"Huh?" Jules exclaimed whilst staring at the message he had just received. He rubbed his eyes aggresively to ensure he wasn't seeing things and indeed he wasn't.
"Sh*t" he cursed
_Another mission may commence soon so I want you to prepare for that...cause this timeyou'regonnabefighting_ he was suddenly reminded of the master's words from yesterday.
"I guess he was right" He sighed heavily. 'Gotta hurry'
Jules leaped out of his bed instantly and rushed towards his wardrobe to change out of his current clothes. There was no time to take a bath so he planned to do that after the mission.
Brown cargo pants and an orange t-shirt. "This should do just fine" he said to himself and hurriedly put on the clothes in front of him. After doing so, he ran out of his room and towards the living room. "I'll be back sis!" He yelled but got no response. 'She's probably asleep' he thought and decided to continue his journey towards the abandoned building where he usually choose to teleport.
Jules could easily create a portal in his room but it's constant whirring generated air pressure so doing so in such an enclosed space was sure to cause some destruction.
"Ha" he panted as soon as he had arrived at his usual spot. "I'd better save some energy for the mission" he let out a breath.
'To the saviours headquarters' he chanted inwardly and stretched out his port-crystal instantly revealing a portal which of course he walked into.
"Well, I'm here..." Before Jules could say anymore, someone grabbed his arm and lead him towards the meditation room. He stared down at the short radiance of white and black hair which could only mean one person....Elise.
"I brought him" Elise said the moment they arrived at the silent training room. Anne and Chris were seated on mats with master Benjamin standing in front of them with his arms crossed. They seemed to have been waiting for him.
"Good" The master smiled. He then turned to Jules, "Chris was just about to call you but i noticed your energy drawing closer to headquarters" he spoke. "We should definitely get your contact info and add you to the saviours chat room after this, for obvious reasons of course" his eyes slowly darted towards Chris with a glare afterwards.
"Hehe" Chris chuckled faintly, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.
The master sighed in frustration. "I guess it's also partly my fault"
He then turned to the others, "Anyways, now that we're complete, let's go over the mission once more" he added and this time, with a more serious expression.
Jules immediately went to take a sit on the mat nearest to him. His teeth chattered at the intense atmosphere, he couldn't help but fret and somewhat get excited.
"There are two of them and judging by the position and pace of their energy, they're very likely to be C-ranked" the master spoke, a strange intensity in his tone.
"C-ranks? We haven't fought one of those in months now" Anne had a surprised expression on her face.
'C-ranks?' Jules wondered. He didn't understand a word he was hearing.
"Yes" the master sighed. "As usual, i can't detect their abilities so you kids have to be persistent and resistant" He added.
At that moment, Elise began to walk towards the cuboid shaped machine at the far end of the room. She pressed a red button present at the top and a blue light shone all over her body. The moment it disappeared, Elise was now putting on her saviour uniform which comprised of a black shirt covered by a long black hood and black thick baggy pants with long light weight boots.
"What are you guys waiting for? We'd be letting them get closer if we stayed here any longer" she said.
"Right"
Both Anne and Chris went over to the machine and did the same. Master Benjamin turned towards Jules and pointed a finger at him and back towards the machine indicating that he was meant to join them.
"Oh...yeah" Jules muttered these words and walked towards the machine as well.
Anne let out a small chuckle "Ooh, wait till you see the uniform I designed"
Jules followed after what he had observed from their actions. He pressed the red button and a brown light covered him, in no time Jules changed into his uniform. A black short sleeved top which clung to his body and black thick baggy pants and same boots with the rest of them.
"I figured since you'll be fighting with your fists most of the time, it wouldn't hurt to expose some skin" Anne smiled.
Jules looked down at his outfit, although they resembled somewhat regular clothes and wouldn't carry much presence if worn in the city, they represented more than that to him. This was another convincing fact that he was now a member of the saviours.
"Quit drooling over a bunch of black clothes" Elise shut down the exciting mood at that moment.
"Master Benjamin, the landmark" She turned to the master this time.
"Oh yeah...that's right" the master said and closed his eyes while clasping his fingers.
'Landmark? master Benjamin had mentioned that yesterday...' Jules thought.
"The dry desert" the master spoke afterwards.
"Ha, it's always that junky place" Anne groaned.
"We should get going" Elise began to walk out of the room and the other three followed.
"Good luck kids" master Benjamin waved with a smile, he patted Jules on the shoulder the moment he walked past him giving him some reassurance. He then stood quietly as he watched the quad run outside, soon he stared down with furrowed brows. 'He's nearby and his energy is released' he thought.
The moment they had gone outside. Elise closed her eyes and stretched out her port-crystal and soon afterwards, a portal opened.
"Here we are, my first mission as a saviour" Jules exhaled nervously.
Chris grabbed his shoulder as they made their way to the portal. "We're gonna defeat those dimwits, a bunch of C-ranks are no problem" he chuckled.
Jules could only smile at his enthusiasm. 'I hope so' he thought.
At the other side of the portal....
There it was....the dry desert.
"I see why they call it the dry desert" Jules finally came to a realization. The entire place was like a desert but with very little sand.
"Wait, this place looks familiar" He turned to look around.
"It's where we defeated the tornado summoning dark associate" Elise spoke and began to walk around as if in search for something. "I don't sight them anywhere" she muttered.
"Tornado summoning.....oh the weird guy who called himself Gary!" Jules said rather loudly.
"Yeah, that dude was a D-rank so the ones we're after right now are gonna be much stronger" Anne said to him.
"Wait, how many ranks are there?" Jules couldn't help but ask.
"Well, there are about...."
"Guys!" Elise called out immediately.
"Watch out!" She yelled but it was too late....
The ground beneath the other three had opened up and a big root pierced out and wrapped around them.
Elise stared at them with dilated pupils but immediately turned to look the other way. Another root seemed to be coming her way but she leaped back and escaped as quickly as light.
"W...what is this?" Jules stammered as the root embraced them more and more every second reducing their chance to escape.
"Sh*t! Get off me you stupid tree root!!" Anne yelled as she repeatedly began to hit the root aggressively.
"Ha" Chris laughed. "Haha, I'm in tears right now. Oh boy" he said admist coughs.
'What the....' Jules thought.
"Alright, enough joking around" Chris said and heaved a long deep sigh as if to cool down. He then lifted his fingers to touch the root surrounding them. In that second, a radiance of grey aura exuded from both him and the root.
"Shouldn't you have done that the moment we got attacked by this big root thingy" Anne said with obvious sarcasm in her tone.
"Shut up missy" Chris simply spoke
"Tch" Anne rolled her eyes at him.
"Wahoo!" A childish voice yelled at that moment and Chris had successfully opened up the root releasing the three at that same time.
"They're here" Elise said with a hint of irritation.
Anne, Chris and Jules turned forward to get a glimpse of the two figures walking towards them, their appearance becoming more and more visible as they moved closer.
'This is so nerve-wracking' Jules thought, his previous excitement seemed to have completely dissipated and all that was left was a nervous and fearful feeling.
The two figures were clearly visible now and they stood before the saviours from a very small distance. A female and a male....the taller female having an angry look and the shorter male who looked more like a kid waving at them with a bright smile.
"Nice to me y'all" the boy said. A short evidence of a branch clung to his fingers.
"So, you're the one who trapped us in that root huh?!" Anne yelled and hastily pointed a gun directly at him in anger.
"Oh hey now, let's not get too hasty" the boy said, his smile not leaving his face. Soon, the edge of his lips curved into a smirk and the ground beneath Anne cracked and opened up allowing another huge root to suffice and wrap around her.
"Anne!" Chris with the intention to help her rushed forward but a body appeared behind him at that moment. He hadn't realized he had been hit until he felt his entire body falling backwards...'What!' he stared up and was met with blood flying in the air and a fist with...'Brass knuckles?' He thought until his entire being fell flat on the floor and his vision blurring slowly till he completely blacked out.
"C...Chris?" Jules stammered as he stared at Chris' unconscious body with widened eyes. He looked up to meet the still intimidating face of the female dark associate who was yet to say a word. H...how was this possible? Wasn't she beside the kid not too long ago?
Before he could properly process the situation...the girl vanished from his sight and appeared behind him in a swift second. "Oh and by the way, my name is Zaya" she said with a husky voice and punch his back at the exact location of his spine with her brass knuckles. The obvious displacement of his bones very audible to the ears at that moment.
Jules came falling forward on his face.
"Ow..." He muttered.
"Hmm? He's still conscious?" Zaya wondered and stared down at him in curiosity.
"Perry, how come they're so weak? Weren't we warned to be careful of them?" Zaya turned to the boy who had a rather excited expression as he stared at the girl trapped in his tree root.
"Huh? Can't hear you, try speaking...." He paused. "Zaya!" He yelled at that instance, his happy expression transforming into a concerned one.
"Aura manipulation, gliding subject!" A sophisticated feminine voice chanted and a gush of aura slid speedily and stabbed Zaya on the stomach from behind. "Kurgh!" Zaya coughed and blood came rushing out of her mouth. "Damn it!" She muttered irritatedly and vanished.
She reappeared behind Perry the next second leaving Elise standing and staring at them with an unappealed expression, her aura surrounding her creating an intimidating but yet beautiful image. Zaya clutched onto her stomach and glared at her angrily.
Elise sighed, her arms crossed around her chest. "This is no fun" she said. "Stand up you dimwits!" She yelled, her voice remaining calm despite it.
Jules panted heavily and forced himself to stand up, his strength returning back to him little by little all thanks to his ability. He placed a palm on his back and couldn't help but admit it....Zaya was really strong, could there be other people who possess the same ability as he does? But...Zaya was a dark associate and they weren't humans right?
"Ahh shit! That bitch really went for it!" Chris grunted as he clutched onto his head and stood up as well.
"W..wait, you...were awake too?" Zaya stammered with widened eyes.
"Was taking a nap until this bossy lady had to call me a dimwit!" Chris yelled and turned to Elise with an annoyed expression but received no response in return, just Elise rolling her eyes as usual.
"Ha" the small boy standing before Zaya laughed. "Haha" Perry couldn't control his laughter. "So, that's how we're gonna play it huh?" He smirked.
"Zaya step back" He said with a serious expression this time.
"Don't tell me..." Zaya paused as she came to a realization and took a few steps away from him as he had ordered.
"You might wanna hold unto your little friend" he spoke and the root tightly wrapped around Anne opened up immediately letting her fall freely but Chris rushed over and caught her before she fell on the floor completely.
"You...what are you gonna do?" He looked up at Perry. Both Elise and Jules did same.
"Heh". In that moment, the entire floor underneath Perry began to produce roots, big huge ones. Soon, they rushed towards him and went inside him. Slowly and gradually, the body of the small Perry from earlier began to transform into something...huge! and.....terrifying. A tall creature which resembled a tree, it's rooty hands enlongated and it's entire body exuding long stretchy branches. The Perry from earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Jules stood frozen, staring up at the creature with widened eyes. Chris also had the same expression, his arms wrapped around Anne protectively at that moment and Elise could only facepalm.
"I should've known" She muttered. "That kid is a transformer"