"Raye!!" The boy yelled.
Hearing his name the other boy turned. He waved his hand to the hover boarding young man heading toward him.
"Hey Jake!!" Raye yelled.
Raye stood just a little taller than his best friend Jake and his eyes were a Prussian blue. His wornout green tank ruffled in the breeze as did his khaki shorts as his friend landed in front of him.
"Whats up?" Jake asked as the boys started to perform their buddy handshake.
"Not much you?" Raye replied completing the handshake.
"Not much, Mom asked me to come out and get some stuff for her." he held up a shopping list. "She had some "errands" to run."
"So did mine, my father went too. So I just went out here to chill."
Jake frowned confusion written on his face. "Don't you live on L1?" he asked.
"Yea, so?"
"Well why are you here?"
The boy thought for a moment and finally caught what his friend was puzzled about. "My mom and dad had to come here for whatever they needed to do."
Jake scratched his head. "I wonder what for?"
Raye shrugged. "I don't know. She said your mom and Trowa were coming too. But lets get that list done and go boardin!!"
Jake grinned. "Yea!"
With that idea in mind the two boys took off into the busy crowd and began to gather all that their list had asked.
~*~*~*~
"Well what's first?" Raye yelled over the din of the crowded market.
Jake squinted toward the piece of paper he held in his hand trying to keep it from blowing away. "Onions"
Raye made disgusted face, "Onions? I hate onions..you can get those."
Jake laughed, "Ok, then why don't you get the potatoes?"
The boy's companion nodded and dashed off toward the other side of the market to retrieve his desired item, while Jake wandered on to find the onions.
"Jake my man!!" came a friendly and familar voice behind him.
Jake turned and smiled. "Tae! Hey!"
Tae's dark violet eyes sparkled underneath his rather long brown hair that was gently brushed to the side as his friend recognized him. Tae stood about the same height as Jake and wore a navy blue muscle tank and khaki shorts.
"So what are you up to J-man?!" he asked raised his hand in a greeting motion and the two proceeded to do their buddy handshake.
"J-man" grinned and shook his head. Tae was so much like his father, Duo Maxwell, that it scared him sometimes.
"I'm getting some stuff for my mom." Jake replied. "She had an errand to run so I ran this one for her."
Tae laughed, "Just like you Jake! Always helpin people out! My mom says that you would make a good police officer one day."
Jake smiled and placed his onion in a plastic bag. "I don't want to be an officer."
Tae looked over at his friends list and grabbed an apple from somebody walking by and then placed it in Jake's bag. "Then what do you want to be?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you have plenty of time!" A boy yelled from behind them.
The two turned around to see Raye holding up two plastic bags of stuff. "Here's the rest of your list Jake! I memorized that list of yours with one glance!!"
Jake smiled, "You have a crazy bad ass memory Raye!"
Raye grinned.
Tae whistled his attention elsewhere, "Hey guys don't look now, but isn't that the most beautiful creature you have ever seen?"
Jake and Raye followed Tae's gaze and slight drool dribbled out of their mouths.
"Look at the body on that!" Raye exclaimed.
"Man I'd love to take her for a spin." Tae agreed.
"I don't see how a beauty like that could be all alone..." Jake added.
"So graceful..."
"So elegant.."
"So...expensive.."
The three boys sighed and stared as their love twisted and rotated sparkling and gleaming in the morning sun.
"I'd so kill to have a board like that." Tae said as the boys continued walking through the market after staring for a few more minutes.
"So would I." Jake and Raye agreed.
"Anyways what do you think our parents are really up to?"
"I think they went to some kind of meeting." Jake shrugged, "That's all I can think of."
"I agree with Jake." Raye stated shifting one of the plastic bags over one of his well toned shoulders.
Tae laughed, "Do you guys even have imaginations?" he asked. "I mean maybe they were captured by aliens! Or maybe they are really secret agents and are on a secret mission!"
Jake laughed and looked to Tae, "OUR parents be secret agents?! You have a pretty wild imagination Tae."
"Yea I guess that is kind of out there isn't it? I mean my dad is so loud I bet he would blow his cover!"
The three laughed at this and turned a corner at the end of the market and headed on toward Jake's home.
~*~*~*~
Jake Barton's house was not very large at all, though it wasn't too small either. It was the perfect size for a family of three. The house was located in a small suburban neighborhood not too far away from the bustling capital city of colony L3 and was plain white house with blue shutters, and a veranda.
"Wow your new house looks great!" Raye said as he ran to the stairs.
"It's not new Raye." Jake corrected his friend while swiping his house key. "My dad just repainted it. He didn't like that neon green the previous owner had painted it."
Tae laughed as he followed his two friends inside. "I thought that color was great! It kinda fit your dad's circus job!"
Jake rolled his eyes and set his bag on the table followed by Raye.
"Will you stop making wise cracks about that Tae?" Jake pleaded.
Tae shrugged while looking around the house. "Yea sure."
"Hey look at this you guys..."
"What is it Raye?"
Tae looked to the two boys who were both squatting on their knees. "Whatcha lookin at?"
Jake stood holding a brick with a note attached to it, his eyes were narrowed and his face grim. "Vandalizers."
"What's the note say?" Raye asked standing beside his friend.
The boy in question looked to his friend and then unfolded the piece of paper attached to the red brick.
"Don't expect to see your mother or father again, they are now in the hands of the federation."
Tae blinked and looked over Jake's shoulder to the note. "The Federation? What the freak?"
Raye shrugged and started to sweep up the glass shards from the broken window. "You got me. Its not like I ever watch the news or anything."
Jake stood frozen in spot and his thoughts wandered back to this morning, right before his mom left.
~*~*~*
"Jake your father and I are going out for a while, we just have a few errands to run so don't worry about us," she smiled at him and brushed back his brown hair from his face before planting a kiss on his forehead.
"I won't worry mom. Is there anything you want me to do?"
"Stay out of trouble, and get me the things on this list. I need them to make dinner tonight ok?"
Jake nodded and gave her a salute. "Yes, ma'am!"
The mother smiled at her son and gave him a big hug.
"Kawa lets go." Jake's father said while ruffling Jake's hair.
Jake smiled up at his tall brown haired father and blushed a bit as his parents exchanged kisses.
"Bye sweetie now remember stay out of trouble!" Kawa yelled to Jake as she climbed in the car.
Jake leaned on the veranda rails and smiled. "I will mom. Be careful."
She smiled and then buckled up and waved as her and Trowa pulled out of the driveway and into the street, and then with a loud vroom drove off down the street.
~*~*~*~
"Earth to Jacob!!" Tae yelled waving a hand in front of his friend's dazed face.
Jake blinked and looked at his friend.
"I knew your real name would work!" Tae said smiling triumphantly.
Jake smiled weakly and turned to face both his friends. "We have to go help my parents..."
Raye looked to Jake while dumping the glass shards in the trash can. "Jake, what if that letter is just to scare you?"
Jake frowned and fought back tears. "What if its not?"
Tae's face went grim, "Our parents all went to the same meeting or whatever right?"
Raye and Jake both nodded.
"Then it's a good chance that they are all...captured."
Raye blinked not realizing it until now, "You're right...but I mean..we don't even know where to begin looking."
The two boys jumped hearing a loud bang and looked around to discover Jake was no longer with them.
"Jake?!"
"I'm over here! Come help me with this!"
Tae and Raye looked to eachother and then ran to aide their friend. They ran down a hallway and turned to see Jake struggling with a large hatch.
"What are you doin?" Tae asked walking over to him.
"My parents always told me not to go in here." Jake said through grunts of frustration.
"Then why are you going in now?"
"Cause it might have something in there to help us!!"
Raye shrugged and helped his friends with the hatch doors.
"It's no use they won't come open!" Jake said collapsing to the floor after a few minutes.
"Maybe their locked?" Raye suggested.
Tae kept pulling, he being the strongest of the three, and fell over with a thud as the doors flew open flying dust everywhere. The three boys looked to eachother and then peered into the darkness not knowing exactly what to expect.