...

Raily blinked once. Then twice, before the situation truly dawned on her. 

The little witch was in the middle of shopping and errand work, delivering letters and checking out her favorite stores when the attacks struck all across Traverse Town. The umbral Gummi ships flooding the sky like a curtain of darkness was unmistabkable. And even when the screams and alarms made it clear that this wasn't some heat-hazed nightmare, she stared for a moment in confusion. How was this happening? How did the Empire get this close without them noticing? And... What are those things? She thought, gawking at one of the strange gray alien-like creatures that attacked alongside the black garbed soldiers.

Wait, what was she doing? 

She needed to group with the main defenders, not stand around like some useless little goon! They would need all the strength they could get to push them out of the main Districts. Or was it more proper to deal with the atrackers here first before moving on? Oh. What would the seniors do? Like cool-headed Ashe or their brave leader Leon. They surely would've come up with a clear plan by now.

As she deliberated, a cry for help from nearby finally pushed her to action. A group pf the nasty gray things were tearing into an old antique shop, the poor victims barely able to hold the doors shut.

"Hold on tight!" 

A loud yowl rang overhead as the young witch swung the black cat onto the broomstick alongside her, abandoning her sack of newly purchased bits and gizmos into the street. She couldn't help but think it was a shame to let such fine salvage go to waste. That was her months earnings right there. But without a town to call home or people to inhabit it, that would be more of a shame. 

With a short utterance of a modified Aero spell, the pair was sent flying through the hodgepodge of buildings in Third District in a shower of purple glitter. 

Dapper was clinging on the edge of the wooden stick for dear life, all nine of them. Raily tried to keep him calm by patting his little furry head, but her attention was busy on grey creatures that surrounded the little old shop. 

"Oh, don't be a scaredy cat! Don't you trust me? I've practiced this maneaver too many times to flub it up now..." she said. 

Though those words might've been more to comfort her than anything else. 

With a sharp turn, and the war-cry of a screaming cat, the broomstick smacked into the group of alien invaders in a large crash, sending a majority of them barreling down the street. Raily had bounced off at the last moment, flying overhead with a magic-assisted flip. Landing on one of the nearby lamp posts she gave Dapper a happy grin.

"Ha. See? Nothing to worry about!" 

But now that she was there, it was abundandly obvious the precariousness of their situation. Maybe the 'cool and flashy' entrance was only optional after all. She would need to have a word with her old mentor later, who always insisted otherwise. 

A dozen or so of these creepy humanoids now encircled the lone witch, some vanishing into thin air and appearing elsewhere. It was a type of magic she had never seen before, so she needed to be careful. They've fully turned their attention away from the barricaded building to their juicy new prey, gazing up at her with eerily tilted heads. At least part of her plan was working, seeing as those inside have taken the distracton to organize an escape. With this, even if she would perish right here and now, it would be in peace.

Casting small magic missles from her shattered wand, Raily began her desperate cat and mouse game. Though with the so-called 'mice' chasing the cat. She leapt from lamp to lamp, trying to keep the invaders at bay with Aero spells while Dapper sat upon her large pointy hat hissing and swiping. More for moral support than any real help.

Yep, this was gonna be a good story to tell her friends. If she lived.