At the park, the sun was shining brightly. I walked to the bench that Robert told us to meet him at… but he’s the only one there. He seems annoyed and rests his hand on the bench.
“At least you have the decency to show up on time. Where is everyone?” he says as we suddenly hear yelling from across the park.
“Sorry sorry I’m late!” Zach says as he runs with the deer girl. “Pudding, when we’re late for something, we apologize. Got it?” The deer girl, who I’m assuming is named Pudding now, nods and bows towards us. Later Adrian shows up from getting a cup of coffee, and so the entire gang is here. Robert takes a sigh and holds up a hand to get everyone's attention.
“Everyone, listen up. Due to the events of last night, it has been confirmed to me that people with the potential to have guardians are able to be saved from the King.” He says seriously. “However this does not mean we can just relax. If we didn’t intervene, Adrian might have died from her shadow. This means we have to be quick before they get killed by their other self.” Adrian raises her hands and Roberts points at her. “Yes?”
“Well uh… I’d like to help you all.” She says summoning her guardian next to her. “You all risked so much to help me, so I want to be useful to all of you. Is that allowed?” Zach seems worried but he nods and comforts her.
“Alright you can join, but if something we can’t handle happens, run as fast as you can. Got it?” He said, worried for her wellbeing. Adrian smiles and nods happily. Pudding then perks up and raises her hand
“Wait wait! What about me? Why do I look like this now? "0_o” That's a good question… none of us really questioned why some random deer turned into a human girl. She even seemed to have a guardian, since from what I pieced together, she was the one who took down the shadow earlier. Robert doesn’t seem to have an answer either but he holds a hand up.
“Well we’ll figure it out as we go I guess. But you can join us too if you’d like.” Zach then thought of something and got really excited.
“Oh! I just realized! This is actually kind of cool! We’re like a group of secret heroes, fighting for the cause of justice!” He says laughing to himself. Robert thinks about it and nods.
“Actually yeah. That is pretty cool. We should come up with a name for ourselves… Does anyone have any ideas?” Everyone tried to come up with a good name. ‘Razor Claw’ ‘Shark Tanks’ ‘Feliz Navidad’ (Thanks Pudding) but none of them seemed to stick. Until Adrian came up with an idea.

“We’re going up with someone called The King, right? How about Throne Stealers? TS for short.” Everyone looked at each other and nodded. We didn’t have anything better so we just decided on that. Throne Stealers, hell yeah.
“Well now that's out of the way…” Robert says, adjusting his hat, “I nominate Matt as the leader.” I did a double take as I stared at Robert confused. Why was he entrusting ME with this? He’s the one who wants me back behind bars by the end of the month! But Zach agrees.
“Yeah, something might have happened if Matt didn’t stop us from killing that shadow… and I think we were the leader of another group? So I think this will work well.”
“Wait wait hang on-” I say, worried about how well I will perform with another team, but Pudding laughs.
“Yay! Spikey hair guy is the leader! (≧▽≦)” She says clapping. Adrian nods and gives me a pat on the back
“You helped me realize it was okay to accept my other self. I couldn’t think of anyone else.” It doesn’t seem like I have a choice so I just go with it
“Alright alright geez I’ll be the leader.” The gang cheered happily, but then quieted down when one of the elderly folks told them to pipe down. This was a public space after all. Then we realized we’ll have to prepare for the next time we see someone. “Well I know someone who has medical supplies. I can go to her later.” I perk up, excited at the prospect of seeing her again.
“Alright, you do that. I will be testing Adrian, Pudding, and Zach on their capabilities later on.” Robert says as he stands up and dusts off his jacket. “With that, I’d say that this meeting is adjourned. Nice talk, gang. Just… be here on time next time.” He says waving them off. He waved at us before heading back to the station. Everyone started leaving until Adrian went up to me.
“Hey uh… Leader? Do you think I’m going to do okay? I don’t really know what my abilities are and I’m not sure how to use them-” I stop her from continuing.
“Look. Doubting yourself won’t get you anywhere. If you keep moving, and you keep heading forward, you’ll get better. I promise.” I say smiling. She nods, with newfound determination, she runs off after Zach in order to get on with training… But as she leaves, I feel a set of eyes watching me from the trees. I glance and see a man grapple away. I couldn’t really get a good look but it looks like someone is stalking me… Friend or foe… I have to see.

To be continued

this was a roller coaster

well done king!!