Sleepy Time!

Natsumi was pretty sure nobody saw that. No sir, who would have noticed a giant streak of green light swirling and firing like a bolt of lightning into the heavens. Who could possibly be awake at six-ish in the morning to bear witness to that? And, also, it’s not like anyone was (for example) floating around in low Earth orbit, or living on the moon, or on a distant planet, or just hanging around space a hundred billion light years away from Earth. And if there were conscious entities at all these aforementioned landmarks, what’re the chances that the streak of light would have crossed any of those places when there were beings to take note. Besides, that green streak of light probably faded way before it got out of the atmosphere. No beam could be that powerful that it would penetrate the inky blackness of space and even, say, cross dimensions to places beyond. Like, that would be impossible and silly.

Natsumi yawned and nodded to herself. It would be fine. It wouldn’t drawn anyone’s attention to them at all. Perfectly, okay.

But there was that tiny bit of doubt in the back of her mind.

What if?

What would be the chances that all of that stuff she thought couldn’t happen did happen, and happened all at the same time. Like the billions and billions of cubic meters of the universe, somehow all those things aligned to draw attention to their fight. Why, that would be some kind of miracle. A crazy one.

She smacked her lips and narrowed her eyes. Six-ish A.M. was not a time to think about ramifications of one’s actions. Getting manhandled by Catherine and talking to a giant eyeball were both vexing. The energy she released fried her two remaining brain cells.

"What!" Catherine squee’d, her voice imbued with high school girlish glee. Natsumi avoided turning in her direction because her aura (for lack of a better term) glowed like the nuclear combustion of the sun making it hard to even look at her in the face, and she was sure whatever sugar-y substance that stoked her system wouldn’t dim her bulb one bit. "Look at her!" She clapped her bare hands together. The same warm bare hands that held Natsumi’s with a strong embrace only minutes ago. The thought of it made her feel warm, stupid, and wobbly.

Looking down at her dumb heels, she wondered if she should kick them off. The stilettos didn’t make sleep-standing easy. And, was she holding one or two Heartwing staffs? It was probably three judging by the weight of the magical dumbbell she was grasping onto. It threatened to slip from her fingernails.

"Natsumi, you… I mean, we totally changed her back!"

There was Catherine, touching her again, hand on her shoulder and another gesturing at the green-ish glowing girl floating in front of the ancient-y building-gate-thing.

Atop the gate sat the stoic three-eyed bird and her slumbering chicks. She hadn’t moved the entire time nor seemed to notice or care about their squabble with upside-down head.

"All in a day’s…" Natsumi mumbled, words dripping out. She made a tiny step to the left to counter her sleepy swaying, but her stiletto stuck the sidewalk silly and she stumbled, slack and slipped backwards.

Her lights were out.

"Na, Natsumi!" Catherine’s voice sounded distant. It was as if Natsumi had fallen into the ocean and was drifting away into the briny depths. Catherine grunted causing the stillness of the silence to reverberate. "Natsumi!? I’m not going to drag you home!"

At this point, it would be fair to say that Natsumi was asleep and no longer had a say in what would happen next, but she did adjust her head against the two pillows supporting her head and burbled something incomprehensible.