Resolve
The morning sun slowly rose over the horizon, the past few hours had taken their toll on Chazz all things considered with the assault and kidnapping he'd been put through. And to make matters worse, it was at the behest of his elder brothers. Would be that they hadn't put him through enough already.
Slowly returning to the land of the living, Chazz's eyes cracked open slightly, his eyelids still drooping heavily as he found himself lying on his side in what looked through his tired eyes like the inside of a helicopter. Moaning quietly as he tried to shift his position, Chazz quickly rediscovered that his arms were fastened to his sides with thick and tight ropes and his wrists were tied tightly behind his back, constricting his movement. Blinking rapidly, Chazz began to recall what had happened to him earlier that night, the flash images of his assault and kidnapping speeding through his mind and swirling around his slowly unblurring vision.
"Morning, kid."
A disembodied voice boomed in his ears, despite coming from somewhere around the helicopter. Glancing around as best he could, Chazz could see the outline of an average sized man diagonally across from him on the other side of the copter, seemingly keeping an eye on him while the other man and the woman piloted the craft. The man chuckled to himself as a slight smirk crawled across his smug face.
"Sleep well?"
If he had any mobility at all, Chazz would've had a right mind to walk over and punch the man for even joking about that after jamming the syringe into his shoulder, which in fact, was feeling quite sensitive and sore where it had pierced his pale, silky skin. Which unfortunately was the shoulder he had to use to support his sideways body and keep himself from tumbling right off of the seats he had been laid across. But unfortunately his ankles were still tied together, preventing him from walking. And even if he could walk he still couldn't do anything with his arms bound tightly behind his back. And if they weren't, the first thing he would do would be to rip the gag out of his mouth, as he had discovered how dry and gross it felt after being gagged for most likely several hours by then. Not to mention just being uncomfortable.
"Of course, can't exactly answer me, can you?" The man chuckled. Walking over to the bound boy, he kneeled down in front of him, looking him directly in the eyes. Wrapping his slender hand around Chazz's face, he held him in place so that he couldn't look away as the man spoke to him. "No worries. I think I already know the answer. But y'see, had to be done. See, we're being paid a very large sum of cash to deliver you to those brothers of yours. A sum we don't plan on passing up, if you catch my drift."
Shooting daggers at the man with his eyes, Chazz squirmed and struggled, muttering curses at him as best he could with his lack of the ability to properly use his mouth.
"What do they even want with me?" Chazz thought as the man laughed quietly to himself at his futile and pitiful attempt to fight back. "Just to torture, me no doubt. They weren't exactly happy when I lost to Jaden back then... to be honest, I wouldn't even put it passed them at this point…"
"We're getting ready to land."
Chazz and the man looked up to see the woman in the doorway connecting the cockpit with the rest of the copter, leaning against the doorframe, her right leg crossed over her left she kept her arms crossed under her chest, her breasts lightly resting on top of her arms as her cold icy eyes looked upon the two in front of her.
"Soon you won't be my problem anymore, kid. I'm sure those brothers of yours have something big planned for you if they went to all this trouble. Now you had better behave. I want the exchange to go smoothly."
"Oh don't you worry, boss." The smaller man saluted, giving her a cheeky grin. "Even if he wanted to, kid couldn't fight us if he tried."
"Good." She nodded, looking back into the cockpit as the copter's altitude began to drop, giving Chazz the impression that they had arrived at their destination. "Once we get our cash, then we hand him over. Got it? I don't want to take any chances. I don't exactly trust those two. Don't particularly like them, either."
"Sure, sure." the man nodded, grabbing Chazz by his shoulders and pulling him into a sitting position, sliding his legs off of the row of seats and situating his feet back onto the floor. "Now don't try going anywhere while we adults talk." he chuckled, poking fun at the fact that even if Chazz wanted to move, his ankles had been left tied together so he wouldn't be able to walk at all.
Glaring back at the man, Chazz picked up his feet and rammed them into the man's left leg, causing him to stumble and nearly fall, catching himself before he fell completely.
"Dammit!" The man shouted, glaring back at Chazz who was still shooting a glare of his own, clenching his fists. He was tempted to beat the kid himself, but they had given their word they would leave Chazz unharmed, and breaking that would make their clients very unhappy. "You little brat!"
"Don't you lay a finger on him!" The woman scolded as she watched him pull his fist back to hit Chazz, who had turned his head away from the man, bracing himself for the impact that never came. "I won't have you ruining this job for us at the last minute, do you hear me!?" walking over to the man she grabbed his arm, squeezing her hand around his wrist as her icy eyes narrowed and hardened. "If you harm him we don't get the money, so knock it off!"
"Miss." The bigger man's deep bellowing voice boomed through the chopper as he came to join the others in the main center, his eyes serious and almost subdued as the door to the chopper slowly opened. "They're here."
"Good." She said, releasing the smaller man as she walked over to the opened door to greet their employers. "Long time no see, boys. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Dispense with the pleasantries, you know what we're here for. After all, we hired you to bring him to us."
Chazz's heart stopped as the sound of Slade's voice cut through him like a knife through a fog. Panic entered his very soul, the anticipation of actually seeing his brothers terrifying him. His heart began to pound and his breath began to hasten slightly, making breathing even more difficult through the tightly secured thick gag in his mouth than it already was. Struggling against the tight ropes binding him, his panic was beginning to get the better of him.
"Very well, you can have him." She said, gesturing back to Chazz before crossing her arms again. "But. You pay us first."
"You have no right to make demands of us!" Jagger shouted, perturbed that she had the nerve to do such a thing.
"Well then, I guess I could just keep your precious little Chazzy." She shrugged. Turning away from the two brothers, she gestured to her goons, who in turn turned back to Chazz, closing in on him as he continued to panic. "If you want him, you'll pay us. Then and only then, will we hand him over."
"Very well, miss." Slade growled, motioning for Jagger to hand over the case he carried filled with their payment. "Your pay, as promised. Assuming that Chazz is unharmed?"
"He's fine." She answered plainly, snatching the case from Jagger and smirking quickly before moving aside, no longer blocking their path. "He's all yours. Do whatever you want with him, I couldn't care less."
Slade nodded, walking with Jagger inside of the copter. As soon as they entered his field of vision, Chazz's eyes widened more than they ever had before in his life. It had been more than a year since he'd really seen them, even coming home for school intercessions, they'd all kept their distance from one another, the two barely paying any mind to their little brother. The sight of Slade's confidently smirking face as he laid his own eyes on the boy struck terror into Chazz's very soul, resurfacing memories he'd rather have forgotten long ago. Memories of the beatings he sustained over his short years, the pain he had grown accustomed to, his brother's hands on his body bruising and scarring his pale flesh, even drawing blood to cause the scars to mar and obscure his previously flawless skin. All the nights he spent with his family's private doctor, all in an attempt to ensure that nobody would know that the elder Princeton's were virtually mutilating the youngest, both physically and mentally, powerless to do anything about it.
"Long time no see, little brother." Slade chuckled, taking long and elegant strides closer to the youngest brother, placing his strong, firm hand on Chazz's trembling body, wrapping his hand around the boy's shoulder in a slight squeeze as his and Jagger's expressions darkened and Chazz looked on at them in fear.
"Welcome home."
"Hey Jay, wait for me!" Syrus called after the taller brunette racing down the pathway back to the Slifer dorm in quite a hurry. The sun would have been high in the sky by now if the clouds hadn't won the day's battle for control over the afternoon sky. Jaden raced down the path, his mind stuck in one direction.
Worry.
"Nobody's seen Chazz since yesterday, and Winged Kuriboh's got a bad feeling!" Jaden called back to his tiny friend, keeping up his quick pace without even a hint of slowing. "Anything could have happened! Someone's gotta make sure he's okay!"
"I know, I know! But will you slow down? Your legs are longer than mine!" Syrus cried, struggling to keep up with his vastly quicker best friend.
The group hadn't seen Chazz around the school that entire day. He hadn't come to breakfast, which was concerning enough, but no one had been able to find him anywhere, and he'd missed all of their classes too, which definitely wasn't normal. Of course they all tried not to jump to any conclusions, but the thought still crossed their minds that it was entirely possible that something could have happened to their friend. A fear that Atticus had called called attention to, worrying that something had happened to him in the time since they'd seen him last. Alexis had suggested that someone go to check on him to make sure he was alright, and Jaden quickly obliged to the suggestion, tearing off from the rest of the group and hurrying back to the dorm, closely followed by Syrus as well.
Slowing his pace slightly so he wouldn't lose his best friend, the two headed towards the dorm. Making great time, the two boys reached the Slifer dorm in a matter of minutes, taking a moment to catch their breath, Jaden and Syrus headed up to Chazz's door. Knocking calmly, Syrus waited for a moment to see if there was a response before trying again.
"Chazz...?" The little boy called quietly, listening for any indication that he was in there at all. "You there…? Everybody's worried about you. Are you okay…?"
"He's not answering, Sy." Jaden observed, pointing out the obvious like he sometimes was accustomed to doing. "Let's just go in."
Pushing gently in front of the small boy, Jaden grabbed the door handle, turning it before slowly creeping it open. Peeking inside, Jaden felt like he was in a scene that was all too familiar. The room was dark, the only light coming from the windows and the cracked open door. Tensing for a moment at the memory of what happened before with Chazz, Jaden quickly shook his head, effectively shaking away the memory.
"Jaden…?" Syrus asked, cocking his head slightly as he gave a concerned look to his best friend.
"I'm fine, Sy." Jaden reassured, opening the door the rest of the way before stepping into the dark dorm room, reaching to the side and feeling around for the light switch as his eyes scanned the room while Syrus cautiously followed him inside.
"He's not here, Jaden." Syrus observed, scanning the dorm himself as he craned his neck to see around Jaden who was standing mostly in the way of any direction Syrus could go to go any further into the room. "Do you think he's okay…? I mean, he's not here, and no one has seen him since yesterday..."
"I'm sure he's fine, Sy." Jaden assured, shaking his head in a dismissive manner, not a fan of what Syrus was implying. "He's probably off hiding somewhere trying to get some privacy."
"I don't know…" Syrus worried, taking another glance around the empty room, his eyes locking on one particular detail. "Look, Jaden!" grabbing the brunette's attention, the little boy pointed over to the desk adjacent to the rather large bed. "His deck and his duel disk are gone! Doesn't he always leave them on the desk?"
"That's right, he does. That is weird..." Jaden observed, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to think of an explanation, but nothing good came to mind. "Maybe we should go look for him…"
The brunette turned quickly on his heels, bringing his hands down on the slender shoulders of the small boy now in front of him, looking him square in his large gray eyes.
"You go on and find the others, I'll start looking around here. Okay?"
"Sure thing, Jay." Syrus nodded, releasing himself from Jaden's gentle hold before hurrying back to find the rest of the group.
Jaden watched for a moment as the tiny and ever faithful boy hurried as fast as he could down the path before looking back into the empty dorm room. The room itself was in a much better state than the one he had left it in before. There were no medications sprawled out over the floor, the bed was made and the desk chair was upright. Everything was orderly, which was a welcomed change all things considered. But the absence of Chazz was already concerning without having noticed the missing deck and duel disk. Chazz wouldn't have just gone out looking for a duel or something and just not have gone to class or have been seen by anyone at all. It just didn't make any sense. Besides, if he were dueling anyone, word would spread at the speed of light, seeing as it always did when there was a duel about.
None of the pieces added up at all...
"Where did you go, Chazz…?" Jaden thought, stepping out of the room and back onto the deck. Scanning the area around the Slifer dorm, he quickly deduced that there was no sign of Chazz in that particular area from what he could see. "Did something happen last night or something…? I mean, I guess that would explain why nobody's seen him today and all. But none of this is making any sense to me..."
Walking down from the deck, Jaden wandered around the general vicinity of the dorm, thinking about where the best place to start his search would be. Turning his eyes to the woods on the edge of the dorm's bounds, a thought entered his mind.
"You know, I wonder…?" He whispered quietly to himself, taking a few cautious steps towards the edge of the woods.
Taking in all of his surroundings, Jaden proceeded into the woods alone, keeping his eyes open for any sign of Chazz just in case for some reason he was wandering around out there. After all, he heard that when he himself was gone from the island after he left when he wasn't able to see his cards anymore and then running into the Neo Spacians, Syrus had been wandering around the woods and really the entire island depriving himself of sleep and food trying to look for him. Of course, the circumstances clearly weren't the same in this situation, but he fully realized the possibility of Chazz just randomly wandering around lost. Not that he believed it was actually true, but he had to make sure. Listening intently as the sounds of nature around him yielded no sign of Chazz or anyone else, Jaden wandered for another few minutes before happening upon a clearing. Cautiously scanning the open area, his heart stopped as his eyes locked on a fixed point on the ground.
"Oh shit..." Jaden gasped, rushing into the clearing, kneeling down beside Chazz's lone duel disk lying haphazardly on the ground. Examining the device, Jaden noticed that it looked like it had been tossed or even thrown to its current position, and Chazz's deck was missing also. Looking around quickly as his mind raced with terrible possibilities of what had happened, Jaden cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his volume as he called out into the wilderness.
"CHAZZ! YOU OUT THERE, BUDDY!? WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Increasingly worried about their friend in the silence that followed his call, Jaden began to quietly panic. What if something had really happened to him? What would he tell the others? Hell, what would they tell Sheppard?
"Jaden!"
Snapping his head up from its position in his right hand, Jaden shot his head around in every direction to try and pinpoint the location of the familiar high pitched voice. But as he turned back around to the right, his vision was suddenly shrouded in a yellow hue as the spirit of Ojama Yellow had attached himself to Jaden's face, crying a waterfall of tears. Taken aback by the sudden assault, Jaden cried out in surprise and jerked his body away from the imp before it registered in his mind that he was face to face with just a harmless spirit, and wasn't being attacked.
"Ojama Yellow…?" The brunette questioned, cocking his head slightly to the right as he questioned the little emotional spirit. "What are you doing out here by yourself? Where's Chazz…?"
"Oh, Jaden!" The imp cried, hugging the boy again, only this time not on his face. "It was terrible! They took him! They took the boss!"
"W-What!?" Jaden gasped, his eyes widening at the spirit's statement. "W-What do you mean? Who? Who took Chazz?" the brunette's mind was racing a million miles a minute by that point, just thinking about what he would tell everyone -hell- how he would tell everyone. He could hardly listen as Ojama Yellow recounted the events of the night before through his overly dramatic streams of tears, sobbing over his stolen master. But through the entire recount, one thing struck Jaden harder than anything else the spirit had relayed to him through his tears.
"The lady said that they were hired by the boss's brothers to capture him…"
"WHAT!?" Jaden practically screamed, his eyes widening as the information reached his ears. Why would his brothers hire people to kidnap him? And why now of all times? Just when they had finally learned the extent of the harm the brother had already done, now they were at the root of now two problems concerning Chazz.
Gasping again, Jaden quickly scrambled around on the ground, finding the actual Ojama Yellow card that had in fact been left behind, apparently just like Chazz had planned and hoped. Taking a quick look at the card, he determined there was no damage done to it before shoving it in his pocket, scurrying over to Chazz's duel disk and snatching it up from the grassy ground.
"Come on, follow me!" Jaden commanded before tearing off back towards the academy, closely tailed by the little duel spirit, who was now joined by Jaden's own concerned Winged Kuriboh.
"W-Where are we going?" Yellow inquired as the three tore their way quickly out of the woods and in the direction of the looming academy. All of their hearts were racing and the world felt like it was spinning around them. Winged Kuriboh's expression became concerned and his normally cheerful tone changed to one more worried than normal as he looked on at his own young master.
"To tell Chancellor Sheppard what happened to Chazz!" Jaden answered, panting as he ran as hard and fast as he could. "We'll grab Sy and have him bring everybody else there, we have to hurry!"
Quickly running as fast as he could, Jaden scanned every square inch for his nearest and dearest friend. Skidding to a stop just outside the Ra Yellow dorm as a mop of light blue hair entered his line of sight.
"Sy!" Jaden called, slapping his hand sans Chazz's duel disk down on the boy's shoulder again, crouching down so that he was more level with Syrus's eye level, panting as he caught his breath for a few moments his head dropped downwards towards the ground for a moment before he looked back up into the adorable gray eyes of his now very concerned best friend. "I need you to gather everybody in Sheppard's office, got it?"
"But Jaden, I just-" Sy inquired, turning slightly back to the academy, pointing back in that direction as well before Jaden quickly cut him off, shaking him slightly, effectively turning Syrus around back to face him.
"-I know, I know! Sorry Sy, but this is important! I know what happened to Chazz, now please hurry!" Jaden politely commanded before running off again, leaving the concerned boy behind even more worried and confused than he already had been. Feeling bad for tasking so much to his dearest companion, Jaden facepalmed himself quickly as he reached the academy.
Racing down the halls, he bypassed dozens of confused students who turned and stared as he ran. Unaware of what he was doing or what was going on at all. Continuing in his quest to reach Sheppard's office, Jaden's eyes widened as Dr. Crowler exited his own office, right into Jaden's flight path. Having noticed too late and having no time to change directions, Jaden's small teenage body collided with the much larger professor, knocking the adult aside, sending him into the wall effectively causing him to stumble down to the floor, shrouded in a cloud of now scattered papers. No doubt assignments he still needed to grade. Only having slightly lost his balance from his collision with Dr. Crowler's profile, Jaden steadied himself quickly before starting up again.
"Jaden Yuki!" Crowler shouted as he regained his own balance, glaring angrily at the young student. "What on earth are you doing!?"
"Sorry, Crowler! But I'm really in a hurry!" Jaden called back to his furious teacher, really feeling bad about what just happened, but he had bigger problems to worry about at the moment seeing as Chazz had apparently been kidnapped last night and all. Something that at the moment, only he knew. Taking another two minutes of running, Jaden reached Chancellor Sheppard's office, not even stopping to catch his breath first he practically ripped the door open and took a giant stride inside.
"Chancellor Sheppard!" Jaden shouted, finally taking a second to catch his breath as he panted and wheezed just inside the office doorway.
"Jaden?" Sheppard questioned, his calm, melodious voice taken over by an air of surprise at the boy's completely unexpected invasion. "You seem out of sorts? Is there something I can do for you?"
"Sheppard, it's Chazz!" Jaden declared, his eyes wide with worry as he recounted to himself what Ojama Yellow had told him. "He's been kidnapped! Last night! Apparently his brothers hired some thugs to snatch him right off the island!"
"Oh my…!" Sheppard exclaimed, leaning back in his chair as he placed his thumb and pointer finger in a thinking manner under his chin, letting his eyes close lightly, he processed what Jaden had told him. "That certainly is cause for concern…" looking back up at the worried brunette, he just had to ask. "And just how do you know that this happened, Jaden? Certainly you came by this information somehow?"
"He told me." Jaden answered plainly, taking the Ojama Yellow card from his pocket and brandishing it before the esteemed Chancellor, his eyes changing from worried to serious in a matter of seconds. To any normal person that would've been the most daft thing anyone could ever say. But Sheppard wasn't any ordinary man. He was much wiser in the ways of duel monsters and spirits and pretty much everything having to do with them than most thought he was. He understood fully well both Jaden and Chazz's ability to communicate with the spirits of duel monsters. So he understood the credibility of Jaden's source, as the Ojama was one of Chazz's most trusted creatures. "Ojama Yellow was there. He told me everything that happened."
"I see..." Sheppard sighed, thinking to himself about what they ought to do to help the stolen youth. A moment of silence passed between the two men as Sheppard lost himself in his thoughts. It wasn't everyday a student was kidnapped from the island... kidnapped on the island maybe. But even those events seemed to be few and far between, and they didn't exactly have any sort of official protocol for something like this. As the two stood a moment longer, the silence suddenly ended.
"Jaden Yuki, what on earth is going on here!?" Crowler's voice cut through the silence as he joined the two in the office. Repeating his previous question, Crowler's eyes narrowed in anger over the former incident. "You can't just go running around the halls! Have you ever attended a school before!? And what's more, you could have damaged my person!"
"Calm down, Crowler." Sheppard calmly commanded, shaking his head at the self involved professor. "We have bigger problems right now."
"What's going on, Jaden?"
The three men turned towards the feminine voice belonging to Alexis while she and the rest of the group filed into the office, all wearing quizzical expressions on their faces. It certainly hadn't taken them long to show up, but then again, the group did have their own uncanny ability to show up just in the nick of time. Jaden sighed quietly to himself, not exactly ready to tell everyone about the fate that had befallen their friend, but it's not like he had much choice in the matter either.
"Well, Miss Rhodes." Sheppard began, taking the liberty of explaining himself. "From what Jaden just told me... it seems that Chazz was abducted from the island some time late last night."
There was an obviously audible gasp from the others, who were previously unaware of Chazz's kidnapping. And the multitude of wide eyes staring back at Jaden and the Chancellor also served as a denotation of the shock and disbelief now encircling the decently sized group.
"You mean he was kidnapped?" Syrus asked through his own shocked gasp, his already large eyes growing larger as he processed the information they had all just received.
"Unfortunately…" Jaden sighed, nodding his head in response to the small boy. "Looks like it, Sy."
"Of all the people to get kidnapped…" Bastion said quietly, thinking aloud to himself as he tried to come up with a reason that could possibly make sense. "I certainly wouldn't have expected it to be Chazz."
"Yeah," Hassleberry nodded in agreement, turning his eye to the smallest among them as a cheeky grin of his own crawled across his young face. "With all the trouble he gets into, you'd think it was Truesdale windin' up in a spot like that." Laughing to himself, Hassleberry patted his tiny friend on the back, earning a few quiet snickers from a few of the others, and an adorably childish pouty face from the boy, who was quite unamused at his friend's jab at his unlucky streak of being used to exploit his friends since he'd come to the academy.
"Guys, come on. This really isn't the time to joke around." Atticus scolded, shaking his head in disapproval of the lighthearted antics and teasing. True, it was commonplace for the students to make light of serious and even dangerous situations, but there was something about the current problem that struck a chord with Atticus enough to not approve.
"I agree." Crowler nodded, the anger in his eyes now directed at the situation at hand, and his frustration growing with the knowledge that someone had absconded with one of his dear students. "We must find who did this immediately! No one captures my students and gets away with it!"
"Oh, don't you worry, Crowler." Sheppard declared, standing up from his desk chair, walking around the desk and taking a place standing before the group of students and the good doctor with a serious look in his eyes. "It seems we already know who did this."
"Who?" Alexis asked, her curiosity however not even close to her concern at that moment. "Who did this to him…?"
"His brothers." Jaden answered plainly and flatly, lowering his head to the discarded duel disk he held in his hand.
Atticus's heart stopped when he heard the answer. He knew more about Chazz's problems and past with his brothers than anyone else did by then. The issue was far worse than they had ever thought it was, but Atticus couldn't bring himself to tell them before just what the true extent of the situation had been. Not about the extent of abuse, or about the multitude of scars he had to bear as a constant reminder of the pain that he had been forced to endure. But he couldn't figure why his brothers would have kidnapped him... From what he and the others all knew, Chazz's brothers hardly wanted anything to do with him anymore. Not since he lost to Jaden in the school duel, and defeating Slade to save the school hadn't helped Chazz much in regards to his family relations either. What reason could they possibly have had to kidnap him from the island?
None of it was making any sense.
"You serious, sarge?" Hassleberry asked, taken aback by the news. True, he hadn't been around when Chazz last saw his brothers, but from what he learned from Jaden and Atticus about his condition and the cause, it was a concerning turn of events for him as well as the others.
"I wish I wasn't, but I am." Jaden sighed. Holding the Ojama Yellow card tightly in his hand, he looked back up at his friends, holding the card out to them as he continued on. "He told me everything."
"What do you propose we do then, Jaden?" Bastion inquired, raising a thick, dignified eyebrow at the brunette in question.
"Isn't it obvious, Bastion?" Alexis intercepted, quickly turning her gaze to the resident group genius, a look of determination overpowering her face. "We have to rescue him! His brothers are terrible, horrible people. Who knows what they want him for or what they might do to him! Besides, he's our friend! We have to get him back!"
"But we don't even know where to start looking…" Syrus sighed, sadly glancing around at the others surrounding and towering over him with his small stature. "It's not like they left any clues about where they're taking him or anything. We just know that they took him, right Jay?"
"That's true…" Jaden sighed as well, nodding in agreement with Syrus's observation about the situation at hand. Sure they knew who took him, but in order to really do anything about it themselves, what they really needed wasn't the who, but the where. Even if they didn't know who took him, if they knew where he was they could still do something about it. But without the where, the search could prove difficult.
"Well, I for one, agree with Miss Rhodes." Crowler stated, taking a step forwards towards the Chancellor, his face and stance stalwart and determined as well. Despite what most people would say about the man, Dr. Crowler cared very deeply for his students. And should anyone threaten their safety, he would do all in his power to intercept them. And Chazz's brothers would be no different in that aspect. "We must locate and rescue Chazz immediately! I will not allow any harm to befall my students. And this criminal act simply can not go unpunished!"
"I agree." Sheppard nodded at the professor, turning his back to them for a moment while he considered what to do. "Chazz must be rescued as soon as possible."
Taking another moment of silence, Sheppard turned back to the students, his face more serious than it had been in a very long time.
"I will grant the six of you special permission to leave the island and conduct a search for Chazz. Needless to say, I'm sure we all agree it's safe to say he's long gone from here by now."
"Really?" Jaden asked, honestly surprised that Sheppard would allow them to do something so potentially dangerous. But of course, he did commission them to guard the seven Spirit Keys and face off against the Shadow Riders in only their first year, so he figured he shouldn't exactly be too surprised by this course of events.
"Yes, Jaden." Sheppard confirmed, turning his gaze to their beloved professor. "And of course, Dr. Crowler will be accompanying you. I can't have my students going on a mission like this without adult supervision, now can I? And the good doctor appears to be more than willing to assist in the search and rescue."
"Of course, Chancellor." Crowler nodded, his serious eyes never wavering for a single moment. "I will see to it personally that we bring Chazz back to the island safely as swiftly as possible."
"You're sure we can do this, sarge?" Hassleberry asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked over to Jaden for an answer. Of course, he figured he already knew what he was going to say, but this was a very delicate situation to be in, and they needed all the reassurance they could get.
"It doesn't matter if we can or not." Jaden answered, glancing down at Chazz's discarded belongings in his hands, his anger rose and his blood began to boil. He hated it when anyone messed with any of his friends, but from what he knew about it, the elder Princeton's were already crossing at least ten lines too many. And who knows how many more they would cross before the friends could find and rescue Chazz. "We have no choice. We have to do this. We have to rescue him."
"That's right." Atticus added swiftly, snapping himself out of his thoughts to rejoin the conversation. "Chazz needs us now. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather not leave Chazz in their demented hands any longer than we have to."
"Well said, Atticus." Bastion validated, nodding in approval of the elder student's statement. "We should leave immediately. We don't know what they could be subjecting Chazz to right now, any manner of terrible things, I'd imagine... We must hurry before any more permanent harm is caused to him. They've already done their fair share of that and then some, so it would seem..."
Jaden and Atticus nodded at that statement. The memories of their encounters with Chazz that day returning to their minds. Atticus's eyes fell downcast on the floor as he thought about all he had learned that day. About his health, the panic attacks… the abuse and his scars... things he hadn't told the rest of them. But now wasn't the time to bring it up with all of the tension and already high running emotions surrounding the group. But one thing was certain between all of them. They would find Chazz and deliver him from his brothers' grip, and the elder Princeton's would pay for what they've done to their friend. They would pay, and they would pay dearly if they had anything to say about it. And they would stop at nothing to make it happen.
