Previously on The Legend of Fans -

After a talk with the strange old man, more riddles and information is discovered. Thus far only two of the seven characters have been found and it seems time is slowly running out with the old man's ominous warnings about a hole in the veil that appears to be getting larger. Even Liz seems able to sense the impending doom. Will they be able to find the others and control their abilities before it's too late?

Ep. 5 Evolution part 1 –

Roy and I were considered 'old school gamers', meaning we liked to play games on Windows95 and Nintendo64. The newer games, in our opinion, consisted mostly of first person shooters and lacked the true challenge. With the few challenging games that there were, there was only so many times you could beat Prince of Persia before getting bored with the story line. We were sitting in Roy's living room playing Pokémon Stadium 2 on the Nintendo64, and I somehow had managed to beat him at almost every match despite the B button was sticky and frustrating to work with. Eventually, he threw his controller down and stormed off to the kitchen to make a peanut butter sandwich. I paused the game then followed him.

"So," he said his voice forcibly calm, "I've noticed you're hanging out with Sebastian a lot more. Thought for sure you guys were enemies or something?"

I shrug casually, "Um... he's not so bad once you get used to him."

Roy gives me a look to say he knows I am lying. Unfortunately, I am a terrible liar and very good at telling the truth. It would be really hard to get out of this one...

"Ok, so he's a jerk," I huff, "but he goes to the same after school club as me..."

Roy raises an eyebrow, "What kind of club is it? Is it one I could join?"

"Yeah, I'd just have to get more information is all."

As far as I could tell, he was still not buying what I was saying. He shoved his sandwich into his mouth, which told me that he was going to be patient and let me prove what I said. While we continued to hang out, my thoughts were racing. I had to come up with something that was believable to both my parents and friends or I risked leaking the big secret. Then Sebastian would crush my spine in with War's big foot... I shudder at the thought. I let Roy take a break from Pokémon Stadium and watched him play some Fallout 3. Even though I didn't like to play Fallout 3, I didn't mind watching other people play. Watching Roy's character wander around the abandoned, apocalyptic landscape gave me an idea.

I knew there was an abandoned strip mall and shopping area not far out of town. The bus doesn't go there anymore and the police cars had stopped patrolling around there. It would be a good walk to get there, but also a risk. I didn't know if there were homeless people or squatters living in the empty buildings or what else I'd find out there. I took the chance, however, and decided to scout the place during the weekend.

Surprisingly, most of the doors were still locked as if their previous owners had planned on returning. Walking around, I had managed to find a few doors hanging open and cautiously explored inside the buildings. Oddly a gym and a gymnastics school happened to be side by side and still had some equipment inside. Most of the electronics had been removed by looters. I could tell because the wires that once secured the TVs and treadmills in place where messily cut away. I found a couple dummies used for boxing practice and lifted them upright to study them. Bit water damage but still mostly in one piece. Somehow, my gut feeling told me this place was it. If I had Sebastian smash a hole in the wall between the two stores, this place could be our training quarters and hideout. The best part was nobody ever comes here anymore and it was far enough away to where people would assume any loud noises could simply be construction. Before I left, I blocked up three of the doors and left one of them slightly blocked so it looked inaccessible, but someone skinny as I was would be able to find the entrance.

I was headed back towards town when a loud noise makes me jump. Out of nowhere, two shadowy shapes jump at me. I recognize them as the heartless the old man had mentioned; only they were bigger then when I first encountered one. I changed on instinct, the heartless's claws bounced against my light armor as I bashed them with my shield. I noticed I was getting better at controlling myself as I had upgraded from a simple wooden sword to a steel one accompanied with a wooden shield. I fight them off and they melt into the ground. Before I return to normal, I study my new equipment, deciding that it was best I didn't tell anyone. Even Sebastian, out of fear of being crushed...

It is a Sunday afternoon when I lead Roy out to the "hideout". I had spent a good portion of Saturday and part of Sunday to clean up the area. I had tried to get Sebastian to help me, but he made some lame excuse not to. So I had to find some other way to join the two stores and used what heavy rocks I could toss into it before it opened up enough to peel the wall apart. I also found some materials to put armor on the boxing dummies and cleaned up debris and garbage.

"So..." Roy says a bit bewildered at the ugly sight.

I shrug, "This is our little club."

"You've got to be kidding me..."

He seemed more in disbelief than ever before. I sigh, figuring that if I couldn't tell anyone else I could probably tell Roy. I explain, to the best of my ability, about the things that have been going on the last few weeks.

"In a sense, you were right," I finished, "Our skills are actually needed in this world."

He blinks quietly for a few minutes, "You're taking this way too literally. You've gone nuts."

"I am not joking this is serious. Just listen." I demand.

"I am out of here..." he huffs as he turns around and bumps into Sebastian.

He freezes as Sebastian snorts angrily, "What do you think you're doing Liz? Thought you would keep all this a secret."

I roll my eyes, "I had to tell someone. I hate lying...I just can't lie. Besides he's one of my best friends and I didn't think you would actually show up."

Sebastian tries to control his anger, "So...what...you think he will keep this secret?"

I look at Roy as he swallows, "Well...I'll keep this weird joke secret..."

"It's not a joke," Sebastian roars, changing uncontrollably once again and growling as his armored fist balls up.

Roy backs up as Sebastian prepares to swing his deadly punch.