Alrighty, Well I am sorry for the long wait! Thank you for all of you are still reading this! I just graduated college so I should have a little more time to focus on some of my stories again! Well you are all in for a surprise in this chapter (trust me it surprised me too) so without further adu, lets give some acknowledgments and get on with the story!

Thanks to all of you who have supported this story and encouraged me to keep it alive! Its only gotten this far and going to go further thanks to all of you! Coolchick87, XmoreMinutes, Haosbattler, , Aganos, Akira44, ultimatespartan98, and IrunaLyoko! I couldn't do It without you guys!

Disclaimer: Ok, sometimes I think this story is writing itself, so I don't even know if I own it anymore let alone actually owning the show. So i'm pretty sure I don't.

Getting Back Up

Daniel had just got out of class and was heading back to his room to get ready for supper when his head started to throb worse. He momentarily leaned against a wall in the hall to get his balance back. He needed to take his next does of medicine. All he could do right now was just breathe and try to get back to his room. He saw no reason to worry anyone. That would only be seen as weakness, and that would be humiliating.

-With the witch, I mean evil scientist (is that really much better?)-

It was her job now to watch his every move and analyze it to make sure things went right. Though there were much more important things she would rather be working on right now, this was delicate situation that she needed to stay on top of at all times.

Kazarina was watching Dan in the cameras. She knew he was tough for a human, much tougher then Jake. But it was taking more time then she thought for the worse of the pain to go away. He should be able to ignore it by now. It honestly was amazing how he could even stand up and walk normal with how much her pain sensor she placed in him is going off.

"Dan should be under my control enough to be able to go about the rest of the day with more ease. He is taking longer then i'd like to fall completely under the new memories." Kazarina muttered to herself, quite irritated. If he stayed in pain for too long they might have to make some adjustments.

It was either his stubbornest or his tolerance that was keeping him going at the moment. If she had to guess she would have to say both. It could also be that power he held. She could safely assume that that is the reason he has held his ground for the past few hours of class.

Either way, once he starts to sort himself out and accepts his new reality, then the pain will be gone. And then they can move on to phase two.

-Back with our prince-

Daniel was to his quarters and he promptly let himself fall face first on the bed, wrinkling some of his royal attire. Class was more brutal then normal. In light to circumstances his mentor didn't give him a test, but he did drill him in not showing weakness when one is sick. 'Always keep your poster! Don't you ever let them see your pain! Stay focused!' His mentors name was Quan and he was his edicate mentor. He would basically yell at him all the time for what he was doing wrong. Daniel got the feeling that Quan somewhat enjoyed it.

Sometimes he would actually just sit and have a conversation over lunch about his schedule for the week and discuss what they were going to go over in order to be prepared for those events. Those were probably the rare times they really connected. But even then he still couldn't slip up on his edicate during those times or he knew he would get it. Today was especially brutal because it was almost like he had never done this stuff before. He blames it on the pounding headache though. Daniel couldn't wait until this concussion and all of its pain was gone.

He tossed over to his back and eventually pulled himself up to take his medicine and then layed back down on his back and stared at the red ceiling. He wished he could just try to go back to sleep again, but he was hungry and he also knew that among many other things, tardiness for super with his father was not tolerated.

That morning dream still bothered him. He couldn't seem to shake it. So he just chose to ignore it all day. But now it's coming back to bite him again. How did they know his name? How did they know he was important? What was really going on? It didn't make any sense. He felt like he only had pieces of a warped puzzle. But it was only a dream so why give it much thought? That question is what made his head hurt the most. Why?

And then there was was happened last night that still had him feeling more then mad.

They were simple beings that messed with his head by shape shifting into his original race to distract him and get the upper hand on him. It was cruel really! They had to know what happened to his kind. They even took Drago from him! These Neithians and their new friends were heartless. They were the kind of enemy that needed to be destroyed.

"Heh, Nethians think that teaming up with such jerks will help them win this war. Well they have another thing coming. I can't believe they have actually sunk so low as to team up with scum like the Terrans. Well they better watch out because once I am back to snuff then they're going to be sorry they ever messed with me." Dan spoke with a small growl to the ceiling. Slowly he was getting more agitated with the memory. He decided to stop thinking about it and got up to get a change of clothes on for supper. His edicate lesson had been on a balcony and it was a hot and very humid afternoon, therefore he was sweaty and needed to change clothes, after a shower of course. Maybe that would also help with the pounding headache. He could only hope.

-With our suffering heroes-

The team was hesitantly getting together to collaborate on what to do next. None of them were up to it, but they had to try to get something figured out. Even the Gundailians they rescued were there to try to help them. They started the meeting off with Ren stating that his spy could get them some info on Dan if he could get into contact with him. That helped raise a few spirits but it didn't help ease the tension of the situation. Dan was in serious trouble.

They all knew it. And this past day all they have done was wallow in their own pity. Now it was time for action, and Shun was just the man to take charge.

"Alright, so we have a way to get info. Fabia, do you have any way of getting a transmission out to Gundalia without them knowing so we can get into contact with Ren's friend?" Shun asked to try to get things really moving, so they could have a plan.

"Well," She started while putting a hand to her chin. "With some help and coordinates we could certainly give it a try." Fabia thought out loud.

"Maybe I can be of some assistants!" Marucho piped up. "After all the Nethian technology and Gundalian technology doesn't seem too different that me and Ren couldn't figure out some coding to get past transmission detectors." Marucho smiled. He was happy to be able to be of some assistants with his techno knowledge. Plus it would give Fabia a chance to get to trust Ren some more.

Ren was surprised that Marucho was so excited to involve him in things, but really he was happy that Marucho believes in him and still wants to work with him after all that has happened. They truly were friends.

Fabia agreed to the idea and they all seemed to be content to end the meeting right then and there, but Simon just had to mention a certain brawler who wasn't being apart of the meeting.

"Shouldn't Jakey boy have a say in this? Hmmm. He's been like a sad little butterfly who won't come out of his cacoon for a while now." Simon pointed to Jake. The others were letting him be due to knowing how Jake was feeling the worse out of all of them. Jake didn't even notice he had been called out.

He was still in his depressed little cocoon. Shun was going to go over but he felt a hand on his chest stopping him in his tracks, he looked to Fabia and saw it in her eyes that she needed to talk to him. He closed his eyes and gave her a nod. She went over to Jake while the others left them to be alone.

"Hey Jake." She put a hand on his shoulder. He finally looked up at her. His eyes were so miserable, he looked like he hadn't slept in a week even though it had only been a day. She wasn't sure what had happened to him when he was under Kazarina's mind control but she was sure it had left some mental scaring for the poor guy.

Fabia understood his pain. Jake had all of the worst parts of that mission really, even though the mission was to save him. Which they did eventually do, but at what cost? Jake had all of this darkness spinning inside of him like a water filled tornado, drowning him in the memories of his worst mistakes and ripping him apart at the same time.

"Jake, you can't blame yourself for what happened. It wasn't your fault, you were being cont-"

"How can I not blame myself Fabia!" Jake screamed at the top of his lungs, which startled Fabia. "Dan was the one who helped me get good at being a brawler, he helped me gain confidence in myself, he even let me come here and be apart of this amazing team! And what do I do to return the favor?! I just screwed everything up! I allowed myself to get captured and brainwashed into betraying everyone and then got Dan captured when he almost saved everyone and ended the war, just because he was worried about me! And to make the worst time of my life complete I almost actually went through with killing Dan myself!" He started sobbing again.

Fabia soon found herself wrapping he arms around Jake and letting him cry loudly into her shoulder.

Fabia wasn't use to getting close to males, but she felt this was necessary. He needed some support, he needed someone to help him through this storm that was consuming him.

Jake was so angry at himself for being so weak. So pathetic in every sense of the word. He clung on to Fabia's clothing, desperate to have some kind of grip on someone that wasn't himself. He was such a looser, such a traitor. If only he hadn't lost, if only he hadn't tackled Dan and thrown him in the dungeon. If only he hadn't let that witch take over his mind! He was all of the most vile things that he never would have imagined he could ever be while under her control. And he was almost even a cold blooded murderer too. "If Dan hadn't yelled for me and woke me up then I would've done it too." He whispered with as much venom as he could in his state of mind.

Fabia widened her eyes at what she just heard. "Wait, Dan woke up and yelled?" She didn't understand, he was clearly unconscious still when she got there. Jake calmed down a little at having something to focus on that wasn't his self hatred.

"No, not really out loud... it was like we were in a mental football field tossing a football around together like we used to, and then he started yelling for me, asking if I could hear him. And then I woke up, from everything." Jake stared at the ground behind her shoulder, while Fabia processed this information. Dan had to have some mental abilities. Otherwise there is no way that whatever Jake said could be true, that Dan had broke him out of his brainwashed state.

"but it doesn't matter Fabia, because I was the reason he got captured, I am the reason he is still there and is possibly going through hell right now, or maybe not even here at all anymore. I am a failure Fabia!" He was about to go onto another set of self hating sobs, but Fabia tightened her grip on him all of the sudden. He felt the change in demeanor in her.

"Jake I understand how you feel." He widened his eyes a little at the softness in her voice, and something else he didn't recognize. "Sure I wasn't dealing with Kazarina's torture, but I couldn't leave Dan. A good Gundalian might have drowned because he saved me and I chose not to look for him because I wanted to go save Dan. That was a tough choice to make. I have been going over it in my head over and over again, torturing myself with the thought of if I could have saved him. And then to make it even worse I utterly failed to save Dan too." She looked at Jake's face, letting him see just how much pain she was in too. She had tears threatening to fall down her face. Her voice became more soft and vulnerable then he had ever heard it before. "In the end Jake, I failed everyone. I didn't save either of them, and they had risked their lives for me too. I failed Jake, can't you see that? I'm weak too." She let the tears fall down her face while she mustard up a sad pain filled smile at the horrible irony.

Jake didn't know what to say. He didn't realize that the princess had been hurting so much too. He didn't see that someone else was struggling with moments from this war where they hated themselves and wished they could have been stronger.

"So Jake, as I hope you can see now, we are in the same boat. We are both people who have failed someone who we care about. You're not alone in this. Both of us need to figure out how to move on and get back out there like everyone else is. Both of us need to be strong even when we are weak. So what do you say, can we do it together?" Fabia had a more genuine smile on her face now, no more tears. She wanted to encourage Jake, along with herself, that they could do this.

He could feel his heart swell with finally a different emotion that wasn't of self loathing; it was relief. Relief that he wasn't alone. Relief that he had a friend who didn't hate him but was in the same position as him. And relief that she wanted them both to get out of it together. He let a few more tears fall, but they weren't of weakness, they were of a new found strength to get back up again, and fight.

They finally got up off the floor (when had they ended up on the floor?) and wiped any trace of tears from their faces. They both had a new courage to stand up and get out of their own misery.

"Alright, how about we meet up after supper to practice together and get stronger while Marucho and Ren get their stuff started?" Fabia offered Jake.

"YES! That would be radical!" Jake yelled, feeling a whole new energy spark to life in him. Right as they were about to leave to go get ready for patrol Jake stopped Fabia for a second before they parted ways.

"Fabia, thanks for everything." He squeezed her shoulder tenderly to show how much it meant to him that she was there for him in his darkest time. She smiled back just as tenderly, softly saying "your welcome."

Alright. So that last scene there was totally out of nowhere and kind of wrote itself. I certainly didn't plan on Fabia and Jake having a moment like that together. It just kinda... happened. o.0 Well I hope you liked it!

And I hope you liked the chapter itself too! Daniel is starting to solidify a little now. The brawlers better get their butts into gear before its too late! Or else they may never be able to snap him out of it and loose him forever! MUWHAHAHAHAHAAHA! :D

But in all seriousness, what is going to happen? Is Dan going to be able to ever snap out of it? What is Kazarina going to do next? For a matter of fact what is Borodious going to do next against the Nethians ( especially after that last attack, and now knowing that they don't have their precocious human leader or Drago)? And what about Ren's friend, will he really be able to help them rescue Dan? Stayed tuned for more folks! Oh and review and let me know what you think of the progress! Thanks!