Chapter 12 – Limitations

The four returned to the manor, much to their dismay. Genevieve and Gideon told them that they needed to go home and rest. Luckily they didn't have to walk the whole way back, the VR took Wilbur's car as well when they rescued them. The four didn't realize what time it was. It 3 in the morning already. They've been gone all night. The four knew they'd be in trouble. They could only imagine how angry Holmwood was. The four cautiously opened the door to the manor. They peeked to see if Holmwood was waiting for them in the foyer. He wasn't. the four sighed in relief. Maybe they could sneak back to their rooms. Just as they were about to walk upstairs, the lights in the living room opened. They turned their head to see who it was. It wasn't the grumpy old man, but instead they were greeted by kind lady named Lilian. She was smiling kindly at them as always but her eyes weren't agreeing. They were menacing and terrifying.

"H-hey Lilian…"

"Care to tell me wherever did you run off to last night?" Lilian said with the kindest of voice.

"Uhhh…"

The four slumped into their own bed after an hour long lecture from Lilian. The woman was an absolute terror when she's mad. The four wished it was Holmwood who caught them instead. The thought made them wonder where the old man was in all the excitement. But the thought was immediately dismissed. The four quickly fell asleep as they dreamt of what's to come for them tomorrow.

The four got up early that day. They didn't have any classes today. They also didn't have to go to the VR until 5 in the afternoon. They had most of the day to themselves. The four went to the dining area and saw Lilian setting up the table. She greeted them with a bright smile as if nothing happened earlier. She went back to the kitchen to prepare their food. They sat down and waited for their breakfast to arrive. A minute later Tyler and Pierre came downstairs.

"Hey Ty, Pierre."

"Yo!" Tyler took a seat next to Wilbur, "So heard you guys were out all night."

Pierre to the seat next to Tyler and poured himself a cup of tea and grabbed some toast.

They nodded and Hiro said, "Yeah… Lilian caught us though."

Tyler grabbed a piece of toast, "Oh I heard… I pity you guys. That woman is scary. I've been caught by her as well. Never stayed out late again."

The four looked at him in disbelief. Pierre poked his side hard. Tyler made an inaudible sound before confessing, "Ow! Okay, maybe one or two times… most of the times I just made sure not to get caught."

Now that they all believed. They watched as Pierre made a satisfied expression before drinking his tea. Tyler began bickering at Pierre to which his quiet friend simply ignored him.

"So where did you guys run off to last night?" Madison suddenly appeared with a video camera on her hand. She pointed the camera on them.

"Whoa!" Wilbur and Hiro jumped in surprise. The girl had a talent of appearing out of nowhere.

"Where did you come from?" Wilbur asked.

"Good morning Madison!" The two girls greeted Madison. The perky girl greeted them back and took as seat beside them.

"I'm serious, did you even see her come in?" Wilbur asked again but was ultimately ignored by his friends.

"We were just out celebrating Violet's victory but we lost track of time." Penny said immediately as to not draw anymore suspicions to where they actually were last night.

Madison perked up, "Oh! Congratulations by the way Violet. You were great at the fashion show."

"Thanks… you were at the fashion show?" Violet wondered.

"Of course I was, I'm with the school's news team." Madison said as she showed them her member's ID.

"You are? I thought you weren't going to join any clubs." Wilbur said as he eyed her ID.

Hiro nodded in agreement with Wilbur, "Yeah, why the sudden change?"

"Well, the news team found out about my research…" The four knew what she meant by research. The girl was obsessed with getting info about every student in the academy. "and they wanted me on their team… I was going to refuse them but apparently the news team has access to almost every part of the school." Madison said with pure excitement in her eyes. Of course the girl wouldn't be able to refuse an all-around access to the school.

"That's great Madison."

"Oh! Speaking of the news team, I need to have an interview with you Violet." Madison begged as she gave Violet the sweetest puppy eyes.

"Sure, we can do it after breakfast." There was no way Violet could refuse after the girl just begged her.

"Really? Thanks Vi!" the perky girl said as she pulled Violet into a hug, "I was going to interview you last night at the fashion show but Courtney's interview took way too long and I couldn't find you after."

"How did that go?" Penny asked with a hint of pity to the poor girl who had to suffer interviewing the queen bee.

With that, Madison's energy was deflated, "Urgh… it was the most annoying interview of my life. The girl talked about nothing but herself. Her answers had very little to do with the fashion show."

The four all laughed as Madison explained every detail of her interview.

"It's a shame you guys had been gone the whole night. We attended an awesome party last night." Tyler said, "Courtesy of Courtney Deveraux, of course. The girl may be a bee but the girl knows how to throw a party."

"And you weren't caught?" Penny questioned, admitting she'd definitely be impressed that they managed to pass Holmwood's hawk eyes.

"How can we? There was no one to catch us." Tyler boasted. And as he expected, the four were indeed surprised by his statement.

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, no one was there to catch us. Holmwood was gone the whole night." Tyler said.

"What?!" the four shouted. This threw Tyler back into the couch. He didn't expect they'd be this surprised.

"Yeah… he didn't show up at dinner time. It was Lilian who announced 'bedtime'… and we knew she wouldn't check up on us because she was more concerned about the four of you. Pierre and I sneaked out with no trouble at all."

"Wait… back up a sec… why was Holmwood gone the whole night?" Hiro asked.

Tyler shrugged, "I don't know man but he hasn't been back since… the last time we saw him was at the fashion show."

"He was at the fashion show?!" the girls repeated in question. But the boys seemed to have pointed out a different scenario.

"You were at the fashion show?!" Wilbur and Hiro questioned to which the girls looked at them in disbelief. One word – priorities. The fact that Tyler was at the fashion show. The Tyler who barely bothers to get dressed to school and would rather wear his pajamas, is at the fashion show and better yet actually sticking around the whole show was more fascinating than anything else.

"Don't remind me…" Tyler grimaced. The look on Tyler's face made them realized that he wasn't there by his choice. What could possibly have made him come to such an event? "The only reason I was there was because of this guy!" Tyler wrapped his arm around Pierre's neck and pulled the quiet boy to them. That explained one question but raised another. Why was Pierre at the show? The four didn't know much about him mostly because he barely talks about himself… he barely talks at all.

"His mom is a famous designer and was one of the judges of the show." Tyler explained further.

That would explain it but there was one thing that confused Violet…. Pierre Wyatts. "There wasn't any Wyatts in the judges." Violet pointed out Pierre's surname.

"That's because Pierre's parents are divorced and his mom went by her maiden name: Beauchêne."

"Beauchêne?! As in Clarissa Beauchêne?! The Clarissa Beauchêne?!"

"Let me guess? You two are best friends?" Wilbur teased with a goofy smile.

"I wish! She's one of the top designers in Paris…" Violet answered then turned to Pierre, "How come you never mentioned this before?" as if she really expected for Pierre to answer but the boy remained still on his seat and just shrugged.

"Well for one: you never asked; and two: in case you haven't noticed but Pierre isn't much of a talker."

Violet thought for a minute. "Touché." She grinned as the others laughed with her.

They talked a bit more before Madison pulled Violet to interview her about the fashion show. The others in the room played a few games of cards. An hour later Tyler and Pierre left the house as they had plans to go out. They didn't bother asking where they were going, knowing Tyler was probably bored of being cooped up in the manor. Penny decided to take Bolt out for a walk and Hiro and Wilbur went up to their rooms to talk. Violet was still chatting with Madison in the living room. Lilian had already gone out to the market and Carmen had been gone to the student council since that morning before the four had woken up. It was just the five of them left in the manor.

But soon enough, five became four. Madison had finished her interview and immediately went out to submit her work to the news team. She said it was urgent so it could be published tomorrow. Penny had just returned to the manor with Bolt.

"Hey Vi, I just met Madison outside." Penny said as she removed the leash from Bolt and let him run to the kitchen.

"We just finished the interview. She's headed to the news team now." Violet answered.

Penny noticed that the boys weren't in the room with Violet, "Where are Hiro and Wilbur?"

"They're in their room." Violet said. Penny sat on the sofa beside Violet.

"What are they doing in their room?"

"How should I know what those boys are up to? They're boys." Violet said as if to make a point.

As if on cue, Wilbur raced halfway down the stairs and called for the two girls, "Red, Violet! Come up! Hurry!"

"What is it now?" Violet grunted in complaint as she and Penny went up the staircase. When they reach the top, they followed Wilbur who led them to the entrance of the attic. There, Hiro was plugging in a device into the machine where the keypad was placed.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiro's trying to hack the keypad."

"How? I don't know either but I think Hiro believes there's a memory in that keypad, hopefully we can retrieved the passcode in that memory."

"If it's still in there, the device memory can only last for so long. If Holmwood had accessed the door within the time frame, we have a higher percent chance of retrieving the passcode."

"Where did you get that device?"

"I made it." Hiro answered as he continued working on his device.

"When?" Penny asked. They never mentioned making this device before. Then again they were preety busy with helping Violet out with the fashion show. She ultimately impressed that Hiro managed to create this device and help Violet with her dress.

"Since the lock was made. Just finished a day ago. It was hard to get the right materials for this." Hiro sighed.

"Good thing you're in the Robotics Club then." Wilbur said as he fist bumped Hiro, which he gladly returned.

"So how long is the time frame?" Violet nervously asked, fretting the answer wouldn't be what she was expecting.

"My guess is 24 hours."

"24 hours?!" Half the day had already passed. Meaning they barely have enough time left.

"If he entered the code within the last 24 hours, the passcode will show up in my device."

"If he didn't?"

No one answered. The silence spoke for itself.

Hiro turned on the device. The four waited. And waited. The silence was deafening. The waited for what seemed like hours.

Beep-beep

It was done.

"Hiro?" Violet called. Their friend was awfully silent. Did it not work?

Soon enough, Hiro broke his silence, "I got it."

The locks soon opened. They could hear the sound of metal clanking and gears turning. It wasn't loud enough for anyone not near it to hear which would explain why none of them ever heard anyone opening the door.

"You did it!" Penny exclaimed as she and Violet hugged Hiro, who ended up blushing a bit not used to this amount of praise.

"Good job, Hiro." Wilbur offered another fist bump to which Hiro gladly returned.

"Let's go." Hiro said as he turned on the flashlight on his watch.

The four looked around the attic. It still looked the same. Still covered with dust. Dozens of boxes lying on the ground. None of it was touched since they left.

"Huh."

"Noticed it too?" Wilbur said, judging by Violet's reaction.

"Nothing has changed. Even the spot where we hangout still remained." Violet pointed at the blanket laid out on the floor.

"But why?" Penny wondered.

"Maybe he just didn't want anyone messing around here." Hiro guessed hoping to look on the positive side.

As much as they all wanted it to be true, they knew the truth was far from what they'd expected. Determined to figure out the mystery, Wilbur stated, "He knows something. And we're gonna find out what."

The four continued their search from the last time they were in the attic. Even though the attic was still as creepy and dirty as before, the four were somewhat glad to be back. So much has happened since their last visit. They went from a simple search for a girl's identity to finding a secret organization underneath the academy. Thousands of question still kept running through their minds. With each question answered, raised even more questions.

And they had a feeling, another question is about to be answered soon.

"I found one!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"No way! This is awesome!" Wilbur cheered, "I'll get the record player!" he excitedly raced to his room. As Wilbur entered his room, he looked through his drawers. He saw the player hidden beneath his clothes. He was about to return to the attic when he spotted something shining in his drawers. He moved his clothes away and saw that it was the chest they found with the first record. His eyes felt drawn to the markings on the chest. Something inside him was calling out to it.

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Hiro appeared at their door.

Wilbur must've been gone for quite some time for Hiro to be looking for him. "Right… sorry. L-let's go."

Hiro noticed "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Hiro inserted the cylinder to their player. The four sat at their usual place and waited for the device to play. Soon they heard the little girl's voice.

"Mummy and Daddy are going treasure hunting again. I wish we could come too…" It was Tori. She sounded sad.

"But they told us it's dangerous, Tori." A young boy said. Judging by his voice, he was around the same age as Tori or perhaps a bit older.

"So unfair… your father is going and so are Tia's parents."

"They'll only be gone for a bit. You know they'll be back soon."

"Not soon enough."

The record stopped there. But the last bit confirmed their suspicions. The four kids in that picture they found were the same kids in the record. Two of them now had names. Tori and Tia. It's just a name but it may help them.

Hiro replaced the cylinder with the second one they found.

"I'm worried. They've never done this before. We'd always hear from them at least once a week. It has been three months since we've last heard from them."

"What on earth are you doing up there child? Goodness! Come back down here before you hurt yourself."

"Yes, Miss Emily." The girl said dejectedly.

"Be careful now."

"Yes, Miss—" they could hear something breaking.

"VICTORIA!"

"Victoria…"

"You don't think—"

"No way. That's impossible."

"Yeah… the recording was taken centuries ago."

"They're gone." "It's been a year and a half since we last heard from them. The last time we've heard from them, I knew they were getting close to finding out the truth. Whatever they started… I'm going to finish it." The voice sounded like Tori but much older.

"Tori! He's back!"

"It's—"

"—vi—czz—argszh—"

Hiro quickly stopped the device and retrieved the cylinder. He checked to see any damages around the cylinder, "Oh man… I think it's scratched."

"Can you fix it?"

"I can try. It might take a while though."

"We did get manage to get some information about them."

"And there's only one thing consistent in Tori's recordings: her parents' work. Whatever it is, it must be a link somehow."

"We already have what we need."

"Of course. The book Violet found."

"I haven't read the book thoroughly since we found."

"We were pretty busy with helping Vi with the fashion show."

"I did manage to read some of it."

"Yeah and I remember you saying some pretty dark things."

"End of life."

"What exactly did you read?"

"From what I read, the Evans were hunting for some lost treasure. It was said to hold the greatest power."

"How great?"

"It had the power to create and destroy worlds."

The four were in the car on their way to the Viper Rose. Hiro brought up their previous conversation.

"D-do you think this is what Miss Genevieve was telling us about?"

"It's too much of a coincidence, don't you think?" There's a lot of crazy coincidences since they arrived to the academy. Maybe it is somehow all linked but maybe it isn't. Maybe they were just overthinking it.

"Okay, let's say for a second that the Evans' research and the story Miss Genevieve told us is one and the same. Does that mean Tori's parent did saw the Darkness, do you think they know how to defeat it?" Penny said as if to rationalize everything that is happening to them.

"We'll find out more once we read the book."

"I never actually told you guys how I got the book…"

"What do you mean?"

"I… when I first found the book… I was in this weird part of the archive. It was hidden. The only way in was this narrow hallway. It barely fitted one person." "What was even weirder… the archive only contained a bunch of story books and myths."

"Myths?"

"Like those stories about mythological creatures. The ones that don't exist. Like things you see in fairy tales."

"So are you saying that the Evans' research isn't real?"

"N-no! After everything that has happened… but… there's a chance it might be."

"Hey, do you think we can trust them?"

"Who?"

"Viper Rose."

"Why shouldn't we?"

"I feel like they're hiding something from us." Hiro said remembering the odd feeling he felt around them.

"What?"

"I don't know. Just a feeling."

"I get it Hiro. They're a big underground organization. They probably have thousands of secrets they're keeping from us. But right now, we have no idea what we're up against and they're the only one that can help us."

"Speaking of which… you better step on it." Penny said as she pointed at her watch.

"Gotcha."

"Wait… where are we going again?"

"Wilbur!"

"You've been driving for this long but you have no idea where we're going?!"

"Well…"

"The library Wilbur. They have a secret entrance there."

"How do you know that?"

"Miss Genevieve told us before we left, remember?"

"We only have a few selected entrances. They change every now and them for security purposes. But the one you can use is located at the library." Miss Genevieve said.

"Why only the library?" Hiro asked.

"Well, it's the only place you can go without raising suspicions now." She smiled. This meant the other entryways must be restricted to students and this seemed to piqued his curiosity.

"That makes sense."

"To open the entryway, use your pendants. I've already encrypted the keys in them." the headmistress instructed. "And one last thing…"

"Yes?"

"Please refrain your friend from touching any more of our experimental weaponry."

"Huh?" the three of them turned to where their headmistress was looking and saw Wilbur goofing around with some unknown tech.

"What does this do?" Wilbur grabbed to what looked like a giant gun.

A very nervous scientist tried to warn Wilbur, "Young man p-please don't touch that—"

But it was too late. Not that Wilbur would actually listen. He pressed the button and a mass of pink giant marshmallow-like spheres blasted out of the gun. Wilbur tried to stop it but it slipped from his grasp and it fell on the floor. The gun was blasting even faster and was spiralling out of control.

The scientists all hid behind the desks and chairs. Wilbur grabbed a foldable chair and hit the spheres away from him. Genevieve immediately went in front of Hiro, Penny, and Violet as she drew out the shield from her watch and protected the three of them. Violet looked at the gun that kept shooting everywhere. It doesn't seem like it would end soon. It left her no choice.

Violet casted a force field around herself. She started to run towards the gun but a large went straight to her shield and ended up sticking on the shield, blocking her view. More spheres came and blocked her path.

Wilbur saw Violet having trouble with hold off the spheres. He ran towards her while hitting every sphere that came his way. Once he reached Violet, he pulled her arm and Violet had let go of the shield and the mountain of pink marshmallow all fell in a loud plop. Violet stood behind Wilbur as he hit the spheres away from them. Violet helped as well by casting small but strong force fields to bounce back the incoming spheres. Once Wilbur and Violet were near the gun, Violet casted an energy field around the gun. The gun kept shooting which ended up covering itself with pink marshmallow-like spheres. It malfunctioned and stopped. Violet removed the energy field and just in time, using her powers exhausted her. And they were safe at last.

"Looks like you still need to work on a few kinks Dr. Gomez." Genevieve said as patted the scientist on the shoulder. She then walked towards the four. "We'll see you tomorrow. Luckily we won't be meeting in the laboratory."

"Oh yeah… now I remember."

"Try not to blow up anything this time." Penny joked but at the same time she meant it.

"That was an accident!"

"Hey guys we're here." Hiro said as he pointed at the library.

Wilbur parked his car which wasn't hard to find a parking spot since hardly anyone comes to the library anymore. Which led him to question if the headmistress is sure that four teenagers going to the library on their day off won't raise suspicions?

The four entered the library and they immediately saw the librarian and she saw them as well. Violet waved hello to the librarian but was ignored by her. Violet remembered that they weren't supposed to know each other so closely outside of the organization and immediately withdrew her hand. She saw the librarian smile slightly in approval before discretely pointing them the direction to the entrance. The four led to a normal looking part of the library. There were bookcases left and right. Nothing out of the ordinary. The four looked around the books for any clues. There weren't anything odd about the books. Wilbur thought that there might be some secret lever in one of the book. Meanwhile Hiro tried to look for a trap door. They got nothing. Violet tried to look on a higher part of the bookshelf. She carefully climbed the ladder. Wilbur immediately grabbed on the ladder for support in case Violet fell.

Penny watched as Violet climbed the ladder, "Anything?"

Violet just shook her head and carefully climbed down. As she climbed down, she noticed a strange mark on one of the steps. It was very familiar to her. She's seen it before. Violet noticed the curved shape on the step. She immediately hopped off the ladder and searched for something on the floor. And not a second longer she found it, a marking on the wooden floor. She moved the ladder in alignment to the mark on the floor.

"What is it Vi?"

"Look!" Violet said as she pointed at the third step.

The three looked at the step and noticed the mark that completes the one on the floor. They immediately recognized it. The logo of Viper Rose. Wilbur took out his pendant and hovered it above the step. The markings on the step and on the floor lit up. A bright laser beam emitted from the pendant and through the step and the floor. The laser reflected upward to the top of the ladder and opened like a curtain to what looked like a window or door.

"It's an interdimensional gateway." Hiro awed.

"A what?"

"It's a portal." Hiro simplified.

On one side of the ladder they could see the lobby of the Viper Rose. On the other side it just looked like nothing's there. Definitely a portal.

"Is it safe?" Penny asked.

"Maybe." Hiro replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Great." Penny commented sarcastically.

"Together then?"

"One…" Wilbur reached out his hand to Violet.

"Two…" Violet grabbed hold of Penny while Penny grabbed hold of Hiro.

"Three!" And together they jumped into the portal.

"Welcome back." Genevieve greeted to the four teens lying on the floor.

"Yeah…" Wilbur grunted as he struggled to get up with Violet, Penny, and Hiro on top of him. Shouldn't have gone together. Note to self.

Once they were back on their feet, they followed the headmistress to the hall, "We've already prepared training outfits for you. Boys, in the room to the left. Girls, to the right." She instructed, "A staff will guide you to the training room when you're done."

The four went to the rooms where they found the clothes on the table. The clothes were a simple pair of black shirt and gym pants. Of course the shirt had the logo printed on them. Penny and Violet tied their hair up in a ponytail. Just like Miss Genevieve said, a staff was waiting them outside.

The training room was huge. It looked like an empty ware house with one part of the room filled with gym equipment. They were looking around for Miss Genevieve but she was nowhere to be found.

"Hello children."

The voice seemed to come from a speaker. The four looked up and saw Miss Genevieve with Sir Gideon inside to what looked like a skybox similar to the ones you see in stadiums.

Once the headmistress got their attention she continued, "You will be training from now on with Leal." And on cue, Leal appeared from another entrance, wearing a tight black sleeveless shirt and black cargo pants. And the black mask covering his nose down to his neck. It was similar to what he wore the other day minus the cape. But even with the cape off the same mysterious aura still surrounded him.

"I will be testing your abilities for now, so I'll know what to work with. You have yet to obtain your powers so you'll need to rely on your physical strength." He said.

Wilbur raised his hand out of humor, "Wait does this mean Violet doesn't have to train since she already has her powers?"

"On the contrary, Violet may have her powers but she has yet to fully control them. What you have defeated is only but one Shadow and it's not the strongest one we've seen. Far from it…"

"Wait… you mean to tell us that Shadow was just a lower rank creature?" Hiro asked.

"This is why you need to be well-prepared, well-trained, and well-equipped…" Leal said as he paced back and forth like a drill sergeant, "For now, let's start with the super."

Violet cautiously approached the man that stood in front of them. The ground began to shake. Within a split second the whole room transformed. An obstacle course emerged from the ground. Worried for her friends, she looked behind for them and saw an electronic barrier form in between her and her friends. The three was just as confused and worried as she was.

Leal however remained calm. He raised a remote in his hand and pressed the big red button. Within seconds, the whole obstacle course was moving. Violet had little time to react when a fireball was thrown at her. Luckily her instincts kicked in and casted a force field to shield herself from it. But she didn't have time to take a breath after as several more came flying out of nowehere. She counter attacked the fireballs with her own. One by one they exploded but with each step Violet made unknowingly pushed her into the obstacle course. First was what looked like a giant pendulum. She never had much training. But over the years of somewhat fighting crime, she developed good enough instinct to dodge and protect herself from anything that comes to her path, whether it's a school bus out to crush her or a giant 300 pound metallic ball. She got through the pendulum without a scratch. Little did she know… it was just getting started.

Leal approached her with his sword drawn out. Violet immediately prepared herself for an attack. Leal made the first move and sprinted towards Violet. Violet immediately fired an energy sphere to Leal. But the man quickly dodge it with ease.

"He's fast!"

Before he got close to Violet, he disappeared right in front of them. Violet was in distress. She had no idea where he went. Then she felt a tap on her left shoulder and immediately fired towards that direction. She didn't manage to hit anything but felt another tap on the opposite direction and she fired another and another. Yet she still hadn't hit him. She was getting restless and tired. She used her powers a lot and she wasn't used to straining her powers this much.

She was running out of breath, when she felt something coming from above. She saw Leal ready to strike her with his sword. With her last bit of strength, she casted a shield above her. His sword and her shield met causing both powers to create a massive electrical surge in between.

"Woah."

"I had no idea, Violet was this strong."

It exploded to a black smoke that covered the whole training area. The shield protected Hiro, Penny, and Wilbur from the smoke but they still couldn't see anything. Soon the smoke cleared and they saw Violet and Leal standing in the middle of the room. Violet was obviously looking tired but Leal still seemed to be completely fine and unscathed.

"Violet watch out!" Penny yelled as she saw Leal approaching towards Violet.

Violet could barely raise her head as she casted a shield but Leal's sword was stronger this time as he easily broke through her shield. With each strike from Leal's sword, her powers grew weaker and weaker. She could barely hold up her shield.

"VIOLET!"

With one final blow, Leal struck his sword straight towards Violet. The sword didn't touch Violet but force of the sword's power threw Violet across the room.

"VIOLEEEETTTT!" the three screamed in horror as they watched their friend fall helplessly to the ground. The barrier between them disappeared. And the three teenagers rushed to Violet's side. Penny rested Violet's head on her lap as Hiro checked her vital signs. Luckily Violet was simply knocked out and was regaining consciousness. Violet eyes fluttered opened. The first thing she could hear was Penny and Hiro worried yet relieved voices. In the background, was someone arguing with another person.

"Hey! That was not fair!" Wilbur shouted at Leal, "You already won the battle. She was tired and defenseless."

"Exactly! The Darkness doesn't care about fairness. It will strike you if it sees even the slightest of vulnerability. It will not show mercy." Leal noticed that Violet was conscious again, "We will begin again." He said as he drew his sword and pointed it towards Violet.

"That's enough. Can't you see she's hurt? She can't fight."

"You came here to train. You have no time to relax because the Darkess is arising. Without the proper training, you stand no chance against it."

"Then… I'll fight you." Wilbur said confidently.

A/N

M.A.: Yeah I know, cliffhanger right? It was getting too long for one chapter. I don't wanna do another 10k words chapter. Instead I'll be continuing it to the next chapter. So see ya in the next—

Wilbur: Woah woah woah! If you're gonna end this chapter, we need to end it right.

M.A.: What do you mean?

Wilbur: An excellent question. I'm so glad you asked.

M.A.: I immediately regret it.

Wilbur: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to our fun time mid time segment called: Identity Crisis.

Penny: I'm sorry what?!

Wilbur: It's a little game where you have to guess which fun fact matches the character I'm about to say. It can go from either multiple choice or true or false.

Violet: You need to think of another name for this stupid game.

Wilbur: I'll write that down next on my to-do list. Now! Let the games begin.

Hiro: How is this a game exactly?

Penny: Who knows… but I'll let him have this one since he'll get beaten up in the next chapter anyway.

Wilbur: Let's start with our oh-so-fun addition to the Modern Four family: Leal! Leal is based from:

Danny Phantom

Killua from HunterXHunter

Kakashi from Naruto

Draco Malfoy

M.A.: C. Kakashi from Naruto.

Wilbur: Mari! You weren't supposed to answer.

M.A.: Huh? Why not?

Wilbur: "Why not?" Of course not! You know all of these. You're the creator.

M.A.: Oh.

Wilbur: Haaa… well since you already answered it. Why don't you give the reason why Leal is based on Kakashi.

M.A.: Okay sure! Leal… hmm… what can I say about him… well I based Leal on Kakashi from the anime Naruto. I've always adored him although I never watched much of the said anime. I wanted the four to have some kind of mentor since they have absolutely no idea what to do for now. He won't always help them but he will be there when they need him the most. Originally, I wanted Miss Genevieve to train you but she just never seemed to be the type although she'll be pretty badass in a future chapter.

Wilbur: Okay! Let's do this again. Another mysterious character, Pierre Wyatt! Who is this character based on?

Ferb from Phineas and Ferb

Mori from Ouran High School Host Club

Pierre from Sugar Sugar Rune

Adrien Agreste from Miraculous Ladybug

M.A.: Pierre is actually one of my favorite characters. Alongside with Tyler. The two of them have such different personalities with Tyler being the loud and sociable extrovert and Pierre being the quiet and aloof introvert, but even with their major differences the both of them balance each other out.

Wilbur: The answer will be shown in the next chapter.

Violet: Well, I guess that's it for this chapter.

Penny: One last thing before we end this chapter. Thank you so much for all your support.

Hiro: Without you readers out there, this story would probably not have continued.

Violet: It's really nice to know that there are people out there who still continue to reach out and keep telling us to not give up on this story.

Wilbur: We still have so much more to tell you. Our journey has only begun but I hope we'll still see you until the very end.

M.A.: And that's it for this chapter. Until next time on Modern Four…

All: See you in the next chapter.