Objective: Fire

Chapter 13

(( author's note))

- small surprise to you guys, it's nothing to big, but I'm an artist, and You guys probably know that artists always have a project they're working on, and I've worked on a new book cover for this book! I kinda feel like the old one doesn't fit so well.

- and one last thing. Im thinking of giving you people the chance to ask your favorite characters questions, while I draw them reply to you, but I'm considering to add this part into a book of its own, where you always will be able to ask questions while this book continues without any disturbances.

What you guys think?

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" no no no!" Kai yelled as he realized he wasn't able to block the upcoming attack towards him. A fist hits him in the face, forcing him to fly backwards into the wall behind him.
Kai hits it hard and falls down to his knees. Even though his whole body was throbbing with pain, he would not give up just yet. He quietly dries the blood off his nose and lifts his head to face his opponent, cold eyes staring back at him, reading his every move, predicting what would come next.
Kai slowly turned his head too look at their audience. Yes, of course Skylor and Seliel where there, but two more people were watching. One of them being the leader himself... and for some strange reason... he knew he wasn't there to watch him...
Without getting the time to think, a kick was launched at Kai and it hit him perfectly in the stomach, causing him to fall flat to the ground.
Kai had to admit that Brine was better than anything he had ever seen. Even his speed was remarkable and he was having a hard time keeping up with him, But Kai wasn't going to let him get away with this so easily. Without wasting more time, he used both of his legs to tackle him, forcing Brine to fall to the ground next to Kai.
" got you" Kai grins as he was about to throw himself over him to pin him down, but he never managed to get that far. Brine had predicted this exact move and turned it into his advantage, but he neither got the chance to finish Kai off as a loud sound rung out, calling the battle to end. They both lifted their head in the direction of the noice, watching the masked man next to the leader step forward to give the signal for the battle to end. As he stepped back, the leader himself stepped forward, keeping his cold eyes on both of them. Judging by the look of it, he wasn't pleased.
" why are you holding back." The dark voice spoke, sending shivers down Kai's spine. He didn't sound very happy, that he had to admit. Skylor and Seliel slowly lowered their heads, not daring to look at their master as this was slowly turning dark. Kai and Brine stands up from the stone cold ground, not looking at each other.
Kai knew very well who the leader was referring to, but he wasn't like the others, he wasn't going to bow down to an evil man who knew nothing but war.
But what he heard next came as a shock to him.
" I'm not your toy, never gone be, never will be" Brine replied coldly, not showing any kind of emotion.
" You can't hold it back forever 01. It's going to break free sooner or later"
Brine narrows his eyes at the leader, anger boiling up in him. He hated this place, and he hated being treated like he was nothing but an object of power. They were never going to get what they wanted, that he was going to make sure of that, even if it meant to die.
" I rather die" Brine replies, holding back the urge to attack. He had to control himself... he couldn't let his feelings take over... he couldn't let them win.
" you could be great you know, you are wasting your true potential by holding it back." the leader replies, now turning away to leave.

Skylor quietly bows before her master and walks angrily over to the boys, Seliel following closely behind her. To her, this had been a disaster. She had at least hoped to impress her master, but it seemed like he left this place in annoyance rather than satisfaction.
" what was that!?" She furiously whispers to them, grabbing both Kai and brine by their ear, bringing them both down to her level.
" you ask me.." Brine replied annoyed, not wanting to talk about what had just happened. He couldn't care less if this was bringing shame upon Skylor as a squad leader.
" you two ! You're unbelievable!" Her face turned red, almost as red as her hair, and Kai couldn't help but think she looked cute when she was this angry. Wait what? Where in the world did that come from!? Kai though to himself, feeling embarrassed to even allow himself to think such thoughts.
Brine finally got enough of Skylors yelling and backed away, turning to leave the training room.
" i did not dismiss you 01!" Skylor yelled after him, trying to prevent him from leaving.
This somehow seemed to trigger something inside Brine and he turned around, facing her as anger burned in his eyes.
" don't you dare call me that, ever again." he didn't yell like a normal person would probably have done in this situation, but his cold stinging words was almost as sharp as knifes. Kai could almost sense the pain and darkness in his voice as he spoke those words, causing the room to turn completely silent. Including him, who normally would have tried to bring up a joke at this point.
Since no one replied, Brine saw no point in staying and quietly left the room without another word. Where he was heading, they had no idea, but Kai had a pretty good thought to where.
Skylor finally gave in and left the room as well, not following Brine of course as he was the very last person she wanted to be around at the moment.
Kai and Seliel were left alone in the training room, complete silence surrounding them both.
" what... what was that all about..." Kai mumbled, not truly understanding what was going on. To be honest, nothing really made sense to him. What did the leader talk about when he spoke with Brine? Asking him why he was holding back?
" what is Brine holding back?" Kai slowly turned his head towards Seliel, hoping she would answer him. She quietly sighed and looked at him, unsure of what to say. Was she even allowed to tell Kai?
" they want his powers..." she finally let out.
" his ... powers...? Why not use the weird crystal stone thing to take it? Like they did to... me..." the tough of it brought painful memories back to him, causing feelings to go wild inside of him. Anger... sorrow... pain... emptiness, everything at the same time.
" they tried... but Brine isn't an elemental master, or has any kind of powers similar to one. He possesses something very different..." Seliel finished off, unsure how Kai would react to this information.
Kai however got even more confused at this new information.
" what are his powers for? What are my powers for!?" Kai asked, knowing he was sounding a bit to desperate for his own liking, but for now, it didn't matter. Brine was being held here as a prisoner as well, and the X Squadron was after both of their powers... but what for?
" excuse me!" Kai quickly ran out of the room, leaving a confused Seliel behind.
As he ran down the hallway, he was keeping an eye out for Skylor in case she would suddenly pop up and prevent him from reaching his fellow teammate. He had to find Brine, talk to him, figure things out, because all of this didn't make sense to him at all.
And it didn't take long until he spotted the light brown haired boy further down the hallway, walking towards their shared room, witch recently had been assigned them.
" Brine!" Kai called putting as he reached him, placing a hand onto his shoulder to stop him from walking. But Kai hadn't been expecting what came next..
Without a second to think, Brine twirled around, grabbing Kai's shirt and slammed him into the wall, pinning him there as he stared angrily at him. Brine then realized it was Kai and not an X squadron member who had gone after him, and slowly let go of him.
" sorry.. I thought you were someone else" he mumbled and backed away a bit. He hadn't meant to hurt Kai and felt a bit guilty. He hadn't exactly gone easy on him back in the training hall either...
" agh... nah don't worry I'm alright. I'm not one of them" Kai replied as he rubbed the back of his head as it was hurting a bit.
" in fact... I want to talk to you." Kai looked up at Brine, who simply just stood there watching him.
" why? We got noting to discuss" Brine replied, not knowing what Kai possibly could want to discuss with him.
" I believe we do" Kai grins and looks around. " but we should talk somewhere more private, I don't want Skylor sneaking up on us." Kai grabbed Brine by his arm and lead him towards a dark hallway witch people almost never used. In the hallway was a door witch lead to a small closet. Kai forced the two of them into in, both now sitters among lots of old soap and cleaning supplies. Brine frowns at the weird smell and looks over at Kai who quickly locked the door.
" alright what do you want?"
Brine was starting to get annoyed.
" I'm only here because these people holding us here claims to have my parents locked up, and they're holding you captured here because of whatever power you posses, witch they can't take from you, so why don't we team up? I mean, we're both on the same boat here." Kai spoke, kicking away a bottle of soap that was to close to his face for his own liking.
" why should I team up with you? We're already in the same group" Brine replied coldly.
" yeah, but you're being held captured under this evil curse, and I believe I know someone who can help you get it off" Kai pointed at the bracelet onto his wrist. This caught Brines attention.
" continue.." Brine replies.
" we could get out of here, we work together, get my powers back, get that thing off you, save my parents and destroy this whole assassin league X thing" Kai grins up at Brine.
" you don't have a plan do you?" Brine raised an eyebrow at him, reading Kai as easily as a book.
" as far as I get it, you're the greatest strategist out of the two of us, why don't we work together?" Kai was unsure of what Brine would say to this, but it seemed like he was concerning this, witch was a good sign.
" are you sure they're not lying about your parents being alive..?" The question was unexpected, and Kai could swear he could get his voice soften up a bit.
" I... I can't prove anything... but I really... hope they're alive.." Kai mumbled, slowly turning emotional.
Brine noticed and slowly looked away.
" I will help you... if you're parents are alive.. I will help you get them out... I know how it feels to lose someone you love.." Brine mumbled. It had been the first time in years that he had expressed this much emotion.
" you lost someone too? I've heard you grew up with the league... I thought you guys weren't allowed to have attachments..." Kai mumbled, knowing this from what Lloyd had told him.
" true, but I'm quite sure everyone broke that true in secret. It was forbidden to even become friends, and I believe that is an impossible task." Brine replied, surprised at how much Kai knew about the old league.
" how did you find out about this..? It doesn't seem like you grew up there since you knew your parents." Brine asked.
" my best friend Lloyd grew up there, being trained to become... Renegade I think? He was the main assassin to the dark lord himself, going through hard training and terrible punishments.. turned out he was the chosen green ninja and teamed up with is, later on defeating the dark lord himself" Kai grins, proud to talk about his amazing family.
Brine however were shocked to her this. He knew the dark lord had been defeated and that the league had been destroyed, but he had never known how it had come to happen.
" the green ninja? As in the old legends?" Brine asked. He had believed it was a myth and that something this great would never happen. Turned out he was wrong.
" yep, the master of energy himself." Kai grins.
" and he was the renegade..?" Brine asked again.
" yes, a terrible role to be honest. For him to complete his training and get the full rank of renegade, he had to kill an elemental master.. and unluckily for me, I was his chosen target" Kai chuckled, recalling old memories.
This made Brine go silent. Since Kai was here now, alive and well, he had to assume this Lloyd had failed his trail.., he never became a fully trained renegade, meaning... he had never killed an innocent soul before... like he had done...

Suddenly the door to the closet flew open and Skylor herself stood before them, staring confused as she saw the two of them clinched close to each other in the old closet.
" how in the world did you find us!?" Kai burst out, not expecting this at all.
She holds up her hand where her communicator showed a map where she had tracked the two of them down.
" you both have a tracking device on your own communicators! Use your brain Kai!" She pulled both of them out of the closet.
" and what in the world were the two of you doing in there!?" She didn't seem pleased at this.
" we... talked... yeah.. talked" Kai chuckled, knowing this all probably seemed very weird from her point of view.
" we weren't making out if that's what you were thinking." Brine rolled with his eyes, not badgering to explain anything. It was the truth after all.
" whatever you two where doing in there! I've been trying to contact you!! "

"We have a mission"