Ch. 6: Start of the Journey

The 8 heroes start on their long journey

Chapter 6: Start of the Journey 
Brenden, John, Tara, Seth, Scarlett, Anna, Drew, and Frank have been training for over four-hundred days. They became stronger, more agile, and able to take a hit better. They did the same training every day, until the middle of the four-hundred sixteenth day. Tanaka gathered everyone and brought them into the hut. 
"What is it?" Tara asked. 
"Remember a long time ago when I said I would give you guys something after a while that'll help you?" Tanaka asked. 
"Yeah." Everyone said. 
"Well, I think now is a good time to give it to you." Tanaka said. "After all, you've been training for ten-thousand hours now." 
"Is that why you stopped us when you did?" John asked. "Wow. Ten-thousand hours seem to fly by fast." 
"Yes." Tanaka said. "You eight wait here and I'll go get them." 
Tanaka walked to a small locked room and opened it. 
"I guess we didn't ever use that room, did we?" Brenden said. 
Tanaka walked back with a case and handed it to Brenden. He opened it and in it was some blue and gold armor. 
"Cool!" Brenden said. 
Tanaka grabbed another case and handed it to John. He opened it and inside was some scaly, purple, scorpion-looking armor. He did it for everyone. Tara got red and black armor, Seth got brown tinted steel armor, Scarlett got grey and white armor, Anna got translucent ice armor, Drew got blue tinted steel armor, and Frank got brown and dark green armor. 
"Brenden, Tara, Scarlett, and Frank, you get light armor. You will be faster but won't take a hit as good as heavy armor." Tanaka explained. "John, Seth, Anna, and Drew, you get heavy armor. You can take a hit really well, but you won't go as fast as light armor." 
"That's so cool!" Seth shouted. "Do they do anything else?" 
"Now that you mention it..." Tanaka said. "They enhance your weapon's elemental capabilities." 
"What do you mean?" Drew asked. 
"Why don't you put them on to find out." Tanaka replied. "They go over your clothes, so you won't have to go somewhere else and change." 
Everyone put their armor on. When they did, their weapons started to glow their respective colors. They also started to change. Arc Thunder became longer and grew blades on its ends. Cobra's Fangs became larger and sharper, and grew small hand guards. Inferno caught on fire and became sharper. Earthquake became heavier, larger, and grew more spikes. Hurricane and Tornado grew another blade on the other side of their handles, and became sharper. Avalanche became lighter and could heal faster. Aqua Missile became larger and more slender and Hydro Quiver could now carry one-hundred arrows at a time and the arrows became sharper and more slender. Crystal Vine's whip part became longer and the end of it was sharper, and it grew an extra whip part from the handle. 
"Okay..." Drew said. "I don't even know how that works, but it's probably the coolest thing I've ever seen." 
"Now what?" Anna asked. "Should we train more?" 
"No." Tanaka replied. "I think we should head back to your dimension." 
"Okay." Frank said. "Sounds good." 
"We could talk to JT or something." Scarlett said. 
"Yeah." Brenden added. "It sucks that he couldn't do this with us." 
There was a moment of silence. 
"Oh well." Seth said. "Are we gonna go or what?" 
"Right." Tanaka replied. "Let me just..." 
Tanaka pulled out a neatly designed red stone with a symbol on it. 
"Is that the Interdimensional Gate Key to our dimension?" John asked. 
"Yep." Tanaka responded. "Is everyone ready?" 
Everyone nodded, and Tanaka put his thumb on the symbol which caused a red flash. They then teleported back to their dimension, more specifically on Green Street. 
"Wow." Frank said. "Haven't seen this place in a while." 
"I can't believe that it's still the same day we went to the other dimension." John said. 
"Well, we're all going to JT's house." Scarlett said. "See ya!" 
"Shouldn't you all take off your armor?" Tanaka said. 
"Oh yeah." Seth agreed. "I almost forgot about that." 
Brenden, John, Tara, Seth, Scarlett, Anna, Drew, and Frank took off and cased their armor, put their weapons in their cases, and headed for JT's house, which took about twenty minutes, since his is the closest to Green Street. When they got there, John rang the door bell and out came JT a couple seconds after. 
"What?" JTsaid. "Hm...I see you have your weapons." 
"Are you okay?" Anna asked. 
"Why wouldn't I be?" JT replied. 
"Well..." Anna replied. "You said your stomach wasn't feeling very good the last time we hung out with you." 
"Well...I..." JT said, trying to lie. 
"Also you're acting a bit grumpy." Anna said. 
"Ughh." JT sighed. "I just...wanted to be like you guys." 
JT started to tear up and his face turned red. 
"JT..." Scarlett said. "It's oka-" 
"It's not okay!" JT yelled. "I'll never be cool like you guys!" 
JT's face turned a darker shade of red and he started to cry more. He then realized his embarrassment and shame and ran back into his house, slamming the door behind him. 
"He's got one bad temper." Drew said. "I think we should leave him alone until we go to school tomorrow." 
"Where should we go now?" John asked. "Back to Tanaka's hut?" 
"I guess." Brenden said. "First, let's get something to eat. I haven't eaten in like a year!" 
Everyone laughed and walked to Burger Bucket to eat lunch. After lunch, they saw that it was about twelve o'clock. They then headed back to Tanaka's hut, or rather where it was. 
"I guess he left when we were in Burger Bucket." Brenden said. "That'd explain why we didn't see the red flash earlier while we were at JT's." 
"Probably." Drew said. "Oh well. We can wait." 
Everyone waited for a while. After about thirty minutes, they saw the red flash and, as expected, Tanaka's hut appeared. 
"That was quick." Tanaka said. "What happened?" 
"JT got sad and angry that he didn't get powers or a weapon." Brenden replied. "So we decided to come back here after eating lunch." 
"So, what should we do now?" Anna asked. 
"Hmm..." Tanaka thought. "I think it's about time you eight go get that Sun Relic piece." 
"Really!?" Seth shouted, excited. 
"Yes." Tanaka said. "Here is your armor." 
Tanaka went into his hut and grabbed the eight armor cases. Everyone grabbed theirs, opened their case, and slipped the armor on. 
"I'm going to teleport you to where the piece is, but you have to make sure you're ready." Tanaka said. "These pirates are dangerous." 
Drew and Frank looked at each other, confused. 
"Wait..." Frank said. "Pirates?" 
"Oh. I never told you two." Tanaka said. "A pirate crew took one of the Sun Relic pieces." 
"So we have to board a pirate ship, kill the pirates, and take the Sun Relic piece?" Scarlett asked. "Sounds fun!" 
"Yes." Tanaka said. "Also, you may want to look for anything that'll hint to anymore pieces that are still in this dimension." 
"Oh yeah." Brenden said. "There would be no other way to find it." 
"Are you ready?" Tanaka said. "You have to make sure you're completely ready." 
Everyone either said yes or nodded except for Anna. 
"Anna?" Frank asked. 
"I don't... like hurting things." Anna said, embarrassed. 
"That's why you're the healer." Frank said. "If one of us gets hurt, we'll have to count on you." 
"I'm not sure..." Anna murmured. 
"Frank's right." Tara said. "You're a very valuable member of this team." 
That meant a lot to Anna coming from Tara. Anna quickly wiped off her frown and replaced it with an excited grin. 
"Let's do it!" She exclaimed. 
"Okay." Tanaka said. "Making the portal in three... two... one!" 
Tanaka pointed his cane at every one and shot a large bright ball out of it. 
"Step in the portal." Tanaka said. "It'll teleport you." 
Brenden was about to step into the portal, until... 
"Wait!" Tanaka yelled. "I almost forgot!" 
Tanaka handed Brenden two stones: The one they saw earlier, and a different, but similar grey one. 
"You'll need these to get back." Tanaka said. "I'm making you your team's leader. I'm trusting you with this Brenden." 
"Okay, but what do I do with it?" Brenden asked. 
"Press your finger against the symbol onto this grey one to warp to the training dimension, then press the symbol on the the red one to warp back to Green Street." Tanaka replied. "Remember, you have to be in the red circle to use the red one." 
"Okay." Brenden nodded. "Thank you." 
Everyone stepped in the portal and vanished. 
"I wish you all the best of luck." Tanaka whispered to himself. 
Brenden, John, Tara, Seth, Scarlett, Anna, Drew, and Frank were teleported about a hundred feet above the empty ocean. Everyone was prepared to fall, but Tara on the other hand, was a bit frightened. 
"Anna!" Tara shouted. "Freeze the water below me! Please!" 
"Okay!" Anna replied. "Hold on!" 
Anna dived straight down into the water, swam to where Tara was above, and froze the water below her. 
"Are you sure about this?" Anna asked. "You might get hurt!" 
"Trust me." Tara said calmly. "It's fi-" 
Tara slammed onto the ice and dropped her scythe into the water. 
"Ughh... Drew." Tara pleaded, holding her stomach. "Go get Inferno please!" 
"Okay!" Drew shouted back. 
Drew dove into the ocean water and swam after the scythe. He luckily found it, but when he grabbed it, it was really hot despite it being in the cold water. Drew, despite the pain, brought the scythe back up. By the time he got back up, everyone landed safely into the water. 
"Huhhhh!" Drew gasped. "Here." 
Drew handed the scythe to Tara. She snatched it out of his hands. 
"Forget what you saw!" Tara said, embarrassed. "I just... don't like the water, alright! Especially now because of my fire..." 
"Okay, okay." Drew said with a friendly smile. "It's fine. No harm done, really." 
"Uhh... maybe you should create a platform for me too." Brenden said holding his bo staff above his head. "Y'know, so I don't electrocute you guys and all." 
"Okay." Anna responded. "Swim over here." 
Brenden went over to where Anna and Tara were at. She then made a larger ice platform, and Brenden and Tara both got on it. She then got behind it. 
"Looks like I'm going to have to push it." Anna sighed. 
Seth climbed a nearby rock pointing out of the water and looked around. 
"I see it!" Seth shouted. "It's that way!" 
Seth pointed west and then jumped down into the water, creating a giant splash. Brenden made sure little to no water got on Tara. 
"Let's go!" Seth shouted. 
John, Seth, Scarlett, Drew, and Frank started swimming towards the ship. Anna however, wasn't doing much. 
"Ughh." Anna groaned. "This is exhausting. Wait, why am I doing this?" 
"I'll do it in your place." John insisted. "You just worry about getting to the ship." 
"Okay." Anna smiled. 
John swam over to Anna, Tara, and Brenden and switched places with Anna. Now Anna was swimming and John was pushing. 
"That's strange." Tara said. "Why can't my scythe catch on fire?" 
"It's probably because it got soaked in water." Brenden guessed. "Don't dry it though. We don't want the ice to melt." 
"Ughh." Tara sighed. "Alright." 
"Uh..." Scarlett said. "I don't think that the ship is moving." 
Everyone looked at the ship and saw that it was at a complete stop. They were about twenty feet from it now. They were lucky that they weren't spotted. 
"Okay, we're going to try to sneak onboard and take them all out silently." John whispered, closing in on the ship. "So Frank, you, Brenden, Tara, and I will-" 
Before John could finish discussing his plan, Seth jumped onboard and slammed onto the ship as loud as possible. Scarlett followed. 
"No!" Drew yelled. "Seth, you idiot!" 
"Yeah, I know I'm one." Seth laughed. "It's fine. No one's even up here. They must be in the bottom place of the ship." 
"They probably heard us then." John said. "Oh well. Might as well get on." 
Brenden, John, Tara, Anna, Drew, and Frank got onboard and went downstairs. However, nobody was there. John and Frank went back up to look for the pirates, and everyone else looked for stuff to take. 
"What's this?" Brenden asked, picking up a journal. "It says "Captain Log." Should I open it?" 
Everyone nodded, so Brenden opened it and started reading. 
"Day sixty-two at sea, voyage four." Brenden read. "This voyage seems to be pointless, and the map we found seemed to be fake. I don't get it though. Why would such a complex map with such complex coordinates be a fake? Wait... What was that?" 
"Was that it?" Seth asked. 
"Yeah, well... on that page." Brenden replied. 
"There's more?" Anna asked. "Maybe one of the pages will tell something about the Sun Relic pieces." 
Drew snatched the journal out of Brenden's hands. 
"Hey!" Brenden exclaimed. "I was looking through that!" 
"Well you were going too slow." Drew scoffed, reading the pages. "See? I already found... OW!" 
Drew dropped the book 
"Are you okay?" Anna asked. "Where are you hurt?" 
"I burned my hand while returning Tara's scythe earlier." Drew said. "It's no big deal." 
Anna pointed her staff at Drew's hand. Scarlett picked up the journal. 
"Was it this page?" Scarlett asked. 
"Yes." Drew responded. "Right there." 
Scarlett nodded and began to read. 
"Day two at sea, voyage one." Scarlett read. "The meteorite we saw passing by wasn't a meteorite. We followed it and saw that it was a strange piece of something. Xavier contacted me and said he also found a piece that looked the same. I wonder how Xavier is doing in the South American Amazon. He's just exploring but he said he would move there. I think he's going to change his mind though. He never carries out plans." 
Everyone sat in silence for a while. 
"Hmm..." Seth said. "So this Xavier guy lives in South America? That's really far!" 
"We can't be sure yet." Tara said. "It says he may have lied about-" 
"Guys!" Frank interrupted as he ran down stairs. "We see an island not too far from here! Maybe they went there!" 
"Let's go!" Seth exclaimed. 
Everyone ran upstairs and John pointed to where the island was. They saw that it was about one-hundred feet away. Anna created another ice platform for Brenden and Tara. While they were swimming to the island, Drew explained what they found in the journal. 
"So they must've taken the Sun Relic piece with them then." Frank guessed. "That'd explain why you guys didn't find it while searching through stuff." 
When they got to the island, they saw that it was covered in trees. They stepped onto the shore, exhausted. 
"I don't see... why we didn't, I don't know... USE THE SHIP!" Seth wheezed. 
"Well, do you now how to operate one?" Brenden asked. "Didn't think so." 
"It looks like this may take a while, so we should split up." Tara said. 
"How about we split into the team groups." Drew suggested. 
Everyone agreed to meet at the front of the island by sundown, and so they split up. Brenden, John, Seth, and Drew explored the left side of the island, and Tara, Scarlett, Anna, and Frank ventured off into the right side of the island. They looked for hours. 
"This is pointless." Scarlett said. "We've been searching for four hours and we haven't found a trace of them." 
Scarlett started to get really angry. 
"Calm down." Tara said. "Getting angry won't get you anywhere." 
Scarlett shouted, cutting down about fifty trees. 
"There." Scarlett said. "That'll make looking for pirates eas-" 
Before she could finish her sentence, Scarlett nearly fell down a ravine, hanging onto a stick. 
"Help!" Scarlett pleaded. 
"You're too far down!" Frank shouted. "Let's see..." 
"I have an idea." Tara said. "Scarlett! Grab on!" 
Tara held her scythe by the blade and lowered the handle. Scarlett grabbed on, causing the scythe's blade to cut into Tara's hands. Scarlett managed to pull herself up quickly. Once she was up, Tara quickly dropped her scythe and clenched her fists to try and slow the bleeding. 
"Tara, are you okay?" Anna asked. "That's a lot of... That's a lot of blood." 
"I'm fine." Tara replied. "Some healing would be nice though." 
"Oh! Right!" Anna scrambled. "Sorry!" 
Anna pointed her staff at Tara's hands and healed them. Or at least tried to. 
"Um..." Anna gulped. 
"Is something wrong?" Frank asked. 
"It's not healing fast at all." Anna said. "It may be too deep of a cut." 
"It's fine." Tara said. "You at least stopped the bleeding." 
"Woah..." Frank said. "Look at your guys' hair." 
Everyone looked at each others hair and saw that the colors have changed. Tara's hair was red, Scarlett's was grey, Anna's was light blue, and Frank's was green. 
"I guess our bodies are adjusting to our elements." Anna said. 
"I wonder if the others found anything." Frank said. 
Over where Brenden, John, Seth, and Drew were at, they were just noticing their hair as well. Brenden's was blue, John's was purple, Seth's was brown, and Drew's was dark blue. 
"Huh." Seth said. "Cool." 
"I think we should be heading back." Brenden said. "The sun is almost down." 
Everyone agreed, and so they went back and to the shore and waited for everyone to get to them. About five minutes later, Tara, Scarlett, Anna, and Frank joined Brenden, John, Seth, and Drew and swam back towards the ship. 
"No!" Tara shouted. "I dropped my scythe in the water again!" 
"I'll get it!" Drew said. "Don't worry." 
Drew swam down and grabbed the scythe with his bow, rather than with his hands, and was going to bring it back up, but he saw something. 
"Huh?" Drew thought to himself. "Why are there lights underneath the island?" 
Drew swam back up to tell everyone what he saw. 
"Guys!" Drew exclaimed. "There are lights coming from underneath the island." 
"Underneath?" John asked. "Does that mean that the island is a fake island?" 
"It would appear so." Drew said. "Let's go check it out!" 
"How're me and Tara going to?" Brenden asked. 
"I have an idea." Seth said. "But it probably isn't very good." 
Seth grabbed Brenden's bo staff. 
"I'm guessing that my earth power will neutralize your lightning." Seth guessed, dunking Arc Thunder in the water. "Yep. Thought so." 
"What about Tara?" Brenden asked. 
"I have an idea." Drew said. 
Drew shot Tara with a bubble arrow, trapping her in a bubble. 
"Now you won't get wet AND you can breathe underwater." Drew said, proudly. 
"Alright, we're all set." Scarlett said. "Let's go!" 
Everyone swam towards the unknown light. After a while of swimming, they went back up to breathe and went down again. When they got closer, they saw a bunch of buildings on the ocean's surface surrounded by a see-through dome. 
"What?" Brenden thought to himself, confused. "An underwater city?"

Reviews

[The Heimerdonger]

Dayum JT is getting the harsh treatment XD