CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cody shot awake at the first explosion.

It was second nature to him now, as soon as there was a loud sound he would blast to his feet and fall immediately into a fighting stance, eyes shifting around, waiting to see what it was that threatened his life. This time around, he had been blissfully asleep and the sound of the explosion had caused him to thrash around, kicking his legs back and forth, before launching himself to the floor.

Phantom let out a startled cry, blasting straight up into the air, nearly crashing into the ceiling before he righted himself and glided around to land on Cody's back, who was still lying on the floor.

"Master Cody, I don't think that was good," Phantom said to him.

"I don't think falling flat on my face with my arm twisted under me was good either," Cody mumbled, face still in the carpet. "Not only is the carpet riddled with germs, but I think I may have twisted my shoulder."

"You're worried about germs at a time like this?!" Phantom frantically flapped his wings, digging his claws into Cody's back. "Cody, get up! Get up! Something's going on!" He let out another cry as there were two more accompanying sounds of explosions. This time the sound was loud enough so that a shockwave crashed through the Tipton. Cody brought his arms up to cover his head as he heard the windows crack.

Surging to his feet, Cody grabbed his jeans off of the floor and jumped into them as he headed out the door. His mother and father had been awakened by the blast as well and were standing at the window, curtains drawn back and staring out. Cody came up behind them and watched, mouth dropping open in a silent gasp at what he saw.

The sky had darkened with ominous storm clouds, lightning bolts crackling through the sky. He recognized it as soon as he caught a glimpse of the sky, seconds before he noticed a falling object. He hardly had to look at it, and the two objects above, before feeling his blood run cold.

"Zack," he whispered.

"Zack's out there?" Carey asked, turning to face Cody, only just noticing he was there. She brought a hand up to her mouth and turned back to the window, watching intently.

"If I know Zack as well as I think I do…" Cody nodded. "And that's not including the fact that I don't think he's in his bed." He shook his head. "What the hell is he doing?" He reached out and started to open the latch on the window. Kurt reached out and grabbed onto Cody's hand, holding him still. "Dad! I have to go!"

"I know," Kurt replied. He looked at his son, dark eyes burning deep into Cody's blue ones. "I know you have to go…" he slowly removed his hand, letting out a quiet sigh before putting his arm around Carey's shoulders. "Just…be careful out there, OK?"

Cody looked back at his father then nodded firmly. "I will."

Carey reached out and placed her hand on Cody's cheek, gently stroking it. Her eyes then lit up and she removed herself from Kurt's grasp. She hurried over to the closet and pulled it open. Dragging a suitcase out from the back, she dropped it to the floor and quickly unzipped it, producing a black and blue hoodie. Standing up from her kneeling position, she walked over to her younger son and handed the fabric to him, who took it with a grateful smile and pulled it on over his white undershirt.

"Thanks, Mom," he said to her.

"Stay safe, Cody," she said, stroking his cheek once more.

There was another crashing sound, but this time it came from the door of the suite blasting open and hitting the back wall. The Martins whirled around to find Mr. Moseby storming into the room, dressed in his pajamas, a stocking cap resting on his head. The expression of unrecognizable fury on his face was similar to the ones that he would show whenever he and Zack would play a prank on him.

"I know that you two can be mischievous boys, but don't you think you could wait for the actual morning?" He demanded, placing his hands on his hips and tapping his foot up and down. "This is a hotel I'm running. You need to be courteous to other guests."

Cody gave him an odd look, placing his hands on his hips. "We haven't been doing anything, in fact, Zack's not here." He scratched the back of his neck. "And I need to get going." He started to move from the room, but Mr. Moseby grabbed onto his shoulder so hard that he was stopped in his tracks. "Yes?" He practically growled through gritted teeth. "I have to go!"

"There are no pets allowed in the Tipton," Mr. Moseby insisted, motioning to Phantom, who was not clinging to Cody's shoulder.

"I'm not a pet!" Phantom blurted out, causing Mr. Moseby to let out a startled shriek and backed away from Cody. "And we're not the ones that are making those sounds! Something's going on and we need to figure out what it is and how to stop it." He then addressed his Master. "I'm afraid that if we wait any longer then something's going to happen to Zack and Blazen."

"I know, let's go." Cody hurried back over to the window of the suite. He unlatched it and pulled the doors open as wide as he could. Resting his hands on the railing, he watched as the dark objects continued to fall to earth at a rapid speed. He could tell without having to see the dark specks that it was Zack that was the first to fall. He could just feel it, something had gone wrong and he needed to figure out what it was.

"Did that eagle just talk?" Mr. Moseby asked behind him.

"It's a long story," Carey said dismissively. "Right now, Cody's right, he has to get going so he can help."

How is it that Mr. Moseby isn't thinking about the SS Tipton right now? Cody suddenly thought. Before, it was like we hadn't left the SS Tipton at all and now he's surprised to find the existence of Phantom? Something's really wrong. He had no chance to think about it because a Shadow Hunter popped out of the wall in front of him. He cried out and stumbled backwards, away from the window before lifting his foot and driving it into the face of the Shadow Hunter as it leapt at him.

The Shadow Hunter fell back and converged with the ground, his shadow moving along the floor before it popped up in front of Mr. Moseby. Its wide, yellow eyes stared down at Mr. Moseby before its mouth opened wide, revealing its sharp teeth. Mr. Moseby screamed in fear as the Shadow Hunter slid up from the ground and leapt at him.

"Water of the Soul!" Holding out his hands, Cody's Aqua Staff appeared in his hands and he turned it so that the glass orb on the top of the staff was pointing towards Mr. Moseby. "Aqua Strike!" The orb glowed bright blue, water swirling up into the tip before blasting out in a straight blast of hard water and energy through the Shadow Hunter, causing it to implode. Cody pulled up his Aqua Staff just in time to keep the water from hitting Mr. Moseby. "Mr. Moseby, are you OK?"

Trembling, Mr. Moseby nodded, his back still pressed against the door of the suite. Cody lifted his arm and quickly brought it back down, the staff disappearing from his hand. He looked around at his mother, father, and Mr. Moseby for a long moment before hurrying over to the window. He looked out it again, watching as the clouds continued to swirl around, increasing the wind that was blowing. As he watched, he spotted quickly moving figures streaking across the sky and knew it was his friends going to see what was going on as well.

"I have to go," Cody said again.

Carey and Kurt nodded.

"Phantom?" Phantom flew up into the air and turned into his beat form. Cody quickly climbed onto his back and the water guardian flew away from the Tipton hotel. Wind whistling in his ears, Cody ducked low on Phantom's back and the two raced towards the scene. He caught up to Rhuben and Reihu on the back of DeathLiger. "What's going on?" He called over to them.

"Dunno," Rhuben shouted back. "We heard explosions, noticed Pat and No were gone, and came out here as quickly as we could." She looked up towards the sky as the clouds continued to swirl around. "Looks to me that the portal is opening again."

"That's exactly what I was afraid of," Cody replied. The elementals continued towards the area that they had seen Zack falling. Cody leaned over Phantom's side and scanned the ground, hoping that he wouldn't see what was left of his twin's body on the streets but couldn't see anything. All he could see was Julius and Maddie on the back of Rudin, sprinting along the streets, taking corners as quickly s they could, looking for their friends.

On the buildings around them, SpiritSaru was climbing up the sides, jumping onto the buildings close by, racing along rooftops, with Sydney clinging onto his back as carefully as he could. "Look!" Sydney called suddenly pointing upwards.

Cody looked up and, for a moment, thought he could see the stars, as he was looking directly through the portal. Then he noticed Zack, Patrick, and Noah. They seemed to be hovering in space. How was that possible? They were supposed to be falling from the sky towards the ground to their certain death. Unless…they were being pulled upwards, nevertheless the lack of body movement from the three boys or their guardians showed they had been knocked out.

There was another explosion and a shockwave ripped through the group, sending them flying backwards. Riley and Crystal, who were on the backs of DalFang and Dricer had been the first hit, as they were the closest to the boys at the time the shockwave came through. Their loud screams were abruptly cut off as the shockwaves sent them flying backwards. Tapeworm and Bailey were the next hit, sending them off in another direction.

"Get out of the way!" Cody cried. He gripped Phantom's wings in a way to signal him to turn around. Phantom had already started to turn, the quick movement causing Cody to roll to the side almost sliding off as he did so. "Move! Move!"

The shockwave moved quicker than any of them had anticipated. He could hear Rhuben and Reihu let out screams second before he was hit with the force as well. Cody let out a loud grunting sound and felt himself slide off of Phantom's back. Rolling through the air, he turned so that he faced the sky and watched as there was a bright flash of light.

Before he fell unconscious he could see the stars once more.

A/N: And now the first arc of the story is over and the next arc starts with the next chapter, I can bring in my other story plots. Yes, it's ambitious, but I think having the different POVs come in will make it move faster, rather than having it stick with Zack, Cody, and Bailey's POVs where everything is limited, though it worked for the beginning of the story.

Cheers,

-Riles