Part 1

“Saphire huh?...” he said softly. He felt his face flush a little bit. Though he didn't really understand why.

“Yes, and you must be the boy named Axel right? You’re injured, come and have a seat there”

She pointed at the first bed to her right. Axel nodded and limped toward the bed. Saphire got up and inspected him.

“your right arm?...” she said.

“I um,...i can't move it….some parts of my legs and my spine too.…” he said embarrassingly.

The girl narrowed her eyes a bit and turned on a lamp that was directly above them. She then gently touched his aching arm,causing him to flinch. She shook her head a bit.

“If power magnet ever gets used to your body, it is best not to go overboard until you have gotten used to it yourself. As you have probably already heard, your ability is apart of you now. That doesn't mean it can't wear out,It is like a muscle. If you overwork it, it'll rip. The same result will occur even if it adjusts to your body. Maybe not as easy, however.” she said in a robot like tone.

However, axel knew she wasn't a robot. The touch of her finger was definitely a girl's. So gentle… a sweet apple like aroma filled his nostrils. His heart began to beat faster for some odd reason.. As if a feeling was being intensified against his better judgement. What was going on?

“regular first aid won't work. Your bones seem to have many fractures around them and the skin on your legs are probably in the same condition….don't move…” she said.

“ow ow….” he grimaced.

She grabbed his arm with both hands and slowly brought it up. Immediately after, his arm began to feel cold...really cold. He looked down and saw his arm getting covered in a blue coating of ice, and it didn’t stop there. It spread to nearly his entire body except for his neck up.

“!!”

“relax...This will help you….” she said softly to him when he tried to jerk his hand away.

At her command, axel relaxed and watched as his arm and body got frozen over. When it was completely covered in ice, it started to glow. Slowly, he started to feel his arm getting better and the pain started to fade away. His spine,legs, and abdomen felt the same. It was such a satisfying feeling to have pain be alleviated all in one go. Eventually, he felt nothing, Just the cool chill of the ice.

Saphire closed her eyes and the ice shattered and disappeared, the crystals of ice twinkled in the air.  She let go of his hand and he brought it up to his face

“no way….” he said.

He opened and closed his right hand and moved his arm around. It felt as good as new! He kicked his legs around and felt no sting of pain. He was better!

“it feels great! Was that your ability? That was awesome!! Umm- i mean, thank you so much.” he tried to say formally.

He blushed a little and extended his arm to shake her hand. Saphire stared at his hand and raised up her own.

“No need. My job is to heal you and all the others. I'm only doing my job.”

Disappointed and somewhat awkwardly, axel put his hand down.

“I see….well, i thank you anyway. Your ability is something else alright…”

“as of now, you only have 4 abilities correct?” she said changing the subject

Axel counted the ones he had used so far. Casey's fire, someone's super strength, ella’s wind, a some type of electricity.

“um, yes. I have 4 of them. I don't know how to absorb them though…” he said half timidly.

Saphire nodded.

“power magnet must of done it for you. In any case, when you want to absorb an ability just try and imagine reaching out to the other person with your own aura and taking a chunk of their power. In a way, you create a gateway between you and them allowing you to use their power.” she said plainly.

Aura? He didn’t know what that was. Well, he didn’t have time to sit around and chat with her all day. Though his heart was fluttering, he was feeling very uncomfortable and wanted to leave as soon as possible. He didn’t know why and that more than anything was pissing him off.

“how do you know so much about power magnet?” he asked trying to forget his anxiety.

“i made sure to study on it as much as i could in order to benefit you in anyway.” she said emotionless.

“ohh” he said softly.

The girl looked at the clock on the wall. She went over to the chair she sat in when axel first walked in to see he and sat facing her monitors once more..

“It is time for you to go.” she said.

“huh? Oh, i guess it is…” he said with a face that didn’t actually show his emotions.

He got up and walked over to the door half expecting her to call him back so they could continue talking.  After realizing that she wasn't going to, he asked a question instead.

“eerr,... which way am i going?...”

She pointed to her left.

“oh um, right got it…”

He opened the door and walked out and made his way down the hallway to the left.

(That was strange…)

He thought back to his encounter with the girl named saphire just a couple moments ago. For some odd reason, axel had felt a tingly feeling in his stomach all during that time. He could not explain why. Axel felt his cheeks burn up a bit and he tried to shake it off.

Thump.

“!? Hm?”

Axel quickly turned when he heard a thump noise come from behind him. He didn't see anyone though. He scouted the area with his eyes one last time before continuing to walk to the end of the hallway.

_______

Maria and Natsumi were both holding each others mouths hiding behind a door. They were just discussing their next move when suddenly they heard a conversation going on in the room next to them.

One voice sounded familiar. The other sounded like a robot talking. Maria confirmed the familiar voice to be axels.

She, including natsumi, seemed to have gotten very upset at their conversation. Not so much the conversation but, the way axel sounded to them. He sounded like an excited little boy.

Furious, maria was about to charge out of the room but, natsumi stopped her.

“if we get caught now we'll get in huge trouble!” she said grabbing on to Maria's arm.

“No! Can't you see my man is being taken from me?! I'll kill her! Let me at her!!”

They suddenly grew pale when they heard the room doorknob turn and the door swing open. They quickly ran back into the room they were in and stood completely still.

When maria peeked outside to look, she saw axel with a tinge of pink on his cheeks. She unconsciously stomped her foot in fury. When she saw axel turn back, she quickly brought her head back inside the room she was in.

“!!”

“!!”

Maria gasped and seeing that, natsumi gasped too. They both grabbed each others mouths and stood completely still. When they heard axel’s footsteps getting further and further, they let go of each other.

“phew, that was close….” said natsumi feeling relieved.

Maria clenched her fist.

“.............i need to have a long talk with axel..” she thought remembering the tinge of pink she saw on axel’s cheeks.

She didn't admit it but, she felt very jealous of whoever the girl in the other room was.

Seeing maria practically burning in irritation, natsumi let out a small chuckle. One word came to her mind to describe Maria's current behavior.

“Jealous.”

“What!?” exclaimed a steaming maria.

________

After walking down the hallway, he had finally made it to the front of the ship. Inside he found ella and andrew conversing with each other.

“woooaah….” he said in awe.

The front of the ship was pretty large.Unlike before when it was empty, It now looked like a mini NASA facility inside with one throne like chair placed higher than the others. Possibly the commander's’ chair where the entire front could be clearly seen. It was something he had never seen before. Ella and andrew looked over at him.

“welcome aboard!” she said extending her hands outward.

“ You remember Thor right? Well this is it”

“About that, are we going to stop home first? I haven't even gotten anything, nor have i informed my roommate that I'm leaving. She'll be pretty worried if i-”

“don't worry about that. We've got that covered for you. We even remembered to lock your door.” said andrew.

“You packed for me?! That's how trust issues get started you know!”

Andrew looked to the side.

“You should be thanking me instead,digging through someone’s personal belongings isn’t exactly fun for me… Oh, your girlfriend wasn't even there.”

“huh? Really? That's strange…..she's not my girlfriend though….”

Thump.

Another thump was heard from outside the door axel had come through. Axel turned around and looked back at ella with questioning eyes.

“don't worry about her” said ella clapping her hands together while walking toward the door behind axel.

“I know exactly where they are.”

“you make it sound like there's more than one.” said axel.

Ella walked over to the door and pulled it open. Two girls fell out because they were leaning against that door.  Axel knew these two.

“Wha?! Maria?! Natsumi?! How on earth did you guys get on here?!”

They didn’t respond to his question.

“You blew our cover!! Why on earth did you stomp your foot down all of a sudden?!” said natsumi while rubbing her head.

Maria frowned and rubbed her cheek.

“Oh shut up….. how did you know we were here?..” she said talking to ella.

Ella smiled.

“When did i not? I always knew you were here. Did you think i wouldn't notice two girls with such strong intentions behind me?”

“so then why did you let us go?”

“eh, i just wanted to see how far you'd go. I didn't think you'd climb all the way up here though….”

Maria and natsumi looked to be a bit disappointed and embarrassed that they were never actually undercover.

“Now then, your guy's stuff was also packed along with axel's. No need to worry for i handled the girl's stuff…”

The two girls exclaimed and stood up with confused expressions. After some explanation, it was revealed that natsumi and maria would be joining axel since they went through so much to follow him. They understood rather quickly and had no objections. Axel scratched his head somewhat disappointed by the amount of stalkers in his life. He then went to go take a seat at a nearby chair. At some point, maria had grabbed a chair and sat directly behind axel. She looked like she was hiding. Natsumi sat next to him but at a fair distance.

“why are you hiding?” he said to maria who seemed a little scared.

She just shook her head and didn’t look at him.

Thinking back, he remembered that maria had a very unpleasant experience that happened all too sudden. The world had been very cruel to her. She had given up hope in humanity. She found a glimmer of hope within axel but, she still seemed very skeptical of the outside world. He liked to think that she was reborn, As if she was a new person. She acted very differently. Sadly, he had come to one harsh conclusion. Just a couple weeks prior..

He simply sighed and smiled softly to the girl behind him. It was because of ella that she was hiding.

(She must've been afraid to be alone, that’s why she came…..but what about natsumi?....)

The blonde beauty was sitting next to him calmly as if waiting for her order of food to arrive. He was glad that she was with her. Natsumi did not know about maria’s disorder but she did know about what had happened to her and felt bad for maria. Since he told her, she softened up and actually made friends with maria. Which was a good sign since maria was a tough cookie to crack. Trust issues were apart of her too...

“So, axel, before we begin i would like to introduce you to our crew. I'm sure you'll love them…..” ella said sounding excited. To contradict that, axel was still in deep thought about maria when he turned his attention back to her.

A pair of double doors next to the commander's chair opened and a couple figures walked out.

“This is?!....”

The people that walked out all looked extremely familiar. As if he'd met them somewhere. No. He had met them.

“Tony? Michael? Lucy? Jeniffer? What the hell is going on here?!” axel said standing up from his seat.

These were axel’s classmates. Some he had known better than others but, he knew who they were regardless. They all walked out with mixed expressions and didn’t say a word.

Ella chuckled.

“that's right some of your closest friends are all here.” she said twirling one of her twin tails.

Part 2

Axel’s heart was beating fast. How could some of his closest friends be working for this strange organization? He racked his head around and felt his thought process multiply dozens of times over. Michael must've noticed this.

“Hey man,We know. This must seem very strange. It is for us too. To be quite frank, we don't actually know why we ended up here either. When we were young, we all lost most of our memories and the only thing we knew was that you were our friend. We grew up together, we were sure of that,but for some reason the life and everything around us was different from what we thought. None of it made sense. And somehow, we ended up here. Since we can't remember why we are here, or even most of our childhood, we wondered if maybe you see us in your earliest memories?”

Axel shook his head nervously.

“no….” he whispered.

“that's impossible. I only just met lucy. I didn't meet any of you at that young an age. I….i would remember…..wouldn't i?” he said with a shaking voice.

Lucy looked down disappointingly.

“so you don't know either huh?..... it's true.. i can vaguely see you in my earliest memories. You are there.. but for some reason, you have forgotten..even i almost forgot but i haven't..”

“Although i hate to interrupt, we've got things to do, you can explain the situation later.….take your seats guys. We are almost at our destination and I need you guys working.” said ella with a firm voice.

The crew made up of axel's friends nodded and rushed over to their seats. They put on headsets and began to work on their computers. Axel watched them silently. He was at a total loss for words. He was just about ready to yell for them to bring out the cameras because he knew he was getting punk’d. It made absolutely no sense. so what if they were crazy since they were kids? Why would they join the peacekeepers? Did that mean they also had uncanny abilities!? Were they really apart of that? What on earth was going on!? He was so confused!

Ella sighed and snapped her fingers to get axel to pay attention to her again.

“Axel, i have something to tell you before we get there, So please divert your attention from your friends for a second…”

It took a couple seconds but, he finally turned to face ella, albeit with a stunned face.

“good….” she said.

“now, we are going to a very strange place in florida. We are going somewhere right off the coast of Miami. Have you ever heard of the bermuda triangle?”

Axel nodded slowly only just barely hanging on to her words.

“well, dead smack in the middle is an island called savant island.”

Axel had heard that word before, “savant”. His grandfather had said it when he was talking nonsense. Was she talking about the same stuff?

“Savant? My grandfather used to talk to me about savants. Something about them but, I never payed attention to him…”

“well, you should've considering that your grandfather was actually apart of us at one point.”

“........”

Now this one was another shock for axel. It was just one thing after the other.

‘WHAT!!!???” he yelled out in shock while holding his head.

“you mean to tell me that my grandfather was actually sane?!! And he was apart of you?!! No way!!! He was insane and yet sane the same time!?”

Although he wasn't really showing it,deep down he knew that this actually kinda made sense to axel. His grandfather showed many hidden talents that made axel believe that he wasn't completely insane. And more than anything, it finally put him at peace to know that his grandfather was perfectly fine from his mind.

“Yes, that is why your last name left me a little surprised the first time we met. Mr.Ison helped out alot. He is still missed among us….but that's not the point here, let me explain to you this very important subject. It's vital that you know so pay attention..” she said getting serious.

Axel was still pretty shocked which made his mind race and he sat up to listen. If he didn't brace himself for another shock now, he'd faint. What was next? Was his mom also some freak?

“savants around the world as you know it are usually known for being extremely talented in a specific area while being very poor in others. Some are even disabled in some sort of way. Now, the savants that we are talking about in the world of the supernatural are about the same but have much more special talents. These guys have developed what they call “Skills”.” she said.

“skills?”

She nodded

“these skills are what we know as abilities that they have manifested. These type of savants are very rare. They need to have both a strong soul and spiritual energy on top of being born with a special talent. Only about 4 thousand savants like these have been born possessing a special ability. These savants have been gathered and brought to islands where they will be safe from harming others or themselves. The government keeps these guys locked up so they can watch over them and make sure that they don't get riled up and try to harm the world. They are aware of the savants power…”

His head was starting to hurt due to all the information he was taking in.

“not all savants are captured and gathered there. Some still live normal lives since their ability either has not manifested properly or because they do a good job at hiding them. Who knows. Now, in the savant island, there is a ranking system that they have. The strongest to the weakest, All marked by categories. 1 to 7. 1 being the weakest and 7 the strongest. There are a lot of people that are in the 1st through 5th category however, there are very few in the 6th and 7th category. In the 6th category, only about 5 people have made it there. Very powerful indeed. In the last category, those who have been blessed with an extraordinary power have been placed in this category known as the ‘locked category’. Only 11 people have been granted a power like that. No one can attain this rank, Only if you were born with such a power.”

In other words, if one were to be born with a power like casey, fire, she would be placed in the first category but would be able to strengthen her skill and advance in categories. However, the highest rank would be the 6th category. The only way to get into the 7th category would be to have a naturally strong power straight from birth. The 7th category was the top of the heat. An unattainable rank…. He wondered just what type of power they had and how strong they were. If anything, he hoped he wouldn’t have to go toe to toe with one of those guys...

“are the people ranked even within their respective categories?”

Ella nodded.

“in the locked 7th category, there are 11 people that are all ranked by numbers. 11 the weakest and the 1st the strongest. Same goes for the 6th category. All the others don’t matter. Let's hope you don't run into any of these guys in the tournament tomorrow…”

“You read my mind”

Axel gulped. He knew that whether he wanted to or not he’d face up against someone super strong. Someone with years of growing with their power and learning to use it in every way possible where as he was barely getting the hang of it.... Savants were scary creatures…. Then something came to his mind.

“Does that make my friend casey a savant? Is that what she is?”

Ever since they were kids, she had that strange heat controlling talent. Up until just recently, she wasn’t able to do much. Now she could spout flames from the palms of her hands. That description of what a savant seems to apply to casey perfectly.

Ella held her chin and looked up in thought.

“You know i think she very well may be. I can't think of any other reason to explain her flame skill. Since she isn’t in any islands i can only assume that she managed to hide her presence from any officials. So yes, let’s go with yes.”

That finally made sense to axel. He finally had an explanation for casey. She was a savant! This closure would probably kill her curiosity to know what she was once he tells her.

“Now that i’ve told you that, let me tell you why we really signed you up for this tournament. It’s because we believe that the ramoji we are after is also going to participate in it. If she does, we can convince her to join us….”

His stomach started to feel queasy. Axel looked outside and looked at the rapidly passing clouds. They must've been traveling fast. He moved his hands to his stomach and clenched it. Ella narrowed her eyes.

“The tournament starts tomorrow at 11 am. If you have any more questions we can discuss it in the morning. Go ahead and get some rest…

Axel hated to admit it but, he was feeling pretty worn out. Both mentally and physically, Even emotionally. He nodded and stood up without another word. The two girls near him fidgeted a little. Natsumi seem to of have been in a deep thought and jumped when he moved all of a sudden.  Ella pointed to the door on the other side of the chair she sat on.

“down that hallway there are 3 rooms. One for each one of you. Your stuff is in one of them so go ahead and make yourselves at home. Oh! There is food in the cafeteria too if you'd like.”

Natsumi nodded.

“sure, I'm pretty hungry…” she said accepting Ella's offer.

“I..uhh” said maria looking over at axel.

Axel stood silent for a moment before looking up to look at them both.

“you two go on ahead. I'm pretty worn out.” said axel stretching his arms and yawning. He walked over to the door ella pointed at and walked through it.

“oh um..Alright..” said natsumi somewhat disappointed.

Maria was going to go eat but she felt worried for axel. Hearing that many shocking things at once was not an easy thing to just shake off. That and she didn’t want to be alone with these guys.

“........ you...umm...can go...i’m going to..sleep” said maria staring at the door stuttering and clearly shaking.

“oh,..okay.” nodded natsumi.

Maria smiled awkwardly and turned to find axel. However, a gust of wind stopped her and momentarily made her shut her eyes. Ella jumped in front of her faster than she could react and lightly placed her hand on Maria's growing womb.

“Ah yes, i forgot that you are carrying an extra piece of luggage..” she said inspecting her.

Maria's face reddened as she struggled to think of something to do to get out of this situation.

“oh uh yes….”

“You’re fine,right? Do you need anything? How long have you been pregnant?” she said.

Maria's eyes spun at Ella's sudden amount of unwanted questions.

“Oh uh no no, I'm….fine….I'm only about a month in…..”

Ella breathed through her nose and admired her for a couple seconds before saying something that caught the entire room off guard.

“Did that idiot really put a bun in your oven?”

Her face went blank. Well, everyone’s went blank. The crew made up of axel’s friends were no exception. Lucy out of everyone turned faster than humanly possible to hear the answer and also to confirm what she had just heard. Up until now, no one knew that she was pregnant, and maria had no idea how ella did.

“So you’re pregnant? My… congratulations! But aren’t you underage?”

Maria’s ears twitched.

“Axel is also underage. Don’t tell me you guys did such a thing? How are you supposed to take care of the baby?”jeniffer asked in an assertive tone.

“It was probably just in the heat of the moment. You can’t really blame her for making a dumb choice, we all do it!”

They all continued to converse among themselves on maria’s pregnancy. All while maria listened. It felt like every one of their words echoed in her mind. The criticism, she couldn’t bare it. The only thing that came to her mind was her parents, her friends….., the world… even if what they were saying held no wrong intentions, it felt like a saw grinding through her ears. Like nails on a chalkboard, She hated it. She wanted nothing to do with it. She didn’t want to listen… where was he?.....Where was he!?

Ella shifted her eyes away from the crew when she noticed maria begin to shake and her eyes fill with tears. What was going on?

Maria held her head. Memories, so many memories filled her mind and threatened to eat her whole. The streets, the cold lonely streets, where the savages went to feast, where she was hunted by the eye’s of many, where was he?..... She was going to be crushed, if she didn’t fight now, she’d die! She had to live! She had to fight to survive!! She needed to-

“Maria”

Light. It was very bright. It felt like her mind was placed at ease and a sudden burst of confidence was finally coursing through her being. Her nervous shoulders relaxed and her body stopped shaking. She turned to look at the door with such emanating joy that she was sure the whole room felt it.

Ahh, There he was

Axel had returned and peaked his head around the door he came from. With a sigh, he beckoned to her.

“I found the room with your stuff in it!  Come check it out!”

Among everyone, it could be felt. There was such a strong pressure here between these two that no one felt like interrupting them. Lucy held her chest and slowly turned around to face her screen again. Jeniffer also followed suit. With a smile, maria nodded and turned to ella.

“To answer your question, no. axel wasn’t the one that got me pregnant. It was someone who isn’t the love of my life anymore, and I appreciate all your concerns but I will figure out a way to support my child. Besides, my 18th birthday is coming up so i won’t be a child anymore. I hope you guys understand that, bye now!”

Saying so and waving with a smile that lit the entire room, maria ran off with axel down the hallway.  Ella sighed. That transformation just now was not normal, and she was sure everyone knew that.

(She's been through a lot… had it not been for axel, who knows where she would've ended up..) she thought remembering the time axel jumped up to protect maria from a metallic snake. Who knew that one event would save that girl’s life multiple times over?....

______

After leading maria away from ella and the others, he left her in her room and let her get ready to sleep. Then, he went into his room and jumped straight into bed. He didn't immediately fall asleep however. He stayed up for a long time thinking about a lot of things. Random stray thoughts flowed through his mind and he expanded each and every one. By the time he got to seriously thinking, the noises outside of his small room had gone silent. This could only mean that everyone had gotten ready for bed. His head hurt a lot, His stomach ached, He just wanted some rest. Especially since he would have to fight against people tomorrow.

“savants?...” he said into the empty room.

Strange people born with supernatural powers. He once craved to know the secrets of the world but, now he wasn't so sure he wanted to know anymore.  His friends were really people from his childhood, and his grandfather was apart of the peacekeepers…. It was just too much. He was confused, Conflicted, and having to face another opponent like jessica made him feel scared…. Not to mention the other savant monsters.

The world was vast and extraordinary, it was amazing. He felt like he had already known everything there was to know, but now he felt so…...small. All of a sudden the world felt much larger. So much more…...intimidating.

Most of all, what was up with his school friends? They said that they remembered him in their childhood and that they grew up together, but why didn’t he? His childhood was spent with casey, kyle, and cindy. Those 3 pretty much made his childhood what it was. So then, just what on earth was going on? What if he….what if he thought back? What would he see?.....

Flames…….Rain…..A girl screaming…..he was crying, she was crying, she was surrounded, he had to help……..A girl… blonde hair….a bossy girl….and a lazy boy….a gateway...an explosion...

“!?”

He gasped and sat up in his bed as fast as he could. He took multiple deep breaths and touched his heart. It was jumping up against his ribs. He must’ve fallen asleep. He rubbed his neck and felt sweat all over it.

(What...was that?)

It was like a surge of unknown memories played in his mind. It was blurry and sketchy and felt like a scratched dvd or a ruined videotape that stuttered. It was so..bizarre? Was that just a figment of his imagination? or was it something much more?…..

Part 3

A ray of sunlight that was hitting his eyes made axel wake up. He squinted and sat up on his bed. He stretched and yawned making a couple drops of tears surface his eyes. When he brought his arm down he felt it hit something squishy. He turned to see maria fast asleep.

Of course, despite him telling her not to worry about anything she still made her way here. Whatever, as long as he didn't wake her up he could continue his morning like normal.

He found his luggage, then the bathroom and took a shower. After he got done dressing and grooming himself, he stepped into the command center of the ship. There, he found all of his classmates working at their set stations.

Tony was the first to greet him.

“Hey good morning man! You sleep well?” he said smiling like his usual self acting like nothing was wrong.

Axel took this opportunity to ask some questions that had been bothering him the entire night. He needed to know.

“I slept fine. All of you, tell me… why did you all keep this from me? Why did you all act like everything was okay? What was the point?”

The smile on tony’s face left. He sat with a troubled expression, struggling to find something to say. Axel knew that what he had just said seemed a bit rude but he just had to know. Everyone of his classmates looked at him with troubled expressions as well, as if they felt ashamed. Lucy spoke up to break the silence.

“I'm sorry axy….we all are but, we didn't want you to get involved with these type of things since you hadn't woken up in the lair with us….”

“lair? What are you talking about?”

Jeniffer answered him this time.

“about 10 years ago, we all woke up in a lair with members of the peace keepers watching over us. We didn't know why we were there nor how we ended up there or for how long. We also realized that we couldn't remember anything from our childhood. Nothing except for the fact that you were our friend. We remembered our families and what not but they don't remember us…..”

For the first time in ever, he saw jennifer's eyes fill with tears. Their parents had forgotten them? That must’ve been a terrible feeling.... Why? That was the question here. Why?

Michael spoke up and added to jennifer's statement.

“That's right, They don't remember us. As if we never existed. The peace keepers tried to warn us of that but we didn't listen. We went to our homes and all of us got rejected by our families. Having nowhere left to go, we came back to the peace keepers and we got offered jobs. Yes, 6-7 year olds were trained to work in exchange for a place to stay. That is around the time we met ella,who was even younger than us, and we've been here and going to school ever since. We tracked you down and attended the school you went to but we found out the hard way that you didn't remember us either. I remember it like it was just yesterday…..”

{ In the busy hallways of an elementary school walked a very hyperactive young boy with a blanket tied around his neck to make it look like a cape. He was around 6 years old and had black blueish hair with large brown and curious glowing eyes. He marched down the hallways like a soldier followed by two young girls. One was a girl of the same age with brown curled hair and the other had mixed light brown hair with natural darker brown highlights.

“Where was our classroom at? Do you even know where it is axel?….” said one of the girls.

“Of course I do cindy!! Come on now, be more like casey! She's knows i know what I'm doing!”

“I'm actually just very….nervous…” said the girl named casey.

The tiny boy named axel laughed while continuing to march down the hallway. His steps were uninterrupted until he turned a corner and ran into someone.

“Ow!” Axel yelled as he staggered backwards. It was lucky he wasn't going too fast.

“I knew you'd run into someone!” cindy yelled while running up to him.

“Owwwww….my head…. Watch where you're going!!!” he yelled at the person he hit. A girl with curly blonde hair and soft brown eyes. She held her hands up to her chest and began to stutter.

“U-um….A-xel?” She said.

The boy named axel raised his eyebrows.

“Eh? How do you know my name? Can you read minds!? That's so cool!”

Ignoring his oncoming energy, the girl looked like she was about to cry before turning heel and running.

“Huh? Hey wait! What did I eat yesterday!???”

“She can't read minds.. no one can do that! Can they?...”Cindy asked.

“You made her cry axel. Why are you so meeean?” Casey said as she lightly punched axel.

“me? Mean? I'm not kyle.”

“hmmm? Did you say something about me?” said a blonde spiky haired kid that appeared from behind axel. The boy had dull blue eyes and a mean look on his face.

“Ah!? Kyle!? No, i, uhhh…..look! There’s my class!!”

“Get back here you spaz!!”

As that small crowd of kids ran away, another group of young kids huddled around each other around the corner from where the boy axel was originally at.

“He didn’t recognize you lucy…..which means he doesn’t remember us either…” said a boy placing a hand on the shoulder of the crying girl named lucy.

“I…..I knowah!! Wha….what...is going on?!...Tony, what do we doo!??...”

“I…..I don’t knowww!!!!”

The group of four all burst into tears, unable to explain the situation they were in…. Shortly after, teachers came rushing over and took all four emotionally destroyed students to the office…..}

“I knew lucy seemed familiar! So that girl that day was you? That’s awesome. And i remember hearing about 4 kids that started crying out of nowhere, but i never found out who it was. Guess, i know now.”

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and sat back in his chair.

“After that happened, we decided to just keep on moving forward with our lives. We met you and made friends with you the normal way. Lucy didn’t have the courage to until just recently. We never asked you if you remembered us or anything because it was clear that you didn’t even recognize lucy. So, with no answers, we just made the best of our situations.”

Everything was starting to make sense…..sort of. It was definitely a reasonable story. If he thought about it, there wasn’t really any reason not to believe them. Then again, there was no reason to believe them either. But why would they lie? That explanation perfectly explained why lucy ran away from him when they were kids, and it also,call him crazy, just felt like it was true. Something inside him told him to believe their words. After all, any and all logic he knew was thrown out the window the moment he received power magnet  and was involved with these kinds of people. But then, the question remained, who would alter their memories? Like most things up to now, he would just have to wait for an answer.

“anyways, what seemed strange to us was that you have also forgotten most of your childhood but, your parents know who you are. We wonder why that is….. We hope to find an answer soon…..”

Axel clenched his fist again as he suddenly started to feel very angry. These guys were forced to work here and pretty much had no family. What an awful fate. Never before had he been so grateful for his family. However, none of what was said made any real sense. it just didn't add up...

“But don't you remember anybody else? Why just me? don't you remember casey? Cindy? Kyle? my sisters?”

Lucy looked at him and then at everyone else before shaking her head.  "Aside from school, no" Then she gave him a question that absolutely sealed the deal for him.

“If you still have trouble believing us, then try this. Do you remember anything from before you were 6?”

“What of course I-”

As he was about to confirm her foolish question, his confidence soon dropped. His heart fell to the soles of his feet and his stomach felt sick. He couldn’t remember anything. Not one thing. He desperately attempted to search his mind for answers but found nothing. It was like a brick wall was covering the path to all of his old memories and there was no way to get around it.

(What…..is this?!...)

“You see? That’s what we experience too. A memory blockage from before we were 6. Now you have reason to believe us.” said lucy reading his pale expression.

Axel felt a chill go down his spine and he shook his head. It was definitely spooky but there was no real reason to panic just yet. Maybe he just couldn’t remember was all… still, at this point he’d have to give credit where it was due and not take their word for granted.

“Okay…...but do you know why this has happened?”

“No...i wish emilia was here, maybe she'd  know….”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Emilia?” he said hearing the name that sounded strangely familiar.

Lucy seemed to bite her tongue as her eyebrows twitched and she waved her hand.

“Oh, just an old friend of mine…”

Axel wondered who she was talking about for just a moment before forgetting about it. Axel bowed his head. If they did not remember them, he wondered if maybe casey did...

“We've been watching over you behind the scenes as well to make sure you were safe but, now that you have power magnet our roles just might switch….” said tony in an effort to lighten the mood.

Axel relaxed and nodded. For the time being, it was best not to worry about it. Screaming and crying was not going to solve anything. Maybe one day they would all get answers and finally come to terms with things. That was all they could hope for right now. Axel looked out to the rising sun from the ship’s window. The clock on the wall displayed the current time. 6:57 am.

“better get ready axy, we are about to enter the bermuda triangle.” said lucy working her control panel talking in her usual perky tone.

“huh?” said a confused axel.

Jeniffer answered him.

“You've heard about the disappearances of ships and planes in the Bermuda triangle right? Well they happen for a reason. The government made that savant island specifically there years ago because of that legend. To reinforce that legend, whenever ships and planes go through the Bermuda triangle they get teleported away from there by a special government made machine….”

Axel had watched on the news about a ship disappearing and reappearing randomly before. This had to be the reason why. Was science really that far advanced?

“Why do they do that though?”

“Simple, they don't want anybody finding out about these special savants. It would be bad for the world. And since we don't get along with the government, we have to sneak in..”

“sneak in? How are we supposed to do that?”

Jeniffer grinned.

“well, the Bermuda triangle is protected by a huge triangle shaped barrier. As soon as something foreign travels through it, they disappear. They may reappear somewhere in the world or never appear again. That makes sneaking in impossible ….. Unless we already know someone that can get us in…”

Axel felt a chill go down his spine. The government allowed ships and planes to just go missing?....axel moved his head back. It seemed like the world was much more crueler than he originally anticipated.

“what? Who do you know that can get us in?”

Jeniffer smiled in a mischievous way.

“muahahaha! You'll see very soon!!’

“Eh? I’ve never seen you make a face like that..You're scary…..” he said looking at the devious smile jeniffer had on.

Her computer screen flashed multiple times and the words “arrived at destination” showed.

“oh! We're here? Okay so, are you ready to go?” she said to axel while typing on her computer.

“we're here?! Well yeah i guess i am but, i haven't eaten break-”

“Great! See ya!” she said cutting off axel who was getting engulfed by particles of light.

“wah?!! Where am i?!”

Jennifer and the entire command room he was in disappeared. His vision was blinded by many particles of light and he felt the ground below him disappear and for a second he felt like he was flying.  When he felt his feet touch the ground once again, he was in a completely different place.

A small room. A living room to be exact. There was a plasma TV hung on the wall and a white couch in front of it. The room was painted white. He looked around where he was standing at and saw that he was standing inside of a tube shaped machine with buttons and small screens inside.  Since he was able to step out, he did as such.

“Hi!! It's about time you got here!!” he heard a familiar voice say. Yet another female voice.

He turned toward the direction of the voice and saw a girl in a gray sundress standing there with a huge smile on her face.  She had jet black hair that was let down to hang to her lower back. She had ruby red eyes and smooth brown skin. The size of her bosom told him that she was at least 18. Although her skin color was a little darker from before, this was without a doubt the girl who went berserk. Jessica.

“woah!? No way! You're jessica right?! It's good to see you!” he said feeling relieved to see her in one piece.

Right after the battle between them had ended, jessica was taken by ella and andrew in order to get stabilized. Although he was very skeptical at first, he eventually gave in to their demands and handed over jessica. Since then, he had been thinking about her for a very long time. Since he had no way of contacting neither ella or andrew, he had no way to know how jessica was.

He didn't expect to meet her here of all places. The girl joyfully shook her head up and down multiple times.

“Likewise! I am grateful to you! Had it not been for you, i could've hurt many innocent people! For that you have my deepest gratitude!!” she said while grabbing his hand and shaking it multiple times.. Axel couldn't help but scratch his cheeks.

“Eh? No no, you don't have to apologize...I'm sure anyone would've done the same..” he said nervously.

“But you’re plan was so ridiculously planned out! It was self sacrificing and amazing! I didn’t see it coming!”

“About that, i didn’t drug you...i just made you think that..”

“Yes, i know! But it was so well thought out and awesome! But i’m surprised you’re still alive. How did you do it?”

She was possibly referring to that final explosion. Surely any human would’ve died if they were caught up in a blast like that, and he was sure he did.

“I think i did die, but the same explosion shocked me back to life i think…but what about your burns? Were you badly hurt?”

“It literally cindered me which is why i’m a shade darker but other than that no. i was able to make a full recovery and meet you here.”

Smiling and feeling happy to see her again, axel took a look around the room to inspect the area. he asked about his current location.

“oh! Well, I'm sure they must've told you but you are inside the bermuda triangle barrier! This is Savant Island!” she said stretching her arms wide.  Hearing her words, axel ran out the first door he saw by the side of the plasma TV.

Outside, there were many skyscrapers and billboards with one huge blimp taking up most of the sky. It had a large screen on its side that displayed the words “Savant battle tournament sign ups today @11!!!”  Unlike in california, it was really sunny here! The sky was a bit cloudy but he could still see the orange sky and golden sun that was still rising behind them. He saw many kids walking around in the same clothing. Gray dress pants with a white dress shirt and a tie. The girls wore plaid skirts with a button up black shirt.  Other kids wore everyday casual clothes. He also noticed that there were almost no adults in sight. The city looked like some future type city. This was definitely not sonic city.

Axel was in awe. He once again remembered the words he thought just one month ago. He wanted to see what mysteries the world could be hiding. This was obviously one of them.

“No way…..” he said to himself.

“Believe it now? This is Savant Island ..’ She said stepping outside with him.

Axel stopped staring at the many details and aspects of the city and looked down at Jessica.

“So, what do i do now? My friends are still up on the ship…” he said to her.

He was very anxious to tour the grand city before him but, he wanted to do it with Maria and Natsumi. After all, this would be their first time seeing something like this as well. Sharing memories with them like this would be a great thing.

“Ah, they should be getting here right after they wake up. You can wait in here for them if you'd like. This isn't my home but, I'm sure the owner won't mind if we eat some breakfast..”

Axel shook his head accepting Jessica's offer

“that'd be great, but who owns this place?” he said while he walked to the kitchen jessica led him to. He sat at a round table that was in there. Jessica sat across from him.

Jeniffer clearly stated to axel that in order to get into savant island, someone already had to be on the inside. That couldn't of have been jessica because she didn't live here before. she also is not a savant. So, it had to of have been someone else.  Jessica looked past axel.

“Well, see for yourself.” she said pointing with her eyes.

“huh?” he said looking behind him.

He saw another girl approaching them. She had long brown hair that was curled around the edges of it. Although, now her hair was visibly tangled and sticking out from certain parts. She wore one white sleeping gown and had sleepy brown eyes. Axel knew this girl...The girl yawned.

“ugoaaa, jessica what time did you say axe was supposed to-” she stopped when she noticed axel sitting there. They both were at a loss for words for a second. Then they both shouted in unison and pointed at each other.

“What the hell are you doing here!!??” yelled axel in confusion.

“What the hell are you doing here!!??” yelled the girl while hugging herself

Casey. Axel's friend that was supposed to be at a new school she had transferred to. Axel recalled the last time he had spoken to her over the phone. She said that she was really busy with school so she wasn't going to see him for awhile. He didn't expect to see her all the way out here though!

“You were about to ask jessica when i was going to arrive!! You should know!! So, what are you doing here!?” he yelled at her.

Casey's face reddened a bit and she made a complicated expression.

“eh?! Uh, i ,uh…….ah what the heck. No point in hiding it now…” she said, seemingly giving up. She relaxed and sat down near axel at the table. She crossed her arms.

“Do you remember the time i transferred schools? Well, i had to come here…”

Axel was honestly a little shocked. Around the time that casey had to leave to another school, she said that it was a private school that her parents had forced her to attend. That story was totally believable since her parents were really strict when it came to studies.  Axel nodded.

“So then, you knew you were a savant all along?”

Casey nodded.

“That is what the doctors told my parents when i was small. They had to

register me as being a savant...I was still allowed to go to school normally until, for some reason, i was pulled out and told to come here..”

It had not been her parents that made her come here, It must've been the government. As to why, he did not know. He did have one question, however.

“How are you able to travel all the way here in such short amount of time then?”

Casey lived way out in california. Florida was on the other side of the United States! It did not make sense how she was able to travel so fast. Unless….

“The same machine you came here with is the same machine i use to travel home. It's real convenient!” she said showing a bright smile.

That made sense. There was really no other explanation. After all, this place was so heavily guarded! There was no way for anyone to enter!

“But, does the government allow you to leave so easily? If there was such a convenient machine to get in here, wouldn't that run the risk of ordinary people getting in? I doubt they'd risk it.”

“Well of course they don't let me! They don't know about it! My dad made this machine  so that i would be able to still come home!”

Axel remembered that Casey's father was a genius. He actually worked as a scientist and created many things. Although, most of them failed.. Could it be that this teleporter was his first working invention?

“No way. The old man actually did this? He's so cool….” he said in admiration. Casey nodded pridefully.

“So then, how did you meet jessica? I see you're getting along well!”

Casey's mood suddenly darkened a bit.

“Not exactly… ella contacted me saying she wanted to use my teleporter because they had important things to do here. I agreed and before i knew it, they sent her here!!”

She pointed at Jessica who's face reddened a little.

“All i did was walk in and greet her….but, she just totally blew up and started firing flame bullets at me. Apparently she thought i was back for revenge or something.”

“Hahaha…. Don’t worry, she practically tackled me when she first saw me again.”

“Don’t laugh at me! I really thought she was here to kill me so i thought it was the perfect time to turn the tables and kill her instead! No one told me she was good now!” she yelled as flames spurted out of the edges of her hair.

As axel continued to laugh, Jessica sighed and looked at the clock.

“oh! Don't you have school in a couple minutes?”

Casey screamed.

“wah!! I have to go or I'll be late!!”

Faster than he could see, she ran into her bedroom and came out fully dressed in the same uniforms he saw the kids out side wearing. Then, she bolted out the door.  Jessica chuckled and Axel put a hand on his face. It was saturday after all. Jessica looked up at him and stood up from her chair.

“Well that was interesting. I’m going to take a shower so you can just wait here, i’ll be right out…”

“Oh, uh, sure”

Axel walked over to the living room as soon as jessica left and he sat on the couch. he couldn't help but feel relieved every time he remembered the smiling face of jessica. She looked happy. Well. Alive. Most importantly, when he looked into her gleaming red eyes, they were warm. Not cold. He was really glad that he was able to do something.

Now then, there was someone else he wanted to see. Someone who unfortunately had to suffer because of his lack of power…..

Part 4

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about all of a sudden…” said a blonde girl holding her cheeks bashfully.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry to ask you to come down from the ship so early..” he said apologizing to the girl who was walking next to him.

After talking with jessica, he called natsumi so that he could talk to her privately. To which she responded with,

“What?! Are you asking me out?! Oh my...and without maria getting in the way?! I'll be right there!!” then she hung up…. Of course, that wasn’t the case but whatever.

She was dressed quite nicely…...Alright, beautifully. She had on a dress that was white from her chest up and the rest black. Her hair this time around was held up by a black bow. She was truly beautiful. Enough that his heart was still beating pretty fast and he noticed a lot of guys were looking their way. She didn't seem to notice though. He wasn’t good with this kind of stuff. He was sure his face was red all over.

“what?”she said to him tilting her head a bit.

“Nothing at all, haha..”

Right now, they were walking down the streets of savant island. Not knowing where they were going.

“well, i wanted to ask….how have you been ever since...you know...we got attacked..”

A little after he received power magnet, he was attacked by a member of the shadow hunters while he was with natsumi. He still did not know how to control his power and, as a result, natsumi was hurt. She was grabbed and nearly strangled to death. All because of his incompetence….. He couldn't stop thinking about that.. he felt so terrible. Luckily ella rescued her… if not for her, she’d be dead.

Natsumi sighed.

“so that's what this is about? And here i was thinking that maybe you'd take me out today…”

“huh? But i,...”

“It's okay.” she said suddenly grabbing his hand presumably for extra reassurance

“what are you-?”

“I don't blame you for that. If i did, i wouldn't be here…and it's not like you didn't try to do something. Through the little i saw through my eyes, i saw you...desperately trying to crawl toward where i was…”

Axel didn't know what to say...what to think… he was sure that natsumi was at least a little upset about-

She cut his thoughts off.

“Knowing that you tried to do something is better than knowing that you did nothing…..I'm okay now! There is nothing to worry about!” she said while now taking a hold of his arm. It was nice hearing words of reassurance from her. He was very worried about this.

However,

He could not accept her saying that she was totally fine. He escaped her hold and stood in front of her.

“huh?! Hey, what are you-” she said puffing her cheeks. She immediately stopped however. The reason was simple, Axel had gently, gently, placed his hand on the side of her neck and slowly moved his fingers up and down to reveal something.

“Axel!?….” she said blushing furiously…

“I know that you are not totally okay…. Do you really think i haven't noticed you trying to hide this with make up?”

Natsumi widened her eyes.  Axel rubbed his hand against her neck and, slowly but surely, he started to uncover something that was being covered with makeup.  A mark.. There were finger marks on her neck.. Natsumi averted her eyes, too embarrassed to say anything. Axel felt a great surge of rage at the sight of the mark left behind by that bastard from the shadow hunters.

Natsumi then reached up to hold his hand once more that was still on her neck.

“Yes…” she whispered.

“I was left with this mark…. Even after so long..I'm sure it will come off eventually but, until then, i knew it would bother you so i covered it up…. I-”

“I promise you..” he suddenly said.

“!?”

Axel continued.

“I promise that i will do my best to never let something like this happen again...no matter what… i promise to do my absolute best to keep you and everyone else from danger” he said with determination in his eye.

What could she say? Natsumi looked into his eyes and wondered this. He was serious…that much was obvious.  She smiled. Then she looked around and noticed her surroundings. They were in a park, right in front a water fountain. The rays of the sun crossed in front of axel's face.

(Such a beautiful setting…) she thought.

Why, just about a month ago she had no real contact whatsoever with him, and now here they were in some high tech island filled with strange and abnormal beings having a chat under the sun. things moved along really fast, but she wasn’t really complaining. It was way better than hiding in the shadows and only thinking about talking to him. In fact, who knew if she’d ever get another chance like this. Life was so short, and if something like what happened last time happened again, who knew if they’d get lucky enough to survive. With that in mind, she knew that every opportunity like this was to be taken full advantage of.

And so she didn't waste another moment..

Chu.

“??!” axel gasped.

Natsumi had suddenly pulled axel close to her and before he knew it, he felt a soft warm object press up against his cheek. She kissed his cheek.

At the same time, he felt his heart ache and his stomach felt sick. It wasn't because of natsumi.. no, this didn't even feel like his own feelings.

Natsumi pulled away and pounced back happily.

The feeling disappeared and he could now feel his heart fluttering normally. axel was at a loss for words.

“I’m counting on you then. I can’t do anything to help, i’m just a human who happened to get mixed up with this, and i know it’s the same for you too. At this point, all i can say is do your best and i will support you in anyway i can!….”

Faced with her brimming cheer, he lost attention to her earlier actions and focused on her words alone. Saying that she was a human that just happened to get mixed up with this hit closer to him more than she or even he thought it would. Everything she said hit home. And for him, it was overwhelming. It honestly felt like it all hit him at once and tears manifested themselves in his eyes. He wiped them away with his forearm and shook his head.

“You got it!” he said.

She giggled and made her hair sway as she shook her head. Despite actually being amazing to her, he was still such a crybaby. Maybe that’d change one day as he gained confidence? She could only hope.

“Well, let’s get going back to casey’s house, if maria realizes that i left without her she’ll probab-”

Axel turned heel while saying that to her and starting heading toward the direction they came from but he accidentally ran into someone and was pushed back.

“ouch. … sorry about that. are you okay?” he said to the person he bumped into.

It was a guy. Not a girl like it usually was. He was a little taller than axel. He had spiky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They weren't the good kind though. His eyes sent a chill down his spine. As if he...had seen them before. They were ominous and most of all...dangerous. He was wearing the same school outfit he saw on other guys there. Axel could also clearly see that this guy was well built.

instinctively, axel grabbed natsumi’s arm and pushed her behind him. It was just a precaution but, this guy felt like he would kill without a moment's hesitation. He didn’t want to risk it. The guy was facing downward and he seemed to be irritated. It took him a bit before he looked up at axel with cold angry eyes.

“you …. Get the hell out of my way before i-”

He was already sounding hostile but, as soon as he took a good look at axel his face twisted into a look of pure fury. Even though he already seemed angry to begin with. His face twitched a little and then, out of nowhere, axel’s body sent warning signals to him from all over.

BOOM.

The next moment, the spot where natsumi and axel were standing at was completely incinerated. The fountain that was there was blown away and nothing remained. Only smoke came from out of the burned ground with a sizzle.

“That was too close….” axel gasped.

After he felt danger, he didn’t waste another second. He quickly grabbed natsumi and, with his heart set on protecting her, he channeled his power and managed to jump away a considerable distance. Controlling the wind beneath his feet was his aid this time. He thanked his luck for once…. His power was able to come through at the last second. Though the soles of his feet started to cramp up just a bit, he didn’t damage them farther than that.

“A-a-a-axel…..w-w-why did that guy just try to kill us??!”

Since he was holding natsumi in a princess carry he could feel her shaking. This was just like that time…. This time though, he saved her. So, he relaxed and smiled,a shaky one, to try and reassure her.

“I’m not to sure but, it’s alright. He won’t hurt us…” he said.

He could feel her shaking gradually relax but, she was still clearly frightened.

He smiled and then looked up at the attacker… the smoke from the blast was covering his body. Axel had felt this feeling of danger before. Not with the shadow hunters. No, it was a more personal feeling that he had felt as a child. Not only that but, the guy he saw… he recognized him.

When the smoke finally started to clear away, the guy was visible from the other side with his hand stretched out and smoke coming out of his palm. His face was still twisted with rage as he breathed in and out…..slowly….

“You….” he said while looking back up at axel.

Axel fought his memory hard to remember. He remembered this type of behavior…

Natsumi looked around and started noticing many people look at the explosion that just happened but, once they saw who caused it, they kept on walking with a faster pace, Seemingly afraid.  She then noticed something, that no one was going to intervene. No one even exclaimed. Was this how this city worked?

“How does scum like you dare show their face in a place like this?.....” he said with a voice filled with hatred.

At last, axel remembered. He widened his eyes and started to breathe faster than normal...as if running out of breath

“Axel?...” natsumi said noticing the sweat on axel’s face. Now, he was the one shaking..

He nervously moved his lips to speak.

“No way…..you’re...Kyle?!”

He neither confirmed nor denied but, there was no doubt in axel’s mind. He met kyle when he was young. He remembered that kyle was always so full of himself. A jerk. Everytime he was around him, axel couldn’t help but feel danger… Kyle brought his hand down and clenched his fist.

“I said, what the hell are you doing here?!! Huh?!!” he demanded.

Axel did his best to stop shaking and answer. He took a deep breath and looked at kyle. Kyle had steam coming out from all over his body as he prepared to probably launch another attack.

“K-kyle, it’s been a while right? Like 5 or 7 years? I-i-i-i umm, i just came to visit a friend of mine….” he said trying to sound casual.

“Don’t fuck with me!! There is no fuckng way in hell they allowed you to come in here just to visit!!!” he said yelling at axel while bending over and clenching his fists. It looked like he was getting ready to attack again..

Knowing his luck, he probably wouldn’t be able to evade this time. He tried to think quickly. What was his skill? It appeared to be creating explosions but, the ground that kyle was standing in front of was burnt black..

(fire then?)

That was the only thing he could really think of. The ground looked like it had been burned. The fountain that was once there was now a pile of ashes. He doubt an explosion could do that. At least, not one that he’s ever seen. At the most, an explosion would leave behind some debris…

“L-l-listen kyle! It’s the truth! I-”

Before he could finish, he felt his body once again warn him of danger. This time though, he couldn’t react fast enough..

“!!!??”

“Wah?”

He heard the sounds of flames pass him. He and natsumi gasped in fear and he shut his eyes. He felt his right elbow make contact with an incredible amount of heat and he cried out in pain.

“Gah?!”

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the ground to the right of him, including his right elbow, had been scorched.  His elbow was bright red and he could see that some of the skin had been burned.   He didn’t pay much attention to it though. Instead he focused on the girl in his arms.

“Natsumi?! Are you okay?”

The girl seemed to be shaken up but, she nodded.

“Y-yes...but axel, your elbow.”

“Compared to what i already went through, this is nothing. I’m fine….don’t worry.” he said. It was a lie. It was a big fat lie because this tiny amount of pain seemed to even surpass the one he felt just one month ago. Why did it hurt so much!?

The flames luckily missed natsumi’s head by a hair’s width. It scared him to think that it wasn’t by accident, instead , it was because kyle was just that accurate. This at least confirmed that kyle’s skill was definitely fire… Kyle once again snapped at Axel.

“Hey!!!Don’t you ignore me you bastard!!!” he said to axel who was talking to natsumi. Axel nervously looked over at kyle.

“Good….now you listen here….i don’t care why you are here.. But since you are, it must mean that you have a skill too right? Judging by that leap from earlier i can only think that my assumptions are correct.”” saying this, kyle laughed menacingly.

“hahaha…..hahahaha!!!!You are going to sign up for that tournament today, and you are going to face me so that i can roast your ass!!! Don’t forget!!! Or i’ll personally see to it that you get destroyed anyway!!” He held out his palm and created a ball of flames. Then he closed his fist, making the flame disappear.  Was the flame supposed to symbolize axel?....

Kyle took one last look at axel and then walked right toward him. Axel stood his ground and stayed where he was. He tried to conceal his shaking as much as he could.. Other than that he was too afraid to move.

Kyle stopped when he was right next to him. He said one thing that sounded like a growl.

“Pathetic.”

Then kyle walked away. After a couple seconds, axel looked back to see people stepping out of kyle’s path. When he could see him no more, axel fell to his knees. Natsumi could still feel him shaking. She couldn’t very well see his expression but, she guessed that he must’ve been very afraid.. She understood that much.

“Axel?...”

“.....”

Axel was quiet.  She was beginning to feel very worried until,

“Good grief..” she heard him say.

Axel finally looked up and she could see that he was nervously smiling.

“Huh?” she said confused at axel’s reaction. He stood up and calmly looked at natsumi.

“Sorry about that.” he said finally putting natsumi down. Well, he tried. He bent forward and placed her feet on the ground but, natsumi did not let go or get up. He had to tell her that she could get off now.

“Oh, right....” she said apparently forgetting she could walk.

She dusted herself off and followed axel who began walking toward the place they came from as if nothing had happened. The people around the area slowly watched them leave with wide open eyes.  Natsumi frowned.

“What was that all about? Why are you acting like nothing just happened?!’ she yelled at axel. Axel let her catch up to him and he sighed.

“That back there was a childhood friend of mine. Well, friend is a little bit of an exaggeration. Our friendship was one sided.”

“Childhood friend?...” she said. Axel nodded.

“That’s right! Even though he's older now, he still acts like he did a couple years ago. Somethings will never change…” he said to her.

“We grew up in the same neighborhood. He was a very angry kid but he was also filled with pride. I dunno why though…”

Natsumi tilted her head in wonder.

“So was that his way of saying hi?”

“I guess you could say that.” he said.

Natsumi hated to think what his way of saying goodbye was…..

“But,” said axel sounding serious. “One thing that did change from before though is that he has a skill now….and a dangerous one at that. I guess it fits with his character…” he said to her. Natsumi scratched her head.

“Well, i hoped that this tournament would be at least a little easy but, it looks like that's not going to happen….”  Axel looked at the sun that had finally risen to the sky.  Although reuniting  with kyle was scary, it was still nice to know that he was doing alright. Not to mention that he had a very powerful skill.

Axel grew more and more nervous. He did not really want to win,but he didn’t want to lose either in this tournament and he knew that kyle didn't either. That could only mean that he'd have to face him eventually and, the feeling in his burned elbow would soon be felt throughout his whole body…

Part 5

“Miss? It's morning, you should get some breakfast..”

“Hm?....”

In a plane soaring through the skies, a beautiful girl in her teenage years sleepily opened her eyes when her flight attendant woke her up.

“Ah, yes. Thank you..”

The flight attendant nodded and left her.  The girl yawned and stretched her arms. She took a look at the room around her. She had fallen asleep at her desk while watching a video of a boy doing something incredible. He was using superpowers. It was no movie, no animated video. It was a real life boy using super powers! The footage was very rare and was sent to her by a fan. It showed him destroying multiple “Robots” with an outstanding punch!

She heard about the attack on sonic city but, she never really got much details about what had transpired. By seeing the video, she could tell that the damage done to the city was nothing to laugh at.

She knew of the peacekeepers and the danger they posed but,to her, it looked like the boy was protecting the city, not destroying it. If this was the case then that could only mean that there were also people with supernatural abilities that weren’t on the bad side. The world was a very strange place indeed. What would that mean then? Was the media not all it was cracked up to be?

She stayed up all night watching the video over and over again. How the boy swooped in and jumped at the robots with courage and bravery…. How he punched the robot with an insane amount of strength….. How he even made the weather change…. It was incredible..

The video made her think a lot. It gave her a lot of questions that she wanted answered. She couldn’t just ignore it. She had to know, and she knew who would give her answers. The higher ups would obviously blow off all her questions, they wouldn’t want crucial information like this getting out. So, she thought of contacting the boy in the video. If he was still alive that is. As such, she used the power of her popularity to find this young man through social media. It didn't take long to find him..

All she did was post a status on facebook, along with a clear picture of the boy in the video,asking all of her fans to help her find that boy. In less than a day, one of her fans responded to her status with the boy’s name. It scared her seeing the power of social media but at the same time she wasn’t complaining…

He didn’t have an account on social media, but she found pictures of him from his family members. From there, she was able to gather enough information to know exactly who the boy in the video was. She looked out the window of the plane with a smile.

“Axel ison huh?.....” she said softly. That was the name of the boy. Oddly enough, the boy seemed rather cute to her…. That in itself was a rare thought for her. An idol like her rarely has enough time to worry about boys…

Anyways, it was a good thing she had nothing to do for an entire week. Now then, with this free time available to her, and with all the questions she had, she was determined to get answers. And so she would. Luckily, the boy’s name was not the only thing she managed to get….

The attendant’s voice was suddenly heard through the intercom a short while after…

“Ms.Ivanov, we will be arriving in Miami in approximately 30 minutes.” she said.

The girl could feel herself shake in excitement. Soon now, she was sure she'd be having a lot of fun…

_______

“Achoo!”  sneezed axel.

“Bless you.” said the brown haired girl next to him.

“Ah, thanks. Someone must be talking about me….” he said thinking about the superstition that stated that whenever someone sneezed was because someone was talking about them.

Maria, the girl next to him, frowned in suspicion.  Soon after he arrived back to casey’s house with natsumi, he found maria timidly waiting for him like a little girl. As soon as he entered her field of vision, her eyebrows twitched and she walked over to him and practically almost fainted when she saw the wound on his elbow.  It was more or less healed now thanks to power magnet but, it still looked pretty bad.  Enough to make her freak anyway..

She quickly grabbed a towel and some water to clean the wound, pushing natsumi out of the way during the process…After she had wrapped it up in bandages, he then grabbed said damaged arm and made him sit next to her. Axel tried to protest but she said that whenever she wasn't there he'd get into trouble. So, she thought this was the best way to keep an eye on him. She then sat on the couch in the living room with axel.

So, that was the position he was in now. As he thought before, he wasn’t good with this kind of thing. Sure he’d been living with maria for a little over a month now but never had he had to sit with her like this. Usually he was unconscious whenever she got this close..

“Hey, quit daydreaming and tell us what happened already!!” yelled a red faced casey trying to snap axel out of his trance. At some point, she must’ve realized that it was saturday and came back.

Axel apologized and then told them about kyle. When he reached the part about when he carried natsumi, he again felt a similar feeling like he did when natsumi kissed his cheek. Again, it didn't feel like his own…. He paused for a bit but then kept on going.  He of course made sure to skip the part about natsumi kissing him and all that… It took him about 20 minutes to explain everything to them.

At the end, the girls sat there with worried looks on their faces. It was completely understandable. They must of feared for his safety and wellbeing. In truth, Axel didn’t feel all that scared. He knew long ago that his safety was in danger ever since he received power magnet… Not to mention that kyle used to beat up axel because he got a kick out of it…

As he was thinking about his past and trying to remember more details of it, he suddenly remembered something. Kyle was apart of his childhood. Not only him though, a certain someone in this room was too…

He looked over at casey who was lost in thought. Why didn’t he remember this sooner? Casey was apart of his childhood as well! This meant that maybe she knew something about his classmates’ past! If he didn’t remember, maybe she did. So, he decided to ask her right then. Unfortunately, however, she did not.

“I don’t remember meeting those guys outside of school when we were kids. I remember kyle and cindy but, not them…”

Cindy was a girl he met when he was a kid. A total sweethearted person whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Axel laid back on the sofa in disappointment. What could the reason be? Why could not even she remember them? Who would lock their memories away and for what reason? Try as he might, he couldn’t think of a reason.. If casey knew nothing, then chances were kyle didn’t know anything either…

“You know, you could’ve warned me about kyle being here.” he told casey.

“You know, you could’ve told me it was saturday.” she retorted

“Touche.”

Their silence was broken by a sudden whooshing sound behind them.  It came from the teleporter. When they turned to look, they found ella and andrew standing inside the tube. The tube was thin so they were pretty close to each other…. Ella frantically opened the tube’s door and exited. Dusting off her clothes, she looked over at everyone in the living room.

“Glad you all could make it her in one piece!” she said trying to turn the attention from her entrance. They all nodded and just played along.

“Well axel, it is about time we get you signed up for that tournament. Come, i’ll take you there.” said andrew walking over to the door. Seeing a slight amount of pink on andrew’s cheeks made axel chuckle.

“Sure thing-” he said trying to stand. When he did, he was pulled back down by a strong force. It was maria’s hand. She leaned in close and whispered into his ear. Her breath tickled him and he struggled not to laugh.

“Can i come?..” she asked.

“Ah,umm.. right...come on maria..” he awkwardly said to maria. Maria shook her head in delight and let him go.

“Okay!” she said.

“Uhhh, i have to go” stated casey nervously. She quickly ran out the door again making sure not to look at no one on her way out. Axel wondered what she could’ve been up to… He decided to ask her later. For now, he had to sign up.  He walked out the door following andrew’s lead. As soon as they walked out the door, andrew looked over at him and smiled a mischievous smile. Which was weird since that guy never smiled. In fact, he could’ve sworn his skin cracked. Was that pity he saw?

“Huh?” said axel in confusion.

“Today is the big day! And i know you haven’t had enough training with your ability so….”

Immediately as he said so, he felt someone's hand land on his shoulder. He turned to see ella standing there with a huge grin on her face.

“eh?!”

“sooo, how about a little practice?” she said.

Woosh

He again felt like the world was spinning and the feeling of weightlessness overcame him. His stomach tightened and he shut his eyes, afraid of opening them.  He could feel a fresh breeze hit his face.. This was not good……  There was another time when he felt a similar feeling like this… well, maybe he was just overreacting? Only opening his eyes would give him the answer.

“WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!????” It was just as he feared. He was currently many feet in the air flying freely…. Ella was right next to him floating as if she was laying in bed.

“Off you go!!! Use your ability to land!!!”

This was bad. Very bad. He was starting to descend before he could think anymore… He looked over at ella who just smiled at him and then disappeared with a gust of wind…He was on his own…

“ELLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!” he yelled in pure anger. He could see the ground below him gradually get closer….and closer….and closer!! He had to do something…..and fast!!!

(Think damn it, think!!!!)

He tried to calm his breathing and shut his eyes to calm his nerves….All he had to do was think of power magnet as his own….as simple as breathing… He thought back to every single time he had used power magnet. The feeling he felt…

Motivation,motivation. He wanted to protect his friends, he didn’t want anyone to be killed, he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Maria, he wanted her to be safe, to be happy, he never wanted to see her sad again. The people around him, he wanted to protect them. He didn’t want to be powerless anymore! His legs burned and crackled like pop rocks. But this time, he asserted dominance and grabbed the leash. He would not break!!!He searched for the nearest place to land on and immediately found it.  Luckily this city had a heck of a lot of skyscrapers so it was easy to choose one.  He channeled his ability and felt his legs burn with power. He aimed for the roof of the building directly below him. He couldn't let his bones break….he had to control it. The roof of the skyscraper was getting close fast! He shut his eyes and prayed for the best..

Crash.

When he opened them again, he was shocked to see that he had actually landed..

“I landed? I landed!?!” Wahoooo!!! I landed!!!”  he yelled in triumph. The ground was broken a little but, at least his legs weren't! Axel widened his eyes and shock overtook him.

Down on the ground below, maria was shaking in anger. The reason was obvious. She was finally getting time to be with axel and then all of a sudden he was flung toward the sky...away from her… She of course worried for him but, she knew he would be fine. Axel would not die that easily. At some point, jessica and natsumi had caught up with her and andrew. They were walking a good distance from her. It appears that they had felt the hostility in Maria's aura.  If a rattlesnake rattles its tail, it's a good idea to back off. The same concept could be applied in this situation…. Andrew, who was walking in front of them all, looked back and chuckled.

“you look about ready to kill” he said to her mockingly.

Maria merely snorted and ignored him. Andrew sighed and looked up at axel who was presumably about ready to jump again.

“I'm sorry about taking axel away from you but, he needs all the help he can get in controlling his power. If he doesn't, he's toast in this tournament. You wouldn't want that would you?”

Maria thought about it for a second, and then shook her head. She didn’t think she could stand watching axel get hurt. She'd probably enter the ring herself… but who was this guy anyway? It was because of them that axel even had to go through any of this.

Since she didn’t respond, andrew continued to observe axel. Everything seemed to be going fine so far…

Axel was feeling great. The one ability that usually left him like a pile of bones was tamed by he himself, and he was sure he could do it again and by george he was sure as hell going to! He squatted and made his muscles inflate with power once more. He heard a whistle that resembled that of turbo on a car. Was his body making that noise? Better yet, Who cared!

“Stop you idiot! You’ll break!!”

At some point, ella appeared near him and attempted to restrain him. Now she was worried? Please, he had this in the bag. Before, ella could grab him, he leapt. He successfully managed to fly through the air and over to the next building but that was the extent of it. He brought his legs forward and landed on the edge of the tall building only to feel a bone or two in his legs crack. He flinched and slipped backward.

“guh!?” he gasped.

Then, he started falling toward the ground.

“Ah, damn. Well, no worries!”

For a second, he panicked. But why would he worry about this? Power magnet was on his side. He could just land like he did the last-

“eh?”

It….wasn’t working? It wasn’t working!!!! He didn’t understand! It was working just a few seconds ago! But it was failing him now. It was as if there was nothing inside him anymore because no matter what he did he just couldn’t get the stupid power to work!! And the ground. The ground! The ground! The ground! The ground! It was far too close for comfort and there was nothing he could do!! He said a prayer and braced himself…

“GAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

he waited for an insane amount of pain to overcome his body but, it never came…

“that was far too close…” he heard a girl say. Since he had closed his eyes, he couldn't see who his rescuer was. So, he opened them. The first thing he saw was a pure white substance surrounding him.  It was a bright shade of white. One that he had never seen before. Enough to make him squint. For a second he expected to see a giant gate and the book of life in front of him. Thank God it hadn’t led to that, he wasn’t ready. As his eyes adjusted he looked around. In front of him stood a girl. She had a gray sundress on and pitch black hair. Her gleaming red eyes stared at him in relief. She held one hand in the air.

“jessica?...” he said to his savior. The girl who went berserk.  She saved him from certain death. He could not be more grateful!

“Thank you jessica! Aw man, you really saved me there..”

Jessica blushed and dropped her head.

“No no...really, it's nothing!..” she said frantically.

Axel shook his head.

“Nonsense!....but hey, isn't your ability supposed to be “Dark” matter type stuff?”

The ability that jessica used when he first fought her was a pitch black substance that he called dark matter but, what she was using now was definitely not dark. She shook her head.

“No, that’s just the color it turns in my ‘berserk’ state. When I'm normal, it's just white. Though dark matter sounds like a cool name, but like this i think i’ll just call it ‘Matter’” she said opening her palm and releasing more of the pure white substance now known as matter.

That made sense. From what he knew, berserk state turned someone into the total opposite of what they originally were. In this case, jessica had her matter which is originally white. When she went berserk, it turned the opposite of white and into a pitch black. Along with her outfit as well..

“I see….but how did you get here so quickly?”

The two buildings from where he was at were fairly large. It’d take a more than a couple minutes to reach where he was by just walking. There was no way she could’ve gotten here in time to catch him.

“Hm? You should know by now what some of my abilities are. After all, you fought me didn’t you?”

“Well yeah but not long to remember anything. i don’t recall speed being apart of your skill list….”

The girl placed her hand on her forehead.

“Oh man…. Well, it’s simple. I stopped time long enough for me to get here and catch you.”

“Huh?!”

Looking around, he noticed that everyone around him were completely frozen in place! It was so weird. It was like pressing pause on a film or video.. She must’ve spotted him falling and stopped time. When she was sure she would catch him, she allowed axel only to move again. That was incredible.

“That is the power of the ramoji crystal i have. It is capable of controlling time!” She said raising her hands in the air with joy.

“Come on, let’s get you to that tournament sign up..i can’t hold time like this for long…”

She lent axel a hand and helped him stand. When she placed her hand down, time started to move regularly once more. Axel had one hand over her shoulder and vice versa. When he tried to step with his right foot, his leg screamed with pain. He flinched. That leg wouldn’t work. With his left, it hurt a lot but, it wasn’t all broken. He’d have to walk with that one. luckily he had jessica at his side.

“I knew you were an idiot but, this is ridiculous.” said ella who had managed to locate him after he had fallen.

“Haha.. sorry”

“Jessica, good work on capturing this fool.” she said to her, patting her head. Jessica practically purred with joy at getting praised.

“Oh it’s nothing really...anyone would’ve done the same..”

Ella sighed and smiled. Axel looked at ella wanting to say something.

“What?”

“Other than wanting to wanting to punch you, i think this is a good start.” he said clenching his fist.

“Hm?”

“Normally, after i use super strength, an enormous amount of wind pressure is released destroying whatever is in its way. This time however, i was able to control the output of power and not break my legs! And i held it out for a reasonable amount of time!” he said with triumph.

“Good, keep it up. For now though, we need to get you patched up. Otherwise you can't compete today. Let's wait for andrew..”

Axel agreed. It didn't take long for andrew and the others to arrive. Somewhat reluctantly, andrew healed his legs with his water. When He was done, he was out of breath. While still being held by jessica, he took baby steps with his feet. They felt good as new.

“Wow! Thanks! But why are you so tired?” he asked. Andrew wiped the sweat from his brow.

“I'm not a magician, healing takes stamina. And it takes it from me..” he said breathing heavily.

“ooh.. sorry.” he said apologizing.

Andrew waved his hand as if hitting a bug which made axel smile awkwardly. Then, out of nowhere, he felt killer intent from behind him..

Dangerous, ominous…. Familiar….He fearfully turned his head to find maria standing there with a dark aura surrounding her. Her head held down and facial expression covered by her brown hair.

“oh, M-maria...what's the matter?” he said fearing for his life.

He released himself from jessica’s hold and tapped his fingers together nervously.

“I knew you'd get hurt…...i told you not to leave…….and this is what happens?....” She said taking steps closer to him.  Axel took a step back reflexively.

“H-hold on a sec! This wasn't my fault!” Maria payed him no heed. She mercilessly grabbed his hand and pulled him away. Axel could not pull away.

“W-wait!!” he said in protest but, she continued to walk toward the tournament location.. Jessica and natsumi were frightened by maria’s sudden jump of character.

“scary…”

“Such killer instincts….”

Ella laughed at axel's misfortune with girls. Maria was head over heels for that boy, she could tell that much. It must’ve feel nice to have someone that loyal at your side. But at the same time…...She suddenly grew serious. Looking at andrew, she guessed that he must've been thinking the same thing. Making sure that jessica and natsumi couldn't hear, she spoke to andrew.

“She worries me. She's a little too attached to axel.”

Andrew nodded.

“That is very dangerous for her.. in axel's current position, it's quite possible that maria would put herself in danger in the future to save him. She'd risk her life like he risked his… and a desperate girl with no power is a huge red flag... “

Ella shook her head.  If push came to shove, it was possible for maria to risk her life in order to save axel's. The girl clearly cared for axel very deeply, and she was not the type to sit around and do nothing if her loved one was getting hurt. Especially if this loved one was the only one she had… This made her very dangerous..

“We'll just have to keep an eye on her..” she said. Andrew agreed. They looked forward at the backs of maria and axel and hoped never to have to restrain maria. if the time ever came.. they wouldn't be able to bear it..

Part 6

Walking through the streets of Miami was a girl in her teenage years. Since she didn't want to be seen by others, she wore a hat on her head that hid all her hair inside and sunglasses. She had on short shorts and a red blouse.  She wasn't even allowed to be on her own like this. Her manager must've found out by now that she had taken off from the hotel.  As such, she didn't have time to waste…

She had a reason for coming out to miami. She wanted to meet a certain boy in a video that she saw. It certainly raised up a bunch of questions that she knew he could answer, and what better time than the present?

She had looked for him online and found him. She had also somehow gotten info on his current location! Miami, Florida. In coming to Miami, she received a message from one of her fans notifying her that the boy, axel, was not actually in Miami. Instead, he was somewhere much more secretive that almost no one knew about! This intrigued her quite a bit. Having her curiosity tugged at, she requested to know where he was really at. To which the user replied with,

If you really want to know, meet me at the nearest cafe restaurant to the airport you arrive in at 11 am. It's too risky to tell you here. Come alone..

The message was sketchy yes but, if she really wanted to know where he was at, this was her only chance right now. What really bothered her was the fact that this fan knew that she was heading to Miami… So, when she arrived at the hotel she was going to be staying in, she looked up the nearest restaurant to the airport she arrived at. It was a cafe diner. She made sure that none of her bodyguards, or her manager ,saw her and made her getaway. Now, She was closing in to the diner. She checked her pink phone for the time. It was 10:55 am. She made it just in time.

When she was finally standing in front of the small cafe, she started to wonder how the person she was supposed to be meeting even looked like.  She shook her head and entered the small diner. There were rarely any people inside. She expected it to be packed like in the movies. Where she enters and everyone suddenly stops what they're doing and stares at her.. but that did not happen. The only people inside were an old man in a brown coat, a old couple, and a little girl with familiar night colored hair that was tied into twin tails.  Out of all of them, the old man was the most suspicious looking. Perhaps he was the one that messaged her?

She could just look at the picture on the person's Facebook but, it was just a picture of a lake.. Out of options, she approached the man who was sitting near the window close to the door. He was drinking a coffee while reading the newspaper.  She held her chest high and made her presence known to the man.

“ahem,” she said.

The old man took one look at the girl and then grunted.

“eh? Whaddya want?...” he said half mumbling. She did not expect that response. She expected a “ah, so you made it? Quickly have a seat. And don't make eye contact!!”

But, she didn't receive that response.

“uhh, aren't you the person who messaged me online?” she said. The old man narrowed his eyes.

“oh? I don't know what you're talking about missy, but if you're looking for a good time.. I'm available sweetheart..” he said while checking her out.  She reflexively took a step back and hugged her chest. Her face got beet red.

“What!?!!” she yelled out without wanting to. The old man laughed. Just as she was getting ready to slap some sense into the old pervert, she felt her sleeve get tugged.

“eh?”

She turned and saw the little dark haired girl from before. Her crystal like eyes looked up at her.

“um, miss? It was me that messaged you online…” she said smiling awkwardly.

“....”

She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or scream. It was really this little girl? But what could she possibly know? She looked like she was just getting out of junior high!

“My goodness Ms.Ivanov! I didn't think you'd actually come!” whispered the little girl with night colored hair. Olivia grabbed the girl and pulled her away. The old man raised an eyebrow but soon shook his shoulders and turned back to his meal.

“Keep your voice down! I don't want to be crowded by fans at the moment!”

“Sorry but unless you mean the ceiling fans there’s no one else in here!” said the little girl while laughing. Ignoring that comment, They took a seat in the cafe diner and began to talk about the boy named axel.

“so, you know where the boy is don't you? Where is he exactly?” she said sounding curious and anxious. The little girl giggled.

“My my~ jumping straight to the point eh? You seem impatient.” said the girl with a mischievous grin.

“Eh? Ah, it's just cause I'm in a rush…” she said feeling flustered.

“Well, i can relate to you there. I'm actually in a bit of a rush myself…. So, i can't tell you much except that he's right over there” she said. She pointed out the window.  It took her a second to realize that she was pointing out to the ocean.

“You're crazy….” she said. The little girl puffed her cheeks.

“Hey! That's not nice!” she yelled on the verge of tears.

“You've heard of the bermuda triangle have you not?” she said wiping away a tear.

“I have. What of it?”

“the boy is on an island right in the middle of it. It's a secret island that no one really knows about. Only the special people…” the girl said sniffing. The girl rubbed her nose and got up to leave.

“Eh? Is that all you're going to tell me? That's too vague!!” she yelled.

“Believe it or not, many people would pay millions just to know that much information about the inside of the bermuda triangle.”

“then how come you know?”

The girl winked and placed her finger on her lips., A smile on her face.

“That's for me to know~” The girl reached inside the purse she was carrying and pulled out a small USB drive. She handed it to her.

“huh? What's this?” she asked. The girl leaned in closer to her ear and her tone of voice suddenly changed from sweet little girl, to ominous.

“later on today at around noon, the boy is supposed to be participating in a tournament. Get a computer that you can dispose of after using it. That USB drive will allow you to see the tournament live. Make sure to throw it away afterward though. Both the USB and the computer.”

“What? But, how can i get in touch with him? With this?”

“Don't worry about that. Right now, there is no way to enter the island on the bermuda triangle. But you'll be able to meet him soon...i can guarantee you that. In three day’s time, around this time, go to the Miami Beach. I'm sure you'll find what you want then..” With that, the little girl left the cafe without another word. Leaving her with the plain looking USB.

The girl talked about special people and an island inside the infamous bermuda triangle. There was no way that was true...or was it? There’s a group of villains with superpowers and call themselves the peacekeepers, was an island inside a notorious area really that far beyond her realm of possibilities? In any case, she did in fact gain some valuable information. Even if this USB didn’t actually hold any information at all, in three day’s time she would be able to see him….

(........ well, i might as well see what the boy is going to do…)

She clenched the USB in her small hands. This was at least a step closer to her goal. If she could just meet this boy, then maybe, just maybe, he would be able to assist her in realizing her wish…