A big cerberus lied in the grass near the school, waiting for the boards to clear so she could finally see if she made it and what team she will be on. Suddenly she felt something on her back and she flinched and stood up on all fours when she heard a loud screech come from the new creature. She shook off the creature and sighed at what she saw.

“Tala, you have a really annoying brother…”

“Don’t I know it…” The middle head thought to the other two. Right in front of this four foot, three-headed canine was another creature of legend; the majestic phoenix, bound to an annoying life form that Tala knew as Hitori, her twin brother.

“Ya know, if he wasn’t so annoying and he wasn’t, ya know, your brother, I would totally say you should date him.” The left head thought to the other two heads. The middle looked to her in disgust.

“Are you freaking serious? Or crazy?” She expressed, following the thought with a growl.

“Tala, you really need to get a hold of yourself. People might get curious as to why you suddenly growled at yourself.” Another voice pierced through her mental walls, sounding almost smug. The center head, the leader, looked to the fire bird with narrow eyes.

“This is none of your business! Stay out of my head!” She snarled through her telepathy while she bared her teeth.

The bird raised its wings from its sides. “Whoa, baby sis has teeth and claws! Whatever shall I do?” He teased, a weak screech leaving his beak.

“I will eat you one of these days, you over-cooked chicken!” She let out a bark and growled while the other two heads looked around, probably for some rodent to chase after.

“What an insult! I’m crushed.” The bird thought as he flapped his wings.

Another bark bellowed from Tala before she ran towards the fire peacock and raked a paw over his face. The bird screeched loudly and turned to one side to keep the dog creature from hitting it again.

“What was that for, Alpha!? You damaged his pretty face!” The head to the left panicked.

“He was insulting me! Didn’t you hear him?” The leader exclaimed.

“We only hear him if you both are human or using that telepathic mumbo jumbo in your human form. As our Cerberus form, we are separate heads. He only spoke to you.” The right one said.

“Forget it, it’s none of your concern what I do.” Leader said just before she heard another voice.

“Dang, Tala. I made you that mad, what happened to playful banter?” It asked, the phoenix turned to show the red blood seeping from a three inch wound over his eye.

The middle head whimpered and in seconds the beast began to grow. Fur shortened and claws became lower and less sharp. The creature back arched and three heads became one. The fur on top of the middle head grew out like a mane and morphed its color into a bright red. When the transformation was done, the only hint to her previous form were her ears and tail while Beta and Delta returned to being dormant in her mind.

Tala looked down at her birdbrained brother and crossed her arms. “Well, change back so I can look at the wound. I wanna see how bad I nicked you and if it’s worth healing.”

The bird cooed softly as its body shifted and deformed. Wings shortened to be arms and his beak went back into his head. His tail shrunk and his height increased while his feathers flattened to create smooth skin. Fully human with an orange tint, the only thing left of his previous form were the black feathers that shed from his left shoulder.

The dog girl squinted her eyes and tilted her head to one side as she looked at her brother’s wound. She didn’t even noticed where his eyes had wandered to. He snickered to himself before he opened his big mouth. “Tala, do your boobs always get bigger after you transform? I thought you were a B cup before you shifted, I’m not complaining though, but I’m not sharing you.”

Her eyes widened in surprise before she drew her hand up and backhanded his face, just above his cheekbone to hit the wound she had given him. He yelled in surprise and pain, but laughed. “Forget the stupid wound! You can heal by yourself! Don’t ask me for help after that!” She yelled.

The boy put a finger to his lips and grinned to his little sister. “How about a bet? If I win, you have to heal the wound. No arguments.”

“And if I win?” She asked and her eyes brightened at an idea. “If I win, you have to do whatever I say for the rest of the week.” A smirk crept to her face.

Hitori cracked his knuckles with a smirk similar to his sister’s. “Deal, but don’t expect me to go easy on you because you’re my baby sister.” He mused while he backed away.

The twin sighed in disapproval and backed away as well. “I’m only three minutes younger than you! Why do you have to rub that in all the time? I’m the more mature one!”

He laughed heartily. “You got really upset over a few snarky comments and almost clawed my eyes out! Mature isn’t a word to describe you, Tally.” Hitori took up his axe from where they leaned against the school building and raised it above his head with both his hands. He shift his weight to balance himself and unlocked the two blades from each other. He held one in place with his left hand while the other one spun slowly, picking up speed. The boy’s arms quickly bent so the two blades were behind his back and when he brought the two back above his head, either hand had an axe tightly gripped.

The girl unsheathed her rapier from her side and bit down on her lower lip. “Whatever.” She said as she put her right foot in front of her and balanced her weight on both her feet. “Good luck. You’ll need it, Tori.”

“Bring it on, Shorty.” He joked before he dashed at her, his axes at his sides. When he was close enough, he raised the blade over his head and brought it down toward Tala. Easy escape was what he intended and sure enough she took the advantage of being rather agile and moved to one side to get away. She took her advantage and slashed with her rapier to hit her brother’s side. The attack was in vain; however, since he used his other axe to block her.

Tala let the blade slide off his and moved away from him as he regained his position. She charged at him again, this time feinting right and trying to hit him arm with the blade. Once again the attack was blocked by his other axe, making Tala annoyed with him for separating the two weapons in the first place.

An idea struck the girl as she moved back to gain distance from her brother. She straightened her right arm out with the rapier and focused her energy into the rapier. From her fingers slipped a blue-ish purple hue that quickly engulfed the weapon. Her eyes flashed to purple as she fired the attack. A triumphant smile came to her face as it hit his abdomen. He cringed a bit, but she knew it wasn’t enough to hinder his movement considering it would only give him a burning sensation.

“Nice attack. Got a better one?” He called as he sent one of his axes flying towards his sister.

“20%...” She mumbled and watched the axe come for her. She felt her heart race and dropped her rapier, lifting her hand high enough to catch the axe. The girl grabbed the hilt and grinned at her success. She loved having control over her brother’s weaponry when she needed it. Her arm went to her side and she let the blade dig into the ground. Being quite weaker than her brother made it hard to support the blade like her rapier, so she decided against trying to throw it back.

The girl focused her energy in a ball the size of her hand and pushed it towards her brother. More specifically, her brother’s second axe. Just as she had anticipated, he blocked the attack with his blade and the attack knocked the blade out of his hand to lie on the ground. “How’s Tori without his precious weapons, huh?” She teased before she mumbled. “25%...”

“I’ll be fine, little sis.” He said as he moved closer to her. “Just means more of a challenge. Thanks, Tally.”

Tala growled and focused another ball of magic, about the size of her palm and shot it at her brother, hoping to hit him in the stomach. “28%” She said as she bit her lip again. He dodged expertly and lunged for his sister, grabbing her arm and trying to pull her towards him.

“Ahh!” She yelled and twisted her wrist to get away and gain more ground between them. She focused another ball of the same size and continued walking backward to get away. The girl pushed it toward him and managed to scrape his side, creating a new wound for him. He cringed at the pain and stopped moving so he could look at it. It was rather big and it burned, but nothing Tala could make better after the fight.

“Tala! Look what you did!” Delta cried inside the girl’s head.

“Not now. I am trying to win this. Go away.” Tala responded.

“Are you trying to kill your own brother!? Is that how you win? This would be unacceptable if you two were cerberus.” Beta interjected.

“Go away! I’m busy, dang it!”

“Stop trying to hurt your brother, Alpha!” Delta complained and the girl reached up and put her hands over her ears.

“Shut up! I’ll do what I freaking want!” She proclaimed as she felt her body hit the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

“Got ya.” Her brother said, his sly smirk plain on his face as he pinned her hands to her side.

“Wha- No! Get off me! That wasn’t even fair! Delta and Beta started talking to me!” She yelled and squirmed under his grasp.

“Nope. A deal’s a deal. Now you have to heal my eye and my side.” He said as he stood up and put his foot on top of her stomach. He reached behind him to his backpack and took out a herbal cigarette, placing it in his mouth and then taking out his flint and steel to light it.

“You idiot! You need to stop smoking! That’s horrible for you and you know it! Let me up, dang it!” His sis whined and tried to push him off. He let her up as he exhaled the smoke with a sigh.

Tala growled and smacked the cig to the ground, stomping it out with her shoe. “Screw you.” She said and looked to her head, seeing it tint to purple and she moved to her brother’s side wound. She pressed her hand on the wound gently and felt the wound begin to close up a bit. Of course, it didn’t close up completely, but he wouldn’t have to wait a few days for it to completely heal now. Her glowing hand reached up and his eyelid closed to she could touch her hand to his skin. The skin closed up nicely, but she didn’t allow it to heal to the full potential.

“That’s gonna scar. Hope you’re happy.” She said, feeling confident in herself that he wouldn’t like it.

He opened his eye and smiled. “So I’ll be a dude with a sexy scar? The ladies will love me.” He joked.

“Ugh! Go jump off a bridge!” She yelled and walked toward the school. Hitori grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“You realize we should be seeing the boards, right? Find out what we are doing?”

She looked out to where crowds of people swarmed and shuddered. “I really would rather wait for the people to clear out…” She admitted and ended being pulled with her brother to the boards. “Let go!!” She cried again, but ended up trying in vain to get away. He dragged her around the boards and people to find their name on the List with both of them being with Myrillian.

A smile plastered itself on Hitori’s face. “We made it in, Tala!” He exclaimed loudly and grabbed her other hand so she would look at him. “We are in!” He said again.

She tilted her head, not comprehending for a moment and then let herself smile. “We did?” She asked and felt something burst inside her. “Whoo hoo!” She screamed and jumped up and down on a bit before her brother dragged her back to where they had been before.

He let her go and grabbed his axes, locking them back together in one swoop while Tala retrieved her rapier and sheathed it.

Now to find the other teammates.