DiTS: Part 6

      "Let's have Bowie activate the system this time," Doctor J announced.

      The blonde repeated the actions that Max had previously taken. When the explosion occurred, this time, he was just jostled, while no one else seemed affected at all.

      "Good, good," Doctor J cackled.

      "What have we here this time?" Professor G inquired.

      "What the?" a short, blonde teen with a ponytail whispered, looking around.

      "No kidding," the tall man replied, then paused, "Jowy?!?"

      "What are you doing here, Flik?" the kid squawked.

      "Probably about the same thing the rest of us are," one of the black- haired teens began.

      "Whatever these people want us to," the other finished.

      "Well, boys," Doctor J ordered, "Get going. Unless you four are going peacefully?"

      "Flik snorted, and pulled a sword off his back, as Jowy and the first dark haired boy swung sticks adorned with metal knobs on the ends. The third boy drew out a pair of shorter, thicker blocks of wood, also covered at the ends with metal.

      "Why do none of them go peacefully?" Master O wondered aloud.

      "Because we see no reason to trust you," Jowy answered, twirling his staff quickly in a circle.

      The situation was uneven in the first place, but quickly got worse, as Max and Synbios tackled Flik. They quickly knocked him down, and moved on to help Bowie with the staff wielding black haired boy. Oddler and Medion pinned Jowy between them as the last man struggled with the other black haired boy.

      "T.J.!" Jowy yelped, "Use the Forgiver Sign!"

      The boy stopped twirling his tonfa and jumped away from his fight. He then raised his right hand and closed his eyes. As the spell activated, Flik managed to stand back up.

      Instructor H madly took notes, detailing the situation as minutely as possible, while remaining conscious of the events he wished to note.

      Glowing energy enveloped the new comers, restoring strength used in the fight. Then the energy attacked Oddler, knocking him off his feet; unconscious.

      Almost immediately after, the other black haired boy mimicked T.J. This time, four beings made entirely of energy, looking vaguely like angels surrounded Synbios; circling him. Next, several tiny blasts of energy shot from the creatures, and blasted Synbios. He too, fell, unconscious.

      As soon as Synbios sunk to the ground, Jowy repeated the gesture the other two had made. Hundreds of black, glowing swords appeared from another plane and rushed at Bowie. When they were done, he joined the other two unconscious fighters.

      Finally, Flik took the opportunity to use his spell. Much simpler, this one only blasted Medion with bolts of lightning. Which left the scientists with only two of their men standing.

      "Julian, fall back," Professor G ordered, "Max, show them how useless their tricks are."

      At that point, in a slight panic, Jowy repeated his previous actions and the swords appeared again. But this time, when they 'struck' Max, rather than causing damage, the blades simply coalesced into a ball of energy.

      Shocked, Flik followed suit; the bolts of lighting striking Max randomly. Each bolt was quickly redirected to the ball of energy.

      "Ryan!" T.J. yelled at the second black haired boy, "Don't cast the spell! It's just more energy that he can,"

      "Well, if we cast them all at once," Jowy suggested, "We should be able to overwhelm him!"

      "Or he'll really fry us!" T.J. yelped.

      Ryan paused. Then he nodded, "If we are to fall, it's best we show how opposed to the idea we are."

      T.J still held back, "All this is reall doing, you know, is to show them our limits," he shrugged, "Oh well."

      The four almost simultaneously performed the gestures. Each form of magic activated and centered around Max, who simply stood there. The energy ball absorbed three of the spells before they touched him. The lighting just arced around him, then joined the other bolts dancing around the sphere.

      "Oh crud," Jowy paled, and the other three stood closer together.

      "Aren't you going to try anything else?" Doctor J suggested, helping Bowie and Oddler to stand.

      "How can they wake up so quickly?" Flik blinked, noticing Synbios and Medion starting to stand as well.

      "Max, are you just going to stand there," Professor G barked, "Or are you going to show them what else you can do?"

      Max cupped his hands beneath the energy, and allowed it to be absorbed into his body. Bowie reached out a hand and chanted. Bolts of lightning struck the ground near the four, forcing them to stand closer.

      Medion, Synbios, and Julian used similar energies to keep the four in place, and Oddler shot short bursts of energy, using them to disarm all four of them.

      "Um," Jowy thought quickly, "What kind of challenge is this? Blasting us like this is worse than,"

      Max reached out with one fist, pushing it toward the four of them. A gust of air blasted toward their feet, almost causing them to topple. Max unballed his fist, and swiped it across where they stood in his view.

      The gust of air at their feet became fire, surrounding them like the grooves on a screw. In response to Max shaping his hand like a claw, the fire turned into chunks of earth that covered the feet of each man, trapping them in place. When he snapped his wrist, sprays of water issued from the clumps, and soaked all of them.

      Now Max let his hand drift back down to his side. The water squirts became bolts of lightning, arcing across their bodies. The effect was made worse by their water-soaked clothing.

      After each of them fell, Max nodded, allowing each illusion to disappear.

      "They never expected to have their fertile imaginations used against them," Doctor J cackled, as the scientists started the procedure on their newest subjects.



      "Hey! Quatre!" Duo rushed up to his friend, "How's life been treatin' ya?"

      "Well enough," the blonde shrugged, "And how are you, Duo?"

      "Well, aside from the situation, I'm okay," Duo grinned, "After all, it ain't everyday that the five of us gather in one place."

      "Good thing too," Wufei grumbled, "After less than forty-eight hours, I'm already ready to strangle him."

      "So, Heero," Quatre guessed, "You have your laptop with you to show Trowa and myself what we're talking about."

      "It's in the van," Heero nodded toward Wufei's vehicle.

      "Wow," Quatre giggled, "You like big vehicles, Wufei?"

      "Actually," Wufei glowered at Quatre and Duo, "I borrowed it from Sally. She's using my bike until we're done."

      "You trust her with your precious motorcycle?!?" Duo yelped.

      "She's riding a bicycle," Wufei corrected, "Not driving a motorcycle. That was destroyed a long time ago by a braided fruitcake."

      Duo failed a sheepish look.

      "Let's go," the up til now silent, green eyed teen suggested, "If we head straight off, that will be less time for Duo to infuriate Wufei, and we can navigate in shifts."

Later

      "Well, the fastest route we could come up with will take four days," Duo grinned.

      "Hurry up and put your gear on!" Wufei snapped.

      "But who's gonna pilot?" Duo blinked as he noticed Heero typing in the pilot's chair.

      "This craft," Wufei returned, "fortunately has an auto-piloting system. It will take us to the coordinates Heero is programming. All we need to do is monitor it to be sure,"

      "Sally and I are going along," Lady Une interrupted, "To pilot."

      "That way you guys can focus entirely on getting ready for this," Sally smirked, "That and, if one of you happens to get hurt, he can get swift medical attention."