"The Chosen"

Chapter Six

ICANTTHINKOFANYTHINGCUTE

In a dark chamber, the same witch that had attacked Antauri that first night sat on what looked like an evil throne, contemplating what to do. She had sensed it when the other children had been awakened to the Power Primate, even the tainted boy. At the time, she thought that simply sending a group of Formless after the awakened ones by having her creatures home in on the taint would be enough to kill them, but after one of the new ones had destroyed the Brain by herself, she rethought that. Even if they were new to their power, the Power Primate guided their hands. That meant that killing them would be no simpler than it ever was to kill Antauri and Mandarin, and she had to find a way to get rid of the obstacles before . . .

"Mistress Valina," came a voice, disturbing her thoughts.

The witch turned to the one who dared to bother her. "What is it, Sakko?" she demanded. Before her stood a boy who was obviously gender-confused; even though he was clearly male, he wore a yellow and green belly shirt, a green mini-skirt, green Mary-janes, and his short peach hair had a bow in it that matched his shoes.

Said boy kneeled before Valina. "Forgive me, Mistress, but he wishes to speak with you," he said.

Valina stood. "I see. Leave now," she commanded. Sakko fled the room, and Valina walked out a different door and down a long hallway. She finally came to a stop before a large door, which opened before her.

As soon as she entered the chamber, a shadowed figure spoke, "Have you yet felt it?"

Valina kneeled before the man. "I have felt the awakening of the Power Primate in the Chosen, my Lord," she answered respectfully. "I am already attempting to. . ."

"Not that, you feeble-minded witch," the man said, surprising the Skull Sorceress. "Yes, the Chosen have awakened, and they must be dealt with, but there is more than that."

"What have you sensed that I have not?" she asked.

A pair of dark red eyes began to glow in the darkness. "My opposite has also been awakened, and he now fights alongside the Chosen," the man explained.

Valina gasped. "Your opposite?" she asked, looking up. "Are you certain of that my Lord?"

"Most certain," the man answered. He grinned, his long fangs apparent, even in the darkness. "With him awakened, all that there is left to accomplish is the extermination of the Varon Order."

A wicked smile appeared on Valina's face. "Yes. And this has already begun. There is at least one in the Order who will willingly serve us, and he is all we need to bring the Order down from within."

"Well done, Skull Sorceress," the shadowed man said. "Continue in this way, and we will certainly restore the glory of the Dark Ones!"

"Yes, my Lord," Valina hissed.

THATWASCREEPYTOWRITE

The school day was coming to a close, and Chiro was glad for it. However, there was still one little matter left to deal with. His class had taken a math exam three days ago, and today was the day that they got their scores back. Chiro wasn't too worried, but you could never be sure. Math wasn't his best subject, after all.

"I wonder how I did on the exam," Gibson muttered. It was obviously just an out-loud thought, but Sparx scoffed at him.

"What'd'ya mean, 'I wonder how I did'?" he whispered. "You're a genious, Hal, and aside from science, math is you best subject. You aced it, I guarantee." He made a face. "I only wish I could be as sure of my score."

Towards the front of the room, Jinmay whispered to Nova, "How bad do you think you did?"

"Considering it was a pop quiz, not too bad," Nova answered. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm history," Jinmay replied. "I was really not ready for that."

"That's the point of a pop quiz," Nova whispered, smirking.

At that point, the teacher, a nice guy named Mr. Gakslapper, stood from his desk. "Okay, class. Here's you tests back. The scores weren't as bad as you're all probably imagining. Whether you realize it or not, you are all learning something in my class." He grinned as most of the students laughed. moving up and down between the desks and handing each paper back.

Chiro was holding his breath when he got his, but let it out when he saw that he got an 75. It wasn't the greatest score in the world, but at least he'd passed. Then he heard from behind him a whoop of joy. Turning around, he saw Sparx with one fist raised in victory.

"89 baby! WHOO!" he cheered. Chiro grinned. Sparx was terrible at math, so him receiving a score like that on a pop quiz was indeed something to celebrate.

Chiro turned in his chair to face Gibson. "What'd ya get?"

"I got 100," Gibson asked.

"Of course," Sparx grumbled, his joy crumbling. "And of course, that means another round of 'Way to go Hal' when we get home," he continued under his breath.

Chiro almost asked him what that was supposed to mean, but thought better of it. Instead, he turned to Otto. "How'd you do?"

Otto sighed. "I got a 67. I passed, but Mom's still gonna kill me."

"Ouch," Chiro sympathized. Then he saw Nova and Jinmay up front, both with content smiles on their faces. "And I bet that the girls got great scores, like always," he grumped. Just then, a loud thump startled the guys. Chiro turned towards the sound, and was surprised to realize that it had been from Antauri hitting his head on the desk, his test paper underneath him.

"That can't be good," he whispered to Otto, who nodded.

The bell rang, and Mr. Gakslapper announced, "Alright. I'm giving you a break from homework tonight so that those of you who didn't do so well can recover from the trauma, but tomorrow it's business as usual. Have a good evening, class." The room filled with the sounds of scraping chairs and mixed voices.

The girls made their way to the guys, and when they noticed Antauri's unhappy expression as he gathered his things, Nova asked in a quiet voice, "Did he fail or something?"

"I don't know," Chiro answered.

Antauri stood up and said quietly, "Let's get going." They all followed after him. After a short while, Antauri asked, "How'd you all do on the test?"

The boys shared their grades, and Otto gave another sigh. "I really should get tutoring. I suck at math."

"Oh, that's only on tests, and you know it," Nova assured him. "After all, you couldn't be such an awesome mechanic if you didn't have natural math skills."

"How do you figure?" Otto asked.

Before Nova could explain, Antauri asked, "What about you two? How'd you do?"

"Hm? Oh! I got a 93," Nova answered.

"What about you Jinmay?" Chiro asked.

"I did a lot better than I thought I would. I got an 87," she answered happily. After a moment, she turned to Antauri. "Um, how'd you do Antauri?" she asked hesitantly.

"I got an 85," he responded.

"You did? Then what're you all depressed about?" Sparx asked.

Antauri closed his eyes. "When Mandarin sees this grade, he'll have my tail. This is the worst math score I've ever received," he explained..

"An 85?" Nova said. "You're kidding. He's gonna get mad over that?"

"Extremely," Antauri sighed. "He despises it when I get anything less than a 90 in anything. If I ever do, he gets so mad that . . ." Antauri cut himself off abruptly, staring at the ground.

Jinmay was confused. "He gets so mad that what?" she asked.

"Never mind. Forget that I brought it up," Antauri answered quickly.

Jinmay stared at him for a moment. Suddenly, a horrified look etched itself onto her face. "He doesn't abuse you, does he?" she gasped. "Is that it?"

"What? No!" Antauri answered immediately. "What on Shuggazoom made you think that?"

Jinmay didn't look convinced. "Are you sure of that? If he is, you do know that you can tell us, right?" she said softly. "I know we haven't known you for very long, but we are your friends. We'll look out for you and help you if you need it. You know that, don't you?"

Antauri looked at her, then gave her a gentle, grateful smile. "I know," he whispered. "Thank you."

Jinmay placed a comforting hand on Antauri's shoulder, then turned to the gang. "I've gotta run. I'll see you guys later." With that, she hurried off, but she took one more worried glance over her shoulder at her new friend.

Chiro turned to him. "Mandarin's really not abusing you, right?"

Antauri shook his head. "No, he's not. I just couldn't finish that sentence in front of Jinmay," he explained. "See, when he gets mad at me over my grades, I'm in for long, longhours of training, and the worse the score, the higher the training level. I'm guessing that an 85 will equal an entire night at least, so if I'm not at school tomorrow, that's probably why." He sighed again. "I'm not surprised by this, though. The material Mr. Gakslapper is covering is different from what I was learning in the Order."

"Jeez, man, why do you even put up with Mandarin anyway?" Sparx asked.

"I agree," Gibson said. "His behaviour is annoying at best. I myself find him intolerable most of the time."

"He's not that bad, guys," Otto said.

"You would say that," Nova said. "You're way too nice to think badly of anyone."

"That's enough," Antauri snapped, startling them. "I'll give you that Mandarin is harsh sometimes, but he's my brother. He's the only family that I have. I won't put up with anyone badmouthing him like that, not even you guys." Antauri turned from them, an angry look on his face. "I'll see you guys later." With that, he ran down the street and out of sight.

They all watched him go, then Chiro muttered, "That doesn't change the fact that he's a jerk." He looked at the ground. "It also doesn't change that creepy feeling I get from him."

"What creepy feeling?" Gibson asked.

"I dunno," Chiro answered. "It's like, whenever I'm around Mandarin, I feel like something really bad is gonna happen, but I can't put my finger on it."

"What makes you think that?" Nova asked.

Chiro hesitated, then answered, "I think that it's the Power Primate trying to warn me."

Nobody spoke after that.

ANDTHATSWHYRABBITSWILLRULETHEWORLD

Eliyora: Wowie. I had such a hard time trying to pick up the story after the way I ended the last chapter, but I have now finished another chapter, and in one sitting no less!

Kitalia: So, Valina answers to someone, huh?

Eliyora: Yep.

Kitalia: Who is it?

Eliyora: I won't say here. All I'll tell you is that it's not a character from the show.

Kitalia: Really?

Eliyora: Really.

Kitalia: Aw man! Then I'll never figure it out.

Eliyora: Oh, you'll find out. Everyone will.

Kitalia: Yeah, in how many chapters?

Eliyora: (complete silence)

Kitalia: I hate it when you do that!!