The Khalanium Blades

Chapter 18: Outsider

Sam immediately ran forward and hugged Rook. "I missed you, Uncle Ben," he said, as Ray watched in confusion. Uncle? Ben? "But my dad said you died." Rook shook his head.

When Rook saw everyone looking at him in astonishment, he sighed and explained. "You heard correctly. I am Sam's uncle, Ben Rook. The reason why I didn't tell anyone yet is because I needed to wait for the right time. So with help I was able to contact and tell Sam to meet us here in Korpus."

The woman, Sophia, walked up the Rook. "It is true. I flew him here, and initially I had my hesitations and doubts, but there was no other place where I could hide."

"Excuse me, but did you just say, 'hide'?" Kent asked.

"That is correct. I was an agent of Conquest. But by the time I realized it would go as far as creating an unstoppable army that would kill and exterminate any resistant world, I couldn't find a way to escape. But when I saw your friend here mad and all, I found the cure and together we fought our way out of the base."

"So, you're a runaway?" Kent crossed his arms.

Sophia nodded. Rook was lost for words. "Well, you have done us a great favor, so do you have a request?"

"Yes, I wish to be an agent of PROTECT."

Kent's jaw dropped. "We'll see," he said. "But remember your trust is earned. And how do we know this isn't just a setup? We had three spies, and I wouldn't be surprised at a fourth."

"Because of this," Sophia argued. She pulled out a small device. She pressed a button, and a voice echoed throughout the night saying, "All forces focus on Agent 583, Sophia Sharp, who has been spotted stealing a jet with our captured Conqueror. Find her!" The woman smiled in victory and followed Rook to her new quarters.

Kent had a worried expression as he called after the former agent, "I know you are another spy. And I will find out one way or another." Sophia didn't respond.

"Well, I guess you'll have a jolly time finding evidence. Good luck!" Sam said sarcastically behind Kent. Now the Specials, reunited, walked back to their tent with hopes of getting more hours of sleep.

* * *

The sun shined brightly as birds entered the Specials' tent and landed on the teenagers' bed. Ray woke up, only to roll off the bed upon seeing the waste the feathered creatures had disposed on his bed. He groaned as he rubbed the stuff off with tissue found in the desk's drawer. He woke everyone up before heading out to breakfast.

Finding an empty table out of many under a giant cloth, the cranky teens ate a big breakfast, worried it might be their last in a long time. Halfway through, Sophia and Rook both just arrived and sat down with their friends. Ray was happy it was them, since Rook had become another older brother to him, but Rob would always be unrivaled. "Good morning," Rook greeted. "As you might've guessed, I will be your new training instructor, so I am no longer a commander for now. Just call me Coach Rook."

"And I will be your second coach," The woman announced proudly. "Director Quick trusts me and said that if I do well, and since I was a top agent in Conquest with numerous skills, I might have a chance to be an agent someday. And to stop that evil force is all I want." Sam bounced up from his slouched position and brightened up. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Really?" the boy exclaimed. He turned to his friends. "In that case, you're gonna see a lot of amazing stuff from Pia."

"Sorry, but who's Pia?" Jane asked. She looked at Sophia, who was smiling at her. "Oh! It's just a nickname." The shy girl liked the young woman instantly. She didn't know why, but had a feeling that Pia would make training more enjoyable somehow. But she didn't understand why Kent doesn't trust the new guest. "But I don't get why Kent acts like he hates you so much."

Pia put her fork down and had a nervous look. She drank before replying. "You see, it's because about a month ago, when Conquest wanted revenge for PROTECT's major assault, I was sent to take out one of their bases. In there were Kent and his father. As we were about to leave after stealing what was ours, someone shot three bullets into the father. I stood in pity, wanting to help, as Kent cried and called for help. But I eventually left under pressure."

Ray was shocked, but the story didn't change his perspective of his second coach. He knew she was pressured, and that would have been treason in the eyes of Conquest. But he also understood what Kent felt. His thoughts abruptly left him when he saw that Kent himself was standing a few feet behind Pia and staring at them with a stern face. But by the time someone else noticed, Kent was already approaching them.

"Hello," he said, as if the person he hates wasn't one stretch away. Pia didn't have even a slight hint of acknowledging the older man's presence. "I believe you people have something else to do with your lives, like training perhaps, other than talking about my father's death." He almost shouted the last phrase, and when he saw heads turning towards him, he leaned in and whispered malevolently, "Isn't that right, Coach Pia?"

The woman looked up to meet the man eye to eye, not a glimmer of nervousness. "Yes, Sir," she confirmed with a grim look. Kent left, leaving the teenagers to freeze at the awkwardness of someone hating another, but can't really show it because they work in the same organization. "Well, I guess we better head off to the training grounds," she concluded.

The Specials followed their two coaches past the tents, past the open clearing, and into the trees that surrounded the imaginary border. "Why do we need to train here? This seems like the perfect place to accidentally start a forest fire," Ray asked, trying his best not to lose sight through all the messy leaves and long branches. No one answered. "Hello?" No reply. He began to panic within, so he hastily brushed off his obstacles and continued forward more quickly.

He finally reached a clear space and saw his friends relaxing and fidgeting, like they had been there for an hour. Sam took first notice of his best friend and stood up. "Hey, what took you so long?" he chuckled. Ray rolled his eyes and grumbled, but grinned when the boy tripped over a branch and fell.

Rook stood in the center and cleared his voice. "Here is a small cleared out space where we will train. Our training for today will mainly focus on control and concentration." Once said, the five were individually given special tasks that regard each of their unique abilities. Ray had to carefully light a stick without completely disintegrating it. Sam practiced his throwing aim, and Sarah was challenged to shoot branches that were randomly thrown up in the air. Jane accumulated her breath into one concentrated blast of wind, and Carson just improved his ninja techniques by running around and jumping from tree to tree.

Once they were all done and exhausted after around two hours of depleting their energy, they each found either a log or a tree trunk to rest on while the coaches took notes. "Ok, team, well done today," Pia remarked, a broad smile on her face. The teens couldn't resist returning the smile. They actually enjoyed the training, probably since the energetic young lady was there to encourage them and laugh at their clumsy mistakes, just like what Rob used to do. Ray sighed before taking another sip of cold water. He missed Rob so much.

Just about to leave for the campsite, the group shook slightly when a loud explosion tore through the peaceful sound of nature. In the air beyond the woods, smoke and ashes rose up rapidly in different areas. Ray stood in shock of realization of what was occurring—the campsite was being attacked.