CHAPTER NINE

"Dad why won't you tell me what you're looking for?" Crystal rested her arms on her knees as she sat, perched on the top step of the basement stairs. She watched as her father picked up a manila folder and started to flip through it, seeming to ignore her. "I can help!" She adjusted the light blue head-band that was holding her hair back out of her face. "If you and Core don't really have any ideas, maybe I can think of something."

Her mouth twisted to the side as she watched her father put down the manila folder and move to another part of the basement. Core was the only one that had slowed down, seeming to mull over her offer.

"Maybe Aaron can help too," Crystal added. "We know that there's something different about him, even though he's not an Elemental, he can usually do something like this." She let out a huff, her hair blowing off of her forehead before gently floating back down as she continued not to get a response. "Do you want me to get Zack and Cody?"

"No," Christian said slowly. "It's best if we leave them out of it for now."

"He speaks," Crystal tossed her hands up into the air before walking all the way down the steps and across the room, stopping at her father. She crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking his stance, and leaned towards him, tilting her head so she could see directly into his face. "What's going on, Dad?"

Christian managed a small smile. "I should have listened to your mother. Kristin always said that you were going to get her determination."

Crystal smiled. "What did you think it was?"

"My big mouth."

"Actually," Core spoke up, sitting down in one of the large office chairs that were in the room. "I would give Reed that one."

Christian smiled and nodded before turning back to his daughter. "Listen, Crys, what I'm looking for, right now isn't the time for me to tell you guys. I wouldn't even tell Zack and Cody, no matter if it did or didn't directly deal with them." Crystal nodded slowly; she understood that there were some things that her father would tell them on his own time in his own terms. It was frustrating at times though, she had a laptop that he had filled with all of the research that he, Reed, and Core had done years ago, but everything new that he found out, he would wait a bit before telling them.

"What I can tell you is that if we don't find it soon, we're screwed." He said, looking directly into her eyes so she knew that what he was saying was serious. "Like, even worse than the news having footage of you guys."

"Like," Crystal thought for a moment, not sure if she wanted to say the words out loud. "Having to go on the run…again?"

"If the time comes, yes." Christian replied.

Crystal nodded, looking at her feet. "I understand, Daddy." She said and then dropped her arms, placing her hands on her hips. "I just hope that it doesn't come to that." She reached out and gave him a hug before walking back up the stairs. She noticed Zack sitting in the living room, stretched out on the couch, a book on his lap; he looked like he was asleep. Crystal smiled to herself and quietly walked over before slapping her hands on the back of the couch.

Zack jerked, shooting his head up and tilted his chin so he could look down at the book again. Crystal could see his ears turning red, knowing that he was caught.

"There's a reason why you have the guardian that's a tiger, Crys." Zack commented as he made room for her on the couch.

Crystal merely shrugged in reply as she moved a pillow to her lap, curling her legs up underneath her. "What's bothering you?" She asked before leaning over to look at the book. "Homework?" Zack nodded and closed the book, tossing it aside. "What's wrong?" she asked, after studying him for a moment.

"I was thinking about quitting school." Zack replied after a moment. He moved his hair from his face. "It doesn't even seem to be worth it anymore. Not after everything that's been going on." He shrugged. "Besides, I wouldn't have time to do it if things ended up getting worse." He sighed, tilting his head back again. "But Cody would kill me."

"Who cares what he thinks?"

"That's a nice way to put it," Tapeworm commented as he and Bailey walked into the room. Crystal raised an eyebrow at him and he raised a hand, showing that he was holding onto a key. He sat down on the couch across the room from them. "But I can see where she's coming from." He sat down and crossed his legs. "In the long run, you have to stop thinking about what Cody or your mom and dad think and make a decision on your own. I mean," he shrugged. "You did a great job with it when we were fighting."

Zack gave a hint of a smile.

"But Zack, leaving school," Bailey sighed, looking down at her hands. "It's a tough decision to make. It might be the wrong one." She seemed to be talking to herself more than the others. She bit her lower lip and studied her hands, gently closing them into fists before opening them.

"Whatever." Zack grunted, resting his arms behind his head. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Everyone's attention turned to the front door as it was flung open and suddenly slammed shut. They watched as Cody raced into the living room, dropping his yoga mat to the ground. He was gasping for air, trying to say something at the same time. They watched as Cody slowly regained control of his breathing. He took a few deep breaths and then stood up straight, moving his hair out of his face.

"Dude," Zack commented. "You're sweating."

Cody turned and glared at Zack, who merely raised his hands in reply. Cody took a gulp of air, waiting a second before speaking. "The prophecy didn't come true." He said. The others exchanged glances and he rushed to explain. "The battle that we had with Gattaca, it was too easy. The prophecy talked about one with eyes as red as fire and one with eyes as blue as the ocean. No one's eyes are red." He wiped sweat off of his forehead, placing his hands on his hips. "What If the first part of the whole thing was to restore Gattaca? What if there's something higher than Geneva and Gattaca and that it's taking control of our guardians when they try to come back to us. Maybe," he turned to Zack. "Maybe that's why Blazen and Phantom haven't come back."

"If that were the case," Crystal spoke up. "How would that explain Dricer not coming back?"

"I don't know." Cody replied shortly. He could easily detect the annoyance in her voice, even though she tried to hide it.

"Just asking," Crystal shrugged. "It seems like you everything. Or at least act like it."

"Crys," Cody turned to her, annoyed. "Your passive-aggressiveness isn't needed right now."

Bailey kept her mouth shut. She looked over at Zack and Tapeworm and they seemed to have decided the same thing, as they seemed to be busy looking anywhere else but at her. She could feel the tension in the room rise; everyone knew what it was about. It just made her feel even more out of place with them than she already did. It was bad enough that she had to deal with Geneva's and Gattaca's powers and now know how she was able to use both of their powers or why, it was hard having to try and become friends with people who had been together for almost their whole lives, it was hard trying to help with the whole elemental deal when she wasn't one herself.

It was just hard.

Crystal's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to reply, but stopped suddenly as Tapeworm stiffened on his seat beside Bailey. Bailey's eyes flashed over to him and she watched as his head lowered and his eyes started to shift back and forth. She recognized that look; it was the look that they had gotten whenever Koto or any of the other guys at WingzCorp came around. But they were gone now, Bailey's nose wrinkled as she thought about it. So what could be causing him discomfort that time?"

"Talk to us, Tape," Zack said, quickly reverting into what Cody called his 'leader-mode'. Even when he didn't have his own powers, his natural leader instinct didn't go away. "What's going on?"

"It's…hard to explain…" Tapeworm said slowly. "I just have a familiar feeling."

"What are you feeling?" Bailey prompted him. "Tell us, we'll be able to help you if we know what's going on." She moved her hands to her arms as a cold draft suddenly filled the room. She ignored it the best that she could, watching Tapeworm's face, but soon she couldn't stop herself from shivering, her teeth starting to chatter. It was cold. Only Zack and Crystal didn't seem to be affected by it, they just sat on the couch, looking at their friends with odd expressions, watching as they shivered.

"Crys!" Aaron came running into the room, immediately finding his sister. "Something's up!" He cried.

"No, really?" Zack asked, motioning to his twin. He got up and placed a hand on his brother's arm as he continued to shiver pathetically. "You're freezing, dude!" Once again, Cody slowly turned his eyes to Zack in a glare.

"Hey," Christian and Core appeared at the top of the stairs, shivering as well. "What's going on?" Christian hurried to his daughter as well. "You're not cold?" He asked.

Crystal shook her head.

Core moved to Crystal's side, looking hard at her. "What was it like when you awakened?" He asked her.

She immediately got the connection and turned to Zack. "You're not cold either," she said slowly. "Do you think that you could be getting Blazen back?" She didn't want to get his hopes up, just in case. Things weren't going as well as they had hoped lately, and things could easily go one way or another with them. "I think that, like with Tape, Dricer may be coming back to me. I have a feeling though, that he may be controlled as well."

"W-w-w-where d-d-do you th-th-th-think he i-i-i-i-is?" Bailey asked, her jaw starting to ache from how badly she was shivering.

Crystal closed her eyes, thinking about it as hard as she could. She focused, trying to align herself with her guardian, trying to feel what he was feeling, see what he was seeing. Trying to get in tune with his thoughts and experiences.

"The Tipton." She finally replied.

"G-G-G-Great." Cody held his arms close to his body. He started to jump up and down, trying to bring heat back to his body. "E-E-E-Even with-th-th-thout a lot of p-people living there n-n-now, there are cameras everywh-wh-wh-where." He grumbled.

"Not unless you know how to break into a camera system," Zack replied with a mischievous smile.

"Zack, how am I not surprised that you know how to do this?" Bailey asked as she watched Zack stand at the main system for the cameras in the Tipton, a screwdriver in his mouth and one in his hand.

Zack spit the screwdriver into his free hand. "All of the times that I would sneak down into the game room and play a game for free, Mr. Moseby started to catch on," he explained, twisting the screwdriver in the console. "So, I went to the library and learned how to hack into a camera system." He paused, turning to Bailey. "Just don't tell Cody that I know how to do this, he would to lecture me on morals and all that crap."

Bailey giggled. "Got it." She agreed.

"Ok," Zack jumped down from the small ledge and tossed the screwdrivers into the base of a potted plant. He went over to the door and stuck his head out, looking around the lobby of the Tipton hotel. Esteban was probably still delivering some bags, as the front desk was still clear. He waved Bailey over and the two quietly left the office, closing the door behind them. "It's only a matter of time until Esteban or any of the Security goes back there and sees that the monitors are down. So we don't have much time."

The two hurried across the lobby and into the elevator. Zack jabbed the elevator call button and when it arrived, the two got inside. Almost as soon as the doors closed and the elevator started it ascent to the 23rd floor, Zack felt his eyes closing. Once again, he felt very hot and started to sweat. But in less time than before, he felt at home in it again. Zack knew that Blazen was closer to him that time.

"Zack?" From far away, he could hear Bailey's voice calling to him. Steam filled the elevator and Bailey's voice became tinged with fear. "Zack?"

Zack looked ahead of him, a red glow started to appear and before he knew it, Blazen was floating in front of him, his wings slowly moving up and down. The two looked at each other and Zack could see that…Blazen wasn't completely there. He seemed to be flickering, like the snow that you would get on a TV channel that you didn't have the signal for. Blazen flashed in and out of focus repeatedly, but Zack could still hear him speaking.

"Zack, I don't have much time to say this," Blazen said, sounding as if he was trying hard to keep his appearance. "Cody's suspicions about the prophecy, he was right. It hasn't been fulfilled. Something else is going on."

"Blazen," Zack reached out to touch him, but his hand moved right through his body. He felt warmth on his hand where it went through him. "Do you know who it is? Who's controlling you? Is he keeping you from talking to me?"

"Yes…a lot of…control….can't break it…" Blazen's words started to become choppy.

Bailey watched, her eyes widened. It was times like these she wished she continued to keep her notepad and pencil with her, so she could jot down exactly what she was watching. But she was smart, she had a near photographic memory. Besides, she reasoned, it wasn't like she was going to forget this anytime soon.

"Things will become clear to you soon."

Thanks Geneva, Bailey tried not to let her frustration show in her face. She didn't want to take Zack out of his moment with his guardian.

"Blazen," Zack noticed his guardian started to disappear. His outline the only thing left before it gradually disappeared. His arm fell to his side and he stared straight ahead, his eyes hollow. The elevator doors dinged open and Bailey put her arm around Zack, gently leading him off of the elevator.

"What happened?" Crystal immediately noticed his demeanor, concern evident in her eyes.

"I-I don't know," Zack replied, slowly coming back to his senses. He turned away. "I saw Blazen, but I couldn't get to him. He said that something actually is controlling the guardians."

"Then they must be fighting back," Cody realized. "If Ursa came back already and Dricer is trying to get here." He made a face. "Ugh, I wish Tape stayed, he'd be able to help us."

"No," Zack shook his head. "It's better if he stays back at the house, just in case whatever is controlling Dricer might try and take possession of Ursa again." He winced, as if not liking to boss Cody around, but Cody slowly nodded, seeing that his brother made sense. He turned to Crystal. "Do you feel anything?"

"Yes," Crystal nodded and then turned and started to walk down the hallway. "He's waiting for me up on the roof."

"The roof?" Bailey repeated under her breath. Yep, nothing can be easy with things like this. Something big must be up if he's appearing at the roof of the Tipton. Before it was in Tapeworm's house. Maybe they're coming back to the places that mean the most to their vessels."

"I'm pretty sure that Crystal didn't spend a lot of time on the roof of the Tipton, Bailey." Zack replied in a scoffing tone.

"I think she means the places they were at the most, because Crys and Rhu and the others were always at the Tipton hotel." Cody corrected his brother. "We were always hanging out there and that's where we went to talk when something went up. So it's symbolical, it makes sense."

The four then fell into silence as they continued to the top of the Tipton hotel. They weren't afraid of anyone being up there swimming in the rooftop pool. It was almost November; it would be too cold for anyone to want to stay up for there for too long. Crystal hesitated at the door before reaching out and pushing it open. As she did so, she ducked to the ground and rolled away as there was a loud roar.

Bailey jammed her hands over her ears, ducking to the ground with Zack and Cody, the three of them still in the doorway. She kept her eyes open and watched as Crystal fell into a fighting stance, a Chinese style stance that she recognized, and backed away as Dricer turned to her, his white-blue coat gleaming in the sun. Dricer started to stalk towards her, causing Crystal to back further away from the door.

Without thinking, Bailey rushed forward and grabbed an abandoned pool skimmer that was by the door. She twisted off the net and looked at the metal spike on the other end. She raised it above her head and rushed forward.

"Bailey, don't!" Zack and Cody called in unison, both diving forward to try and catch her. But she was too far out of their reach.

With his keen sense of hearing, Dricer turned towards Bailey, just in time to watch Bailey swing the pool skimmer, catching Dricer across the shoulder. His roar of pain and fury blocked out Crystal's cry of pain. She moved her hand to her left shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as a gash appeared, dripping blood down her arm and onto the ground. Dricer raised a paw, ready to hit Bailey with it, but Crystal ran forward, grabbing his attention again. He turned and hit her with his paw, the blow knocking her off of her feet and causing her to crash onto a pool chair.

"Bailey, come on!" Cody waved her over. As soon as she was by her side, he grabbed onto her arm forcefully. "If you hurt a guardian, you hurt their master as well."

She heard a cry of pain and hurried out of the office to see Tapeworm on his back, holding Ursa's jaws away from his face, his arms shaking from the effort. Ursa was snarling and swiping his claws at his Master. One of his claws had managed to hit Tapeworm on the side, sending blood splattering on the wall.

"I could use some help here," he grunted, spotting her out of the corner of his eye.

"I didn't know," she stammered, shaking her head. "I didn't see Ursa hit Tape before." But she did know that, she had it in her notes. She shook her head frantically. This wasn't good. She was starting to forget things in the heat of a battle. She wasn't acting like she normally would. It was more than disconcerting, it was scary.

"We can't do anything but wait and watch, not unless she asks for help." Zack said breathlessly. He was starting to sweat over the situation.

The three watched as Crystal slowly pushed herself up from the pool chair and getting to her feet, falling into a fighting stance once more. She waited for Dricer to take another job at her and she jumped up, significantly shorter than she could before, and drove her foot into the area right above his paw. When she landed on the ground, she stumbled back and hobbled onto her right foot before kneeling down to her left. Dricer managed to send another swipe towards her, and she brought her arms up to block, her forearms getting slashed.

Her face turned pale as a sheet and she started to back away, blood lightly splattering on the ground as she moved away from him. The two went back and forth for a while, every hit that Crystal would put on Dricer would cause him pain, but it would cause her even greater pain. Soon she was almost swaying on her feet, but the others could tell she wasn't going to give up anytime soon. It wasn't in her nature.

Crystal gritted her teeth and held her right hand up in the air. All of a sudden, her bow and quiver appeared in her hands. It glowed light blue, the light getting brighter and brighter as she pulled her arm back, it gaining power as she pulled her arm back.

She let out a cry of effort as she let go of the arrow, it shot forward and landed right in the middle of Dricer's right shoulder. As he roared again, he sounded sad, not angry.

"She's getting some of her power back," Zack noted. "Or else she wouldn't have been able to call her weapon." He licked his lips. "There must be something we can do." All of a sudden, the four of them could hear a whirring sound.

Like blades slicing through the air.

Instinctively, they all looked up and saw a helicopter heading their way.

"Yeah, we got to get her to use her full powers," Zack said, starting to sweat all over again. "And fast."

Cody thought quickly. What could he do? Their powers always seemed to stem from desperation of trying to help someone or something. It was desperation to save people. What could they use here to get her desperate to use her powers again? He had an idea, but he was sure that it was going to result in him being punched in the stomach later on. It was the only thing that he could do though; the only thing that he knew would push her buttons.

"So," he called loudly towards Crystal. Her eyes moved over to him. "What would your mom think if she saw you like this? She knew about elementals, I'm sure she fought a few in her day. I bet she would think that you were weak."

Crystal's arms dropped and she looked hard at him before dodging Dricer's blow. She jumped onto the edge of the pool and then jumped backwards as Dricer leapt towards her again. When his paws hit the water, he hissed and backed up quickly.

"Then again, she could be proud. Before she met your Dad I bet she acted like you did." Cody tried one last thing that he thought would probably break her. "I think she must have been pretty cold. Kind of like you."

"Thanks." Crystal said shortly. She gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing as she took a step back, allowing Dricer to stalk towards her. She wasn't going to be his mouse, even if she didn't have her powers anymore, even if she was fighting against her guardian, she was going to use every natural instinct that she remembered. "But flattery will get you nowhere." Her hands shook with anger as Dricer approached her once more. She could see something glowing in the middle of his forehead. "I knew that you could be vindictive, Cody, but this is fucking ridiculous."

"See what I mean," Cody continued, ignoring Bailey's and Zack's confused glances. "I'll bet she was just like you. Cold and selfish."

Crystal turned and gritted her teeth as she reared back and smacked Dricer on the cheek as he leapt at her. As she had put her hand forward and it connected with her face, her fist had become encrusted in ice. The blow nearly knocked her off her feet as it reverberated back into her own body; it glowed a light blue. She could feel her strength returning, but unfortunately, it didn't move fast enough to keep her face from bruising.

Dricer let out a cross between a whimper and a roar as he fell heavily onto his side. Crystal rubbed her cheek as she shook out her hand, the ice falling off of her fist in flecks of slush. She turned to Cody and fixed him with a hard stare.

"You did that on purpose." She said evenly.

Cody shrugged. "It was just a theory."

"A theory that worked!" Bailey cried her eyes wide with excitement. She moved over to Crystal and grabbed onto her hand, her fingers sliding over the slush that was falling off of her hand. "Crystal, you were awesome!"

"Good job, Crys." Zack added with a nod. Crystal felt for him, she could see the disappointment in his eyes. It must have been hard to see Blazen again and still not be able to get to him.

"You got your powers back!" Bailey continued. "Although," her excited expression changed. "I don't really know how that happened. The laws of science don't make sense here, though I doubt it would as it compares to things about Elementals." She rubbed her chin. "Maybe anger has something to do with it." She mused out loud. "The manifestation of your anger turned to the energy to tap back into your powers."

"If that were the case, Riles would have gotten DalFang back by now." Crystal replied and pulled her hand out of Bailey's grasp. She hurried over to Dricer, who turned back to his small form from using up so much power, and cradled him in her arms. She then reached down into the grass and picked up an object. "I think this is what we're looking for." She announced, turning back around.

It looked to be in the shape of a teardrop, with a small circle on the inside. As she held onto it, the bright glow that it had emitted slowly went away. It looked like a regular gem in her hand, but they all knew that it wasn't just a gem. Things couldn't be that easy for them.

It never was.

"What is it?" Zack asked, squinting his eyes to get a better look at it. He didn't believe that something that tiny could cause their guardians to go out of control like that.

"Something to do some research on." Cody said grimly.

A/N: Chapters get longer after this one as well as there being more fight scenes. More questions will be answered and like in the last story, there will be looks into the past with Core, Christian, Ruriko, and Kristin. The story still focuses mainly on Bailey, though at this point it doesn't seem like it. I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles