All characters go to proper owners.

CHAPTER FOUR- Jared Jordan Fuentes-one week later

The day of Mom's funeral.

We, as in all of my family, were all standing around her gravestone. I think it was the first and last time I'd see my sister and Teague in dresses, Anilie in a black knee length, sleeveless one, Teague in a black long sleeved, three inches past her knee. Lauren has already worn dresses before- this one was a spaghetti strap black dress with a sequined flower on the trim. Allan and I were wearing similar black tuxedos which matched basically all of the other men in our family. Aunt Rachel was wearing a sleeveless version of Lauren's dress and Aunt Cassie was wearing a pant suit.

I waited until everyone was gone and Mom was buried. Dad said to call when I was ready to go home so he could get me or to walk home, whichever I felt like. I just sat down next to her gravestone and stared into the sky, trying not to let my eyes tear up. But they still did.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I whispered. "You knew, didn't you? You knew that you were going to die that day? And you still didn't tell me?" Tears fell onto her freshly dug grave. But then I realized that it was raining.

"Just perfect." I muttered. I shook my head but didn't move. I didn't want to leave her just yet. I knew that Kala would have chastised me for not getting up and finding dry shelter, but since he was in need of Kandrona Rays, he was at home in the hidden portable Yeerk Pool.

After a few more minutes I noticed a shadow standing over me and that I was no longer being hit with rain.

Lifting my head from my knees and arms, I looked over my shoulder and saw a woman holding an umbrella over us. She had dark pupils, almost pitch black, pale white skin that contrasted with it, mostly black chin length hair with a white streak in it and a long part of hair that was mostly white in a tie, wearing a black shirt and pants, and a chain with the Yin/Black part of the Yin-Yang symbol on it. A slight smile was on her face.

"It's raining, you know." She said as she crouched down beside me, making sure the umbrella covered most of me, not really caring about herself.

"I know." I replied.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Then why are you still in the rain?"

I turned completely. "Why are YOU in the rain?"

She didn't really have a come back to that. So instead she just turned to Mom's gravestone. I returned to my original position and stared out into nothing. We stayed like that for a while.

"So what were you doing before this wet weather hit?" The woman wondered.

I wasn't sure if I should reply but I did anyway. "Just paying my respects to my Mom." I answered. "What about you?"

The woman seemed shocked. "You're Lyz Fangor's son?" She asked. I nodded. "So you're Jared! Where's the rest of the family? I was hoping to meet them all."

It was my turn to be surprised. I turned again. "You knew Mom?"

"Yes. She was a brave and trustworthy woman. It's sad that she died." She whispered, staring at the stone again.

I raised my eyebrow, confused at how I never met her before. "Who are you?"

"Me?" She repeated. I nodded. "I'm Silver Nites. I know it's a slightly unusual name, but you should ask the people who named me why they named me that."

The name repeated in my head. I don't think I remembered Mom ever talking about her... But I still acted as if I didn't realize that.

Silver smiled. "Come on, don't want to get sick, now do ya?" She stood and offered me a gloved hand.

I took it and stood, not noticing that the mud that was on me suddenly all fell off and back on/into the ground. I felt a chill when I touched her hand, then a sudden blast of warmth. It alternated between cold and warm around her after that moment.

"I'll call your dad and say that I'm letting you stay with me until the weather clears up." Silver said, already starting to pull out her cell phone before turning to me to see if I approved. I just nodded and he dialed as we began walking. "Marco, this is Silver Nites." Pause. "One of Lyz's fighting instructors." Pause. "Yes, that one." Pause. "I'm going to take Jared back to my place since it's pouring." Pause. "Of course I'll bring him back in one piece, what do you think of me?" One last pause. "OK, see you later," Silver hanged up.

"Where's your car?" I asked, seeing there wasn't any that I could see so far.

Silver looked at me as if I had offended her. "Car?" She repeated as if he didn't know what a car was.

I laughed and Silver stared at me. "You're serious? You don't know what a car is?" I didn't think I'd see anyone in this year or as long as I lived who didn't know what a car was. "A car? A four wheeled machine that you drive to take you places?" Silver still looked confused. "Never mind then. If you didn't use a car, then how did you get here?"

"Walked." Silver answered.

Great. Just great.

-later-

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at a three story brick house. There weren't many of those nowadays. Mostly two and one story houses unless they were apartment buildings.

Silver knocked- or banged, depending on how you looked at it- on the door. "Hey, Aqua! Get your nose out of Escape From Memory and open up the door!"

I heard a sigh from the inside. "Even after knowing you for so long, you'd think you'd know that I'm not the only one in here that you can call and that you should get a key?" Several clicks could be heard as the locks were undone and she opened the door.

Aqua was about my age, with black hair that reached her shoulders, slightly wavy, dark blue eyes, wearing a teal shirt and blue jeans. Even though she looked my age, she seemed a lot smarter, and more mature. I suspected that Aqua was an Andalite in morph. "Oh. Silver, who's he?"

"Who, him?" Silver replied, pretending that she didn't realize that I was with her- I almost believed her expression. "Oh. He's Jared Fuentes, you know, Lyz's son? You remember Lyz, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Aqua said as she stepped out of the way so we could enter. "How could I forget? You dragged the poor girl over here to practice nearly everyday!"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Mom came here nearly everyday?

Aqua whispered something into Silver's ear. Silver put up one finger and Aqua shuddered. She whispered something else before they noticed that I was still within possible hearing range, but I looked away and at my feet, pretending I wasn't paying attention, that I was just a depressed teen because his mom died.

Silver clapped her hands together suddenly, getting my attention again. "OK so let's start training!"

"TRAINING?!" Aqua and I replied in unison.

"Silver, the guy just lost his mother and it's RAINING. I-" Aqua began.

"-Think it's the PERFECT time for him to start!" Silver finished.

I groaned. I didn't even want to know what it was that she was talking about.

Aqua sighed. "Let me get Demetri's spare casual clothes, seeing you can't fight in a tuxedo." She hurried upstairs and back down. She held a silver suit- a hooded jacket and baggy pants- in her hands. The jacket had a serpent on the front with black flames on the background, 3D claws on the shoulders and near the wrists. On the pants, on one leg, the right one, more black flames, and on the left one a cobra twisting around the leg as if it was about to bit me. "Here, bathroom's second door on the left down this hallway," She placed the clothes in my arms.

Five minutes later, after I had put my suit in a plastic Wal-Mart bag I found outside the door, I walked outside into the backyard where Silver was waiting for me. She had all of her longer hair in a bun thing, and was wearing a black shirt and jeans.

"Show me what ya got." She said automatically. I had a strange feeling of De Ja Vu- like this was exactly what Mom had gone through when she first met Silver...

That or Nina Williams from Tekken.

I thought back to all the times I played the Tekken games- both my parents, especially Mom, liked playing Tekken, and most of the time Mom kicked our butts at Tekken- and tried to remember some moves. I didn't know if I could use them, or if I could do them, but it was worth a shot.

I quickly ducked down and used a floor sweep under her but then she jumped up as soon as my leg reached the place that she was a few moments ago. I ducked and hugged the ground when she landed again and tried to hit me with a high kick. I stood up and did a back flip, hitting her chin with my sneakers as I did so.

Silver jerked back as I landed back on my feet. She wiped her lip with the back of her hand, since it was bleeding. I didn't realize I had hit her that hard...

She smirked she saw that I was letting my guard slip. She started spinning.

"Oh crap," I whispered when I realized which Tekken character did that move and what happened. It was one of the moves that Asuka Kazama used, and normally it was a strong one.

So, once I did, I did the most reasonable thing I could think of then.

I grabbed her by the legs and threw her over my back.

"That's gonna leave a mark," I heard Aqua say as I jumped away from Silver. Something my Mom told me when we were playing Tekken- when your opponent is down, don't stay near them, they could attack you while getting up.

The woman growled as she stood up and got back into her fighting stance. "Lucky shot," She muttered.

"Sure it was," I replied with sarcasm as I kicked her with my right foot in the chest, which she blocked with her arms, sliding a few inches back. Just as she was about to punch me in the face, I ducked and swept my left leg under her feet before she could react.

Silver fell again but then attacked me before I could get out of the way. She kicked me in the shin as she stood then punched my right arm. She did a high kick to my chin, then another to my chest, forcing me down, knocking the air out of me.

Panting, I stood, shaky, and entered my fighting stance again.

"Three minutes so far!" Aqua told us. "Two to go!"

It had been three minutes already? Huh...

Silver started to do the same move I had did that made her bleed earlier- the back flip. I barely managed to dodge it, her right foot barely grazing my left arm. She stopped on her hands, then spread her legs and spun around. She managed to hit my chin twice before I ducked.

I forced Silver to the ground on her stomach and grabbed her left leg and pulled it back. It wasn't strong enough to break her leg, but enough for her to yell. I let go and swept my leg again, hitting her side hard.

She panted as she stood up again, both of us in our fighting stances.

"One minute!"

We were both breathing hard. Silver's hair had gotten out of her tie, and it stuck to her face. We stood in out stances, trying to regain air again, getting soaked in the rain for a few more seconds.

I wasn't expecting Silver to attack now. I was expecting her to play it safe and let Aqua call it a draw.

But then Silver grabbed my shoulders, flipped over me and slammed me to the ground. I was sure that I heard bones crack.

"Time's up, Silver wins!" Aqua declared.

I rolled over to my stomach, fighting the urge to cough up blood. How did I get beaten up by a GIRL?

Silver crouched down, smirking as she gave me a hand. She helped me up. "Nice game, kid, but you should know to never let your guard down."

I put my hand to my back, wincing in pain. I'd need to morph so I could get rid of the pain and heal any broken parts. "You beat Mom this badly too?" I muttered.

"Nah," She said. Mom was a better fighter than me? She smirked as she saw the shock in my eyes. "I beat her worse. Gave her large bruises. A couple broken bones. Nothin' too major. She morphed it out."

"Nothin' too major my ass." I mumbled. "What's the time?"

"Almost four." Aqua told me.

"Dang," I replied. "I gotta go home now. You wouldn't mind-"

"Demetri doesn't even wear them anymore. You can keep them." Aqua answered.

I gave a faint smile, trying not to wince from the pain. "See you two!" I left them then.