BYTE
A few days after Innocence's Fusion, I was just getting back to the house after a day of working on my suits. Innocence was home and was playing hide and seek with Sky.
"100, okay I'm coming!" He said, then went searching for her. He immediately saw her shoes poking out from under the curtains. Smiling, he walked over to them, still acting oblivious.
" Is she under the table? No. Is she on the ceiling? No! I wonder where she could be" a little giggle came from behind the curtain. Innocence smiled and pulled it back, shouting "Here you are!". He was met with a pair of empty shoes and an audio playback device. The device started and Sky's giggle came from it. "What?" Innocence asked. Suddenly the wardrobe behind him burst open and Sky leapt from it, clinging to Innocences back giggling hysterically
"Ambush!" She shouted "the hunter has become the hunted!" I laughed and they both noticed me
"Jonas!" Sky said, getting off of Innocence and running towards me. I picked her up and gave her a hug
"Hey Sky" I said "what have you been up to?"
"Defeating Carter with pure strategy!" She said with huge, teeth smile. I laughed and put her down as Innocence came over
"I was just got outsmarted by a six year old" he said
"I know I saw" I replied smiling "but this is no average six year old are you Sky?"
"Nope!" She shouted, jumping up and down
"What is she then?" Innocence asked smiling
"A genius!" Sky replied giggling.
"Exactly!" I said. Sky was really smart for her age, and still eager to learn. If she continued like this, plus her two Enhancements, she was going to be scary for anyone to fight. While I thought, I wondered into the kitchen, Innocence and Sky both followed me. Innocence put Sky on the kitchen counter as he checked the fridge
"You guys eaten? I asked
"Yeah we went to the food depot and got some spaghetti-"
"Which was too hot!" Sky interrupted Innocence
"Well if you would've been patient and waited for it to cool like I said it wouldn't have been would it?" Innocence replied. Sky stuck her tongue out at him.
"You have leftovers?" I asked
"Yeah we do" Innocence said, pulling them out of the fridge and giving them to me.
"Make sure they're not too hot" Sky said
"I will" I replied, smiling.
I sat eating the spaghetti while Sky sat on the table, eating an ice cream she found in the fridge. Innocence was still rummaged through the fridge.
"How was training today?" I asked him
"Meh" he replied " the new Abilities the Blast Gaia gave me are really hard to control, and I'm still learning new stuff I can do all the time. I've not even scratched the surface on what I can do, let alone begun to master any of it."
"It's only been a week and a half. You'll get it. Don't worry. What about Darazu and Bounce Back?" I asked
"Sin took Bounce Back when we Split" Innocence said "And he's training with Darazu all the time"
"How do you know?" I asked "He might be half way around the world by now"
"I just know" Innocence said. Curious.
"I don't like Sin" Sky said
"Me neither" Innocence replied
"Moving on, what do you think about-" I began, then saw Innocence pull a bottle of Guinness out of the fridge "what you doing with that?". Innocence looked at me confused
"Drinking it?" He replied
"No you're not you're way too young"
"Awww come on man! Wolf let me all the time"
"Wolf was too young too, has bad taste and isn't here right now. Give it" I ordered. Innocence handed it over and I sat back down, keeping the bottle out of Sky's grabby hands. Now I had two people pouting at me. "Moving on" I retried "what do you think about Tinkerer?"
"He's alright" Innocence replied "he is helping us big time though. We should thank him"
"I think we already have" I said
"What do you mean?" Innocence asked
"Notice how he really wanted to give you that Fusion?"
"Yeah. You don't think that was just to help us"
"No. I'm not saying Tinkerer is a bad person. But it was a win win situation for him and us. You get more powerful and he gets to try Antler's theory on Fusion."
"Tinkerer said something about him being part of a group of scientists. And Antler and your dad are part of it as well. Do you know anything about that?" Innocence asked
"Everything" I replied "they're called the Four Minds. The four smartest people in the world. They are responsible for almost every major technological step forward in the past 30 years. They even created three out of the seven ways to gain power. Spencer Clay, Anthony Horn, Edwin Antler, and Jeremy Stone."
"Which one is Tinkerer?"
"Anthony Horn."
"Okay? So how does he know what Antler is doing?"
"They all agreed that all knowledge will be shared between them, no matter what. When the Chaser/Frighter conflict started, they agreed that one would be on either side of the conflict and two would be neutral. That way all sides would have the same level of technology. They meet up in person every 15 years. The last time they did, I was three"
"Wow" Innocence said "what happened at this meeting?"
"According to Tinkerer, it's when my dad agreed to help him with the Palantia and in return, My dad said that Horn owes him. Helping us get stronger, giving us a place to stay, and everything else Horn has done would pay off his debt to my dad. As I said, it's a wining situation"
"So it's all just for him?" Sky asked
"Exactly right little genius"
"That's greedy!"
"Yes it is" Innocence said "we gonna do anything about it?"
"No" I replied "let him fill his debt. It benefits us anyway. Just don't take his actions as completely good hearted"
"Okay. I won't" Innocence said. Suddenly Tinkerer burst through the door
"Boys?" He asked
"Yeah?" We said at the same time
"We've been sent an ultimatum. We either give away the Materialiser or they will take the Palantia!"
"Who? Who's they?" Innocence asked. Tinkerer looked at us with genuine fear on his face
"Sky Pirates"
