Providence Girls

And then this happened.

---

Beverly had decided Kel and Mallory needed a break for all the hard work they had been doing. Both E.V.O.s had become more involved with Providence, and between battling against Fusions, rogue E.V.O.s, and raising three children, it was clear that the married couple was growing stressed. Because of that, Beverly took it upon herself to round up the three girls and take them out for a day in the city, letting Kel and Mallory relax. Beverly, however, wasn't stupid and knew she'd need assistance. While she had babysat for the girls a couple times, Yuki's sudden age-up to a teenager made her a little rebel. Beverly wasn't prepared to handle that on top of two powerful and mischievous little girls, so she enlisted Circe's and Cricket's help.

With three older girls to three younger girls, each one was responsible for one girl: Beverly was to look over Kyara, Circe was to look over Yuki, and Cricket was to look over Maya. With that plan set, the six girls set off for the Sunken Mall, since it was closest to the headquarters, and was safe from the Fusion danger (not that Beverly was worried; 5 E.V.O.s, remember?).

"What exactly are we going to be doing at the mall?" Circe asked as the six made their way for the Sunken Mall, taking a route that the K.N.D. had made safe due to their continuous eradication of the Fusions.

"Look around, grab some snacks, buy things, hang out," Beverly listed.

"You know, girl stuff," Cricket added.

"Right," Circe replied, a little nervous since she hadn't done any "girl stuff" since her Nanites kicked in.

"I'd rather be spending the day with Zak," Yuki muttered under her breath, her arms crossed in an obvious sign of aggression as she walked beside her adopted sisters.

"Yes I know you would, but you need to have a life that doesn't revolve around the Saturday boy," Beverly replied, already knowing the issue with Zak and Yuki. "This is a girl's day out, plain and simple. You can sneak out tomorrow and see him then."

Yuki huffed out in annoyance, but didn't comment further.

"There's a new toy shop open, can we go there first?" Kyara asked, oblivious to her now-older sister's annoyance.

"I don't see why not," Beverly replied as they crossed the border into Townsville Center.

"Yeah!" Kyara and Maya cheered.

"Can I opt out of that?" Yuki questioned. "I'm too old to go looking around a toy store."

"Sure, that sounds fair," Beverly replied.

"Where do you want to go?" Cricket asked.

"There's this store I wanted to look at for a while. They have cute clothes," Yuki answered.

"Sure, we'll go there then while the girls go to the toy shop," Cricket said.

"I meant I wanted to go alone," the young teen stated.

"Yeah no," Cricket responded with a smile. "Sorry."

Yuki sighed angrily, her fingernails digging into her skin in anger. Kyara and Maya looked at their sister in concern before looking at each other. The six descended the long ramp that led into the Sunken Mall, splitting up into two and heading off for the stores they had planned to visit. Although Cricket followed Yuki into the youth clothing store, the E.V.O. didn't breathe down the younger girl's throat; she took looked at the clothes while Yuki shopped. Yuki accepted this compromise, but she was still upset that she was put on a leash.

The six girls shopped for a good half hour before meeting up at the food court with their items. Yuki was a little more subdued in her anger, looking over her newest clothing articles that she had bought. Maya and Kyara were happily showing off the toys they had gotten at the store. The older girls were watching the younger ones look at their items happily.

"Hey Beverly, aren't they friends of yours?" Cricket asked, pointing to two girls sitting at a table across from them.

"Hm?" Beverly hummed, looking in the direction Cricket had pointed in. Sitting across from them was Claire and Annie, both enjoying their own meal. "So it is. Hey!! Claire, Annie, come eat with us."

The two humans noticed Beverly waving at them. Picking up their trays, they walked over and sat down, smiling at the group of girls already there.

"Fancy meeting you two out here," Beverly greeted.

"It felt like a good day to go shopping," Annie answered.

"What about you guys?" Claire asked.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to get out of Providence for a little bit," Beverly said.

"And we weren't doing much," Circe added with a shrug.

"And it is a lot of fun," Cricket added.

Yuki watched as the older teens spoke, slightly annoyed that she was left out. She was the only one in her age group in Providence: her sisters were too young, and everyone else was older than her. It left her frustrated to have no one but the Cul-de-Sac kids and Zak were her age. Mid-thought, she felt an incessant poking on her thigh. Looking to the source, she found Kyara smiling at her, but Yuki instantly recognized this smile: it was my I'm-up-to-no-good-are-you-in? smile.

"Me and Maya want to go explore, do you want to come?" Kyara asked in a whisper.

Yuki smirked, nodding her head. Maya and Kyara flashed her smiles and quietly slid off of their chairs and crept away. Yuki, though taller than her sisters, managed to slide off the chair without issue. The three hid behind the broken half-pipe, checking to see if the teens had noticed them. When it looked like the coast was clear, they took off running, giggling to themselves.

-------------------

"We should do a double date," Beverly suggested to Claire. "Or maybe a triple date? Julie's been telling me that she and Ben haven't been on a date in some time."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Claire answered.

"We should also try a beach day," Cricket suggested. "I heard the Plumbers and Candy Pirates have been keeping the shoreline pretty safe."

"Uhm....girls? Where's the kids?" Circe asked, pointing towards the three empty chairs.

"Huh?" the other five asked.

When they saw the empty chairs, their insides went cold. All had heard of the way the three girls used to leave the headquarters and sneak away; only around Six had they been unable to do such a thing. Beverly quickly jumped to her feet, adrenaline fueling her actions.

"We need to get them!"

"Where could they have run off to?" Cricket asked, shocked that they had gotten away.

"They're probably still somewhere in the mall since I saw them when we came and sat down," Claire replied.

"Can't we call them on their Coms?" Circe asked.

"No, they won't answer," Beverly answered. "They never do."

"Then let's split up!" Annie suggested, jumping up to her feet.

"Circe and Cricket, Claire and Annie, and I'll go alone," Beverly instructed. "Ready? Go!"

The five girls broke off into their group of three, immediately running off in different areas. They searched high and low, even asking other patrons if they had seen the three girls. All questions ended up with no answers, and the girls were growing more frantic as they searched for the younger E.V.O.s. All five met up at the fountain after an hour of searching.

"Nothing?" Beverly asked, her face drooped in concern.

"No one's seen them," Circe reported.

"I've even asked the Dexbots, and they claim to have not seen the girls," Claire added.

"This is bad. This is really bad. How could we have lost three little girls?" Annie asked, slumping against the wall of the fountain.

"We'll start off again in an hour, okay?" Beverly said, rubbing her forehead. "We just need to collect ourselves and-"

"Do these three belong to you?"

All five girls looked up at the voice, finding Amber holding Maya and Kyara in her arms and with an unhappy-looking Yuki following beside her. Maya and Kyara seemed to be in good moods, and Amber was looking as stone faced as always. All five teenagers jumped to their feet and ran towards the four. Cricket pulled Yuki into a reluctant hug while Beverly grabbed Maya and Annie grabbed Kyara.

"Ohmygoshthankyousomuch!" Annie said in one breath.

"Where were you three?" Beverly questioned. "Where did you find them Amber?"

"We were trying to go to the beach," Yuki mumbled the answer.

"I was going to Orchid Bay on a mission from White Knight when I ran into the three," Amber responded. "I was passing through Townsville Center when they nearly ran into me and off the cliff in their excitement. I guessed they weren't supposed to be out alone, and dragged them back."

"But it was an hour since they disappeared," Circe pointed out.

"We didn't run into flame head so quickly," Yuki answered.

"We went looking around the mall more before looking through the rest of the city!" Kyara answered cheerfully, not understanding the sort of stress she'd put her elders through.

"We did run into a few Fusions," Maya pointed out with her nose scrunched up.

Beverly looked at the little girl in horror, but there was no harm on them.

"We didn't get hurt, obviously," Yuki stated with an eye roll.

"The Fusions stood no chance against us!" Kyara cheered.

"Rex is influencing you too much," Beverly sighed.

Kyara stuck her tongue out at the comment, not letting it bother her.

"What are we going to do now?" Maya asked.

"Are we going back to Providence?" Yuki asked.

Beverly was tempted to say yes, especially after they ran off on them, but looking into their faces, she couldn't do it. She shared a look with her fellow friends, and they all nodded in agreement; like her, they couldn't bring themselves to cut the day off so shortly.

"No. We're going to go to SassyCat Land," Beverly suggested.

All three girls (yes, even Yuki) beamed at the suggestion. Circe, Cricket, Annie, and Claire guided the three little girls towards SassyCat Land, while Beverly and Amber stood in the background.

"Thank you for bringing them back," Beverly said in gratitude. "Would you like to come with us?"

Amber closed her eyes, weighing her options before opening them and nodding.

"I'll come to provide your last barrier if they try to run away again," Amber replied. "However, I don't think they'll be doing that."

"Yeah, but still, it's nice for us Providence Girls to hang out," Beverly commented, walking with Amber after the group.

"Providence Girls?"

"I just made it up."

"So I noticed," Amber commented dryly.

"You have to admit it's catchy."

"No I don't."

Beverly laughed. Even though Amber was usually cold and off-standish, she was still a team player. And she was a Providence Girl.

And no matter what Amber said, Providence Girls was catchy.