Author's Note: Hi everyone, I'm really glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I've got a poll on my profile page for Sarah being in or not in my story (because I sorta lost track of the votes), please try it out, It'll really mean a lot to me! We past 3000 views last chapter! AHAHA, AMAZING!
Thank you to those who reviewed; Guest.0, The Book Queen, IwishIcouldbeNumberFive, Guest, Blah, fire8856, Guest and Ashley Sky!
Chapter Dedication: Ashley Sky – you have been very supportive with your reviews and PMs – thank you so much, you are an amazing writer and a genuinely nice person!
The Book Queen: I did try out your poll, I think I chose, Five, Eight, Devektra and John! Can't wait for the new story! :D
Guest: Navrina is Eight and Marina. One of Eight's human names was Naveen; NAVeen + maRINA = NAVRINA. :D
OK CAPTURE THE FLAG TIME!
John/Four POV
"Capture the what?" Joe says, breaking the weird silence, Sandor rolls his eyes but grins and some Cepans laugh. The Nine gather in a circle, Maren and Stan next to me, Joe and Marina next to them. The others are spread around evenly, with Emily standing next to Marina and Britney.
"Haha, Capture the Flag. It's a simple game where you are split into two teams, both teams have a 'flag' which the other team needs to get or 'capture' and bring to their respective sides" Sandor finishes, looking pretty proud that he explained a simple game to nine teenagers.
"I don't… get it" Britney says, cocking her hips and placing her hands on them. Emily laughs and covers her mouth, Stan smiles – but I think he's just smiling at Emily.
"Oh my Lore" I hear Maren mutter next to me, I grin; Britney and her have a past.
"Don't worry, you will, just go with the flow… Oh yeah, Legacies are allowed if you have any…" Sandor says, I hear Maren and Stan groan next to me, they're at a slight disadvantage, but they're quite good at hand to hand combat – if it's needed, that is.
"Can we punch people?" Stan asks, at least half the people in the Lecture Hall groan and roll their eyes,
"Yes, yes you can – but don't end up sending someone to the hospital. Oh and no groin shots on the dudes and um, uh on the girls no, um, hits near the… uh-"
"-Near the boobs, OK" Devektra says with a slight smile, cutting in and making the majority of people smirk and snicker. Sandor blushes and nods, looking relieved that his fiancee stepped in at that moment.
"OK, we will split you up into teams. You'll be called by Numbers for this game" Brandon says, stepping forward.
"Uh, guys. What are we gonna wear? Cause I'm not wearing this skirt for this game" Britney says, I roll my eyes, but she has got a point, all of us didn't really dress for Capture the Flag. Brandon smiles and ushers the Cepans forward,
"The Cepans have nicely brought your gym gear today, so hurry up and get changed. Change rooms are on the left for the girls and on the right for the guys. Let's go, let's go" Brandon says clapping his hands and ushering us to move and get dressed fast; the Cepans come forward to their Garde and give a bag. Brandon comes forward to me and hands me a bag with my gym gear in it, I smile and walk to the guys change room.
Hannu/Three POV
Randon passes me my sport clothing and I speedily go to the change room. I'm quite nervous to be honest, I don't really know any of the other Garde besides Maggie- I mean Two. I walk into the change room, it's pretty much your ordinary high school change room but with four screens on each wall, below them on two opposing walls are a row of lockers and in the middle of the room is a long seated bench, John, Joe and Stan are already in here; they're laughing and talking. I feel really insecure now, they're popular and I'm, well, not. Joe looks up and smiles,
"Hey dude, what's up?" he asks me, I think I flinch, but I answer quickly,
"Um, uh, i-I'm a bit nervous I guess" I say, placing my bag down and into a locker and getting out my clothes, he smiles, Stan grins,
"OK this game is going to be frickin awesome, I'm going to own all you're a*ses!" he says, peeling off his shirt, John laughs and Joe rolls his eyes. I find myself grinning along with them,
"You're Three, right?" John says, getting up and walking towards me, I nod and try to smile,
"I'm Four, nice to meet you. That's Eight and the idiot over there is Nine" John says, shaking my hand and pointing to Joe and Stan.
"N-nice to meet you guys" I say, getting changed.
"Ya know, for the record I like John better as my name" John says, putting on his shoes,
"I like Eight, just Eight – it reminds me of hotdogs for some reason…" Eight says, everybody laughs,
"Stan is a cool name, but Nine sounds bada*s! And I am the Ninth out of Nine" he says, flexing one arm, John telekinetically slaps his arm and packs his sport stuff away. I'm almost done tying my shoe laces,
"OK let's Capture some Flags!" John says jogging out of the change room, Eight, Nine and myself follow, walking to the centre of the Lecture Hall. The girls have already come out of their change room.
Joe/Eight POV
My heart beating pretty fast, I'm quite nervous as well, I come out of the change rooms with John, Stan and Hannu and walk into the centre. I'm surprised the girls have already gotten changed, normally they would be in there for much longer. I can't imagine the torture Maren would have gotten with Britney in the same room as her. I grin at the thought, I walk over to Marina who's smiling at me, I wrap an arm around her and smile. The boys wear just shorts and a t-shirt, Stan wears long tracksuit pants and like me a singlet top, John wears the normal t-shirt and shorts with Hannu. The girls wear either sport skirts, gym shorts or leggings, with t-shirts or tank tops.
"OK, teams-" Conrad says coming forward,
"Do we get to pick?" Stan asks,
"No"
"Please?"
"No. We will designate your teammates" Conrad says, a very small smirk making it's way to his lips. Stan groans and fake pouts, I see Emily smirk out of the corner of my eye. I look to Marina, I really hope we get put on the same team, she smiles at me and rests her head on my shoulder. I feel better now.
"Team 1; Numbers Three, Four, Seven and… Eight, go to that side" Reynolds says, holding out a clipboard, he smiles as my eyes light up – I'm on Marina's team! She seems to be excited as well, because she widely grins and silently squeals – I still find that incredibly cute. I walk with her and John and Hannu to the other side. She's smiling widely,
"Oh man, Stan is with all the girls" John says, Three chuckles to himself and starts warming up as we reach our flag. It's bright red with a Loric design on it. The other flag is blue with a different Loric design on it.
"He's probably going to try and flirt with everyone there" Marina says, grinning widely, I laugh,
"But Emily's also over there" John says, wiggling his eyebrows, Three, Marina and me crack up. I imagine Stan's having the time of his life over there.
"OK, One, Two, Five, Six and Nine – you guys are Team 2, go over there" Reynolds says, enthusiastically. I grin, then it drops when I notice something,
"Uh, guys, we're one player down. They've got one more person" I say, Hannu looks confused for a second then counts, John nods,
"Hey Brandon! The teams are uneven!" he shouts to Brandon who's already making his way into the door that leads to the Lectern above the ground. It's protected by bulletproof and reinforced glass, and it's pretty much the control room for the whole Lecture Hall. Brandon looks over before he walks in with the other Cepans,
"So?! You all have Legacies, not everyone on there has one!" he shouts back before closing the door and walking up to the glass area with everyone else. I see Reynolds, he waves and I grin. Both sides get ready, I see Emily slightly hovering and Stan getting ready for a running start, Britney is… actually looking ready, Maren and surprisingly Two are looking eager to play. I look to my side, John has lit his palms up, Three is getting ready for his running start and Marina looks as beautiful as ever- I mean she's looking ready. I blush and she looks over,
"How about a quick kiss?" she asks, I shrug and lean in, pecking her lips, they're soft and move ever so gently against mine. I want it to last forever but she pulls back and I make a show of putting a pouty face on. She laughs, which only makes me happier.
"Rules. None of the stuff I said before about hitting people in… certain… uh, places" Sandor says, I grin with some others,
"-There will be obstacles and other things that will be placed in the arena" he says as blocks and walls shift and move up from the ground into various places, hanging medicine balls swing slightly and cover spaces launch up; other objects that could potentially hurt me lay or hang around. I see Stan rubbing his hands together, I roll my eyes.
"-You can't use Telekinesis to hold the flag and no teleporting to the flag and back with it… that's you Eight" Sandor says, I grin,
"I like a challenge" I muse back, he just grins and returns to the rule board,
"You will call each other by Numbers and call a time out if you get hurt badly" he says, we all nod. I look to everybody one last time, I'm very excited, I can't believe we're all here, we have united.
"OK, you have 10 minutes to figure out a team plan and the non-lethal guns for Garde who don't have Legacies will be given to you before the game starts" Sandor says, starting his timer. Both teams quickly gather in a small circle,
"OK, what do we do?" I ask with a goofy grin, Marina smirks and Hannu and John chuckle. John speaks up,
"Eight, I want you to teleport over-"
"But they'll be expecting that" Marina counters, I nod,
"I know, that's why it's going to be a distraction. Three, when Eight teleports over I want you to use you speed mojo and create an air vacuum-"
"Is that safe?" he asks, looking a little overwhelmed,
"Not too hard, just enough so they can't see much in front of them" he says smiling. John's a good leader,
"What about me?" Marina asks, looking confused, John grins,
"You are my secret weapon"
Emily/Five POV
"Team Plan… what is it?" Britney asks, she's actually getting into this. I smile and look to Stan,
"Eight's gonna teleport over as soon as the game starts, so I guess we should prepare for that" Two says, perking up, we look to her and nod in agreement,
"One, I want you to guard this area, use your shaky-shaky stuff if anyone gets past the front line" Stan says, he's really enjoying this. One nods and smirks,
"We're going to flank them, they're out numbered-"
"But they've all got Legacies" Six counters, looking over, I nod,
"I'll take on Johnny boy with Em" Stan says, I'm surprised but smile and nod. One looks at me and gives me a small thumbs up, I blush but suppress it before Stan, I mean, Nine looks at me.
"What about Seven, she's going to be tough, she's got telekinesis" I inquire, Two nods and looks forward,
"Then we're going to light her up" Nine says, grabbing a blaster and handing it to Two and Six. Six raises her eyebrows,
"These are non-lethal right?" I nod, hoping that we didn't actually get a faulty one and we end up full-on shooting one of the Nine.
"Three's going to be a problem" Two says, examining her gun, Nine nods with Six and looks to One,
"He's too fast to shoot properly, so I'm counting on you to knock him off his feet" Six says, One nods happily and smiles. I smile with her, this is actually quite fun.
"OK, that's 10 minutes! Take your places and wait for the countdown. You must be touching the wall" Katarina, Six's Cepan, says into the overhead microphone. We all obey. Taking our marks at the sides of the Lecture Hall. We each touch the wall, Nine looks like he's going to have a running start and has his leg touching the wall, similar to Three. He looks to me,
"You ready?" he asks, his voice is different, and his smile is as well, I smile back and nod,
"3" the countdown says,
"This is going to be something" One says,
"2"
"Let's kick some a*s!" Nine says,
"1"
For a second nobody moves then Three speeds off towards us, he's moving way to fast, a small slipstream behind him. Eight disappears after looking to his team and then the whole Lecture Hall erupts into a battle like state.
I hover and fly to the other side where John is, he's throwing fireballs at us, we dodge and weave them. And by we, I mean Nine and me, he's running along side me. He winks before full-on tackling John who has run to us. John rolls to the side and half-dodges Nine's tackle, I land and punch Four in the gut as he attempts to get up, but before I can subdue him, I hear running footsteps next to me, and before I can register what it is, Marina's fist connects with my face. I go sprawling into the side. She quickly dodges a round of fire blaster from Six and deflects the one's from Two.
Damn she's good.
Four gets up and retreats to Two who has made a break for his flag. I try to stop him but something trips me up, I look up and see a grinning Eight standing over me, I try to grab him, but he disappears.
Reynolds POV
I'm literally bouncing in my chair from excitement. All the Cepans in the Lectern room look to the mini-battle game going on. I'm mentally cheering on Eight's team, I really want my Garde to do well.
Seven lands a good hit on Five, and dodges the round of fire blaster from Two and Six, she runs forward surprisingly quick and deflects the blaster with Telekinesis. Nine and Five recover and attempt to run after Four who's trying to cut Two off from their flag, but Eight teleports in front of Five and trips her up. He disappears before she can grab him. He reappears behind Nine and punches his back, Nine turns around and lunges for him; he disappears and kicks Emily's legs from underneath her as she attempts to get up. I'm widely smiling.
I look to Three, he's stuck behind a wall, Six is lighting up the area next to him and he can't move without getting hit. One is sending massive seismic waves towards John, but he nimbly jumps and rolls. Marina rips the blaster out of Six's hand and Three bursts into speed, blurring around the area that the flag is in, One shouts something to Nine and Five, they look over and try to move but Eight has them caught up in his little game.
Five flies up out of Eight's reach and dive bombs towards Three and Seven. Nine is still caught up with Eight and Four manages to intercept Two and knock her to her feet. She rolls and flips out of the way from Four's fireballs and rolls to cover with her blaster. I do have to admit, she's doing pretty well for a young Garde without Legacies. She quickly draws her attention way from John and fires in the general area of Three – he's just a blur now, and he's blinded One and Six who are trapped inside his mini tornado. She shoots again and one of the blaster fire clips Three's leg, he trips and goes sprawling into the side wall, slightly spasming. One recollects her ground and sends a few tremors towards Seven who's busy deflecting shots from Six.
I see Five fly over to Seven.
Stan/Nine POV
It's so not fair. Hand to hand combat with a teleporter is so unfair. Eight reappears and sweeps my legs from underneath me. He disappears and reappears before I can land a hit on him. I try to punch his face, but he teleports behind me and kicks me with both legs, I go stumbling into the ground, with a grunt. I can't get showed up like this, I'm awesome, I gotta get up.
"Eight!" I hear Marina shout, she's being cornered my Six, One and Five, he looks to John quickly who's running over,
"Go! I got Nine" he says, and throws a small fireball at me, I roll out of the way and see out of the corner of my eye, Eight teleport-tackling Six and One. Three is still slightly spasming to the side but manages to get up in time to avoid another round from Two, she smiles and shoots again,
"No hard feelings Speedy!" she says, he grins before jumping for cover. Johnny boy, lunges for me, I pivot and knee his gut, I punch again but my fist is caught in the air – his Telekinesis! He throws me to the side and recovers.
"Damn Johnny boy, your little mojo tricks aren't gonna stop me" I say with a mocking grin, he just grins as we clash again.
Marina/Seven POV
"Eight!" I call out, I've been cornered, Three is still down and Five, One and Six are closing in on me. Four says something as I hear the familiar sound of teleporting. Eight appears and in mid teleport, tackles One and Six. They go down and he nimbly dodges blaster from Two. He grabs my hand and teleports me next to the flag out of Two's view. He looks at me for a second before kissing me! It's quick but also amazing. He winks before teleporting to Two whose holding up Three, I could've just stood there for the rest of the day, trying to remember why I have a flag in my hand, I snap out of my trance and smile, then look to an opening. I make a fast break for it. One shouts something and sends a massive quake towards me, I stumble and lurch forward, rolling on descent but continuing to run. Five flies behind me – I'm not even half way, before she catches up, she drops on me, but I block a series of punches with Telekinesis.
"Sorry Marina, I don't want to do this" she says, I grin, but quickly revert back to my game self. She grabs the flag from my hand and throws it backwards, somehow, One runs forward and catches it. She plants it back at it's post, I turn to tackle Five but an electrified feeling comes over my and I spasm down to the ground, it's weird, stings a bit but I can't move without shaking and twitching hysterically. I look to Six, who has gotten up and shoots me a grin,
"Sorry Mar!" she says as she starts spraying Eight who's busy dodging and teleporting out of the way from Two's shots. Five looks at me and takes off towards our flag, I see Eight out of the corner of my eye get hit but as he goes down he teleports into Five's flight trail and knocks her down too. John notices this and starts ripping the blasters out of Six and Two. Three recovers again from the blaster effects and speeds off towards their flag, One sends tremors and tries to punch him, but he just front flips over her and grabs the flag, making a fast break for our side.
Sandor POV
It's so close, both teams are doing very well – I want Nine to win so badly, Devektra's next to me, soaking in the tension and exciting atmosphere. Nine is fighting Four in hand to hand now, he quickly tackles Four to the side while Four is distracted by the shooting and knocks him down quickly, then he runs for the flag.
Both flags now are off their posts, Five pushes Eight off and fly-tackles Three head on, a loud grunt is followed and the flag goes sprawling out of his hand and next to Eight. Four sees this and tries to get up; he's limping but limping pretty fast. Eight just manages to move his leg to kick the flag towards Four, who picks it up and runs, still slightly limping. Marina has shaken off the effect of the blaster and is now blocking blaster fire from Six and jumping over seismic waves from One. Five has easily subdued Three and is now flying towards Four; Four notices this and flips over Five as she descends on him, he pushes her down and he lurches forward, using Telekinesis to steady himself. Five goes crashing into the ground and slumps against a cover wall with a grunt.
Stan/Nine POV
I'm running at full speed, I feel incredible. The flag is in one hand as I jump over Eight. He can't help but grin and my excitement and determination. Five is slumped against a wall, she's trying to stand but the move John did on her was pretty impressive, Two grabs a blaster and Six rolls out of the way from Seven's telekinetic waves. Three is on the floor dragging himself to cover to avoid Two lighting him up – she really likes doing that…
Seven sees me and quickly pushes Six back into One, they stumble and she runs to me, she stops to a halt and blocks the blaster fire from Two who's given up on shooting Three. I'm almost half way; I see Eight get up and John throws him the flag, he jumps and teleports in mid air to catch it. I turn to see what Johnny boy is doing – he's coming after me. I grin and sprint harder, I'm almost at my side – we're so close to winning, I don't wanna lose. I gotta prove myself.
John's making a bee line to cut me off, I know I won't make it, he's too close; but then instinct comes over me, followed by the feeling of vertigo.
Britney/One POV
I get up and help Six up with me, she surprisingly smiles and I give one back. Eight is making a break for his side but he's not as fast and Nine who's already half way. Marina is still blocking blaster fire from Two, Six rolls out of the way as a wave of telekinetic force pushes past us, I look to Marina, she's concentrating hard, I send more tremors. Two turns her blaster fire to Eight who's half limping towards his side, she shoots him in the back, but he pushes on! He struggling to resist the spasms and shots. Six joins in and they both start shooting him down. He tries to duck and dodge them, but he's hit a few more times, but still doesn't go down!
"C'mon why won't you go down Eight?!" Six shouts, she's really getting into this. I send more tremors, Marina starts helping out Eight and deflecting some of his blaster fire.
I quickly look to Nine; Four's going to cut him off with a bee line, he won't get there in time,
"Come on Nine!" I shout, trying to send small quakes towards John. I don't want large ones because Nine might get knocked off as well. Five has slowly gotten up and is now fighting a very slow Three. And when I say very slow, I mean he's still fast, just not supersonic fast. Nine suddenly steps onto the wall…
People stop fighting and turn in awe as he races along the wall, then the ceiling and then he finally drops down to our side, a few feet away from me. John crashes into the wall below and mutters something like,
"Holy crap"
Everyone pauses for a second, then the overhead speaker sounds and the bell rings to signal the end of the game.
"Holy crap… we won. HOLY CRAP! WE WON!" Nine says, jumping in the air, Six smiles and walks over clutching her arm but smiling, Two runs over to Three and helps him up. Marina walks to a limping Eight – they embrace and kiss for a quick 2 seconds. John limps over and shakes Nine's hand,
"Good game boss" he says, Emily flies over and hugs Nine tightly, he pulls her in closer. He laughs and whoops in victory. He developed a new Legacy! I can't help but laugh with him, Six turns to me, I grin.
"Nice job today" she says, shaking my hand, I smile, she turns to John who's limping to her, I feel really good today, I can't stop smiling – we did it, we united.
The sound of the Lectern door opens and all the Cepans file out, Sandor at the front with a wide grin, Devektra follows him, hand in hand. Sandor looks at Nine and says,
"My young ward gets an upgrade!"
Author's Note: Well that was a very long chapter! 4 ½ thousand words! I hope you enjoyed that, I definitely enjoyed writing it. It's probably not as good as the one in the main book series, but hopefully you guys like it – it's an alright first try, right? :D thanks for reading anyway.
Please also check out my poll for Sarah being in the story or not – and REVIEW please!
Until next time,
Paragon 8