Chapter 3: The Obsession
Author's note: Chapter 3...Well, I was always thinking that Max didn't really have much part of my fics in the past*which has only been really 1 full fic...*^^*'....*, so I decided, that I would dedicate this chapter to her. I mean, she's not really like this on a regular basis, but she tries to do what she can in order to help Terry and co....and sometimes the helping goes too far...Read on!
~Aki~
"I can't believe that happened!" Max said. "Are you guys going to be okay?"
"Yeah...." Julie said.
"What a JERK! If I were helping you guys, I bet we could have taken them down together!" Max said.
"Well,let's not get into that again, all right?" Dawn asked. "As cool as it sounds, it's a lot of work, Max. Think of it as us doing you a favor."
"Oh, give me a break...I'd rather be doing that than anything else......!" Max said.
"Max, just drop it." Terry said as he put his hand through his hair. "Right now, we got to figure out how we are going to get Inouva to come after us again for the energy crystals...."
"We know he's going to want to try again, so.....we might as well just sit and wait for him to come at us." Julie said.
"Yeah, but while we wait, he'll just be taking other people's crystals and then wait for us. So we can't wait, but we can't strike immediately." Dawn explained.
"That's true." Terry said. As they were talking about it, Max watched them in anger, and in depression at the same time. She was annoyed by the fact that she couldn't be apart of it....and she probably would never be allowed as long as they were around to keep reminding her. They think I can't handle it like they can, she thought. Just because they were chosen for this job, doesn't mean I can't do it just as well as they can. I just wish there was some way I could prove it to them.....
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Max was walked out of the school when the tone went off and went home. On her way home, she heard someone's voice call her. She turned around to find Terry coming up from behind.
"Max! Wait up!" He said. She stopped, and he finally had caught up to her. "Hey...I saw you walking home so I thought I would walk with you."
"Oh...okay." Max replied as she sighed in a depressed tone.
"Hey, Max...You're lookin' kinda glum.....what's wrong?" Terry said.
"I'm in total dumpsville, Ter.....All of you guys are getting the fun of this mission and you're leaving me behind...And, they're going after you because you have strong energy...I feel like I should help." Max replied.
"You think we have pure energy and you don't?" Terry asked. Max gave him a quick, mad glare, and he retaliated with, "...Which is a totally REDICULOUS idea!"
"They steal other people's energy, right....? Energy that's pure...Maybe they haven't gotten to me because I've neglected something...maybe sports.....they think that my heart is out of shape and out of pure enthusiasm..."
"You want your pure energy stolen?"
"I dunno....I just want to be part of the team or something....if I could get them to get to me....we can take them out."
"Max, there is no WE. You can't be apart of this....."
"I know, I know! I can't.....Just forget I said anything." Max said and walked off. Terry watched her leave and sighed. He went to his room and picked up his phone, dialing Julie's number.
"Hello?" The voice picked up.
"Julie? It's me, Terry." Terry responded.
"Hey, Ter...what's up?"
"...I think we have a problem with Max..."
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Julie asked.
"She seems like she's getting more and more into this little job of ours...and I think she's actually going to try get Zio's and Eagle's attention and try to stop them herself."
"Oh no........She can't...Someone has to talk to her about this..."
"I don't think I would be the right person to do it."
"I'm not either.......but what if...."
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Max was in the gym by herself after school. She was really determined to make Zio notice her. She took out a whole case of volleyballs and went into the courts. Max took out the first ball and tossed it up in the air and began to serve them over hand. She kept going harder and harder each time she got another. The balls slammed to the ground at top speed, and Max didn't stop once until all of the balls were out of the case. She stood there, and panted. Max suddenly heard some groans...they sounded like they were in pain. She turned to the side to see that it was Dawn on the ground, in pain. Max gasped in surprise.
"DAWN!!" She said as she ran over to her. "I didn't hit you with the ball, did I????"
"Let's just say, I didn't move out of it's way fast enough....." Dawn groaned as she held her head. "But don't worry, I'm sure this pain will go away soon enough.." Dawn replied
"What are you doing here?" Max asked.
"Cheer-up stuff." Dawn replied. Just then, Julie came up from behind her to help her. "I heard you were depressed." She continued.
"Oh! Well, I was the other day, but now I'm fine, see?? Guess I just needed to whack a few balls....Nothing like a good exercise to boost you spirits...Hahahahahahahaha...." Max explained as she walked away, and then her face changed rapidly to the scary, zombie look. "Like I would let anything like a little bit of jealousy take up ANY of my time. I'm totally over this by now...as if it means nothing." Dawn and Julie became confused over her actions. She then got up and walked over to her.
"C'mon, let's get out of here...." Dawn said. "You need a rest..." They walked out of the gym and then went to the arcades. There, Max just ignored everything and decided to play games randomly. She went to an arcade game*the claw game...classic*.
"Are you sure you're not depressed?" Dawn asked.
"Uh huh....Positive." Max said, trying to concentrate on her game.
"Then you don't want Zio and the others to come and get you?" Dawn asked.
"Whoever said I did?" Max asked, trying to sound like her never did.
"I little bird with black hair and brown coat......." Julie replied.
"Ya see? I told you no one would want to have energy stolen by someone like Zio..." Dawn said to Julie.
"Unless that nobody had pure energy that Zio and Eagle would not over look....energy that was purely dedicated and good...." Max said, going back into her zombie state, which it scared Dawn.
"Whoa! Max, you're freakin' me out! Blink!" She said as she waved her hand in front of Max. She finally snapped out of it and turned to Dawn and Julie, who had stern looks on them. "You're obssessing."
"You're not going to make Zio think that you're the best person for energy, are you?" Julie asked.
"Well..I.."
"STOP IT!" Dawn said as she took hold of her and started shaking her. "BAD MAX!!! HOW COULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT TO US??? WHY WOULD YOU WANT YOUR ENERGY STOLEN??????"
"I'll get my energy back, don't worry!" Max hesitated, as she leaned against the game.
"YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET IT BACK ONCE IT'S TAKEN!!! YOU'LL PROBABLY END UP DEAD!"
"You don't know how I feel! You're apart of a team and then you get to do all this cool stuff!" Max replied as her hand was on the buttons and they kept getting pressed consistantly accidentally.
"Yeah, and let me tell you, it's no picnic!!!!!!" Dawn replied. Just then the crane had piced up a zillion little stuffed animals. They looked over at it in shock and both said at the same time, "Jackpot!"
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"You know, Max.....Zio tries to look at many types of energy in many different ways..." Julie began, and then began lying to make Dawn mad. "Like Dawn for example, she purely adores to sleep and make googoo eyes at Terry. But she's not a pure brain..or purely unselfish...or purely uncoordinated..."
"That is CRUEL..." Dawn said angrily. Julie turned around and told her to shut up, she was only playing to get Max to believe.
"So it doesn't mean that you're not worthy enough to get your energy taken away from you." Julie continued.
"I don't care whether they come or not...."
"Really?" Julie asked.
"Dawn, can I ask you a favor?" Max asked.
"Yeah, sure." Dawn replied.
"Can you take these toys?" Max asked, with her bag of toys from the arcade.
"Are you kidding? I'd just have to dust them every saturday........." Dawn chuckled.
"But giving is a sign a pure unselfishness." Max replied. Dawn and Julie's jaws dropped in surprised and in annoyance.
"No thanks....i don't want to encourage pure acts....Forget it." Dawn replied.
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Max went to the library that day once she departed from Julie and Dawn, but they followed her. She looked carefully at book, and one caught her eye. "This looks like a possibly winner.." She said as she picked it up. The title was, "A guide to a Pure Heart"*go fig*. Dawn and Julie were outside looking in on her.
"So what do you think? Should we keep spying, or leave her alone?" Dawn asked.
"Let's leave her alone...give her a chance to sort things out."
"Yeah...She needs to find these answers on her own." Dawn said and the two left. A pure heart does what it thinks is right...it's dedicated and loyal and puts forth everything they have into that specific item, Max read in her mind. Well, I'm all of those things...what more does it take to get attention from them?
"Hey Max..." A voice said. Max turned to see that it was Dana and Chelsea.
"Oh, hi guys....Can I ask you something?" Max asked.
"Yeah." Chelsea replied.
"I wanna know how people with pure hearts act....do you think they're different?"
"They help people. Pure hearts like to give..Why?." Dana replied.
"They help people and they give......" Max replied in a soft tone for herself. Just then they heard something. It was a car outside, and it was advertising for a blood drive.
"Don't be shy! Help! Give the gift of life!" a person shouted
"Did it help?" Dana asked to her question.
"TONS! BYE!" Max said as she race out there. She stopped, and went over to the confused Chelsea and Dana. She then handed them a couple of her stuffed animals from her bag. "Have a prize! From my heart! Bye!"
"Wow...I guess she finally won something at the arcade." Dana smiled.
"What do you think that was all about?" Chelsea asked.
"Who knows...."
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"I'm gonna help out...I want to give, give, give, GIVE!" Max said as she race over to the bloodmobile and went over to a lady. "I'm here to donate blood! Old fashion-giver, that's me!!" She said and walked in. Once she got her needle in, she looked away. O! That looks painful....She thought to herself. I'll be getting some serious brownie points in the evil department...I'll get my energy stolen for sure....
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"This has gotten way outta hand, Terry..." Dawn said as she sat down. "I'm getting really worried about Max...She's too obsessed in this pure thing."
"You have a right to be worried. We all are. But sitting here, talking to me about it won't do any good, you need to talk to her, and be there for her, just in case her wish doesn't come true." Terry replied.
"You're right. I better go find her."
"I'll go find Julie and we'll go catch up with you later, all right?" Terry said. Dawn nodded. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips and smiled. "Good luck." She smiled and nodded, then walked away.
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"Okay, this has gone way too far...She's practically a vampire living at a blood banquet." Julie explained to Terry when she heard that Max was going to another blood drive that was nearby.
"What I'm afraid of is that she's attracting Zio's attention, and eventually he'll get Invouva to come after her." Terry said as he crossed his arms. "This has to stop. I think it's best to have her sit down and tell her that she's got a problem."
"I've tried that, but she didn't listen....So I've come up with a plan to keep an eye on her twenty-four hours a day until this thing blows over..." Julie began. Terry stepped back in surprise.
"Cold-Shifts??" Terry asked, with a sweatdrop on his head.
"Yeah well.....what choice do we have?" Julie asked. Just as Max walked pass them without noticing them or her. Dawn ran up from behind of Max and called her name.
"HEY! Max!" She said.
"Hi, Dawn." Max said. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you really bad."
"What's wrong? Are you having some problems with Terry?"
"No, I wanted to just talk about you...and your quest for your energy...." Dawn said. As she was talking to her, a figure was in the shadows of an alley watching them as they walked. It smiled and started to walk towards them. "Target in sight." It said. The figure came out of the shadow and was out in clear daylight. It was Inouva! By lifting his hand in the air to direct it at Max. Dawn just saw Inouva come out and all of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and Dawn could see that Max had stopped in her tracks. Her eyes had darkened, and within a second, she could see her energy crystal right in front of her.
"Max!" Dawn said.
"My energy crystal...." Max said as she held it in front of her and fell to her knees.
"Max! Are you all right?! Did Inouva get you?!" Dawn asked.
"Oh...yea....Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, haa....." Max laughed, that made confused Dawn. "I gotta pure energy crystal, do ya see??"
"Max, be careful. That thing is really fragile...Let me put it back for you, okay?" Dawn asked.
"NO!" Max said and ran off. Dawn and Inouva ran after her to go get it. "I've got pure energy! I've got pure energy!! Ahahahaahahaha!"
"Max! Put it back right now! C'mon!" Dawn said. Inouva used his magic and put a wall in front of Dawn and she smashed right into it. She fell backwards to the ground, but then she got up and used her magic to break it off so she can get through. GREAT, she thought. Now I'm even further behind and Inouva is gonna get to Max. I've gotta hurry. Julie and Terry weren't too far away from them and started to follow and eventually caught up with Dawn.
"We've gotta catch her! Inouva is gonna take her energy crystal!" Dawn said, once she saw them.
"......Do you want me to say 'D'UH!', or do you?" Julie said to Terry behind Dawn's back. They followed Inouva into an alley that led down into the subway. There, Max had collapsed and the crystal was still in once piece in front of her.
"Finally...." Inouva said. "It's about time she finally gave out.....Quite a strong one....I'm sure her crystal is very powerful..."
"Leave her alone!!" Inouva turned around to find Dawn, Terry, and Julie there.
"Oh, great...it's you....Well, it's great to finally meet you princess..." He smiled.
"Enough with the small talk...give us back Max right now!" Terry said.
"If you want her, you're going to have to fight for her." Inouva replied.
"That won't be hard..." Julie said as she used her power and threw sharp ice at him, but he dodged the attack. "Julie, Dawn, you both have to distract him long enough in order for me to get the crystal back inside Max. Do you think you guys can hold him off long enough for me to do that?" Terry asked them low enough so Inouva didn't hear him.
"Yeah. We'll give you enough time." Dawn replied. "Just hurry as fast as you can." Dawn used her magic and shot a powerful beam of light at him so she could blind him for a split second. Terry ran over to Max, but on his way, Inouva was able to see him and stopped him by blasting him with magic between him and her, so he would stay away. Dawn and Julie both combined attacks at once in order to blast Inouva away from Terry. He hit the wall hard once he went back, and Terry was finally able to get close enough to Max.
"C'mon, crystal....get back into Max....please...Hurry up." Terry said as the crystal slowly went back into Max. Terry sighed in relief, and then he picked her up into his arms. Once Inouva saw that the crystal had gone back, he started to curse under his breath.
"How dare you put back that crystal! That's MINE!!!" He said as he threw a fireball at him and Terry quickly dodged away from it, but was blown away by the explosion. Dawn used her magic to put them into a forcefield so they wouldn't be hurt. Inouva used his magic to form a gust a wind to blow Dawn out of range. She slid a little, but tried to firmly hold her ground. Dawn then created a whole foggy illusion....where everything had disappeared. Inouva looked around hesitantly, seeing that his target was not in sight.
"Where are you, YOU SOCERER! Why do you flee before me like a coward?!" He said angrily, knowing that it might get to Dawn, and it did. He's right...She thought. Abruptly, her magic had faded, because she couldn't concentrate on it, only for another vision. The same one, yet again, was filling her thoughts, and this time it was even stronger. Then it showed a completely separate one. It was of a little boy that was being killed....Dawn's eyes watched in terror, with tears forming. Why do these sad things always happen??! Who is this kid?! The forcefield had faded, and Terry was able to see that Dawn was in pain.
"Dawn!" He called to her. Inouva was finally able to find Max and he went over to them. Julie ran as fast as she could and side-kicked him away from them.
"C'mon! I got your power right here!" She said. "You want it? You're gonna have to get passed me!" Inouva gave her an angry look and then charged at her with some some grenades. He threw them at her and she tried to dodge, but the explosions were too big for her to move quick enough. Julie fell to the ground, exhausted. It's about time that they fell, Inouva thought to himself. Now I can take that crystal and be on my way. Zio will be most pleased....Once more he went over to Terry and Max to pick up her crystal, but then a line of fire came raging across between each other, with a voice shouting, "STOP IT!!!". The flames were at its hottest temperature, and yet it didn't seem to even bother Terry or Max. Inouva backed away from it's intense heat. They looked from where it came from to find that Dawn was on her knees, holding her one hand to her forehead, and the other out to cast another spell on him.
"That's as far as you go...." She said in her low, angry tone. "One more step, and I'll have you fileted...." Inouva's eyes glared at her evily, but then he heard a voice. He looked around to find Zio there. He was the only one able to see him.
"Inouva......Don't waste your time here.....Come back....we've got enough crystals..." He said. Inouva then nodded his head in understanding, a little angry over the fact that he had lost the round.
"That's all for today, children. We shall play another time!" He said and disappeared. Julie and Dawn went over to the both of them. "Is she okay?" Julie asked.
"She seems to be okay...." Terry said. Just then, Max's eyes began to slowly open. They smiled.
"Hey, Max...how are you feeling?" Terry asked.
"Fine I guess....." Max said.
"Hey Max...." Dawn began. "Looks like we were right...you do have a pure energy.....you just couldn't believe it when we told you..."
"I know...and...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be sucha bother to you guys....seeing that you guys are busy with what you've got now. I was just really stupid to do this because I wanted to be apart of the team."
"We know you were trying to help....but you have to leave this up to us, okay?" Terry explained.
"Fine..." Max grumbled. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah...we can." Terry smiled.
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After bringing Max home, Julie went back to Wayne Manor to get some rest before tonight. Terry went with Dawn for a small walk. She looked really tired, and seeing she was in a daze was kind of odd....His cell phone suddenly rang and he picked it up.
"Hello?" He asked.
"TERRY!!!" The voice shouted, sounding scared.
"....Mom? Is that you?" Terry asked. "What's wrong, mom?" Dawn looked up at Terry to see his distressed look on his face.
"You have to come home right away! There's something wrong with Matt!!"
"Matt? What happened to him? Is he okay??" Terry asked.
"Just come as fast as you can!" Mary said and hung up.
"What's the problem?" Dawn asked, once Terry had put his cell phone away.
"Something about Matt..." Terry said, feeling worried over his little brother. "Do you think you can use your magic to teleport us there?"
"Yeah. Sure." Dawn said as she took hold of Terry's hand, and transported them right to the door of his apartment. He opened the door to find that Mrs. McGinnis was sitting on the couch, crying. Terry ran over to her and sat next to her. Once he got close to her, he was able to see Matt's body lying on the couch ever so still.
"Mom, what happened? Is Matt okay?" Terry asked.
"He hasn't moved...he was fine this morning, but then, he just stopped in his tracks while coming into the living room...nothing.....I've tried to make him wake up..but he hasn't...." She explained, feeling all these tears come down. Terry's expression turned surprised to hear the unexpected event come up. Dawn stood there silently, not wanting to get in the way of things. Terry's mother began to cry some more, going into Terry's arms. They held each other tight, not letting go and continued to weep for the poor child. Dawn looked at Terry to see that he had a serious but unemotional expression on his face. It was surprising. She could tell that he wanted to cry. Why is Terry trying to be so strong...? Is it for his mom so she doesn't feel worse? Dawn thought to herself. He is allowed to cry....right?
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"You okay?" Dawn asked Terry as he set Matt in his room, until ambulance can come and set the time of death. He was silent, not wanting to speak about it. "Look, Ter....I'm really sorry about your little brother....I feel like this was my fault, and I just want you to know that I'm here for you...You don't have to act like this really big man....."
"My poor little brother..." He began as he put his hand into a fist. "I just can't believe something like this could happen to him. He had no part whatsoever in this and yet....he had to suffer....because of me..."
"Don't say that, Terry." Dawn said as she held onto his arm. "You know this couldn't be helped...You know it as well as I do...!" Terry looked at her, with his eyes begining to water. He hugged Dawn tightly, as he began to cry. Dawn was surprised as he just all of a sudden let it out, but she just hugged him back. She knew what it was like to lose a younger sibling....
"Why did he have to die, Dawn...? Why is this happening to me??" He asked.
"It's okay, Ter...just let it out..." Dawn said. "We're gonna work this out....and get teach that bastard a lesson he'll never forget...."
Author's note: Chapter 3...Well, I was always thinking that Max didn't really have much part of my fics in the past*which has only been really 1 full fic...*^^*'....*, so I decided, that I would dedicate this chapter to her. I mean, she's not really like this on a regular basis, but she tries to do what she can in order to help Terry and co....and sometimes the helping goes too far...Read on!
~Aki~
"I can't believe that happened!" Max said. "Are you guys going to be okay?"
"Yeah...." Julie said.
"What a JERK! If I were helping you guys, I bet we could have taken them down together!" Max said.
"Well,let's not get into that again, all right?" Dawn asked. "As cool as it sounds, it's a lot of work, Max. Think of it as us doing you a favor."
"Oh, give me a break...I'd rather be doing that than anything else......!" Max said.
"Max, just drop it." Terry said as he put his hand through his hair. "Right now, we got to figure out how we are going to get Inouva to come after us again for the energy crystals...."
"We know he's going to want to try again, so.....we might as well just sit and wait for him to come at us." Julie said.
"Yeah, but while we wait, he'll just be taking other people's crystals and then wait for us. So we can't wait, but we can't strike immediately." Dawn explained.
"That's true." Terry said. As they were talking about it, Max watched them in anger, and in depression at the same time. She was annoyed by the fact that she couldn't be apart of it....and she probably would never be allowed as long as they were around to keep reminding her. They think I can't handle it like they can, she thought. Just because they were chosen for this job, doesn't mean I can't do it just as well as they can. I just wish there was some way I could prove it to them.....
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Max was walked out of the school when the tone went off and went home. On her way home, she heard someone's voice call her. She turned around to find Terry coming up from behind.
"Max! Wait up!" He said. She stopped, and he finally had caught up to her. "Hey...I saw you walking home so I thought I would walk with you."
"Oh...okay." Max replied as she sighed in a depressed tone.
"Hey, Max...You're lookin' kinda glum.....what's wrong?" Terry said.
"I'm in total dumpsville, Ter.....All of you guys are getting the fun of this mission and you're leaving me behind...And, they're going after you because you have strong energy...I feel like I should help." Max replied.
"You think we have pure energy and you don't?" Terry asked. Max gave him a quick, mad glare, and he retaliated with, "...Which is a totally REDICULOUS idea!"
"They steal other people's energy, right....? Energy that's pure...Maybe they haven't gotten to me because I've neglected something...maybe sports.....they think that my heart is out of shape and out of pure enthusiasm..."
"You want your pure energy stolen?"
"I dunno....I just want to be part of the team or something....if I could get them to get to me....we can take them out."
"Max, there is no WE. You can't be apart of this....."
"I know, I know! I can't.....Just forget I said anything." Max said and walked off. Terry watched her leave and sighed. He went to his room and picked up his phone, dialing Julie's number.
"Hello?" The voice picked up.
"Julie? It's me, Terry." Terry responded.
"Hey, Ter...what's up?"
"...I think we have a problem with Max..."
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Julie asked.
"She seems like she's getting more and more into this little job of ours...and I think she's actually going to try get Zio's and Eagle's attention and try to stop them herself."
"Oh no........She can't...Someone has to talk to her about this..."
"I don't think I would be the right person to do it."
"I'm not either.......but what if...."
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Max was in the gym by herself after school. She was really determined to make Zio notice her. She took out a whole case of volleyballs and went into the courts. Max took out the first ball and tossed it up in the air and began to serve them over hand. She kept going harder and harder each time she got another. The balls slammed to the ground at top speed, and Max didn't stop once until all of the balls were out of the case. She stood there, and panted. Max suddenly heard some groans...they sounded like they were in pain. She turned to the side to see that it was Dawn on the ground, in pain. Max gasped in surprise.
"DAWN!!" She said as she ran over to her. "I didn't hit you with the ball, did I????"
"Let's just say, I didn't move out of it's way fast enough....." Dawn groaned as she held her head. "But don't worry, I'm sure this pain will go away soon enough.." Dawn replied
"What are you doing here?" Max asked.
"Cheer-up stuff." Dawn replied. Just then, Julie came up from behind her to help her. "I heard you were depressed." She continued.
"Oh! Well, I was the other day, but now I'm fine, see?? Guess I just needed to whack a few balls....Nothing like a good exercise to boost you spirits...Hahahahahahahaha...." Max explained as she walked away, and then her face changed rapidly to the scary, zombie look. "Like I would let anything like a little bit of jealousy take up ANY of my time. I'm totally over this by now...as if it means nothing." Dawn and Julie became confused over her actions. She then got up and walked over to her.
"C'mon, let's get out of here...." Dawn said. "You need a rest..." They walked out of the gym and then went to the arcades. There, Max just ignored everything and decided to play games randomly. She went to an arcade game*the claw game...classic*.
"Are you sure you're not depressed?" Dawn asked.
"Uh huh....Positive." Max said, trying to concentrate on her game.
"Then you don't want Zio and the others to come and get you?" Dawn asked.
"Whoever said I did?" Max asked, trying to sound like her never did.
"I little bird with black hair and brown coat......." Julie replied.
"Ya see? I told you no one would want to have energy stolen by someone like Zio..." Dawn said to Julie.
"Unless that nobody had pure energy that Zio and Eagle would not over look....energy that was purely dedicated and good...." Max said, going back into her zombie state, which it scared Dawn.
"Whoa! Max, you're freakin' me out! Blink!" She said as she waved her hand in front of Max. She finally snapped out of it and turned to Dawn and Julie, who had stern looks on them. "You're obssessing."
"You're not going to make Zio think that you're the best person for energy, are you?" Julie asked.
"Well..I.."
"STOP IT!" Dawn said as she took hold of her and started shaking her. "BAD MAX!!! HOW COULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT TO US??? WHY WOULD YOU WANT YOUR ENERGY STOLEN??????"
"I'll get my energy back, don't worry!" Max hesitated, as she leaned against the game.
"YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET IT BACK ONCE IT'S TAKEN!!! YOU'LL PROBABLY END UP DEAD!"
"You don't know how I feel! You're apart of a team and then you get to do all this cool stuff!" Max replied as her hand was on the buttons and they kept getting pressed consistantly accidentally.
"Yeah, and let me tell you, it's no picnic!!!!!!" Dawn replied. Just then the crane had piced up a zillion little stuffed animals. They looked over at it in shock and both said at the same time, "Jackpot!"
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"You know, Max.....Zio tries to look at many types of energy in many different ways..." Julie began, and then began lying to make Dawn mad. "Like Dawn for example, she purely adores to sleep and make googoo eyes at Terry. But she's not a pure brain..or purely unselfish...or purely uncoordinated..."
"That is CRUEL..." Dawn said angrily. Julie turned around and told her to shut up, she was only playing to get Max to believe.
"So it doesn't mean that you're not worthy enough to get your energy taken away from you." Julie continued.
"I don't care whether they come or not...."
"Really?" Julie asked.
"Dawn, can I ask you a favor?" Max asked.
"Yeah, sure." Dawn replied.
"Can you take these toys?" Max asked, with her bag of toys from the arcade.
"Are you kidding? I'd just have to dust them every saturday........." Dawn chuckled.
"But giving is a sign a pure unselfishness." Max replied. Dawn and Julie's jaws dropped in surprised and in annoyance.
"No thanks....i don't want to encourage pure acts....Forget it." Dawn replied.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max went to the library that day once she departed from Julie and Dawn, but they followed her. She looked carefully at book, and one caught her eye. "This looks like a possibly winner.." She said as she picked it up. The title was, "A guide to a Pure Heart"*go fig*. Dawn and Julie were outside looking in on her.
"So what do you think? Should we keep spying, or leave her alone?" Dawn asked.
"Let's leave her alone...give her a chance to sort things out."
"Yeah...She needs to find these answers on her own." Dawn said and the two left. A pure heart does what it thinks is right...it's dedicated and loyal and puts forth everything they have into that specific item, Max read in her mind. Well, I'm all of those things...what more does it take to get attention from them?
"Hey Max..." A voice said. Max turned to see that it was Dana and Chelsea.
"Oh, hi guys....Can I ask you something?" Max asked.
"Yeah." Chelsea replied.
"I wanna know how people with pure hearts act....do you think they're different?"
"They help people. Pure hearts like to give..Why?." Dana replied.
"They help people and they give......" Max replied in a soft tone for herself. Just then they heard something. It was a car outside, and it was advertising for a blood drive.
"Don't be shy! Help! Give the gift of life!" a person shouted
"Did it help?" Dana asked to her question.
"TONS! BYE!" Max said as she race out there. She stopped, and went over to the confused Chelsea and Dana. She then handed them a couple of her stuffed animals from her bag. "Have a prize! From my heart! Bye!"
"Wow...I guess she finally won something at the arcade." Dana smiled.
"What do you think that was all about?" Chelsea asked.
"Who knows...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I'm gonna help out...I want to give, give, give, GIVE!" Max said as she race over to the bloodmobile and went over to a lady. "I'm here to donate blood! Old fashion-giver, that's me!!" She said and walked in. Once she got her needle in, she looked away. O! That looks painful....She thought to herself. I'll be getting some serious brownie points in the evil department...I'll get my energy stolen for sure....
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This has gotten way outta hand, Terry..." Dawn said as she sat down. "I'm getting really worried about Max...She's too obsessed in this pure thing."
"You have a right to be worried. We all are. But sitting here, talking to me about it won't do any good, you need to talk to her, and be there for her, just in case her wish doesn't come true." Terry replied.
"You're right. I better go find her."
"I'll go find Julie and we'll go catch up with you later, all right?" Terry said. Dawn nodded. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips and smiled. "Good luck." She smiled and nodded, then walked away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Okay, this has gone way too far...She's practically a vampire living at a blood banquet." Julie explained to Terry when she heard that Max was going to another blood drive that was nearby.
"What I'm afraid of is that she's attracting Zio's attention, and eventually he'll get Invouva to come after her." Terry said as he crossed his arms. "This has to stop. I think it's best to have her sit down and tell her that she's got a problem."
"I've tried that, but she didn't listen....So I've come up with a plan to keep an eye on her twenty-four hours a day until this thing blows over..." Julie began. Terry stepped back in surprise.
"Cold-Shifts??" Terry asked, with a sweatdrop on his head.
"Yeah well.....what choice do we have?" Julie asked. Just as Max walked pass them without noticing them or her. Dawn ran up from behind of Max and called her name.
"HEY! Max!" She said.
"Hi, Dawn." Max said. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you really bad."
"What's wrong? Are you having some problems with Terry?"
"No, I wanted to just talk about you...and your quest for your energy...." Dawn said. As she was talking to her, a figure was in the shadows of an alley watching them as they walked. It smiled and started to walk towards them. "Target in sight." It said. The figure came out of the shadow and was out in clear daylight. It was Inouva! By lifting his hand in the air to direct it at Max. Dawn just saw Inouva come out and all of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and Dawn could see that Max had stopped in her tracks. Her eyes had darkened, and within a second, she could see her energy crystal right in front of her.
"Max!" Dawn said.
"My energy crystal...." Max said as she held it in front of her and fell to her knees.
"Max! Are you all right?! Did Inouva get you?!" Dawn asked.
"Oh...yea....Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, haa....." Max laughed, that made confused Dawn. "I gotta pure energy crystal, do ya see??"
"Max, be careful. That thing is really fragile...Let me put it back for you, okay?" Dawn asked.
"NO!" Max said and ran off. Dawn and Inouva ran after her to go get it. "I've got pure energy! I've got pure energy!! Ahahahaahahaha!"
"Max! Put it back right now! C'mon!" Dawn said. Inouva used his magic and put a wall in front of Dawn and she smashed right into it. She fell backwards to the ground, but then she got up and used her magic to break it off so she can get through. GREAT, she thought. Now I'm even further behind and Inouva is gonna get to Max. I've gotta hurry. Julie and Terry weren't too far away from them and started to follow and eventually caught up with Dawn.
"We've gotta catch her! Inouva is gonna take her energy crystal!" Dawn said, once she saw them.
"......Do you want me to say 'D'UH!', or do you?" Julie said to Terry behind Dawn's back. They followed Inouva into an alley that led down into the subway. There, Max had collapsed and the crystal was still in once piece in front of her.
"Finally...." Inouva said. "It's about time she finally gave out.....Quite a strong one....I'm sure her crystal is very powerful..."
"Leave her alone!!" Inouva turned around to find Dawn, Terry, and Julie there.
"Oh, great...it's you....Well, it's great to finally meet you princess..." He smiled.
"Enough with the small talk...give us back Max right now!" Terry said.
"If you want her, you're going to have to fight for her." Inouva replied.
"That won't be hard..." Julie said as she used her power and threw sharp ice at him, but he dodged the attack. "Julie, Dawn, you both have to distract him long enough in order for me to get the crystal back inside Max. Do you think you guys can hold him off long enough for me to do that?" Terry asked them low enough so Inouva didn't hear him.
"Yeah. We'll give you enough time." Dawn replied. "Just hurry as fast as you can." Dawn used her magic and shot a powerful beam of light at him so she could blind him for a split second. Terry ran over to Max, but on his way, Inouva was able to see him and stopped him by blasting him with magic between him and her, so he would stay away. Dawn and Julie both combined attacks at once in order to blast Inouva away from Terry. He hit the wall hard once he went back, and Terry was finally able to get close enough to Max.
"C'mon, crystal....get back into Max....please...Hurry up." Terry said as the crystal slowly went back into Max. Terry sighed in relief, and then he picked her up into his arms. Once Inouva saw that the crystal had gone back, he started to curse under his breath.
"How dare you put back that crystal! That's MINE!!!" He said as he threw a fireball at him and Terry quickly dodged away from it, but was blown away by the explosion. Dawn used her magic to put them into a forcefield so they wouldn't be hurt. Inouva used his magic to form a gust a wind to blow Dawn out of range. She slid a little, but tried to firmly hold her ground. Dawn then created a whole foggy illusion....where everything had disappeared. Inouva looked around hesitantly, seeing that his target was not in sight.
"Where are you, YOU SOCERER! Why do you flee before me like a coward?!" He said angrily, knowing that it might get to Dawn, and it did. He's right...She thought. Abruptly, her magic had faded, because she couldn't concentrate on it, only for another vision. The same one, yet again, was filling her thoughts, and this time it was even stronger. Then it showed a completely separate one. It was of a little boy that was being killed....Dawn's eyes watched in terror, with tears forming. Why do these sad things always happen??! Who is this kid?! The forcefield had faded, and Terry was able to see that Dawn was in pain.
"Dawn!" He called to her. Inouva was finally able to find Max and he went over to them. Julie ran as fast as she could and side-kicked him away from them.
"C'mon! I got your power right here!" She said. "You want it? You're gonna have to get passed me!" Inouva gave her an angry look and then charged at her with some some grenades. He threw them at her and she tried to dodge, but the explosions were too big for her to move quick enough. Julie fell to the ground, exhausted. It's about time that they fell, Inouva thought to himself. Now I can take that crystal and be on my way. Zio will be most pleased....Once more he went over to Terry and Max to pick up her crystal, but then a line of fire came raging across between each other, with a voice shouting, "STOP IT!!!". The flames were at its hottest temperature, and yet it didn't seem to even bother Terry or Max. Inouva backed away from it's intense heat. They looked from where it came from to find that Dawn was on her knees, holding her one hand to her forehead, and the other out to cast another spell on him.
"That's as far as you go...." She said in her low, angry tone. "One more step, and I'll have you fileted...." Inouva's eyes glared at her evily, but then he heard a voice. He looked around to find Zio there. He was the only one able to see him.
"Inouva......Don't waste your time here.....Come back....we've got enough crystals..." He said. Inouva then nodded his head in understanding, a little angry over the fact that he had lost the round.
"That's all for today, children. We shall play another time!" He said and disappeared. Julie and Dawn went over to the both of them. "Is she okay?" Julie asked.
"She seems to be okay...." Terry said. Just then, Max's eyes began to slowly open. They smiled.
"Hey, Max...how are you feeling?" Terry asked.
"Fine I guess....." Max said.
"Hey Max...." Dawn began. "Looks like we were right...you do have a pure energy.....you just couldn't believe it when we told you..."
"I know...and...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be sucha bother to you guys....seeing that you guys are busy with what you've got now. I was just really stupid to do this because I wanted to be apart of the team."
"We know you were trying to help....but you have to leave this up to us, okay?" Terry explained.
"Fine..." Max grumbled. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah...we can." Terry smiled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After bringing Max home, Julie went back to Wayne Manor to get some rest before tonight. Terry went with Dawn for a small walk. She looked really tired, and seeing she was in a daze was kind of odd....His cell phone suddenly rang and he picked it up.
"Hello?" He asked.
"TERRY!!!" The voice shouted, sounding scared.
"....Mom? Is that you?" Terry asked. "What's wrong, mom?" Dawn looked up at Terry to see his distressed look on his face.
"You have to come home right away! There's something wrong with Matt!!"
"Matt? What happened to him? Is he okay??" Terry asked.
"Just come as fast as you can!" Mary said and hung up.
"What's the problem?" Dawn asked, once Terry had put his cell phone away.
"Something about Matt..." Terry said, feeling worried over his little brother. "Do you think you can use your magic to teleport us there?"
"Yeah. Sure." Dawn said as she took hold of Terry's hand, and transported them right to the door of his apartment. He opened the door to find that Mrs. McGinnis was sitting on the couch, crying. Terry ran over to her and sat next to her. Once he got close to her, he was able to see Matt's body lying on the couch ever so still.
"Mom, what happened? Is Matt okay?" Terry asked.
"He hasn't moved...he was fine this morning, but then, he just stopped in his tracks while coming into the living room...nothing.....I've tried to make him wake up..but he hasn't...." She explained, feeling all these tears come down. Terry's expression turned surprised to hear the unexpected event come up. Dawn stood there silently, not wanting to get in the way of things. Terry's mother began to cry some more, going into Terry's arms. They held each other tight, not letting go and continued to weep for the poor child. Dawn looked at Terry to see that he had a serious but unemotional expression on his face. It was surprising. She could tell that he wanted to cry. Why is Terry trying to be so strong...? Is it for his mom so she doesn't feel worse? Dawn thought to herself. He is allowed to cry....right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You okay?" Dawn asked Terry as he set Matt in his room, until ambulance can come and set the time of death. He was silent, not wanting to speak about it. "Look, Ter....I'm really sorry about your little brother....I feel like this was my fault, and I just want you to know that I'm here for you...You don't have to act like this really big man....."
"My poor little brother..." He began as he put his hand into a fist. "I just can't believe something like this could happen to him. He had no part whatsoever in this and yet....he had to suffer....because of me..."
"Don't say that, Terry." Dawn said as she held onto his arm. "You know this couldn't be helped...You know it as well as I do...!" Terry looked at her, with his eyes begining to water. He hugged Dawn tightly, as he began to cry. Dawn was surprised as he just all of a sudden let it out, but she just hugged him back. She knew what it was like to lose a younger sibling....
"Why did he have to die, Dawn...? Why is this happening to me??" He asked.
"It's okay, Ter...just let it out..." Dawn said. "We're gonna work this out....and get teach that bastard a lesson he'll never forget...."