"Aw! You beat me again!"
Jack grinned as his character in the game raised a triumphant fist in the air and the screen went back to the start menu.
"You haven't played in a while, have you?" he asked Entropy as she slumped on the couch.
"Try never," she said.
"You've never played Goo Zombies before?"
"I was instituted when the first game came out."
"Wow...that explains why you're so..."
She cocked an eyebrow at him.
"...So unfamiliar with how the game works!" Jack quickly said, going to the help menu. "This should make things easier."
"Oh, thanks!" Entropy said, studying the command buttons.
They were silent for moment, then Entropy turned and searched the back of the room.
"Where's Stryker?" she asked Jack.
"Uh," he started, looking with her. "I don't know. Maybe he went upstairs."
Entropy sighed and stared at her controller. Jack put his on the coffee table.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No," she said. "Looks like Stryker still doesn't like me very much."
"I-I'm sure you just caught him off guard. He gets a little...jumpy...you know?"
"No, I know it's me."
She drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them thoughtfully.
"Back before I was instituted, Stryker stayed at my dad's house. I guess there weren't any foster families who wanted a twelve year old, you know?"
Jack nodded somberly.
"Well, I tried everything I could to make him feel at home, but it seemed like everything I did...backfired. So we were never really close or anything."
She looked over and met Jack's eyes. It took a lot for him to keep from blushing.
"He is right," she told him. "I am crazy. If it wasn't for the fact that I had wanted to see him, I'd probably have stayed in the psych ward."
"You don't seem that bad," Jack told her.
She smiled a little sadly.
"The day he turned thirteen I burned 'Happy Birthday' into his carpet. On his fourteenth I threw a rattlesnake around his neck and set the tail on fire. To help with his science fair I put gasoline in his volcano and lit a match."
Entropy leaned closer to Jack, whose gaze was becoming more uneasy.
"If I'm not crazy, there's no air."
Jack swallowed a little hard. Entropy just giggled and went back to staring at the tv.
"Do you know what my name means?" she suddenly asked.
Jack thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"It has something to do with physics, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. In physics it's 'a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system'."
Jack blinked a couple times, then seemed to get it.
"So, it's something chaotic?"
"Yeah, pretty much. The everyday definition is just 'a lack of order or predictability'. Or a 'decline into disorder'. Basically my own name says I'm crazy."
She sat back again with a sigh. Jack knit his brow, wishing he could say something to make her feel better.
"...I'm named after some poet," he finally said.
Entropy looked up at him again, her eyes filled with interest.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jack, scratching the back of his head. "I guess he like, didn't sign a loyalty contract to America, then he became an alcoholic and lost all his friends and died alone."
"...Well that sucks..."
"Yeah, I guess that explains why I don't have any friends, you know? Name's a curse or something."
Entropy sat up and put her cheek on her knee.
"You've got Stryke," she told him. "And me."
She smiled at him and grabbed his hand. Jack's face turned several shades of red in response.
"You're pretty cool, Jack." Entropy said. "I think we're gonna be great friends."
Jack's smile faltered a little.
...Dang it... he thought. ...Friend zone...
"...Yeah..." he said, fixing his smile. "Great...great friends..."
Entropy giggled and squeezed his hand.
"Hey, are you guys deaf or..."
They turned and saw Stryker standing in the doorway of the stairs, staring at their hands with a cocked eyebrow. Jack quickly let go of Entropy and scratched his neck while Entropy just smiled at her cousin.
"Hey," she greeted.
"...Hi..." Stryker greeted, giving Jack an almost admiring look. "Uh, so your tracker thing's going off, bud."
"Oh, sweet!" Jack declared, jumping up from the couch. "I'll get my stuff!"
"Can I come?" Entropy asked excitedly.
"No, you can stay here and play Goo Zombies until we get back."
"But that's not fair!" Entropy squealed, standing and stomping her foot. "You can't go off and do a bunch of cool stuff without me!"
"Ye-ah, I think we can. C'mon Jack, let's go."
"No, wait!" she begged, grabbing Jack's arm as he passed. "I have to come! Tell him I have to come!"
"Uh, uh, I'm not in this," Jack stammered as she let go of him.
"That's right, he's not," Stryker said, jumping over the railing and grabbing his backpack. "Now, seriously, stay here and play the game."
"But I want to help! C'mon, Stryker have a little faith!"
"No, I'd rather not, Enny."
"Please!"
"Stryker, maybe she can just...watch?" Jack suggested weakly.
"Don't start, Billy," Stryker growled.
Jack's jaw dropped after he realized Stryker'd used his middle name.
"Yeah, can't I watch?" Entropy asked, bouncing up and down. "I won't try to grab the Shen Gong doohicky and I'll stay out of the way and-"
"I don't believe that for a second, Enny."
"Come on!"
Stryker started to argue again, but saw the desperation in his cousin's eyes for the first time. He could tell that she wanted so badly to go, he could feel it even from where he was standing. He sighed quietly and shot a glance at Jack, who shrugged in response.
"I just...I don't..." he stammered. "Oh...fine! Fine! If you stay out of the way you can come with."
"Yay!" Entropy cheered, running up and hugging him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"No problem," Stryker sighed.
Jack gave him a small shrug and a laugh.
"I'll go change and meet you guys in the jet!" Entropy said, zipping over to the stairs.
"Wait, what?"
"I'll go change, and meet you in the jet! Now go!"
She raced upstairs, leaving the boys to stare after her in slight bewilderment.
"Well, that was interesting," Jack said.
"Yep," Stryker said shortly, adjusting his backpack and starting towards the jet dock.
Jack furrowed his brow and went after him.
"Why are you so against her coming?" he asked. "I know cousins aren't really enjoyable, believe me, but you...well..."
"Seem like I really don't like her?"
"...Yeah..."
Stryker popped open the door, threw his backpack in and sighed.
"Remember when I kinda...trailed off about someone knowing about my transformation?"
Jack nodded.
"Well...she's the other one who knows that I transform besides you."
"...Oh..." Jack said, understanding now. "Right. Which is why you've been so cold."
"Yeah. See...she exposed me in front of my uncle and...well he kicked me out 'cause he didn't know how to handle it."
"...That seems...maybe she didn't know he'd react that way?"
"Yes, I actually felt that you would say something like that," Stryker retorted, turning and smirking at Jack. "Since you and Enny seem to be a thing now."
Jack slumped with a grimace.
"No," he said. "Pretty sure your cousin 'friend zoned' me pretty quick."
"Really? What makes you say that?"
Jack rolled his eyes and clasped his hands together.
"We're going to be great friends!" he squeaked, batting his eyelashes at the ceiling before looking depressed again. "Just my luck, right?"
Stryker snickered and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, bud," he said. "You'll get one eventually."
"Yeah, sure," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "As soon as I also become the most popular boy in the world!"
******JP******
"...You're kidding..."
"No, I'm afraid not," Grand Master Dashi assured the young Shoku Warrior. "That's what my vision showed me."
Raimundo sat in complete shock at what he'd just been told. Out of everything possible, he had never thought that something so...unbelievable, could be foretold.
"How many others play a part in this?" he asked numbly.
"The current monks-meaning you and your teammates-many in the Heylin line, those mentioned, and any that the person recruits."
"But what if we recruit him. We've tried before-"
"From what your master tells me, it will not be that easy."
Rai looked back at M. Fung, who was standing with his hands behind his back and a slightly dazed look on his face as well. At least he wasn't the only one.
"So...there's not much else to tell?" Rai asked Dashi.
"Not at the moment, no," the monk said.
"Okay...well if that's all, I think I'll go see how everyone else is doing."
"Raimundo," M. Fung started, stopping the young monk. "If you have other things to ask-"
"I don't, at least not right now," Rai told him. "I just need to...clear my head a little bit, you know? This is a lot to take in."
"I agree, young one," Dashi said. "It is a tremendous amount to absorb. Take your time. You know where I am now."
Raimundo bowed deeply to both Dashi and M. Fung, then stepped through the fake wall. He sighed at how intense everything had just become; nothing seemed the same anymore, as if he was surrounded by the Fountain of Hui and didn't have the Eagle Scope to sort the knowledge out.
"Raimundo?"
Rai jolted and spun around to see Omi standing behind him.
"Man, dude, don't do that!" he gasped, trying to breathe normally. "'Bout gave me a heart attack!"
"I am most sorry, Raimundo," Omi apologized, his eyes wide. "But I believe you also almost gave me this 'heart attack' when you passed through the wall right before my eyes."
Rai's throat dried in terror. Found out already?
"Uh, well, you see..." he started.
Omi looked at him expectantly, and when Raimundo met his eyes again he sighed.
"Look, Omi," he said, kneeling down to the little monk's level. "I probably really freaked you out, and you deserve an explanation...but the truth is I really can't give it to you right now. And...and you can't tell the others what you saw."
"But...why?"
"If I could tell you I would Omi. But I can't. It's too dangerous."
Omi's eyes flashed at this.
"I have faced many dangers blindfolded, Raimundo," he said. "And so have Kimiko and Clay. I am very certain they would not appreciate your lack of faith."
"Trust me, there's no faith lacking here," Rai said, smiling at his friend's bravery. "I'm just following orders now."
"Who is ordering you?"
"Someone who knows his way around these types of things. I'm trusting you to keep this secret, okay? Just until I'm allowed to tell you."
Omi thought about it, then nodded, forcing a frail smile on his face.
"A new Shen Gong Wu has revealed itself," he told Rai. "We had better find the others else they become suspicious."
"Right," Rai said as they started down the hall. "And...Omi?"
"Yes Raimundo?"
"...Thanks."