Chapter 5

chapter Five

*Ariya*

The time to act was now. There was no more waiting. We waited for 14 years to rise up and fight back. I was ready. Almost. All I had to do was activate my ability. In the right way. Unfortunately, it could mean that Mya or Link could die. I wanted to protect them but I knew that one of them could end up dead. It wasn't that I didn't like Mya or Link, it was that when they found out who I really was, they could turn on me. Adam's group was a huge threat, so was Justin himself. Adam was the most dedicated soldier to Boss. Justin had been with Boss for so long that I was sure he was there during the attack 14 years ago. Justin was built like a tank and I was pretty sure he could take a Blood Born on his own, without help from any of us. All he needed was a taste or a scent to track the Navi again.

When I got back, they were all waiting in the training room for us to get started.

"Ariya! How's it going?! It's been a while since we got to go on an assignment together!" Link said.

"Hey Ariya! I'm glad we get to work together again." Mya said.

"Hey Link. Hey Mya. I hope you guys are ready for all of this. I'm glad you both are with me but I hope I don't disappoint you guys too much."

"You wouldn't disappoint us!" Mya said quickly.

"Yeah! We trust you completely. There's no way you can disappoint us." Link added.

"Thanks Link, Mya. I couldn't ask for a better team."

"Oh, please! Don't make me barf! You guys are ridiculous. If you're so worried we'll take the location and you guys can take the house. Nah! On second thought, it would be great to see Ariya get her butt kicked." Jess said. If only she knew.

"Hey! Don't get all butt hurt because you are super strong and still lose to Ariya, Jess!" Link said in my defense.

"You wanna say that again punk!" Jess shouted, grabbing Link's shirt.

"Jess, you better cool it!" I said. I could feel the anger from them. Their bodies pulsing with rage. It was leaking out to all of us.

"Knock it off! All of you!" Boss shouted.

Everyone froze. I could feel my insides getting hot again. I grit my teeth to try to calm down. It didn't help. I started shaking a bit. I could feel my ability trying to activate. A hand grabbed my arm. Shocked, I looked back. It was Mya.

"It's okay Ariya. There is no need to fight each other right now. We have an assignment to do right?" Mya said.

She looked sad. Her eyes said she knew this was going to be dangerous but she also seemed sad like she knew something was going to go wrong. Mya was a couple years younger than me, but because she was a healer, she got sent out on assignments pretty frequently. She saw the worst of situations and was always fighting losing battles on the battlefield. She had such a big heart for others and still had some innocence to her. Looking at Mya made me calm down instantly. I didn't want her to be sad. I wanted to make sure she got out of this ok. But I couldn't promise anything. I don't know how I'll act once my ability activates. I might not be able to control myself. I hoped I could.

Even though Boss had shouted, Jess and Link still had each other by the shirt. Anger still leaking off of them. Irritated, Boss said, "Do it"

After the command from Boss, a small whine on my left caught my ear. As I looked to my left, a shadow was coming from the ground. The Shadow's body tensed and they struck both Jess and Link with an electric rod. I pivoted to try to stop the Shadow from attacking Link, but before I could reach the Shadow, Justin was behind me. He was so fast for being built the way he was. Jess and Link cried out in agony. Then Justin tensed and rammed an electric rod into my side. My whole body tensed and I fell to the floor. Pain covered my body. I couldn't help but scream from the pain. My blood boiled. I could feel the time was coming for my ability to activate. I did my best trying to resist but my body wouldn't respond. Just when my throat started getting hot, my body started relaxing. Justin had stopped electrocuting me. As I was getting to my knees, Boss spoke.

"Now, are you all done?!"

Silence filled the room. No one spoke. The three of us were still feeling the side effects of the rod. Justin looked down at me, stone faced. I could see the slightest look of pain in his eyes, like he felt bad for doing what he did to me just now. Justin didn't talk much to anyone. It was like he was always fighting something deep inside him. He held his hand out to help me up. I grabbed it but glared at him.

"I expect better from all of you!" Boss shouted. "Get up so we can begin!"

As the three of us stood, Boss continued.

"I'm not thanking you, you just electrocuted me." I said under my breath at Justin, thinking he wouldn't hear me.

"If I didn't, someone else would have." Justin said low enough that only I could hear. I looked at him shocked but shook it off immediately and went back to paying attention to Boss.

"Adam, your team is heading to Drake's house. The likelihood of him showing up is slim. Justin will go with to try to pick up on the scent. While Justin is looking for a scent, look for anything that will tell us if this really is Drake and where he might be going next. Ariya, your team is heading to the location Drake was spotted. Search for clues and fan out from there. Now get going!"

"Yes sir!" We all said in unison.

Mya, Link, and I set out for the location Drake was spotted. The assignment had begun. It was a couple miles from Drake's home. According to what Tex told the Switch, he had gone out for a walk, a couple miles from his house there was an overpass and that was when everything happened.

When we got to the location it was still taped off. We all ducked under the tape. The location was under a bridge and had been taped off about 2 miles out to prevent outsiders from seeing what was going on.

"Fan out. Look for anything out of the ordinary." I told the others.

I started looking for clues. Drake would leave something if he was looking for me. Something known only to the Navi. I carefully started scanning the slope of the bridge. Nothing. I scanned the bottom of the bridge. Nothing. Scanned the side. Nothing. Scanned the pillar. Found it! Just what I was looking for. A swirl was on the pillar. The swirl was on the South East side of the pillar. I made my mark on it, so if Drake circled back he would see it. I looked down and saw 3 rocks at my feet. 3 miles south east and I would get either another clue or a meeting with Drake. My heart started beating faster. Soon I would be reunited with him.

"Let's go. We're heading this way!" I called Link and Mya.

"Did you find something?" Link asked.

I took off in the direction I told them, kicking the rocks over. "Yeah, I think so. We'll go a couple miles, if nothing we'll go back."

As we headed out past the bridge we came to a couple obstacles. A lot of rocks and rubble were in our way but we easily made our way over it. The bridge started going out of view as we kept heading to our destination. We came to a wooden fence. As I hopped over it, my shirt sleeve caught the fence. Confused, I looked over and saw a wired fence behind the wooden one.

"Wait!" I called out to Mya who was jumping over the fence after me. But it was too late.

Mya cried out in agony as the wire dug into her arm as she slid off the wooden fence. I rushed to Mya.

"What happened?!" Link called.

"Mya's hurt. There's a lot of blood. She hit the wire fence. Be careful getting over it." I called back.

Link climbed over the fence slowly. I looked around. We were in a construction area. That explained the fence. There was shade nearby so I brought Mya over there as Link was getting to the top of the fence. Mya had gauze in her bag so I grabbed it and started wrapping her arm.

"We probably need to head back to get you fixed up properly." I told Mya.

"No, I'm ok. I can con" Mya started to say.

"Ariya! Mya! Run! Get out of there!" Link shouted desperately.