AN~ fifth chap! Woop! Hope you enjoy!
Artsiv
It felt like being pulled into a shadow. Like being sucked into a vacuum. I couldn't breath and it felt like my skin was clinging to my bones, as if dried up. I tried to see but all I saw a utter black. I tried my powers but the feathers were just painfully ripped from their place. I bit back a scream.
Soon the world came back into view. I collapsed to my knees, sucking in air like a fish out of water. The other two people from around the fire were up and ready to fight. The girl with blonde hair had vines around her arms, controlling them like a puppet master. The second girl had morphed into a Siberian husky, and piercing blue eyes stared at me from above a mouth full of canine teeth and muzzle.
Nov'c was first to react, taking on the really tall Wolverine, William was going after wolf-girl, but just when he was getting close to her, he wasn't there any more. Like he had turned invisible. That left the hippie to me. She sized me up, taking into account everything external about me.
I waited until she made the first move, I was never good at offense. She sent vines at my arms, lacing my shoulders with thick green leathery plants. She bound my arms to my side. I activated my powers, enlarging my arms and shoulders painfully. I felt the vines start to tear.
I felt the vines drop to the ground and I quickly deactivated my powers. As soon as my shoulder popped into place I knew I had to take offensive. I lunged, going for her ankles. She side stepped but didn't counter attack. A pacifist? In these times? This girl was done for! I rolled and hit her ankles hard with my shoulder, knocking her over. She tried to get up but I had already pinned her shoulders. William and Nov'c were still fighting the other two around me.
"Call off your friends." I said to her, she nodded. In a second there was a wall of tall thick grass between Nov'c and tall Wolverine and William (who had become visible) and the wolf-girl. They both looked at me in confusion. I let the hippie up and then stood my self.
"Why were you following us?" Nov'c demanded.
"We want to get to Kimono Dragon just as much as you do." Said the hippie. The wall of grass receded back into the earth and the tall Wolverine and the wolf girl came to stand by the hippie.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Dillain Howard." said the hippie.
"I'm Anastasia Rija." said the wolf girl, changing back into her human form.
"I'm Conrad Reynolds." said the tall Wolverine
"Nov'c, no last name." Nov'c said.
"Artsiv." I said.
"William." said William, holding out his hand for a hand shake.
"Isn't 'Artsiv' eagle in Armenian?" Conrad asked me. I nodded. "Got anything to do with your powers?" I nodded again.
"So that was you?" Dillain asked me.
"What was me?" I asked stupidly.
"That huge eagle we saw flying the other night." Dillain informed me. I winced.
"Yeah, that was me." I could feel the annoyance coming off Nov'c in waves. I didn't dare look over at her. The six of us stood there for a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to go back to camp?" William asked.
"'We'?" Dillain asked.
"Well, yeah. You might as well come, you're following us anyway." Nov'c said, turning around and starting back toward camp. Conrad raised an eyebrow at Nov'c's blalently annoyed tone. I shook my head as if to say- 'Not now.' Conrad nodded his head in understanding. I turned around and followed Nov'c, motioning for the others to follow over my shoulder.
"Is Professor Xavier still with your group?" I heard Dillain ask, I winced again. I didn't turn around though, I let William explain what happened, he was much better with words than I am.
As I walked I looked up to the star dotted sky, and the almost over whelming urge to sprout my wings and take flight right then almost consumed me. I almost did it. I knew I wanted to. I jerked my head from the sky and pressed my arms to my sides.
You're not gonna fly! You're not gonna fly! You're not gonna fly! I thought over and over again. I forced my eyes to stare, almost unblinkingly, at the ground. I traced the edges of the leaves with my eyes, and the gentle curve of the path under my feet. Soon I was back at camp, my chance of taking flight long gone. Conrad, Dillain, and Anastasia laid down around the dying embers of the fire, and I lay down too. I moved away from the group, wanting the solitude for just a few moments before sleep claimed my mind.
I rolled onto my back, looking up at the expanse of midnight sky above me. I had always loved the stars, they were always a comfort to me. I could let my mind wonder and not focus on anything. Soon my lids were heavy and they dropped over my fierce eyes. In minutes, I was asleep.
I woke up to the crying whines of a wolf. My eyes jetted open and I automatically jumped to my feet. I took in the scene around me, a wolf had it's sharp, canine teeth bared, its ears back, and was growling at Rai Choi. Rai had what could only be described as, a ball of electricity swirling around her fist in controlled chaos. There was a scowl painted across Rai's face and she was glaring menacingly at the wolf. This was bad. I leaped forward and pushed Rai's shoulder back and knelt down on one knee and pushed Anastasia back.
"ENOUGH!" I yelled, rousing the rest of the camp that wasn't already awake. Rai was still glaring over my head at what she could see of Anastasia. "Drop the electricity, Choi." I said, looking directly into Rai's eyes, the electricity around her hand disappeared. "Change back, Rija." I said, turning my eyes onto the wolf. Reluctantly Anastasia transformed back.
"She started it!" Anastasia said, pointing to Rai. Rai started to stride angrily forward, and I caught her by the shoulders.
"I don't care, it's over. Now cut it out, and get ready to move on. We leave right after breakfast." I said. I stalked over to one of the corners of camp.
"Nice work, dad." Nov'c said, punching me lightly on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and watched as the rag-tag group got breakfast rolling.
We were soon on the road. I kept a watchful eye on Rai and Anastasia, but the two kept apart. It was soon lunchtime and Nov'c pulled out the supply of food she had in her pack. The lunch line started, and Nov'c pack of food was soon empty. Olivia opened her pack for the rest of our little group.
There was a thirty minute rest and then we got up and continued to walk. By now Kimono Dragon was about two and a half days away. I remembered how muck food and water Olivia had had in her pack- our last pack. We wouldn't have enough food to last if we kept eating like we were.
"We need to start rations." I said, leaning over to Nov'c. She nodded in agreement.
"We needed to be on rations from the beginning." She sighed. "Do you know if there are any colonies around here?"
"No." I sighed this time too. I knew were this conversation was going.
"You might have to use your powers for a look."
AN~ Cliffie! So sorry for not updating for, like, three months, and when I finally do I leave you hanging. But, *sigh* I have writers block with this story.