Chapter 15: Trouble! Trouble! Why…There's Even Double!

Veran's P.O.V

I often wondered about where my life would take me, although, having a tail & animal ears kinda hinders that but, I still tried to live an average life.

"Veran! Stop daydreaming & send an electric current through the water!" Kratos yelled. I quickly did as I was told & placed my fingers on the water, I watched as several fish popped out of the water, twitching. "You put too much into it!" Kratos snapped at me. Ever since Neku & I met Kratos I've been through nothing but Elemental Training (E.I. for short) & only got to see each other at night. Even then I'd be too tired to get past saying 'hi' to each other before we fell asleep.

"Sorry!" I said. "I'm having a hard time putting out a little bit. Besides, it's not like putting out a lot of electricity drains me." I let the electricity in my body make itself visible around me as I increased my bioelectrical output.

"That is not the intention of this exercise." Kratos sighed. "I realize that, even though you are able to do things with your Element that even our best Instructors can't do, you can do it without effort. The point of this exercise is to be able to control it completely. That way you'll have a lower chance of losing control & hurting somebody with it."

"I know, I know…" I replied. "It's just, this is so boring!" I sat down, ignoring the angry look on Kratos' face. "I mean, can't I ever have a break from this & go explore or something?"

"If I were to give you a full day off of training every two days, would you give me your word to train without complaining?" He asked.

"Absolutely!" I cheered, sitting up. "So when do I get my break?"

"Tomorrow." Kratos replied.

"Aww, man…" I groaned. I looked at Kratos again. "Fine. I agree." I held out my hand & he took it. Kratos yelped & jumped away as I shocked him. "I can't believe you fell for the old electric handshake!" I burst out laughing; it was cut short however by a smack on the back of the head. Courtesy of Kratos Aurion, of course.

Riana's P.O.V

"Hey!" I said, walking over to the bewildered green-haired Human.

"Yes?" The guy replied, placing a hand on his hip.

"Are you looking for someone?" I asked. "You're looking around an awful lot."

"Well, I'm actually waiting for someone. You see, I'm supposed to meet up with someone who can help me with my abilities. I was told she's a 'Chaos' Instructor, whatever that means." He said, shrugging at the last sentence.

"Oh…" I snickered. "Well then, you must be waiting for me. Name's Riana, pleasure to meet ya."

"Are you sure? I mean, you can't be older than 16 years old." He had a bewildered look on his face.

"I'm positive. You see, I'm the only girl 'Chaos' Instructor. Here, I'll show you." I lifted my hand up & shot a beam of Chaos energy at the nearby statue, destroying it. "But you're right; I'm only like fifteen years old. I am the strongest girl Anthro here though. And I am the second strongest girl at Eternia." I giggled as the boy blinked dumbly.

"Okay then, I guess I am waiting for you. My name's Neku, Cadence told me to come see you after she identified what my 'abilities' were." He held out his hand.

"I see…" I shook hands with him & gestured for him to follow me. "This is gonna be intense training, are you ready for it?" I saw him nod as we entered the Neko section of Eternia. "That's good. Now, you'll have to do what I say; no matter what, got it?" I asked. He nodded again.

"Where exactly are we going?" He asked, looking around. I opened the door in front of me. "Isn't this someone's room?" He said as he looked at the floor which was covered in clothes & garbage.

"Yeah, it's mine…" I sighed. "Now get cleaning." He looked at me, to see if I was joking. "I'm serious! And you have to use your hands. That means no cleaning tools."

"Why the hell do I have to clean?" He snapped.

"Figure it out…" I sat down on the couch after lifting everything off with Chaos energy & scattering it around the room. "You have an hour." I laid down on the couch & started to read my book. Neku just stood there & stared. "Get started!" I roared at him, throwing the book at him. "If you don't like my method of teaching then you can take it up with Kratos! I'm positive he'll agree with me." Neku sighed & very reluctantly got to work on cleaning my room.

Noctis' P.O.V

I raised my hand, grabbing a blade as it came towards me. The hedgehog in front of me placed his hands on his headband. The metal encasing it split into two pieces. One piece formed a staff almost as soon as his hand touched it. The other became a sheet underneath his feet. He began to rise, slowly, until he was no more than a meter off of the ground.

"Sure you don't want to reconsider this?" James asked. "I'll gladly give you the spot available for the Master Essence Instructor. I don't want to fight you anyways, too much of a hassle." He sighed.

"No," I shook my head. "I would prefer to fight you for it. I do not wish to take the position if the person they chose is more capable." I took a ready stance. "So please, let's start."

"Alright…" James sighed. "But I won't go easy on you." He shot towards me. I knocked him over with one of the weapons still hovering above me. I ran after him, slashing when I got close. He rolled out of the way, hitting the back of my knees in the process. I gasped in pain & fell forward, landing on my all fours. I was scooped off of the ground as the sheet of metal wrapped itself around my stomach. It spun me around slowly until I was facing James, he was smiling. I sent a glaive towards him, hitting him in the stomach. He bowled over, but the metal didn't loosen.

I cursed in my head a couple of times. I was spinning around rapidly now, the metal loosening slowly.

"Whoa!" I screamed as I slipped out of the metal. I bounced off of the ground, hitting a wall. My head was spinning, I felt sick & the room was still spinning to me.

"Your eyes are shaking like crazy!" James laughed as I got up, wobbly. "You sure you should stand…?" I dry-heaved a couple of times. "You look like you're going to…" And finally, I threw up on the floor. "Never mind. Anyways, still want to continue?" I nodded, unable to talk. I grabbed the sword above me & readied myself.

Veil's P.O.V

"Are you Scourge?" The silver hedgehog next to me spoke into the intercom.

"Who's there?" The one called Scourge replied. "What do you want?"

"My name is Rain." My companion said. "We are here to release you." I saw Scourge shuffle around inside the cell that confined him.

"Finally…" He responded, getting to his feet. I noticed that his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. "Well? What're you waitin' for? Let me out!" I pushed the button on the door, opening it. After several seconds we heard a whirring noise & then a green blur sped out through the doorway & headed straight towards Rain!

"You shouldn't…" Rain yelled, grabbing the ball with both hands. "Take me lightly!" He kicked Scourge into the wall, & brushed his hands together. "Now are you going to co-operate? Or do I have to knock more sense into you?"

"This is the one who'll help me get what I want?" I asked, eyeing the green runt. "He doesn't look tough at all. I mean, you took him out with a kick." I sighed.

"Well, he is never wrong about this type of thing." Rain said. "So if he says this is our guy, then this is our guy." He sighed. "Anyways, he's all yours, later!" He crossed his arms & disappeared.

"Who is he?" Scourge growled, getting to his feet. I gestured for him to follow & we walked back to my 'outpost'.

"The one who contacted you earlier." I said. "Apparently, we need your assistance for this."

"And if I refuse?" Scourge snarled. "What'll you do then?" I dashed behind him & held a knife to his throat.

"Then I'll kill you…" I sighed. "Then we'll find someone to replace you. Won't be too hard, I'm sure. Besides, no one will miss a criminal here." I released him & sheathed the knife.

"How did you do that?" Scourge gasped. "I didn't even see you move!"

"It's an ability I was born with." I replied as we approached. 'Lyndis' was waiting for us in the doorway.

"Is he going to work with us?" She asked. I noticed her arm twitching, ready to spring into action. Scourge whistled.

"Damn! How did you hook up with a chick like this?" He asked, surveying her. I chuckled as she smacked him in the back of the head.

"Yeah, he'll co-operate." I sat down in the chair at my desk. "Scourge…" He looked at me as I addressed him, in a slightly superior tone. "You'll need to where these…" I tossed him a pair of handcuffs. "Whenever someone comes by."

"Why!?" He snarled, glaring at me. "I already agreed to work with you!"

"For the sake of appearance…" I took out another pair of handcuffs. "They will limit your Chaos Energy use while they are on. But!" I snapped the last word as Scourge got ready to chuck them out the window. "They will also keep you out of that jail cell you hate so much & keep us under the radar."

"Fine…" Scourge sighed, defeated. "I'll wear your flicking little handcuffs."

"Thank you…" I said. "Now for the first thing on our agenda…" I grimaced. "We have to help the other five."

"Now we're helping people!?" Scourge cursed loudly. "I'm seriously starting to reconsider this whole co-operation thing."

"Relax…" Lyndis said. "You'll enjoy this kind of help." She giggled. "So, who's first?"

Zephyren's P.O.V

We'd been told that the tournament would be held after they had chosen a fifth warrior for us to fight since one of them was unable to make it at the scheduled time. Two days had passed since then & I had some time to relax. I wanted to spend some time with Keira, but I was told she was unable to see me because Cadence had taken her under her wing (literally!) & was helping her control her elemental abilities & beast transformation.

I decided that now was as good of a time as any to learn how to control my 'Hyper Beast Form' as Reikourin called it. I remembered that the seal on Nexion had weakened & I blamed Reikourin for that. I assumed that the reason Nexion could not possess me again was because the seal was still in place. But this time it only made it so I couldn't be possessed, I could still converse with him.

"So you finally figured it out?" Nexion jeered. "Good for you! You must like my power to want to use that other form."

"Shut up!" I said in my head. "I don't want your power, but I might as well make use of it." I sighed. I really didn't like having a voice in my head. Especially when that voice hopes for your downfall so it can use your body to do what it wants.

"You've got it all wrong, Zephyren…" Nexion said, answering my thoughts. "I don't want to use you for my own ends."

"Oh really?" I replied sarcastically. "Then explain why you went psycho when you first got released a couple of days ago?" (* See Chapter 6)

"I merely tried to help you achieve your deepest desire." Nexion said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That was quite the opposite I think…" I snapped. "Because my deepest desire is to be rid of you!"

"No…" Nexion sighed. "Your deepest desire was & still is to have everyone bowing to you." I shook my head & he just laughed. "Deny it all you want Zephyren. But I know the real you. More than I would like sometimes."

I ignored him afterwards. I just concentrated on using my power…no, his power & caused the wings to sprout from my back. It hurt a little bit, but the pain didn't last long. I flapped them a few times to make sure they worked & then I took off. Flying around the grounds, letting the wind blow into my face, it was more relaxing than anything I had known. I landed in one of the towers a couple of minutes later. I felt the wings fold into my back, disappearing. It stung where the new bones had connected to my back moments ago, but other than that it was all good.

I found myself wondering about who the fifth Instructor would be in the next Trial. We had been told that we were fighting Xion, Tifa, Freya & Riku. It was a fairly even match-up. I looked down on the ground to see a female hedgehog walking around. She looked at me & waved. I waved back & a strong wind came by. I stumbled a bit but kept my balance. The next thing I knew, there was a pair of hands on my back & they shoved me out of the window!

Jenn's P.O.V

As if my day wasn't bad enough! First off, I accidentally set the Instructors desk on fire in my class thus, getting me the punishment of having to do community hours. Second, I spilt the water I was using to clean the floor for my hours spilt & caused another student to get a broken arm, getting me more hours to do. And now there was a person falling off of a tower straight towards me! He had turned into a bird-type thing but he was falling to fast to move his wings.

I acted quickly & brought out the Chaos Emerald I had received from Dimethos earlier. The emerald glowed as time stoppe. I ran over to the store rooms I had been cleaning earlier, remembering the ladder that was stored there. I grabbed it & turned…knocking everything over again! I groaned, I was gonna have to clean that up later. No time for complaining now though!

I ran back & placed the ladder at the foot of the tower. Climbing up it, I saw that the time had not stayed stopped (if that makes sense). It was now moving really slow (probably from me knocking over the things in the storage room). I waited several minutes (though, time-wise it couldn't have been more than several seconds) until the person was parallel to me. Then I reached out & grabbed him. He was kept moving, his shirt ripping in my hands, & he kept falling! I panicked & raced towards the ground, waiting for him to get close enough. I jumped up & caught him, feeling the true momentum of the wind as time went back to normal.

He returned to normal as I placed him on the ground & he looking around confused. "Did you catch me?" He asked.

"Well duh!" I replied. "Who else was down here to see you fall?" He looked around as I said that. "Everyone else is still in class."

"Good point." He glared back up at the window. I looked up to but couldn't see anything. "Thanks for the help." He turned back to me & held out his hand. "My name's Zephyren."

"Jennifer the Hedgehog." I replied. "Please to meetcha." I looked at the ladder & remembered the mess I had made. "Oh no!" I groaned.

"What?" He asked, looking worried.

"I made a mess when I went to get that ladder to help you & now I'll have to clean it up!" I cried, remembering my earlier efforts to clean the room.

"That's why my shirt is ripped." He exclaimed. "Well, I'll help you out." I looked at him hopefully, praying he wasn't just saying that. "After I get another shirt that is." He turned & jogged away, returning a couple of minutes later in new clothes. "By the way..." He said; a puzzled look on his face. "You didn't see anyone in the window after I fell did you?" I shook my head. "Strange. I could have sworn I saw a guy with silver hair." His frown turned to a smile. "Best not dwell on it. Come on, that room won't clean itself!"

James' P.O.V

I had beaten Noctis shortly after he had readied himself. All I had to do was make a dome around him & cause him to pass out from lack of air. He had woken after a few minutes.

"Are you happy now?" I asked. I was still kind of annoyed that he made me waste time fighting him. "Or do we have to do it again?"

"They did choose someone better." Noctis nodded. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to fight you though." He stood up & headed for the door, his weapons hovering behind him. I looked at my watch.

"A whole hour wasted…" I sighed. "Well, at least we consumed some time. I would have preferred something else to spend it on though. Wouldn't you agree Myra?" I looked up to see the transparent image of a teal-haired woman appear."

"You seemed to enjoy making use of your abilities, James." She giggled. "And you didn't even use my powers!" She placed her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, yeah…" I sighed, heading for the doorway to Eternia. "Let's just hope this whole Calibur Instructor thing is worth it."

"Remember, when we first met?" Myra asked. "You had trouble manipulating things without feeling stressed out."

"Yeah, I remember…" I groaned. "Eggman had beaten the stuffing out of me for sending a very sharp pipe into his blueprints & several of his machines..." I rubbed the back of my head.

"You insignificant little rodent!" The Professor cried. "How dare you destroy my work!" He raised his hand & hit me to the ground. "You aren't good for anything! I can't even use you for my Androids!" He kicked every word at me & I blanked out.

"You have to fight back!" A girl cried. "You can't let him pick on you anymore! Use your powers against him!" When I came to I was in a city. The nearby sign read Megalo City.

"Megalo? This can't be it…" I groaned as I stood up & looked around. "It was destroyed two hundred years ago!" Regardless I got up & walked to the nearby restaurant. When I entered several people looked at me as if I was a ghost.

"Are you okay pal?" The man behind the counter said. "You look like you cut yourself pretty badly." I gestured that I was fine & headed to the bathroom to see what he was talking about. What I saw in the mirror was terrifying. My normally droopy quills were spiked up with a red substance in them. I ran my hand through it & tasted the stuff. It was blood!

I turned in the mirror & noticed several cuts on my back, legs, & arms. I was about to scream, but then I remembered that I was in a public place & me screaming after coming in all bloodied up probably wasn't the best idea. As such, I took out a lot of paper towels & washed myself off. The cuts had stopped bleeding & now looked like minor wounds.

"We have to get out of here." I heard the girl's voice again. "Rip off that piece of metal on the wall & fly out of here. Quickly."

"Who're you?" I said, looking around. "And where are you!"

"My name's Myra…" The girl spoke. "Now hurry! That man probably called the cops…"

"We've been through a lot since then…" Myra said as I opened the door to Cadence's office & sat down. "Haven't we?" I nodded & laid back on the couch, closing my eyes. "I'll wake you when she comes in, okay?" I nodded again & drifted into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 15 END!