Chapter Seven. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to write this one because the chapter-that-nobody-is-going-to-like was still playing ring-around-the-rosey in my head and WOULDN'T LEAVE! Anyway, it's all written out and so are the chapters after it which means, after this one there will be a 4 or 5 chapter update.
This one was going to be a little bit longer but with the other four-five chapters already plugged in, i have a total of 108 pages already typed out. The other three cyberchase fanficts were not even close to being this long so i don't know what the deal is unless i just can't stop typing. So, yeah. I'm getting a few things worked out here and there and, thankfully, i have my lovely partner, Kawaii Stella, to chat with on facebook when i get stuck on certain scenes with echo. so far, it's been pretty easy.
Disclaimers: I don't own Cyberchase. Max is mine. Echo belongs exclusively to Kawaii Stella and her story Picking up the Broken Glass. I am also NOT an expert on Tai Chi. I did learn a few forms here and there when i was in an Avatar: The Last Airbender craze. But that was a few years ago and the only forms i can remember are "hold the ball" and "pet the ponies". Also, the only reason why i know the terms in a family tree is because my dad took up the role of geneologist for a time and we've managed to trace my family tree back to john hart and benjamin rush (two signers of the declaration of independence) as being my seventh great grandpas. so, yeah. i did a little bit of geneology in 4-h and thats about it.
Enough of my rambling. Let's get on with the chapter. So here is chapter seven. i hope it is up to your expectations.
Chapter Seven
Start of a Sword-Thane's Training
When they arrived at Control Central, the first thing the two warriors noticed was the sound of yelling coming from the housing sector. Max had taken Lok to the Control Center and introduced him to Motherboard when the yelling began. Max rolled her eyes in a what now? expression as she recognized one of the voices as being Digit.
"Hey! Get back here!"
"Leave me alone!"
"What's going on?" Motherboard asked.
"I think Digit's discovered my little project." Max said.
Sure enough, the control room doors hissed open and a ball of feathers and fur rolled around on the floor. One was Digit trying to hold on to the white, furry mass, who was, in turn, trying to get away from the clingy cyboid. The human, Echo, was right behind them. But it looked like she wasn't sure whether or not to get involved.
"Didge, let him go." Max said, calmly.
"He's an intruder!" Digit protested, grabbing onto the "intruder's" foot and hauling him back.
"No he's not, Didge. Now let him go." Max said.
Her tone was so stern that Digit actually released the creature. It flew away from the cyboid and latched onto Max's raised forearm; folding its wings across its back. It glared down at Digit with an I-told-you-so look. Digit scowled in return.
Lok reached out and touched the creature on the head. "Who is this?" He asked.
"This is your familiar, Lok." Max said. "Meet Cherit. Cherit, this is your master, Lok."
"My familiar?" Lok said. "I didn't know Seekers had familiars."
"According to Master Pi they do. The familiars also happened to be a species called Cherit." Max said.
"A Cherit. I've never heard of one." Lok said. "Is he actually a Titan?"
"No. He's a cyber-titan. Meaning, he's a Titan I made from a kit. That's all. But I filled his memory with the Seeker Database I managed to find in the Cybrary." Max said. She held out her forearm, offering Cherit to Lok. "It would please me if you'd take him."
Lok stared at Cherit, unsure of what to say or do. After a minute of looking at Cherit, Lok decided it couldn't hurt to have a familiar whose mind was full of information on Seekers. He held out his arm to Cherit and the little creature fluttered to his arm.
"Pleased to meet you, Cherit." Lok said.
"Pleased to meet you, too, Lok." Cherit said. His voice was rough and high-pitched. Despite that, it was a nice voice and Lok took an immediate liking to him.
"His prerogative is to serve and advise you in the choices you make. But, he also makes a good friend." Max said.
"Thanks, Max." Lok said.
"You're welcome. I just made him yesterday and activated him this morning. That's what the hand print scan was for. I was leaving your signature in his circuits." Max said.
"I was wondering what that was all about."
There was silence. Then, Max introduced Echo and Digit; explaining that Echo was a visitor from Earth and Digit was a friend and a helper to Dr. Marbles.
"Speaking of Dr. Marbles, where is Dad, Motherboard?" Max added.
"He went to Cybersite Eureka to discuss a few things with Professor Archimedes." Motherboard answered. "He'll be back later tonight."
"Okay." Max said. She picked up Lok's bag. "I'm going to take Lok for a tour around Control Central."
Motherboard said that was okay and told her to keep him out of Marbles' workshop. Max nodded and said, "Will do."
As they made their way down the housing sector, Max gently pulled Echo in. "Did you let Cherit off the dongle?"
Echo barely flinched at the contact and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I didn't know whether or not to let him off. But he kept pulling at it and I was afraid it would break."
"That's okay." Max said, letting her go. "I wanted him to meet Lok right when we arrived, anyway."
"Who is he, anyway?" Echo asked.
"He's my new apprentice."
"You're apprentice? But you're just -"
"Seventeen. In our world, age doesn't really matter. I was three when I started learning how to be a Shield-maiden. I was seven when all the abuse started."
Echo looked stunned at this revelation. The fact someone could start a rigorous training schedule that young wasn't too hard to believe – it was easier to learn things at a young age. But the fact she had been abused starting at the age of seven was much much harder to believe.
"Can I ask you something?" Echo asked.
"Sure." Max said after a long few minutes of silence. She was trying to figure out what could possibly be on Echo's mind.
"Who was Hieronymus to you?"
Lok gave Max a sideways glance. Apparently he was curious to know the answer, too.
Max sighed. "He was, essentially, my brother."
"Really?" Lok said. He looked surprised.
"Yeah. My father made both myself and Hieronymus Hacker. But Hieronymus was more of an assistant to him and less of a son. I was really his child. The only reason why Hieronymus was so abusive to me was because I was the first to stop him in his attempts to take over Cyberspace." Max said.
"That's awesome!" Lok said.
Echo gave him a strange look, then turned her gaze back to Max. "What all did he do to you?" She asked.
Max was silent for a while. "I'd rather not talk about it." She said. Talking about it kind of required her to think of the thing she did to him in return. And that was just something she preferred not to think about.
"Oh." Max said.
"Come on! What's to tell? I mean, he must've done something for you to kill him." Lok said.
Echo looked surprised. Max could only guess what was going on in the human's head. She was probably wondering how or why Max could even want to kill someone.
Max didn't waste a glare in Lok's direction. "I said I didn't want to discuss it. Please, don't bring it up again."
"Okay. I'm sorry." Lok said. He shrugged his pack higher onto his shoulder. "I didn't know you were going to be so touchy about that."
Max wheeled around in front of Lok. He was only about three-quarters as tall as she was. He had to tilt his head back to look her in the eye.
"Listen, boy, because I'm only going to say this once. Killing someone is not acceptable. Yes, I rid Cyberspace of an evil presence but I don't want to hear anyone praising me for something I didn't really want to do.
"You think this is funny? You think killing someone is all fun and games? IT'S NOT! It hurts! It messes with you on the inside! You feel dirty. You feel disgusting. You can't look at yourself in the mirror the same way. Why? Because your hands are stained with someone else's oil, that's why. You kill someone and you have to live the rest of your warranty knowing they're gone because you did the deed make them gone. Don't ever think of this as being funny, because it's not.
"Now, I promised Master Pi I would train you and I intend to do just that. But if you expect me to teach you the easiest way of killing someone without the guilt, then you're looking at the wrong person. Because I'm here just to show you the way to being a Sword-Thane. That's all. Now, I can make this as easy or hard as you want it but it's completely up to you. But don't expect me to teach you how to kill people without mercy."
Lok nodded, her speech driven home very hard. "Okay, Max. I understand." He said.
"Good. Consider that your first lesson. Second lesson is 'Never do anything out of vengeance. Allow your actions to be motivated through the means of protecting something precious to you.'"
"Got it." Lok said.
"Good." Max waved her hand in front of a scanner and the doors hissed open. "Here's your room. This is where you will sleep, meditate, and conduct all communications. Private bath is through those doors there. Towels and wash cloths are in the linen closet. Toothpaste and floss are in the drawer. You'll be responsible for keeping this whole area clean. That computer terminal is for research and telecommunications only."
Lok looked around, nodding reprovingly. Then, he set his bag on the bed and began unpacking. He put his clothes – most of which were the red gis from Shangri-La, others were short-sleeve, v-neck shirts, cargo pants, and a set of pocketed arm warmers – away in the drawer. From the front pocket of his bag, he pulled out a rectangular box which he placed by his terminal. And from the bottom of the largest pocket in the bag, came a small box which resembled a treasure chest, which he placed on the bedside table.
Max, having gotten the rant out of her system, approached the desk. "What is this?" She asked.
"Oh. That's my Cypherdex." Lok said. "It contains information on all the Titans in existence as well as any spells I may or may not know."
Echo looked confused. "Titans? Spells? You mean, you're a magician?"
Lok smiled at her. "Not quite. I'm what everybody on Shangri-La calls a Gal'an. It means Seeker in the Shangrinese Vul'kahR dialect."
"Seekers have the ability to use spells and monsters called 'Titans'." Cherit explained.
Max grinned, pleased her creation had already started on his advising purposes. She was glad to know the hours of constructing the Cherit hadn't gone to waste.
Echo nodded, the confusion gone from her face.
"C – can I see one of these Titans?" She asked.
"Sure." Lok said, smiling proudly. He opened his chest and pulled out an amulet and held it aloft between his thumb and forefinger. "Fire Kappa!"
Immediately, in a globe of reddish light, a red-skinned, frog-like creature materialize. It stood on its hindlegs, its hands and feet were webbed. And the top of its head was alight with a scarlet and gold fire. It hunched over the carpet, looking between its invoker and the two girls looking at it with astonishment.
"Fire Kappa is a relatively easy Titan to invoke. So are Hoplites, but there's usually three of them that pop out of an amulet at once. I wanted something small and less frightening. Fire Kappa seemed like the best choice." Lok explained.
"Well, he certainly looks harmless." Echo said.
"Oh, believe me, he's not as harmless as he looks. Only when I'm calm is he ever harmless." Lok countered.
Max peered into his chest. "What other Titans do you have?"
"In total, I have 60 Titans. Ten Gaia and Krono, nine Draco, eight Hecto, Litho, and Yama, four Meso, and three Swara." Lok answered.
"What does that even mean?" Echo asked.
"Draco, Gaia, Hecto, Krono, Litho, Meso, Swara, and Yama are all types of Titans there are out there. They are usually centered around a theme or a mythology of some kind. Draco is like Arthurian types. Gaia is Celtic. Hecto is Egyptian. Krono is Greek. Litho is primarily Norse. Meso is Native American. Swara is like demonic or venomous. And Yama are all Asian." Lok explained. "You might actually get along quite well with my Celtic types since both of you are from Irish myth."
"Don't say that." Echo said, eyes flashing and voice dangerous. "I'm not Irish. I'm from Scotland."
Lok's grin faded and he inclined his head politely. "My apologies. I'm unfamiliar with the nationalities of Earth. Of course, I naturally assumed you were from Ireland."
"There is a difference." Echo said.
"Of course." Lok said, agreeing with her. He revoked Fire Kappa and placed the amulet back inside his chest before closing the lid. "Again, my apologies. I won't bring it up again."
"Good." Echo said, walking away in a huff.
Lok watched her go. "What's her problem?"
"Well, for one, you confused her nationality with one that's fairly close but not close enough for it to be considered a compliment. And, two . . . well, she's been through a lot. Probably a lot more than I've been through. I'm sure you've heard about half of it already from the warriors." Max said.
"I've heard some." Lok said. "Not all of it though. I don't suppose you want to get into it, do you?"
"Not even a little."
"You sure there's no chance you'd want to talk about it?"
"No chance in any part of Cyberspace."
"Didn't think so."
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because I wanna know what your reasons were for destroying The Hacker!" Lok protested. "Is it really that difficult to understand!"
"He was an evil borg whose most evil intentions were to destroy Motherboard, our last chance at peace. If I hadn't destroyed him, he would've thrown my family and our friends into the nearest black hole. Then, he would've deleted Motherboard and you would've been serving under him as a bodyguard or a bounty hunter – which ever he finds most useful if he finds you useful at all, that is."
Lok shuddered.
"Yeah. Is that a good enough answer for you?"
He nodded.
"Okay then." Max said. She leaned against the wall and regarded the nine-year-old boy, shrewdly. "Now, your Sword-Thane's training starts bright and early tomorrow. 6:30 a.m. in fact. You're going to start the morning by first meditating. If you don't want to meditate, Tai Chi works too, but either way, you're going to loosen up and get your mind ready for the day's events. Digit goes to the kitchen at six to get breakfast ready but we won't eat until after we're done with the meditation."
"Um, can you and I do it together?" Lok asked.
Max nodded. "If you want a partner, we can do that too."
"Okay." Lok said, smiling.
"After breakfast, I usually go up to the Holo-dome to practice my Hapkido. In this case, I can work on my Hapkido skills later. I'm going to spend about two hours teaching you how to be a Sword-Thane. The best way to do that is to spar with each other."
"I've done plenty of sparring with the other warriors." Lok whined.
"Not with this warrior." Max pointed out. "I'm not like the other warriors."
"Yeah. I noticed."
"I mean besides my background and appearance."
Lok cocked his head at her. "What else can there – oh, you mean because you were a gargoyle, is that it?"
"That's not all. You'll find out tomorrow." Max said, forestalling further questions.
"Okay. What else do we do?"
"Well, I usually help my dad around Control Central with a few repairs and chores. But you can do what you like. Meditate, practice using your Titans, work some more in the Holo-dome. I can set up a few programs for you if you'd like."
"That works."
"Okay. Oh, one more warning, if you happen to use any of your scout Titans, keep them out of repair stations and especially the control center while repairs are being made. We're a little weird with security when it comes to Motherboard."
"Understandable."
"Great." Max smiled. "I can't wait to get started."
1
True to her word, Max started her training regiment with Lok the very next morning. The night before, however, was spent discussing what she had learned on Shangri-La with her father and showing him the twenty-five pound book she had obtained from the library. Marbles was more than enthused to learn more about the great-grandfather he knew almost nothing about.
Once Max plopped the book on the kitchen's tabletop, Marbles nearly hyperventilated with the idea of learning more. If there was anything Marbles liked more than inventing things, it was gaining new knowledge. Especially knowledge about his family tree.
He wasn't surprised to learn that Siren was actually the son of Atreyu, though Max had been more than surprised that Marbles had actually heard of the obscure Seeker when she hadn't. When Marbles explained that Atreyu and Artax were actually the founders of Cyberspace, it made a little more sense to her that he would know who they were.
"So, why didn't you know that great-great-grandpa Siren was Atreyu's son?" Max asked.
"Because there were other beings in Cyberspace, Max." Marbles said, giving her a squeeze. "Also, your grandpa, Net, always told me that Siren never spoke of his past. Least of all his father or brothers."
He flipped through the book until he came to the family trees themselves. There was an entire section on family trees and even pages and pages of pedigrees suggesting links to possible family members. The pedigrees were bunched together after family trees, and each tree had a different son of Atreyu and Artax at the top; listing their children, grandchildren, and so on. Marbles paused when he saw Siren's tree, absolute proof that this was the great-grandfather he had only heard about. And he discovered the last name, Marbles, had been a fluke; a name adopted by Siren as a way of throwing everyone off the scent of who his family was.
"This is fascinating." Marbles said. "The fact that we are directly descended from the founders of Cyberspace is a great piece to the understanding of where we've come from."
"It is?" Max asked, skeptically.
"Of course it is. It means there's more to our family than you and I could ever realize. Oh, this is excellent finally knowing who we are and where we've come from."
Max placed her hand over the book to catch her father's attention. "Dad, keep in mind this doesn't say anything about where Atreyu and Artax actually came from. So, even if we know Siren is the youngest son of Atreyu, we still have a dead end."
"That much is true, Max." Marbles said, nodding in agreement. "However, despite the fact that we have no pedigree and no knowledge of where the brothers came from, at least we know that we have a family."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"Think about it, Max. Atreyu had six sons – one of which was Siren, our ancestor. Artax had at least two sons, according to this. Despite Siren's continued silence about his family the five other sons of Atreyu and the two sons of Artax had descendents, which means we have cousins out there in Cyberspace we don't even know about.
"Our family has always been so small. Siren had only one son and so did Web. But when my father came into position as Motherboard's Chief Engineer, he made two sons – myself and Cooper. Only through Net had our family tree even doubled. Even I went as far as to make a 'son'."
"Dad, don't start thinking of Hieronymus as a son." Max pointed out.
He smiled at Max. "I'm sorry. It is true that he was never meant to be my son. But the fact he wreaked so much havoc – and almost killed you thrice in the process – makes me all the more responsible for bringing him into this world."
"Don't worry about it, Dad." Max said.
Marbles tapped the book with a finger. "Do you mind if I take this to my room and study it?"
Max shrugged. "It's fine with me. Master Pi gave me permission to bring it home."
Marbles smiled and closed the book. Having not handled it before now, he was nearly floored by how heavy it was. He let out a long breath of air as he hefted the tome and pressed it to his chest. Max smiled, knowingly.
"Look out, it's heavy." She said.
"No kidding." Marbles said. "You could've warned me ahead of time."
"Sorry. It's heavy."
Marbles rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Max." He said, sarcastically, struggling to make it to the housing sector.
0
The next morning, Lok awoke strictly at twenty-til six. He brushed his untidy, white-blond hair, changed into his red gi and tightened the red cloth belt around his waist. Then, after snatching up his box of amulets, he headed to Max's room. He was surprised to see that Echo was there and that both were already on the third form of Tai Chi.
"Good morning, Lok." Max said. "You can either jump in with Tai Chi or you can meditate. Pick your choice."
"Tai Chi." Lok said, setting his chest down. He stood on Max's other side and fell directly into the fourth form. Max shot him a look and he started over with the first form.
"Next time, try to get here sooner." She said. "That is, if you want to do it with us again."
"I thought you said six-thirty." Lok protested.
"I did say six-thirty. It's six-thirty-five now."
"Oops. I didn't realize it took me so long to get ready."
"Next time, get ready after the mind-calming segment of your training. I don't care if you come over here in your nightshirt, just get over here."
"I sleep in my underwear." Lok said, embarrassed.
Max was silent as she absorbed this and Echo muttered a low "Eww!" Max cracked a smile. "Okay, throw on a t-shirt or something, but don't be late."
"Right, Master." He said.
"Lesson number three: don't call me master or Shield-maiden. Just Max. That's my name and that's all I'll answer to." Max added.
"Something to remember." Lok said, easing back into the third form.
They were silent for the rest of Tai Chi. By the time Lok had even finished with the second round of forms, Max and Echo were already getting ready for the rest of the day. Then, the three kids headed to the kitchen before Max and Lok went to the Holo-dome. There, their training began.
1
The effort it took for Ledge to learn Alchemy was considerably much easier than Wicked had expected. Apparently, Ledge had learned a great deal about Alchemy before hand. He understood the construction of a Transmutation circle and how the formula for each circle differed depending on what the Alchemist wanted to do. But the fact he was able to draw power from the amulet on his wrist concerned Wicked and she wondered whether he actually knew what was in that amulet or not.
Fact was, Ledge did know what was in the amulet which was why he had worked so hard to obtain it. He knew it was a fearsome beast, a Titan of great power who had caused a great deal of nightmares across Cyberspace many years ago. Ledge had accidentally come across a very small reference to the Titan in one of the Alchemy books he was studying. The article had been about sealing circles and one particular circle was said to be strong enough to hold Warren the Genie inside his bottle as well as the monster who had once served him.
Curious to know what that monster was, Ledge traveled to Barterum, Warren's homesite, and located the cave where Warren was said to be. After much prodding and prompting, Ledge finally got Warren to tell him about the Titan that had once served under him. Warren told Ledge all he knew about the Titan and the more Ledge heard about it, the more he wanted it under his control. Upon asking the whereabouts of the Titan, he learned it had been stored away inside the vaults below Frogsnorts Academy of Magic. Not wanting for it to be traced back to him, Ledge erased Warren's memory of the event. Then began his plans to obtain the amulet.
First, he put his name in at Frogsnorts for consideration. After a few months of being wait-listed, Ledge was finally accepted. He wasted no time finding his way down underground and breaking the circle over the vault. After that, the amulet was his and the Titan bonded with him.
Ledge had to keep the fact he had stolen the amulet a secret in his duration at the Academy. But he soon grew tired of the rules they pressed on him and began causing problems for the instructors there. Fed up with his lack of respect, Ledge was booted out of the school and his wand snapped in half. But Ledge took something with him from the school, uncertain whether it would work as a medium. Though, much to his relief, Wicked had confirmed that he could draw energy from the Titan within to counteract the Equivalent Exchange rule.
"The only thing it won't do is save you from Equivalent Exchange when you attempt to perform tabooed Alchemy." Wicked told him on his first day of in-depth Alchemy instruction.
"Tabooed Alchemy? I thought Alchemists could do what they wanted." Ledge said.
"They can do what they like except bring the dead back to life. The price for such an attempt is never the same twice and the result is usually very grave." Wicked pointed out.
"Ah." Ledge said, agreeing. So that explains why Wicked hasn't tried to bring Hacker back to life yet. He thought. "Very well. I have no one I want to bring back from the dead so that won't be a problem."
"Fine." Wicked said. "Let us continue."
Over the course of a few weeks, Ledge had learned the basic and advanced principles to Alchemy. He also learned how to properly construct an intricate Transmutation circle, with Wicked explaining that the circles are temperamental and if any mistake was made in any part of the circle, the spell would either not work at all or will backfire. The results of such a backfire were devastatingly horrible.
By the third week, Ledge had learned enough about Alchemy to start on his plans for Cyber-domination. But first, he needed to put into action a string of events to aid him in his quest. One of these things was to be rid of the Human intruder, Echo Glasgow, and the Shield-maiden who defeated Hieronymus Hacker.
It's a good thing I have minions to do the dirty work for me. Ledge thought with an evil smile.
