A Tale of Two Torrents

By Dixxy

Chapter Fourteen: Found At Last

(Sara)

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud. I wrapped my blanket more tightly around me, looking around. Wherever I was, I most certainly wasn't in my bedroom. In fact, I wasn't even in my house. Sure, I had my bedding and my mattress, but. . . where was my bed? My room? My house? THE ENTIRE CITY OF BOSTON!

I was in a very remote clearing surrounded by trees with a blue sky above me. I smiled slightly. "Well, at the very least I know I'm probably not in the Dynasty- this is the Mortal Realm's coloring," I mused to myself. "But where in the Mortal Realm am I and why am I here?"

I stayed put. No use getting myself even more lost than I already was. Besides, if the Dynasty was behind it, then for sure Cye and the others would come for me, right? Cye wouldn't let me down now that he knew our tie to each other, right? I gulped, blinking at my surroundings.

I padded around my bedding, wondering if my armor orbe was anywhere in them. After a thorough shaking of my blanket, my pillowcase, and my other sheets, I saw no little blue marble. But wouldn't you have sensed it if it was near by, Sara? That was a waste of time- it's not here, I thought to myself. Great, I have no clue where I am and I'm unarmed. How much better can this get?

I heard a growl in the distance. I turned my head to see some bushes moving. I stayed where I was, never taking my eyes off of the bush. What was it? What was coming after me now? Hadn't I been through enough already? My bottom lip trembled. No. If something attacked me, I'd be killed- my fighting skills weren't very good without my armor orbe at least in the vicinity.

A gray muzzle came from the bushes, followed by several more. Wolves, I thought to myself. Wolves aren't so bad, right? I sat still. Perhaps they'd leave me alone if I didn't do anything? I held my breath, hoping that the wild dogs would just turn and leave. Then a thought crossed my mind. Do wolves live in this part of Massachusetts? And, more importantly, do they grow that. . . tall?

I was very disheartened to learn that the muzzle did not belong to a wolf. Not even a coyote. No. The gray muzzle belonged to none other than a tall, two legged dog with red eyes, a long, bladed tail, and a giant, squishy butt. This creature was a very large, very mean looking Gruff. And it was definitely not the one we'd befriended.

I froze. "Oh no," I managed to stutter. I couldn't fend off a Gruff by myself without my army! I was a sitting duck. I sniffled. All this and now I'm dying alone, here? How did this happen? Wait- this must be a dream! I'm having a nightmare! That guy tried to rape me- yes, yes, this is some sort of a weird psychological trigger that he switched on and I just have to suck it up and wait for myself to wake up!

The Gruff started to advance on me. Not sure if I really was dreaming, I reached over to pinch myself. I winced- it hurt, meaning it was officially NOT a dream. I wrapped my blanket around me, staring at the creature in fright. It growled, them licked its chops. I turned away, waiting for the end.

I heard a snarling yip and then a thump. I lifted my head to see another Gruff landed on the previous one, growling and snarling at it. I blinked, surprised. When they moved, I caught glimpse of a familiar scar on one of them. I brightened. Yes! Our Gruff had come to save me!

"Sara!"

I looked over to see Cye running towards me, eventually diving onto me, smoothing me in a hug. "Dear God, Sara, how on Earth did you end up here! Your mother was frantic this morning when she found you missing and everyone's gone absolutely insane trying to find you!"

"Cye, the Gruff!" I said. Cye looked up and saw the two creatures still wrestling on the ground. He stood up and raised a hand in the air. A blue glow surrounded his hand, eventually elongating into his dagger. He held it at the ready, watching the two creatures wrestle before him. "Cye, what are you doing?"

"Killing that other Gruff," he said. "Dash, out of the way!"

I wondered what a Dash was when I saw our Gruff jump out of the way. The other Gruff turned its attention to Cye, turning all of its anger on his. My partner in arms began to wave the knife back and fourth, the Gruff watching the blade's every move. "Come on, you want a piece of me? Come and get it!" he said. With Cye's taunting and teasing, the Gruff lunged at him, getting a surprised yelp from Cye.

I screamed. The Gruff was growling and snapping at Cye, aiming for his throat. Cye slashed at it, drawing crimson red blood from the creature. Neither could make a death blow to the other, no matter how weak the other got. I watched in fear. That Gruff intended to kill him. Cye!

Another growl, this one from our Gruff. In one swift move, it knocked itself into the other Gruff, sending it off of Cye. I got up and got to him as quick as I could, looking over his wounds. He looked up at me, a smile on his face. He wasn't hurt badly, only a few scratches adorning his frame. "Oh, Cye. . . you shouldn't have done that."

"Yes I did," he said. "I won't let anything happen to you." The two of us heard a sickening whimper and snap. The two of us looked over to see our Gruff had bitten down on the back of the other Gruff's neck and wrenched it to the side, successfully breaking its neck. He looked at his kill solemnly, then looked over at us, yipped happily, and bounded over to us, lollling his tongue and waiting for his praise or punishment.

Cye smiled. "Good boy, Dash," he said.

I looked up. "So, that's your name, huh?" I said. Dash nodded, yipping for good measure.

"There you two are! We were worried about ya, mates!"

I looked over to see Sam squatting on a tree branch. She leapt down. "You two all right?"

"I'll live," said Cye, trying to sit himself up. He looked over at me. "But, Sara, how did you get here in the first place? And with all of your beddings and your bloody mattress?" He looked at my mess of beddings and shook his head. "My father had better have some sort of an idea for this one, and I'm sure it'll be a good one, too."

"I'll say," said Sam, looking over. She turned to me. "And it wasn't the Dynasty that did this?" I shrugged. "You don't have any idea how you ended up here, do you, Sara?" I nodded. "Oh boy- I have got to head the answer to this one. You're right, Cye- the answer to this question WILL be interesting."

The rustling of leaves announced the arrival of Sage and Ella. "Is everybody all right?" asked Sage. We all nodded. "Sara? How did you get here?" I sighed and gave him the same answer I'd given Sam and Cye- I had no idea how I got to that stupid clearing or even WHY.

"Now, what do we do with this thing?" asked Ella, pointing at the now very dead Gruff.

"Um, good question?" Cye offered.

"Ah, I see," said Anubis. With help from Sam, Sage, and Ella, the lot of us were able to clean up the clearing. Ella used her powers to disintegrate the dead Gruff's body while Sage and Sam were somehow able to get my mattress and what not back to my house without anyone seeing them to ask any questions. Cye escorted me home so I could get dressed, then brought me to Mike's house, where everyone else was waiting. Anubis had used the Staff to try and see if my getting to the clearing was something through my own powers.

"Did Sara do it?" asked Keisha.

Anubis nodded. "Yes. She can teleport," he said, chuckling to himself. "Poor kid must have teleported in her sleep." He shook his head and patted my head. "We're going to have to figure out how to control that power of yours- learning to use teleportation by artificial means is one thing, but having the ability naturally is much more unstable."

"You mean like how I have to really concentrate to use my shape-shifting powers," said Kento. "Or like how Sage doesn't just suddenly disappear off the face of the Earth unannounced. Because it's artificial, it's more controlled. Where you're saying that Sara has this power naturally, it's more off the hook."

"Thank you for repeating what Anubis just said," Rona quipped. Kento growled, unable to find a come-back for the Latin Senshi's comment. Rona giggled, though the Warrior of Hardrock looked like he was planning some sort of revenge on the Senshi of the Wind, one that she'd remember for a while.

"How do we control the power?" asked Ria.

Anubis bit his bottom lip. "Give me a minute to figure that out and I'll give you an answer," he said. The rest of us groaned minus me- I was afraid I'd end up somewhere on accident again. What if I found myself a little further from home? Someplace like New York or Alaska? I shuddered at the thought and clung to Cye.

Finally, Anubis looked at Kento. "Kento, could you make a bracelet or a pendant or some sort of a jeweled item of some sort?" The male Hardrock nodded dumbly and stood up to head upstairs. I looked at Anubis questioningly. "I can infuse a controller into the jeweled item to control the teleportation until you get a better grip on it. That way we don't run into this morning's problem again."

"That's a pretty good idea," said Rona. "There are legends and myths about jewelry controlling or even activating super powers. A lot of them were about werewolves, but it's the same principle of using a magically charged item to control a wild power."

"Thank you for repeating what Anubis just said!" Kento said in a high pitched, mocking voice as he came downstairs. Keisha laughed while Rona fumed. The Chinese Ronin of Hardrock jumpe down the last few steps, holding up a small blue jewel sit in a silver pendant. He handed it to Anubis. "I had a few on hand."

Anubis nodded, then clasped his hands around it. He closed his eyes, furrowing his brow down. His hands glowed for a few minutes in a bright yellow hue, then stopped. He handed the small pendant to me. "Find a chain of some sort for it and don't take it off- this should prevent you from teleporting unannounced.

I nodded. "All right. I'll harass my mom for a chain later tonight," I said. "She'll cough one up unless she wants me to go on a free trip to Japan." I smiled. "Hey, maybe while I'm there I can say hi to Ryo and Rowen for you boys and tell them how you're all doing!"

Kento snorted. "They'll have heart attacks. Do it!"

"Kento!" Sage scolded.

"What?"