*Emile*
"Bye, take care, son," Fan said, hugging the king tightly as Iah and my son said goodbye to Vermeil.
"I will," Qing-Yuan said, patting her back.
She wiped her tears away and turned to look at Alex. Removing her necklace, she grabbed his hand and put the tear-drop shaped crystal in his palm. "That's the water I promised you. Hopefully it's enough for what you need."
Alex smiled slightly. "Thanks."
"Here, let me keep it safe for you in my hyper-ring" Rebecca said, holding her hand out.
He glanced at Olivia who nodded.
Rebecca smiled as she put away the water. "Also helps me run some tests on its composition."
"Don't ruin it now," Thalia said, crossing her arms. "That stuff is vital."
"Don't worry, these aren't chemical experiments."
"Curious how you plan to find out. You aren't a water mage," Fai said.
"No, but he is!" Rebecca said, pointing at me.
I grinned. "Yup!"
"Let's go," Vermeil said, waving at them to follow before leaping over the opening.
The kids, Fan, Neil, and the other two caretakers walked to the metal platform she had made for them. The giant plate rose to the air, causing some of the kids to shriek and others to laugh.
"Don't panic. I have you." The plate moved to the right as soon as it was out of the cavern. A light thump could be heard.
"There they go," Qing-Yuan said, sighing.
"Don't worry, Vermeil will take care of them. She's more capable than her playful persona might have you think," Hal said, grinning.
"Wait, weren't you thinking of recruiting Noe?" Dai asked, glancing at his sister.
Fai nodded. "Yes, but for that we need the boy to get better first. Plus, it's best that he spends some more time with his family. You know how grueling the training can be."
Qing-Yuan rubbed the back of his head. "Which is why Sarah wanted to become one of you when she was little."
Fai smiled. "She probably would've been one of our best knights if she had become one."
He sighed. "Starting to think it was a mistake not letting her."
"Well, she was your only family at the time, so it's understandable you didn't want her gone," Dai-Huan said.
Qing-Yuan lowered his head. "Yeah, but still."
"How many of you are there?" Iah asked, glancing at the twins.
"We are a small but elite order made up of eleven individuals."
"Where are the other nine?"
"Aiguo and Bolin are fighting alongside the Minese on the western front," Qing-Yuan answered. "Baozhai is currently on the coast of Miha."
"Huh? Why is she out there?
"Top secret," Fai said.
I laughed. "You already gave out a lot."
"Yeah," Thalia said with narrowed eyes.
Fai blushed.
Dai patted her shoulder. "It's alright, they're our allies."
"There's a weapon on board the ship. It's a last resort."
Iah's eyes widened. "You don't mean..."
She nodded.
"How did you get one?"
"Your uncle lent us one," Qing-Yuan responded.
Iah gritted his teeth. "You know what will happen if that's fired?"
"Yeah, it'll make Lithdia's quake pale in comparison," Isabel said.
"Do not worry, I placed several conditions in place for its firing. We'll need to get the enemy up into the sky," Qing-Yuan said, pointing up at the blue sky above.
"Thankfully I came here. My barriers should minimize any aftershocks," Yanyu said.
"But, depending on what prana it's made up of, it could have severe side effects," Iah said.
"It's a water-based one," Darin said, stepping toward us.
"You knew about it?" Isabel asked.
He nodded. "Huang sent me to minimize said downside. We'll disperse the torrential rain clouds toward the dry regions in the east."
Iah curled his hands into fists. "Uncle... That man really is willing to go far for victory."
Qing-Yuan nodded. "So am I. Getting H.E.H. out of Tozan Hoshi warrants such drastic measures."
"Hate to agree, but you're right. They must be stopped now, before they spread across this region. From here they can attack Xian, Miha, Miku, Sefa, and my country."
"Your country?" Olivia asked, tilting her head.
"Aief. It's to the southwest of here, across the mountains," Isabel explained.
"Oh! Is it as interesting as Mina and Xian?"
Yanyu turned away. "I wouldn't say that. It's a harsh place to live. Especially as an orphan."
Olivia lowered her head. "I'm not one, my mom is still alive."
"Sorry. I was referring in general."
"Wait, are you one?" Hal asked.
Yanyu nodded. "Yes. My parents died when I was in middle school. I-" She turned away.
Olivia walked over to her and patted her shoulder. "It's fine, you don't have to say it. I understand how it feels."
"It's alright. Uh, if everyone is done resting, should we move in?"
"First we need a plan," Rebecca said, folding her arms together.
Iah gasped.
"What? Got an idea?" Hal asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, but it depends on how much technology H.E.H. has, and if we can get a device."
"A dev-" Hal smiled. "Wait, your plan involves hacking?"
The prince smirked. "Think that you'll be able to do it if we can get something?"
My son swung his arms behind his head and grinned. "Of course. Even if it's an old flip-phone, I'll figure out how to do it."
"I have something a little better than that," Rebecca said as a brick-like touch-screen cellphone popped out of her hyper ring.
"That's a government issued phone," Iah exclaimed.
"You uncle gave it to us for this mission. It's for encrypted communication. I already sent word that you're here."
Iah's face paled.
"What's with that face, kid?" I asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Don't want to see you uncle?"
"It's just..." He averted his gaze. "I ran away from home."
"Ahh, so you're scared," Hal said as he fiddled with the phone Reb gave him.
"A bit."
Hal looked up and frowned. "He's that scary of an uncle?"
"When mad, he can be. Though, that's not the only reason."
I let go of the prince. It would've been bad manners to ask what that other reason was. Hal seemed to understand this too as he returned to his previous task.
"Hmm, the signal here is a bit weak. We should try to get closer," Hal said, glancing up. He jumped and started to walk away.
Reb followed after him.
"Let's go," Isa said.
Qing-Yuan glanced at her cousin and friends. "Think that only you should come with us," he said. "This is a war we're talking about."
Even I felt like having Hal stay back after fighting that oni, ogre, giant guy.
Thalia put a hand on her hip. "We already came this far. Plus, we have to make sure that Isa makes it out alive. Those guys are a bunch of freaks."
"Wait, are you saying that I can't handle them?" Isa asked, grumbling.
"You, Rebecca, Ryan, and I struggled against that guy in the white coat. Considering he fled, you're likely to run into him again at some point."
"Plus, I feel bad for those orphans, having to flee their home like this," Olivia said, glancing at the light pouring down from the opening.
"If everything goes well, they should be able to return home," Dai-Huan said with a smile.
Olivia's messy-haired companion grinned. "I'll love to face off against these so called 'monsters'."
"You'll regret saying that as soon as you see them in action," Ryan said, sighing.
The white-haired guy crossed his arms. "I'm not sure if Keith is capable of that. He would probably fight to the death."
"What do you mean? I fled from you guys back home, remember?"
"Oh, yeah. We sent you and your gang packing," Jason said, smirking.
"Oh, so you're not very strong, right, Mr. Shaggy-Hair?" I said, grinning.
Keith growled. "What was that?"
"Yeah, what was that? It sounded like you insulted us," Thalia said.
I ruffled my hair. Didn't she just say that that she fought someone who was too strong for her and her friends?
"Forget it," I said, laughing as I jumped out of the cavern.
Hal was seated on a hill a couple meters away as Reb patrolled the area with her gorgeous naked eyes.
"Any luck, son?" I asked, flying over to them as I propelled myself through the air using jets of water.
Hal smirked. "Mom really was understating it more than she imagined when she said this was a little more helpful than a flip-phone. Even my laptop back home pales to this baby."
Reb smiled.
"Well, it is a government issued device. Huang included programs for hacking already."
"True, though I do need to adjust them a little. The coding could be better."
I stared at him with wide eyes before laughing. That kid had always had a knack for this stuff. If he tried a little harder at school, he probably could've skipped grades like his little brother was doing.
"Done!" Hal said. He raised his phone up. Reb and I peered at it and watched as several protesters were pushed back by a wall of stone. The ground ran, but ended up pushing one another down.
"What's going on?" Iah asked, popping up behind us. The others looked out across the field as if taking survey.
I returned my eyes to the screen as if to signal 'this'.
He gasped as some people were pushed to the ground and trampled over by the fleeing masses. There even seemed to be some children among them. This was why it was best to avoid bringing kids to such events. Tyrants like H.E.H. wouldn't touch their hearts and stop just because children are among the protesters. For them, all were equally disposable.
"Why are they pushing them like that? They aren't fighting back," Iah said, gripping his head. Maybe it was my imagination, but his golden eyes appeared to turn slightly orange.
Hal pulled the phone away and watched. He moved something around. "That's why we have to move. I've accessed all of the security cameras of the city. We should be able to sneak inside."
"What about those inside the palace? Shouldn't we take those down too?" Isabel asked, walking up the hill.
"Already hacked, but I rather not take those down just yet. Nor have I taken down those in the city just yet. For now, they still have control over them. Once we get closer, I'll bring down a select few so that they don't notice."
"Will that work? Wouldn't bringing down the whole grid be better?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Though, they got Gavin," Isabel said.
I sighed. "Oh, right, that guy you said you struggled against."
Hal smirked. "If not for him, I would've done so from the beginning. Maybe I'll do it anyway once we get close, amplify the chaos a little."
"Do it now," Iah said before rushing away.
"Iah!" Isa yelled.
I shook my head. That guy was headstrong. If not for the circumstances, I would laugh because of how he reminded me of myself when I was younger.
**Solar Note: Another earlier than anticipated update. Plan to return to my planned schedule on the 20th (next update is on the 16th if all goes well). Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Predictions?**