About Our Adventure in Lunapa PART 1 [Quinn Ayers]

Quite a long time had passed since Mae had saved Quinn and the others from the shadows in Lunapa. The whole ordeal had left both Mae and others worried about the future if these events would become more frequent now that the worlds had started merging... Or maybe it was the angels testing those with the potential... or perhaps it was some other force at work here...

Regardless, Mae had some explaining to do, and she had put it off long enough. She owe these newly awakened souls an explanation as to what was really going on. Sure, Quinn knew most of this stuff already due to Jack and the ranger meeting... But Mae couldn't just let it slide. She would just feel guilty if she did, so, without further delay, Mae sent a text over to Quinn's phone, asking if they could meet up at Edogawa Sushi, a resturant which Mae knew perfectly well the location of by now. She had visited that place on multiple occasions these last couple of weeks, getting to know Kei pretty well. He was a pretty good friend to have, although Mae honestly didn't understand how he could handle hanging out with Hyde as often as he did... Eh... Maybe it was just a guy thing. Who knows...

So, when all her preparations were complete, Mae took off for Penecia island. It didn't take very long for her to get to the resturant, as the girls legs walked there automatically at this point. She opened the door, after which she was promptly greeted by a "Welcome to Edogawa Sushi, how can I- Oh Hi, Mae! Nice to see you! What will it be today? The Usual?" Kei's cheerful voice always brought a smile on Mae's lips. He really was a nice guy. "Hehe, yeah. And you don't have to rush, I'm waiting for a friend to swing by." Mae scratched the back of her head. "Oh? Alright then... Just pick a seat." Mae did what she was told, grabbing a table by the window, having a perfect view over the beach. It really was getting warmer. It was already the end of April. Time sure moved fast...

They got the text from Mae while they were in the shower; though they didn't answer until they had exited and started out the bathroom door. Jack was supposed to be out doing his thing but instead he was sitting on their bed watching the Power Rangers movie. They had neglected to even think of wearing a towel, but he didn't notice so they ran back into the bathroom and threw on the clothes they had intended to wash; Mae wouldn't notice anyways. After calling the driver, they were on their way to the meeting spot. Upon arrival, they would enter the place quickly, finding Mae and sitting down in front of her. "Sorry I'm late, almost gave Jack a full frontal view..." They'd blush a bit, waving their hands in front of themself. "Nonono! He wasn't supposed to be home so I thought I could... N-Nevermind." After ordering sushi and allowing Mae to get hers, they would listen to whatever she had to say, feeling as if their face was turning the normal color it was supposed to be.

"Hey! Don't worry about it, have a seat!" Mae gave Quinny a gesture to sit down on the chair in front of Mae. "Wow, really? Oh yeah, how's that going for you two by the way?" The pinkette giggled slightly, remembering Jack's words. "Though I can understand the confusion... They are really cute..." Hearing him say that at that café had made Mae smile. She was happy for Jack, him finding a potential soulmate. "Now then, onto the matter at ha-" but before she could finish her sentence, Kei walked up to the two with their sushi ready. "Hehe, hope it tastes good. It's on the house." The red-head would give Mae and Quinn a gentle smile before returning back behind the counter, beyond an earshot's length away...

"Anyway, as I was saying... How are you feeling? You know... After the whole incident in Lunapa, I bet you have a ton of questions to ask... so go ahead. Ask away. I can't garantuee I can answer everything, but I'll try my best." Mae had a concerned look on her face, as she took a bite out of her fatty tuna piece. She remembered the confusion and nightmares that had haunted her after seeing that Minotaur... Julian had saved her, and thanks to him and Casper, she could cope with the aftermath... without them, she would probably not be sitting here, talking to Quinn about this.

Sushi was great in their eyes, but they never really had much of it since they were born in England, which didn’t support the country it came from; they mostly didn’t remember being there because of how young they were. But they had been to this place once or twice after they moved to the small region, but it had been at least a year since their last visit. “Jack and me? Er… I know he likes me, but my current gender might be turning him off so I’ve decided it’s not something I can think about right now.” They would move the hair out of their face, listening to Mae as she spoke. “Well Jack has already told me about most of the things I asked. I mostly want to talk about that shadow, and the connection to Lunpa.” This meeting did take place after the Ranger meeting and after Hikaru’s awakening, and this was something that they could only talk about with Mae. “Do you remember how exactly that Laima thing appeared? And do you also remember what Hikaru’s shadow said?”

"Thanks, Kei-kun!" Mae smiled brightly at him before she turned her attention to Quinn once again. "Don't worry about it. Just repaying a debt to a friend of mine, that's all." And with that, Kei went back behind the counter. "I knew it. He doesn't have a clue that you know though... I'm a little sad. You two would've been a cute couple." Mae was being honest. Jack needed a significant someone in his life, and Quinn did seem like a good contender. "You should've seen his face when your name was mentioned. I've never seen anyone blush that badly in my life." She giggled happily at this. "It's really endearing to see him lovestruck like that. It's a nice change from his Ranger-obsessed self." Not that she was looking down on him for being such a big fan of a tv-series. It was his life, and why should she condemn him for what he likes, as long as it isn't illegal or morbid, any hobby was fine in Mae's eyes.

So... Jack had done the most of the work for her. That made things a lot easier on her. "Ah... You mean the snake-lady?" Mae thought back to the events on Lunapa. "Honestly, I don't know much... I do know it's happened on multiple occassions beforehand, so this is not an isolated instance. The thing that worries me the most... is that these Shadows popped up in our world. Normally, they are not supposed to do that. Time seemed to freeze when it happened... but what if next time it doesn't, and innocents are caught in the crossfire? That would be awful." She shuddered at the thought. Sharaku had voiced his concerns about this as well... In fact, it was all thanks to him that Mae knew all this... "As for the connection to Lunapa... I have no clue..." Which worried Mae. If there was no direct pattern, or connection to the areas these "Mass Awakenings" happened in, then stopping them would be hard. "Well, yeah. It appeared out of a tree right? The Lunapa Oak, if I'm not mistaken?" Why did that shadow appear out of the Oak anyway? Had it been hiding there all along?

Now... the second part of the question was something Mae had been thinking about as well... "Ah, the Goth girl... I remember. She had led Shadow Hikaru to the spot... Whoever it is, she holds some power, being capable of steering shadows like that... And I guess she was the one who threw me and Hikaru into the Paralell Worlds to awaken... Whoever this goth chick is, we know one thing for certain. She's dangerous and needs to be stopped at all costs." Like hell she would let that bitch get away with almost killing her in that desert...

Laughing a bit, they would quickly comment on the Jack thing. “He’s oblivious to anything really, but he’s still really sweet nonetheless.” The awakening talk did darken the conversation, which caused Quinn to go serious. “It appeared out of the tree, but those first things didn’t feel like hostile shadows until they were attacked. They were like a test for us and then something changed, that Laima was there to kill us.” The comment by the shadow had been bothering them since they had assisted him. At first they thought of normal people they knew that fit that description, but then they thought of something else and the pieces seemed to fit together. “Onto the awakening a few days ago, I feel like this ‘Goth Chick’ is either an Angel or a Primordial. I feel like a Primordial fits more but it could be a corrupted Angel or something. Either way, something is testing us in dangerous ways and it doesn’t feel good.”

"Hehe, he is a nice guy. A good friend of mine too. I actually met him during my first day at Zela Academy." Thinking back on it, that lunchbreak seemed like it had taken place ages ago, when in reality, only about 4 months had passed since then. "I don't think he's gonna find that part an issue... I just have a feeling. The way he talks about you makes it seem pretty real to me." Mae shrugged lightly, before taking another bite out of her sushi.

"Yeah... Now that you mention it. That was rather strange. It's almost like they were giving you three a chance to awaken properly first. Like... A test. That's a good way of putting it." But then there was the matter of the Lamia. "I wonder... The intention was of course to kill us... but I have a feeling it was another "Part" of the test. We did survive, thankfully." Mae looked out the window, lost in thought... Why had that large Shadow attacked them the way it did?

Mae was pulled out of her thinking by Quinn's voice. "Either one of those... Or it could be someone else holding the same powers we do..." Niether of the three prospects sounded good... "Well... Whoever it is, she needs to be stopped. She's dragging innocents into this mess... For all I know, she could've been the kidnapper who threw me into that desert..." She was of course referring to her own awakening, although Quinn did not know that... If she needed to go into more detail on the subject, she would do so... hesitantly of course...

They'd blush a bit; why were the both of them still talking about Jack anyways? "... What does he say about me when he mentions me?" The curiosity wasn't something they could deny, especially since he apparently had a certain way he spoke about them in the first place. Throwing the conversation back on track, they would "If someone is testing us, they have a very good plan, it's as if they're one of those super villians that has been planning this for years and years. What's even scarier than that, is that they seem to be able to manipulate reality in a way, which isn't something easy to fight at all." It was true, they seemed to freeze time and they had the ability to summon those creatures. Fighting these entities would be dificult, but they may be able to do it with a lot of help. "Dragging people into worlds so they can face their shadows? It seems like she either wants us to awaken to our personas, or wants the shadows to win... What would even happen if a shadow beats their original?"

"Well, he finds you cute. He likes you quite a bit, may I add." Mae chuckled, taking a sip of her drink before continuing on. "Yeah. It does seem very well planned. Then again, when it's something on this scale, I don't think they want any mishaps to occur... And that is a scary thought. How are we supposed to fight against something like that? Oh well, all we can do at this point is try..."

"Maybe it's a little bit of both? It's almost as if... it's two people pulling the strings. One is trying to get people to awaken, while the other is trying to stop that from happening..." It was an interesting idea, that's for sure. A little out there maybe... but nowadays, nothing suprised Mae anymore. She had been through alot... and the way things were going... a whole lot more was about to come...

Quinn had accepted the angel, and accepted a new power for them to use. Basically, nothing much had changed at all, but they felt stronger. Like they could take more hits and maybe kill more things with their parasol, but it wasn't like they went through some super change like Jack and Nagisa did. "I kinda figured... I'll do something to really let him know eventually, just have to figure out what it is." They'd laugh a bit, placing their hand on their face to think. "And yeah, this person is really smart. But yeah, two people fighting eachother? Maybe they're testing which one of ends up like what... Like betting? Gaining allies? What happens when you die to your shadow anyways? They scream about being free, so does that mean your shadow becomes you and has all that power? Cause if so, we should be helping people face their shadows twenty-four seven."

"I wish you good luck with that. It ain't easy, let me tell you. I'll help out in any way I can, if you wish." Mae chuckled happily. Helping people out with things was just something she liked to do. Ayane was the same, of course. Perhaps even moreso than Mae. "Friends got to stick up for eachother, you know?"

"Well, whatever it is, it's been happening more frequently as of late... and I'm not sure I like where it's going..." She frowned a bit. Was there a pattern to it? Or were the instances really random? If it was the former... maybe they could prevent a kidnapping? "Well... Since they are talking about freedom... I assume they take their originals place... I'm not sure anyone would be willing to chase around shadows 24/7... Perhaps it would be just easier to find some sort of pattern in the kidnappings. That way, we could prevent it from ever occuring... Assuming there is indeed a pattern..." She could be completely off base with this. But a little brainstorming never hurt, right?

"Let's stop talking about Jack for a while, we have more pressing matters to talk about than a relationship that most likely won't ever happen. We can save this chat for another time." Smiling, they would cross their legs, one over the other. Quinn started to look around, making sure no one was paying attention to what the two had been talking about. "What about this Thesis? And that guy with the name that starts with an 'A?' Those might be the things causing these events. And I tried studying the patterns, but it seems random; something that we can't track. I'm sure they're just plucking anyone that looks like their shadow is ready to take over, throwing them into the world and telling their shadows to seek freedom." Placing their hand on their chin, they would begin to think long and hard about this entire process. The entire situation seemed annoying and pointless in the long run, but apparently these people wanted to start a fight. "If it is Thesis, and what I've heard is true, we're up for a very diffacult battle. Some of us might die on this path for the future, and that in itself would be horriable, but if it's for the greater good it might be needed."