Chapter 25 – Twin Capture
"Calm down, Syd, what's the big news?" Julius asked as he sat down in the living room.
"We have to wait for Zack and Cody to get back," Sydney protested, his fingers drumming on his closed laptop. "They're going to want to hear this too."
"I looked everywhere and Noah isn't here," Patrick said coming up from the basement. "I don't know where he went."
"He's probably off with Alan," Ryan suggested. "I haven't seen him in a while either."
"They're back," Aaron announced, his head shooting up from the brail book he was reading. The front door burst open, and a dripping wet, Zack, Cody, Alan, and Noah came into the room.
"It's about time," Sydney commented, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Sorry, but we had an emergency," Zack commented, moving over to the couch.
"Don't," Christian shouted, causing them all to jump. "Dry off first, you're going to soak the couches." Zack rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, his clothes drying off immediately. Seeing the look on Sydney's face, everyone else opted to sitting on towels on the floor.
"Go ahead, Sydney," Rafael said with a nod.
"Wait, what was the emergency?" Julius asked.
"Mike was taken," Cody replied, brushing his wet hair from his face. "Rumiku met him in the park and he was ambushed."
"There wasn't much we could do," Noah added. "They've gotten smarter and Rumiku really seems to have been taken over by the darkness."
"Damn it," Christian hissed, clenching his hands into fists. "Imagine what they could do with him? Or to him for that matter. He is really strong and they have to know that."
"They might not know what I know," Sydney piped up. "Guys, we could save Mike. This has to do with his powers."
"All right, go ahead," Julius said waving his hand in the air.
"Thank you," Sydney said with a small smile. "Now, this may come as a shock to you, but Mike is an elemental."
"What?!" all of them chorused.
"Are you sure?" Zack asked, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, there is plenty of evidence that will prove that your assumption is false."
"It's not an assumption," Sydney muttered, ignoring all the shocked looks that everyone was giving Zack. "It's true. Now, what's one thing that all Elementals have in common?" He looked around the room and at the confused looks on his friends' faces. "Anyone?"
"You all have Anigma Energy Nano Particles?" Aaron asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Exactly," Sydney replied. "Now, that last time you went to Wings Corp, Mike brought back that vial with those black particles in them. Those are Anigma Energy Nano Particles."
"But, they were black," Cody said, his eyes scrunched together. "Normal Nano Particles are the same color as your element aura."
"Exactly," Sydney said giving Cody a proud smile. "Now, Rumiku's element is Darkness, so naturally her Nano Particles would be black. But, these are different." Sydney pulled a vial out of his pocket with the black specs in them. "These are mutated, just like Mike's."
"How did you even find out that Mike has the Particles in him?" Rafael asked.
"The blood on his shirt," Sydney replied, pulling a wad of cotton out of his back pocket. "Mike is an elemental, he's just a rare one."
"Rare how?" Zack asked.
"Rare as in he doesn't have a guardian," Sydney replied. "He doesn't have a specific element, just…well, matter I guess you could call it. And he can teleport. The only other person we know that can do that is Alan, only because he has psychic powers."
Alan gasped.
"If Wing's Corp finds out about this-"
"Then, we're all in trouble," Sydney said with a sigh. "Bigger trouble then we've ever been in before. This could be the case where some of us won't get out of this alive."
A heavy silence fell over the group as they took in what Sydney said.
"Ow, get off me," Mike shouted as Koto pulled him through the halls of Wing's Corp. Rumiku and Caos walked behind him, smirks on their faces.
"Shut up…" Caos hissed, kicking him in the side.
"If you know what's good for you," Rumiku added, curling and uncurling her fists, purple lightning shooting around her fingers.
"How could you do this to me?" Mike asked quietly, staring up at Rumiku, a hurt look on his face.
"It's quite simple really," Rumiku replied with a smile. "You hurt me, and now I'm hurting you."
Mike then noticed how much Rumiku had changed. Her canines had grown longer and sharper, as did her finger nails. Her eyes were a dark purple, almost violet, rather than the normal blue.
"I'm sorry ok," Mike shouted, an annoyed look crossing his face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you and I swear I will never do it again. Just, please forgive me. I don't care if you kill me. I just want you to forgive me."
"Aw, look at him beg," Koto said with a smirk as she pulled Mike to his feet. "It's so cute."
Rumiku smirked and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him over to a manhole-like thing in the ground. Caos and Koto lifted the top, revealing a tube filled with water. Caos reached in and pulled out a series of wires before taping them to Mike.
"You better take a big breath," Caos said with a smirk before giving Mike a hard push. Mike let out a startled cry and fell into the tube with a loud splash. Koto laughed before placing the top over the tube, and sealing it shut.
"Did you get him, Midnight?"
Rumiku turned and saw Rikku and Crystal walking over to them. She nodded. "Yep, Male Fire, and Male Water are the last two people we need."
"Can you get them here, no problem?" Koto asked raising his eyebrows.
"I'm pretty sure, Burn and Ice can figure something out," Rumiku said, seeing the glares on Rikku's and Crystal's faces.
"Damn straight we can," Rikku snapped. "In fact, I have a plan right now. Let's go Ice." A set of wings slid out of Rikku's shoulder blades and softly flapped behind her.
"I'm right behind you," Crystal said with a nod as light blue wings came out of her shoulder blades.
With a mighty leap, the two of them jumped straight up, flying through the glass roof. Koto, Caos, and Rumiku covered their heads as glass fell down on them. "It's only a matter of time," Rumiku grinned, revealing two rows of pointy teeth.
"So, what's this great plan of yours?" Crystal asked as she and Rikku flew through the night sky.
"You'll find out," Rikku replied. Crystal let out a noise of annoyance. "Hey, I am the leader here. No one ever said that I have to tell you my plans." Crystal rolled her eyes, before they snapped to attention. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah, they're close," Crystal muttered. "It's about time too. I've waited so long for revenge."
"We'll see who the strongest elementals of our time are," Rikku said, flames erupting around her fists. "Look, I see them."
"Heh, they won't know what hit them," Crystal said with a grin.
"Fires from Hell" Rikku hissed, throwing her fists forward. She and Crystal watched as a ring of fire erupted around the Martin twins. They looked around before finally looking up at Rikku and Crystal with looks of shock and determination.
"Crystal Freeze," Crystal shouted, freezing the fire.
The two of them flew low to the ground, and landed gracefully on their feet, their wings sliding back into their backs. Zack glared at them, his eyes blazing with fury.
"Blazing Gigs," he shouted, punching his fist into the wall of ice. It quickly melted into water, which Cody formed into a whip, grabbing onto Rikku's ankle, knocking her off balance.
"Crystal Freeze," Crystal said, freezing the water.
Cody gasped as the water around his hands froze, stopping him from moving his hands. Crystal aimed a roundhouse kick to his head. Cody's head snapped to the side and Crystal broke the ice with a single punch, allowing Cody to fall to the ground.
"Guys, this isn't you," Zack said as he barely dodged a wall of fire. He dropped to the ground and grabbed onto Cody, helping him to his feet. "You can fight it."
"Shut up, weakling," Rikku snapped, throwing out her hand. "Crimson Scorpion."
A chain sickle appeared in her hands. She swung it around her head and threw it at Zack. He roughly pushed Cody away from him, dropping to the ground.
"Burning Hellion," Zack whispered and a sword, wrapped in flames, appeared in his hands. "Alright, Rikku, let's fight fire with fire!"
"It would be my pleasure," Rikku hissed, her fangs protruding from her mouth. "Sprinting Wolf." Rikku got down on all fours and started running as fast as she could at Zack. The faster she ran, the more friction she built up, the more flames burst around her body.
"Argh," Zack groaned in pain as Rikku slammed into his stomach. He swung his fist in a circle before punching Rikku across the face. She twisted in the air and landed on her feet before lunging at Zack again.
Clang
Their weapons clashed together, sending shock waves through their hands. Zack grinned when he saw that Riley's chain sickle was wrapped around Zack's sword. He gave a mighty tug, and the chain to Riley's weapon flew out of her hands. She growled in frustration as Zack tossed is sword away.
"Hand to hand combat now," he whispered.
"Just the way I like it," Rikku replied. "Don't blink."
Rikku shot forward with a burst of red light, and kicked and punched at Zack. He gasped at how fast she was moving. He hardly got his arms up in time before a reign of kicks and punches hit him all over his body.
"Uh, she's too fast," he gasped as he caught glimpses of Rikku jumping around his body.
With a kick to the chest, Zack flew into an alley, slamming into a row of metal trashcans. Pain erupted all of his body as he got the wind knocked out of them.
"Zack," Cody gasped before flipping over to him. He grabbed onto Zack's hands and pulled him to his feet. "You ok?"
"They can't stop me that easily," Zack said. "They've gotten stronger."
"True," Cody said, rolling his neck. He and Zack sank into fighting positions as Rikku and Crystal advanced on them. "I can't call to Phantom. They must have element crystals on them."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Zack muttered. "But, where?"
"There!" Cody said, pointing at the necklaces around their neck. "I betcha anything, that's what's controlling them. Kind of like what Damien put on you."
"Don't remind me," Zack said, backing up a little bit. "All right, change of plans. We destroy those crystals and get our friends back."
"Let's go," Cody said. "Fire and Water."
"Fire and Water," Zack repeated with a nod. "1, 2, 3, GO!"
Zack and Cody jumped forward, punching and kicking at Rikku and Crystal. They matched each other move for move as they fought.
"Hyper Speed, now," Rikku shouted, her arms crossed over her chest in defense.
Rikku and Crystal suddenly shot forward, slamming Zack and Cody into the brick wall at the back of the alley. They groaned in pain as a torrent of punches were sent to their stomachs. Cody tightly grabbed onto Crystal's wrists, his eyes glowing dark blue.
"Crystal, you can fight this," he said through gritted teeth, as the dark blue light formed around his body, before covering Crystal and himself with light. He put a foot on Crystal's stomach and pushed her away. "I'm sorry I have to do this. Water Snake!"
He sent a wave of sparkling water at her. It swirled and spun, wrapping around her body as she tried to dodge it. She constantly tried to freeze the water, but it twisted its way around the ice and wrapped around her body. The water pinned her arms to her sides. Cody raced forward and wrapped his hand around the necklace that hung from Crystal's neck. He gave a hard pull and the necklace broke off in his hands.
"Crushing Wave," Cody shouted, sending a wall of water at Crystal. It knocked her off her feet and she went slamming into a brick wall. "Zack, I got the necklace."
"Hold on a second," Zack said, falling to the ground, with Rikku on top of him, trying to block his face from any blows she aimed at him. He grabbed onto her necklace and roughly pushed her away. "I got Rikku's too."
"But, why are they still acting like this?" Cody asked, pulling Zack to his feet. Zack leaned on Cody for support.
"You got me," he muttered. He glanced at the necklace in his hands, and tightened his fists around it, his hands shaking. "The people at Wingz Corp are smarter than we think."
Suddenly Zack and Cody let out gasps of pain as electricity coursed through their bodies. The two of them slumped to the ground, jerking back and forth as the electricity coursed through their body.
"Zack," Cody muttered as Crystal draped a black cloth over him. "Zack."
"Cody," Zack whispered, trying to stay conscious. The last thing he saw before he fainted was the sinister smirk on Rikku's face…
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