"Relax," the principal said, his gun facing the half-breed cat. "You're afraid," the principal said. "You can go inside now; this is no longer your battle," but you'll still be punished for what you did. "Go now."
Pauline knew she left Ashara back at the office to fight all of the ninjas by herself. She wasn't going to let that happen again, not when her friend needed her most. Pauline pulled out her phone and started a livestream, which got a thousand views in just a few seconds.
The principal was enraged; he hit Pauline's phone, sending it flying. Pushing her backwards as he screamed in rage, "Get back!" "Of course I will," Pauline said as she was staring towards the cat's position.
The commander tried to relax as he turned back and immediately shot at the cat. The cat, who was already standing up, barely dodged the targeted bullet.
From the hovering helicopters, ropes were let down; soldiers began dropping from the helicopter with the ropes, surrounding her.
Ashara stood in their midst as she began purring loudly, her fangs lunged out as she shrieked. She knew the only ways to get away from this were to run or to call upon her primordial energy, but for some reason, she felt running would be way easier.
Meanwhile, Pauline was a few feet away from where the principal stood; she seemed to be talking to her phone and staring back at Ashara. "Hands up!" the commander yelled at Ashara. Ashara waited for the right moment, and suddenly it came.
A bright lightning; it came and left, taking Ashara with it. All that was left was thunder after the shock and the continuous rambling of Pauline.
Natasha stared at the members of her class; she was impressed at what the phantom girls had pulled off. To her, the worst part was that she couldn't tell anyone but the phantom girls about it.
She stared outside; her gaze falling on three of her friends, June, Zoey, and Zaya; they seemed agitated. Natasha hurried towards them.
"Hey, girls," she said, beaming with the most glorious smile. "We actually did it," she said. "That was the most tense feeling I've felt in years."
Natasha then realized that there was a dampening look on the faces of the three girls. "What's wrong, guys?" "Don't tell me there are some loose ends!"
June shook her head as she said, "Pauline got caught. Someone also attacked her," Zaya added. "While we've not found Ashara since then," "That bad, uhn," Natasha said, her voice lowered.
"Who attacked her?" "Some fierce red ninja; she also had a weird cloning power and high-level dangerous primordial energy," Ashara said as she suddenly appeared amongst them.
"Argh!" Natasha yelled, spooked. "You've got to stop doing that," she complained. "I actually sensed she was coming," said Zaya, nonchalantly.
She then spoke again. "Why would a red ninja be after Pauline?" "I don't think the ninja was after her," Ashara said. "She was after something else, a file."
"So what did Pauline have to do with that file?" "Well, Ashara said she was in the principal's office where the file was located." "Apparently, she was dropping one of the envelopes." "Yes, and one more thing, Zaya," "What's that?"
Zaya asked. "She also knew your name." The others gasped; Zaya was surprised. "When we fought," Ashara said, "she said she wouldn't like you both to meet again like this."
"Did you find anything about the file?" Zaya asked, hope in her eyes.
Ashara shook her head, nodding her face to the ground. "I did," Pauline said, walking towards them. "And also, we really have to split up before anyone suspects anything."
Zaya sat in the middle of Zoey's room, pondering intensely on what was going on; her body temperature had risen. Reflecting, how worried and deep in thought she'd gone.
With the staff in her hand, her eyes closed, she thought on why and how the red ninja knew her. Who was the viper viking on the file? Why was the ninja so hell-bent on seeing just a regular criminal file, and how would all that lead to getting her memories back?
To the others, it felt like another clue, but Zaya could sense something was wrong; something powerful and extremely dangerous was about to occur; she could sense it, but it wasn't clear yet.
She snapped out of her deep thoughts when Zoey called. "Guys, come see this," she stated, staring intently at her laptop. Zaya walked towards her friend. "Look," Zoey said, "this is the viper viking."
The article said he's the greatest thief in the world. Zaya stared at the picture; her gaze falling on the so-called viking.
He looked absolutely decent, a man within the age 30-35; you could have mistaken him for a savior.
Zaya read through the article; nothing important caught her eyes, nothing about the viking had to do with the ancient legends.
He was only a regular managing director in a chemical industry who nicknamed himself the viper viking and later got fired for stealing the company's funds worth billions.
Zaya shrugged, staring at the ceiling like it had the answers to her problems.
"Alright, guys," Zaya said, "phantom meeting!" Zaya beckoned for the rest to join her. "Alright, Ashara, see, what's the report?" Ashara then spoke, "Our first message heist was a success.
We successfully delivered the envelopes to each and every student. Unfortunately, Pauline has been taken as a suspect for people who had committed the crime. More unfortunately, we got only one text; one person answered our message."
"Crud!" June said out loud. "I told you that plan wasn't perfect, Ashara." Zaya then spoke, "What is this one text?" "Thelma from grade 12," Ashara replied.
"Hold on," Natasha said, "why didn't we just share it on the phantom high school instead?" "It's still our first heist, Zaya said, trying to console the others, we'll do better next time."
"Really, is that all?" Pauline said, staring at the laptop's screen in disgust. Ashara then said, "I think it's reasonable because even those emeralds I found were barely two thousand dollars."
"Well, I think she's stingy," Zoey said, pouting. "I literally used ten thousand dollars to buy a bottle of water in a random hotel yesterday."
Zaya then spoke, "It's not all about the money; it's this job. This person has given us that we would use to prove our strength to the staff." "Alright, Ashara," "you've got a plan?" "You bet," Ashara said, as she was about to spill the plan, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Who's there?" Zoey asked. "A person, I guess," said Natasha as she was looking stupid. Zoey's mum opened the door; two bodyguards behind her.
Zaya remembered she hadn't made the choice if she'll join the "WMCO" yet. Was that what Zoey's mum was here for? She thought.
"Mum?" Zoey said, "I thought you were at work?" "Not anymore, Zoey, not when the world is in apparent apocalyptic danger." "Follow me," she said, gesturing to all six of them.
They passed through the laboratory building, going down to the "WMCO". They walked through a few black doors, arriving at a large courtyard.
Zaya was shocked at how big it was; it had so many entrances with various swords and spears lined up on each of the walls.
Zoey's mum gestured for the two bodyguards to leave. She then spoke, facing the girls, "According to legends, only a primordial beast can kill another primordial beast."
"Prove your strength, Zaya," Zoey's mum gestured towards one of the entrances at the other end of the court as she yelled, "Korin, champion of the tournament of thousands, come and face your enemy!"
Coming out of the far entrance was a boy with a face that looked perfect, dressed in golden armor, a dazzling blade in his hands, which looked like it could cut through iron like butter; his hair was blonde, his expression calm.
"Zaya," Zoey's mum spoke, "I know you will reject my offer, but if you think yourself strong enough to do this alone, then why don't you face our strongest?"
"Without the use of your fox form?" "That's not necessary, Mum," Zoey said, smiling sheepishly. "You have taken this a bit far..." "I will accept," Zaya said, walking towards the sword rack lined up on the wall.
"What?" Said Zoey, looking back at Zaya, confused. "I'll take it, Zoey," Zaya said. "No worries, Zoey, it isn't your fault; I'm here."
Zaya walked up to the court after taking a simple broad sword; she stood positioned, ready to triumph.
Korin also walked up to the courtyard, brandishing his sword; his look was blank, no sign of emotion.
"Is this guy even a human being?" Natasha asked, bothered at the unparalleled look on the boy's face. Zoey then answered, "More or less, he is.
He is the last descendant of a powerful royal family who were wiped out from the marine war."
"Long ago, one of his ancestors learned a technique from the greatest warrior who ever lived." "You don't mean," Natasha said. "Yes, I do," Zoey responded, "the great fox Edeth." Since then, the technique was passed down from generation to generation, making whoever possessed it the strongest human on earth, even till now.
"So basically," Zoey said, "Zaya is screwed."
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