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Sorry for the late update. If you guys follow my Twitter (Inspire_Sarah)- which you all should, you'd know that I recently had two heavy weeks of exams. Fingers crossed I did well, haha!

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Troop.

SYNOPSIS: After Hayley's heart is broken, there's no better thing to do but to immerse herself in monster hunting; especially when there's a rare but vicious monster on the loose. But what happens when she finds herself falling for someone she'd never expect?

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Chapter 16: The Pull of a Portal

I wasn't sure of what to say, or what to think, or what to feel when I saw Jake Collins standing behind us with a freeze ray tucked under his muscular arms. He had dark circles around his eyes- darker than they usually were; hinting his lack of sleep. Jake looked tired and wary, but still wore a determined expression on that brilliant face of his. A billion questions popped into my head that I wanted to scream at him for; like why did he leave? Where did he go? Didn't he care about the fate of the world- the fate of his teammates, the fate of him and me?

"Oh thank goodness you are here Jake!" Keiko exclaimed, as she ran to him and wrapped her thin arms around his form.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier. I was stuck in traffic trying to track you guys down. Why didn't you tell me you were coming to some abandoned diner?" Jake asked with frustration.

I refused to stay silent any longer.

"Give us a good reason why we should've told you," I seethed.

Keiko noticed my anger and released Jake. She cautiously stepped away from him and nudged Yuki, but Yuki only scowled back at her. The two sisters then turned around and looked after Akira again; he had been seriously hurt after all, leaving the two of us to talk things through.

"Maybe, Hayley, just maybe because I'm part of this team too! I'm part of this whole mess we're into so I have the right-"

"Don't talk about having the right to know what was happening with us, you pig!" I snapped; Jake's face becoming shocked as I said the harsh words, "You left us. That's right Jake, you left the Troop for your stupid, pathetic girlfriend, Leanne. You left your commitments here to go home to Lakewood- while we could've been killed or already dead because of you! How could you...how could you have just given up on us so damn easily, Jake?"

Jake stared at me intensely with dark, brown eyes. I shuddered involuntarily at the depth of his eyes, and I knew that my words had somehow hurt him. But I was beyond furious at him for leaving and though I would probably regret what I had just vented to Jake, I had to currently stand my ground.

"Do you know how it feels like to know you're the one who let everyone down?" Jake whispered darkly as he cornered me, "To know that you're the one who let your two best friends die? To know you failed the mission because you were careless and didn't pay attention when you should've?"

My throat went dry when I realised how close he was. I looked around to see where the other Troop members were, but everything went blurry- and I could only see Jake. I licked my lips nervously; trying to gather the courage to speak up and not kiss those lips of his that were incredibly close to mine. I gave him a slight push and he backed away from me; giving me enough time to walk away from him without another word.

"I did not mean to interrupt anything here," Yuki coughed awkwardly as Jake and I glanced up and smiled briefly at her presence, "But Mr Stockley has some good news that can help us find Felix,"

Upon hearing this news, we immediately rushed out and saw Mr Stockley holding some computer-like device; something, most likely, was created by Felix himself. A sudden pang hit my chest when I realised my best friend was missing, and if not rescued soon, would most likely lose his life to one of the most vile and dangerous creatures in the world- Poison.

"Guys, I think I know a way that can help us find Felix. You see, before he left, he created a machine that can track frequencies," Mr Stockley began as the Troop members, including me, anxiously listened to the rest, "I believe if we can adjust the device accordingly, we can track frequencies that belong to the Vortex, and considering that Poison wants to find the Vortex that contains the Crystallix and project a portal to where it is located. I say, it's a bit out-there, but worth a shot,"

"Good idea, Mr Stockley!" I cheered; Yuki and Keiko laughing while Jake remained unaffected, "But I think we should also check out her hide-out. You know where it is, because you saved Felix and I from it a mere day ago, right Mr Stockley?"

"I suppose it is worth a try to check out her lair for any clues just-"

"That's a waste of time," Jack interrupted, "Why would she still be there? You've been there, and she knows that you'd check there first when you had the chance,"

"Jake is right, Hayley. If I was a villain, I would have changed my hide-out by now and at least moved out of the area where I could be caught. We all saw her transportation abilities!" Keiko sighed, "What if we can not catch her and save Felix?"

"Be quiet Keiko! We are strong enough and we will save my beloved Felix! He can not leave me before I tell him my news!" Yuki screamed, as tears made their way down her face, until she realised she had given out a big secret away.

"Yuki...what news?" Keiko furrowed her eyebrows.

Yuki gulped nervously and I felt extremely sorry for her. This was the last way, I bet, Yuki wanted her best friend and sister, to find out something that needed to be said after the mission when everyone was rejoicing- not mourning.

"Oh god, please don't tell me your pregnant!" Jake attempted to joke, but was silenced by Keiko's eerie glare.

"What are you not telling me, Yuki? Tell me now, Yuki- now!" Keiko demanded.

"Alright, Keiko, alright!" Yuki wept, "I...I am not pregnant. But I did get accepted into the Prestigious School of Expressive Art,"

"That is your news, Yuki?" Keiko laughed, "I am so excited for you! That is your dream school and you love to draw and paint and-"

"I will be gone for most of the year to study there, Keiko and have to find a place to live in Lakewood, preferably with Hayley," Yuki said quietly, as the rest of us watched Keiko's face turn sour.

Before Keiko could saying anything, though, Mr Stockley called us back into the vehicle. Without a single word exchanged between the two sisters, they left and sat away from each other for the rest of the car ride. Jake sat at the front next to Mr Stockley and discussed details of our next plan of action. I, however, stayed silent, as I watched the friendship of two loving sisters fall apart. This mission was completely frustrating. It was bringing out the worst of all of us and broke close bonds. Even perfect Yuki had kept a major achievement away from her sister- in the fear of hurting her.

"I think I know how to work that thing," a hoarse voice mumbled.

All of us turned our heads to see a bruised Akira rub his sore head with his fist, as he attempted to stand up. Keiko immediately rushed by his side to help him out. He kissed her cheek affectionately as a thankful gesture. Her sour mood had suddenly turned kind of sweet as she grinned quietly to herself.

"How are you, Akira?" Mr Stockley gulped nervously.

"I could be better, though my well-being is not important right now. I am alive and well, but I can not say the same for Felix," Akira sighed, "I remember when Felix stayed at my home, he informed me of some frequency discharger. I think, if I can go home and rummage through Felix's research on the Vortex, we can change the dial on the machine or whatnot, to direct us to a portal that will take us straight to the last Vortex containing the Crystallix. There, we will hopefully find Felix and defeat Poison once and for all,"

"It seems possible...but very risky," Mr Stockley thought aloud; scratching his chin.

"It's our only way of finding Felix right now, so even though we will be taking a big chance, we still need to try," I nodded, as Akira shot a reassuring smile at me. Mr Stockley looked content with my attitude and passed the frequency discharger to Yuki.

"How much time do you think Felix would have left to live at this rate?" Jake questioned; a sense of desperation and slight hope evident in his husky voice.

"Judging by normal circumstances, I would say a few hours before Poison has her way with him," Yuki evaluated, as she grabbed the frequency discharger out of Mr Stockley's hands.

"I've got a plan that just might save Felix, but we need to work together as a team. No more rivalries or arguments or questions- our friend is at stake and so, this mission is now personal," Akira announced; the rest of us agreeing with what he had just said, "Keiko and I will return back to the house as fast we can and look for the frequency the Vortex uses. Yuki and Hayley; go visit the lair anyway and track for energy- Felix's or Poison's. There may be some clue there on the whereabouts or the frequency levels they are working on,"

"Why would they need to track for energy?" Keiko interrupted.

I frowned as well. What energy was Akira expecting for Yuki and I to find? Jake and Keiko had said themselves that if they were villains, they would've long fled the lair; considering we knew where her hide-out was now. But somehow, even though my idea had been wrong, I still believed that Akira was right and we did need to pay a visit to Poison's home.

"I believe Akira is relating to these," Mr Stockley smirked victoriously, as he handed Yuki a black remote-control-looking-thing that had a screen, various colourful buttons and a metallic antenna at the top of it. "This will allow you to track energy. Energy of any sort will be detected on these energy radars and will let you conclude if the energy is a threat or not. Monsters will have massive energy sources, and with the power that Poison has, her energy should still be within the lair, considering how long she spent hiding there,"

"I am still confused," Yuki sighed, "How is this going to help Felix?"

"By tracking energy, you can determine when was the last time Poison stepped foot into her hide-out. The stronger the energy, the sooner the time, Yuki. You can also detect which way they had travelled or left, and can get a general direction to where Poison's new location is," Akira smiled.

"What will Mr Stockley and I do, Akira?" Jake said in a strong voice; startling everyone. No one really expected Jake to actually follow Akira's orders.

"Mr Stockley, your job is to distract International Troop. We do not want them coming around and interrupting our mission. They think we are uncapable of this- but they are wrong. We have just had bad luck along the way, and now, we will be correcting our ways to make this situation right. Jake- go with Hayley and Yuki. They will need your back-up,"

"Definitely," Jake winked at Yuki and I, while we both rolled our eyes.

Yuki walked over to Mr Stockley's car and grabbed her plasma cannon, while she tossed me another mini-laser gun. Mr Stockley stayed silent until the rest of us attached new weapons to our harnesses and readied ourselves for the battle we knew was quickly approaching.

"Wait," Mr Stockley cleared his throat; the rest of us turning around and looking at the Lakewood Troop Adviser that had helped us oh-so-much throughout the whole mission. "You'll be needing these,"

He threw over some flat pieces of metal and fortunately, all five of us managed to catch them successfully. Before we could ask what they were, Mr Stockley spoke up.

"Anti-gravitational skateboards," he laughed, "They'll make travelling easier and faster for you guys. Now what are you waiting for? Go and kick some monster butt! I'll delay International Troop for as long as I can,"

We all chuckled with him, and with one final glance at the wrecked diner, we were all on our way. Keiko and Akira were heading back to his place to look for the correct frequency to track the Vortex, Poison and Felix, while the rest of us travelled to Poison's lair.

I placed my skateboard on the ground and it suddenly lifted a good few centimetres off the ground. I gasped a little and looked to my left to see Yuki getting onto the new skateboard. She leaned forward, as if on a real skateboard, and it suddenly zoomed forward. Instead of screaming with fright, Yuki only giggled crazily. It did look fun, so I mustered enough courage to get on the skateboard.

"You can't fall off it, Hayley," Jake smiled warmly at me unexpectedly, so my heart skipped a beat when I saw him beside me. "So hurry up,"

I shot him a glare, but amusement couldn't be hidden from my eyes. I got on the skateboard and although it was quite terrifying at first, as it flew forward, I soon got accustomed to it. Even when sometimes, I had pitiful balance and was traveling sideways, I still wouldn't fall off. I didn't think Jake really knew what he was talking about when he said I couldn't fall off because he himself hadn't gotten on it yet; in fact, I think he only said it to make me feel better. That, or he used it as a way to tell me politely to quicken my pace, considering I was riding my skateboard behind everyone else- even when I was the only one who knew where Poison's lair was, so I should've been leading.

"I'm guessing that's it," muttered Jake when he saw a gloomy, dirty building of only three stories tall.

"You'd be guessing right," I remarked; clearly entertained.

"You were kidnapped to this, excuse my language: hell-hole?" Yuki said with disgust, as she glanced up and and down the building.

"To be fair, I was inside the whole time and...actually, I take that back. Where I was kept with Felix was worse than this. It was like a prison," I explicated; my voice broke at the last word of my sentence.

Yuki wrapped an arm around my form, but our skateboards clattered together with a loud bang and Jake winced and started to complain about us being more careful. Yuki and I only laughed, and my temporary upset mood had completely dissolved.

Jake jumped off his skateboard first and placed it in his bag. Yuki and I soon followed; the three of us all taking whatever weapons we had and prepared to enter the building, cop-style. Sometimes, I felt like I was more part of the police than the Troop. I patted myself on the back internally for my partly-funny joke. Hayley Steele wasn't exactly known for her jokes, so I definitely wanted to improve in that aspect.

I grabbed both mini-laser guns and held one of each in my hand; prepared for anything that we could've found behind the doors. Jake looked devilishly handsome- I meant, ready for any danger with his freeze ray, and Yuki had this fearless expression on her pretty face as she held onto the energy tracker and plasma cannon tightly.

With a strong and silent kick, Jake's foot parted the doors as the three of us rushed in with our weapons ready to shoot. We immediately heard a crazy beeping sound from behind us, and I spun around on my heel and aimed at where it was coming from.

"Whoa, calm down Hayley," Jake hushed, "It's only Yuki's energy tracker. I think Akira's plan is working,"

I walked over to Yuki and studied the device. There was a little needle that displayed how high the levels of energy were in its environment. It was pointing towards the low end though, so the energy here was cold. Poison had left quite a while ago.

"Dead end," Yuki sighed, "The energy reading here is less than three monster joules,"

"We can't give up. Let's look around and see if the energy levels change at all," Jake said as he rushed up the creaky stairs, "Wait, Hayley, where did you and Felix stay?"

"I'm almost positive we were locked down in the basement," I answered, as I saw Jake's face beam up. "What are you thinking, Collins?"

"Gut feeling," he exclaimed excitedly; rushing down the stairs that lead to under the ground, "Come on guys!"

Yuki shrugged at me as she raced down the stairs and followed Jake. I just groaned, and ran after them. The attic was brighter than I had remembered it. The windows were opened this time; as if clearing the dusty, thick atmosphere. The floor was still dirty and muddy, and water continued to leak from various pipes that stuck out of the beige-stained walls. Jake's jaw clenched and I heard him grit his teeth with fury.

"That monster made you suffer here?" he spat, as birds from the darker corners of the room fluttered out the windows from the growl that erupted from his throat.

"Jake...not the time to-"

The sudden, noisy beeping from Yuki's energy tracker cut me off. It seemed Jake had forgotten about me as he turned around and glanced over her shoulder to see what the commotion was.

"Over twenty monster joules of energy here- belonging to Poison, most likely. It's still too small for this to be the Vortex," observed Yuki as she showed Jake and I the screen and its needle shaking vigorously around the twenty mark of the scale.

A second sound was heard; this time, the ringing of Jake's watchcom. Everyone looked towards the device attached to his wrist. He gave a small nod to the rest of us as he pressed the 'accept call' button and listened to whatever news Akira might have to deliver.

"Hello?"

"Oh thank God it is you, Jake!" Akira sighed with relief as we heard Keiko delightfully in the background.

"What's wrong? And what's going on? Have you found the frequencies yet?" he questioned intently.

"Nothing is wrong," Keiko spoke up, "We are very lucky to have found Felix's logbook, because yes, we have found the frequency to open up a potential portal,"

"What Keiko said is correct. I think with this code, you should all be able to use the frequency discharger to go straight to where Poison is," Akira chimed in, "Oh and what about the energy tracker? Any luck with that?"

"We can tell Poison has definitely been in the basement- the same place she held Felix and Hayley prisoner, recently. And by recently, by my calculations, would be sometime between the past hour or so; and now," Yuki replied.

"So basically, after she took Felix, she came here..." I commented, as Jake gave me a sharp nod; his face mixed with various emotions, "My question is...why would she come here?"

"Do not mess this up. You only have one chance to open up the portal; you can only open one every twelve hours," Keiko said, as she typed up the frequency and sent it over to Jake via message, " And I have no idea Hayley, but we will find out. Open the portal and let us ask her ourselves,"

"Not before I pound her," Jake scowled.

"Agreed," Akira chuckled darkly.

"Ok you boys, settle down," Keiko giggled, "Akira and I will meet you in half an hour at Poison's hide-out. We will track the location via your watchcom, Jake. We hope to see you soon,"

With a brief goodbye, Akira and Keiko's faces disappeared from Jake's watchcom's screen and we realised what we had to do now. Felix's life, our lives and the world's lives all depended on this one and next action we had to perform.

We had to open a portal.

"How the hell do you open a portal?" Jake groaned defeatedly, as he slid down the wall he was leaning against, onto the floor.

"I have an idea," I smiled, "Not sure it'll work, but hey, it's worth a try, right?"

Yuki nodded as she pulled a reluctant Jake up from the floor. He crossed his muscular arms across his chest and looked at me expectantly with his intense brown eyes. I tried to concentrate on what my plan was, but staring at Jake didn't exactly help. Immediately, I averted my gaze from him and focused on a smirking Yuki.

"Enter the code that Keiko and Akira sent over into the frequency discharger, Yuki," I instructed, while Yuki nodded and did just that. Jake read out the numbers for Yuki as she did this.

I wasn't completely sure that this was going to work- heck, I didn't even know you could open portals through codes and frequency dischargers. But Felix; one of my fellow Troop members, and a friend, was in jeopardy, and I wasn't ready to give up on him. If it was me out there in the unknown worlds of evil with Poison, I doubt Felix would've stopped when things got difficult.

Ever since the Lakewood Troop had stepped onto Japanese soil, we've had some bad-times. Fall-outs, break-ups and make-outs; we had all been through it. But we had all lived through each of the unfortunate events that was thrown at us. And that's when I knew it- I knew that all this was meant to happen. I was meant to kiss Jake while he had Leanne; Felix was meant to be kidnapped; Gavin was meant to make me fall for him; Akira was meant to get hurt and Keiko and Yuki were meant to keep secrets from each other. This made all of us grow, not only physically, but emotionally too. I suddenly felt lighter at my epiphany and smiled to myself. Even if Jake and Yuki were doubting my plan right now, I had enough hope in my heart that this would work.

It had to work.

The frequency discharger started to vibrate violently within Yuki's small hands. She gasped a little but Jake placed a heavy hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"Great," I clapped my hands together as I inspected the device, "Now press...that green button. That seems about right,"

"Are you sure about this, Hayley?" Yuki murmured softly as she looked at me with those big, pleading brown eyes of hers.

"No, Yuki, I'm not," I laughed weakly, "But I'm following my gut,"

Yuki released her grip on the frequency discharger as Jake took it from her shaking hands. He rubbed his hand along her arm in a comforting gesture, and my heart tugged a little. I knew Yuki loved Felix and Jake...well, I didn't exactly know who Jake belonged with, but seeing Jake act so nice and warm around her made me a tad jealous. I turned around and faced the brick wall as I felt my eyebrows furrow. Without turning around, I heard Jake take a deep breath in- which showed his uncertainty of my plan. But within a second, a loud click erupted from his finger pressing down on a little green button that could've changed anything and everything.

A icy blue light shot from the metallic antenna from the device, as it rammed itself against the wall. Unexpectedly, it expanded into this massive whirlpool of colours- including bright magentas to blazing oranges and lush greens. We watched the portal open in awe.

"We did it!" I laughed hysterically as Jake and Yuki laughed along frantically.

We jumped around in a circle for what seemed like hours; tears leaking out of Yuki's eyes. I felt like something had finally gone right in this wild adventure. I smiled adoringly at Jake who just grinned back at me with extreme pride.

But before we knew it, the portal started to shrink. Jake noticed it and warned us. The happiness left our systems as we discussed what to do, without panicking too much.

"We need to enter the portal, now!" I advised, but the two disagreed.

"Akira and Keiko will be here soon, so we must wait for them," Yuki said rationally as she wiped her tears out of her clear eyes.

"Besides, we have no idea what the impacts of going through a portal are. There could be some serious side-effects; both physically and mentally. I've heard of time-travelers who go insane from-"

"We're not time-travelers, are we, Jake?" I stressed, "We're members of the Troop. And one of our team mates are in the hands of someone who could kill him!"

"Well I can't let you go in there by yourself, can I, Hayley? And if I do come with you, Yuki needs back-up too. What if Poison decides to return back to her lovely basement?" he snapped.

I ignored Jake, because I knew he was right. Entering the portal could be very risky, but not entering it could also be equally as risky. Waiting another twelve hours would mean a dead Felix, and I wasn't willing for that to happen.

"Try to keep the portal open, Yuki. There must be some button on that thing that can stop it from closing," I commanded as I saw Jake open his mouth to protest when I approached the portal, "And no, Jake- I won't be going in. I'm just trying to see if there's anything in there, and if I can somehow keep it open until Akira and Keiko arrive,"

"Fine," Jake groaned, "I'll call Akira and see when he's arriving. Uh...Yuki, I don't think you should-"

Suddenly, the portal's strength rose dramatically. It started to suck dangerously, almost like a vacuum cleaner taking in various particles of dust, and I felt myself being pulled in.

"Jake! Yuki! Help!" I screamed; panic filling my voice, as my feet skid against the dirty floors so I couldn't pull myself away from the portal.

Jake immediately released his wrist with his watchcom on it and with his strong hands, tried to grab mine. I stretched my arms out as far as they could go, and by this time, I was desperate for them to touch Jake's. Hope began to run out as I became terrified that I'd be leaving my friends.

"Yuki! Shut this portal off!" Jake roared.

"I can not!" she yelped, "Grab her and pull her in before-"

My fingertips touched his softly and he tried to hold onto them, but didn't. My heart broke a little when I realised I missed his warm touch; and it broke even more when I realised what this meant for me, in relation to my life. My feet lifted off the ground and Jake cried out my name. I shut my eyes tight and I heard Yuki shriek with terror, while I fell into the kaleidoscope, butt first, of monsters and magic.

–

Longer chapter than usual huh? Makes up for the last chapter that was shorter than usual(:
Hope you guys like this chapter and PLEASE REVIEW FOR A FASTER UPDATE!
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