Magical Girl Policy/Plot

This page contains a synopsis of each chapter in *Magical Girl Policy*.

## Chapter 1

Robert Dreese has recently arrived at Kessia City in order to attend Schuyler Adamson University, and has made fast friends with his roommates Cory Frost and Eli Drake. The day before classes are to begin, Rob and Cory go to the Loose Change arcade, and find Eli working there. They notice a group of children behaving strangely around the new *Zombie Mansion* cabinet, which Eli says he could find no explanation for and that it's scared off several customers, including a regular *Hop Dance Mania*-playing girl he'd been hoping to approach. Rob and Cory decide to investigate by playing the game themselves, with Rob spurred on by an unusual chilling sensation pointing there. When they start the game, its Polygal character grabs the pair through the screen and starts to drain them of their energy. Robert is able to resist, however, by feeling Polygal within his inner self and willing his sensation from before to attack her as ice and water. This triggers a violent reaction in Polygal, who throws the boys out of the cabinet and has her drained energy return to her victims, breaking them out of their lethargy.

Upon being told by his friends, Rob realizes that his body has started glowing blue since resisting Polygal. Polygal bursts out of the machine, and Robert, on a hunch, stays behind so everyone else can escape the arcade, though Cory and Eli remain at their friend's side. Polygal demands to know who Rob is that he could resist her, to which he has no idea, and she recognizes his radiant glow as a mark that he's "special" and possibly an "ally of theirs". Deciding to capture Rob so he can converted into a powerful servant of her master Platicore, Polygal entangles Rob with Ticket Snare, with Cory and Eli ending up at gunpoint when they attempt to intervene. The monster's gloating is interrupted at the appearance of a symbol on Rob's forehead, which she believes means something impossible. A yellow light suddenly tears through the tickets holding Robert, so he and his friends take this chance to run and hide behind a counter. This attack was an arrow from Spirit Guard Charity's bow, and she is followed by Valor and Tenacity. Rob overhears the latter two express concern and confusion over his glow. Valor and Tenacity take the monster head-on while Charity stands in front of the boys, using her Altruistic Barrier to shield them from her opponent's projectiles. Spirit Guard Felicity then makes her belated entrance, constricting Polygal with the flames of her Encircling Joy attack, with Tenacity slicing the monster with Intrepid Blade to finish the fight.

The Spirit Guard's victory banter is cut short when their attention returns to Robert, who asks what his now-fading glow means, certain the heroes know and are the ones Polygal thought he was affiliated with. Valor doesn't give a straight answer, and when Rob says he could sense the monster drain "Investiture" energy from others while being immune himself, the heroes are confused at the apparent conclusion they've drawn. The Spirit Guard offer to contact Robert once they have more information. Rob distrusts these strange, seemingly magical superheroes that he's never heard of, but Cory and Eli affirm that the Spirit Guard have been saving people for over a year, and he is convinced to give his phone number. The Spirit Guard then exit just as the police are about to arrive. Curious about the symbol on his forehead that Polygal and the Spirit Guard were so concerned about, Rob asks his friends to draw it for him once they return to their dorm.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter had Polygal say Robert is "radiating Ardent Resonance", but "Ardent Resonance" was removed in August of 2021. Revised narration also makes this chapter the first mention of Rob having played football in high school, a fact originally established in Chapter 5.

## Chapter 2

Robert, Cory, and Eli are back at their dorm after being questioned by police about the attack, having been careful not to mention Rob's glow. The attack had caused Rob to miss a planned *Aspect Realms* PvP event with his friends in the Mayhem Templar guild, so he explains his absence as the result of witnessing a robbery. Eli shows Rob his drawing of the symbol from earlier, but none of the three can glean any meaning from it. Rob has his friends explain the Spirit Guard and monsters to him, being told the heroes battle their anthropomorphic object foes about every three weeks, and finds it very strange how such things could be considered routine in Kessia City yet unknown to the outside world. They try to make sense of their encounter with Polygal, but only manage to guess basic definitions of terms like "Investiture" and "Ardent Resonance", that Rob's symbol is the thing that most intrigued the monster and Spirit Guards, and that Rob's strange spiritual experience when resisting getting drained did not happen to Cory.

Eli's sister Mallory arrives at the boys' dorm with her friend Vivian, worried for Eli's safety as he hasn't answered his phone since a monster appeared at his workplace, though he had simply dropped his phone in the chaos. After Vivian is introduced, she approaches Robert and prods him about what happened to him during the attack, though like with the police the boys leave out the parts pertaining to Rob's glow. The girls are impressed at how Rob stood up to Polygal thanks to just a gut feeling that it would work out, as he was unaware of the Spirit Guard's existence, and Mal berates Cory and Eli for staying with their friend instead of running from the deadly monster. Having seen the Spirit Guard firsthand, the boys are asked what they think of the heroes, with Rob honing in on their strange powers that he is certain is some unexplored feat of science rather than magic. While the girls are leaving, Cory learns Vivian shares a film class with him and agrees to save a seat for her, with this being the first time a girl has shown such interest in him, and Mal has Eli promise not to endanger himself in matters best left to the Spirit Guard. After thinking about how he explained his stance against the existence of magic, Rob considers the possibility that the Spirit Guard themselves don't truly understand their "magical" abilities because they are using tools created by someone else, which would explain why they couldn't tell him the exact meaning of his mysterious symbol.

**Note:** The conversation about Ardent Resonance was not edited to account for the revised Chapter 1 altering Polygal's quote about Robert "radiating Ardent Resonance". This is apparently an error, as now Robert and friends inexplicably know the term, which only appears in this chapter.

## Chapter 3

The next morning, classes begin at SAU. Robert is the first to arrive at his World History class, and is shortly joined by Angela Warrant, who is unusually nervous upon noticing him but insists on approaching him. Despite the initial awkwardness and Angela writing notes apparently about Rob's responses to certain subjects, the two have a pleasant conversation. They talk about the Standridge Hill Stone Circle, an ancient monument on the city's edge that was mysteriously constructed in an era where only simple tools were available, and what it was possibly built for. Angela brings up her theory that the Atsah tribe created the Circle to be a sort of beacon to attract their gods, they must've built it using magic, and it has some connection to the Spirit Guard, a theory Rob finds ridiculous.

Rob and Angela then talk about the Spirit Guard, who Angela has been a big fan of ever since getting saved from the water monster Saturationa, the only monster to have appeared at SAU. Angela recounts the experience: one morning, her routine visit to the campus pool had her notice several people acting in a zombielike manner, prompting her to call a friend before getting grabbed by the people. Before Angela could get dragged into the water, Tenacity appeared and freed her, but Saturationa then revealed herself and swept her knocked out puppets into the pool, rendering them drowning hostages and a deterrent for Tenacity's electric attacks. This dilemma was solved when Valor showed up and used her Plateau of Nobility move to lift the hostages on a conjured stone, letting Tenacity safely use Intrepid Blade to kill the monster. Angela is appalled at Robert finding Saturationa's hostage strategy to be a clever move despite its evilness, and strongly disagrees with his stance that whether he is disgusted at the tactic doesn't matter since emotion has no place on the battlefield.

Realizing they had gotten sidetracked on the Spirit Guard, Angela explains the heroes' theoretical connection the Standridge Circle is likely related to the monster attacks consistently being within an eleven-mile radius of the Circle. With the battles' locations centered around the Circle and both sides using magical abilities, Angela believes the Circle itself must have magical properties and be of special interest to the monsters. When Rob explains his stance on this "magic" really being the product of extraordinary engineering, Angela agrees that the Spirit Guard and monsters must know incredible engineers that allow their powers to exist.

**Note:** This chapter was revised to remove Angela saying she had attempted to reach her "Spir..." when set upon by Saturationa's goons, now simply saying she reached for her pepper spray without having to correct herself first. With this, there is now no allusion to the Spirit Sticks until its appearance in Chapter 7.

## Chapter 4

With Loose Change closed for repairs following the Polygal attack, Eli is out of work for the next month. On his way to cash his last paycheck for a while, he decides that rather than spend a significant portion of his check on the graphing calculator he'll need for his Calculus class, he can have Mallory return the one she had borrowed from him last year, so he heads to her apartment complex. Just as he's about to knock on the door, Eli overhears part of a conversation Mallory is having with several others about an unnamed man; worries over the man's seeming coldness are waved off, the group's suspicions of him have been confirmed by one Kunapipi, and research into him has affirmed that he can trusted to join the group. The discussion stops when Eli knocks, and he is let in by Angela, Mallory's roommate and one of the voices he heard along with Vivian, Kara, and Noriko. Mallory introduces him to her friends before going to find the calculator. Eli and Kara recognize each other from Loose Change, as she is the "HDM Girl" he had been eying at work. After a short conversation, everyone heads off on their way, with Eli helping Kara carry the cookies she baked to her dorm as a way to spend more time with her.

The first day of class finishes, which Robert found enjoyable. At his dorm, he's about to get started on his homework when he gets a call from his Uncle Taylor, who has been lonely ever since Rob insisted on attending SAU on the other side of the country rather than somewhere closer to Deepwater. Not wanting to scare Taylor over his nephew living someplace with real monsters, Rob avoids talking about the Spirit Guard and the like. Rob mentions getting along great with Cory and Eli and his hopes that their late roommate Dale doesn't show up so he can keep a room to himself. Rob and Taylor hang up when Rob gets a call from an SAU staff member, campus counselor Ms. Kuna. Having heard from Loose Change's owner that Robert and his roommates were at the recent monster attack, Ms. Kuna hopes to offer counseling to help them cope with that harrowing experience. Rob declines the offer, and notes he doesn't plan on meeting her in her office tomorrow like she's insistent on. After the call is over, Rob decides to put off his homework for now to play *Aspect Realms*.

## Chapter 5

Cory and Eli return to their dorm, where they talk with Robert about their surprisingly good luck they've had with the girls they're interested in and how he might be similarly successful were he to pursue a woman he recently met such as a Spirit Guard. At the same time, Rob plays *Aspect Realms* and annoys his opponent NightKnight with his stealth tactics.

Rob then receives a text message made to appear as if he sent it to himself: the Spirit Guard want him to come alone to the Standridge Circle tomorrow night so they may tell him the answer they found to the mystery of his glow. Rob worries about this arrangement, as the text offers no information to clear up the concerns he's gotten from researching the Spirit Guard: there are unnaturally few photos or videos of them, they are somehow known only in Kessia City, and there is no mention of monster attack victims glowing despite the heroes and Polygal recognizing it. Additionally, the Polygal battle was unusual since the monster appeared before the Spirit Guard did, which has only happened on occasions where a new Spirit Guard appeared, but no such thing happened this time. Distrustful of the secretive heroes that insist on meeting him alone to deal with his glow that seems to worry them, Rob wants Cory and Eli to watch the meeting in case something bad happens. At this, Cory suggests they use a fiber-optic camera he had taken from his father's security company back in middle school in a failed attempt to get footage of the girls' locker room. With the camera's very small size and ability to transmit footage to a computer up to 500 feet away, it might be possible for Cory and Eli to safely record the meeting without the Spirit Guard noticing.

**Note:** Robert's findings on the Spirit Guards' first battles here are inconsistent with Angela's accounts of Charity and Tenacity's debuts in Chapters 16 and 29, respectively. Rob finds Charity's first monster was Confection Cathy at a Kessia City High School bake sale, while Angela says it was an unnamed monster at a hospital. As for Tenacity, Rob finds she first fought the weightlifting monster Barbella, while Angela says it was a different monster called Alena Alfredo at Italy's Patio.

## Chapter 6

The next day, Robert worries over the upcoming meeting with the Spirit Guard despite planning everything out with Cory and Eli, and is unfocused in class as a result. In his preoccupation, he accidentally kicks a pebble toward Stacy and Lilly, a pair of cheerleaders. He helps the agitated Lilly pick up her dropped fliers, and the pair hands him one for Club Week and tells him about the upcoming event where Student Association-approved clubs set up booths around the central Billot Building to draw in new members. He also learns a bit about SAU's cheer team, which is unusual for its large size and having members promote events all over campus. Seeing the effects his stress is having on him, Rob decides he'll skip his homework and Technical Writing class for today and returns to his dorm so he can relax and be mentally prepared to meet with the Spirit Guard.

Meanwhile, cheer team officer Jodi Ryder waits for various cheerleader groups in the area to report back from promoting Club Week. Team captain Cammy DeCroix had the Pep Squad join the Promotion Squad in this due to considering Club Week turnout extremely important. In addition, cheerleaders were ordered to keep an eye open for attractive nerds that might be convinced to join the team. Jodi is joined by Cammy and reported to by Stacy and Lilly, who were successful in their first objective but not the second. Cammy praises the two for their hard work, but once they're gone she expresses frustration that not one nerd girl she wants to infiltrate a certain club for her could be found. Her plan has another obstacle in the form of the Sock Hop Society losing its official club status, which she is convinced is somehow the work of Angela.

That night, Robert, Cory, and Eli arrive at the park where the Standridge Circle is. As a countermeasure to the possibility of the Spirit Guard watching Rob arrive, the first stage of the trio's plan to record the meeting has Rob pretend to call it off at the last minute, making Cory and Eli drive off. On his way up the hill, Rob is about to call his Uncle Taylor to calm his nerves when Taylor himself happens to call first. Rob presents the meeting as one for an important group presentation where the girls he got partnered with did the project's research without him, so he's told that since he's prepared for this meeting as best he can, he has nothing to worry about. He arrives at the Circle and hangs up with Taylor so he can answer Eli's call, who will record the meeting's audio this way with Rob's phone pocketed, while Cory's laptop will receive video from the camera hidden on the headphones on Rob's neck. The Spirit Guard appear, who did in fact watch Rob send his friends away, and are surprised to hear he could sense them doing so. They also confirm his suspicion that they don't truly understand their powers since they were created by someone else. Because of this, they asked an expert about the meaning of Rob's glow, and this expert turns out to be a talking wallaby named Kunapipi.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter had the Skateboarding Club as the club that had lost its status. This was changed to the Sock Hop Society, which is the same club Angela reveals she really did sabotage like Cammy suspects in Chapter 30.

## Chapter 7

After dropping Robert off, Cory and Eli take a back road through the park to find the groundkeepers' shed, which is close enough to Rob to receive his video feed while simultaneously being hidden from view. They set up behind the shed and watch Rob's meeting with the Spirit Guard unfold.

Robert is introduced to Kunapipi, who, after noticing Rob's disturbance at the uncanniness of a talking wallaby, morphs into a human form and reveals that she's also the counselor Ms. Kuna. She had wanted to introduce herself earlier that day, but Rob didn't meet with her in her office like she had hoped. She explains that she works for Fate, a godlike personification of order. Fate desires order in the multiverse but feels direct intervention would go against the free will of others she also values, so she creates agents like Kunapipi to represent her. Kunapipi is a Guide, one who seeks out and assists extraordinary people called Champions that Fate has chosen to protect order, with the Spirit Guards being only the latest of Earth's Champions that the wallaby has mentored over her millennia-long life. She reveals that Robert's glow is the mark of a Champion, and that his ability to sense Polygal drain people and his resistance to being drained himself are the result of a special Investiture of serenity Fate had selected him to receive. Investiture is explained as a spiritual energy possessed by all beings, which the monsters drain so their master Platicore can attain enough power to destroy Fate, who he was created by. Platicore was highly critical of and bold with his master, who threw him out after foreseeing that his belief that her subtle influencing of events to be an affront to free will would lead to his rebellion. Rob shocks Kunapipi by finding Platicore's cause a justifiable one, with the Guide stating that Fate in fact strives to protect the ability to choose, and only uses her far-reaching foresight into possible futures and influence on others to lead people where they are needed.

To explain the origin of Robert's glow, Kunapipi and the Spirit Guard tell the story of the Ardent Empire, a kingdom in another universe once favored by Fate, who had granted the heroes visions on the subject. The Ardentia pioneered empathokinesis, the ability to use emotional energies to affect the physical world, especially with the aid of devices called empathokinetic foci. The Ardentia could contact people in other dimensions and spread knowledge of empathokinetics via visions, and used this to create foci called gateways to allow transit between their worlds, with the Standridge Circle the remnant of one such gateway. The Empire was once benevolent, but eventually it became corrupt and conquered the worlds it reached. It also started experimenting with Investiture; they were warned by Fate not to continue this since Investiture is part of the soul, but in time royals and scholars resumed this now-outlawed research in hopes of achieving immortality by overwriting one soul with another. Fate would've moved to oppose this attempt to cheat the rules of death had Platicore not also happened to seek the Empire's downfall for being Fate's most favored people, as he was unaware that they were no longer held in such regard and that the corrupt royalty could've been allies to him. Platicore became a master empathokinetic and posed as a Guide to incite the Ardentia Civil War, turning the commoners against the elite, who had exclusive access to empathokinetic training. His specialty was transplanting Investiture and creating foci that fused to his soldiers, making them twisted but powerful opponents to the better trained imperials. This process is similar to the creation of his modern monsters, but it involves empowering a living being rather than giving life to an object, and Platicore's lasting scars have since made him unable to do this very advanced empathokinesis. The war was at a standstill after a decade, which became panicked after the appearance of the Other Power, an incomprehensible presence that destroys all life it reaches and operates outside of the universe's rules, with even Fate unable to foresee its movements. To escape the Other Power, each side would use gateways to flee the Empire's homeworld, then destroy the gateway so they couldn't be followed. The last remaining gateway was to Earth; the Empress posed as the Atsah's gods and instructed the tribe to build the Standridge Circle in hopes of conquering the planet and making it the new seat of her empire.

With the Empress, Platicore, and Other Power all presenting major threats to Earth if allowed to reach the planet, one group made a plan to sabotage the gateway and create a means for Earth to protect itself in the future. They were led by the Princess, a rare virtuous royal known to strongly disagree with her mother, the Empress. She was joined by her bodyguard Soldier, a Scholar of empathokinetics, a Mender specializing in healing and barriers, and a Shrine Maiden known for fighting corruption within the Church of the High Spirits. They were also aided by the Knight, an officer notable for having the trust of both the Princess and Empress, though he was unaware of the specifics of the former's plan. The Shrine Maiden requested the godly High Spirits make the team reincarnate as humans when their powers are needed, and the Scholar created incredibly powerful foci for the reincarnations to fight with. For the final battle for the nigh-complete Earth gateway, the Empress was convinced by the Knight to fight Platicore on the front line with her unmatched empathokinesis, leaving the Knight and Princess's teams as the last line of defense. With the Mender erecting a barrier over the gateway and the rest of the team keeping people away, the Scholar placed her foci within the iris, a storage unit shared by both sides of the gateway, then worked to sever the link with Earth so no one could warp there. Once the lie of the warp not yet being ready was discovered, the battle became chaotic, with the Empress leaving a gravely wounded Platicore upon hearing of her daughter's betrayal. The Scholar successfully disabled the gateway, but not before Platicore broke through the barrier and made it to Earth. The Empress then killed the Princess's team, with everyone else assumed to have died either in battle or to the Other Power overtaking the area.

Once the story is over, the Spirit Guards confirm Robert's supposition that they are the reincarnations, with Valor reincarnated from the Princess, Tenacity the Soldier, Felicity the Scholar, and Charity the Mender. Rob is instructed to place his hand on the iris, which is supposed to open only to one with an Investiture matching that of the Princess's team. To his surprise, the stone glows with the same image that had appeared on his forehead, and he is allowed access to the baton-shaped focus within. Rob asks if this means he's reincarnated from the Knight, as the character's role in the story is similar to the "aloof protector" Polygal assumed Rob is. Tenacity tells him that's not quite right, but is visibly hesitant to tell him what is actually the case.

## Chapter 8

Robert is told his glow and ability to retrieve the "Spirit Stick" focus from the iris mark him as the reincarnation of the Shrine Maiden. The Spirit Guard had recognized the symbol on his forehead because Valor had previously used a power inherited from the Princess to take out unclaimed Spirit Sticks and inspected them, but the Ardentia glyph for "serene" appearing on a man made the heroes wonder if they were mistaken. As for why they were shocked at this, Kunapipi explains that while reincarnation doesn't necessarily preserve gender, the case of a male like Robert being the Maiden's successor is due to an error. They get sidetracked explaining how while the Other Power the Spirit Guard were meant to protect Earth from has unknown whereabouts, activating the iris saw Platicore awaken from his millennia-long recovery and begin creating monsters, which he uses because his deep empathokinetic injuries have permanently hampered his combat skills and ability to create his superior focus hybrids, and Kessia City is his mark because the Standridge Circle attracts people with especially large Investitures.

Returning to the topic at hand, Robert deduces that he is supposed to use the Spirit Stick to become a Spirit Guard, though he's hesitant to accept the burdens of being a superhero despite it being a childhood fantasy of his. Seeing that Rob isn't getting all of what being just like the current Spirit Guards entails, they explain that the Spirit Guard transformation not only grants the user the powers of their predecessor and the instincts to employ them as the Spirit Guards themselves are untrained, but also permanently alters the body to more closely resemble their past life's. As Robert is the reincarnation of the Shrine Maiden, they fear that him transforming will likely force him to live with a female body, as the heroes lack the knowledge to modify the Spirit Stick's transformation and healing factor abilities. After hearing this, Rob's unwillingness to become a Spirit Guard is now a strong refusal to completely upend his life. When he mentions having to leave Cory and Eli as one reason he won't do it, Tenacity says he could remain part of their lives, and to explain herself she convinces the Spirit Guards to reveal their secret identities to him, which they are able to have without physical disguises due to their passive Disconnection Effect affecting how they are perceived by both living and nonliving observers. Charity, Felicity, Valor, and Tenacity turn out to respectively be Kara, Vivian, Angela, and Mallory, who throughout the past few days had been scouting Rob to figure out if he could be trusted with the team's secrets. Mallory apologizes for how the situation has been handled, but Rob being the fifth Spirit Guard as well as Cory and Eli's roommate was an unexpected and awkward development, and she doesn't want to burden the two with the secrets of Spirit Guard business. Rob realizes, however, that since Cory and Eli have been watching the meeting, they will now have to hide this knowledge from these girls they happen to know, and will likely be unable to do so with Mallory for long.

## Chapter 9

Cory and Eli are surprised to learn that Kara, Vivian, and Angela are all Spirit Guards. With Eli now knowing that Mallory is friends with three Spirit Guards, he combines this fact with him not being attracted to Tenacity at all to deduce her true identity despite the Disconnection Effect making Tenacity appear to share only broad traits with Mallory, and moments later this is confirmed. Cory and Eli are upset that Mallory didn't tell them, but Eli then wonders what connection Noriko might have to the Spirit Guard given she was with them yesterday. It's at this moment that the duo are hit by a smoke bomb, and Cory's laptop is taken by a ninja-garbed Noriko, who threatens them with her sword when they consider running. She has them follow her to the Circle, where the Spirit Guard will decide what to do with them, and plans to give the laptop to the team's computer expert to remove the video it was recording.

## Chapter 10

The Spirit Guard try to convince Robert to reconsider his refusal to become Spirit Guard Serenity. They understand that transforming would ruin his life, but fear that, like with the previous times a new Spirit Guard was discovered, they will very soon face a monster they won't be able to defeat without his help. In fact, Rob was inadvertently a major asset against Polygal since resisting her draining made her lose her collected Investiture, severely weakening her and denying Platicore of Investiture he could've used for future monsters. Even so, Rob has no intention of transforming and tells the Spirit Guard to look for another solution, as he won't be held to any plans the Shrine Maiden might've had for him. Angela stops him from leaving, but before he can snap at her for saying she expected him to readily join because of the Maiden, Noriko shows up with Cory and Eli. Rob had planned to reveal his recording of the meeting later since his roommates would be unable to keep it hidden from the girls, but since they've been caught he explains everything now: Rob made the plan due to fearing what the Spirit Guard might do to him for glowing in a way they seemed to be scared of, he wouldn't have done so if he knew secret identities would be revealed and failed to catch himself once the subject came up, and he swears to not reveal these secrets to anyone. Rob notices that this ordeal appears to have broken Vivian and Kara's trust in Cory and Eli.

The Drake siblings have a heated argument over Mallory hiding her Spirit Guard business from her family and Eli ignoring her warning to stay away from the heroes. They slow down when he asks her how many times she's nearly died in battle and is told there have been some close calls, with Eli realizing at this point that he's more angry over Mallory endangering herself than the act of keeping it secret. Eli is the first relative of a Spirit Guard to learn the truth, and Mallory has him promise not to tell their parents due to fearing the reaction of their father, who has always been irrationally protective of his daughter. In return, Eli asks her to not keep such important secrets from him in the future, as the siblings are normally very open with one another.

Sworn to secrecy, everyone goes to leave. Robert tosses Ms. Kuna his Spirit Stick for safekeeping, but she declines to catch it and tells him it will return to him as soon as she loses track of it. She uses an incantation to make one of the outer Stones glow, which the Spirit Guard and co. walk into to teleport to Angela and Mallory's apartment. While Rob and friends are momentarily blinded by the light, Noriko warns him that the Hush Corps will be monitoring the boys from now on. Before she can leave, Rob notices she took his phone and stops her. She plans to have any evidence of the night's events removed from the phone like with Cory's laptop, but he convinces Angela to make Noriko give it back and promise to return the laptop tomorrow. With the boys now alone, Rob gets the sensation of being watched, and finds the source is his Spirit Stick. Like he had been told, leaving the Stick behind is impossible, as it had automatically warped from where it had fallen to a spot closer to its owner.

**Note:** In the original version of this chapter, Ms. Kuna caught Robert's Spirit Stick when it is thrown to her, and she handed it to Mallory in addition to Cory's laptop as they left. Shortly after, the Stick teleported to Rob's location much like the revised chapter.

## Chapter 11

After a sleepless night, Robert and Angela meet in their World History class the next morning. Rob was unable to rest with the sensation of his Spirit Stick seemingly watching him at all times, which Angela explains is normal as the Stick warps about to hiding spots near its paired owner so they may be ready to transform at a moment's notice, and his awakening extra sense is making him acutely aware of its presence. He is unlike the current Spirit Guards in that his sense is able to detect things without him having transformed before. She assures him that his unease is due to his unfamiliarity with the sense and his first experience with it being the traumatic Polygal attack, so once he gets used to it he'll be able to tune out the Spirit Stick. The team doesn't understand the complexities of the Spirit Sticks, so they know of no way to undo the link Rob established with his Stick upon touching it. Angela invites him to have lunch with Mallory, Vivian, and herself to try smoothing things over from last night's meeting, but he declines, feeling it pointless since everyone sufficiently understands each other's positions and no minds will be changed. Internally, Rob laments how awkward things are with Angela, considering that he might've wanted to date her if it weren't for Spirit Guard business complicating things.

A lone Eli passes the time in his dorm by playing *Hop Dance Mania*. Kara stops by to return Cory's laptop now that it's had its recording of last night removed. Eli apologizes for having spied on the meeting, as while he feels he had the right to know his sister's in danger as Spirit Guard Tenacity, it was unfair that he learned the other Spirit Guards' identities in the process, with Kara understanding his feelings as one who was angry to learn her oldest brother joined the Marines. Eli makes a joke about Noriko killing him if he ever revealed the Spirit Guard's secrets, prompting Kara to explain that the ninja's deadly serious attitude is a result of a very rigid upbringing that gives her difficulties in dealing with ordinary people. Noriko works for the Spirit Guard thanks to Kunapipi, who had earned a favor with Noriko's clan some centuries ago after some events neither one feels the need to clarify. Kara also explains that Kunapipi is probably a wallaby so she might appear exotic yet unintimidating to humans, though there's no definite answer as to why Fate's servants are animals since it's considered improper of them to ask her such things. Kara notices Eli's *Hop Dance Mania* setup and asks to borrow it as a way to make up for his spying, as she has no way to play HDM with Loose Change closed for repairs. Eli agrees and goes with her to bring the setup to her dorm, though he expects Cory will be upset to find his GameStation console had been given away without permission.

## Chapter 12

That Saturday, Robert, Cory, and Eli go to Rale Valley Mall. They enter Dungeon Direct, a comic book store that Cory and Eli frequent for the *Invokers* card game, though Cory makes Eli buy him his cards as payback for giving his GameStation to Kara. They are greeted by Devon, an employee who is very familiar with the pair and is surprised to find that not only are the boys he met as middleschoolers now in college, they brought a third friend in tow in the form of Rob. Rob sorts through the messy store to find the latest issue of *Collider*, the superhero comic he collects. He buys it, then leaves the others when he notices Angela and Mallory looking for something just outside. Angela, Mallory, Vivian, and Kara had come to the mall for some shopping, but split up after sensing a strange empathokinetic humming that sporadically appears about the place. Robert, having sensed it himself, offers to join the search, as while he has no intention of transforming, he's not opposed to helping the Spirit Guard protect people. The girls are grateful for the offer but ask him to leave the mall with Cory and Eli, as Mallory worries that if the humming signifies a monster, Cory and Eli will once again put themselves at risk to stand by Rob, the first person to become part of their tight-knit friendship.

Cory and Eli finish their business at Dungeon Direct and Robert has them go to leave the mall with him, but on their way out, the hum appears right near them: a mannequin drains Investiture from some passing girls and fails to do the same to Rob, who suppresses his glow when it appears for a moment. The trio run, but the exit gets blocked by the revealed mannequin monster Day LaMode. LaMode turns several mannequins around the mall into drones in her likeness and gives chase, wanting to present Rob to Platicore due to his special abilities. The three friends run back the way they came, with Rob leading them into an evacuated Current Subject store. Having sensed the Spirit Guards power up in the distance and deciding that stalling for their arrival is his best option, Rob lets his glow shine forth once more to keep LaMode's army focused on him and hopefully allow the heroes a surprise attack.

**Note:** In the original version of this chapter, Robert said Deepwater has a population of over ten thousand instead of sixteen thousand, which was inconsistent with Rob's description of the city in Chapter 56.

## Chapter 13

Angela and Mallory continue looking for the empathokinetic hum around the mall. Mallory expresses concern that Robert always seems to find trouble and bring Cory and Eli along with him, though Angela wonders if Fate is responsible and trying to get Rob closer to the Spirit Guard. Just then, the two sense the hum, Investiture being drained, and the radiance of Rob's glow all in the same direction. They go into the empty handicapped restroom and enter their Spirit Guard forms.

Trapped in Current Subject, Robert and Cory stall for time by talking with Day LaMode. LaMode is confused when Polygal is brought up, as she had been told that she's Platicore's only monster. Rob, feeling the Spirit Guard are late, makes his glow burn brighter so they can more easily sense his position. He antagonizes LaMode for being what he estimates is the nineteenth monster in a line of failures, keeping her focused solely on him in her anger. Tenacity appears from behind and, with one swing of Intrepid Blade, destroys several of LaMode's mannequins and lands a blow on LaMode herself, who uses her Follow ze Trend ability to transfer herself to a mannequin in another storefront before fatal damage could be dealt. Valor knocks LaMode and co. away, carries Rob, Cory, and Eli to the second floor so they can run to the food court, then returns to the fight along with the other three Spirit Guards. Letting her drones battle the Spirit Guard, LaMode transfers around the mall until she intercepts Rob's escape. Like before, he antagonizes her, gets grabbed, and is saved by Tenacity forcing LaMode to escape a decisive blow and ordering the boys to run, but this time the other Spirit Guards are stuck fighting LaMode's army elsewhere. LaMode decides to forget about catching Rob for now in favor fighting Tenacity one-on-one.

Tenacity fights a losing battle against Day LaMode, as her sword swings are not quite quick enough to land a strong hit on her opponent, who sports unmatched agility. Before Robert, Cory, and Eli can run, they see Tenacity getting brutally tossed about, with Rob having to stop Eli from futilely risking his life to help her. With his friends in tears over their inability to do anything, Rob decides he's the only one who can save Tenacity's life and enters a nearby Kickers store. He grabs his Spirit Stick, and when his friends remind him of the consequences of using it become Spirit Guard Serenity, he tells them that he could never live with himself if he allows this death he can prevent. He makes his friends leave without him so he can be alone when he transforms. Focusing on his anger in order to achieve the serene state of mind required for the transformation, Rob curses everything that had brought him to this point, but resolves to never let his character be among the sacrifices he's about to make. The incantation comes to him as this point, so he pulls his Spirit Stick apart, engulfing him in a blue light.

## Chapter 14

The remaining three Spirit Guards fight Day LaMode's army, with Valor stuck between one group and Charity and Felicity in another. They struggle against the drones, who vastly outnumber the heroes, have unmatched coordination due to sharing vision, are willing to sacrifice individual units, and make fighting awkward for Charity and Felicity, who can't effectively attack at such close range. Valor tries to cut through the swarm so Felicity can use her explosive attacks, but is thrown back into her circle. After not having sensed any attacks from Tenacity for a worryingly long time, Valor senses the rose scent of Robert's aura flare up in the distance. Realizing Rob must have transformed into Spirit Guard Serenity, Valor is certain he will save the day.

Robert finds himself standing nude in a strange space with psychedelic imagery that seems to be composed of the power he seeks. Clearing his mind to connect to the remnants of the Shrine Maiden deep within his Investiture, he begins his transformation by dancing to a song the Maiden had made for this purpose. When it finishes, Rob is returned to the shoe store as Spirit Guard Serenity, and as expected is left with a female body. Serenity decides to ignore her new body for now, though she is startled by her new voice that sports a much more noticeable country accent than it did before. Equipped with superhuman abilities, the Shrine Maiden's combat instincts, and an extra sense far beyond her original form, Serenity is ready to fight Day LaMode. She inspects her weapons, which morph from pompoms into a pair of daggers, and plans her strategy: with the successful strikes on LaMode all being surprise attacks and Serenity's weapons and power set promoting stealth like her *Aspect Realms* character, she decides a sneak attack is the best option. She makes herself invisible using Placid Mist and heads for Tenacity and LaMode. She gives up on stealth, however, when she sees LaMode about to finish off the defeated Tenacity, and charges at the monster.

The story goes back to slightly beforehand, depicting the end of Tenacity's battle with LaMode. Unable to stand, Tenacity lets LaMode gloat and get close enough for a last-ditch attack: morphing her pompoms into her sword directly into the monster for an unavoidable Intrepid Blade. This fails, however, as Tenacity was too wounded to feel her arm had already been pinned, and the punch she does instead is too weak to have any effect. Just as LaMode is about to kill Tenacity with a heel to the eye, Serenity launches LaMode with a flying kick. It takes Tenacity a moment to realize her savior is actually Robert, and is relieved to hear Cory and Eli have safely left the battlefield. Told to stay awake given her condition and amused at Serenity's confusion over the swear filter the transformation has enacted, she watches as Serenity goes to fight LaMode.

LaMode picks herself up and demands to know who this impossible fifth Spirit Guard is. Spurred on by the form's urge for dramatic speech, Serenity gives sarcastic answers. The banter briefly pauses when Serenity senses a strange empathokinetic scent nearby, but sees nothing when she looks toward it, which prompts this invisible presence to flee the mall. Serenity shocks LaMode by hinting at her identity using the same taunts of calling LaMode the nineteenth monster corpse. Serenity's barbs leave LaMode open, so she begins her offensive, but holds back a bit so LaMode won't feel the need to warp away with Follow ze Trend until a fatal opening can be exploited. Serenity is faster than LaMode, but can't land a killing blow with Geyser of Tranquility because special moves are vocally activated and LaMode's is shorter. She turns invisible and places herself between LaMode and Tenacity. Both sides are unable to hit one another like this, but Serenity unnerves her opponent by dissecting LaMode's capabilities and strategy: LaMode can deploy only so many drones at once without losing effectiveness and can set them to just one task at a time, so LaMode sought to have them herd the Spirit Guards so she can fight a single opponent herself since her Follow ze Trend is an unbeatable advantage when she can account for every enemy attack. With Serenity creating a stalemate, however, she claims the other three Spirit Guards will eventually deplete all of the mannequins LaMode could possibly possess and ensure the monster's defeat. Just as Serenity planned, LaMode realizes she can still kill Tenacity in this situation and lunges at the wounded Spirit Guard, leaving herself open to Serenity disabling Follow ze Trend with a knife to the mouth. Serenity then grabs LaMode, dismembers her, and kills her with a Geyser of Tranquility to the head.

**Note 1:** Spirit Guard Serenity's costume here features thigh high socks not present anywhere else in the series.

**Note 2:** In the original version of this chapter, the hidden Trace's presence that Serenity picks up was described as an "aura of a guilty conscience". Chapter 19 has Platicore state that Serenity simply sensed Trace's emotions, and Taralynn Andrews added in Chapter 24's author commentary that the term "aura" was used erroneously here, as in MGP an aura is more innate than one's current emotional state.

## Chapter 15

Cory and Eli run towards the mall's movie theater, which is next to the safest exit nearby. Eli feels incredible guilt over his inability to help Tenacity and how part of him was hoping Robert would transform to save her. Just outside the theater, Noriko appears and warns them that the police are outside the main entrances, as Cory and Eli getting interviewed as witnesses would risk sensitive information on the Spirit Guard leaking out. She directs them to the theater's emergency exit instead, where they can find the HushMobile, a van housing her Hush Corps coworkers, the Siekert twins. Noriko will present herself as a witness and drive Cory's car back to his dorm afterwards. On their way through the theater, Eli has uncharacteristically little patience for Cory's inane comments, on edge from Rob having to be the one to sacrifice so much to save Mallory instead of her brother. Cory tells him that while it's unfair that the responsibility fell only on those Fate chose, Cory and Eli just have to continue supporting Rob and Mal. They find the HushMobile, with Nick and Will Siekert inside. As instructed, Cory and Eli cooperate with the twins so any evidence that could get linked to the Spirit Guard is removed; Noriko scours the mall, Will hacks into its systems, and Nick drives the van and coordinates his coworkers' efforts.

With the battle over, Serenity picks Tenacity up out of the fountain, and the other three Spirit Guards quickly approach, surprised at the new Spirit Guard's appearance. Charity checks Tenacity's wounds using Giving Hands and decides she must be operated on immediately, with Serenity initially panicked to find the anesthetic ability Clement Pierce is in the form of an arrow. Noriko appears and warns the heroes that the police will shortly enter the mall, who pose no physical threat to the heroes, but being seen by repeat witnesses weakens the Disconnection Effect. Serenity figures that she can make those next to her invisible with Placid Mist in addition to herself, so she is asked to stay behind so Charity can operate on Tenacity uninterrupted. Felicity runs off to distract the cops with her flames for a while so Valor can escape, debrief at Kunapipi's office ahead of the others, and help the Hush Corps with Robert's logistics now that he's transformed. Noriko tells Serenity that Cory and Eli are safe, thanks her for her sacrifice, and then leaves the scene. Before Valor follows, she tearfully expresses her gratitude for all Serenity has done, promising to help her deal with any hardships the transformation will bring. Charity then uses her healing powers to operate on Tenacity while Serenity makes them invisible, which doesn't hinder the surgery thanks to the heroes' empathokinetic sense. Once the surgery is over, Tenacity will be able to finish recovering once she gets nourishment and rest to fuel her healing factor, as will Charity, who is exhausted from giving away so much energy in the most intensive operation she's done. Still cloaked, Serenity carries Tenacity as the three walk out of the mall on the way to one of the rocks placed around the city that can be used to warp to and from the Standridge Stones. Charity thanks Serenity for her sacrifice, and though Serenity is certain what she's done will similarly make her Uncle Taylor proud if she can find a way to explain everything to him, she is scared to face the lasting consequences of her transformation.

**Note 1:** In the original version of this chapter, Noriko says that the HushMobile's doors will be open, but this isn't actually the case when Cory and Eli find the vehicle.

**Note 2:** The original version of this chapter had a mention of Nick pushing glasses up, but Nick doesn't wear glasses at any other point in the series.

## Chapter 16

Cory and Eli return to their dorm. The Hush Corps plan to have Robert move out given his new form will cause issues if he continued living in the men's dorms, so the pair start to pack up his belongings. Angela arrives with a bunch of boxes, wanting to help now that she and Vivian's debriefing is finished. Eli asks about Mallory's condition, and when he expresses concern over Charity doing the operation instead of a professional, Angela snaps at him and tells him about Charity's first battle: Valor, Tenacity, and Felicity struggled against a monster in a hospital Kara happened to be volunteering at. Kara was initially too scared to accept becoming Spirit Guard Charity, but seeing Valor's elbow get dislocated motivated Kara to transform, create an opening for the monster's defeat, and treat Valor's injuries. After the story, Angela berates herself for what happened during the Day LaMode battle, feeling things could've gone better if she had been able to keep Tenacity from going alone or convince Rob to transform earlier. Eli stops her, saying that nothing can stop Mallory from protecting her brother, and that Rob only transformed because the desperate situation made him decide to do so of his own volition rather than as something pushed onto him by Fate or the Shrine Maiden. Rob's stance confuses Angela, who feels that being selected for a grand destiny by the godlike Fate is empowering rather than belittling. Vivian shows up with dinner, having been told of the work Cory and Eli have to do. She then leaves to deliver the rest of the food to Nick and Will, who will be working late on Rob's documentation, and plans to pick up "feminine care products" for Rob afterwards. Cory, Eli, and Angela decide to eat before packing the rest of Rob's things.

Serenity and Charity return to the Standridge Circle after dropping Mallory off at her apartment to rest. Serenity asks about the warp stones, so Charity explains Valor had used her strength and earth powers to set them up, and had configured each one to activate when knocked on to the rhythm of a corresponding song in Lyric Victory's *Satisfaction Guaranteed* album. Valor had done this assuming all of the Spirit Guards would be girls her age and thus likely familiar with the wildly popular boy band, so Serenity will have to acquaint herself with any songs she doesn't remember. Before Charity leaves for her dorm, she asks Serenity to relay instructions to Kunapipi: have Noriko bandage Mallory, tell Vivian to get healthy food to fuel Mal and Kara's recovery, and excuse Mal's absence from volleyball by claiming she has stomach flu.

Serenity warps into Kunapipi's office and delivers Charity's message. Unwilling to deal with the discomfort of a talking wallaby on top of the issues of her own transformation, Serenity has Ms. Kuna shift to her human form. Ms. Kuna is proud of Rob's actions in the battle for living up to the Champion role Fate had given him, but Serenity is no mood to talk about her misgivings with Fate with one who serves the deity. Ms. Kuna teaches Serenity how to power down, noting that the new Spirit Guard does so remarkably faster than her teammates. Ms. Kuna admits she has little concrete information to mentor the Spirit Guard, who are highly irregular among her Champions due to combining transformation, empathokinetic superpowers, reincarnation, and now Rob's change in sex, with Fate apparently content to make the heroes figure things out themselves from their past lives' instincts and visions. With the Spirit Guard form's power and instincts removed, Rob is suddenly fully aware of how alien her new body is. She is frustrated at her clothes changing in size and fit along with her body, which Ms. Kuna believes was the Spirit Stick's attempt to emulate styles from the surrounding mall so Rob could blend in. The Spirit Stick did something slightly similar when Angela used it for the first time: the Stick probed Angela's subconscious for an image she associated with inspiring others, causing the Spirit Guard to have cheerleader-themed costumes since she was just at a football game. The team has tried modifying the Spirit Sticks to do things like alter the costumes but lack the knowledge to do so, even when one might expect Vivian to receive the ability from the Scholar. Like Rob, the other Spirit Guards received physical changes after their first transformation, but theirs were relatively minor and positive overall.

Rob and Ms. Kuna move on to the new identity Rob will need to maintain her cover. In order for Rob to stay in school, the Hush Corps have to get records referring to Robert Dreese removed from SAU's systems and new ones inserted without raising suspicions of the two actions being related, so Rob can't keep her original name. Rob doesn't want to lose her name due to its connection to her family, so compromises by naming herself "Robynne Ellis Darling" after her late relatives: "Robynne" is from her paternal grandmother and original namesake, "Ellis" from her father, and "Darling" from her mother's maiden name. "Robynne" has the additional benefit of letting people continue to call her Rob for short, though she is under the impression the name is spelled "Robin". Rob is then told it would be unwise to remain in the men's dorms with Cory and Eli, so she can move into either Angela and Mallory's apartment or the women's dorms with Vivian, Kara, and Noriko. She chooses the latter; she is unenthused to share a room with Noriko, but not as much as doing so with Angela, who will likely not respect Rob's privacy as much as Ms. Kuna says Noriko will, and the new dorm's close proximity to the old one will grant more ready access to Cory and Eli. Rob is then asked to select a new set of classes for herself; she originally had a packed schedule to enable a Mechanical Engineering degree in four years with no summer courses, but she's suggested to take a lighter one so she's not overworked on top of the difficulties of her transformation and can stay during the summer since the threat of monsters makes a Spirit Guard leaving town for long a risky proposition.

The mention of wanting to return home during summers reminds Rob that she has no idea how to explain her situation to her uncle. Ms. Kuna prefers Champions keep their heroics a secret from their family due to having seen parents risk or lose their lives trying to protect their endangered children, but Rob's drastic transformation can't just be waved off, so direct action is needed. She offers the choice between simply telling Taylor the truth, faking Robert's death and leaving Taylor behind, or a seldom used last resort in the form of a potion to make Taylor suggestible enough to regard Rob's change as nothing to be alarmed at. They agree to the first option. but Ms. Kuna considers Rob telling Taylor over the phone to be risky given her new voice, and suggests he be brought to Kessia City where the Standridge Circle might make it easier for him to accept Rob's explanation. She believes the Circle, in addition to causing those with high empathokinetic potential to be unconsciously drawn to Kessia City like Rob was, affects the perception of everyone in the area, which would explain why residents tend to display unnaturally little concern for strange things like atypical hair colors, the Spirit Guard, monsters, and the Circle itself. The Hush Corps can rig a raffle to win Taylor a trip to SAU's homecoming football game, giving Rob 28 days to figure out how to approach him, so she should make excuses to not speak to him on the phone in the meantime. When Rob trips the swear filter, she demands to know the cause, which Ms. Kuna explains is an inexplicable side effect of the Spirit Guard transformation. Ms. Kuna has tried finding a way to disable it in the past to no avail, but on Rob's request promises to make looking into it a higher priority. Rob then starts deciding what classes she will be taking going forward.

**Note:** Chapter revisions changed the setup of Angela and Mallory's apartment: originally, Mallory had the smaller room to herself, while Angela's larger room would've hosted Robynne as well. The altered layout has the smaller room as Mallory's makeshift gym, while all three characters can sleep on the larger room's bunk beds. Chapter 20 was also affected by this change.

## Chapter 17

Cory, Eli, and Angela bring Rob's belongings from Angela's car to Rob's new dorm, with Angela surprised but amused by the pair's tangential banter for contrasting the description Mallory would give of her brother. Just as they finish setting everything up and are about to leave to check on Mallory, Rob appears via the Standridge Stones. With Rob's drastically different appearance, Cory and Eli reflexively ogle the extraordinarily attractive woman for a moment before recognizing their friend, making the start of their conversation awkward. Rob tells the three about Mallory's condition, though Kara had done so earlier before passing out of exhaustion. At Ms. Kuna's suggestion, Rob plans to shop for a wardrobe that fits her new body with Kara tomorrow, and dissuades Angela from coming along by saying she should look after Mallory, though Rob really just expects that the foul mood she'll be in while shopping for women's clothing won't be helped at all by Angela's presence. Angela agrees that Mallory would likely try to push herself through her injuries if left unattended, and accepts Eli's offer to help watch his sister. Rob tells her friends about the cover she made during the meeting with Ms. Kuna: she says that while she might prefer everyone call her Rob like Cory and Eli do, she'll likely better acclimate to the Robynne name if the others don't use the nickname for the time being. Cory and Eli can claim they met Rob through Vivian and Kara, and Rob's late arrival to school can be waved off by saying she had to help her uncle with a harvest back home, letting people assume Rob's home has a farm instead of just a garden. Rob's foreign laugh at Cory's joke about the farming story triggers an existential crisis within her as she fully realizes how much of herself she's permanently lost in the transformation. Not wanting her friends to see her potential breakdown, especially Eli given he blames himself for Rob's situation, Rob asks them to leave so she can eat dinner alone and try to process everything. Angela accepts Rob's explanation of wanting time to herself and takes the stone to her apartment, but Cory and Eli can tell Rob's composure is a mask and only leave after being insisted to. Before they go, the pair assures Rob that she will always have a home at their dorm, and they can be called upon for any reason at all.

Still frustrated at everything after eating and further angered at her now extremely long hair getting caught in her room's door, Rob decides to play *Aspect Realms* and destress. Before she can speak to her friend Tantrall in the game, she realizes she doesn't have an excuse for a girl's voice coming through her Bluster avatar's mic. She decides against playing without voice chat since it would deprive her of one of her favorite parts of the game, and she doesn't want to change her online handle and present as a different player due to a past incident where ColderTurkey left the guild after dealing with sexist behavior from several of her peers, so Rob claims she's having mic issues and logs out. She then gets a phone call from her Uncle Taylor and nearly answers it since she desperately needs his help, but is unable to go through with it out of fear he won't believe she's his nephew. She listens to his voicemail, where Taylor wonders how the project Rob claimed to be doing earlier has gone and hopes to talk soon. Overcome by the loneliness her transformation has inflicted on herself and her uncle, the realization that it could've been avoided had Rob just gone to a college closer to home like Taylor wanted, and feeling she now has no one who can help her, Rob breaks into tears for the first time since the death of her grandmother ten years ago.

Cory and Eli return to Burton Hall as they head for their dorm, with Cory physically venting his anger over Rob's situation on the way. Alone in the stairwell, the pair talk about the insanity of everything that's occurred ever since meeting the Spirit Guard. Eli still feels worthless for being unable to do anything himself to save Mallory's life, so Cory tries to comfort him by saying he thinks that if Fate was responsible for pushing Rob and the Spirit Guards toward the role she chose for them, it's possible that the pair becoming Rob's friend was also part of this plan. Eli rejects the notion that Rob might've not transformed to rescue Mallory had she not been his friend's sister, firmly believing Rob would've saved anyone in that situation and that Fate had no hand in Rob befriending his roommates. They then talk about Rob's new body, finding Fate cruel for cursing Rob with it. They feel incredibly guilty for checking Rob out before recognizing her, with Eli admitting he assumed Rob's new and old forms would be largely similar. Their conversation on Rob's unfortunate attractiveness stops when they notice someone enter the stairwell. Seeing the guy's luggage and learning that he's just moving in to the dorms, Cory and Eli correctly guess that he is Dale Bridges, their missing roommate; Dale had arrived late due to a hurricane getting him stuck in the Caribbean with his family. Dale is into video games like Cory and Eli are and befriends the duo, but since Dale happens to move in just after Rob is forced to leave, the new roommate is colored as a replacement in Eli's mind and makes it harder to connect with him. Dale is set to share a room with Robert, making Cory and Eli realize Rob's cover doesn't include a reason for Robert's disappearance. Cory claims Robert left for home due to the death of his father in a car accident, which is something that actually did happen fifteen years ago. Dale is saddened to hear this has happened to his would-be roommate Eli speaks so highly of. Dale then brings up the monster attack at the mall and how the police found evidence of a new Spirit Guard in the little remaining security footage the Hush Corps had allowed to remain intact. Dale hopes to see more of this Spirit Guard for supposedly having blood red "scarlette" hair since he's fond of girls with the color, which frustrates Eli since this presents yet another problem for Rob.

**Note 1:** The Standridge Stone to Robynne's dorm is keyed to the song "You're My Life" in this chapter, while Chapter 37 says it is keyed to "Crime in Progress".

**Note 2:** In the original version of this chapter, Dale said the images of the new Spirit Guard show her with a blue costume and scarlette hair. However, Chapters 32 and 55 later establish what the public knows of Serenity's appearance and contradict Dale's statements. In August of 2021, the conversation here was rewritten for greater consistency with later chapters, including an added recollection of Cory and Eli learning in the HushMobile how the Hush Corps control the narrative of the Spirit Guards' appearances.

## Chapter 18

With Rob's crying finished, she continues to sulk at her desk. Vivian enters the dorm after her grocery trip and checks on Rob. Unable to convince Vivian to leave her alone, Rob finds the "feminine care products" Vivian got for her are not things for women's hygiene like expected, but rather containers of ice cream. Vivian intends to help Rob using so-called "choco-phagial communication therapy", where Rob complains about her transformation over chocolate ice cream. Through discussing Spirit Guard powers and effects, Rob finds Vivian shares her scientific mindset in contrast to a goofy attitude and the other members' casual stance on the subject. To Rob's chagrin, Vivian nicknames her Rosy for her hair color. Vivian actually shares some of Rob's grievances over her own Spirit Guard business, like getting pushed around by Fate, the inability to swear, and being stuck with very long hair that can't be cut back to its original short length due to the healing factor.

Vivian mentions how even though the physical changes of Spirit Guard transformation bring the user's appearance closer to their Ardenita predecessor's, the specific traits seem to be pulled from their own DNA, making them resemble their relatives, and this selection of attractive features might be intended to draw a larger response from people and thus aid the Spirit Guard's emotion-based powers in some way. Rob is convinced to show off some photos she keeps of her family, and it's found that Rob's new form resembles her late mother. Rob is confused to see her mother's hair is suddenly the same scarlette color Rob now has, but puts off asking about this mystery due to not liking to talk about her deceased relatives. Rob is told the healing factor is fueled by calories and reverts much of the body's condition upon exiting Spirit Guard form, so she can use this ability to support an unhealthy diet as well as skip showers and the like, even if Angela and Kara don't approve of Vivian doing it. Rob is upset to learn her new body will likely experience periods, as in Vivian's experience only the cycle just after the first transformation is skipped. Rob is alarmed to see someone appear at the window, but finds it is just Noriko returning from Hush Corps work. Noriko again commends Rob for her sacrifice and apologizes for misjudging her earlier. Rob is moved to find Noriko had even retrieved the *Collider* comic dropped during the battle, treasuring the damaged yet intact book as something likened to her own identity. Annoyed at Vivian once again making a mess of her space and wanting rest after a long day of work, Noriko kicks her out of the room, and Rob spends the rest of the night reading her comic.

## Chapter 19

Trace, Platicore's assistant and the invisible presence Serenity detected during the Day LaMode fight, has a drink at her usual place, Rusty's Tavern. She is responsible for deploying each monster and retrieving their drained Investiture, but she ran out of the mall when Serenity was the first one to notice her through her stealth band, as Trace can't hope to oppose a Spirit Guard until Platicore can acquire empathokinetic enhancements for her. Trace knows Platicore will be livid at the news of a new Spirit Guard and Trace not yet having LaMode's empathic capacitor, so she has Rusty, the bar's owner, get her a lime wine cooler to placate Platicore with. Her pager buzzes, signaling her to return to Platicore's lair. She tells off a man trying to hit on her as she leaves, annoyed that unlike in her homeland of Triays'e, starting a fight on Earth would cause complications. She finds a warp stone to the lair in a nearby alley, operated via knocks much like the Standridge Stones, and reports to Platicore. He is enraged to hear that Trace doesn't have LaMode's Investiture yield, as Polygal leaving none at all sees his Investiture reserves running dangerously low. He calms down when told Trace fled the mall because the new Spirit Guard looked at the invisible Trace, unsurprised that the Shrine Maiden's reincarnation, boasting a near-telepathic empathokinetic sense due to having the power of tranquility, could pick up Trace's emotions even if she couldn't actually see her, so he plans to upgrade the stealth band soon. They reason that Polygal must've lost her Investiture trying to drain Serenity, who Trace offers to investigate, but Platicore says it'd be pointless due to the Disconnection Effect. Trace departs for the mall to get LaMode's capacitor now that the Hush Corps and most of the police should be gone, and plans to return within three hours.

The next day, Rob is given Ms. Kuna's credit card and a budget as large as necessary to shop for a wardrobe that fits her new body. With Rale Valley Mall closed for repairs, she goes to the mall two towns over. She is accompanied by her roommates, though Vivian and Noriko's inclusion wasn't initially planned. Rob struggles to find anything comfortable, and is annoyed that Vivian keeps suggesting clothes Rob would clearly never want to wear. Noriko says that if Rob's goal is to avoid attention, her outfit should resemble those of other girls on campus but more conservative so she can blend into the crowd, though Rob is unenthused at SAU's dress code requiring her to wear a skirt. Kara also suggests Rob wear colors that don't draw attention to her scarlette hair, her most distinctive feature. Rob asks Vivian why she's been avoiding Cory for spying on the Standridge Circle meeting when it was Rob's idea. Vivian says she'd thought of her secret identity as something she'd only share with her soulmate, but at Rob's suggestion considers giving Cory a second chance.

**Note 1:** This chapter has Noriko say Rob graduated seventh in class in high school class, while Jodi's findings in Chapter 25 say fourth instead.

**Note 2:** The original version of this chapter had Robynne, at Kara's suggestion, look for suit jackets in order to obscure her bust size and appear older to her peers.

## Chapter 20

Eli goes to Mallory's apartment to check up on her recovery, with the oversleeping Cory left behind. Eli notices Angela has gotten even less sleep than he had from worrying about Rob and Mal, making her take a nap while he wakes Mal up to eat and fuel her healing factor. Mallory tells him that Rob will need the help of her friends to cope with her transformation. Mal's near-death experience against Day LaMode made her realize she's not as invincible as she thought, and that Eli would be saddled with explaining everything to their parents in the event of her death. Because of this, she plans to tell her parents she's a Spirit Guard in the near future, not caring that she might get in trouble for breaking the team's secret identity policy. She learns Eli has patched things up with Kara and encourages him to keep pursuing her.

The night before, Trace sneaks into Rale Valley Mall, albeit with some difficulty given her stealth band is out of power. She is surprised to find Day LaMode's corpse, as the Spirit Guard's special attacks tend to completely destroy the body. Using an Investiture collector, LaMode's empathic capacitor appears, and Trace finds it contains more than enough Investiture to both recharge her stealth band and meet Platicore's quota. Combining what she saw of Serenity with what can be gleaned from LaMode's corpse, Trace deduces that Serenity must've used speed or stealth for a stab-to-boiling water attack finisher, which Platicore might find useful information while designing his next monster. As Trace leaves, she decides to try looking into the Spirit Guards' identities in her spare time despite Platicore insisting it's useless, as she is certain the existence of Champion obfuscation groups like the Hush Corps proves the Disconnection Effect is not an infallible defense for secret identities. Trace is particularly interested in meeting Serenity, whose brutal fighting style less reliant on flashy special moves sets her apart from the other Spirit Guards.

## Chapter 21

The next day, Rob skips what would've been her first day back at class to play *Corona Forge* on Cory's GameStation that Eli had lent, finding that her transformation has not impacted her gaming skills. She is annoyed, however, at the misogynistic comments she gets from her teammates for saying things that only prompted ordinary responses before. She gets one, ChaosBucketz, to stop when she makes a comeback to the more vitriolic PwnTang827, who rages at being made fun of for his poor performance and quits after Fretribution ridicules him further. Rob's team wins the game, but she quits at that point, exhausted at dealing with sexist people online. She jumps at hearing Noriko's voice right behind her, as the ninja had made an extremely quiet entrance.

Rob, who had originally planned to return to class today and check out the Club Week booths with Cory and Eli, explains why she changed her mind: she took a shower like Kara suggested she do for a while before she starts just transforming to skip it, but the activity she once enjoyed was extremely uncomfortable with her new body to the point that she had the sensation of someone intruding on her. Following that, Rob decided she's not yet ready to meet people outside. After she and Noriko chat about her online experience and how she'll likely receive visions of the Shrine Maiden in the future, she is given a binder from the Hush Corps with documentation she and Taylor will need for her new identity. Looking at her new driver's license, she is surprised to see Nick had created a photo of her if she had had her new body at sixteen, then is annoyed to find her name is spelled "Robynne". She had forgotten her grandmother's name was spelled that way when she agreed to use it herself and wants to change it, but is advised against doing so since Will has already hacked into federal databases once and thus any means of changing Rob's name again may draw the attention of government officials. Rob does, however, mean to change her online handle, as the "Blustery" variant of her usual "Bluster" name let others easily twist it into things like "Busty". Noriko, curious about the unfamiliar online world, suggests she switch the name inspired by the wind abilities of Rob's *Aspect Realms* avatar to one stemming from waves, which align with Rob's water powers and engineering interests, so the two brainstorm together.

Cory, Eli, Vivian, and Kara check out the booths set up for Club Week. Following Rob's suggestion, Vivian is a bit more receptive to Cory. They find an unusually crowded booth where people are playing *Tour de Rock*. They learn from the people manning the booth, ergoAwesome and Zemiron, about SFEERS, a club focused on a wide range of nerds' interests. Cory and Eli sign up after hearing the club has several fellow *Invokers* players. When Eli asks about the video games played in SFEERS, he finds out it has its own *Aspect Realms* guild, which will interest Rob. Kara signs up despite having *Hop Dance Mania* as her only overlapping interest since she predicts Rob will join and like having friends around, and convinces Vivian to do the same. Eli plans to recommend SFEERS to Rob the next chance he gets.

## Chapter 22

The next day, Robynne decides she's ready to return to class, so Vivian and Kara help her get ready and coach her on some things a normal girl might be expected to know. Rob is unnerved at the attention her body draws and frustrated at how cumbersome her backpack is given her breasts get in the way and her reduced musculature makes carrying her laptop a burden. She is the first to arrive at her Intro to Business class, and looks over a message she's drafted to Tantrall, who's wondering about Rob's recent absence from *Aspect Realms*, with the message announcing her departure from the Mayhem Templar guild, citing a heavy college workload. She plans to cut ties with her old guildmates, then make new friends on a different server since they won't be expecting her old voice from her avatar, though she also considers quitting *Aspect Realms* entirely after her poor experience with *Corona Forge* players. Shortly after Robynne sits down, she is joined by Stacy, one of the cheerleaders she had kicked a rock toward as Robert last week. Stacy is all too eager to sit next to and talk with her new classmate, and is surprised to learn that someone with Rob's looks has no cheerleading experience. She offers to ask the cheer captain to grant Rob a spot on the Promotion Squad with her, but is turned down.

The class ends, and Robynne leaves Stacy behind. Thinking about the pleasant conversation they had, Robynne realizes she didn't feel the urge to look at the attractive cheerleader the same way she did as Robert, and considers the possibility that the transformation has changed her brain and what it's attracted to. Disturbed at this thought, she decides to instead focus on her extra sense, which has noticeably improved since her transformation, and the synesthetic auras it detects on some people. She is approached by Nick, who shares an Introduction to Digital Media Arts class with her and bought her coffee for her first day back. Rob is confused until Nick introduces himself, as he forgot he hadn't actually met the one he made documentation for. Nick also forgets Rob isn't really a woman and accidentally offends her with his chivalry, but she warms up to him after that misunderstanding is cleared up.

**Note:** This chapter was not rewritten to reflect the revised Chapter 19 removing Robynne's intention to wear a suit jacket to class.

## Chapter 23

After their class finishes and they get lunch, Robynne and Nick part ways. She'd finally sent her resignation post to the Mayhem Templar forum, sad to leave her online friends behind. She texts with her uncle, having told him her phone's receiver is broken so they can communicate without her voice revealing her transformation early, and turns down his offer to get her a new phone by saying she'll have a friend repair it later. She uses her lunch break to find the SFEERS booth Cory and Eli had recommended to her. This time, GalleyGirl and club president Fretribution are manning the booth, with the latter happening to be the same Fretribution Rob played *Corona Forge* with yesterday. He recognizes her voice as Blustery's, but Rob denies it, having changed her online handle to Waveform. GalleyGirl, de facto head of SFEERS's unofficial cosplay group, tries and fails to get Rob into the hobby. She also tells Rob about the club's *Aspect Realms* guild, the Knights of the Spherical Table, and is excited to get someone skilled enough to earn the prestigious Bloodhawk title to join. Rob is expected to be a major help to the guild's PvP group that is currently poorly led by NightKnight, who Rob had actually played against last week but has forgotten about. Rob gets along well with Fretribution and shares his fondness for rock music, but is unnerved by his eyes she finds attractive and his unusual aura with a crushed velvet texture, so she leaves shortly after signing up for SFEERS and saying she plans to attend its opening social later that week.

Meanwhile, Jodi and Cammy are nearby with the Promotion Squad, trying to draw people to Mu Nu Chi and other groups Cammy has connections to. Cammy had made sure the SFEERS booth was placed on the edge of the Club Week circle so she could easily keep an eye out for attractive nerd girls she might want on the cheer team to infiltrate the rapidly growing club. Cammy sees Robynne leaving the SFEERS booth, and the two officers decide she is a perfect candidate for the job. Stacy is called over and told to follow Rob, but surprises the officers when she says she's already familiar with her and attempted to recruit her. The plan then changes: Cammy asks Stacy to treat Rob to lunch when they next meet on Thursday so the captain can recruit Rob personally, claiming Rob's initial refusal is merely a symptom of low confidence, which is apparent from her unfashionable outfit and something a friend like Stacy can remedy. Stacy is uneasy at the plan, but ultimately agrees. After letting Stacy leave promotion duty early, Cammy tells Jodi that getting Robynne to join the cheer team absolutely must succeed, and is even willing to dip into the team's funds for the first time since last year's drama with Angela. She asks that their gossipmonger Tanya be ordered to find out as much as possible about Rob online so Cammy can plan the recruitment and find a suitable gift for a bribe.

**Note:** In Chapters 23 and 25, the SFEERS opening social is said to be scheduled for that Friday. Chapter 31 changes it to being on Saturday, which is retained in later chapters.

## Chapter 24

After class finishes for the day, Robynne meets Cory, Eli, and her roommates in her dorm and tells them how her return to school went. Angela and Mallory join them, the latter having recovered to the point that she's expected to return to class and even volleyball within the week. Angela's curiosity is piqued upon hearing of the auras Rob could sense around campus. Rob's ability to sense Angela and Mallory's auras even before the Standridge Stone lit up, describe the team's auras in great detail, and detect Eli's faint aura at all leads Angela to conclude Rob's empathokinetic sense is superior to her own and thus the keenest among the Spirit Guard. Angela tenses up at the mention of Fretribution's textured aura, as the one textured aura she's familiar with has unusual lingering effects on people and belongs to someone who hurt her in the past, though Rob tells her Fretribution's aura wasn't like that and lets Angela keep her uncomfortable story to herself. Rob then withdraws to her room to catch up on the homework her change in classes has left her, letting her get away from the stress her transformation brings to social interaction.

## Chapter 25

While asleep that night, Robynne has a vision of the Shrine Maiden. The Shrine Maiden, stationed at a remote area with her shrine, sends a report of yet another uneventful day of intelligence gathering on Platicore's few troops lingering nearby. She is disappointed to be at such an inconsequential place during the Ardentia Civil War, and hopes the implications of such in her report will convince her superiors to have her shrine move elsewhere. While playing her barauta, she senses an intruder enter the safe house and attacks. She is surprised to find it is just the Scholar, her old friend from their days as initiates in the Tranquil Discipline who had recanted five years prior. The Scholar was able to find the Maiden thanks to the Princess's seal earning the cooperation of the Maiden's subordinates and an invisibility power of a special focus she invented (the focus and power respectively appearing to be what is known in the present as the Spirit Stick of Serenity and Placid Mist) letting her avoid getting detected by enemies. The Maiden is devastated to hear the Vice-Archon of Tranquility, her idol and the Scholar's grandfather, had died two months ago. Normally, the Maiden would've been promptly ordered to return to the capital city to vote on his successor, and her popularity likely would've won her the position. This was stopped as part of a conspiracy involving the High Archon: he had the Maiden stationed far away and ensured she didn't learn of the Vice-Archon's death until it was too late, letting the conspirators' candidate Liff win the vote. With three of six Vice-Archons corrupt, any attempt to oust the High Archon for his misdeeds, such as his lasting affair with the Empress, will end in failure.

At this, the Maiden loses all hope of the Church of the High Spirits reforming the morally declining Ardent Empire. The Scholar was expecting this response, as she is part of a scheme the Princess made in hopes of sabotaging the Empire's planned relocation to and conquering of Terra, as well as creating the means for the planet's young peoples to protect themselves. The Scholar had originally invented the Spirit Sticks to defeat the Other Power and save the Empire; she was able to make them using data on the Other Power she managed to get from one of her devices, but only had enough time to make five due to secretly working alone since she didn't want such powerful weapons in the Empress's sight. Deciding just five Spirit Sticks won't be enough to save the Empire and agreeing with the Princess that the Empire isn't worth saving anyway, the Spirit Sticks are now to be left for human use in the future. The Scholar needs full access to the gateway to Terra to store the Spirit Sticks in and subsequently lock the Ardentia out, so she leveraged her reputation as a genius empathokinetic researcher to make the Empress appoint her as the head of the relocation project. This gateway is a new type that requires none of the waystones destroyed during the war to function, but does need a partner gateway at the destination, which is why the Empress through visions taught the Atsah how to construct the Terra-side gateway. The Princess feels the Shrine Maiden's cooperation is necessary for their plan to succeed, so she sent the Scholar to request her aid. The Maiden agrees, so she prepares to bring her shrine to the capital city, justifying her desertion by bringing the Scholar's intel on the Other Power, presenting it as something the Maiden learned from the High Spirits in a vision. Once there, she'll meet up with the Princess, her closest friend she hasn't seen since childhood, and move forward with the plan.

When Robynne tells Vivian about the vision in the morning, an impromptu Spirit Guard meeting is held to discuss it. Rob is bothered that the Princess and co. sought to let everyone in the Empire die instead of allowing innocent people to move to Earth, but is told the plan was apparently deemed the one most likely to succeed after at least a year of deliberation. She wonders about why the names of certain people were rendered as unintelligible sounds in the visions, which Vivian guesses might be the work of Fate, as perhaps transmitting the real names of the Spirit Guards' past lives risks drawing the Other Power to the reincarnations. Rob's vision containing info on drama within the Church of the High Spirits is said to have been very helpful in piecing together the Spirit Guard's background.

On the way out of the dorms, Robynne notes her backpack digging into her breasts, so Kara suggests she go looking for a new one with Mallory, who's been bored since she can't exercise or anything while recovering. Rob is still surprised at Kara joining SFEERS, with Kara admitting she did so in part to get closer to Eli. Rob disapproves of Kara's plan to use just her first name in the club instead of an online name, and is amused to learn of Vivian's choice of handle and her hopes of all of the Spirit Guards adopting matching "Overdoom" names.

Jodi meets with Cammy in the Student Council offices with bad news: Tanya could find barely anything about Robynne, who has zero social media presence and only a few useful records. Having found out about Rob's roommates, Jodi guesses that Rob is a shut-in and only went out to see the SFEERS booth after being recommended to by Vivian and Kara, who Jodi had spotted there two days ago but didn't get the chance to try recruiting them. This contradicts Stacy describing Rob as a "pistol", but reinforces Cammy's belief that Stacy, who is quickly becoming her favorite promoter, will be a useful influence on Rob. Even with basically no information to work with, Cammy is certain she can convince Rob to join the cheer team.

## Chapter 26

Robynne takes Mallory with her to shop for a backpack that won't dig into her new body's breasts. Knowing Robynne wants to be treated the same as when she was Robert, Mallory makes a point of teasing Rob like she does with Cory and Eli. She also reminds her that she can be turned to for any reason and is forever grateful for being saved from Day LaMode, even if Rob is hesitant to ask for help and considers the rescue just something done out of principle. The dramatic rescue is also what caused Mal to often call Rob "Ace" ever since. Mal insists on paying for a backpack out of Rob's price range, as she is allowed to use an emergency credit card to help her friends, and if her mother asks about the purchase, Mal can say it was for the one who saved the day at the mall's monster attack. This surprises Rob, who is just now hearing of Mal's intention to reveal she's a Spirit Guard to her parents. Mal hasn't told anyone about this except Rob and Eli, as she thinks the other Spirit Guards might want to eventually tell their own families their secret, with Kara likely to have particular difficulty getting through to her five protective brothers. Mal plans to speak to her parents during either the coming weekend or the next, and Rob asks to be told how it goes so she can figure out how to handle meeting her uncle.

That night in Robynne's room, Rob is indecisive about how to alter her *Aspect Realms* avatar, since she needs to change it in order to join the Accord-aligned Knights of the Spherical Table. She wants Bluster to remain a stealth character after being changed into Waveform and plans to make her water-aligned given her name, but isn't particularly fond of any of the Accord races that can use that combination. Noriko notices and helps Rob reason through it, deciding a Seraphim is the best choice. After creating Waveform and transferring her to the Stoneraven server, Rob messages GalleyGirl and is welcomed onto the Knights.

## Chapter 27

Robynne stays up late playing *Aspect Realms* with her new guild. The next morning, Stacy offers to treat Rob to lunch, so they make plans to meet up later that day. Before splitting off, Stacy notices Rob is familiar with Nick, who Rob clarifies is not her boyfriend and suggests Stacy date him herself. Rob gives Nick Stacy's number, envying the two for being able to casually date. Rob talks about the obstacles she faces from being so introverted, helping Nick understand the same problems Will has but has struggled to explain.

Robynne and Stacy have lunch at the Billot Building. They tell each other a little about their background, with Rob omitting details that might give away her secret. During the conversation, Rob senses an extremely strong textured aura that seems to linger a bit on everyone it passes, which matches the description of the aura Angela mentioned two days ago. The aura is shown to belong to Cammy, who Stacy greets. At the same time, Angela, who is coincidentally in the same building, notices the unusual sight of Rob with the two cheerleaders and goes to watch them from the second floor, concerned about what Cammy might be up to.

## Chapter 28

As Cammy joins Robynne and Stacy's lunch, Rob is confused to find herself envious of the captain's looks despite hating the female body she's been forced into. She realizes this is a passive ability of Cammy's aura, willing her own aura to push the captain's out and break its hold on her. Based on Cammy's lack of reaction to this, Rob infers that Cammy can't detect auras and is probably unaware of the commanding presence granted by hers. Seeing through Cammy's mask of friendliness and recalling what Angela said about the strange aura's owner, Rob is certain Cammy is the one behind whatever saw Angela leave the cheer team last year that Vivian had mentioned Saturday. While talking with Cammy, Rob tries to come off as undignified and unfashionable to dissuade the captain from trying to rope her into whatever might be planned. When that fails, Rob snaps at Cammy, calling her out for her dishonesty, and demands to know what Cammy wants that she'd make Stacy arrange this meeting for. Cammy says she wants Rob to join the cheer team due to her beauty. Thinking about the cheer team's ties to the powerful Student Council and Cammy's knowledge of SFEERS despite apparently not wanting to deal with the nerd club herself, Rob correctly guesses that Cammy wants her for her SFEERS membership. At hearing this, Cammy asks Stacy to leave so she can speak with Rob alone.

Cammy, hiding her anger at Robynne being one of the rare people to stand up to her, continues trying to recruit Rob, citing the promise of benefits to being in both SFEERS and the cheer team, but keeps her reason for targeting the club to herself. Rob has no interest in whatever this social "game" Cammy's plot involves, and shocks the captain by getting up and leaving. Rob takes out her phone to ask Angela about Cammy and the aura, but finds Angela already sent her a text about having watched the meeting. Angela wants to discuss it in person but fears being seen with Rob, so she plans to use the Standridge Stones to enter Rob's dorm.

**Note 1:** In the original version of this chapter, Robynne saying she needs to go to class when leaving Cammy is said to be a lie. However, in the previous chapter, Rob agrees to have lunch with Stacy at 11 AM because she has classes scheduled from noon to 2 PM. The revised chapter instead says Rob has no intention of going to her Calculus class since she wants time to think about what's going on with Cammy meeting her.

**Note 2:** In this chapter, Angela is said to have brought up Cammy's textured aura yesterday, while in actuality this occurred the day before that in Chapter 24.

## Chapter 29

On the way to her dorm, Robynne notices a part of her aura seems to have been affected by Cammy's, allowing her to broadly sense Cammy's relative position from a distance. Rob finds Kara inside, who, after hearing about the encounter with Cammy, mentions a time over the summer where Angela took her to check out the captain's aura, though Kara didn't find it quite as unusual as Angela or Rob do. Their conversation is interrupted when Angela shows up and takes Rob aside to Rob's room. Angela presses Rob about Cammy's aura and is relieved to no longer be the only one to sense its strange effects, which she hasn't told the rest of the team about out of fear that her empathokinetic sense was mistaken.

At Robynne's behest, Angela tells the full history she has with Cammy: they had met last year when Angela tried out for the cheer team. Angela believed Cammy's incredible aura was the mark of the second Spirit Guard and even considered revealing her secret identity to the captain, but was dissuaded by Kunapipi. Angela, unaware that she herself was affected by Cammy's aura, became Cammy's friend and go-to promoter, and was even allowed to cheer at events with the Pep Squad on occasion. Angela met Mallory after cheering at a volleyball game, deciding to befriend her after sensing her unique aura. The two's dinner at Italy's Patio one night was interrupted by the monster Alena Alfredo, so Angela ran off to enter her Spirit Guard Valor form. She returned to find Mallory glowing and unable to be drained just like Robert was. Using her ability as the Princess's reincarnation to remotely access any unclaimed Spirit Stick, Valor tossed one at Mallory, letting Mal become Spirit Guard Tenacity and defeat the monster. Angela could've done the same for Rob, but his situation was considered too strange to make it a wise decision.

Still convinced Cammy must be a potential Spirit Guard, Angela took Mallory to inspect the captain's aura, but Mal couldn't detect anything special about it. Mal later revealed her dislike of Cammy, who she felt has been a bad influence on Angela. At this point, Angela finally realized how Cammy's aura was affecting her: she uncharacteristically prioritized promotion jobs over schoolwork, and eventually fell far enough behind to accept Cammy's offer to have a tutor Cammy knows write two of Angela's English essays. She also noticed the suspicious behavior of Cammy making the Promotion Squad focus on groups Cammy had connections in, and how Cammy could buy expensive gifts, such as a new phone for Angela, using the cheer team's budget. Angela investigated with the help of Tanya, who was in the process of becoming a close friend to Cammy, and found out where the money was coming from: a freshman Cammy had managed to convince the Student Council to allocate all promotion funds to the cheer team, which was then split into the Promotion and Pep Squads and made to receive a cut of all club dues. The team would also get money from Cammy's rich father, and Cammy's favored clubs often gave larger contributions than normal. Cammy wants influence over as many clubs as possible so she can sway Student Council votes to her liking, stunting the growth of dissenters by cutting off promotional exposure. After learning all of this, Angela confronted Cammy about it, though nothing came of this until shortly after she threatened to expose everything. At that point, Angela was called into the scholarship office and had her Presidential Scholarship revoked, as Cammy had revealed Angela's cheated essays. Angela tried to show the evidence she'd collected on Cammy's misdeeds, but her phone had been tampered with and its information remotely deleted. She was also kicked from the cheer team, with rumors saying her essays were written in return for sexual favors, and lost all of her friends except Mallory. Angela was only able to afford to stay in school after moving into Mallory's apartment and learning of a smaller scholarship she had previously turned down but found was miraculously unclaimed.

Angela gets to the part of her story she hasn't told the other Spirit Guards at all: even after the scandal with Cammy ended, Angela continued to keep an eye on the captain. Angela started getting visions of the Princess and Empress that bore similarities to some of Angela and Cammy's interactions. Angela fears Cammy could be reincarnated from the Empress somehow, which she hasn't told the others out of fear they wouldn't believe her since they can't sense Cammy's aura the way she and Rob can. Rob doubts the theory and finds the notion of Angela's teammates not trusting her ridiculous, but Angela is worried about how to tell them the secret she's been keeping for so long. While thinking about it, Rob senses the others just behind the door and opens it, finding that they started eavesdropping shortly after Kara saw Angela suspiciously bring Rob into the room.

## Chapter 30

Robynne lets the other Spirit Guards cry out their misunderstandings over Angela's issues with Cammy, and then tells them and the recently arrived Noriko about today's run-in with the cheer captain. Angela believes Cammy must be concerned about SFEERS because the club has grown at an incredible pace over the last two years, increasing its representation in the Student Council enough to threaten the majority of votes Cammy tries to sustain control over. Cammy is wary after having lost a large number of votes thanks to Omicron Chi's shutdown for a scandal over its wild parties last year as well as the Sock Hop Society's recent failure to renew its Council eligibility, the latter caused by Angela stealing the paperwork before it could be approved. The team agrees that Cammy is too dangerous to ignore whether or not she's connected to the Empress, and try to figure out ways to learn of and stop whatever it is she's scheming. Several methods are brought up, but are all deemed inadequate or infeasible. Noriko believes planting a mole in the cheer team to spy on Cammy is the best option, with Robynne the only viable choice given she's been personally invited and also happens to be the best at sensing Cammy's aura. Just then, a package is dropped off at the dorm: a note from "C" and an absurdly expensive tailor-made dress meant to bribe Rob into reconsidering the offer to join the cheer team. The gang concludes Cammy is desperate for Rob to deal with SFEERS for her, but the notion of making Rob join the cheer team is an uncomfortable one.

Robynne very much doesn't want to join the cheer team, but might be willing to go through with it if it's the only way to defeat Cammy. After being pressed on why she's considering it all given she doesn't really believe Cammy is linked to the Empress, Rob tells the others about how her time in high school was ruined by Evelyn Gray, a cheerleader very similar to Cammy. During his sophomore year at Deepwater High, Robert stood up to Evelyn and called her out in front of a crowd for bullying one of her former friends. Frustrated at her usual attacks on one's social standing failing on Rob, Evelyn instead started bullying Brook, Rob's girlfriend who was on the cheer team with Evelyn. At around the same time, Dustin Durfee, Evelyn's boyfriend who resented Rob for up until just recently always being ahead of him for the football team's running back position, was convinced by her to pick a fight with Rob. Rob swiftly won, but injuring the football team's star player earned him a two-week suspension and the scorn of much of the school. It was during this time that Rob started playing *Aspect Realms*. Rob's grumpiness at also being moved down the depth chart wore on his Uncle Taylor, who suggested Rob take ballet lessons like Rob's father had to improve his performance at football so much that he'll have to get moved back up. Rob eventually agreed on the condition that he do it in the next town over so no one at school would know. Evelyn somehow found out and created the rumor that Rob was using his relationship with Brook to hide that he's gay. Even Brook herself began to wonder about the rumor, as Rob being distant and having a strong aversion to physical contact has left their relationship stagnant over the course of a year and a half, and gradually pushed for more intimacy to little success. Evelyn finally revealed Rob taking ballet during junior year, solidifying the rumors of Rob being gay. After Rob took Brook to the Homecoming dance but refused to cuddle with her afterward, the two argued about him supposedly faking their relationship and broke up. Brook became part of Evelyn's friend group, and Rob eventually quit football since the constant homophobic insults tossed his way made it no longer fun to be around the team. In hindsight, Rob believes he would've been better off if he broke up with Brook as soon as it became obvious their different desired levels of intimacy couldn't be overcome, but he was scared of being single again since the rest of the football team would then make fun of him for being a virgin.

With the story over, Robynne's motivation for wanting to stop Cammy is made clear: she won't allow Cammy to continue hurting people the same way Evelyn hurt Robert. In addition, Rob joining the cheer team to handle SFEERS for Cammy will prevent the captain from interfering with the club and potentially ruining one of the few places of comfort left to Rob after the transformation. In order to make Rob's change of heart believable to someone as self-centered as Cammy, it is suggested Rob return the dress she was bribed with and present a list of demands before agreeing to join the cheer team, with one such demand being to let Vivian join as well so Rob won't be alone. Rob is warned that the operation will likely take several months and be very difficult, and she knows she'll hate going through with it, but she's willing to withstand it if that's what has to be done to destroy Cammy's schemes.

## Chapter 31

Robynne visits her old dorm to tell Cory and Eli about the plan to deal with Cammy. The pair is shocked at Rob agreeing to go join the cheer team, but to Rob's disappointment don't have any better ideas. Eli worries that Rob is stretching herself thin since her transformation has already given her so many burdens, while Cory is more confident about her defeating Cammy. They are interrupted when Dale shows up from band practice earlier than expected; the three met at this time because Dale wasn't going to be present to meet Robynne and complicate things given his love of scarlettes. As feared, Dale is obviously interested in Rob, who is unnerved that she considers him attractive. Robynne knowing Cory and Eli is covered by claiming she is an old friend of Robert's from Deepwater. Robynne considers decisively shutting down Dale's pursuits by saying she and Robert are romantically involved, but is too disgusted at the idea to go through with it. She quickly excuses herself, deciding she'll avoid Dale until she can better handle herself around him and his textured aura, which can relax those in close proximity. Outside the dorm, she is annoyed to hear Dale had overheard the mention of her having to wear a cheerleader uniform.

The next day, Robynne goes looking for Cammy with Vivian, uncomfortable at the more fashionable outfit meant to display confidence to the captain. Using Rob's ability to track Cammy's aura, Cammy is found to be in the club administrators' office with Jodi and Tanya. Vivian gives Rob one last chance to back out of the plan, but Rob resolves to see it through, believing her empathokinetic sense makes her the only one fully capable of beating Cammy. While the cheer officers are planning the promotion of a big pre-Homecoming party, they spot Rob approaching the office and sending Vivian away. Rob enters and shocks Jodi by presenting the bribe dress, as Cammy normally spends that kind of money only on herself. Cammy sends Jodi and Tanya off so she can speak to Rob alone, with Tanya having been tasked with looking into Vivian, though the Hush Corps have already removed possible online records linking Vivian to Angela.

Having practiced with the others beforehand how to effectively negotiate with Cammy, Robynne says she's aware that Cammy wants control of SFEERS's many Student Association votes, and she is willing to be the cheerleader to handle the club and its votes if it means it won't be a victim of the captain's schemes. Rob sets several conditions for her cooperation: grant Vivian a spot on the team (claiming Vivian missed tryouts and is jealous of Rob's invitation), come to Rob directly for things instead of using people like Stacy, return the dress and use the money to buy Rob a set of components for a new gaming computer, and allow Rob to skip promotion duty, failing to get the last one extended to Vivian. Rob justifies the computer by saying a high-end PC will let her run any sort of game and more easily connect with SFEERS officers, and, in order to prevent this misuse of the cheer team's funds from being linked to her, demands it be sent overnight to "Bluster" at her old dorm. Cammy is furious at being ordered around but agrees to the terms. Rob and Vivian will have to fill out their information and get their photos taken tomorrow for use on the cheer team's website, and Cammy, as a way to immediately pay Rob back for making demands, orders the two new cheerleaders to show up to the SFEERS opening social in uniform, claiming it's important the club knows who they're affiliated with.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter implied that Jodi had watched Cammy and Robynne's first meeting rather than hearing about it after the fact, as her remarks on Rob's attitude with the captain was based on "what I [Jodi] saw" instead of "what you [Cammy] said".

## Chapter 32

Robynne and Vivian fill out the information needed for their bios on the cheer team's website. Rob is uncomfortable about people being able to learn about her online and has a background that'll stick out among the cheerleaders, so Angela, Mallory, and Noriko help her figure out how to twist it into satisfactory near-truths. The two new cheerleaders later head to the studio so Tanya can give them their uniforms and photograph them. Vivian goes first while Stacy handles Rob's makeup. Hearsay of Rob's first encounter with Cammy has much of the team under the impression that the new recruit is stuck up but was ultimately won over by the captain, though Rob tells Stacy she mainly joined to get Vivian a spot. Rob and Stacy talk about the rumors of a fifth Spirit Guard, who Stacy is confident is more like a normal cheerleader than Rob thinks. Once Rob takes her turn in front of the camera, Vivian quickly befriends Stacy and tells her about the SFEERS opening social, though Stacy fears she'll be too busy sorting the photos to tag along. Rob notices Tanya seems to trust Vivian more than her because there was no info on Rob for the snoop to latch onto, so she gives vague and half-truthful answers to questions about herself.

## Chapter 33

The photo shoot finishes, so Robynne and Vivian head for the SFEERS opening social. On the way, Stacy catches up to them, having decided she can put off sorting through the photos and join the two at the social after all. She doesn't have any shared interests with the club, but expects to enjoy just being at the party. She is confused at Rob and Vivian being ordered to go in their cheerleader uniforms; the two explain without explicitly mentioning Cammy's schemes, as Rob believes letting Stacy figure out what kind of person Cammy is for herself might let her better handle the captain's aura in the future. Rob and Vivian showing up in uniform seems to leave a poor impression on the SFEERS members, though they had planned for this: Cory, Eli, and Kara are waiting at the entrance with a change of clothes, as Cammy failed to specify that Rob and Vivian should remain in uniform throughout the event. Rob is greeted by Fretribution, and she hopes to scope out his textured aura tonight to see if it has any special effects like Cammy and Dale's do.

## Chapter 34

Robynne and Vivian change out of their cheerleader uniforms in the restrooms, with Rob worried that having been seen in uniform will make the SFEERS members less accepting of her. They then join up with Eli, Kara, and Stacy around Cory's *Invokers* game. Cory has heard that last year, a pair of cheerleaders showed up at the SFEERS opening social but were isolated for faking their nerdy interests; this was Cammy's attempt to gain control of the club's Student Association votes before getting the idea to recruit someone genuinely interested in the club. GalleyGirl finds the group and chats with them for a little while, but even with Stacy's help she is once again unsuccessful in getting Rob into cosplay. The group then splits up: Vivian stays with Cory at the *Invokers* table, Eli and Kara go to teach Stacy how to play *Hop Dance Mania*, and Rob moves toward the *Tour de Rock* setup in search of Fretribution, who might have more information on what happened with last year's visiting cheerleaders.

## Chapter 35

As Robynne moves through the crowds, her voice is recognized by SaltStorm, the guildmaster of the Knights of the Spherical Table. This is her first in-person meeting with him, ergoAwesome, and NightKnight; the latter, like Rob, is unaware that they'd already spoken in *Aspect Realms* prior to Rob's transformation. Rob is quite popular in the guild after joining just a few days ago, but NightKnight is a bit wary of her due to his awkwardness and apparently feeling his role as the group's de facto PvP leader is threatened after hearing about Rob's superior skill.

Robynne splits off from the group and finds Fretribution at the *Tour de Rock* setup. With the next song set to be by Patty Plane, Fretribution tries to convince the nearby girls to play the vocalist, but they're all too shy to do it. Rob discovers that Fretribution's aura can make those near him a little bolder and more outgoing, which she believes is the cause of SFEERS's incredible success at drawing new members since the spike in growth started around two years when he became its president. She is hesitant when offered to sing, as she's uncomfortable at the attention and has never sung with her new body's voice, but decides to accept the offer, letting the aura mitigate her discomfort some.

## Chapter 36

Robynne, unfamiliar with her voice, ends up singing horribly. After the song is over, she leaves the *Tour de Rock* crowd with Fretribution, who thanks her for embarrassing herself since such displays help make SFEERS's largely shy and insular demographic more comfortable socializing with one another. He doesn't have much to add regarding last year's visiting cheerleaders, but when he hears Rob is on the Promotion Squad, he asks if she's able to resolve the issue of it and the Student Council apparently ignoring SFEERS's requests for promotion since last year. Stacy, having left Eli and Kara after deciding they want time with each other, overhears the conversation and volunteers Robynne, Vivian, and herself to help with the promotion situation, and has Fretribution and Rob exchange phone numbers for this, though Stacy's behavior is also driven by Fretribution's aura and an assumption that Rob wants to date the guy. Stacy doesn't realize until after Fretribution leaves and Rob's disdain for promotion work is brought up that she uncharacteristically overstepped in volunteering her friends, and gets confused and worried when the possibility of the cheer team intentionally ignoring SFEERS is considered. Rob and Stacy then go to meet back up with Cory and Vivian.

## Chapter 37

After the SFEERS opening social ends, Robynne and friends go to Cory and Eli's dorm, with Dale away at a show with his band. Stacy shortly leaves to sort through Robynne and Vivian's cheer team photos, and Rob returns to her own dorm not long after so Cory and Eli can be with just Vivian and Kara. Rob tells Noriko how the night went and is suggested to do the same with Angela in person, who is alone after declining to go out with Mallory and friends; Angela doesn't have much spending money and apparently doesn't like to let Mallory treat her all the time.

When Robynne warps to the Standridge Circle, she is surprised that her empathokinetic sense picks up something like a song within the iris, which should be empty now that all five Spirit Sticks have been removed. As Rob intensely focuses to hone in on whatever is inside the iris, she senses a hidden presence that seems to be watching her, apparently the same one she felt when she first showered in her new body, but loses track of both sensations when her focus wavers. She decides to go straight to Angela's apartment so she doesn't alert the mysterious observer, then tells Angela about the experience. They agree that the observer, which Angela has similarly felt before when particularly introspective, is probably Fate, but the possibility of it being an enemy spy dissuades them from returning to the Circle and resuming Rob's investigation for the moment. As Rob tells Angela about the night's cheer and SFEERS business, the two bond over their surprisingly similar backgrounds. Angela apologizes for how she treated Robert at the Circle; she was so invested in her visions that she believed Rob would readily join the Spirit Guard and have the same bond with Angela that the Shrine Maiden had with the Princess. She'd always considered the Princess an extension of herself, but after getting to know Rob and his highly critical stance on the past lives, Angela has been trying to think about it all in more depth.

Angela laments that she won't be able to meet Stacy or be seen with Robynne in public, as she is still someone Cammy's surveillance is wary of. At this, Rob decides Angela should join SFEERS in order to make friends outside the Spirit Guard again, as Cammy has no lackeys monitoring the club, which also happens to use online handles in place of real names, and Angela coming to SFEERS events will let her join Rob in studying Fretribution's aura. Angela fears she won't fit in due to lacking nerdy interests, so Rob offers to lend her her desktop computer, which will soon be replaced by the one extorted from Cammy, and get Angela to play *Aspect Realms* with Rob and the other Knights of the Spherical Table. Angela is unsure, not being very familiar with video games, so Rob tells her all about the game in order to convince her.

**Note 1:** The Standridge Stone linked to Robynne's dorm is said to be the third one in this chapter, while Chapter 48 says it is the seventh, with stone three linked to Adamson's View Golf Club.

**Note 2:** This chapter says at two different points that the stone linked to Angela's apartment is keyed to "Emotion Sickness" and "We're Back and Bringin' It".

## Chapter 38

Late that night, Dale returns from his gig, which he felt off during. Eli walks Kara back to her dorm, while Cory and Vivian start watching *Commander Earth* to see if the cartoon is as awful as they remember. The next morning, Eli is woken up by Vivian's snoring; she and Cory had accidentally fallen asleep on the couch, which violates SAU's rule prohibiting overnight guests. After Eli tells Dale about last night, Dale wonders about joining SFEERS, since he's considering playing *Crosshair Eclipse* again. Eli, worried Dale will seek Robynne out at the club and hit on her, dissuades him by doubting the game is that popular there. Vivian wakes up, chides Cory for letting her fall asleep, then rushes off to meet her family for church. Shortly after, the dorm receives the computer parts Rob had extorted from Cammy. As the delivery man leaves, the boys are greeted by Sanvi, a cheerleader who Eli realizes had been sent to spy on the delivery under the guise of promoting a party for the football team's recent win. With Dale answering the door and confirming he's familiar with a cheerleader, Sanvi assumes Dale is the one Robynne entrusted with the package and makes a point of excluding his more ordinary-looking roommates from the conversation. After Sanvi leaves, Dale is confused about the packages, so Cory claims Robynne bought them on Robert's Online Jungle account, letting her save money and him accrue points on his Premium subscription. Not wanting Robynne to have to deal with Dale, Eli declines his offer to help bring everything to her dorm and calls Mallory instead, who's expected to be rather annoyed at getting volunteered.

**Note 1:** In the original version of this chapter, the computer components are addressed to Robert Dreese, but prior and later chapters maintain that the package is addressed to "Bluster", one of Rob's old online names. After the chapter was revised to correct this, however, a new error emerged: the conversation about Robert ordering the parts for Robynne was left unchanged, so Dale now inexplicably knows Bluster's identity.

**Note 2:** The original version of this chapter had Sanvi's name as "Pari" instead.

## Chapter 39

When Noriko hears from Robynne about what happened with the delivery, she accompanies Mallory in picking the computer parts up. In order to keep any other spies Cammy might've sent from connecting Rob to Angela's roommate, Noriko has Mallory use a false license plate and drive to the Standridge Circle so the packages can be brought directly to Rob's dorm. Rob packs up her old desktop to give to Angela later. Kara teases her when she sees her consoling the machine, so Rob says she's very attached to Windswept for being something she built herself and the last thing she put so much of herself into as Robert. Once Mallory and Noriko bring the parts over, Rob starts unpacking them, and is told Nick and Will will be coming over shortly so the latter can inspect the parts in case Cammy had placed spying equipment like she had on the phone she gave Angela. She is displeased to find that Cammy, to spite Rob for making demands, got parts in a completely different style than what was asked, which Rob can't return since the addressee is just "Bluster". Rob is suggested to switch the effeminate case with Windswept's or let Mallory treat her to one from the store, but decides to keep it for now, as it is a high quality case regardless and Noriko suggests she could use it to surprise people who might judge her gaming skills or PC's power by its appearance. Comparing the case's color scheme to candy, Rob and the others try to think of candy-related names for the new computer.

## Chapter 40

After Mallory heads back to her apartment, Robynne is about to start assembling her computer, which she's dubbed "CandyStrike", but is interrupted by the arrival of Nick and Will, who Noriko had come over to return a book to and look over Rob's computer, respectively. Will doesn't find any bugs on the components. Like Robynne's first meeting with Nick, Will has forgotten that Rob isn't really a woman, so the difficulties he often has when meeting girls initially extends to her. Will is annoyed that this Hush Corps assignment is more so an excuse for Noriko to spend time with Nick, who is the only one unaware of the ninja's affections. He's frustrated at his outgoing twin's ability to easily and unknowingly attract women, though talking with Rob has Will consider how much he's let his appearance go, especially after Hush Corps work has exacerbated his shut-in tendencies. Rob accepts Will's offer to let her know if he finds a similar-quality replacement for the computer case Cammy bought her. Will's shyness evaporates when Rob gets him to tell her about his computer-building. Rob wonders that perhaps being someone Will finds attractive boosted his confidence more than usual in this situation, and considers this a rare benefit of her new body.

## Chapter 41

About two weeks pass. During this time, a Spirit Guard meeting with the entire team is held to work on the cover Robynne will need while infiltrating the cheer team. Rob begins training with Angela and Noriko in cheerleading and parkour, respectively, with the hope that the latter will help Rob's movement in battle, and her empathokinetic sense has also improved from regularly exercising it. Vivian has gotten in with several cheerleaders, but hasn't been able to learn anything that can be used against Cammy.

One day, Robynne is paired with Lilly, the other cheerleader she'd kicked a rock toward as Robert, for promotion duty. Due to the secret agreement with Cammy, Rob is always given promotion assignments that the captain will turn a blind eye to if Rob and her partner happen to slack on them, which Lilly is happy to oblige. Lilly, like much of the cheer team, is very curious about the mysterious new recruit. She is surprised at how genuinely straightforward Robynne is, so she lets her in on some of the rumors she's heard. Dale being spotted at Rob's computer delivery creates the assumption that they are dating, so Rob says she's not interested in dating him or anyone at the moment, though Lilly isn't convinced until Rob says Lilly could date Dale herself and offers to introduce them. She explains her lack of interaction with the cheer team as a symptom of her difficulties with befriending girls rather than her being stuck up. She denies being a lesbian, which was a major point brought up for her cover; to Rob's frustration, it seems her transformation has caused her to feel physically attracted to men and not women. With the Griever Museum such a remote promotion spot, Robynne and Lilly are able to immediately leave the place without the fear of other cheerleaders catching them. Lilly finds Rob to be quite unlike what she expected, but considers her enjoyable company.

## Chapter 42

Over the past weeks, Cory and Eli have made a point of regularly spending time with Robynne, with these "Guys' Nights" meant to help her feel more like her old self by giving her a break from her female roommates. The first one was at the boys' dorm, but it didn't go so well since Dale showed up and hit on Rob. The second saw the three friends playing video games at Rob's dorm and went better, but Rob didn't enjoy it as much as Cory and Eli did since Vivian and Kara were there and drew the pair's attention. Because of this, Rob resolves to have all future Guys' Nights with just Cory and Eli.

One Friday, the plan for the latest Guys' Night will have the trio eat at Headlights, a sports bar popularly characterized by its attractive female staff and thus a stereotypically appropriate place for an event with such a name. On the way, they head to a Buy Bright electronics store, where Cory hopes to find a birthday present for his father. Robynne updates her friends on the cheer team situation, and they think she'll have to be a little more proactive in interacting with other cheerleaders in order to get the rumors about her under control. Rob is surprised to hear Eli won't be returning to work at Loose Change, so he explains what Mallory forgot to tell her: Mal recently told her parents about her Spirit Guard business to a favorable response, and exaggerating Eli's actions against Polygal convinced their father that Eli has fully learned the discipline of work and thus will no longer need a job while in college. Mallory had apparently been aiming for this result, as she has expressed annoyance at their father being much stricter with Eli than with her. Once inside Buy Bright, they run into Stacy, who's looking to replace her broken phone case. Shortly after Stacy leaves the trio, Rob feels the pain she gets when Investiture is drained nearby. The sensation is like static and aluminum foil rather than the icy chills triggered by previous monsters, but she is certain there's a monster hiding in the store.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter depicted Stacy as not having met Cory, Eli, or Kara, even though she was introduced to them during the SFEERS opening social in Chapter 34.

## Chapter 43

While Robynne tries to pinpoint the monster's location, she has Cory and Eli text the rest of the team about the situation. Mallory and Vivian aren't expected to see the message, however, since the former is at a volleyball game and the latter at SAU's Kessler Building with poor reception. Rob is surprised to learn that, rather than an object, the monster seems to be disguised as the Buy Bright employee currently attaching Stacy's new phone case. She finds the static sensation is from some effect the employee placed upon touching Stacy's phone, and then feels a faint version of the normal chills of an Investiture draining. Honing her empathokinetic sense in on these sensations, Rob realizes she can feel them from many more people in the store. Rob texts the leaving Stacy and confirms her suspicions: the monster puts an effect on any phone it touches, and whenever an affected phone sends a message, it both takes a small amount of Investiture from the phone's user and spreads the effect to the recipient like a virus. With her own phone now infected, Rob gives it to Cory so he can have Will examine it, as she intends to defeat the monster right away. Eli warns her against starting the fight alone, but Rob is insistent about ending things before the monster can get too powerful from its rapidly spreading virus and is confident her stealth abilities will let her either beat the enemy or hold her own until the other Spirit Guards show up, though Kara is the only one known to be on the way. After her friends leave the store, Rob heads to the restrooms to transform into Spirit Guard Serenity. Moments after Serenity exits her Transformation Station, she is suddenly struck by the monster bursting through the wall.

## Chapter 44

Serenity is sent flying into the store, then orders the people to evacuate. The monster, now in its true form of Cell-celia, had noticed Robynne and friends spying on her, and decided to attack when Rob's presence, which she can detect via wireless signals, vanished during the Spirit Guard transformation. Wounded and having dropped one of her daggers, Serenity gets Cell-celia to gloat, feigning ignorance so the loose-lipped monster will talk long enough for Serenity's healing factor to finish and backup to arrive. Cell-celia reveals she is a design Platicore had sought to realize for over a year, and was finally created thanks to the experimental Day LaMode gathering so much Investiture. Cell-celia's low-key, efficient, and automatic Investiture-draining virus iterates on LaMode's concept of hunting over a large area, with Cell-celia hoping to infect every phone on Earth and acquire enough Investiture to rule the world alongside her master with godlike vision and power. Cell-celia mentions that she notably isn't being watched by Platicore's "stooge"; this allusion to Trace is the first confirmation the heroes get that Platicore isn't working alone. Charity arrives to heal Serenity, but Cell-celia's Voice-to-Text move stops them from effectively strategizing among themselves by forcing vocal communication to instead take the form of speech bubbles. Serenity believes they need to go on the offensive, as the virus is an exponentially growing power source for the monster, but she won't be able to tell Charity her plan to retrieve her lost dagger without Cell-celia knowing.

## Chapter 45

Serenity rushes toward Cell-celia and her dagger, as she'll need both knives if she is to use her powerful Geyser of Tranquility, but the monster catches on and keeps her away from the weapon. With Cell-celia's signal vision as well as her virus giving her enough Investiture to form a second antenna arm using Dead Zone, she is able to easily keep both Serenity and Charity at bay. Serenity is frustrated that her favored tactics are incompatible with an opponent like Cell-celia: on top of the monster's signal vision countering all means of stealth, the rapidly spreading virus continues to increase her power and enable new abilities, keeping Serenity from using a calculated approach. The Spirit Guard's only hope of turning things around seems to be to keep the fight going until more help can come.

## Chapter 46

Serenity, realizing she isn't very familiar with her teammates' capabilities, takes to watching how Charity fights. Serenity's strong extra sense, which she now dubs "EKP" (short for empathokinetic perception), lets her continue to dodge Cell-celia's attacks without looking, but Charity won't be able to hold out for much longer after using her energy-intensive healing and barriers so much. Valor then arrives at the scene with just the right abilities to halt Cell-celia's offense: Aegis of Resolution blocks a powerful shot, then Valor absorbs the resulting debris into her aura to power up her Seismic Justice attack, which ends up trapping the monster under a shelf long enough for the Spirit Guard to regroup and fill the leader in on their opponent. At Valor's direction, Serenity finds she can instantly summon her lost dagger after dismissing her weapons. Giving in to the Spirit Guard form's urge for dramatic speech, Serenity monologues at Cell-celia so Valor can finish strategizing. Valor then begins her Rising Spirit attack.

## Chapter 47

Rising Spirit creates a large wall from the ground below, thick enough to impair Cell-celia's wireless signal-based vision and prompt her to disable Voice-to-Text. At Valor's command, the three Spirit Guards move out from the wall in different directions. Charity momentarily stops Cell-celia's movement with an Altruistic Barrier, and Serenity draws the monster's attention with her new Halcyon Streams attack. Needing to make a stronger distraction for Valor's finishing move to work, Serenity lets one of her daggers get knocked away and then punches Cell-celia in the breast, which Vivian had once told her is an especially sensitive area of a woman's body. Cell-celia's resulting anger causes her jumping dodge to be just late enough for Valor to get under her and kill her with Avalanche of Truth's diamond projectiles. Serenity is confused at Valor mourning the death of Cell-celia, who was given life solely to destroy. Serenity's teammates chew her out for recklessly starting the fight alone, but are then concerned when told that Cell-celia was disguised as a human, as this shows Platicore's strategy is evolving. The Spirit Guards split up as they leave for Kunapipi's office, with Serenity serving as a decoy for the surrounding police, as her power set makes her the best suited to leading them on a chase and disappearing.

## Chapter 48

Serenity runs around the city, pursued by the police's cars and helicopter, finding it enjoyable as it's the first time she's pushed her body to its limits since quitting football. Leaping through neighborhoods, she passes a group of young children, then berates herself that "stay serene" is the line she goes with to wow them. She locates a warp stone in a glen, then hides and turns invisible so the helicopter finally loses track of her. She teleports over to Kunapipi's office to find Angela and Kara are already debriefing with the wallaby.

Around the same time, Trace learns of Cell-celia's death and returns to Buy Bright. Trace found Cell-celia to be a rather difficult monster to set up, as she had to utilize finicky perception filters in order to do so without shoppers questioning her and deal with the already conscious Cell-celia drone on about dreams of godhood. She is frustrated that Cell-celia lasted less than six hours, expects Platicore to be extremely angry, and is annoyed to find the monster's corpse pinned to the ceiling, where it will be difficult to retrieve its Investiture.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter said that one doesn't warp through a Standridge Stone until they have fully entered the light, while Chapter 37 demonstrates the warp is a seamless link in space since Robynne could poke her head through one stone to look out the other.

## Chapter 49

Like with the last debriefing, Robynne demands Kunapipi switch to her human form. Rob has a sudden bout of fatigue a short time after powering down. She is told this is an aftereffect of the injuries she got in the battle, but it was delayed because her body has gotten acclimated to the transformation process and thus returns to normal more gradually. Rob leading the police around gave the Hush Corps ample time to cover the Spirit Guards' tracks, though Will has yet to receive Rob's phone from Cory. Before Ms. Kuna can lecture Rob for how the start of the fight was handled, Angela says the matter has been sufficiently discussed and moves on to the significance of Cell-celia's unique traits. They go on a brief tangent about *Aspect Realms*, which Angela has greatly enjoyed playing with the Knights ever since being lent Rob's old computer, though Rob fears NightKnight might soon stir up drama in the guild since he's clearly hurt after losing his usual PvP leader position to her. Mallory shows up partway through the meeting, having come straight from her volleyball game after finally getting to check her phone and learn of the situation, and brings some of Kara's energy bars to fuel the exhausted Spirit Guards' healing factors. The rest of the team had only very recently learned that Mal revealed her Spirit Guard business to her parents, with Ms. Kuna rather unhappy at this. Cell-celia's advancements has the team conclude Platicore must be experimenting with Investiture-draining methods that can avoid detection by the Spirit Guard for as long as possible in order to get a greater yield. Mallory suggests nightly patrols of the city in order to proactively locate new monsters, which she and Angela had once considered doing, but discussing it is postponed until after Rob and Taylor can meet. Robynne panics when told the Hush Corps are ready to contact her uncle so he may arrive at Kessia City this week, as she's still at a loss as to how she'll explain her situation to him. Rob fears that lately she's been close to collapsing under all of the burdens of her new life, but she can't bring herself to tell her friends.

**Note 1:** In the original version of this chapter, Ms. Kuna says Rob has only transformed twice. Rob has actually been in the habit of regularly powering up and down, so Ms. Kuna's statement was revised to say Rob has been "through a true fight" only twice.

**Note 2:** This chapter says Taylor is scheduled to arrive at Kessia City on Friday, while Chapter 56 says Thursday.

## Chapter 50

That night, Robynne and Angela play *Aspect Realms* together, as Rob has been using a healer character to guide Angela through the game. Mallory is a little annoyed that this activity has seen Angela grow into a nerd like Rob, but does enjoy chatting with the two while they play. Mal, concerned at Rob staying up late instead of sleeping to recover, deduces that Rob is trying to distract herself from the thought of meeting her uncle. Mal assures Rob that revealing her secret to him will go well and be a major relief, but Angela reminds Mal that Rob's situation is riskier than Mal's due to having just one family member. Rob's fatigue is apparent, so she takes her friends' suggestion to log out of the game and get ready for bed. Seeing her reflection wearing her old football jersey and realizing how much of her new life has become routine, Rob becomes scared of what her identity has become, fueling her fears of her uncle not believing she's his nephew since not even she recognizes herself.

While sleeping, Robynne has her second vision of the Shrine Maiden. As the Maiden expected, her shrine's unannounced return to the capital city was seen as desertion, so they've spent the last week in empathic isolation cells, getting interrogated on their motives so the conspirators in the Church of the High Spirits can find an excuse to quietly have the inconvenient group executed. The Princess and Soldier show up to release the Maiden from her cell. Before they can leave, they are stopped by Vice-Archon Liff. The Princess claims she and the Shrine Maiden have been exchanging confidential messages for months regarding the Maiden's sensitive intel on the Other Power, and the shrine's return was so the Maiden could safely deliver this information as well as renounce her position in the Church to become the Princess's Lady-in-Waiting, feeling one with such a strong connection to the High Spirits is too precious to the war effort to be endangered on the field. To the Shrine Maiden's surprise, the Princess intones derision when she gets Liff to stand aside by threatening to charge him with insurrection, apparently having practiced utilizing emotions forbidden by the Church when necessary to confront her corrupt political opponents. The Maiden isn't very comfortable with leaving the Church or the morally dubious actions her friend's master plan requires, but decides she'll have to see it through in order to protect Earth.

## Chapter 51

The next morning, a Spirit Guard team meeting is held to discuss the contents of Robynne's vision. Angela is distraught that the Princess would intone forbidden emotions even as an act, which none of the others' visions even hinted at. Rob reminds Angela that they are all distinct people from their past lives, a stance she's been gradually getting the others to adopt, so the Princess need not share Angela's refusal to betray her principles in a desperate situation. The team wonders if the Shrine Maiden could pick up on the Princess's act because perhaps she, like Rob, sported the keenest EKP among the team. Rob is told the visions are apparently intended to help the Spirit Guard in the future, such as through presenting a situation similar to one in the present or demonstrating a useful application of their powers. As the meeting comes to a close and Kara is about to leave with breakfast for Eli (the two have recently started dating, as have Cory and Vivian), Tanya shows up at the door, so Angela, Mallory, and Noriko hide in the latter's room. Seeing Robynne in a football jersey, Tanya assumes it belongs to a potential boyfriend of Rob's, but awkwardly retracts her statement when Rob claims it's actually from her late father. Tanya gives Robynne and Vivian a surprise promotion assignment: they are to promote SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament at the Billot Building with Stacy and Lilly. After Tanya leaves, Rob is annoyed at this blatant violation of the agreement to be given only skippable jobs, but her friends believe this is Cammy's way of testing Rob's loyalty after having CandyStrike for a while, so this will be instrumental to the cheer team infiltration. Rob begrudgingly agrees, so Angela and Mallory help her get ready.

## Chapter 52

On the way to the Billot Building, Robynne complains about having to do promotion work, even if she knew from the start that she'd hate infiltrating the cheer team. Vivian takes Rob aside and insists Rob start wearing hairstyles beyond her simple high ponytail if she wants the other cheerleaders to be less wary of her going forward. Rob isn't very enthusiastic at the prospect or the low ponytail Vivian gives her, but decides she'll find things to like about it and other aspects of the cheer team if she's to see the mission through to the end. They find Stacy and Lilly waiting for them at the promotion spot.

## Chapter 53

Robynne is the only one in the group familiar with *Mega Mash Family*, so she briefs Vivian, Stacy, and Lilly about the game so they can effectively promote the tournament. They split up into two groups, with Robynne and Stacy in one and Vivian and Lilly in the other. Rob had been hoping to be paired with Vivian, who knows her secret, or Lilly, her usual partner sharing a disdain for the job, but Stacy is excited to partner with Rob for the first time, jealous of the other two for getting to spend so much more time with her. From Stacy, Rob finds out that the gossip Lilly let it slip to the cheer team that the pair slacks on promotion duty, though Stacy promises she herself can keep a secret. Rob is assured that even an introvert like her can handle promoting, though she's still uneasy at the attention it'll bring, especially from guys who might want to hit on her.

## Chapter 54

Robynne and Stacy promote a short distance away from each other at the Billot Building entrance. Rob finds the girls she speaks to are often more difficult to handle than the boys since her cheerleader uniform tends to drive a wedge in, the same problem Rob and Vivian initially faced in SFEERS. Stacy easily hands out fliers, while Rob struggles to get people to engage with her until she finds two guys given the descriptors "Shorty" and "Baby-Stubble". The two are surprised a cheerleader is into *Mega Mash Family* and are convinced to attend the tournament, with Rob deflecting Baby-Stubble's advances. Talking to Stacy afterwards, Rob is surprised to hear that she plans to go to the tournament after enjoying the opening social. Rob worries about her cover, as she's had to repeatedly come up with lies to fill her background's gaps for her inquisitive friend, and laments that Stacy could've been a great girlfriend had none of Rob's Spirit Guard business occurred. Not long after the two get back to work, Rob is approached by a guy who persistently hits on her and is given the "Meathead" descriptor. NightKnight then shows up and interrupts the conversation to ask about the tournament. Strangely, he looks noticeably different than he did during the opening social, and also sports a new aura with a metallic tightrope texture that inspires alertness.

## Chapter 55

To Robynne's surprise, NightKnight sets aside his grudge with her and helps shake the meathead off. The meathead nearly starts a fight, but Rob warns him of the consequences of doing so and tells him off, finally succeeding in getting him to leave. NightKnight's aura can connect to the person he's focused on and appears to strengthen his resolve in response to his emotional state toward the person, which gave him the adrenaline to suppress his fears when confronting the bigger, stronger meathead. Unlike the other textured auras, NightKnight's is much more focused than a simple area of effect, and he seems to have greater control over its target.

Stacy comes over after noticing the commotion and joins Rob and NightKnight's conversation. When asked, NightKnight credits his changed appearance with workouts and a growth spurt, and his hair color a side effect of moving to Kessia City, though Rob doubts him given his uneasy behavior. Rob has recently concluded that the perception filter of the Standridge Stones is responsible for hair appearing in odd colors in the area, including the photos of her mother. NightKnight, real name Connor, says he happened to spot Rob after leaving a meeting with the ConSpiriters, a group that investigates the Spirit Guard and other mysteries of Kessia City that most residents aren't alarmed by. He had joined due to not being comfortable with the mysterious heroes being the only means of defense against the monsters. Very little has been uncovered about the fifth Spirit Guard, as the Disconnection Effect, Nick falsifying images, and apparently the Stones' perception filter has caused even a simple trait like her hair color to be subject to conflicting reports. When Stacy mentions how she, Robynne, Cory, and Eli were at Buy Bright just before Cell-celia attacked, NightKnight is eager to interview them about it.

**Note:** The original version of this chapter had different phrasing for Stacy recalling seeing Cory and Eli at Buy Bright. She referred to Cory as simply "the boy Vivian's dating", making NightKnight recognize Cory's name out of nowhere.

## Chapter 56

Robynne, fearing for her secret identity, tries to blow off the inquiry on the attack, but fails to get Stacy and NightKnight off the subject. Desperate to shut the discussion down, Rob forces herself to cry by recalling her grandmother's funeral and claims she's terrified at Kessia City having real monsters. Humiliated at inducing this reaction, NightKnight runs off. Rob feels she'll have to find a way to repair their relationship by fixing the blows to his self-esteem he's gotten as an inadvertent result of meeting her. Shortly after NightKnight leaves, Rob and Stacy return to work.

After the promotion job is over, the four cheerleaders have lunch before parting ways. On the way back to their dorm, Robynne tells Vivian about what happened during the assignment. Rob is advised to leave the ConSpiriters problem to the Hush Corps and focus on preparing to meet her uncle, which she and Kunapipi have made plans for. They are concerned about NightKnight's seemingly unnatural change in appearance, as the only known instances of this were the Spirit Guards' bodies changing after their first transformation. They decide to schedule another Spirit Guard meeting for later that afternoon so the others can get caught up on everything.

**Note:** In the original version of this chapter, Robynne described her experience with a comic book shop in Deepwater rather than the one in the neighboring town, which contradicted Rob's statements about this in Chapter 12.

## Chapter 57

The Spirit Guards and Noriko meet at Robynne's dorm to discuss the encounter with NightKnight. They wonder if it's no coincidence that Rob happened upon the three textured auras of Fretribution, Dale, and NightKnight in such short time when for over a year the only such aura the team found was Cammy's. They figure the best way to learn more is to use their EKPs to study the auras of the three men side by side, with tonight's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament an ideal opportunity for Rob, Vivian, and Kara to do so, as they hear from Eli that Dale is planning to go in addition to Fretribution, and Rob might be able to convince NightKnight to come if she apologizes for causing him humiliation earlier. The plan for Taylor's arrival is also touched on: Angela and Mallory will pose as representatives for the contest he won and lead him to his hotel room, where Robynne will be waiting, with the surrounding rooms also rented out for their privacy and Noriko on standby.

Angela wants to come to the tournament as well, and her EKP would be useful since it's keener than Vivian's and Kara's, but Noriko is concerned that Angela's looks would catch the eye of the people there, and word of the distinctive new SFEERS member could find its way to Cammy, who would recognize the description of Angela and suspect her of involving herself with Robynne. Rob suggests a disguise: Angela could show up with her usual prim and proper look completely overhauled into a goth style, which will then be associated with her Conviction handle, with Vivian adding that powering up then down would even allow Angela to instantly remove the hair dye when exiting the disguise. This alter ego, which Noriko names "Alison Ward", would be currently taking a gap year from SAU to work a boring job of entering billing data, and could be used to get Angela into places where it'd be inconvenient for her to be recognized. With their plans set, the team splits up: Noriko will meet with the Twins to create ID for Alison and see whether Cammy will have a spy the tournament, Angela will prepare the disguise with Mallory and Vivian, and Robynne will contact NightKnight, check in with Stacy, and help Kara bring the treats she's made to the tournament.

## Chapter 58

Having finished talking to NightKnight in *Aspect Realms*, Robynne helps Kara finish frosting the cupcakes to bring to the *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament. Rob managed to convince NightKnight that she isn't mad at him about how their earlier meeting went and that he should come to the tournament. Kara is concerned about Rob's recent increase in reclusiveness and unhealthy eating habits, saying what was once a coping mechanism for her life's problems has evolved into a harmful attempt to avoid important issues like Taylor's arrival. Kara's motherly reproving makes Rob wonder about the mother figure her life has lacked and brings her mind to her deepest fears of her current family issues. Kara notices Robynne beginning to tear up, but Rob stops herself and deflects to a less sensitive subject: Rob doesn't understand how she can easily do tasks as huge as fighting monsters to help someone in need while struggling with even the simplest parts of maintaining relationships. She feels she is a poor friend who continues to isolate herself rather than reciprocate her friends' engagement with her. Kara assures Rob that lopsided proficiency for big things over small things is not a unique issue and recalls how, growing up, her brothers had a hard time relating to her despite their self-sacrificing qualities, a problem Kara learned to tackle by bonding with them through her baking. She believes that, rather than trying to identify the underlying causes of Rob's personal issues, Rob's time is better served challenging the problem head-on, which would entail forcing herself to participate in uncomfortable social situations with her friends on occasion rather than retreating from them.

With the cupcakes finished, Robynne and Kara carry them out of their dorm and towards campus. They decide it would be best if they can scope out Fretribution, Dale, and NightKnight's auras both while the three men are together and when they are separate to check for possible reactions in the auras. Per Kara's demands, Robynne plans to decisively shoot down Dale's advances toward her tonight rather than wait for him to give up, ideally by having Stacy help her find a way to introduce him to Lilly later. Proactively moving the conversation away from how she'll deal with NightKnight, Rob gets Kara to talk about her plan to sell her sweets as a side business, which Kara explains is only a part of her larger ideas for her life as a whole, which includes possibly shifting her major towards business and becoming a stay-at-home mother. Kara asks why Taylor never married, so Rob explains that Taylor never maintained a serious relationship because he is a less outgoing person who's hesitant to shake up the life he's content with, and is also apparently uncomfortable with bringing a woman into his mother's home that he lives in. Rob once again thinks about her fear of Taylor not believing she's his nephew, but is brought to attention by Stacy calling for her and Kara.

**Note:** Kara describes herself as "the youngest girl of seven" in this chapter, which contradicts previous chapters giving her five brothers rather than six.