Henry Masters, principal of the town middle school, once again found his thoughts turning to his four teachers who were no older than most of his students. He could only wonder what sort of achievements they'd reach in their lives ahead of them, being intelligent enough to learn and graduate collage and become licensed teachers by thirteen years old, there was simply no telling what they could achieve.
"Though I do worry," he said to himself, "Are they getting the EMOTIONAL and SOCIAL lessons they need? At least they have each other."
"They sound like fun Henry!" Said a ghostly white fox that slipped in THROUGH his closed window.
"Hello Sachiko," the principal said calmly. "Just don't... play rough with him."
"Oh Henry, you know I wouldn't hurt them."
"Just remember they can't teach classes as statues, or as forest animals, or dolls, or-"
"I promise I won't, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," said the ghostly fox as she sat on his desk. That did give some relief to Henry, in all the decades he'd known Sachiko, she'd NEVER broken her word, not once.(Though she had lied about eating all the Christmas cookies one year.) "Besides, Granny Yuriko doesn't let me take stuff from the store unless I say what I'm gonna do with it."
Henry remembered Sachiko's tales of her father's family. After the first two tenko, or 'heavenly foxes' had come into existence by a pair of kitsune surviving to be a thousand years old, many other magical creatures had feared what would happen if more survived to that age... So the more tails a kitsune had, the bigger the bounty that was offered under the table. Only due to a tension lowering (in no small part to the next generations having been purposely raised as friends), did Kitsune only feel the need to hide their kits in pocket universes.
One elderly vixen had become a third tenko, before she'd have been killed before even getting close to 1000. She apparently owned a public art gallery composed of transformed humans... who had begged her to 'restore them to their true selves' after being made flesh and blood again by a band of wizards that were close friends with Sachiko's family. The wizards awkwardly apologizing as the works of art eagerly resumed their eternal stations. Apparently some people didn't mind being admired their beauty by crowds for eternity.
Sachiko as a one tail naturally did NOT have that kind of power, her shape shifting and pallor tricks were the limits of her REAL magic. Anything else she did were from trinkets borrowed from her godmother's shop in the mall. Henry remembered from his childhood, Sachiko had used one such trinket on Halloween to turnea gang of bullies tormenting Henry into the goblins they were wearing masks of... They'd made very lucrative lives as bouncers in the goblin realm at a night club, and their grandchildren now not only owned the club, but had introduced electronics to the goblin realm, which the mad tinkerers had eagerly assimilated into their own culture.
"So why the visit Sachiko?"
"Do I need a reason to visit a friend?"
"No, but you've always loved to give news in person."
"Mom and dad say now that I'm eighty years old, I should spend a year in second grade among humans!"
Few people had ever put together that the previous Sachikos ten years apart from each other had been the same girl, most looked the other way and told themselves it was a generational thing. Those who did notice were sure she was an android, or maybe some rich person putting their brain in a new body. Sachiko found the rumors about her funny.
"I hope you make new friends Sachiko."
"No matter how many I make, you'll still be my friend Henry."
"Thank you Sachiko." He never admitted how seeing Sachiko barely age had made him feel old, but the woman he'd fallen in love with, his children and grandchildren, he wouldn't trade for the world.
++++
Hannah was relieved when Darren had NOT granted Crystal's wish to be some omini-fantasy everything creature ... But when her brain had caught up with her mouth, she'd blushed like a storm and begged Darren to forget she'd said ANYTHING. Now Hannah REALLY DID feel like she was spying or something!
"Hannnah...Hannah..." said a raspy voice.
Hannah turned to a figure who hadn't been there before behind her.
He was tall, draped in a black cloak with gold trim, had glowing red eyes, his features were completely hidden by darkness, and had a large ruby clasp.
Hannah tensed. "And you are?"
"... I... I am someone who wishes to offer you power. Power to save your friend Darren from-"
"Let me stop you right there," Hannah said sternly. "Let me guess, 'Save your love Darren from the clutches of the blond she-devil 'Insert negative description that is what I want to hear'. Or save him from his horrible destiny of having the power to make reality whatever he likes, ooooh, that's sooo horrible! Oh my love!" She rolled her eyes. "He's like my dimwit little brother that I'll stick by come Hell or highwater!"
The tall dark figured reared back some.
"You idiot," Hannah hissed. "My dad made me watch every 'just say no to drugs' video in history! And you know what I learned? REAL drug dealers never actually approached their victims offering their poison! The poison would get spread by someone in your social circle, and once you were hooked, you'd seek out the poison peddler themselves! Why? Because THIS happens when you try to act like a drug dealer from a PSA!" She kicked him between the legs.
His glow red eyes bulged, he let out a mournful cry of agony, the cry didn't stop as he fell to his knees. Hannah had already run for it.
"That's... never happened before..." He managed to wheeze as he tried not to pass out from shock.
++++
"Remember Darren, there might no real limits to your power. But YOU still have limits. Tiredness, anger, fear, this can all influence you to make rash transformations on the world if you let them. You have to be better than that. I know that's a lot at your age. But like a martial artist, you need to remember not to lash out at others. Also, this might not matter much to you NOW... but it will in a decade or so, and I want you to remember it: don't brute force someone's political views. You'll find most people do indeed mean well for their fellow man. If their worldview is twisted, then your help should help them find clarity themselves."
Yuriko was right, Darren DIDN'T get that last part at all. But he did get the first part, Steph had unwittingly seen to that.
"DARREN! MISS YURIKO!" Hannah gasped, sucking wind from having run all the way to the witch's house. "Some reject 'dark lord' cosplay from a bad fantasy movie just tried to recruit me or some junk!"
"WHERE?!" Akira demanded.
+++
"That... didn't go as planned... next time, I'll appear as a child her age and gender, and instead to get close to her before playing my hand..."
He slowly rose, his lower body still throbbing in jackhammer like pain.
He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see an angry kitsune warrior, an angel of maternity, the reigning Dragon Queen, a black furred Nine-Tails, the standing owner of Spells R Us, and a cherub, all looking angrily at him.
"Oh bullocks."
A full grown dragon then punched him in the face.
When he woke up, he was in almost only his satanic symbol boxer shorts, which just made his black hood hiding his face look comical by comparison, he was also tied to a chair, with his hands and feet tied and was surrounded on all sides by anti-magic runes.
He was surrounded by the same angry horde as before, plus the Catalyst, and the human girl he'd tried to tempt to the forces of evil.
"This... isn't how I imagined my day going," he moaned.