Human Echo

Summary-Imagine you were walking down the street one day and someone ran out of the store, pockets filled with stolen jewels. Now, imagine if you caught a glimpse of the robber. Imagine if it were you. What would you do when the ones you love are suddenly turned against you?

A/N: This is a cowrite with mikromb13.

Chapter 1

Sixteen-year-old Cody Martin tapped his pen against his desk as his eyelids started to droop. He forced them open and let out a yawn as he held his face up on his hand. Ordinarily he would be wide awake, absorbing as much information as he possibly could but he stayed up too late studying.

Not for school, he was studying for his Element Test. You see, he and his twin brother found out about two years ago that they were born with Elements, a special power that was granted to select people when they were born. They only learned about their Elements when they encountered their friends, who are Elementals as well. They are a close knit group of teenagers living a double life: students/model children by day, Element fighters by night. It got tough to keep their tow lives separate but they did the best they could. But sometimes their lives merged and affected both, like now.

"Codes, are you ok? You barley answered any question in class today," his older twin brother, Zack, commented as he caught up to him in the hall.

"I'm fine Zack, I'm just really tired. I stayed up late studying for our test," Cody responded. "I still can't believe Ryan and Alan are flying out just to get their test done."

"I can, now I can finally beat his ass!" Zack said as he slapped his fist into his open palm, an evil grin was splayed across his lips. Cody groaned as he rested his forehead on his locker door. The last thing he wanted to hear was Zack's endless rant about beating his self-proclaimed rival. The only reason they fought a lot was because they both liked Rikku.

"Hey guys, are you ready for the test?" Rikku Hiroshima asked as she, her twin Rumiku, and their cousin Crystal walked up to the blond twins. Cody immediately straightened up and ran a hand through his hair as he smiled shyly at Crystal who returned his smile.

"I still don't understand why you don't have to take it," Zack said as he nodded at them.

"It's the perks of living with an Element scientist," Crystal responded with a shrug. "The downside is we get tested almost every week." She was referring to her father, Christian, whom she reunited with only three months ago. They became close really fast, but it was probably because Christian acted more like a kid than a father. He's been away since she was born, working on Element discoveries as well as looking for some cures to people who couldn't handle the responsibilities of being an Elemental.

"Did he find out anything new? Like why you guys have darkness in you but we don't?" Cody asked with genuine interest.

"Classified information," Crystal responded with a shrug. "You know how it goes."

Cody looked over at the troubled look on Rikku's and Rumiku's face and immediately regretted asking that question as he mentally kicked himself. 'I should've known that would be a touchy subject. Sometimes I'm so stupid.'

"We have to pick up the boys but you can go on over to Christian's place," Rikku told them once the bell rang. Without another word the trio turned and walked down the hall. Zack and Cody watched them leave with confused looks on their faces.

"What's the matter with them lately? They've acting...emo lately," Zack said as he nudged Cody to get him to start down the hall.

"Zack, that's not nice," Cody scolded him.

"You find a better word to describe it," Zack challenged him.

"I can't find a better word," Cody admitted. "But using the term emo is bad, it's like using the term gay. You're making it seem like all emos are bad, but they're not. They're not out to destroy the world or to kill themselves. They're sensitive, thoughtful, and have a unique view on life."

Zack gave Cody a 'who are you and what have you done to my brother?' look as he pushed open the doors to the school and stepped out into the warm, sunny day. The twins bounded down the stairs and started their walk to the Manning house. Zack was busy talking, more like bragging, about how he beat everyone in their gym class in a game of dodge ball.

Cody was ignoring him as he thought back on how his life has changed just by meeting the Hiroshimas and their cousin. They opened up his eyes to a new world that he was now a part of and had control over. He had new responsibilities now and sometimes he just wanted to throw it all away and go back to the way his life used to be. But he knew that he couldn't. He and Zack were the strongest Elementals of their generation, which gave them both more responsibility than anyone else. If he threw his life away, he would be hit by many consequences.

They stopped by Liberty Park because Zack insisted on showing Cody a trick he had mastered. Cody watched Zack fail time after time. He let out an impatient sigh a few times as he looked at his watch impatiently. By the time Zack gave up the two were twenty minutes late to getting to the Manning house for their tests.

"Oh, it's just you two," Christian Manning, Crystal's father, commented once he opened the door to his home. "Come inside, your test will begin shortly. I just have to finish running tests on Mike." He moved out of the way so Zack and Cody had room to get into the house. They dropped their things by the front door before following him into the basement. The first thing they spotted was Mike running on a treadmill with wires disappearing underneath his shirt. Sydney, the youngest Hiroshima, was sitting in a chair to the left of the larger one that was in front of a large computer and Crystal was sitting in a chair to the right. Julius, the oldest Hiroshima, Rikku, Rumiku, and their twin little brothers, Patrick and Noah, were sitting on a couch, watching silently. Ryan Cooper and Alan brown watched the blond twins move into the room without saying a word.

Ordinarily they would've gotten their tests done at the Element lab that was set up in the Science lab in the middle of Boston but it was safer to do it at Christian's house, especially when it got late because no one would come by that much.

"Sorry we're late," Cody whispered to Crystal as he sat down on the bench that was behind the chairs. Crystal held up her hand to silence him without taking her eyes off of the computer screen.

"You can stop now," Christian said as he pressed the large red STOP button that was on the treadmill. Mike stopped running and got off of the slowly stopping belt. Crystal stood with a clipboard in her hand, a checklist was held in place on it.

"Take off your shirt," she told him. He nodded and did so before tossing it into a corner. "Flex." He lifted an arm and did so as Crystal stepped forward and wrapped a tape measure around his bicep. Cody grumbled under his breath as Zack laughed a little to himself. He clenched his hands into fists when she wrapped it around his waist before writing something down on the checklist. "Ok, you're finished," she said before handing the clipboard over to Christian who sat in his chair as Sydney went to pull the wires off of Mike.

"So, what do the results say, Professor Manning?" Mike asked as he took his shirt out of Sydney's hand and pulled it on over his head.

"Christian's fine," he told him. "And I have to wait until all of the results are complied before I can tell you anything."

"Understood," Mike said before sitting down.

"Zack, Cody, we're going to have to test you at the same time," Sydney said as he held wires in both of his hands. "Take off your shirts so I can put these on you."

"Are you sure you want him to do that, his fat might spill everywhere," Ryan muttered to Alan but it was loud enough so everyone could hear him. Zack's face burned as he looked at the floor. He knew he was a little bit thicker than Cody but he tried not to let it get to him. It was hard for him, especially when he tried going on a diet but he didn't get good results.

"That was uncalled for!" Christian said as he glared at Ryan. Ryan kept his mouth shut but his eyes widened slightly as a guilty look crossed his face. He glanced over at Rikku who slowly shook her head before getting off the couch and left the room. Awkward silence fell over the group.

"Can we turn on the TV or something?" Noah asked quietly after a couple of seconds of silence.

"The news," Christian told him.

Zack and Cody stood still as Sydney connected the wires to them as they kept their eyes on the TV. Cody's eyes narrowed when it changed to a story about how the Boston Bank had been robbed. 'That's funny, that's the third time this week. You'd think that the police would be able to catch the culprits by now,' Cody told himself as the scene switched to a video tape of the burglar rushing out of the bank. Cody's eyes narrowed when he saw a flash of the robber's face in a mirror. 'My eyes must be playing tricks on me...that looked a little bit like Rikk.'

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