Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder
Chapter 13: The Price of Power!
AN: Ok, now I want to say that I am thankful and extremely appreciative for all the reviews guys (girls) they really make my day. I was surprised that only ONE person tried to figure out the riddle, but since they at least tried, AND actually got it partially correct, they get to choose the terra that will come up after the next one. I also want to say that I know this story seems a bit dark at times and might even seem to repeat itself, but that won't be a constant. This whole story is about change and growth, so from time to time you'll see similar things because sometimes people develop at a similar rate. Also, I'll be adding one more line to the disclaimer, but it'll be at the bottom so as not to give away any spoilers. Oh, and please forgive this chapters lateness, hopefully it's super size status will make up for that.
Also don't forget check out Arashi21's new story: Fighting Wings! Which ties in with the Winds of Change serie, but is told through the eyes of Kestrel!
Oh, and a big time shout out to Miss D, Mrs J Black, and Shadow Queen for letting me play with their timeline a bit, thx girls!
Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will, also I do not own anything related to Legend of the Dragoon or Legend of Zelda. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, Sony Entertainment and Nintendo, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal, the Wasps, and this story.
Shadow,Griffy and Nagera are the property of ShadowQueen25
Tigger belongs to Mrs J Black
Marina is Star Wars Nut's
Rondana was made, and is owned by MissDedodakes
Scarlett is the creation of Love Flame
Kai was not in a good mood.
Ok, that's an understatement; his mood was actually downright foul.
Currently he was underneath the control consol in the ships cockpit, and in a rat's nest of wires.
"Dang it Tigger, why couldn't you just leave well enough alone?"
"White to white, red to red, otherwise you're shocked and dead," Kai muttered as he pulled a strip of wire loose.
Half his mind was focusing on the dangerous task of rewiring the ships electrical systems, something he had been working on since yesterday. All that was left was the cockpit, which he knew would take as long as the rest of the ship had taken itself.
This was because ALL of the wires from the various systems ran to the cockpit for control purposes. Everything from lights and steering, to power and hydraulic control.
The other half of his mind however was trying to figure out just how on Atmos he was going to explain everything to Tigger, Shadow, Rondana and Marina after they got off this dirtball of a terra.
Piper already knew most of his story, as did Starling, so he wasn't too worried about them. Of those remaining, Marina, despite knowing her the least amount of time was the only one he felt ok to talk to since she seemed to be familiar with both weirdness of his caliber, and the dark seedy world of politics. Rondana, he knew had a fair grasp of politics and was no stranger to weirdness. But he also knew that at heart she was a kind and genital person. Sure, she had a spark to her, and could hold her own in a fight, but some of them things he was going to have to tell them he knew would bother her.
Shadow and Tigger however were a completely different story. They were both seasoned, and he knew they weren't completely clueless as to how the world worked, but they both still had an air of naivety to them, an aura of innocence.
"So how do I go about explaining that the people that they are supposed to trust as leaders and protectors can be just as petty and rotten as Lark?"
This was the question he had the most difficulty with. Something that he was actually able to laugh at slightly considering some of the other things he was going to be forced into explaining.
"Who'd thought the day would come that I'd be more afraid of talking about the old gas bags that are after my head than what happened back on Ulra?"
Picking up a piece of red wire, he fed it through the copper prongs, and after stripping the end, capped it together with the end of the wire he had just removed.
"It's not like it's that big of a deal….is it?" Kai thought wearily as he found his eyes being drawn to his gloved hand.
"They're just hands, it's not like it would change anything if they knew."
The thought did little to assure him however. In fact, it seemed to do just the opposite.
"Wonder what will happen after they see what I used to look like….when I was still…."
"Hey Kai!"
Jumping at hearing his name called, Kai jumped, only to smack his head into the bottom of the control consol.
"Why is it I still think Arygyn is somehow getting a good laugh at my expense?"
"What Tigger? I'm a little busy here," Kai replied holding one hand to his now sore head.
"Really, you look a little sore to me," Tigger said teasingly.
Kai shot her a low level glare, but didn't put any actual power behind it in response.
"Anyway, I've almost finished with the repairs, but I was wondering why you had all those hatches on the topside. They make the hull weaker and more prone to stress fracturing."
"What? Hatches?...Oh those. Don't mess with those. They're part of the ship's defenses," Kai replied.
"How are hatches part of a ships defense network?" Tigger asked, confused, but at the same time intrigued. An engineer was always on the lookout for something new to tinker with after all.
"They're crystal dust filled compartments. Releasing them while in combat lets me do different things. Shocker crystal powder wrecks havoc if it gets sucked into a ships engines, same with firebolt powder. Shield crystal powder can absorb incoming fire, and smoker powder lets me sneak away in case I run across something I cant fight, or lets me make it look like the ships a lot more damaged than it really is.
"That's actually not a half bad idea….I wonder where he got the idea from?"
"How'd you come up with that? It's actually pretty…well…smart," Tigger said trying to be as tactful as possible.
Kai grew a sheepish grin and looked away. "I…uh…got it from a TV show actually. I tried it out a while back to see if it would work and…well….it does."
Tigger's jaw hit the ground.
"You got that from a TV show?"
"Well…yeah…along with some of my other tricks. You'd be surprised what actually works if you sit down and think it though," Kai said chuckling.
Tigger left the cockpit muttering about how she owed Piper five gold when she got back and the injustice of it all.
"Wait a minute; you're not suggesting that….they were both…" Rondana asked as she looked back and forth between the tombs and Shadow.
"It's not that unusual really. I've come across this sort of thing quite a few times….sort of," Marina said calmly.
"You have?" Piper asked in mild surprise.
"Like I said, sort of. I'm actually used to them trying to hurt or outright kill me, not so much in the helping department."
"I don't believe this. You're actually buying this? Ghosts aren't real; they're just a myth that parents tell their little kids to spook them. Like the boogie man, werewolves, or the Michel Jackson," Rondana said with a scoff.
"Welll….actually….Finn did kind of get turned into a werewolf some time ago…." Seeing the startled looks on the others faces she waved her hands frantically. "But we cured him! It was all Larks doing and he's better now! Honest!"
"Back to the matter at hand. Ghosts are real Rondana, I've seen plenty, and I've….taken care of plenty, so trust me, they DO exist."
"I'm a doctor, a person of science and logic. Not fairytales and magic. There is no such thing as ghosts, and there is no such thing as magic."
"Oh yeah? What about Arygyn? He can transform into a bird, AND has all those weird powers. And on that subject, what about Kai? Have you ever seen when he cuts loose?"
Rondana rolled her eyes. "Arygyn is strange, I'll give you that. But he's far from magical," Rondana emphasized the point with air quotes.
"More than likely his powers are connected to the crystal on his staff. You know, the big glowing one the size of Raparr's head? The transformation part is probably just another crystal or some form of biomimicry we don't know about, like lycanthropy, if indeed Finn transformed and wasn't just in need of a bath and haircut."
Piper shuddered at the memory.
"No, he transformed, I was there, I saw it."
"And what about Kai?" Shadow asked tilting her head to one side.
"Kai…is….Kai. I don't know what he is. I know his illusion abilities are somehow tied in with abnormal development of the frontal lobe and cerebral cortex since I've done quite a few head X-rays of him. His abilities though we already know are connected to that weird crystal of his."
As the group talked, Shadows eyes turned glossy and she walked away from the others.
"Hey, Shadow! Hey look I'm sorry if I upset you!" Rondana shouted, but was ignored.
"Shadow? You ok girl? Yo, Shadow!" Piper looked back to the others for only a second before running to catch up to the other girl.
"Come on!" Marina shouted as she ran after the other two.
"Oh come on! It's all an act you know! She's not really like, possessed….I hope," Rondana added the last part under her breath.
When she finally caught up to the others they were back at their camp and Shadow was looking out towards the now open hole they had come through the other day.
"What's up with her?" Rondana whispered to Piper.
Piper looked at her with a worried expression before looking back at Shadow.
"I don't know, she hasn't said anything since we left the crypt. I'm worried."
Looking over her shoulder, Shadow's face showed a large grin.
"Try and keep up!"
Without warning she hopped onto her skimmer and revved it before flying through the open hole.
"SHADOW! GET BACK HERE!"
"We don't have time for this!" Piper shouted as she hopped onto Kai's skimmer and revved it. Radarr hopped on just before she took off.
"What's wrong with that girl?! I swear she is so grounded when I catch her!" Marina shouted as she climbed aboard her own skimmer and took off with Rondana not too far behind.
"Shadow! Get back here! We don't have time for this! We have to find the base before Domiwick gets here!" Piper shouted at the top of her lungs.
Shadow waved with one hand before diving to the ground without looking back.
Piper narrowed her eyes as she pushed forward on the control yokes, and dived after the younger teen.
Right when she was about to hit the sand and rock ground, she pulled up.
Piper, Marina and Rondana gapped, all thinking that Shadow had just flown into the cliff face, but were shocked when they didn't see or hear an explosion.
"What the? Piper! There must be a passage way down there! Hurry up!" Marina called out as she put her skimmer into a falcon dive, followed by Piper and Rondana.
As they neared the bottom, they saw a tiny crack in the cliff face, just wide enough for a skimmer to pass thought.
Sideways
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Rondana shouted as she saw Piper and Marina both turn onto their sides flying towards the tiny sliver.
"THIS IS SUICIDE!" Rondana shouted before following suit.
The three skimmers flew though the crack just barely. All three's eyes went wide however when they got through.
"I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!" Rondana shouted.
"Just pretend it's a video game!" Piper shouted back.
"I DON'T PLAY VIDEO GAMES!" Rondana shouted back as she ducked a rock pillar that nearly took her head off.
The three were flying in what looked like a brightly lit cave of pure crystal. Stalagmites and stalactites rising and hanging from every surface, all glowing with a warm dark yellow light.
Piper was having a hard time dodging and ducking the terrain. She was used to flying a heliscooter, not a skimmer, and even then she wouldn't have flown through this.
"I can't keep this up! I'm going to crash!"
"What are you talking about? This is easy stuff!"
Piper groaned.
"Please, not you, not now! I'm barely staying alive; I don't need you distracting me!" Piper mentally shouted at 'new' Piper.
"Relax, breath deep, and take your time. You're doing ok."
"OK! I'm flying in a cave without a clue where I'm going! What part of that is ok?!"
"Would you clam up for just one second? I'm trying to help you! Now quit whining and keep flying! Don't look to your sides, keep your eyes and head pointing forward, and don't focus on what's right in front of you, look straight ahead and try to draw an imaginary line through here. Follow that, and you'll be ok," 'New' Piper said reassuringly.
Piper gulped nervously, but nodded her head.
"I can do this," she said to herself.
Breathing in a deep breath, she focused her eyes on the furthest point she could and flew towards it.
Marina watched as Piper slowly sped up and away from her and Rondana. "I wouldn't do that if…I…were…you?"
She watched as Piper tilted her skimmer on its side, then barrel rolled to avoid one hanging and one rising point of rock at the same time. The closest thing she could compare it to was watching a wasp darting about. She was flying not only flawlessly, but it looked like she was flying effortlessly as well.
"Oh, she thinks she's the only one here with skill huh? Watch and learn princess, the queen is coming in!"
Easing the accelerator up, Marina caught up to Piper, and gave her a one handed salute wave before taking off.
"Did she just?"
New Piper nodded her head.
"Yep, that was a challenge. She's calling us out."
Split Piper 'new' Piper
"She is so going down!"
Shoulders back, head down and grin wide, Piper slammed the accelerator to full.
Rondana gaped at the two as she watched them twist and turn, roll and spin dodging the rocky masses of death around them at break neck speeds.
"They've lost it. Insane in the membrane, coo coo for coco puffs," she said to heself before realizing that she was talking to no one.
"Great, now I'm going nuts too."
As the two ducked and weaved through the 'playground of death' as Rondana would later call it, they slowly were able to make out the form of a skimmer up ahead.
"It's Shadow!'
The skimmer in question then did a triple barrel roll, dodging a ring of staggered rock outcroppings.
"No way, Shadow's not even close to that level of flying!" Marina shouted.
"Shadow? Aerrow couldn't pull that off!" Piper shouted back.
"Wanna give it a shot?" Marina asked slyly.
Piper returned to older woman's grin.
"Beauty before age!" She shouted taking off.
"Beauty before….I'M NOT OLD!" Marina shouted shaking her fist.
Passing through the spinning ring of rock, Piper was met with a sudden blast of heat and light.
"We're though!" Piper shouted before turning back to Marina and adding.
"I won!" and blowing a raspberry.
Marina rolled her eyes to cover her pout.
"That's alright, enjoy your glory now. We've still got more terra's left after this one," she said to herself mentally.
"Wow! Marina! Rondana! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Piper shouted as she pointed ahead as she landed and brought the skimmer to a halt.
Marina and Rondana both followed suit and came to a stop to each side of Piper.
"I….I don't believe it." Marina said climbing off her skimmer.
"It's huge!" Rondana said after she finally managed to pry her shaking hands from her skimmer's controls.
Before them was a large ruined city that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. Most of the buildings were collapsed or outright destroyed, but there was a single one still standing.
"What is that?" Rondana asked as she pointed at the large tower that stood in the middle of the city.
"If I had to guess, I would say that was the city's citadel, maybe even its castle," Marian said stroking her chin.
"Think anybodies home?" Rondana asked, looking at Piper.
Piper bit her lip. "I don't think the city's original inhabitants are still alive, but Kai told me that he's never been to anything related to the ancients that was completely abandoned."
"Great, so the house is empty but the guards are still home," Marina muttered.
"Uh, guys, how'd we get here?"
Everyone turned to see a slightly confused Shadow looking around with wide eyes.
"Shadow…you don't remember…"
Rumble
"What was that?" Rondana asked pointing at a random spot on the ground.
"Rondana, what are you talking about?" Piper asked looking over at the pointing teen.
"You didn't see that? It was huge! It looked like some kind of…black spot or something," Rondana replied.
One green eye peeked out from behind a half collapsed building and widened.
"How did they find me?! The only way into the city is through the tunnel, and they couldn't have known about that!"
Looking around nervously, she focused her hearing on what they were saying, trying to get some idea of who they were and why they were here.
"Rondana, what are you talking about?"
"You didn't see that? It was huge! It looked like some kind of…black spot or something,"
"Black spot? Oh no!"
The ground around the girls feet suddenly exploded as a large creature flew up into the air before crashing down seconds later and sinking into the ground.
"WHAT WAS THAT THING?!" Shadow shouted pointing at the huge hole in the ground.
"I didn't get a good look at it….there it is!" Marina pointed at a black object moving around on the ground towards them.
"It's coming this way! Move it!" Piper shouted as the creature flew out from underground and by them like a runaway train.
"Was that?" Piper started.
"A whale?" Rondana finished.
"A whale? You're kidding right? They've been extinct for like, ever! And they only lived in water!" Shadow shouted.
"I don't think it's a whale," Marina said watching it move around and turn towards them.
"It moves more like a fish," she added.
"A fish? COME ON! WE'RE ON DRY LAND! DESERT!" Shadow shouted as the creature lunged out at them again.
This time it passed only a few feet in front of Piper's stunned face.
"I think it's a rock fish actually," she said when it dived back down into the ground beneath them.
"Call it off or something!" Rondana shouted at Shadow as she drew her staff.
"What? Are you nuts? That thing's trying to eat us! I'm not!"
Before she could finish what she was saying, the large 'rock fish' emerged again and nearly grabbed her before submerging.
"THIS SUCKS! It swims in rock! How are we supposed to fight that?!" Shadow shouted as she finally drew her weapon free.
"If they don't get out of here, they'll be eaten for sure."
Beside herself, the woman tried to decide what would be the right thing to do. She didn't know these people, and they seemed to be after her. Would it be right to help people that were obviously after her for some reason?
"They haven't actually done anything to me….they've only fought to protect themselves so far…but….why are they here?"
Marina jumped into the air and fired off her special attack. The blast of energy hit the ground and tunneled down several feet, but the giant rock fish dodged it before it could make contact.
"How'd it see that coming? It's under wat….err…ground!" Shadow shouted.
"I don't know! It's like it detected it coming or something!" Marina shouted as she landed.
"This isn't fair! How can it see through rock! It's a fish!" Rondana shouted.
"A fish made of rock!" Shadow added.
"Wait a second! Why is it only coming after us and not the skimmers?" Piper asked.
"Who cares!? Right now we need to get away from it!" Shadow shouted as she jumped out of the way of another of the creature's lunges.
Radarr hopped down from his skimmer sidecar and was about to run over to them when the large fish started swimming towards him.
"RADARR! GET BACK ON THE SKIMMER!" Piper shouted.
"Wait a second! That's it!" Marina shouted with a grin. "Everybody! Stand still!"
"Are you nuts?!" Shadow shouted at the top of her lungs.
"No I get it! It can't actually see us! It hears us!" Piper shouted before taking a wide stance and remaining completely still.
"You're crazy! It's going to get you Piper! Move!"
The group watched as the large fish 'swam' towards Piper like a torpedo.
"MOVE! IT SEE'S YOU!" Rondana shouted, fearing for her friend's safety.
Piper gulped, and then grinned as the fish swam under her and kept moving towards Shadow.
"See! I told you it'd work!" Shadow shouted before taking a similar pose to Piper's. Piper and Marina rolled their eyes but remained silent.
Rondana stopped in midstride and just remained still.
The fish started swimming in circles around them, like it was looking for them, but was unable to figure out where they went.
"See, we'll be fine, just keep still until it leaves," Piper said in her loudest whisper.
Hisss
Growl
"Oh you've got to be kidding! There is no way our lucks that bad!" Shadow shouted out with a mix of frustration and whine.
Having finished rewiring the ship, Kai relaxed against the cold metal wall. And tried to work the kink out as best he could.
Key word, tried.
"My backs going to be killing me for a month, I know it," Kai groaned.
"At least I won't have to worry about keeping them around anymore." Kai thought. "After I tell them….I won't have to protect them from finding out….or from myself."
Kai could literally feel chains coming out of the ground and try to drag him under.
Ever since…the event, he had been forced to live two separate lives at the same time. The one in public that everyone saw, and the real one that only a handful of people even knew existed.
His reasons were simple, to survive, and to protect others.
He became a Murk Raider to help Free Atmos and to get enough supplies that he could survive, but he didn't tell anyone because then he'd be seen as an enemy, regardless of his actions or motives.
He only sought medical attention from Rondana because he knew she didn't keep medical records. Doctors couldn't blab about a patient, that was true, but records could always be stolen or found. Thanks to her terra's laws and traditions however, the few doctors it had didn't keep records to protect their patient's identities.
And he kept his nature from others because he knew it would cause nothing but trouble. It was why he had to live on the run for the entire fifteenth year of his life, it was why he had to wear contact lenses for the two years that followed that, and why he never removed his gloves unless he had to.
True, he dropped the contact lenses after leaving terra Mesa, so his eyes had been seen by plenty of people. But given everything that was going on during those times, he doubted that they had actually paid any attention to them and thus hadn't actually 'seen' them.
He had no other choice though. He wanted to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Added to the fact that no one liked to be thought of as….different.
These thoughts always kept him back, held him in place and prevented him from moving on in life.
Doubt and fear, it would seem, were far stronger than people gave them credit for.
"If I have to, I guess I can just take my skimmer and leave them the ship to go back. I can finish this on my own, even without Rose's power, I've still got a year's worth of experience with this kind of thing, and I've never had anyone help before."
"Ow!"
Kai jumped when he felt a tiny shock on his arm. Looking down he glared at the infernal curse of Arygyn with a look that could melt through most ships hull plating.
"I don't ever remember these things shocking me before. Why now?"
Looking closer at the four silver bangles, Kai tried to sense any form of energy from them.
"I don't get it. Static charges don't happen when there's no carpet, and I haven't flown on my skimmer in weeks so it can't be air friction. Did being in terra Deep for so long mess with them somehow?"
Kai was brought out of his musings by a familiar voice.
"Fond memories?"
Snorting, Kai looked up at Starling.
"Not really. Just trying to figure out why they keep shocking me. I don't remember that happening before."
Starling pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Mine actually started doing that not too long ago. I thought it might just be from flying, but after the last few weeks….well..."
"I guess terra Deep must have messed them up somehow. Electric field or magnetic pole manipulation of some sort. Is it all of them or just the one you…found?"
Knowing what he was referring to, Starling looked away slightly.
"Just the one, so I guess it is terra Deep. Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be living there," she teased.
Kai rolled his eyes. "So it messes with Mesa ore. I don't see the big issue."
Starling's face became slightly more serious before she spoke. "I don't know, if it makes metal shock a person at random, what do you think it would do to a human? Murk Raiders didn't always exist you know."
"Star, that's just an old myth and you know it," Kai shot back.
Raising one eyebrow Starling gave Kai 'the look'.
"You mean just like dragons? Or how about flying fortresses? I wouldn't be surprised to find actual oceans the size of our skies one day if I were you. You seem to have a knack from finding things that are, how did you put it, 'old myths'."
"There is a difference between a living breathing dragon and a person turning into a green skinned red eyed moron with an insane urge to pillage and destroy."
"Again, I offer exhibit A," Starling said holding her hand out towards Kai.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Why are you here?"
He saw the look in her eyes change from self assured and slightly cocky to slightly timid and almost lost.
"I was just…wondering if…you had anything you wished to air out with me before you…erm," Starling paused as she tried to figure out how to put what she was trying to say.
"Cry havoc and slip lose the dogs of war?" Kai offered with a small grin.
Starling chuckled. "That's one way of putting it, yes."
"Not really. Anything you don't know, I'm not going to go and say anyways, so don't worry about it," he said waving it off.
"What….haven't you told me?" She asked carefully.
Kai was silent for a moment, and then leaned to the side, and peered out of the cockpit into the hallway.
"Did she put you up to this?"
"She who?" Starling asked in confusion.
Rolling his eyes, Kai's right arm snapped out and grabbed what at first appeared to be thin air, that was until it started moving and shouting.
"Put me down!" As soon as it spoke it made a loud squeak as Kai released his hand and dropped the 'thin air' to the ground.
A shimmer of light flashed revealing Tigger on her rear end pouting at the room's two older occupants.
"How'd you know I was there? There's no way you could have seen me, I was cloaked!" Tigger shouted in confusion and desperate to avert their attention away from the fact she had been caught spying on them.
With a slight grin, Kai tapped his nose before speaking.
"Run along now, mommy and daddy need to talk ok?"
Tigger snorted before pushing herself off the ground and leaving the cockpit grumbling.
"Where was I? Oh yeah, um, the only stuff I haven't told you is personal, so don't worry."
Seeing that her face didn't look the least bit relieved, he continued.
"I swear, you know everything that I have done that is of any consequence. I haven't made any deals with Lark, I haven't killed anyone, and I don't have a wife and or kid." Kai threw the last bit out as a joke to break the seriousness of the moment but couldn't help but laugh at the look on Starling's face.
Shadow gaped at the sight of nearly a dozen of the large insects from earlier.
Flying.
"They can fly! That's not fair!" Shadow shouted in frustration.
"Their bio-weapons Shadow! Of course their not going to be fair!" Piper shouted back before ducking to dodge the incoming stream of blaster fire.
Just as she climbed back to her feet she felt the ground shake and remembered the 'rock fish' was still around.
Throwing herself to the side she dodged its open maw only to get nicked in the arm by a stray blaster bolt.
"AHH!"
"Piper!" Shadow was about to run when said girl held up her uninjured arm.
"Stop! If you move the fish will see you!"
"And if we stand where we are now the bugs will get us!" Shadow shot back.
"I knew coming on this mission was a bad idea! I knew it!" Rondana shouted as she tried firing at the flying insects.
"They won't last much longer. But if I help them…" The woman was brought out of her musings by a familiar tug.
It was faint, so weak that most people would have mistaken it for nothing more than a slight change in air currents, but for her, it was unmistakable.
"No, it can't be, not after all this time."
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she watched as the youngest of the group let lose a feral scream.
Shadow watched as the huge fish of rock leapt from underground and hurled itself towards Piper. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what would happen as soon as it landed. Piper would, at best, be crushed to death.
"I've got to help her!" Shadow's mind screamed.
"But what do I do? My Ax can't cut through that thing! And I'm no Wallop!" Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the thoughts ran through her head like a hive full of bees.
"If I can't hurt the fish, and I can't move the fish, then I have to move Piper, but…how would I do that? It's not like I can just reach out and pull her," Shadow's thoughts were cut short by a sudden flash of pain in her mind.
To her it felt like someone was driving an ice pick through her skull. One after another, flashes appeared and disappeared, the only sound she could hear being a high pitch whine. She saw a glacier filled ocean of water beneath her feet flash into endless forest that surrounded her. The forest vanished into then air only to be replaced by a mountain range that went on for miles before finally turning into the wide desert before her. The only thing that these vastly different places had in common were the people that also appeared in them.
Her mind flashed to a young man with bright blond hair, she recognized him as the one from the tomb. She saw the familiar cat ears from earlier, and an equally cat like tail that she had somehow missed. This face shifted to that of unfamiliar woman with short light red hair, almost pink in color. Again it flashed, this time to a slightly older woman with long black hair shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Next was a young man with light brown hair drawing two katana from his back lunging towards her.
At the last second, she saw her arm reach up and deflect the two sword strike with a single large broad sword. Her free hand then reached up and tendrils of what looked like smoke wrapped around the young man and threw him off to the side.
Looking down, she caught her reflection on the swords blade and was shocked by what she saw.
Her hair was much shorter, only reaching her jaw line. She also noticed that her face was much narrower and that her eyes were several shades darker than normal. It took a second for everything to register, but when it did she realized that she was not looking at her own reflection, but that of a teenage boy that looked quite a bit like her father.
The thoughts and images seemed to merge together in her mind forming a singular desire.
To fight.
"YOU WANT A FIGHT YOU OVERSIZED GUPPY! TRY ME ON FOR SIZE!" Shadow yelled in an eerie two toned voice as she reached her left arm up and 'threw' it towards Piper.
Piper closed her eyes, knowing that there was nothing that she could do. Her thoughts were clouded in anger and grief, but none the less, they were accepting what was about to happen. Hearing Shadow's voice however forced her eyes open.
Turning towards the shouting girl, her eyes widened as she saw a thick tendril of what appeared to be smoke extend from Shadow's hand and grab her by the waist. With a single hard tug, Shadow pulled Piper back several feet and out of the path of what would have otherwise been her doom.
Shadow felt something, she wasn't sure what it was, or how long it would last, but she knew that she would take full advantage of whatever it was for as long as she could.
Her entire body seemed to be on fire, like her veins were filled with molten lava. But at the same time her skin felt like she was standing in the middle of a blizzard in just her nightwear. The feeling of both extreme hot and cold mixed together filling her with a dullness that seemed to be spreading throughout her senses, like she was inside a cloud, or a smoke filled room.
After seeing that Piper was safe for the moment, she holstered her crystal ax before reaching out and flexing her fingers wide.
Marina felt something; or rather she could smell something in the air. Something foul. She was familiar with the various types of energies of the world, and had either used or been affected by most of them. What she was sensing right now however brought back, unwanted memories.
"Whatever this power is, it's foul. I know that Kai uses dark energy, but this…this is not simply dark, this is evil. Kai's aura smells like a stale basement or dungeon. This…this smells like a rotting corpse, one long past due for burial."
She watched as ten long thin tendrils shot out of the girls fingertips towards the airborne insects and snake around them.
The insects screeched out loudly, thrashing their arms to free themselves, but no matter how much they struggled, they were unable to break free.
Marina watched as the grim smirk on Shadow's face changed into a wicked sneer and she closed her open spread hands into fists. The insects gave one last high pitch screech before being engulfed by the smoky tendrils and disappearing into nothing but black wisps.
"With this, with this no one will be able to stand in my way. Not even Kai could beat me with this power!" Shadow found herself floating in a world of darkness, a sunless world that was cold and barren. Had she seen it at any other time she would have trembled in fear, but now, now this was the world she desired, the world that she wanted more than anything.
Shadow!
Looking around for the source of the noise, she felt herself get thrown from her feet and was surprised to feel pain spreading across her backside.
Blinking, she looked up to see Piper above her with a worried look on her face.
"Why didn't you get down? That fish almost turned you into its sushi!"
Looking down she saw a large hole in the ground less than a foot from where she had been seconds before.
"Piper! Shadow! It's circling around! Look out!"
Hearing Rondana's warning, the two girls looked up to see the sun blocked from view by a large shadow.
A shadow with two fins and a tail.
"Enemy's or not, I have to risk it now!"
Shadow raised her arm to try and use the same ability she had on the insects earlier, but instead of tendrils, only smoky wisps emerge from her finger tips.
"Great, it was working before, so why isn't it now?!"
Both Shadow and Piper's ear's twitch at hearing a familiar sound coming from behind them at high speed.
"Duck now!"
Seeing Shadow's head turn towards the voice, Piper reacted from both instinct and experience by shoving her head down while at the same time ducking.
The two heared a charge of static electricity pass overhead followed by an explosion that threw them back several feet.
"Where did that come from?!" Shadow shouted as she sputtered sand and dirt out of her mouth.
As Piper tried to wipe her eyes, she sputtered back.
"Why are you asking me? I hit the deck as soon as I heard duck."
"Piper! Shadow! Behind you!"
Marina shouted her warning as she drew her two crystal blades and jumped to her friends/team mates defense.
She was surprised to see two swords emerge from the explosions dust cloud and block her assault with little effort.
"I save them, so you attack me? You have a rather unusual way of saying thank you," a decidedly female voice replies calmly.
Marina waited for the dust to settle, but subtly applied pressure to her blades, pressure that was met with equal strength.
"Whoever she is, she's as strong as I am."
After a few seconds pass, the swords wielder became visible. Whatever the group might have expected was nowhere close to what they got.
Marina found herself staring into a pair of dark green eyes that seem far older than they should. Taking a brief second, her eyes quickly scanned over the new comer and she played back what she saw in her mind to form a mental image.
"She's about my age, but she's closer to Starling in build. I don't know what that thing she's wearing is, but it's not like any flight suit I've ever seen."
True, instead of a thin microfiber cloth outfit like most squadies or talons wore; this person's outfit looked more like body armor of some sort. It was quite a bit thicker, and as far as she could tell, made from rubber, and had plastic pads on the joints for additional lightweight protection. The entire dark pink and silver outfit didn't have any visible seems, zippers or buttons, which told her that it was a single piece outfit meant to be worn for long periods at a time.
"Ok, so based on the way she's dressed, and the fact that she hasn't budged an inch after blocking my attack, I'm going to guess that she's at least Sky Knight grade, maybe even higher."
"Who are you, and why are you here?" Marina asked coldly.
The person didn't answer, but instead seemed to be searching her eyes for something, almost like she was seeing into her mind.
"It…it's you?"
Marina and the new comer both looked down to see Shadow wide eyed and pointing.
"You're the one I saw back in the tomb, aren't you?"
Marina noticed how the young woman flinched at the word 'tomb' and knew it to be true.
"And I see that you survived your little encounter with the wasp. I would love to continue our conversation from where we left it off, but your friend here seems to have other ideas," the woman replied with the same calm, neutral tone she had been speaking in since arriving.
"Marina! Down girl! Heel! She's friendly!"
Marina raised an eyebrow at Shadow's choice of words, but chose to ignore it for the moment.
Lessening the pressure she was applying, Marina took a step back before deactivating her weapons and returning them to her holsters. The entire time however, her eyes remained on the new comer without blinking. Though calm, her message was easy enough to read.
'Give me one excuse, please'
"Ok, first of all, who are, you never told me you name before."
The woman spun her two katana around her wrists three times before flipping them around into her back mounted sheaths, sending Marina a message of her own.
'You wouldn't last five seconds'
"I believe it is customary for someone to give their name first in introductions such as this," she said with a noticeably warmer and friendlier tone then the one from before.
"Oh, duh! Sorry about that. My name's Shadow. This is Piper, she's my squad mate, then over there, the one with the staff drawn is Rondana, she's a friend of a friend, and the scary one with the scimitars is Marina.
Radarr and Griffy ran up and took positions in front of Shadow and Piper at this point, both growling in warning to the new comer.
"Griffy! Radarr! Behave or no kibbles and bits for you!"
The two's ears twitched and they backed off, but not before giving on last growl.
The young woman smiled and held out her hand.
"Well then, you can call me Schaeffer. It's a pleasure to meet you Shadow."
"You still haven't answered my other question," Marina spoke up before the woman now know as 'Schaeffer' could continue.
"Again, I believe it would be more appropriate for you to answer that first. I did just save you after all," she replied with a still warm, but subtly edged tone.
"Whoever she is, the girls into politics, that much I know for sure."
Marina dispelled that thought before answering.
"I'm sorry, but our business is our ownand none of yours. Yes, you did save us from that…rock fish, but how do we know it wasn't you who set it on us the first place?"
Without blinking the woman responded.
"Why would I have need of doing such a thing? If I desired your demise I would have allowed you to become fish food. If I knew who you were and what your mission was, I wouldn't be asking. Likewise, if I was your enemy, I would have allowed you to be eaten rather than take the time to heal one of your group from a fatal injury, then save all of you from the rock fish."
"Ok, now I know she's a politician. Either that, or she's royalty."
Marina gave her the once over again and was shocked by one thing that she should have noticed from the start.
"Good lord look at those ears! What is she, an elf?"
It was true; the young woman had pointy elongated ears just like an elf.
"Look, we…we can't just tell you. I'm sorry, but it's a secret. Just know that we're the good guys, and we're trying to stop the bad guys," Shadow offered sincerely.
Looking back to Shadow, Schaeffer gave a small smirk.
"Tell you what, since you don't seem to be after me, why don't you come back to my home for a little while. There's a sandstorm brewing and I don't think any of you could survive outdoors through one."
Sure enough, Marina felt the air current change and could sense an approaching storm.
"That's strange; I should have felt one like that before it got anywhere near this close."
"Uh, you have a ship close by?" Rondana asked, not exactly looking forward to going through another storm ride.
The woman blinked before speaking.
"Ship? I'm sorry, but I was referring to my home. It's not too far from here. It shouldn't take long if your vehicles still function."
"Vehicles? They're just skimmers, nothing special," Shadow replied shrugging her shoulders.
"Ah, yes, your skimmers. I'm sorry, but healing you seemed to take a bit more out of me that I thought," she replied warmly.
"She's lying. She didn't even know what a skimmer was, but how is that possible? Where has she been the last hundred years, a cave?"
"You wouldn't mind if I rode with one of you, would you?"
Marina was now very cautious. She knew that the woman had somehow made it from the cave to where she was now faster than they had, which meant she must have had some form of transportation.
"I don't like this one bit. Everything about this woman screams trap," Marina thought.
"Sure, you can second sattle with me," Maraina said scooching forward to allow for a passenger behind her.
"If she's up to something, I'm not going to let her hurt the others. Piper's been acting weird lately and probably needs to get out of the sun, Shadow's still weak and Rondana's a doctor. I'm the only one that could actually fight right now."
The woman carefully climbed aboard the skimmer before speaking.
"Head into the city. It's at the center so it should be easy to spot."
Hearing this, the others revved up and took off into the city's ruins.
"All hands, prepare for lift off," Kai called out over the ships intercom.
"Uh, Kai. It's just the three of us," Tigger said pointing to herself then to Kai and finally to Starling.
Kai grinned sheepishly before activating the ships engines and allowed the ship to rise from the ground as smoothly as possible.
"Hold on to your seats, Air Kai is heading out!" Kai shouted before slamming down the accelerator to full.
"I told you not to do that again!!!" Tigger shouted as she felt herself being pushed back into her seat like she was riding a roller coaster.
"We've got to catch up to the girls. They've had three days head start and we're on a tight schedule," Kai replied happily as the freighter sped towards the locator beacon he had installed on his skimmer, which Piper had borrowed.
"I've got a bad feeling about this place all of a sudden," Kai thought before shifting his attention back to what was ahead of them.
"There! Up ahead!" Schaeffer shouted pointing at the tower like structure in the city's center.
"What is that thing? A keep of some sort?" Marina asked offhandedly.
"No, it's the control tower. But it's been my home for….quite a long time," the woman answered carefully.
The four came to a stop several feet from the towers base and dismounted.
"Where's the door? All I see's wall," Shadow said looking the strange tower up and down several times.
"Hold on, just give me one second," the woman ran up to the tower and placed her hand on the outside of it. After a few seconds passed a tiny hole appeared in the center and stretched open, almost like the metal making it were alive.
"Don't worry, it will stay open until I close it from the inside," Schaeffer answered their unasked question before stepping aside.
"Come in, please. It might not be the Grand Hotel but it is comfortable."
Shadow, having the most trust in the woman stepped inside first, followed by Griffy, then Piper and Radarr, who were followed by Rondana, and lastly Marina.
"What about our skimmers?" Marina asked once inside.
"Oh, just a sec," the woman touched the wall in slightly above where she had to open the 'door'. This time the effect was more immediate. The ground beneath the skimmers sunk down and was covered by a metal plate.
"That should keep them safe until the storm passes," she said before stepping inside and touching another panel on the wall, closing the door.
For a few seconds they were standing in complete darkness, but then they heard a warring sound and the room was illuminated by a series of blue lights running to the top.
Piper, Shadow, Rondana and Marain all stared around at the walls in amazement as they saw what appeared to be thousands upon thousand of screens suspended in mid air, all of which had writing of some sort running across it.
"Solar power in the middle of a desert, not bad huh?"
"This….what is this place?" Piper asked in a mix of wonder and glee.
"That is…a bit complicated. Let's go somewhere we can sit down first, and then we'll talk ok?"
"Go somewhere? This thing has no doors, no windows, and no exits! It's a trap!" Marina shouted ready to draw her blades.
"If she was trying to trap us, why would she come in with us?" Rondana asked with a sigh. She knew that Marina was just trying to look out for them, but she seemed to be a little more edgy than usual since the fight with the rock fish and insects now known as wasps.
"There are other floors, look, I'll show you," the woman ran her fingers across a panel on the wall, which after a series of beeps and chirps made a chime sound.
A few seconds passed and nothing seemed to happen.
"You were saying?" Marina said dryly, now sure that this had been a trap.
"Marina look!"
Following Piper's pointing finger, she saw that they actually were moving down, quickly too. But the elevator was completely silent. She couldn't even feel herself moving actually, the only indication of movement was the screens on the wall buzzing up around them.
Seconds later the elevator came to a stop and the group found themselves in a circular room that looked rather…shabby.
It had a couch that was in worse shape than the one on the Condor, a few seats in similar condition, and what looked like a beat up old fridge.
"It's been awhile since I had any company, so, please forgive the mess. It's not usually this bad."
"Bad? This is about what we're used to, eh Piper?" Shadow asked giving said bluenette a jab to the ribs.
"Ok, so you actually, like, live here?" Piper asked, completely ignoring Shadow's joke.
The older woman bit her lip before leading the others to the couch and chairs.
"Like I said, it's been a while since I've had company. Ever since the Night of Day, I've been cut off from the outside, and no one has visited. Has there been any news of what happened? Did they find out who did it?"
"Night of Day? What are you talking about?" Rondana asked, never having heard the term before.
"Night of Day? Does she mean Twilight? But…that's impossible, that was," Marina looked up at the woman slightly alarmed, but before she could speak, Piper cut in.
"Schaeffer, how long have you been here?" She asked carefully.
"How long have I been here? I don't know really. How long ago was February eighteenth two thousand and four A.D?"
The four girls looked at each other.
"Two thousand and four A.D? What calendar is that by?" Piper asked, having a tiny suspicion but not wanting to fuel it any.
"The only one I know of. What is today?" She asked not exactly understanding what the problem was.
"Schaeffer, today is January twenty fifth, one thousand six P.A.D"
"P.A.D? I'm sorry, but I am unfamiliar with that calendar system, what does it mean?"
"It stands for Post Aurora Discovery; it's the calendar system that's been in place since the Darkest Day."
"Darkest…Day? I'm sorry, but…what is this, Darkest Day you speak of?"
All four of the girls felt a cold tremor pass through them. Even though each came from a different background, they all knew what the term referred to.
"Where I come from…we called it Twilight," Maraina said lowering her head.
"But we know it as the Darkest Day. Schaeffer, I think….I think you know it as the Night of Day."
The young woman's eyes widened.
"But…that's impossible! I know it seemed a long time ago, but that would mean it was over a thousand years ago! That's not possible!"
"Schaeffer…did…did you know what a skimmer was, before I mentioned it?" Marina asked suddenly.
The young woman shook her head 'no' in response.
Lowering her head, Marina took a deep breath.
"How old are you?"
Everyone turned to Rondana.
"Excuse me?" The young woman asked slightly confused.
"I asked how old you are. No offense, but you're not exactly human either are you?"
"I…no…I'm not human," her shoulders slumped at this point. She jumped slightly when she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.
"Don't feel bad, I'm not either, so you're not alone," Marina offered.
The woman gave a small smile in gratitude, but it was easy to tell that she was still reeling from what she had learned in the last few minutes.
"If you're not human…what are you?" This time it was Shadow that asked.
"I'm…well….some of the others referred to me as an elf, but I don't remember ever seeing another of my kind, so I'm not exactly sure," she replied with a shrug.
"An elf? Well, I guess that would explain the ears…." Piper said trying to raise the general mood to above the level of 'depressing'.
"But, it doesn't make sense. How could you be over a thousand years old? Is that normal for people from this terra?"
"Terra?"
The group groaned, knowing that this was going to be more difficult than they thought.
It took the group several hours, but they were able to give the woman a basic run down of what had happened in modern history, Piper however was the only major history buff in the group, so she had to try her best to explain what had happened in the gap between their two timelines.
"I wish Kai was here, he's better with this sort of thing," Piper said in frustration.
"Better with what?"
Grinning, Shadow answered Schaeffer's question. "He's good at dealing with stuff in real life that normal people read about in fiction."
The young woman looked slightly confused at first, but then laughed slightly. "I guess that would be true of my situation wouldn't it. Still, it makes sense, and it does explain why so much time has passed since the temple had any visitors."
"Temple?" Marina asked with a groan."
"Yes, the temple. After the third Great War, it was my sworn duty to continue our people's traditions at the temple every festival.
Piper's head jumped up.
Flashback
Kai nodded. "The ancients found this place four thousand years ago, discovering its tactical potential; they built the Mayfil fortress to protect it, insuring that only they could use the gate. Nearly three thousand years ago, at the climax of the third great war, the fortress fell into the hands of their enemy's, and was turned against them." Kai answered.
"Third Great War? But, there has only been one Great War." Piper said, noticing that her throat was drying up.
"One? The Great War you speak of, the one that is recoded in the history books was in fact the fourth Great War. The first three were so long ago, that they have been forgotten." Kai shivered slightly.
Flashback end
"You were there for the third Great War?" Piper asked with eyes wide.
"Well, yes. I was present for the first two as well….sort of," she responded.
"If that's true, then that makes her over four thousand years old!"
"Is…something wrong?"
"Schaeffer, you're not a thousand years old, your closer to four thousand years old, maybe even older." Piper said getting up and starting to pace the floor.
The woman's noise twitched slightly. "To be fair, I spent a fair portion of that time sealed away, so I wouldn't count all of it. Going by your system, I'd actually be close to seven thousand years of age."
Needless to say, that grabbed everyone's attention.
"Ok, I think we've told you enough, it's your turn to spill," Shadow said trying to figure out just what the heck was going on.
The woman sighed and closed her eyes.
A long time ago, I was sealed away by my father. I…to this day, I'm still unsure why he did it, but…we think that it was to protect me," at this point Marina cut her off.
"We?"
"I'm sorry, I mean myself and the others….the ones…you saw earlier…in the cave."
Marina nodded in understanding of what she meant and signaled for her to continue.
"I don't know how long I was sealed away, and I remember very little of what happened before then. I was only about twelve or thirteen at the time. My next memory was…being found and woken by the other warriors."
The others guessed that she was again referring to the ones now residing in the cave.
"Apparently, my father somehow transferred me into a crystal, and I was in a state of suspended animation for an unknown length of time."
Shadow raised her hand before speaking. "If you were trapped in a crystal, how are you here now?"
The young woman smiled warmly at this point.
"I was freed. It took them the better part of a year, but my friends found a way to reverse what my father did, and release me. I was overjoyed to be able to see and speak to my friends in person, since until then I could only speak to them and help them in small ways."
"Help them?" Piper asked, seeking some form of clarification.
"At the time….the third Great War had begun, but it was only in its initial phases. While inside the crystal, I was still able to help my friends by lending a small portion of my energy to them, and I still had all of the knowledge from before being imprisoned, just not the memories of how I got them."
"Lending energy? That sounds like what Kai does when he goes all glowy," Shadow said thoughtfully.
"What exactly…happened? I mean, you said you helped them, that means they were doing something to begin with right?" Piper asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Kai.
"Yes, they were. They were warriors, fighters for the people, but being as young as they were, they had to maintain absolute secrecy, some more than others," she added the last part bitterly.
"Why? I mean, in a war, you take whatever help you can get right?" Rondana asked as though it were the simplest thing in the world.
"You would think so, but at the time it was frowned upon for what most people considered to be children to fight in a war."
"Sounds like some things never change," Piper muttered darkly.
"They each had strengths of their own, but I was able to augment them with my powers to an even greater degree. One of my friends had weak telekinetic powers; I was able to strengthen those so that instead of struggling to move a book, she could lift a person or even a car with relative ease. Another was a star track runner; he gained the ability to run fast enough that he could go straight up a wall or tree with no trouble."
"That would cool," Shadow said before realizing that she was interrupting the older woman. "Sorry, go ahead."
"I helped them like that until I was freed. After that, I was able to help them in person, and was able to lend even more of my power to them."
"But how did you…you know, blend in. I mean, no offense, but those ears kind of stick out like a sore thumb," Piper said pointedly.
Smiling, the woman closed her eyes for a brief moment. Piper and Shadow both could have sworn that they heard a woman singing, but since Rondana and Marina didn't notice it, they kept it to themselves.
Seconds later the woman reopened her eyes, and her ears had changed to that of a normal humans.
"It took me a little while to get it so I could do this with so little trouble, but thankfully I had someone to teach me after being freed."
"But I thought you said you never saw another of your kind?" Marina asked, still not trusting the woman, but now at least willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"True, but I had a friend who was similar enough to help me." Smiling, the woman got up and quickly walked over to a small dresser at the back of the room. After fumbling around for a moment she returned.
"This was another of my friends, unlike the others; he didn't need much help from me, as he had powers of his own."
Handing the object to Marina, the others crowded around her to see what it was.
They were surprised to see it was a photograph, better in quality than the ones they had now.
In the picture they saw a young dark skinned teenager with red streaks in her hair, holding onto an even younger little girl that looked very similar to herself. Beside the young girl was another young girl about the same age, only she was lighter skinned and had bright red hair.
What caught everyone's attention however, was the blond haired young teen standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders.
His hands…looked more like paws than anything else. They also saw two triangle pointed ears on top of his head, and a cat like tail that was holding the oldest of the three girls by the waist possessively.
Everyone looked from the picture to Shadow.
"Is…that him?" Piper asked in a hushed tone.
Shadow looked the picture over carefully and compared it to the memory of the person she saw back in the cave.
"He looks….close, but the guy I saw was like, older, closer to Starling's age," she replied.
"That photo was from their wedding, he had just turned sixteen. His wife was about seventeen, and their daughters were about ten at the time." The woman was clearly fighting to control her emotions, but she had enough for the barrage of questions sent because of that one remark.
"DAUGHTERS!"
"WIFE!"
The woman laughed lightly before nodded her head in affirmation.
"That is correct. The one with red hair was his daughter; the other girl was his wife's from before they met."
"But…but..that's impossible! How could a seventeen year old have a ten year old child! That's not possible!" Rondana was half shocked and half horrified by the implications, but was snapped from this train of thought by the sound of laughter.
"I said they were their daughters, I didn't say they were their children. The two girls were orphaned by the war. My friends adopted them and took care of them to the best of their ability, which was actually how they met in the first place."
"Uh, could you…explain that a little better?" Shadow was getting a headache just trying to keep up and keep everything straight.
"Samantha was…a thief. She supported herself and her daughter by stealing from others. She made the mistake of trying to steal from an Oni however and was caught."
"Oni?" Piper asked, having heard the word somewhere, but not remembering where from.
"Oni are humans with the ability to shape shift at will. Normally they look like a half human half cat, but they can make themselves look like a normal human when it suites them."
"I'm guessing that's what he was right?" Marina asked pointing at the picture.
"Correct. He was the one who taught me how to use my powers in a finer manner. He also covered for my sudden appearance by claiming me to be his cousin."
"Who were the others? If you don't mind my asking," Rondana asked, now having calmed down from the whole child parent part.
The woman got up and retrieved a second picture. Piper noticed that she was having difficulty staying calm after taking just one glance at it, which she recognized to mean that the people in it were no longer living.
"This….was taken at the victory celebration, after we…after we won."
Piper and Marina both could tell that she was about to say something different, but had changed what she was going to say at the last minute.
Looking down at the photo, they saw a group of people all in their mid to early twenties. They saw the Oni from the previous photo with his wife and two children, but the others were all new faces.
Except to Shadow.
The first was a young man with short brown hair. He wore an outfit similar to Schaeffer's, but was yellow with black trim. Beside him was a young woman with long dark hair wearing a dark red outfit with maroon trim. The two didn't look happy, but at the same time seemed to be very content and just wanted the picture to be taken and out of the way. To her right was Schaeffer with a large smile on her face and her hands around a young blond mans neck. The blond, like Samantha was wearing what appeared to be normal street clothing and not a battle suit. Crouching in the front of the picture were the final two people of the group. One was a young woman with long dark hair that came to a very prominent widow's peek. She, like the blond and Samantha, was wearing normal clothing.
The last one however, made Shadow's jaw drop.
"Shadow, don't you think that guy could almost pass for Dark Ace?" Piper asked, not having heard the younger girl's deep intake of air.
"I…yeah, your right Piper, he could," she replied quickly.
The last person in the photo was a young man in his mid twenties. He wore a white and blue colored battle suite that looked a bit older than the others, who had actual armor. His hair was an unnaturally dark shade of black and came down to his jaw line. Everyone else in the photo looked at least borderline happy, but he seemed to be either mildly angry or depressed.
That….was after we got him back," Schaeffer said softly.
"Got him back? What do you mean?" Shadow asked, now very curious.
"He….was the last member of our group. He had helped us many times during the war, but we were very cautious about letting anyone in on our secret. We did finally allow him to join us, but…on his first mission, he…"
Shadow felt something inside her stir as the conversation continued. The feeling was strange, but not uncomfortable. It felt like, something was coming together, almost like something was willing her to listen.
"I knew little of technology when the others freed me, but I knew much of energy manipulation. We were able to combine my knowledge and powers with their knowledge and technology. This was the one thing that gave us a chance to fight since our enemy's had the same capabilities. We were the only ones that could fight on equal footing since the very start. Towards the end of the war however, we knew that the only way to win, the only way we could even survive, was for our group to become even stronger. At the time, the only way we had to do this was by adding a new member to our group."
"Let me guess, he stabbed you in the back and turned on you right?" Piper asked coldly.
Shadow felt a mixture of anger and grief from Piper's comment, but choose to remain quiet.
"Yes, and no. He never once turned against us of his own free will. When I was transferring my power to him so that he would be at the same lever as the others…we were attacked. Our enemy's had discovered our base and launched a full scale assault. Once the process was started I couldn't stop it until it was completed. If I had, both of us would have died. The others tried their best to buy us time, but…it just wasn't enough."
"What happened?" Shadow asked with a gulp.
"Remember how I told you that our enemy had the same capabilities as us?" Seeing the others nod, she continued.
"That included power transfer and manipulation. He poured a tremendous amount of his own power into the mix, and corrupted the process. When it was over….our base was destroyed by the hand of the very same friend who wanted nothing more than to help us out in any way he could."
Click
Reaching out, Shadow squeezed Schaeffer's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could at the time."
"IT WAS MY FAULT! It was my power that fed him, my process that corrupted him! It was my fault that he spent eleven years of his life as a puppet and was forced to fight his closest friends!"
Everyone was shocked by the woman's outburst, but none were as shocked as Shadow.
"Eleven years? That's the same as!" Shadow could almost see in her mind a puzzle piece drop onto a table beside a nearly completed puzzle. A piece that had been missing for many, many years.
"Why eleven years?" She asked carefully.
The woman managed to regain control of her emotions to the point she was able to answer.
"It took us eleven years to find a way to break the curse," she replied bitterly.
"How…did you break it?" Piper asked wondering why Shadow was so interested.
Schaeffer's only response was tapping the photo, more specifically, the woman kneeling beside the last team member.
"We were never able to find a way to completely break it, but she was able to weaken it enough that he regained control. There were a few occasions before then that he regained control temporarily, but he was never able to maintain it for longer than a few minutes."
Shadow studied the picture a bit closer and noticed something she hadn't earlier. The man who was crouching wasn't angry or depressed in the picture; he was shooting a glare at the yellow clad warrior, who seemed to be shooting a similar glare back. Upon closer inspection she also noticed that the yellow warrior had his arm wrapped rather possessively around the maroon woman's waist.
"It's her fault that my dad…no, no it wasn't her fault. She wasn't the one who cursed him, and there was no way that she could have known at the time what was going to happen." Shadow's thoughts were interrupted by Piper shaking her shoulder.
"Shadow! Look! The picture!"
Looking down, Shadow saw that Piper was pointing at the young red haired girl's neckline.
More specifically, what was on it.
"That almost looks like the Griffin Stone, doesn't it Shadow?" Rondana asked getting a better look after swatting away Piper's index finger.
"It does!" Reaching into her neckline, Shadow pulled out the necklace to compare it.
"Where did you get that?!"
Shadow turned to Schaeffer with a warm smile on her face. "A close friend gave it to me, before she died."
"Isn't that the crystal that lets you talk to animals?" Marina asked, having seen it a few times but never in use.
"You can, you can actually use it?" Schaeffer asked in awe.
"Yeah, is…that a bad thing?" She asked, now worried.
Schaeffer shook her head. Not at all, it's just a surprise to meet someone related to a close friend, that's all."
It took a few seconds for that bit of info to sink in, but the effect was instant.
"WHAT!"
Smiling warming, Schaeffer reached out towards the necklace. "May I?"
Nodding, Shadow allowed the older woman to hold it for closer inspection.
"It's the same one alright. Oni have the ability to speak to animals from birth, but humans don't. He made this for her when she turned twelve. It would only work for her, or her children though."
"Cool! Shadow, this means that you're a descendent of hers!"
Shadow shot Piper a low lever glare. "I figured that out on my own Piper, I'm not dumb." While speaking she couldn't help but notice the look Schaeffer was sending her.
Trying to change the subject, Shadow noticed something else in the photo. "Hey Piper, doesn't that look like Tigger's old Healing Crystal?"
Sure enough, the woman crouching beside the 'traitor' was wearing a crystal necklace that was eerily familiar.
"That was a gift from her mother. She was a nurse, but died during an attack when she was very little. You called it, Tigger's Healing Crystal, might I ask why?"
"Well, one of my friends had a crystal that looked a lot like that a while back. It let her heal any superficial injury a person had, but it always left her feeling down and depressed after using it for some reason."
Schaeffer nodded her head thoughtfully. "That unfortunately sounds about right as well. What happened to it? You said, used to have?"
Shadow got more than just a little uncomfortable at this point.
"Well, it kinda, sorta, shattered into a million pieces," seeing the woman's expression change to one of alarm she continued. "It was for a good cause though, it save a lot of peoples lives!"
Schaeffer seemed to calm down a little bit, but still didn't seem to happy with the information. She handed the Griffin Stone back to Shadow before getting up to leave.
"It's dark out; maybe we should continue this tomorrow ok? You're free to stay here if you wish."
Seeing as they didn't have anything better to do at the moment, the group agreed.
"Fine, but I need to contact Kai and tell him that…things are different than we anticipated."
If she heard Marina, Schaeffer didn't show any sign of it. She simply continued towards the corner of the room she had retrieved the photos from and almost seemed to disappear into thin air.
Chapter 13 end.
AN: Whew, that was the ending that just wouldn't die lol. I know this chapter was long, but I wanted to avoid any cliff hangers for a while, and it's been a few days since I updated. The Phoenixes Fire was the closest (and only) person to guess so she won the riddle. I'll be sending the list of choices to you soon via PM or review reply. (See, I mention my peeps , all the more reason to review.)
If anyone hasn't figured it out yet, this terra and the people mentioned in this chapter are based off of the characters from Code Lyoko, which is the property of Moonscape not me. Schaeffer, is the real last name of Aelita, Hopper was her mothers maiden name, but we never learned that stateside since the last seven episodes were never aired (shakes fist at cartoon network.) To this day, why only season one was released on DVD, while Power Puff Girls just got a complete series box set released is beyond me, but that's a rant for another day.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Many questions have been answered, and even more are now left to ask. How will the group continue their mission now that they have found a living Ancient? What were the strange powers Shadow manifested, and what will become of them? Find out next time, in Winds of Change II Chapter 14: Two Choices, One Decision!
Till next time, Ja Ne!