Thanks for my wonderful reviewers! I love you all! Enjoy!
b..d..b..d..b..d
"Ready." Joe asked.
Ken looked around him and smiled slightly. This was going to be fun.
"On your mark."
Davis was on his right, Yolei on his left, Cody next to her, and Rosa on the end. TK was sitting out because, with his power, he would win and ruin the fun. Kari was feeling sick, and all the older kids were happy to watch.
"Get set!"
His wings warmed up, giving existed buzzes and begging him to fly.
"GO!"
They were off! Ken and Yolei shot up above the tree line as Davis dropped to all fours and started to run. Rosa jumped from branch to branch using her tail, and Cody just flat out sprinted.
In the air, Yolei and Ken were trying to outdo each other, speeding up and flipping. They were evenly matched, although they flew differently. Ken was like an insect, darting and fast, his wings producing a low buzzing sound. On the other hand, Yolei's wings were silent and moved in large, sweeping motions so she soured like a bird of prey.
"What's wrong, can't keep up, Newby?" The purple-haired girl chided.
"No, I just feel bad about beating you like this." Ken put on a burst of speed and turned the corner.
"Not a chance, Bug Boy!" Yolei laughed and rushed after him.
"And there coming up to the finish line!" TK said in his best 'annoying announcer' voice, much to Kari's amusement. "It's neck and neck between Yolei, Ken and Davis! It's going to be a photo finish, folks! And the winner is…Rosa?"
Everyone blinked in shock as Rosa dropped out of a tree and crossed the finish line only a second before Davis did. She laughed, and Davis groaned.
"You mean I lost to the monkey?" He sighed, flopping to the ground.
Ken didn't think he'd ever get tired of hearing them all laugh at once.
Suddenly, Tai came crashing out from the general direction they had set up camp. (That sentence sounds weird…)
"We have a message! We got one!"
That apparently made sense to everyone but Ken, because they started to rush the pyro-kinetic to see the piece of paper in his gloved hand. However, everyone stopped within five feet of him.
"Tai, you're burning up!" Sora cried, backing up a step.
"What?" The teen questioned. "I am?" he looked down at himself, than groaned. "I am! Oh, come on! This never happens to anyone but me and Izzy!"
"That's 'cus no one else has powers like yours." Matt rolled his eyes. "Can you calm down?"
Tai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No change. "It's not working."
"Hay, Ken…"
"On it." Ken pulled off the tan gloves he had taken to wearing, and gingerly approached Tai.
In the month since he had found out about them, he had learned several things about his powers.
It only work with skin to skin contact.
The closer to the head the touch, the better it works.
Ken's hand extended, and he focused on getting that tingly feeling in his fingertips. Then he rested it on the back of Tai's neck.
Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Burns! It BURNS! Eight, nine and TEN! Let go!
He did so, and stuck his scorched fingers in his mouth. Everyone smiled as Tai stopped glowing and acquired the slightly sleepy expression that most people got after experiencing Ken's gift.
"Thanks, I needed that" He shook himself.
"Well, don't keep us hanging, man! What's it say?" Davis was rocking back and forth in excitement.
"It says: We can meet in a week. Same place as always. See you than. Singed, the Tamers."
"Yes!" Shouted TK in joy.
"I can see Jeri again." A smile tugged at the corner of Kari's mouth.
"And Takato!" Davis grinned.
Ken blinked. "Ever get the feeling you're missing something?" He asked, trying to sound casual.
Matt shook his head. "You have idea what we're talking about, do you?"
"Not a clue."
Izzy quickly explained. "We aren't the only group of gifted. We can't all stay together; it would case too much attention. There are two others that we know of. One calls themselves the Legendary Warriors. We haven't seen them in almost three years, but they're like us. Wanderers. They keep to themselves, mostly. Then there are the Tamers. They actually live in a city, because their parents didn't kick them out of the house when they found out what they…Er...Are. We try to meet them at least twice a year. And it seems" He gave a small smile. "That time has come again."
"Oh." Ken thought he understood. Well, except for one thing. "But how did we get the note?"
Mimi let out a musical laugh. "We have no idea. It drives Izzy crazy, but they just appear. Maybe it's someone's gift. The Tamers say they just leave it in a certain place and it ends up here."
Had they been listening, they might have heard quiet, muffled laughter and the hushed slap of a high five. Had they been looking, they would have seen the end of a blond braid whip by, or seen the sweep of a black trench coat. However, they weren't and they didn't.
But they happened.
b..d..b..d..b..d
Trisha and Gavin burst through the bushes to where the rest of their group was waiting. Jun smiled, her eyes crinkling, and Eli gave a cry of delight and launched himself into his sister's arms.
"Your back." He smiled up into her blue gray eyes, nearly identical to his own.
"Of course I am, Sweetie. Why wouldn't I be?" Trish asked, bemused, as she returned the hug.
Eli didn't answer, just squeezed tighter. The older girl sat down, and her brother plunked down in her lap.
Just then, Jun's cell phone beeped. She flipped it open and held it to her ear.
"Go for Fox."
Fox, this is Storm Cloud. Is the package delivered?
"Oh, hay J.P."
Jun, you really should be using proper phone protocol. The voice on the other end sounded exasperated.
"Fine, fine." Jun rolled her eyes "Yes, Storm Cloud. The package has reached the intended target."
How'd it go?
"Don't ask me. I didn't deliver it, Psi and Conjure did."
Then can I get a report from one of them?
Gavin dodged over and grabbed the phone.
"J.P, this is Gavin."
*Sigh* You realize if this line was wire tapped you would all be dead?
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I meant, Storm Cloud, this is Psi."
Better. How did the mission go?
"Good, except the bush head leader, Tai, walked in before we could hide."
What? Did he see you?
"Yeah, he did. We told him all about us and what we stand for, and the fact that we're stalking his group. He invited us over for lunch tomorrow." Sarcasm practically dripped off Gavin's voice. "No, of course he didn't see us! Conjure just put up the illusion that we weren't there. He had no clue."
So the mission was successful?
"Affirmative. You can tell Yamaki to tell his charges to expect them within the week."
Excellent. Any chance I can talk to Conjure?
Gavin glanced to where Trisha was still sitting with Eli.
"Sorry, she has her hands full at the moment. Firework still gets separation anxiety."
J.P made a sympathetic noise. Poor kid.
"Yeah."
So, keep safe, all of you. We'll contact you if another mission comes along. Storm Cloud, out.
"Psi, signing off."
Gavin snapped the phone shut and tossed it to Jun, who caught it.
"We better get ready to move."
"YES ma'am!"
Without even looking up, Jun hit him upside the head.
b..d..b..d..b..d
Ken was curled up in a ball, reading his book for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He already knew who had committed the murder, and why, and how the hero would be captured and almost die but get out of it using his wits. Actually, he could probably give you a very detailed, very accurate plot summery, and knew some parts by heart.
He felt a presents next to him, and turned to see Yolei. She had plopped down next to him, but was staring forward as if he wasn't there. He was about to turn back to his book when the girl spoke up.
"Why do you keep reading that?" She asked.
"Hum?" Ken blinked and looked at her. "Oh. I guess it reminds me of my brother."
"Oh." There was an awkward silence, then Yolei blurted,
"I'm really sorry about what I said the first night you were here. I just have this problem; you see I have a tendency to blurt things. I'm always sticking my foot in my mouth and I'm really sorry I said that about you and your brother and-"
"Yolei-"
"I can totally understand if you hate me forever and-"
"YOLEI!"
"What?"
"I forgive you."
"You do?"
"Yeah, of course I do. How could you have known?"
"Oh." Yet another awkward silence, yet again broken by Yolei.
"Tell me about him."
"Who?"
"Your brother. I want to know."
"Uh, okay." Ken shut his eyes, looking dreamy, than started talking. "He was smart. Really smart. Probably a genus, though Auntie never had him tested. He was brave, at least in front of me. He always looked out for me, and he liked teaching me stuff. He had this book with mysteries and logic puzzles, and I still do them. He told me about the outside a lot. He wanted to make sure I knew what was out there, even if I couldn't see it. I miss him." He shut his eyes sadly, then his lips twitched in the tiniest of smiles. "On the other hand, he might have not been so great. All little boys think their big brothers are the best, right?"
Another silence, this time companionable. This time, Ken spoke up.
"Tell me about them."
"Who?"
"Them." The winged boy waved a hand to indicate all the gifted, who were scurrying around and packing things up. "All of them. I want to know."
"Tell me what you've figured out, Sherlock." Yolei smirked.
"Alright." Ken was never one to back down from such an obvious challenge. "Tai's the leader."
"Is that really all you have?" Raised eyebrows on Yolei's part.
"I'm not done. Tai's the leader, but Matt's his second in command and the only one who can put him in his place. They fight all the time, but that's their weird way of showing they like each other. It's also because they're both Alfa males. Izzy is the 'techie'. He's the most intelligent one in the group, if a little anti-social. Joe is a pessimist and worry-wart, but he keeps everyone cautious and heals people when there're hurt. Sora's the mother figure, and Mimi is a drama queen and a princess, but she keeps the mood happy and cheers everyone up. Kari's like a light, she keeps everyone looking to the bright side, and TK's an eternal optimist. Cody's something you never notice until it's gone, they you realize how important it is. He keeps people grounded. From what I saw, Davis is being trained to be the leader if anything happens to Tai, and he has this attitude that makes people believe they can do anything. So, how am I doing so far?"
Yolei looked impressed. "Better than I thought you would. But, what about me?"
"You?" Ken pursed his lips. "You're approachable. People come to you to talk, and they trust you to listen and keep it a secret."
"Oh." The girl was flattered. "But, it you figured all that out, what do you want me to tell you?"
"I want to know…" Ken squirmed "I want to know what made them like that."
Yolei's face went completely blank. "You mean what happened in their pasts."
"Well…Yes."
No response.
"Unless, of course, it's some big secret. In which case, you don't have to answer." Ken added hastily.
"No." The girl took a deep, deep breath. "No, you deserve to know. And I'll tell you, but not in a lot of detail."
"I don't want detail."
"Good." Yolei shut her eyes, and began. 'I assume that Tai told you his, Matt's TK's and Kari's…Thingy?" A nod from Ken. "Alright. As for the rest…" She sighed. "I don't even know where to start."
"How about the beginning?"
"I guess I'd better. Well, the first person they found was Sora. Long story short, when her powers came out her mom verbally abused her, slapped her than kicked her out of the house. She had kinda been wandering around for a while when they found her. Luckily, Tai and Sora had been friends before the whole incident started, so she trusted him enough to come with them. Next was Izzy, I think. He was…" Yolei swallowed thickly. "He was in a freak show. You know, like a circus? I think they actually had to break him out…They never talk about in much. Are you still following?"
Ken nodded.
"Okay. I'm pretty sure after that was Joe. His…His father tried to beat it out of him. Than left him out in an ally to die. I think Sora found him, and it was a good thing he could heal himself, or he would have died. Uh, Mimi next. Her story is almost like a fairy tale. When she turned blue, her parents, they were filthy rich, just had her stay inside their mansion. She says they even built this huge wall around the garden so she could go outside. But, when she was 12, her house burnt down and her parents died. Then the group found her."
"Kinda sounds like my story. Minus the psychotic Aunt and Uncle and the dead brother."
"Yes, you're right, a bit. Now, I'm sure Davis told you about his memory loss, so we don't know much about him. And as for Cody," She stopped and sighed. "THEY wanted him. His father tried to protect him, and they slaughtered the man in fount of the poor kid. As far as we know, the only thing he's said since then was 'My name is Cody.' Poor kid. And Rosa just showed up one day." She paused again, thinking. "That's all, I think."
"No."
"Who'd I leave out?"
Ken looked her right in the eyes. "You."
"M-Me?" She stuttered.
"Unless you don't want to tell me."
"No. No. I will. You should know." She shut her eyes, and didn't open them until she was finished talking. "My wings just popped up one day. And, surprisingly, my family was really good about it. They were even making a plan to move to the country so I could fly. But then some weird guy in a suite showed up at the door. He said to 'Hand me over,' but my parents refused. He said they'd be sorry." She stopped to breathe, than launched back into her story. "The next morning, I woke up and…And they were all gone. No sign of a struggle, but my mom, my dad, my two sisters and my brother were gone. I freaked out, flew aimlessly for days until I clasped, then the gang found me. The end." There were tears in the girl's eyes.
Ken looked distressed, then reached over and gave her a quick, rather awkward hug. He pulled away quickly, unused to the contact. Yolei blushed.
"What was that for?"
"I-I don't like seeing people sad." He averted his eyes.
There was a pause.
"You're very kind, you know that?"
Then she got up and walked away, leaving Ken to digest her words.
b..d..b..d..b..d
Tai stood up. "Alright men-" Sora cleared her throat "-And women-" He allowed, rolling his eyes, "We all know the drill. Let's get going."
After a week of heard walking (Mimi- For Gosh sake, could we just rent a CAR?) the little clan had at last arrived right outside the city they were to meet the Tamers in.
"Uh," Ken raised his hand, "I don't know the drill."
"Oh." Tai blinked. "Davis, show the newbie the drill."
Davis snapped to attention and grinned, than grabbed Ken's arm. "Yes, Sir!" Tai rolled his eyes again.
"Alright." Davis said when they were out of earshot of the others. "The drill is that we have to hide all physical differences when we go into the city."
Ken blinked. "That's the drill? After all the dramatics, that's the drill?"
"Well…Yes." There was a pause. "You said you had a hoodie, right?"
"Yes."
"Does it cover your wings?"
"I believe so, but my aunt wasn't fooled."
"Let's see it, then."
Ken went for his back pack and pulled out the sweat shirt. He winced as he folded his wings into an extremely awkward position.
"I really hope these things don't crease." He muttered under his breath.
When it was on, he stood up strait and looked at his friend,
"Well?"
"Humm…" Davis circled him. "It'll do. But, if anyone asks, you have sco…Scol…"
"Scoliosis?" Ken offered.
"That's the ticket!" Davis grinned. "I'm lucky. All I have to do is out ear and nose plugs to muffle everything."
Ken watched in interest as everyone else got ready. Yolei was also lucky, since her wings folded up neatly on her back. She put on a long yellow trench coat to hide them. Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Sora, Ken and Cody all wore gloves, and Kari put on a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes. Rosa put on pants with no slit for her tail, and then tied a sweater around her waist to hide the lump. But TK and Mimi were a bit trickier.
Mimi smeared flesh colored foundation all over her face, then pulled a pink hat over her forehead. She also tied a scarf up over her nose and put on sunglasses.
TK wore a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. He, too, wrapped a scarf around his neck up to his nose, and he kept his head down. Both looked passable.
After a quick inspection from Tai, they all continued walking to the city.
b..d..b..d..b..d
The warehouse was filthy.
It was old and abandoned and had nothing in it but a few empty boxes and A LOT of dust.
Ken, however, decided he loved the place as soon as Tai said he could take off that horrible sweatshirt.
His wings stretched gratefully, and he rose a few feet in the air to test them. Then he settled down on the floor and stretched out.
"And now," Sighed Joe, "We wait."
"I hate waiting." Wined Davis.
"Well you don't have to wait much longer, Goggles-for-Brains." A new voice, a drawling, sarcastic female one, had suddenly entered the mix.
The group at large spun around, and several were pulling off their gloves in preparation to blast whoever it was. But everyone stopped when they saw who had spoken.
A girl, 12 maybe 13, stood there with her arms crossed, looking very pleased with herself. She had wild red hair held back from her face in a tight pony tail, and was wearing a white tee shirt with a broken heart on it with a pair of jeans.
"Rika." Matt said, icily.
"Hair Gel." The girl named Rika replied, just as coldly.
"Where are the others?" Tai cut in. Weather he said it because he actually wanted to know or because he wanted to stop Matt from strangling the girl was unclear.
"They sent me in first. You know, to make sure you're really here, that you're really you, stuff like that." The girl sounded almost board. "And since you apparently are, I'll go get them." And then she just seemed to…Flicker out of existence. (You know, what Renamon does.)
"Uh, who was that?" Asked Ken.
"Rika." Izzy sighed. "A girl with the gift of teleportation."
"And a massive pain in the butt." Growled Matt.
"Aww, I love you too." The girl had flickered back into the room, this time with several people with her.
"Takato." Tai had walked up to a short boy with sandy brown hair held out of his face with a pair of goggles, almost identical to Tai's and Davis's. "Nice to see you again."
"Yeah, you too Tai." The two shook hands.
"Kari!" a brunette girl in a green dress rushed over to the mind reader, a huge smile on her face.
"Jeri!" The two embraced.
"Are you well, Henry?" Izzy questioned a dark haired boy.
"As good as to be expected." The boy sighed.
Suddenly a small, pink haired girl popped out from behind Henry.
"Who's he?" She asked, pointing at Ken.
"Suzy, that's rude!" The boy, who was obviously her older brother, scolded her. "Sorry about that." He apologized to Ken. "She's…Young. I'm Henry. What's your name?"
"Ken."
"Hum, so you picked up another stray." Rika said indifferently.
"Yup." Davis said proudly. "Everyone, this is Ken. Ken, this is Takato, Rika, Henry, his little sister Suzy, Jeri and…You guys are missing 3."
"Uh, yeah." Takato rubbed the back of his head. "Ryo got grounded."
"Couldn't he have snuck out? I mean, the guy can walk through walls."
"Which is why his father won't leave him alone for a second."
"Oh." Davis was quite for a moment. "Then where are the other two?"
The five looked at each other, uncomfortably.
"Kazu and Kenta disappeared two weeks ago." Henry whispered.
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'Sir, we have a visual on the targets.'
Good, good.
'Should we move in, sir?'
…No. Not quite yet. But soon. Just a few more minutes.
'Yes, sir. We are waiting for your word.'
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"What do you mean they disappeared?" TK asked, eyes wide.
"I mean they vanished. Poof. Went to sleep and were gone the next morning." Jeri said sadly.
"Oh."
This unsettled everyone, but all tried to forget about it. They talked about stupid things like the weather and rising gas prices, (Well, Izzy and Henry talked about rising gas prices. The others just tried to tune them out) anything to get their minds off the fact that two gifted were missing.
"Tai." Matt whispered, "We should probably get going. We still need to go on a supply run, and we're not going to have time if we stay here much longer."
Tai glanced at his extremely battered watch, and sighed. "You're right. We should go."
"Yo!" Matt yelled to the room at large. "The Chosen are leaving in five minutes, so say goodbye!"
"Aww, do we-" But Davis never got to finish his complaint. At that moment, windows shattered and men started pouring in at ever entrance.
"It's THEM!" Kari shrieked.
Tai's eyes widened for a moment, them his fetchers hardened. "Takato, get your people out of here."
"What? But, Tai-"
"You heard me! Now, Takato!"
"But-" The boy stopped and swallowed thickly. "Fine." He said in a whisper, the looked up and yelled, "Rika, NOW!"
Her mouth set, but with a shimmer of sadness behind her eyes, Rika complied. Making sure every Tamer was touching her, she flickered them all out.
The remaining 13 had all backed up into a cercal, with Rosa in the middle.
"What do you want?" Tai growled.
"You." A man who was clearly leading the operation said, with a chilling smile. "All of you. So, hand yourselves over, and maybe we'll go easy on you freaks."
"Don't think so." Matt said, slowly peeling off his gloves.
"Couldn't agree with you more, Buddy." This was Tai again. His eyes narrowed. "Give them all you've got, guys. If we go down, we go down fighting."
"This is only going to make this harder on you." The man said coldly.
"Who said we'd make it easy?" Davis shot back.
"Alright, if you're sure." The man smirked. Then he spoke one word, so quietly it was surprising any of the men heard it. One word, which would change 13 people's lives and would, eventually, end one. A single word, which wound up destiny and changed history and started something no one would ever forget.
"Attack."
Ken and Yolei instinctively took to the air, while Davis fell into an almost feral squat, bearing his teeth. Tai's, Matt's and Izzy's gloves were off and they were sending blasts of fire, ice, and electricity (respectively) at any of the solders they could see, and Sora was sending out powerful psychic waves in every direction. TK had pushed Kari behind him, and everyone else was using fists and feet to do as much damage as humanly possible.
"We're not doing all that badly!" Ken thought in surprise as he dive bombed yet another man. "Could we actually win?"
Unfortunately, 13 on 106 are not good odds, even when the 13 have supernatural powers.
Sora was the first down, and her scream pierced the air like a knife. All heads turned as she fell, seemingly in slow motion. Tai roared in rage and ran to her, but was hit by the whatever-it-was too.
It was all downhill after that.
Joe was hit. Mimi. Cody.
'Alright, maybe we won't win.' Ken thought glumly.
Suddenly, there was a high pitched, girlish scream. Ken whipped around in midair to see Rosa being cornered by three men, and, without thinking, dove to get her out of the way. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and he fell, down, down, down into darkness and to the floor.
b..d..b..d..b..d
Sir, all targets have been incapacitated.
Good, good. Load them all up and get here as soon as possible. Any casualties?
Umm, Johnson has some minor burns, Kelly has a mild case of frost bite, several very slight electrocutions, a couple of bite marks, and Marten is going to have a migraine for weeks. That's it, though.
Excellent. And the other group?
Got away, Sir. They have a teleporter.
Ah. Well, no matter. They would have been only a bonus, but we have the prize.
We'll be back shortly, Sir.
Wonderful…
b..d..b..d..b..d
The beautiful day had turned for the worst, the blue sky turning into stormy gray and eventually leading to rain. People had dropped what they were doing and went back home, or ran to the cover of a shop or a bus stop.
The streets were almost empty.
No one noticed the large, unmarked gray truck that glided silently out of town. And certainly, if someone did see it, they never thought it was carrying human cargo.
No one noticed the four people tailing said truck, 3 teenagers and a child. A boy in a black trench coat, a girl with out-of-control red-brown hair and a younger girl with a long, blond braid who had a much younger boy on her back.
No one noticed.
But they happened.
b..d..b..d..b..d
"Hay! Watch it, Jun!"
"Sorry Gav, it's dark."
"Well, no shi-" Gavin was abruptly silenced as Trisha clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Now, Gavin," she said, sweetly, "let's keep in mind that there are children in the- EWWW!" The girl jerked her hand away as if it had been burned. "He licked me!"
"Well, that's what you get for covering my mouth."
"He licked me!"
"Was that really necessary, Gav?"
"Yes. Yes it was."
"Jun, he LICKED me!"
The older girl rolled her eyes. "Guy's, shut up. We're almost too where the truck went."
At that moment, they exited the woods and were on the top of a hill, overlooking a round, concrete building surrounded by barbed wire. The truck they had been following drove in the gate before it was closed again. This place was very familiar to the four.
Horribly familiar.
"Oh, God…" Jun chocked out.
"Is that-" Whispered Gavin in a strangled tone.
Jun mutely nodded.
"Crap."
Eli, who had been silent up to this point, suddenly burst into tears and flung his arms around his sister's waist.
"You promised we'd never come back here, Trishie." He sobbed. "You promised!"
Trisha, for once, could not comfort her brother.
"Senior servo nostrum animus" She whispered, her face stricken with fear.
Slowly, very slowly, Gavin reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He hit a speed dial number and held the phone to his ear.
"Hay, J.P?" He said, him mouth dry, "We have a situation…"
To be continued…
*** Senior servo nostrum animus- Latin for "Lord save our souls"
Alright! Another chapter done! And, did you see that bit between Yolei and Ken? Yeah, that's going to be the closest thing to romance in here. Wait, scratch that. I have Kari sobbing in TK's arms next chapter, but that's it! Hope you all enjoyed it.
REVIEW!