Day 25: Going Nuclear

"Hmm, Maybe I should go… but who should I go with?" Lily rubbed her chin as she looked at the KFP pamphlet. After pacing for a few seconds, she perked up, as if a lightbulb turned on in her head.

"Ah, I know!" She said to herself, a bright smile on her face. With a wave of her hand, a portal appeared in front of her, which she excitedly flew through.

-

Lily appeared in an undisclosed country about half a kilometer away from a nuclear power plant. As soon as the portal closed behind her, she flinched, forming a force field around her. Just as the barrier finished forming, the power plant detonated, creating a small mushroom cloud in the process. Lily threw her arms in front of her as the shockwave forced her back, making a crack in the force field. As the mushroom cloud subsided, Lily started to glide down, the force field being replaced by a small magic coating to protect her from radiation. As she placed her feet on the ground, a figure stepped out of the smoke.

"Morning Lily!" The figure revealed herself to be a girl with purple hair and yellow streaks, her ears covered by muffs with smiling faces on them. She wore a hazmat suit that was zipped down to her stomach, revealing a bra that was covered by her hair. Her thigh highs had caution tape on the top of them and her shoes have the biohazard symbol on it.

"It's been a while, Vivi," Lily said, a smile growing on her face, giving her good friend a hug.

"So, what brings you here?" Vivi asked, smirking as she put her hands on her sides.

"Well, I found this place for magical people, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out," Lily said, showing her the KFP pamphlet. "I don't know how I got it, but it led me to this one guy. He's really interesting and I want to mess with him a bit."

"Oh, so you've finally found a guy~?" Vivi leaned forward, wiggling her eyebrows.

"N-no…! He's just… I haven't met someone whose emotions were as… complicated," Lily defended herself. Despite being flustered, she was still soft spoken. "He seems to be content with life, but at the same time, he's so… sad. I don't know how to describe it."

"Relax, I'm just playin' with ya!" Vivi exclaimed, slapping her friend on the back. "Anyways, I'm totally down! Where is this place?"

-

"Up! Wake up!" Ryan woke out to someone softly tapping his face.

"Hai, hai, I'm awa-," Ryan opened his eyes to see Suisei on top of him. He immediately jolted awake, accidentally bumping foreheads with Suisei. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"Ouch! I was just waking you up!" Suisei sat on the bed, rubbing her forehead.

"Sorry about that. You just startled me," Ryan heaved a sigh, rubbing his forehead. "I didn't expect to wake me up like that. Actually, I didn't expect you to wake me up at all."

"What can I say? I like to spice things up," Suisei said, offering Ryan a shrug.

"I'm heading to work," Ryan grumbled as he got out of bed. As he opened the door to leave the room, he stopped to turn to Suisei, a smile on her face. "I appreciate the thought, though."

-

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan smiled as he opened the doors to the KFP. Even though he did this every day, he never felt that it was repetitive since this action would always lead to something different and new, no matter how many times he travelled through time.

"Good morning Ryan!" Kiara ran over from the back room, jumping up with excitement. "Did ya sleep well?!"

"I actually did," Ryan said as he walked over to the other side of the counter, his clothes shimmering into his uniform as he did. "I'm feeling pretty rested, considering the overtime you made me do yesterday."

"C'mon, it was fun!" Kiara slapped Ryan on the back.

"Whatever you say, Mama Birb," Ryan said, rubbing Kiara's head, being extra careful not to hit the two hats on her head. Ryan then turned as a red glow appeared from outside the KFP. As the glow subsided, he saw Lily standing there with an unfamiliar woman. The woman was about as tall as him with purple hair. She wore what Ryan assumed was a hazmat suit, but it was zipped down to her stomach, her bra covered by her hair.

"Welcome to KFP," Ryan said as the two entered the restaurant. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Lily."

"I'm sorry, but Suisei scares me," Lily said, shuddering as she did.

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day that Lily is scared of something!" The woman laughed heartily, putting a hand on the fae's shoulder. "Lily here is usually the scary one."

"I could totally see that happening," Ryan muttered to himself before raising his voice again, directing his attention towards the woman. "My name is Ryan Shade. It's nice to meet you."

"Just call me Vivi," The woman said, pulling Lily over to the counter, plopping herself down on a seat. "Nice to meetcha too."

"Now, what would you like to eat?" Ryan asked, tilting his head as he offered the two ladies a customer service smile.

"Do you cook dreams?" Lily asked. "I would prefer nightmares, but I would take any kind of dream nonetheless."

"I think I can extract them from the souls in the back," Kiara tilted her head, putting a finger on her chin as she ran the possibilities through her head. "I think that's possible."

"Hmmm, do you serve anything radioactive?" Vivi asked, tilting her head. "The more the better."

"Does nuclear waste work?" Ryan asked, sifting through Edhas's "mental gift package" to see if there was anything that could transport something radioactive without harming anyone.

"Ah, something spicy," Vivi smirked, giving Ryan finger guns. "My favorite."

"I'll see what I can do," Ryan said, smiling before turning to Kiara. "I guess we're both going to the back today."

"Fine," Kiara sighed, her shoulders slumping as she followed Ryan to the back. Ryan closed his eyes, his mind fixating on a particular spell to cast portals. His plan was to create a force field as soon as the waste appeared. He successfully managed to pull it off, grabbing a barrel of waste in a force field, trapping the radioactivity in it (AN: I have no idea if this is how radioactivity works and I won't pretend I do). He walked out of the back room holding the barrel.

"Is this enough for you?" Ryan tilted his head as he spoke with an innocent tone.

"Perfect! Give 'er here!" Vivi said. "Also, don't worry about the force field! I absorb the radioactivity around me."

"I'll trust you," Ryan said, plopping the barrel on the counter and cancelling the forcefield.

"Ah, thanks! I needed this!" Vivi stood up, green energy covering her right hand. A smug smirk grew on her face as she plunged her hand on the lid of the barrel before grabbing the entire thing, staring to chug it.

"I'm surprised you have magi-"

"Shit!" Lily was cut off by Kiara's shout, followed by the sounds of glass crashing. Ryan spun around to see a soul flying out of the back room, Kiara scrambling after it before slipping on what Ryan would assume was a piece of glass. "Get back here!"

"I got it," Ryan sighed as he opened his left hand, a white gun appearing in his hand. He aimed the gun at the soul, putting a miniscule amount of magic energy into it. He pulled the trigger, a small beam of light shooting from the gun. It seemingly was absorbed by the soul before the soul dissipated.

"I take back what I was going to say," Lily said as Ryan turned around. "I've very surprised you've become this adept with magic in such a short time."

"Thanks, I guess," Ryan said as Kiara stood up, walking over to his side.

"Sorry about that," Kiara said as she placed a two liter glass bottle on the counter in front of Lily. The glass was full of a sort of deep purple mist floating about in the bottle. "I guess the soul didn't like the extraction too much."

"It's fine," Lily smiled softly as she cradled the bottle as she glowed with yellow light. As the soft glow subsided, the mist was gone. "My, what agony this soul is feeling. I wonder what you did to it."

"Oh, I just put it in the usual room for a couple minutes," Kiara said with a dangerously innocent smile on her face. Ryan shuddered. Yet another reason why he didn't want to find out what was in the Usual Room.

"I see," Lily said. "By the way, I heard from a few of my friends that Cover Corp is going to war with MILF in a couple days."

"Yeah, the Masked Mages are going to be there too," Kiara replied. "What about it?"

"Wait, you never told me about this," Vivi said placing the barrel on the ground, a slightly shocked expression before her signature smirk became comfortable on her face. "I want in. It sounds fun."

"I was about to say the same thing," Lily said, her soft features moving into that of excitement. "I would love to get a little bit of exercise."

"I don't know what kind of person you need to be to consider an all-out war 'exercise', but any help you would like to offer would be appreciated," Ryan said.

"Thank you," Lily nodded as she stood up. "I shall be taking my leave now."

"Same here," Vivi said. "I wasn't finished nuking up that place. I'll see you in a couple days."

"Yeah…" Ryan waved awkwardly as the two held hands, disappearing with a soft, yellow glow.

"Well," Kiara rubbed the back of her head. "That was weird, even for me."

"Agreed."

-

"Bri!" Ollie jumped onto the bed where Brianna was laying, causing her to yelp as she landed on top of her. "Want to play APEX with me?!"

"Ow!" Brianna yelped as Ollie rolled over her, laying on the bed. "You really need to work on your APEX addiction. You keep waking me up in the middle of the night with your scre- streaming."

"Aw, c'mon! It's not that bad!" Ollie whined. "Speaking of fun things, want to go on a date in three days? I have the best idea for a wonderful date."

"Maybe, I need to check my-," Brianna was cut off when she heard the knock on the door. "I got it."

Brianna stood up to open the door to see Shade waiting for her. "Brianna, it's time."

"Yeah, yeah, let me just say goodbye to my girlfriend," Brianna said, walking back to the bedroom.

"Who is it?" Ollie asked as she laid on the bed on her stomach, swinging her feet.

"I'm not sure I can go on that date, Ollie," Brianna said, looking down. "I have a business trip I have to go to."

"Business trip?" Ollie tilted her head, confused, rolling out of the bed and standing up. "I thought you retired when you died."

"Something happened, so I'm being pulled out of retirement," Brianna said,

"Must be some job if they're taking you back after your death," Ollie walked up to Brianna, holding her head in her hands. "It's okay if you can't be with me for a while. I'll be here, waiting for you when you get back, okay?"

"Okay," Brianna leaned in, kissing the zombie idol on the lips. "I'll see you in a few days, okay?"

"Alright!" Ollie chirped. "I'll have a wedding ring ready by then!"

"Whatever you say," Brianna giggled before walking back out to meet Shade.

"I'm ready," Brianna said.

"By the way, congrats on your girlfriend," Shade said, putting a hand on Brianna's shoulder as a soft smile spread across his face. "I'm happy for you."

"Getting sentimental, huh old man?" Brianna chuckled, looking the man in the eye, a content smile on her face. "Now let's go before I change my mind."

"Yes ma'am," Shade said. With a flash of orange light, the two of them were gone.