Time to answer those reviewers questions and such. But first off, thanks for stickin' with me! This is, admittedly, my first RC9GN fic, and I'm just so, so glad that it's currently a hit.

Endeavor4ever: Thanks! And, may I ask, in what way do I write them that you like so much? And, don't worry, the work shalt stay up any way I can make it. ;-D

Nomi Norisu: Thanks! Yeah, I was just in the mood for something really fluffy and ended up with that, besides kinda showing Jenna's more vulnerable side.

yukiandkyo: Thanks so much! The other characters will come soon. As for the animals. . . well, Dark is a Darrmask, a dragon-like creature of my own creation, Fire is actually a Tengu(originally in the show) Water is a Kelpient, a creature of my own creation(is based on Kelpies and Sea serpents) Air is a Pegahorse, (which will be explained and re-described eventually) Light is a Moon-bat, a creature of my own creation, as well as the Badgerbear.

The Cowboy actually left behind a bandanna, the hat you're referring to is the red on in the middle of the cover of "his" book, the Tome of Air(like the Ninja Nomicon or Warrior Washira) and, sad to say, I don't really know who this "Messenger" is, but if you can tell me in another review of pm where a good reference episode is, I will be able to consider adding that.

Elcall: Oh, don't worry, it'll be revealed before to long. I've already decided who they are(no spoilers just yet! Though you can guess at who they are)
And you're welcome over the suit stuff. I try to make it clear whats going(that would be a clue/hint! If I don't explain/reveal something fully, there's a pretty good chance that there's soemthing major gonna happen there!)

Yeah, the Randy/Jenna moment in the alley wasn't really meant to be romantic, it was more to show that although Jenna projects this helping, "I don't need help" sort of image/attitude, she actually wants the companionship of others. And no, I don't ship them together! I've already chosen who they'll end up with.

Actually, to say that the first Defending Six are books is a little inaccurate. Sure, their spirits are housed in books, but any book, if well preserved (the magic they wield is the best kind of preserver) can last forever. And in the flashback, they weren't quite a full-on family/team yet, as was shown in the very first chapter. They're a few years younger than that in the flashback shown last chapter.

Han-nomics: Hello back to you. :-)

Okay, so, I made this extremely fluffy scene between Randy and Jenna last chapter. Not sure exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that(and this) particular bit out.

I guess I wanted to show that there's more to Jenna than meets the eyes; that beneath the tough, "I-don't-care-what-others-think-of-me-attitude" exterior everyone else sees, there's a vulnerable, insecure, child-like side to her that she doesn't reveal too often because she usually doesn't get the companionship she's looking for.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: , , ,Especially With Blackmail Material

Randy's jaw had dropped. He thought it might be something like this, but to actually hear it. . . and she blamed herself for it, too . . . He gently, yet firmly, tightened his grip on her, hugging her. "Hey," he said softly. "Could you look up at me?" he asked gently, keeping his voice down.

She slowly complied.

"I know you think its you're fault, but it's not," he continued. "And beating yourself up over it will only make you feel worse. You had no way of knowing that would happen, and neither did they. If you really want to blame something, then blame the weather. But holding all of that pain will only make it hurt more. Ya'know?" he finished, giving her a small smile.

She didn't reply, looking down at the spot where her tears had soaked through his shirt. "I . . . I guess you're right. Thank you." she said at last, timidly, quietly, looking up at him with a tiny, grateful smile. Still feeling insecure, she gave him a hug back, and he returned it gently.

"You're welcome, Jenna." he returned with a small smile.

The moment was quickly ruined, however, when the flash and click of a camera came from a little farther up the alley. Both snapped their heads to the right to see none other than Howard sauntering through the door out of the Gamehole, his cellphone in hand. He waved it none-to-causally from side to side, a smug look on his face. Randy nearly pushed Jenna off and stood, but with how her grip had increased on him and the talk they just had, he realized that it probably wouldn't go over so well.

"Well, I can see that you've been busted. See it and weep." he turned his phone so they could see the pic he'd taken. It showed Randy and Jenna hugging, Jenna's face tucked into Randy's chest and his chin on the top of her head.

Randy blushed. "Howard! Delete! That! Photo!?" he demanded, feeling a little, no, a lot embarrassed by the implications the photo held. Sure, it wasn't anything romantic, but without the context, for what anyone else knew, it was a romantic , on the other hand, wasn't sure how to react. She didn't really see the harm in the photo that'd been taken, but was more concerned with how much the chubby boy had heard.

She really didn't want anyone else to know about that. Narrowing her eyes, she halfheartedly demanded, "How much did you hear?" it came out more timid than the other two boys thought it would.

From what Randy could see of her expression, she seemed to want to get mad at Howard, but couldn't for some reason. From her tone, it sounded like she was hoping for someone else to deal with it while she couldn't. Randy quickly realized that she was, in a way, relying on him to get take care of the issue. Gently pulling her off, he stood, pulling her to her feet as he did.

"Oh, I heard everything, little miss Sally sob-story," Howard replied smugly and accusingly, narrowing his eyes. "And I can see right through you!" he exclaimed, pointing at her.

Jenna stiffened, beginning to step closer to Randy, but Howard immediately darted in the way, keeping between the two. "Hey!" she cried out indignantly, starting to get a little twitchy, body beginning to shake.

"No way am I letting you steal my biffer away!" Howard continued sharply. "You obviously want to separate us with all your fake romance nonsense,"

"Howard," Randy tried to interject, but couldn't stop the freight train of angry accusations that Howard was conducting.

"You can thank me later, buddy," he half-whispered to him. "And with this evidence," he waved the picture around again, "I can easily hand it over to the schools top gossip reporter. And then everyone will know the big secret, and Theresa will go after you and pound you to a pulp for sure. How'do'ya like me now, Jenna." Howard finished, crossing his arms with a challenging, confident smirk.

Jenna's trembling increased, her hands clenched into fists as she flat out glared at Howard. "If you dare tell anyone, I will personally throw you off the top of the school building tomorrow." she informed him flatly, with an undertone of pained betrayal, before turning sharply on her heel and marching away down the alley.

"Ha! I knew it! Da dada duh duh DAH!" Howard did a small victory dance, but Randy punched him in the shoulder, and tried to grab Howard's phone. Howard, however, managed to hold onto it long enough and sent the picture to Randy's phone before his friend snatched it out of his hands. Randy quickly deleted the photo, not noticing when his phone vibrated and ding-donged, the typical response to getting a text from his biffer.

"Why would you do that! I just saved your cheese and this is how you thank me?!" Howard demanded, deciding to keep the sent picture a secret; for now.

"My cheese didn't need saving!?" Randy returned sharply. "Jenna told me something really personal and painful, all right? And she made me promise not to tell anyone. I don't think she has any real friends." as Randy said those words, he realized that they were true. Over the past week, he and a few other students(he'd heard from them through the social grapevine) had noticed how she helped out the other students and even the staff, but that was it; it never went any farther than helping.

Randy glanced around, ignoring his biffer for a moment to scan the alley. Soon spotting Jenna much farther down, he grabbed Howard's arm and dragged him along towards her. "You're going to apologize to her." he informed his friend coldly and seriously. Then, he paused, spotting something.

It was the picture Jenna had been holding. She must've dropped it. Picking it up, he turned it over, catching a bit of writing on the back. With different inks, and in different handwriting's, a single sentence had been formed.

"Ohana mean family. Family means that no one gets left behind, or forgotten." Afterwards, all the inks with the corresponding handwriting's had signed their names.

"Jack" done in green and "Wilma" done in dark purple. Both had a small, sloppily drawn sandy-gold-glitter-ink heart around them. Then there was "Poppy Jonas" in neat print and black ink, followed after by a fancy cursive lavender signature that could be just made out as "Uncle Willem Nice-roy". Lastly, in sandy-gold glitter-ink was "jEnnAfErn", in a scrawled, little kid-ish handwriting. The last thing after the phrase and names was a date; 12-25-08, about five years ago.

Jenna, at this point, was walled in, a chain link fence blocking the alley. No biggie; except there was barbed wire strung across the top. Either way, she was climbing it. She'd dealt with this stuff before. She was already starting to scramble over it when Randy and Howard came within hearing distance. She paused, moving down a few inches so she wouldn't be directly on top of the barbed wire as she looked down at them, suspicious, though a small part of her still wanted the comfort of another person.

"What do you want?" she demanded halfheartedly, not really in the mood anymore to fight. She was more interested in flight, rather than fight, at this point. So, she hung almost lazily off of the fence, holding on with one hand and foot while she let the other swing in empty space, her other hand going into her coat pocket.

Randy held up the picture first. "Well, you kinda dropped this, and second, Howard has something to say to you." he called up to her, pushing his buddy closer to the fence.

Howard groaned, but walked closer anyway. "I . . . I'm sorry for trying to blackmail you, but look!" he held up his phone. "I deleted the picture, and I didn't really hear what you said. All I heard was you crying and saw you all cuddled-up with my bro." he explained truthfully.

Jenna considered his words, slowly shimmying back down the fence. "Apology accepted, I guess." she muttered out, delicately taking the picture from him.

Randy gently laid a hand on the shorter teens shoulder, getting her to look up at him. "If. . . you want, we could, ah, go do something fun . . . you know, as. . . friends . ?" he seemed either hesitant to ask, or not quite sure how too.

Jenna guessed the second one. She knew that most (if not all) people saw her as the person who offered protection, who helped out with seemingly small tasks, encouraged others when they felt down, and was completely unfazed by others opinions of her. At least, that's what was starting. She wasn't deaf, and she knew, for the most part, what the general population of the students thought of her.

It was actually rather rare that she just opened herself up like this. There were a lot of small things hidden in the depths of her memories, small things that she knew would become huge if other people here found out. At the very least, Jenna wanted to delay it as long as possible, maybe get some actual friends who had unbiased opinions of her before something big came up that would change how they saw her.

Finally, after a few moments of quiet thinking, she nodded. "O-okay then . . . perhaps we could go to the park or something, though?" she asked hesitantly, a bit timidly, not wanting to force or take advantage of someone else; unsure where to draw the line between letting someone else choose for her and taking charge of her own adventures. It was definitely difficult, to say the least.

Just as Randy opened his mouth to reply, he was cut off by a scream nearby, as well as thumping footsteps, the wrenching of twisted metal, and the shattering of breaking glass. A robot stepped into view from the street beyond the alley fence.

There was something truly sinister about the bot. It was a darker shade of gray than the usual McFist Industries dull pewter and it glowed yellow instead of green. Ranging at twelve feet tall, the humanoid hulk would have been taller yet if it was not bent over. Its knuckles scraped the ground as if its arms were too heavy to walk upright. The robot didn't even have a head; a digital face was displayed on its chest.

Jenna backed up as it turned its gaze on them, holding her arms out defensively in front of the two boys, a snarl twisting her features into something you wouldn't want to mess with. Only her wide, scared violet eyes showed how she really felt about this robot. It seemed to reach for them, then turned and continued to their right, going down the street.

It was Ninja o'clock, but Jenna was there; and while she had guessed correctly last week that he was the Ninja, he didn't want to confirm that for her. Howard seemed to understand, though, and grabbed Jenna's hand and dragging her back down the alley and into the Gamehole's back exit. Randy made sure no one else was around once they were inside before pulling on the mask.

He was about to take off when he noticed something fluttering in the air near the door. Instinctively, he snatched it out of the air before tucking it into his belt. It was Jenna's special family picture, and there wasn't time to return it now. He could do it later, he decided, climbing up the building and running in the robots direction. Howard, meanwhile, had lost track of Jenna. The moment they were back in the arcade, she'd disappeared to who knows where.

Jenna had slipped back into the alley a few minutes after Howard dragged her inside. Racing down, she scaled the fence and slipped over the barbed wire unharmed, in one fluid, practiced motion. Once on the other side, she pulled on the mask. After the suit covered her, she clambered up onto a nearby building and began to run in the direction of the robot, only to find something she hadn't really expected.

The robot had started playing ballet music and started clumsily doing ballet. What had seemed like a serious situation was now hilarious to Randy. He found it so funny that he actually doubled up with laughter and had to kneel on the ground. "Oh. My. Cheese!" He got out in between laughter.

The problem with an unbalanced robot is that it tends to run into things. With every spin, the bot crashed into one building or another. Finally, it ran into the building the Ninja was on; Randy lost his balance and tipped over the edge he had been kneeling too close to.

Jenna reacted on impulse and instinct. Lunging, she threw her scarf so it wrapped around a street light and grabbed Randy's arm, swinging them onto a not-yet-damaged building. He stumbled back in surprise, taking in the sight before him. In front of him was a girl in a suit similar to his, but there were enough differences to tell them apart pretty easily.

First, her suit was a more darkish grey color with navy blue markings. Second, the markings were more wavy and never straight, a wave-in-a-circle symbol over her heart where he had the Norisu "9" symbol. A navy blue strip of fabric, similar to his scarf, fluttered at her left hip.

Where the Ninja's under-the-eyes-markings were straight, she had blue tear/rain drop-shaped markings underneath, four under the left and five under the right, giving a false appearance of crying. Where there was open space over his nose and that small part of his face, her's was covered with a see-through, blue tinted cloth-like material, the same kind making her gloves webbed at the fingers.

All in all, this was an unexpected yet welcome turn of events. He gave a quick wave. "Hello, fellow fighter. I am the Ninja of Norrisville. I assume you are the Warrior?" he asked in his "hero" voice.

She rolled her eyes, which now appeared to be a shimmery blue-purple in color. "That I am, Ninja." she replied; except it only came out as a sort of cross between and grunt and a warble, but agreeing, at least.

Randy stared at her. "Uh. . . hello? Do you understand English?" he asked, not entirely sure why she didn't speak.

Jenna nodded in return, shrugging with a low grunt before pointing toward the robot with an aggressive growl, narrowing her eyes.

The Ninja nodded. "Right, we can save the chitchat for later. Let's do this!" he declared, drawing his sword and eyeing the robot, the doodles directing him to the best angle of attack. The robot had swapped to a different, upbeat music, break dancing in the street. The Ninja took it, beginning his usual routine of slashing and leaping.

The Warrior, however, sought a different approach. She followed the Ninja onto the robot, but instead only drew a dagger to help her keep her grip the robot started spinning and the like so she wouldn't fall off. Before to long, she found an unprotected panel near where the head would be. Yanking on the latch, she grunted loudly to get the Ninja's attention.

When that didn't work, she took one of the orbs she'd practiced with (the fetching ball) and threw it at him, finally getting him to come over. "What is it?!" he initially demanded, then saw the panel. "Oh, oh, I gotcha now." he finished, both working together to lift it -it was rather heavy, even for him- as the robot started to do the hula.

Looking in, they could actually see that there was quite a bit of space down there to move around, like, about a living room-plus-kitchen-plus-bedrooms worth of space, a maze of walls hooked up with important wires spread throughout. Going in, Jenna handed Randy the end of her belt-scarf. Once inside, she started hurling throwing-stars at every spot she thought would help among the wires, hoping to get lucky and hit the right one.

Before long, she did, but it ended with some unforeseen consequences.

The robot lurched unexpectedly forward, pitching the Ninja headfirst into the hole, landing on top of the Warrior at the bottom. The whole thing fell over with a loud, clanging and clanking THUD on the street. The top of the panel fell closed with an echoing CLANG, sealing the two defenders in total darkness. Meanwhile, in the hovercraft, McFist used the magnetic tractor beam to lift the robots remains inside for Viceroy to fix later at McFist industries.

The two teens were trapped. In the middle of a deathtrap just waiting to be sprung.

Okay, all credit for the robot goes to Endeavor4ever. The single tweaks I made was the wiring room under the panel and the hula dancing stuff. The rest is all her.