Izzy: Hey, I just thought of something.

Me: What?

Izzy: You know how their team in "Race across New Zealand" was called Team Rocket?

Me: Yeah... What about it?

Izzy: ::Sly grin:: Well… ::Gets in a pose:: Prepare for—!

Me: O    O Don't you dare!

Izzy: ;     ; Awww! You ruined my fun!

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Last time on The Runaway…

(To the tune of "Escape from the City")

Izzy: Hi. I'm Izzy Lopez with the highlights from the last chapter. Let's see now… Ahhh. It was raining non-stop since I beat Otto using my speed. I was feeling slightly guilty for how the race turned out. I probably should have told him about my speed before we raced. I went to the cul-de-sac where he lives to apologize, but I had no idea which house he lived in. I was about to leave, but Twister showed up and took me to his house.

Meanwhile, Otto was locked up in his room since the race. He was in deep thought about something. Most likely the race or whatever else was bothering him or both. After Twister showed me a video of Otto surfing and stuff, I went to his house to try to talk him out of his room. Apparently, I was successful, but Otto was in bad shape. We took him to the hospital. After the doctor diagnosed him, he woke up and accepted my apology. Whew! That's one problem down. I wonder what else is in store for us.

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The Runaway Ch. 5: The Confrontation

On the roof of a building overlooking the pier, a figure stood. He seemed to be about five feet eleven inches tall. He was wearing a blue cape, red short-sleeved shirt, and black shorts. The boy looked to be about eighteen. He had a light tan and short black hair.

"So this is where Izzy's been staying, huh?" He let out a small laugh. "He always did have good taste." The boy then walked off.

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"Hey Izzy!" Otto yelled. Izzy looked up from his position against the wall.

"Yes?" He asked.

"It's your turn." Otto replied. Izzy gave a nod and walked up to Ray, who handed him a bag full of food. He walked out of the Shack and ran off.

It's been two weeks since Otto's visit to the hospital. After he got out, Otto decided to let Izzy work at the Shack. They have taken turns delivering food to hungry customers. They would also do chores around the Shack while waiting for orders. Whenever they had nothing to do, Izzy would just lean against the wall with his arms crossed and hat over his eyes. Otto would usually try to strike up a conversation with the mysterious boy, but couldn't get much out of him. He once asked where Izzy lives and he responded, "Around."

As far as the Twister situation is concerned, nothing is happening there. Now that Otto knows about his feelings for the Mexican boy, he has begun to notice little things about his best bro. Like how many freckles he has on his face, the muscles he developed while surfing, and how much he's grown among other things. Otto hasn't told anyone about his crush yet.

Izzy skidded to a stop and reentered the Shack. He had a grin on his face.

'Heh. Ten bucks. They had better tip me good for getting to their houses within a few seconds.' He thought as he went out to the back. He counted his money. 'One hundred fifty dollars. At this rate, I'll have plenty to get to Hawaii.' He put the money away and took out his picture. He stared at it for a moment.

'Man. If only you guys can see me now…' He suppressed a tear and stared ahead at the open sea. He stayed that way for a few minutes, not noticing someone walking up behind him.

"Izzy?" Otto asked, making him jump. He spun around and glared at the skater.

"Don't ever do that again!"

"What's that?" Otto asked, eyeing Izzy's picture. Izzy quickly put it away.

"It's nothing."

"Some nothing." Otto shot back. "What is it?"

"Like I said, it's nothing." Izzy argued.

"Otto! Delivery!" Ray's voice yelled.

'Saved.' Izzy thought with relief.

"We'll talk when I get back." Otto said sternly as he left. Izzy gulped. He went back inside and leaned against a wall. A few minutes later, the phone rang. Ray picked it up, scribbled something on a note pad, and tore out the paper.

"Izzy. Delivery." He said ten minutes later. Izzy walked over and grabbed a bag. "Take this to that address." Ray handed him the paper with an address on it.

"Yes sir." Izzy replied as he saluted. Ray looked at him with an eyebrow raised as he ran out of the Shack, quickly turning into a blur. He ran out of the pier and turned left, blazing through Ocean Shores' main street. He ran a little further before hearing a whistling sound that started to get louder. He slowed down and looked up. Two balls of light were heading towards him! Izzy dodged them with ease and then stopped.

"What was that?" He asked as he dodged two more energy balls. He looked up again and saw two people floating in the sky. On the left was a young girl with silver hair. She was wearing a blue blouse and jeans. She seemed to be holding something in her right hand. A curved stick made out of silver. On the right floated an older guy with blond hair. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt and red-orange pants. In his right hand was a yellow-orange stick in the shape of a lightning bolt. Izzy gasped.

'A wind element and a thunder element. I thought I had more time!' He thought as the two cackled.

"Izzy! Under the orders of the king, we will now take you back with us." The girl said.

"You must be joking! I'm not going back to that murderous tyrant!" Izzy yelled. The two just laughed.

"We'll take you back by any means necessary." The man said.

"Even if we have to kill you." The girl supplied with a giggle. She then turned to her partner. "Jason, are you sure we can do this? Remember what the master said."

"Don't worry, Sal. Despite what the master said, he's still just a low level, remember?" The man, Jason, replied.

"Right." Sal agreed and the two gathered energy. They fired two shots at Izzy, who just ran ahead.

'There's gotta be a way to protect the people.' He thought. His left hand then glowed orange.

"Power Beam!" He yelled as he pointed his finger at the two. An orange beam of light fired out of his finger tip. The duo dodged it and flew low.

'Excellent.' Izzy thought as he put down the bag he had and walked forward. His body glowed orange and the trio was encased in a huge orange dome. 'Thanks to my Power Shield, I don't have to worry about anybody getting hurt.' He ran ahead.

"What does he think he's doing!?" Jason asked as he charged energy into his rod. Electrical energy appeared at the tip and he fired it at Izzy, who moved out of the way. He jumped at the shield feet first and bounced up with his hands glowing.

"Power Beam!" He shot the energy wave at the duo and they dodged again. Izzy landed perfectly and started running again.

"He put us in this dome so that nobody would get hurt. He actually cares for these humans!" Sal said with disgust. The tip of her rod started to glow. "Whirlwind!" She yelled and a small cyclone was thrown at Izzy. He easily dodged it.

"Heh. You may be able to fly, but I got the speed advantage!" Izzy yelled from one end of the arena. "Rocket Accel!" He ran head on for them, only there was no blur this time. He seemed to disappear. He then appeared in front of the duo and punched Jason hard. The man fell to the ground with a thud.

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Otto had just walked back inside the Shack. Ray was watching a skateboarding program on the overhead TV.

"Hey, where's Izzy?" Otto asked.

"He went to make a delivery." Ray replied. He then looked at his watch. "He should've been back by now." On the TV, the boarder was about to wipe out when the screen flashed gray with the local news station's symbol.

"We interrupt this program 'cause we feel like it! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!" A newscaster's voice yelled. "Just kidding, but something really freaky is going on downtown. We take you live." The camera switched to outside Izzy's shield. The camera zoomed in on the caped kid, who was running with a rather confident smirk on his face.

"O      O IZZY!?!" Otto & Ray yelled.

"What's going on?" Tito asked as he came out of the back room. The TV then displayed Izzy dodging lightning bolts with ease. "What the—!"

"These two people, who were floating in the sky, started to attack local delivery boy, Izzy Lopez." The newscaster said. "And he seems to be giving them a run for their money." The screen showed Izzy dodging some more and coming back with his own attacks.

"Man. Who knew he can do that?" Ray asked.

"After that race, I don't doubt anything when it comes to him." Tito replied.

"What do you think, Otto? Otto?" Ray looked around, but the young skater was gone.

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"Crap! I can't believe he's this good!" Sal yelled while dodging a Power Beam.

"Me neither. I guess I underestimated him." Jason replied as he fired a lightning bolt at Izzy.

"Time to fight fire with fire!" Izzy yelled, cringing at the use of that cliché. His body started to crackle with electricity. "Thunderbolt!" He held his hands out and a lot of bolts flew out. One of the bolts cancelled out Jason's and the rest headed towards the duo. Jason dodged them, but his partner got struck.

"Ahhh!!!!" Sal yelled as her body glowed yellow. The electricity faded and she quickly took out a compact. She got a menacing look on her after examining her face. "I'm charred. You burned my hair! It's completely dirty!" Izzy smirked.

"You want dirty, huh?" He kicked up some dirt and clawed at the air. "Gust attack!" A mini tornado appeared, gathering up all the dirt and dust that flew up into the air as a result of the battle. Izzy directed it towards Sal, who, despite all her efforts to stop it, got struck. After the attack was done, she took out the compact again and shrieked in horror.

"M-My face!" Sal's entire body glowed with fury. "Aeroblast!" She fired a huge blast of air at Izzy, who couldn't dodge in time and got knocked all the way to the other side of the shield. He hit the wall hard & grunted in pain as he fell to the ground. He quickly stood up. Sal clearly wasn't satisfied.

"You little brat! Razor Wind!" She fired gusts shaped like blades, which cut at Izzy. He shuddered and hissed at the pain. His eyes glowed red. He clawed at the air and Sal got cut by his own air blade. They both went back and forth, cutting each other. This went on for some time before Izzy rapidly scratched at the air, causing numerous air blades to strike Sal. When the attack was done, strands of silver started falling. The teen got back his bravado as he eyes turned back to their normal color.

"I hope you like the hair cut." He said with a grin. Sal got a completely shocked look on her. She turned to Jason.

"Jason, is my hair ok?" Jason looked at her. Her hair was destroyed! It was cut all crooked and there were some bald spots. He couldn't help but bug out laughing. Sal then turned to Izzy and got ready to strike.

"Unless you want a crew cut or a complete bald job, I suggest you back off!" Izzy yelled. Sal looked terrified.

"You wouldn't."

"Trust me, I would!" Sal hid behind Jason. Izzy got ready to run, despite the wounds on his legs and arms.

"Quick Attack!" He yelled as he dashed forward, then jumped up. He delivered a kick to Jason, who kissed the ground again. Izzy landed perfectly. He started dashing again.

"Mach Punch!" He struck Jason hard with his left fist. Izzy jumped back and got in a thinking pose.

'What other attack should I use?'

(Me: ¬  ¬ How about Extremespeed? You guys already used a bunch of attacks from those games.)

'Nah. I got a better idea.' Izzy's hand started to turn cold, dangerously frigid. He channeled the cold energy into his pointing finger and targeted Sal.

"Ice Beam!" He yelled as he fired an icy blue beam at her. Being weakened by the cuts, Sal was in no position to defend herself. She got hit and with a final shriek, her entire body froze and plummeted to the ground, where it shattered into a million pieces. Her rod turned to dust.

By now, Otto arrived at the scene. The people who were previously watching ran away. Izzy fell to the ground and held himself up by a leg. He was breathing hard. The shield started to fade away, but it quickly hardened again as he got up.

'That was so tough, but I still have this guy to beat.' He thought as he got ready to run, but couldn't. He kneeled again. 'Ugh. I'm too tired to run.' Jason, who was panting as well, got up and looked at Sal's remains with a look of complete sadness.

"Sal…" He said, holding back a tear. He then looked at the weakened Izzy and immediately got his second wind. "For you, I'll kill this fool!" He charged towards the boy and delivered a massive blow. Izzy got knocked back to the wall. The shield started fading again as Jason fired bolt after bolt of electricity at him. He screamed in agony as he felt his insides burning. When the attack was done, Izzy slumped to the ground defeated. The shield completely disappeared. Jason jumped back and started charging energy.

"And now, I end this."

"STOP!" Otto yelled. Izzy opened his eyes in shock.

'Who is that?' He thought. He couldn't hear the skater's voice clearly. He then spoke up. "Get out of here! He'll kill you!"

"And just what do you want?" Jason asked.

"I want you to leave him alone! He's done nothing to you!" Otto replied.

"Watch your tongue, human!" Jason bellowed.

"Get out of here!" Izzy repeated.

"You better listen to him. I'll destroy you!"

"Leave him alone!" Otto roared.

"I'll show you some respect!" Jason yelled as he charged energy. Izzy started to charge energy as well.

'Whoever that is, I can't let him be killed.' He thought as an orange ball formed in his hand. Jason fired an energy ball at Otto as Izzy rolled over and threw his ball as well. Because he was closer to Otto, Izzy's ball reached him first. It just floated in front of him.

"Power Shield activate!" Izzy yelled. The ball expanded into a small barrier, which blocked Jason's attack. He closed his eyes. "Well, that was the last of my energy. I'll just die in peace..." He then blacked out. The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was someone lifting him.

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A/N:

Izzy: YOU KILLED ME OFF!?!?!?!

Me: I don't know… Anyway, what in the world was that all about!?! Find out what happens in the next thrilling chapter of The Runaway.