Chapter 9 is here! Last chapter, Dina and the others left the hot spring, but Dina saw the girl that had rescued them digging on the ice bridge. Dina noticed a plasma bomb in the bridge, but didn't do anything because she didn't know what would trigger it. The bomb exploded, destroying the bridge. Dina went to check on the girl, only to find that she had teleported away. When she went back to get her friends, she found them badly injured from the flying ice shards. After healing Todd and Rupert with her powers, she healed Pauleen using her Maia. After everything was done, they headed home. This takes place when they get there. On with the chapter!

Chapter 9: A Daring Rescue

*Dina's POV*

We walked to the security gate of the house. Since Selena and Banette were still inside, I had to use my phone to call her and ask her to open it.

But she didn't pick up the phone.

"Weird…" I said. I tried again, but I got the same result. This time I left a message.

"Hey Selena, is everything okay? I was just wondering if you could open the gate for us, but I'm starting to worry. Let me know when you get this." Is what the message said.

Then I got a call, but it wasn't from Selena. It was a number I didn't recognize. I answered it anyways, though.

"Hello?" I said.

"DINA!" the person shouted.

"Banette?!" I shouted back. "Is that you?!"

"Yeah, please help!" she shouted. "Someone attacked us and set the house on fire!"

"WHAT?!" I shouted. "Is there a code or something for the security gate?" I asked after a moment.

She explained what the code was and how to enter it. "Please hurry!"

Then there was a scream and a loud crash. The phone went dead.

"Banette?!" no response.

I followed her instructions and opened the gate. Flames were shooting out of the windows and the roof was mostly collapsed.

"I'm going in!" I shouted. "Rupert! Use your water powers to extinguish the flames from here!"

"I'm going in with you!" he shouted back.

"It's too dangerous!" I shouted. "And I would rather have only one of us die than both of us!"

"If you died, I wouldn't be able to live with it." he said. "That's why I'm going with you!"

"If you're coming along, let's hurry up!" I said. He nodded and the two of us ran into the burning building.

"Is anyone here?!" I shouted. No response.

Rupert started extinguishing flames to clear a path for us. I ran to Selena's room, but I saw smoke under the door, and the doorknob was blazing hot, meaning there was a possibility of a backdraft.

I didn't care, though. I kicked the door down, causing a burst of fire to shoot out of the room. I dodged to the right, barely avoiding it.

"DINA!" Rupert shouted when he saw the blast.

"I'm fine!" I shouted back. I walked back to the room.

I looked inside, but everything was completely destroyed.

"No one's here!" I shouted to Rupert. "Let's try Banette's room!"

He cleared another path for me. I kicked right through the door. No backdraft this time, luckily.

I looked around. I could barely see because of the smoke, so I ducked under it. The smoke was so thick that I could barely breathe, though.

I noticed a burning pile of rubble in one corner that I realized was creating the smoke, and the closet seemed to be unharmed.

I ran to the closet, despite having to run through flames to get to it. My right leg was burned slightly, but otherwise, I was fine. I opened the door. Selena was inside it and was unconscious from smoke inhalation. At this point, I was having a hard time breathing as well.

"Rupert!" I shouted. "I found Selena!"

"Where?!" he shouted back.

"Banette's room, in the closet!" He ran in, extinguishing the flames as he did.

"Did you run through those flames?" he asked. I nodded. "You're either really brave or really stupid." He said jokingly.

"No time for jokes!" I said. "We need to find Banette and get out of here!"

Then I looked back to the pile of rubble. I saw Banette's phone next to it. The phone was destroyed, but still recognizable.

"Rupert, I need you to extinguish this pile of rubble!" I shouted. He shot a beam of water at the pile, which soon stopped burning, allowing the smoke to clear. I looked through a small gap in it, but I didn't see anything. Despite this, I dug through the pile.

I heard a noise behind me. I turned and saw the mysterious girl again. She was standing right behind Rupert.

"How do you always know where I am?!" I asked.

"I have an ability that works somewhat like a radar." She said. "I can tell where people are by tracking their life energy. I can also find objects using it."

She held her arm up and the pile disappeared.

Banette wasn't there. I let out a sigh of relief.

"I know where she is, but her life energy is weak. She's hurt." The girl said.

"Who are you?" Rupert asked.

"If you really want to know, my name is Argis." She said. "I have a lot of different powers, but I'll explain later. For now, let's help your friend.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She's in the elevator, but it broke and fell." Argis said.

"Let's get her out!" I said.

"Let's go." Argis said.

I picked up Selena and teleported her to the backyard. I teleported back to the others and we all ran to the stairs, but they had collapsed and the entire room was filled with fire.

"Rupert?" Argis asked. "Can you clear a spot in the center for me using a water bomb?"

"Yeah…" he said. "How did you know about my powers?"

"Like I said, I'll explain later." She replied.

He sighed and threw a water bomb, clearing a large area of flames.

Argis teleported into the gap and stomped on the ground. A shockwave was released, blowing out most of the flames in the room.

I jumped down and ran to the elevator. Rupert did the same, using his wind power to land safely.

I tried to pry open the door, but I couldn't. Even kicking it at full strength failed.

"Jeez, how much did she reinforce this thing?!" I shouted.

"Move." Argis said. A sword appeared in her hand and she swung it at the door in an "X" pattern, weakening it. Then the sword disappeared. She raised her hand and the damaged door shattered and the parts fell to the ground.

I ran inside and found Banette under a large piece of the glass ceiling of the elevator.

"The roof is about to collapse!" Argis shouted. "Hurry up and get out of there!"

I kicked the side of the glass piece, shattering it without hurting Banette any worse. I picked her up and started to leave the elevator.

Then I heard a loud cracking sound and a very loud crash. The next thing I saw was burning rubble all around me. I was on the ground, pinned under a large pile of wood and metal. I looked to my left and saw Banette lying on the ground. She wasn't trapped, but she was still unconscious.

The flames hadn't reached me yet, but they were getting closer to my trapped legs by the second. On top of that, my lungs felt like they were burning from all of the smoke I had inhaled. If I didn't escape soon, I would die.

Well, this sucks! I thought. I'm either going to burn to death or suffocate… what a crappy way to die…

I heard another loud crash, meaning another part of the building was collapsing. Then I heard an explosion.

That was probably Selena's lab, that time… I thought.

"Dina?!" I heard someone shout. "Dina, can you hear me?!"

"Rupert?" I said weakly, my voice very faint.

"Dina, was that you?!" he shouted.

"Yeah…" I said.

"I can barely hear you!" he said. "Can you speak up?!"

"No…" I said. "I'm too weak… to speak… any louder…" I kept coughing from the smoke.

"I can hear that, though!" he said. "Try to make noise with whatever you can so I can find you!"

I heard him digging through the rubble in an attempt to find me.

I started pounding on the wall behind me with my fist, but that didn't do much. I took a piece of metal and slammed it on the ground. It made a loud ringing noise.

"Keep doing that!" he said. "Whatever you just did, keep it up!"

I kept hitting the metal piece on the ground for about a minute before I became too weak to move. My legs were already on fire by this time, but I was too weak to even feel it.

"Dina?!" he shouted. "Are you okay?!"

Then I heard a loud crash as several pieces of debris suddenly flew out of the pile next to me.

"DINA!" he shouted as he climbed over the rubble he had just launched. He grabbed Banette, then he turned to me, grabbed my hand, and teleported the three of us to the backyard. He then extinguished the burning remains of my legs and pants, then he checked my pulse to make sure I was okay. He panicked, clearly alarmed by it.

He called the others that had been left in front of the house and told them where we were. They teleported next to us and knelt down next to me. Pauleen got out her phone and called for help.

"Dina!" Rupert shouted. "Can you hear me?"

"Rupert…" I said weakly.

"Dina, stay with us!" he said. "You're going to be okay. I promise."

"Thank… you…" I said.

"Dina?" he said, clearly panicking. "Dina, look at me."

I turned my head, but I couldn't move anything else.

"Rup…ert…" I managed to say. My eyes closed and my breathing became weaker by the second.

"Dina?" he said. "Dina?!"

I was too weak to even respond. I heard a vivosaur land nearby. By its screech, I knew it was the Dimorph Ace that the paramedics use.

I weakly opened my eyes and I saw the paramedics running over to me. I could hear them, but it sounded as if they were off in the distance.

"What happened?!" I heard one shout.

"We went into the burning house to save her friend, but the roof collapsed and trapped her. I found her and teleported us here." Rupert said. "There was another girl, but I don't know if she's still inside or if she managed to escape."

Then I saw Argis appear next to me out of nowhere. Everyone jumped back in surprise.

"Glad to see you made it out, Argis." Rupert said after a moment. "We need to get Dina to the hospital."

The paramedics lifted me onto the Dimorph Ace. The others used their powers to follow us, but I lost consciousness before we could reach the hospital.

That's chapter 9! Sorry for hurting Dina. Again… anyways, I'll get the next chapter up soon, so keep reading and reviewing!