Chapter 5: "Never Again!"
It was a gorgeous day outside. As he wait for Gadget to finish the repairs to the D-controller (well, half of it, anyway), Taryn decided to bide his time with a little training. To keep in top physical, mental, and powered shape, he kept a strict training schedule, and he was overdue. Despite his injuries, he was going to train, especially since he hadn't been able to use his powers for a few days now. He had to find out what was wrong.
First was a little meditation. As a devout practitioner of multiple martial arts, Taryn is no stranger to meditation. Most lightning warriors practice meditation, but not to the extreme Taryn goes to. Usually, during any particular training session, he spends an hour or more in a deep meditative state. Nothing could break him from his trance, yet he is still fully aware of his surroundings. This kept his mind strong. Kept it strong enough to keep control over the darkness within him.
There are two kinds of lightning warriors: those of light, and those of darkness. Any warrior could choose either path they wanted, but he was different. He was born of darkness. His father was the greatest dark warrior ever, and he passed that down to his son. It made him strong, but it also passed down a fundamental weakness: a weak will. A susceptibility to influence. Susceptibility to primal impulses. If he didn't train his mind, he could easily be influenced to the side of evil. That is the reason he didn't like to kill. He feared he would continue to kill.
He thinks back to the first time he killed. It was back when his father first started to train him. It was an accident. He was training his energy shots. Working on an especially deadly maneuver called the "Dark Fury," one of his dad's signature moves. The first attempt was a dud.
"Concentrate, son." He could hear his father say. "Focus on collecting your energy. You need to focus. Concentrate."
"I'm trying, dad. But it's really hard." He was young, then. Fourteen and already working on advanced maneuvers. His father could not have been more proud. He was so proud that he invited a few guest along.
He held his hands to the air, concentrating on finding any latent energy in the air. Sparks began to appear near his hands. The power was intense, and it felt good.
"Wow, Ty, I'm jealous. You could have the next Warrior Tournament Champion on your hands, here." One of them said.
"What do you expect, he is the son of the Dark Master, you know!" Another commented.
A tough legacy to live up to. Taryn thought. But if they wanted a show, by the Power, I'll give them one! He began to concentrate harder. The sparks really began to fly, then. The guests stood there in awe, as Taryn charged up to take his shot.
"Son, relax! This is just practice! You're charging up to much energy!" His father yelled, but to no avail. Taryn brought his arms down to one side and sized up the target. "With that much power, you'll blow a hole clean through the backstop!"
But it was too late, Taryn had committed to the move. "DARK FURY!" He yelled as he extended his arms in front of him. A blast came out so big it shook the practice range to its foundations.
Suddenly, a man stepped in front of the blast. "THUNDER SHIELD!" He called up a shield, but it wasn't enough. The blast cut through it like butter. He had, however, altered the trajectory of the blast so that it would go harmlessly up into the sky. But the damage was done. The resulting shockwave of the blast breaking the shield knocked the man to the ground. After everything was over, some of the guests ran over to the man.
"It's the range attendant!" Screamed one voice.
"Quick, get help!" Another voice cried out.
"It won't help." Yet another voice said, hand on the attendant's neck. "He's dead."
Taryn just stood there. He knew he should feel bad, he just killed a man. But for some strange reason, he felt nothing. Nothing, that is, but pride. His morals butted against a raw feeling of pride for his actions. For the kill. Kill!
"Son! Are you alright?" Ty broke his son out of his little trance.
"Never!" Taryn said. "Never again, father!"
"What do you mean?"
"Never teach me energy blasts again!" Taryn screamed, tears in his eyes.
"But…" Ty approached his son.
"I can never kill again! Never again. Never again." He continued to ramble.
Taryn returns to the present. He opens his eyes to see Gadget's face mere inches from his own.
"Can I help you?" Taryn says jokingly.
"Just wanted to tell you I was done. Here you go." Gadget hands him the newly finished D-controller. The charred bits had been filed off, and were replaced by straps. There was a small battery attached to the other side, with wires leading to the digimetric capture device.
"What's with this?" He asked, pointing to the battery.
"Well, the battery that was on it was nearly drained, so I had to find a replacement. I'm sorry. I had to use your emergency power cell. It's a little crude, but it should work." She said.
"Well, let's hope so." He stood up, placing the device back on his arm.
"What were you thinking?" She asked.
"Oh, of my father." He responded. "My father and my time training with him."
"What's your father like?"
"He's a great man. Respected highly amongst our people." Taryn said. "He's a great hero in my dimension, along with my uncle."
"Golly, it must be a thrill to have such a great family."
"Well, it's not all that great. I have a reputation to live up to. It can be demanding. And sometimes, it's just too much."
"I didn't know." Gadget said, remorsefully.
"Hey, don't sweat it. I'll just do what I always do; to hell with what others think of me." He said. "Tell me about your father."
"He's a great pilot. Kind of like your dad, he's highly respected in the animal community. He helps a lot of folks around the world." She responded very proudly.
"Sounds like a great man…er…I mean, mouse. Where's he at?"
"He's out there, helping people." She said, looking to the sky. "He's been gone a couple of weeks now. I'm starting to worry."
"Hey, he'll be alright." Taryn put his arm around Gadget's shoulder. "I tell you what. If I ever get my powers back, we'll go looking for him. How's that sound?"
"You'd do that?" She looked up at him, a tear in her eye.
"Sure! You've taken care of me, it's the least I could do. Besides, I can't very well let my new little sister worry about her father, now can I?"
"Little sister?" She looked up at him, puzzled.
"Yeah. You remind me of my sister back home. Kind, sweet, intelligent, seems to read my mind sometimes. I figure, if I'm going to feel that way about you might as well make it official. So, now you're my new little sister."
"Thank you." She said, as she hugged him.
"No problem."
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-Somewhere in the Australian Outback-
A small airplane prepares for takeoff. Geegaw Hackwrench is running through his preflight checklist. He wears a flight jacket, scarf, and goggles and his plane is a golden twin-engine concept plane.
Another mouse, a kangaroo mouse in a safari hat and short sleeve safari shirt, walks up to him. "Hey, Geegaw, you ready to go?"
"Not yet, Jake. Still got to run through the rest of my checklist." Geegaw looked up from his clipboard. "Why, can't wait to get rid of me?"
"Nah, this bloke here was wondering if you could give him a ride." Jake pointed to the rather small but dark looking rat behind him. He wore a long black coat, and sported jet black hair.
"Sure, stranger." Geegaw turned towards the rat. "Hop on board."
The rat turned toward the plane and began to enter the passenger side. Geegaw turned toward Jake. "You know anything about him?"
"Nah. Just showed up a minute ago. I tell ya, he gives me the bonza willies, though." Jake said, shaking. "It's like he's made of pure darkness."
"Nonsense, Jake. You're imagining things."
"Whatever you say, mate. Just keep an eye on him. I wouldn't put it past him to get you into trouble." Jake said.
"Speaking of which, next time you see Monterey Jack, you tell him I got a bone to pick with him." Geegaw said as he continued to check the plane.
"You still mad about Zanzibar?" Jake asked.
"You're darn right!" Geegaw momentarily stopped his check of the propellers. "I barely made it out of there alive!"
"I'll give him the message." Jake said as he let out a small chuckle. "You tell Gadget Uncle Jake said g'day!"
"I will! Seeya Jake."
"Have a safe trip, Geegaw."
Geegaw had finished the preflight, and was ready to take off. He climbed into the pilot seat. The rat was already in the passenger seat. "What's your name, stranger?"
"I'm William DeMorue, and you must be Geegaw Hackwrench. Your reputation as a pilot precedes you." William said.
"Well, I'm honored by the compliment. Where are you headed?" Geegaw started to flip switches in the cockpit. The props started to turn.
"Mount Fiji, Japan. Is that too far?"
"Nah, it's on my way home. I can have you there in a few hours."
"Excellent."
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"Are you done training?" Gadget asked Taryn as he entered her workshop.
"Yeah. Still don't understand why my powers aren't working. Must have had something to do with the explosion." He said, scratching his head. He then took a seat on an empty stool. "What are you messing with there?"
"It's some kind of ocular device. I found it while scavenging yesterday." She held the device up to Taryn.
"That's my communicator!" He took it from her hand. "I must have lost it in the explosion! If it works, I might be able to contact home!"
"Oh, I guess you'll leave then, huh." She said, saddened.
"Did I not make a promise?" He said, hands on his hips. "I won't leave until we find your dad or he comes home. I might, however, be able to find out what happened to cause the explosion."
"Then, you might be able to find out what happened to your powers!"
"Exactly!" Taryn pointed into the air in a goofy pose. Gadget giggled. "Then, I can get my powers back, and we'll search for your dad."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Try it out!" She pointed to the device.
He put the communicator on his head and pushed a button to turn it on. There was some static on the line, but it seemed to work. He then proceeded to speak into the mouthpiece.
"Taryn to base, Taryn to base. Come in, over?"
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A lonely crow sat on a building ledge near the outskirts of the city. He had been flying all day, and was tired and felt defeated.
"I'll never find him! Master is going to kill me!" He said.
Suddenly, his communicator came to life. "Taryn to base, Taryn to base. Come in, over?"
Excited, the crow immediately scanned the sky with his ocular device for the origin of the signal. "Where are you?" He said to himself. His device locked on the signal due east of where he was. "Gotcha! A few miles, I can make it!"
He took off as fast as he could in the direction of the signal.
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