CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Core finally made it to the airport. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to get out of Boston easily. He was sure that he had tabs on him for as long as he had been around WingzCorp. That was why he didn't go to the airport right away. He knew that he was being followed too; he could always tell whenever someone was following him so it didn't surprise him that Bailey and Tapeworm were there. He was slightly surprised that it wasn't Zack and Cody, but he knew that there had to be an explanation for it.

Core looked down at his hands as he waited for his flight to be called. He needed to go to DC to see what he could do to fix everything that was going on. It was his fault in the first place, if he hadn't hacked into their system and stumbled upon the elementals they wouldn't be in this predicament. He wouldn't be the man that he was, some of his best friends wouldn't have been murdered, and everyone else that he came into contact with wouldn't be constantly hunted down.

He rested his chin in his hand and thought hard about what he was going to do. Essentially, he was going to give up his freedom. A couple of years ago, he would have never thought about doing something like this. But now he knew that it was what he needed to do. He just hoped that he wouldn't regret it later.

"Flight 8318 to Washington, DC is now boarding."

Core got to his feet, his ticket held tightly in his right hand. He moved to stand in line with the other passengers that were getting on the flight. The only thing that made him stand out from the other people in line was that he didn't have any bags. He didn't need any because he wasn't sure if he was going to go back.

"So, have you figured out what this is yet?"

Christian resisted the urge to roll his eyes before sitting up straight. His back screamed in pain as he moved it into an upright position. He had been working all night long and his limbs were starting to rebel against him. He rubbed his neck, waiting for the woman to move to his side. She had been watching him like a hawk since he had been put in that room, constantly asking him whether or not he had finished with his studies.

They had brought him a microscope, tweezers, a magnifying glass, a Bunsen burner, beakers, water, Petrie dishes, everything that he could possibly use to figure out what the gem had been made out of. It had taken about five different experiments that failed before he finally got the answers that they were looking for. He had never seen anything like it before and he had seen so many strange things were the elementals were concerned since he had first found out about it.

"I might have figured out what it is," Christian said slowly, grimacing as the woman moved the head of the lamp so the light shone directly into Christian's face. "I didn't have all of the necessary equipment to figure out what it is in its entirety, but I can give you a guess as to what the compounds are."

"Alright, what is it then?" the woman asked, leaning closer to Christian.

"It's a plant," Christian replied calmly. "It's made up of dirt, leaves, stems, flower petals and it's all compounded into this one…thing."

"But where did it come from?" The woman lowered her voice. "We have searched everywhere and there is nothing like this that has ever been created on this planet. We would know it. And we know that you have something to do with this."

"I don't have a thing to do with this," Christian denied.

"You're involved," the woman continued to speak. "And we know that you've been involved for years. We have it tracked, everything that you've done since these instances started, you've been there. So why don't you just go ahead and tell us what we want to know."

Christian stayed silent.

Mentally, he wondered if there was actually a lot that they knew. It was possible; they probably had the means to know whenever their systems were being hacked into. It was even more of a possibility that they had been tracked over the years so they could be brought to this moment right here and now. Halo Syndicate did the same thing, they followed Core everywhere before they were revealed that it was just Gattaca using human bodies as vessels to try and spread darkness to earth as well as try to further complicate the balance between the element world and earth.

But there was still the possibility.

They should have been more careful.

The woman seemed to notice the panic in Christian's silence for she grinned. It was like a smile that a little kid would have when he saw all of his cake, ice cream, and presents on his birthday. She had something. Christian started to turn around when he heard the door to the room open, but he cried out in pain when the woman grabbed his hair and forced him back around.

"You should have just told me what I wanted to know in the first place," The woman said. "Get him out of here."

Christian's arms were forced behind his back once more and a rag was pulled over his eyes and knotted behind his head. He was then forced out of his chair and he was led out of the room.

"Ok, so what's your plan?" Maddie asked as Julius walked up to her.

"Shh!" He reached out a hand and slapped it over her mouth, making sure that anyone that passed couldn't hear their conversation. "Ok, to get in, that's going to be easy. But as soon as we get to his office and try to find what we're looking for, that's going to be the problem."

"What are we looking for exactly?" Maddie asked, her brows lowering. "I don't think you've ever told me about that."

"We're looking for clues to know where the Element Stones are," Julius explained quickly. "As with just about any other artifact that can be tired to the element world, it can be used for good or evil depending on what you need it for. There are a few of them, I don't know how many there are, but it will be beneficial if we find them."

"And you think that you can find it where your father worked?" Maddie looked skeptical.

"Our thought is that since my father was so respected here, that the people wouldn't have touched his office," Julius winced, knowing how they were going to be working on a slim chance of success. "As sort of like homage to him, like what some parents do if their kids are kidnapped or killed or something. We were thinking that I we can get to his computer, we can find whatever it is that we're looking for. Information on the stones, where we should be able to find them, that sort of thing."

"And you think that you can find it on his computer?" Maddie asked, her eyes widening. "Even if it's there, which, frankly, would be stupid; it's probably in an encrypted file or there's a password blocking it or something."

"And that's where you come in," Julius replied.

Maddie put her face in her hands and shook her head. Talk about pressure. She was smart, she was really good with a computer, but this was really something that was for Cody. He could probably hack his way into the most locked up computer in five minutes. But he wasn't there when she needed him.

"Is it sad when I say that I would rather have my powers back than to do this?" she asked lamely.

Julius smiled and kissed her forehead. "Trust me, Mads, you can do this." He reached out and grabbed onto her hand, dragging her inside the institution. He went over to the front desk and started to talk to the receptionist. She looked around at the windows that decorated most of the building. She could see scientists and technicians walking around, talking to each other or walking with their heads bent.

If there were that many people around, how were they going to be able to get on Reed's computer and look for what they were looking for without getting caught?

"Got the passes, let's go," Julius slapped a plastic, laminated pass into her hand.

"I still think that this is going to be harder than we think," Maddie said as the two turned and started to walk towards the elevator that Julius pointed out.

"It always is," Julius replied.

The two of them suddenly stopped walking as a familiar sensation entered their bodies. They were getting their powers back, they could feel themselves growing stronger as well as their senses become clearer. Julius suddenly stumbled back a few steps as something slammed into his chest. He looked down to see Rudin clutching his shirt with his paws.

Maddie stared, her mouth dropping open.

"Ruin-"Julius started.

"Quick," Maddie grabbed onto Julius's arm and pulled him into the elevator as fast as she could. "You don't want anyone to see him or else we'll be kicked out of here and we'd have to think of a different way to get to the computer."

"You're hurt," Julius stated, looking over his guardian. There was what looked like whip marks across his back. "What happened to you?"

"The Arboris," Rudin replied, looking up at his master, his green eyes glowing. "There's something new that's taking over the Element world…we really don't know what we're up against."

Julius sighed and looked up at Maddie. "We need to find as much information on these stones as we can and quick. Or else there might not be a world left to save."

Maddie nodded in agreement.

"Bailey, wake up," Tapeworm reached over and shook Bailey's shoulder. She woke up almost immediately, her eyes flashing open. "Relax," Tapeworm held up a hand. "No one's coming, but it's your turn to keep watch, you've been sleeping for a while."

"Oh," Bailey rubbed her eyes. "Thanks."

"No problem," Tapeworm moved away from the door and switched places with Bailey, lying down on top of the desk. Bailey took Tapeworm's place, sitting in the chair. She reached into her sweatshirt pocket and held onto it tightly.

The two of them had found an empty room that they were sure that no one had used. Tapeworm had gone to the other side of the State House and when he reported back, he announced that it seemed that the army was only using half of the State House for what they needed. The other half was completely empty. Tapeworm and Bailey had gone over there and found a place to use as a room as soon as possible. At that point they didn't care about where they slept; they would think that sleeping on the floor would be a luxury. So the office was good enough. There was plenty other rooms on their wing of the State House that Tapeworm was sure that they'd find a better place to sleep as well as find something to eat.

"How much longer until morning?" Bailey asked.

"Um," Tapeworm looked at his watch. Ursa appeared next to him in his small form, in a flash of green light, and curled up into a ball next to his master. "Not much longer, probably a couple of hours. I'm thinking that as soon as it's light out, we can try and find out what's really going on around here." He crossed his arms and rested his head on it.

"Right," Bailey agreed.

The one thing that they never really knew; what was going on. Tapeworm was snoring quietly in less than five minutes, the weight of everything tiring him out. Bailey studied the gun that she held in her palm. It looked like a regular pistol, but when she opened it to look at the bullets; there were different colored ones inside.

Red, Blue, Purple, Gray, White, and Black.

If she had to guess, it probably represented different elements in each bullet.

Bailey closed the chamber of the gun and put it back into the pocket of her sweatshirt. Bailey crossed her leg as she thought for a moment. She looked up as Geneva and Gattaca appeared in front of them, looking grim.

"What's going on?" She asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to wake up Tapeworm.

"We know even less than you," Geneva replied as she kneeled down on the floor, her brother doing the same. "Our connection to the Element World is limited when we're using you as our power source." She slowly blinked. "But we can feel that something is going to happen. Some of the guardians have come back so far, the others are coming now."

"Now?" Bailey's eyes pooped open. "What if they're taken over while they try to get back to the others?"

"That wasn't the idea," Gattaca shook his head. "If whatever is controlling them wanted to control them, it would have controlled all of the guardians as they tried to get back to their master. Whoever is behind it is trying to…test its manipulative ability."

"But what we can tell you is that this person…is a lot stronger than anyone that you have ever faced," Geneva continued. She nodded over to her brother. "You thought that Gattaca was strong, this person is even stronger."

"I know that you said that you don't have a good connection with the element world when you're helping me," Bailey said slowly. "But do you have any idea of what we're actually up against? Or why whatever it is…is-"

"Trying to take over?" Gattaca interrupted. "Power corrupts people, and whoever is behind all of this feels that the power that they had before isn't up to par compared to what it is now. What I can tell you is that this person may even be stronger than Geneva and I."

"But you guys hold the power of light and darkness, what could be more powerful than that?" Bailey asked. Geneva and Gattaca bowed their heads and disappeared in flashes of white and black, going back into Bailey's body.

Bailey closed her eyes and rocked her head back and forth.

"Crys, are you ok?" Zack asked.

"Would you stop asking me that?" Crystal snapped with a glare. It was the first time that she had spoken since she had killed that guard that had attacked them. Zack, Cody, Patrick, and Aaron tried to reassure her, saying that she was just acting in self defense. But she didn't listen; she had only walked along with them, looking at her feet. "There's really no way that I can answer that question. I don't know how to feel so you're constantly bringing it up isn't helping anybody!"

"Relax," Patrick chided, holding his hands up. "We're all getting bent out of shape for nothing. Yes, it's the stress, and yes we're stepping on each other's toes, but we have to think of the greater goal that we have going on here."

"What is the greater goal exactly?" Cody asked. He stopped waling and slid to the floor, drawing his knees up to his chest. "To defeat whomever is causing all of these problems? That's the most obvious answer. But what we're not asking ourselves is what next?"

"What do you mean little brother?" Zack asked, moving to sit next to Cody.

"I mean, what happens when we defeat whatever it is that we need to defeat?" Cody continued, moving his overgrown hair out of his face. "Do our powers go away again? And if so, do they finally go away for good? Is there another enemy out there that we have to defeat? Are we ever going to fully fulfill this prophecy?"

"We won't know until we try," Patrick reminded him.

"How much longer are we supposed to try? We're being attacked by our own government now. Our tapes are being shown out there. We're going to be ostracized once this whole this over. We can't go back to being normal."

"Well, let's face it," Zack snickered. "You were never really all that normal in the first place."

"Fuck off." Cody wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his chin on them, glaring at his feet.

"Instead of asking so many questions, why don't we just-"Patrick was immediately cut off when there was a shout and then a loud banging sound. He dove to the floor, immediately covering his head. Zack, Cody, Crystal, and Aaron did the same thing, immediately recognizing the sound as gunfire. "Spoke too soon," he muttered to himself as he lifted his head.

On both ends of the hallway were a couple of men, each of them were holding onto shotguns. The menacing way that they advanced on the teens let them know that their orders were simple. Get the kids back to their cells, you were able to harm them if you needed to.

"Alright, everyone get to their feet slowly," one of the men on the right said in a loud, commanding voice.

No one moved.

"I said, get up!" They still didn't move. The man that was commanding them to go quickly lost his patience. He brought the gun up and started to focus it. He put his finger on the trigger.

Blam!

There was a cry of pain.

Zack's head quickly whipped over to look at Cody, recognizing the sound of his cry. He expected to see Cody bleeding profusely. But he only saw his brother holding onto his shoulder as if he had just dislocated it, one eye scrunched up and breathing heavily. But he didn't see any blood at all. Zack then looked up to see Blazen and Phantom towering over the group, their wings spread out widely. The way that Phantom looked, Zack could see that he had taken the bullet wound to its wing. ThunderTatsu was hovering below the ceiling, slowly moving in a circle as he glared at the men that were harming their wards.

The man that had shot at them was reloading to shoot again. The others had lifted their guns as well.

Cody quickly noticed the moisture in the air and swung his arms wide. "Rain wave!" The humidity in the air immediately changed to water droplets that rushed towards the guards.

Crystal held up her hand. "Ice shard!" Half of the water droplets combined and froze into icicles, shooting forward and sticking into the guard's arms and legs. They cried out in pain before the hard rain water buffeted them as well.

"Thunder-"

"Don't!" Zack reached out and grabbed onto Patrick's arm. "If you do that, we'll be electrocuted." He closed his eyes, glowing a bright red, and the water evaporated. He sat up, ignoring the guards that were writing on the floor from their wounds. "How'd you guys get back here?"

"A gate opened that allowed us to pass through to get to you guys," Blazen turned to his small form and landed on Zack's shoulder. "Just like when you awakened the first time."

"What happened to you over there?" Cody asked Phantom in a plea for some answers. "What was keeping you from coming back, what would take you guys over if you could?" Phantom shook his head.

"We don't even know what it was," ThunderTatsu added. "We've never seen anything like it before."

Aaron got up and walked over to Blazen, gently cupping his hands around him. The area was then illuminated in a bright white light as he closed his eyes and continued to concentrate on him. When he opened his eyes, his irises were completely white as well. The light continued to glow brighter and brighter until it suddenly went out.

"Arboris," he said as he lowered his hands. "They're not exactly human…they seem to be plants too. Something is controlling the plants." He tilted his head to the side, looking confused. "I think there's also an Element Stone in their possession."

The darkness moved faster now, it had consumed enough souls to make it almost immortal, almost, a legend had arisen that there was one in all the world who had the will, although not the power, to destroy it; but no one could find who was the destined destroyer of the ever creeping darkness…

Rhuben gasped loudly as her eyes shot open; glowing a bright purple. Her body curved in on itself as pain wracked her body. She felt cold all over; she could feel a hand take control over her body, causing her to curl up even further. All around her, everyone woke up at the sudden commotion. Reihu kneeled by her side, brushing her hair from her face and calling her name over and over again, trying to get her to respond.

Riley jumped down from the rafters of the warehouse and hurried over to her sister's side. As soon as she touched her, a small shock of purple electricity shot out and hit her hand. "Shit!" Riley waved her hand, backing up a few paces.

"What's going on?" Tora asked as the others gathered around her.

"I think she's getting a message," Reihu said quietly. All of a sudden, he stiffened and growled before jumping up and leaping forward; he flipped once in the air, turning into a lion as he landed on the ground.

"From what?" Caos looked over at Riley. "Has she gotten one of these before?"

"No," Riley shook her head. "It must be something from the Element world then," she said. Her eyebrows lowered. It can't be Gattaca; he's been restored and is with Bailey now. So what can it be?

All of a sudden she was knocked I the side and flew back a few feet from her sister. When she lifted her head, she spotted DalFang half crawling, half dragging himself in circles on the ground. Her elation of seeing her guardian quickly disappeared when she spotted the erratic way that he was behaving. Reihu leapt onto DalFang's back and nipped at his ear. Riley let out a small whimper of pain as her hand shot to her ear, feeling blood drip onto her fingers.

Rhuben stopped glowing purple and she slowly uncurled herself. The pain was still evident on her face and as he eyes returned to its normal color, the fear was evident in her eyes as well. "There's a warning," she said in a low whisper.

"What?" Shadow leaned towards her, trying to hear.

"A warning," Rhuben repeated. "The prophecy isn't going to come true. We're fighting a useless battle." She closed her eyes again and a wave of energy knocked those of WingzCorp away from her. DeathLiger then appeared at her side and used his nose to gently roll her onto her hands and knees. Rhuben squeezed her eyes shut as she breathed heavily. "God, it hurts so bad." She whimpered.

Noah moved to Rhuben's side and his arms glowed silver as he raised his hands off of the ground. Rhuben was then enveloped in wind as she was lifted off of the ground. He frowned in concentration as he tried to hold off the darkness powers the best that he could, given the circumstances.

Reihu was thrown off of DalFang's back; he landed on the ground and quickly jumped at DalFang again. This time, instead of aiming for his back, Reihu slammed into his stomach. DalFang made a loud wretching sound and shook his head. He flopped down onto his stomach and rolled around twice, before rolling onto his back. Reihu jumped forward and landed on DalFang's stomach again, before rolling to the side. DalFang coughed something out and it scattered along the floor, resting at Reihu's feet. Everyone looked at it for a moment, not wanting to believe that it was what they thought it was. That would be too revolting.

"It's a hand!" Tori cried.

Reihu bent down and gently sniffed it. He then picked it up in his jaws and tossed it over to Riley, who was breathing heavily, holding onto her stomach. She held it in her hand, grimacing, before taking a closer look at it. She tilted the hand back and forth before looking at the area where the hand would be connected with the arm. Her eyebrows rose as she reached in and pulled something out.

"It's not a human hand unless humans' arteries are actually vines," she said, pulling it out to its full length. "I think it was being controlled by something."

"Or someone," Noah added. He gently lowered his sister to the floor, seeing that she had started to calm down. "It's probably the same person that was using Rhu to deliver the message," he frowned as he cracked his knuckles. "If that's the case, then we're definitely underestimating what we're up against."

A/N: Hmm, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with a little bit of everyone, it makes it seem like the story is going much slower than it was before. Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles