Chapter 16: The Scorched Rock

After dropping their school stuff at Drake's as usual, the two made their way to the park. "You know," said Drake "I'm not so sure this is the best place for us to practice."
"I know what you mean." said Erika, looking around. "There's gotta be some place, maybe a little smaller, but way more private. Maybe we could find an old warehouse or something...some sort of building."
"That'd be nice...How about we ask Beschermer what he thinks?"
"Sounds good to me." she said "Now, let's get on this."
"Right." he said, stopping and taking a deep cleansing breath. He held out his hands to his side, looking like he was holding two things, seeing which weighed more. Then flashes of light erupted in his palm, giving way to sparks of electricity. Two balls of energy appeared in his hands and Drake moved his hands quickly towards a large rock, shooting the lightning at it, leaving a scorch mark on each side.
"Looks like you need to work on your aim, Drake." said Erika playfully.

Erika walked to Drake's right side, positioning herself facing a side of the rock that Drake wouldn't be able to hit and took out her bottle of water. She removed the water and started sending minute amounts of it shooting at the rock quickly, looking like liquid bullets. She hit one dead center of the rock, chipping away a small section about the size of a penny. The rest missed completely.
"And looks like you need work on your focus. You lost control of the others once you made contact with the first. You need to be able to keep control of them all simultaneously, no matter where they are." said Drake
"You're one to talk, mister. At least I hit the thing in the center." she said defensively
"Hey, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I was trying to help. I didn't mean to like, scold you or anything. I was trying to give some advice. See how I send them both out at different times, but they make contact?" he said, shooting two more bolts at the rock, this time hitting dead on with one and narrowly missing the center with the second.
"Well, you're getting better." she said "I'll admit that."
"Har har." he said

They continued to practice for another few hours, both progressing quite a bit in the short time. They were now both able to hit the center of the rock with reliability, about nine out of ten times. "I think that'll do nicely for today..." Drake said triumphantly, coming off a streak of twenty three perfect shots. "Heck, I even managed to improve the speed and intensity of my shots, plus I can create them twice as fast now." he said, smiling.
"Yeah, I'm pooped." said Erika "You made a lot of progress today...I wish I could recover as much water as I used...I could have kept going longer."
"Well, the sun was out when we first started, and it was really hot. A lot of your water evaporated really fast, before you could get it back. We'll have to keep water supply in mind for our new practice area." he said
"Let's get on back to your place...I kinda want to get home." she said wearily.
"Are you alright, Erika? Maybe you overdid it a little. You weren't in the shade, like I was." he said.
"Yeah I'm okay...maybe a little something to drink at your house and I'll be fine."
"Alrighty then. I guess we'll come back here in the morning." he said, starting to walk off. "You know what, you don't look so good, maybe I should piggy back you to my place."
"No, really, I-" she started, but he was already coming at her. "Fine." she said, defeated.
Drake dipped under her arm and stood in front of her, her legs wrapped around him and arms around his chest.

It took them a little longer than usual, naturally, but they made it home to Drake's and got her a drink. "Here, have some Powerade. It'll rehydrate you and get your electrolytes back to normal." he said, handing her a small blue bottle. "No pun intended, of course." he said, noticing the gears in her mind begin to work.
Her eyes rolled, and she grabbed the bottle, taking a swig. "Ah. Thanks...It did help a lot."
"So, are you wanting to go straight home now, or you wanna stick around a bit?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know..."
"Think it over a bit, I'll go upstairs and grab your bag." he said, walking up the stairs.

A few minutes passed and Drake descended with Erika's bag in hand. "Sorry, nature called. I thought it would be rude not to answer." he said, a grin spreading across his face.
"Ugh, I don't know how I put up with you." she said jokingly, rolling her eyes at the joke.
"You know you loved it." he said "And probably because I'm so devilishly handsome."
"Well, I'll give you that," she said, blushing a bit. "You are the cat's meow." she purred, hoping he caught that.
He laughed loudly, then walked over to where she was sitting, placing the bag on the table next to Erika's half drunken drink. "So, what's the plan?" he asked
"Well, I think I kinda want to go home. I'll call you a little later tonight though, after dinner. Of course, if that's aright." she said, a hint of shyness peaking it's head.
"Of course it is..call any time you want, you know that."
"I know, it's just it'll be kinda late by then, and I figured you might wanna get rested up for tomorrow morning." she said
"Even if I'm asleep, it's fine. I'll make sure and wait for your call before I head to bed, how's that." he said, noting the look on her face. She didn't seem too comfortable with waking him up.
"Deal." she said, standing up and grabbing her bag and the drink.

They made it back to her house a few minutes after seven. Her sister was just pulling in the driveway when they walked up, a plastic bag in her hand. "Hey guys, just a sec, I'll open the door." she said.

Drake and Erika settled in to the house, talking for a few more minutes about general stuff like school, homework, and their plans for the weekend.
"So, see ya at eight?" asked Erika
"I'll be here." Drake answered cheerily.
They said goodbye and Drake headed out for home, little did he know the impending danger both he and Erika were in.
~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, on an eastbound train somewhere in the Southern United States...

Beschermer clasped his head in his hands, grunting and moaning.
"What is it, master?!" asked a concerned Koichi.
Grunting once more and steadying himself, he raised up. "I just got an intense feeling. I think that Belinka's forces are growing. There's something wrong though...I can't put my finger on it, but there's something bad intended for the kids, and us, I suppose." he answered.
"What will we do, master?"
"Well, for now we stick to the plan. We head to Drake and Erika first, then I think we'll head down to South America, then Africa. It should be a lot easier to find the people we're looking for in those places, as there is less livable areas to check." he said.
"Sounds god to me." commented Koichi, who looked like a young Polynesian boy he had seen in San Francisco.
"And," Beschermer started "You should keep working on your device. Increased range and sensitivity would be a major help. I'd hate to arrive on a continent only to find that there's not even any of the people we're looking for there."
"Of course, master, I've got a few ideas about how to boost the range in the works...I'll implement them once we reach the area that those two are in."
"Good, we'll be there in about eight hours, go ahead and get some sleep, I'll make sure no one bothers us."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hooded, shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree across from Erika's house and pulled out a crimson flip-top cell phone, quickly pressing a speed-dial number and raising it to their ear. The house was currently vacant, so no one would see that anyone was there; the perfect place to watch.

"Speak." said the cool female voice on the other end, after half a ring.
"I'm staking out across from the Water Bearer's home. From what I've been able to gather, they have not made physical contact with them yet. However I heard them mention that they are meeting them tomorrow morning." said the figure, now stepping back behind the tree.
"Well, track them down in the morning and determine where the two are heading next. Also, I'm sure that oaf will have the two give a demonstration of their powers to see where they are at, and probably give them new material for training purposes. I want you to get a video of them using their powers. Send it to me via the secure account I provided you with, we don't want that video falling into the wrong hands. Delete the video from your device once I have received it." replied the voice.
"As you wish, Lady Belinka." said the figure.
"That is all. Good luck tomorrow." said Belinka before hanging up the phone.

"Well, I'll need to be a bit more stealthy than last time...I don't want tog et caught this time, they might suspect my true motives." The figure said, walking up to the gate on the side of the house and jumping it.
They headed to the back of the house and slid open the sliding door on the back porch. Walking in to the kitchen, they grabbed a bottle of water from the freshly stocked refrigerator and headed into the bathroom. They removed their hood, revealing long, flowing red hair and brilliant green eyes and the face of an eighteen year old girl. "Fern, You've got your work cut out for you." she said to herself.


END CH 16

Chapter 15: Bugged

Drake and Erika sat on the bench for a moment in silence. Then, just as Drake was about to speak, his phone beeped. He had somehow missed a call. He debated whether or not to check it, then grabbed it and flipped it open. The missed call was from Beschermer. "I'll wait a few minutes and see if he leaves a message." he thought. Moments alter, another beep. 'NEW MESSAGE' displayed on his screen.

"Erika, I'm sorry, but this will have to wait a little longer. Message from Beschermer, could be important." said Drake
Erika looked up at him and smiled feebly. "Alright...we can talk later." she said

Drake dialed voicemail and stood up, walking over to the water fountain a few feet away.

"Drake, this is Beschermer. We've located another and we're on our way back to you. No more in north America, so we'll be moving on soon. Don't want to give away too much, because we could be listened in on. We'll talk in person tommorrow, I believe you said you have a three-day-weekend?" ~CLICK~

"Well, it sounds like they've found another one like us... and they'll be here in the morning to talk to us. They're moving on to another continent, I guess...no more here in North America. I guess we can't have all the fun." he said
"That's good. Hey, I've got class in a few minutes...walk me to my locker?" she asked
"Yeah, sure." Drake answered. "I guess we can talk on the bus or something...our class together this afternoon isn't a good place to try and talk, we'll get caught."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mistress Belinka!" said the excited young woman. "I've intercepted a phone call from Beschermer to the boy with the Thunder crystal...apparently they've found another crystal, the last one in North America."
A shadowed figure moved in the corner of the room, making it's way into the light. "Nice work, Claire. That saves us the trouble of looking for any more in North America...did he say where they were going next?" said Belinka.
"No, mistress. He mentioned something about not wanting to reveal too much, in case they were being overheard or intercepted. He simply said he would be back in the area to talk to them, and they would be leaving again soon." said Claire.
"Doesn't miss a trick, Beschermer...We need to find out where he's going next... so we can track a different area entirely. Send an agent to follow them wherever they go, while we go somewhere else. We'll cover twice the ground that way, and do half the work." she said, laughing.
"Marvelous plan, Mistress. shall I contact the child of flame to watch the others?" asked Claire
"Yes, I think it's best to do that. Get her to find out where they're off to next. Tell her to maintain her cover, I think that kid with the Thunder spirit still thinks she has the potential for good." she said, a grin on her face. "I mean, I'm the one who sent our darling Inferno there to begin with..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drake's next class was one with Fern, and he was surprised to see her sitting in her seat next to him when he walked in the classroom. She had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face when she saw Drake walk in, then it vanished in an instant. She saw him notice it. Drake sat down and prepared himself for yet another class, just trying to get through it so he could talk to Erika again.

The class went by fast enough, it was uneventful and boring. Drake and Erika met up outside their last class, which they had together. Another uneventful class went by and Drake and Erika parted ways after, going to their respective lockers to get ready to go home. They met at the bus and sat in their new usual spot, in the back.

"Finally!" Erika exclaimed. "I've been dying to get away from that wretched place for what seems like forever!"
Drake chuckled. "I know what you mean...I've been waiting to talk to you." he said
"About what?" asked Erika, hoping against hope that her heart wasn't about to be broken.
"About...well, about us, I suppose." he said licking his lips so they wouldn't stick together and gum up his words.
Erika silently sat there a moment. "Alright, go ahead." she said
"Well...Like you said this morning, we're friends. And then all this happened today. It kinda got me thinking, well, I had already kinda been thinking..." he started.
"Oh crap, here it comes..." she thought
"I- I think we could...well, if you feel the same way, that is. We could maybe be more."

Erika's heart was racing. "Wait, seriously?!" she asked
Drake's heart sunk. "Well, only if you wanted to...it's ok if you d-"
"No, no I do!" she said
"Really?" asked Drake, a smile appearing on his face.
"Well, yeah! I'd been kinda thinking for a while too, but I figured it might be too early to bring it up."
"Alright then, great! Um, well, there's not really much different, I suppose, is there? I mean we've kinda bonded pretty well really fast." he said
"Well, now we can actually show it in public, I guess. I don't know. We'll talk about it later, I guess. I think we need to get in some extra practice tonight if he's coming in the morning." said Erika
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well...?" asked Belinka.
"I made the call, it's been taken care of..." said Claire.
"Excellent." she said.


END Ch 15