Allie's Pov
Yesterday's events have left me an absolute mess. Kura has no idea what the marks are, we can't find anything about the kitsune, and the marks are getting worse! The line on my back has thickened drastically and now the tips of my hair are turning black! I don't know what to think anymore. Heck, I can hardly think because of how little sleep I got last night thinking everything over. I just wish something in my life would go right for once.
I jumped off the bus with Gabe and waited for Ray's bus. When he moved, he had to change busses. I was kind of sad that I wouldn't get to see him, but it wasn't a big deal.
"Hey, that's Ray's bus." Gabe pointed out, snapping me out of my half asleep daze. We watched as all of the kids jumped off, and were once again disappointed to see that Ray wasn't on it. "I guess he took the city bus again."
"But why? We both know that he wakes up early enough to catch it on time, so why is he taking the city bus?" I huffed.
"Maybe because he wants to see Raven? Considering the fact that we haven't met her, I guess she is too busy to do much in the afternoon." Gabe suggested.
"Or maybe she just wants him to herself." I said without thinking.
"Really, Allie?" His harshness caught me off guard. "Listen, I know Ray is super dense for not noticing your feelings, but you remember what he said about her, right? She's just a friend, and one he doesn't get to see often."
"Wow. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" I snapped back as we turned to head into the school.
"No! I mean, maybe. It's just that Wade didn't come home last night, and we're all a bit worried." He lowered his head, and I immediately felt bad.
"Well, he is an adult. I seriously doubt he could get himself into too much trouble." I tried to reassure him.
"I know, but he was into some bad stuff when he was our age. I know that was a long time ago, but…"
"But there's always that chance to fall back." I finished.
"Yeah." Gabe replied sadly.
We walked to class in silence and met up with Lucy. She was absent for a few days because she got sick, so there was a lot to tell her. She was obviously aggravated to be gone when something exciting happened for the first time in almost a year, but after hearing about the rebellion in fire as well, she was kind of glad to be gone.
"Do you think something else will happen?" She asked. "In the other civilizations, I mean. First water, which didn't seem to have any problems at all, and now fire? Something doesn't feel right."
"I agree." Ray's voice caused us all to jump. He sat down beside us and stared at the table. "It's also weird that we've been in Kaijudo for almost a year, been all over the kaiju realm, and have never seen or heard of a titan before. Now we've encountered four. Dilpon, Ruby eye, Kura, and Raja."
"I've scoured the library for tablets on them and any other titans, but I haven't found any. I don't even think the masters know where those tablets are." Gabe sighed, completely frustrated.
"What makes you think that?" Lucy asked.
"Because don't you think the masters would be a bit more prepared if they did know about them? Heck, as far as we know, only Allie and Master Nadia even have titan rings." I unconsciously touched the golden ring on my ring finger.
"Maybe other duelists have them as well. There can't just be two people on earth with titan rings." Lucy said.
"I don't think it's that the masters don't know." I began slowly. "I think they might be afraid of them."
"Really?" All three stared at me with questioning looks.
"Yeah. Think about it. Master Nadia had a titan ring this entire time, even when we were fighting the Choten, but she never summoned it. None of them even thought of summoning a titan when the monarchs went rampant, and that happened twice!"
"You know, that might actually be true." Lucy said after a moment of thought.
"I wonder if it's the same for the Kitsune." Gabe voiced my exact thought.
"Did someone call me?" The janitor, who was quietly cleaning up a mess in the hall asked.
"No, sorry- wait a sec… Your name is Kitsune?" I asked.
"My name is Haku Kitsune." He tipped his hat to us.
"Really?" I asked. "I thought your name was something else."
"What did you think it was?"
He had me there. I honestly never took the time to learn, let alone ask what his name was. I felt my face grow hot. "I don't know, but… sorry."
"No harm done, Allison. Now, the bell is about to ring. Get to class before you're late." He laughed.
Gabe's Pov
After another long day of class, I was more than ready for school to end. I really wanted to get home to see if Wade was back and find out why he was gone for so long.
"Okay, before the bell rings, I have a few announcements." Mr. J began. "First off, there will be a shortened schedule next week Friday for the school dance. I will hand out some fliers with more information about it."
He passed around the papers and we all looked at the form. I exchanged a look with my friends and we all had the same look. Not this time.
Lucy wasn't there when the mess at the last dance happened, but we told her enough for her to agree that that was one of the craziest nights of our lives.
Once the bell rang, I said goodbye to them and headed for my bus. I might be a bit late for practice, but I really want to see if Wade was home.
The bus ride seemed to last forever, but I began to feel even more anxious as I stepped off the bus. I briskly walked to my house and opened the front door. My parents weren't off work yet, and my brothers have after school detention today, so I was completely alone. I checked the backyard, the back rooms, and the kitchen, but Wade wasn't there. I sighed and pulled out my phone to call him.
Maybe he will answer this time. I thought to myself. Just as I began to type his number, Ray called me.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked, trying to sound happy.
"Okay, so… Wade's at the temple and bad things happened. Just get over here, Okay?" He hung up before I could say anything.
What on earth could have happened?! I ran out the front door and headed towards the temple. It wasn't a far run, so I reached the temple in about eight minutes. Tore open the doors, ran to the back room and through the mirrors, and headed down into the temple.
Eventually, I found Ray, Allie, and Lucy near the infirmary. All three had their ears to a door and were listening so intently, none of them noticed me run up to them.
"Where is he?" I gasped, completely out of breath.
"Apparently, Wade came to the temple early this morning. Maria was leaving around the time he arrived, and he startled her badly enough to where she punched him in the nose and he fell and cracked his head on the sidewalk. He was out for most of the day." Ray whispered.
"Is he in there?" I pointed to the door, and all three nodded.
"Can I go in?" All three shoot their heads no. "What? Why?"
"Because Nadia is in there too and it sounded like they were having a full out brawl in there." Allie answered.
"Sounded like? So, they've stopped." I asked.
"Yeah. Everything went quiet a few minutes ago. Jaha walked by a bit ago and said not to go in no matter what." Lucy said.
"Wait a sec- there's movement." Ray shushed us.
I tiptoed over and put my ear to the door as well.
"I won the bet. Now you have to let me come." Wade said softly. "If you don't want anything to do with me afterwards… I'm okay with that. I just don't want you to hurt yourself when I could have stopped it."
"A deal's a deal, Wade." Was all Nadia said, but she didn't sound happy at all.
I heard a click of the door knob and quickly stepped away. The others apparently didn't hear the click, and so were still leaning on the door when Wade opened it. All three fell inside. Wade seemed a bit shocked, but Nadia just seemed even more annoyed.
She walked off without a word, and left us all staring after her. "Okay, what was that all about?" Lucy asked.
"This, kids, is why you don't get on the wrong side of a Russian. They will cut you off and will never willingly accept your help ever again." Wade sighed.
"So this is where you went?" I asked. "All of us were worried when you didn't come home."
"Sorry about that. Some stuff came up and I needed to get some things set straight." He scratched the back of his head.
"So, what happened in there?" I asked hesitantly. Before Nadia walked off, I noticed a small mark under her eye, so I was afraid of his answer.
"I did what I had to do. Nadia's a stubborn person, and sometimes, you need to cater to a stubborn person's dark side. We made a bet, whoever won a little duel would get to do whatever, and I won." He shrugged.
"But you didn't duel with creatures." Ray was clearly annoyed.
"Nope."
"You knocked her out, didn't you?" Allie glared at him.
"Listen, it was either knock her out and do the dangerous thing with her, or let her go and get herself killed alone." Wade's voice turned dark. "She might hate me, but I would never willingly let her die."
Everything went quiet. All four of us looked at the ground, half in shame, half in anger. People shouldn't have to fight and make bets to get what they want, but I guess if it keeps someone safe…
"Oh, I was supposed to tell one of the girls something." Wade said suddenly. "Allie is supposed to meet Maria in the library. I think I heard something about a titan ring too."
"I have a titan ring." Allie stepped forwards and showed him the golden ring on her finger.
Wade pulled a necklace with a similar looking ring out of his shirt and gave her a big smile. "Welcome to the club."
Ray's Pov
With nothing better to do, the three of us followed Allie to the library. We found Maria waiting at one of the front tables and she stood up to greet us.
"Okay, first off, I wanted to see Allie, not the whole crew, and second, I need to take a raincheck on this talk. Something's going down in the Nature civilization and I need to take guard duty for Nigel while Kimora and Wade are away." Maria said.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"No clue. All we know is Wade's ring began to glow and his titan isn't responding to him." She sighed.
"Why did the ring glow?" Allie asked.
"Because if your titan wants to tell you something, it will make the ring glow. Normally, that's all there is to it, but his titan isn't answering his summons, so somethings up."
The four of us shared a look, said goodbye to Maria, and set out to find Master Kimora. We easily found him in his garden talking to Wade and Isao.
"Masters, we want to help." I wasted no time getting to the point.
"Good, because we're gonna need all the help we can get." Master Kimora sighed with relief. "Chavez and Maria need to stay and watch Nigel, and who knows what Jaha and Nadia are up to…"
"Let's not worry about that now. Ahool normally always answers and never calls, so something's seriously wrong." Wade said gravely.
"Okay, then, let's go!" Lucy said, excited to finally get some action.
"I need to stay and watch the stalker spheres. Good luck." Isao said.
Kimora opened a breach and all six of us walked through. Once we were in the nature realm, I summoned Bob, Kimora summoned Shouter, and Wade once again tried to summon his titan, but it failed.
"Mighty Kimora, Shouter needed elsewhere. Duel fast, and send Shouter home." Shouter said in his usual, choppy sentences.
"What's wrong?" Master Kimora asked.
"Titan attack tribes. Says to unite nature, but is tearing apart." Shouter was getting impatient.
"Is it a giant monkey bat?" Wade asked.
"No. The Great Stag." Kimora and Wade gasped at the name and Bob growled.
"The Great Stag once traveled with Colossus before the veil was created." Bob began. "He once sapped so much mana from the monarch that he rendered him immobile. If the Stag is fighting against tribes, then the tribes are doomed."
"Then let's go help out." I said.
All of us held onto shouter as Kimora banished us all to Shouter's home. When we materialized, we were thrown into a warzone. Shouter trumpeted and charged off to fight several other creatures that were apparently with the titan.
"What is up with titans and rebellions?!" Allie cried as she summoned Squeaky. Gabe summoned Gargle and Wade summoned a nature water hybrid called Tigershark which looked exactly what it sounded like. It was grey-blue with orange stripes, and it had a shark body with the legs of a tiger.
"Kids, stick together! I'm going to find Ahool." Wade shouted over the madness. He and Tigershark ran into the thick of the fight, completely disappearing in the mass of creatures.
Bob let out a roar and I jumped on his back. "We should find the Stag. Maybe we can convince him to stop."
Squeaky transformed and Allie hopped onto her back. Gabe climbed on as well, and Kimora joined me on Bob. With a single beat of his wings, Bob took to the skies. Scanning across the battle field, we searched for the titan.
It was fairly easy to find him up there, mostly because he towered over all of the other creatures. I watched in horror as he simply walked across the field, and every enemy creature just dropped around him.
"He's sapping their mana!" Kimora gasped.
Suddenly, we heard the trumpet of Shouter and turned to see him charging at the Stag. Both of us yelled for him to stop, and Bob dived for him, but it was to late.
As soon as Shouter was close enough, he staggered, and fell to the ground. Completely drained of mana.