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Terra rushed to the cafeteria, desperate to get something in her stomach. After making her way through the line that twisted and turned all over, she finally made her way to the counter. And she almost instantly lost her appetite. Terra moped across the cafeteria, looking for a seat. To say she was disappointed with her lunch was an understatement. Sitting upon her tray was something that could only vaguely be called food. Some type of ground substance, possibly meat, was covered in an unknown sauce with a very disagreeable color. On the side was a not-so-fresh-looking mix of vegetables inundated with salad dressing. As hungry as Terra was, she wasn't hungry enough to take a chance with mystery meat.

At last Terra found an open table on the far side of the cafeteria. While she certainly wasn't going to eat her lunch, she was at least able put her head down and rest a little. That is, until someone decided to take this opportunity to pick on her.

"Hey it's that weirdo girl!" called out an unpleasantly familiar voice. Terra lifted her head up, only to be greeted by that rude girl from first period and her clique. Terra wanted no part of this. She just wanted some peace and quiet to herself now that lunch was not an option. In fact, Terra was just about ready to give the girl a piece of her mind.

"Listen, you--" was the most she could get out before being interrupted. The ground began to shake rather unnaturally as Terra was about to utter something foul. The normal chatter of the cafeteria was replaced by panicked screams. Nearby staff members tried to make themselves heard, telling students to duck and cover. Terra had other ideas, though. She made her way to the quad and found nearly everyone outside staring in the same direction.

A massive black pillar of energy shot towards the sky from the town square; the square itself appeared to be the epicenter for the tremors that accompanied the ominous pillar. Terra couldn't help but stare, completely awe-struck. She only managed to look away after she noticed an orange light right in front of her. The topaz necklace Terra wore at all times began to glow brightly, as if it was reacting to the pillar. Or something, or even someone else. Terra hadn't the slightest clue why it was glowing or what the glowing meant, but she somehow felt compelled to leave the school grounds.

The ground shaking continued to steadily increase. From the core of the town, the intensity rippled out, much like a stone that had fallen in water. Each wave spread further, taking the new damage even a bit more outward, each heartbeat of the town coursing fresh chaos as it staccato'ed. The town of Barton was the largest city Hydro knew of. She'd never laid eyes on more buildings, hear the constant murmur of so much life living so closely knitted. While it possessed the certain calm of night, it brightly and audibly greeted the light of morning. By noon, one could have gotten easily swept along in the teaming crowds if it were not but two days earlier.

As the odd girl from the sea was glued to the very heart of this town by the ripping wound, she felt a strange appreciation to the city. How many people had lived lives here over many years, stepping along the cobblestone streets? How long had it taken to lay the small stones to create cobblestone roads, homes, buildings to sell wares? How many people dashed across the through-ways to greet friends, family, and walked to school, to their jobs. How long had the pure, innocent energy from the daily lives of people filled bright energies into this place...making thin chains of an endless cluster of power, likely the unknowing seal of this dark power now running rampant like a wild animal broken from a cage. The world had shaken the night before and crows had filled the sky the day prior, and a normal day in Barton could no longer hold down the long negated darkness. Now that geyser of dark energy was only being held by a flimsy, cracking shield.

Shards of the shield still fell like snowflakes, melting into raindrops as defeated shield pieces fell from the sky. The ground in the square showed the evidence of the tremors, the fountain nearly shattered and what water had been left shaking worse than being hit by a rainstorm. Stress fractures where starting to crumble the cobblestone, leaving the entire center of town with random tracing of spider silk thin lines of minuscule black paths, capillaries of dark energy inching to spread.

Hydro turned at the sound of a voice, a flurry of pink energy, a kaleidoscope* arcing out to surround the dark energy pillar, and the darkness retracted at the pure pink light. The ground also stopped shaking. Unable to keep the shield up any longer, Hydro saw it turn to mist. The pillar of energy flickered, and Hydro turned to look at the suited warrior that had arrived. A senshi she had seen yesterday, but now she could appreciate the warm, gentle pink light that came from the warrior's wand.

Hydro's knees shook, having almost lost enough energy to stand. She wanted to make an effort to move her feet, but her angelic rod clattered a chime against the ground, her wrists felt as though vices hand encircled them and then she noticed. Her hands, her feet were all dark as soot. Lines of energy from the dark pillar and entangled around her wrists and ankles.
In desperation she looked up at the pillar. It seemed no taller than the buildings around it, the pink fragments of light still surrounding it. Her eyes darted back at the pillar that ensnared her, and saw another beam of dark energy lash out and whip around her torso. She glanced desperately for a breath at the strange pink warrior, "Yin! Please..." she tried to shout, but light faded around her as the dark energy pulled her in. Her sight faded to nothing as she disappeared into the dark pull of chaos.

*(one of the proper names for a group of butterflies)

After having found her way free from the fleeing throng of people Seren stopped to catch her breath and looked back towards the square, a flash of pink seemed to suddenly appear and dissipate the dark pillar, but still she felt uneasy, she stood there debating whether to attempt to find Lunette or the guy she had dragged with them.

"No don't try and take it on yourself," Aylin yelled at the retreating young teen, “Come on you two.”

Aylin let out a frustrated sigh as the young teen ran off towards Barton Square. Following after her, with Kai keeping in step, Aylin silently prayed that the young teen wouldn't do anything rash. The moment they arrived at the square Aylin saw the young teen fighting to stop a pillar of black energy with pink energy in the shape of butterflies. And then she saw it a blue haired young woman was being engulfed within the pillar of dark energy. As the young woman vanished into the energy and the trembling quakes ended, Aylin knew something had to be done to stop black energy and save the young woman.

"You have to do something. I don't think that young girl can last for very long on her own," Kai commented.

"Right," Aylin replied with a sharp nod.

Moving into position Aylin quickly fired off her most trusted attack, "Lumen Sphaerae!"

As the ball of light hit the pillar of dark energy Aylin reached behind her back to pull out her rapier as she called forth another light sphere. If anything happened to the young teen or the pillar changed for the worse Aylin was ready to attack.

Prim was relieved to hear Aylin's voice, she felt that there was more hope and with Aylin's help there was more power to stop the darkness. Prim could feel Aylin's energy connecting with her own. Prim held on with her attack, the kaleidoscope kept going. There was a sudden swoop from above that also cut the pillar; it was the shape of a male in an armored suit with wings. Prim thought the more people that helped the more the more the pillar would give. She turned to see how the azure-haired girl was fairing. It seemed as though now the pillar had become a vortex around the girl she was trying to save. "Ahh... no!" Prim tried pulling Hydro from the dark energy, but to no avail. She fell back as the dark energy struck her. Prim laid there but mustered energy to go back to Hydro's side. It was no use it seemed like nothing she did could pull Hydro from the dark embrace. Prim's eyes filled with tears from the feeling of hopelessness.

Charm wanted nothing more than to rest her wings. She was able to fly long distances usually, but not through day and night and another day. However, she knew with a dark energy pillar rising into the sky, she needed to assess the situation. She was supposed to be the eyes and ears of this area for her master, however reluctantly she served said person. She tried to trail behind the pixie, thinking a fellow magical creature would be the easiest to follow, despite every feather on herself being tired and her magical sense worn out as well.
If only I had my regular form, I'd be there already but that was out of the question. So she tried her best to follow these curious girls to the black pillar that stretched high into the atmosphere, hoping that foolish blue haired girl was not anywhere near it. Charm recalled well that the first time she met the strange girl she'd nearly flown into a duel between a light and dark dragon and was nearly knocked out of the sky for that foolishness. Somehow, this seemed worse.

The amount of strangeness in the heart of Barton had to be noted. As a winged creature floated above, oddly unnoticed as a fluttering white airborne being, she haphazardly made her way into the city. It's worth mentioning that there was a giant energy pillar and several suited persons in a crumbling city center for an angel imp to go unnoticed, even in a smaller form. In fact, Charm was right down invisible but not blind as she observed three persons who certainly stuck out. Past the fleeing residents of Barton Town there were those who stood against the appearance of the dark, negative energy pillar. Charm arrived as one girl, with butterfly motif and pink can't miss hair held her own against the strange energy. Still, that had to be the origin of the pink fluttering lights that continued to surround the pillar. Charm seemingly had caught up to the girls she'd followed from outside Barton, near the tree where she had nearly collapsed.

There was the pixie, too, casting a light sphere that sizzled into the pillar, Charm was uncertain if it did actual damage because her attention drew quickly to a winged warrior, and had to fight the inclination to fly out of the way. The warrior in full armor and with a deft sword slashed at the pillar in mid air, which trembled but didn't fade. More energy came from another source Charm could not see and witness loop itself around the black energy structure. Strangely similar in appearance, but seemingly of a more positive wavelength than the column threatening the town. The pillar swallowed some of this power into itself, though this would be hard to discern except to the most magically attuned.

Desperately wanting to retreat, but halted, Charm recognized a glittering object on the ground, and quickly swooped down to grab it. She knew this staff, an angelic rod that usually was in the hands of the very girl she was looking for. Charm could feel only a whisper of magical energy in the rod and such a thing should not be. Only extreme use of magic would drain the rod this much. However, it might explain why she couldn't sense Hydro, if the girl's magical energy was spent there was no way for Charm to find her in that manner.

Beyond the warriors and their attacks the faint shimmer of pink had made it through to the core of the expanding negative energy. The pillar frizzled, revealing damage making its semi-solid state even less solid. If one had stronger than human sight, they could possibly discern a figure inside the pillar. However, no one not even the girl inside the pillar, could see the shifting energies fighting one another. The negative energy struck out against these attacks, not giving up it's new freedom easily. Familiar with entrapping, it continued to spiral around who had tried to hold a shield against it. Though drained of energy, deep thoughts in the girl's subconscious contained a certain despair that suited the negative force; it continued to pull around her, weaving against butterfly pink energy to resist any healing chance of the pure pink healing force. Perhaps it was better, that she were not awake as flames were summoned into the battlefield as well. The sight of flames would've certainly frightened her in her extremely weakened state.

Physically the girl was already suffering from darkening skin, and unconscious she remained completely unaware of the take of her skin and hair as the dark spread over her skin and clothing. If not for the state of affairs within the energy beam, one could admire the twilight appearance of things, but what little brightness was quickly fading. This negative energy had sought escape and now sought more, to keep from being sealed by light energy once more. However, the energy drew back into it self some, it's height only that of the surrounding buildings rather than the atmosphere shaking stature the moments before the suited warriors came to Barton's defense.