Such problems that, for some may seem trivial, were not so easily forgotten for Sonia.

It had been a bad day from the get-go when she found that every last scrap of waffle was stale in her enter house. Pop-tarts for breakfast. Oh sure, she liked pop-tarts as much as the next person, but she'd eaten pop-tarts twice that week already.

Then all of her favourite clothing was in the wash. She was reduced to navy blue cargo pants with a sash-style belt and a black shirt trimmed with a sequin kitten over the left breast. She pulled on some still water-logged converse tennis shoes, brilliant yellow, which helped a little. Her hair, which she let fly loose, still held some of the hot pink she'd applied about half a month ago.

The weather was the next problem. Dreary, gray, rainy...but no lightning. If it could rain, one would think it could have the decency to atleast lightning a little. There were no electrical disturbances anywhere.

But the coup de tat of the entire ruined morning was Pip's disappearance. Pipsqueak, her flea-bitten, one-eared, grouchy brown cat was gone. He didn't even come when she put out fresh tuna for him and called.

So Sonia was managing her anger in the only way she really enjoyed. Lightning storm.

She had wound her way slowly (calling for Pip the entire time) to the Amusement Park, where the lines were short and the security loose. No one wanted to ride anything in the rain. She paced through the greasy stands of sweet-smelling food, squeaky rides, and muddy litter to the tallest thing she could find. The ferris wheel.

Standing on the topmost beam of the metal mammoth, she raised her hands over her head and let the lighting jumped from her fingertips. The electricty lit the sky and struck the roller coaster, which immediately began running backwards. Sonia laughed gleefully. What fun this would be. The popcorn machine went haywire, spewing the hot kernels everywhere. Cotton candy over flowed into the mud, and the kiddie rides went about ten miles faster.

This was the way to help your mood if there ever was one.

He had been walking. He found himself doing this often lately, regardless of the time of day or the crowds. Doing so did nothing for him, really. It gave him no sense of purpose, not even a sense of direction. Walking for blocks with his head bowed and his shoulders hunched merely gave him a manner of pacing away the hours through the city.

To say that Matthias was not enjoying this second chance at life would be an understatement. If anything, he was more lost than ever, his spirit detached and yearning for the freedom that had slipped through his grasp.

Earth. The city. The rain in the gutters, the wash of the car tires over the oil and dirt-slicked pavement. Why was he still here? Engulfed and drowning in the misery and suffering of others. A torture he had come to realize he could not save everyone from. The effort didn't seem worth it anymore.

The relentless circle of condemning thoughts came to a pause as Matthias felt a strange charge in the air that caused the water-soaked hair on the back of his neck to rise. He peered up dully, and toward the amusement park, ignoring the bothered shoves of passers-by who did not appreciate his stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.

He looked away just in time to avoid being blinded by the lightning flash. Before he could make sense of it, he was running for the nearest entrance, his 'psychic nerve' informing him that this was no ordinary lightning strike. Once he came to a skidding stop in view of the spewing popcorn machines and the woman standing on the ferris wheel, his suspicions were unfortunately confirmed.

Most people would not like to ride stuff in the rain, most people. And Grace happened to definitely not be ‘most people’, for the girl was standing in to middle of an open plaza staring blankly up at the lightning filled sky. She was reminded briefly of the girl that she had a while ago, a girl who looked to have lightning encircling her pupil.

She shook her head, loosing the memories and shaking of droplets of water that clung to her dampened hair. She dug her hands into the pockets of her jeans and slowly began to walk through the amusement park. Everything seemed to be malfunctioning in some way or another. Shaking her head sadly she continued on her way.

She wasn’t dressed very appropriately for the weather, but then again, she generally never did dress for what the weather attempted to dictate. She was wearing a long sleeved turtle neck, probably soaked all the way through, and a pair of black jeans that would take forever to dry. But she was having fun being out in the rain, and that was all that really mattered.

Sonia closed her eyes. The finale was coming. Gathering all of her energy into one burst, she threw out forked bolts of lightning that changed into colours all throughout the spectrum. The yellow rings in her eyes sparkled brilliantly.

Meteorologists would kneel before her awesome might.

She laughed at this thought and looked down across her kingdom. Ah, what a lovely sight. Children, uncaring of the cause, rushed to take the free food. They screamed and laughed the roller coaster paused to let boarding on before shooting backwards.

But it was time to come down. Sonia's veneer of delight was broken swiftly by the wrenching image of Pips somewhere down there cold and hungry. She grabbed tightly ontoa bar of the ferris wheel and placed her hand against another girder. With a grinding noise and some electrical help, Sonia rotated herself downward.

She leapt off onto the platform and squelched intot he mud, traversing amongst the other maddened machines and grabbing a bag of hot, fresh popcorn.

There was no harm in a quick snack.

”Caffeine… I neeed a large supply of caffeine, and I need it now…” she shook her head sadly and began walking slowly, making sure to step in all of the deep puddles, toward the food court type section. Her eyes widened as she looked around at the mayhem surrounding her.

”Wow..” she muttered slowly, her violet eyes glancing slowly about the stuff before landing on one particularly brightly clad figure. She’d seen her before though her hair had been different, well not different as much as containing more dyed streaks. Her eyes narrowed a bit, blinking away the rain drops that slid into them trying to focus.

”No.. couldn’t be…” she blinked a few more times. Could it be her? Could it be her ‘computer demon’ and Mortal Combat buddy? She exhaled slowly, only one way to find out. Trusging along again slowly toward the girl she called out, a bit weakly at first.

”Sonia? Sonia is that you?”

Sonia tossed a kernel up into the air and neatly caught it in her mouth. Two points. She chewed and repeated the process with another five kernals flawlessly.

"Ugh..."

She grumbled, avoiding from trash floating in mud caused by the rain. A voice caught her ear and made her turn. Did she know this person? It wasn't a tax collector was it? Maybe she should run. Or ignore her. Or a mixture of both, which might be considered a power walk. Wait, were tax collectos that young? Did they stalk you? This was all too confusing.

Sonia ate some more popcorn the conventional way and casually waved back for lack of a better thing to do.