Hey everyone,
In this chapter I am going to do something that, in all honesty, I think the actual series should have done. I am going to create another Time Shifter. Personally, I feel as if the whole Beings with special powers thing could have been expanded way more than the original series did. I'm not talking the likes of Pokémon – almost 900 is way too much – but I personally think that just 30 of them is a bit small of a number.
At the same time I feel like I should come clean about something, or better two things. There might be moments in this story that I am going to make Merlock look OP. I'm doing this because I don't always agree with the level of slapstick that Merlock suffers from in canon. Two, I really can't help myself, I want to include my #1 favorite character of all time into this story, or at least pay homage to him. And my loyal readers know who I mean.
Let's have fun,

Venquine1990

Chapter 13
Lunch and Gym Class

5th of May 2418
Tama Highschool, Japan
Merlock's POV

A small part of me wonders why she didn't just ask Uncle Bernie for help, yet I decide that it doesn't matter at the time. For a few minutes I watch the others eat and I pull a sports bottle from my own pocket, one that is filled with a mix of water and blood. Then, after a few minutes I say: "I met Adam while I was watching you guys study. He told me a few things and one of them was – quite shocking, to say the least."
The others turn to me and I cross my arms as I say: "Apparently there aren't 31 Time Shifters, there are 32. And yes, I am counting all four Cardians as one and I am including Bindi and Getalong in that." My friends look shocked and wide eyed and Tony asks why we haven't heard about this before now. I shrug and answer that the Old Timer, according to Adam, might be of the belief that the Shifter is simply hiding in the Land of Time.

"The Shifter is known as Mischief. According to Adam, who remembers him thanks to his photographic memory, he can be considered the most normal-looking of all Shifters. He looks like a Pomeranian dog, but has pure black fur almost all over. The only things that set him apart is that one eye is purely grey, the other purely blue and that two stripes of both colors can be found on his tail, one ring of one color on each end respectively.
The Shifter is apparently known to turn entirely invisible, hence the Old Timer's belief, and has the special ability that he can pull pranks on others and then enchant them to enjoy it, even if they would normally consider the prank malicious or harmful or offensive. In other words, unless an era of time that is normally gloomy suddenly gains an increased amount of people enjoying themselves, the chances of us finding this Shifter are slim."

The others all look concerned over this, yet I just smile at them and say: "Relax. There is every chance that Adam is wrong. That the Shifter did escape the attack and remain behind in the Land of Time. That the Old Timer isn't calling on us, because he doesn't want to worry us and just feels content with the fact that he has all of his friends back. For now, it's best that we just forget it for the time being and focus on our other concerns, such as your exams."
My friends nod and yet Flint mutters his desire that I'm right. I smile at the younger man as the Old Timer chose him for the Time Shifter Retrieval missions specifically for his incredibly warm and caring heart. "Don't worry, Flint. I have an appointment with Miss Grey on Wednesday. I'll be sure to inform her of what Adam told me and of my beliefs. She'll likely put a few agents on the look-out and, of course, we know what to look for.
So if we spot something moving without anything visibly moving it or if we see someone laughing at something we know they normally don't laugh at, we'll know that it's Mischief. And I'll make sure that Miss Grey is aware of those signs as well when I go send in my report." My words cheer up my friends immensely and we spend the rest of our extended break just calmly talking and eating. After which we all exit the office again.

At the doorway, I pull Sarah close against my front and firmly press my lips against hers. Sarah happily and lovingly returns my kiss and I whisper that I will wait for her to finish her classes and then escort her home. Sarah beams at me and presses another peck against my lips as she replies that she's looking forward to it. And while I want nothing more than to just keep holding my One in my arms, I let her go and she walks off.
I watch her departing form all the way until she turns a corner and disappears out of sight. Then I turn back to the office. I close the door behind me and open one of the large windows. I jump through it and straight into the tree that grows close enough to it some of the branches push against the other windows. Then I jump through several more trees and reach the classroom my beloved has gone to. I sit on a branch and wait, watching her.

The period goes by faster as it was cut down by Miss Iknow/Petra's generosity and the next period has my beloved studying under said teacher once again. Because of this and because the class is in another classroom, I reach Adam's tree and join him around the same height as before. And while we watch our Ones, I tell him about Jake and what happened these past few days as well as what Sarah told me about him and their interconnected past.
Adam frowns as he hears the tale, yet his frown recedes when I tell him about the fact that Sarah won't ever have to see him again, that Richard will surely make sure of that. "Good, your little One doesn't deserve someone like that in her life. And neither does someone so arrogant deserve someone as kind-hearted as your One in their life." I nod in heartfelt agreement with him and also tell him about the rest of our break.

As I speak, I suddenly notice Sarah moving over to Petra. My One seems to whisper something in the ear of my Elder's One and Petra nods in acceptance. I feel greatly intrigued and turn to Adam, who I know has much sharper senses than me. But Adam shakes his head and says that Sarah is really good and was quiet enough even he couldn't hear her. Instantly my interest is raised to its peak and I wonder what our two beloveds might have planned.
The period reaches its end, yet before it can, Petra suddenly guides the whole class out of the classroom. Adam and I share a look at this and we quickly follow after them. Petra guides the class down from the second floor to the ground floor and over to the gym field. There she stands in the doorway and tells them to get changed while she will set up their gym class for the day. Instantly I wonder if this was part of Sarah's plan.

For a few minutes Adam and I watch as Petra and two others – who I realize must be Dino and Mite in disguise – struggle to set up a whole set of obstacles and gym constructs. Adam wants to go help them, but I hold him back and remind him that he doesn't want to reveal Petra's secret identity to Sarah and the others just yet. Adam huffs, yet my elder still agrees as he told me this himself during the second period of the day.
Then Petra finishes and she opens the doors again. The students enter the field and Adam grins as he says: "I can see what you meant. Little Sarah really does resemble a cute white bunny in that outfit." I sweat drop and hit myself on the head as I moan that I am never going to live that down. Adam tries to keep his booming laugh in tome and then Petra claps her hands to gather everyone's attention on her. Instantly both of us listen attentively.

"Now children, we all know what happened earlier this morning with Mr. Henstens. We also all know that, for his actions and the fact that he had actually stolen school property, Mr. Henstens is now suspended for the rest of the year. However, considering that the main target of Mr. Henstens' actions was Mss. Goodman, when she came to me with an idea for today's gym class, I was only too happy to go along with it. Miss Goodman?"
My intrigue grows at these words and I feel an intrigued, loving smile adorn my face as my beloved One comes to stand next to her teacher. "Earlier this morning you met Merlock – my Merlock. He's a Time Detective, like Flint, and he accompanied us on many of our missions of the last few months. It was actually through our missions that we met. Anyway, Merlock's incredible, especially when it comes to jumping and leaping.

And that's why I asked Miss Iknow to make this obstacle course based especially on jumping and leaping." At this Adam grins and mutters how that's my cue. I nod at him and yet I again ensure that my cloak can't get caught by the branches before I make my leap. I somersault to gain a bit of extra momentum and manage to land right between the awed students and my beaming One. A lot of students gasp, yet Sarah just beams at me.
I send her a dazzling smile full of love and then I turn to the course. I had studied the course while the students were gathering in the field and because of this I just send Sarah a quick wink before I dash off. I jump and leap across the course with ease as the course is actually similar to the first course I started training on after I joined the Time Bureau. A small part of me wonders if Petra might have spied on the Bureau, but I dismiss this thought.

As I speed through the course, my sole focus is getting back to the start, back to where my love is waiting for me. Because of this, the other students and their reactions to my actions barely register. Yet as I finish the course and gleefully return to my One's side, I hear almost all of the students let out a long and awed wow. Naturally this strokes my ego, yet I feel a true sense of pride as I see the look of loving admiration and pride on Sarah's face.
"Excellently done, Detective. Excellent indeed. Take note of that class. If you work hard enough, you might one day be able to rival Detective Holmes. Now, I want you all to take to this course for six rounds and then you'll be free to go. Get to it now! And Detective, no carrying your girlfriend across the field." And because I know who she really is and what Adam told me, I can't not burst out laughing at her little tease.

Then Sarah delights me truly and asks if I want to join her. I beam at her and mutter always. Sarah joins me at her side and while I adjust my speed to compliment hers and make sure that she can go through the course the required amount of times, I happily join her across the track. The sight of her running, jumping, leaping and moving her body across the obstacles is a dazzling sight to behold and I feel entranced as I watch her.
Yet because of this I accidentally underestimate the height of one of the obstacles. And suddenly I yelp before my mouth gets filled with a mouthful of dirt. Instantly a few of those around us stop and Sarah crouches down besides me. I spit out the dirt and grumble: "Well, can't say I wasn't waiting for something like that to happen." Sarah asks me if I'm okay, yet I grin at her and remind her that I've had much worse.
Sarah smiles relieved and Miss Iknow quickly reminds us to get back to the course. Yet I am able to see through her thick glasses and I can see a look of respect and care shining in her eyes. The woman knows exactly what I meant when I said I had much worse and she is showing her pride of how resilient it has made me. My smile twitches into a grateful grin for just a second and then Sarah and I return our focus on the course.

It takes us about half an hour to get through the course six times. Flint, of course, rushes through the whole course with his usual incredible speed and while laughing in excitement. Because of this, even though he finishes the six courses in five minutes, the lad just keeps going on and on. Tony, on the other hand, is panting and sweating profusely as he finishes a few minutes after Sarah and me. And while Sarah is slightly out of breath, I'm not.
This, naturally, is because of my kind. Yet because I am in the middle of a class full of kids, I force the muscles in my chest and shoulders to heave up and down and I feign being slightly out of breath. Yet this, apparently, isn't enough as there are still a few students staring at me, as if they cannot understand how I am not more tired. I smile at them and tell them that this course is similar to a beginner course at the Time Bureau.

Then Miss Iknow appears besides us and claps her hands as she says: "Excellently done, children. Now, you're finished for the day and you can go home if you want. But don't forget your homework for tomorrow and make sure that you're ready for a full day of classes tomorrow. Alright, all of you, to the changing room and then off to your homes. Spit-spot." A few of the students had gone to sit down, yet they all stand up as they chorus their gratitude.
Sarah smiles at me and I wink at her before she joins Tony, Flint and a young girl with short cropped black hair and a pair of simple looking, square glasses on. I lovingly gaze at her as she heads inside, but just before the doors close behind her, something presses itself against my upper arm. And instantly I only have one thought. "I might be a vampire, but these are just dead." And my smile disappears off my face as a sickly-sweet voice asks:

"Well, well, well, now that that little girl is out of our hair, what do you say you and I go have some fun, huh handsome?" The girl rubs her upper body up and down my arm as she speaks and tries to grab my hand so that she can put it on her chest. Yet I tense my entire body and with a stoic face, I just keep looking straight ahead at the doors on the other side of the field. The girl grunts and groans as she tries to get me to move my arm.
"Come on, baby, you will need to work with me here if you want the goods, you know." She tries to giggle, but I keep my response to blinking my eyes and nothing more. "Come on, candy, I know you're running hot for me and I can tell you, I'm quite thirsty right now, if you know what I mean." And this attempt actually gives me a sudden idea. And so, for the shortest of seconds, I release my hold on my body temperature.
My natural body temperature, which is cold like the ice of a tundra in the middle of winter, shoots through my whole form for only a second and yet it's enough. The girl, who seems to have cut into her gym outfit in all the wrong ways, is now able to feel this cold shock all over her torso and her legs. She yelps in shocked fright and jumps away.

"What the heck just happened?" She shrieks, but I keep my focus on the doors in front of me. "Okay, first of all, rude! Second of, what does that little pink brat have that I don't? Huh?" The girl sneers and I curtly answer: "She's real." A few of the other students have managed to change by this point and are passing us on the way home. They hear me and stare as they obviously realize what I am talking about while the girl lets out an insulted what?
She stares at me for a moment and then growls: "I'll show you who's real." But instantly the guardian angel within me rears up. I feel an intense need to just use my vampiric powers and hypnotize the girl against her plans. But because we are in the middle of a crowd of students, I restrain myself. Instead of that, I focus enough of my vampiric energy into my eyes that they turn alight, but then without the actual hypnotic power and turn to her.
The girl shrieks and I growl: "If you hurt her, you deal with me. And you don't want that. Sarah may never turn on you, get back at you or hurt you in retaliation, but that doesn't matter. She doesn't need to. Because she, unlike you, will have others who will do it for her, just because of who she is. But let me ask you. If you take away everything that you have apparently been adding to yourself, what is left? Who is left? Who have you ditched to get where you are?
And when was the last time you saw Sarah ditch someone to get where she is? Oh right, she never did. Because, as I said, she – is – real." The girl gapes and me and stutters in shocked disbelief. I glare at her, even as I let my power recede and my eyes turn back to their usual red color. For a moment I wonder why Petra didn't intervene, but then I notice her from the corner of my eye. The woman actually sends me a short, single nod from behind the girl.

This nod says it all. Petra is proud of what I did, but she'll take it from here. I nod back at the hidden woman and then, as I turn my head a little more, I notice Sarah and the other girl exiting the school again. I send the girl in front of me one last stare, both as a warning and to convert a silent message of dismissal, and then move over to meet my One halfway. And as I get closer, the anger in my heart dissipates and a content sense of love fills me from within.
Yet Sarah, upon me reaching her, still asks if I'm okay. Instantly my heart soars as it proves that Sarah and I have grown close enough that she can almost instinctively notice that something is wrong with me or that something has upset me. Because of this I bow down to her as I take her hand in mine and lovingly kiss the back of it. Sarah's face lights up, yet a dazzling smile adorns her face as I whisper her three simple, but significant words: "I am now."

I stand up straight again and offer Sarah my arm. And my beloved doesn't just take it, she also lies her head atop my shoulder as we head out. Tony, Flint and the other girl follow after us and we pass quite a few students who had stopped leaving when they heard me speak. I spare them a short glance and notice various looks. Most are still awed at what I just told the unknown girl, others are looking at me in confusion and others with respect.
I quickly memorize each face and their respective expressions to determine for myself who I might have to look out for in the coming weeks. Yet as we leave the premises of the school, I simply dismiss this thought for the time being. We cross a few of the same streets as we did this morning and then suddenly the girl that followed us exclaims: "Sarah, I cannot believe this! I am so jelly of you. You found Mr. #1 perfect boyfriend.

And here I was thinking that hearing about Miss Iknow's new boyfriend was going to be the talk of the day. Wait till they hear about what your boyfriend did during gym class. Seriously." Instantly I tense in concern as Adam had wanted to keep Petra's identity a secret from Sarah until after the exams and I worry that, if my beloved hears that Adam visited Miss Iknow, she'll figure out the truth. Quietly I sent a prayer to whoever's willing to listen.
Sarah, Tony and Flint all gape at the girl yet then Tony notices that I'm not doing the same. I turn my head and mutter how I heard rumors while following the lot from one class to another and remind him of my sensitive hearing. Thankfully, the boy accepts the little white lie without question. I had indeed heard a few rumors during these in-between periods, but I had just dismissed and ignored them in my need to keep an eye on my One.

Then the others turn back to the girl and she shrugs as she says: "I don't know everything, almost no one does. All I know is that Miss Iknow was helping Richard escort his brother off of the premises and then suddenly she was pulled to the side and some guy in a long cloak starts to kiss her lights out. Richard wanted to intervene, but then Miss Iknow told him that they had been dating since this weekend and that it was fine.
Apparently they met at this really secretive and beautiful location somewhere up in town over the weekend and watched the sunset together from the park or something, I don't know. It's all really mysterious. The only thing anyone knows for sure is that Miss Iknow declared love to the guy as she left for her next class just as the bell to signal the end of the lunch bell rang. Though the guy sure hasn't been seen since."

I try not to let it show how relieved I feel as I feign some level of my intrigue at the story. The whole thing is vague enough that, unless I had gotten more details, even I wouldn't have made the link between Petra meeting Adam and Miss Iknow meeting her new boyfriend. I bless my vampiric nature as it makes it so that I don't have to hold back a sigh of relief or make it sound like one of admiration or something.
Yet for the sake of the girl walking with me, I still make my body move in a similar fashion to that of the others. Tony throws his hands in the back of his neck again and asks: "Could that be why she let us off early? So she could be with this mystery boyfriend of hers?" The others shrug and Sarah, who looks a little downtrodden, mutters how it might also be to give us all a break after the whole thing with Jake and his actions.

Instantly I halt my movement, turn Sarah so that we are once again face to face and lift her chin to have her look me directly in the eye. "He's not worth your care, my love. As much as it pains – and quite honestly baffles – me to say, he cared nothing for you. Why and how that is even possible is beyond me, but he didn't. He is out of your life, my little love. Now please, for your own sake, put him out of your heart."
Sarah smiles at me and happily cuddles against my form. I lovingly wrap my arms around her own waist and silently revel in how real my Sarah feels against my form. I softly run my hand through her hair once and then, once I am sure that she has moved on, I resume our walk back to the Goodman Residence. Yet at the door something happens that I hadn't quite anticipated. And yet with a heavy heart, I know I have to.
Sarah opens the door, but I don't follow her inside. Instead I pull her in for another loving kiss and whisper: "I would love to follow you in, my sweet. But I know that I will never leave if I do. I should head home. I'll be back first thing tomorrow for your lunch break, I promise." Sarah sighs, but nods. And after one last kiss, we part ways. Sarah closes the door behind her, Tony and Flint, who both wave goodbye. I return the gesture and leave.

Well, that happened,
Yeah, Sarah and Merlock are growing incredibly close and they really love being around each other. But they're not yet living together and Merlock does have other responsibilities, as does Sarah. Merlock needs to work on and prepare for his meeting with Jillian Grey – next chapter – and Sarah has her homework and her upcoming exams to focus on. As much as I would love to have those two be together 24/7, I can't …
Yet,

Venquine1990