Recklessness turns into Bloodshed.|GJ

chapter 2.

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"Welcome back, Go Jetters!"

Ubercorn greeted the group of heroes at the entrance of Jetpad, smiling widely. Behind him on the table were four glasses and a jug of fresh lemonade.

"I figured you would all be incredibly hot and thirsty after rescuing Glitch in that cave," he said, "so drink up!"

"Cheers, Ubercorn!" Kyan grinned, sprinting to the table. In his blind carelessness, he didn't notice the chair sitting directly in his path, making the acrobat tumble forwards and land flat on his face onto the cushion, legs stuck up and twitching in the air.

"Owww, damn it..."

The gang behind him burst into laughter as they approached the table, picking up the glasses and pouring each other sweet lemonade. Kyan picked himself up and followed suite, laughing off the little accident.

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The glistening chandelier swung to and fro above the library, illuminating the small space below with a calming light. Multiple thick books were stacked on top of the table, already thoroughly read.

Flicking through the pages of a seventh book, the Strategist rubbed his eyes and tried to maintain focused on the words. The digital clock besides the stack read 11:41pm. Everyone else in the academy would be either asleep, in their rooms or taking various night shifts (cleaning up, checking vehicles and Click-Ons, etc.).

Foz groaned. It was typical of him to stay up this late. Perhaps this was why he had such a short fuse every morning, but oh well. As a Main-Team Strategist, he must keep learning.

But he was just... so.. tired...–

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, something shimmered.

He snapped into focus. A white glint had appeared for a brief moment, and it was now glowing vividly.

It was coming from his pocket.

Slowly, Foz reached into his pocket, pulling out the small zip-lock bag that held the selenite Kyan found in the cave.

It glowed a bright white, but the aura it was encompassed by wasn't friendly at all.

If anything, it simply spoke malevolent intentions.

"What the Hell...?" he mumbled, squinting at the gem. It was incredibly faint, but if he stared close enough, right in the centre of the gem, he could see an orange tint swirling within.

"That's unusual... earlier before it was..."

"vessel... found..."

Foz flinched, dropping the bag onto the table. Did... Did that crystal just speak?

No. No way. This wasn't naturally possible. Rocks don't speak, let alone fully formed crystals.

... Unless...

Foz quickly extracted his magnifying glass from his pocket, inching it towards the centre of the crystal. Sure enough, that orange glow was still there, along with something else.

His eyes widened.

That something...

... was an orange star.

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Word count: 451