Darkness turned into shadows, silence turned into an unintelligible murmur of voices.
Molly felt like a diver slowly coming up to the surface from the bottom of the ocean. Her eyelids felt glued shut, but after an infinite amount of time she managed to blink.
"Hey, welcome back," a familiar voice sounded softly from just outside of her peripheral vision. She turned her head, but Shane's face was but a dark blur hovering over her. She squinted her eyes, and something was pushed into her view.
"Here, try this."
Molly smiled weakly while she adjusted the glasses Shane had just placed onto her nose.
When she looked up this time, she could see Shane's grin clearly.
"Oh man, what happened? Where am I?" she asked while she looked around awkwardly, slowly taking note of her surroundings as far as her current reclined position allowed her. She was lying on a couch in the corner of a rather large room with no windows. The illumination came from several fluorescent lighting fixtures hanging from the stone ceiling. Stone?
Shane was hunched forward on the edge of a low rectangular table before her. She sensed that Shane and she were not the only people in the room, and she was right. Behind Shane, Dustin and Tori were making their way over to the couch with two unfamiliar young men in tow. Molly assumed them to be the Thunder ninjas. The shorter, dark-haired one stayed just a bit too close to Tori's side, and even through her lingering headache, Molly could feel the strong vibes between the two.
The taller, imposing-looking one had brilliant blue, yet wary eyes, and judging from his shaggy mop of dirty-blond hair, was obviously completely unfamiliar with the concept of a comb. As they gathered around her, her hunch was confirmed when she saw the unknown insignias on the jackets of their leather uniforms.
"Finally. You're up," the Earth ninja grinned down at her. "We thought we would have to break out the smelling salts in a few minutes."
"Or one of Dustin's used socks, whichever would have worked better," Tori quipped.
Molly made a face while she sat up slowly. "I think I'd prefer the smelling salt," she said with a feeble grin, and looked at the two Thunder ninjas. "Blake and Hunter, I take it?"
Blake nodded, a friendly half-smile on his face. "Yeah. I'm Blake and he's Hunter. My brother."
Molly's eyes darted between the two. "Of course," she remarked dryly while she sat up a little straighter. "The family resemblance is striking."
That earned her a crooked smirk from Hunter. "Hey, I like her," he said to Blake as they all settled themselves at various spots around the couch and the table. Immediately, Molly was once again struck by the perception of color emanating not only from Shane this time, but off every one of the ninjas. And the vibes were much stronger now, in this place. True, they were all wearing their training uniforms with their respective color trims, but Molly instinctively knew that that just wasn't it!
But what was it, then? So many questions…
Now that she was sitting up, she once again took in the stone walls and the lack of windows, voicing her conclusion."It feels like we're underground or something."
"Ah, actually we are," Shane replied, sounding somewhat awkward. "This is Cam's place. I was worried when we couldn't rouse you after the fight, and this was the only safe place we could think of bringing you." He waved his hand in a small arch, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "Welcome to Ninja Ops."
Molly's eyebrows rose. "Ninja Ops…? Are you saying that this is a headquarters of some sort? What kind of…Whoa!" Molly was stopped short by the sudden sight of Ninja Ops' supercomputer that took up the entire far side of the cave. Next to her Shane just shrugged, obviously too used to the sight to be impressed anymore. "Oh, that? Yeah, Cam sure loves his high-tech toys."
Molly half-laughed, half-snorted. "Toys? The man could run a small sovereign country from down here."
Dustin laughed. "Don't let him hear you say that; he'd insist on us calling him 'King Cam' from now on."
"Maybe I should – that way I might finally get some respect around here," a voice sounded from behind them and an Asian man stepped around the couch, a glass of water and some aspirin in his hand, which he promptly handed to Molly without any further comment. Apparently he knew just what she would need after coming to.
Although Molly had only seen Cam Watanabe two or three times at the Academy, and then only from a distance, she recognized him right away. Nodding her thanks, she accepted the pills and the glass from him, downing it in two gulps.
Cam's uniform was yet another puzzle. The design fit in with the rest of the group's, but Molly couldn't remember ever having seen a green trim before. Or the five-pointed star insignia on his chest. Did he belong to a ninja academy she didn't know of?
Molly added those questions to her ever-growing mental list of questions to be asked later.
"How are you feeling?" Cam inquired and Molly considered that for a moment.
"Rehydrated," she said. "Thanks."
Cam gave her a sympathetic smile as if he had known her all her life and pointed at the glass. "You want another one?"
"No, thank you." Suddenly Molly let out a sigh. "This is embarrassing. I've never fainted before."
"Have you ever held up something the size of that wall before?" Cam asked and Molly shook her head.
"Uh, no. And I doubt I'll be able to do it again. I think this was adrenaline-induced."
"Then I'd say that's a legitimate excuse to faint," the technician concluded.
"Not to mention you did it so elegantly," Shane quipped.
Molly gave him a half-amused, half-exasperated look, but suddenly Shane turned serious and leaned a bit closer to her. For a brief moment it seemed as if he was about to take her hand, but restrained himself. "And in the process you saved my life. I owe you one."
She was quick to shake her head. "No, you don't. If you guys hadn't come to my rescue when that robot was after me, I'd be stuck on that spaceship now." Molly's expression was grave. "Or dead, like the others."
Shane's reaction was immediate. "Molly, don't believe a word Zurgane said back there. He's not exactly playing on our team, you know."
The look Molly gave him in response was less than convinced, and this time Shane actually did reach out and take her hand. "We will find them and get them back somehow, so try not to worry, ok?"
"Shane's right," Cam chimed in. "Instead of worrying you should try to rest some more. Dad always said that any sudden surge of psychic energy puts a great strain on the body." He said it quite matter-of-factly, but at the mention of his father Molly suddenly felt the profound need to say something, anything to him that would give him at least a modicum of comfort at the temporary loss of his dad; if such a thing was actually possible in his situation.
"Cam, I'm so sorry about your father," she began. "I hope he's all right on that space ship, and if there's anything I can do…"
Cam scratched his head and an awkward look crossed his face. "Uhm, Molly, about my dad…" he began when suddenly a voice sounded from behind him.
"Thank you, I am touched by your concern, Molly, but let me assure you that I am quite all right indeed."
Molly frowned in confusion and looked around quizzically, her eyes finally settling back on Cam, but when the Asian man wordlessly took a step aside, revealing the source of the voice behind him, her eyes went wide with disbelief. On what looked like a miniature meditation pagoda set up on a motorized wagon stood a guinea pig, dressed in the grey teacher's robes of the Wind Academy and holding a miniature wooden staff.
Apart from the fact that this was as surreal as any scene from a comic book, Molly was even more startled at the familiar vibes that immediately hit her. The same she had always felt in Sensei Watanabe's company, and the same she had been sorely missing for the past few months.
"S…Sensei?" Molly croaked nevertheless, incredulity written all over her face.
The guinea pig inclined his head gracefully. "It is good to see you again, Molly. I understand this must all seem quite strange to you, but we will explain – in due time."
For a long moment, Molly simply stared until she remembered her manners. She shook her head slightly, rubbing her temples. "I think I need to lie down again."
Shane leaned forward, concern clearly on his face. "You're gonna be all right?"
She nodded as she leaned back into the back of the couch. "Yeah, eventually. No need to take off your socks, Dustin."
The Earth ninja just grinned. Sensei took that moment to somersault from the pagoda mobile and landed gracefully and sure-footedly on Molly's left knee. Molly reached out with one finger and gingerly poked the guinea pig in its midsection. "My god, you really are real," she whispered, her initial bewilderment slowly changing to amazement. "What happened to you, Sensei?"
"That would take some time to explain," answered the Wind teacher.
"I've got all the time in the world to listen."
"Very well, then…" Sensei settled himself on Molly's knee while the rest of the gang leaned forward as if hearing Sensei Watanabe's fantastic tale of transformation for the first time.
TBC…
A/N: A shorter chapter this time, but the next one will be longer, I promise.
