"I'll have a lemon ice and a salad, please," said Amaliah as Damian prepared to order their food. She turned to Damian with a face that always smiling, then asked, "And you, Damian?"Dim-Dim rolling his eyes in annoyance while he picked up the menu paper and read it for a moment before saying, "I'll have poutine and a cola."Amaliah did not even glance in Dim-Dim's direction, as if he was invisible. Her eyes remained fixed on Damian as the Venator scrawled their orders with chicken-scratch handwriting.After Damian wrote down all the orders, Dim-Dim noticed that Damian also ordered food for Oriyan (it seemed that the Venator would join them soon). Damian then looked up at Dim-Dim and Amaliah and asked, "So, how was your day at school?" Dim-Dim was about to answer, a horrible expression on his face as he recalled the moments at school that day, but before he could say anything, Amaliah interrupted him, cutting off his words in a harsh tone. "Oh, it was so boring!" she complained, with
"Cautious!" a woman's voice came from Dim-Dim's phone. "Type C monsters have been detected appearing in groups in the Pennsylvania forest. Venator class B and C, as well as Illicitor in the United States, are requested to prepare and depart to the location immediately."Dim-Dim hurried to the Venator training center as quickly as possible and found class B and C Venators preparing themselves for the newest mission. Dim-Dim was about to put on the Venator uniform he borrowed from Clarissa, but suddenly a thin-bearded man called his name from the door."Dim-Dim Damisch?""Yes!?" Dim-Dim responded loudly. His eyes briefly met with a girl who was looking at him curiously."You're not joining this mission," said the thin-bearded man.Dim-Dim's eyes widened for a moment, until he saw Damian and his friends walking out from a noisy room filled with gunfire sounds, and all of them decided to approach him. Each of them looked very sweaty."Dim-Dim, today we have another Illicitor, she's from F
Edel. The girl who was bullied by Amaliah was Edel! Dim-Dim should have protected her! Edel used to be a cheerful girl and a good friend. Amaliah had absolutely no right to treat her the way she did!"Are you friends with Edel?" the man asked Dim-Dim and Justin."I'm her boyfriend, Sir," Justin suddenly blurted out and Dim-Dim immediately glared at him with anger. "Are you Edel's father?" Justin asked, ignoring Dim-Dim's gaze.The man looked at Justin. "Yes. And she never liked handsome boys," he replied with a backhanded comment.Hah! Justin, caught in his lie. Now he looked like he had been slapped in the face. Perhaps he didn't expect to be exposed so quickly.The man then shifted his focus to Dim-Dim. "You must be Dim-Dim, the one Edel often talks about," he said, recognizing him. He gently helped Dim-Dim to his feet and then tears streamed down his face. "You might be busy with all your responsibilities as a student and Illicitor, Dim, but I had hoped you would have looked out fo
They headed to the Venator building, which looked dazzling that night with lights everywhere, a red carpet, and cars crowding into the underground parking lot. For a moment, Dim-Dim and Edel were confused about which entrance to take, as the line of cars in front of the building entrance was very long. But then a car window rolled down, and they both saw Dr. Valee's face."Hi, Dim-Dim, are you both here to witness the test?" Dr. Valee asked."Yes," Dim-Dim hurriedly replied."In that case, come on in," Dr. Valee said."Thank you." Dim-Dim opened Valee's car door, and was surprised to find it very crowded inside."Mom, Dad, Valir, this is my team leader's little brother, Dim-Dim, and I think the one with him is his friend," Dr. Valee immediately introduced Dim-Dim and Edel to them. "Dim-Dim, this is my family. We all want to watch my sister Vera. She's also a Venator class B, but operates in London.""Hi," Dim-Dim greeted them awkwardly, while climbing into the car and squeezing in wit
Monsterbot spun around like a top for a moment, then climbed a tree. Now, it was level with the balcony, startling some people standing on the edge, who screamed in surprise."Please, family members of the participants, kindly take your seats and enjoy the show from a safe position," said the host over the loudspeaker, sounding a bit like Clarinassa Clark, but older and cheerier. Dim-Dim reluctantly returned to his seat.That's when he noticed Edel looked even paler than before."You okay?" Dim-Dim asked, and the girl shook her head.Suddenly, Dim-Dim remembered that the girl had apparently been attacked by a monster."Are you scared because of what happened in Toronto? Hey, what happened back then?" Dim-Dim asked gently, and the girl looked like she might throw up now."I need some fresh air," she whispered.Dim-Dim glanced at the arena for a moment, watching about a hundred Venators lining up to enter the arena to greet and honor their families who came to watch, then looked at the
When they returned to the balcony and sat back in their seats, Dim-Dim was surprised to see that Icaros Alexandrovich and his wife had moved to the front, taking the seats those previously occupied by Amma and her mother. They seemed to be engaged in a serious discussion, but quickly halted as Dim-Dim and Edel sat down beside them.Dim-Dim and Edel tried to keep straight faces to avoid being accused of eavesdropping, then awkwardly unwrapped the enticing brownie packages, barely paying attention to the Venator test unfolding before them.They were earnestly listening to the host's elaborate commentary on the rolling Venator stunts being tested below when the monsterbot arrived next to the man and jabbed him with its rubber needle mouth. The host exclaimed, "Unfortunately, you've failed, Mr. Taka. Please try again next month. The juries awarded you four points for accuracy, five points for tactics, and deducted three points for agility."Enthusiastic applause erupted as the failed part
When the tragedy occurred, Dim-Dim could hardly bring himself to look at Oriyan. But he forced himself to look, and could only swallow his saliva as the paramedics evacuating Oriyan split the group into two to save the Venator.Everyone was talking at the same time, and someone suddenly pulled Dim-Dim to follow the paramedics leave the arena, but Dim-Dim refused. He quickly transformed back into himself and said, "I came here with my friend, Edel. I will return to my seat, back to my friend, Edel.""We'll have someone take her home.""No," Dim-Dim protested. He couldn't imagine how confused Edel would be if he left without saying anything, but the paramedic who was pulling him was so strong. He wanted to transform into a big, powerful animal, but for some reason, he couldn't think of any animal right now. His mind was filled with Oriyan and Vera injured by the monsterbot, Amma screaming in grief, and Edel whom he left sitting in their seats on the balcony."Let go of me, please. Icaros
"I'll check on her," said Dim-Dim. "Do you want to come with me?"Valir shook his head, and Edel even turned away."I want to stay here to comfort my parents," said Valir. "They must be stressed by what happened to Vera.""Then I'll go alone," said Dim-Dim. "Edel?"Edel turned to look back at Dim-Dim, her eyes briefly glistening with sadness. "Sorry, I, uh... don't want to deal with Amma."Oh, who would blame her?"It's okay," Dim-Dim said gently. "I'm sorry." Then he went up the emergency stairs, and after passed a few floors, he finally found Amma.The young girl was sitting on the second-to-top step, hugging her knees, tears wetting her tight pants. Her face was so red with emotion, and her dress and hair were slightly messy."Amma," said Dim-Dim, and the girl immediately wiped her face hurriedly and looked at Dim-Dim. "Are you okay?"Okay, that's a stupid question. And apparently Amma realized that too. But for the first time, she wasn't being cynical."I'm disappointed it was you,