Jack woke up to beeping, lots of it. The traffic was awful here. Wait, where was here? He was in the Castle seconds ago almost about to be attacked by Alwin and Banan. How on Earth was he here, wherever here was. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was lying on some grass. Vehicles hurried by beeping at each other. The pollution was thick. Jack looked down at his clothes, expecting to see his JCD uniform, he was surprised that he had powered down. His black hoodie was dirty and ripped along the arms. The dirt showed up on his white t-shirt the most though.
Jack stood up slowly and scanned the area. He wasn't in Canada anymore. Well that was useful. Didn't whatever saved him know that he needed to stop Ivar from hurting his friends, thinking of his friends.
"Guys?" Jack shouted looking around, "Zsa-Zsa? Kyle? Annaka? Danny?"
There was no reply except from someone behind him, "Sorry are you lost?"
Jack turned around to face the person; they looked wary of him and stood a few metres back.
"Sorry, I'm a little lost." Jack explained, "Where am I?"
"New Delhi, India." The person told them, quickly smiled then left Jack.
Jack looked around. He was in trouble, not the Danny sort of trouble; the I have no idea how to get out of this one trouble. He looked around; he had always wanted to travel to another Country. India wasn't that bad plus he loved Indian food, also being organised he had brought his wallet with his credit cards in. If he wanted he could stay here the whole night but he could. Jack had responsibilities like finding his team mates and stopping Ivar from doing what he planned to do.
To be honest, he had actually no idea who Ivar was; he was just a person who had poisoned him. Both Annaka and Danny seemed to know him very well and Kyle mentioned something about an Ivar turning out to be Ravi a few weeks back. That would make sense. If Ivar was Ravi then he was trying to destroy the Defenders. Jack made a mental note to look up Ivar when he got back to the Castle.
Jack started to wander the streets of New Delhi, it was exactly like it was on TV except today it was busier. There were people everywhere. This made Toronto look spacious compared to here. He had heard that there were some really pretty places to visit but also some really run down places, like every city he guessed.
Jack passed an Indian curry stand. He couldn't help himself; he was rather hungry maybe due to the fact that he hadn't eaten in 2 days. Luckily the stand owner seemed to accept Dollars, so Jack walked away with his warm Chicken Korma. It was delicious much better than anything back at home. The flavours sparked in Jacks mouth. This was a fresh as you could get.
As Jack found himself near the end of the row of stands, he realised that he had nowhere to go or knew or any place to go. He hated these dilemmas but luckily he was taught that if lost always find a place to stay. He waved at a cab.
"Nearest Hotel please." Jack ordered the taxi driver who nodded driving away.
Jack looked out at the view, he was enjoying it, and the sites were amazing. He couldn't believe he was in India.
In the forest:
Skabb and Knightriss were both determined to get out of that forest, one way or another. They had had it up to their foreheads with that forest. Skabb was ripped every branch off the trees they passed in anger and Knightriss was too fed up to stop him and remind him, it wasn't natures fault. It was Ivar's.
Oh yes Ivar. Knightriss was going to have a word with him when she next saw him but she imagined there was already a queue starting with Gildar. How dare he come out of the blue like that and involve their children. What had Jack ever done to Ivar? Did Jack even know who Ivar was? Neither she nor Skabb had mentioned him; then again he hadn't been mentioned for 19 years.
"I'm going to kill that Viking with my bare hands." Skabb shouted in frustration as he broke another branch.
"It isn't Gildar's fault you're in here." Knightriss reminded him.
"I meant Ivar." Skabb told her, "He is going to pay for doing this to us twice."
"Trust me my dear, something tells me he will pay." Knightriss reassured him, "Now let's focus in getting out of here and finding out where Jack is."
"Good idea." Skabb agreed, "If he and the Jr defenders got away, they can't be that far."
"Yes, hopefully Ivar won't find them first." Knightriss said.
Back in New Delhi:
Ivar had no chance of finding Jack here. Hopefully, unless it was Ivar who got him here, then he was walking into a trap. The taxi had arrived at an okay looking hotel. Jack only had dollars; the cab driver didn't seem to mind, it must have been a fortune in Rupees.
"I wouldn't worry about Ivar, he didn't send you here a teleportation beam did." Someone from behind said.
Jack looked around, no it wasn't possible, and it couldn't be. There stood smiling at him like he was did was Charles Stewart. Jack almost had tears in his eyes, he had watched him…
"Don't worry, I'm not real." Charles reassured him, "I haven't come to haunt you. You got by teleportation beam. Kyle sent it using the Lionheart force, don't worry, it was destroyed he over powered it."
"Why are you here?" Jack asked, "I mean not here but why you? Why not someone else?"
"Because the computer wanted you to talk to me." Charles replied, "I know it hasn't been easy me not being here."
Jack nodded then went to sit down in the hotel lounge; it must have looked weird talking to mid-air. Charles sat beside Jack like he about to give a lecture. Jack knew there time together was limited. This was probably the time to tell him his doubts.
"I don't we can win against Alwin and Banan let alone Ivar and Neri, I can't lead the team to victory." Jack told him, "You always told us what to do, James just sends us off the fight."
"That's why I left." Charles explained, "I wanted to show you that all 5 of you can cope on your own."
"But we can't!" Jack exclaimed, "We nearly died, you …"
"That was my fault." Charles told him sternly, "But looked how far you have come, you know what you have to do. It was you who drove back to the Castle when your parents disappeared. It's you who gets the defenders out of bed when they need to defend. Jack, you've always been a leader. You haven't seen it."
"Maybe no." Jack replied then looked over to Charles confused, "How did you know our parents had disappeared? You had left by then."
"Just because I wasn't there didn't mean I was watching or keeping updates." Charles told him, "I knew what was happening and I was always watching you."
Jack laughed silently, typical Charles even when he was gone; he was always watching their back.
"Jack, my time is almost up." Charles told him, "Keep up the leadership, you're doing great but keep an eye on Annaka and Kyle."
Jack nodded as it watched Charles fade. He did his signature smile before fading from existence for the last time.
"Bye Charles." Jack whispered then smiled to himself, he was the team leader and he needed to find his team. The final battle was lurking and they needed to be ready. Jack left the hotel. He had people to visit.
Back in the forest:
"Hello!" Skabb shouted making Knightriss jump, "Thorne? Kook? Gildar? Vane?"
"Skabb stop shouting." Knightriss ordered, "It won't do any good."
"Skabb?" They heard someone shout, "Is that you?"
"Thorne?" Skabb shouting smiling, it had worked, "Where are you?"
"On the pavement outside the forest." Thorne shouted to him, "Everyone's waiting for you two."
"Hold on my dears." Knightriss shouted, "We're coming!"
Knightriss and Skabb made their way through all of the branches; Skabb had stopped pulling them off as now they had been found. Their feet touched a hard, tarmac path. It was definitely easier to walk on them soggy, wet soil.
When they came out of that forest for the final time, they looked at their friends. The girls were sitting on the path, a few metres apart from each other clearly they had been arguing. The boys were grouped in a circle talking.
"Defenders!" Knightriss shouted, "I think we should be getting home."
The defenders cheered; finally they were leaving and hopefully never coming back.
A/N: Only two chapters left! The final battle is coming soon.
