Young Writers Society

(Maybe have some of the characters make some comments on the Stones of Ra, then have them all head in for the night? I'll give you another day to think about it. If you still can't think of anything, then I'll double post. )

"So if the stones are this powerful we'll be chasing the Tsurekian for them?" Skylar asked.

"Yes, it'll be a race to collect them all." Ivy replied. "But we can't do anything about it tonight. Everyone needs a good nights rest after the busy day today. Training will continue, but we will also be doing more field work."

"Field work?" Kai asked.

"Looking for the stones, we won't be leaving here, but researching them."

"Ok." They all slowly slipped from the room heading to their own.

"Good night." Skylar said looking at Kai and Shaun.

(They're called Tsurikansen, by the way.)

"Good-night," they replied and went into their own rooms.
_____________________________

First Day of School

Ivy's limo pulled up to beside the school. Everyone from The Aushalten climbed out one-by-one. Skylar looked over at Sean and asked, "I don't see why you need to ride in the limo when you have your own car."

Sean smiled. "I've always wanted to come to school in a limo. And since it's the first day of school why not make a good first impression at the same time?" he asked. "What about you? Couldn't you just ride your bike here?"

"It's in the shop, remember?" Skylar remembered how it happened that day. She hadn't been paying attention and ended up crashing into a fire hydrant. She was lucky the lawn she landed on had a thick bed of grass, otherwise she might have ended up with more than a bruised arm and hip. She was lucky Ivy had offered to pay for it to get fixed. If Skylar had to pay out of her own pocket she would have been in debt for the entire year.

Ivy had pulled some strings in order to get Ty, Cedar, Elise, and Shigure into the same school as Kai and the others, despite the protests of Cedar and Elise. They had been looking forward to being able to sit back and do nothing for the rest of the year while everyone else was going to school. Ivy had said training the mind was just as important as training the body, so now they were going to school just like everyone else.

"So, what classes do we have first?" Elise asked, adding a hint of displeasure to her voice.

"Me and Sean have English class together," Kai said. "What about you guys?"

"Math," Elise and Cedar said in unisense.

"Me, too," Skylar said. "I know which room we have to go to, so you can follow me."

"What about you two?" Kai asked Ty and Shigure.

"We've both got French," Ty said. It showed in his voice that he was happy to be in the same class as Shigure. She, on the other hand, kept to her usual cold, uninterested disposition.

"All right. When our morning classes are over we'll all meet in the cafeteria. How does that sound?" Kai asked. They all agreed before splitting off to their own classes.

Skylar, Elise, and Cedar made their way to math class. They were a little earlier than everyone else so they managed to find good seats. Skylar and Elise found two seats near the middle and Cedar sat just behind them. When the class was just about full the teacher came in and started role-call.

"Cedar?"

"Here."

"Skylar?"

"Here."

Elise?"

"Here!"

"Brittney?"

"Here..."

All three of them looked over their shoulders at the same time. There, sitting at the back of the room by the window, was Brittney. And sitting in the desk next to her was none other than Harry.


(Wasn't expecting that, were you? )

***Not really. ***

Skylar frowned and did her best not to growl. Harry was glaring at her as she made eye contact. She rolled her eyes and looked back forward fuming inside. Taking a deep breath she tried to focus on the class ahead of her. She could hardly do it. Not with Brittney and Harry sitting behind her. She'd rather they be sitting where she could see them, not behind her. She took a deep breath and her nose twitched. They weren't the only ones from the Tsurikansen here either. She hissed, this was not fair cause they couldn't do anything about it. Well, at least they weren't supposed to. If Harry, Brittney, or any of the others started something she would be defending herself right?

"Relax." Elise said from next to her. She took a deep breath and nodded. Calm, calm. Calm was good right? She forced herself to focus on the teacher again hoping to forget the two sitting behind her.

(Sean isn't in that class with her, Elise and Cedar are. Can you fix it so Elise is the one telling her to relax?)


"What are they doing here?" Cedar asked, whispering so the teacher wouldn't hear him.

"I don't know," Skylar answered.

"What should we do?" Elise asked. "If they're here in this school then we can't just ignore them."

"We'll let Kai know during lunch," Skylar said. "He'll know what to do."
________________

They met up with Kai and the others in the cafeteria after their morning classes. Kai waved them over to their table and asked, "So, how were your morning classes?"

"Kai, we've got a problem," Skylar said.

"What is it?"

"Brittney and Harry were in our math class this morning."

Kai's eyes widened a little. "Are you serious?"

Skylar nodded. "We wanted to come to you first before confronting them ourselves."

"You think they're going to attack us?" Ty asked.

Shigure said, "It's unlikely that they would want to attack us in a public setting. They're most likely here to keep an eye on us."

"Something doesn't seem right, though," Kai said. "If they're here to spy on us then why would they be in the open like this?"

Sean pointed across the cafeteria and asked, "Isn't that them over there?" Everyone turned and saw Brittney, Harry, and a third person sitting at a table by the wall. They couldn't see who the third person was because he was sitting with his back facing toward them.

Kai got out of his seat. "I'm going to have a word with them."

"I'm coming with you," Skylar said. Kai nodded, and together they made their way across the room.

Brittney and Harry immediately glared up at them when they arrived at the table. "What do you want?" Brittney asked.

"Yeah, can't you see we're eating here?" Harry added.

"Why are you two here?" Kai asked, going straight to the point.

The guy whose back was turned to them said, "I asked them to have lunch with me. That's not a problem, is it?" His voice was cheerful and friendly, yet they recognized who it was even before he looked over his shoulder to look at them.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Kai demanded.

Alex held his hands up, as if surrendering. "Whoa, what's with the hostilities? There's no need for anger here, is there?"

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your faces here," Skylar said. "Now tell us why you're here already."

Alex sighed in defeat. "All right, if you insist. The truth is, the three of us want to join you."


(You know, we should really start working on giving Becky a bit of a backstory. She's the girl with the rabbit as a Tsurekin. I had pretty much forgotten about her. )

**Poor poor Becky. Sorry lots is happening here so my posts are crappy. :'( **

Skylar laughed, she couldn't help it. "You want to join us? More like spy on us."

"Believe what you want but that's not why we want to join." Alex replied. Skylar shook her head frowning, she didn't like this not at all. She wasn't about to trust them, especially because of the whole Soul Possesion thing.

"Why should we believe you aren't going to spy on us?" Kai asked.

"Wouldn't that be obvious!" Brittney growled. "Honestly, if we were going to spy on you wouldn't we find someone you don't know to do it? Oh wait, we already did that."

"But it back fired." Harry replied.

(No problem. Just do what you can.)


Kai ignored Harry and Brittney's bickering. He turned to Alex and asked, "Why exactly you want to join us?"

Alex shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I was getting sick of Jirran's methods. He orders his people to do the impossible, then punishes them for not doing it. Seriously, I think he's just looking for any excuse to yell at those underneath him. Ever since he got that stone he became irrational. Well, more than usual. The only reason why I followed him was because he was the strongest person I knew."

Kai nodded toward Brittney and Harry. "And them?"

"They're my subordinates. They have to follow me, whether they like it or not. But, I'm pretty sure they have the same opinion as me."

"So what exactly was it that made you change your mind about Jirran?" Kai asked.

"You," Alex said, pointing at him. "I remember the first time we met. You and your Tsurekin were too weak to even stand up to Mantia's weakest attack. Then a few months later you surpass even our Soul Possession. It took me three years to become as strong as you have in only a couple of months, and you're still getting stronger. If that's not worth some respect, I don't know what is."

"Let's say I agree to let your three join. How do I know you won't just turn on us when we least expect it?" Kai asked.

"It doesn't matter what my answer to that question is, because no matter what you won't believe what I say."

"And for good reason," Skylar said. "You've all attacked us multiple times in the past."

"Indeed," Alex said, "which is why I made sure I had some leverage before confronting you about this."

"Leverage?" Kai asked.

Alex turned his back to Kai and Skylar and leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head and using them as a headrest. "A little birdy told me that one of the students in this school has a Tsurekin. This person's Tsurekin is none other than the descendant of Lernae the Hydra. I just so happen to know who this person is. But, if I can get a hold of this information so easily, then so can Jirran."

"Who is this person?" Skylar asked.

"Ah ah ah..." Alex said while waving his finger. "That would be telling."

Skylar looked at Kai. What would he do. "We'll need to talk to Ivy." Kai said as he looked at Skylar and then back at Alex. "And the rest of the group. But it is something that seems worth thinking about.

"You've until the end of school tomorrow." Alex replied sitting straight up. "Any later and the deal is off the table."


**UGH**

Kai and Skylar returned to their table. Sean was the first to ask, "So, did you find out why they're here?"

"They say they want to join us," Kai answered.

Everyone immediately showed their disbelief. "You're not serious, are you?" Cedar asked. "We can't let them join, they're the enemies!"

"Whether we like it or not, they hold the cards this time," Kai explained. "Alex says there's another person here with a Tsurekin and he knows who it is. On top of that, this person's Tsurekin is the descendant of Lernae the Hydra. If we don't find out who this person is in time, Tsurikansen will get to them before us."

Skylar added, "And the only way Alex is going to tell us is if we let him, Brittney, and Harry join The Aushalten."

"So...what do we do?" Elise asked.

"We have until the end of school tomorrow to decide. We'll have to discuss it with Ivy first."

(You can bring them back to the mansion after school in your next post if you want, unless you have something you want to add.)

Skylar was ready to crash by the time they got back home. She didn't want to do training, she wanted to sleep.

"Get your homework done before we go out and spare some." Ivy said. Kai pulled her off to the side to talk to her as Skylar walked to her room and quickly did her homework.

"Quick nap. Wake me up when everyone goes outside." She told Tala laying on her bed and closing her eyes. She was so tired. She was worried about the whole Alex, Brittney, and Harry thing. She didn't trust them. Course she didn't trust most of the others at first either but she didn't trust someone that had on multiple occasions attacked her or her friends.


*Sorry*

(That's okay.)

Kai and Ivy went to her office to talk in private. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about, Kai?" she asked.

"I think we have a lead on where to find the descendant of Lernae the Hydra and its master," Kai told her.

"That's good news, where did you hear it?"

"From Alex."

Ivy's expression changed to something of interest. "Really? What did he say?"

"He said the person is someone in our school and he knows exactly who it is. But in exchange for that information he wants us to let him, Brittney, and Harry to join The Aushalten. We have until the end of school tomorrow to give him our answer. I wanted your opinion before I make my decision."

Ivy smiled and shook her head. "You don't need my opinion. You're the leader of The Aushalten. It's your choice to make, not mine."

Kai sighed. "It's not much of a choice, though. The only way we'll find out who that person is is to let them join. What if they turn on us?"

"Before Jirran took Tsurikansen from me, Alex was one of the people I trusted the most. He respects those with strength, and that was the only reason he went with Jirran is because he proved his strength. And now that he wants to join The Aushalten, it means he knows you're going to keep getting stronger and stronger, until you surpass even Jirran. As long as you keep working toward becoming stronger, you can trust him. As for Brittney and Harry, Alex should be able to keep them in line."

Kai rubbed his chin. "They would make a great addition to the team. But I'm still not sure about it..."

"Think of it this way," Ivy said. "If someone as strong as Alex has left Tsurikansen to join The Aushalten, chances are more people will do the same. By letting him, Brittney, and Harry join you'll be starting a chain reaction that will boost our numbers while thinning theirs. Before you know it, we'll have more members than Tsurikansen."

Kai scratched his chin again, then nodded. "Okay, I'll let them join us. I'll let everyone else know my decision during sparring."

Skylar woke up when Tala nudged her. "Everyone is going outside." Skylar jumped up and raced out the door Tala on her heels as they got with the rest of the group and to where they would spare.

"Is everyone here?" Ivy asked as she and Kai walked out. Everyone nodded and Tala sat down next to Skylar.

"I think so." Shaun replied as he looked around and the others did the same.

"Good, I've something I'd like to talk to you all about." Kai said as he shifted his weight and then stood stock still like he did when he got serious. "I'm sure you have all heard about the confrontation that Skylar and I had with Alex, Harry, and Brittney." Everyone muttered a yes and either disapproval or some other form of thought on the matter.

"Well, I've come to a decision," Kai said. "I have decided...to let them join us." There was an outburst of protests almost immediately.

"You can't let them join us!" Cedar shouted.

"They attacked us multiple times!" Sean added.

"They'll turn on us when we let our guard down!" Elise shouted.

Kai raised his hand. "Please, everyone settle down." He waited for a moment for the complaints to quiet down. When the murmurs were at a low hum he began to explain himself. "It is true that they attacked us in the past. I would be lying if I said I forgive Alex for what he did to Ryukin and Tala that day in the forest behind the school. But we need to look at the facts here. We need all the descendants of the Tsurekin Lords to be present when they awaken, which is only a few months from now. If Alex knows where one of them is, then we need that information before Jirran gets to them.

"But let's put this fact aside for now. We all know Alex is strong, that night we went in to save Shigure's brother I had barely managed to defeat him. Someone like him would be a valuable asset to the team, as would Harry and Brittney. And from what Alex has told me, Jirran has been acting more unreasonable ever since he got that stone from Ivy. Disorder is beginning to brew within the ranks of Tsurikansen. When news reaches the their ears that Alex, Harry, and Brittney have all left to join us, then it's very likely that others will do the same."

"What if he's lying?" Ty asked. "What if they're being ordered by Jirran to spy on us?"

"If that's the case, they wouldn't be offering such valuable information in exchange for joining us. Besides, Alex isn't the kind of guy who lies."

"What if they turn on us?" Shigure asked. "Just because they want to join us now doesn't mean they won't change their minds in the future."

"They couldn't afford to do that," Kai explained. "Once Jirran learns of their betrayal he'll do everything in his power to hunt them down. Their only safe haven is here with us. But in the unlikely event that they do betray us, I'll take full responsibility." He looked over everyone before asking, "Any last questions?"

No one said anything for a while and Kai nodded looking at them all. His eyes landed on Skylar who just stood there, arms crossed.

"I know some of you don't like this idea, and it'll be hard to trust them which I understand." His eyes swept the group again. "But we need to be nice and treat them like we do everyone that is here. I'm not saying trust them right off the bat. I'm saying be civil and let the past stay in the past." His eyes met Skylar's again and she frowned. She knew he was talking to her. She was one of the only ones in the group that would treat the three different. She didn't care though.

"I'd like if everyone would agree to be civil." Ivy said stepping forward. "I know you all mean well, but honestly I stand behind Kai in this." Everyone said they would. Skylar clinched her jaw and when Kai looked at her pointedly she said the words not wanting to but she felt she needed to. She could put a face on, but that didn't mean she liked this at all.

"Can we spare now?" Sean asked.

(Sorry for the delay. I was visiting my family this week, so I was a little too distracted to post with all the video games I was playing. Plus, ever since we hooked up the Wii and Playstation 3 to the internet our connection has been out of whack. Every couple of days it would just stop working, and in order to start it up again my dad has to reset the router and run all the security systems through every device in the house that's connected to the network. Who designed this equipment to work this way? Sheesh!

By the way, it's spelled 'spar', not 'spare'. )


Kai nodded. "I've said all that I wanted, so yes."

They sparred for a few hours, until the sun began to set. Only when dinner was ready did they call it a night and made their way back inside. While the others left, Skylar and Tala lingered.

Kai came up to her and said, "Skylar."

"Yes?" She tried to sound as friendly as she could. She was still a little upset about the decision to let Alex and the others join them.

"I know you don't like the thought of letting Alex, Harry, and Brittney join us. But I need you to trust me, please."