The Four Mirrors
Sequel to 'Legacies'
By MMM/AJ
A/N: I know that I said that the first few chapters were going to be from Tanis' point of view, but I've been mulling, writing, deleting, and re-writing a lot lately in an attempt to get the POV system worked out in a way that pleases me. In the end I decided that I wanted to skip ahead to the teenage years of Tanis' sons and go directly to their POV's in an alternating POV system not unlike the one in Legacies. I will not neglect giving them their backstories, but I want to introduce these backstories in a more subtle way.
ALSO: Note that the crossover parts of this fanfic will be coming in much later on. As in, not until after Book 2. The entire first and second books will just center on Tanis' family, and then we'll move on to the other worlds in Book 3.
Part I – Brotherhood
Chapter 1 – V1
An 18 year old Venius lounged lazily in a reclining chair in his room, grinding his mind against the algebra homework that his father had given him. His room was utterly dark except the single lamp sitting on his desk, and his computer stylus danced furiously across the console by his mind's command. His tail twitched back and forth behind him and he ground his teeth as he pondered the word problem before him. The stars twinkled beautifully outside his spotless window, the entire night was still except for his endless calculating, everyone else in the house had already gone to bed. The holographic clock to his right blinked 2:34 AM, and a fresh mug of coffee next to the clock was releasing a cloud of steam. Venius picked it up and took large mouthfuls at regular intervals, finishing it before it could cool off. The night marched drearily on in this fashion, and Venius refused to let himself stop until he was sure he would be ready for his exam tomorrow morning. He knew how merciless his father's exams could be, and math was still giving him a major headache. As much as he hated staying up to study, he hated disappointing his father even more, and this sentiment, along with plenty of caffeine, was what kept him going long into the wee hours of the morning.
By the time the clock reached 5 AM, Venius sighed and let his stylus drop and be still. He still felt insecure about his proficiency with the subject, but he had finished five cups of coffee and the sleepiness had already crawled back into his eyes. He decided that he needed the sleep anyway, and floated out of his chair and over into bed. The lamp on his desk flicked off and the blankets peeled themselves back to accommodate him. The bed was nearly ice cold when he laid down, and a couple of shivers ran up his spine as the blankets covered him. Frightening thoughts began to course through his mind as he laid there trying to clear his mind to get to sleep, a sense of dread about the exam grew, and he felt a pit of fear weighing down in his stomach. He turned over and looked out his window at the stars to try and distract himself, but that same ominous feeling still gripped him. Seeing the stars only made him worry about the exams even more. Father had promised to give him his first ride in one of Shakara's ships up into space if he got a good grade, and now it felt as if he'd have to wait another six months to get that chance. Dark brooding feelings swamped him, and parades of worrisome thoughts tormented him as he tried desperately to get to sleep. It took another half hour before the heaviness in his eyelids finally overcame this worry in his mind, and the sleep he drifted into was fragile and fleeting at first.
Once Venius passed into a deeper sleep, his subconscious decided to take a bit of a jaunt back into the past. Against his will, Venius' dreams took him several years into the past, back to when he was only four years old, back before he had even met anyone outside of his own family. The faces of his young brothers flickered past him, and a bright blue summer sky prevailed over all. He saw images of flight and fancy that lacked coherence or any real substance, and for a short while the dreams were comforting. Soon after, the blue summer sky fell away into darkness, as if the sun had somehow disappeared, and a red glow filled his vision. Four humans appeared in the distance, riding bicycles directly toward him. They slowed as they approached, their faces first shocked, and then angry. They stopped before him, dismounted, and surrounded him in a circle. He tried to use his power to fly away, but somehow was unable. They looked down at his short, childish form before releasing a volley of brutal kicks.
The dream played havoc with Venius' memories however, twisting them into new terrifying variants. One of the humans produced a handgun and leveled it at him, but before he could fire, one of Venius' brothers, Cygnus, came running towards them. The human with the gun turned and aimed it at him as he approached, and Venius yelled desperately for them to stop. In a flash of crimson, the dream altered drastically again. No longer were the humans jeans-wearing teenagers like before, but armored soldiers wearing visored helmets and carrying large laser rifles. Cygnus was suddenly grown to adult stature, wielding two large energy swords and flying toward the humans. Around him were the two other brothers, Opulous and Nolus, as well as a large groups of others of his species that were unrecognizable. Green beams shot from the humans' visors, acting as targeting devices, and locked onto Venius' brothers, and then the rifles opened fire. Venius was still paralyzed on the ground, unable to move, and could only watch as the blinding beams penetrated his brothers and sent them to the ground in charred heaps. In the background, blinding flashes filled the sky as distant explosions cratered the Earth.
When the human soldiers were done slaughtering Venius' brethren, they turned back around and looked down at him again. Their green targeting lasers all centered on his face, and they leveled their rifles at him to do their grisly work. Before they could fire, a blinding flash filled Venius' vision, and he slammed his eyes closed. When the light cleared and he opened his eyes, a towering mushroom cloud filled the sky above him, and there was nothing left of the humans but skeletons, which were still standing around him. The pile of corpses that had used to be his brothers and fellows had been burnt to ashes, and naught was left of his home but a burning wasteland. One of the human skeletons reached a bony hand down toward him, and he curled his still child-sized body into a ball and screamed. The skeleton grabbed his shoulder and called his name, and in an instant the dream ended and Venius bolted upright in his bed.
Venius saw his brother Nolus in front of him, he had shaken him awake. He also saw the wreckage of his desk strewn all across the floor next to his bed, the wood had been splintered into shards and the computer console that had been inlaid was lying flickering on the carpet, on the verge of starting a fire. The little glass lens in the holographic clock had shattered, as had the glass in his windows.
"Great. Just fabulous." Venius muttered angrily.
"Nightmares again?" Nolus asked.
"Yes. I thought I was through with them, but apparently my subconscious isn't done with me." Venius replied, standing out of bed.
"Here, I'll help you clean up." Nolus said.
Nolus raised his paw and psychically lifted all the debris in the air. He sorted the objects and returned them to their proper places, repairing the broken glass as he went. The two of them co-operated to return Venius' room back to the way it was, and when they finished, Nolus bade him a good night and left to go back to bed in his own room. Venius sighed and was about to climb back into his own bed when is father walked in.
"The bad dreams are coming back eh?" Tanis asked.
"yeah dad. I don't know what's causing them, but it looks like I'll need to use my powers to stay awake again during the test tomorrow." Venius replied.
"What about that caffeinated drink you started using this week? You said you'd never need anything else to stay awake ever again." Tanis said.
"It works decently well when I don't drink it too often, but if I overuse it, it loses its effectiveness. I'll have to drink 5 cups tomorrow morning, or concentrate it, to keep me awake." Venius said.
Tanis sighed, and there was a long pause. Venius then managed to work up the courage to ask the question that had been bothering him for his whole childhood,
"Father, do you think my dreams could be prophetic?"
Tanis didn't look surprised at the question. He stared thoughtfully for a moment and tilted his head to the side slightly before speaking, "I don't know, do you think they could be?"
"Well I don't know either, why do you think I asked?" Venius growled.
"Easy, I just wanted you to think it over. Have any of these nightmares ever come to pass before?" Tanis asked,
"As far as I know, no. I've dreamed a lot of things in the past, and they weren't all necessarily centered around me or the rest of the family. Venius replied.
"Hmmmm…Has anything ever given you reason to believe that these dreams might be prophetic?" Tanis asked.
"Not really. I've just always worried about it, the prospect of it hover over me like a great weight about to come crashing down." Venius said.
There was a slight pause before Venius spoke again, "I just thought you might be able to help me feel better about it."
Tanis sighed and then replied, "If it makes you feel any better, I've never had any of my nightmares ever come to pass, and as far as I know, neither have any of your brothers or cousins."
"What about Grandfather?" Venius asked.
"All I know about my father I saw from the recordings he left me, and the very few times we talked when I was a very small child. I cannot speak for him in this matter. I know that's not very assuring, but I wanted to be honest with you Venius." Tanis said.
Venius smiled. "Thanks dad, that did help."
"All in a night's work, son! Now you need to go back to bed! It's going to be a very painful morning tomorrow for all of us, especially you if you don't get some more sleep!" Tanis said, rising to leave the room.
"Good night father!" Venius called after him.
Feeling much more at ease than he had before, Venius laid himself back in bed and managed to get back to sleep much quicker than before. His father's words helped ward off any further nightmares for the rest of the night, and he managed to sleep peacefully during the last remaining hours before dawn.
Chapter II – CI
A grating, high-pitched beeping tore through Cygnus' idle dreaming and forcefully dragged him back into the conscious world. In a moment of intemperate frustration, he psychically grabbed his antique LCD alarm clock and threw it out the window, and then groggily sat up in bed. Orange light from the sunrise gushed through his window and assaulted his eyes, which he rubbed and blinked repeatedly. The sounds of wind rustling the leaves of the trees and birdsongs were repulsive to his ears, and the normally irresistible aroma of breakfast on the air seemed to burn his nostrils. He wanted nothing more than to lie back down and escape his senses into the dream world for a little bit longer, but he knew the importance of today's exam and pulled himself grindingly into action.
Normally Cygnus wasn't this sluggish in the mornings. In fact, he was the morning person of the family, always getting up before everyone else to take jogs in the forest surrounding the house. This day was different though, today was the day that he and his brothers and cousins had an early morning proficiency exam, and the prospect of it drove his normal drive and energy levels down into the red zone. His father had home-schooled all of them for as long as he could remember, but never had he given them an exam so early in the morning. Cygnus trudged down the stairs, woefully wondering if he could even pass the exam in the state that he was in.
Downstairs almost everyone had gathered around the table for breakfast, and some of them had started eating already. Cygnus guessed that Melicia had volunteered to cook breakfast again by her absence from the table and the merry racket coming from the kitchen. He took his seat between his brothers Venius and Nolus, looking down at the plate of food that was sitting there waiting for him. The brightly colored assortment of fruits from his father's hydroponic garden did nothing for him today, and the bowl of whole-wheat cereal didn't look too appealing either.
"Did you have a rough night last night as well?" Venius asked him.
Cygnus saw the purple rings around his brother's eyes and winced. "No, not really, I'm just not at 100% today. What about you, you look like you haven't slept in weeks!"
"Well you know me, I'm more of a last-minute crammer." Venius said with a woeful smile.
"He was having nightmares again last night too!" Nolus added around a mouthful of fruit.
"No way!" Cygnus exclaimed in disbelief. "How long has it been since your last one, seven years at least?"
Venius sighed heavily. "At the very least. But I don't really want to talk about it."
"Here's your coffee, Venius." Melicia said, emerging from the kitchen. She handed him a steaming mug. "I think it's so admirable that you're trying not to use your powers anymore than you have to these days!"
Cygnus blinked. "Coffee? Isn't that what humans drink when they get tired?"
"Yes, it contains a stimulant called caffeine, and I'm trying it as an alternative to using my powers to stay awake." Venius said. "Melicia grew the beans in father's garden and brewed it for me."
"It also tastes absolutely awful!" Tanis added from across the table.
"Hmm, well I could use a pick-me-up, no matter the taste. Could you bring me a cup Melicia?" Cygnus asked.
"It would be my pleasure!" Melicia said cheerfully, and strode back off into the kitchen.
Cygnus hardly touched his food until Melicia returned with the coffee. He balked at drinking it at first when he saw how suspiciously it was colored, but then took a decent sized swig.
"Bleh! You're right about the taste father, it's ghastly!" Cygnus exclaimed.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad is it?" Melicia asked indignantly.
"Maybe you should add some more sugar next time?" Venius offered, taking a sip of his own.
Cygnus scowled before taking another drink. "As long as it'll help to keep me awake, I'll drink it." Cygnus said. "The things I'll do to score well on an exam."
"You'll get used to it after awhile. You might even come to like it, like me!" Venius said, now visibly refreshed.
Soon Cygnus felt more awake and alive than he had in weeks. He devoured his breakfast in record time and then dashed outside to do jumping jacks until the rest of the family finished eating. He had already worked up a healthy sweat by the time he saw everyone emerging from the house to walk over to the building where the exam was being held. He raced after them and got in line as they all crossed the grounds.
The seven of them entered the small, bunker-like building with a hushed whisper of anticipation. Normally this building was one of Tanis' research labs, so there were several large computer projectors attached to the ceiling and plenty of equipment strewn everywhere. Wiring spidered across the walls and a metallic smell hung in the air. Cygnus wondered how his father could stay cooped up in a dungeon like this for so many hours at a time. They each pulled up a chair and the computers on the ceiling projected holographic terminals in their laps like they were sitting at desks. It wasn't long before Tanis and Shakara walked in, Tanis carrying a decent sized stack of papers with him.
"Now I know this is highly irregular, and that you're all used to computerized exams, but today I want us all to try something different. I have printed some paper exams, and I want you to complete them with these wooden pencils." He said.
With a wave of his hand, Tanis psychically distributed the exam papers and one pencil to everyone. Their holographic consoles faded out and were replaced with solid, opaque planes of energy that would be used as writing surfaces. Cygnus looked down at his exam and frowned. The format change didn't really bother him that much, it was just another way of delivering a test that would prove that he wasn't as smart as his brothers. But some of the others had objections, and they voiced them right away.
"This is totally primitive!" Opulous said, his tone almost huffy. "We're not humans, father!"
"And it's totally wasteful!" Nolus added, "I don't want someone cutting down trees just so my knowledge can be tested!"
"Easy, easy!" Tanis said sternly. "I never said this change was going to be permanent! I just wanted to broaden all your horizons a little but by letting you see through another perspective! I wanted to show you what it was like for humans of the same age as you in school 100 years ago!"
"Is it really necessary?" Venius whined.
"Just suck it up and deal with it, trying different things is good for you!" Tanis replied.
That managed to stop the outward protesting, but Cygnus could still feel the resentment lingering in the air. Venius in particular seemed the most upset over it, a burning scowl marred his face and the negative emotions he emitted were like a stench on the air to Cygnus' psychic senses. He tried his best to block them out and concentrate on the problems before him, and as soon as Tanis announced that the timer had been activated, he grabbed the pencil in his paw and awkwardly began writing.
The first segment of the exam was a cumulative algebra review, and Cygnus struggled with it like a man wrestling with an alligator. His handwriting was extremely poor, he was used to typing his answers into a console or even using a drag-free stylus on the screen. It made him worry if is father could even read his answers at all. Still he carried on though, an hour passing while he trudged on through the grueling mental toil.
All three of Shakara's daughters, as well as Opulous, finished the entire exam before Cygnus or the others had even completed the first segment. He sighed heavily as they walked past him to hand in their papers, and another wave of negative emotion radiated from Venius, making him clench his fingers tightly around his pencil. When he turned the page to the next segment, he sighed in relief to see that it covered biological concepts. He scribbled on with a new resolve, moving much faster than before.
Cygnus managed to catch up to his two other brothers by the time he finished the Biology segment, and the three of them turned to the final segment together in unison. They all moaned in disappointment in unison as well when they saw that it was a chemistry exam. When Cygnus got into the work however, he found it to be much easier than expected. Still, he didn't perform with flying colors, and during the entire time he was constantly distracted by the waves of negativity that Venius was spewing. It made Cygnus wish that he could temporarily turn off his psychic sensitivity to give him a chance to concentrate better.
After another half hour of grinding, he and Nolus finished their exams. Venius stayed behind, still agonizing over the chemistry as he and Nolus handed in their papers and left. Tanis and Shakara stayed behind to monitor Venius, so it was just Cygnus and Nolus walking across the grounds back towards the house.
"How do you think you did overall?" Nolus asked.
"Eh." Cygnus replied. "The bio was mostly easy and the chemistry wasn't that bad, but the algebra totally annihilated me."
"Well I totally aced the bio section!" Nolus bragged.
"Of course you did, you tree-hugger!" Cygnus teased. "There isn't a single species of plant or Pokemon that you don't know anything about!"
"Hey, you could do just as well if you studied more!" Nolus said.
"Well unlike the rest of you guys, I enjoy having a little bit of free time now and then!"
When they arrived at the house they saw that Melicia had situated herself in the hammock on the front porch and was drawing in her oversized sketchbook at a furious pace. She had a drink sitting on the end-table to her left, and her colored pencil set on the porch railing to her right.
"Hey Mel, are you drawing Grandfather again?" Nolus asked as they stepped up onto the spacious porch.
"Am I that predictable?" Melicia asked in a pseudo-whiny voice.
"You have several sketchbooks full of testaments to it!" Nolus replied, smiling at her wryly.
Cygnus peeked over Melicia's shoulder to get a look at her drawing. It showed Mewtwo sitting on a large boulder on a moonlit mountainside, staring down at a glowing city below him in the distance.
"It really looks like a real human city!" Cygnus marveled. "You haven't been sneaking out at night to visit human cities have you?" Cygnus teased, prodding her with his elbow.
"Oh shut up!" Melicia said and batted him away playfully.
"I'm going to go and meditate for awhile now, do either of you want to come with me?" Nolus asked.
"No, thank you. I want to finish this drawing and I still have a long way to go." Melicia said.
"I think I'm going to go on a jog too, sorry Nolus." Cygnus said.
"That's alright, I can get Opulous to go with me. Have a good walk Cygnus, and good luck with your drawing Melicia!" Nolus said, then opened the door and disappeared into the house.
"I'll be back in about an hour, see you later Melicia." Cygnus said.
Melicia paused from her sketching to wave to Cygnus as he jogged off toward the woods, and Cygnus returned the gesture before pushing into the foliage.
The forest was alive with sounds that morning, and Cygnus took it in eagerly as he strode through the trees. His favorite path was a little dirt trail that was only barely visible through the undergrowth, much like the trail between the house and than nearby human hiking pathway. Cygnus jogged along at a brisk pace, only stopping when a wild Pokemon got in his way. By the time he made it all the way down to the end of the path he was still feeling energetic from the coffee, so he decided to jog back too instead of just teleporting home. The return trip was just a brief it seemed, and when he was standing back on the green grass of the grounds, he debated on whether to make another lap. He had only been jogging for about 45 minutes, and he still felt the drive to keep going, but by now he was aching for a new place to explore. He wondered if he could walk down the trail that lead to the human bike path. His father had always advised him to avoid most humans whenever possible, so he knew he couldn't walk on the bike path itself. Perhaps he could just go down the trail to this path, then turn back? It seemed the only interesting thing left to do besides hiking up the mountains, so he decided he would do it. Besides, what were the odds he would run into a human all the way out here, and at this early in the morning? He pushed his way back through the brush and walked on.
This trail was much more overgrown than he had remembered it to be. More than once a thorn snagged his skin and cut him open, and he had to stop and use his recover ability to stop the bleeding and close the wound. He couldn't even make it up to even a fast-walk pace, the density of the greenery slowed him to a crawl. He traveled like this for 20 minutes before emerging into a clearer portion of trail. He was relieved to be free f all the scratching, irritating branches, and jumped back into his near-running pace and rounded the corner. Right as he turned that corner, he ran squarely into a human teenaged girl who was been coming around the corner toward him. They both toppled to the ground at once and Cygnus bit the dirt.
Cygnus jumped to his feet and prepared to defend himself against whatever the human was about to do, but then he saw that this particular human was one he knew, it was the black haired girl named Asha whom he had known since he was a child! He stuttered in surprise for a moment before rushing to help her up.
"My goodness! I wasn't aware that you were coming to visit today Asha!" Cygnus exclaimed!
"I was hoping it could be a surprise." Asha said, wiping the dirt off of her clothes.
Asha was a teenager of light build now, standing almost 6 feet tall with black hair much like her mother's that flowed down to her waist. She had Deep brown eyes and a nose that was smaller than her mother's. She was wearing a blue tank top with the words "I like Cheese" printed on it, and the same pair of patched, dirty, ragged jeans that her mother had worn. There was only one Pokéball attached to her belt, signifying that she was far more likely to be a breeder than a trainer. It had been nearly three years since her last visit, and the fact that she was growing into adult size was quite a shock to Cygnus. He wasn't quite used to seeing her so tall, even though she was still almost a head shorter than him.
"It's been far too long!" Cygnus exclaimed. "Look how much taller you've gotten!"
"You haven't exactly gotten shorter since I last saw you!" Asha said. "Come on, let's walk to the house together."
They walked side-by-side together until they reached the thicker foliage, and then they walked in a single file, still talking all the way.
"What has your mother been up to?" Cygnus asked
"Oh, she's still at her job teaching at the Pokemon Institute, but she's been expanding the number of classes she's been teaching. Now she teaches a class on Ares and his regime on top of her usual classes on Pokemon care and training. I've been taking a few classes under her recently too, it's really cool."
"Is your brother still a trainer?" Cygnus asked.
"Oh yes, and he's as hot-headed as ever, as most trainers are. He's always calling us on the cid-phone to show us what cool new Pokemon he's just caught." Asha added. "How about your father? What has he been up to?"
"Oh the usual." Cygnus said. "Still stuffing us full of scientific knowledge every moment of every day. In a few more years I'll be a walking dictionary of Pokemon Biology just like him. He's been working in his labs all the time again too, sometimes spending five or six hours in there straight. I overheard him telling Shakara that he was only a few months away from a major genetic breakthrough."
When they reached the end of the trail where the trees gave way to the grassy grounds, nearly everyone was there waiting for them. Venius and Shakara weren't there, but Tanis, Nolus, Opulous, Melicia, Satoria, and Tamista had all gathered. Cygnus knew they had probably been tipped off by the perimeter proximity alert that always flashed whenever a human approached their home, but he still winced slightly when they all broke out into enthusiastic greetings and gathered for hugs when they emerged from the trees.
"Well, I guess that finishes off my attempt at surprising you guys!" Asha said, smiling as Nolus gripped her in a tight hug.
"Where have you been sis? Decide to abandon us for three years and think you can sneak up on us?" Nolus said.
Nolus had always affectionately referred to Asha as his sister; they had been close friends during their childhoods and were still just as close when she had stopped visiting 3 years ago.
"I was just telling Cygnus about that, I've been attending classes at the Pokemon Institute. Things have been extremely busy there, I've been taking full course loads year-round, including during summer, and it's kept me tied up, even during holidays!" Asha said.
"Well at least you haven't been missing your visits for a stupid reason! Come on, let's go to the house!" Nolus insisted.
Nolus continued to monopolize Ashley on the walk to the house, and when the others realized they probably weren't going to get a single word in edgewise, they bade her a good visit and went back to what they had been doing before. Cygnus stayed with Asha and Nolus however, he wanted to at least hear what news Asha had brought with her, even if he never got a chance to say anything about it over Nolus' constant talking. The three of them sat at the table in the kitchen for several hours, discussing the goings on in each of their separate lives.
"Mom and I went to put fresh flowers on Grandpa's grave last week." Asha said. "It was the first time I had visited the site for a year, and the headstone had vines growing on it. I asked mom if we should take them down, but she said that he would have wanted is place of rest to be green and beautiful, even if the foliage covered the words. It was a sad and humbling experience. He lived for over 150 years you know, and still to this day we keep the secret of Purity lake safe for him"
"You know, I think I may have figured out why our grandfather created that spring, but never used it." Nolus said.
"What? Do tell!" Cygnus broke in.
"I think he knew that part of the value of life was its impermanence, and that living for hundreds of years devalues it and robs you of your motivation or reason to do anything." Nolus said thoughtfully.
"But then why create the spring in the first place?" Asha asked.
"Perhaps…as a gift to those who would otherwise die before their time? It would allow those, like cancer patients to regain their lives and live how they were originally intended to. But, at the same time, he didn't want humans abusing its power, so he hid it in Purity Canyon where hardly even the most hardy hikers or explorers go." Nolus said.
Cygnus nodded. "That makes perfect sense! We may never know his true intentions, but this at least will let me look back on him in a more complete light." Cygnus said.
"Perhaps my own grandfather realized this, and that was his reason to stop using the spring." Asha said.
"Yeah, you're right! It all seems to click now!" Nolus said. "I need to tell the others after you leave."
"You know, before I always wondered why he didn't use the spring before, if not just to see me reach adulthood before he died. But this, this makes sense. It adds a lot of closure to something that always bothered me. Thank you Nolus." Asha said.
"It was a great healing for both of us." Nolus said, taking Asha's hand. "I'm glad we could finally get that weight off of us."
The back door swung open, and all three of their heads swung around to see that Tanis had just walked in, and he was carrying a stack of disheveled papers. "I've got your exams graded!" he said with a smile on his face.
Cygnus was glad to see his father was smiling about the grades, but he still dreaded seeing the score on his algebra section. Tanis handed Nolus his exam first, and Cygnus closed his eyes and held his breath when Tanis handed him his.
"Alright, 94 percent!" Nolus cheered.
Cygnus barely peeked through his eyelids and saw several red checkmarks on his paper, causing him to clench them closed again. Then he worked up the gumption and opened them again. He sighed in relief when he saw an acceptable 72 percent totaled on the top of his exam.
"You're improving, Cygnus. You may still need a lot of work on Algebra, but you're improving!" Tanis said, patting him on the back.
"Thanks Dad, I'll keep at it." Cygnus said.
Tanis walked off to find the others and finish handing out the grades, and Nolus flipped through the pages of his like a ravenous animal to find the biology section. A frown crossed his face when he found it.
"Aww man, I missed out on a perfect biology score by 3 points!" Nolus said in a frustrated tone. "I was so sure I had aced it!"
Cygnus cringed when he saw all the errors he had made in the algebra section, he had barely passed it by the skin of his teeth. The better scores in his bio section and average scores in chemistry had been what balanced him out and kept his total from being abysmal. He set the exam down on the table and sighed again, feeling extremely relieved.
"So I guess this means we get to go on that space trip together huh brother?" Nolus said, grinning.
"Space trip?" Asha asked, now switching her curious stare between the two of them.
"Yes, Shakara promised to take us up into space and through the Blue River if we scored a 70 percent or better! We're going tomorrow!" Nolus said.
"Cool! I've never been in space before, you need to tell me what it's like when I visit again next week!" Asha said excitedly.
"I can do one better than that, why don't you stay the night tonight and fly with us tomorrow?" Nolus asked.
Asha's eyes lit up for a moment, and then a sad look played across her face. "I can't, I've gotta make the hike back home tonight or else I won't be back for class tomorrow morning. I don't know what Mom would think if I missed one of her lectures."
"Hmm, well what time does your class start and end tomorrow?" Nolus asked.
"Nine to ten thirty AM." Asha said.
"We aren't planning on going on the trip until five PM, so why not have one of us teleport you home for class, and then teleport you back when you're done?" Nolus asked.
"Nolus, you're forgetting we're not allowed to use our teleport power outside the grounds unless its an emergency!" Cygnus said.
"Then how about we make a side trip in the ship? We can pick you up before exiting the atmosphere." Nolus suggested.
"You'll have to do a lot of begging to Shakara to get her to agree to it." Cygnus said.
"Yeah but it's worth a try, isn't it?" Nolus asked.
"I guess so, but I don't want to be the one doing the begging." Cygnus replied.
"Alright, I'll wait for you guys at the University Square at five. If you don't show up for half an hour, I'll assume the plan got scuttled." Asha said.
Asha looked down at her watch and frowned. "Jeez, talking to you guys is like going into a time tunnel! I look away from my watch for a second and it's almost sunset! I should probably get going if I want to reach the campsite in any timely manner."
"Aw, are you sure you can't take just half an hour more?" Nolus whined. "We can fly you over there!"
"No, that's alright. I like walking, it lets me enjoy the scenery of the forest. And besides, you guys probably have more studying to do! I'd hate to be responsible for holding up your algebra practice, Cygnus!" Asha said, winking at him.
"Oh no, that would be such a disaster." Cygnus joked.
The two of them walked her to the door and bade her farewell.
"If everything goes according to plan, we'll see you tomorrow at five!" Nolus said. "Tell your mom and dad hi for us!"
"Sure thing! Good luck groveling!" Asha called as she walked off back towards the woods.
A/N: And so ends a very domestic 14 page chunk. There's more on the way too, next chunk we'll be seeing from Nolus and Opulous' eyes, and perhaps we'll get our first small bit of crossover too. Keep your eyes open too, I plan on putting a surprise plot twist in sometime during the next 2 or 3 chunks, and it'll hit you out of the blue! Until then, thanks for reading!
