AN: Okay, I'd like to start off by saying thank you to everyone who read the last 2 chapters. You guys are awesome! Next, I've decided to forgo writing the dates from this chapter onward - it'll get too confusing, especially since most of the episodes don't seem to have a chronological order.
Also if anyone read my post on Tumblr, I've decided to change the birth dates in accordance with what I discovered - I apologize if this confuses you guys!
With that said, I don't own Gormiti or the characters so...on with the fic!
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Seven years had passed since my first day at school. Mr. Russberg and Miss McAllister had kept their promise to try and get Nick and I in the same class - we had been in the same class every year since I was six, along with our friends Jessica and Lucas.
This year our teacher was Miss McGurk, a woman whose droning voice could make even the most interesting lessons sound boring. She constantly wore a scowl and I often wondered what she enjoyed about teaching if anything.
Our last lesson today was Geography. Miss McGurk had spent the last hour droning about geezers - no, sorry, geysers - and was currently setting us homework, pages of it.
"Class, I want y'all to complete the questions on pages 57 through to 61 to be collected in Friday's lesson. I want no excuses for incompleted work. Failure to hand in your work will result in detention. Is that clear?"
I lift my head off my desk and, along with my classmates, say, "Yes, Miss." As the bell rang, we were dismissed and everyone began packing their things away.
As we began walking out of the classroom, Nick turns to me with a serious expression. I inwardly groan, knowing exactly what he's going to say. "Toby, you'd better not leave this until the last minute again or Miss McGurk will call Mom and Dad and-"
I hold up my hand to stop him. "Okay, okay, lighten up, little bro! I promise I won't leave it until last minute."
"That's what you always say!" Jessica says, giving me a smile while adjusting the straps of her backpack.
"Yeah, don't you remember that group project we failed because you forgot to do your part?" Lucas chimes in, folding his arms.
I rolled my eyes. That hadn't been how it had happened at all. "You guys are still mad about that? I keep telling you it was an accident!"
Last year, our teacher had set us a group project. I had been given the smallest and last section to do. When I tried to save my completed work, however, our old and completely worn-out computer deleted the entire project. I told the others about it straightaway however they seemed to think I'd done it on purpose. We tried to redo as much of it as we could within a week but we were unable to finish it in time, earning ourselves a detention. The others had been so mad they refused to speak to me for an entire week - it had hurt, especially since it wasn't even my fault.
We head outside as something else crept into my mind, something that had been bothering me all day. "Hey, guys? I had this weird dream last night." They stop and look at me, so I carry on. "We were all talking to this green lizard guy and he told us we had to help protect this secret world from evil volcano mon- What?" I say, rather defensively, seeing the surprised expressions on their faces. "I'm not making this up!"
"No, it's not that, bro," Nick says quickly. "It's just you literally described the dream I had last night!" Jessica and Lucas both nodded, indicating that they had dreamt the same thing we had.
"So we all dreamt the same thing?" Jessica asks, looking at all of us with a puzzled expression.
"It could just be a coincidence," Lucas suggests, though his tone told me he wasn't sure he even believed that.
"I'm going to have to disagree with you there, kid."
I blink. "You guys heard that, right? That voice? It sounded really familiar!"
"Yeah, I recognize it too." Nick agrees. Just then, Jessica let out a shriek and we all turned to look at her.
Perched on the top of her head was the strangest looking lizard I had ever seen. It had green scaly skin, blue eyes and a weird crest on its head as well as a long tail. What weirded me out was what happened next. The lizard opened its mouth and, to my surprise - well, actually I wasn't all that surprised -, it began to speak.
"Yeesh, I come to finally tell you guys about your destiny and instead I almost get deafened."
I glance around, relieved that none of our fellow students seem to be around. The lizard climbs down from Jessica's head and scurries over to me, scampering up my arm and stopping when it reached my shoulder.
Lucas stares at the lizard. "Y-You can talk!" He stutters.
"Of course I can talk!" The lizard huffs impatiently. "How would I be able to explain everything to you if all I could do was make ridiculous noises?"
"Explain what to us?" Nick asks curiously before I let out a noise of recognition.
"I remember seeing you before!" I exclaim. "Back when I was five!"
"You sure you weren't dreaming, Toby?" Jessica asks me teasingly, having recovered from her earlier shock.
"I was awake, Jess," I reply as the lizard stretches its limbs.
"Well, I'm glad at least one of you remembers me - and by the way, my name is Razzle." The lizard introduces it's - or rather - himself.
"Nice to meet you!" We all say though I feel weird for having a conversation with a lizard and wonder if the others feel the same way.
"You've all changed since the last time I saw you. The clothes and all."
I grin at him. "It's been seven years, hasn't it? Things change." I was now wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt with an orange and white collar, blue jeans and blue sneakers with an orange and white trim.
"Indeed." Razzle nods. "Now if we can head for your house, we can discuss everything there." Nick unzips his backpack and the lizard jumps inside.
"You'd better stay out of sight, Razzle." He warns. "Our parents might freak if they see a lizard in the house, especially a talking lizard."
We head towards our (mine and Nick's) house, Jessica and Lucas having texted their parents to let them know they were coming over.
As we open the door, we are greeted by Mom and Dad who were donning baking hats and aprons. "Oh, hi, kids!" Mom greets us. "We're just finishing up here and then we're off to work." Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - my mom and dad own a travel agency named Tripp's Trips and they are mad about baking. Crazy mad.
"Check out this beauty!" Dad says proudly as we gather around the table. I look at the blackberry crumble sitting on a plate, still warm, the scent wafting into my nostrils. I really loved blackberry crumble.
"You're all welcome to a slice!" Mom tells us as she folds her apron and puts it away before doing the same with Dad's. We all thank her.
"As long as Toby's not the one doing the slicing!" Nick says, smirking at me.
"Yeah, there wouldn't be anything left for us!" Lucas adds.
"We all know you get crazy about blackberry crumble!" Jessica finishes, as all three of them smirk at me.
"What is it today?" I complain jokingly. "Pick on Toby day! If so, why didn't anyone tell me?"
There was a pause before all four of us dissolve into laughter. Mom and Dad wait for us to recover before telling us (or rather me) to behave.
As soon as they had left, Nick unzips his backpack, allowing Razzle to climb out. Jessica, meanwhile, took a knife and began to slice the blackberry crumble into equal slices before placing four of them on plates that Lucas and I helpfully placed on the table. She placed a cover over the remainder before the four of us sat down to eat.
Eager for the taste of my favorite pudding, I quickly started wolfing down my slice and allowed the tartness of the blackberry to hit my taste buds. "Wow, this tastes just as good as I remember!" I exclaim once my mouth is no longer full - hey, I do know you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full, you know!
Jessica frowns. "Don't eat too fast or you'll make yourself sick!" She warned me, before continuing to eat her own slice.
I sighed. "Yes, Mother." I teased, causing her to lightly punch my arm. I did slow down slightly, though, just to savor the taste a little more.
Lucas turned to Nick. "Man, your parents always bake the best desserts. You guys are so lucky!"
"Well, I can't argue with you there!" Nick agreed as I finished my slice and waited for the others to finish too.
Once we'd all finished, Nick washed our plates and cutlery before putting them away. We then turned to Razzle who had jumped onto the table.
"So why have you been looking for us then?" I ask curiously.
Razzle clears his throat. "Because you, my friends, are...the Lords of Nature!"
My eyes lit up. I was so excited. This was all I had ever dreamed of, literally. It seemed that the others didn't share my enthusiasm, however.
"The Lords of Nature? Us?" Nick asks incredulously.
"We're just four ordinary kids!" Lucas protests.
I couldn't believe they were actually doubting this. "Guys, come on, how many times are we gonna be told that we're superheroes - we are superheroes, right?" This last part I asked Razzle who nodded and I grinned.
Jessica folded her arms. "Come on, Toby. Even you have to admit it sounds pretty far-fetched."
"This is exactly what we dreamt about! How can you guys be doubting that?" I protested.
"Perhaps if I showed them, they would be convinced..." Razzle mused before climbing back onto my shoulder and pointing a claw to the pantry doors.
Figuring that Razzle wanted us to go to the pantry for some reason, I started walking towards the doors, the others following reluctantly.
Once we were all inside, I spotted something on the wall that hadn't been there before. "Hey, Nick, I don't remember that grate being there, do you?"
He shook his head. For some reason, I felt like I had to wave my hand across it so I did. As soon as I did, the grate slid back, revealing a blank panel.
I blinked. "Was that supposed to happen?" I asked Razzle who nodded excitedly.
For some reason, something was telling me to wave my hand over the panel. My hand, as though moving on its own, waved over the top left corner of the panel.
At first, nothing happened. Then, to my surprise, the area I waved my hand over glowed dark-blue with a strange symbol that looked like a wave. "Awesome!" I whisper before stepping back upon hearing someone step up behind me.
I watched as Nick, Lucas and Jessica - who seemed to be guided by the same instinct I was - waved their hands across the panel, causing the three remaining blank sections to turn orange with a mountain symbol (Nick), green with a tree symbol (Lucas) and finally light-blue with a wind symbol (Jessica).
The entire panel glowed a luminous-green before we heard a rumbling sound. I heard the others cry out in alarm and I stepped back, watching the floor I had just been standing on start to sink downwards. When it was over, I stepped forward and peered curiously down the hole.
"There are stairs going down somewhere!" I tell the others who immediately come to join me.
"I can't believe it!" Nick said, blinking rapidly as he removed his glasses to clean them before putting them back on.
"Where do you think it goes?" Lucas asked, kneeling down to peer down the hole, trying to see the end of the staircase.
"Only one way to find out, I guess," Jessica said as we all looked at each other before I led the way down the stairs.
When we reached the bottom, we let out awed gasps. It was a cavern of some sort with bookshelves filled with books - I knew Nick would want to study as many of them as he could -, a screen with what looked to be a keyboard with crystals instead of keys , a chair with a blank circle in the back and what appeared to be a huge hole in the ground with four sets of crystals surrounding it.
Razzle pointed toward the hole and we walk towards it. Instinctively I stand in front of the dark-blue crystals and look at the hole. It doesn't seem like an ordinary hole as I see clouds over it.
"A portal?" Nick asked Razzle. As he speaks, the clouds shift and we see something begin to appear. It looks like an island - but it looks like no place I've ever seen before.
"This is the Isle of Gorm." Razzle began. "It exists in a parallel dimension to Earth." My head was spinning. Parallel dimension? I'll have to ask Nick about it later but for now, I'll let Razzle explain more about this Gorm place.
"There are five Nations in Gorm: Earth, Water, Forest, Air, and Fire. Things may look calm for now but the Fire Nation, led by the evil Lord Magmion, threatens to destroy that balance."
"How come?" Lucas asked.
"They seek to destroy the Gorm - don't ask me why - which also puts your world in danger."
"Why is that?" Jessica questions. "Is it because Gorm is parallel to Earth?
Razzle nods. "You catch on quickly, kid. If there's trouble in the Gorm, it means trouble for Earth too! That's where you guys come in."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
Razzle tells us to close our eyes. I'm not sure why but I do so anyway, squeezing them tight. I feel a pulsating weight in my hands which are outstretched - it changes from hot to cool, then back again - and the weird thing is... it feels like I am whole, as though a part of me has been missing my whole life and I just got it back.
I open my eyes when Razzle gives us the okay and look down at my hands. Nestled in my palms was a dark-blue sphere with a wave symbol on it. I look at the others and see that they are holding spheres too.
"These are your orbs," Razzle tells us. "They represent the powers of Earth," he points to Nick who holds an orange sphere with a mountain symbol, "Water," he points to me and I look once more at the wave, realizing that it is the exact same symbol as the one on the panel, "Forest" he points to Lucas who has a green sphere with a tree symbol, "and Air!" he points to Jessica who cradles her light-blue sphere with a wind symbol in her hands.
The orbs float out of our hands. I watch as Nick's orb rests on what looks to be an orange rock, Lucas' nestles on the branches of a green tree, Jessica's simply floating in mid-air and my own balances on top of a blue waterspout.
"Well, are you guys convinced now?" I ask, hoping that they are. After all, when would we ever get the chance to be heroes again if we didn't accept this?
Lucas grins. "If protecting Gorm means protecting Earth, then I'm in, buddy!"
Nick also smiles. "I have to admit, I had my doubts at first but I really do want to check out those books." I have to resist the urge to laugh - it figures that the huge library would be all it took to convince him.
Jessica frowns slightly. "I guess it could be interesting..." she says.
"Could be?" I ask incredulously. I walk over to her and drape an arm over her shoulder. "It will be!" I correct her as she good-naturedly pushes me.
"Well, I don't suppose things could get too boring with you around." She admits before smiling. "I suppose I'm in too! I can't let you guys save the world without me, right?"
"Woohoo!" Razzle cheers. "This is wonderful! By the orbs of Gorm, the Lords of Nature have returned!"
I look at the others as we hold our hands high in the air and together we all cry, "By the orbs of Gorm!"
AN: Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be the beginning of the actual series so don't miss it!