Short chapter, as I am steadily getting busy again. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, feel free to comment them and I'll put them in somewhere.
(As for Noah's love interest, that will be coming next chapter)
"This just in, a strange discovery was made just hours ago in Florida's everglades. Scientists are baffled by the blood-red liquid, and efforts are being made to take samples of the compound for testing. However, the task has proven to be difficult, as the liquid is highly combustible, causing anything that touches it to burst into flames. Scientists predict the liquid to be of equal temperature to magma, possibly hotter."
"Jake, you're really not buying that, are you?" Gia asked from the kitchenette. The group had just returned to the hotel after a few hours on the beach, and decided to have a quick lunch in their rooms before heading back out into the town. While Gia made some BLTs for her and Jake, Jake turned on the TV, which had Florida's news coverage on, reporting on the discovery of what Jake started calling 'Hell Water'.
"Gia, we're rangers. Something like this can be a warning for us. A warning of something to come." Jake stated. Gia sighed.
"Babe, we're retired rangers. This could be for the next ranger team." She said, pointing a knife at the TV. "We don't have anything to worry about." Jake smirked.
"Not what you were saying yesterday." He quipped, and Gia rolled her eyes.
"My opinion can change on a dime." She stated. Looking up, she saw Jake looking at her, with a somewhat hurt expression oh his face. Smiling, Gia looked him in the eye. "Except for my opinion on you, Jake. I love you. That won't change" Jake immediately smiled.
"Good." he said, switching the inputs on the TV to play some Xbox. Gia smiled, topped off the sandwiches, and brought them over to the bed, where she sat next to Jake, and picked up his spare controller.
"We have twenty minutes before we meet everyone. Gives me enough time to kick your ass again." she boasted, turning on the controller. Jake laughed, and launched Black Ops.
"We'll see about that." he taunted.
--
"Hell Water?" Troy asked.
"That's what Jake calls it" Gia filled in. The group had met just outside the hotel, and were walking around, when the topic of talk switched to the news coverage. Troy, Emma, and Noah had also seen it, and were equally as concerned as to what it could mean.
"Whatever we call it, it's not anything good" Noah chimed in. "Anything with that level of combustibility is severely dangerous."
"Good luck to the next team, then" Jake joked.
"This could be part of our duty, Jake." Troy stated. "You never know."
"I do know that if it was our concern, we would've gotten something from Gosei or Tensou." Jake stated, sticking his hands into his pockets.
"Fair point" Troy admitted, taking Emma's hand. "Emma and I wanted to check out the surf shop over that way" Troy pointed with his free hand. "Anyone wanna tag along?"
"Why not?" Noah asked, joining the two. Jake looked to Gia, as if to convince her, but Gia gave him a look. A look he knew all too well: Gia was planning something.
"Gia and I will catch up to you" Jake told the others, as he and Gia began walking in the other direction.
"Okay!" Troy called back to them. When they were out of earshot, Jake looked over to Gia, who had a smirk on her face.
"Spill" Jake said, and Gia smiled.
"I think it's time we got those tattoos"
