Characters involved:

RikusGirl - Nikki

Aidan - Aidan

Twilight - Nicole

Des - Leon

Fur - Squirrel

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Nikki was walking down a road. The asphalt was new and gleamed black. The sun was high, the burning asphalt sent shimmering waves in the air. As she looked up that was all she could see, the shimmering heat waves and the endless road. She couldn't believe how she had gotten into this mess. She was driving from Las Vegas to California to visit a dying family member. Was is the key word. As she had gotten deep into the Mohave Desert she realized she was nearly out of gas, with a small gas station twenty miles behind. Her cell phone was dead and she had forgotten to bring a car charger. The car had soon sputtered to a stop. She thought the only choice was to walk, so she had gotten out and began the long trek back. She had black hair that was perhaps a tad less than shoulder length. It looked a little frizzy, but in a way that made her look rebellious and different. She wore a simple white shirt and some blue capri pants. Her eyes were light blue in a way that made her look sympathetic. She wouldn't believe what happened next. She saw a figure in the sky. It was just a black dot so she thought it was a bird or a plane at first, but then it started to become an actual person. She thought it was a guy around seventeen with spiked hair. She then realized it wasn't spiked, his hair was just flying straight up because he was falling. His eyes were wide and soon she heard a piercing scream. He was wearing strange gloves, his palms were facing the sky. Then, right before his death, he flipped them and slowly came to a halt. He went into reverse a bit, then pointed his palms back up and landed on the ground. He took the gloves off and grumbled. Nikki wasn't sure if he had seen her yet, they were a few yards away. After he got his barings he looked over and saw Nikki. He walked over. Nikki wasn't sure if she should run or not. She held her position.

"Hello, I'm Aidan." The man who had just fallen thousands of feet said. He stuck out his hand. Nikki refused to shake it.

"What...are you?" Nikki said with a skeptical look on her face. She was annoyed with Aidan, she thought he was a mirage and that she was dying in the middle of the desert. This was a sure sign. Then two more people were falling. A man yelled to another figure. "Wait for it!" A woman said, "I know! " They soon landed in the same manner as Aidan, the man with perhaps more finesse. They were closer than Aidan had landed and immediately walked over. The man seemed to be annoyed with the world, his eyes squinting at the sun. The way he walked seemed unnatural, something about him was off and Nikki didn't like it. The woman looked stern. She also looked like she was annoyed. Neither seemed as easygoing as Aidan.

"Squirrel hasn't fallen yet," Aidan said, "She might have a chance." The woman gave a sigh, which sounded like she thought otherwise.

"This is Leon and Nicole," said Aidan for the two who must have been too angry to introduce themselves. Nicole seemed to give Nikki a small polite smile, then she looked back to the sky. After a couple minutes another figure was falling. Nikki looked up and decided this was a woman too. She had a skater look about her, the wind was making her hair fly everywhere. She landed, pointing her gloves down faster than the rest and eventually falling straight down from a height of about six feet. She looked windswept, her hair was tangled and all over the place, yet she gave everyone a look of happiness as she got up.

"I got it! I used Aidan's sword and killed it!" the woman said. Aidan reached for his sword which Squirrel handed to him.

"Yeah, but you did not save the satellite." Leon said with a look of anger. The woman looked offended that he would question her victory.

"That's Squirrel." Aidan whispered to Nikki.

"Who cares! The rest of you just fell back to Earth!" Squirrel said with her brows furrowed and her mouth slightly ajar. She said the words slowly and with emphasis.

"Well that was our last satellite and the last transmissionsays Ichor is still at large. One experiment was recently active and fought with Courtney on C.E.A.R.'s 300th floor." Everyone seemed to hold their breath when he said this. He then said, "It lost." Everyone except Leon and Nikki shared a smile, knowing Courtney was okay.

"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!" Nikki suddenly shouted. She slowly reached a hand toward Aidan. When she made contact without passing through him, she realized this was no mirage. She now looked angry that these thrill seekers would interrupt her walk and frighten her.

"I'm sorry." Nicole said, "We did not mean to bother you." Nikki seemed to calm a little. She could feel the concern in Nicole's voice.

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Nicole suddenly had a strong feeling. It told her to walk north through the desert sand. It sounded insane but the feeling was so strong that she could not fight it. It was a strong hunger for something in that direction. She felt like she was starving for whatever might be that way. It seemed that Aidan, Squirrel, and Nikki had the feeling too as they all looked in the same direction and began walking. Leon stood there looking at everyone with a confused look on his face.

"Shouldn't we find the others!?" Leon shouted as the rest had already walked a great distance away. The other four pretended not to notice him. They walked slowly through the dry desert scape, the sun beating on their foreheads, the humidity so low that their sweat was only light. They all began to feel extremely thirsty, yet they kept walking. Leon made a complaint that was not answered from time to time as they trudged through the fine sand. Nicole finally stopped.

"It's here." she whispered in a voice. As those words went past her lips a large sandstorm erupted sending flurries of sand everywhere, until they found themselves in a bright white room with elegant tiles. Busts stood on neatly carved pillars around the room, and although there were no lights or windows, an eerie light was spread throughout the room. No shadows were cast and every corner of the room seemed to share the same light as the middle. Leon was no longer with the rest. Finally, a shadow appeared. It was the shape of a person, but no one was there to cast the shadow. The shadow suddenly came off the wall and became a three dimensional entity. It slowly faded into a man who wore a blood red hood over his face. He wore a tattered red robe and held his arms out.

"One is missing." the man said, "Where is the magus?"

"If you mean Courtney, we left her behind." Nicole said in a reverent whisper.

"Never separate the Chosen Three!" the man said. He said never with a demanding shout.

"It will never happen again." Nicole said. She felt guilty and wasn't sure why.

"You have found two more." the man said, "Of course they aren't of the Chosen Three, but they are very important." He gazed off at Squirrel who gazed back at him. "You are the Guardian. After you leave to fulfill your destiny you will be absolutely invincible in times of need. You can't be destroyed and you will feel grand new powers come as the situation becomes more dire. You will not feel energy loss with the use of these powers, but you will not be able to do anything when it is only a small threat."

"Yes." Squirrel said. She said this as if she were agreeing, like she knew this the whole time. The man seemed to control how people acted in from of him. The man turned his attention to Nikki.

"You are special. I'm surprised they found you so quickly." the man said, "You are the Watcher. You will not be able to flee from your destiny, although you will want to. You will always know the next objective, how to get there, and where important people and things are. You will also have strange visions at times of importance. You have no way of defending yourself. If you die the rest of your team will lose sight and not be able to accomplish their destiny. "

"Yes." Nikki said with the same voice as Squirrel. The man now seemed to look at all of them at once, although his eyes were looking straight past them.

"The magus is with three more." the man said, "The cyborg is not anything special, except that he has transportation and strange weapons that may be of help. Never trust him or the man who's heart is his name."

"I'm not sure I understand that last sentence." Nicole said. She knew the man had tried to stop her from questioning him, but she had gotten past it.

"You. do. not. need. to." He said with a decisive voice, glaring at Nicole for breaking the control he had. "Be gone."

With another sandstorm in the middle of the room they were back. They found they had all fallen over so they got up off the dusty sand. They found the desert clear and sunny again.

"Why did you all fall over?" Leon said.

"How long were we out?" Nicole asked.

"About a second." Leon said.

"That was strange." Aidan said.

Nikki's eyes were different. The light blue from before now looked like a crystallinepurple. If you stared too long you could find yourself lost in them, literally. They looked as though they had seen everything.

"Leon. Get us a helicopter out of here. We must pick up the other four in the 300th floor of CEAR" Nikki said, staring straight into his eyes. Leon got a skeptical look.

"We just met you. Why should we listen?" he asked.

"Just do it." Aidan said. Leon eventually obeyed and got them out of there.

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Sorry for having a large pause between chapters! It felt good to write again though! :D Sorry if it was a bore.