Josh was patiently waiting in Kyle's room waiting for him to return from talking to James. Despite being September, Kyle's bedroom was quite cold and Josh was slightly wishing that he brought a hoodie along. He looked around Kyle's room while wishing and taking in the sight. He only came up here to sleep last night so the room was in the dark.
He noticed that his walls were painted yellow that was to be expected and that his floor was very tidy and everything had his place in his room. Books were kept in a book self by the small balcony each bedroom came with, the magazines lay in a neat pile beside it. His bed was against the right wall, as you entered, and in the centre. It was still a mess from the sleepover; the cream duvet lay in a heap on the bed. Beside the bed were two nightstands, both filled with pictures of his parents, the defenders all standing in a group posing with their weapons and of course the Jr defenders, they too were in a group but weren't posing. To Josh it looked like someone had just gone up to them with a camera and asked for a photo. Of course there was a clock as well. Opposite the bed was Kyle's wardrobe, a brown old fashioned one, with the doors on hinges. They were slightly open and Josh peeped inside to see that Kyle's wardrobe consisted of yellow hoodies, white t-shirts; very few were black and yellow and mostly jeans with an odd pair of joggers.
Realising that Kyle hadn't returned yet and probably wasn't going to return anytime soon, Josh left the bedroom and looked down the corridor. He looked at all the shut doors to the rooms he must not enter. Then Josh turned the right. At the end of the corridor was an old wooden door. He slowly walked towards it. It was slightly ajar. Josh pushed it slightly and the door creaked backwards revealing a spiral wooden stair case. Curious to what he would find and where the stairs would lead him, Josh glanced back making sure he couldn't hear Kyle coming up the stairs then stepped onto the first step and shut the door leaving the smallest gap so he could get out again.
The steps seemed very fragile and that they could break into small wooden shavings any moment. Josh wanted to speed up but was scared to. The steps seemed to go on for ever and kept going upwards in a circular motion making Josh dizzy. There was a small metal hand rail but it looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the 19th century. Eventually he reached the top, where he was greeted by another wooden door except this one was wide open and bouncing back and forth with the evening winds.
Josh stepped over the wooden door frame that could easily have tripped him up and found himself on top of one of the towers. Straight away a peculiar object caught his eye. He edged towards this mysterious object and found that it was nothing but multiple sticks and twigs piled on top of each other. In the middle of the mess lay a green hoodie with a bright green blanket alongside it. Underneath were two cushions. He picked up the hoodie and examined it. Josh knew straight away that the hoodie belonged to Danny and that he had clearly left it up here along with everything else, a clear reminder of what life was like in the castle before any of this mayhem happened.
Feeling like an intruder, Josh placed the hoodie back down and left the top of the tower. He went back down the stairs. On the way back to the bedrooms, he couldn't help but think about his new role in the world. One he didn't think he had deserved but only because Josh had never had a run in with Ivar. Yes, he did use himself and Zoey to do his dirty work but apart from that he had no reason to fight Ivar. He didn't know what Ivar had done in the past or why he wanted revenge. When the spiral stair case came to an end, Josh shut the wooden door leaving the memories in place. He walked back to Kyle's bedroom and sat waiting on his bed for him.
Two minutes later, Kyle entered his bedroom smiling at Josh as he did, "Hey, sorry I was so long."
"No problem." Josh replied truthfully, it had given him a chance to explore, "Nice room by the way."
"Thanks but my old one was better-in decoration I mean. I haven't had time to put posters up or put my desk in. My parents only had time for the necessities." Kyle explained reminiscing about like before the castle and giving a cold shrug when it came to memories about school.
"Can't James help you move items in?" Josh asked but in return he gained a look from Kyle, "Okay stupid question. I'm sure your parents can help when they get back."
"Yeah, in a year and a half." Kyle muttered softly, sometimes he really wished that he was just a normal kid.
"Hmm." Josh looked up at Kyle as he vaguely heard him mutter something.
"Nothing just muttering. Anyway, what do you want to do?" Kyle asked excited at the prospect of another sleepover.
"Talk?" Josh suggested, what else could they do? Then an idea flashed through his mind, "About Ivar and his history?"
Kyle paused for a second while looking at his photo frames. He then moved one of them forwards so it was slightly in front of the rest and then turned his attention back to Josh, "I don't know that much, the defenders really didn't talk about it."
It was the truth, his parents never spoke of their defending history when he was younger, it was by chance that Kyle had found Vane's old crossbow and had started to use it a toy, much to Faetal's horror and dismay. It was only then that they explained that they used to be defenders but opted for a more civil and easy life.
"Don't you feel at a disadvantage when fighting him?" Joh asked surprised at his lack of knowledge about something, recently Kyle had come across as Wikipedia page, "I do."
"Not really because Annaka was one of the defenders and she was Ivar's niece so we had some connection and reason why we needed to fight him. I guess I'm just carrying on that reason." Kyle explained although it was a lie. The question had propped up a few times with Danny and Annaka but the other defenders and James, had reluctantly answered it with the most common reply being 'it's complicated'.
"Hang on, Ivar is Annaka's uncle?" Josh exclaimed to which Kyle nodded, he could only just get his head around that.
The boys continued talking about their pasts- Josh and his parent's desire for adventure which shortly lead to them travelling the world and Kyle and his previous powers and mutant powers. Kyle suggested taking a walk while walking as it was a warm evening and too quiet in the castle so they were heading towards the forest. The boys were currently discussing Josh's living arrangements when a bright, golden light caught their eye. Josh and Kyle looked at each other confused before running further into the forest, the light getting brighter as it did so.
Not far into the forest, the two defenders reached the golden light. It appeared to be coming out of the ground in a circular motion. Around the light were four obscure objects- a long chunk of grey hair, a bottle with a few drops of blood, a purple potion which both defenders silently decided not to go near and finally some water. There was a fifth place but the object seemed to be missing.
"What is it?" Josh asked as he was sure that this had nothing to do with the earlier earthquake.
"No idea!" Kyle replied completely at loss, "I've never seen anything like it!"
"Do you think it's Ivar?" Josh asked. It wasn't a stupid question. Ivar was mostly responsible for everything strange that had happened to him so far.
"Most likely." Kyle replied confidently, "Or Harvey. One of the two."
Suddenly, the boys felt a pulling force dragging them towards the golden light. Despite both of them struggling, the force pulled them onto the forest floor and they found themselves going closer to the light. Kyle grabbed onto a tree root and was hanging for dear life and somehow, in the crisis, had managed to grab Josh's arm. The pulling force was getting stronger and stronger. Kyle was finding it hard to grab onto. Eventually, his hand started going numb and slowly his finger let go of the branch…one by one. He had his pinkie curled around the bumpy branch and Josh was squeezing his arm so it felt dead. The pulling force was now working along with the wind. Kyle tried to place his fingers back onto the branch but instead his pinkie gave way and the boys were consumed by the golden light.
~Ooooo~
Something was off. He could tell that before he even had his eyes open. His only relief was that off Josh gently breathing next to him. At least he wasn't alone. He tried to open his eyes but when he did, a bright white light forced him to shut them again. He repeated this action at least five times before he successfully opened his eyes fully.
His first action was to gently shaking Josh in order to wake him up. The green defender stirred slightly and groaned in annoyance like he was being woken up for school however Kyle didn't stop shaking him awake until his eyes were completely open and he was aware of his surroundings. Josh leant upwards slightly, putting the weight if his torso and back completely on his elbows. He noticed Kyle kneeling beside him confused as ever.
"Where are we?" Josh asked hoping that Kyle could give him the answer.
"My bedroom." Kyle replied to which Josh then looked as confused as Kyle so he stood up and looked around the room trying to find a clue while Kyle continued talking, "I mean none of my stuff is in it. It's completely empty like I don't exist-"
"Yet." Josh interrupted, watching Doctor who has paid off despite what his aunt kept repeating, "You don't exist yet. Come over here and look at this clock."
Kyle got up shakily and walked over to the bed side table. He looked down at the clock and its red figures. His eyes opened wide in shocked as he looked at the date. 07/14/09. They had gone back in time. That golden light thing was a time portal which he and Josh had been pulled into. Kyle left his future bedroom in shock and stepped onto the deserted corridor. He noticed that all of the future bedroom doors were open as if they were waiting to be claimed. He was looking at the boring white walls when mumbling below him caught his attention. Kyle speed down the corridor nearly forgetting that Josh had been pulled into all of this as well.
"Kyle! We need to stay hidden!" Josh exclaimed pulling Kyle back slightly in an attempt to slow him down, "If we don't then we could change the future!"
"Where did you get that from?" Kyle asked slightly annoyed and angry because he had just been thrown back in time and had the chance to be a part of history and now Josh was preventing that.
Josh paused for a moment; this was the first time that he hadn't seen Kyle being cool and calm, "I watch Doctor Who."
Luckily for him, Kyle took that as a justified answer and this time gently walked down the corridor trying to not make a sound. When they got to the stair case, Kyle knew immediately which ones were creaky and alerted Josh so the pair would stay silent like ninjas; hopefully they weren't being watched by one. At the bottom of the stair case came the familiar wooden door, although it didn't look as old as the one Josh had seen in the future. Kyle opened the door slightly so he and josh could peep through to see if anyone was about. Josh did see someone and felt Kyle tense up.
"Alwin." He muttered, he was unsure whether it was just the shock or whether he was informing Josh of who that actually was.
Josh looked at the servant in surprise. He had heard of Alwin but had no idea that he once worked in the castle. To be fair he did look like a shifty character as he was cleaning that vase continuous while watching one of the bedroom doors. Kyle was watching intensively at the scene. However, it wasn't until the pair heard a smash that their concentration was interrupted as the pair heard movement and saw Kook appear from out of the doorway.
For the first time in a long while, Kyle actually smiled and was on the verge of laughing. He couldn't believe how young Kook looked: his hair was brighter in its green colour, his skin looked younger and he looked more energetic. However the disconcerting thing was that Kook still wore the same outfit with the purple wings. Even Josh was on the verge of laughing. He, of course, had seen pictures but like a memory, it wasn't the same as seeing the real thing. He knew straight away that Kook was Danny's dad. It was obvious; Danny looked quite similar to this Kook. The only difference was the hair colour and paler skin.
Their enjoyment doubled a few minutes later when the pair saw Kook and Ballista leave the room. Kyle had never seen Ballista with braids of beads in her hair! In 2032, her hair was slightly curly and the beads had disappeared. Maybe Annaka kept chewing them. Jack always said that she loved to chew random things. Apart from that she looked the same. Kyle couldn't believe he was seeing all of this!
A few minutes later, after more of the defenders entered the corridor and went to their respective rooms, Kyle and Josh stopped laughing gently and walked out of the wooden door, trying their best to have straight faces on but they were failing miserably. They crept along the corridor and Kyle stopped by the door, Kook and Ballista came out of. Curious to what was in there, he quietly opened the door with Josh following in tow.
He was shocked to find Kook and Shaiden still in there talking about something while facing the bed. As quiet as lion about to catch its prey, the boys slowly lowered themselves onto the floor and slid across the carpet. The pair then clambered into the wardrobe to get a view.
"Of course!" Kyle exclaimed quietly while looking at Gildar unconscious on the bed, "This is where it all began."
"What Ivar?" Josh whispered back confused to how Ivar had anything to do with this.
"Yep." Kyle replied then looked back at the scene and smiled, "And the start of Kook and Shaiden from looking at those two."
Kook and Shaiden continued talking for a few more minutes then they both decided that sleep was the best cause of action at this moment in time. After Kyle was positive the door was shut, he and Josh jumped out of the wardrobe and quietly walked over to Gildar. Kyle could see how injured and unwell he was. His tanned skin had become rather pale and his hair and lost its glow. It was unnatural to see Gildar this quiet. Even though he wouldn't admit it to anybody, Kyle actually missed the Vikings boosting and ego manic ways. He missed all of the defenders habits. Josh was quietly standing by looking around the room in amazement and at all of Gildar's possessions. He wondered if this is what Annaka's room looked like but the thing that amazed him the most was the care that each defender had for each other. Josh could tell straight away that all the defenders cared deeply for each other and he envied that feeling of being cared for. A small yawn interrupted his thoughts. He had forgotten that it was late evening and they hadn't slept in hours. Josh looked to Kyle for some answers about how to get back.
At that precise moment in time, the bright golden light appeared. It circled their feet and started to ascend upwards and wrapped the boys up like presents waiting to be opened. Seconds later, they were consumed by the bright light again and had hope that they were actually going to go home.
~Ooooo~
They were not home. That was obvious because for starters, it was broad daylight and there were no birds chirping happily which was surprising as Kyle could make out, from the ground he had been transported too, that they were in a forest. This time travel thing was already getting on Kyle's nerves and Josh's from the sound of the very annoyed groan.
"Where are we now?" He asked Kyle; again the yellow defender seemed to be far more aware of their surroundings than Josh would ever be.
Kyle was about to respond when he heard a familiar voice, "Oops, wrong people!"
His eyes widen in shock and he ran off leaving poor Josh to hurry after him. The pair jumped over roots and pushed lone branches and leaves out of the way. The green defender had never seen Kyle look this desperate in his life. This time travel thing showed a more emotional side to Kyle, that Josh felt, he wouldn't normally ley anyone see.
When the voices got louder, Kyle slowed down abruptly and hid in the shadows of the leaves. Clearly, he was following the voices and see where they were going. Josh slotted behind Kyle to get a look to see why it was so important. To be honest, what he saw didn't make much sense; it was Alwin and Banan seemingly kidnapping a poor man who was wondering through these woods. Josh hoped for their sake that Kyle wasn't going to jump out.
The poor man was trying to struggle but failing. He had a big build and beard on his chin and kept using the phase 'dude' all the time. Josh turned to Kyle, who was enthralled in this scene however; he didn't miss the anger and sadness that shone in his eyes. The triceratops defender thought that the anger developed because of the bad blood between Alwin and the defenders but was shocked when Kyle muttered 'dad' under his breath. Josh turned back to the man they now had in a car and were driving off with a high speed.
"Kyle, we can't go after him." Josh warned. If they saved Kyle's dad now then anything could happen but then he came to realisation, "He must escape after all you're here."
Kyle nodded, "Still, I only thought that it was Gildar that he hurt. I didn't realise that my dad was involved."
"Maybe your mum's in the forest?" Josh queried looking back as if she would mostly likely be behind them, "If your dad's here then why not your mum?"
Kyle looked back to the woods as well. Josh saw recognition grow in his eyes which gave him comfort but then Kyle spoke, "Oh no. Not these woods!"
"What?" Josh asked now scared. Clearly these woods held a history and one Josh didn't want to be a part of, "What's wrong with these woods?"
"They are a maze. Seriously, I went in there one time with the Jr defenders and we ended up in hospital. If by chance my mum and the other defenders are in there, we will never find them."
"So, what do we do now?" Josh asked as they were going to be stuck here for some time.
"We could try to locate my dad." Kyle suggested then analysed the worry in Josh's face, "and not free him, just so I can see him for one last time."
"Fine. Do you know where those two would go?" Josh asked.
"There must be a town nearby."
Kyle led the way down the road but this time he made sure that he didn't leave Josh behind. The pair walked silently as they had nothing to talk about and this time travel trip and revealed more questions than answers. It got so quiet that Kyle started to whistle a tune, one that Danny taught him in the year. According to him, Danny had learnt it off Kook. Suddenly a small kookaburra bird came flying out of the forest and landed on Kyle's shoulder happily chirping away at him. The boys stopped walking and looked at the bird confused.
"What's going on?" Josh asked more scared than confused, "What's it doing?"
The bird didn't stop chirping instead chirped louder and quicker at Kyle, who in return allowed the bird to jump off his shoulder and into his hand, "I have no idea. I bet you it's one of Kook's relatives. They always cause confusion."
The bird stopped chirping and stared at Kyle, as if somehow the bird recognised him, "Okay, that's weird."
"Repeat what you just said but slower." Josh suggested deducting that it must have been something Kyle said earlier.
"I bet …you it's one of … Kooks…that's it!" Kyle exclaimed as the bird starting chirping again, "Kook! He knows Kook which means he must be a friend of the defenders. Hello little guy, you wouldn't know where those nasty men were taking my da- that other man would you?"
The bird chirped some more and flew out of Kyle's hand and into the sky. It stayed in view so Kyle and Josh could easily follow it.
"Okay, the past is definitely a weird place." Josh commented as they followed the bird. This wasn't what Josh had in mind when he wanted to talk.
"Tell me about it. I can't believe my parents never told me any of this." Kyle exclaimed slightly hurt that his parents weren't being truthful but then he realised that none of the defenders had been. It was unlikely that at the other Jr defenders know about this as well, "It's hardly an event to easily forget."
The boys slightly jogged after the bird knowing full well that it would lead them to Vane even if Kyle couldn't help him in his current situation. However, as soon as they saw the nearby town in sight the golden light danced around their ankles causing them to slow down and be eventually frozen on the spot. Kyle whistled for the friendly bird but it couldn't stop the powers of time travel. The boys were defenceless against the golden light and soon they were consumed by its power and transported to another section of time.
~Ooooo~
"No!" Kyle shouted from the top of his lungs; awaken Josh from his unconscious state, "We were almost there! I could have seen him one last time!"
He no longer cared, he was angry; tired from the lack of sleep he had from previous nights. All the pain and anger finally broke free into tears which were streaming down his face which, unfortunately, Josh was here to witness all of it. He only wanted to see his dad again but the golden light had prevented that and now he was sobbing on the floor of another unknown location, at least this one had a carpet. Josh watched his leader kneeling on the floor and was completely unsure of what to do. He had never had to comfort someone in his entire life and recently it was Kyle that had been doing the comforting. For the first time since he became a defender, he wished that James or the Jr defenders were here.
Another cry wailed throughout the whole location easily beating Kyle's tears of unhappiness by miles. The Raptorex wiped his tears from his face and stood up trying to locate the cry then a second one join in making the noise even more unbearable. Josh took the lead this time and gently opened the only door in the room. To say he was shocked was an understatement as it was the same corridor he had been walking along back in 2032.
He opened the door wider letting Kyle see and watched as his face grew in shock as well. The boys then realised that the cries had not stopped so Kyle walked out into the future Jr defender bedroom corridor and tried to locate the crying. It wasn't difficult as the crying could only have come from the slightly open door which, in the future would be Jacks room, Kyle pushed open to reveal two children; both were in cots but one was slightly older than the other and was wearing and black jumpsuit whereas the younger baby was wearing a turquoise jumpsuit.
"Who are they?" Josh asked intrigued as he looked at two innocent babies sleeping there oblivious that they were being watched.
"I think…" Kyle started, he couldn't believe it so he walked over to them to make sure he was positive, "I think they're Zsa-Zsa and Jack."
The eldest Jr defenders were still crying their little hearts out but as Kyle was about to comfort them, he heard footsteps so he grabbed Josh and pulled them both under the double bed. Josh wiped his dark brown hair out of his eyes to watch the seen unfold. He glanced over at Kyle, who had cheered up and was now smiling. Clearly, they had come across some more defenders.
"The two looking after Zsa-Zsa are Thorne and Crocness and the others are Skabb and Knightriss." Kyle told Josh he might as well know a bit about the defenders as he was here, "They haven't changed a bit which is actually quite scary. I can't believe Thorne still has his mohawk."
Josh nodded at this new information and watched the defenders sooth their child's cry. He concluded that his earlier assessment of that the defender care about each other deeply was correct. He then glanced back at Kyle who was smiling but had the sadness in his eyes.
"You okay?" Josh asked. He didn't want to witness another break down especially with people in the room.
"Yeah." Kyle replied sadly knowing what would eventually happen to the defenders both Jr and Snr, "It just sucks knowing the future."
Josh looked at him once more confused but shrugged it off and watched the defenders place their sleeping children back into their cots and leave the room. Kyle clambered back out and watched the two Jr defenders sleeping however he could shrug off the feeling of how stalkerish and creepy this was. Kyle smiled at that thought, at least when he goes back to the year 2032 he could really freak them out… if he ever sees them again.
Kyle had no idea how long he and Josh were standing there but the golden light appeared once more and carried them through the mists of time to their next adventure.
~Ooooo~
He was definitely lying on a bed, that was certain, but was it his bed? He hoped that it was, this time travel thing was taking its toll. He could hear Josh yawning reminding them that neither one of them had slept for at least 12 hours and with only 4 hours of sleep the previous night, this was not a good routine to flow into. Kyle eventually opened his eyes as the fear that he would actually fall asleep was lurking by and he decided to push Josh in hope that he would either wake up or gracefully fall of the bed and wake up, sometimes you had to be cruel in order to not muck up the past. He pushed again and heard a quiet thud. Kyle then smiled, not a Josh's misfortune but at the time Danny once did a similar act to Jack and the once black/red defender was not too happy about it.
"You defenders are actually quite cruel." Josh said as he slowly got up off the floor and stood leaning over Kyle, who was still on the bed smiling slightly. Well at least he got Kyle to smile.
"Yeah, well, better get used to it." Kyle replied much happier than he was from his last travel through time but Josh couldn't help but think why so he looked around the room and saw nothing but the bed Kyle was getting off, a cot, some baby toys and a clock which read 14:44, 08/27/19. Well, at least they were moving forward in time.
"We better go under the bed." Kyle said as he crawled under. He knew something and Josh didn't like it, this Kyle was way too relaxed and frankly Josh would have preferred for him to have another melt down at least, he knew that side of Kyle and not this one. It also showed how emotionally unstable Kyle actually was. James never mentioned mention this before, Josh was certain that this was something he would have mentioned during his earlier debrief. Kyle must have been changing emotions subtly otherwise he and the others would have noticed. Setting a mental note to check with James about Kyle's new behaviour, Josh crawled under the bed.
Moments later, the bedroom door opened and a soft tuneful humming filled Josh's ears. It was peaceful, soothing and so full of love that he found himself hypnotised by it. The fact that he was sleepy didn't help either and Josh found himself getting rather tired, he found his eye lids drooping slightly. If it wasn't for Kyle humming along with the song and causing Josh to become curious to how he knew the tune, then Josh would have certainly fallen asleep.
"There we are." A women's voice said replacing the soft humming. The bed was too low for Josh to see the face of the women however it was certain that she was carrying a baby with her, that or this whole part of the past had just become very awkward. Luckily for Josh's state of mind, he heard a baby snoring gently and more footsteps enter the bedroom, they were heavier and had a clear stomp to them.
"He's so adorable when he sleeps." The women said looking down at her child lovingly.
"Yeah." The man said nodding and smiling at the baby, "Our little baby bear."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter; this is my longest one yet. (Looks up to see Amy, Drake and Zoey looking at her)
Me: Oh no. Listen guys, I know I left you out on this chapter but I swear you all have pretty big chapters coming up.
Defenders (while eyeing me suspiciously): Hmm, we'll see.