I'm not really sure what will become of this project, I'm not sure if I'll continue with it, if was just something I just started writing it, though I have some ideas for where to take it.

The Elementals is a high powered martial arts action story with adventure, drama, comdey and maybe a little romance later on, with many impossibilities thrown into the mix for good messure. Of course the first chapter isnt going to have all these, and chapter one is merely a pilot chapter, and I'll probably rewrite most parts of it here there. Keep in mind I was working with sketchy ideas when I started this. And Zarren is created really from my feelings about moving to a new town, and he's also created from my need to create a new character with Hydrokinetic abilities ^^

Like I said, I'm not sure what will come of it. I might have a better idea when chapter two is complete.

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The Elements
By
Paul Daniels

The Elements Have Never Been More Deadly

Chapter 1
Trust

That morning felt like every other, waking up to a new day but enduring the same old thing, except that it was a new day and the same thing but in a different house, far away from anything greatly familiar or significant. The morning sunlight that shined in through the window didn’t even seem to energize Zarren as he laid on his bed, staring emotionlessly up at the ceiling thinking about everything that he had said goodbye to. Eventually though he forced himself to get up and changed into fresh clothes, and went in search of something to eat.

He was about to close his cupboard door when the full body mirror on the inside of the door caught his eye and he looked at himself. He had looked better, countless sleepless nights had given him seemingly permanent shadows under his eyes, the corners of which also sported some minor wrinkles from stressing over things. Really though he looked like any average teenage, dark blue eyes and equally dark brown, long hair that feel quiet a few inches below his shoulder blades, usually he wore it in a pony tail, though at the moment it seemed to have arranged itself in a way that would have made an abstract artist proud. His body was well conditioned, he was sometimes best compared to a lightweight boxer, though his years of martial arts training had allowed him to put power behind his hits that were equal to that of a heavy weight’s punches. He was proud of his body, and why shouldn’t he have been, he had worked hard at getting his body the way he wanted it.

With a small frown he closed the cupboard and left the steadily brightening room, walking quietly down the hall and moving into the kitchen. His mother was still asleep and he knew would still be another hour before she would be up and around. He glanced around at some of the box’s that had still yet to be unpacked, so far only the things they knew they would need to use for cooking had been unpacked. Moving had not been his plan, and had he been in the position he probably would have stayed and got an apartment of his own. Being jobless meant he didn’t have enough income to afford rent and was more or less forced to move as well. He had come to blows numerous times with his mum about moving, though that hadn’t changed a thing in the end and had been nothing but a waste of energy.

He walked into the living room with a bowl of cereal and sat down, picking the switching the tv on with the remote and flicking over to the morning news as he ate. It was only a few seconds later that he saw his mother walking into the kitchen, fully showered, her hair brushed and wearing “good” clothing. Another job interview he mused, another among many. He hoped she got this one. He turned his attention back to the tv and he froze with the spoon still sticking from his mouth, the image on the tv stunning enough to produce that reaction from him. It was a news report about a building that had been frozen solid after it had been turned into a blazing inferno. Zarren almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing, even though the whole thing had been captured on camera – the footage showing the building turning from a building engulfed by fire to an ice sculpture.

“Hey mum, get a load of this” he said finally.

She came out of the kitchen and saw the special news report about the building, her eyes widened in disbelief at what she was seeing. On the tv, light sparkled off the ice encased building, creating a dazzling effect. It was for the better lack of words, beautiful. Then they cut back to the studio, a small square box in the corner of the tv continuing to show the building, while the news reader talked.

“After the events of early this morning, rumors are once again running rampant about a race of humans popularly referred to as the Elementals. As most know, rumors about these supposedly real people in late 1999, and seven years later, still no solid evidence has been found to prove their existence. These Elementals are commonly referred to as the Vampires or Werewolves of the modern day….”

Zarren rolled his eyes. It was the same thing all the time. Whenever something strange happened involving the forces of natures, instantly rumors about the Elementals would spring up, and the would be on it like a pack of hungry dogs. They never had anything new to say, it was the same old speech, but told a different way each time. He wouldn’t be surprised if the heads of the news networks were being controlled by the government and being told what to say, because if the Elementals were real, there was no way of telling how they came to be and if the government did have a hand in creating the original Elementals, then they couldn’t afford to have that come out. But if the Elementals were by product of human evolution……..

“I have to get going to this interview ok, I’ll be back a bit later. There’s money in the kitchen for you to get lunch” she told him as she looked around in her bag for her car key’s, starting for the front door as she did. “And finishing unpacking your room” was the last thing he heard before the front door closed.

“Right” he said slowly, glancing towards the direction of his room.

It wasn’t long before he started to become bored sitting there watching tv. He got up and went into his room and after brushing his hair and pulling it back into a pony tail, he grabbed the bag sitting next to his desk that had some note books and sketch pads in it and went back into the kitchen where he grabbed the money and then headed for the front door. If he was going to have to live in this town, he was at least going to become familiar with it.


* * *

It was a new moon, hardly any shadows danced across the earth tonight, so no one saw the figure dressed completely in black creeping quickly across the rooftop. The pair of guards that patrolled outside the mansion never heard the intruder drop down behind them and slit their throats faster then they could react, then disappear back into the darkness just as quickly. The shadow was quick, and slayed four more guards when it slipped inside and raced through the halls, making not a single sound.

At the end of the hall way, one of the rice paper screen doors slid open and a guard came out with a gun raised. The shadow dropped and slid forward in a baseball slide and took a throwing star from the belt around its waist and with deadly accuracy, nailed the guard in between the eyes just as the guard fired off a single shot, the bullet screaming past above the shadow’s head. It slid to a stop and got to its feet and calmly walked into the room the guard had come from, and closed the door. The lamp on the nightstand filled the room and the man laying in bed stared at the assassin in horror as he realized all his guards weren’t going to be coming to save him.

The ninja reached behind him and unsheathed his katana and before the man in bed could scream, the shadow lunged at him and drove the tip of the sword straight threw the man’s neck. The man’s body twitched for a few seconds before finally going limp. The assassin pulled his sword free and wiped the blood from the blade slightly before sheathing it. The sound of hurried footsteps caught the assassin’s ears and he jumped to the other side of the room as the screen door opened and a group of guards stood there with their guns raised and aimed at him.

“Don’t expect your boss to give you a good recommendation” the assassin said, putting his hands together with his forefingers and thumbs pointed up.

A rush of wind encircled him and blasted straight up, a tornado of dust engulfing him. The guards raised their hands in front of their faces and tried to endure against the strong forces of wind blasting against them. Then the wind stopped. Hesitantly the guards lower their arms and their eyes widened. Part of the wall and roof were gone, ripped away from the rest of the mansion, and the assassin was gone. The guards all stared in shock and confusion…

Half an hour later, in another part of Japan, an old man sat inside a shrine, sitting in front of a shrine fire with his eyes closed, meditating. He was an elderly man, his hair was snowy white and his face was wrinkled, though despite being obviously old, the man looked strong and very healthy. He remained motionless, even as the rice paper screen behind him slid open, and a wind blew around inside the room, followed by a small tornado. Within a few seconds the tornado vanished and the ninja was left kneeling their, his sword in front of him and his head lowered respectfully.

“Master, I have completed my assignment” he said.

“Good Arashi” the old man replied calmly, picking up the sword behind him and standing up.

He gestured to his student to follow him and two walked outside on to a balcony, which overlooked a training field with a few dozen new students were practicing, being supervised by older more experienced students. The old man observed them quietly, watching them go through their routine, their movements were exactly the same as they practiced with their bo staffs.

“With Mitsuhara gone that is one less thing to concern us” explained the master. “Though there is still much that we must worry about.”

“I know grandfather, and I will do everything within my power to make sure none of it happens” Arashi vowed firmly.

“Your sister is back” the old man said mildly, just before another wind picked up.

Arashi looked up and saw a tornado descend from the sky and landed on the balcony. The tornado disappeared and a young girl was standing there with her hands behind her back and cheerful grin on her face. Unlike her brother, Kaze didn’t not wear a mask over her mouth, and wore her dark green hair in a long pony tail. She had bouncy aura about her that seemed reflected in her large round eyes.

“All done” she said simply, with a smile.

“Very good” their grandfather nodded, then he pulled out a large yellow envelope and handed it to Arashi. “Your next assignment, this one requires the both of you. I want the two of you to be on your guards at all time, this mission is extremely important, you can not fail at this one. The danger level of this assignment is one of the highest either of you have ever carried out, I want you both to be very careful. You’ll leave in the morning, the rest of the mission details are in the envelope”

Arashi seemed puzzled by that and watched as his grandfather turned and walked away, then he opened the envelope and pulled out the first page and looked it over. His eyes went wide and he gasped in disbelief.

* * *

Zarren sat at the park bench staring at the water as fishing and charter boats came and went, going out past the heads or coming back in from sea. Talon Bay wasn’t really all that bad a place he had to admit, it was quiet beautiful really. He looked down at the sketch pad in front of him and the sketch he had done of the marina, it wasn’t all that good and certainly not worthy of anything special like a contest. With a tired yawn he closed the pad and slipped it back into his bag and got up, his stomach rumbling hungrily.

“I guess I had better get something to eat” he said to himself quietly and then wondered where the best place was to get something to eat. He was about to walk off when he heard a startled scream. He turned calmly in the direction the scream came from and saw two guys running away from an older woman, her bag in one of their hands. He sighed and muttered to himself. “Even the most beautiful place has some bad points. Time to go to work I suppose…”

He stuck his arms through the bag straps and shot off after the two. The two of bag snatchers weren’t running very fast, obviously believing that they were going to get away scot free so it wasn’t hard for Zarren to close the gap between them, then one of them glanced back behind them and saw him chasing after them, a hard glare on his face. The thief realized they weren’t going to get away so easily and suddenly powered forth, grabbing the bag from his friend as he did, who was left puzzled for a few seconds, which was all Zarren needed.

Zarren got with in a few inches of the slow thief and grabbed him by his neck and continue to power forth, forcing the thief to run faster then he was actually capable of. Zarren was running alongside him and when the thief turned and looked at him with a terrified expression, Zarren just turned and replied with a crazy look in his eyes and a wicked grin. Then he ran the guy straight into a street post, knocking him out instantly, and continued on after the other one.

The other one was much faster when he ran at top speed and in much better shape, Zarren had a bit of trouble closing the distances between them. The bag snatcher made a sharp turn and ran on to the walkway of the bridge connecting Talon Bay to its other part, where more shops and homes were located, though it was smaller then the main part of Talon Bay, but still just as nice to live and far quieter then the main part, it was ideal for the retired to live out the rest of their lives peacefully. Indeed that had been the reason why Zarren’s grandparents had moved their some seven years ago, and it was because of them that his mother wanted to move to Talon Bay as well.

Zarren followed the thief who he saw having a hard time getting past the tourists and locals walking back and forth between the main part of the bay and its other part. Zarren smirked and realized he could get in front of the thief without running into anyone. He jumped into the air and landed on the railing of the bridge’s walkway, and continued forth with the same amount of speed and managed to close the gap between them more rapidly. Eventually the thief tripped over a guy who refused to be pushed out of the way, and Zarren ran past him, jumping off the rail and landed behind him, though the thief didn’t realize until he had got up, looked back where he had come from and then turned around, only to find Zarren standing their with his arms cross and his brows knitted in a deep frown.

“Certainly an old woman’s bag isn’t worth all this running is it?” Zarren asked, arching an eye brow. The thief went to strike but Zarren caught his fist casually in the palm of his own hand. Zarren gave him an icy stare. “Don’t, do that again. Now give me the bag, before I really start to get annoyed.”

The thief ignored his advice and went to strike with the hand holding the bag tightly, but Zarren dodged the attack and slammed his knee up into the thief’s stomach with shocking force, forcing all the air out of his lungs before executing a spin kick that knocked him back into the wooden railing that kept people from falling into the water below. The thief slammed into the railing with enough force to break straight through it. Zarren reacted quickly and grabbed the bag that flailed out towards him and managed to stop the thief from falling for a few seconds, but then the strap the thief was holding on to snapped and he fell into the water below with a big splash. Zarren looked over the edge and saw the thief flailing about in the water.

“You should have just given me the bag!” he called out to the thief and then went back to return the bag to the old woman.

* * *

The rocked gently from the small waves, the man standing on top of the cabin area barely seemed to notice though as he stared through a pair of binoculars at the bridge where the fight had just taken place. The man was tall and had the appearance of a body builder and looked like he could match it with the best wrestler if he wanted to. He was bold and had amber colored eyes.

He had been fishing when he saw the young man running along the railing of the bridge, he had then used his binoculars to see what was going on. He watched with great interest as the young man so calmly defeated the one he had been chasing. He lowered his binoculars when the teenager walked away out of sight and then sat down on the cabin of the boat and crossed his legs as he started to contemplate silently.

Finally he opened his eyes, his amber eyes almost seemed to glow, and he smiled arrogantly..

“Its been awhile since I’ve had a good fight.”

* * *

Awhile later Zarren was walking along the boardwalk just up from the beach, eating a hot dog as looked about at all the stores that had been set up, and watched some of the performers, some going through well practice martial arts routines and some doing juggling acts, to name but a few of the various things going on around him. He was starting to realized that Talon Bay was a bit more interesting then he gave it credit for.

He threw a coin in the guitar case of a man playing a guitar on the side of the boardwalk and received a nod of thanks from the man before continuing on. As he continued on he wonder if he shouldn’t set up a store one day and do portrait drawings, for a small price of course, though he wasn’t entirely sure he was good enough for that kind of thing. He rejected the idea almost as quickly as he had considered it, he liked to take his time and doing portrait pictures on a boardwalk for tourist probably wasn’t something he would be able to take his time with.

As he continued on he became increasingly aware of the person following him, and it was starting to get on his nerves. He thought maybe it was the bag snatchers coming back for a bit of revenge but surely they couldn’t have been that stupid. But when he had indiscreetly looked around he noticed that it wasn’t them, but it was in fact a guy probably about his age, short blondish brown hair and blue eyes. Zarren was slightly puzzled and wondered why they guy had been following him since the bridge. He kept walking and acted like he still hadn’t notice the guy and decided to wait for the best opportunity to get some answers, there was certainly too many people around to beat the answers out of him if the need arose.

Zarren got off the boardwalk soon after and was soon walking along the streets again and sure enough the guy was still following him. When he saw the alley way he made a sharp turn and ducked into it quickly, though he didn’t go any further. He pressed himself against the wall of one the buildings the alley way went through and waited, and a couple of seconds later the guy came running around the corner. Zarren grabbed and slammed against the wall, his nostrils flaring angrily.

“Now, first off, I don’t like being followed, got that? And secondly, your going to tell me why you were following me, or I’m going to break one of your fingers, and then another, and another and another until you tell me, and when I’ve ran out of fingers, I’m going to start on your toes and if that doest do the trick, I’m going to find the nearest gay bar, strip you and throw you to them, got that?” Zarren told him threateningly, the guy just looked at him calmly.

“I was scouting you” he said simply.

“Scouting me? Why?” Zarren replied with narrowed eyes.

“Because I asked him to” came a new voice.

Zarren spun around and saw a young woman, also around his age, standing on a fire escape. She wore a tight tank top that really showed more then it covered, and long pants held up by a black belt, and black boots. She had blond hair that was almost as long as his, only hers was pulled back in a platted pony tail. She stared down at Zarren with emerald colored eyes. Zarren stared at her for a long time in silence trying to figure her out.

“My face is up here” she said suddenly and Zarren realized where he had been looking and blushed slightly.

“So what do you want?” he asked.

“First I want you to let go of my friend” she said.

“No problem” he replied and let go of the guy, who quickly moved under the fire escape.

“He didn’t hurt you did he Dirky?” the girl asked with a playful grin, causing the guy go scarlet from embarrassment.

“I told you to stop calling me that!!” the young man shouted.

Zarren raised an eye brow in amusement and looked at him. “Dirky?”

“Oh shut up” Dirk said sullenly

The girl above him giggled and then looked back to Zarren.

“Ok, as to why I had Dirk following you, we saw you take out those bag snatchers, and its quiet obvious from the way you carry yourself and your actions that your quiet skilled in martial arts. I was hoping you might be able to help me out with something that your skills would be useful for. So what do you say?” she explained.

Zarren folded his arms. “Sorry, I don’t even know your name so I why would I agree to help you, especially when it sounds like you want me to beat someone up, so again, why should I risk my neck for some girl I don’t even know?”

She leant forward on the rail of the fire escape so her head was resting on her folded arms and smiled slightly. “Because you’re such a nice and chivalrous guy, and you wouldn’t want a poor young girl like myself to get hurt because of your foolish pride would you?”

Zarren smirked, he saw her game, she was drawing the line in the sand and hoping that he would take the bait and cross it. He sighed, knowing he was going to regret his decision, and it was quiet clear on the face of the girl that she was pleased with her victory. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look like a wuss or anything in front of a girl, but he was quiet curious to find they would go to the trouble of following him.

“Ok, but first your gonna tell me your name and I’ll tell you mine, that way we can establish a line of trust, and Dirky doesn’t have to worry about introducing himself anymore” Zarren said, getting a withering look from the other guy, the girl just laughed though.

“I’m gonna like you” she said and suddenly jumped over the edge and landed in front of him. “My name’s Danny, and yours would be?”

“Zarren, some call me Mizuno though” he replied casually.

“Mizuno? What's that stand for?” she asked in confusion.

“If you really must know” he said as he started to walk away. “You’ll figure that out for yourself. Now are you going to explain what it is you want me to do for you?”

“Well you see its like this Zarren. I’m the leader of one of the gangs around here maybe you’ve heard of us, the Street Pack? No? God you have lived a sheltered life. Anyway, we’ve only be around for a couple of years, but we’re not like other gangs you see, we don’t go in for that whole causing trouble for ourselves and all that shit, we mostly just keep to ourselves, you know, we don’t bother anyone, they don’t bother us. We lead a care free life really and most of our member’s are below the age of seventeen and above the age of ten so only a few can really defend themselves all that well…” Danny explain, pausing rarely for a breath.

Zarren looked over to Dirk. “She always talk this much?”

“Constantly” Dirk nodded sadly.

“Hey!” Danny snapped at them.

“Ok, so you’re a terrible and frightening gang leader” Zarren said with a mocking grin. “But, I’m still trying to figure out what this has to do with me, so why don’t we skip along to that part? This time though, try taking a breath between sentences.”

“Ok, fine spoilsport” she pouted. “For the last couple of months members of the Street Pack have been getting harassed by another local gang. You see they want our territory and more specifically the place the Street Pack hang out. Now this other gang, the Jaguar’s they call themselves, are bad news, they are solely responsible for the rise in drug distribution in the area in the past couple of years. What's more they’re not above using excessive violence to get their point across. Now as to what this has to do with you Mr. Zarren, I need someone with your fighting skill to help me take down the leader of the Jaguar’s, I don’t mean kill him, just beat the fucking crap out of the big stupid head and provide an example of what will happen to those that mess with the Street Pack, I’m sure that's not a big problem for someone with your skills.”

“So basically you just want me to beat this guy up?” Zarren asked, Danny nodded quickly with a happy smile. “And how much are you going to pay me to do this?”

Danny and Dirk stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him with disbelieving looks, almost as if they hadn’t heard it him right. Danny went to say something, but only her lips moved, no sound came out and Dirk still looked like he was trying to process what he had just heard. Zarren gave them a dry look and rolled his eyes.

“For crying out loud I was joking” he said, shaking his head at them. He could have laughed when he saw them sigh in relief. “however it does go against the moral code of modern day martial arts, it would be wrong for me to go look for this guy and kick the crap out of him just because you tell me he’s bad you expect me to believe you straight away that he’s a bad guy, I mean how do I know that he’s not the good guy in all this? For I know the Street Pack could be the one’s causing all the problems” he explained, Danny stared at him were her jaw hanging wide open, Zarren couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Luckily for you I don’t believe in the modern day code of martial arts due to its contradictions concerning the use of the arts, and I’m a pretty good judge of character and I can see that you probably wouldn’t ask a stranger for help if you didn’t really need it. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your problem, but I’m gonna do it my way and considering I’m still new around here, I’m gonna let him come to me.”

“Thank you so much Zarren1” Danny said, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

“Does she always do this?” Zarren asked dryly.

“Constantly” Dirk sighed.

“So how are you gonna get him to come to you?” Danny asked, ignoring the two of them.

“You gonna have the older members of the Street Pack spread the word that I’m looking for the leader of the Jaguar’s and they’ll also say some less then complementary things about him that will leave him with no choice but to come out and face me. Until then, I’m gonna relax, because unless the guy has the same kind of training as me, the fight will only take a couple of seconds” Zarren shrugged.

“That sounds a tad arrogant if you don’t mind me saying” Dirk pointed out.

“That may be so, but that's how I prepare myself mentally for a fight. If I cant enter a fight with my mind firmly set on victory, I run the risk of being defeated and that's only happened a couple of times to me and from each defeat I took away a valuable piece of experience, and because I entered those battles with doubts, I lost” Zarren said, going quiet at the end. Dirk and Danny shared a curious glance but said nothing. “Anyway, I’m curious to see this hang out of yours that you were talking about. I want to know why the Jaguar’s want it.”

“Right this way then” Danny said and gesture down another alley they had come to.

Zarren raised an eye brow as she and Dirk walked down the alley way and then suddenly stopped over a drain grate. Zarren followed them and then watched as Dirk pulled the grate up and out of the way. Before he could say anything Danny jumped down into the drain and Dirk gestured for Zarren to follow.

“Your kidding me right?” Zarren asked.

“Nope” Dirk shook his head. “But don’t worry, its safe, me and Danny have been crawling around in these sewers since we were kids.”

Zarren stared down there for what seemed like an eternity, before sighing and jumping down as well. It was a bit further then he expected but still it only took a couple of a seconds before he landed next to Danny, who was busy pulling a torch out of her pack back. There was a loud clang above them, signaling that Dirk had closed the grate and calmly Danny pulled Zarren out of the way as Dirk fell the rest of the way, the one inch deep water splashing out.

Zarren looked around, it wasn’t what he expected to see. He had expected rounded tunnels and the likes, but the ‘drains’ almost seemed to look like old passage ways, there was even indentures in the walls that looked like they had held flaming torches at one point. It started to fall into place in his mind and he turned to Danny.

“Is this what I think it is?” he asked.

“Yeah, old tunnels left over from WW2” Danny nodded and started off, leading the way down one of the passage ways. “Drainage pipes and the likes have been integrated through out the passage ways, the council worked out it was cheaper then refitting the whole the whole thing. The passage ways run just about under all of Talon Bay, and that's only the passage ways we’ve found, according to the plan lay outs that we liberated from the library when we started to the Street Pack, there’s still a whole heap of tunnels that were blocked off, during the war, when we tried looking for information as to why they were, we couldn’t find any, so we decided to leave them alone for the time being. It seems that no one except for the Street Pack members know about the passage ways either, which isn’t surprising really. If the council came out and told everyone that the original founders of Talon Bay turned the tunnels into drainage ways, there’d be some serious back lash from the public, I doubt the current members of the council and the major of Talon Bay even know the passage ways are here anyway. Its convenient enough for the Street Pack.”

Zarren just nodded as the continued on, silently appreciating the fact that over fifty years earlier, that Australian troops had once used these tunnels. There was suppose to have been tunnels like these in the last town he had lived in, but no one new where any of the old access ways were and there were even reports that most of the tunnels had been collapsed so no one would be able to use them again. Zarren hadn’t really been all that interested in finding those tunnels as it had served no purpose to him at the time, but he now realized that those tunnels would have been ideal to go to when he wanted to be alone. Oh well, he thought, what was done was done and it wasn’t something he could go back and change.

“One of the best things about what the council did with these tunnels after the war, was the additions they made to them” Dirk was saying. “The guy that order additions made to the tunnels was sort of a paranoid nut and thought that these tunnels might be needed again one day, so he ordered the tunnels be equipped with door similar to those you find on submarines, in every few sections, and that's a great defense really, but it also allows us to seal off tunnels that might get flooded during a storm or the likes, and we can move the Street Pack into the main area while the storm passes and the tunnels ditch all the water into the ocean. Can be a pain sometimes, but we rarely get storms that flood the tunnels completely. We figured out a system though that allows the water to drain quicker if we close of certain doors, redirecting the flow down the passage ways the run off into the ocean.”

“Interesting” Zarren replied, and he genuinely was.

They walked for a good half hour before they finally came to a large metal door. Dirk went in front of them and turned the valve like handle with a bit of effort and opened the door. Zarren’s eyes widened as he was led through by Danny. The main area as she and Dirk called it, was huge and Zarren guessed, used to be used as a command post by the army. He couldn’t believe something this big was beneath the town, it almost seemed impossible, until he realized that a couple of times it had felt like they were walking down a slope, and that they were actually further underground then he had originally thought.

There were kids and teens every where, skating around on skateboards and rollerblades, a couple were on bikes and scooters. He saw that in one part they had created skating course, complete with jumps and raised bowls. There was a half basket ball court on the other side of the room and littered all over the place was furniture, which he had no idea how they got down here, or where they had got it from, but he had a feeling he would find out. He looked up and saw that they had lights running through the place and he suddenly wondered how they were powering it. He wondered even more when he saw a couple of fridges.

Danny and Dirk led him up a ramp towards a group of lounges with a coffee table between them. They sat themselves down and gestured for Zarren to do the same, he did while constantly looking around at what he was seeing. It was a lot to take in all at once, especially when his opinion of the place was getting squashed at every turn today.

“Its great isn’t it?” Danny said with a wide smile.

“Where did you get all this stuff from? And better yet, how are you powering the lights and whatever else down here that needs powering?” he asked.

“Well most of the stuff, the lounges for instances were stuff that was being thrown away, you know those trash days where they throw things out in front of the road and trash guys come around and collect it? Well every time one of those trash days comes around we all put together a list of things we might need and we go out and look for those things through the trash. Obviously the younger ones cant be do this so its mostly us older members that do it. Other then that we mostly steal what we need, food and drink and medical things mostly, you understand right. As for how we’re powering everything, well we found some old generators at a dumb and some of the members are good with their hands when it comes to fixing things so we brought them back, hooked everything up and set good bye to using battery powered lamps and ton’s of batteries. You wouldn’t believe the trouble we went to get the four generators down here” Danny explained.

“How do you get everything down here?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Most the tunnels systems have exit points that lead up into shops, and luckily for us the trap doors are almost always in the storage rooms out of sight and so far we’ve had no trouble concerning them” Danny explained. “In any case we bring what we can down through those, though sometimes we’ve forced to bring things in through the big drains down at the beaches, you have no idea how hard it is sneaking something as big and heavy as a generator to those tunnels, even at night.”

“Don’t your families ever wonder where you go everyday” Zarren asked.

Dirk just smiled a little sadly and shook his head. “You don’t seem to understand Zarren, eighty five percent of us, are homeless, the other fifteen percent are mostly outcasts that really have no other place to go. Me and Danny have never really turned anyone away because we know what its like to have no where to go, or no one to turn to. Drop in centers are alright I suppose but there’s none in or around Talon. But there’s us, we help those we can and offer refuge from those that would hurt them or don’t understand them. The members of the Street Pack aren’t just a gang, we’re a family.”

Zarren nodded in understanding and sunk back into the comfortable lounge and looked around. It was quickly becoming clear why the Jaguar’s wanted this place, but he wondered if they knew exactly where and what the Street Pack’s hang out was. The applications for the tunnel system and the central area was almost limitless. They had all they would need to sneak past the police when dealing with drugs and whatever else it was. He couldn’t let them take it from the Street Pack, it was too important, not only to the Street Pack, but for the rest of Talon Bay too. He figured that if the Jaguar’s got the tunnels, drug dealings and the likes would more then triple within a few weeks. There was no way in hell he was going to let that happen.

“The Jaguar’s don’t know about all this do they?” he asked finally.

Dirk shook his head. “No luckily. All they know is that our hang out is large, they just cant figure out where it is. I don’t think there’s enough brain power between any of them to think of looking in the drains.”

“I have to admit that I wouldn’t think about looking down here for yahs. Hell I wasn’t even aware that Talon Bay played all the much part in the war, like I knew that troops were stationed here, but I didn’t think they had gone so far as to make all this. It kind of confusing really, enemy Talon Bay was hardly more then a village at the time when you get right down to it, no real development started until during the war, and there was no real worth while targets for ships to go by, I mean hell at the time there was hardly anything within hundred of miles of Talon. I can only think that they had already had plans to make this into a town and someone was able to pull some strings with the military to get troops stationed here to protect their interests or something” Zarren explained thoughtfully.

“Well even there wasn’t any towns or the likes close to Talon at the time, the advantage having Talon as a docking port for enemy ships was enormous when you think about it, and I have for many years now. If the Nazi’s or Japanese were able to station ships and brings loads of troops in, imagine the tactical advantage that would have given them” Dirk pointed out.

“I see your point” Zarren nodded, his stomach growled suddenly and looked at the others a little embarrassed. “Sorry, I haven’t had much to eat today.”

“Why didn’t you say you were hungry? What do you want?” Danny asked him.

Not long later a number of pizza box’s sat on the coffee table and Zarren was quiet content with stuffing himself full of pizza. He wasn’t going to ask where or how they got it, who was he to question where they got there food from anyway, as long as he filled his stomach he didn’t really give a damn. After stuffing himself full Zarren leaned back in the chair relaxing. He realized as he took another look around the place, that it almost like a downscaled version of the gang hideout in the movie, Double Dragon, only it was lacking rows of Arcade game machines, although he wouldn’t put it past them trying to get a couple of them down here.

“I think its time we get down to business” Dirk said as he finished with his pizza.

Zarren nodded. “Aye, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve reconsidered my plan. Do you know where the Jaguar’s hang out? I think I know how to make a bigger impression on them, though I’m gonna have to drop by my place and pick something up, but I can guarantee that the leader of the Jaguar’s will have the fear of god in him by the time I’m done, and I doubt his crew will respect him all that much in the end either.”

“We know where they are” Danny said, but she sounded a little hesitant. “IF your planning what I think you are, you have to be careful, a lot of them have guns and they’re not afraid to use them.”

“Good” Zarren said. “Should be interesting then.”

“You’re a violent person aren’t you?” Dirk observed.

Zarren grinned. “Absolutely.”

* * *

An hour later, after they had finished making plans, Zarren arrived home and was surprised to find his mother at home and on the phone. He knew he couldn’t be long, Dirk and Danny were waiting for him outside, but he knew he couldn’t just rush in and then rush out without saying anything, it would make his mother suspicious and maybe even a little worried, he decided a couple of minutes wouldn’t hurt all that much. Considering the fact that she was on the phone he was lucky.

“How the interview go?” he asked from his bedroom door.

“It went great, I got the job” his mother said, pulling the phone away from her ear. “Where have you been by the way?”

Zarren just shrugged. “I’ve just been hanging around. I cant stay long, made some friends and they’re gonna show me some of the good spots in town, just dropped by to grab something is all. I might be out a bit late so don’t worry, I should be back before ten at the most, I’ll grab something to eat while I’m out” he said just before ducking into his room and throwing open one of his cupboards, and smiled as he saw what he had come back for. It was a metal staff, the staff he used primarily for exhibition tournaments and for practice. He grabbed it and its special sheath and rushed back to the front door. “Be back later mum!” he said quickly and rushed outside before his mother could ask anymore questions.’

“That's what you came back for?” Danny asked with an arched eye brow.

“Do you want me to take care of this guy or what?” Zarren replied, Danny didn’t reply. “That's what I thought, now lead the way.”

The Jaguar’s hideout turned out to be just outside of Talon Bay. Their hideout was an old abandoned resort that had a main recreational building and several apartment blocks and what use to be two swimming pools that were filled with disgusting looking water that made Zarren ill just to look at it, and that wasn’t including the effect the smell had on him, even from where the three of them crouched it reached them. The water was a dark green and slimy film covered the surface of it. He wanted to be sick. The rest of the of the resort, if it could really be called that was no better. The place had been abandoned after a fire had ripped through it some twenty years earlier, and had it not been for the extensive history of the resort, it would have been torn down, but locals had petitioned for it to be left alone, and so it had been that it had been left standing for twenty years, animals of all kind making it their home. Including the Jaguar’s.

“Impressive isn’t it?” Dirk said quietly.

“Gotta give them points for being original” Zarren nodded, crouching behind some bushes as he observed the area. It wasn’t long before he noticed at least two guards walking around with machine guns in their hands. “What idiots, they’re not even trying to hide that they’re using it as a base of operations.”

“Its not really stupid when you consider no one really lives out this far and that it’s a dirt road all the way to the place makes it a little uninviting to anyone. The police don’t come patrolling down here either and they’re never called out here so really this place is like ours, only that everyone knows its out here, they just don’t give a shit” Dirk explained.

“Alright then, you two stay here. This really shouldn’t take long” he said, and before they could say anything he rushed off.

The area around the resort was covered with thick forest and Zarren used that to his advantage. He jumped up into a tree and proceeded to travel from tree to tree, jumping from and landing on branches until he had managed to get as close as he possibly could to the resort via the tree’s. He was lucky, one of the two guards came straight under the tree he was in. Zarren dropped down from his branch and landed behind the guard and delivered a powerful blow to back of the man’s head and knocked him out instantly. He dragged the unconscious man into some bushes and used some rope Dirk had gotten for him and tied him up, making sure to leave enough for the second one.

Before going after the second guard, he jumped back up into the tree and looked around, eyeing the supposedly abandoned apartments for anymore guards and more specifically their weapons. He didn’t want to be sneaking across the grounds to the other guard and get taken out by someone with a rifle or something. When he was sure there was no one else watching he dropped back down to the ground and without warning, dashed, across the grounds towards the other guard, who had his back turned to the young martial artist. He was within a few feet when he lunged forward, which was when the guard decided to turn around. Zarren quickly grabbed the man in a head lock and applied enough pressure to make the guy pass out. Again, he dragged the guard out of sight and tied him up.

He took another quick look around and then rushed off again towards the recreational hall. As he got close to the door he landed a powerful kick and sent the doors flying inward, which wasn’t all that hard considering the door frames had twenty years worth of rot in them, that however didn’t make those inside any less surprised when he came running in. He swung the staff to the right like it were a baseball bat and knocked over a couple of guys, their guns flying out of their hands, he then swung it to the left and did the same thing. He ran forward a bit and a guy came running at him, Zarren stopped and lashed out with a spinning heel kick and connected with his chin, the force of the kick knocking the gang member into an old table. He heard the sound of a gun being cocked and he spun out of the way as a bullet whizzed past him. He reacted act quickly and as he spun around he drove his staff forward and it connected with the shoulder of a woman in her early twenties. She let out a high pitch scream and fell back clutching at her shoulder, which if Zarren had struck properly, was shattered at the joint and cracked in several other areas.

He turned around and continued forward calmly, his staff resting across his shoulders and behind his neck and his arms hooked around it. He kept his eyes and ears peeled, ever ready to defend and attack. He kicked open another door he came to and was met by what some would consider a small army, all of them armed with guns aimed at him.

“You had more sentries then I could see” he said casually, nodding at the obvious, then he looked at them. “I’m still not impressed though.”

Just before they opened fire he dropped into a crouch and lunged, swinging his staff around and knocking the front line down and proceeded to crash into the second line. He rolled across the ground, came to his feet and lunged to the side, landing a punch to a man in the face, knocking him backwards into a couple more gang members. Zarren jumped into the air, flipping over another man grabbed his neck from behind, applying his paralyzing snake grip that caused the man to go as stiff as a board while the young martial artist kept up the grip on the pressure points. He looked around at everyone, no longer concerned about their guns, due to the fact that they would shoot each other while killing him, and they were smart enough to see that. He spotted an old damaged chair laying on the ground and used his staff to pick it up and launch it into a crowd of gathering gang members. He released his grip on the man’s neck and then nailed him in the small of his back and sent him flying forward.

All at once they all rushed him, coming from all directions. Zarren rolled his eyes and jumped into the air again at the last moment, all the gang members crashing into each other and falling over one another. A few managed to stay up and Zarren landed on them, using their shoulders as a launching platform and leaping from them, across the room and landing in front of the man that had been standing there the whole time watching the proceedings. He was by the far the tallest man Zarren had ever seen before, he was easily nine feet tall, if not a little taller and he looked like he could rip a tank apart with his bare hands. The young martial artist wasn’t afraid to admit that he felt like a midget at that moment as the man glared down at him.

“So you’re the leader of the Jaguar’s eh?” he asked.

“Name’s Flynn, little man” the giant rumbled. “Care to tell me why you’re here?”

“To beat the shit out of you of course” Zarren replied casually.

Flynn swung his huge arm around in an attempt to take Zarren out, but the young martial artists ducked under the attack and leapt forward, he swung his staff around with all his might, but he underestimated the giants agility and was surprised when Flynn, caught the staff and ripped it from Zarren’s grasp before throwing it across the room. Zarren ignored the loss of his weapon attacked again and got in front his opponent and punched him in the gut, only to find out what punching solid steel would feel like. The gang leader didn’t even flinch when the punch connected with his stomach. Zarren looked at him in surprised, then clenched his fist in determination and proceeded to execute a series of rapid speed punches that he put his whole strength behind, but the giant hardly seemed to feel it.

“You think you can hurt me with those puny attacks?” Flynn laughed.

Zarren stopped and wiped his forehead, he hadn’t expected to be going up against a giant with body that felt like solid steel. He shrugged off his staff sheath along with the bag that he had been carrying the rope in, leaving him standing in a black singlet that was tucked into his tightly belted long black pants and his steel capped black boots. He jumped back from the gang leader and breathed calmly, knowing he couldn’t afford to lose this fight. As he stood there with his fists clenched, his muscles seemed to ripple as he forced them to tighten up. He knew all he needed was one good punch to knock down the guys defenses, he just needed to figure out his weak point first.

“What's wrong little man? Too scare to continue this fight?” the leader asked him arrogantly.

“No” Zarren replied with an icy glare. “Just focusing on the old saying, the larger they are, the harder they fall.”

The gang leader frowned angrily at that one and charged forward, the whole place seeming to rumble as he did. Zarren kept his cool and when his opponent struck at him with a punch, he raised both hands and blocked it, sliding back a few feet as a result. His hands tingled as he readied himself for his opponents next attack, which he dodged and delivered a hit and run hit to the giants leg, but he barely felt it and lashed out with his leg, catching Zarren as he was passing and sent him crashing through a wall. Zarren’s eyes went wide as he bounced across the ground of the new room and landed hard against an old filing cabinet.

As he was getting up Flynn punched his way through the wall and came straight after him. Zarren jumped into the air and landed behind him, then leapt at him again, grabbing him in a head lock and tried to apply enough pressure to knock him out, but he could barely even get his arm around the guy’s neck. The gang leader grabbed Zarren’s arm and pulled him around to the front and held him above the ground. Zarren saw his chance and executed a round house kick that nailed the giant in the side of his face, but it didn’t have the affect Zarren wanted. Flynn looked at him in annoyance and growled. The next thing Zarren knew, he was being thrown back threw the wall he had only crashed through a few minutes ago.

He groaned as rolled across the ground and got up again, he didn’t know how much more of this abuse he could take. He waited calmly as the gang leader came walking back into the room, he looked ready to finish it and when Zarren replied with a look of unconcern the giant snorted angrily and charged at him like a bull, but Zarren didn’t flinch or close his eyes, only kept his eyes on his opponent. He couldn’t help but grin though when he saw his opponents weak spot. The giant swung his massive arm around again and again Zarren ducked under it, only this time he got as close he possibly could, dropped into a crouch and then sprung up, slamming his fist into the gang leader’s groined. The high pitch, blood curdling scream that filled the room was louder then anything then anyone present had ever heard before.

Flynn stumbled back some and Zarren leapt into the air, nailing a powerful right hook that had to have shattered the leader’s cheek. He attacked again, punching the man in the arm pit and then kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel, which was Zarren grabbed his head and launched himself up while pulling the gang leader’s face into his raised knee. Zarren landed and Flynn fell backwards with a loud thud that shook the room, and it become quickly obvious to everyone present that he was knocked out.

Zarren turned to them and growled, causing the ones still standing to flinch.

“From this moment on, the Jaguar’s are no more. Your leader is finished. The Street Pack are off limits, spread that around to everyone that dares think about hurting a single one of them, because they will deal with me, got that?! And what’s more, if I ever hear that the Jaguar’s are in business again, here or anyone where else in this country, I will personally hunt you all down and rip off your arms and legs, now get the hell out of here now!” he yelled at them.

The members of the Jaguar’s couldn’t get of there fast enough, they were tripping over each other just to get to the door. Zarren away a small trail of blood coming from his mouth, and then reached to the back of his mouth and pulled out a molar that had come extremely loose, causing more blood to flow into his mouth. It hurt more then being thrown through a wall.

“Fucking hell” he grunted, throwing the tooth.

After retrieving his bag, sheath and staff, Zarren calmly exited the building looking a little worse for wear, but it wasn’t anything a hot a shower wouldn’t fix. As he reached the dirt road leading back to the main road, he was greeted by Danny and Dirk, who were waiting for him with happy and relieved looks on their faces, Zarren though was not all that happy.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was a friggin giant? His hands were bigger then my bloody head for crying out loud?!” he snapped at them.

“We didn’t think you’d believe us” Danny said a little nervously, Zarren just growled at her.

“You’d be surprised at what I believe” he told her, then looked up at the sky. “Come on, it’ll be getting late soon and I need a hot bath. And I wouldn’t worry about the Jaguar’s anymore, I doubt they’ll bother you again, unless someone can assure them that he or she can beat a guy that took out a nine foot moron.”

* * *

As the three left, they never noticed the figure standing in the shadows of a tree, watching their every movement. When they were out of sight the man stepped out of the shadows, his amber eyes seeming to glow as the sun slid down behind the tree’s, casting an orange glow over everything.

He had been following the three since they had left town, observing the young martial artist, as he did with all his opponents before he engaged them in a fight and he wanted to make sure this fight wouldn’t be a waste of his time. Though there was something that told him that the martial artist would provide some level of entertainment, at least for awhile.

He stepped into the recreational hall, the door crunching beneath his feet as he did. He looked at all the unconscious forms laying about and was already impressed by the boy’s skills. It was when he entered the next room and saw the unconscious giant of a man that he knew he picked a worthy opponent this time and now more then ever he couldn’t wait to fight the teenager, though of course he knew that he was going to have to let the kid have at least one nights rest so he could fight him in top physical condition. He frowned, he didn’t like waiting.

He heard a groan and kicked the man in the head next to him that was starting to come around. The man slumped to the ground unconscious again and the amber colored eyed man turned around and left, thinking about the fight between him and the martial artist. As he walked though, he started to realize something and frowned at the thoughts, he knew he was going to have to make plans for the battle…

* * *

Zarren bid farewell to this new friends and watched them disappear into the drain in front of his home, and didn’t turn to his door until he heard the clang of the drain grate. It was late now, it had taken them a little longer to get back then they had planned, though it was still earlier then he had planned on coming home before. Used his key and unlocked the door, and slipped inside, locking the door behind him and then going into his room before his mother came out to find out where he had been. He threw his bag and staff into the cupboard and pulled off his ripped singlet. His shoulder ached a little from where he had crashed through the wall the second time, and he couldn’t wait to soak it in some hot water.

“I’m out of practice” he said to himself with a small sigh. “Two years ago that fight would have been nothing.”

Tiredly he fell onto his bed, and rolled on to his back and yawned loudly. It was as he was laying there that sudden great contentment came over him. He had actually done two good things today, stopped two goons from making off with an old woman’s pension check and helped out his new friends. He couldn’t even believe he had made some friends so quickly. He was starting to regret all the bitching he had made about moving, though he realized soon enough that without all those negative feelings he had in the first place, he wouldn’t have appreciated being wrong as much as he did right now.

He laid there for a few minutes before forcing himself out of bed, his stomach rumbling. He left his room and walked into the kitchen, where his mother was waiting.

“Your home early? Something happen?” she asked calmly.

“Nah, just got tired and thought I’d head home, had a good time though. Dirk and Danny are good people” he said he grabbed a microwave meal out of the fridge.

“You should have invited them in earlier” she said critically.

“Next time” he replied as he started up the microwave. He then turned to her with a sincere look on his face. “I’m sorry for being so negative about moving up here ok, I didn’t think I’d make friends so easily up here, but I was wrong, though you still cant blame me for being resistant to moving up here, you were asking me to leave behind my friends.”

“You don’t have to apologize Zarren, though I believe I’ve earned the right to say, I told you so” she replied.

“Yeah, don’t let it go to your head though” he told her before turning back to the microwave.

“On another subject though. Your grandmother rang while you out, she heard this story going around at the club when she was there this afternoon. Turns out this old lady had her bagged snatched from her by two hoodlums, and another young man chased after them and got the bag back for her” his mother said, he went very still and didn’t say a word, he didn’t have to, he knew his mother had already heard enough to figure it out for herself. “Really Zarren, did you think I wouldn’t find out? You know your not suppose to be fighting.”

Zarren turned to her, his eyes wide with anger. “What would you have me have done mother? Stand there while those two made off with that woman’s handbag? I don’t think so!”

“You could have got hurt! Did you ever think about that? Did you ever stop to think that maybe one of them had a gun?!” she demanded.

“I still would have gone after them!” he snapped. “One of these days your going to accept that I know what I’m doing!”

“If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t have gone after them, you’d have had enough sense to mind your own business. You think because you’re a martial artist that your unbeatable. I wish you had never learnt how to fight, its changed you too much!” his mother told him.

“No mum, I’m the same person I always was” he told her calmly. “One day, your gonna have to deal with the fact that I’m seventeen, almost eighteen. I’m not a little boy anymore, I wont be treated like one. If you don’t like the fact that I cant sit back and watch good people get hurt or anything like that, then too bad, because every time I’m around and I can help someone or a group of people I will and there’s nothing you can do to stop me from following what my heart tells me to do. And frankly, I expected you to realize that by now.”

Without saying another word he walked back to his room and closed the door behind him, his appetite gone. He laid down on his bed and sighed with anger, just another day in the life of Zarren, he thought as stared up at the ceiling. He suddenly wished things would go back to the way they were three years ago, he wouldn’t have to endure this ridiculousness of his mother’s. Things had been so much simpler then. He had to battle the idea of packing his bags and leaving, however tempting that idea was, he knew he couldn’t just pack up leave. He squashed the thoughts and rolled over in bed, angry, sore and tired.

He closed his eyes for what only felt like a minute, but when he opened them again, it was morning and the sun was trying to get through his curtains. He was disorientated for a couple of seconds, but he soon realized he must have fallen asleep. The events of the night before came back to him and he shook his head in frustration as he sat up. He glanced at the clock on his night stand and saw the time, it was ten am.

Hesitantly he got out of bed and got dressed, putting on an identical set of clothing to the set he had worn the other day and went into the kitchen, his mother sitting at the table reading the newspaper and drinking her coffee. He ignored her and poured some cereal into a bowl and a ton of sugar. The silence in the kitchen was deafening really, and a little disturbing, though they’d had many arguments like this before in the past year and a bit. He ate his cereal quickly and was heading for the front door when his mother looked up from the newspaper with a look of defeat on her face.

“I only went made at you because I worry about you” she said to him, forcing him to stop.

He sighed and turned around. “Doesn’t change the fact mum that you expect me not to help people when I’m clearly capable of it. One of the codes of martial arts and more specifically the school I belong to, is to use our arts to defend ourselves and to help those that need it, and whether you like it or not, I will always carry out that code. That shouldn’t come as a shock to you because you were the one that taught me that helping someone is the best thing a person can do for someone else. Now I cant help people psychologically, or in a court of law or anything like that, but I can help people by fighting for them. Don’t ever ask me again, to not do that. You should know by now that I only fight fights that I know I can win, so stop worrying.”

“Its not that I don’t expect you not to help them dear, but it seems like you rush into everything without considering the consequences and that scares me.”

“Well I don’t ok? My mind just analyzes situations a lot faster then others. I consider everything before going into a fight with someone” he assured her, then he looked at his watch. “I have to be somewhere, I’ll see yah later, I’m not sure when I’ll be getting home though, I’ll call though” he added, going into his room and grabbing his bag and then heading out.

And so ended another, typical argument.

* * *

The passage ways were quiet as Zarren made his way towards the central area, the only sound was that of his feet splashing in the water, a rat squeaking suddenly or the drip of water. It was almost eerie and the sense that something was quiet right made him wry of what was a head of him, though he put it down to the fact that he still felt a little tired and that he always felt a little on guard after a fight, and that was only after normal fights, the feeling was bound to feel slightly more urgent after the fight with the leader of the Jaguar’s.

He heard a sudden splash behind him and spun around with his light raised, but there was nothing there. He frowned, he could have sworn there was something there. Slowly he turned back around and suddenly felt the need to hurry and started running down the passage way.

After what felt like an eternity of running through the passage ways he managed to find the right way to the central area and was soon standing in front of the large door. Quickly he turned the handle and opened the door, only to met with a chaotic sight. Groans were coming from everywhere, and people laid all the over place, barely moving, not to mention furniture looked like it had been thrown all over the place also.

Zarren ran in and dropped his bag, looking desperately for Dirk and Danny. His first thought was that the Jaguar’s hadn’t listen to his threat and had followed them back, but he rejected the thought, if it had been the Jaguar’s everyone would have been dead, riddled with bullets with blood everywhere. No, these people had been beaten up, by someone awfully skilled in martial arts. With every passing second his blood ran colder and colder.

“Zarren” came a weak groan.

He spun around and found Dirk laying against a concrete pillar, wincing in pain and holding his ribs. Zarren quickly ran over to him.

“Dirk, what the hell happened here? Who did this?” he demanded.

“I don’t know who he was. He just came in and started beating people up. Then he took Danny and ran” Dirk said as Zarren helped him up and over to a chair that hadn’t been thrown around during the mayhem. “He was so strong Zarren, stronger even then leader of the Jaguar’s, but he was only a bit taller then you. I couldn’t believe some one could be so vicious. We tried to stop him, but we just couldn’t.”

“Its ok Dirk, I’ll get her back but I have to know as much as possible about him” Zarren assured him.

Dirk reached painfully into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper and handed it to Zarren, wincing with each motion. Zarren didn’t worry about the paper right away and checked his friend for any broken bones.

“Don’t worry about me, just go, go get Danny back, please” Dirk begged.

“Oh this bastard’s good, he hit a specific set of pressure points in a specific pattern, that’s why you can barely move and hurt every time you try to move” Zarren replied, ignoring his friend’s pleas. He then placed his hand against Dirk’s chest and in a series of motions he struck a group of pressure points, causing Dirk to take a sharp intake of breath and lurch forward, before coughing loudly and heaving. “That's it, let it out. You should regain full control of your limbs any second now. Now I want you to tell me everything you remember about this guy, even something you think is insignificant could be useful, don’t leave things out, like you and Danny did with Flynn.”

“I don’t remember much, it just happen so quickly, I barely saw him at all he moved that fast. He knew what he was doing, he didn’t go after the kids, only the older ones that try to stop him. Those amber eyes of his though, it was frightening, they seemed to glow. They were paralyzing Zarren, he was like a demon” Dirk said, his voice trembling.

Zarren frowned inwardly, thinking about that before unfolding the note. It was only a couple of words, but it was enough to turn his blood cold. He then snarled angrily and crunched the paper up.

“If it’s a fight he wants, he’s gonna get the fight of his life” Zarren promised with a cold voice.

* * *

Danny squirmed uncomfortably, her arms were tied behind her back and her legs were tied also, her ankles bound to each other, as well her knee’s. She tried to loosen the ropes enough to get free but they wouldn’t budge an inch and she knew she was quiet stuck. She let out a howl of frustration and tried to break the ropes, but soon gave up on that as she was sure they were starting to cut into her skin.

She glanced over at the man sitting under the tree watching her with amusement.

“What are you fucking grinning at you muscle bound pervert!? You think its funny kidnapping a young beautiful girl like myself?! I swear if you don’t let me go I’m gonna give you such a hit, you’ll have wished you had never been born!!!!!!” she screamed at him.

“If you don’t lower your voice young miss, I might have to cut that pretty tongue of yours out” he replied, his tone indicated that it was a promise, not a threat. Danny quickly shut her mouth, but continued to glare at him. The man just drew back on his cigarette and then let out several smoke rings. “You’ll be free to go as soon as your friend shows up, assuming he’s a man of honor, he’ll never let a young woman such as yourself die without a fight.”

“And if he’s not?” Danny asked fearfully.

The man looked at her and grinned evilly. “You’ll die, young miss.”

“What do you want with Zarren anyway? Who are you?!” she demanded.

“My name is Caleb” he said calmly. “As to what I want with Zarren. I’ve been without a real fight for a long time. I cant even remember the last real fight I’ve had its been that long. My blood burns for battle and those that are worth fighting are either few in numbers or keep themselves well hidden. This Zarren though, he’s like me. He needs the feel of battle. Fighting is as much a part of him as it is with me and embraces those feelings, he doesn’t try to deny them. The only time he’s happiest is fighting, because it makes him feel alive, makes his blood burn like a blazing inferno. He is the kind of person that I’ve been looking to fight for so long and I’ll be damned if I pass up this opportunity.”

“Zarren is nothing like you” Danny hissed.

“You’ve know him for barely a day” Caleb replied dryly. “You have no idea what he’s like. I can tell what he’s like from his actions, and the after mass. He would have fought that giant right until the either of them breathed their last breath.”

“Zarren is gonna kick your ass” Danny said coldly.

“I certainly hope he tries” Caleb replied.

* * *

“I’m gonna rip his arms off and beat him to death with them” Zarren promised as he walked up the track, brushing tree branches out of the way. “How dare he come at me through others, that son of a bitch. He better be half as good as what he seems or there’s not gonna be enough of him left for the police to identify.”

“Just make sure you leave some for me” Dirk replied, then he looked past Zarren. “The trial ends just up here, they should be just past these trees up there.”

Zarren decided not to delay any further and jogged the rest of the way, he pushed past the trees and emerged into a clearing that ended with a cliff, with the wide blue ocean stretching into the distance. Zarren tore himself away from the sight and looked for his challenger and Danny. He didn’t have to look far, the man was already getting up.

“So you the asshole that hurt my friends” Zarren snarled.

“Only because they got in my way” he shrugged.

“Dirk, get Danny” Zarren said lowly without taking his eyes of the man.

“No problem” Dirk replied.

“You” Zarren said to his opponent.

“Caleb” he introduced himself.

“Lets get this started” Zarren.

“Lets” Caleb agreed.

Zarren and Caleb shot towards each other with blinding speed, and collided with a fury of kicks and punches that were so fast that they were barely visible, only the blur of their limbs indicated that they were moving. Zarren attacked with a series of knife strikes, only to be blocked at every turn, none of his attacks got through. His only consolation was that he was able to keep all of his opponents attacks from getting past him too, though just barely. He hated to admit it, but Caleb was good and despite his size he was quiet fast.

“Your holding back!” Caleb said with a sudden snarl.

“So are you!” Zarren shot back.

Caleb jumped high into the air, and Zarren followed. Both of them shot well above the tree’s. Both attacked with a kick, their legs connecting with each other, then the two fell back to the ground, only to launch off again, this time soaring back over the tree’s and executing a series of punches, blocking each other at every turn. They forced themselves away from other and landed in the forest. Zarren landed in a crouch and took a couple of seconds to try and catch his breath, but before he knew Caleb was charging towards him with a loud battle cry. Zarren reacted quickly and jumped straight up, landing on a tree branch. Caleb stopped a few inches short of the tree and looked up at him, frowning, then suddenly struck the tree with a powerful kick. A loud crack sounded through the forest and the tree Zarren was standing in fell to one side.

He jumped from the tree and landed in front of Caleb, quickly executing a spinning heel kick that caught his opponent in the side of the face, meaning Zeptha had scored the first hit between them. Caleb turned his head slowly to glare at Zarren, his amber eyes ablaze with a mix of anger and excitement. Zarren jumped backwards as Caleb suddenly launched a round house kick at him. The kick missed and Zarren launched himself forward again, drawing his fist back, but as he did Caleb brought his knee up and caught Zarren full in the stomach. Zarren’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened as all the air came rushing out of his lungs. Caleb suddenly grabbed him by the face and threw him back towards the clearing.

Zarren flew back through the tree’s and shot out from amongst the tree’s and skipped across the ground before he eventually started to roll towards the edge of the cliff, stopping just short of it. With a painful groan he rolled on to his stomach and rose to his knee’s, pain was running rampant through his body and he couldn’t figure out why. There was nothing but pain, but it was unlike any pain he had ever felt before.

He glanced towards the tree line and saw Caleb walking calmly towards him. Zarren screwed his face up in anger and determination and stood up and readied himself. He wasn’t going to be beaten so easily, he’d kill himself before he admitted defeat.

“So your ready to take this serious are you?” Caleb asked coldly.

Zarren said nothing, then before anyone could blink he was in front of Caleb, causing the man to flinch back in surprise and shock. It was like he had teleported or something, though it became apparent that he had just moved so quickly that they couldn’t have seen him move even if they had tried.

“Yes” Zarren replied in a deep unforgiving voice.

Caleb recomposed himself and drove his fist forward. Zarren caught it with one hand and attacked with the other, striking Caleb across the bridge of his nose. Caleb flinched back and tried to recover quickly, but Zarren was already moving and laying punch after punch into his opponents stomach. When Caleb would lurch forward he would step back and execute a right hook followed by a left and knock Caleb back and resume his vicious rapid punch attack, until indents appear all across Caleb’s stomach and chest. Zarren cried out loudly as his the speed of his punches increased. Finally Zarren stopped the punches and Caleb swayed slightly backwards and forward until Zarren delivered an upper cut the knocked him up into the air, and followed with a spin kick that caught Caleb square in the chest and knocked him back into a tree that groaned in protest against the force of the impact.

Zarren stood there calmly with an emotionless stare on his face as he waited, ignoring the shocked stares from Dirk and Danny.

“What's wrong Caleb, am I more of a fighter then you can handle?” Zarren asked, his voice was deep, almost like another persons.

Caleb got up slowly, using the tree he had landed against for support and glared straight at Zarren. The fact was he had underestimated the strength and skill of his young opponent and was actually starting to think he had picked the wrong battle.

“I wont let a kid beat me” Caleb growled as he walked forward

“You don’t have a choice in the matter” Zarren said coldly.

“I WONT BE DEFEATED!!” Caleb roared, his head snapping upwards and his arms going to the side as his hands clenched into tight fists, then all around him fire appeared in a great explosion and shot up in a giant pillar of fire, turning Caleb into nothing more then a silhouette. Then they heard Caleb’s voice once more. “DIE YOU BRAT!!!”

The pillar of fire broke up into several snakes of fire and shot towards Zarren, reforming into one whole blast before the young martial artist was engulfed in flames, the last thing his friends saw was the look of surprise on his face. Danny screamed out when she saw him disappear within the fire, Dirk had to grab her and stop from running towards the column of fire that shot out over the ocean.

“No one can beat me” Caleb laughed insanely. “I am invincible!!!”

“Don’t make me laugh!!”

Everyone went silent looked towards the spot Zarren had been standing on. Suddenly two waves of water exploded out from either side of the fire and rose high into the sky, the sudden explosion startling Caleb into stopping his attack. Zarren was standing their slightly hunched over, his head lowered and his arms in front of him with water exploding on either side and behind him. Dirk and Danny stared in wide eyed shock. Caleb was staring in horror.

“You’re a Water Elemental!” Caleb choked.

“You should never have revealed you were a Fire Elemental” Zarren said coldly, raising his head slowly until a pair of glowing blue eyes became clearly visible. Suddenly an upside triangle of blue light appeared on Zarren’s forehead and then he looked Caleb in straight in the eye. “You’ve made me very unhappy Caleb, BIG MISTAKE!!!”

“DIE!” Caleb shouted.

A mass of fire formed around Caleb and shot towards Zarren, it was the most futile thing the young martial artist had ever seen and almost couldn’t believe Caleb would be stupid enough to attack water with fire. He formed a shield of water in front of himself and the fire rammed into it harmlessly. Caleb started throwing fire balls at Zarren in a mad panic. Finally the Zarren couldn’t take it no more, his anger uncontainable and behind him water exploded up from the ocean and formed with the water he was generating around himself, merging and raising higher and higher into the sky until it formed into a dragon that seemed to have a life of its own.

Zarren snapped his arms to the sides with his middle and forefinger extended. The dragon of water circled behind Zarren and then shot forwards, engulfing Zarren as it raced at Caleb who screamed out in horror as the mass of water came at him. The water hit Caleb and consumed him and then carried him into the air, his screams carrying through the air as steam erupted from his body. He twisted and convulsed in agony and Dirk and Danny watched in shock as Zarren coldly continued his attack on his opponent.

Finally the water dragon released Caleb, and the Fire Elemental fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, his eyes wide and his face contorted into a look of pure horror, everyone present was sure if he had hair it would be white. Zarren closed his eyes and the dragon dived into the ocean, and the triangle of light disappeared from Zarren’s forehead, and when he had opened his eyes, they were no longer glowing. He took a deep breath of air and stepped backwards, collapsing onto his butt.

“I overdid it a bit” he said calmly, Dirk and Danny still staring at him, he turned and smiled at them slightly. “Sorry for freaking the two of you out there.”

“Your one of those Elementals?” Danny asked slowly.

“Yep, I’m a water Elemental. I’m known as Mizuno Teikiatsu, the Water Cyclone” he told them as they slowly came closer. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you. I haven’t used my powers for such a long time. I kind of overdid it though so I’ll doubt I’ll be able to move much tomorrow. Not even sure if I’ll have enough energy to make it back home.”

“Is he dead?” Dirk asked, looking towards the unmoving form of Caleb.

“No” Zarren shook his head. “I’ll doubt he’ll ever use his powers again. That mass of fire I pulled out of his head was his Fire Spirit. Its kind of a formality. Caleb here is what others of my kind a Renegade Elemental and there’s quiet a few of them around. They’re dangerous and have no qualms about killing another person, so the others like myself that really just want to be left alone and don’t want the negative attention, eventually found away to seal a Renegade’s power within himself. His power is still there, and if he lives long enough, maybe one day my seal will break, but by then he wont be able to move, let alone gather up enough concentration to focus his power. He’d be a good old age by then, assuming he doesn’t die before hand.”

“How long do you live for?” Danny asked.

“Well, none of us are really sure how long we live, it varies with each Elemental. My father was a hundred and fifty when he died though and still looked like a forty year old though” he said casually, causing both Danny and Dirk look at him in shock. “What? We age slower then you norms and before you ask, I’m only seventeen.”

“I can’t believe Elementals are real” Danny said.

“Oh we’re real alright, and if it wasn’t for those fucking Renegades, no one would know about us, but no, the Renegades have to show off every chance they get” Zarren grumbled as they helped him up. “Oh that reminds me, you two cant mention this to anyone you got that? If my mum finds out I used my powers she’ll kill me.”

Dirk couldn’t help but laugh. “You just took out that guy, and the leader of the Jaguar’s, but your scared of your mother?”

“Frankly, this guy wasn’t scary, or even impressive, he’s the weakest Elemental I’ve ever met before. He either came from the bloodline of a Fire Elemental that’s run too thin, or he didn’t think he needed to practice, which is a common thing among Renegades, but nine five percent of them at least spend the early years of their lives learning how to more then just attack with their power, its only after they’ve become good that they usually start to practice less and less” he explained, looking wryly back at Caleb. “I don’t know what it is, but I have this strange feeling that there’s more to come.”

“We should get going” Danny said. “There’ll be police and fire crews up here soon to investigate what just happened, everyone in town had to have seen that.”

“Oh man, my mum is gonna find out for sure” Zarren groaned.

And so the three hurried off, disappearing back into the forest and hurrying down the track. As they hurried though, Zarren felt the same eerie feeling he had felt in the passage ways earlier that day. Something was wrong, he didn’t know what it was, and he wasn’t sure if it was just his nerves, but something told him it wasn’t. He swallowed hard, knowing it was far from over.

It had just begun.

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Next Time
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Zarren is settling into his new life in Talon Bay, when the two Air Ninja's arrive in town they arent the only one's and Zarren soon finds himself having to deal with a crazy vigilante out to bring him to justice! And more of Zarren's past is reveal in the next chapter!

Chapter 2: Reunion