The next day, Numi didn't have class. In fact, the Marketplace was open, so almost all classes were out that day. Rukhar and Callie were digging through the heaps of loot they had from hunting in their storage units, trying to find things to sell.

"What are you doing?" Numi asked, watching Callie scroll through the complex menus on her storage unit.

"Rukhar and I are going to the village for the marketplace." Callie explained.

"The village? Lily said she lives there! Can I come too? Please?" Numi gave Callie her biggest puppy eyes.

"Rukhar and I won't be able to watch you..." Callie started. "But we can ask if 3 can."

"Melody? Ok..." Numi said.

"She's nice. Relax." Callie patted Numi's head. Then she called 3 on her headset.

2 minutes later.

"She'll get here soon." Callie said. "She was in the pool again."

"But you can't be in water!" Numi said, surprised.

"She can. Remember, she has water magic. It lets her swim, and breathe underwater. She's always in the pool, or the rivers, or the ocean." Callie explained.

Numi nodded. "Ok."

3 knocked on the door. "One chaperone at your service!" She joked.

Callie opened the door. "Thanks 3. You're the best."

"I try. When you leaving?" 3 asked.

"Couple more minutes..." Rukhar said. "We've about picked out our wares for today."

A couple more minutes later...

Callie and Rukhar left, with 3 carrying Numi behind them.

"How've you been?" She squished Numi's cheeks.

"I'm ok." Numi was firmly clasping onto 3s head.

"Good to hear." 3 said pleasantly.

Soon after they got to the village. Tons of people were mingling around, buying and selling various items. Numi was amazed by the setup.

"Wow! It's so crowded..." She held 3s head tighter.

"Time for us to go find your friend." 3 said. "I'll catch you guys later!" She called to Rukhar and Callie.

Callie waved and Rukhar nodded. Agent 3 began navigating the alleyways.

A few minutes in, a pair of bandits saw 3. And when they saw the industrial rocket launcher on her back, they promptly forgot their idea and turned right around.

Another minute later, 3 managed to track down Lily's house. Mainly because Numi saw her over a short picket fence, playing with an inflatable ball. 3 went up and knocked on the door.

A middle aged lady answered. "Hello? Who might you be?"

3 smiled. "My name's Melody. Numi here wanted to play with Lily today."

The lady, presumably Lily's mom, looked at Numi closely. "Hmm. I'll call her."

She went into the house. 3 waited at the door, politely. After a short while, Lily ran to the door. She looked up to see Numi.

"Numi!" She said happily. "You wanna play with me?"

"Yeah!" Numi said. 3 set her down. She quickly ran up to Lily and gave her a hug.

She let go a moment later. "What do you wanna do?" She asked.

Lily thought about it for about 0.001 seconds. "Let's play ball!" She ran out to the tiny backyard. Numi followed happily.

"So uh..." 3 felt awkward.

The lady came back. "Do come in. The sun can be dreadful."

3 went in the house and put her rocket launcher down by the door, next to what appeared to be a handcannon disguised as an umbrella.

"Tea?" The lady asked, not sure what teenagers liked nowadays.

"Eh. Sure." Agent 3 replied.

Out back, Lily and Numi happily kicked the hall around. They soon went from kicking the ball to playing catch.

Lily gave the ball an extra strong throw.

"I got it!" Numi said repeatedly. She did not got it. The ball went over the fence.

"Oh no!" Lily whimpered.

"What's wrong?" Numi asked.

"That's Hagfield's yard. She won't give my ball back. She's mean..." Lily pouted.

"I'll go get Melody! She'll help!" Numi said, determined to help her friend.

She ran inside.

3 was drinking tea. It wasn't her favorite, but it was pretty good.

"Melody! Melody! Lily kicked her ball over the fence and we can't get it back!" Numi said.

3 put the teacup down. "Is that so? I'll go get it, come on."

They went nextdoor. 3 knocked.

A furious looking man with a hunch came to the door. "Whaddya want?" He snarled.

"Yeah, there's a ball in your backyard. Can we get it back please?" 3 asked pleasantly.

"Hmph. Not in your life! This is my property, so that ball is good as mine now. Now scram!" He shouted. He tried to slam the door, but it caught on 3's rocket launcher. Or rather, she caught it.

"That's hardly nice. What use do you have with a ball anyways?" She asked, an intimidating tone growing under he pleasant appearance.

"And what'll a punk like you do about it, huh?" The man growled.

3 just switched off the safety on her launcher.

The man paled instantly. "F-fine! Just this once. Go get your ball, brat!"

Agent 3 walked through the house, picked up the ball, and left.

"Pleasure doing business with ya!" She smiled passive aggressively.

Back in Lily's yard, they went back to kicking the ball to be safe.

"She's so tough! No one gets things from Hagfield!" Lily said, impressed. "What did she do?"

"She just looked at him and asked nicely. But he got scared I think." Numi said. She didn't know about the launcher.

"So is she your parents' friend?" Lily asked, curious.

"She's their friend, but they're not my parents." Numi said.

"Huh? Oh! Are you from another world?" Lily's interest was peaked.

"Uh huh." Numi said. She looked sad for a moment, but then smiled again.

They stopped kicking the hall around at that point.

"How old are you?" Lily asked.

"I'm 14!" Numi said. "How about you?"

"I'm twelve. You're tiny too..." Lily said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Numi asked.

"Everyone else in our class is about 5." Lily said. "But we are smaller than they are."

"They're that little?" Numi said, shocked.

"Uh huh. I don't usually keep friends because I'm older than they are..." Lily said sadly.

Numi hugged her. "You won't lose me! I always look after my friends!"

Lily smiled happily. Then she poked Numi's tentacle.

"Your hair is so squishy." She said.

"That's not hair!" Numi said. "Those are my tentacles."

Lily poked them again. "Squish, squish!"

Numi giggled involuntarily. "That tickles!"

Lily stopped. "Ok..."

"What's your magic?" Numi asked suddenly.

Lily beamed. "This!" She focused for a moment and a flash of light was emitted from her hands.

"Ooh." Numi said. "I can't use mine..."

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"I haven't been taught." Numi looked down.

"My mom taught me. She took lessons from our school when she was little!" Lily said excitedly.

"Wow... It's old." Numi said.

"Yeah. I found an old history book in moms room last month. That school has been around for over 16000 years!" Lily said.

"Woah... That's older than Judd..." Numi thought.

"So what's your magic?" Lily asked.

"I think it was air." Numi said. "Which means I get to fly!"

"That's so fun!" Lily said. "Lucky..."

"Wanna see a trick?" Numi asked.

"Ok!" Lily replied.

Numi turned into a squid. Lily scooted over and picked her up.

"You shrink!" She said. "That's funny."

Numi turned back and got off Lily's lap.

"It's something all Inklings can do." She said.

"That's what you are?" Lily asked. Numi nodded.

"Sounds cool..." Lily said.

3 came out.

"What's going on kiddos?" She asked.

"Just talking." Numi said.

"Want to pop bubbles?" 3 asked.

"Where did you get bubbles?" Lily asked

"Where are the bubbles?" Numi asked.

"The bubbles are in my hands!" Agent 3 said loudly.

She sprayed a weak bubble blast straight up. A storm of tiny bubbles rained down on Lily and Numi. They began popping them vigorously.

"Hee hee hee..." Lily giggled. "I got one on my nose!"

Numi slipped and fell. Bubbles buried her on the ground.

"The bubbles ate me!" She sat up.

Lily jumped into the growing bubble heap. She vanished under them.

3 stopped making bubbles.

Lily made a snow angel in the bubbly lawn.

Numi picked up a handful of bubbles and put them on her head.

"Nice hat!" Lily said giddily.

Numi picked up another handful and put them on Lily's head. "Now we match!"

They played for a little when longer, before Callie notified 3 that the marketplace was closing.

"Time to go Numi." 3 said.

"Awww.... Ok..." Numi said sadly.

"You'll get to see her again tomorrow." 3 picked her up. "Don't feel sad."

Numi clasped onto 3s head. "Ok... Bye Lily!"

"Bye!" Lily waved.

When 3 met back up with Callie and Rukhar, Rukhar asked "how'd it go?"

Numi smiled. "It was so fun! We played ball for a bit and..." She detailed the entire playdate from start to finish.