Nick rushes down from the rocky terrain and makes a beeline for the Lava Gormiti base. He's getting closer; he can feel her orb, a burning fire within. Her fire. Her heat beckoning him. Nick should've felt remorseful for breaking his promise to Mr. Ono but to the heck with it! Kagami is all that matters and if he has to bring her back himself, he's damn well going to do it. He stops at the gaping mouth of Volcano Mountain. Her orb's presence grows stronger. All hesitation washes away.
He steps inside and hides behind a bundle of heavy rocks.
Kagami.
His heart beats wildly in excited anticipation. The void left by her, slowly piecing itself back together.
Kagami.
The warm sensation of her orb, that calming aura of hers swells inside him, growing, seconds away from overwhelming him.
Kagami!
Nick flees from his cover, desperately craving the warmth.
"Kagami…"
There, his long-lost friend. The girl of his dreams. He's finally reunited with her.
Nick's clearly feeling the brunt burn of Kagami's departure and it's eating away at him little by little. Toby does feel bad for his little brother, he really does, but did Nick really have to skip out on chores this evening?
"Thanks for helping out, Lucas," Toby says, cleaning out the leaves from the pool. "Kagami-starved or not, how can he leave me to do all the chores by myself?" Even his parents don't seem that upset he skipped out on chores. The privileges of being the "good" brother.
"Can you blame him? He's close to Kagami after all." Lucas is off trimming the weeds from Toby's mom's flower garden patch.
Nick's argument with Mr. Ono yesterday was, to put it bluntly, out of nowhere and a little concerning. On second thought, Toby wouldn't say it was entirely out of nowhere. Day 1 since Kagami moved to Venture Falls, whether it be eating whatever weird Japanese snacks together at lunch or studying at the library, Nick would be there by her side. It wasn't Jessica-Mark level bad; he didn't neglect Toby and Lucas for her, but still, he was practically her right-hand man. He spent so much time with her they were dubbed 'the power couple' by the student body, some even theorising that they were secretly dating or would date eventually.
"Razzle, what are you doing here?" Lucas asks, probing Toby's attention away from his brother's unrequited infatuation. Toby tosses his net to the pool, rushing down the steps to meet up with the dino. If Razzle's here, then that means trouble in the Gorm.
"Bad news guys. Very, very bad news!" Razzle springs onto Lucas' palm.
"Trouble in Gorm?"
"Worse. The old sage sensed the earth orb in the lava realm."
"That idiot!" Toby yells. To think Nick would be ballsy enough and go after Kagami alone? After he promised Mr. Ono he wouldn't? Did he have a death wish?
"Should we tell Mr. Ono?" Lucas asks.
"Mr. Ono is already waiting in his car by the front," Razzle explains. The old sage gated him to the old man first.
"I'll text Jess," Toby says, searching his jacket pockets. "We'll need as much help as we can if we're gonna storm Volcano Mountain." Toby hoped Jessica would respond this time. This was bigger than Mark or just some puny shades. Nick went to their dean. There's no way she'd leave her friend in danger, right?
Jessica hangs out backstage with Mark's dance crew. The big day has arrived, Mark's dance competition. Jessica wasn't the only one here to support him, his friends and his mom were waiting in the concert hall. The guys were allocated a room to themselves. Mark had only one backstage pass and he gave it to Jessica. He would've given it to his mom, but she can be too dotting and embarrassing sometimes.
Mark creeps up behind Jessica, wrapping his arms around her waist. Jessica sinks into the embrace taking in his scent. Though Mark feeling sneaky, nibs on Jessica's ear.
"Mark!" she chastises lightly.
"Sorry, sorry!"
Jessica breaks away from the embrace, sharp fashionable eyes tracing his outfit for the competition. He's dressed in an all-black sleeveless hoodie, the front ripped open teasing his mouth-watering sculpted abs and chest. Black baggy pants complete the outfit.
"How do I look?" Mark spins around showing off his outfit. Jessica catches his dance crew logo on the back of his hoodie.
Jessica purses her hand to her chin, pretending to inspect his outfit. "Hmm. I'd give it a solid 6 out of 10."
"6? Ow, so harsh!" Mark pretends to get stabbed in the chest.
She lightly punches Mark's arm. "You can't always depend on your abs to make the outfit work."
"Oh, the abs are the problem?"
"I'm just saying, the audience might be too distracted to focus on your dancing."
A sly grin makes its way onto Mark. "Okay. I'll take that over the obvious."
"Which is?"
"You're jealous of the attention I'll be getting for my body."
Jessica rolls her eyes, setting her bag down. Yeah right, like she'd be salty over all the drooling fangirls in the audience.
"I need to head to the bathroom," Jessica announces, leaving a quick peak on Mark's cheek before heading off.
Mark takes the time to stretch his muscles, getting his body ready and pumped for the grand performance. Though his stretching routine is quickly interrupted by a ringing from Jessica's bag.
Mark shouldn't, he really shouldn't but the curiosity is too strong. What if it was Toby? He couldn't let Toby steal his girlfriend away again. And not today of all days. He scanned the room for his blonde-haired girlfriend before digging away into her bag. His fingers touch that familiar plastic casing of Jessica's phone. Burying the sinking feeling of regret, Mark opens Jessica's caller app, searching through her missed calls. Yep, Mark's fears were right.
Another call pops up from Toby again. Mark rejects the call, then proceeds to fiddle with Jessica's phone setting it to silent then turning it off. He slips the phone back into her bag.
"Mark?"
Mark jumps at the poking of the back.
"Jess?!" He turns, wide hazel eyes meeting the pure blues of Jessica's. He tries to sound natural, but his voice betrays him, going an octave higher than normal.
"Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Jessica goes to pick up her bag. The wave of regret hit him like a tonne of bricks.
He brings his gaze back to Jessica, combing his hair. "I'm great! Nothing unusual! Nope!"
Jessica grabs his hand, waving it back and forth. "Don't be nervous Mark. You'll be amazing out there."
"Mark, get your butt over here, we're going over the routine again!" one of his crew members shouts.
"I take that as my cue to leave." Jessica kisses his cheek. "I'll be cheering you on from the audience." She leans in, glossy lips almost touching his ear. "And if you win, we can spend some time together. Alone. In my room." Jessica pulls back only to face a flushed red-faced Mark, prompting a chuckle from her.
"My parents won't be home tonight. Consider it a motivational booster." She winks, leaving a bewildered, tomato-faced Mark standing there, trying to process what the heck happened.
"Damnit! She hung up on me!" Toby would've tossed his phone out the window of Mr. Ono's jeep in anger, but his phone was relatively expensive, and he'd have to work his butt off to afford a replacement.
"Hold on. I'm ringing Gina." Lucas says from the backseat.
"Hello?! Lucas?" Gina's voice vibrates from Lucas' phone. She's hard to hear with voices in the background.
Lucas switches to speaker mode. "Gina, you there?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"Is Jessica with you by any chance? We really need to talk to her, but her phone is turned off."
The muddled voices from the background take over. Toby swears those were the voices of Mark's friends.
"Gina, are you still there?"
"Um, Jessica's busy but I can leave her a message if you want."
Toby groans and snatches the phone from Lucas. "Is she with Mark again?!"
The call ends immediately.
"She's totally with Mark!" Toby hands Lucas back his phone.
"Do you mean Mark Tuan?" Mr. Ono inserts himself into the conversation.
Toby looks at the older man, surprised. "Yeah. Do you know him?"
"I know his mom. She's a good friend of mine. I recall her mentioning her son entering a dance competition in the city."
"Then that's where we're going," Toby confirms.
Mr. Ono starts up the jeep.
Hopefully, whatever Nick has gotten himself into, he hasn't gotten kidnapped yet and turned into one of those creepazoid shades.
'Hold on little bro. We're coming.'
"Kagami." Nick breathes. He turns a corner and comes face to face with Kagami. He's verklempt, too embroiled in his thoughts to think of a word to say. But there was so much he wanted to say, he didn't know where to start.
"Stay back!" Kagami brandishes out her canon and levies it to his chest.
"It's me, Nick!"
"I know who you are!" Kagami yells, showing no signs of lowering her canon. "Leave. Now."
"Not without you!"
"I'm warning you, leave while you can. The other Lava Gormiti won't be as generous."
Nick takes a step closer to Kagami. "I'm not going to leave you behind again." Another step and Kagami's canon covers the orb on Nick's chest. "I-I've missed you."
Kagami's canon morphs into a hand. Her expression dawns with sadness. "I'm not the same girl you knew. I'm a Lava Gormiti, enemy to the Lords of Nature."
"But you're a Lord of Nature too! You're one of us."
"I can't go with you, Nick. I belong here with the Lava Gormiti. Go back to the others." Kagami pulls away and turns her back to him.
Nick reaches out to Kagami. He wanted to tell her how much he missed her, the days gone and sleepless nights of him worrying about her, how much it means to see her now, standing before her, she's still so far away. How can he reach her?
A clack of metal rings from the right and zoom, Nick's caught on something, falling to the ground with a loud thud. He's restrained in chains.
"Lava chains!" Nick grunts trying to break free. He sees a shaken Kagami. "Kagami, get out of here! Run!"
Kagami stays put. Frozen in shock.
"There!" Fireblaze shouts. "The Lord of the Earth is there!"
Out comes more Lava Gormiti, Magmion with them. They take Nick from the ground, pulling him elsewhere.
"No - Kagami! Kagami!" He shouts her name endlessly until his voice appears small.
Magmion watches on then stares at Kagami. "You."
"I- he came after me!" Kagami tries to explain but her words were jumbled. The lava gormiti already suspects her. "I wasn't, he -"
"Kagami, get back to your cell. Now." Vestalt rushes to the scene. She gets between Kagami and Magmion.
"I wasn't going to leave. I didn't know he'd come here -"
"That's an order, Kagami. I'll handle it here." Vestalt commands, cold and distant.
Kagami relents and runs off in a blind hurry. She needed to get away, the heat of Volcano Mountain now suddenly feeling hard to bear, suffocating. She heads into her quarters, the only solace she has.
Jessica reunites with her friends in the audience section. They filled her in on Mark's birthday bash as she takes a seat beside Gina. Halloween-themed – of course at May's house. May's place is always the designated spot for parties. The perks of having rich dads. May and Ivan oversaw decorations, Cyrus on invites and lastly, Gina and Serena on snacks. Gina was particularly overwhelmed, trying to get Serena to take it down a notch with the alcoholic drinks. Typical Serena. Gladly Jessica had the easy job, distracting Mark by whatever means. She'd liked to do more but the sudden fatigue in recent days was too much for Jess.
Cyrus catches something off in the distance and he grimaces. "Fish-boy at 12 o'clock."
The cheerful conversation shifts to an uncomfortable bleakness. Everyone had on their faces a look of disgust. May looks to her feet shyly, Serena shakes her head and Gina blanches, cursing at herself underneath her breath. Ivan stares at Gina.
Jessica heaves a heavy sigh. There were no pain killers in the world that could heal the migraines she has whenever Toby's around.
"Whatever it is Toby, it's a no." Jessica initiates, getting her thoughts out of the way. Lucas was with Toby at least.
"This time is different!"
"Didn't you hear her? She said no!" Serena interjects.
"This doesn't concern you, Selena."
Gina sinks into her seat. He didn't...
"It's Se-re-na or does your foetus-sized, piss-stinking, fish brain find it hard to remember such basic facts!"
"Jess, we need to go..." Toby pleads.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, asshole! When a girl says no, she fucking means it!"
"That's enough, Serena!" Jessica steps in. Serena can be, to put it bluntly, bitchy at times. Though that doesn't mean Jessica would tolerate her insulting her friend. "Let's take this outside."
Serena gapes. "Are you really going to give fish brain your time of day?"
Toby rolls his eyes.
"Yes, I am," Jessica says, a bit of venom there. "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"
Serena sighs, Jessica already gone. "Who wants to beat she'll miss Mark's dance performance."
"Serena!" from May.
"What?! We're all thinking it!" She plops back onto her seat.
Gina looks on solemnly at the exit door. She hoped Serena wouldn't be right this time around but given Jessica's track record –
"Gina, you doing okay?" That came from Ivan beside her.
"I am but I'm not sure if Mark will be."
Jessica follows the guys out of the concert hall and into the reception room. The place wasn't too crowded with the competition about to start.
"Look, you guys are doing fine on your own. You don't need me." And besides, she can't even summon SOL. What use does she have fighting those beasts?
"This isn't about fighting the shades! Nick's in trouble!" Lucas says.
"What?!"
"The idiot went off to Volcano Mountain on his own! We need all the help we can get!" Toby adds.
Jessica looks onto the concert hall entrance and then back at her friends. Nick's smart but to go off to Volcano Mountain with those monsters all by himself? She couldn't leave him, but she couldn't leave Mark either. There're 20 contestants in total and Mark's group is 14th. She'd be missing out on most of the competition, but she should have enough time to make it to his performance.
She's decided. "Okay, let's gate to Gorm!"
Kagami cuddles closer to herself in her designated chamber. Seeing Nick again had been a lot for Kagami, her emotions ran all over the place, planting seeds of doubt within her. Fireblaze's revelation didn't help either. Maybe Nick was right, she wasn't like the other Lava Gormiti. She didn't belong. And she wants to belong, desperately craving to but to the other Lava Gormiti, she was just a meagre human, a pest.
"Aargh!" Kagami stands up and blasts a firebolt to a wall.
On Earth, she doesn't belong. In the Gorm, she doesn't belong. At this rate she should blast off to space, and live in solitude up on the moon! Does Gorm even have a moon?!
Kagami kicks a stone pebble. Things were supposed to be different this time! This was her second chance so why? Why did Nick have to show up and confuse things!
Nick.
To think, him? A lord of nature and an Earth lord at that? She has to laugh at herself. All this time she's been friends with a legitimate Lord of Nature.
Did he discover his powers the same way?
Was he also lonely?
Gormiti and yet still human - Maybe now that both their secrets are revealed then just maybe, he'd be the one to understand.
Kagami gets up and dusts herself off. She's made up her mind.
She's going to see Nick.
A/N: Yay the reunion between Nick and Kagami! And it only took 86 years! Chapter 30 was originally longer (I think 10k words?) but I decided to split it into 3 chapters. So technically this is just part 1 of chapter 30. Next chapter has a whole lotta fighting and more reunions!
