Titan Turn; A TDS Story

Chapter 9

"Sheesh, that's harsh!"

"Mhm. So from there came the title 'Gravedigger' "

"Huh who would've thought! But wait, doesn't that mean you had a real name? Like.. A normal one?"

"Sebastian. Sebastian Solce was my name."

He looked at Scout for a second, waiting for a reaction. Scout smiled as he met his eyes.

"Huh, that's cool! My name is Scott Huntsman."

"Scott? Is that why they call you Scout?"

"Yes and that's my position in the army, I am a scout."

"And you say I have a weird name!" joked Gravedigger as Scout stuck his tongue out at him.

"Well it's better than Holedigger!"

"Yeah ok, Scotty! My neighbor had a dog with that name!" teased Gravedigger.

"Nooho ho" laughed Scout.

Their laughter continued as Grave finished off his work for the day. Making a few last tests to make sure the engine turned on, he eyed Scout with a proud look on his face.

"Would you like a ride?"

"What?! It's done!?!"

"It should be. Needs a test drive anyway if you wish to join me"

"Yes!!" screamed Scout.

"Alright hop in"

With Grave in the driver seat and Scout in passenger, the ATV took off rather nicely. They did a few runs around the storage to see how the motor behaved, if there were any quirks that needed fixing and surely enough it all ran smoothly. They parked it back behind the crates, closing the trunk. The ATV itself looked untouched on the outside despite all the modifications it had suffered so masking it from the others wasn’t too hard. Scout practicaly bounced from one leg to another of excitement.

"Holy!! You are amazing at this!!" He said as he grabbed Grave by the shoulders, shaking him lightly.

Gravedigger blushed, never having received a compliment on his skill with machinery before.

"How fast do you think it goes?" asked Scout as he studied the machine.

"The motor is pretty close to the one we had back in the village so I'd say a solid 50 mph."

"50?! For something that runs on wood?!"

"It could reach 70 if pushed a little"

"That's so sick!! OMG!"

Gravedigger giggled at Scout's reactions, a little childish but sincere enough to brighten anyone's day. However, the thought of being almost done for their departure frightened him slightly. Scout realized the sudden mood change, putting an arm around his smaller friend.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Scout, we are ready. This was the last thing needed for the trip... I am just... not sure if we should do this.."

"Oh come on! We can do it! We are right there!"

"But what if he isn't there? We went through all of this for nothing. Who knows if we can even make it back from that blasted dimension.. "

"At least you will know the truth rather than keep thinking 'what if'. And hey, I wouldn't have agreed to do this if I didn't know you had everything under control"

Grave lifted his eyes, a doubtful spark lingered in them.

"Hey, don't give me that face! Look at what you did, you built a working engine, you translated a whole book that is written in a language so old no one speaks it anymore, learned the spells from it and everything! You are so much smarter than you think and great at coming up with plans!! Whatever happens we will be fine, I am sure!"

"You really trust me with this huh?" said Grave allowing a small grin to creep on his face.

"Mhm!! I believe we can do this! If you do too!"

Scout gave Gravedigger a quick fist bump which got a chuckle out of him.

"Nothing can stop us now-"

The two boys flinched as they heard a loud noise come from the surface. Running up the staires and out onto the field they were met with a rather explosive arguement. The Commander joined by some of his most trusted Towers were having a heated debate with some Titans, Scout hadn't even seen before.
Grave's father was in the front, holding back an angered Sinister, with the two ancient Titans, Void Reaver and Swordmaster by his side. Behind them there were two boys, Frost Spirit who was trying to calm down his uncle and Ducky Doom who was hiding behind Reaver.
Scout couldn't help but stare mouth agape at the group, he had never seen this many Titans in one place before. Some he had only heard stories of.

"Oh no" was all Gravedigger could say.