CHAPTER EIGHT

Cody let out a sigh as he slowly moved his arms in a tai-chi move. He found it to be very helpful when he still had his powers, it helped him mentally and physically, and it even made him a bit stronger. He did it now just so there was a sense of normalcy in his life. He had first seen tai chi moves being done online, searching for a way to stay healthy while he was on the ship and didn't want to be embarrassed at the gym, Zack had made fun of him at first, but after he had seen how his powers had evolved, the taunting wore off.

It was like he was moving through water. The movements were slow and calculated and his breathing matched it as well. He was calm, cool, and collected, moving along with the breeze that passed through Liberty Park. Cody took in the scent through a deep breath in his nose, the scent of pine tickling his nose, reminding him of all of the times that he had spent at the park having picnics with his family or hanging out with his friends or sparring with them.

He couldn't help but think back to their last battle against Gattaca, part of him, at the time, thought that the battle was way too easy. He and Zack had just learned about the prophecy and the next thing he knew, his friends had seemingly switched sides from a plan they had concocted months in advanced, and Gattaca was gone.

Simple.

It was too simple.

Cody closed his eyes as he let out another breath, slowly extending his right leg in front of him. Where was he? Oh yes, then they thought that their guardians were taken away from them along with their powers and they decided to live like normal teenagers. The Earth decided to laugh at them at that point, and now everything was slowly coming back, but with a twist, their guardians were being controlled by someone or something. And the government was on their tails as well as people starting to find out about them on the news.

Cody faltered as he spun on the balls of his feet, almost falling over. His eyes snapped open and he quickly shook his head, getting back into focus. Balance was the key; all of his worried thoughts weren't keeping him balanced.

His arms dropped to his sides as he thought about the prophecy once more.

The one with the eyes red as fire, the one with the eyes shocking as sea, the ones whose inheritance the white pure blade. To voyage eighteen years from since they'd come, or the world in their hands would cease to become.

"Wait," Cody frowned as he slowly lowered his arms, opening his eyes. He thought hard. "Eyes as red as fire?" He shook his head as something slowly came to him. "His eyes aren't red." He murmured. His fingers started to flutter against his sides, his heart thudding against his chest. "Zack's eyes aren't red, not even when he's using a lot of power."

Cody reached down and started to roll up his yoga mat, his quick movements causing it to become bunched up. In exasperation, he picked it up, violently folded it, and grabbed his shoes before he started to lightly jog out of the park, running only when he hit the concrete sidewalk.

Zack's eyes aren't red…

The thought come running through his head until he finally came to the startling conclusion. The Prophecy didn't come true…

A/N: Sorry this chapter was short, but I needed to do it after I realized the same thing that Cody did in this chapter. So that's why it's sort of a filler, but it's still important to everything.

On that note, I have been asked recently to start up my episode collections Grow Up and Just Another Day in Paradise once more. I've thought about doing that for a while, but I have some reservations about it. If I did start them up again, they'd be updated very, VERY slowly but there were a lot of storylines that I thought would have been good with my characters in it (for example the SLOD episode: Party On!). But there were others I didn't like at all or thought were pointless to the series and I don't really like leaving them out. So, your thoughts on that would be appreciated.

Cheers,

-Riles