Wild Thang’s Journal (Season 1)

Grams says I need to be thinking things through more, so she insisted that I record a journal.

So here goes nothing.

## Entry #1: Oct 28 - Good Use

Grams insisted that I start putting all her training to good use. So I was hanging out as a bat under a billboard when I saw a jewelry robbery go down. So I flew into action, transformed into a tiger and leaped down to beat up the bad guys when....they were already tied up. Some guy my age was standing over them. Then he swizzled away in some weird wavy magic. Grams said it was an illusion, and that I should be on my guard but nothing happened. So I called the cops and went home. I transformed into an eagle and flew home since it wasn’t too far. But when I landed on Zach’s roof, the guy from before ambushed me. We rolled around for a while until the guy’s mask flew off. IT WAS ZACH! My jaw dropped, and then it took a punch.

## Entry #2: Nov 23 - Wait What!?

Turns out Zach was a superhero and he calls himself Phantasm. Why? I just couldn’t understand it. He said it had something to do with his brother and how he wanted to be able to do the right things with his powers. I’m not sure he knows how much he’s getting in for. But Zach has always been able to crack a joke to make things seem less hard. Grams thought I needed to learn to work with people. So she made me ask him to go out crime fighting together, he agreed.

So we were in a downtown alley overlooking this chemical lab we learned about. We’d found some thugs down by the docks, who told us their boss was supposed to make a big hit on this joint tonight. Some pharmaceutical rep. We thought he must have been making some sort of street drug or something. Boy were we wrong... Phantasm phased us inside where we found Cyclone fighting Smokescreen. And it wasn’t just us either. There was some girl in a metal mask called Ironclad? And this really fit dude who seemed to be talking to lab rats? How did they get in here?

That’s when things got dangerous. Smokescreen took a container from one of the coolers and managed to hit Cyclone with it, and then he couldn't control his powers anymore and Smokescreen laid him out flat. I couldn't just do nothing.  So I bear hugged Smokescreen until Ironclad knocked him straight through a wall. The lab rats chased after Smokescreen through the hole in the wall, but it was too late. Smokescreen was gone. Turns out Ironclad was actually called Adamant and she worked with Cyclone. Vermin was the dude talking to the lab rats earlier.

Me and Phantasm gave Cyclone our phone numbers when he came to, and we all made superhero twitter accounts, so that we could supertweet each other and make plans. Grams tried to convince me not to give Adamant my number but Grams doesn’t know everything. It wasn’t until a few months later that Cyclone called us and told us he was starting a big team and we’d be all on it. I hope they come up with a name, because the Big Team just seems too obvious.

## Entry #3: Dec 25 - M.C.

The Big Team sucks... also Merry Christmas.

## Entry #4: June 10 - One Day Off

It was my day off today! If only I’d gotten one of those in the last three years. It turns out Grams‘ instincts were right. She knew something was off about Adamant, I just wish to GOD she’d stop talking about nice her hips were. School was bad enough. It was hard enough not to stare at the girls in my class before Grams started pointing out every single feature. Back on topic. Smokescreen kidnapped Adamant to try and convince her to rejoin the villain side as Ironclad again. The other Big Team members were out on missions, so Super Crisp (a.k.a Cyclone) sent me some recruits. They weren't members of the team yet so it was my job to get them home safe, with Adamant in tow. Aluno, Spectre, and Ebony Darkness were their names. Why are there so many new people who want this lifestyle? I don’t get it. This job, it’s not a vacation.

Aluno looked like he had experience at this so I wasn’t going to be alone. Ebony Darkness had a gloomy attitude that could kill a team’s morale, and then there was Spectre who looked clueless. Man I thought we were going to be terrible, but when we went in....it suddenly clicked. The day was saved! Adamant showed she wasn’t going to bend over to Smokescreen. Dammit Grams! I recommend everyone for the team.

Side note: Ms. Clueless Spectre is actually kinda funny now, so I’m not worried she’ll blow it.

## Entry #5: July 28 - Lancelot Escapes

Today we met Alarune, a beautiful plant person. I did my best to pass on what Grams said about how we are all nature‘s creatures and that our shape doesn’t define who we are. But it probably came out bad when I said it, but hey, turns out Spectre knew her from middle school when she was just a beautiful...girl? ...Person? Is it rude to call a transformed what they used to be before they were transformed? I’ll have to ask Grams.

She came to class as Mr. Lee did his best to try and explain how her plant...parts...worked. Okay that sounds awkward considering she’s still a girl. I’m just going to continue writing and pretend it never happened. But it sounds like she’d be useful if things got rough so when Super Crisp called us and gave us an urgent mission we brought her along. Finally got to use that portal that Grams got out of the artifact vault from the Horn of the Wild. We arrived and it turns out the Big Team had a homeless person who had a dragon spirit living inside him. Spectre knew him and said it was cool so I didn’t mention the dragon, it seemed like a bad time.

We found Lancelot had broken into the lab and freed a bunch of lab experiments. Lancelot commanded the transformed to fight us so that he could escape. But that wasn’t going to work because Spectre and I managed to calm them down and set them free. Grams always said get the victims out first before fighting any one. But Alarune had never met Grams, so when she went into a rage and crashed Lancelot into the next building, it was only then that I realized just where this lab was and just what building Alarune had crashed into. MOMS!

Jesus this was not good. Alarune started exploding thus sleeping nerve gas and everyone was fleeing to the streets. I did my best to keep the smoke back as a condor but bird wings are meant for this kind of thing. Lucky mom got out in time. Alarune ran away crying, and I picked up a passed out dragon guy (turns out his name was Dominik) and Spectre. It was weird carrying those two. But we teleported out and arrived at Alarune‘s girlfriend‘s greenhouse? It seemed like a reasonable place for a plant to live.

Super Crisp had Alarune join the team so that she wouldn't be charged with any damages. Mom’s law firm would have hit them hard with a lawsuit by now. It's not their normal thing, but it's also not their normal thing to have a giant plant and a medieval knight fly through their 15th floor window. Honestly though, it was nice to see the team growing-wait....was that a pun? I just made a dad joke. Huh, wonder how that started.

## Entry #6: Aug 01 - Spirit Realm

Grams told me today that this was going to be the first day of the true purpose of the Wild Thang. She said I should grab as many people as possible and bring them to the Horn of the Wild. I spent some time talking to Dominik about The Dragon. Turns out it is a spirit from the deeper realms beyond The Horn of the Wild. Dominik said he knew a few other spirit realm fighters. So I thought we’d have an experienced crew with some tactical prowess and everything would go smooth. Nope!

I should have known this day was going to go bad. Everyone seemed really nauseous going through the portal. Groundbreaker seemed to take it pretty well though. Dom, Hesperus, and Pendragon looked better. But then the worst possible thing happened. Grams decided to come out as her twenty year old self, walk around in her leather bikini from her superhero days and flirt with the dragon! In front of all my teammates... I will not live this day... By next week everyone at the Big Base will be talking about Wild Thang‘s bikini grandma that talks to him in his head. It didn’t matter what happened on the mission at this point. I was already a goner. Well at least I finally got to use the telepathy armbands Grams had hidden way before my life was over. Our mission was to take Garrulous‘ staff away from him. His staff was tearing apart the spirit realms.

When we arrived at Garrulous‘ Castle, I managed to sneak in as a snake and find him, but our ambush plans went astray. Pendragon yelled “Tallyho!”, charged in on his horse and ran right into Garrulous‘ throne room. The fight was long and hard and I don't know how many ghost guards we knocked out, or where that avalanche came from, but Dom went full dragon, Hesperus melted the snow, and Groundbreaker managed to turn off the staff as Garrulous faded away.

We brought back the staff to Grams and she told us we did well. She mentioned that Groundbreaker should be worried about the adverse side effects from jumping through unprotected portals, but she seemed fine, so we left to hang out on some roof afterwards. Rochelle found some beer (turns out that’s Groundbreaker's real name) and she was cute without the mask. So when she handed me a beer I couldn’t say no. It was really bitter, but I totally kept my cool and she couldn't tell it was my first time. First time drinking beer....yeah, these things are getting way more personal than when I started. I really hope no one ends up reading these.

## Entry #7: Aug 22 - Mouse, Falcon, and Scissors

So I was spending my day off hanging out my teammates today. Skysong, Freedo, and Hesperus. That was until Grams came in with bad news from the spirit realm. Turns out someone had been going around stealing the senses of the spirits on the Horn of the Wild. So I asked Hesperus, Skysong, and Freedo, because it wouldn’t be easy to steal anything from a spirit, so I was going to need help. They agreed so I opened the gateway. I started to explain the side effects of spirit realm travel when Grams decided to show up in her old heroing days uniform again. And she wonders why I never let anyone hang out at the Horn.... Anyway we all quickly piled into the gateway, and we traveled to the Spirit Realms. After we arrived, I turned to close the gateway when I saw a confused Side-step come through the gate. One look and his face with green and he was in the grass with his lunch. I felt bad for the guy, he’s not used to the spirit realm.

I handed out the telepathy bracelets and everyone but Skysong put them on. She said she didn't need them. Grams‘ first advice; when you don’t know what to do, make a list in your head and start checking things off. First was Mouse. He had disappeared since his sight was stolen so we had to find him. I sent Skysong up for aerial surveillance, while I pulled out the “Eyes of the Old Ones” and had the bejeweled flies weave through the grass. We got lucky, a fly found ‘Mouse’ covered in Sidestep‘s puke. So we cleaned him off, after which he gave us a talking to for puking on him. It couldn't say he saw much, but he gave us enough to follow on. The stranger who stole his sight was human shaped and last he knew, he was going to see Falcon.

Now Falcon was a different story. The old guy could be a bit temperamental as his memory had started to fade and well... First we had to get up there. Skysong, Hesperus and I could all fly but Freedo had to get on my giant condor wings, while Skysong swooped down and volunteered to carry Sidestep. So we were off with Hesperus behind us. Skysong and Sidestep were having a lot of fun playing in the sky titanic style. When a terrible angry screech interrupted their game. Falcon was divebombing, mentally screeching through the telepathy bands “Kill Kill KILL!” So Freedo did the only sensible thing, he launched his power dampening net right at Falcon and the net caused Falcon to start plummeting toward the ground.

It was a real mess now, as we tried to catch Falcon before he fell. There was a man in a black coat with a bird mask and scissors for hands. Falcon kept screeching; “I’ll get you, I’ll get you, give me back my beak!.” This was when everything started to go haywire. I lost Freedo trying to save Falcon, and Sidestep jumped out of Skysong‘s arms and saved Freedo with his teleportation. Scissorhands tried to rake us with his claws. We hit him with everything we had but all we could do was knock off his mask. Beneath the mask...was Mouse‘s eyes, Falcon’s beak and Bear’s nose. That’s when Sidestep got an idea. He used his teleportation to turn himself into a propelling missile. Mouse's eyes flew free from the impact and Skysong dove past down and scooped them up.

Something changed in the black creature when it saw Hesperus unleashing his sun powers. The creature leapt from the cloak leaving the beak and snout behind, twisting itself into a liquid shape filled with chunky bits and tentacles and shoved itself down Hesperus‘ throat. Hesperus‘ veins turned black, and he retched back and forth writhing as his skin faded into a gray and his eyes started to go bloodshot. The gentle vivid green colour of his eyes darkened into a ruby red and for a moment I thought I had lost my friend. Hesperus convulsed and retched forward as a voiceless cry ripped forth and bright lights erupted from his eyes and mouth. The red eyes were replaced with golden circlets as he slowly floated down to the ground. We all let out a relieved breath as the power faded and Hesperus returned to normal.

Mouse and Falcon were beyond grateful to have their senses returned. Grams agreed to return Bear’s snout for us. So we took the portal back to the Big Team Base. When we got back, Freedo asked if I was cool with him being my new grandfather soon. Ugh, I bailed. I wasn't sticking around for this conversation.

It was weird. I think this was the first time I’d helped someone who was helpless. Like I’d stopped crime, talked with a superhuman hybrid, and that one time where we had to save Adamant but let’s be honest, she basically saved herself. If this is how it always feels then maybe this isn’t just a job. When I got back to my room I asked Grams what it meant but it came out jumbled and made no sense when I said it. Grams smiled at me and said “That's what a Wild Thang is. Remember, you are still the young monkey climbing the tree. You’ve made it onto the low branches and tasted its fruits for the first time, but the sweetest fruit hangs from the high branches and yet you’ve weighed yourself down with the lower branches.” I closed my eyes, sighed and sat on the edge of my bed. I wish she’d just talk to me like a normal kid sometimes.

“Hey Grams, can you tell me about my dad today?” I ask but the room was empty.

One day I'll know why she does that every time I mention dad.

## Entry #8: Sept 22 - The Grey Jackalopes & The Lake

I still don’t know why I keep rewriting this. Here we go, easy stuff first. It was the Sunday before Labor Day. I was trying to explain to Rekken that jackalopes were a real creature and are deeply connected to the Spirit Realms. Oh man was she being stubborn about it, she‘s worse than Freedo. Mythical creatures are a manifestation of our conscious & unconscious fears, hopes and dreams. So therefore they are directly connected to the Spirit Realms where our souls remain once its passed on to the afterlife. Each mythical creature reacts and behaves based on the innate balance between the realms, and remain hidden from non-magical beings unless directly contacted through mystical means. However they may sometimes be seen by non-magical by pure chance. so if we were going to make any progress, I was going to have to show her. So I texted Freedo and got him to come to the Big Base, while I jumped back to the Horn of the Wild for some supplies,

Once we were all together, we made our way to the Halcyon City Nature Park. Dom was already in the park, and with a little coaxing he came along too. I pulled out my Jackalope Divining Rods and we ran around the park for 30-45 minutes until we found one so all was good. Jaws were dropped and teammates educated.  Problem being, this jackalope was pure black. Now you may not know this but a jackalopes’ colour is distinctive to the emotional well being of the area they reside. Halycon City jackalopes are normally pearl white. Grams says its got something to do with the innocence and overall faith in government, superheroes and trust in their fellow man here in Halycon, but I think she likes to exaggerate sometimes. Grams‘ stories aside, a black jackalope in a mostly white jackalope based town is bad news. It seemed like the little fellow was trying to tell us something so we followed him back to his home. Rekken looked inside and said there was a little bunch of grey baby rabbits. Maybe this was just a white jackalope and a black jacaklope doing what rabbits do, but Grams said the spirits always talk in riddles. So the only thing I could think of was that G.R.E.Y. was planning something.

So we did the only thing we could think of; we asked Zodiac to see if GREY had made any moves recently. Turns out GREY was “borrowing” school aged kids for a week then returning them. I mean the dots lined up; kid humans, gray kid rabbits, GREY KIDS! We ran straight to the warehouse. We snuck in and took the guards by the surprise, but the alarms went off and the room flooded with GREY agents with anti-super foam. The fight seemed like it was going well until me and Rekken got knocked into some foam, and I got taken hostage. Not my best moment, maybe I’ll ask Dom to help me work out or something in case that happens again.

I was dragged down to this lab below the warehouse. Some freaky scientist was working on a giant test tube, when the gang bust in to . . . try and save me, I think? Freedo came in claiming to be a GREY guard and that he’d captured Dom & Rekken. I don’t think anyone bought it, so I faked an allergic reaction to the foam. The guy who grabbed me freaked out, long enough for Dom to take him out and for me to um . . . take off all the foam. (Note to self: buy new boxers and definitely start working out.)

As we were too late to stop the scientist, he opened the test tube and this girl with really pretty wings and this crazy astral sword started swinging. Freedo managed to calm her down and we got her out of that crazy lab.  It turnEd out her name was Gwen and she was Lancelot's daughter, no joke, and on top of that, she wants to see her dad. We’ve got no idea where her dad is, but Super Crisp should know some stuff that could help us right? So I asked if he could get us into whatever super secret underground prison Lancelot was being kept in. That’s what made me realise that this is crazy angry Lanceadad we‘re talking about. Gwen was nice but no way that was how Lancey left her before he went to prison. The guy is already a bit unhinged killing people and stuff. What’ll happen if he finds out GREY kidnapped his daughter and added a pair of wings on her as well as an astral sword? I can’t tell her that the only thing she really remembers is a father she can’t see because daddy’s got his own issues.

The guys at GREY could have given her psycho pills or something too. So I did the only smart thing. I lied and told her Super Crisp said he would help, but it was just going to take a long time. However I’d left the telepathy bracelets on so Freedo and Rekken instantly called me on it. Dom took Gwen off for some snacks and we got into a shouting match until Rekken said she’d just get the information from her CIA grandma. I just don’t get why they can’t see how wrong it could go, Lancelot kills people! I won’t be responsible for someone's murder rampage! I had to get some space, so I left.

After a while Dom found me in the big lounge and he listened to me rant about the Gwen, Rekken, and Freedo disaster. I was still pretty riled up and wasn’t paying attention and brought up Dom’s past. He‘s always been sensitive about that stuff you know. We eventually calmed down, and we talked for a while about how it sucks to have all this supershit just thrown on us. Grams never gets it. She always wanted to be super but Dom gets it though. He didn't ask for the dragon, the superheroing. He just wanted to be left alone. Somehow Dom feels different than everyone else in the group. Maybe it’s because we both share a connection to the spirit world or something. I’ll figure out why later. Maybe when I get a day off that doesn’t turn into hero work.

## Entry #9: Sept 8 - Dragons, Tigers and Rochelles Oh MY!

So today! Was! Amazing!! The least interesting thing that happened to me today was the mission we ran this morning for Super Crisp. So I’m just going to skip it, screw it. Sorry Grams, no mission report today because we’re not talking about it today. Because what really matters is what happened post mission. When we came back from the mission and Super Crisp gave me the normal; “Well done Jake, you are truly a leader and you’ve done the city and your grandmother proud. But I have to do boring taxes now so I’ll leave you kids alone.” speech.

We all decided to hang out for a little post mission chill sesh. I was coming back to the main room when I bumped into Rochelle in the hall. She said she’d gotten me some chips and a soda, and she was smiling and acting all weird. That’s when I heard a voice in the back of my head and for once, it wasn’t Grams. It said; “What are you waiting for!? ASK HER TO THE DANCE!” My face suddenly started burning. I’d had forgotten to take everyone’s telepathy bracelets back and Rochelle was still wearing hers.

Did she hear my thoughts about her? Did she know I wanted to ask her? Oh my god did she hear the other stuff!? I wanted to burst out and say it wasn’t my fault but Grams was making me scared. Oh geez. I had to quickly get that bracelet off her. So I asked for the bracelet back right away because that's the right thing, right? I shouldn’t be invading her privacy. But you know she wanted me to ask her out, right? I’ve been wanting to ask her out, so I just did it. I asked her to the dance and she said yes. We chatted for a bit before she smiled and walked out soon after. I was too hyped to remember what we even spoke about after she said yes.

Wait...did I just use magical artifacts to get a date? Holy crap, I’m supposed to be a super hero! Heroes don’t abuse magical artefacts that their grandmother gave them to get girls! Then something worse hit me. I’d never gone on a date, danced or kissed a girl before, the trifecta of loserdom. I only had like a week before the dance so I was screwed. I paced around the room for a bit trying to figure out what I could do when I suddenly I got an idea! I ran to catch Dominik before he left. Dominik was a hot dude, definitely worked out and was older than me, so he must have been on loads of dates already right? So I caught Dom before he left the base. Made him promise not to tell anyone, then I filled him in. He started asking what I thought were weird questions; “Do I want to kiss her?“ and “Are you sure this is what you want?“ It didn’t make sense, but before we could talk more about it, Dom and me collided.

Something weird struck me and Dom suddenly went red. Dom was acting tough but he looked like he was losing color in his face. I panicked, rushed out and grabbed everyone I could. Rochelle, Redstreak, and The Shaper. I needed help getting Dom to the healing fountain in the Horn of the Wild, and the damn thing always seems to work better when there are more people around. They agreed to help so we were off through the portal. I carried Dom by the shoulder up towards the Horn of the Wild to the fountain, despite his complaints.

When we got near the top, Rochelle stopped me and said we needed to talk before we went in. So I handed Dom off to Shaper and Redstreak and they took Dom inside. I put on my best cool guy impression, arm on the wall, pumped up my chest, put on a wicked killer smile and asked her what was up. All I could think was “Oh shit she figured out that I’d used the bracelet to read her mind, and now there‘s no way she’d think I was cool enough! She’s going to cancel the date to the dance! I’d had a date for 30 minutes before I blew it!“ Rochelle looked me up and down. I held my breath.

“Jake what are you doing?” Rochelle said in a scolding tone, “Stop acting like that, you’re not cool Jake, stop pretending to be.” I deflated, dropping my arm from the wall. “I’ve had it with cool guys. I’m going to the dance with you because I like you, not this act. You’re not cool, you're something else.” Rochelle continued in her annoyed tone, right before she jumped up and kissed me!

I was frozen in shock, her lips were pressed against mine and they were soft. I could feel my heart thumping like a cornered rabbit. And I.....said something dumb, “Wow!”

The next thing I know I hear Shaper saying, “If you are looking to eat Wild Thang Groundbreaker, I believe there are better methods you could use.” Redstreak immediately kicked Shaper saying “Idiot you ruined the mood!” Apparently the two of them came back while I was distracted.

For a second time today, Rochelle had left me red-faced and stupid, as she smirked and went inside the tree trunk passage toward the healing fountain room. Shaper continued to look at me with befuddlement until Redstreak roughly guided him inside.

With everything that had happened today, I had forgotten the requirements for the fountain to work. In order for the fountain to work, the person in the bath must be naked. I asked all the girls to turn around and Dom undressed. I started to wonder how much Dom really works out. I mean, jesus he was well built. I really needed to go to the gym. Suddenly, Grams emerged from the pool! She smirked saying, “Enjoy your bath sweetie” and looked at Dom for an uncomfortably long time before grabbing a towel and leaving. I was just glad Freedo wasn’t there and the girls were looking the other way. Shaper wouldn’t think anything of it because, you know, he’s an alien and they don’t have sex or something on his planet? Dom wouldn't say anything because he was just as embarrassed as me. Dom sat down in the pool with all the important bits covered and I told the girls it was fine to turn around.

It seemed to be going well as the pool was doing its job. But then something happened. A bright white light blinded me and all I could feel was a swallowing sensation and I was gone. When my eyes opened I was in an empty void of white. The area around me was motionless, and there was nothing except the mantle of the Wild Thang floating there. A bright green arrow suddenly thud right into my chest. I felt like I’d been out for some time because I woke up with Rochelle standing over me. WHY was I in my animal boxers again!?

I looked up to watch Dominik jump out of the pool and transform into The Dragon and punch a giant white tiger into the open skies, only to see Shaper transform and chase after them. Leaving me with two girls, alone, in my boxers.... Why does everything embarrassing happen to me!? Groundbreaker looked down at my boxers and smirked, “Cute.”

I have never been so happy to have Dom’s extremely oversized clothes than in that moment when Redstreak handed them to me. I pulled on the loose pants and tied the belt. I then tried to shapeshift, but nothing happened, I tried again and I just saw a white background with a pair of determined cat eyes looking at me. It was that tiger. The tiger stole my shapeshifting powers. I had to get them back. Redstreak borrowed my powers, and I went to grab Groundbreaker‘s waist to jump down so that we could all get down the tree fast. Until I remember that Groundbreaker is Rochelle. We’ve kissed, so can I even grab there? Is it cool to do that now? While I was still trying to figure it out, she jumped into my arms and threw her arms around my neck. “Just go!” she yelled, and down we the tree we went. When we landed, Rochelle spoke up, “That was sweet, but next time I can just do it myself”. She then proceeded to use her seismic powers to propel herself forward and join the fight. She got me again, but I couldn’t think about that now since I needed my powers back.

This tiger was not allowed to have them. Grams once told me that there are times when you face true adversity and that the best thing to do is to just jump straight into the tiger’s mouth. I don’t think she meant it anywhere near as literally, but I waited for my moment. When Redstreak and Groundbreaker shared Groundbreaker’s bow to force open the tiger's mouth with arrows, I jumped inside. The mantle was still there, so I forced my way to it through the void of white space. I grabbed it, put it back on, and started pushing back against the tiger. I could feel Dom and Shaper giving their all to the tiger. I think they distracted it enough for me to take back over. I was able to shrink back down to my normal size.

My powers were back. Everyone was staring at me where the tiger used to be. An idea suddenly sparked in my head. I walked over to Rochelle, smiled, whispered ”My turn.”, pulled up her mask, and kissed her. I think it worked. I was nervous but I don’t think she was expecting it. I may have actually flustered her for a second, until she looked up at me and said, “Stop trying to be cool. This was a terrible date, but at least we are even now.” I let her know she’ll just have to deal with me bring cool every once and awhile, but honestly I was just super hyped that she thought this was a date. So as long as nothing terrible happens at the dance, I can only go up from here. The whole tiger thing freaked her out though and she said she doesn’t want a boyfriend who could change into a monster at any moment. I don’t blame her, it freaked me out a bit too. I shared Grams’ advice about how the inside matters most and she seemed to calm down a bit. She made me promise to never transform into a giant white tiger on a date ever again. No complaints from me on that one.

I had to give Dom back his clothes. I transformed into an elephant to give him some privacy and we talked for a bit. Dom said that transforming sometimes makes him feel like a monster, and I kinda got a bit of that myself today so I kinda needed the chat. I tried to get him to explain what was going on between the Dragon and Tiger but he didn’t know much himself. All he knew was that the Tiger and the Dragon are enemies. After our talk, we goofed off a bit and he seemed to cheer up so I felt accomplished. I thought that was that.

Until Rochelle texted me later that afternoon. Apparently her and Dom got in a fight and she wanted me to go tell him to back off. She must have misunderstood. Dom is a good guy, but not everyone gets that right away. I went to go talk to Dom, and turns out that there was no misunderstanding at all. Dom hates Rochelle, and he told me that she doesn’t respect anyone but herself. He said she was just toying with me, and that anyone that calls you a monster is not someone you should be dating. I lost it. How could a friend come in and talk about my girlfriend like that!? Especially since we just started dating too! Dom is my best friend and I can’t believe he’d say stuff like that. Dom doesn’t understand. Rochelle is deeper than what she shows on the surface, she has tons of layers. We worked out it out and he apologised for the comments, but I’m not sure he meant it. We brofisted like we always do before leaving. I don’t know if it's really going to be alright. I think Dom is holding something back, which worries me. At least next weekend is the dance, and hopefully we can put this all behind us.

## Entry #10: Season Finale - Dancing Queen

It’s 2am, and I’m still not sleeping.

Grams insisted I write this all down so here goes. Mom is scheduled to return home Friday. I don’t know why they’ve kept her in for so long. It’s not like anyone has an idea on how to fix her. The doctor came to see me a few days ago and told me I’d need to start preparing the house. I have to take out any mirrors or reflective surfaces, try to keep loud noises down to a minimum, keep a rotation of fresh flowers out in the house and to leave a few peaches out in the sun the day before she comes home. Apparently her digestive track has shrunk and she can only digest decaying fruits & meats. Mom says we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now. Sounds like the board pushed her out of her seat and “gave her the option” to work from home. I don’t think they’d fire her, mom would eat them alive in court if they did. Mom is trying so hard to keep a smile up. Last night when she thought I was asleep, she cried. She hasn’t cried like that since dad left.

Super Crisp stopped by every day and brought flowers since “Transforming Day”. Apparently that’s what the news is calling it. It sounds like televangelist crap; “Trust in the world of God or you shall be Transformed!” It’s probably just stuck in my head because we only get two channels in the hospital room.

I wanted to go to the Spirit Realms for a while now, just to get away and stare up at that pretty pink & purple sky. But the damn portal won’t work because according to Grams my “energy” is blocked. Maybe transforming into the Tiger again did something to my energy. I thought about asking Dom to help me fix it, but he’s got his own shit and between the nights at the hospital, the news reports, and preparing the house, who has the time.

I keep thinking back to that night. Everything went horrible. We lost Amber because she freaked out and ran into the woods after seeing Bella start to transform. Rochelle found an antidote for the girl, but everybody else was trying to find another antidote. There were none. Then seeing Gabe go crazy like that... It just doesn’t make sense. He was always so calm, even when we fought in the Spirit Realms and that thing was trying to possess him. He still managed to keep his cool. I’d never seen him like that before. He ignored that icicle flying right at him and he looked so angry... I was certain that if I hadn’t done something, he would have killed her and himself in the process.

Looks like Rochelle is buzzing me again. I’ll call her back later. I still can’t understand it... If she had an army of soldiers there the whole time, she could have stopped the attack at any moment, or better yet warn us! We could have gotten the civilians outta there, and we could have gotten Mom outta there. I thought I understood her, but this.... This is more than just rough around the edges. It‘s 4am, why is she even calling me so late? Doesn’t know what time it is?! Ugh! I’m going to get some sleep. I hope this is enough for you Grams.