A/N: It's been a long time, but I'm back. Sorry for the logn wait, but to make up for it, here's a long chapter! Also, I've started a forum to discuss this story, along with some sneak peeks of what's to come.

Thanks a lot to JustSoBored, Wyntirsno and Woundedhearts for betaing this for me. You guys are awesome!

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb'

The Climb, Miley Cyrus

Chapter 10: Take a Breath

February 8th 2010 9:15pm

Zack looked around, the sounds of the battle no longer filling the night sky. A million thoughts raced through his mind, concerning Trey, the injuries along his body, and the safety of the rest of the ship. However, amongst all this chaos, one thought pushed all others away. "Are all the monsters gone?" he asked.

"It would appear so," Altinia answered, not hearing any more of their growls.

"In that case," Zack said holding up a finger, as if to make an important point, "Wake me in the morning." The older twin then proceeded to collapse face first on the ground and began snoring loudly.

"Did he really fall asleep that quickly?" Moseby asked, almost forgetting that it was Zack he was talking about.

"He has the right idea," the younger twin said as he laid on the ground beside his brother as he too quickly fell asleep.

"I would have thought that Cody, would have at least made it to his bed," the manager noted.

"After all they've been through today, I'm surprised they held out that long," the ice elemental said. She bent down between the twins, lifted them, and placed them on her shoulders. "I'll carry them to their rooms." She wished she could have gotten there earlier to help them so they didn't have to suffer so much. They were so young, but because of Hakalahs, they were forced to fight for their lives. "Where is their room?" she asked, feeling a tear crawl down her cheek at the tragedy.

"Zack's room is 2330 which is down two flights of stairs on the right."

"Thank you," she said before heading for the stairs with the twins resting on her shoulders.

A heavy silence fell upon the others. London gazed around the ship, noticing the many dead monsters littering the deck. This was all so overwhelming to her, one minute she was painting her nails, and the next, she was in a fight for her life. None of this seemed real. "Daddy's not going to like what they did to his ship," she said trying to lighten the mood.

"I think we might have more important things to worry about here," Bailey said.

"Yeah, we should try helping those still alive," Moseby declared and the three of them went searching through the ship to see if there was anything they could do after this brutal attack.

"Peter, I need you to get down to room 2330 as soon as possible," Altinia told the person on the other end of the phone once she had laid the twins in the beds in the room. She also made a mental note to have someone replace the door that she had knocked down to get the twins in there. In her haste, she hadn't thought about the fact it might be locked, but a blast of ice quickly took care of that obstacle.

"There are a lot of other wounded around the ship too that I need to take care of," Peter replied.

"What about Adian?"

"Well, we brought Aaron and Heather here so all the wounded are in one place, but he's still healing them."

"They were hurt in the battle with David?" In the chaos of her battle, she had nearly forgotten about the danger the other elementals were in.

"Yeah, both of them were wounded horribly. If Heather hadn't sent a distress call out when she did, they would both be dead now."

Altinia took a long breath. She had hoped that they would have been able to reach the orbs before Hakalahs was able to, but his armies had moved faster than she planned. "Make sure they are going to be okay first. The twins up here aren't in any immediate danger."

February 9th 2:37AM

"What's going on?" Cody asked groggily. He was still half-asleep, but he could feel something strange going on in his arm, as if someone was reaching into it and rearranging the pieces.

"I'm trying to put your arm back together after those creatures tore it to shreds."

Cody tried leaning up in his bed to get a better look. Someone he didn't know was leaning over him with his hands hovering about the younger twin's arm. A faint blue light emanated from his hands. In the faint light, he noticed that the stranger had sandy blond hair and deep ocean-blue eyes "What are you doing?" Cody asked. He recognized the blue light as being the same energy the dimensional used to battle with. Having a stranger with that kind of power so near him filled him with dread.

"I'm healing your arm. I recommend not moving it otherwise I might have to amputate," the stranger said with a smile.

Cody thought this person was joking, but decided it wouldn't be worthwhile to move his arm and test that theory. "So who are you anyway?"

"My name is Peter. Altinia had my brother and me come to help heal all the injured here. You're a dimensional, aren't you?"

Cody nodded, still trying to understand what was going on and how this person was able to heal him.

"That was quite impressive with how you were able to heal your own arm during the battle," Peter said as he lifted his hand allowing the blue light to fade. "I was able to finish restoring it to normal, so the pain should be completely gone in a couple hours."

"Thanks"

"Just don't use your powers for a day or so or it could cause some bizarre side effects."

"Like what?" Cody asked. He really wanted to learn more about his powers and it seemed like this person could have the answers.

"Well, the worst case scenario is that your entire arm gets trapped in another dimension." This caused Cody's eyes to widen. "I'll tell you more about it in the morning though," Peter said as he turned off the lights and left the room.

Malibu California, February 9th12:48 PM

The Malibu museum of Native American history was crowed that day, many students enjoying the various displays of the past. Hakalahs merely laughed to himself at how foolish these mortals were. So close to them was one of the most powerful artifacts in the world and they thought it was only a simple yellow orb; soon though, he would show them the extent of its power.

Letting his instincts guide him, he followed the various students, not wanting to attract too much attention, at least not yet. Even though he knew no one here could stop him, it wasn't time to strike. Once he had the orb in his possession, then he'd show these mortals his power.

Finally, the group rounded the corner, and Hakalahs' eyes locked upon the glass container in the middle of the room. A wild smile came across his face, as he looked around, holding back a laugh. Those fools had no idea that their lives would be over in a matter of minutes.

Hakalahs walked over the container, pulled his fist back, punched through the glass and grabbed the orb. A number of sirens went off and security quickly rushed over to the scene.

The dozen security guards quickly surrounded him, various weapons pointed at him. "Pathetic," he scoffed before lifting his palm out with lightning coursing between his fingers.

"Put the orb back, and put your hands in the air," one of the guards ordered, his tazer pointed at Hakalahs.

"An ancient like me has no need to take orders from mere mortals." He sent several bursts of lightning from his palm, killing the guards before they could even fire their weapons. The other people began fleeing as fast as they could, a wise decision, but it was far too late. Hakalahs formed several balls of fire in his hand and sent them down the various hallways, incarcerating anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way.

"Miley, no!" a high-pitched voice called from one of the hallways. Hakalahs was impressed that someone could survive his attack, but after firing another blaze, he knew there wouldn't be any survivors left.

He went through the building, blowing away any walls in his way until he finally reached the entrance. Once outside, he looked behind him and launched one more fireball at the museum, turning it into nothing but a smoldering pile of ash.

SS Tipton, February 9th 9:33 AM

"No, not the sponge, anything but the sponge."

"Zack, wake up," Cody said as he gently shook his brother.

The older twin's eyes flew open as they tried to make sense of the normal surroundings. "So that was only a dream," he mumbled.

"A nightmare?" Cody could see how the previous night's events could affect Zack.

"Not really," Zack said shrugging his shoulders as he climbed out of bed, "It was just really strange. The dream started off with me just swinging in the park, the sky was blue, and the grass was green like it should be, except there were baboons everywhere, but that didn't seem too strange, at least not at the time. Then out of nowhere, a heard of samurai cows charged at me. I was scared so I jumped in Hele, but all the controls had been replaced with cheeseburgers. I got out and just as they were about to kill me, it started raining waffles which drowned the cows. That's when you woke me up."

"Why were you mumbling about sponges then?" Cody asked, hoping that his brother's dream wasn't foreshadowing anything.

"I have no idea."

"You didn't have anything strange to eat last night, did you?"

"No, I ate dinner before going to meet Blanket, and then after that those monsters attacked, falling asleep on the sky deck is the last thing I remember."

"Maybe some side effects from all the fighting?" Cody suggested knowing that his brother's mind worked in strange ways sometimes.

Suddenly, a ferocious growl filled the room. "That explains it. I didn't get my midnight snack so I'm starving," he said as he looked down at his stomach.

"Let's go find some food then," Cody said, laughing at his brother's strange dreams. He never thought that going just 15 hours without food could cause those kinds of nightmares, but with Zack, he never knew what to expect.

As he went to the door, he glanced down to discover dried blood covering his clothes. His sleeve had a giant hole in it from the monster taking the bite out of his arm. "I think I should change my clothes first." If there was one thing that Cody hated, it was being covered in filth when he didn't have to be.

"Why? You've never looked better," the older twin said sarcastically.

Cody went across the hall into his room, surprised that Woody wasn't there but dismissed it as his roommate already eating or in the game room. He tossed his old clothes in the trash, knowing it would take far too long to get all the stains out and sew the holes back together. After putting on some neatly pressed clothes from his closet, he went out to meet his brother.

They walked through the ship, aghast at the horrors filling every corridor. What was a simple cruise ship a day ago had now been turned into a hospital at sea. The stench of the battle filled the air making sure no one forgot what happened the night before. The game room had been turned into an infirmary with anyone who knew anything about medicine trying to help those they could. The classroom had been converted into a morgue to hold those not lucky enough to survive.

"This is horrible," Zack said as they saw a pile of mangled body parts lying outside the hot tub once they reached the sky deck.

The ship's cleaning crews had started removing remnants of the battle, but making the ship look good wasn't high on their priority list.

"Cody, you're okay!" Bailey yelled running at him and throwing her arms around him.

"Watch my arm," he said softly returning the hug before pulling away.

"Oh, sorry" she said softl.

"Well, while you two catch up, I'm going to see what they still have to eat," Zack said as he walked into the student cafeteria.

"You hear about what's going on?" Bailey asked.

Cody shook his head. "Zack and I just woke up."

"Well Moseby said they've basically cancelled all the recreation on the ship and instead are just trying to keep the injured alive. He's called a meeting in the theater for all the passengers to attend at one today to give us the full details. That lady, Altinia I think it was, told me that she wanted to meet all those who fought off the monsters after the meeting."

"That makes sense, we're still three days away from England so they could attack again," Cody said.

"I hope not," she replied softly.

"You okay Bailey?"

"Yeah, it's just weird getting used to all these people and actually being free from him. Ryo had me down there for a month. I'm so scared he might come back for me." Tears started to build in Bailey's eyes.

Cody knew he had to do something; he hated seeing such a beautiful girl in so much pain. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "Bailey, he won't do anything to you ever again. I promise."

Looking up into his eyes, she knew he was being serious. It had been so long since she felt so safe, so secure. She wasn't afraid at all and she knew Cody would protect her if anything else happened.

"Thank you," she calmly said.

After piling his plate full with bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, toast, more bacon, cereal, a cinnamon roll, hash browns, and even more bacon, Zack decided he should sit down before he dropped it all on the floor. Finding an empty table, he set his plate down and waited for Cody and Bailey to get there.

"Hey Zack, mind if I sit here?" he heard a stranger say.

"Sure," he said shrugging his shoulders.

As the teen sat down beside him, Zack tried remembering his name. After a month of school, he thought he had remembered everyone's names, but this person still eluded him. That left only one possibility. "You here on vacation?" Zack asked.

"Nah, I actually came here with Altinia. My name's Adian. Last night while you were sleeping I was able to heal those slashes across your back."

"Oh, thanks. I had completely forgotten about that. So you're a dimensional too then," Zack said remembering how Cody could also heal injuries with his power over time.

"Yeah, both my brother and I are. Altinia had us come when she saw how many people were hurt. I'm really exhausted after healing so many though. I feel like I could fall asleep any second.

"Is that why you put ice-cream on hash browns?" Zack said pointing at his new friend's strange food.

"Actually it's really good, you should try it sometime," Adian said as he took a bite out of it and seemed to enjoy it.

"I'll have to do that later," Zack replied, always up for strange edible combinations.

1:00pm

The many guests of the ship who were still healthy enough to travel were packed into the theater to hear the full results of the battle the night before. Moseby hated to have to give the bad news of the many deaths, but he knew it was his responsibility. He hated it even more that several of those who had fallen were some of his good friends, he was mentally a wreck, but had to stay strong for the others.

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming," he said. "We all experienced a horrible tragedy yesterday. Many of our friends and loved have either perished or were gravely wounded during the attacks. Currently 64 people have died, but that number may rise. There were also another 306 injured to various degrees. While I did not know all of those who died, several of my dear friends perished. Among these were the ship's counselor Mr. Justin Blanket, the ship's captain, Alfred Montague, along with several students including Woody Fink and Holden Larose.

"It could have been worse though. I don't understand all the details, but there were those on the ship who were gifted with the power to fight off the beasts. This combined with the ship's helicopter pilot revealing that it was armed with military grade weaponry which allowed us to fend off the attack. In addition, Altinia came to aid us in battling the monsters and defeating their leader. She also brought two people with her who have the power to heal, so they have been tending to the wounded. Once we are close enough to England, we will begin bringing doctors aboard via helicopter to help the wounded, and a large medical staff is waiting for our arrival.

"Even so, we are still three days from our destination in England, and it's possible the monsters will attack again. If that happens, Altinia and those she brought with her will be our first line of defense. Don't panic, we have guards posted around the ship looking for anything suspicious, so if anything else happens, we will be ready.

"Moving on to the rest of your vacation, we have suspended most of the recreational activities on the ship due to this disaster. Our restaurants will still be open for business as usual and we will still be showing movies in here tonight. As for monetary reimbursement, we will let you know at a later date. I'm sure you understand that money is far from the top of our priority list."

Moseby stepped down from the podium, thankful he managed to stay composed for so long. He then went to his office to meet with those who helped free the ship from the monsters. He wanted answers as to why so many had died that day.

With the manager gone, various discussions filled the room. Many broke down in tears, remembering the loved ones who tragically perished less than a day ago. Those not directly affected by the tragedy did what they could to comfort those in pain. One thing was for sure for everyone on the ship, that day changed their lives forever.

1:30pm

After making his announcement to the ship, Moseby sat in his office with the those aboard the ship who were in the recent battles. There were the twins, Altinia, London, Bailey, Adian, Peter, along with Aaron and Heather. "Altinia, how much do you know about what is going on?" the manager asked.

"Not as much as I would like," she stated, "Perhaps telling you who I am would reveal the most. As you have seen I am an ice elemental; I was sealed along with Hakalahs by the power of the dimensional orbs many centuries ago. Hakalahs was the one behind this attack and various others."

"Yeah, David and his monsters nearly killed us in the desert," Heather said, "If it weren't for me calling Adian at the last minute, we'd probably both be dead."

The name David stood out to both the twins. After what they learned from Trey, it didn't come as too much of a surprise that David was also an enemy.

"Where else did they attack?" Cody asked pushing thoughts of David away for now; he'd make sure to ask later though.

"It seems that Hakalahs sent his generals out in three different directions to get the orbs," Peter stated, "Ryo led the assault here, David led the assault in the desert and a dark elemental named Sharale led the attack in a small country called Linchtenstamp. It appears they obtained the orbs of earth and wind without too much difficulty."

"And we have the orb of fire here," Altinia asked, as London was trying but failing to keep up with all this information. "So that leaves the orb of lightning and water. Do you know anything about them?"

Adian shook his head. "We found out that Hakalahs sent a small team of monsters to a beach to get the orb of water but we don't know where it is or if they were successful. As for the orb of lightning, we still don't know anything about that."

"What are these orbs anyway?" Zack asked.

"They give whoever has them control over one of the elements," Altinia said, "They were originally crafted by master elementals to give humans a fighting chance during the last great war of the ancients."

"The what?" Zack asked.

"It's a long story, but the final battle of the war is when Hakalahs and I were sealed. He was too strong to kill, but I was able to hold him in place long enough for the orb of reality to seal him."

"Then I released him," Zack said softly. It was starting to make sense to him. Trey had tricked him into using the orb to bring his brother back to life, which at the same time released Hakalahs from his prison.

"So you were the one who did it," Altinia said. Unlike what Zack thought though, she didn't seem angry.

"Yeah, Trey told me I could use it to bring Cody back to life. Apparently it was all a trick."

"Wait if Trey was the one who had to you do that," Altinia paused for a second, it seemed impossible, but it was the only thing that made sense. "He's betrayed us."

"Yeah, I figured that out when he told us that yesterday," Zack said with hatred filling his voice. He hated that he and his brother were just strung along like that, and that they were too foolish to stop it.

"I don't think that will be the last move Hakalahs will make though, he's getting ready for something big," Altinia said.

"But what is the question," Moseby added.

"It likely has something to do with those dragons that flew over the ship," Altinia stated. "Dragons are powerful creatures, they don't naturally exist in this world. The fact that they are here is a signal for something."

"Do you know what direction they were heading?" Cody asked.

"All I can tell you is that when I took the jet-ski from Plymouth England they were flying directly past me."

At this, the younger twin began thinking; he pulled a world map out of the cabinet behind Moseby and began plotting the points on the map. "If you said that you were coming from Plymouth and with the ship here," he said connecting the dots and seeing where the line went. "If they keep going on that path, they will head straight for London."

"Huh?" the heiress asked.

"Not you, the city," Zack said.

"Oh okay," she said, going back to being confused.

"If we're right, then we better alert the British military," Moseby said, "They won't have much time to mount a defense."

"In that case, can I ask you something?" Altinia said looking to the various teens who nodded in response. "We have been given incredible powers, so would you be willing to fight alongside the military here to stop Hakalahs?"

A heavy silence fell over the group. They had all been involved in battles before, but nothing like a full-scale military battle. After all, they were still kids, war was something meant for grownups. However, Zack was the first to respond.

"After seeing what they did here, I can't let them hurt anyone else. Besides, I love 'Call of Duty,' so this will just be like that," he said with a laugh.

"I have to agree with my brother. Something terrible is going to happen, and we have the power to stop it, so I'm in."

"I've always wanted to be a hero," Aaron said, "Cody's right too, we have the power to make a difference, so it would be a waste not to do something."

"And I can't just let my brother run off by himself, after all who will keep him from doing something idiotic like killing himself?"

"What about you London?" Zack asked.

"Um, no offence, but I'd rather not have to fight any more of those hideous monsters. It'll take me weeks to get their gross blood out from under my finger nails," the heiress stated.

"Come on London, you were given that orb for a reason, you have to use its power for good," Bailey said.

"How about you take it instead?" London said removing the necklace and shoving it in the farm girl's hand.

"After what Ryo did to me, I'd love to give him a few flaming kicks down low," Bailey said.

"Very well then, you are the new wielder of the orb of fire," Altinia announced, "We may be of different elements, but I can still teach you the basics of how to use it.

"Guys look!" Peter said pointing to the muted TV above Moseby's chair. On the screen, they showed a vast city with several buildings destroyed. It also showed a person with black wings that looked shockingly similar to Mosby's, causing everyone to look at him.

"That's impossible," Moseby stated, "A sole Nightwing would never strike another world like that."

Altinia studied the scene for a moment until the identity of the Nightwing became clear. "That's Hakalahs!"

Malibu California 1:05pm

Hakalahs made his way out into the streets while the museum and its occupants burned behind him. He had hoped for a little more fun with the guards, but he wasn't surprised that's all the power humans could muster.

"That's as far as you go," a voice called out. Hakalahs saw before him a man who had a sword drawn.

"And just who might you be?" Hakalahs asked, amused that someone could be so confident after what they just saw.

"My name is Christopher, but those lucky enough to live after meeting me call me 'The Hurricane.'"

Hakalahs was amused at how brave this enemy was; most mortals would flee in terror. He decided it would be best to have a little bit if fun with this one. "I'll tell you what," Hakalahs said with a slight chuckle, "I'll give you the first strike." A sword appeared in his hand as he waited for his opponent to make his move.

"You seem awfully calm for someone who just committed suicide," Chris said before charging at Hakalahs.

The ancient wasn't sure exactly how strong this foe would be, so he began tapping into his powers to accelerate his body, that way if he had underestimated his foe he'd still have the advantage. He eyes locked onto the swordsman's movements, until Chris vanished from in front of him. Panicked, Hakalahs accelerated his body to its limits instantly seeing the danger. Even in this heightened state of awareness, he barely had time to block the blade that nearly chopped his head off.

Hakalahs tried to counter that strike, but Chris disappeared again. Looking around, the ancient saw a silver blur coming from behind him so he jumped back to dodge. He was too slow though, and the sword had already sliced a large gash in his arm.

"Impossible," Hakalahs whispered seeing the blood running down his sleeve. He knew this battle wouldn't be easy to win, so he jumped into the air and sprouted large black wings. He continued ascending until he was nearly twenty feet in the air, far enough away so that he'd be safe from this stranger's blade. Holding out his hand, he formed a mighty sphere of fire in his hand and launched it at the swordsman.

A second later, the fireball collided into the ground incinerating anything within its path. "Not bad, but not something I couldn't easily handle." Hakalahs turned to his side to see the source of the voice jumping off the side of the building and straight at him. Their swords clashed again, and Chris used the momentum to propel him further in the air where he slashed down at Hakalahs with enough force to send him careening into the ground.

With chunks of road flying through the air, Hakalahs looked up seeing the swordsman coming down after him, so he jumped back to avoid the incoming attack. Even after landing, Chris didn't let up his attack, charging at Hakalahs once again. The ancient still had a few tricks up his sleeve though.

Focusing on the earth below Chris' feet, he commanded several spheres of earth to launch up at the swordsman. Chris was unfazed though. He used his blade to slice through the pillars, and continued his attack flawlessly.

Hakalahs continued backing up trying to keep enough distance between them to strike. He knew that this swordsman could easily match his speed and far surpassed his ability with the blade, so he'd have to strike him from afar. Harnessing power from the orb of lighting he had recently acquired, he fired innumerable blasts of electricity at the swordsman.

Chris merely smiled though as he either dodged the many attacks or absorbed them with his blade. "That was quite foolish of you," Chris laughed, "Now the metal of my blade is coursing with your own lighting. Why don't you have a taste of it?" The swordsman swung his blade down, releasing the lightning from the sword and propelling it in a giant wave at Hakalahs.

The ancient was surprised by such an attack, but he wouldn't' allow his foe to see it. Instead, he held out his palms and deflected the lighting, sending it into two blasts to the sides of him, creating giant holes in any buildings unfortunate enough to be in his way. That's when he thought of a way to take down this annoying foe.

Hakalahs fired several more blasts of lighting at Chris, who just absorbed them with his blade again, just as he thought he would do. Harnessing both his own and the power of the orb, Hakalahs focused on the lighting coursing through his foe's blade. He then had it emerge from the metal, striking Chris with many bolts of lightning.

The swordsman dropped his blade, giving Hakalahs the opening he needed. The ancient charged at his foe, knocking Chris's blade away before he could counter attack. Hakalahs swung his blade forcing Chris to jump back, and then followed the attack with a wave of fire that not even the skilled swordsman could dodge.

Chris fell to the ground, the burns from both the fire and lightning filling his body with excruciating pain. He rolled out of the way of his foe's sword aimed at his heart, before jumping back to his feet. "You win this round," he admitted before he started running from his mighty foe.

Not willing to let his enemy just walk away like that, Hakalahs chased after him. The swordsman rounded a corner, but as the ancient turned to follow him, Chris vanished.

"Impossible," Hakalahs said, gazing around for any trace of his enemy. The only way someone could move that fast or disappear like that was a dimensional, but Hakalahs would have sensed the bending in the space-time continuum if that was the case. It was then that Hakalahs saw he would have a much harder fight on his hands than he originally thought. 'So, they've decided to get involved sooner than I thought. This could be interesting.'

A/N: So now you've seen what Hakalahs can do in battle, but who is this mysterious stranger that was able to match his power, at least for a time. Chris is based on my friend and fellow awesome author TheHurricane13, so go read his stories too, and as always, please review since reviews make me happy!