Chapter 5

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Even Serah fell partially silent as we both watched the massive building crumble and seem to collapse under its own weight. The top of the building seemed to break away, starting to fall separately on its own, and at that moment I heard something that would have been almost comical if it wasn't for the situation we were in.

(Oh crap oh crap oh-not this way!)

It was Ithiell, and I heard a sharp yelp from him as the rest of the building finally hit the ground, hearing the horrendous crash and seeing a dust cloud rising from the ground.

The footsteps outside the door suddenly took off, and I didn't dare move until I knew for sure that they were gone, putting Serah down and hearing her cry out again.

"Serah, I know it hurt, but you have to focus!"

(O-o-o-o-kay) Came her shaky response, and slowly I saw the changes begin, a million things running through my mind as I watched her shift.

Ithiell, was he okay? What the heck had happened out there?!

I felt myself start to panic a little as Serah finally completed her shift, looking scared and shaky.

And what I was going to suggest wouldn't make her feel any better.

"Thanks Ja-" She stopped when I grabbed her shoulders, probably a little too roughly, looking straight into her eyes.

"Ser, I think Ithiell is in trouble. Whatever just happened... I need to find him"

"You? But I'm-"

"Serah, I need you to stay here. There is no sense in both of us going"

"But Ithiell needs us!"

"Serah, if you get hurt again..." I trailed off, seeing tears start to well in her eyes, but I knew she understood.

"Okay, so what's the smallest shift you can do?"

"Uh, my mom taught me-"

At that moment my communicator flashed again, and I tapped it, seeing Donnie's face again on the screen, this time seeing Rtaia behind him.

"Jade, Ithiell's device just went haywire! I think-"

"Yeah, I heard him cry out. Don't worry, I got this"

I saw him frown a little, then Rtaia stepped forward.

"Jade, will you need assist-"

"No, no one else comes out. I already have Serah out here to worry about. I don't want anyone else"

Rtaia didn't look happy, but then I added "If I need help, I'll call. I promise"

"You'd better" Donnie's eyes narrowed a little, before a look of sadness and worry crossed his face.

"Take care Jade"

I tried to smile a little at him "I will. See you soon my love"

With that, I cut communication, looking up at a now worried Serah.

"You, shift into the smallest thing you can, and hide"

With that, I shifted back into an owl, taking off through the shattered window.

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(Ithiell!) I called again, and again there was no answer as I floated above the ruined buildings. Yes, plural. The very top of the first building that fell had crashed hard into the one next to it, a large section of the other building was knocked away, and I could see the small offices inside that were now exposed to the open air. It was destruction to the maximum, and I didn't even know how Ithiell had done it, or whether he had even managed to do this.

If he had done this, then... why?

I half hoped he hadn't done a Jake and completely and utterly lost it, and this was some kind of 'revenge' plan, that had gone awry.

Where are you Ithiell?

I managed to get to the second building, flaring and landing on what was left of one of the top floors, looking down at the still crumbling remains below me. I watched as controllers crawled over the wreckage, and I could have sworn I saw a glimpse of April leading them, but she disappeared out of sight before I could find out.

(Come on Ithiell) I called out again, moving away from the opening so the controllers couldn't see me, shifting into a Jinnaw and looking around what was left of the destroyed building. It was a shame I didn't have anything of his to sniff, knowing if I did, I would be able to find him alot easier.

(If you can hear me, I'm in the half destroyed building next to what I'm guessing is the one you blew up. Come find me Ithiell, please!) I tried one last time, hoping that he wasn't in that building when it fell. If he had...

I hated to think of-

"You idiots!" I heard a new voice scream from below me, and I chanced to look down, surprised to see Visser One of all people there, her gaze at what I thought was Visser Two "What the hell happened to the main labs!"

"Visser One, we-"

"No, no more excuses!" She growled "You will find it, and NOW, otherwise you will end up just like Visser Three did!"

Visser Three? Come to think of it, we hadn't heard anything from him for-

"Yes Visser One!" I saw Visser Two almost salute Visser One sarcastically, and I heard a huff, then saw her walking off.

Well, at least now I knew why the building got targeted. Ithiell must have found these...main labs...and taken the whole thing out.

But that just left more questions! What the hell were they looking for?

I started to move away from the edge, half running towards what I hoped was a stairwell, keeping myself on high alert as I moved through this building.

I started to awkwardly head down the stairs, instead just oping to jump, landing with a small thud.

"I heard somethin"

Oh crap.

"Where?"

"This way"

I stood stock still, seeing lights at the end of the hallway I was now in, open doors everywhere but none I could get to quickly. Instead, I tried to flatten myself a little against the wall next to me, hoping my dark fur would help keep me unseen in the shadows.

To my surprise, the lights moved over me, then into a room at the other end of the hall, and from what I could see there were at least five of them, two being Hork Bajir. I breathed a small sigh of relief, hearing them crashing around in some big office, slowly starting to creep towards the door they had gone into.

"This way!" Suddenly one of them yelled, and I jumped a little, freezing in my spot as I watched the group thunder out of that office, and into the one opposite from them. Part of me wondered if they were blind... I was so-

"There!" A shot was fired, and a yell, and suddenly the room lit up with shots and screams.

I dove into the room, going for the closest controller, taking him down in one quick movement, breaking his neck with a jerk of my strong jaw. A Hork-Bajir controller turned to look at me as I grabbed his arm with my teeth, worrying it like a dog with a bone, finally feeling him throw me off and hitting the floor hard.

Before he could bring his weapon around I was up again, coiling my legs and leaping with all the strength I had, straight onto him. I latched my teeth around his throat, feeling him cut my flank with one of his blades as he stumbled back, eventually collapsing with me still on him.

I let out a deep growl as he cut again, but I was determined to hold on, clamping my jaw as tight as I could around his throat. Finally, he started to weaken, and his arms dropped.

I finished him of, then turning to the last three, and between them...

Well, Ithiell was in a kind of tug of war with the other Hork-Bajir, and I could see him start to loose. He whacked a human controller off with his tail, but the other one was aiming to shoot the Dracon beam she had-

(ITHIELL!) I yelled, pouncing on the controller and knocking the gun off her. Her mouth started to open in a warning, but before anything came out I hit her head hard, surprised when I heard a snap, and she dropped, thudding to the floor. Her head was now at a weird angle to her body...

"A little-ah!" Ithiell was knocked to the floor finally by the Hork-Bajir, and I spun, heading straight for the him, leaping onto his back and digging my claws in. He screamed incoherently, throwing himself backwards.

(Oomph!) My back hit the wall, almost letting go but instinctively digging my claws in deeper, hearing my opponent scream again, my back once again being slammed into the wall.

I heard a shot ring out, hoping the other controller hadn't gotten the upper hand on Ithiell.

I got slammed into the wall again, unconsciously letting go and seeing the big guy turn on me.

But I was on him, claws in and scratching and biting until he hit the floor, lifeless.

I turned to see Ithiell, a gun aimed at the last controller, seeing a large hole burnt straight through his middle, his body lifeless. Ithiell himself seemed to have collapsed onto the floor, almost sitting against the other wall of the office, his breathing coming out heavy.

(Ithiell!) I dove over to him, skidding to a stop in front of him and seeing he was in worse shape than I thought. There were cuts and bruises everywhere, and I shifted back to see what I could do, seeing the side of his head was also bleeding a little.

"Thanks...Jade" He took a deep breath as he dropped the weapon, and I took my jacket off to rip at it, making small strips of cloth I could use.

"What the hell happened to you?" I snapped a little without meaning to, starting to wrap his wounds as he sighed a little.

"The Yeerks" He tried to joke, but I glared at him, watching as he closed his eyes and leaned back, letting me take care of him. I knew none of this would matter as we would need to shift to get out of here, but right now it was giving us an excuse to rest for the moment.

"Ithiell, I saw that building go down..." I trailed off, hoping he would fill in the blanks for me, and not be such a smartass little alien.

"Yeah, well I was doing recon, and just happened to follow a controller to this building, which I actually found to be a massive set of labs. I'm not sure what they were experimenting on, but from the sounds of it, whatever they had was big"

"Big how?"

"Like... they had a large cage in the middle of the building kind of big"

"Uh... "

"I know"

"Ithiell, I saw... they're looking for something out there. And... they're pretty desperate"

"Hmm" His eyes met mine, both of us sharing the same thought.

"Okay, so... how did you blow an entire building without any equipment?"

That's when he tried to smile, instead it looking more like a grimace, which worried me.

"Well, it was easy... considering this place was already rigged to be blown up"

"Wait...what?"

"Yeah, it confused me too. But hey, who am I to argue with good luck?"

"Why... was it to stop the creature from escaping? If that's the case..."

"Why wouldn't they have done it already?"

Then it hit me.

"Visser One. She was... I saw her. She must have been in that building when that creature got loose. And... well, no one's going to blow up something while she's inside..."

"Since she has this uncanny ability to survive anything?" Ithiell supplied, half smirking and shaking his head a little.

"Yeah, that too" I wiped the sweat from my forehead, looking around at the room at the dead bodies and destruction.

"I think we should get back home"

I nodded, then blushed a little "Uh, Ithiell?"

"Uh?"

"We may need to get Serah first"

"What? Serah-"His eyes narrowed at me then "So that's who I heard screaming..."

"So... you heard her too?"

He frowned, then grunted as I helped him up.

"She must not know how to focus her thought speak yet"

"Could she-"

He shook his head "No, but where is she? Is she safe? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, shes in a building not far from us. I told her to shift into something small-"

We heard a horrendous crash in the hallway then, and I half sat Ithiell on the desk, starting to shift-

(Uh, hey guys? Anyone home?)

I think we both let out a small sigh as I completed my shift, finally able to answer Marco.

(We're down the hall, on the right)

(Okay, good) I saw him lumber into the room, taking a look around, then seeing Ithiell.

(Wow, you okay Ithiell?) He asked, and Ithiell made a small sound.

(How did you know we were here?)

(Easy. Followed the big boom and the building going splat)

(Oh. Have you seen Rachel?)

He nodded his big gorilla head (Sure have. She found Serah, and they're both heading home)

I sighed a little, feeling weariness set in as I turned to Ithiell. He had a look of determination on his face.

"Let's get home. I think we have alot to talk about"

(You got that right) I muttered, not knowing what the others would think about the news I had to give them.

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Sorry this chapter wasn't that long guys, either way, I hope you liked it anyway! :D

Please let me know!