A/N: IHaveASparklyFace got the answer right! a Watermelon!
And, remember how I said, IHaveASparklyFace is now a character in this story? Well, the character name is Nikki, and she's in this chapter! :)
IHaveASparklyFace: Name?! Well . . . it does make sense. Really? Then she's totally awesome! Calling a song 'Penguin' is awesome, just admit it! ;) Hey, that IS the riddle!
Kittychow: Ah, plot twists are fun! I am a total action/adventure lover- that's how I write my fics! ;) hahaha hilarious! And no worries- I suck at riddles, too!
Chapter 4
As if on cue, we all ran at once and followed all the other Zarleans and Dark Rangers out. I grabbed Matt's hand and Sabrina grabbed my other hand. Matt held on to Sam, who held on to Chuck. Ann held Sabrina's hand. A human chain. Well, not exactly a human chain, considering that four of us were Zarleans.
"They're attacking!" Sam screamed, as the first explosive blasted chunks of wall.
"Of course they are!" Chuck yelled back. The wind started howling, as the planes started to come lower. The ceiling slowly started to tumble down, giving the Banishers a better view of us. I realized that we all were bunched together, like a bull's eye, and the Banishers just need one more cannon to shoot. Bull's eye! Banishers win!
Chuck must have been thinking the same thing, because he instructed us, "Separate!"
Matt, Sam, and Ann ran one way, while Sabrina, Chuck, and I the other. We followed Chuck into some type of platform. I gaped at all the cannons stationed there. Dark Rangers stood silently next to them, as if waiting for something.
"Fire!" bellowed Chuck, and immediately the Dark Rangers started to shoot. Chuck made his way towards a cannon.
"What are you doing?!" Sabrina screamed, grabbing Chuck's arm, "Don't shoot!"
Chuck roughly pushed her away, "They're trying to kill us! We need to push them back!"
"I know, but please don't shoot!" Sabrina pleaded.
"Why?" Chuck growled.
"Because there are other Zarleans in there! They're innocent! And if you shoot the planes, you'll kill the Zarleans in it!" Sabrina cried.
Chuck's face softened, "I'm sorry Sabrina, but I have to do this." He turned away.
"No you-" Whatever Sabrina was going to say next was drowned by her screams.
"They're getting the Claws!"
Everyone looked up, and started panicking. The Claws were made out of metal, and did resemble claws. The plane would fly up, avoiding our cannons, and drop a Claw. The Claw was connected with some thick kind of coil and rope from the plane. The Claw would disappear in the crowd and then would be pulled back to the plane.
"What are they doing?" I inquired, baffled.
"They're taking Zarleans!" Sabrina spluttered. "The Claws capture them and the Banishers pull them back onto the plane!"
"Keep shooting!" Chuck yelled.
"No! They're taking more Zarleans and they're your Zarleans, too! The ones who believe in you! And you're still going to shoot and kill them?!" Sabrina screamed at Chuck, horrified.
While they both yelled at each other, I stared at the Claws on how they swooped under, and just grabbed one. A stupid idea came to me, and I without thinking twice about it, I unfurled my wings and jumped off the platform.
"Max!" Sabrina and Chuck screamed, surprised.
Ignoring them, I flew towards a Claw that was about to grab a Zarlean boy. Before it could shut close, trapping that Zarlean, I yanked him out of the way. The Claw grasped air, then went up.
"Th-th-thanks," the boy whispered, running off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another Claw descending. Quickly I flew over there, grabbed the Zarlean out the of way of the Claw. A few Zarleans noticed my idea, and started to follow me. Soon, the Claws were only capturing air, instead of Zarleans.
"Great idea." I turned around and grinned at Sabrina, who was smiling back. "Chuck is still shooting, though."
I shrugged, "Well, it is helping a little. The planes are going back, and Chuck seems not to hit them too hard so they completely destroy the planes." Just after I uttered that, a Banisher plane exploded, and we both darted away. The plane fell, and smoke started to fly around. "Uh . . . well, spoke too soon."
Sabrina glared.
"What's that?" I asked confused. I pointed upwards, to a set of planes that looked exactly like the Banishers, but were black and blue.
Sabrina gasped, "They're Dark Ranger's planes. They're going to attack each other!" Suddenly, she pulled me and a Claw flew pass, just where I was moments ago. I followed dangerously close, and managed to grab the Zarlean just in time. The Claw went up and the Zarlean ran away. Suddenly, I heard a scream, and looked up. A Claw was clinging on to Sabrina's wing, pulling her upwards. She failed around, screaming, and was holding a different Zarlean girl.
"Sabrina!" I flew upwards, gaining miles of speed, with the air howling around me. I caught up to her, and saw that her wing was stuck in the Claw. I started to yank on it.
Sabrina whimpered, "Max, I think my wing is damaged."
"It's ok. I got it." I strained, and pulled harder. The Claw kept advancing upwards, and time was short. The wing didn't budge.
"Max, it's not going to work. At least take her," Sabrina nodded towards the Zarlean girl that was clinging to her, "and go away. Please."
"Of course not Sabrina!" I shook my head, continuing to jerk on the wing.
Suddenly, the Claw stopped advancing upwards, and instead started to fall. Sabrina's and the Zarlean girl's scream blended into one, as we all started to fall with the Claw. I realized the Dark Rangers shot the coil in half. My back was facing the ground, making it harder for me to balance myself and actually fly. So, uselessly, I was falling to certain death even with wings on. Perfect.
But I didn't die. Nor did I even reach the ground. Instead I was saved. By a Claw.
I didn't see or hear the Claw come to me. I just felt it close around me, trapping me. My back slammed onto the inside of the Claw, instantly stopping the howling wind, and everything was silence. And pitch black.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I opened my eyes and instantly made out seven faces peering at me. Four girls and three boys.
"He's awake!" They pulled me up, and leaned me on a hard wall. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that the walls and floor were made of cement, and in one corner there were cement stairs. The faces around me were teenagers, except for one boy, who seemed less than 10 years old.
"What's your name?" One brown-haired girl, softly asked me.
"Max."
They slowly announced themselves. The brown haired girl, who had soft and dark brown eyes was Maya Daniels. A red haired girl introduced herself as Janet Baldwin. A guy, with blond hair and green eyes like mine, was Samuel Evans. Another brown haired girl was Ashley Ringdale. The other guy, who had dirty blond hair and looked kinda like Chuck, was Kyle Smith. The other girl, with black hair and purple streaks was Nikki Vaughn. She really creeped me out- she looked like one of those people who are humans and vampires at the same time.
Though, when I shook her hand, she smiled at me [no fangs] and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a vampire." Which just made her creepier. How did she know what I was thinking?!
Her brother, the one who looked less than 10, had black hair and piercing blue eyes, was Jack Vaughn. He was a quiet guy, barely even glancing at me. I immediately felt a little bad for him. I mean, that kid looked like he was drowned out of happiness.
"Where am I?" I finally asked.
"Uh . . . well, you're in the Banishers Prison for Zarleans." Kyle answered.
"Great." I rolled my eyes, "You guys are Zarleans too, right? How'd you guys end up here?"
Samuel, Kyle and Ashley glanced at each other and Samuel spoke, "Well, we both came from the Fighter's Headquarters-"
"-before it was destroyed-" Ashley cut in.
"-and we were captured by Claws." Kyle finished.
"And we," Maya said, beckoning to Janet, "were captured exactly like you."
Nikki looked up and spoke in a quiet voice, "The Banishers caught Jack and I a few days ago, when they found out I was a Zarlean."
Jack said, "But they soon found out that I don't even know my power. So, basically I'm useless."
Everyone sat, eyes cast down, not knowing what to say. Suddenly, something squeaked, and a bright light came from the staircase.
"It's the Banishers," Samuel whispered to me.
Three people with black and red robes, that covered their faces, approached us. The middle one pointed to me, "Up."
I slowly stood up, as did Maya and Janet, who were being pulled by the other two Banishers.
One of them roughly grabbed my arms, and they led me to the stairs. We climbed up, and there was a door, which they shut close. I was standing in a narrow hallway, with black carpet and red walls. We walked further and further down, until we came to a huge gold door, and entered in. A huge desk was in front, with neatly stacked papers and folders, and a large laptop. An even larger black chair was behind the desk, with its back facing us. Two long lamps stood at each side. Someone was sitting on the chair, and was wearing a black robe, with red designs. The only part of that someone I could see was a little bit of his shoulders, and the hood of the robe on top. All three Banishers bowed deeply, with Janet and Maya hesitantly following. When I just stood there, they pushed me down with them.
"My Lord." The Banishers chanted.
From the chair, I saw one arm come into view, and I almost gasped. Unlike these three, I couldn't see any of their body. But on this guy- well, being called a Lord, means you're a guy, right?- I could see his hand. It was long, thin, and white. Like pure, paper-white. I could see some veins here and there. The hand was holding something that looked like a cigarette, and acted as one. The 'Lord' blew out gray smoke, that flew around his head.
"And who have you brought along?" His voice was silky and soft. Not the good-soft, but the Don't-mess-with-me kinda soft.
"My Lord, after we attacked the Dark Rangers, we caught three Zarleans." The Banisher who was holding me, spoke.
"How many?" The Lord inquired, with a little anger in it.
The Banishers gulped, "Th-th-three, my Lord."
The Lord growled, "Three? We lost all those Banishers, planes, equipment, for THREE?!" His angry burst echoed, and I could almost see the chair shake with fury. The three Banishers flinched. The Lord let out a loud exhale, "Very well."
The Banisher continued, "The oldest Zarlean is Maya Daniels." The Banisher pushed her forward. "She is 15 years old and her power is Reading minds."
Reading minds? Now, that must have explained why Nikki could understand my mind.
The Lord spoke after a few moments, "Next."
The Banisher pulled Maya back as the other Banisher started to talk, "The next Zarlean is Janet Baldwin." Janet was pushed forward. "She is 14 years old and her power is being Invisible."
Like Matt, I thought. So there was being Invisible, Flying and Reading minds. What else was there?
"Next." Janet stepped back.
"The youngest Zarlean is Maxwell Davidson." I received a push, and almost fell flat on my face. I heard two of the Banishers snicker. "He is 13 years old and his power is Flying."
"Flying?" The Lord asked, instead of saying 'Next.'
"Yes, my Lord."
"We don't have many Zarleans with Flying powers," The Lord thought out loud, "Now do we?"
"No Lord. This is our ninth." The Banishers answered.
"And maybe our tenth." There was a short pause, then the Lord's hand waved them away. "You may leave."
All six of us bowed, and walked out back to the dungeons. Once there, we found the four eating some bread, and there were 3 plates untouched.
"Did they take you to the Lord?" Kyle asked.
Maya, Janet and I answered as one, "Yes." And sat flopped on the floor, hungrily eating. The bread had some jelly, and it didn't taste so bad.
"Just wondering . . . what are the powers? You know, of Zarleans?" I asked.
Samuel wiped his mouth with a napkin, "There's five powers in total." He held out his hand, lifting a finger for each power. "Invisibility, Camouflage, Reading minds, Flying, and Healing."
"Invisibility, Camouflage, and Reading minds, are powers that a lot of Zarleans have. Flying is popular, too, but it's not as populated at the first three. Healing is really, really rare. There's barely any Zarleans left with Healing powers." Ashley explained.
"I can Read minds," Kyle spoke, "while Ash and Sam can Camouflage."
I nodded, "Cool." I thought for a minute, "Er- So, what now?"
They stared at me confused, "What?"
Nikki then spoke up, "I get it. Don't worry they don't kill us." She smiled dryly. "They do much worse than that."
Janet's eyes widened, "Like what?"
"They mind-control us. Use us to go against our own sides, and work for the Banishers." Peter replied, darkly. "And after the Dark Rangers are defeated, they kill us."
We stared at him. Gosh, that boy has a lot of pleasant thoughts.
"And when do they do that, exactly?" I asked.
Nikki shrugged, "Not anytime soon. First they need their battle planned out. When everything is settled, then they use us."
Sam smirked, "Well, at least we have lots of time to figure out how to escape."
"The only escape is certain death." A loud, low voice came from the dark shadows. We whirled around, surprised for someone arriving here so quietly. Wouldn't the door squeak or something? A Banisher stepped out of the shadows, chuckling darkly.
We slowly stood up, and backed up a step, while the Banisher kept advancing.
"Long time no see, Maxwell," The Banisher stopped advancing.
"Who- who are you?" I tried to peer through the hood of the robe, but couldn't see the face.
"Such a shame you don't remember me." The Banisher lifted his arm towards his hood.
"No Banisher ever reveals his face to prisoners." Nikki hissed in my ear, pulling her brother behind her.
The Banisher slowly pulled his hood down and I gasped.
It was Doc.
A/N: Dun dun dun! There it is! And, of course, we HAVE to have our Riddle of the Day, now don't we? :D
How many three cent stamps are in a dozen?