UNTOLD LEGACY

By Amariahellcat

Chapter Eleven: Eco Forms Revealed

A few days had passed since the banquet to celebrate Ryvan's rise in rank. Though to most everything was normal and routine had returned even to the people involved, a certain unease had settled heavily in the air around Spargus. The twins were restless. They knew their parents were as well, but Jak and Tera had had many more years then them to perfect their outer masks. Their mother busied herself with cooking and looking after the house and such, while Jak constantly worked at his gun, improving the already modified machine till he ran out of things to do to it.

It wasn't even just the fact that dark aura's could be felt near the coast line, nor Ryvan's odd behavior at his dinner, or anything else, really. More then anything, they itched to release the eco built up inside of them and take off, letting the energy work away. They couldn't help the build up, really. Neither twin could keep their bodies from naturally absorbing the energies from the world around them, it was just something that happened.

Under normal circumstances, that extra energy would have been worn out by their every day activities; at least once a day they would generally go for a run in their eco forms, also using small traces of the blue link from their mother to boost said forms along. Why hadn't they done so?

Because neither really wanted to see Lexa's reactions to their forms.

Though the girl herself gave off a faint red aura, neither Kari or Tai were sure if she herself even knew of it. She gave off no hint that she did; she'd been acting the same as any non-channeler since she'd arrived in Spargus. And if this was true, either the forms or the eco itself would probably scare the little red head. Kari, unused to having any other women around asides from her mom and Talia, didn't want to lose the one girl she'd started to consider a friend over something so… dumb. Tai wasn't sure why he didn't want to scare the red headed girl off; she was loud, at times annoying and obnoxious, she couldn't drive a zoomer or leaper to save her life, and she had no other skills that he was aware of. Yet despite all that, a life without her around now seemed… empty. To quiet, even.

As it was, the two Mar kids were wandering aimlessly around Spargus with the red head in front of them, rambling on yet again about the differences between the desert city and her home town of Kras. With all the things she talked about, they had to wonder why she'd left the racing capital in the first place…

"You should see the races sometime," she exclaimed, still walking ahead of them; a feet she only managed by walking twice as fast as the twins, "They're amazing!"

Bored, jumpy, and just plain curious, Kari lifted an eyebrow at the statement, "If you liked Kras so much, why did you leave?"

Lexa fell silent, looking ahead. Kari blinked, confused. Had she said something wrong…?

"My Mother died when I was younger," Lexa finally voiced, startling the twins, "After that, my father became… reaaaaly overprotective. Like, wouldn't let me out of the garage or house overprotective. It was a pain. Plus… there're parts of me that Kras just wouldn't accept," the girl shook her head, forcing a smile back onto her face, "So here I am! And I don't plan on going back anytime soon."

"I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Kari commented softly. The red head simply waved back at her.

"Don't worry about it, Kar! I'm tough, I can handle it!"

"So it seems," Tai's voice had gone quieter; so quiet it was hard for even Kari to pick up on what he was saying. The girl noticed her twins eyes focused on something ahead of them, "Sense that?"

Having not been paying attention, the girl cleared her mind. The aura was easy to pick up once she paid attention; hell, she was amazed it hadn't broken through to her as it was. The old gun pod stood ahead of them, tall against the coast line, a single turret against the ocean. Now, the tall point was surrounded by an aura of eco, an aura that shouldn't have been there under any circumstances.

Sharp eyes caught movement, widening in shock, "Tai, that's a-!"

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Lexa screeched, nearly flying backwards into Tai. The red head had spotted the same thing, and had now alerted the few wastelanders standing nearby of what was there. Standing now, looming over the turret, was a black creature sparking with dark eco, an evil looking thing that the twins had only heard tales of from their parents.

"DARK MAKERS!" the cry rang out from one of the wastelanders as more appeared, a sudden swarm of them coming down to the main area of the beach. Some were taken care of by the Spargans, but it wasn't them the creatures were after. The twins could see it clearly; the dark beings were headed straight for them.

"Lexa, get back!" Tai shoved the red head back, morph gun already drawn and switched to the peace maker. Kari had likewise pulled her own weapon out, the two firing off several shots. The stinging electric energy zapped a good majority of the group, but those left kept coming, more charging down the mound towards them.

"What's going ON?!" Lexa screamed and dove away from one of the creatures when it swiped at her, firing her own scatter gun but causing only minimal damage. It was her aura; they were probably drawn to it.

"We're not getting anywhere with this!" Tai growled, stopping. His gun was thrown to the ground, a snarl tearing through the air as eco spasmed around his body. Horns pushed through grey hair, sinewy muscle growing under the skin. Fangs shone when he opened his mouth, staring down the creatures with equally black eyes.

Dark form released, Tai took off after several monsters, tearing through them with long black claws. Lexa sat still where she was, staring. W-what… was that… Tai? How had he? What the he- A creature came after her again, the redhead burying her head in her arms with a scream as she waited for the blow.

Nothing came. All around her she felt the prick of… something, but no wound. Opening her eyes, she stared at the glowing being in front of her. A dome of the same light encased them, slowly dissipating to reveal the battle still going on. The form glanced back at her, Lexa gasped, "Kari?!"

A smile, and Kari was off, using a small handgun to take down several more of the monsters. Neither twin spoke a word, Tai's only vocals a series of growls and snarls while Kari was completely silent. At one point, surrounded by a group of the dark makers, she saw the twins look at each other and nod.

A pair of tendril-like wings sprouted from the girls back, Kari dashing over and grabbing the redhead by her wrists. Lexa squeaked when she was suddenly lifted off the ground and into the air, held there. She saw energy charging around Tai, saw him leap into the air only to slam back down, a blast of eco taking out the remaining creatures.

It was only once the dust had settled and she was back on the ground that Lexa's mind began to work again. Both twins had changed back to their normal forms, glancing at her somewhat sheepishly.

"We… channel eco," Kari finally spoke up, "I channel light, and Tai channels dark. We also have minor blue channeling… um… those were our eco forms." A tiny smile, "Hope we didn't freak you out to much."

At first, the red head said nothing. Then a quiet, slow giggle that soon because a loud frenzy. Lexa pointed at Kari, grinning at the confused looking girl.

"You," she grinned, "Have tentacle wings!"

Kari's cheeks coloured in indignation, "I-I do not! They're tendrils, not-"

"Yah yah, keep tellin' yourself that!" Lexa snickered, "Kari has ten-ta-cles!"

"I DO NOT!"

Lexa skipped away, singing it to herself while Kari raged at her from behind. Tai followed after a moment, keeping an eye on Lexa. Despite her cheerful attitude, the whole thing had shaken her.

And now he had another thing to report to his dad…