This is a rewrite of an old Di-Gata Defenders fanfiction by someone named "Mel". I contacted her and got authorization to rewrite it since the first draft was a little rough. She also gave me full liberty to change the plot so get ready for some crazy action and suspense!

HERE WE GO!

The Di-Gata Defenders' dojo was a peaceful as the realm. The sun cast its warm light on the stone walls, illuminating it and the surrounding grounds. Birds were chirping happily in the trees, cheerfully singing songs of ended strife. A soft breeze swept the leaves and harmonized with the melodies of nature. With the Ethos gone, RaDos relaxed into a state of tranquility.

That is until breakfast began.

Adam stormed into the dining room, stomping past a tinkering Erik in an enraged huff. Rion grimaced knowingly beside the inventor as the now-official Defender made his way to the leader. The ex thief crossed his arms as he scowled down at Seth, his eternal rival, who was currently stuffing his face with the three-foot-high pile of food on his plate.

"What do you think you're doing?" Adam asked curtly.

"Eating," Seth mumbled smugly through a full mouth. "What's it look like?"

"You ate all the food!" Adam exclaimed furiously. "There's nothing left!"

Seth shrugged, shoveling another forkful of eggs past his lips. "Maybe you should wake up sooner then. You know what they say: the early dako bird catches the yan worm."

"Yeah, but the dako bird didn't eat all the yan worms within a five mile radius!" Adam cried.

"You really should share a bit, Seth," Rion chirped. "Mel worked hard to make breakfast for everyone."

"Speaking of Mel," Adam said, "I haven't seen her all day. Where is she?"

Erik looked up from his latest project, screwdriver still poised. "I saw her this morning. She went to the training room at sunup, came out, made breakfast, and went back as soon as it was done."

Seth frowned. His mouth was too full to say anything, but Adam spoke for them both. "She's been there since sunup? What's she doing training so hard?"

"And what were you doing so early in the morning to see her?" Rion asked.

"I, uh... pulled an all-nighter working on this," Erik said, gesturing towards the contraption he was fiddling with. "I nearly have it finished. It's going to revolutionize the team's efficiency."

Seth swallowed with difficulty. "So you gonna tell us what it actually is?"

"You can't tell?" Erik frowned. "It's going to be a compact communicator that can fit on the wrist. No more lugging around bulky communicators that can be dropped or damaged. These bad boys are light and convenient, sigil reinforced to resist breakage, and are compatible with small earpieces for full, hands-free usage. Not only will they help on missions, but they should save us some major flatstones."

"Nice going, Erik!" Rion whooped.

"Yeah, man! That's awesome!" Adam grinned. "When are ours going to be ready?"

Erik rubbed his neck. "Uh, well this is actually the only prototype, and it's not even finished. It'll have to be tested in the field and everything too. But once I have it perfected, I can make some for the whole team."

"I don't know, Erik," Seth said, absentmindedly chewing on a strip of bacon. "We all have fully functioning communicators. We don't really need new ones."

"But think about it," Adam said. "We'll never lose communicators anymore. No more worrisome separations. We'll always know where everyone is."

"We wouldn't keep losing them if some people weren't so clumsy," Seth said pointedly, sliding Adam a look.

The thief's jaw dropped. "Are you saying it's my fault?"

"If the cloak fits..."

"Listen here, you..."

Rion sighed. "There they go again. Do they ever stop bickering?"

"Not when there's nothing to do," Erik said, resuming his tinkering. "They've been extra irritable since we beat the Ethos. They're likely just antsy."

"Yeah, well their constant fighting is getting really old really fast." The smallest defender got to his feet. "I'm going to go check on Mel. Make sure they don't kill each other, will ya?"

Erik's gaze got uneasy as it watched the two boys. He looked back at Rion. "I make no promises."

Rion was only able to relax when he was down the corridor and Adam and Seth's voices had faded. He understood that the two weren't each other's favorite person, but that didn't give them the right to fight for half the day, especially when they did it in front of everyone. And if it bothered Rion, the boy was sure that it bothered a certain Wizard of Yan even more.

Rion entered the training room to find the aforementioned girl. She was busy in what appeared to be the hardest setting of the simulator. She fought at least twenty drones with hand to hand and wizard spells; her di-gata stones resting in her pouches on a table by the door. She whirled and twirled, dispelling robots with kicks and punches and small blasts of shimmering blue light. Rion had never seen her fight quite like this. It was like a deadly dance of beauty and grace. The defender couldn't help but be entranced, but naturally it wasn't a physical attraction. He didn't see Mel that way (except that one experience with Azura's pet, but that day was never spoken of). Rion only ever held romantic feelings for one girl, but she wasn't around anymore...

As the number of drones whittled, Melosa began to chant. Her eyes glowed her signature blue and her hands lit up with the same hue. Rion crossed his arms and leaned against the wall patiently. This was going to be good.

"Dako, Infinis, Sum, Altas!"

There was a brilliant flash of light and electricity in the room. Energy radiated from Mel and swirled around, blowing everything around with sheer power. It took all Rion had to stay on his feet. He broke his laidback stance and held onto the door frame as Mel's spell wound down. Finally the light disappeared with a flash, leaving behind a composed Wizard, obliterated training droids, and a dishevelled Rion.

Mel observed the damage she left on the robots before she turned around. Her eyes lit up as they rested on Rion and crinkled with mirth as she noticed his appearance.

He attempted to flatten his now flyaway hair and straighten his clothes. "Geez, Mel," he teased. "Warn a guy next time you let something that powerful loose."

She smiled. "Well if I knew I had company, I would have done something a little tamer."

"That'd have been a shame," he grinned back. "That spell was seriously awesome!"

A light pink dusted Mel's cheeks. "It wasn't that great. I –ow!" she clutched at her head. "Migraine... I guess that's what happens to subpar Wizards."

"Don't say that, Mel!" Rion insisted. "I'm sure any Wizard would get a headache after a spell like that!"

Mel smiled, but didn't look entirely convinced. "Thanks, Rion. Is breakfast still going on?"

He grimaced. "Yes and no."

"Seth?"

"Seth."

Mel grinned begrudgingly, shaking her head a little at her gluttonous leader. "It's a good thing I keep some food tucked away for emergencies. One of these days I'm just going to lock Seth in his room until everyone else has eaten."

"I don't know if there's anything strong enough to keep Seth from food," Rion chuckled.

Mel giggled as she grabbed her stones and slid them back on her arms. "We better hurry then. It's only a matter of time before he sniffs out my stash and I'd rather not skip breakfast."

The two returned to the dining room to eerie silence. When they rounded the corner they were met with Adam and Seth, reduce to pouting children as Erik sat calmly, splicing wires on his compact communicator. Rion and Mel looked at each other with confusion before turning back to try and figure out the situation.

When neither was successful, Rion finally asked, "What happened here?"

"Oh, not much," Erik said, peering at the returning defenders with a hint of haughtiness. "We just had a little chat about maturity. Didn't we fellas?"

Adam and Seth offered no response and simply sent each other occasional glares.

"Well at least they stopped fighting," Rion said as he returned to his seat. He poured himself a glass of juice from the pitcher on the table (one of the only survivors of Seth's hungry rampage). "You guys should have seen Mel's spell she used in training. It was so cool! She totally destroyed all the robots like it was nothing!"

Erik dropped his tools. "She did what?!"

Mel ran a hand through her hair. "I was meaning to talk to you about that..."

"You guys can't keep wrecking the drones!" he said in exasperation. "Do you how hard it is to make one from scratch?"

Rion took a sip of juice. "How else are we supposed to train seriously, man? Isn't the point of training-bots to be used for training?"

"What are you even training for anyway, Mel?" Seth asked melodramatically, finally coming out of his childish trance. "We defeated the Megalith and the Ethos. There's nothing to fight anymore."

Mel folded her arms. "It won't always be like that, you know. There will always be trouble in RaDos, no matter the size. That's what the Di-Gata Defenders are here for."

"While I completely agree with Mel," Rion said, resting his head on his hand. "There hasn't been anything bigger than petty thefts for us to stop. There's a big difference between saving the realm from the Ethos and beating up thugs. When are we actually going to get to do something?"

"We could always go check out Sumos," Adam suggested. "There have been a number of incidences reported from the villages about ghost-like creatures roaming the forests."

Rion quirked an eyebrow. "You want to go hunt ghosts?"

Adam shrugged. "Better than sitting around here doing nothing."

"Adam's right for a change," Seth said, standing. "We'll go to Sumos and check things out."

Erik waved them off. "You guys go ahead. I'll hold down the fort here. It'll give me a chance to finish my compact communicator."

"Fine. The rest of us, let's go." Seth walked confidently towards the door, excited at the prospect of some form of action. He was stopped however, by Mel clearing her throat particularly loudly.

She scowled at him as he turned back to face her. "Some of us haven't eaten yet, you know. It might be nice to have some energy before we venture off on a mission."

Seth grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah. Right. Well then I'll just... go wait by the bikes. See ya!" And with that, he dashed out of the room.

Mel folded her arms. "Humph."

"I would have thought you'd have eaten this morning," Adam said.

"I can't eat right when I wake up," Mel replied. "It makes my stomach turn. Did Seth beat you to breakfast too?"

Adam glowered. "Second time this week."

Mel made her way to the kitchen. "Come on. I'll scrounge us up something. You want anything, Rion?"

The blonde shook his head. "Nah. I managed to get a helping before Seth arrived. Thanks for cooking, by the way. It was delish."

"No problem, Rion. We'll meet you at the bikes."

Rion waved goodbye as the two defenders left. He shook his head playfully as their voices and laughter could still be heard as they traveled to the dojo's kitchen. He heard Adam say something about a picnic on a mountain and some more giggling. Rion grinned. "Those two are so obvious."

TADA! Hoped you liked it. This story is going to be incredibly lengthy, so buckle up!

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