see, one day, colat got a wrong number text inviting him to a bar, then colat went to the wrong place and ended up in some ruins, then lunala popped out of nowhere and colat panicked, so he chucked a pokeball at it and somehow managed to catch it.

It started innocently enough.

Taffy and her team were practicing with Fresh Mint Clique and they were having a blast. Laughing, joking; nothing like their first match where all of Taffy’s team was screaming, including her. It was a good a time.

And things were going well when Taffy mistepped and backed into Clayton, which startled him, making him accidentally zap her. Taffy yelped and jumped, before tripping on her own two feet and landing on her face. She instantly heard a chorus of “oooh"s.

She got up. "I’m okay, I’m okay…” She assured everyone. Although, Taffy did feel a bit lightheaded for some reason.

“Sorry, kiddo…do you need to sit out?”

“No, I’m good…just feel kinda weird. Thanks, though.”

Not much happened for the rest of the day. But that night was the beginning of a chain of strange events.

Taffy woke up at about one in the morning and realized that she needed to use the washroom. She went in and did her business, but as she was washing her hands afterwards, she noticed something strange.

On her hand, at the base of her thumb, there was a strange mark that looked like a sunflower. But what was most peculiar about it was that Taffy clearly remembered seeing it on her passed mother…

She went back to her room before fishing quietly through her drawer for the photograph of her parents. Clicking on the light, she compared her mark to the one on the back of of her mothers hand. And sure enough, they were the same.

Taffy was confused at first before shrugging it off. I’m thinking too hard about this. It’s just a birthmark; nothing more.

However, the next morning proved even more strange. Taffy woke up hungry, so she went downstairs to find Mint already eating breakfast. But what caught her attention was that there was a small glow surrounding him; it was just barely visible.

She stared, tilting her head. She rubbed her eyes hard, but sure enough, the glow was still there.

Mint noticed her. “Taff? What are ya doing?”

Taffy shook her head, trying to take her mind off it. “Uh- n-nothing. I’m just tired, I guess.”

But despite Taffy’s best efforts, she just couldn’t help but notice the glow. She kept trying to look everywhere but Mint, when she managed to look out the window…

And noticed her reflection, with the same glow.

As she stared at it and concentrated, the glow started to become clearer, bit by tiny bit.

“Is something wrong, Taff?”

Mint snapped her out of it. She shook her head. “Uh- n-nothing. I’m good.”

Mint was staring at her with his brow furrowed in confusion. “…Is that zap from Clayton messing with your head? You’re acting really weird.”

“It’s…uh…” Taffy couldn’t think up an excuse. “Ugh, never mind.”

As the days went by, Taffy’s vision sharpened; the glow surrounding people was much more apparent. And she started seeing little balls of light, mostly just floating through people and places…

After two weeks went by, Taffy could see some people had their own unique ‘glow’. Callisto from Team Beasts, for example, was surrounded by prismatic, sparkling light. Clayton had clouds that sometimes sparked with thunder when his emotions got intense. Whatever the case, Taffy noticed that the people who had unique glow were usually something otherworldly or magical; Callisto was a unicorn, and Clayton was a lightning Demigod.

And the balls of light started to have outlines of people. People who’d sometimes just be going on with their day. But sometimes they seemed distressed and restless, and trying to get the attention of the people around them. But it was always fruitless; no one could see them.

No one except for Taffy.

Taffy was confused and honestly a little bit scared. What was happening? She leaned against the wall, shutting her eyes and taking a breath.

“Are you okay?”

Taffy looked over and saw Decarius. Her glow rippled like a still lake, shining with a deep navy blue.

“It’s…I…” Taffy sighed.

“Taffy. You can tell me. If you bottle it up, it’ll affect your performance.”

She looked at Decarius and sighed again. “…Okay. This might sound weird, but you gotta believe everything I say.”

Decarius nodded.

“About three weeks ago, I started seeing…really weird stuff. People…have this glow.”

“…Glow?”

“Yeah. Sometimes it’s just regular light surrounding their body, sometimes they sparkle or thunder. And I see these people that no one else can and they look so desperate and-”

“Wait.” Decarius interrupted. “Your left hand…let me see it.”

She was looking intently at Taffy’s hand, which was laid flat in the air. Taffy gave Decarius her hand carefully. Decarius gently examined her hand before staring at her birthmark. “I don’t remember seeing this on you…when did it appear?”

“Uh…about three weeks ago.”

“And you’re fourteen…weird. It usually forms earlier…”

Taffy stared at her. “What.”

“You said you can see things other people can’t, right?”

Taffy nodded her head.

“Well, first off…the glow you see is actually called an aura. And those people are spirits.”

Taffy panicked. “You mean…dead people?!”

“Sometimes, yes. Other times, it’s a creature that never was a person. It can be good or evil.”

Knowing she could see dead people didn’t sit well.

“Anyways, that mark is actually what lets you see these things. An enabler, if you will. Do you recall anyone in your family having this mark?”

“My mom did.”

“You’re bloodborn then. This is a Setusa mark.”

“Setusa…?”

“From what I understand, there are sometimes different divisions of people who can see auras and things. What they do, I don’t know. Setusa means 'sunflower’ when translated to Sentorian, however.”

“But what does all this mean?!” Taffy asked. “Am I the 'chosen one’? I can’t save the world! I’m only fourteen! I have a team to run!”

“No, that’s not it…” Decarius put a hand on her shoulder. “You just have this ability. We’ll see what fate wants you to do with it.”

Taffy didn’t say anything.

“Also, there might be spiritual creatures who try to trick you. Don’t worry about them; you’ll know their intentions in the pit of your gut.”

“What about the dead people?” Taffy asked. “What if they need help?”

Decarius didn’t say anything at first. “…You might be able to help put them to rest, if you can learn how, or have the gift. But if you don’t, there are a couple people you can take them to, like Clayton.”

Taffy nodded her head. “…Okay. It’s still a lot to swallow…but I think I understand this a little bit more.”

“My teammate Sol has a sister named Dal. If you find yourself lost, she can explain some things. She might know more about the divisions.”

Taffy smiled at Decarius. “…Thank you.”

A sudden shout from Mint caught Taffy’s attention. She looked over and saw Mint behaving aggressively. “AH! MINT, NO!” she ran over to calm the tension.