Chapter 2

Shin hefted Jimmy's body over his shoulder while Aelia obediently carried Dipole the Earth-Wusyl. Aelia loped over to the elevator and nodded to Shin as she disappeared up the darkness. Shin turned towards the Mirage Orb. What was he going to do with this Lexard? What if the bad luck it brung would lose him the Mirage Orb?

With trembling fingers Shin took the Mirage Orb from where it floated. The Mirage Orb barely reacted, and merely nestled itself deeper into Shin's pants-pocket. Shin turned for the elevator and felt Jimmy stir. Shin ignored Jimmy until they were in the elevator.

"What –?"

Shin jabbed Jimmy's neck, causing him to go into a paralyzed state. Jimmy sputtered, and then righted his glasses haughtily. He tried to stand and realized that Shin was carrying him. "Hey!" Jimmy said, thrashing about a bit. "Where are you taking me?"

"To see an Avatar," Shin replied simply. "I need to get rid of you since you never leave me alone anymore. What are you – gay or something?"

Jimmy wrinkled his nose. "No way!"

Shin dumped Jimmy onto the elevator floor as it came to a halt. Shin turned towards the stone wall and walked through it without saying anything more. Jimmy scrambled after Shin into the sunlight. He had to blink several times before his eyes adjusted. They were on a different part of the Forest – there was a small house in front of him. It was oddly out of place, too – it was a small wooden house made of creaky twigs and unstable rods.

Aelia was sitting on the roof, her headphones on the unconscious Dipole. Shin snapped at her, "Aelia, don't suck its life force! I'll power you up later, okay?"

Aelia disappointedly took her headphones back. She sniffed delicately at Jimmy and then snarled, "Lexard!"

"We're going to ask an Avatar what to do with him," Shin explained, patting her head delicately. "But before that we're going to visit someone. So stay here, Lexard."

Shin entered the cottage but before he entered Jimmy saw him whisper to Aelia something, who nodded and guarded the cottage.

Jimmy ran over to Dipole as soon as his legs had stopped shaking. The Wusyl was just sleeping, to Jimmy's relief. He peered at Aelia. From behind her fur he could just make out Shin's body. Then – ice sprang out from around Shin, and dragged him into the ground!

Jimmy let out a horrified yell and ran up to Aelia. To his surprise Aelia punched him hard in the jaw. He reeled back, tasting blood in his mouth. Then, he remembered something: Finxes needed life force to sustain energy. With all of Jimmy's might, he drew up a small plant from the ground. Aelia stared at it curiously. It held a bit of Jimmy's life-force, so the Finx was naturally attracted to it. She sniffed the petals of the lily.

The ground exploded.

Roots, vines, and trees erupted from the ground, severing the land around them in halves and sending Aelia flying. She quickly realized that Jimmy had distracted her, and furiously began to use her headphones to pinpoint his location. But she couldn't hear anything – she hissed in fury and let air missiles fire from her mouth. They beat savagely into the upcoming shards of earth, but none of them held Jimmy.

Jimmy was already tunneling underground, miles below Aelia. He was going to figure out what Shin was keeping a secret from him. He wasn't an item – he was a sien, too. But as Jimmy dug deeper under the cottage, he began to question that. He hadn't meant to hurt Aelia – he hoped he hadn't. When had he gotten so much power?

Then he remembered what they had called him: a Lexard. Wasn't that a mutated fighting sien? Was that what he was – a mutation?

Then, his nose smashed right into a wall of fire. He gazed at it in confusion, his body fighting to heal the burnt cartilage on his nose. He was miles underground. Where had this come from? He peered through the flames and couldn't see anything except the white core of the fire. He placed his hands near the wall and applied as much pressure as he could.

The effect was amazing. Earth shot out from his hands and put out the fire momentarily. Jimmy quickly jumped into the room, and landed on soft, volcanic soil. Jimmy looked around this new room with surprise. It was a basement – and there were about a million guns lining the walls.

Now Jimmy was completely confused. Siens couldn't use guns – they were made of metal. Plus the lead could actually kill someone, mortal or immortal. Then he saw that they were on displays of more fire, and that blood was still fresh on their handles. They were trophies – this was a basement of death.

A hot hand wrapped around his throat. The power was amazing and the control of chakra indicated it was obviously a war veteran. Jimmy's eyes watered as he tried to see straight. The grip let go, but Jimmy also found out that he was surrounded by fiery black spikes. A girl stepped into his view. She was pretty but she was terrifying at the same time. Her eyes were sharp and Jimmy flinched away from her gaze. If looks could kill went through his mind. She wore light red clothing and had her black hair trail down her back. Her skin was pale and coated in old war scars. She glared at Jimmy with almost pure hatred.

"That's him," Shin's voice floated down to Jimmy. He swiveled his head in relief to see Shin appear from behind the girl. He laid a hand on her shoulder. The change was amazing – suddenly her expression became light and cheerful, and she looked even more beautiful. But her fingers formed a small cage and the embers around Jimmy bristled.

"So this is the Lexard," the girl said, her tone cold again. She gazed at Jimmy and then looked away as if he wasn't worth her time to look at. "I can see why you want to get rid of him. So – you're going to look for an Avatar?"

"Yep," Shin replied. His eyes were now an indigo blue and his hair was a light shade of lavender. "You wouldn't happen to remember where Notte lives, do you?"

Not? Jimmy thought, is that a name?

"… Ayumi might know, and she lives nearby," the girl said. She smiled up at Shin. "Say hi to her for me. Oh, and if this Lexard –" Jimmy flinched; her tone was coated with poison, "– I'll help you kill him."

"Thanks, Tomeka," Shin said. They kissed briefly and Jimmy couldn't help but gag. It was nearly over for him at that moment. Tomeka suddenly held a huge blade at his neck, and she was glaring him in the eye. Jimmy was paralyzed – he wouldn't have been able to move even if he wanted to. The blade was so hot that he could see the water vapor in the air becoming steam within two feet of it. His entire face was misted over and he couldn't see clearly through his glasses.

"I can sever your head from where it sits," Tomeka challenged, nicking Jimmy's skin a little. A droplet of blood fell onto her sword and it mixed into the sword, turning it into a black, crimson blade, similar to that of a bottomless pit's shadows. "Or you don't bother Shin. If you bother him I'll hunt you down and accompany you all the way till this Avatar person beats the crap out of you."

Jimmy gulped. "I-I- won't bother…Shin."

"Too late," Shin snorted. He wrapped one arm around Tomeka's shoulders. She relaxed her sword and it disappeared into the fire around Jimmy's body. Shin smiled down at her and said, "You might as well come with us. I don't want to be away from you for more than an hour."

Tomeka leaned against his chest and nodded. "Okay, I'll start to pack some stuff for us."

She disappeared into the soil, and Jimmy faintly saw her go up through the blood-red-walls to the floor above. Shin casually approached Jimmy and tapped the embers. The barricade fell, and Jimmy with it, as he gasped to breathe properly.

"Who… the hell… is she?" Jimmy hissed.

"That happens to be my girlfriend," Shin replied smugly.

"She's going to be traveling with us until we find this Ayumi person, and then she'll tell us where this Avatar is?!" Jimmy squeaked, his voice cracking after every octave.

Shin laughed. "Yeah, I know – be very afraid. I don't need an Avatar to kill you – Tomeka can do it. But if she does then you'll bring bad luck to us."

As he began to sink into the ground, Shin grinned evilly at Jimmy, who was horrified with this idea. "Oh, and don't push me until I think that bad luck would be better than you living."

Shin melted into the soil. Jimmy could still feel their eyes on him, however – it was not a pleasant feeling. Dipole sat on Jimmy's head, and pat his hair. He had been hiding in Jimmy's shirt until now. "It's okay, Jimmy," Dipole said reassuringly in his quirky, fast voice. "I'll still serve you if you die."

Just then, a sound blasted throughout the cavern. It was, by no doubt, Aelia's shriek.

She burst into the cavern, and slugged Jimmy so hard that he didn't have a second to realize she had entered. She began to deliver fast blows to his pressure points until he was barely conscious. She glared down at him and then spat in his face.

Great, Jimmy groaned, everyone hates me now.

Then, Aelia pulled him up, and slung him into her arms. "Shin will be unhappy if I kill you," she explained to Jimmy. Dipole let out a squeak of fear and returned to hide under Jimmy's shirt.

She was surprisingly warm as she used her sound waves to create a passage through Tomeka's underground fire walls. Jimmy found himself wishing that they were all on his side – why had he bothered getting into this mess?

And then Jimmy felt his life force slipping away at Aelia's touch. Jimmy knew he wasn't going to die, but the sensation was horrifying and he was so weak he couldn't even resist it. Then, he wasn't in Aelia's arms anymore.

He sat on a strange cushion. It was shaped like a giant mushroom, he realized, as he looked around in confusion. He appeared to be in several places. He was in a rainforest, in a land of clouds, a pond, and an eerily black world with nothing in it. He saw how the imagery worked; one area would fade into the other, as if they were entwined with each other.

In front of him sat three girls and one boy. It took him a second to notice them. The first girl had white hair up to her shoulders and red eyes. She wore a red hoodie and wore a red cloak. Her complexion rivaled that of an albino's, and she sat on a white cloud. The next girl had long black hair and skeptical red eyes. She wore a purple gown that looked like silk, and she sat on a fiery red cushion made out of red lilies. The third girl had long blue hair and warm sapphire eyes. She wore a maiden's blue gown of the water tribes, and sat on a pure white lotus. The boy was shorter than the other girls, but he had mischievous brown eyes and short blue hair. He wore a brown cloak about his shoulders and he looked excitedly at Jimmy.

"This is new," the white girl said coolly. A shiver went through Jimmy's whole body. There was years of ancient wisdom hidden in it. Was this an Avatar? No, perhaps that water-sien? Or the dark-looking girl? Or could it be the boy –?

"He's a Lexard," the dark-girl remarked. Her voice was full of indifference, but underneath it, Jimmy could detect a bit of curiosity. "I wonder who sent him to us."

"Am I … dead?" Jimmy managed to ask.

"Damn, you'd be lucky if this was hell," the boy laughed, grinning outrageously at Jimmy. "Nah, we're just borrowing your soul for a second. Don't ya worry, time doesn't pass here."

"Who are you?" Jimmy asked his eyes wide. He suddenly felt very alone. He wasn't ready for this type of thing yet. He wasn't a brave adventurer. He was just – weak little Jimmy. He wiped his wet eyes and rephrased his question hastily, "What's happening?"

"You turned into a Lexard," the white girl answered. "So now we're supposed to deal with it. How nice is that."

"Not very nice," Jimmy muttered.

"So basically, we're just going to tell you a few things to keep in mind," the blue girl said. Her face and smile were so calming that Jimmy instantly felt better.

"Like things about your traveling companions," the dark-girl continued. In an eerie voice, she recited:

"You will have four by your side

One who has seen the world

One who will never be the same

One who will deceive and kill you unless you are cured

And one who is not what they seem."

As Jimmy fought to digest this in, the white girl piped in, "There is a prophecy of you, Jimmy. There is more you need to know, or you will not survive:

The one who has seen the world will despise you

And yet will turn out as one of your greatest allies.

The one who will never be the same will prove to you something

And you must live your life with its lesson.

The one who will kill you will also be your best friend

And you must realize that there is more than one weapon.

The one who is not what they seem will mark the end of the adventure

Even though they have been with you since the beginning."

Now Jimmy was fighting to keep his eyes open. He realized that the calming blue girl was weaving a spell around his being. He just barely caught onto the boy's words:

"You better not forget mine, kid! I'll kill you!

A battle doesn't have to be fought with your powers.

A friend doesn't have to love you.

A killer doesn't have to kill you.

And a mysterious person doesn't always have to be the least understandable."

Jimmy was jolted into reality again. He sat in a fire tent, the sun glaring through the dancing embers. It made colorful patterns in his eyes and he had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes. He fought to remember what he had dreamed about, batting his eyelashes and adjusting his glasses. Then, quickly, he wrote it on the ground, doing as best as he could to remember the words with a stick.

Shin walked up to him, carrying firewood.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Shin said. He dumped the firewood onto a small ash circle. "Help me and Aelia gather firewood to eat lunch. You've been out for several days. Aelia seems happy off your life force, though. Oh, and your Guardian is in the tent."

Shin trooped away, leaving Jimmy to wonder exactly what this prophecy would mean…

Or if he would survive it.