"Now what?" Kay whispered.
"I may or may not want to know..." Jared replied inaudibly to the Red Winds or any soldiers.
"So, you are from Earth, correct?" Gar asked, and Jared nervously nodded.
Kay then smiled politely, tilting her head girlishly. "Do you know how we can be returned home, Mr. Gar?"
"Who said you were going home, just yet?" Gar didn't fall for the polite act. But he was truly impressed by how believable it was when implemented.
"Daddy, why can't they go home?" Looma asked her father, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, sweetie, they need to be trained for an impending return from Saphiric. He will no doubt be searching for them if they return to Earth immediately, and I'm not too keen about the fool returning here excessively. Just trust me, Looma, my daughter."
"Okay, father." Kay and Jared looked at each other nervously. Jared had the most apparent frown on him.
"Well, if you're not sure, we can just punch you around instead," Gar offered, laughing at Jared's frightened expression. "I guess you aren't used to Tetramand humor, eh, human?"
"Eheheh... no, sir..." Jared was a little embarrassed that he didn't get the joke.
"So, what do we do, Mr. Gar?" Kay asked, doing her best to look determined and strong, folding her arms and looking up at the king.
"We have to see all of your talents, in taking on a mission that my fleet has to accomplish, still." Gar got off his throne, and walked over to Kay and Jason calmly. Jason backed away a step, while Kay was thinking of it; however, Gar just took both of them and threw an upper arm around either of them. "Don't worry, outsiders... you are welcome here, due to the questionable circumstances that brought you. The five of you are working for me until further notice."
"How is a wimp like me supposed to help at all?" Jared asked the Red Wind, shaking a little. Gar looked back at Jared, smiling warmly. Jared was confused, which only increased when Gar threw him to a soldier with a long, black beard and a commonly bald head. "Woah!"
"Train him to harness his anger and Tetramand strength, Vorik."
"But I'm not that str–"
"I wonder what happened to the ropes, now on the floor..." Gar sarcastically remarked, proving his point. Jared tried to object, but he couldn't think of anything to say anymore. Gar laughed inside when seeing Jared's completely confused and bewildered face as he was carried off. After they left for the weights room, Kay was now Gar's new attention catcher.
"As for you, young lady, what might you do? Let me see..." Gar pondered Kay's talents. "I know! If you are truly skilled in the martial arts, then you can spar with my daughter!"
"Uh, okay..." Kay was oddly excited, and much less disturbed than Jared was, despite how unusual the day was. She followed Looma to the sparring room in the ship, and Gar focused his new attention on the three OHKO'ed teens. Who are they, and what are their talents? Gar mused and mulled over the trio's role in the mission ahead. He doubted that Saphiric wouldn't return them if they were just normal children. He always said that he had a mind erasing device, so witnesses would not be a problem. But he was just a full time bounty hunter with a big heart, despite what he always acted like.
They must be plumber's kids and part alien, or lost their culture entirely, Gar decided silently. Those are the only two reasons anyone wouldn't be allowed to return to a planet from the vigilante's missions. Otherwise, it wasn't justified enough for Saphiric's tastes.
"Sir, a strange ship is approaching our main ship, but is piloted by a different person."
"Who is it?"
"An Anodite female. She is not in our current data banks." The soldier/ pilot replied.
"Let's see if she boards."
The Anodite did not board, but just passed the fleet in her small pod, looking into the weight room at the scene unfolding inside.
The Weight Room
…...
"So I have to lift, THIS?!" Jared exclaimed, staring at a giant metal cube, the size of Jared's height cubed. Vorik frowned at Jared.
"That is the smallest weight we have on board. Tetramands can easily lift this."
"I will prove to you Tetramands that I don't have that kind of strength," Jared told his "teacher", and proceeded to fail. The block wouldn't budge. Vorik wasn't surprised, though. He had seen only the breaking of rope by the kid, and it had been powered by rage, grief, and frustration.
"Get angry, kid," Vorik ordered Jared, who looked back in discombobulation.
"Why?" Jared asked the four armed, red skinned warrior.
"It fuels you."
"But how can I get angry?" Jared was confused, but then remembered the ropes snapping when he became furious, and the power he felt when Saphiric was saying things that were annoying to the him.
"Think of all the times that you have felt angry in the past, and now. It is simple," Vorik replied, lifting the block with ease, then setting it down, again. Jared was almost stupefied.
"Fine, I'll try..." was Jared's only reply, before walking back to the block and closing his eyes. He concentrated hard, remembering that day's events, Donny beating on him, and beating his friends, and Jared went back to the first day of Elementary School. The day he first met Donny...
"Hey, kid!" A seven year old Donny called out to a certain, front spiked, dark haired 6 year old child. The child looked up with his dark, blueish green eyes, the same color as his hair.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna play soccer?"
"YEAH!"
The two played soccer for two hours, and got in trouble with the teachers for skipping class. Then, the kids became fast friends. For three years, Donny and the kid played all the time. The kid was Jared.
"Hey, Jared, get ready for an obstacle course!" Donny called out.
Jared was excited. He loved adventures.
"Okay, Donny!" Jared called back, and turned the corner of a tree. That's when it turned all around.
Donny was on the other side of his backyard, and was ready to do something drastic. Two of his friends were behind a tree with a rope and loop, the loop under some leaves. The autumn was cold that day, and the event would serve to turn Donny into a jerk. And the water balloons didn't help fix anything, either...
The first mean gesture...
Vorik watched with fascination as Jared lifted the metal cube with a grunt, and held it over his head. After walking around Jared to see his face, Vorik saw fire in the Demi Tetramand's eyes. Jared's final thought was of Donny pelting him with water balloons during that day, and the ex friend's face during the whole thing, when he took the whole block in his right hand, and threw it far, the metal impacting the ground with a crash. Jared snapped out of it, and collapsed.
