CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE


"Fuck!" Zhane cried, slamming his hands down on the table so hard, it cracked in half and crashed to the ground. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He continued to slam his hands down on the table over and over again until the table was reduced to dust and splinters. "I should have gotten rid of all of them when they were going to that stupid hotel." He furiously grabbed onto his head. "Instead of trying to turn them into their stupid animal spirits."

He brought a fist up to his mouth as he started to pace back and forth in his cramped room of the warehouse that held Halo Syndicate's headquarters. He was the only one awake, his remaining three henchmen were somewhere in the building. But he didn't worry about that, at that moment in time, he was worried that the people he was fighting against new his secret.

The secret that he had kept secret for a very long time and never expected to be found out before he destroyed them.

Stupid Geneva, always having to go and do the right thingZhane flopped himself down into the large leather chair that had been sitting behind the desk and gently rocked himself back and forth. He couldn't hold still, his fingers were fluttering as he tried to figure out what to do. I should have known that eventually they were going to find out what had happened. I just didn't expect it to be so soon.

Zhane looked up as the room was illuminated with light. He looked up through the broken window and saw a cloud slowly moving away from the moon, bringing the mystic light into the room. He turned the chair around and watched as the shadows in the room slowly started to move away. His eyes narrowed as he turned back around and looked up at the moon.

The moon is a bright light that seems unable to go out…a smirk slowly started to form on Zhane's face. But there is always darkness on the other side, you just can't see it.

Zhane got to his feet and closed his eyes as he bowed his head. He concentrated on the energy in his body and released it outward. Black and purple light enveloped his body and he started to levitate up in the air. The energy started to shoot off in all directions, striking the walls and the beams of the building around him as he continued to rise higher and higher into the air. The room filled with the darkness energy and as he neared the top of the warehouse, the ceiling started to crack under the immense pressure.

"Come to me, all those that holds the power of darkness…come to me so that we can take over the human world and the elemental world." Zhane lifted his head, his eyes glowing black. "COME TO ME!"


"Zack, what are you doing?" Zack lifted his head and looked up at Cody, who entered their former suite tentatively. Cody gently closed the door behind him and Phantom appeared at his side before flying over and landing on the back of the couch, next to Blazen. "I've been looking all over for you; we're going to the park so we can get some sparring in." He explained as he walked closer to his brother. "We think that with everything that we found out recently, Zhane is probably going to try and attack us and we need to be ready, plus Bailey needs to-"

"For once can you please not talk about Bailey?" Zack asked in a harsh whisper. "It's getting pretty annoying, and honestly, I liked it better when you were dating Rhuben and Crystal, so if there's any way you can go back to one of them, that'd be great."

"What's your problem?" Cody made a face as he crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at his brother. He then squeezed his eyes shut as he thought for a moment. "And, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you the one that has been chasing after Riley all these years?"

"Yeah, but at least I knew when to back off and date someone else before I tried again instead of acting like some sort of freak that can't even realize that she doesn't even belong in our group and that you have an ex-girlfriend that still has feelings for you." Zack replied, his eyes flashing.

"What?" Cody let out an incredulous laugh and then his face softened before he moved over to stand next to his twin. "Where's this coming from?"

"My anger towards mom and ad apparently," Zack replied after a moment of silence. "I found what mom and ad were looking for before they left very, very fast." He reached underneath the couch and pulled out two picture frames. "Pictures of us." He handed them over to Cody, who took them, his mouth and eyes wide open. Zack got to his feet and started to pace back and forth. "This is fucking ridiculous, we try to keep them here and try to explain everything that's going on, but all they wanted to do was get away from us because we're freaks!" He waved his hands over his head. "And now I find that they were looking for pictures of us? HOW MESSED UP IS THIS?"

"Zack, calm down," Cody said after a minute of stunned silence. He took a deep breath. "I know that all of this is hard and-"

"You can't possibly tell me that you're not pissed off by all this." Zack stated sharply.

"Well, I mean, I guess Mom and Dad could have-"

"No," Zack interrupted. "I mean, with all of this. All of the elemental stuff, not being able to be normal, having to drag our friends into it, having our family threatened, having to worry about people dying day after day after day!" He was starting to get emotional. "You can't tell me that none of this stuff is getting to you." He looked skeptical. "Or are you just better at hiding it?"

"Having to be the mature one…" Cody took the cheap shot at his brother, but then his smile faded quickly. "Zack, you can't tell me that you think that none of this is bothering me. Do you think that I wanted to fall for Bailey? Not when all of this was happening, I didn't want her anywhere near this, but it happened. And our friends are stuck in this, that happened, and we all have to think about other people and their lives and trying to keep them from trouble." He continued as Zack let out a deep breath through his nose. "I know that you're the one that's feeling the most…passionate about this because you're the unofficial leader of all of us, but we still deal with the same things that you are, but we try not to dwell on things that we can't change."

"No, we can change this," Zack stated heatedly. "As soon as we get rid of the freak."

"There's always going to be someone or something that's going to try and get rid of us," Cody pointed out, trying to stay as calm as possible. "And being mad about everything isn't going to help. I want this to end as much as you do, and that's not going to happen until we take more action instead of feeling sorry for ourselves."

"I know," Zack admitted after a minute. "Trust me, I know, I just want all of this to be over."

"And it will be, Zack," Blazen said as he flew over to Zack and landed on his shoulder. "You know me and you know Phantom and you know that everyone will try to take care of you and try to make sure that everyone in your life is safe." He nuzzled his face against Zack's cheek. "We're here because we're trying to help you fix everything. Don't forget that it's our world too and we're just trying to get it back to the way it was."

"That's right," Phantom agreed. "Our world is the one that's falling apart as well as yours, and we want this to end as much as you do." He exchanged looks with Blazen, his wing-tips fluttering slightly. "No matter how it will end, we just want everyone to be happy."

As perceptive as always, Cody noticed the sharp change in Phantom's tone. "What do you mean?" He asked slowly. Phantom stayed silent. "What do you mean, 'no matter how it all ends'? You're the one that told us, a long time ago, that it was our prophecy to stop everything that's going on. It's supposed to happen that way."

"And the elemental world was supposed to be run by both Gattaca and Geneva and you know how that turned out," Phantom replied, with slight snark to his tone. "I'm just saying if things don't turn out the way we want…well…" He shrugged (in the best way that a bird could). "We don't know what's going to happen, and we won't know until all of this is said and done."

Zack just shook his head, taking another deep breath.

Sometimes, he felt that being an elemental was a burden, although he knew that a younger self was the one that wished things that could be more eventful. He definitely got his wish when he met the Jacksons, but at the same time, he wondered if it was something that he really wanted. Of course, he didn't have a choice about it now, he was stuck with this and he couldn't accurately explain how he was feeling. He knew that if he didn't have these powers of these experiences, he wouldn't have been able to grow up the way that he did and hold the sense of responsibility that he did now.

It was a debate that he constantly had in his head, that he tried to ignore, but now that things were getting worse, it was starting to break him down again.

"Guys," Tapeworm appeared at the door with Max, both of them looking worried. "We really need your help."

"What's going on?" Cody asked as he and Zack instinctively pushed aside what they were just talking about and getting ready for whatever was coming their way.

"It's the Jacksons and Crystal, something's going on." Max replied, her eyes wide. "I don't know what it is; we were just talking to them, waiting to go to the park after Cody got you and they all suddenly fell to the ground, holding their heads."

Cody let in a sharp breath, instantly recognizing it. "Darkness?" he guessed.

"But it's never affected Crystal before," Tapeworm shook his head, looking hesitant. "We thought the same thing…I don't know, it's different this time."

"Come on," Zack turned to Blazen and started towards the door.

"Wait," Cody said before the four of them could leave."

Zack whirled around, his eyes wide. "Wait for what? If it is the Darkness, then we're going to need to be there to help them, especially if Bailey doesn't know what to do." He explained.

"But that's my point," Cody said quickly. "Just hear me out, Reed and Christian were both attacked by Gattaca with his powers and he controls the element of darkness. Maybe Geneva, who is in Bailey and is trying to help her, can help them. Maybe she's strong enough to help them get rid of the darkness on her own."

Max, who was constantly looking back and forth from the hallway to the twin boys that were stand in the suite, was wondering how they could take their sweet time just wanting to talk things out. She always thought that they talked too much, at times it really helped them, but now that it was something this big…

"Cody, I don't think that someone that is still learning their powers can help." Tapeworm said as calmly as possible. His hand was twitching on the doorknob, obviously rearing to go. He suddenly paused, his eyes narrowing. "Unless you know something we don't."

Cody's right cheek twitched. Bailey entrusted me to keep the secret that there's a traitor among us, how can I try to tell them without actually telling them what's going on? He opened his mouth to speak, but then slapped his hands over his ears, along with Zack, as a loud, terrified scream filled his ears.

"What's wrong?" Max asked, noticing the pained expressions on Zack's and Cody's faces.

"You didn't hear that?" Zack demanded his hands still over his ears.

"I don't have as good of hearing as you do, dude." Max replied, shaking her head. "What did you hear?"

Cody didn't get a chance to answer, he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped to his knees as he heard another long, loud, anguished scream. All of a sudden, he felt scared and helpless. It was as if everything that he had thought that could make him happy, had just been sucked out of him.

"Come on," he managed to croak. "Let's get downstairs."

Max and Tapeworm helped Cody to his feet and the four teenagers hurried out of the suite and down to the lobby as fast as they could. As soon as they burst into the lobby, they noticed that something was very off; everyone was walking through the lobby as if nothing was happening.

But something was indeed, happening. WingzCorp and Bailey were kneeling around the Jacksons and Crystal, who were lying on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling. Bailey was at Noah's side, shaking his arm, but WingzCorp was sitting around, almost passively.

"What happened?" Zack demanded as he, Cody, Max, and Tapeworm hurried over to them.

"I don't know," Bailey sounded fearful, turning away from her fallen friends. "I was talking to them about what we were going to be doing at the park, because of this plan that I made, and before I knew it, they looked like they were in pain and fell to the ground."

"Darkness?" Cody guessed, looking over at WingzCorp.

"Yeah, that's it," Reihu commented with a sigh, from where he was kneeling by Rhuben's body, watching her face carefully. "I recognize it from when they were at WingzCorp, and Core was working on them to try and make sure that he could make machines to control it whenever he needed to." He tilted his head and looked over at Crystal. "But I didn't think she had a problem with it."

"Normally she doesn't," Cody agreed as Tapeworm bent down and started to shake her.

"Crys," Tapeworm grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her. "Crys, wake up. Come on, wake up."

Crystal's eyes suddenly closed and when she opened them again, they went from a navy blue color back to its crystal blue. They darted around for a minute and she closed her eyes once more before lurching up into a sitting position, gasping loudly.

"Ow," she whimpered, moving her hands up to her head. "Ow, it hurts."

"Dude, we're right here." Max moved to Crystal's side. "What happened? Can you tell us what happened when you were talking to Bailey?" Bailey shuffled forward, looking over her friends' faces.

"I didn't know what to do," Bailey said, brushing tears off of her cheeks. "One moment they were fine and the next-"

"Can someone shut her up, please?" Tori snapped, looking annoyed.

"It's alright, Bailey, you didn't know what was going on," Zack reassured her. "We never told you what this was like." He licked his lips as he waited for Crystal to calm down. "There are times where the Jacksons can get taken over by the darkness, you know, because it was put into them from their father by Gattaca, but nothing like this had ever happened to Crystal before."

Bailey nodded quietly.

"Crys," Cody reached out and took her hand, holding it gently in his own. "Crys, what happened?"

Crystal finally started to relax, her breathing returning to normal. She looked around at everyone around her, trembling a little bit. "I could hear his voice," she said in a low murmur, causing everyone to lean forward to hear her. "Gattaca's voice, I could hear it in my head. He was calling us to him, everyone that had darkness in him; he's trying to call them to him. I tried to fight it as soon as I heard his voice, the urge to go with him, but it was hard, his powers are so strong." She swallowed thickly. "I don't know how I got away from it…"

"Dammit!" Kuroko punched the ground. "This is worse than I thought! I didn't think that things would get this bad this fast. He's going to try and take over the world faster than we anticipated, he must know that we know and he wants to eliminate us before it's too late."

Patrick's eyes shot open, although they were a blue-black, not their normal color. "GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!" He shouted. "GET THE VOICES OUT OF MY HEAD!" He brought his hands up and started to hit himself with his fists. "GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT! MAKE IT STOP!"

"What should we do?" Bailey demanded, turning to Zack. "You've all dealt with this before." He looked around. "It doesn't seem like anyone is paying attention," hotel patrons continued to move around them, not paying any attention to those that were on the floor. "But we don't know if they'll start attacking because they're trying to get away from Gattaca's voice."

Ugh, why do I have to be the one that makes all the decisions? Zack looked around at all of his friends. They were in obvious pain, groaning as they twitched around, and Patrick was still screaming, desperately pleading to be let go.

"There's nothing that we can do but wait for them to stop," Zack said after a moment. "And deal with it when they wake up."

"If anything, we should watch for them for the rest of the night to make sure that nothing else happens." Cody added, staring at Bailey, who looked back at him.


The window to the Tipton kitchen slid open and a bag was tossed out of the window and onto the ground. Then the window open wider and a small body shimmied out and gently dropped to the ground.

"Master Sydney," The bag shifted and unzipped itself, allowing SpiritSaru's head to poke out. He shook out his fur and looked up at the small boy as he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Trust me," Sydney replied firmly. "This is the best thing to do." He held out his hand. "Unfading Promise." He whispered and his staff appeared in his hand. He quickly climbed on. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yes." SpiritSaru replied with a confident nod before ducking back into the bag and closing it again.

Sydney nodded once and took off into the air…


A/N: I really needed to show more of Zack's and Cody's relationship and Zack's problems with what was going on, as well as what Zack is struggling with. But I also see that he would have a massive amount of pressure because he is the leader of all of them and because they're always turning to him to figure out what to do.

Alright guys, now you know the traitor. I bet that you guys knew who it was, but this isn't going to work out the way that you think it will. At least, I hope not, because I think that the way I have it going will actually shock and surprise a lot of you.

Anyways…NOW THE ACTION STARTS! FIGHTS GALORE! Sorry for the all caps, I'm really excited for it, because I haven't written a fighting scene in a while, but everything I put up was important and I hope to all EVERY SINGLE question done by the time that this story is over. And because the story will be about 65 chapters long, there's not a lot left.

Sorry it took me a while to get this up; I had it up at one point, but then took it back down because I didn't think that it was written very well, and I still don't think that it really showed what I wanted it to show, but I like it anyway. I may go back later and change some things though.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles