Andre sits in his old room, unable to sleep due to a lot on his mind; as he lays on the bed and stares at the ceiling, he hears someone in the kitchen. He gets up and goes to see what's going on. Andre looks into the kitchen to see Cody talking on the phone, but he notices a strange-looking black cat sitting on Cody's shoulder. It seems almost like a liquid yet still solid as if its body struggled to stay in place at all. "Cody, what is with that cat? Is it a stray?"  Cody puts the phone on hold and looked at the cat on his shoulder and back to Andre with a look of shock "Dude, I didn't think you were awake....oh, and you mean Dex....his eyes go wide as he looks to Dex and then back to Andre "Wait, you can see Dex!?"  "Uhhhh yeah, is that a problem? Andre says, getting up close to Cody and taking a closer look at Dex Cody's eyes light up as he puts both hands on Andres's shoulders with a serious face  "Dre, I know this is very random, but there's somewhere I need to introduce you to some people I work with ." Andre looks into Cody's eyes and feels this must be urgent.  "Alright....but it's late. Let me leave a note for Grandma when she wakes up," he says, opening a drawer, pulling out a sticky note and pen, and leaving a quick note "Oh, and uhh, this might sound shady as hell, but be sure to bring your baseball bat; it's uhh, just a precaution, you know," Cody says casualy.  Andre gives him a look of suspicion "You know this is making it a bit harder to 'trust' you." he then goes to the back and grabs the metal bat taking a second to stare at it zoning out at the sight of it before snapping back  "Alright, I guess I'm ready," he says, following Cody outside to the car. "Trust me, man" Cody says getting into the car and setting Dex in the back right before starting up the car. Andre follows  in the car right beside him "I hear you, man, don't worry,"  he says, looking into the back to see Dex sitting peacefully; he reaches back to pet the cat, and upon touching it, he feels gelatinous and even lets out a wobbly meow  "Whatever you are damm your adorable" he says with a slight chuckle. "I'm glad you and a Dex are getting along so well," he says, parking right outside Andres's workplace parking lot before getting out of the car himself  "Are you pulling a prank on me, dude? what are we here for?" He says, getting out right after. "Just watch this is more coincindce than anything" Cody crosses his fingers together as black bubbles surround him and Andre "What the hell!?" Andre says bewilderment by being suddenly enveloped in this darkness as Andre opens his eyes, he finds himself in what appears to be the exact spot through everything  "Andre, my dude, Welcome to the Spirit Side," he said with his arms out in a kind of attempt to look cool. "The what?" he says, looking around and jumping back upon seeing what appears to be transparent people walking around "It's another side of reality where spirits go when they die," he says, pointing at a nearby bench He looks over to see what appears to be transparent people talking "....They look familiar,"  he says, staring over "They're the reference for that painting I made recently," he explains "The two of them will be ready to pass on pretty soon; they simply wanted to spend a couple a little more together in the world they loved soo much."  "That's amazing, i'm happy to hear they found peace," Andre says, looking over with a warm smile " Though I don't know how ethical it is to use a dead couple for the sale of art," he says, giving Cody a bit of a dirty look. "Hey, I asked for permission...eventually," Cody says, with a bit of a anxious laugh "But anyways, not all spirits end up like them. Some of their regrets run so deep that they eventually change into something terrible... we call them." Before he could finish his sentence, it was completed by the voice of a woman coming out of the doors of the offcice building. The young woman explains, "The Lost Ones are what we call them, a little on the nose, but it gets the point across so i suppose thats all that matters."  The young woman light purple hair tied up into a bun, her beautiful dark skin shined in the moonlight as she looked at the two with her sharp purple eyes, she wore a black leather jacket and plain white t-shirt paired out with a singular purple glove  on her left hand  "But anyways,  before we get more into that, side tangent you're late again, Cody." "Huh!? But we were here at headquarters at 12." Cody says, confused looking to his phone for cofirmation of his time appropiate arrival. "Cody, you were supposed to be here at 10. Did you skim through the texts again?" she says, seemingly about to go into a full-on rant with him, but she notices Andre seemed zoned out "Oh sorry about that are you ok, i know this can all be a lot?' Andre Snaps back "Uhh yeah, sorry, just letting all this info settling in" he says upon seeing the same building he works at during the day in the real world  "I'm Andre, by the way." he holds out his hand. The young woman shakes his hand and smiles "I see. Well, take your time, a whole another world isnt somehting that you get used to easily and I'm Nia. I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance; let's head inside to introduce you to Mr. Davis and Dzzy."  "Oh dude, you'll love Dzzy, and Mr. Davis is a riot," Cody says, throwing his arm around Andre's shoulder as they head in. As the three enter the nearly empty office space. There sat two people: one was a young woman with  wearing a hoodie and skirt with big white boots, and across from her sat an older man who seemed to be in his early 40's wearing a black suit with red pinstripes and black dress shoes with red bottoms. The two were playing paper football as the young woman scores another goal.Tthe older man becomes a little downcast "You sure you're a beginner usually? They aren't this good." A huge amount of dobut on his face "Maybe, just beginner luck, Mr. Davis," she says, trying to make her feel a bit better patting his back softly As the two finished the conversation on the result of there origami sport  Andre, Nia, and Cody entered the room. Places her hand on her hips and looks at them with a disapproving "You two said you were gonna go over my formations," she says, telling the two off  "We were going too; I promise we just got a little distracted, is all," he says with a nervous laugh he says rubbing his slicked-back hair anxiously. Nia Nods agreeing "Yeah, what Mr. Davis said, but uh, who's that next to Cody." she says pointing directly at Andre  "Oh, I'm Andre; I'm pretty sure Cody here might have mentioned me before; it's nice to meet you," Andre says with a soft smile  The young woman runs up to him and wraps her arms around Andre "Nice to meet you; I'm Dzzy, and you're right. Cody told me about you. He said you're a coffee addict, though," she says, letting go and smiling whilst Andre gave Cody a bit of a side eye for the commetns hes made about Andre without having the abillty to defend himself. The suited man walks up and holds out his hand "Im Leon, though I also go by Mr.Davis, so whatever floats your boat, think of me as an assignment manager slash teacher thingy jig."  "Gotcha, I'm probably just gonna stick to Mr. Davis though, no offense, not exactly used to calling authority figures on a first-name basis," Andre says.  Leon sighs a little defeated by Andre's choice "Yeah, yeah, I get it so I take it Cody already explained the basics of Aura and Spirit Sides?" Before his question could be answered, the sound of a bellowing alarm started blaring from the buildings intercom "Never mind, it's best to learn by demonstration. Just stick with me, Andre, alright?" Leon says with a thumbs up and a smile "Just watch us, Dre," He says with a smug face as Dex, the Black paint like cat, jumps on his shoulders.  "Leave everything to us; Mr. Davis is a little bit unorthodox  as leader but he will get across everyhting you need to know" Nia says as a purple owl appears and flies beside her and carefully lands one her shoulders  "Yeah, it'll be cool, so just watch us go!!" Dzzy says with enthusiasm smiling brightly and making a peace sign to Andre. After everyone said their peace, they all went outside to be met with a lion monster that stood 40 feet tall, its body covered with glass and hanging out of its mane's red eyes glowed brightly as the moon illuminated its silver skin. The beast roared, looking to attack!

Chapter End