Chapter 7 – Under attack!

Things ran smoothly for a while after that, Sparx stopped questioning her teachers' methods, no matter how bizarre, and started learning faster. As a result of this, she got to spend less time in the gym and more with Randy and Ace.

"Do you guys do this every day?" she asked, watching them study.

"Pretty much, yeah." replied Ace. He was still getting used to having her around.

"But what do you do for fun?"

"Trust exercises." joked Randy. Sparx stuck her tongue out at him. They'd been doing trust exercises every day, and now Sparx didn't hesitate before falling off the platform. She still doubted that she could trust them with her life, but she never said that out loud.

They were interrupted by the sound of glass breaking.

"What was that?" asked Sparx, jumping up.

"Probably jus . . ." The rest of Randy's answer was drowned out by a series of yells and thuds echoing up the stairs.

More sounds floated up as the three trainees ran down; another thud, some snorting, and a cackle.

They arrived in the Knights' sitting room just in time to see Adair's unconscious form being dragged out the broken window by a bony hand.

"Dad!" Ace started running towards the window, but Random held him back.

"Ace, wait!"

"Are you blind?! My dad's being kidnapped. So's yours!"

"I know Ace, but were no help to them if we get caught as well."

"Um, guys. . ."

"Not now, Sparx."

"But guys . . ." there was a dull thud, a soft moan, and Sparx fell to the floor.

"Sparx!" Randy and Ace turned around, and were faced with a huge grey rhino. Their worlds went black as he hit them with the back of his hand and sent them crashing into a wall.

"You no help if you knocked out!" he laughed, before squeezing out the window.

The room spun as Sparx sat up. Her vision blurred and her head ached. Standing up, she saw Randy and Ace slumped at the base of a wall. She tried shaking them awake, and when that didn't work she ran into the kitchen and got a bucket of cold water. She splashed half on Randy and the other half on Ace. It worked. They both jumped up and then swayed as they got their balance back. The three of them all looked around the room. It was easy to see what had happened. The Knights had been ambushed. Caught completely off guard, they hadn't even had a chance to fight back.

"I guess it's safe to assume that more than a rhino and a hand did this." Randy said angrily, "It looks like they were completely out numbered."

"We can do the maths later, Rand. Right now we need to rescue them." Ace's leadership training was kicking in.

"But how?" wailed Sparx, "We're not Lightning Knights yet!"

"Then we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way! Ace, remember the Kittens?"

o0o

"Um, guys, I don't think that baby cats will be able help us."

"Trust us, Sparx. These babies will!"

It was five minutes later, and the trio were jogging down yet another staircase. Suddenly the floor levelled out, and they were standing in a huge, dark room. Randy hit a switch on the wall, and the room lit up.

"Wow!" breathed Sparx. "What is this place?"

"It used to be the cellar. Now it's our garage."

The walls of the room were hung with tools and workbenches. The cement floor was full of hulking shapes, covered by sheets of canvas.

Randy ran over to two of the shapes and pulled off the covers.

"I had to make these as part of my course last year. They're not as powerful as some of the other things in this room, but they are the only ones we can handle."

He revealed two machines that looked like motorbikes on steroids.

"I only made two. One for me and one for Ace." he glanced at Sparx.

"That's cool. I'll ride behind one of you guys. I don't weigh much."

Randy nodded. "Looks like the tanks need filling."

"You guys do that, I have to go get something." Sparx started running back up the stairs.

"Be quick!" Ace called after her.

Sparx nearly pushed her door off its hinges. Tearing into her room, she yanked open the drawer and pulled out her knife. Attaching its holster to a belt she strapped it around her middle under her top, so that the knife was lying horizontally in the arch of her back. Hurriedly checking her reflection to make sure it was out of sight, she ran back downstairs.

Randy and Ace were just screwing the tops back onto the tanks when Sparx ran in.

"What did you have to get?" asked Ace.

"Lucky charm." she panted.

"I hope it works." said Randy. "Sparx, you ride behind Ace, he's lighter. I'm not actually sure how much weight these things can carry."

"Does he know how to drive it?"

"Don't worry, I've had plenty of practice." Ace assured her "I wonder why we stopped riding these things?"

Randy smiled grimly and hit a button on the wall. Now it was Sparx's turn for her mouth to drop open. A large section of the ceiling slid open and then down, creating a ramp up to the ground outside.

"Whoa!"

"Come on kids, time to go!" Ace mounted his machine, and Sparx jumped on behind him.

Randy rode out of the garage first, followed closely by Ace and Sparx. The ground crunched shut behind them.

"Now what?" Randy yelled over the sound of his engine.

"We could follow those," shouted Sparx, pointing over to a set of definite rhino tracks.

"Nicely spotted. Let's go!"