I am back! :-) Review answering time!
Endeavor4ever: Thanks so much! I thought it'd add a certain level of confusion over this new person. I'm kinda trying to explain her personality through actions and not words.
Nomi Norisu: As you can see, I have delivered. :-)
Elcall: Oh, don't worry, Jenna and Randy will be interacting plenty before to long. There is a huge web that requires untangling, and only six kids can do it.
FlyingDutchGirl: Well, that makes sense. No, she's not helping kids just so they won't get stank'd; she doesn't know about that angle just yet. However, she's going to learn pretty soon.
Okay, now we're going to see a little more of that book that was mentioned. Prepare for the funnies, the feels, and some mystery with a dash of confusion and a pinch of snarky/sage not-ten-year-old. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Jenna's Uncle, Defender's Past
Randy and Howard were walking to his place, and Randy was thinking over how their had been no robot or monster attacks. "Howard, don't you think its weird? I mean, unless McFist and the Sorcerer decided to go on vacation, there's no other explanation for the lack of attacks."
Howard shrugged it off. "Chillax, Cunningham. I mean, you sound like you want something to try and kill you." Howard replied sarcastically. "Relax! Now get ready to eat it on Grave Punchers!" he exclaimed.
Randy laughed a little, deciding he was right. "Yeah, I guess you're right." he agreed. He had a nagging feeling that it was something more than that, but pushed it to the back of his mind. It was the weekend, after all!
Last Monday,
In the giant, Pyramid-like structure that was McFist industries . . . .
McFist was yelling at Viceroy, which wasn't too unusual, after another failed robot attack.
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO WORK THIS TIME," boomed the short, but rich man named Hannibal McFist. "AND WHO IS THAT." He pointed at the screen that was replaying the footage the Mantis had recorded.
"And it would have if she hadn't intervened!" Viceroy replied, squinting at the girls face. "As for the tomboy, that would be my niece, Jenna. That girls either braver or crazier than a starving fox in a chicken coop." He replied.
"Eh? You never told me you have a niece," McFist calmed down a notch. "WHYWASSHEHELPINGTHENINJA?" The words blended into one; maybe he hadn't calmed down, after all.
"I don't know, but she probably doesn't even know who he is. From what my sister told me the girl always helps the kids in her school." He replied smoothly.
"And yes, I have a sister, before you ask. If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to my niece after school today to warn her off from fighting those things again. She listens to me, sometimes, if anybody else." Viceroy cut in, replaying the footage.
He was impressed with her skills, even though he couldn't say it. Sometimes, it felt like she was the only one who understood and appreciated his ingenious.
"Well you better keep an eye on her, Viceroy. Destroying the ninja is top priority and nothing will get in my way," McFist said threateningly. The footage cut in half; one of the eyes had been stabbed, and Jenna herself, if seemed. Then the video completely ended and looped back to the beginning. McFist scratched his mustache thoughtfully.
"Viceroy, do you think she could work for us?"
"I'm not sure. I'd have to ask. In fact, I haven't spoken to her or my sister in several months. If I could take a little va-cay this weekend," Viceroy hinted.
McFist just looked at him, not getting the hint.
"Well? Can you allow me a weekend va-cay with my family or not?" Viceroy asked in his typical Viceroy way.
"You had a vacation last week Viceroy!" McFist made a noise of resignation. "You say it will help me defeat the Ninja?"
"Well, my niece has great ideas, and I can convince her not to go after those robots again. And it's been awhile since I saw either of them." Viceroy looked at McFist slyly.
"And besides, now that they live in Norrisville, they'll end up at those fancy-smancy company parties you throw."
McFist 'Oooo'ed and clapped his hands slightly.
"Viceroy, I have an excellent idea. You should take the next two days off to talk to your niece and convince you sister to come to the next company party that's in three weeks."
"Okay, sir, but she'll insist on her husband, Jack, coming too. I'll go radio my niece now." He opened up his cell and called his sister, but the voice that came through was his stepfathers, Jonas Joans.
"Jonas? Why do you have Wilma's phone." His eyes widened, jaw dropping with shock.
"Why wasn't I informed? . . . .The calls were blocked?! . . . .I know, I know," he sighed sadly before continuing, "I'll come visit this weekend, would that be okay?. . . .Thank you." He hung up, a remorseful look in his eyes, that were shiny with unshed tears.
"The more the merrier. . . eh? What was that about?" McFist could be oblivious sometimes; not today though.
"Well, sir, Jack and my sister Wilma got in a car accident about a month ago. That's why my niece is living with her grandfather, Jonas, now." He turned away slightly, wiping his eyes.
McFist was at a loss of words. Marci was so much better at condolences than him.
"You can take a week off if you like," he offered. Viceroy didn't work well when he is depressed and Hannibal couldn't have faulty robots wandering around.
Viceroy only nodded, leaving the room. He actually didn't have much to pack, just some clothes and a few of his smaller gadgets.
And Nicholas, his pet amoeba, his food and such. Before long, he was ready to go.
Only then it dawned on McFist that he was going to be alone at the factory besides to Robo-apes and few human workers. For an entire week. And even though he didn't like to admit it, he couldn't think up a plan to destroy the Ninja without Viceroy. Maybe he needed to take a vacation too.
"Your week off is effective immediately." he called loudly.
Viceroy had already left, Nicholas in a pet carrier and a rolling lavender suitcase with a black handle. Under 30 minutes, he was knocking on the door to Jenna's house.
Jenna wasn't there at the time, but Jonas Joans, her grandfather on her fathers side, answered the door.
The house of Mr. Joans was rather nice. A dusky indigo shade with a bright green front door, with two stories, two more if you counted the basement and the attic. A small front lawn and large backyard with trees and bushes edging the front.
The place was warm and inviting like the man himself.
He was tall, with a bit of a tan and bright, sea-blue eyes. His smoky grey hair and silver was long enough to be in a ponytail, and he liked to wear a leather fedora/cowboy hat mix when he left the house with a tan jacket. His voice wasn't that deep, but could be warm and inviting as a campfire or as harsh and intimidating as a wildfire, when the time called for it.
Overall, he was nice old man living in the suburbs Norrisville.
He beckoned Viceroy inside, taking his suitcase for home and heading down the hallway and up the stairs. "Hello, Willem." he greeted pleasantly. Viceroy paused before following him, taking a look around the room.
The living room had a big TV with a DVD, VCR, and a game system or two, with a dark green corner couch with a table. To the left was the kitchen, with a counter and four stools separating it from the living room.
A hall straight ahead led to three doors and a staircase at the end. A rocking chair was set off to the side of the TV, near the door next to a window with a dark brown side-table with a lamp.
Willem followed Jonas up the stairs and into a guest bedroom, that had fresh sheets and pillow cases and the like with a closet and a dresser, a few framed photographs on the walls, which were painted lavender while the floor was dark brown wood.
"Thanks for letting me come, Jonas, and I am so sorry for not being here sooner for Jenna." he paused. "Where is she, anyway? I mean, school has been out for awhile now, where is she at?"
Jonas shrugged. "She's out. Been exploring Norrisville little by little since she first arrived and got settled in. I allowed her a month to explore before she told me she was ready to go back to school. She's been going out into the forest, recently." Jonas replied.
"I see. Well, she'll be in for a treat when she gets home, then." he smiled, and Jonas smiled back, going back downstairs.
Several Hours Later, After Dark . . . . .
Jenna was in her room, sitting on her bed with a the dark grey, navy blue-ringed book in her hands.
Her room was rather big. The bed was pushed into the right hand corner of the room, the blue, green, and purple blankets and pillows were arranged into a large, oval nest shape with books and stuffed animals scattered around it.
On the left side of the room was a desk and chair with a laptop computer, a bookshelf built into the wall next to it, with books, stuffed animals, drawing supplies, and notebooks scattered all over the place. The closet was just behind the bed, near the door. The floor was light colored bamboo wood and the walls dark blue and covered with golden stars connected by paler, sandy gold lines, real and fake constellations covering the room.
There were cardboard boxes cut and painted to look like buildings, spaceships, and forts, even a tall one that looked like a treehouse, with more stuffed animals propped up in different positions. A few of the ones in the spaceships looked like they had been hand-made.
A few of the constellations on the ceiling had been given outlines, revealing the animals and shapes they normally hid. It was messy in some places and tidy in others. It was kinda chaotic. A large window directly across from the door had a pile of rope and wood lay underneath.
She looked down at the books front, lightly running a hand over the scarred cover; three deep lines cut through the cover and into a few of the pages on the lower right corner of the ancient book. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and gasped as she suddenly found herself falling through the book. She shouted in alarm, and yelped when she suddenly hit the ground.
She stood and looked around. She seemed to be in a forest; but the trees were leafless, long, deep marks in the bark, branches torn off and deep, ragged grooves etched into the ground. It was dark and dim and filled with murky fog, but she could still make out the form of a person, sprawled awkwardly, face down in the dirt among all the chaos. There was another person kneeling next to them, who seemed to be made of shadows.
Jenna wasn't sure what to do, but knew that she had to help. Not knowing who the shadowy person was, she picked up a fallen branch and snuck through the trees, hiding behind them and getting steadily closer. Within feet of them, she paused and listened. There was only the sound of quiet sobbing, and she peeked out, just enough to see what was happening before she charged.
The shadowy character was crying, reaching as if trying to touch the other person, but his hands seemed to slip right through them. Murky, clouded tears slipped down his face and fell to the ground. From what Jenna could judge of his stained cheeks (he had pale skin) this person had been crying for some time. She dropped the branch and slipped up quietly behind him, looking down at the other person.
It was a she, and rather young, too, no older than ten or eleven, with hair that alternated between dark brown and a lighter shade similar to Jenna's. She wore light blue pants and darker blue top, with bits of dark and light grey flowing over the surface and giving the impression of ocean waves, a dark grey belt crossing over her torso and shoulder that appeared to have the tattered remains of a blue bag attached.
Her skin was peachy, her clothes torn, and there were three horizontal cuts that ran from her ear to her mouth on her left cheek. They were fresh, and slowly oozed blood. Jenna froze, then moved to help, taking off her coat.
The man startled, mouth moving, but no sound came out. He seemed to be wearing a sort of long, open robe; it trailed into the shadows, as if it were becoming one with them, the front open and buttons all gone. Underneath he wore a sort of rough pants with patches over the knees some rope as a belt and bedraggled long sleeved-shirt that had certainly seen better days, as it looked bit torn and coming apart at the seams.
He had short, tangled dark hair, pale skin, an angular face, and long canine teeth that poked out from under his top lip, giving the appearance of a vampire.
His pale, sky blue eyes had blank, white pupils, suggesting that he was blind, but he looked at her with such an intense, inquisitive gaze that it was difficult to be sure. He seemed to be waiting for an answer, then sighed quietly and shook his head, beginning to slink away.
"Wait!" Jenna cried, even though she'd already kneeled down and was lightly dabbing the girls cheek with her coat.
The man paused, only a hint of his face visible. Out of no where, he plucked a darkened top hat from midair and placed it on his head, smiling gratefully before vanishing into midair. Jenna turned her attention to the girl, who, surprisingly, had sat up, holding the coat to her cheek. The girls eyes were a blue-violet mix, and they seemed to be older than the girl who had them.
The girl nodded. "Thank you for finding me, brave Warrior." her voice, too, was young, but had a rough edge.
Jenna blinked. "'Brave Warrior'? Hardly. I'm just trying to help out a person in need." she shrugged. "And I don't even know where I am."
The younger girl nodded, standing shakily and looking around. "Yes, it has been a long time. You not only helped me with my injury, but you were willing to attack a strange man in an even stranger land; and you saved me even before that."
Jenna frowned in thought. "I only just met you . . . "
The girl looked back at her. "The grey book, with navy blue rings and violet mask in the center? That has the tears at the bottom right corner?"
Jenna nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, but what does that-"
"Have to do with it? Everything." she pronounced 'everything' like 'evv-rr-ree-thee-eeng'. The girl spread her arms wide, and clouds gathered overhead, rain beginning to softly sprinkle down. As the rain touched her, her torn clothes and cut cheek beginning to heal and fix themselves in fast forward.
The trees and ground, too, began to heal. "I am that book, you know. Or at least, it houses my spirit. You finding me in here, however," she smiled warmly, "has unlocked the door to my once-was prison."
Jenna scowled at her, arms crossed. "Could you perhaps say something that makes sense?" she asked, quickly growing confused and unable to find an explanation to what seemed to be a serious problem/situation. That usually frustrated her.
The other girl blinked, then nodded as the sky began to brighten up, less gloomy and more sun-shiny as the fog slowly disappeared around the small clearing, the clouds disappearing to reveal the color of parchment paper far above their heads, where a yellow doodle sun shone; although the rain kept coming down in low sprinkles, and the fog farther off in the woods remained, but gained a more white and less murky appearance, as if cleansed by the rain.
"First off, to start, my name is Winnie; Winnie Washeera and one of the Defending Six; you may have heard of us. . . .or not, in which case, I'm going to be explaining shortly."
Jenna tilted her head. The dusty, yellowed paper she'd found with the book and mask had said, "You are the Warrior, Defender of the town, and keeper of the Washira and Kelpient." in scrawled, messy hand writing, as if the person who had written it was both out of practice and in a hurry.
"An explanation would be nice." Jenna replied, curiosity in her tone, her annoyance slipping away.
Well, that'll be the end of that for now. Winnie's past and the explanation of where the mask and book came from, a bit of the Defenders past, when they first came together and such will come next chapter. Goodbye and please review!