Author's Note: My hope is that I'll finish this story within ten chapters from now, wish me luck.

The Story So Far: Hiruma has been captured by the Hunters of Northern Europe and no one knows he's been captured yet. What a predicament!

Hidden

By: Bar-Ohki

Chapter 19: Revealed Past

Zork had arrived at the edge of the football field in time to watch the Hunters disappear, Hiruma in their midst. With a gasp, Zork ran towards where they had just been moments before, trying to figure out where 41 people could have just disappeared to. It did not take very long for Zork to realize that there was nothing here that he could sense. He needed help and he needed it fast.

The boy dashed off into the night, looking for animals. It did not take him long to find the large frenzied mass of animals that was currently assaulting the Devil Bats' team truck. Zork could hear the cries of distress from the people within, which startled him.

'A trap!' Zork's eyes opened wide.

"Grandpa!" Zork yelled at the truck, hoping that he was heard.

Cerberus, in all this commotion, had been peacefully napping underneath the bed Yukimitsu was currently sleeping on. The dog heard the yelling and woke up. With a glance around he became acutely aware of the current state of chaos the truck was in. He let out a small growl and crawled out from underneath the bed. Most animals steered clear of him, often crashing into other animals or someone's leg to avoid Cerberus. Carefully he steadies himself for a leap onto the bed and waited for a break in the flying animals.

With a small 'thump', Cerberus landed on the bed without trouble. He walked right up to Yukimitsu's arm and bit it. The receiver did not disappoint, he woke right up with a yelp.

Yukimitsu's senses were assaulted with a general sense of panic coming from all of the animals in the truck.

"Wha-!?" Yukmitsu sputtered, confused and half-panicked himself.

::Calm them boy!!::Cerberus screamed into Yukimitsu's mind.

Yukimitsu took a deep breath and stopped thinking. Despite being exhausted, despite having weak powers, Yukimitsu opened his mind to the animals around them and spoke gentile words.

::Hush, there's no need for this. You're all a little confused, just go home. All will be well.::Yukimitsu managed to tell the animals. He forced a sense of calm into them. Within a few minutes all the animals had left the truck, leaving behind several stunned and confused humans.

"Ungh." Yukimitsu muttered and passed out again, the last of his energy finally spent.

Cerberus let go of the boy's arm and looked around. Hiruma was not there, and everyone was just now noticing.

"Where's Hiruma!?" Kurita gasped, his voice holding in some minor panic.

"Gone." Zork answered, as he climbed into the bed of the truck, drawing all eyes onto him. "The Hunters did something with him." It was still very hard to see Zork since the interior lights of the truck had been broken in the craze of animals.

"Hunters?" Taki, the only Devil Bat that was completely unaware of the situation with Hiruma's stalkers, stood there completely confused.

"Who are you?" Kurita asked, using his Senses to see if there was anything amiss with Zork. Kurita could tell that Zork had something that felt like magic, but wasn't exactly the same sensation, so it had to be similar.

Zork blinked once, not that anyone was able to see that. "I'm Zork."

"What are you?" Mamori muttered, having drawn the same conclusion about Zork as Kurita did.

"Should I tell them, grandpa?" Zork looked to Cerberus for an answer.

Zork was answered with silence and no movement.

"…Sorry, I'm not supposed to tell you right now." Zork muttered. "But that's not what's important! The Hunters kidnapped Youichi!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, brat?" Juumonji approached Zork. "Talking about Hiruma on a personal basis like that?"

"It doesn't matter, he's in trouble!" Zork jumped out of the truck. "Aren't you going to help?"

"Let's see what he has to show us." Musashi took charge of the situation.

"What is going on here!?" Taki demanded, still confused.

"Kurita, Sena, try to get him up to speed." Musashi ordered his teammates as he followed Zork out of the truck. All the remaining conscious members of the Devil Bats found themselves standing at the edge of the football field. Doburoku, of all people was standing in the middle of the field, one of his hands on the ground.

"Something happened here." Kurita muttered as he started to walk onto the field. His Senses were telling him that a large spell had been cast here, but the nature of the spell was beyond his abilities.

"Aye, something did." Doburoku agreed. "A teleportation spell, I'd wager."

"You know about magic?" Sena blinked at Doburoku, stunned.

"Used to be an Elder back in the day." Doburoku laughed without humor. "Kurita, come here."

"Sensei?" Kurita stood next to the man, confused. "But you don't have magic…."

"I was Hiruma-kun's first victim." Doburoku explained. "I was set with the task of watching over him because he was dying."

"Hiruma-kun was dying?" Mamori sounded shocked by the idea.

"Yeah, it looked like he was starving to death and his father didn't know why." Doburoku explained. "So he had me look into it because I had the most experience with part-humans. It took me a week to figure it out and by then my magic had been eaten away past the point of mending."

"…But isn't Hiruma's father a Mage?" Musashi asked.

"Aye, he is." Doburoku nodded. "But you see, Hiruma-kun can't eat the magic of people he's related to. Now, I might not be a real Mage anymore but I'm not without tricks."

"Sensei?" Kurita was confused. Doburoku pressed his hand on Kurita's stomach.

"Now, I'm going to channel some power into you, it should open up your Senses wider than you've ever had before." Doburoku warned Kurita. "I want you to take in everything you can about what happened here."

With a small yell, Kurita found his world opening up exponentially. 40 people had cast a group teleportation spell in this spot. Their destination was a large field right outside of Liverpool, England. It had been a successful spell.

"They went to Liverpool, England." Kurita announced after a moment. Suddenly the world receded and everything turned back to normal.

"Northern Europe, huh?" Doburoku frowned and turned to face the rest of the Devil Bats. "Do the lot of you want to rescue Hiruma-kun?"

Everyone nodded, completely serious, even Zork nodded.

"We're going to need three things then: something to get us to and for England discretely, a plan, and Shin." Doburoku told them.

"Shin!?"

"He's a very powerful Sensitive, I want his help." Doburoku explained simply. "And we're going to have to wait of Yukimitsu and Monta to wake up because we need their help too."

"So we should just meet back up in the morning?" Musashi suggested. "We're all tired from the game."

"Yes, that's a good idea." Doburoku agreed. "I'll get ahold of Shin this evening."

"Wait a minute!" Kuroki pointed at Zork. "What's with this kid!?"

"…I can't say." Zork retorted. "Grandpa didn't say I could."

"…What's your name?" Doburoku asked Zork.

"Zork."

"…Does the name Lotem mean something to you?" Doburoku asked.

"Yeah." Zork nodded.

"Then he can help if he wants to." Doburoku's voice left no room for argument. "We'll meet back here bright and early tomorrow morning."

Everyone nodded and made their way back to the truck. Everyone's thoughts were spinning. Who and what was Zork? Why was he allowed to help? What did the Hunters do to Hiruma? How the heck were they going to get to England?

_=_=_=_=_

What do you think about Doburoku?