'Look at her.' 'Oh my.' 'She's a aerokinetic?'

'W-what? Who are you people?' Momo looked around and backed away. It seemed to be that the mist had taken the shape of people instead, standing around no matter where the girl walked.

They had their hands covering their mouths and their beady eyes seemed to be following her every move. Whispering about her. Judging her.

She always had fear of people judging her. It probably developed when she was younger from the countless dance competitions that she had participated in. The way the judges' eyes would follow her and scrutinize her every move made her a nervous wreck. 

'Aren't aerokinetics supposed to look slimmer so they're more nimble?'

'I am nimble! I'm pretty sure I can move faster than you!' Momo retaliated and clenched her fists. 'Did you just insinuate that I'm fat?' 

'Are you not?' One said.

'You eat a lot for a girl.' Another chimed in.

'I'm of a healthy weight range thank you very much!' Momo yelled and blasted the misty figures with air, causing them to disappear.

'What a weak blast of air. Others could do better.'

'Shame that such an air user exists.'

'The ancestors would be laughing if they saw you' 

'My ancestors would be proud that I don't gossip and whisper like cowards at people.' Momo scoffed. 

'Such cocky attitude.'

'Aerokinetics are usually mellow and humble. Really disgraceful.'

The girl winced and tried to walk away. The whisperings stopped but their eyes continued to watch her as she nervously glanced at her sides. 

It was unnerving to say the least. Imagine having people staring at you wherever you go. When you walk into a mall, all eyes are suddenly concentrated on you. Momo hates it. They make her feel small and vulnerable, like they could pounce on her and hurt her. 

Her heart was beating at a unsteady rate and her breaths became shallower, making it painful to walk quickly but she did anyway. She had to get away. 

She began to run through the forest, avoiding eye contact with the misty figures but each figure she passed made her feel sicker and sicker. Momo eventually collapsed under her own weight and she almost knocked her face into the bark of a tree. 

She could see the figures approaching her slowly. They stopped speaking but their eyes were like daggers that cut through Momo's soul. 

She kicked and trashed on the ground, backing away as far as she could with her last remaining ounce of energy. Her pupils had dilated and her eyes widened, wrapping her arms around her frame and hunched her shoulders to make herself appear as small as possible. How she wished the ground would just open and swallow her up.

'Why are you running?' A smooth and low voice asked. It was actually calming and addictive to listen to, a deep and clear voice that seemed to come slightly from the back of his throat. 

'These people.. these ghosts.. they're judging me. I hate it. They don't even know me!' Momo yelled and smashed her fists on the ground with a thud. She propelled herself onto a tree branch, and willed her drained body to climb up and get away from the misty figures on the ground that were now looking up at her. 

'Why do you let what they think affect you?'

Momo didn't reply and focused on climbing up, jumping from branch to branch limberly, staying light on her feet to avoid snapping the branches. She had climbed all the way to the top most branch in less than a minute, lungs screaming for air. She was agile.

'Why?' The voice prompted again.

'Why do you want to know?' Momo challenged and a flash of white shot up into the air infront of her before it dropped down again and landed lightly on the branch of the opposite tree.

'I need to know so that I can help you.' The man in yellow said. He had a full head of white hair that was shaved at the sides and the middle portion was pulled up into a little bun. His face was lean and he had slight crow feet by his eyes which were probably from smiling too much rather than his age. 

'Who are you?'

'Skyler, the predecessor of all aerokinetics.'

'Like.. my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-' 'Yes, that.' Skyler cut her off with a laugh.

'But why are you here? Are you here to tell me I'm a failure like they said..' Momo slumped her shoulders dejectedly. 

'No. I'm proud of all my successors, you are no exception. Are you comfortable up here?' He asked and crossed his legs.

'Very. At least I can't see them from here anymore.' Momo said and shifted on the branch to find a comfortable position.

'Then we shall talk up here. Let's start with your fear.' He smiled and nodded. 'You fear judgement. Be it from strangers or friends. The fact that people look at you in this certain way, like they can see right through you and hear your thoughts makes you feel uncomfortable. Am I right?'

'Yea, you are. It's just ridiculous and infuriating. They don't know me on a very personal level so who are they to assume things about me and speak as if they know me?' 

'People have always been this way. Nosey. But over the centuries, it has become worst. Now it's probably an alarming problem to society because of social media. No one can live and do what they like because they get rude comments from people who judge them based on a single photo, as if that photo represents their entire personality and character. Life is a pain now, Momo.' He shook his head in a disappointed manner. The girl found herself being able to calm down from listening to him speak, it was so entrancing.

'I used to participate in competitions and of course I don't succeed in every single one of them but sometimes they give harsh remarks rather than constructive criticism. I guess that kinda left a mark on me.' Momo rubbed her knees. 

'Constructive criticism is always good. It helps you to improve as a person as well as what you are doing. People should learn to accept this rather than get angry whenever someone points out a mistake. I'm glad you're not one of those hot tempered people. I could give you some advice on how to overcome this obstacle.'

'Yes please.'

'First, you being the easy-going type would have an advantage. Just try, I know it's hard at first and it's not as easy as I'm making it sound but trust me, it would go a long way. Try to ignore them. Treat them as white noise. Haters will hate and there's no way to permanently stop them from being this way, but if you can ignore that, you would do much better. You would live with or without them and of course you would live even better without, but think of them as people who are making you stronger. They hate you because they're jealous of something that you possess but they don't. Use that to make yourself feel better.'

Momo's eyes widened in understanding and she nodded with a grin. 

'The more they hate on you the more attention you will gain so think of that as another plus point. As long as you won't let it get over your head and make you arrogant, you would be fine.' 

'I understand what you mean.'

'You and your friend can support each other. Two other friends actually.'

'There are two of them who are afraid of judgement like me?'

'A variation. They would tell you more than I have to offer and the three of you can share what you learnt, I think it would be even better.' Skyler's eyebrow furrowed in a apologetic manner.

'Who are they?' Momo leaned forward. It was surprising to find out a third of their group had the same fear.

'Your leader and the youngest I believe.'

Momo furrowed her brows. She knew Tzuyu had problems as well but she didn't know Jihyo would have such a fear. The girl always seemed to be confident and lead them all well. She would have to have a talk with Jihyo for sure.

'Don't worry, everyone is receiving the help they need as we speak.' He waved his hand.

'From another mutant?'

'Yes, their predecessors. We are the guardians to all of you. You might not know it but we have always been watching over you. But like humans, we err. We don't intervene quick enough and that's how some turn down the wrong path, believing the wrong people and doing the wrong things.'

'Like the rebels? Orion's Order?'

'Orion's Order yes. They're a bunch of notorious protesters with preposterous propaganda to corrupt people. They're the real disgrace to us.' Skyler sighed.

'They're like a secret society aren't they?' 

'They are supposed to be. I would say at least half of the mutant species know about them but the humans.. not so much. They would be relatively low profiled. Humans are more familiar with their own secret societies. There have been many claims isn't it? Secret government agencies and organizations dedicated to all sorts of ideas and experiments. Theories are always flying around and no one can really trust each other these days. I won't name names but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.' He gave her a knowing nod and she returned the gesture. People could go missing from shooting their mouth off or knowing too much about things they shouldn't be delving into. A dead man can't talk and their secrets would be safe if he was silenced. 

'It's a scary world but Orion's Order isn't one that should be messed with. They are the cause behind many strange things happening since the start of time. Bizarre if I may say. But that's not the point. The point is, they must be stopped. I have some information of their base.'

'They have a base?' Momo gasped. 

'Their base of operation is located somewhere far away. A place that connects everyone through music.'

'The heart of music..' Momo furrowed her brows. She heard of this place before but she just couldn't remember what it was called. Australia? No, Austria! And the capital is- 

'Vienna!' Momo shouted and snapped her fingers. If she wasn't on a branch, she would have stood up as well.

'Exactly. In the heart of their base lies a basement which is used as a dungeon. Along with the dungeon that's where their plans for whatever crazy they're about to do to this earth. You need to free those people held captive and destroy the plans. I have a map of the place. They built it like a maze so that outsiders like you and I won't be able to crack them down so easily.' Skyler said and reached into his white robes, pulling out a folded up map. 

'Take the path I drew for you. It's the fastest way in and out of the building with the least security checks.'

'Wait. Isn't this a intelligence building?'

'They use the facade as a cover. Did you think they would be hiding in a warehouse?' 

'Honestly yes.' Momo stared at him in disbelief.

'They are filthy rich, how do you think they manage to pull so many strings all over the globe? Check under the table and you'll know.' Skyler scoffed. 

'Messed up. That's hella messed up.' Momo shook her head.

'Keep that safe. They have other separate prisons where they hold more mutants captive spread across the globe. I don't know exactly where but there should be recorded somewhere among those hidden documents.'

'How do we get in such high security places?' She asked as she folded the map back and slipped it in the inner pocket of her jacket and zipped it up.

'You can ask your mastermind friend. I'm sure she'll know exactly how to get in undetected.' He said in a confident manner.

'Alright. How about you? Would I see you again?' 

'Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.' Skyler smiled. 'Go, you have no time to waste. Get to your friends and formulate a plan!' 

'Aye aye Sir!' Momo saluted with a lop sided grin and let herself fall off the branch and she ed herself through the woods, back to their rendezvous point.