So I got this written pretty quick, so hopefully I'll be able to continue doing so and that you'll enjoy it!

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Genetics

Big green eyes were focused on Ari as she moved fluidly, practising punches and kicks in the back garden. She focused on her feet, ensuring that she was moving in the right ways as she kicked a leg up.

Taking a break, she took in a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead, and glanced to her spectator. She smiled, walking over to the baby strapped into his seat, and he smiled back at her.

"Hey buddy, you enjoy that?" she tickled his cheek, and he squirmed. Now at two months old, Spencer had a mop of black hair and was getting bigger every day. "Don't worry, you'll be able to try that when you're old enough," Ari told him, reaching for the bottle of water beside him to take a gulp.

"Already plotting out his Ninja career?" she glanced around as Zoe opened the gate and stepped in. By her side was a toddler with long blonde curls and sea-green eyes, holding her hand. In her other hand, held close to her chest, was the worn wolf plushie that Ari had given her. "Bit early, isn't it?" Zoe asked with a chuckle. Ari arched her eyebrow at her.

"You say that like you weren't thinking about Annie's from before she was born," she challenged.

"I'm from a family of Ninjas, and so is her father. Hardly surprising," Zoe let Annie go as the little girl tugged at her hand, and she ran over to Ari.

"Hey little menace," Ari smiled as she crouched and let Annie throw her arms around her, almost letting go of her toy in the process.

"You're all sweaty," Annie stated as Ari stood, balancing the two year old in her arms.

"You're just so heavy, it's hard work holding you," Ari replied seriously, making Annie giggle.

"Am not!" she protested, before glancing down at Spencer. "Still boring?" Annie asked, glancing back up.

"Annie, stop saying that," Zoe rolled her eyes as Ari laughed.

"Once upon a time Annie, you were just like him," she poked the little girl's nose. She scrunched up her face, putting her hands to her nose.

"Was not!" she protested, and Ari set her down.

"Still no sign of his powers?" Zoe asked as Annie ran back over to her.

"No, and I'm kinda thankful, at least for the time being," Ari chuckled, looking down at Spencer as he watched her. When her attention turned to him, he smiled again, and wriggled. She smiled and lifted him from his seat, into her arms, and led the way inside. "Dad says that magic doesn't really kick in until they try using it, so that's a little way off," she said.

"Just like Ninja Powers," Zoe nodded in understanding as they took a seat in the kitchen. Annie bounced off at Zoe's suggestion to the living room, to find something to play with. With how often Zoe called round, there was usually something for Annie left lying around.

"Yeah, and your Animal Spirit. But the thing is, I have no idea what will happen with any kind of genetic enhancement," Ari sighed. "No-one else in the Dino Thunder team have had kids, and Rose isn't due for another couple of months, so we can't even get some kind of rough estimate," she complained.

"Oh, you have it bad," Zoe chuckled as she ruffled Annie's hair. "He could be glowing and throwing those weird orbs at any time. It could give Terrible Twos a whole new level of meaning," she commented, and Ari sighed again.

"Exactly," she nodded. "And that's before we even figure out if he's inherited the power of Sun or Earth," she added.

"Yeah, don't even talk to me about that," she glanced over to Zoe as the woman adjusted her glasses. "We decided to see if Annie had some kind of affinity to Moon or Thunder," she muttered, looking irritated.

"Oh?" Ari blinked, before catching on. "No," she gasped, getting to her feet.

"Yep," Zoe popped the p as Ari handed her Spencer. "Little traitor is likely to be a Thunder Ninja," she confirmed. Ari started laughing as she grabbed them something to drink. "Thanks for the sympathy," she muttered, bouncing the baby in her arms.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Ari giggled as Zoe got up as well. "You may watch out if that's the case. Thunder Ninjas aren't exactly known for being cooperative. You say Spence could give Terrible Twos a whole new level, but Annie could be far worse," she glanced in the direction of the living room, and the two walked through the house.

"I know. Thankfully she's been okay, but I'm definitely seeing the same stubbornness in her that Hunter has," Zoe told her, and Ari giggled.

"You sure that she's not got that from you?" she asked.

"Be grateful I'm holding my Godson, or I'd kick your butt for that," Zoe warned. Ari's smile grew. "It's not far, she takes after Hunter in almost every way, can't I get something?" she whined as they walked in and found Annie playing with her wolf on the floor, using it to attack a toy cow that had been left on the ground.

"Huh...Xander and Minos will be thrilled about that," Ari commented.

"Yeah...she only likes wolves," Zoe sighed again.

"Better than bugs," Ari smirked, and Zoe couldn't help but laugh as they took a seat. "No wonder she was so taken with RJ," she commented, and Zoe hummed. Spencer squirmed in her arms, and Ari took him back, cuddling him close. "You're not gonna be a traitor, are you little buddy?" she asked him brightly, and the 2 month old smiled back. "No icky cows or earth, it's all sunshine and birds, right?" she nodded, and Zoe grinned.

"You're as bad as me," she told the younger woman, who grinned back.

"Where do you think I learned it from?" Ari asked. On the floor, Annie continued making animal noises as she attacked the cow.

Ari's eyes widened as she took in the appearance of the young man, who stood in front of her, wearing Ninja Gear with gold lines and the symbol of a Sun Ninja over his heart.

"Who..." Ari started, but stopped as she took in his appearance. He had dark brown hair that was styled up out of his face, and was tall and well built. He looked a lot like Xander, but the main difference were his bright green eyes. "But how?" she whispered in alarm.

"Getting the picture, mum?" the young man chuckled, before throwing an energy-ball at her. Ari dove out of the way, rolling along before pushing herself up. She tried to do the same, but nothing happened, and she was forced to move again. "All those bad guys you told me about, they had the right idea!" Ari stared at the young man as he laughed. "All this power, and you wasted it, fighting for justice and peace!" he yelled, throwing another ball at her.

"That's not wasting it!" Ari told him, running at him. He reacted in surprise, but before Ari could strike him, she pulled back. She'd never met him, but there was something in her that stopped her. A familiarity, not just from being her son, tugged on the back of her mind, like she had met him before.

"See?" he chuckled. "What a waste," Ari was hit in the stomach with an energy-ball, and she screamed in pain as she slammed to the ground. Gasping for breath, Ari clutched at her stomach. "You can't even bring yourself to hit me! I'm evil, through and through, and you can't stop me! I'll destroy everything!" he declared with a loud laugh.

"But you're..."

"I'm what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Family?" he asked, and Ari felt tears burn at her eyes. "You always go on about the greater good, and fighting to protect everyone, but it's nonsense!" he yelled, glowing brightly with anger. "It's a waste of time. Why protect everything, when with this power, you can rule everything?" he asked.

"No!" Ari pushed herself up, spitting out the blood that pooled in her mouth. "We fight to protect everyone, so nobody gets hurt. So those who are defenceless can live in peace, and not fear," she told him. Her son just stared at her blankly.

"But why? We could have everything and anything we ever wanted. Nobody would dare hurt us or break up our family," he told her desperately.

"But how many families would you rip apart to keep ours safe?" Ari asked, and inhaled sharply. That was the final test.

"All of them. Nobody is more powerful than me!" he yelled, and was caught off guard when Ari's punch connected with his jaw.

"And nobody is more important than any one person!" Ari shouted back as he lay on the ground clutching his jaw. He looked up in alarm, his eyes wide in a familiar way to the girl.

Ari jolted awake, sitting up quickly. Reacting almost as quickly, Xander sat up, holding out a hand as if to cast a spell.

"What's going on?" he mumbled, still half asleep as Ari put a hand on his wrist and lowered his arm.

"Sorry," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Bad dream," Ari shook her head as if to clear it of the memory of the trial.

"Again?" Xander yawned. "Ari, what has gotten you so freaked out? This is the third time this week," he pointed out.

"It's not so much freaked out...as worried," Ari pulled her legs in close, resting her chin on her knees. "It's Spence. I can't get that memory of the trial out of my head," she admitted.

"About him being evil?" Xander asked, waking up slowly. Ari nodded silently. "Ari, it's not going to happen. Just like Joe said before, with you as his mum, how could he even think about being evil?" he asked, pulling her into his arms.

"But what if I mess up?" Ari whispered back.

"No way," Xander insisted, refusing to believe it.

"But what if I do? I've done it before," she looked up at him. "I always act before I think, and it's always a mistake. Someone always gets hurt. I got lazy and it almost destroyed good magic forever. I got careless and I didn't notice that something was wrong with RJ," Ari put her face in her hands.

"Okay, firstly, the laziness thing wasn't just you. That was all of us, and we learned our lesson. It'll never happen again," Xander told her firmly, taking her hands and making her look back at him. "Second, when you do act before you think, someone is always there to help. You know that. And third, what happened with RJ was nobody's fault. If I can accept that, then you can," Xander told her firmly.

"But I..."

"Nope," Ari frowned, huffing when he wouldn't let her finish. "Spencer will be fine," he told her firmly. The young woman took a breath, and smiled slightly.

"Will he really?" she asked. "I mean, he's our kid. I wouldn't say fine," she commented.

"Hey, all the weirdness he gets from you. We've discussed this," Xander told her, insulted. Ari giggled.

"Says you; the guy who grew a tree in the garden for the fun of it last week," she teased.

"Normal people grow trees," Xander argued.

"Normal people plant trees and let them grow. You grew it from a sapling to a full sized tree in 10 minutes," Ari laughed.

"Don't insult me, it was 3," Xander muttered, looking offended. "If you're going to point out that stuff, at least be accurate," he told her. Ari giggled again, and he kissed her temple. "Everything will be fine. Stop worrying. And talk to me if you're worried about something. You're not doing this alone," he told her as they lay down again. Ari rested her head on his chest, yawning as the adrenaline of her nightmare faded.

"Thanks..." she murmured.

"This is why you should listen to me more often," Xander told her, his voice growing quiet as well.

"Yeah, occasionally you're right. The rest of the time you're still a dork," Ari grinned, and he sighed.

"You'd think we'd have passed that already," he complained.

"Never," Ari giggled, before hearing a cry echo from the monitor on the side of the bed. She sighed, pushing herself up, but Xander pushed her back down.

"It's fine, I've got it," he told her, getting to his feet and scratching at his head, messing up his hair even more. "Get some sleep," Xander yawned as he shuffled off to see to their crying son.

"Maybe he's not quite so much of a dork any more," Ari murmured, closing her eyes and getting comfortable again.

"Uh, Ari?" she heard him call. "You might wanna come here!" Xander told her, and Ari groaned.

"Then again..." she mumbled, rolling out of bed. She stumbled through the dark, navigating out of the bedroom, before seeing light shining from the nursery. Squinting as it stung at her eyes, she followed it, and when she pushed the door open, she found Xander holding Spencer, who was glowing golden as he cried. She stopped, her eyes going wide at the sight.

"Looks like his genetic powers just kicked in," Xander commented. Ari blinked multiple times at the sight as the light flickered, and faded.

"I'll call Rose in the morning," Ari yawned, turning and shuffling off back to bed, leaving Xander to deal with the hungry infant.

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