wELL THIS IS REALLY REALLY LATE SORRY
BUT ARE ANY OF US REALLY SURPRISED??

Recap:

Sonya frowns a bit, then shrugs it off and closes the door, right after cheering: "I'll see you again soon!!"

A few seconds of silence

"Is she serious...?" Kanna blinks

"I think she is..." Mason blinks in slight confusion

"Man she's optimistic..." Alice rubs her forehead

"I think she's fun! Kiki smiles. "And I'd like to give the demon lady a second chance!"

"Man you're optimistic..." Alice looks up from the ground and back at Kiki

"And you're pessimistic!" Kiki smiles

"Let's get out of here before you-know-who gets back.." Thresh is nervous as he looks around

"She's not Voldemort, Thresh." Firo states as she starts to walk away, Mason quickly following her with everyone else behind them. "We can say her name."

"Right..." Thresh pauses. "Anyone willing to take a vote on whether or not we should let her bring Evi back?"

"Everyone who wants to give the psycho demon a second chance say 'I!'" Kanna states

The votes, in summary are as follows:

Yes: Kiki, Dogost, Kanna, Nami, Kat

No: Firo, Mason, Firo, Firo, Thresh, Firo, Firo, Alice, Fir--

"Firo you can't vote more than once!" Kanna lectures

Firo groans. "Fine..."

Yes: Kiki, Dogost, Kanna, Nami, Kat

No: Firo, Mason, Thresh, Alice

"Yay!!" Kiki giggles

"This is going to be a catastrophe..." Alice groans

A whole week passed after that, and nothing. No sign of any red head mind demon and her cheerful dream maker companion.

"You know, when she said 'soon' i thought she meant the next day..." Kanna admits. We had all met up outside the school after school on a Friday, and now we were all walking somewhere.. Though no one told me where

"We all did.. But just because we did that vote and the majority was okay with it, doesn't mean that Voldemort herself agreed." Alice states

"Another Voldemort reference..? This must make no sense to any one who doesn't know the Harry Potter series..."  I blink

"True, but they gotta know who Voldemort is, right?" Kanna looks back at me

"The main villain in the Harry Potter series." Kanna nods

"So.. Are we breaking the fourth wall or does the Harry Potter series exist in this world too..?" Alice blinks

"Only one way to find out!" Kiki giggles as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. After a few seconds she nods to herself. "It exists, so we're not even breaking the fourth wall."

"Huh... We'll just have to do it later then." I nod. "One break per chapter."

"Does this count..?" Thresh is slightly confused

"Maybe...? but just to be safe- we'll do it again later." Kiki nods

I nod in agreement

We're starting to enter a much more populated area of the city now, and I'm rather confused. I had never been to this part of the city, and man there were a lot of people. We were about halfway through September, so it was about that time before it starts to get chilly outside.

"Where exactly are we going...?" I look around at everyone in search of an explanation

"It's a surprise apparently." Nami shrugs

"For who, exactly?" My confusion is conveyed through my voice

"Me, you, and Firo." Nami states

"That's an oddly specific group of people.." Firo points out

"She's right, it is oddly specific." I agree

"It should be easy to tell where we're going by the amount of people around." Mason points out

"And by the signs around you." Thresh adds on

Firo takes a moment to look around. "Seriously?" She raises an eyebrow

"That's where we're going?" Nami even seems a bit scared

Dogost looks up at Nami in confusion and worry.

I apparently missed the last sign for wherever we were going cause when I look around, I only see the entrance to some kind of very popular place, and a very sandy parking lot to go along with it

Well let's see.. Sand everywhere...Nami is scared and Firo is annoyed, and they're both the only major fire elementals in our group... and there is a good chance it's a major tourist attraction since there are all these people here..

Wait a minute...
(Place your bets now on where they are)

"We're going to.."
we pass through the open public entrance, and I immediately regret choosing tennis shoes over flip flops this morning. But I was really glad Kanna had lied and told me it was going to be 110 degrees outside today, otherwise I probably would be wearing my favorite sweater and a pair of jeans right now instead of shorts and an humorously cat-themed t-shirt

"A beach?!"

"Yep!!" Kiki giggles

"How--- Where--- Why have we never seen or mentioned this beach before?!" I look around at everyone

"Technically it's just a very large lake." Mason points out

"And this chapter is literally all filler, so I wouldn't worry about how short it is or how random this beach plot-device is." Thresh states, then blinks in surprise . "Hey! I'm doing the fourth wall break this time!"

"At least one in almost every chapter." Mason nods

"Let's go!! It's boring just standing here!" Kiki complains

"She's not wrong." Alice states. And with a little push from Kiki, we're walking again

"So are you guys just planning on swimming in your clothes..?" I can't help but sound sarcastic

"No-- we all brought swimming suits." Alice states

"What about the three of us? We don't." Firo points out

"Well I stole one from your room--" Kanna pauses

"What?!" Firo sharply glares at Kanna

"But I couldn't find one in Nami's room.." Kanna continues. "Sorry Nami."

"Don't be.." Nami dismisses in a nervous laugh

"And I couldn't get one for you Kat, sorry." Kanna apologizes

"I don't even own one.." I join in on Nami's awkward laughter. "I despise water.."

"Oh.. well the rest of us are going to go change." Kanna offers a red ball of balled up swimming suit to Firo, who looks annoyed as she accepts

"We'll wait out here." I wave to them

All of them, even human-formed Dogost, entered provided changing rooms, which the beach conveniently had just enough of for all of them. While they were changing, me and Nami were left alone outside the rooms

"Soooo... You dislike water as well?" I ask her.

"Huh?" Nami is confused as she looks at me

"I'm assuming that's why Kanna couldn't find a swimming suit in your room for you??" I explain my thought process

"Well.. I guess you could say I'm not particularly fond of it..." Nami says

"Well, I guess that makes sense since your main 'element' is fire...."

She slowly nods in agreement

"Then again... Firo seems to have nothing against water.."

One of the doors from behind us opens. "Well duh." Firo's voice states from behind us I slowly turn to see the fire dragon hybrid. I am not describing swimsuits, but yes everyone except me and Nami is wearing one. "For me, water is just a little colder than it would be for anyone else, and it hurts if water gets in cuts and stuff like that... But too much water exposure extinguishes fire demon's cores and ultimately kills them." Firo shrugs

I look at Nami in complete shock

She seems rather uncomfortable as she nervously runs her arm with a hand

"It's like a human trying to swim or bathe in lava.. Water burns them." Firo goes on in her explanation

I was surprised and felt bad, but at the same time this little piece of information made a lot of sense and actually explained a lot. Why she didn't want to go to go on our mission to dump water on Firo to bring her back, why she never drank water, and why when it started to get cloudy, she panicked at the thought of rain

I wasn't sure what to say, but it was very obvious that Nami really didn't want to talk about it anymore. So I decided it was a touchy subject and moved on.

As soon as everyone was out of the convenient amount of changing areas, we started walking closer to the

"Wait so.. Why don't you like water, Kat? I get that your a cat hybrid thing... But Alice is just fine with coming here and swimming, and she's also some kind of cat hybrid.." Thresh is confused

"Well, yes, but some cats like water..  Alice could be one of those rare scenarios.. I just really don't like water."

Thresh nods in understanding

"Plus, they're magical half-cat half-human beings, there isn't much science or logic to be put behind that.." Mason states.

In summary, the next two hours were spent on the beach, me and Nami on the beach sitting on a rented large beach tarp and under a rented umbrella, and everyone else doing various activities in the water.
Kiki, who had brought a water gun, was dominating in the non-existent water fight competition she had started.
Dogost was swimming around the huge lake in his ghost dog form and seemed to really be enjoying the experience, with his occasional breaks to come eat one of the fruits that Nami always carried around for him
Thresh was kind of half and half with his brief swimming in the water and mostly sitting on the beach reading
Alice had rented a large floatation device that she was now relaxing and napping on.
Four of our group members were engaged in a semi-violent game of chicken: Mason and Firo VS Kanna. Just Kanna. It was not a very proper game of chicken, but it was a game nonetheless. It was quite an entertaining and suspenseful battle ending with no real winner as they all quit out of exhaustion after 45 frustrated minutes, which then resulted in two more rematches later in the day.
They all took little breaks out of water here and there but after two hours, they all decided to take a longer break from the water and sat with us on the large tarp-like cover, Nami staying far away from anyone covered in water

We all ended up deciding to do something on land together, and after looking around for a while, I noticed a volleyball net with two teams halfway through a game on the court. I had been watching them for a while too, the set up was 10 VS 10 and many teams had challenged the team that obviously dominated. In the 8 short games I had watched, the group of 10 that had set up the 'court' in the first place had won every single game they had been challenged with.

Firo notices what I'm staring at and grins. "Here's an idea-- how about we beat the winner of that game in volley ball?"

"The possibility of that is unlikely considering how many games in a row that one team has won." I point out.

"And since we're not a professional volleyball team full of expertly trained humans." Thresh states.

"How do you know thats what they are?" Mason blinks

"I recognize the insignia on their volleyball." Thresh states. "They're from an elite private human school that's not far from our academy.."

Kanna nods in agreement. "The school and the area around it is known for anti-creature rallies and riots.. There have been a few protests right in front of our school too.. I'm surprised none of you know about it other than Thresh and I."

"Anti-creature?" Kat blinks

"In other words, pro-human. Not a lot of humans like us.." Firo mumbles

"Although the most of the world refers to all born of different species, other than animals, as creatures.. these groups refer to us as monsters.." Thresh sighs. "This city is a hotspot for riots and protests since its populated by both sides since the split of the city was abolished."

"One of these days we really have to explain the back story of this town to the audience.." Kiki laughs. "I bet some of this is really confusing--"

"No fourth wall breaking!" Mason lectures

"Too late! This author's update schedule is garbage!" Firo yells

"But exposition and backstory on this town will be provided soon!" Kiki laughs happily

We interrupt this fourth wall break with a loud whistle from the volleyball 'court'

I look over to the court to see that the winning streak had stayed, which made this nine wins in a row for the team.

"The more we speak about those jerks the more I want to demolish them in an activity that brings them joy!" Firo glares at the team from afar

"Yes.. But don't you think we should show at least a little more caution and avoid the people who despise every single one of us just for being born?" Thresh is nervous and borderline scared

"Screw caution." Firo storms over to the group of humans, dragging a now- scared Thresh with her. Her eyes literally blazing with fire in blind anger

"Firo! Wait a second!" Mason quickly follows. "I think Thresh is right. We shouldn't mess with these guys!"

The rest of us reluctantly follow behind yet another one of Firo's reckless actions

"Hey! Vermin girl!" The owner of the voice was not who you'd expect
The second Firo stepped on the court, she caught the attention of one of the humans, who yelled at her before she could even get to him

He and his posey started to walk over to Mason , Thresh, and Firo from their side of the court.
Mason protectively steps in front of Firo but she taps him on the shoulder and steps around him, deciding she would rather take the lead in this situation rather than just let it go. "Just what do you think you're doing, fire-eyes?" He glares down at her with brown eyes. His dark brown hair was rather neat for a long day of volleyball on the beach, and had freckles on his face and body. He must be important to receive a description

She glares back at him without fear, meanwhile Thresh's fear seems to be slowly growing

There is venom behind Firo's calm words. "It's a public beach, so naturally, we can walk wherever we want to on the beach."

"We also wanted to see if you'd be interested in playing a game of volleyball with u-" my attempt to be civil and kind is cut off

"I'm gonna have to stop you right there.." He snaps his fingers and one of his scowling posey members hands him a volleyball. "We're definitely not interested in playing a game with a bunch of freaks.." he glares at Firo. "Much less so interested in sharing a beach with your kind."

He and his posey start to walk back to their bags and Firo snatches Kiki's water gun, aims, and throws the entire thing at the human's head

She lands the shot and the force of the squirt gun hitting him knocks him forward slightly. But the cheap water gun was hardly enough to injure the guy

The water gun must've really hurt his pride because he immediately turned around and chucked the vollyball at Firo. However, he misses and the volleyball comes raging toward Thresh instead

Thresh panics and the object is momentarily surrounded in a blue glow before it hits him and is immediately blasted back at the guy who threw it.

He and the rest of his posey duck under it as it zooms past them.

The head of the ground is furious at this point and storms over to us, aiming his rage at Thresh

He reels back a hand but Firo sucker punches him square in the nose. "Don't ever call my friends freaks!"

The student stumbles backward while holding his now-bleeding nose. "B**ch! You broke my nose!"

"Good!" Firo glares at them all.
His posey had been scared by the obvious differences between our groups and had decided it would be better to retreat, and whether their leader wanted to or not, they decided to pick him up and run.

"I really hope that's the last time we meet those guys.." Thresh whimpers a little

And while I was unsure on whether or not we would ever see that student again, I was definitely sure of one thing.
Firo's hatred for humans goes much much deeper than I originally thought
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm really sorry this is late
IM LAZY AND HAD DRIVING CLASSES EVERYDAY THROUGHOUT JULY AND ALSO GOT A BIRD AND SCJOOL IS STARING SO IVE BEEN GETTING READY FOR THAT

but really I am sorry that this is a month late

Also--- if you have an original character in this story and don't want them to be removed from the picture permanently. Speak now. I want to make sure I'm giving these slots to people who actually read this book.
If these people do not respond within 30 days of this message their character will not be removed but will instead become a side character and their main character slot will be given to anyone who wants it.

30 days, staring the day this is published

I'm not tagging people because I want to know how many of those sux actually read this