Wenhao sighed contently, tickling young Wenrin's chin. "He is simply beautiful."
The gang was sitting at Boston Pizza.
Kyna, the duck, nibbled on some salad in a small dish. They were a rather odd group and various people gave them weirded-out looks.
"Alright, let's get to our purpose of coming here. We're here to distribute the jobs to make Wenrin grow into a responsible man, find Aaron, and retrieve the star key box," Maria said.
John jumped in his chair. "Oh, I'd like to go research!"
Jessica death-glared him. "No."
"Why not?" John wimpered.
Diya cut in. "Because you're always playing around. Stay with young Wenrin."
"But--
Catherine punched him in the face before he could protest anymore. "He was being noisy and annoying, so naturally he should've shut up."
"By the way, what happened to Mitchell?" Nicole asked.
Kyna quacked. "He was taken away by those people in the black coats, but they seemed nice."
She yawned and nestled her feathers into Rosita's arm.
Rosita had large dark rings under her eyes and had behaved rather lethargically since her magical powers had been pushed to the limit. "I will look for the star key."
"What!? You can't do that! You'll exhaust yourself while you're still recovering!" Rachel's voice came out of Maria's lips. Over the course of their journey, Rachel had taken quite a liking to the mage.
Rosita coughed. "I will not travel in time or use magic. Just books, just books..."
Jessica nodded. "We can use the internet too, so I'm on your team."
"Okay, then I'll help look for Aaron," Diya proclaimed.
"Yes, me too," Anna nodded. "I do owe him many favors."
Kyna quacked. "I'm going with Rosita."
"I will, of course, guide my pupil," Maria took another slice of pizza.
"WAHHHHHH MARIA! Why are you eating so much these days?" John asked.
Maria replied calmly. "I am feeding both Rachel and myself."
Emily glomped Anna. "I'm with your group!"
"That leaves...Nicole, Wenhao and Catherine," Diya said.
John was miracously revived by himself after two seconds. "What about meeeeee?"
"You're going with the baby!" Jessica shouted as Catherine punched him again.
Wenhao had fallen asleep with young Wenrin in his arms.
"Well, obviously he'd want to be with the baby," Rosita noted. "Okay, Catherine and Nicole?"
Nicole grinned. "I'm going to help Diya!"
Diya took out a quarter. "Flip the coin. We need one more person to take care of young Wenrin. Heads, for Catherine helping. Tails, for Catherine switching spots with someone else."
Catherine took the coin and flipped it. She took her hand off the back of her other hand. "Uh-I-uh..."
"HEADS!" Emiri screamed. "Catherine and diapers! Catherine and diapers!"
Catherine launched herself at Emiri. "This isn't fair!"
"Shut up!" the rest of the gang laughed.
(Oh... perfect timing for our lovely relationship between Catherine and Wenhao ;) )
It was dark.
“What the—“
A pair of eyes blinked open.
It was still dark.
“Ok, where the hell are we?” An angry voice growled, switching on the built-in flashlight in her eye.
“Hmm, it appears that the residual energy from Rosita’s spell blasted us again because of the instability of the space-time continuum at the moment.”
“That doesn’t answer the question, Jessica.”
Jessica shrugged. “Sorry, but even I don’t have all the answers.”
“You… You don’t?” Diya, Emily, and Mitchell were shocked.
“For now, we need to assess Rosita’s condition before moving on.”
“Right.” Diya nodded and activated her wrist-scanner. “I’ll just scan for traces of magical energy and see if there were any lasting effects.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Whoa, your wrist-scanner thing can do that? Wait, how the heck is that even possible?”
Not taking her eyes of the screen that had folded out from her arm, Diya answered, “Yeah, in this world, technology and magic can do anything that suits the authors’ fancy. Deus ex machinas, if you will.”
“Uhh, okay then.” Mitchell looked unconvinced.
BEEP DOOP. “Scan complete. Uh oh, bad news, guys. It seems that the time-travel spell took too much out of Rosita. She’s down to about half of her power. Her magic probably won’t return to her for a few months at least…” Diya frowned. “We shouldn’t have gone with this plan.”
“Well how were we supposed to know that it would drain our mage, split up our group, and cause a bunch of other yet to be revealed consequences?”
SCHLOOP. A random green-black portal opened from the middle of nowhere.
Three cloaked figures stepped out. “My god! We’re finally out of that stupid space-time gap!” The one who had spoken turned to our heroes. “Were you the ones who freed us? Thank you, thank you so much! Well, we don’t know how long we have, so we’ll make it snappy. We’re here to recruit for our cause, anyone interested? Ah, you there, the big one, come with us!” Without another word, the three of them grabbed Mitchell and threw him into the portal before he could protest.
“Whoa, wait! Where are you guys taking him?!” Emily exclaimed.
“Off your hands. Don’t worry, he won’t be back. Toodle-oo!” The last cloaked person gave a cheery wave before vanishing into the portal. “Ah! Almost forgot! To thank you for your services, we’ll send you back.”
“Back where?”
Before disappearing into the giant portal that had opened under their feet, Emily managed to ask, “What happened to plot pacing—AHHHHHHH!”
With a thud, they found themselves back in Mr. Ho’s room.
-----------------------------
Nicole blinked slowly. Twice. “Anna? You were A.C.?”
Anna grinned. “I guess so. I don’t want to go into the complexities of my past lives and alternate identities, it’s too complicated.” She glanced at her time machine. “Ah well, looks like it only lasted one time. Lucky we made it though! Too bad Jimmy didn’t. Oh well.” The time machine crumbled into dust.
Nicole stepped over the sobbing fetal-position John and leaned in really close to Maria’s face. “And you… I’m so confused. What are you? Who are you? Are you dead?”
Maria sighed. “Ok, how to explain this simply… Hmmm. Alright, first off, let’s assume I’m fictional, okay? Basically, as a fictional character, I would have existed in two separate dimensions during four different time periods."
"You mean you made Horcruxes?!" Nicole gawked openly.
"No! Just listen okay?" Maria threw up her hands, flustered. "At that point, there is still one of me. Because of my intense training that started when I was still inside the womb, I developed my magical powers quickly. One day, I accidentally opened a portal and fell into a dimension where there were no humans. Instead, there were—“
“Daakshi.” Anna supplied.
“Right. During the time I crossed the continuum, my genetic makeup altered and I found myself able to take on the physical traits of the Daakshi. Which was useful when I met Rachel. She helped me survive in their foreign land, and I have never been able to repay my debt to her. After spending a lot of time in that dimension and learning the truth behind the Daakshi and all about Wenrin, I realized that I was ill equipped to deal with his evil scheme and therefore had to take on pupils who would take him on in my place. Thus, I travelled through time and space again and became Sensei.”
“Ohhh okay. So then you met Rosita and Kyna and such…”
“Yep, sounds about right. After I trained them, I prepared for one last time-travel, where I would meet all of you as a regular high school student and guide you into discovering the portal in this very room. However, the journey this time was not as smooth… I lost all of my magical power from overuse and suffered from depression. I thought my plan had gone all wrong and turned to drugs and alcohol to cope. Sorry about that, you guys. But anyway, that’s where my story ends, and this one begins. Just take a second or two to absorb that.”
Nicole scratched her head. “But… you’re not fictional, you’re real.”
“Trust me, my hypothetical fictional-self explanation is a lot simpler. You don’t want to get into the details of what really happened.”
"Wait, soooo, why couldn't you have just told us this from the start?"
"Drugs can confuse people like that. Right, Anna?"
"Huh, wha?"
"Never mind."
A silence followed, broken by the harsh cacophony of John’s hiccouphs. “Jessica is gonnnnnne...” He wailed.
“And so is everyone else!” exclaimed Wenhao.
“Hah! Good riddance!” Catherine sneered.
SCHLOOP. A green-black portal opened and three cloaked figures stepped out. “Speaking of good riddances,” Mr. Cloaked Guy 1 said.
“Stoooooop!” Anna held up her hand. “Where did you guys just come from?”
The cloaked figures ignored her question, instead opting to bend forwards and crouch down.
“And what are you doing?”
“You told us to stoop.”
“NO! I said to ‘stop’!”
“Oh. Well, whatever. Anyway, we’re here to gather members for our esteemed organization, anyone interested? Ah, you two right there, look chipper! You have been selected to join us! Come along!” Without waiting for another word, the cloaked men dragged Catherine and Wenhao into the portal and they disappeared. Forever. Never to be seen again.
“What did you do to Jessica!!” John leapt to his feet and pointed his finger accusingly.
The three cloaked figures consulted each other.
“Jessica?”
“Probably from the other group that our three comrades went to scout out.”
“Ah, the group that’ll be sent to this location in a few minutes?”
“Yep, those are the ones.”
They turned back around. “You’ll be seeing her soon enough.”
“Oh thank goodness, I was dying of loneliness here,” John breathed a sigh of relief.
“Wait.” Maria narrowed her eyes. “Who are you? Clearly, you are endowed with some sort of magical power to be able to open portals so easily.”
“We don’t actually have magical powers. We’re just figments of some author’s imagination. But unfortunately, we are one time use only, and will dissolve into stardust after this chapter is over.”
“What are you talking about? Who is this demented ‘author’ person? And aren’t we all made of dissolved stardust in the first place?”
“Look lady, we don’t have much time to stick around. But before we go, we have to caution you about travelling through the space-time continuum. You guys have been moving around rather recklessly, creating a ton of Parapsychological Lucrative Obfuscating Tale holes.”
“That’s an awfully long name for a hole.” Nicole scratched her head again.
“Call it by its acronym then. But our point is, you’ve got to stop, or else the very fabric of our galaxy will fall apart. And disintegrate into stardust.”
“Got it.” Anna nodded.
Nicole shrieked, “Wait a minute! What about Wenhao and Catherine!”
“Don’t worry about those two, they’re coming to a better place with us! And best of all, this won’t affect their descendants one bit! Because they’ll still exist, just somewhere far, far away where nobody can hear them. Rest assured, you’ll never see them again. However, you will soon be reunited with the other half of your troupe. Now that we’re all sorted out, we’re off! Ta ta!” With a cheery, parting wave, the three mysterious, never-to-be-seen again figures disappeared into the portal, which schlooped shut behind them.
Before anyone could react, another portal opened above them, and four bodies were dumped out. They landed with a thud. Rosita’s unconscious body landed on John, cushioning her fall, but effectively rendering him unconscious.
“Ok. What just happened?” Several people asked simultaneously.
“Hmm. It appears that these mysterious beings have permanently kidnapped several of our friends and sewn up several serious Parapsychological Lucrative Obfuscating Tale holes.”
“Pah, and you said you didn’t have all the answers.”
“I try my best.”
“So what now, gang?”
“Well, I am absolutely sure that teenage Wenrin has not disappeared, and his working on finding his way back after he stole Anna’s technology.”
“Hey, back up a moment. If Anna was A.C., then who is Aaron?”
“I bet the guys in the cloaks got him too.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“So we’re back to our original mission. Find the star key box and defeat Wenrin.”
"Quack-I am Kyna, but in the body of a little duckling named Veltnizqikwek van de Snooflerbergensteina," Kyna/ duck explained.
"What? How?" Nicole asked.
Jessica sighed. "Wenrin designed a machine to steal my thoughts, including our original plan. As a sacrifice, he used Kyna's brains to power the mind-reader machine, but she managed to save this young duckling's life and transfer her own brain into it. In exchange of all this misery though, I received some very, very valuable information."
"Maybe you should rest right now, Jessica. You must be tired," John hugged her tighter and guided her to her bed.
"No, quack! We must take action now that we barely escaped Wenrin!" Kyna/ duck exclaimed.
Rosita nodded. "Wenrin may have woken up from that chloroform that you've used on him. He could have traced the trails of the hovercanoes to this very hotel room."
The door burst open. Rachel scurried into the room and slammed the door shut. "Hands up and over! Surrender!"
Very good, Rachel...continue...I am coming to meet you now. Annihilate as many of them as possible now. I wanna hear screams and feel the terror.
Wenrin logged off of the microphone attached to Rachel's ear. Rachel clawed off the microphone and crushed it. "I'm sorry, but Wenrin was listening back then. Good to see you're all safe, but he's coming this way with all the Daakshi armies!"
Diya stood up. "Jessica, we need to come up with a new plan immediately then!"
Jessica adjusted her glasses and flattened her dishevelled hair. "This is a one way ticket back home then. We need to time travel to 2033, and take Wenrin from the hospital, at the time of his birth. Then, we'll take baby Wenrin with us, and 15-year old Wenrin we know shall not exist, because according to the rules of time that Wenrin had discovered, if two versions of the same person existed in the same time frame, the younger version will have dominance, and the older version will not exist. Then, we'll figure out how to do something with the baby. Because of all this time travelling, we would've ripped a hole in its dimension and we can all travel back to our current time, 2010."
"But how can we time travel?" Emily asked. "How can we find Maria and Anna again? What about Channie?"
"Rosita, we're depending on you. I know you already used quite a bit of magical energy tonight, but use it one more time," Jessica said quietly.
Rosita nodded and grabbed an old phonebook from under the wardrobe. She opened it up and it transformed from the bottom of the pages up to become an old, barely legible spellbook. "I've never done this spell before. It's intensely energy consuming. But let's try this."
Kyna/ duck leapt onto her shoulder, and they bonded, sharing their energy. "Sensei would be proud. If we make it out alive without exhausting our energy supply completely, she'd treat you to take-out."
Rosita took a deep breath. "Time and light, combine to show me your true power. Send us back for eternity and after 2033, hereafter."
The minds of all were wiped until they fell with a thud in front of a hospital. St. Martin's.
Rosita lay unconscious on the sidewalk.
"She's still alive, but make sure nothing disturbs her. Her condition is critical now," Diya said, and left Kyna/ duck and Emily to guard her.
X-X-X
"Waahhhh, wahhhh! MUAHAH," a baby's cry was heard from within operation room 478.
John exploded into the room as Rachel knocked down the doors. "HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME!"
An exhausted woman lay on the operation table, as the doctor and the nurses were quickly distracted by John's performance.
Within a blink of an eye, Diya snatched baby Wenrin away from the nurse's arms in its swaddling clothes.
"This sucks," the woman who had just gave birth complained. "My hubby isn't here. He's busy shopping for clothes for our baby. Dumbo. I couldn't strangle him while giving birth."
"CATHERINE!?"
The young Catherine and the momma-Catherine glared at each other. "Who is she?!"
With a poof, momma-Catherine vanished.
"Where'd she go?"
Mitchell gave a start. "GO, GO, WE GOTTA GET WENRIN OUTTA HERE!"
Running down the hallways, Wenrin started to cry.
"GOD, SHUT THE F*CK UP, STUPID BABY!" John yelled.
"You'll be a terrible father," Diya chuckled before speeding up.
Wenhao cried tears of joy. "He's beautiful, looks just like me..."
They sprinted out of the hospital's revolving doors and stopped at the sidewalk.
A portal opened up and Rachel threw Rosita, Emily, and Kyna/ duck inside. "C'mon, go!"
John, Mitchell, Wenhao, Diya, Jessica, and young Wenrin were thrown inside as well. The portal was a light blue with many doors and entrances embedded into the ever moving walls.
"According to time, if you make sure Wenrin doesn't grow up to become evil, I will not exist. Goodbye," Rachel fell into the dark abyss below. "Rescue the insane one and the pup! It was good knowing you--
"RACHEL!" Diya screamed. Suddenly, a disruption came in from one of doors, that caused the entire channel to shudder in fear. Teenage Wenrin strolled in casually.
"Wenrin, you're finished! We've got your young self!" Nicole pointed her finger at him.
"What---
He vanished, and the gang seperated from another burst of energy. Jessica stretched her hand out as she, Rosita, Diya, Emily, and Mitchell were repelled from Catherine, Wenhao, John and Nicole.
X-X-X
Nicole's head bounced on the floorboards as she dropped. "We're back in Mr. Ho's room...2010...the others! Where are they?!"
"Jessica..." John sobbed.
"You have done the most you could do," Maria and Anna walked in. "You have stopped Wenrin from succeeding."
"W-where did you come from?" Wenhao asked.
Maria smiled and transformed into an angel-like being with wings like Rachel. "I am sensei, and the pup that Rachel rescued. Her soul is preserved inside of me, and Anna thankfully managed to convince Jimmy, the gangster, to gain access to his broken time travel machine, luckily fixed by Anna herself, A.C."
Rosita fell out of her bed with a scream.
"Wha-what happened?" Diya rose mechanically from her bed.
Rosita walked over to the open window and looked down at Pisa from the view of the hotel.
"I'm just having a bad dream...Excuse me," Rosita stumbled opened the door, and stumbled into the hallway. "I'm just going for a walk."
How am I supposed to save Kyna and Jessica? If Wenrin wanted to kidnap both of them...and he wanted them for information...that meant...Channie was no use to him!
Rosita shuddered. An image of a gigantic machine with Wenrin, Jessica, and Kyna attached to it came to me. W-wait...who sent that to me? It's possible that even a non-magical person could do this. All they'd have to do is concentrate on the image and think about sending it to me!
Another image...hmmm...Wenrin petting Rachel in front of the machine. Rachel must be sending this to me...Kyna and Jessica were sprawled on the floor, and a tiny duck hid behind Kyna.
I opened up a channel of thought with Rachel. You. What are you doing there?
Oh, it's you, Rosita. Well, I just told Wenrin that I had been tailing him and the humans he captured to make sure they didn't escape. Look--I am not betraying you.
How can I be so sure, Rachel?
Rosita concentrated her energy into invading Rachel's mind. The truth--
OK, fine. You are telling the truth. But I have an idea. While searching through your mind, I found that machine is a mind-reader, right? And I saw everything while Wenrin was stealing their thoughts. I--
X-X-X
Catherine tapped her foot impatiently. "When is she going to wake up?"
"Stop with the tapping! It's so annoying!" Wenhao complained.
Rosita sprung up from her bed. "What happened?"
Diya sighed. "I found you in the hallway. You fainted."
"Fainted...?" Rosita asked.
"Were you using some sort of magic in the hallway? You must've exhausted yourself, even when you were already exhausted," Mitchell said.
"We've got to abandon the old plan, now," Rosita said. "I don't care how tired I am. We've got to break into Wenrin's house."
She closed her eyes and searched in the world of the conscious.
Rachel, Kyna, Jessica.
Take our energy now, Rosita. Wenrin thinks we're asleep, and he's currently in deep slumber as well. Go.
X-X-X
Nicole and Diya crept silently into the mansion through the highly indiscreet hole in the roof that Mitchell had created.
"This place is huge," Nicole whispered, admiring the magnificent furnishings of the house. She slumped onto the wall, taking the beauty in.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Nicole gasped. Diya used her sensitive eyes to observe the wall.
"Damn! There's an invisible switch here!" Diya talked into the speaker in her ear. "I think we've been discovered!"
John replied. "Don't stop! You've got to save Jessica, please!"
"Guys, you'd better continue. You're already in the house anyways. We'll be joining you through the alternate opening shortly," Rosita hissed.
Catherine, Emily, and Wenhao sneaked in through the front door, which Mitchell had broken, meanwhile, John, Mitchell, and Rosita made it in through the kitchen window.
The group ran and ran.
"What's the most probable place where Wenrin would hide his lab?" Wenhao asked into his speaker.
"Probably where he'd be able to guard it...AKA...his room," Diya whispered back.
X-X-X
"Finally, OK. I've figured out the password for this entrance," Diya hissed to Wenhao.
Catherine and Emily were currently pressing a cloth with chloroform to Wenrin's mouth.
"Go, go!" Wenhao urged.
Diya scanned the opening hidden in the wall. "Aha." She pressed her hand against the wall. "68790GH."
With a neat slide, doors opened inside of the wall...and with one whoosh, Diya and Wenhao...were captured.
X-X-X
"I need to go to the bathroom!" Mitchell exclaimed.
"Dear God, why now?" Rosita scowled.
Mitchell closed the door on them.
John and Rosita stood outside, waiting.
"Do you think Jessica is going to be alright?" John asked.
"She should be. She's a smart girl, and I think she'd find some way to survive," Rosita smiled.
John propped up his leg against the wall, and the wall fell backwards.
X-X-X
"Diya! Wenhao! Are you guys alright?" Emily asked.
"Man, this is boring," Catherine yawned.
"It's frozen prison. We're in some sort of freezer-like room right now! SAVE US!" Wenhao screeched through the plastic screen.
Emily tuned into the speaker in her ear. "Guys, mayday! Diya and Wenhao are stuck inside an icy prison!"
Emily used the laser jets from her anime eyes to defrost the inside a little. "That's the most I can do now."
"Thanks!" Wenhao called from inside. "Ewww! Sloshy water!"
Diya transformed her arm into a sharp chainsaw, and started cutting the plastic screen. "Thank goodness Rosita took the energy of Kyna, Jessica, and Rachel and divided it amongst ourselves. We've all powered up. But even so, it would take a while for me to break through this thing."
X-X-X
"Jessica!" John gasped. Upon some hovercanoes, John and Rosita lifted Kyna, Rachel, Jessica, and the little duckling.
"Go, go!" Rosita sent the hovercanoes to their rooms in the hotel in Pisa.
So this is the machine that Wenrin used...hmm...
Suddenly, several Daakshi soared into the lab. "Intruders!"
"I'm sorry, Rachel's comrades, but Wenrin is using you! He created you for his own use!" John exclaimed.
"That's not possible!" one of the Daakshi cried.
Rosita aimed her staff at the machine and it blew up into pieces. "Quick!" She grabbed John, and they climbed onto a hovercanoe created in mere seconds.
X-X-X
"We're out! Let's go!" Diya exclaimed.
They scurried into the kitchen from the spiralling stairs. Mitchell was eating from the refridgerator.
"MITCHELL?!"
"I finished taking a dump earlier, but Rosita and John disappeared!" he said through a mouth full of lettuce, ham, steak, and bread: Manwich.
With a blast from downstairs, John and Rosita emerged. "We sent Jessica, Kyna, and Rachel back to Pisa."
"Then, let's get out of this place before anything more happens," Diya said, and they ran off into the night.
X-X-X
Wenrin felt awful. "Why did I keep such a huge stash of chloroform in my room anyways? I could've travelled back to where I came from, 2048, and then kept the duck mutant and Lover number 1 there. But no! I had to create my own mansion in this time and age!"
Wenrin flopped onto his carpet. "Wait a minute...this shard of metal...it comes from that metallic human! I can...oh...Wenrin, you are ONE SMARTASS! Cloning is my new favorite word."
X-X-X
"Why isn't Kyna waking up?" Emily asked.
Jessica sighed. "Please explain the concept of switching bodies, please, little duckling."
"WHAT?! What do you mean the mafia leader is out of town??" Wenrin screamed into the phone.
"I truly apologize, sir! Vincenzo has taken everybody out to vacation, saying something about celebrating a reunion with an old friend," said the voice over the phone.
"Darn! Does this mean he's out of the story then?" Wenrin gnashed his teeth.
"Story, sir?"
"It's a figure of speech, you fool!" Wenrin growled, slamming down the phone.
Rubbing his temples furiously, Wenrin decided that it was time to unleash his latest invention. He stormed into the next room, the doors opening with a Star Trekkian whirr. "Mother would be proud of those doors," he snickered, marvelling at his own handiwork.
Yanking off the massive sheet that covered his machine, he allowed himself a maniacal grin as he surveyed the work of genius machinery in front of him.
The machine had a massive processing unit in the middle; to the unscientific mind, it looked like a giant metal box with a ton of buttons and levers. To either side of this central unit was two chairs with straps that had helmets hovering above them. Wenrin had salvaged the parts from an old execution room. And finally, there was a third compartment, just big enough for a human to stand in.
"Yes, that's right... My mind-linker machine! With this, I can transfer the thoughts of any two individuals to each other! Ahahaha!" Wenrin threw up his hands in delight. "I will link myself up to one chair and grab one of those meddling kids to figure out what they're planning! And I know exactly who I want, too..." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "But first, I must work out the last of the side effects of this dastardly mechanism." Wenrin grabbed his welding torch and started his work.
"Those fools may have magic and luck on their side, but they don't have a technology that allows them to read minds, do they? Ha!"
---
"Alright guys, what's the plan?" Diya turned to the assembled group.
"If I may speak, I suggest we locate the insane one and the pup first. This way we can continue our journey with our full forces," Rachel replied.
"Yeah, sounds good. We've gotta save their faces, right?" Nicole agreed.
Jessica Li, who had been quite for a long time, finally spoke up. "Ok, while you all have been dealing with the drama of the situation, I've analyzed the data that Diya presented to us earlier."
"You mean those rows and rows of numbers?" Nicole looked confused. "How do you analyze something like that?"
"Years of physics labs, I suppose." Jessica shrugged. "Alright, here's where we should go..."
(One long and drawn out plan later)
"I see! It all makes perfect sense now!" Nicole exclaimed. "K guys, let's go!"
*CRASH THUNDER BOOM DRAMATIC ENTRANCE SOUND EFFECTS!*
"Not so fast!" A massive mecha dropped into the restaurant, completely and utterly demolishing the roof and all four walls.
"Who's there?" John challenged, stepping out from the magical forcefield that Rosita had conjured up. He wished to appear manly before his one true love, Jessica. Puffing out his chest, he pointed at the shadowy figure sitting in the giant robot. "Show yourself! Like a man!"
Evil laughter rang out. "I don't think you're in position to be demanding anything from me, puny human!" The voice boomed.
Elder Wenrin! Rachel immediately recognized the voice, even through a voice deepener device. But wait! I must reveal nothing, lest he realize my true loyalties. I must act as surprised as the rest of my comrades.
"I'm in a good mood today. Instead of annihilating the lot of you, I will only need two of you to come with me! Who will it be?" Wenrin demanded.
"We're not selling out anyone! It's all or nothing! Kill us all or take none alive!" Diya shouted back.
Rosita tapped Diya on the shoulder and whispered, "Uhh, you do realize what you've just said, right?"
"Huh, what?"
"... Never mind."
Dissatisfied by the lack of dramatic response from his victims, Wenrin decided to heat things up. "Fine then! If you will not choose, I shall choose for you!" With that, he shot his robot's extendable arm forward, straight towards John.
"Eeeeek!" John screamed shrilly, shielding his face with his arms.
"Johnny-kins!" Jessica cried, leaping forward and pushing John out of the way, only to be caught by the robotic hand in his place.
"Honey-bunches! Nooooo!" John cried, reaching out his arm desperately, grabbing Jessica's hand.
"No, John, don't! Save yourself!" Jessica tried to free her hand from John's grip.
"I'll never let you go!" John yelled frantically, grasping at Jessica's arm with his other hand.
"Don't, just let go," Jessica felt her hand slipping from within John's.
Only their fingerstips barely hanging on, Jessica mouthed a silent goodbye before letting go.
"JESSICAAAAA!" John screamed, falling from the mecha's arm. The arm immediately drew back to its original length.
"One more!" Wenrin laughed, clutching at the controls of his robot. "And please, cut it with the lover's drama. I nearly threw up inside here."
Without warning, his other arm shot out and grabbed Kyna before anyone could do anything. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this arm travels at the speed of a supersonic jet. I really do love technology, don't you?"
"Hey! Get back here!" Diya shouted.
"No! He will not hesitate to gun you down at this point! We'll have to find some other way," Rachel planted her taloned paw on Diya's shoulder.
Excellent, Rachel. Wenrin smirked to himself.
Diya's eyes blazed as she turned on Rachel. "No! We have to go after him! Now! Before we lose our chance!"
Rachel controlled her troubled senses. Wenrin would definitely expect me to take this action; however, it is for the humans' benefit as well, she thought. "We will have further chances if we remain alive!" she retorted.
Diya narrowed her eyes and turned away. She furrowed her brow in thought. Is Rachel on Wenrin's side after all?
"Damn it, our group is being split up," she slammed her fist into the wall.
Rosita dropped to the ground wearily, exhausted after using up too much magic through her mind-connecting spell and protective forcefield. "Nothing for it, I guess. Rachel's right, if you think about it. Wenrin - if that really was Wenrin - is ruthless."
"Wenrin? Who's that again?" Catherine yawned, uninterested in the latest capture of two of their friends.
"The only major antagonist in this story, of course! Remember? The one I said had a beautiful sounding name, something I would name my own son?" Wenhao twittered.
Diya facepalmed. "Never mind, let's just go. And stick together this time! No more wandering off and out-of-the-blue kidnappings, ok?"
---
"MUAHAHAHAHA! MUAHAHAHA! MUAHAHAHA! MUAHAHA!" Wenrin let out a great chain of evil laughs.
"Quack." Kyna responded, still bleary from the chloroform. She tilted her head to the right and saw that Jessica Li was still unconscious.
"Don't mock me!" Wenrin snarled, standing in front of his two victims defiantly. "It's time to put my evil plan into action!"
Bending down, he lifted the unconscious Jessica and hauled her into one of the two chairs of his machine. He secured her head into the helmet and strapped down her arms. Wiping his brow, he turned and walked back to Kyna.
"And now... it's your turn. I need you to step into this third chamber here." Wenrin gestured.
"Erm... why would I do that?" Kyna looked puzzled.
"Because I need a sacrifice for my machine to work!" Wenrin blurted out.
"Never!" Kyna proclaimed.
Narrowing his eyes, Wenrin adopted his evil smirk. "Then you leave me no choice." Reaching into his pocket, he took out... a cute lil' duckling. "If you don't help me, I'm going to coat this duckling in oil... and throw it into a tailing pond!"
"Nooooo! Anything but that!" Kyna leaped (or flew) forward, trying to snatch the duckling from Wenrin. But Wenrin cleverly evaded and stuck out his foot, causing Kyna to stumble and fall into the third chamber. Laughing triumphantly (again), Wenrin forced the door closed. "In order for this mind link to work, I need a secondary source of neuronal material to create the link. And you are that sacrifice! Your brains will be reduced to nothingness after I finish this! AHAHAHA!"
Without another look at his sacrifice, Wenrin strapped himself into the other chair, just as Jessica was regaining consciousness.
"Where am I?" Jessica groaned. "I feel like I've just tried to configure a matrix based on the foundation of Fibonnaci's Triangle..."
"Ha! Awake, are you? Perfect! This will increase the chances of my machine working! Everything is playing right into my hands, oh chosen target, Jessica Li!" Wenrin sneered. "Yes, that's right, I had my eye on you from the very beginning! You were the smartest of the group, I figured, and therefore, you will have all the plans!"
"But I--"
"Silence! Let the process begin!" Wenrin pushed a big, red button... and everything went white.
---
When Wenrin opened his eyes again, he glared at Jessica, eyes burning. Scarred. Forever. "You- You've destroyed what's left of my innocence! Why do you have a list of 482 lovey-dovey nicknames for this John person in your head? AUGH! And what was that, some strange form of wrestling? Inside the bedroom?!"
Jessica sat up straighter. "Too bad for you, I guess. But as for me... I've discovered what you plan to do next in your scheme!"
"Why you-!"
"But on a side note, why is this mechanism two-way? Wouldn't it been more intelligent for this to have been a one-way transfer? Not to give you ideas or anything," Jessica hastily added.
"Yes, but according to my calculations, that would leave the third person, the sacrifice, with still some semblance of the human brain left. In this design, that brain should technically be rendered useless!"
Jessica gasped, "You mean you kidnapped someone else for your plan too?"
"C'est correct!" Wenrin broke into French as he unstrapped himself from the chair. He strode over to the chamber and unlocked the door. Kyna's body tumbled out and lay limp on the floor.
"Kyna!" Jessica cried, straining against her bonds. "What have you done?!"
"I have done exactly as I intended!" Wenrin threw up his hands theatrically, grinning maniacally.
Just then, a peeping noise came out from Kyna's cupped hands. Pushing them open, a duckling emerged.
Wenrin's eyes widened. "What? She saved that duckling when she dove at me? Impossible!"
The duckling jumped onto Kyna's unmoving head. It looked up at Wenrin.
"Quack. Hello." it said.
There must be something strange going on. Diya and Rachel generally don't get along that well, so it was obvious...obvious that something had happened. Rachel and Diya were talking in hushed voices, and I turned my back to them. They had stopped talking and Rachel had rejoined us. Rachel appeared to be vulnerable now...she seemed surprised. I'll just catch her off guard now.
I extended my consciousness to hers. She only shivered as our minds touched.
Wenrin might be suspecting me! What am I to do?
I burrowed even further into her mind and rummaged around for her memories.
Wenrin sat in a living room with...Channie and they were sipping tea. Rachel lay on the rug by Wenrin's feet. The flames in the fireplace crackled, and...Gasp! Wenrin's furniture didn't match the colors of his walls! What horror!
"You see that Daakshi lying on the rug over there? I created their race. I suppose you are more of a mechanical engineer, while I am a genetic engineer, but let us speak, engineer to engineer. How did you create the transdimensional device?"
This must mean...Wenrin is questioning Channie! Rachel growled. Ooh...the Daakshi are servants created by Wenrin...and Rachel realized this...and she's glaring at Wenrin now...feigning ignorance...
Anna Chu, Anna Chu, Anna Chu! I shook my head to get rid of the echoing of her name. What does Anna have to do with this? OK, OK. Back to the memory...
Channie's eyelids drooped, and he blinked slowly with a stupid smile on his face. Something shiny flashed from Wenrin's pocket. There was a label on it...Vod....Vod...Hmmm....Channie seemed...drunk? Vod...Vodka! Wenrin tried making Channie drunk so that he would talk! Part of Rachel's memory was a bit fuzzy, so I couldn't really make out what happened after that...(it happens pretty often if you delve into someone's mind without their permission)
"Remember Captain, I will be watching you."
Wenrin...must tell Diya--
"Diya, open up your mind," I said, drawing Diya aside.
"What?" she asked.
"Just do it. Relax, let me transfer some information into it. I was reading Rachel's mind just a couple of minutes ago. Relax, and it won't hurt as much. Gives you a bit of a migraine," I put my hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes. Diya's eyes rolled back and her mouth opened and closed several times, as she watched Rachel's memory.
"Do you understand now, Diya?" I asked telepathically. "Don't worry. You can reply because I am talking to you."
"This is...most interesting. I had no idea you had that ability to read minds and send ideas mentally."
"I've always been able to, but I saw no great use of it until now. But I think it was a mistake for you to talk to Rachel like that. Wenrin could be watching us right now. Every word we say, every action, where we go...it's very easy for him to track us. I suggest we throw Wenrin off our path by sending him images of other places in the world. It probably won't be a perfect plan because Wenrin may have a tracking device on Rachel too. But I know. I know he can't read minds. I'm certain of it. So, if you have any of this stuff about Wenrin to say, say it telepathically. Just ask me to open up a channel for you in your streams of consciousness."
I took my hand off of Diya, and she swayed a little with the effort of communicating. "Told you to relax."
X-X-X
Wenrin sipped some tea in his room. Blast it! I can only see how that metallic human and the magician are looking at each other! But what could be happening on that end? Damn! I must follow them personally...with the help...of the Italian Mafia...
"Ahhh! Down, doggy-with-wings, down!" Aaron fell out of his chair, sloshing the rest of the drink on himself. He failed to notice that my burning gaze was directed, not at him, but at Elder Wenrin.
I immediately noticed my mistake and shifted my eyes towards Aaron, and prayed that Wenrin had not noticed. With baited breath, I watched as Wenrin slowly stood up. He brought his hands up... and began clapping. "Excellent, my warrior! Threaten him with our power!"
With an inward sigh of relief, I growled out loud, still playing the part of a loyal follower. Pawing the ground aggressively, I paced forward and stopped in front of the fallen scientist. Nosing him a few times, I reported, "He is unconscious. Elder, what exactly is effect does this poison, vodka, have on humans?"
Wenrin ignored me and scowled. "Who knew that that blithering idiot couldn't hold down his liquor at all?" He ran a hand through his messy black hair, muttering to himself. "Have him thrown back in his cell. We'll devise a new method to extract the information of him."
"And what of me, Elder?" I bowed, hoping I would be sent back down to the human world. I pray to the stars, please let him be unsuspecting of my disloyalty.
"I will send you out on a retrieval mission to capture and detain this Anna Chu person," Wenrin said as he keyed in buttons on a wall. A hidden compartment slid open, and Wenrin motioned for me to go inside.
Trying to hide my slight apprehension, I stepped inside, refolding my wings. As the doors closed, Wenrin left me a final message.
"Remember Captain, I will be watching you."
A flash of light, and I was back in the human's world. I suddenly recalled the Elder's last words to me. Did this mean he was suspicious after all? I must be careful from this point on...
---
POV Switch!
---
"Where is that stupid mutt?" Catherine crossed her arms, kicking a trashbin.
"Now, now, anger is not the way to solve problems! Why don't you go listen to some soothing Beethoven instead?" Wenrin tried to placate the most irritable member of the group.
In the meantime, I had been working on my wrist computer, trying to identify the current location of the Daakshi warrior. "Aha! Got it!" I cried triumphantly. "We won't even have to wait long, she's headed here right now!" I pointed towards the sun.
Nicole looked up and immediately looked away, eyes burning. "Jeez Diya! Asking us to look at the sun?!"
"Oops, sorry," I shrugged. No one had any time to say more, as a massive shadow covered the land beneath our feet. Rachel was descending from above, her wings beating up massive clouds of dust. I immediately turned on my filtration system as everyone else started coughing.
"I have returned, to help you find your missing compatriot." Rachel landed gracefully.
"Then I suppose we must thank you for your help. It is much appreciated," I acknowledged. But I narrowed my eyes, and continued, "But before we continue our journey, I need to speak with you. Alone."
"What? But we just got reunited with a friend again, what do you mean you want to talk with her alone?" Rosita raised an inquiring eyebrow.
"Yeah Diya, why-" Nicole began.
I cut her off with a look and grabbed Rachel's shoulder blade, pulling her away from the rest.
Rachel merely looked at me. "What is it you require of me, metalloidic one? And how did you know that I was coming?"
"I'll honour your question first. This," I said, pointing at her now fully healed foreleg. "I had a tracker put in you when Rosita healed you."
The proud Daakshi looked affronted. "You have inserted a human technological chip inside of me without my permission? Your race is more devious than I originally believed!"
"I'm sorry, but I deemed it necessary. Now for my question. Where did you disappear to when you left through the temporary transdimensional portal?"
A rare look of shock passed Rachel's face, but she quickly composed her emotions. "I shall assume you know of that because of this tracker device in my leg. Very well, I shall tell you the truth. My lord Elder Wenrin called me back to talk and check up on progress."
"Wenrin? Wait! Did you meet Aaron there?" I asked.
"... Yes. I did indeed come into contact with the human known as Aaron Chan." Rachel glanced away, tightening her talons. This movement did not go unnoticed.
"Is he alright then?"
"Yes. His safety was assured."
"Alright, then I suppose we can postpone his rescue until we find Anna. Always running off, that troublemaker." I shook my head, frustrated.
"Thank you." Rachel bowed her head and rejoined the group.
Still standing to the side, I wondered whether or not I should have questioned her further. No, I had made the right decision. It's too early to reveal my suspicions about Wenrin, not when I don't know where Rachel's true loyalties lie.
---Scene Change---
Back in his own room, Wenrin was pacing. Again. He made a mental note to replace his worn down carpet soon. He muttered to himself, "I must remember to refine the loyalty part in the genome of the Daakshi. Although Rachel's case may turn out to my advantage, if I play my cards right. A battle of wits you want? A battle of wits you'll get! Except rest assured! I shall be the victor!"
He smirked, congratulating himself on his earlier performance. He had known the second Rachel's wings had flared that she harboured resentment towards him, but feigned ignorance. "Yes, this will definitely be a war I can win with the unsuspecting fool Rachel's help. Ha! And the star key box will be mine!"