It was Sky's turn to edit this chapter. Without further ado, here's chapter two... -Rai

As the light faded, Ivy expected to still be trapped inside the tube in the old abandoned factory. Instead, she found herself floating in the air over what seemed like a vast desert. Before she had a chance to get her bearings, gravity took over and Ivy came crashing down to the ground. "Where the heck are we?" She mused out loud taking a look around.

She spotted a figure a few feet away from her. Judging by his position face down in the dirt, he had clearly fallen from the sky as well. Even as she watched, the figure groaned and sat up, looking around. It was a boy with dark hair, approximately her age, but dressed very strangely. The baggy grey pants and skin-tight black shirt with a navy blue band running up over his left shoulder and torso were an unusual combination, certainly. The blue-grey orbs were another thing. He sported a blue-grey orb about the size of a cue ball on the stripe on his left side, where a romantic might place a heart. Similar orbs were on the back of the black gloves that he wore, as well as the comfortable-looking sandals. As he turned toward her enough for her to see the silver, mechanical looking object on the right side of his head, eyes the same color as those strange blueish orbs met hers. All at once, she recognized him. "Michael, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" Michael snapped getting to his feet, looking just as confused as she was.

"Well sorry. Just didn't recognize you for a second." Ivy snapped back with a glare. Seeing how odd Michael looked, Ivy had to know how she looked. She looked down at herself unsure of what to think. She was wearing a purple jumpsuit with knee high boots, one in green and the other in purple with matching gloves. There were green vines wrapped around her body. It was at this point that she noticed something in her hand. Upon inspection, she realized that it was a staff with more vines wrapped around it, with a few thorns poking out.

In the same time Ivy had been conducting her assessment, Michael was doing one of his own, looking Ivy up and down. "You look like an idiot," he said bluntly, clearly unaware of his own similarly strange outfit.

"And you don't?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and giving him the same once-over look that he had given her.

"Wha...?" Michael looked down to examine himself. Surprise and dismay registered on his reddening face. "Yeah, well... I don't look as stupid as you do. And at least I'm not an actual idiot," he managed after a moment of sputtering.

"Oh yeah? If you're so smart, why don't you pay attention in class?" Ivy said, her own color rising as her temper did as well. She had had enough of his unwarranted jabs.

"'Cause I've got better things to do," Michael snarled. "Why would I waste my life on all this stuff that doesn't matter? If being a 'good student' means that I end up like you, then I don't see any point in it."

"If annoying the crap out of everyone around is something better to do then go right along and do it!" She shouted as she took a step towards him "and just so you know, just because I try to pay attention does NOT mean I'm a good student!" she added in anger.

"I 'annoy the crap out of everyone'-" here he mimicked her voice shrilly "- to show them how idiotic they're being. They're sitting around, wasting their lives away, following what teachers tell them to do like sheep! Excuse me for trying to open the eyes of everyone else. And you, you're one of the worst. Little Miss Perfect, doing EXACTLY WHAT SHE'S TOLD. Get a life!" His anger taking over and causing Michael to just say whatever made sense in his mind.

"You think I don't have a life? HAH! that's funny," Ivy gave a sarcastic laugh "Try moving to a different continent where you know no one, and trying to fit in! I'm teased constantly trying to fit in here! I have to be late almost everyday because I have to hide from the people who make fun of me!" Ivy shouted her eyes filling with tears, her grip on her staff tightening almost as if she was going to hit him with it. It was a moment before she noticed that Michael had not come back with the stinging remark she was expecting. She looked up at him, hot tears still in her eyes. His mouth was open as though to reply, but his expression was conflicted, perhaps even guilty. Michael seemed to resolve on something to say. He never got the chance, though, because at that moment, a laser hit him in the small of the back causing him to topple forward.

Ivy blinked her anger dissipating for now seeing three strange block-like creatures coming at them "What the heck are those things?" she asked him taking an involuntary step back.

Michael had scrambled back to his feet, wincing. "How the heck should I know?" he said, ducking as another laser was shot at his head. "But I get the feeling that they're not friendly!"

"You think?" Ivy said sarcastically as she grabbed his hand and started running off in the opposite direction. She looked around her trying to find a place to hide "Great place to be stuck in, smack dab in the middle of nowhere!" she muttered highly annoyed as she dragged Michael behind her.

"We can't keep running forever!" Michael said, pulling his hand away from her and glaring over his shoulder at the monsters. "And it doesn't seem like we can lose them. There's got to be some way we can scare them off, or fight them.."

"Do you know of any way we can?" Ivy asked him coming to a stop and turning to look at him, while glancing behind Michael at the monsters scurrying at them at a quick pace.

"I don't know! Hit them with your stick or something!" Michael snapped, gesturing to her staff.

"Alright then! Maybe I will!" Ivy snapped back moving in front of Michael and bringing her staff up in some sort of battle stance that almost made her look like she was going to throw it like a javelin. Just as the block-creatures were getting into the range for Ivy to charge, she heard from behind her "Move." She turned and saw Michael pulling out what seemed like a handgun from his side. Ivy rolled her eyes muttering "Boys," and stood aside.

Before he got the chance to, a voice came, louder than either of their own and coming seemingly from nowhere. "Hello? Who is in there?"

Something about the voice seemed familiar. Ivy looked up at the orange sky, trying to place the name. "Mr. Belpois? Is that you?"

"Ivy?" Now that the voice had been identified, it was unmistakable " What in the world-" He started, but Michael cut him off, distracted from his considered attack on the block-creatures.

"Belpois? What're you-" Ivy heard a grunt of pain, and looked over to see Michael getting to his feet again, holding his shoulder where he'd clearly just been shot. "Dammit!" the boy hissed. "That stupid-!"

"Ivy? Ivy, can you hear me? What are you and Michael doing in there? Are you two okay?"

"Oh we're fine. We were just walking through town and thought we'd drop by." Ivy said sarcasm dripping from her voice as she rolled her eyes while attempting to dodge another laser from the block-creature but was hit. "Can we ask you the same thing?" Ivy asked him back. There was a pause followed by "Help will be there momentarily."

"All right, let's see what this can do," Michael said, taking aim at the nearest monster. Ivy saw a jet of white-blue energy shoot out from the gun. But either Michael's marksmanship was poor, or he was simply unprepared for the recoil. Whatever the case, the shot was wide, and the boy swore again under his breath.

Ivy could not help giving Michael a sarcastic little smirk. "Nice," she told him, then added "Thanks, Mr. Belpois."

"You do something, then," Michael snapped at Ivy before grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her aside. "Look out!" The Block like monster shot what looked like an ice beam hit the place that she'd been standing a moment before.

Ivy blinked as she looked at the creature "Thanks." Ivy said gratefully. She slowly got up and got her staff ready again as she heard a distant voice calling out to them. Ivy turned to see who it was. From what she could make out, she saw what looked like a purple cat on a hoverboard and a pink angel flying beside him? Ivy wasn't quite sure.

The purple cat fired an arrow at one of the block monsters. The arrow hit the center of one of the white circles which caused it to stagger for a few seconds before exploding in a flash. "Aim for the eye!" The pink angel shouted to them.

Michael shielded his face, then looked at the other two monsters, frowning. "What eye?" He shouted back.

"I'm thinking this." Ivy said bringing her staff up in a lance stance and rushing forward and stabbing the second creature right in the center of it's eye.

"What kinda eye is that?" she heard him mutter. She did not look over, already readying herself for an attack on the remaining creature. Just as she was raising her arm, a bolt of blue energy came from her left, and the monster exploded. She looked over at Michael in surprise and saw that the mechanical device had changed into some sort of blue targeting device. "Good job, cyborg," she said with a smirk

Michael narrowed his eyes as the tracking device receded. "One of these days..." he growled.

She smiled. "Sorry," she said lightly as she looked at him and leaned against her staff.

Michael blinked. He tilted his head a little to the side and studied her, almost as if had been expecting to receive as much hostility as he gave. But not for long. The next moment, he let out a yelp as his body started to dissolve. A few seconds later, Ivy's body also started to dissolved. "Materialization," they both heard, and for a moment everything went dark. They emerged from the scanner a minute later.

When Ivy walked out of the tube, she immediately noticed a tall Japanese woman glaring down at both of them. She glanced at Michael nervously and noticed him shiver. Ivy blinked and bit her lip. This did not look good at all, she thought to herself.

Behind them, the scanner doors shut, then opened again to reveal two more people, a woman in pink hair and man with spiky blond hair and a purple spot in the center. Michael frowned. "How is that possible?" he asked the room and large. No one answered him. Instead, The woman in front of the elevator nodded to it. "Get in," she told them.

Now, from what Ivy knew of Michael, he generally did not like being told what to do and would fight and argue, but to Ivy's surprise and amazement, Michael slowly walked into the elevator. If Michael went without a snappy comeback, this must be serious. She slowly followed him into the old freight elevator with the other two adults behind her.

The Japanese woman pressed the elevator button on the side of the room and the elevator doors shut. A few moments of awkward silence later, the doors re-opened to reveal the floor above. Mr. Belpois sat in a chair next to a hanging computer. He crossed his arms looking sternly at his two students and said calmly but a distinct edge to his voice "You two have some explaining to do."