"What the fuck?" Michael yelled in confusion as he stared at the man under his foot, "Kerry?"
"Hey Guys!" Kerry smiled awkwardly, "How's it goin'?" Michael immediately took his foot off Kerry's chest and politely helped his to his feet, only to viciously shove him back to the ground in a fit of rage.
"Why do you always have to mess with my shit Kerry?" He screamed in Kerry's face; his spit flicking onto Kerry's red cheeks.
"What do you mean always?" Lindsay asked, walking over to Kerry and helping him up again.
"He's the asshole that buried my shovel after Ray and Gavin got trapped by that snowstorm!" Michael yelled, standing up straight and pointing evilly at Kerry.
"That was you?" Gavin squawked from behind Lindsay, "you cheeky lil' prick! Me and Ray almost froze to death because of you!"
"Yeah," Ray added, standing next to Gavin, "But my nipples were so hard!"
"Alright!" Michael yelled, turning to face Kerry, who was now leaned against a concrete pylon, "You're paying for my car shit-for-brain s." Michael grabbed Kerry by the collar and held him off the ground, making Kerry quickly agree to pay. "I'll see you back at Beacon," Michael hissed as he dropped Kerry, watching him bolt for the emergency exit.
"Top!" Gavin smiled, turning to look at Michael's wreck of a car, "Let's go get our weapons!"
Team Lads made a Bee-Line for the car, reaching it quickly. Michael reached for his keys, before suddenly realising there wasn't a single intact window on his entire car. Ray and Lindsay quickly reached into the back window, fumbling through the mess in the trunk to grab their weapons. Gavin reached his hand into car, trying desperately to find his bow again. He felt a long metallic shaft and grasped it, and, hoping it wasn't something else, he yanked it out.
Gavin jerked his hand out of the car, holding his quiver in his hand.
"Yes!" Gavin yelled, holding his quiver high above his head before dropping to the ground, hugging it.
"Uh, Gavin?" Michael asked, waiting for Lindsay and Ray to remove their hands from the trunk of his car before reaching in for his sword, "Where's your bow?" Gavin, rocking back and forth in a delighted daze, answered without turning to face him.
"It's in the boot."
"Boot?" Michael scoffed, "Oh, you mean the trunk." Michael pulled out his sword and tried to open the trunk, using his sword as a crowbar to wedge it open. Yanking the door up and holding it, Michael poked around in the mess of a trunk with his sword. Quickly giving up, shrugging and turning back to Gavin, he shook his head and spoke.
"It ain't in here."
Gavin's eyes shot wide as he quickly jumped up and stared into the trunk of Michael's car.
"What?" he yelled breathlessly, dashing to the car and shuffling through the piles of broken glass and trash in the trunk with one of his arrows, "Where the damn is it?"
"You sure you put it in?" Lindsay asked, fiddling with her gauntlets as she slipped them on.
"I've heard that before," Ray said emotionlessly, using the pink batons as wings as he slowly glided around the cold, empty garage, making aeroplane noises as he walked, ducking and weaving around the pylons in sheer boredom.
"Yes!" Gavin shouted, adamant that he had thrown his bow back into the car just a few minutes ago.
Michael went to speak, but was stopped by a twanging sound coming from the stairwell. Ray stopped and dropped his arms, his low-pitched "Nue" sound slowly fading away as the twanging became louder. Team Lads was frozen, unable to move, staring towards the stairwell, listening to the twanging noise get louder and louder.
The twanging stopped, its echo bouncing through the garage.
"What was that?" Gavin asked, slowly turning to face his friends.
"I don't know," Ray whispered back, slowly walking backwards towards his team mates, "But it was almost as scary as that time you guys caught me jerkin' off in the corner."
"Which time?" Michael asked, turning to look at him, "It's not like it's only happened once."
The group let out a small chuckle, but was quickly silenced by the loud twanging sound suddenly returning, but from somewhere else.
It was coming from behind them. From near the wreckage of the car Kerry was thrown into.
Team Lads jumped, quickly turning to face the source of the noise, only for it to stop as soon as they did, its final twang once again echoing through the concrete.
"Michael?" One of Team Lads whispered, gripping onto his arm tightly, "I'm scared."
"I'm scared too," Michael whispered back, not taking his eyes off the crumpled vehicle, "Also, Gavin, get the fuck off my arm!"
Gavin quickly released Michael and folded his arms, rocking back and forth worriedly, staring at the car. Team Lads was still frozen in place, except for Lindsay, who shot Gavin a quizzical look before quickly returning her focus to the crumpled car.
The garage was creepily silent, a few small pieces of shattered glass falling to the hard floor the only objects game to break the silence, almost the only objects.
Directly right of Team Lads, from where Michael's crumpled car was, a small thud was heard, followed by the terrifying return, of the twanging noise.
The twang was louder than ever, and closer than ever, and Team Lads was scared.
Slowly, the group began turning, like four small statues, dancing to the twang of their broken musical box. They faced Michael's car, and were met with the kind of sinister smirk one man could wear.
"Why hello there," Ryan smirked, sitting crossed-legged atop Michael's car, "We seem to have a little, situation here don't we?" Ryan sat with Gavin's bow in his lap, twanging the bow-string lazily, focusing his narrowed gaze on his 'captive' audience.
"R- Ryan?" Michael stuttered, slowly trying to loosen up his body, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh," Ryan smirked, ceasing his twang and unfolding his legs, sliding to the back of Michael's car to hang his legs down, "I'm simply, observing." Ryan's smirk became almost inhumanly evil, which matched him to a tee.
Team Lads thought for a moment, before all of their eyes widened in shock. Ryan simply chuckled and stared at Lindsay.
"Why don't we take turns?" He smiled, gesturing for Lindsay to speak, "Anything at all you'd like to say Lindsay?"
Michael slowly turned to face Lindsay, who was staring at her shoes, tightly holding her elbows with her opposite hands and pressing them close to her chest.
"L- Lindsay?" Michael whispered, "What's going on?" Lindsay raised her head to look at Michael, tears welling in her eyes.
"I had to do it," she shivered, staring straight into his eyes, "I had to tell him."
"Tell him what?" Michael insisted, desperate to find out what was happening.
"I had to tell him about, you."
Lindsay dropped to the floor into a foetal position heap, and Michael turned back to face Ryan, who was smirking smugly to himself.
"You sick fuck," Michael hissed, his anger quickly returning, "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Ryan announced, holding up his hands defensively, "I just had a little, chat, with her on the roof. I swore to never lay a finger on a human once I left the White Fang." Ryan faked shock, covering his mouth with hands, "Whoops! Did I say that? Oh well, looks like the cats out of the bag, your turn Michael. Pretty interesting, power, you have there isn't it?"
Michael sighed heavily, turning to face his two still-standing team mates.
"Alright," He sighed, deciding it'd be better off to actually tell the truth, "I, I transform, when I'm angry, guys. That is my semblance, that's what it is. I transform into a huge bear-looking motherfucker, and I've been hiding it since it first happened.""
"Hey!" Ryan cheered, sliding down onto his feet and patting Michael on the back, "That's the way to do it! But how about we just have a time-out for a second?" Ryan looked down at Lindsay, seeing her sitting on the ground, emotionless.
"Come on Lindsay!" He smiled, "its okay, it was going to come out eventually, and better late than never!" Ryan extended an arm, and sniffling once, Lindsay grabbed it and hoisted herself up, immediately hugging Michael tightly and apologetically. They whispered to each other silently, comforting each other, before breaking their hug and turning to face Ryan, holding hands as they stood.
"Alright," Michael swallowed heavily, "We're alright, sorry about that."
"No need to be sorry," Ryan chuckled, "Your secrets are of no concern at all! What I'm really interested to know about, involves this." Ryan held Gavin's bow eye-level so everyone could see, and Ryan quickly turned to meet Gavin's gaze. Gavin's eyes were wide, and he swallowed heavily, knowing what was about to happen.
"So Gavin," Ryan smirked, staring straight at him, "Why is it, that when Michael's car was, well, returned, you didn't even realise that your bow was missing. You only cared about your quiver. Why is that Gavin? What is so special about that quiver of yours? "
"Yeah!" Michael asked, also confused, "What the fuck was with that?" Gavin unslung his quiver from over his shoulder and held it close to his chest, breathing slowly and heavily, considering his options.
"Gavin," Ryan chanted, dragging the I in his name, "I think it would be best if you gave me your quiver now." Ryan placed Gavin's bow on the ground and outstretched his hand, motioning for Gavin to hand over his quiver. Reluctantly, and guiltily, Gavin sighed and extended his arm out to Ryan, handing him his quiver. Gavin knew what Ryan was trying to do, and he knew it was coming. He knew he had lost this battle, and he cringed thinking about what was to come.
"Oh!" Ryan chuckled, grabbing Gavin's quiver, "Thank you Gavin! Now, let's see what we've got here." Ryan grabbed the tips of the six remaining arrows and quickly discarded them, tossing them lazily over his shoulder.
"Hmm," Ryan pondered sarcastically, "There's nothing here! Well that was a waste of-" Ryan stopped himself when he heard a rattling noise. He looked around the faces of Team Lads in silence, faking genuine intrigue.
"What was that?" He asked, turning and smirking at Gavin, "Why don't we find out." Ryan tilted the quiver and cupped his hand over the end. Slowly, the rattling became louder and faster as the object slid out of the quiver and into the centre of Ryan's hand.
It was a small, black, cube.
"Wow," Michael said in awe, staring at the mysterious cube, "What is it?"
"Why don't we ask Gavin," Ryan smirked evilly, turning to face Gavin, who was already on the ground, his head in his hands. Michael stared at Gavin, who was sobbing quietly and making strange noises to himself, but that didn't change Michael's emotions.
"Why didn't you fucking tell us about this you prick?" He yelled at Gavin, pointing to the cube, "What the fuck were you thinking?" Michael stopped towering over Gavin and faced Ryan, brushing off his shirt as he turned.
"What is it Ryan?" He asked, quickly shooting Gavin a menacing look. Ryan hushed Michael and began examining the cube, holding it up to the flickering fluorescent light on the ceiling.
"I think what we have here," Ryan muttered, squinting as he examined the cube even more closely, "Is the base block to the recently destroyed Pimponia Tower!" Ryan's eyes went dark as everyone else's widened, staring intently at the cube. "This piece is said to hold great power," Ryan continued, "As well as the other four. But without this piece, the other pieces are useless. What makes the five pieces of Pimponia Tower special is that they, unlike every other inanimate object in the world, emit their own aura. Nobody knows how or why it happened, it just did, and that's what we have to accept. What strikes me as odd, however, is that this cube, this very cube I hold in my hands, is said to be the most powerful piece of all. Yet, I can't detect any kind of aura whatsoever."
Michael turned and faced Gavin, who was now sitting upright in the foetal position, staring at Michael sadly. Michael kicked him in the leg.
"Did you fucking break it?" He yelled at Gavin, grabbing his arm and hoisting him up, turning back to Ryan, "Did he do something?"
"I don't know," Ryan pondered, still focussed on the cube, "I mean, its small size may be related to its lack of aura, but the only way it could have lost its aura is if Gavin somehow absorbed it, and Gavin can barely tie his own shoes!" Gavin looked up at Ryan as he continued, "You see, the thing about this cube, is that it was said to have had one of the most powerful auras of all time. Highly trained professionals trained for years and years to try and absorb the aura of this piece, but they simply couldn't do it. They said that one day; the cube will choose a person, a person whose mind is so incredibly clear, that they could absorb the cube's aura from hundreds of feet away!"
Gavin's eyes went wide, everything was falling into place. His sudden ability to activate his aura and use his semblance, the fact that his head was so empty already that the cube was almost naturally attracted to him, and why it didn't attract to Ray, whose head was always full of inappropriate thoughts and was to call people racist.
"Jesus Christ Ryan," Michael pressed, "How do you know all this shit?"
"Oh, I just know things," Ryan chuckled, rolling the cube in his hand, "I also taught Lindsay that behind-the-ear scratch technique you seem to have taken a liking to."
"Wait," Michael exclaimed, his eyes darting between Lindsay and Ryan, "He taught you that? You learned that from- What?"
"Mhmm," Ryan murmured, "You learn a lot from books when you don't have friends to distract you."
Michael released Gavin's arm and Gavin immediately began inspecting the damage, watching a reddening mark in the shape of Michael's hand form on his arm while he listened to his friends talk.
"So what do you think happened?" Lindsay asked, stepping closer to Michael and Ryan, "Where do you think the stone's Aura went?"
"It's tough to say," Ryan thought out loud, "I mean, if it has been absorbed by Gavin, which I really doubt, that means were in trouble. But look at him! I don't think anything sticks with this dope! At this point, the piece is worthless; it's just an Obsidian paperweight." Ryan snapped his fingers to grab Gavin's attention and tossed him back the cube, Michael and Lindsay chuckling about his previous comment.
"I'll show you who's a dope you mungy lil' prick," Gavin thought to himself, dropping the cube into his pocket.
"So who has the cube's aura?" Lindsay asked Ryan, "Could Ray have gotten it?"
"Ray!" Ryan exclaimed, "He almost missed out on sharing something with us! Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about Ray. How about sharing a little something Ra-" Ryan was cut off when he turned to find no one standing behind him. "Where's Ray?"
Michael began to open his mouth but Gavin quickly shushed him, pointing to the ceiling as he did. Ryan, Michael and Lindsay looked up in silence, and from the floor above them, a faint "Nue" sound could be heard.
"Seriously?" Ryan whispered, "Still going with the plane thing? Is he, you know, alright in the cranial area?"
"Nobody knows," Gavin whispered back, "Every time someone tries to ask he accuses them of being Puerto Racist."
"Anyway," Lindsay interjected, "How are we going to get back to Beacon? The last airship leaves in fifteen minutes."
"Don't worry," Michael shrugged, "We'll just driv-" Michael stopped himself mid-sentence, halting his hand as it was about to slam his hand down on the roof of his car. He instead began rubbing his face, muttering the words "God, fucking, dammit," louder and louder.
"Well we better get running the-" Ryan chuckled, getting cut off by the sudden appearance of Ray behind him.
"Did someone say running?" Ray yelled; glowing pink batons still in hand "My people are really good at that!"
With a chuckle from Team Lads and Ryan, the group began sprinting down the parking garage and out into the city.
"Ray," Gavin sighed as they ran through the streets, "I told you to put those batons back!"
"Fuck off Gavin!" Ray yelled in response, using the batons as wings as he ducked between pedestrians and other obstacles, "I said these were mine now!"
"This isn't too big of an issue if we miss the ship," Lindsay yelled back to her four followers, "If we do we can just split a cab!"
"Fuck off Lindsay!" Michael yelled in response, obviously quite irate about his day, "I fucking payed for laser tag! And I have a wrecked car I have to do something with!"
"I have an idea," Ryan added, raising a finger to speak.
"Fuck off Ryan!" Team Lads yelled in unison, all of them except for Ray annoyed with him for their own reasons.
Ryan quickly bit his lip and continued running, the determined frown on his face quickly turned to a smirk of evil happiness as he thought about what he had done tonight.
He had Team Lads scared with what he knew about them.
Well, most of Team Lads.
Ryan's train of thought was quickly broken by a loud "Nue" sound coming from behind him.
It was Ray.
Authors Note:
Man, that was a thing. Gotta love writers block!
Now I know I said a few weeks ago, that breaks like this wouldn't happen again, and yes, technically this break was longer than the last one, but I have had a lot on my plate lately.
A few people have told me that the two weeks gap is alright, because as they reminded me, some of the other Fanfictions on here take twice the time of upload something half the size.
And they're still popular.
So, personally, I don't feel like I'll be able to keep up with the weekly schedule, so don't expect a new Chapter each week. I will however, try my best to keep uploading every two/three weeks, because even though I am beginning to lose interest, I still want to write for you guys.
So please, leave me a reply in the review section, because I write for you guys, and I always, always love to hear from you. Don't be shy, I read everything and I promise to reply to you all!
Have any ideas? Feel free to tell me! I love to have community input in my stories!
Alright everyone, one again, thanks for reading, Thank you so much for sticking around, and thank you for all the support.
Love you guys.
Hope to see and hear from you soon!