A/N: Well, folks, on the last part, as Ocean and River continued to get suspicious of their cousins' secret lives, the Black Tundra made their moves against Jordan and Bren by abducting their family members. Will the Runners be able to stop them and save their family members? And will Waters' twins uncover the secret of the UR Gamer Club? Find out starting now!
Race to Rescue the Reunion: Part 3
In the world of the Black Tundra, Jordan and Bren's Aunt Lily, and cousin Nali along with Bren's brothers and sisters had been placed in stasis within containment units.
"Well, we've got even more of those Runner's family in the palm of our hands," Malgore said. "So now what?"
"Now we get the rest," Vidal said with an evil grin. "The reminder of their family is all gathered at the Water Runner's residence. We storm the place, take them all, and then force the Runners to surrender to us in exchange for their safety."
"Clever plan," Willard said. "But what about their powers?"
"We'll force them to turn over their RunComs, under penalty of their family's deaths!"
The Tundra members all looked at each other with wicked smirks. Victory was just at their fingertips.
"And that's why you make the best lieutenant, Vidal," Kozai said, impressed.
Back in the real world, the Runners, Andre, and Layla had arrived at the scene of the most recent abduction. They split up and searched all over the scenes for clues.
"Hey, I found some more boot prints here," Itzal called out as he found more boot prints near Lilly's abandoned car. Amica then sniffed around all the way to the nearby alley, and then roared out loud.
"And look! Amica found something here!," she called towards the others. Everyone gathered together and looked in the alley. There, they found…
"More flash phosphorous powder," Layla confirmed.
"So the cult has our Aunt Lily, cousin Nali, and my brothers and sisters," Bren said.
"Yeah, seems a lot like it," Zeus said.
"But why? And why like this?," Jordan asked
"Maybe they're looking to hit you guys where it would really hurt. Not only that, they have the opportunity and means with our family reunion," a familiar voice said. "Though knowing them, you should've suspected it from the start."
"Yeah that makes a lot of sense," Andre said as he thought of it.
"Yeah, so much sense that it couldn't be wrong," Calla said.
"So clear and accurate too, cuz," Bren said.
"Yeah, thanks Ocean," Jordan said. Suddenly they all realized…
"OCEAN?!"
Everyone turned to see both Ocean and River standing there, with small grins.
"What are you guys doing here?," Kani said.
"Just seeing what the UR Gamer and Investigation Club was gonna do about our relative's disappearances," River said. "I mean that's what you do inside and outside the game right?"
"What are you guys talking about?," Itzal said sheepishly. "We're just here…discussing game stuff."
"You can drop the dumb play, guys," Ocean said. "River and I know you're the Universal Runners."
"How would you guys know-?"
"We found those pictures of Tony Clark and Professor Oak in your room, along with the ULO game, and we remembered the RunComs you had," River said. "Ocean put the pieces together and well…we figured it out from there."
The Runners, Layla, and Andre sighed as they realized their secret was now out.
"Well, congrats, cousins. You cracked one case today," Jordan admitted.
"So it is true," River said with a grin. "And all those rumors about the game being a link to other worlds and such?"
"That's true too," Calla said.
"And this cult called the Black Tundra who's trying to take over all of the worlds in the universe…they're real too, aren't they?," Ocean asked with worry.
"You know it," Andre said.
"And they're the-"
"Ones behind your families' disappearances," Zeus finished.
"Wow, we really stumbled onto something big here," Ocean said in slight disbelief. Just then, a opening in the alley's brick wall opened and sucked in the Runners, Andre, Layla, and the twins inside. They tumbled screaming down the tunnel and landed right in Tina's CodeX office in a pile.
"Tina!," Jordan snapped as she climbed out of the pile, and stood up. The others soon followed suit.
"Sorry for the sudden WOOHPing, but we just got some good news from Jerry and our company technicians," Tina replied, as she took notice of Ocean and River. "And you two must be Ocean and River, Jordan and Bren's detective cousin duo. I've heard much about you two."
"And you must be Tina Reyheart, head of CodeX United, and apparently the Runner's commander or something, correct?," Ocean asked.
"Indeed. And may I compliment you both on your detective skills and teamwork?"
"Hey, it runs in the family," River said.
"I'm sure. You both have the potential to be Runners too," she whispered under her breath. "Anyways, Runners. We have figured, like I'm sure you all do now, that the Black Tundra, is keeping Jordan and Bren's relatives captive in their world."
"Yes, but we have no way of getting there," Kani said.
"She's right. Apparently, they've done something to block me and Jerry from creating portals into or out of their realm," Zeus reminded.
"Well, we've created a device that when combined with Zeus' abilities and mine, will allow you to bypass that little firewall they set up," Jerry said as he walked into the room, and displayed a techno-cube-like device.
"This would be the Portal Barrier Breaker. If you have a portal that is denying access to a world for a reason, press the button, throw the cube at it and it will open said world for 10 minutes."
"Well then, let's do it. Zeus," Jordan said, motioning to Zeus. Zeus concentrated, and opened up a red portal to the Black Tundra world.
Itzal took the cube, activated it, and threw it at the portal. The portal then suddenly and slowly changed from red to white.
"Okay, let's go!," Jordan shouted to her friends, before turning to her astonished cousins and saying, "You two best stay here, it could be dangerous for you guys."
"For once, I agree with Jordan. we've already lost enough family today. Last thing we need is you to get captured too," Bren
The twins nodded and watched as the rest of the team entered the portal. But, just before Zeus was about to step into the portal, he turned and looked back towards Ocean and River. He started to think of all the detective work that the two had done and started to wonder...what if they needed help there?
Suddenly, he ran over and grabbed the two, much to their surprise.
"Hey, Zeus, what are you doing?," Ocean protested.
"You're coming too. Something tells me we're gonna need your expertise some more," Zeus replied.
"But–," River started to say, but Zeus pulled the two with him as he jumped through the portal, which closed up behind them.
In the Black Tundra realm, a portal opened near the front of the cult's main headquarters, and one by one, the Runners exited into the world, with Zeus and the twins being the last, much to Jordan and Bren's surprise.
"Zeus, what are you doing? We told them to wait in our world!," Jordan asked regarding their cousins.
"Well, I feel that we may need their detective skills some more," Zeus said as he closed the portal and picked the Portal Barrier Breaker off the ground.
"But, you were the one most against this, remember?," Bren reminded him. "Like we said, the world is dangerous."
"No worries, we can handle the danger," Ocean told them. "Dad and Uncle Ricky have always expressed awareness of the dangers in their work."
"Yeah, well this a lot more dangerous and intense than police work, guys," Kani said.
"We can handle whatever these guys throw at us," River assured them. "As long as we stick together."
The Runners all thought for a moment, before Itzal said, "Okay, fine. But since you don't have powers like us, you stay close and do what we say."
"Fair enough."
"Good, now that that's settled, how do we get their headquarters?," Layla said. Andre noticed an unguarded door and said as he pointed, "This way!"
The Runners clambored over to the door, but took notice of the lock.
"An electronic code lock," Ocean said. "Anyone got the code?"
"Oh, we will. In a few moments," Andre smirked as he took out a laptop and hooked it up to the electronic lock. He typed rapidly on his computer, and within a few minutes, the lock clicked and the door opened.
"I guess it always pays to have a computer guy on your side," Calla remarked
"You said it, sister," River replied as the group entered the door.
The Runners and company headed deep into the Tundra headquarters, at first encountering nothing as they trudged through the halls. However, they soon heard voices and, as they peeked around the corner, saw several young Tundra Footsoldiers chatting indiscriminately.
"Okay, so how do we get past these guys," Jordan asked. Just then, Rotom suddenly popped out of it's PokeBall, much to everyone's shock.
"Whoa, cool!," Ocean and River said quietly in unison. Zeus quickly grabbed his Pokemon and pulled it over to them.
"Rotom, this is no time for your antics. We're trying to rescue Jordan and Bren's family here!," Zeus snapped in annoyance. Just then, Jordan noticed an inactive robotic drone at the end of the hallway opposite from where the Footsoldiers were. Immediately, she got an idea.
"Hang on, maybe Rotom can be of some help to us here," she said. She then pulled Rotom over to her and whispered instructions to them. Rotom grinned and snickered mischievously, before sneakily hovering over to the drone and possessing it.
Upon forming with it, Rotom-Drone flew up and charged at the Footsoldiers, who upon seeing it coming, were spooked immediately.
"Ghost!," one footsoldier shrieked."Duck!"
The footsoldiers ducked as the Rotom-drone sailed over their heads. It then circled around and came back at them.
"It's coming back!"
"Run for your lives!"
"Get out of here!"
With that, the footsoldiers dashed down another hallway in fear as Rotom snickered and depossessed the drone.
"Wow, Jordan, your plan worked," Layla said.
"Good job Rotom," Zeus said. "Now to find your family members."
"But where could they be?," Bren asked. Just then Andre suddenly realized…
"Hey, um, your family members have cell phones, right?," he asked.
"Yeah, why?," Bren asked.
"My PDA has GPS tracking for cell phone signals. I could track the phones from here and find where they are."
"Genius!," River said. But as Andre took out his PDA, he discovered…
"Darn it! No signal in here!"
"So much for that plan," Calla said in dismay. But just then, Rotom possessed the PDA, much to Andre's shock and everyone else's annoyance.
"Rotom, quit fooling around," Zeus snapped. But just then, the PDA sprang to life, with the GPS tracker working in full force.
"Well, look at that. It seems Rotom has boosted the signal power of my PDA! And he's looking to lead us to your family!"
"Rotom, a GPS? Please! That thing couldn't lead its way to a bowl of milk if it was sitting right in it," Bren commented with a snicker. But next thing he knew, he was shocked by Rotom's Discharge attack.
"Man, Bren, you still don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?," Ocean said.
"Nope, nope he doesn't," Jordan quipped before turning to Rotom and saying, "Okay, lead the way, Rotom."
With that, Rotom lead the Runners and company through the many hallways and floors of the headquarters, until they came to a door labelled STASIS LAB. Once again, they encountered a coded lock, which Andre quickly cracked with his hacker skills.
Upon entering the lab they found just what they suspected…
"Cousin Ryder, Aunt Nali, Cousin Lily!," Jordan gasped upon seeing the three in stasis containment units.
"Jomar! Mila! Sila! Ken!," Bren exclaimed upon seeing his siblings in the units.
"Mom! Dad!," Ocean exclaimed upon seeing his and River's parents in stasis as well.
"Nia and Lake!," River gasped upon seeing her and Ocean's sisters in stasis. Jordan's face twisted up into pure fury.
"THESE WORLD-STEALING PARASITES HAVE GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME!," she screamed in rage. "I AM GONNA RIP EVERYONE OF THEM TO PIECES IF IT'S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!"
Meanwhile, in a conference room, Yune and another BT Enforcer named Riel were talking with the rookie footsoldiers about what had happened.
"You mean to say, that a drone came alive and attacked you all?," Riel asked.
"It's true, sir. It's all true!," one soldier said frantically.
"Geez, I think you must've not gotten enough rest or something and you were just seeing things…"
"No! It was real, I tell you!," said another solider.
"I told the General these rookies need more time to adapt to routine," Yune said as the room's table intercom beeped, and he walked over to it, and pressed the receiver button. "Yes?"
"Sergeant Yune, sir. We've received an minor security signal from the stasis containment room on Level 8," a soldier said. "Almost like the room's lock was hacked into."
"Hacked?"
"Yes, sir."
Yune's eyes widened as he realized what might be going on. He turned to Riel and said, "Sound the alarm about the breach. Put all sections on alert! And send a team to the stasis room!"
"See I told you there was something weird going on!," the first footsolider said.
"It's nothing weird…it's the Universal Runners."
In the stasis room, the Runners had deactivated and opened the stasis containers, freeing the still-unconscious Waters/Revie family members.
"Okay, we have them freed…so what now?," Itzal asked.
"We get them back to our world ASAP," Jordan replied. Just then, an alarm sounded, startling the team.
"They know we're here!," Zeus said, while Andre peeked outside the stasis room window. He immediately saw Riel and Yune, with a bunch of Enforcers and Footsoldiers, approaching the stasis room, weapons drawn.
"They're coming! They're coming!," he shouted.
"Quick, Zeus! The portal!," Jordan cried out as she and the others all picked up one of the relatives. Acting fast, Zeus opened a new portal and unblocked it with the Portal Barrier Breaker. Just as he did, the door to the stasis room was blown off, and the Black Tundra began to storm in. Right then and there, the Runners and company began jumping through the portal one by one, with Jordan and Bren's still-unconscious relatives in tow. Finally, Bren, Zeus, and Jordan, carrying Ken, Mila, and Sila respectively, were left to face the small BT team.
"You're too late, hacker dude!," Jordan said. "We've got our family members and we're taking them home!"
"Maybe, but you won't be able to save the rest!," Yune sneered with a smirk. Jordan, Zeus, and Bren all hopped into the portal, which quickly closed behind them. Yune only stood there with the rest of the Black Tundra minions, grinning evilly.
Back at CodeX United, at Tina's office, a portal opened and the Runners, Andre, Layla, and the twins stepped back into their world with the still-unconcious relatives, with the portal closing behind them soon afterwards.
"Nice work, Runners. I see you succeeded in your rescue mission," Tina said as she and Jerry greeted them.
"Yeah, they're still unconscious, though," Zeus said. "Best have them examined for any signs of side effects and such."
"I'll get the staff right on it," Jerry said, as he motioned for some of his colleagues to help him carry Jordan and Bren's family members out. "We will give them a full examination and then wipe any memory they have of what happened and bring them back to the places they were kidnapped from."
"Thank you, Jerry," Jordan replied as her family members were taken out the room.
"Well, I guess all's well that ends well then," Calla guessed with a smile. They had succeeded in rescuing Jordan's family members, so that should be the end for them.
"Yeah, well, I wonder what Yune said about not being able to save the rest?," Kani wondered with curiousity. Upon hearing this, Jordan's eyes widened as she realized…
"Oh-no, the rest of our family! He's gonna go after them at the reunion at my place!"
"Oh, man, we got to get home right now!," Bren gasped in realization as well.
"But how can we get there fast enough?," Itzal asked.
"Leave that to me," Zeus said as he began to focus and open up another portal…
Back at Jordan's house, the rest of her and Jordan's family members were finishing setting up for their reunion. Unknown to them, a Black Tundra footsoldier was in a tree across the street, spying on them through binoculars. He then signaled below to him, and many members of the Black Tundra came out of the shadows and stood ready to storm the Waters' house.
"Finally, revenge will be ours," Vidal snickered. "Move in!"
But as they were about to attack, a portal opened up and the Runners and company, led by Jordan, jumped out in front of them.
"Well, well, well. The Runners, here to save the day," Malgore sneered.
"But you'll never stop us from taking both you and the rest of your family."
"We'll see about that," Jordan growled as she turned to her friends. "Ocean, River, Andre, Layla, you guys better stand back."
The four nodded as they stepped asside and took cover, as the Runners prepared for battle.
"Ready guys!"
"READY!"
The six then activated the Conversion App in their RunComs, and shouted, "RUN CONVERSION! LOG IN!"
With the push of a button and in a flash of light, the six transformed into their Runner forms and drew their weapons.
"Whoa, so that's how they transform real world?," Ocean gasped in astonishment.
"That is so cool!," River added in.
Vidal then drew her blade and shouted, "ATTACK!," and the Runners and the horde of Black Tundra charged at each other and all started to attack with punches, kicks, and weapon clashes as Ocean, River, Andre, and Layla watched.
Jordan took on Vidal, three Footsoldiers, and two Enforcers, managing to fend them both off with her -Ice Crystal Blade- and -Water Wave Staff-. However, Vidal blasted a bolt of dark energy at Jordan, knocking her back.
"You little fool, do you really think you and your friends have a chance against all of us?!," Vidal sneered wickedly.
Jordan, growled ferociously at this, and cried, "Tsunami Swirl Strike!," A tsunami-like wave of water blasted out of her staff, pushing Vidal back.
"As long as we stick together and don't give up!," Jordan said. "Frost Slash!"
Using her blade, she slashed down the Footsoldiers, causing them to be frozen solid in ice.
"Waterfall Cannon!"
With her staff, she blasted away the Enforcers with a powerful stream of water.
"AQUA FREEZE BLAST!"
Combining her weapon's elements of Water and Ice, Jordan blasted a bright blue beam at Vidal and the others, sending them flying into the pavement.
Zeus faced off against Kozai, three Enforcers, and a large Grunt. He used his -Sun Slashing Katana- and -Hidden Nova Katar- to parry each attack, sans the Grunt's whom he had to dodge due to his size. Finally, Kozai and him locked blades in fury.
"Pathetic, Light Runner. You couldn't save your own world and now you make a feeble attempt to save yours!," Kozai sneered as he broke the lock ad kicked Zeus to the ground. The Grunt moved in to pound him into the street.
"Nova Ambush!"
Zeus's katar quickly charged with energy and slashed riught through the Grunt, who suddenly stopped in his tracks before collapsing unconscious.
"I'm not letting you take this world or my friend's family!," Zeus shouted determined. "Supernova Slash!"
Charging his katana now, he slashed at Kozai and the Enforcers, knocking them back with a sharp beam of light.
"HEAVAN'S RAGE!"
Zeus then pointed katana toward the sky and made a stabbing motion towards it causing a boom of thunder, and a huge bolt of white lighting came down and struck Kozai and the Enforcers, who were then struck once more by Zeus and his katana, sending them flying away.
Itzal defended himself valiantly with his -Phoenix Dusk Scythe- as he found himself attacked from all ends by Tim Scam, two Grunts, and four Footsoldiers.
"You can't defend yourself forever, WOOHP-boy!," Scam sneered as he and the others kept up their attacks on Itzal.
"That's what you think! Shadow Rush!," Itzal cried as he charged his shadowed aura and unleashed a powerful slash that knocked away the Footsoldiers.
The Grunts charged in for an attack, but Itzal drew his -Black Ice Blade- and cried out, "Black Blade!"
With that, his blade glowed with a solid a black aura, and he used it to cut down the two with a vicious stroke.
"MOONLIGHT'S EDGE!"
Itzal then combined the powers of his blade and scythe and raised them high in the air. A beam of moonlight then came down from the sky and onto the weapons, empowering them with the power of the moon. Utilizing the power of the moon and his darkness, Itzal blasted a powerful beam at Scam, blasting him into a nearby car.
Calla dodged and parried with her -Double-Edged Spearblade- as she fought Malgore and five Footsoldiers. Malgore used red aura charged fists to swing at Calla.
"Let's see you try and beat me girlie!," he teased snidley. The Footsoldiers lunged at her.
"Vortex Palm!"
With the wind eminating from the palms of her hands, Calla blew the Footsoldiers away and right into Malgore.
"I'll show you to call me 'girlie'!," she growled. "Gale Ambush Strike!"
Converting her blade into its bow mode, she ran up on Malgore and shot him with a Wind Aura-powered arrow at close range.
"HURRICANE…ARROW…SLASH!"
She then charged her spear with the wind of a yellow-aura tornado and struck Malgore and all his men with everything she had with it, blasting them down.
Bren clashed and pushed forth with his -Flare Blaze Daggers- as he faced off against Yune and two BT Sergeants.
"You think you're all that Fire-boy?," Yune laughed as he swung an black and red aura-covered axe at Bren.
"Meteor Daggers!"
Bren threw fire daggers at the two Sergeants, hitting them directly.
"All that and a lot more. Fire Vortex!," Bren called out as he ignited his swords and spun around into a firey tornado which hit and burned Yune. Once the attack dissipated, Bren then jumped into the air with his swords in hand.
"PHOENIX MUYTA SLASH!"
Covered in a bird-shaped fire aura, Bren flew towards the three and slasshed him with his aura-charged daggers, sending them flying backwards.
Kani, wielding her -Sakura Tone Soundblade-, battled Willard, an Enforcer, and a Grunt.
As she locked weapons with all three of them, Willard cackled, "Getting a little slow on the uptake there, are we?"
Kani broke the lock as she said, "Hardly, Dr. Slo-Mo!"
The Enforcer and Grunt then charged at her again, but Kani shouted, "Leaf Blade Slash!", and slashed at the two with her green-glowing blade. The two stopped in their tracks before collapsing to the ground.
Undeterred, Willard took aim with his slow-motion ray gun and shouted, "Slow down, Earthie-Girl!," before blasting at her.
"Tiger Defense! Amica!"
Amica, summoned out of Kani's backpack, transformed into her adult form, jumped in between the two, and used her -Raging Protection- to negate the blast.
"NATURE FANG BLAST!"
Kani and Amica then charged blade and fangs bared and glowing aura green, and slashed and bit Willard and his men, knocking them away.
The Black Tundra members started to recover and get up from their battles, as the Runners stood looking over them, ready for more battle.
"You've lost, you world-stealing pigs!," Jordan said. Vidal's face twisted with a mix of fury and deviousness.
"Not yet! We haven't!," she said. "Now!"
Just then, on the sidelines, two BT Enforcers appeared, and knocked Andre and Layla asside, grabbed Ocean and River, and held blades to their necks.
"No!," Jordan shouted. The other Runners seemed to be about to make a move, but Vidal stopped them.
"Don't even think about it, any of you!," she sneered. "One false move and they slice their throats open!"
"Now, just make this easy and surrender yourselves before you end up cleaning their remains off these streets," Kozai added. The Runners were stunned at what to do next. If they surrendered, they'd lose everything, but if not, Jordan's cousins would die.
"Jordan. Jordan, do you trust us?," Ocean managed to say.
"Huh?," Jordan asked uncertain.
"He said 'do you trust us?'," River reiterated.
"…Yeah"
"Good, then get ready to do what you gotta do," Ocean said. Suddenly he pushed his captor's blade away and elbowed him in the stomach, while River did the same and stomped on her captor's foot. As the two Enforcers cried in pain, the twins used the opportunity to break away.
"Now's our chance!," Jordan snarled. "Nobody messes with my family! AQUA FREEZE BLAST!"
"HEAVAN'S RAGE!," yelled Zeus
"MOONLIGHT'S EDGE!," cried Itzal.
"HURRICANE ARROW SLASH!," shouted Calla.
"PHOENIX MUYTA SLASH!," yelled Bren
"NATURE FANG BLAST!," cried Kani.
Combining their attacks, the six Runners blasted a colorful beam at the Black Tundra members, causing a huge explosion that threw them all back down into the street.
Struggling to get up, Jordan walked up to Vidal and said, "It's over. You're finished."
"No…we've just begun! Now Yune!," she shouted in reply. Yune then used his bracer to create a red portal back to their world. The cult fighters then jumped in, heading back to the Black Tundra realm, as the Runners and company looked on.
Vidal, the last to go, turned to the group and snarled, "This isn't over, Runners! We will have our revenge, and your world! The Black Tundra will be back!"
She then stepped back into portal which then closed behind her.
"And we'll be ready and waiting when you do," Jordan said, determined.
Later on, Tina and Jerry had arrived with other CodeX employees to clean up the mess of the battle.
"I see you have done well, Runners," Tina said. "And Jordan, Bren, I'm glad that your family is alright."
"Us too," Jordan replied.
"But what about our family members that were kidnapped? Are they gonna be alright?," Bren asked.
"Don't worry, they will be fine," Jerry answered. "Once they woke, we took them back to the areas from which where they were abducted, modified their memories, and notified the authorities they've been found. It's all been settled."
Just then, several cars drove up the opposite side of the street and parked infront of Jordan's house, and all of the previously abducted Waters/Revie family members got out and headed up to the Waters residence.
"Cousin Ryder, Aunt Nali, Cousin Lily!," Jordan gasped upon seeing the three free.
"Jomar! Mila! Sila! Ken!," Bren exclaimed upon seeing his siblings okay.
"Mom! Dad!," Ocean exclaimed upon seeing his and River's parents free and about.
"Nia and Lake!," River gasped upon seeing her and Ocean's sisters alive.
"Well, we best be going now. It seems you have a family reunion to be at," Jerry said as he got into the CodeX limousine.
Tina followed but then stopped and turned to Ocean and River, and said, "And you two, Ocean and River Waters: I've got my eye on both of you."
She then winked at the two, puzzling them both, before getting into the limo and driving off.
"Well, I guess we better get back home, huh cuz?," Bren asked.
"Yeah. Come on, guys," Jordan said, motioning to Ocean and River. The four then started to walk back up to the house, but then River stopped and looked back at the others.
"Hold on guys," she said to her brother and cousins before turning back to their friends. "You guys, I was wondering…it would be great if you'd join us at our reunion."
"Oh, I dunno," Itzal said.
"Yeah, I mean this is your reunion and we don't wanna impose," Calla added
"Not to mention your uncle Ricky still doesn't like me," Zeus added.
"Come on, you guys, you helped save our family. You should at least come to meet them," Jordan said.
"Well, when you put it that way," Kani thought. "I'm in"
"Me too," Itzal said.
"Me three," Andre put in.
"Make it four," Zeus added.
"Five," Layla said.
"Six," Calla added.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!," Ocean shouted.
"Race you all there!," Jordan said, as she, the Runners, their friends and cousins all raced back to their house.
The whole day, the rest of the Runners, Andre, and Layla met the rest of Jordan and Bren's family, and participating in family games and activities.
One of the the activities they participated in was flag football, with the Waters side vs. the Revie side, which the former side won.
The next game was Piko, the Filipino counterpart of hopscotch, which Calla ultimately won.
Another game was an obstacle course race, which Itzal ultimately won, Bren won, beating Ocean and Zeus by inches.
And another game was Patintero, which the Runners teamed up against Ocean, River, and Jomar, Mila, and Sila. Despite the twins genius strategizing, the Runners managed to win by just a slim margin.
The gang played many more games with Jordan's family and when it was time to leave even got to take some of the reunion food home with them.
At the end of the day as everyone left, Jordan said to Bren with a grin, "Best family reunion ever."
"You said it, cousin," Jordan replied with a warm smile.
A/N: Finally this episode is done at last! Great intro to Ocean & River as well, huh? Stay tuned though, Universal Runners still forging ahead, so keep an eye out for more coming soon!