Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Can We Dream? ❯ Devotion, As They Say ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2- Devotion, As They Say


"Where are going?" asked Daisuke, hurrying to keep up with Arashii.

"To a containment area," answered Arashii briefly. "It's where people like us test out their abilities for analysis."

"How interesting!"

When they reached the containment area, Arashii inserted a pass card into a slot in the wall. The door opened.

"This is the command center," he explained. He pointed to a wall with a large glass panel. "Down there you can see what's going on the in containment area."

"Hi Arashii!" said a girl with short black hair. She mock saluted him.

Arashii sighed. "That's Rumi. She's a gifted kunoichi."

Daisuke waved at her. "Nice to meet you!"

Rumi smiled at him and went back to editing an image on one of the computers.

Daisuke notcied a young man who appeared as if he was multiplying. Copies of himself kept running around doing different things. The young man grinned. "Hi. I'm Yan."

"Yan can create countless duplicates of himself," Arashii said to Daisuke.

"I think he could already tell, Arashii," said Yan, rolling his eyes.

"Hi Arashii," said a voice. "How's that comic book coming along?"

Arashii turned bright red and wheeled around to see a guy smirking at him. "Dewei," he said flatly. "I thought you'd never remember."

"What?" asked Daisuke curiously.

Dewei grinned. "My memory is excellent. A long time ago, Arashii wanted to be a comic artist. Needless to say, he has grown out of it."

"I'll say," said yet another voice, and Arashii jumped. "Comic artist? Really, Arashii."

One of the walls suddenly moved, a young man revealed himself.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Daisuke in delight. "That was amazing! How did you that?"

He grinned. "I can blend into pretty much any background. I'm Dan, by the way."

"Stop that guys," said Arashii angrily. "Show some respect."

"You don't deserve respect," said Rumi laughing.

"Relax, we're just kidding," said Yan, giving a very cross Arashii a friendly nudge.

"Can we go see what's happening down there?" asked Daisuke, pointing to the containment area.

"I guess we could," said Arashii grumpily.

"I'll go with you," said Dewei.

The three of the went down the elevator and entered the containment area. While Arashii busied himself with talking to Dewei, Daisuke went off by himself to observe the training.

He found a girl sitting on the floor with a large book in her lap. Her lips moved soundlessly and her bespectacled eyes drank in the text on the pages. Different colors of light appeared around her and flew at another boy standing a distance away. He appeared to be slowing them down in order to dodge them.

Daisuke went up to the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he said politely. "Could you tell me what you're doing? I hope I didn't interrupt anything," he added, smiling apologetically.

The girl shook her head. "It's okay. I'm Tomoe, and that's Endo," she said, pointing the the boy. "I'm casting spells, and Endo is slowing them down so he can dodge them."

"Oh," said Daisuke. "Are you a witch?"

Tomoe winced. "No. Please don't call me that."

"Sorry!!" squeaked Daisuke, inching away to another pair.

This time it was two girls. One girl had laughing brown eyes and was kneeling next to a potted flower. The stems and leaves seemed to follow the swaying motions of her hand. Another girl knelt next to her, doing the same thing.

Daisuke crouched down next to the girls. "Is that a water lily?" He asked, curiously.

The girl with brown eyes smiled. "Yeah. It's pretty, huh?"

"Yes!" agreed Daisuke enthusiastically. "But what are you doing?"

"Oh! I'm loosening its roots," said the girl. "I'm Shumi, by the way."

"Daisuke," he said. "Are you loosening the roots, too?" He asked the other girl.

"Yes," she grinned, "but I can do much more. I can temporarily copy another's ability and enhance it in order to help them." At this moment, the girl stood up and picked up Daisuke with surprising ease.

"H-hey!" screeched Daisuke. "Put me down!"

"Put him down, Hikari," said Arashii as he walked by.

Hikari smiled mischieviously as she carefully placed him on the floor. "Super strength, huh?"

Daisuke nodded, looking rather ruffled.

"WATCH OUT!"

The blonde boy turned his head and ducked with a yell as a hand came zooming towards him. He felt himself hit the floor and watched, astonished, as the hand retreated back into its corresponding body. The owner was a guy whose very limbs seemed to be contorting and fluctuating in manners that the normal human body would not allow. Daisuke shook his open-mouthed head. Here was a living Elastic Man!

"Excuse me!!" He called excitedly. "I'm Daisuke! What's your name?"

The guy looked up. "Why, hello, fellow human being. The name's Jouta. That's Sayuri," he said, pointing to a girl waving from very far away.

"Hello Sayuri!" Daisuke called.

"HELLO!" She yelled.

Daisuke's eyes widened and his hands slapped over his ears. "That was loud!"

"Yes, Sayuri can manipulate sound waves," said Jouta.

"Daisuke, if you're done socializing, I'd like to talk with you," said Arashii impatiently.

Daisuke stood up and dusted himself off. "There are so many interesting people here!"

Arashii sighed. "Yes, but none of them are as important as you are."

The blonde cocked an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes," said Arashii. "Most of these people are content to stay here. No one wants to associate himself with a world that once shunned them. We need you to persuade them otherwise."

Daisuke looked uncomfortable. "Well, I can try."

**

Aozora idly flipped through a few pages of her magazine. "Wonder where Daisuke is," she thought aloud. "And Arashii, too," she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Don't know, don't care," Tori sing-songed. She was sitting crossed legged on the floor, a sucker in her mouth, looking very bored.

Kojiro snorted, playing a videogame with Taro on the television. "How do we know you didn't read his mind before he left?"

Tori gasped in mock offense. "You really think I'd do that?"

Kojiro and Taro exchanged looks and nodded.

Tori pouted. "Well, I'm not gonna tell you."



"Thought so," said Aozora.After a moment of silence, Tori finally burst out. "Okay, fine! I'll tell you! It was something about a scientific facility. I couldn't get much Ôcause he was being all secrety-secrety about it."

"In his own mind?" Aozora said, frowning.

She shrugged. "Guess so."

"And for good reason."

The others whipped around to see Arashii standing in the doorway, looking irritated.

"Arashii!" Tori squeaked.

"You disappoint me, Tori," said Arashii, shaking his head. "What did I say about reading other people's minds without asking?"

"It's not polite," Tori answered monotonously, sticking her lower lip out.

Kojiro snickered.

"Shut up, Koji!"

"No."

"Baka."

"Tori..." said Arashii warningly.

She crossed her arms. "Yes, mother," she said sticking her sucker in her mouth with the air of a punished child.

"Where's Daisuke?" asked Aozora.

"He's up on the ground floor. Has Akito got everybody in the database?"

"Yes, he emailed it to you," she said, absorbed in her magazine again.

"Good. I found some new recruits."

------

AHHH! What's this, Kami? You're finally active on Mediaminer again?! -__-x I know I've been bad at updating, so I'm going to try to get back on track. There are a lot of stories I haven't finished yet!

Please R&R, and thank you for the 1300+ views for Ninja'd Away! :D

- Kami