrs. Crawford, this punk was bad-mouthing Sarah while she was...!"
She simply put her left hand on the rise fist and smiled. "It's okay, sweetheart. While I do respect you for protecting Sarah, you have to remember that they are words, and I do believe that Sarah is rather tough enough to not be bothers by some silly words. So, can you please put him down?"
Grumbling in defeat, he gently let down the boy, answering politely even when he was still was a bit upset, "...Yes ma'am, Mrs. Crawford."
Looking at the other boy, she tried her best to give a bit scorn look, "Mr. Thomson, sweetheart, I know that Sarah could be overly 'willful' at time, but that is no excuse to say things behind people back. As an athlete, it is important to have a sense of honor, because you represent this school. I won't tell your parents of your misdeed, if you promise not to start anything like this again. Don't worry, I'll be talk with Biff about his action as well, but first you must promise to mind your manner and go on with your business."
The teenage glanced away, mumbling something, but sighed and replied, "I promise."
"Good boy; now if you excuse us, I need to talk to Mr. Meadows for a second."
He slowly walked away, with his hands in his pant's pockets, trying to ignore his pain.
"Now, Mr. Meadows, what I said about honor also include you as well. Bullying people won't solve anything but spread more hatred, and who know how that hatred would turn into. Sweetheart, you must remember to keep your cool, because who know what would happen if a certain button get press too much without restraint. I don't want to see you or anyone else get badly hurt or even shot, especially something that could easily been solved peacefully."
Biff sighed as he gazed into Mrs. Crawford's version of a sad puppy-dog eyes, "O-okay, heh, I promise to do better at keeping my cool, Mrs. Crawford."
"Thank you, now how about we go to the store and pick up some get-well-soon card for Sarah."
*
Working on some paperwork, a female anthromorphic Shisa Dog secretary was growing more curious about what was going on in the Vice Principal's office. Trying to control it, she kept working. While she was affected mentally like any other animal transformation had, she refused to go naked, and took a sense of pride knowing that she had managed to get a good habit of wearing clothes. The clothes, while it was a casual white shirt, blue vest, and blue knee-length skirt, had a sense of professionalism to them.
She finally got tired of that nagging feeling and decided to take a peek inside, walking with no shoes, considering that she have large heel-raised paw. However, when she opened the door, the room was empty, with the exception of the furniture in the room. She raised one of her thick curly eyebrows and scratched the back of her mane-like hair at the sight. Didn't a young girl just entered into that room just a moment ago?
****
"Okay enough, Number Three, while I do enjoy your fears so far, I got other tasks and Magical Girls to deal with! So, it is time to end this pointless game!" She abruptly appeared from the left wall, coming out of it as if she was a dark spirit. She regained her true form, the beautiful figure that she had revealed as her Shadoe Fae's form. She wasn't wearing any clothes, but it didn't really matter since there was nothing to display, other than the curves and shapes of her blank female body.
Becca was sweating as she stood there, a shiver down her spine as she wondered what Mrs. Crawford meant by that. However, her plan soon revealed itself to her as she felt an odd sensation from beneath her. Out of the blue, five figures was slowly began to shape, until Becca gasped at the sight of shadow clones of herself.
She let out a typical villainous laugh before boasting, "Amazing, huh! They are a bit like my Shadow Hand Puppets, but with your intelligent and abilities. Lucky, these little brats are under my full control and won't whine about some stupid naïve ideals, and more important is that I can give them something more dangerous than a little baby toy." She turned her attention fully on them for a moment and ordered, "Okay, you brats, rip her to pieces!"
With swords and spears in hand, the shadow Beccas rushed toward the real Becca. Becca was freaking out now, she couldn't handle all of them by herself. Trident was as worry as Becca was, wishing that he could have gotten a chance to train her better. Couldn't think of anything else to do, she held out the 'toy' wand, hoping it wasn't as useless as it look.
As the evil clones come almost near her reach, Becca held the ward with both hand now, gripping it harder than ever as she let out a scream. Doing this must have triggered something as the wand's handle glow, prior to the handle of the wand extended and transformed into a staff version, its quality went from being toy-like to a divine elegent. While the staff was still containing a glow, the energy transferred into the tip of the newly-form staff, and finally let out a large burst of light. Both Becca and Trident watched in awed as the clones, as well as Shadoe Fae, scream in pain.
Swiftly as the light energy dispersed, Shadoe Fae dropped unconsciously onto the ground; the clones and the whole veil disappear as a result. Becca couldn't believe it, out of shear luck, she won! She glanced at the staff and found it to be a better weapon; that was, until it decided to shrink back to a 'toy' form. 'I guess I need to learn how to use this thing better.' She stared at the fallen shadow woman and felt sorry for her, not sure what to do now and wonder her ancient question: how can she get back the old Mrs. Crawford?!
