The tall wooden sign shielded Kittteh’s eyes from the blinding sun as she read it aloud.
  “‘Welcome to Isoasi’..... uh— where are we?”
  The black aura around her shifted around and formed into the shape of a man. “Isoasi.”
  Kittteh took a step forward as her eyes explored the small town, then glanced back at her companion. “Yeah, but you promised we were heading toward a place to relax, and I don’t see any hotels.”
  The man attempted to shove her forward and ignore her question, but she reflexively ducked and jumped to the side. “Ly, come on. What are we doing here?”
  “We just need to stop here for a bit. I have a little something I have to do. The maximum amount of time we’ll spend here would be about 2 months.”
  “2 months?!”
  “Can it. I said that’s the maximum amount of time we’ll be here, but I mean, nothing can be 100% guaranteed.” His annoyed expression twisted into a smile.
  Kittteh shut herself up, then stared at the ground, and they progressed forward. Almost as if on cue, a school bell rang in the distance, and a huge crowd of high-schoolers started piling out.
  “Hey, its where you belong, in a building full of mindless, sweaty, loud, annoying, and disgusting children!” He slapped her in the back, and she fell forward, tripping over her own feet.
A trio approached them, and Ly shifted and morphed into a man in his twenties, about their age. “Hey.” He did a weird movement as he said it, spinning around and then pointing at them. One of the people in the group— a taller redhead boy with green eyes and a matching leather jacket as the other two— stepped forward and greeted him.
  “Hey, Mal! Long time no see, bud.”
  “Yeah, I’m back for a little while, I don’t know when I’ll be leaving. When are ya free, Sammy Boy?” The redhead’s eyes widened as he looked a bit nervous, glancing back at his snickering friends.
  “Ah.....” Ly waited for his response impatiently, tapping his foot silently. “Don’t call me that. It’s an old nickname and I hate it.”
  “Oh, boo hoo. Just answer the question, Sam.”
  “Call me Smoke, and ask the group. I’m not that free.” he glanced at Kittteh, who had stood up and was cluelessly watching the scene. “What’s this?”
  “She’s kinda a friend, but not really.”
  “So is it like a little pet or something? Put it on a leash, I don’t want it touching me.” He reflected the grin that was on Ly’s face.
  “Oh, sorry man, pfft.”
Smoke slapped him on the back. “Next time you go to the local pet store, buy a leash, and maybe a little muzzle too. I think it has rabies, and I don’t want to take any risks.” He started to laugh.
  Kittteh partially hid behind Ly, staying silent and still.
  Ly tripped her with his leg. “Sit.” He and Smoke started to holler and yell, cackling and giggling.
The two high-fived, and Smoke yelled, “I gotta go. Cya later man, and answer my calls for once.” He walked back over to his trio and shoved them to start walking, then caught up with them, physically and in conversation.
  Once they were far enough away, Kittteh stood up and yelled at Ly, with a shaky voice. “What was that for?! Can you stop publicly humiliating me everywhere we go?! Everyone sees me as your little ‘pet’ or ‘slave’-“ she paused when she saw his annoyed expression.
  Ly sighed and patted her quite hard. “Do yourself a favor and wait until they’re out of earshot, bud.” He gestured toward the trio, who had turned around to stare at the commotion. “Alright, I’m out of here. Good luck, little kitty.” He walked behind Kittteh and absorbed himself into her shadow, just as the three arrived.
  Smoke got in her face and glared. “And who are you?”
  “I uh- I’m new in town, but that’s not important or anything— I’m friends with Ly-“ Smoke interrupted.
  “Quit your stammering. Who is Ly?” he demanded.
  “Ly? who’s that, heh— uh, I meant I’m friends with Mal.” Her eyes stared at the ground.
  “Whatever. There’s no way Mal would be friends with something like you. Pitiful trash. You’re disgusting. Learn how to spit out your words like a normal human being—- oh wait. You’re not one, Nevermind.”
  Kittteh slowly backed up. “Listen, I uh.. I don’t want any trouble.”
  Smoke grabbed her shirt. “Then why are you still standin’ here talking to me?!”
  “I’m not afraid if I get hurt, I...”
  “I didn’t hear an answer.” Smoke started pulling her jacket strings in different directions so it choked her.
  “I don’t want innocent people getting-“
  “Hey, hey. Smoke, come on. Let this little kitty get back to her litter, and let’s forget about this over a little game of bowling or something. No need to fight.” The taller red-head with gelled spiky hair approached Smoke and pulled him backward, and pulling his hand off of Kittteh’s shirt. “Heh. Sorry about that.” He gave her some kind of coupon. “Bowling? The game starts at 6:30, so be there, or don’t. I hate bad first impressions.”
  “Since when was Blaze the civil one and Smoke the raging fight master?” The other redhead, who had short hair with a dark grey streak through it and darker skin, murmured to themselves. “I must be going insane or something.”
  “Oh, shut your up.” Smoke glared at her.
  “Smoke..” Blaze whispered.
  “What?”
  Blaze spun around in a circle and spat on his shoe.
  Smoke’s expression slowly twisted into a smile, and he started to quietly laugh. “I hate you.”
  “You know you love me.”
  “Stop being gay.”
  “YOU’RE gay.”
  “You’re both gay.” Ash elbowed them really hard in the ribcage. “Can we hurry up? It’s cold out.”
  “WIMP! ASH, YOU’RE A WIIIIMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!”
  “Smoke, you’re giving me a migraine. Can you shut up for one minute?”
  “I dunno, CAN I??”
  “Shut up or I WILL hit you again.”
  Kittteh just stared silently and backed away, then slipped into the coffee shop unnoticed. She hurled herself into the bathroom, and hid in a stall. Her breathing was unsteady and quick-paced. She locked the stall door, and just crouched on the top of the toilet so her feet wouldn’t show under the door. She waited.
  Ly phased through the door. “Hey, is this stall occupied?”
  “YES! GET OUT!” Kittteh attempted to slap him in the face, but her hand phased right through his face and slammed on the side of the stall. She locked her eyes shut and bit her lip to prevent herself from screaming with pain. She took a few deep breaths and shook her hand rapidly.
  “Kid. Stop being so hysterical. They’re gone now. Besides, if someone came into the bathroom and heard you breathing like that, they’d think you were giving birth.” Ly phased his arm through the door again, then grabbed Kittteh’s ear and pulled her toward the door. He phased her through it. “Come on, I don’t have all day, I have a job to do.”
  <a job.?> Kittteh wondered as she followed the demon into the calm environment of the coffee shop. Ly hands her a donut, and he sits down at a table for two, away from the window where the trio was present.

*A few hours later*

Kittteh sits under a tree by the coffee shop, watching the clouds turn into puffy cotton candy. She reached out and pretended to grab some. Ly rolled his eyesockets.
  “You’re such a weird kid.” He disappears, then reappears about a minute later with a big armful of cotton candy clouds. He rips off a piece and eats it. “Mmmm...” Kittteh reaches for some, but her hand goes right through. “Kittteh, ya know clouds are just water vapor, right? The only reason I’m able to handle this is because I can levitate things with my mind, stupid. Besides, it just tastes like water.”
  “Boo, you make everything boring. You sound like a teacher.”
  “You’re calling me boring, after you waste an evening watching the sun set rather than going bowling with people who hate you?”
  “Aw, shut up.”

Everything was silent for a few minutes.

  “Hey, Kid, can I ask you a question?”
  “Hm, oh. Yea?”
  “If you were to die-“
  “Never mind.”
  “No, it’s NOT ‘never mind’.” He stared into her eyes coldly, and pinned her chest into the ground. Her body sank deeper and deeper into the soil. He stopped. “Oh, never mind.” His empty eyesockets twitched.
  Kittteh blankly stared, trying to process mwhat trick he had up his sleeve this time. “Hey, uh, you know what? I wanna go bowling. Let’s go!”
  Ly smiled and whispered, “You’re so easily to manipulate. You’d never survive a day without me.”
  They started walking towards the direction of the bowling alley. Ly looked around, skeptical. “Hey, kid. Stop.”
  “Yeah?”
  He pointed toward a tree to their left. Up in the branches laid a young man poorly hiding in a lime green shirt among the leaves. He seemed to be watching them. Ly and Kittteh look at each other, then keep walking. “Stupid kid.”
  “Ly, Why are you so negative all the time?”
  “I’m not negative. You want to see negative? I’ll show you negative.” Ly morphed and shifted into a teenage boy, about her age, with lip piercings, eyeliner, and black emo hair. He tapped his foot once, and a gun dropped into his hands, right on cue. He aimed it toward Kittteh’s head. “Pew pew.” He flipped the gun around and aimed it at his own face. “Ughhhh.... lifeee sucks............. stupid mom........ dad... ugh...... i hate that word....”
He pulled the trigger. Black ooze shot everywhere, coming from his head. It splatted on the bowling alley building, it splattered on the trees, it splattered all over the ground. Kittteh just stared blankly. “Ly?” She dropped down onto her knees. “LY??” She grabbed his shoulder and shook it fiercely. “LY! COME ONN!” She sniffled.
  He reformed instantly. “WHAT?”
  “Human blood is red.”
  “Oh, shut up. I know. I’ve been k- OH HEY LOOK!” His head snapped backwards, and his body replicated his motion about 2 seconds too late. He pointed at the young man who was in the tree, black ooze stuck on his face. He hung from a tree branch, kicking his legs fiercely. Ly teleported to where the young man was, and he grabbed the black ooze. It stayed stuck. He was now picking up this poor man by his head. He kicked his legs even more fiercely now, struggling to pull the ooze off his face, trying to get a gulp of air.
  “LY!! CUT IT OUT!!” Kittteh jumped on him. The ooze stuck to him, and as he pretended to fall backwards, the ooze came straight off the boy’s face. He gasped for air, then started coughing violently.
  Ly took a long, hard look at the boy, then nodded slightly. He smiled. “Go along then, kid. Go home.” The boy got up and sprinted away as fast as he could.

“Ly, how could he see you? I thought only certain people can.”
  “Do you know who that is?”
  “I only got here today??????”
  “He’s an old ‘friend’. His name’s Mal. He obviously doesn’t like attention, especially from me.
“I can see why.”