Sorry for the delay, enjoy.

PJ Masks belongs to their respective owners, I only own my OCs.

Chapter 5: Les Petit Masks!

Connor was walking peacefully under the moonlight to the slope that was behind the houses while Unità, Hope, and Vita played around him, chasing each other and laughing in the process. Connor couldn't help but smile at them, they reminded him of when he was their age playing around the city with Gekko and Owlette when there were only three PJ Masks on the team.

Hope was a lot like Greg when he was younger, just a lot more nervous and fragile. Vita was more like Owlette and Unità was more like him, and he was sure about that. She is energetic, a little bit egocentric, and quick to act without thinking, reckless; just like his younger self. He cringed a little at the thought of his younger self but shook his head with a snort.

He started climbing, with the kids racing ahead of him, trying to beat each other. Connor couldn't help but smile, they were so small and innocent, he hoped that none of what happened to his friends would ever happen to these kids. He frowned; he was going to make sure that these kids were going to be safe from problems like these, he won't let anything happen to them.

He heard exclamations of surprise at the top and saw Hope, Unità, and Vita standing there. He hurried up and climbed faster. "What is it?"

Hope looked back at him with a big smile and shiny eyes. "It's a huge wooden statue!"

Connor opened his eyes in surprise, he raced up. Could it be...? He arrived at the side of the three and looked at what had them very surprised. He smiled. No way! It probably came out during the day. He looked back at the town. How did no one notice? Now he looked down on the slope then back at the huge thing in front of him. It probably hid it from the rest of the town.

"Come on, let's check it out!" He said with a smile to the little ones, who nodded excitedly in agreement. They all started to climb down, while Connor observed the beauty that he had in front of his eyes.

It was a huge totem pole, probably a bit bigger than his HQ; The wood had white strikes as if it was made of a certain type of wood, and it had two big tall ears on top that resembled the ones that Unità's alter-ego, Black Ear, had. The top door was Lilac and it was a circular shape with a spiral white shape in between the eyes. The middle door was Honey yellow and had a more triangular shape with eyes that had a scalene shape. In the middle of the eyes, it had a diamond-shaped white symbol. The last door, the bottom one, was of a Citrus orange color and the shape of the eyes was of a parallelogram; It had a white triangle between the eyes.

It's pretty unique, I guess every totem pole it's like that. He remembered the day they discovered that Foxwolf, Snowfox, and Badgerclaw had an HQ of themselves. It had appeared overnight and something had guided them there. Their HQ was underground as they all carried an Animal Totem that usually used undergrounds. Now he wondered something... when they became PJ Masks the first time they had vehicles at such a young age. Did these kids too?

He was eager each second to find out what that totem pole had, just like them. It reminded him of the eagerness he had when he was younger, waiting for every night to fight nighttime villains and show how good he was at it, even though sometimes he annoyed his friends. Those were good times...

He felt someone pushing him and saw Unità and Hope pushing him from behind. He looked around and realized that he finished climbing down and was at the beginning of the valley ahead. "Come on! We want to see what's in there!" Hope exclaimed.

Unità was forcing through his back with a strength that caught Connor by surprise. "Ugh, you are so heavy!" She complained. He giggled and moved to one side, and both Unità and Hope fell to the ground with an Oof. "Hey!" He smiled at her maliciously and she arched an eyebrow. He looked ahead and then back at them.

"Race you to it!" He said and heard exclamations of surprise from Unità and Hope, while Vita ahead giggled and started running before him. He was running slower than he actually could, just so the other two could catch up to him. He heard steps behind him and giggles and sped up more, though he was surprised when Unità passed him easily, followed by Hope. He smiled with determination. "Oh, where do you think you are going?"

He was running at their speed now, by their side, and Unità tried effortly to pass him. She looked back at her friends. "Vita, Hope! Come on!" He heard the other two speeding up and saw them by his side now. He felt hands grabbing his left arm, and shortly after others grabbing his right arm. He was pulled down and he was suddenly on the ground, not understanding what happened. Hope and Vita jumped over him with a great leap and kept running, giggling and looking at him with mischievous smiles. He understood immediately; they planned on tricking him.

"Hey, come back here!" He said standing up. Once he reached the totem pole, the three of them were laughing and celebrating their victory. He stopped panting, and let out his breath in a heavy way. "Where did you learned to do that?" He was actually impressed by the tactic the kids used; it was the right combination of a surprise attack.

Hope, who was smiling excitedly for all that happened, answered. "There are a lot of bad guys out there that tried to catch us or steal from us several times, but we are intelligent and learned all of their moves, so we created ours against them."

Vita burst in jumping with a smile and shining eyes. "We call it the Pull-Down Trick!"

Connor was intrigued by the move, he made a note to himself to learn more of it. He giggled. "Well, it worked pretty well on me. Good teamwork!" He said, rubbing Vita's and Hope's hair with his hands, making them smile and laugh.

"Hey! What about me?!" Said Unità joining in. Connor grabbed her and rubbed her hair as well, while she struggled to release his grip on her. All of them laughed, and Connor didn't know exactly why, but the laughs of these kids made him feel warm and cheerful. He smiled sweetly at them; being with them made him feel happy... yeah, happy.

Once they all calmed down, he said: "Let's check what's inside." He walked to the side, waiting to see a door like in his HQ, but the door wasn't there. He arched an eyebrow and rounded the totem pole, finding the door in the back of it. The door wasn't so different from their's, the only thing that changed was the pad that would lead them inside. This one was a small circle with a lent and a grey screen on top.

Vita approached curiously, looking the pad. "How does it work?"

"I... have no idea." Usually, back on HQ, he would put his hand over the pad of the door and HQ would let them inside, but this door wasn't like that. There was a lent in the circle that was under a grey screen; he had an idea. "Vita, come here." She approached and stood by his side as she cast a glance at the circle and then at him, questioningly. He kneeled down next to her and said: "Can you look into the circle? I wanna try something."

Vita looked back on the door's lent, confused and a little scared of what it could do if she looked into it, but she trusted Connor. Connor was a cool guy, and so far he hasn't done anything to harm her or her family. She did as told and looked inside the lent, and several seconds later of nothing happening, she removed her eye from the lent. "Nothing happened."

Connor kept looking at the door's lent, wondering how they could go inside. The eye thing didn't work, he expected the door to read the eye of the little girl, but since nothing happened then something else might let them. The hand thing he usually does wasn't an option, the lent was too small for his or their hands. If it has a lent, then surely it has to read something, right? Connor kneeled in front of it, looking more inside. It was small enough to read something small, but what? What was small enough to read for the lent? Maybe their fingerprints? No, their fingers, even though they were thin and small, were still too big for the lent.

Connor growled, what could it be? Something smaller, but what? He looked at the kids, Unità and Hope were sitting on the ground playing palms, while Vita was chanting a small tone and playing with her new ring. Connor opened his eyes in realization. The rings, of course! "Vita come here! I think I know how to get inside." She approached once more and Connor gently grabbed her hand. "Make a fist." He told her and she did as told. Connor showed Vita's Lilac ring to the lent, and there was a small shine on it, a few seconds later the grey screen illuminated and showed an animal's paw on screen. A Chinchilla's paw print.

The door opened while Connor and Vita exchanged a smile. He heard gasps in the background and exclamations of surprise. "How did you do that?" That was Hope. He looked back at them while Vita waited on the door so it wouldn't close.

"The lent you see here? It reads your rings, which means it recognizes you as the owner of your HQ, then it lets you in." Connor explained. Hope seemed to be jumping up and down slightly, and Unità was shaking just beside him with a big white toothy smile. They are so eager to find out everything. "Let's go inside."

He led them inside, into the first room, which was the bottom one. Once inside, he saw a large, brown and orange room, illuminated with saturated lights. On the opposite side, Connor saw the orange door with the two eyes, which served both as windows. In the middle of the whole room, there was a soccer field, but it only covered the middle; in the extremes, there were solid wooden paths, in which they were standing now. In both sides of the soccer field, there were two rooms, one empty, and the other one had a couch with a small wooden table in front, some nice plants decorating the place, and a small TV. On top of those things there was a small mezzanine, in which from the looks of it, it had a small bed and a nightstand with a light.

The room looked rustic to Connor, and it relaxed him for some reason. He looked at the empty room on the other side. Maybe there's supposed to be a vehicle? He came to the conclusion that the empty room was for that. Hope seemed the most interested in the whole room. He smiled. "This is your room," Connor said, looking from his peripheral vision to the smaller boy, the other boy smiled and clenched his fist together while jumping up and down slightly.

"It's so cool! It reminds me of my old room!" He let out a gasp and clenched his lips together. Connor looked at him; Vita and Unità too. "I-uh- f-forgot I said that..." Connor put his hand on the boy's head and he looked up to him. Connor smiled sweetly at him and stroke his head; the boy gave back the smile.

"Let's keep exploring." He walked away from the room, entering a hallway that leads to a much smaller place. He was half-head down from touching the ceiling. The kids snickered at that sight and walked past him; They were eyeing curiously the three platforms that were at the end of the room.

"What are these?" Vita asked.

He giggled at them and bent down to their side. "These are elevators. They will take us up to the next room, hopefully. All you have to do is step on them and stand still, so they censor you." Hope was about to ask something but Connor cut him off. "And no, they are not dangerous, I always step on them." The two girls gleamed eyes at each other, stepped in and stood still, one second later they took them up. Hope looked at the elevator. "Aren't you gonna go with them?" Connor asked.

Now the ginger boy looked at him with his orange eyes. "Won't you come with us?" At the exact same moment, the two others elevators came down.

He smiled at Hope. "I'll be right behind you."

Hope looked back at the elevator and said: "Okay..." He stepped in and stood still, waiting for the elevator to take him up. He had a frightened look when the elevator took him up and Connor laughed. He also stepped into the elevator and was took to the next room. When he arrived at the pastel yellow room, Hope was waiting for him not so far away from the elevator. "I don't think I like those things." He said, and Connor shook his head with a little smile.

He took a look around, this room wasn't so different from his; there were cloud shaped lights hanging from the ceiling, illuminating a very pastel yellow light. There were rock pillars not so far away from the room, decorated in its center with white stars and fairy lights. The walls were Aspen Gold, but over them, there was another set of walls that didn't reach the roof, and from them, a pastel yellow illuminated the main walls. There was also a tree, just like the one back at his HQ, but this one had leaves and yellow Syringa flowers; the tree was also decorated in fairy lights.

Connor saw two small rooms at the end of Unità's HQ Floor, and once more, one was empty and the other was prepared for someone. The second room was of a Chai Tea color, over the room was a mezzanine just like in Hope's room, and it had also a bed and a nightstand; a ladder leads up to the mezzanine. Under it, there were pastel yellow Puffs and a Dandelion carpet.

"Who's room is this? If Hope's was the last one." Asked Vita. Connor looked at her with an eyebrow raised and a smile.

"This is Unità's." He heard a gasp of joy coming from Unità. "So that means that the next one-"

"-It's mine!" Vita finished excitedly.

Connor closed his eyes and nodded gently. She's really smart... He thought and then let his chest be filled with warmth. They all are. He saw all of them rush to the elevators, and hop on them, except for Hope who walked cautiously into it. He waited for them to go up and then stepped in another of the elevators when they came down. When he reached the top floor, the three kids were investigating the room on their own while he examined it carefully; the Room was just like Owlette's. It had a big painting with the constellations on the ceiling, and purple flags with white stars hanged from the walls.

He saw again other two rooms like in the other two floors, one was empty and the other one wasn't. The second one had only a bed and a nightstand, several stars were stick on the walls of it, and some planets were hanging from strings that were attached to the ceiling.

Hope appeared by his side, looking around he said: "It's all nice, why do we have all of this?"

Unità interrupted him. "Are we training here?" She was eager to learn how to use her powers and Hope looked annoyed at her but looked around once more, not saying one word. Connor noticed that the little boy made with his hand a fist and started rubbing his thumb to the side of his index finger; he raised an eyebrow. I'm gonna watch him more. Connor knew that the gesture he was doing was because the boy was unable to speak many of the stuff he thought, so instead of saying something, he decided to do that. He knew that Hope was doing that because he used to have a habit like that when he was younger, either as Catboy or regular Connor.

He crossed his arms and let out a deep breath. "Not here, outside. There's more space for what I want to teach you." Hope looked expectantly at him. Connor hadn't forgotten. "You have all of this because you are PJ Masks now. Stuff that is stocked here might help you find or solve problems in your city. Besides, this is your new home." He knew that the instant he saw the small rooms with the beds on each floor.

"But we left our stuff back at our Hideout!" Unità exclaimed.

Connor walked to the elevators, and the other three followed. "I'll go for them later, now follow me, it's time to start training." They all left, with the kids jumping around him like hares.

It was already late at night, and Greg was tired of waiting on the bus terminal. It was 1:45 AM and, looking at the others, Greg could tell he wasn't the only one tired. Well, he was tired of waiting, the others were tired and about to sleep on their standing spots. He giggled on the inside, he slept like five hours back home. At some point, he sat on the ground and started playing with his phone, or just taking some pictures for his Snapchat.

They've arrived 1 AM at the Bus Terminal and were waiting for their own, and it wasn't like this bus was going to take them directly, they had to take two to go to Milennia Town; this one that had the stop in Seaflower Bay, and other, that was going to take them to Milennia Town.

He suddenly got bored with his cellphone, nothing interesting happened in it so he was wasting his battery. A chill wind blew and it carried a salty scent, which Greg guessed it was because of the sea. The port wasn't so far away from the Bus Station, so it made sense that the wind was stronger here than back in the city. Far away he could low-key hear ships horns.

He got chills on his arms and decided to take from his luggage a green and white letterman jacket that Cameron gifted him in his Fourteen birthday two years ago. He put it on and find himself sighing when the jacket was still loose. He heard someone giggling and turned around to find Riley watching him.

"Still loose?" Riley asked and Greg nodded. He spun around avoiding Riley's gaze, but couldn't avoid him when he sat by his side. "You are really small, you know? Someone would've expected you to grow a little bit taller, instead, you are still the same height you were when I met you." He joked.

Greg put his face on his hands and made an annoyed face. "Your point?"

"There's none, I'm just..." He looked back at the others and his tone dropped like dead mice, Greg saw his lighten expression grow a little bit dark. "... trying to light up the mood, but I guess it's not working..." He shut up and looked straight ahead, into the marshes that faced the Bus Station. Now the place was quiet, except for the cry of some babies near and small talks, people were tired. A small current sounded close, and crickets and owls filled the quiet of the nighttime.

Riley shifted to his side and Greg leaned on his arm; he was really cold and the boy to his side was really warm. He smiled, sorta like Connor in winter. Everyone would always mock him because out of his group of friends, Connor would always remain warm in winter, people like to hug him or be close to him when that time of the year comes, often annoying him. Though Greg knew that Connor was really cuddly with people close to him. Connor, Amaya and he would always gather in one of their homes and watch movies together while Amaya and he cuddled Connor. He giggled at the memory and felt a pang of emptiness on his chest. It's been two years since they've done that.

He looked at Riley and the Asian boy was watching back at him, curious to know what was on his mind. Riley smiled mischievously. "Seems like you are comfy in there." Greg's face turned red and he instantly sat up like before. "No, no! I was just mocking, Greg. I don't mind." Greg sighed and wrapped himself, the jacket was warm but not warm enough to make justice for the chill wind. Right now Greg wished he would've brought his winter jacket; he was a really cold person.

"One cannot cuddle anymore without being mocked... I don't see what's wrong with it! It's something normal, everyone does it!" He said while Riley laughed, they both sighed and Greg found himself smiling slightly. Looking at the stars above, he said: "You know, you did lighten the mood. Yesterday you seemed annoyed by this trip, now you are trying to light up the mood."

Riley leaned himself into Greg, and Greg relaxed at the touch. "Well, yeah, I'm still kinda annoyed about it, but it's going to even worst if everyone had a long face on the trip. I prefer to change that than to cope with it." Greg looked at him, and Riley looked back. "Also, what were you laughing about moments ago? If you don't mind me asking."

Greg looked how a duck was walking with her ducklings following her a few lengths away, they stepped between the marshes and a few moments later he heard a splash. They must've gotten in the water. "I was just thinking about... Connor..." He smiled half-heartedly. "It's cold tonight and I just remembered how he always is warm at Winter. Remember your first two Winters with us when we told you that fact about Connor?" He looked at Riley amusedly.

Riley looked ahead with an amused expression. "Yeah! I couldn't believe it, so I waited for the next Winter too see if Connor was warm like the past Winter." They both laughed and sighed. "What a bunch of good moments..."

Greg stopped smiling when he felt as if a thorn was pushed into his heart. "Yeah... I just wish that things could be the same. No Magicster, no Broken Masks, no Great Masks War, no betrayals..." He sighed. "Everything was just fine as it was!"

Riley put an arm around Greg's shoulders and shook him slightly comfortingly, he spoke up. "I know. The bunch of stuff that changed over the course of one year is amazing, but even though I hate what Connor has done-" He risked a glance behind them, and Greg followed, noticing how he cast a warm glance to Federico and the others. "I would hate for all of this going another way." He looked at Greg, and Greg could feel the intensity of the emotions Riley cast from his Royal purple eyes. "We lost things, yeah, but we also gained valuable things." At the exact same moment, laughs sounded behind them and he saw Federico and Silver laughing while Amaya explained something with exaggerated gestures. "I prefer to let go of those things before losing what I value the most."

The quiet of the night was disturbed when a horn sounded ahead, they both looked to one side of the Station and saw the bus arriving. Riley stood up and held a hand to Greg. "Come on, our bus is here." When Greg took it and stood up, he proceeded to ask: "Who has the tickets?"

"Amaya does, let's go with her." He grabbed his stuff and followed Riley to where his stuff was. "Hey, Riley?"

"Um?"

"Would you sit with me?" Riley smiled at him and nodded. Greg liked Riley's company, the boy was calm, relaxed; he relaxed Greg. He was more relaxed now than feeling anxious about leaving the city without his mother knowing, and the thought of Connor wandering out there alone. Besides of Amaya and Connor -formerly-, Riley was one of the closest friends he had. They shared much stuff together, he was the first one to talk to Riley when the Asian boy changed schools in fifth grade. His father Daniel was the one that urged him into talking to Riley and looking at the Asian boy now, he silently thanked his father for doing so.

Amaya saw them approach and with tickets in hand, she handed them theirs. "Here, I believe you two have seats together. Silver is going in the front, and I'm sitting with Federico. Okay?" They both nodded. When the bus stopped, they all went to left their luggage in the compartment of the bus and went back to the line of people waiting to aboard it.

Once on the second floor of the Bus, Greg sat on the window's side, he liked to see the outsides when he traveled. Riley shortly after sat next to him, and he bends the sit back so he wouldn't bother Riley. He heard Amaya and Federico quarreling with the guard outside about their ID Card, but after a few moments, both walked past them with annoyed faces. He looked at Riley and smiled amusedly. "Guess you didn't have any problem boarding, did ya?" Riley looked back at him with his lips clenched together and his eyes half-closed. He knew the other boy didn't like to be teased about his age.

"You mocked my shortness, don't you dare to argue." Greg snickered.

Riley rolled his eyes and let his face be decorated with an amused expression. He laughed. "Fair enough."

Greg looked outside when he felt the bus starting to move. He said. "How much until Seaflower Bay? I get dizzy easily on cars and stuff."

Riley sighed. "Two and a half hour, three maximum. Then from there, we have another four hours until Milennia Town."

Greg opened his eyes and turn around to look at him wildly. "That much?! Beautiful." He leaned on the chair exaggeratedly and a few moments later a paper bag was tossed into his lap. "What is this for?" When he received no answer, only a grin, he gasped indignantly and made the paper bag a ball and threw it right at Riley's face, while the other one laughed heartedly. "Your face needs it more than I do."

"Are you sure about that?" Greg aimed for Riley's sides, only to be blocked by the other boy's hands. Riley started wriggling when Greg tried to reach his sides, and both stopped when their seat got kicked and heard a 'sh' from somewhere in the bus. They both giggled silently and Greg whispered: "Rude."

The other boy leaned close to Greg and whispered back. "Very much." Both laughed and fooled around a little bit more until they both grew tired and decided to sleep as much and comfortable as they could.

"So, are we going to do something or...?"

"Unità, shh! He's thinking!"

"But I'm bored, Hope!"

"You are distracting him!" Answered Hope annoyed. Unità looked at him with a frown and pushed him to the ground, where Hope shook the dust off his head. "Hey!"

Vita, Unit and Hope, more like Cotton, Black Ear and Crash, were waiting on the field just a few feet away from their HQ (or new home) and the forest that frontiered them. They were watching Catboy walk to one side to another. He was thinking what to do, what to teach them first. Should I teach them how to use their powers synchronized? OR should I teach them how to manage them? After a few twenty minutes of passing around, Catboy thought that the second option was the best, and as soon as he chose what to do, he knew exactly what exercise would help them get there.

He looked at the three of them, precisely at Unità and Hope to cast each other death glares, and said. "First of all, you two stop fighting." When Unit and Hope heard him, they instantly stopped and sat like before. "Second, what did I say about calling ourselves our real names during the night?"

Vita jumped in eagerly. "Not to, 'cause we might reveal our identities to villains!" Catboy nodded and she puffed her chest with pride, unlike Hope and Unità, who were shaking their pelts a little to end with the embarrassment.

"Exactly, Cotton." He glared at the other two. "So from now on, Black Ear, Crash, we are going to do that." The other two nodded embarrassed. "Now follow me, I got something to practice." Cotton jumped excitedly and walked to him, while Black Ear showed a big white teeth smile; she pushed Crash to one side and trotted to him, seeing at the same time Crash roll his eyes annoyedly at her and walk to him just behind her. Catboy thought. We'll work on that.

He headed for the forest, which was a forest of different kinds of pines. He, precisely, headed for the first pine he saw and that he thought it would be perfect for what he had in mind: a Scots Pine. The pines of the forest were huge. When Catboy saw it from far away, he didn't think that it would be that huge, or the pines that tall. Now that he had come near it, he could see the magnificence of it. The little he could saw of the insides were like a nightmare, the huge pines seemed to cover most of the sky, so it was really dark in there, except for a few splotches of moonlight that made it seems as if the forest was of a Swamp-ish color.

He stopped, not taking his eyes away from a pine cone in the first branch of the pine, which was not so close from the floor, but not so high that kids wouldn't reach it. The kids followed his sight and while Cotton and Crash seemed to have trouble spotting what Catboy was seeing, Black Ear spotted it easily. "Are we going to do something with that pine cone?"

Catboy was surprised at Black Ear's amazing sight. I might need to check on that later, it might be useful. "Well spotted, Black Ear." She puffed her chest with pride. "We are going to use that pinecone as a target." He stated, looking at the kids who were confused. "We are going to test your powers with it, the first one to touch or throw it down wins."

The three kids cheered and jumped happily. "Yay! A game! This is gonna be fun!" Said Cotton.

Catboy nodded eagerly. "I know right?" He was really eager to start training them, he gave it thought last night when he woke up from a nightmare. He cared about this kids as if he knew them his whole life. They were like the little siblings he never got to have.

He breathed out with a smile. "Okay, Cotton, you start. Come over here." He signaled the spot beside him. "Focus on the pinecone over there," He signaled with his finger all the way to the pinecone so Cotton could see it. "You see it?"

She struggled to find the pinecone. "Uh-umm not... really..." She was trying to adjust her eyes to see the pinecone before finally spot it. "Oh! I see it, Catboy! I see it!"

He smiled at her. "Good, now, before summoning your powers, you must say the word 'Chinchilla' before, okay?" She nodded. "We are gonna try the different powers that I have, with you. Like-" He spun around and targeted another pinecone. "my Super Cat Stripes!"

The Cat Stripe went directly to the pinecone, grabbing it. Catboy got a hold of the cat stripe and pulled the pinecone from the pine. The pinecone ended in his hand and he spun around to face the children. Crash had glimmering eyes while he smiled, and Cotton and Black Ear showed admiration. "That was amazing!" The three of them said in unison.

Catboy purred warmly. "Thanks... Now, are you ready to try Cotton?"

"Yeah!" She jumped and asked. "What do I do?"

Catboy thought for a second what to tell her. He inspected her up and down, watching her fluffy fur and big ears. Her sight wasn't her strong point so he discarded any Visual Powers. Maybe she could use stripes like his from the markings of her suit. "Do you think you could try saying Chinchilla Stripes?" Catboy asked he was curious to know which powers she had.

Cotton nodded and making a funny pose, she yelled. "Chinchilla Stripes!" There were a few seconds of silence before she shrugged. "Nothing."

Catboy frowned. What kind of powers could a Chinchilla-themed hero have? He noticed that she had big and round ears, maybe she had some kind of hearing power, like his Super Cat Ears. Before telling her what to do next, he inspected her more. She had long, thick grey fur, but he didn't think of any power that might come with it. He noticed that the palms of her hands had pads like the ones Gekko have on his hands, maybe he could try something with them. "Okay, now try, uh-" He thought of how she should call it." Super Chinchilla Ears?"

Cotton nodded and did the same as before. "Super Chinchilla Ears!" She concentrated hard enough, and Connor expected something to happen, but after a few minutes she gave up and shook her head in defeat. Catboy sighed in defeat again, but composed himself again and thought. What could he do?... He could hear Cotton said different things in the background, along with Black Ear and Crash. Maybe she had claws? Maybe...fly? He pinned his ears against his head with a serious expression. Fly? Really?

He spun around to look at the kids and as soon as he did, he heard Crash say something and then out of sudden an orange flash made Catboy jump in place, and Crash was no longer in the ground. He blinked several times to process what just happened.

"What the fu- freak?!" He fastly corrected himself then looked up to see Crash hanging from a branch. The little one let out a cry of fear.

"Catboy help! I'm gonna fall!" He had his arms and legs around the branch as if his life depended on it, and it did, the branch was really far away from the ground.

Catboy lashed his tail and headed for the tree. "Don't worry, Crash, I'm coming!" He used his claws to grip the wood of the tree and started climbing until he reached the branch Crash was hanging from. He looked down and saw the other two girls looking sick worried for them, and with reason, it was higher than Catboy originally thought. He jumped from the bark to the branch and it moved slightly with a cracking sound.

"It's gonna break!" Crash cried out.

"It won't! Calm down!" He didn't know if he was reassuring the small one or himself. He started to put his feet one in front of the other, using his tail to balance himself at the same time. He was near Crash now, but the branch was becoming smaller and Catboy feared it would break in two if he made a wrong step in. He kneeled down and used his claws to keep himself from falling, and then with one hand tried to reach Crash. When he couldn't, he tried to make one more step, but the branch cracked and Catboy knew he couldn't do this alone. Think, you been in worst, higher places. He took a deep breath and calmly said. "Crash, I'll need you to cooperate with me, too." He noticed that Crash had claws, really long claws. "Use your claws to move towards me."

Crash looked at him from under the brach. "M-my claws?"

Catboy pointed to one of his hands to Crash and showed the tip of his fingers. "These ones, use these ones!" He was using the claws on his feet now to get a strong grip, which was a painful one.

"But I'm gonna fall!" Crash cried.

"If something happens, I'll be here for you!" Catboy said, he looked back at the branch and saw it breaking, they needed to hurry. That's when Crash mumbled something that Catboy didn't understand, then gripping hard his claws on the bark of the branch, he moved towards Catboy. Catboy smiled. "Yeah, that's it! Keep it going!" Once Crash was under him, he swiftly reached for him and pulled him up, taking a strong grip on the boy. The branch moved wildly and Catboy almost fell down, noticing the branch about to break and tossing Crash on his back he raced and then jumped onto the tree, using his claws to keep himself on there. "GIRLS, MOVE!"

Black Ear and Cotton jumped out of the way in time before the branch hit the ground with a really loud noise. He noticed that Crash was trembling and spoke up. "Shh, it's okay," He was agitated himself. "We're gonna be fine now, let's get down." He started to carefully go down the tree with Crash holding onto him slightly trembling. When he felt the grass under his feet, he thanked the stars and put Crash down.

Crash plumped into the ground and put his cheek against the grass. "I'm not leaving the ground again!"

Catboy approached the girls and asked. "Are you both okay?" They both nodded and then ran up to Crash and chatted with him a little bit. Catboy had time to process it all and remembering how was the first time he leaped like that. Now that he knew that Jumping was one of Crash's powers, he sighed in relief and exhaustion; a jumping power was more difficult than it seemed. He knew that jumping while doing other stuff was hard and that one bad move could affect the fall. Last year battling with Black Spot he jumped after him but without thinking to where he was heading, only being led by anger, he ended up breaking his left arm when he landed. He didn't want Crash to go the same way, especially because he didn't have any Medical Insurance to take him to the hospital.

Now that he thought about that, he wondered if the kids had any injections of the sorts. For what he analyzed, Crash had at some point a family, so maybe he had some of when he was a baby, he didn't know about the girls, though. How long had those two been on the streets? He knew that they both found Hope, but they didn't say anything about themselves. Maybe they don't know or they just had been born on the streets... Catboy thought of one last thing. Maybe they abandoned them when they were babies... If that was the case, then that means at some point someone looked over them on the streets, but if that was true then, where were they?

He shook his head, maybe he could ask Black Ear or Cotton later. He headed towards them and asked. "How did you do it, Crash? Did you said Super Bandicoot Jump?"

Crash nodded. "Yeah, we were just trying to say stuff that came to our minds and when I said that I jumped really high, it was scary!"

Catboy made an amused glance at the way Crash expressed it. "Well, at least we know that Jumping is one of your powers."

"Now we need to figure the rest of them, and ours, too!" Black Ear said determinedly.

"Well, what you were doing moments ago seemed to work. Why don't you keep trying?" Catboy looked at trees. "B-But stay away from the trees, just in case." They walked over to the center of the clearing between the forest and their HQ. Catboy sat on the ground, watching the kids having fun saying silly things and jumping around while doing so. Now Catboy was just watching them play remembering when sometimes he and his friends would sneak up at night and fool around the city with their powers.

Cotton and Black Ear were facing each other now with mischievous smiles and Cotton, who was in front of Connor, faced Black Ear. "I'm way more powerful than you! I can take you down with my Super Chinchilla Paws!" She said, moving her hands playfully, Catboy snickered at that and watched Black Ear expectantly.

"Oh yeah? I can take you down with my Super Caracal Roar!" She roared, but at the same time the roar sounded all around and sent him and Cotton flying away, he caught the Chinchilla girl mid-air before hitting the ground. Cotton's fluffy fur was all fuzzy and Catboy's head was full of leaves and pinecones. Black Ear and Crash ran up to them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was going to do that!" Black Ear apologized. Catboy stood up and took the leaves from Cotton's head and put her on the ground, then shake himself all of the stuff he had attached.

"It's okay, we're okay, right?" Cotton nodded with a smile and Catboy looked down at Black Ear. "Super Caracal Roar, huh? We had something similar back home in our HQ, but it's called Mega Meow." Catboy chuckled.

Now the three of them seemed interested. "We? There are more people like us?" Asked Black Ear. The three of them sat in front of Catboy expectantly, waiting for him to tell more. He smiled and sat in front of them with his legs crossed.

"Yes, there's more like us, a lot more!" He said, remembering the events of the Great Masks War. "Not only people like us, but there are also villains too, terrible villains that can control robots, that can levitate buildings, werewolves!" He told excitedly. The kids looked at him with curiosity and shining eyes.

"Robots?" Crash asked. "How big?"

Catboy extended his arms wide open. "This big! And they are really tall too, they are under the command of a boy called Romeo. Oh, and there's this girl that has moon powers and control a swarm of moths."

"Yuck, I hate moths!" Said Black Ear making a disgusted expression. "They are small and they are everywhere, once one tried to get in my mouth!"

Catboy laughed alongside Crash and Cotton. "Then you'll probably fear Luna."

"That's her name?" Asked Crash curiously, he narrowed his eyes and asked. "How does she look like?"

Catboy thought of how to describe her. "Well, she is tall, has white and black sparkly hair, uh... She has blue eyes, and black clothes, oh, and a mask that covers half of her face! I mean, she's not a villain anymore, she's more like, uh, an anti-hero? I'm not really sure anymore..."

"I knew I've seen her, I dreamed of her before!"

Cotton motioned her ears. "I think I did too, but she was with some kind of Ninja."

Catboy pinned down his ears in confusion. "Night Ninja?" How could these kids he never met and that were way younger than him possibly know either Luna and Night Ninja? Maybe they knew it because of the Great Masks War? But that was impossible, the animal totems made sure that no one besides his team and the villains that helped them could remember what happened. He frowned, if the Broken Masks would've had Animal Totems, then maybe the whole problem could've been solved... He shook his head. "What have you dreamed of? How long ago?" He asked.

Crash and Cotton tapped their chins thoughtfully. Cotton answered first. "Not so long ago." Crash nodded in agreement. "I dreamed of her and that Ninja stealing some kind of shiny pink stone from a big place full of weird stuff!" Catboy's ears tensed. The Moonstone on the museum... but that was so many years ago! It's impossible.

"I dreamed of her with a green masked boy but they didn't seem to do anything wrong, I think they were running away though..." Crash said. Catboy couldn't believe his cat ears at all, was this some kind of dream? Nightmare? Something in between? There was no way that these kids had dreamed of Luna, Night Ninja, and Gekko before! He looked at Black Ear.

"What about you? Had you had some kind of dream like that?" Please say no.

Black Ear seemed calm now. "There was this nightmare once... it was really scary! There was a huge black monster that looked like a serpent and his pet attacked a boy with green eyes, and then he looked at me and said that everything was going to change and the serpent tried to attack me!" She said shivering a little bit.

Magicster and Drakko!

Crash looked at her. "Oh yeah, I remember that. You woke up crying in the middle of the night saying they were coming for you, none of us slept that night." He looked at Catboy. "That was several weeks ago."

Catboy didn't know how to react to such shocking dreams, more like a vision of past things. How that was possible? Their animal totems showed them that? Why? Catboy didn't want to think about it, he already had a million of question floating on his mind about a lot of things. When the next time he sees Lightning Fur, he is going to ask some several questions; he deserved answers. He stood up and the Petit Masks followed him.

"Let's keep testing, there are a few tricks I wanna show you."

Greg awoke when he felt commotion on the bus, beside him, Riley shifted too and both shared a sleepy and confused look. Greg took a glance at the hour: 3 AM. He frotted his eyes and then stretched. "I think we are in Seaflower Bay."

Riley leaned on his seat and looked through the small hallway of the bus, he arched an eyebrow and made different gests before turning back to Greg. "Yes, we are. Amaya said it's the first stop, so if we don't want to go to Alstroemeria Center, we need to get out now." Alstroemeria Center was another city near Seaflower Bay, it wasn't far, but Greg didn't want to get lost already. They both got up and with the tickets on hand, they followed Silver, Amaya, and Federico down the bus. They approached a man waiting for them on the side of the bus and asked them to show him their tickets. When they did, he opened the compartment and started asking them which one was their luggage. After all of his friends got theirs, Greg pointed to a long, green and yellow one under a big blue suitcase. The man got it out as if it weren't really that heavy and handed it to him, Riley quickly tipped him and then they headed to the Terminal.

Amaya yawned. "Wait here, Riley and I are going to retire the tickets. I need your IDs." Federico and Greg handed it to her, but Silver walked to both Amaya and Riley.

"I'm going with you, I wanna see something." Amaya nodded and the three of them entered the place, leaving Federico and Greg in an awkward silence; the calm of the night wasn't any better. Greg sat on the ground and put his luggage over his legs, Seaflower Bay was a really cold place, and they were already in Spring. When he looked up, he saw Federico in his cellphone, but he had a frown on his face. Greg looked away and scoffed. Unbelievable.

"Is there any problem?" Greg jumped at Federico's voice, he looked at the pink-eyed boy with a flat expression. Obviously, the other boy didn't take that so well.

"I'm waiting for you to snap at me, you know, for Connor. Lately, you'd been voicing him, haven't you?" Spat Greg.

Federico let out an exasperated sigh. "And you are still bitching about it, how surprising." He retorted with sarcasm. He looked at Greg untouched by his meantone. "If I hadn't voiced him, Amaya would've done it."

Greg stood up and looked at him through narrow, menacing eyes. "Amaya is upset with him as I'm."

"And how are you so sure? You hadn't let her do anything for the past two months, always telling her how to feel, you didn't let her express herself!" Federico stood wide. "For what matters, you've been telling everyone how to feel, how to behave." He gestured his hands around, mimicking Greg. "'Avoid Connor, he is a traitor.' 'Don't talk with him, he is a traitor.' 'He tore the PJ Masks apart!' 'Oh, but he is surely wrong 'cause he is a traitor!" He snapped his teeth at Greg and Greg slightly flinched.

"Well, he-"

Federico didn't let him finish as he curled his lip and looked down at him with dark, pink eyes. "If you ask me, your toxic behavior is what is keeping us apart." He put his finger on Greg's nose menacingly and the height difference made Greg really flinch this time. "Not everyone thinks like you, Greg. You only hate Connor for something that was going to end sooner or later, and you can keep bitching about it as much as you want, but that fact? Yeah, it will never change." Slowly, he put his finger under Greg's chin and made him look stare deeply into his eyes. Grimly, with a deep and low voice, he said. "No one dares to tell you, Greg, but you are the reason we are falling apart." He let go of Greg just in time the others came out.

"We have the tickets, we need to go to the stop 54, though," Amaya said. Everything went quiet when they sensed the tension in the air. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing that you should worry about, let's go," Federico answered without taking his eyes from Greg. He bent down to grab his luggage then started walking alongside Silver and Amaya. Riley kept looking at him, and Greg shivered a little before gesturing the Asian boy to follow him.

Riley walked beside him and without looking at him, he asked. "What did he said? I know him well enough to know he didn't shut up."

"Can we not talk about it?" Greg felt a tightness on his chest, wanting to ask if what Federico said was true, but he shut up and headed ahead with Riley by his side. Was he really screwing their team? Was he the cause of everything?

You only hate Connor for something that was going to end sooner or later. He knew that wasn't true, at least he didn't want to think it was true. What really hurt the most wasn't Luna, but Connor lying to him. They knew each other since they can remember, always confiding in each other... but these last years? He felt as if they were parting ways and that scared Greg to death, he couldn't think of a life in which Connor wasn't there. But now he seemed to be pushing him away, did he really wanted that? The ache of Connor's lies made Greg more confused, he didn't want anything to do with Connor, but at the same time, he still couldn't imagine a life where he is not there. Greg stopped alongside the others and settled down his stuff, only to hear their bus coming just in time. Looking at Federico one last time, he wondered.

Should he apologize?

"Why haven't I discovered my powers yet?"

Catboy found himself looking with pity at Cotton, who was now upset that she didn't know her powers yet, unlike Crash and Black Ear, whose Bandicoot Jump and Caracal Roar were found an hour and a half ago. She didn't have any luck, trying everything that came to her mind. He kneeled down beside her. "I'm sure we just need to try more stuff, Cotton, don't give up."

"But it's been a long time already!" She protested.

"Yeah, we are bored!" Black Ear expressed.

Catboy looked at her with a severe look and she clenched her lips together. He looked back at Cotton and smiled gently at her. "Let's keep trying, Cotton."

Cotton crossed her arms and pinned her ears against her head. "I don't want to, I'm never going to find them." She pouted. Catboy didn't know what other things a Chinchilla could have, what features could small creatures like them have? Maybe he could ask Lightning Fur tonight when he sleeps, that'll surely help. He thought of other ways she could help him and other ways she could forget about the whole ordeal. His ears tensed when an idea came.

"I'm going to ask my animal totem tonight if he can help me find yours if I get an answer we'll test them out later, okay? Does that sound good?" She looked at him with her arms still crossed, but she made a little smile.

"Okay, fine. But what am I gonna do now?" She asked.

"You will help me with these two, you are gonna be a mentor with me!" He said cheerfully. She gasped excitedly and jumped up and down while clapping her hands.

"Yay! I'm gonna be like you!" That phrase melted Catboy's heart and he purred in affection. He nudged her toward her teammates and the other two stood up from the ground. Cotton puffed her chest with pride and said: "I'm gonna help Catboy tonight!" Crash's and Black Ear's ears tensed and both of them ran towards Catboy.

"What? No fair! I wanna help Catboy too!" Crash protested, grabbing Catboy's right arm.

Black Ear pulled him from his left arm. "No, I want to help him!"

Cotton joined the protest and gripped to his legs. "He told me!" The three of them swayed him to one side to another, battling each other on who would help him. He laughed before he fell to the ground and in the grass full of leaves and twigs. He shook his head to throw them off and looked amused at the kids, who were apologizing for pulling him down.

He pulled himself up but not from the ground, he stared at Crash and Black Ear. "I know you want to help me too, but you two already got your powers, don't you wanna learn how to use them?"

Both of them crossed their arms. "Well," They pinned their ears against their heads. "Yeah, but we want to help you as you helped us!" Black Ear voiced both of them, Crash nodded solemnly. He grabbed them and pulled them down into a hug.

"What about this? Cotton helps me until she finds out her powers, and once she does, you can all take turns to help me." He suggested.

The three of them smiled and nodded eagerly. "Yeah!" They yelled in unison.

He smiled. "Well, come on then, let's use your powers!" He stood up and the kids trotted behind him until they reached the center of the clearing. He signaled with his tail to Crash, and the little Bandicoot boy stood by his side. "Let's start with your Bandicoot Jump, do this." Catboy bent his hip and his legs a little bit, and moved his arms back, having them fully stretched on his side. Crash examined him before doing the same thing, Catboy noticed that he was bending his legs more than his hips and corrected him, helping the little boy with the right position. "You gotta take bend your hips if you want a strong jump, you can bend your legs like that, but it won't be as strong as like bending your hips." Crash nodded and Catboy moved Crash's arms. "Now, you need to put them on your sides, stretch them wide when you do."

Crash put his arms on his sides as Catboy said, and looked at the taller boy. "Like this?" Catboy nodded and Crash looked happy.

"Now," Catboy went back to the same position. "see your arms? Move your arms strong and fastly forward. Like this." Catboy moved his arms forward as he said and he jumped high on the air, once he landed he went back to the same position but with his arms on his sides and down. Crash looked uncertain for a moment and Catboy patted him. "Bandicoots are natural jumpers, so you'll always jump higher than usual when you are transformed, even without activating your powers." Catboy started hoping to show Crash that even without his Super Cat Leap he could still jump higher.

Crash looked down to his feet and started hoping slightly, then with one impulse, he jumped almost as high as Catboy, but not quite there yet. He clenched his eyes shut and when he landed safely just beside Catboy after that huge leap, he opened his eyes and smiled. "I did it!"

Catboy showed proudness. "Amazing! Keep it going!" Crash started hoping again and laughed, he was having fun. Catboy's tail moved slightly of happiness, two hours ago this kid was afraid of doing this, now he was having fun trying it. He remembered the time Gekko was afraid of riding the Luna Board 'cause he kept complaining he wasn't good at it, now Gekko was always the first one to try stuff to be sure it was safe for his teammates. I wonder if Crash is going to grow up to be like Greg, they are a lot alike... Catboy didn't notice he was purring until he heard Cotton and Black Ear giggling. He smirked and grabbed the two little girls and spun them around. "What are you laughing about, huh?!"

They all giggled together and Black Ear answered. "Your funny cat noises!"

Catboy laughed and then used his Cat Leaps to jump beside Crash, who was laughing as well, with the two girls on him. "Say it again!" Black Ear was now clinging from his back and Cotton was getting a strong grip on him while he jumped around with Crash. Not only this was fun for the kids, but it was also helping Crash make his jumps more precise; it was a win-win situation. After a few more minutes, Catboy eventually was out of breath and decided to stop but he wasn't the only one, Crash was also out of breath and was sitting on the ground panting. He put Cotton and Black Ear down and both ran up to Crash, sitting beside him and starting an animated conversation.

Catboy smiled, seeing the kids happy made him happy. He needed to know how to teach Black Ear how to use her Caracal Roar, teaching Crash was easy because he had the same power, but a roar? The only thing he knew similar to the Caracal Roar was HQ's Mega Meow and Foxwolf's Bark Howl; if only Foxwolf was there to help him, it would've been easier. Why did he refuse? Stupid me.

"Do I have to keep going?" Crash innocent voice came from beside him. He saw the Bandicoot powered hero and sadly nodded.

"You were hoping back there, now we need to use your actual power." Catboy grabbed lashed his tail to tell the Petit Masks to follow him and headed for the forest of Pine Trees. He entered, and with hesitation, the little ones followed him. Catboy had good eyesight on the forest due to his cat powers, but he also noticed that Black Ear and Cotton were following him more comfortable than before. Black Ear looked around curiously, watching every twig, branch, tree, and leaf that she could spot, Cotton did the same but walked avoiding twigs and rocks on the ground without seeing the path, not even once. Crash, on the other hand, had a terrible time avoiding everything, but he moved his ears each time something ahead creaked or moved.

Though he noticed the abilities of Black Ear and Crash, he was more interested in Cotton's, she didn't find any of her powers yet but was amazingly walking and avoiding everything without taking even a single look. Senses, maybe? His attention was drifted when his cat ears heard a huge roaring sound ahead, he wasn't the only one to hear it as Crash looked the same way he did. Did it sound like... water? Was there a river near?

"What is that sound?" Crash asked stranged.

Cotton and Black Ear looked confused. "What sound?" Both asked in unison.

Catboy looked ahead, and without looking at them, said. "I can hear it too, follow me, but be careful." He warned. Cautiously, he entered more into the forest, hearing the sound being louder with each step. At some point the line of pine trees ended and ahead the moonlight could be seen, but the roaring sound was from there, Catboy advanced and when he stepped into the moonlight, on an act of instinct he stopped the Petit Masks just a few steps away from the forest and the sound.

"What?" Cotton asked.

"It's a ravine. A deep ravine." Catboy said with a small feeling of fear. "Down the ravine, there's a river, one wrong step in here and we are all doomed." He looked back at them. "I don't want any of you here, it's really dangerous, and I mean it. I'll mark the trees later to let you know where is it and where you should stop." He slightly pushed them into the forest again. "Let's go, let's keep training."

Catboy kept walking with them in the forest until he saw a patch of moonlight moonlit a small clearing ahead. The roaring sound couldn't be heard anymore and Catboy decided it was a good place for training. He looked at Cotton. "Come." Cotton smiled and hoped happily to him. He looked at Crash and Black Ear. "We are gonna play Hide-n-Seek."

"What's Hide-n-Seek?" Black Ear asked curiously. Crash spun around to look at her with gleamy eyes.

"It's a game where someone hides and the other counts to ten when you are done the counting, you have to look for the other person! I love this game!" He exclaimed.

Catboy smiled and nodded. "Exactly, but this time, we are adding your powers. I'll hide up in the trees, and Crash will have to find me." He pointed at Cotton. "Cotton will hide within the trees, not so far ahead," He warned. "-and Black Ear, you'll need to find her."

"But it's really dark in there, plus it's full of creepy sounds..." Black Ear said.

"I think I have a solution." Catboy smiled and looked at Black Ear. "Can you try saying Super Caracal Eyes?"

Black Ear nodded slowly. "Super Caracal Eyes!" When nothing happened, Catboy put his hand on his chin and then said:

"Try with Sight instead of Eyes."

Black Ear nodded and tried again. "Super Caracal Sight!" This time it worked, as her eyes started glowing yellow, just like Owlette using her Owl Eyes. Black Ear smiled and squeaked happily, she was looking all around, admiring every bit of the dark part of the forest. "It's like seeing in the daylight, but better!"

"Good, now that you can see," Crash spun around and looked at Catboy with huge puppy eyes. "Can we staaart?" He pleaded with a huge white teeth smile. Catboy chuckled and nodded, Crash smiled and jumped around happily. "Come on! Get on the tree!" Catboy looked warmly at Crash, where did all that confidence come from? He seems to love this game. Catboy's stripes glowed neon blue and using his Super Cat Leap, he leaped onto a thick branch and hide between the leaves. What he didn't tell Crash is that he was gonna move around the trees. He saw Cotton running inside the forest, luckily to the opposite side of the ravine, and hide inside a hollow tree; she poked her head through a hole and went inside again as Crash and Black Ear started counting.

When Cotton looked once more outside the tree, Connor motioned his fingers and mouthed move to her. She nodded and hid again. Catboy paid attention just in time to hear the other two end counting, Black Ear ran into the forest and Crash started looking up for any signs of him. Catboy used the leaves and the shadows to move around, watching Crash looking out for him with a concentrated expression. At some point, a branch cracked and Crash looked instantly into his direction, making Catboy stood still, not moving a single muscle. But a leave falling down gave away his cover and the orange-eyed boy ran up to the tree he was on.

Catboy stood there, he wanted to see what the boy could do. Crash looked doubtful for a few minutes before standing like Catboy taught him an hour ago and jumped high in the air, using his claws to get a grip on the first branch. Catboy felt proud that they were learning fast, and decided it was time to move as Crash climbed up, almost to his branch, but it was too late as the little boy spotted him. "I found you!" He exclaimed.

"But you gotta catch me. Super Cat Jump!" Said Catboy before leaping to a branch in the next tree. When Crash got into the thick branch Catboy was formerly on, he looked with fear at the ground and then back at Catboy.

"I'm never gonna make that jump..." He said disappointedly.

Catboy didn't move. "There's only one way for you to made that jump."

Crash looked down once more. "B-But I'm gonna fall! I'm not as good as you!"

"I'll be here waiting for you, if something happens I'll rush to help you." Catboy sat in the branch and positioned his tail around his legs, waiting for Crash calmly. I know he can make it, I know he will. He was about to give up and teach Crash how to jump when someone landed beside him, he reacted instantly and grabbed Crash by his scruff before he fell off the branch. "Well done! I knew you could make it!"

"But I failed, you had to catch me before I fell off the branch..."

Catboy lowered his head beside him, quietly he said. "You learn from failures, not from being perfect at the first try." With an amused gleam in his eyes, he said. "My first time was me getting myself stuck in a trashcan, banana peels in your ears aren't a nice feeling." They both laughed and Catboy said. "Let's keep trying." Crash nodded and Catboy jumped into the next branch.

"Found you!" He heard Black Ear said and watched her chase Cotton in around the clearing on the side of the forest. He sighed, he felt calm and happy, most of all proud of them, he knew they were gonna be the finest of heroes if they continued like this.

It's been two hours since they started training in the forest and him, as well as the kids, were really tired. They were entering HQ now, going inside Crash's Room and then heading into the Elevators Room. He waited for the kids to go up first before he went there himself. He felt his costume full of dirt and pine needles, which was making him back itch a lot and thought of taking a warm bath, the kids were in no better condition than him. He sighed. Is there even a bath in here? They surely need a good bath. He smiled to himself. I do too, idiot.

They all went back to their alter-ego selves by touching the symbols on their costumes and head into the main room. Connor stretched and tried to reach the itchy spot on his back, only to grunt when he couldn't. The Picture Player of the HQ activated and he tapped a few buttons, which opened two doors behind the rocks of Unità's Room. Before saying anything, he saw that three of the buttons didn't have anything on them. There are no vehicles in here, maybe these buttons will eventually update when they'll get them.

"Kids, it's time for a bath." He said. They all protested tiredly but none did anything to avoid it, they were really tired. Catboy went inside the first room, where white shirts, shorts and other kinds of clothes and shoes were aligned perfectly. There were many different sizes, and they all varied on colors. He picked different pajamas and underwear for the kids and grabbed towels, and leaving the room -or closet- he approached them.

"Who will go first?" Hope and Unità signaled Vita and she pouted with a frown. When he helped her stand up, she followed him into the bathroom, where a bathtub was already full of warm water with bubbles. "Okay, I'll wait for you outside and when you are already on the water, you call me." She nodded and he left, closing the door and standing next to it, waiting for her. When he heard her call his name, he entered and grabbed a plastic cup from under the sink and a strawberry-scented shampoo.

Her eyes were closing slowly and Connor knew she was really tired, she had helped him to help her friends train but didn't discover any of her powers yet. That reminded Connor to seek for Lightning Fur's help when he sleeps. He sighed and washing her hair, he thought. It's gonna be a long time before I'm back home.

One hour later, Connor found himself drying Hope's hair with a pastel orange towel while his own hair was dripping wet. The boy was sitting quietly in front of him and yawned every now and then. "Did you had fun tonight?" Connor asked quietly, watching the other two girls already sleeping in Unità's bed.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I played Hide-n-Seek. Last time I played it, it was with-" He stopped there, not allowing himself to say more. Connor heard him sigh and stopped drying his hair.

"With who, Hope?"

Hope stood silent for a few moments before answering. "W-With Big Brother." The quiet of the room gave a relaxing ambient, the clock on the wall revealed it was 4:30 AM. He concentred on Hope when he sighed sadly. "I miss him, and my parents too..."

Connor didn't feel like asking, but he needed to know what happened that the little ginger-haired boy ended up in the streets without any family but the two girls that were snoring quietly not so far away from them. "Hope, what happened to them?"

This time Hope took more time to answer the question, and while Connor waited, he ended drying the boy's hair. He stood up and went to another bed near Unità's, and unsheeted it. Hope climbed on it and Connor followed shortly after grabbing another towel to dry his own hair. "Someone took them away, some bad guys took them away." He looked down, avoiding Connor's gaze, softly, he added. "A-And they sent my brother to the City of Stars in front of me."

At that last statement, Connor froze in place. Someone killed his brother in front of him? No wonder he is afraid of everything. Connor wasn't expecting to hear such a thing from a 6-year-old kid, but he didn't know what he was expecting either. A sudden wrath feeling boiled inside him, how could be people so heartless to harm kids? 6-year-old kids. "How did you managed to escape the bad guys?"

Hope sobbed slightly. "Big Brother told me to hide and keep quiet." Sob. "A-After that I t-tried following my parents, b-but I lost them as soon as I entered this place. Unità and Vita found me a week later..." Connor at this point stopped drying his hair, and instead, he hugged Hope and embraced him. "I'm afraid they will find them, what would I do without my sisters?"

"I'll keep you three safe, from anything, that's why I'm here." He said, his voice echoing around the room.

Hope hugged him strongly and they both kept like that until they fell asleep together.

Gekko was out of breath, he was wet but he didn't know why. The crack of the leaves around him was fast as if something was stalking him in the darkest corners. He could hear the rumbling sound of rushing water, which seemed to have wood on it as it broke against hard stuff that Gekko could guess were rocks. A swift movement on the corner of his eye caught his attention and rapidly spun around to look for it, but it wasn't there anymore.

"W-Who's there?" Gekko asked sounding as if he was crying and took a defensive position. "I-I'm not afraid to fight you!"

Now the sound came from behind him and he thought he saw a long thin tail go into the shadows. Whatever it was, had a tail and it was small, Gekko figured that out when he saw the figure move behind a rock. Now another sound shifted above him and brown and white feathers started to fall down from the branches of the trees, but Gekko couldn't figure out from what kind of birds they belonged to.

Another plump figure moved on the shadows into a hollow tree and Gekko could feel it watching him from the inside. The leaves under his feet started to crack with an icing sound and the temperature suddenly dropped, making Gekko hug his arms in coldness. It started snowing and Gekko heard the water from before turn to ice. Then with a huge noise crash! The whole ground disappeared and he started falling, he yelped when he hit the water edge hard. He tried to swim up but found that ice was preventing him to do so. Swift and enchanting voices echoed around and Gekko felt nothing but fear, they didn't have anything good within them.

Beware Lizard, water may be your friend, but not Blue's!

Blue? Who is Blue?

The storm will bring nothing but blood!

"Storm?! Blood?!" Gekko asked freaked out.

Out of the darker depths of the water, lots and lots of shiny damaged and creepy looking animal figures suddenly overwhelmed him, looking angry. In unison, they yelled at him with a distorted voice.

"THE LIZARD WILL CHANGE THE CURRENT OF THE WATER AND WILL MAKE THE RIVER RUN RED."

GASP.

Greg opened his eyes to see a worried Riley over him and his hands were on his shoulders. "Are you okay?" He asked Greg worriedly. Greg was still shocked by the nightmare he just had and had trouble answering, so he only nodded. "Are you sure? You were whispering about blood and rivers and shit like that." He obviously wasn't convinced.

"I-It was just a nightmare... I'm fine." Greg looked out of the window and read a sign that said 'Welcome to Milennia Town!', he sighed. I hope we find him soon.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, didn't mean to. I want to also say that I updated the prologue and the first chapter because I changed the names of the animal totems, it was too confusing to write with. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.