Radioactive: Chapter Nine

Radioactive

Chapter Nine

~Glitch-Ing~

A black and white stripped beanie bounced up and down as it walked through the Tower. Its wearer wandered around aimlessly and stopped momentarily to look over the glass railing to the lobby far below. A child around fourteen years of age looked around. On the child’s left hand was a black glove the length of the forearm. On the other arm was a black fingerless glove that only covered the hand and the wrist. The discoloration on his arm was easily visible. His forearm was metallic grey in color unlike the rest of his normal skin color. The child smiled with a carefree look. His green eyes were wide with childish curiosity.

The child spun around and ran down the hall. His white polo shirt and an unbuttoned black vest stirred in the wind as he ran. He grabbed onto the rail and jumped over the edge. His forearm changed and as he fell his arm broke apart into segments. Between the segments was a faint string of light keeping the segments connected to each other. The boy fell several floors and stopped in midair a few floors down.

“Hey Kaiba!” the kid smiled.

Kaiba sighed, “Go away.”

“Hello, Ing,” Kiri nodded toward Ing.

Ing used his other hand to swing into the balcony. His arm assumed its normal form. He danced and skipped to catch up to Kaiba, “Hey! I hear that you have a big case! Can I help?”

“No,” Kaiba stated.

“Why?” Ing wined.

“Because,” Kaiba said, “Go away.”

“But I want to help! I never get to do anything!” Ing pouted.

Kaiba barely gave him notice, “Go annoy someone else.”

Ing stopped, “Fine!”

Kiri turned and mouthed the words “I’m sorry” as she followed Kaiba. Ing’s shoulders fell in disappointment. He walked slowly to the lower levels where his only friend resided. The room was dark and full of computer screens. Ing looked up and saw an android floating in the air.

His natural form was a glowing nebulous blue. Upon seeing that he had company he descended to the ground and assumed his human appearance. His blond hair was disorganized but somehow it seemed to fit his personality. He walked up to Ing and rubbed the younger boys head.

“Hey, there, squirt! What brings you to my neck of the woods?” the android smiled.

Ing sighed, his shoulders were slumped, “Miwa~~! I’m so bored! Why won’t they let me do anything?”

Miwa just looked at the disappointed little android, “I’m sure you’ll get your chance.”

Ing looked up and scowled, “Don’t lie. It’s because I’m a glitch, isn’t it.”

Miwa sighed. In all honestly it was partly true. The little android was full with little quirks and glitches. Even though one could be programed with the best programing, the hardiest hardware and the sturdiest frame but when it came to downloading it into an android there were bound to be a few glitches. An android’s own personality was a glitch. Their preferences and sometimes their abilities were glitches. In Ing’s case however, he was to childish than originally programed to be. His skin color varied on his arms, giving away that he wasn’t human, a big problem on missions. Also his green colored eyes gave him an almost sickly look against his light colored skin.

Personally, Miwa had a few glitches himself like his slight obsession of causing trouble. Look where he was now: world surveillance. It wasn’t a bad task but he would rather be out on missions of some kind.

Miwa patted Ing on the head, “Hey, Ing, you’ll have your chance. If I see anything on surveillance I’ll let you know. Who knows, maybe you and I could break a big case together or something?”

Ing smiled, “That sounds great!” Ing jumped up into the air before running toward the door. He stopped and ran back and hugged Miwa before running back out of the room, “Thank’s Miwa!”

“Yeah, just don’t go telling everyone about our plan, alright!” Miwa smiled and shook his head.

Ing walked around the Tower. An idea started to form in his head. A smile stretched across his and he ran to Kiri’s location. Androids could always track and contact each other and Ing used this method to locate where she was. They were in the basement labs possible even talking to Jekyll. Ing shivered. He didn’t very much like the doctor.

The elevator opened and Ing walked around with a carefree attitude. No one paid him much mind. They all seemed engrossed in their work. Kiri looked to be in one of the lab rooms. He found their room and he peered around the edge. The doctor sat at one of the tables while Kaiba and Kiri stood nearby.

“So are you sure about this location?” Kaiba asked.

Jekyll glared at Kaiba for several moments before continuing, “There are many ways to tell including bone structure, hair follicles, sometimes even stomach contents. All of that says that the lizard originally came from the States. Where exactly, is up to you to figure out.”

Ing zoomed in his vision and saw the possible locations on the computer screen.

“I think I already have an idea,” Kaiba said, “I searched through all of the reports of our oversee investigation Agents.”

“Basically volunteer Others who report any suspicious activity,” Jekyll nodded, “You read all those reports.”

Kaiba shrugged, “Just the ones originating from the states.”

“That’s about 700 reports if all of then submit one,” Jekyll stated.

“739 to be exact,” Kiri volunteered the actual number.

“I don’t remember asking,” Jekyll muttered to himself.

“I have a location that is on the top of my list. I have notified the agent that we well be on our way. We’ll be leaving in a few hours.”

“We?” Jekyll raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Kaiba stated, “You and a few others are joining me to look for this person that is turning relatively normal human beings into mutants.”

“What about the heart surgery on Tuesday?” Jekyll asked.

Kaiba shrugged, “Sorry, hate me if you want but I need you especially.”

Jekyll sighed, “You make me miss everything that makes the mundane life at the hospital remotely interesting.”

Kaiba turned to the door, “Make sure to get your things. We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”

Ing saw Kaiba and Kiri walking toward the door. He looked up for a way to avoid being seen. He raised his hands above his head. His arms extended and he gripped onto a small ledge. He then climbed up the wall so that he was above the doorway and out of sight.

Kaiba walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. Kiri followed after saying goodbye to Jekyll. She followed after him quickly, not wanting to be left behind by the elevator. Thinking it was safe; Ing dropped down and slapped his hands together with victory.

“Oh, hello there,” Jekyll said behind the little android.

Ing turned and smiled sheepishly, “Oh hello!”

“And what might you be doing here?” Jekyll asked.

“I was…I was…looking for…for…for ka-ron…Carroll! You know the engineer…in the labs…” Ing smiled.

“Mmhmm,” Jekyll was understandably unconvinced, “You know, you aren’t very good at lying. In some ways, that’s a good thing. In this occupation, it’s not. Eavesdropping is also more effective if you don’t get caught. But I’m going to walk away without any memory of this conversation therefore, forgetting to report your behavior to Kaiba.”

Ing sighed, “Thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?” Jekyll said with a straight face before walking away.

Exited and ecstatic, Ing ran to the elevator to tell Miwa the great news and his new super-duper plan. Thanks to Jekyll’s ‘forgetful’ memory the plan would work out swimmingly. Sure Jekyll was a bit scary but Ing ended up walking away from the encounter liking the man a lot more than before. This was going to be an exciting first mission!

Iridescent: Chapter Nine

Iridescent

Chapter Nine

~Mysterious Friends~

After the Fall

“Ha!” Amber kicked at her brother.

She missed, of course, as he simply stepped to one side. Amber lost her balance and fell forward onto the grass. She punched the ground in frustration and looked up at Chaud. Chaud looked at her with a sages disappointment.

“That was not what I did just two seconds ago!” he said.

Amber narrowed her eyes, “I can copy your form but that doesn’t mean I have the muscle strength or stamina!”

“Fine!” Chaud crossed his arms, “Do some squats.”

“I don’t want to!?” Amber sat crossed legged with her arms crossed.

“I thought you wanted to learn the family business!” Chaud stated.

Amber rolled her eyes, “Since when did the family business include doing squats?”

“Since like, forever!” Chaud responded, “How do you think learning how to fight starts? You aren’t just born with it!”

There was silence between the two siblings. Each glared at the other unwavering. They stayed that way for several minutes.

“I’m going to see if I can hunt anything,” Chaud said, “but don’t think like you’ve won! If I didn’t have a good heart to find food we’d starve staring at each other. Think about that while I’m gone!”

Amber stood up, “You aren’t taking me?”

“Nope,” Chaud said as he walked down the stairs, “not with that attitude. Besides, you could use to learn to walk a little quieter.”

“Chaud!” Amber called but didn’t receive and answer.

She pouted for several minutes but eventually she realized that he was right. Amber had to admit that she wasn’t trying her absolute hardest as Chaud tried to train her. She always seemed to challenge what he said. The more she thought about it the more she felt bad about back talking him. She hoped that Chaud would hurry back so that she could apologize.

Amber got to her feet and got out a pouch of throwing darts from her bag. Chaud found her some in the rubble of the shrine. Amber practiced at throwing her darts at several things. She was decent at her aim. Amber walked downstairs into the field. There was a fallen tree on the other side of the field along the tree line. There was a thin branch with a single leaf on it. That was Amber’s target.

She threw a dart but missed miserably. Amber narrowed her eyes. She threw another one and it was much closer than the first. Amber threw several more until she had only one left. She threw the last dart and struck the leaf off its stem. She jumped with excitement at her new achievement. Now her new goal was to hit the same target every time.

Amber ran up to the log to retrieve her darts. She sat on the log as she picked up the darts. Amber looked into the forest and waiting for her brother. She sighed and grew quickly board. The forest looked more and more inviting. She looked over her shoulder and didn’t see her brother anywhere. Amber got up and walked into the forest. After all, what her brother didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

She trapped the pouch to her right leg and rang though the forest. Amber practiced running quietly. She ran and jumped over fallen trees like she had seen her brother do. Her steps and leaps weren’t as strong as her brothers but she felt herself getting better and stronger little by little every day. She stopped and turned back the way she came.

The shrine was hidden behind some trees but could be barely visible. Amber decided that it would be best to remain within the sight of the shrine. She looked around and found another target for target practice. Amber struck a callus on the tree. She was a few paces away. Each time she struck the oval callus where and old branch had been she stepped back. A majority of her throws struck her target. When she ran out she walked over to the tree to retrieve her darts.

She turned around after retrieving them and stopped suddenly. A girl stood a ways behind her in a black knee length dress. Amber looked at her closely. The girl looked around her age. She had long white hair with a black bow tied into the back of her head just above her ears. A black bow was sewn at the base of raised collar on a white surface dipping from one shoulder to the other. She also wore white sock stockings and flat black shoes with bows on the toes. Around her waist was a black belt with two holsters carrying a pair of silver guns.

The girl stared at Amber with emotionless eyes, “Hello.”

Amber watched her closely, “Hi.”

“What is your name?” the girl asked.

Amber placed her hands on her hips, “I don’t think I should be telling you anything.”

“Fine,” the girl turned around, “I’m leaving now.”

“Wait!” Amber started after her, “I’ll tell you my name if you tell me yours. What about that?”

The girl turned and looked at Amber. Her eyes were just as steady and emotionless as before. “Fine,” she said.

“I’m Amber,” Amber introduced herself, “What’s your name?

“Ai,” the girl responded.

“I?” Amber looked at her funny. What kind of parent would name their kid I?

The girl nodded, “Ai.”

Amber shrugged. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, she determined.

“You aren’t out here by yourself are you?” Amber asked, “I’m sure my brother would let you travel with us if you are alone! It’d be nice to have a girl to talk to for a change.”

“I’m traveling with my brother,” Ai answered.

“Oh, you have a brother too?” Amber smiled, “Aren’t they a little annoying?”

Ai shrugged, “I never really thought about it.”

Amber nodded, “Trust me, they are. I’ve got three. Where is your brother anyway? Is he close by?”

Ai looked through the trees, “I don’t know. We came out here to hunt for food.”

Amber smiled, “Come on, let’s play a game!” she pointed to a twig on a tree, “First one to knock that twig off the branch wins!”

Amber threw a dart that grazed the leaf on the twig. She looked a little disappointed as she handed Ai a dart. Ai shook her head and pushed Amber’s hand. The girl pulled a gun from her holster and fired at the twig. The small branch, leave and all; were blasted off their mother branch. Amber ducked down at the loud sound.

“I win,” Ai said.

Amber looked at her, “Hey, that isn’t fair!”

Ai just looked forward, “All you said was that the goal was to shoot off the twig. I did that.”

“And nearly shot out my eardrums too,” Amber muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Ai said.

Amber shrugged it off, “It’s alright I guess. Next time though, you can’t use your gun. It’s not fair. You are a good shot though. Did your brother teach you? Mine’s teaching me how to defend myself too.”

Ai looked at her gun, “I guess he taught me a little. I knew a lot before he took me in.”

“Took you in?” Amber tilted her head, “You mean you aren’t blood siblings?”

“Blood siblings?” Ai thought a moment, “He’s the only brother I have ever known.”

“That’s cool,” Amber smiled, “I’m not blood siblings with my brothers either. I’m adopted! But it feels like I’ve always been part of the family so I don’t think of myself as adopted. That must be like what you feel right?”

“I guess,” Ai answered.

Amber was about to say something else when Chaud ran through the trees. He stopped short at the sight of Ai. His gaze dropped momentarily to the gun in Ai’s hand. Ai looked at him with a blank but observant gaze. Chaud looked at his sister and smiled as relaxed smile as he could muster.

“Hey, sis,” he said, “I heard a gunshot and when I didn’t find you at our spot I got a little worried.”

Amber looked at her brother, “Ai and I were just playing a game. Ai this is my brother.”

“Hello, Chaud,” Ai greeted.

Chaud smiled, “Hello, Ai.” He looked back at his sister, “We should get going.”

“Now?” Amber asked, “Can Ai and her brother travel with us?”

Chaud laughed awkwardly, “No, I don’t think so. Come on, let’s get out things and get going. Say goodbye to your friend.”

Amber waved, “Bye, Ai! Maybe we can play again!”

Ai raised a hand in a motionless goodbye.

Chaud turned his sister around and started walking in a different direction of the shrine. He hurried her on away from the mysterious Ai.

Amber saw they were going away from the shrine, “Chaud, this isn’t—”

“Shh!” he hissed quietly, “Keep walking.”

Amber looked over her shoulder and saw Ai watching them leave. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. When Ai was lost to their sights Amber turned to her brother.

“Chaud?” Amber asked.

Chaud looked down at her, “What?”

Amber started looking a little nervous, “I never told that girl my brother’s name. How did she know that your name was Chaud?”

The Turn: Chapter Nine

The Turn

Chapter Nine

~In the same Boat~

Three Years before the Turn

Zara nervously stood on the street corner, waiting with a large bag over her shoulder. The day had finally come and the whole Island was buzzed about the event. It was the most important moment in a trainee’s life. It was the time for them show off their powers to the Other representatives of the world. The Coliseum was where it was all to be held. They would go up against one team and hopefully they would win and impress the representatives. You didn’t necessarily have to win your round, though it helped, because the representatives usually go in knowing exactly what they want and if you’ve got it you would find out a few days later if you were chosen.

Galaxy in his reign, if you care to say, over the Tower had managed to spread its reach to other countries. That way, if there was an immediate threat, the Agents assigned there could act quickly. Of course the buildings didn’t look like the Tower itself and they weren’t called the Tower II and so on but they were there if you looked hard enough.

Today, if her team did well enough, they would be chosen by one of the leaders to go to their country. But if they weren’t chosen….Zara swallowed, her mouth suddenly became dry. They already had a low score with her not doing the individual assessment and Chaud failing miserably. Yes, the score mattered in the sense that it might peak or dampen the interest people had in you. But then again, the score represented you as an individual and not as a group.

Zara’s breathing started coming in harsh breaths. She was thinking about the rest of her life; what if she didn’t get chosen, what if the other team was too strong, what if, what if, what if… She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, what’s up?” Chaud said with a smile.

“You have to stop doing that!” Zara glared at him.

He looked at her curiously, “Doing what?

Zara flailed her arms in the air, “This! Sneaking up on people! You can give someone a heart attack!”

Chaud stepped back a pace, “Okay, someone is stressing out.”

“Of course I’m stressing out!” Zara had practically snapped, “We’re talking about the rest of our lives here! You might have a rich papa to run home to but I don’t! This is everything I’ve got! If I fail, I’ve failed at life!”

Chaud stood there a moment, “You need ice cream.”

Zara stared at him in disbelief, “Ice cream? I’m talking about the end of my life as I know it and all you can think about is ice cream?”

“Yeah,” Chaud stated, “There’s a stand two blocks down. You’re two hours early. We’ve got time.”

He started walking away. Zara, open mouthed and shocked, followed after him. They found the little ice cream stand and Chaud ordered them two cones. He passed one on to Zara; it was vanilla with pink swirls in it. She looked at her ice cream for a moment.

“What is this?” she asked.

“It’s called ice cream,” Chaud stated as he licked his vanilla cone, “We humans eat sugar to drown out problems. Well, that and alcohol. Either way, it’s a bad habit really.”

Zara liked it and it tasted like strawberries. It didn’t taste bad. In confession, she hadn’t had ice cream since she had come to the Island. It was good, surprisingly good.

“What are you doing here?” Zara asked, “I know I was two hours early but why were you two hours early.”

Chaud shrugged, “You were here two hours early so I decided to keep you company.”

“Were you watching me?” Zara glared a cautious eye at him.

“More like staking the place out. You can’t be careful you know. We wouldn’t want something bad to happen before the assessment,” he noticed Zara tense up, “I mean before the ice cream cart rolls away. Yeah, that’s what I meant. I didn’t say anything about an assessment…what assessment. In fact, why are we here again?”

After their ice creams they walked back to the corner where they were all about to meet. Naru and Hina came on off the bus and hour later. After that Vicky came thirty minutes later while Deontay was pushing it with a minute to spare.

They all walked toward the Coliseum together. The roads leading up to it were packed with cars and news vans; only adding to Zara’s stress already. As they walked on, they started running into other groups who too were making their way to the Coliseum. They rounded a corner and the streets opened up to a large circular building, similar to the Coliseum in Rome.

Windows replaced the arches and the building was made of a white stone. The Island Coliseum was slightly larger than the one in Rome, much newer as well. In the front entrance there was a statue in the center of a fountain of Sage Tariq, the founder and creator of the Tower. The Tower had seen two rulers before its current one.

Vicky ran up to the fountain with something clasped tightly in her hands. She stood at the rim of the fountain and stood there a moment. Then she reached in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and quickly folded into a paper boat. She opened her hand to expose six pennies. She lined her boat with pennies, three on each side, and placed the boat in the water. It floated off around the circular fountain. She ran back to the others and smiled.

“Hope Sage brings us some luck,” she said as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

“Don’t know how a bronze—ow!” Chaud jumped after Zara stepped on his foot.

“We could use all the luck we can get,” she said through gritted teeth.

“But its bronze,” Chaud muttered quietly.

Vicky smiled and ran after Naru and Hina who had gone ahead. Deontay shook his head and sighed.

Chaud looked at him with mock shock, “Bronze doesn’t grant wishes!”

Zara rolled her eyes and headed for the main entrance.

“Okay,” the woman at one of the front desks said, “are you here to participate or watch?”

“Participate,” Zara responded.

“Please go down that hall to the right, a gentle man there will help you.”

“Thanks.”

They did as they were told and walked though scores of people to get to the mouth of the hallway. The hallway was blocked off with a gate and a man sat at a computer typing away at the keyboard. A stronger looking man stood a little further down the table. He looked up as their group approached. With a smile he delved into the matter at hand.

“Leader, name,” he stated,

“Zara Uzek,” the response came.

The man typed the name into his computer, “Weapon.”

“Katana.”

“Power.”

“Fire.”

“Anything else we should know about you?”

“No.”

“Alright then Miss Uzek please continue down the line where your bag with be searched. Second.”

“Chaud Galaxy.”

Zara placed her bag on the table. The man opened it up and dug around inside. He then came around the table and gave her a quick pat down. This event was notoriously known for people bringing in illegal weapons. If you were caught bringing things in, you were kicked off the Island but that enough didn’t stop people from wanting an edge over the competition.

“Please stand over there Miss,” the man muttered, “you can take your bag.”

“Anything else we should know about you?”

“I have wings,” Chaud stated casually.

“Thank you, you can continue down the line.”

Chaud set his weapons on the table the man looked at them and nodded, “You will need to use the bullets we provide for you. Did you already make a note, Frank?”

“Yes, I did,” sighed the man at the computer.

The guard looked at Chaud again, “The boxes will be sent to the room.”

After that exchange, Chaud underwent the same pat down before being allowed to stand near the door next to Zara. Hina pushed ahead of her brother who didn’t put up much of a fight. Deontay, being a gentleman, allowed Vicky to go ahead of him. Naru’s things took the longest to process considering he had so many individual parts: two sai, two dozen or so shuriken, and about a million needles. It was safe to say though that the teams in line behind them stared wide eyed in fear as Naru had to explain what each weapon was used for. Some of them rubbed their muscles as he explained what would happen when a needle hit a curtain area.

“Fine,” the guard said, unfazed, “room 52. Once in your room, the doors will lock and you won’t be able to exit until it is time for your battle. Everything you need should be in the room. If you need something not provided to you knock on the door.”

A buzz sounded as the door opened. Zara walked though first leading the others to find their room. She turned back to make sure everyone was following when she saw something in the crowd. Zara hurried back to the gate just as it closed. Puppetmaster looked at her with his purple eyes. He smiled and raised a hand in a motionless wave. Shuppet was secured underneath his other arm. The small doll even risked a wave itself. Zara waved back.

“Are you coming or what?” Chaud called impatiently.

Zara turned, “Hold on a minute!”

She turned to look for the familiar face only to see people she didn’t know. Her eyes scanned the crowd a while longer. With a sigh, she pulled herself from the gate and walked after the others.

Kaiba stood far enough not to be seen by his younger sibling though he was almost certain that Chaud knew he was there. He saw Zara reaction and made a mental note to write it down when he had the time. A man in a flowing coat and an interesting hat walked past him, brushing his shoulder. Kaiba looked over his shoulder for a moment. The clock in the inner entrance read five minutes to ten. He pulled out his tablet and quickly wrote something and placed it back into his pocket.

Kaiba turned in place and started walking toward the arena entrance. He turned suddenly and walked up some stairs. Many like himself, seconds to their representatives, walked up and down the stairs. He paid them no notice for he had already accomplished what he had been sent out to do.

He reached an upper level guarded by two strong men. They did nothing as Kaiba walked past. He entered another hallway with many rooms spaced fairly apart. A flag hung from each door. He turned left and continued down the curved hallway until he found what he was looking for.

Kaiba entered a room it was well furnished with brown carpeting and white furnisher. A large glass window looked out onto the stadium below. The stands were filling up quickly for the first battle to be fought at eleven-o-clock. Sirius and the Mrs. stood at the widow, his arm around her waist and her head on his shoulder. On a chair beside the couch, Lynx sat with Kia in his lap.

Sirius looked over his shoulder and saw Kaiba. He smiled, “So how is he?”

Kaiba looked blankly at his father, “It depends if you want a family decision or a professional one.”

“Let’s go with both this morning,” Mrs. Galaxy said as she walked back to the couch.

“He’ll be fine,” Kaiba stated.

“And professionally?” Sirius probed.

Kaiba pulled out his tablet, “Where do I start?”

Sirius could see line after line though the clear screen, “I get the point, Kaiba.”

“He’s all over the place,” Kaiba placed the tablet away.

“We’ll just have to hope for the best,” Mrs. Galaxy smiled as Kia ran toward her.

“That we will,” Sirius confirmed, “but for now we only have an hour to greet our guests, dear.”

Mrs. Galaxy sighed, “Do we have to? I think Mrs. Russia has it out for me.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll do all the talking,” Sirius helped his wife to her feet, “All you’ll have to do is smile and act pretty.”

She laughed “Don’t I always?”

“Exactly, so it won’t be that hard now, will it?” he kissed her lightly on the lips.

“I suppose,” she smiled, “Kaiba, darling, you’re in charge while mommy and daddy are gone. Behave.”

Kaiba’s shoulders sunk at the word ‘darling’, “Yes, mother.”

In the hallway, Sirius leaned into his wife, “He hates it when you talk to him like that, you know.”

A sly smile crept across her face, “I know. Now that he’s annoyed, it’s guaranteed that he won’t allow any funny business.”

Sirius chuckled, “That’s true.”

Zara opened the door and gasped. The ‘room’ that they were provided looked like a high end ritzy apartment. From the door, there were stairs that led down into a kind of living space. There was a large television and many comfortable chairs. On the second floor, where they were now, to the left there was a small series of steps, a landing and more stairs that led up to the third floor.

On the third floor it looked like there were changing rooms, one for the boys and another for the girls. There was also a beautiful bathroom and two other rooms with beds in them, again one for the boys and the other for the girls, both with TV’s in them as well. On the first floor, off of the living space, was a kitchen with a stovetop oven, a refrigerator and all the likes. Most of the floors had a white carpet covering the floor or black tile for contrast. Across the living space was a door with no handle.

To their right there was also a sequence of stairs and landings that led to a small gym both an area for working out and a flat area for practicing battle techniques. The others started walking around to explore their living quarters for the rest of the day. Deontay suggested that he and Vicky practice some of the boxing that he had been teaching her and Vicky readily agreed. Naru went upstairs to put his things in a room. Hina went down into the kitchen to find something to eat. Zara walked over to the television and turned it on.

The television was preset to view the stadium.

“Today is a big day for most of these kids, Ralph! This is the day they show the world what they are made of!”

“Thanks, Steve! We’ll tune in to Rachel at the front entrance. Rachel, are you there?”

“Yes, Ralph. I’m here at the Coliseum statue of Sage Tariq. As you see here, many teens have come by here to throw pennies into the fountain for luck on their way into the Coliseum. If you take a closer look here, there seems to me a small paper boat full of pennies making its rounds around the fountain. As you see, all six pieces of its copper cargo are still inside even as the paper boat gets wet. Hopefully, for the team that set this little boat to sea, this means that they will pull through whatever pours down on them. Back to you, Steve.”

“Thank you, Rachel.”

 Zara looked behind her, sensing that Chaud had snuck up yet again. Sure enough, he was there, at her right side. He saw her glance at him and raised a cautious eye brow.

“Okay, is pretty cool that the little boat is happy and floating around, but I maintain that a copper statue of a guy had nothing to do with that fact.”

“What about the pennies?” Zara smiled.

Chaud walked away in a huff, “I doubt that there is any copper in a penny anymore.”

Zara shrugged, “Whatever. Makes a good story though.”