Beginning Task: Nature's Time Bomb

The Morning After
Though everyone had enjoyed the celebrations of the night before, the next morning had sent the entirety of Merow City into a collective hangover. Many took the day off to recuperate and or to throw up there own misjudged level of alcohol tolerance. One of the worst cases was Fiona, who had spent most of the night uncomfortably tossing and turning in her bed. Earlier than most, Fiona had found her way to the bathroom, and was now draped over the toilet waiting for whatever was coming. The commotion had woken her sister Kat who rushed into the bathroom to help in any way she could. As she held Fiona's hair back, she said. "Just let it happen, no use trying to keep it down." Trying to be as comforting as she could.

Fiona emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet as she moaned in pain, feeling the virbations of the entire room ringing through her head as she finished and looked over to her sister, "If you ever see me reaching for a bottle ever again, you have my permission to dunk me in this toilet and hold me until the bubbles stop, because death is so much more soothing than this." She said throwing up again, flushing the toilet as she leaned over and cried in her big sister's shoulder.

"Aww, it isn't so bad." Kat said, rubbing Fiona's head. "Besides, drinking with that Zaraki will only lead to trouble. Especially for someone as inexperienced at drinking as you are." She said, playfully poking at Fiona's belly.

Fiona moaned as she felt her head pounding like someone was playing drums on it, "So what's on task for this morning, aside from making this horrible headache go away?" She said trying to stand up, but finding herself grabbing something to level herself out.

"Mage work." Kat said flopping down on a couch. "Got to make money somehow. But I think Jon can make you something to help with the hangover." Watching Fiona stumble around for a bit, Kat sighed. She got up and lifted her sisters arm around her neck. "Come on trooper. Let's go to the guild."

She went to the sink, brushing her teeth before rinsing it and moving with Kat to get dressed and head out to the guild to look for some of the jobs they have.

While walking to Blazing Soul, several people waved at the sisters. Fiona waved back, but didn't recognise any of the faces of the people in town. She just assumed they knew her from the night before, but still felt uncomfortable with so many people recognising her.

As they reached the guild, they were greeted by a fairly short elderly man glasses sweeping the floor. He glanced over to the girls when they open toe door and said. "Ah, hello ladies." he quickly pulled up a chair for them both. As Fiona slumped down in one of them, he asked. "So I heard from Zumma that the guild master glutton liked my cooking." Trying to make small talk.

"Yeah worked exactly how you said it would Jon." Kat said, but she quickly changed the subject. "But we got a new problem for you here. We need something for a hangover, a Zaraki level hangover." Pointing to Fiona who was slumped over the table and rubbing at her temples with her fingers. "Something fast."

"Hohoho, alright give me a minute." Jon said, strolling off through a door next to the bar. A few sounds could be hired as he worked, metal clanking on metal, the sound of a fire lighting, dishes clacking together, all sorts of things one would to expect to come from a kitchen. A short time later, he emerged again with a plate of steaming meat and vegetables on a bed of brown rice in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Here you go miss." he said as he placed the dish in front of Fiona.

"Are you trying to heal me or torture me?" Fiona said looking at them both with a sad yet confused look, Fiona could barley hold down a piece of toast, now they were expecting her to eat what looked like it was cooked in a five star restaurant.

"It's just a feeling, you'll be fine." Jon said, placing his hands behind his back. "Veggies and rice boost metabolism, so it'll pass within an hour at most." He encouraged.

She moaned in pain, taking a fork as she took in a large helping, being careful to chew slowly as she shallowed it, feeling it already kicking in as she kept eating more and more until it was all gone. "Wow, I didn't expect it to already take effect".

Kat giggled a little, while Jon laughed. "Hohoho. Well I do what I can." he then finished sweeping, took Fiona's empty plate, and headed back into the kitchen to proper for the rest of the day.

After Jon disappeared for his kitchen for the day, Kat looked back at Fiona and said. "So what kind of job did you want to head out on lil' sis?"

"I...I get to pick? Usually mother would often just give me whatever job she thought I could handle and I just did it" Fiona said with a blush on her face, embaressed that she was still in habit with her mother, something she never wanted to be part of again.

"Well, time for a change of pace." she said, loosing her smile for a second. She jumped to her feet, grabbed Fiona's arm and dragged her over to a billboard hanging opposite from the bar. Kat leaned back on a railing and said. "Come on, pick one. Completely up to you."

Fiona looked over at some of the jobs, wondering what kind she should choose, then finding an interesting one hidden among the bunch. It was one where they needed two mages from the guild to be able to perform at a special festival held in the next city over. "Why not this one? Seems like it would be a fun job to do" She said passing it over to Kat, secretly wanting to see what a festival really was since she had never officialy been in one before.

"Oh cool, it's right by the ocean." Kat said reading the paper over. "Alright, time to have some fun." Pulling FIona towards herself by the hip. Just as Fiona smiled up at her, Kat remembered something. "Oh yeah, you still don't have our guild mark do you?" she said poking Fiona on the forehead.

"No, as I recall, I had asked you for it when the party started, but you told me to loosen up which resulted in me drinking Zaraki's sake" She said glaring at her sister playfully.

Kat smiled back in her usual goofy fashion. "Nope, don't remember any of that." She hen pulled Fiona over to the bar. She reached over the bar top and retrieved what looked like a stamp from underneath. "Come on, where do you want it?" She said, hovering it all over Fiona's body.

"Okay take it easy, it's like you want to do something to me" She said lifting up her shirt to reveal the scar where her mother implanted the Lacirma into her. "This spot is as good as any, I'll forget the past and I move onto the future with you sis" She said with a confident tone.

Kat pressed the stamp over Fiona's scar, then pushed a small button on the top. There was a slight glow for a moment, then Kat removed the stamp. What was left was a green version of the Blazing Soul emblem on the skin where the stamp was, almost completely obscuring Fiona's scar. "Alright, all done." Kat said, leaning back to admire it. "What do you think?"

"That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" She said with a smile, putting her shirt down as she looked back at her sister, "Well, we better pack up our gear and head out, I can't wait to do my official first mission!" She said with excitement as Kat hugged her tightly and walked beside her back to their house.

Spare Time
It took almost half the day, but Kat and Fiona had finally arrived in the city of the festival. As Kat strolled through the town, Fiona was stopping at every turn to watch some new thing. Before they had realized it, an hour had past and the two of them had only traveled a few blocks. Watching Fiona stare in amazement made Kat smile. "You know, we could just take the day to enjoy ourselves." she said while waving her hand around at the surroundings. "If you wanted."

"You sure? I know we have a job to do...." She said anxious to hear what Kat had to say, secretly hoping that she said yes so she could see what kind of things people did in these festival's.

"Well, I'm an S-Class, and you sort of picked a D-rank job." Kat began to explain. "So we could have the job done in around half an hour. Then I guess we could do whatever we want with the rest of the day." She grinned at Fiona as she saw her eyes light up. "What do you say?"

"YES!!" Fiona said smiling widely and jumping around like a school girl before she realized what was happening and calmed down, blushing as she coughed awkwardly. "Sure, it would be quite interesting..." She said before looking over to see Kat on the floor laughing.

Her face turned red as Kat got her laughter under control. "You know, I can read you like a book." She said wiping a tear from her eye. Kat then grabbed at Fiona's hand, snapping her out of her embarrassment for a second, just enough to hear her say. "Come on lil' sis, time to live a little." She then began pulling her down the street, towards a larger crowd of people and more venders on the streets.

The duo began to look throughout the festival, checking out much of the talent and foods that could be seen in some of the booths. Fiona was amazed by what she saw, especially the game booths, something she never got to do. But as she dug into her pocket, she remembered that she had never gotten paid before for any jobs, making her feel sad as she wanted to play some of the games.

A tap on her shoulder made her turn her attention to Kat, who was standing next to her with a small bag of cash in her outstretched arm. "S, class, mage, Remember?" She took Fiona's hand and placed the bag in her palm. "As sick as it makes me to say it, Mom had one thing right. Family's suppose to help each other out." She said, quoting their psychotic mother, though in a more snarky voice that made Fiona laugh a little. "Try whatever you want."

"Oh thank you so much big sis!!" Fiona said with a squeal as she ran and hugged her tightly, grabbing the bag and her sister's hand before the duo made their first stop at one of the games.

Fiona slid a couple coins into an arcade game, and waited as a magic Archive screen flashed up in front of her. Watching from over Fiona's shoulder, Kat smiled to herself. As Fiona played her game, Kat but couldn't help but remember the first festival she had gone to with her parents.

Flashback 29 years Earlier

A 3 year old Kat ran through a hall of venders, looking with wonder at the various items on display. She quickly turned back to grab her parents by the arms and pull them after her. "Come on, hurry up." she said impatiently, togging with all the strength her small body would allow.

"Honey, take it easy, you'll get lost if you're impatient. The festival will go on for three days, we have plenty of time to check everything out" A young Sabriel Gulwick said as she picked up her daughter with her husband walking next to them and giving them both a kiss on the cheek.

"I know." Kat whined impatiently. She leaned over and began kicking about, trying to get out of her mothers grasp, "But I want to do it all now."

Her Father stepped up beside Sabriel and patted Kat's head. "We will Kat, we will. Just have patience." Though Kat's squirming hadn't changed, and she soon got loose of her mothers arms. As she ran off into the crowd, her Father laughed. "You know, I remember a time when she would have been content to just be held by you." He said to his wife.

"Yeah, her feet really wanna take her places don't they?" Sabriel said with a smile on her face as her husband nodded and went off running to find their daughter before she ended up in any trouble. Sabriel went running after them, eventually finding them both looking at a petting zoo where she saw Kat petting a goat as her father watched, "I see you have found some new friends Kat" She said with a smile as her daughter was laughing.

As the goat licked her hand, Kat looked up at her parents with big puppy dog eyes. "Can we keep him?" She asked earnestly.

"Honey, it belongs to the fair, his home is here, you wouldn't want to be taken away from your home would you?" Sabriel asked kneeling down next to Kat as she used her puppy dog eyes to try and convince her father, but immediatly saw Sabriel's "speak and you die" look on her face.

"Listen to your mother Kat." He said, laughing a little to himself. He took a quick look around and spotted an arcade across from the petting zoo. Knowing it would get her mind off owning a pet he said. "How about we head over there?" Just as he had expected, Kat nodded and took off towards it, leaving him and Sabriel in the dust.

"Well at least we got her off having a pet, last thing we need is her not taking care of it and leaving us to do the work" She said looking over and sighing, "Though you're paying for her games" She said laughing before she took off after Kat.

"Hey, if it get's us out of keeping a goat out of the house, I'll pay for it all." He said laughing. Sabriel chuckled as well, then the two of them followed after there daughter.

Back to the Present

Kat stood reminiscing, she had failed to see that Fiona had ended her game and wondered off. "Fiona?" she called, only just noticing her missing. Looking around she chuckled a little to herself. "Wonder if this place has got a zoo." She then walked away, searching for her little sister.

Kat began her walk, looking through each of the areas, hoping to find her sister until she arrived at the petting zoo, seeing her in the middle with some of the animals near her as she had a rabbit in her lap as she petted it. Fiona heard footsteps and looked to see her sister smiling at her. "Hey, sorry you seemed lost in thought and I decided to go check out some stuff" She said putting the rabbit down.

"It's ok." Kat said, amazed by the massive feeling that she had been there before. Seeing the rabbet she thought for a moment, then said. "Sorry, we can't have pets at the apartment."

"Awww, I was really hoping to have a pet that didn't try to bite my own head off after I fed it" Fiona said with a natural tone as she walked over to her sister, "So where do you wanna head to next? I'm sure there are some spots you wanna check out too" She said as Kat thought about it for a minute.

"Naw, this is your day. You decide." Kat saud turning Fiona around to face the rest of the town.

She smiled and grabbed Kat's arm, going into the festival to enjoy what it had to offer, including the great amount of good many of the venders were celling. Fiona stopped at a candy vender, looking at some of the amazing stuff they had to offer. A small dribble of drool could be seen as her eyes sparkled at the candy that was in front of her.

Kat saw this and smiled to herself, then poked Fiona in the belly. "Just be carful that you don't eat to much. You'll ruin your girlish figure." She said with a huge grin.

"I've never had candy before..." She said grabbing a jewel and giving it to the vender, taking a lollipop and beginning to nibble on it, "Yummy!!!" Her cheeks blushed and her eyes twinkled as if she had found the greatest thing in the entire world. "How could I not have these sooner?!" She said before continuing to lick it while Kat grabbed something for herself.

"Well..." Kat began before taking a bite out of a chocolate bar. "I'd say you had a pretty good excuse." Fiona didn't seem to hear her, but Kat decided it best not to repeat herself. She chocked the time, then said. Alright, time to get to work. Ready lil' sis?"

Fiona awed as she heard that they had to go to work, but knowing that it was her first official job as a mage of the Blazing Soul, she knew that it would be more exciting than anything she could of imagined. "Alright, the mission said that we needed to speak to the manager to see what we're suppose to do" She said passing the paper to her sister as she finished her lollipop.

"Yep." Kat said taking Fiona by the arm. "Come on, let's go." She strolled off, dragging Fiona along behind her.

What Was Done
Kat and Fiona stood in a small office at the edge of town that was being used to plan the festival. It was mostly empty, except for a few people running in and out to check papers. In front of them stood a small man in a suite, whom Kat asked. "So what do you want us to do?"

"Thank you for answering our request, our audience has always seen our preformers, but we never had anyone with magical abilities before, so we decided to post this request on your guild when we arrived in this region" The manager said looking at both of them. In his mind, he was amazed at how two young woman could have large endowments, but did his best to keep himself calm.

"Interesting, between the two of us, I think we can handle it, how bout you sis?" Fiona said looking over to Kat who nodded in agreement.

"Hell yes we can." Kat said enthusiastically while going into a muscle flexing pose. "Whatever you got boss man, the two of us can do it no problem."

"Great, you're spot will be on after the animal trainer's, please try not to go too far with the magic, some of the animals can spook very easily" He said handing them the schedule before walking away to go prepare the other acts.

"So what magic's do you have sis? I've never honestly seen them before aside from back in Genosha" She said looking at her sister.

"Well, you just about saw everything I can do." Kat said as the two walked out of the tent. "I got Shadow Magic, that I use to get around easy. Then I got a Take Over form that turns my hair green and gives me wings." Kat took a moment to think while touching her finger to her lips. "Oh, and I got this other form that lets me shoot fire. It's real scary." She said while using her shadow magic to make a shadow fall over her head in a vain attempt to make herself intimidating.

"Interesting, only thing I got is Slowing Magic and Velocity Magic. I think I might have to go second, I'm sure everyone will enjoy to see your magic more than mine" She said looking over at the shadow that Kat was making.

Kat jumped up and caught her sister around the neck with her arm. "No way, this is your job. Your turn to strut your stuff." Kat said pulling Fiona along.

Right when Fiona was about to respond, the manager returned with two bags, "I had almost forgotten, the two of you are required to wear costumes, but I'm not so sure if these will fit you properly" He said handing them both the bag before running off.

"I wonder why he would think that?" Fiona asked looking inside the bag.

Five Minutes Later

"I cannot believe he actually expects us to wear this!" Fiona said in an angry tone as she checked herself in the dressing room.

"Aw, don't be a downer." Kat said from the other side of the curtain. "Let's see." As Fiona stepped out, they both saw that they where wearing identical costumes. Both sisters had on what looked like a showy green bikini, adorned with gold beads and other ornaments. They had a par of ornament sandals with bands that reached up to there knees and a pair of large gold bracelets decorated with jewels. Lastly, they both had a large feathered headdress with feathers long enough to reach down to the flat of there backs. "What are you complaining about? We look awesome." she said trying to encourage her.

Fiona stepped out, trying to make sure that her bikini didn't slip out to reveal her assets, "Ugh, it's just I've never been the type to wear these kind of skimpy clothing, especially when others will be watching" She said trying not to move around too much as she made sure everything would stick on securely.

"You'll be fine." Kat said while taking Fiona's hand. "Come on, time to go to work."

After taking a bit of time to get some food in their bellies, they finally made their way to the back of the stage as many of the people were preparing for their performance's, all of them going over their acts one more time with their assistants or partners. The Manager came up to the duo with a smile on his face.

"The two of you look very dashing in those clothes. Alright we will be saving you two as our main attraction, so for now just enjoy watching the show" He said running along to talk with his other co-workers. Kat was amazed at what some of the people were doing, but still noticed her sister looking around with the same look of excitement on her face as well.

"I can't believe we're finally going to be starting our first mission together" She said completely forgetting about her nervousness and the fact she was wearing almost revealing clothing.

Kat took a big bite of her food, then grinned at Fiona. "Well, let's make it one to remember then. What do you say?" She asked with her usual grin before taking another bite of food.

Fiona nodded in agreement as she went to the curtain to check in on what the show was all about.

Two hours passed after the introduction as many of the acts were seen to give quite a show to everyone in the audience, from animal tamers having the beasts do crazy stunts, to amazing acrobatic's that pushed people right to the edge of their seats as many were awestruck by their movements. After many were seen going back to their spots, the manager came out into the middle as he had a microphone in his hand.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we have a special treat for you, in honor of our arrival here in the region of Bantia, we've brought in two mages from it's best guild, introducing the Blazing Soul Sister's, Kat Myre and Fiona Gulwick!!!" He said as the spot light shined down on the two sisters as they walked up, waving with big smiles on their faces and reaching the platform.

Fiona winked as much of the crowd began to wolf-whistle, knowing she got them where she wanted. Fiona drew out some of her throwing knifes, smiling as she quickly threw them in different directions. Using her Slowing Magic to keep them afloat in mid-air, many of the audience members look at her amazement as they were seeing the knifes just floating there.

The knives hung in the air for a moment, then Kat used her shadow magic to create a black spiral around them. Slowly, the knives began to rotate around the two girls, leaving small black trails behind them giving them the appearance of comets. Kat stepped closer and took Fiona's hand, then raised both there arms into the air as the audience roared in response.

Fiona focused her magic back into the knifes as she and Kat moved their hands up, causing the knifes to move up as well, however, this time a bright glow appeared on them, causing to double their speed as they disappeared and reappeared in instances, as if they were different comets swirling around the area. This made everyone cheer as Fiona brought them back into her hands, bowing down as she moved aside to let her sister do her bit.

Kat did a small bow before starting. A magic circle appeared on the ground below her, then she morphed into her Demon Soul: Lilim form. Though her costume disappeared, the clothes of her take over form weren't very different, causing many people in the audience to assume it was part of the show. Kat slowly floated into the air with her wings, then began to dance around the stage mid air. The crowd cheered as they watched Kat move, Fiona as well, as Kat created a series of magic lights from her palms.

Fiona smiled as she focused and manifested an aura around her, causing her movements to go faster and faster as Kat was now going at an incredible speed.

Suddenly, the earth below them began to shake slightly. Kat noticed this and stopped her dance, looking through the audience to make sure nobody was injured. "Lady's and gentlemen, please remain calm and in your seats. The earthquake will pass momentarily." The managers voice over the PA system rang out.

Seconds later, the shaking slowed and eventually stopped. The audience breathed a collective sigh of relief while Kat glided back to the stage to check on her sister. "Didn't know we could get those here." She said, still looking out at the audience. But once she laid eyes in Fiona she stopped, as Fiona had doubled over in pain and was clutching her stomach. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"My... stomach..... in......PAIN!!!!!!" She yelled as suddenly the earthquake returned only this time much stronger as it appeared to resonate with a powerful glow that was appearing from Fiona. In that instant, she touched the ground and it seemed to show the earth actually moving up her arms and over her as if it was trying to swallow her whole.