Rowen walked down the second floor hallway, heading to his last class, which was Archery. He had weight lifting in that class and wanted to use it to vent off some frustration he had. The Gymnasium was downstairs on the first floor and he estimated it would take him ten minutes to get there with everyone crowding in the halls.

He could not believe that Brock had the nerve to do that to Rekino. He wished he could just lay in one punch to him, but Rowen didn’t like to fight on school property, and sometimes fighting wasn’t the answer, but what could he do? He was getting tired of Brock’s attitude. He let out a sigh as he turned the corner that led to the stairwell, and right into Brock.

“Hello, Hashiba,” Brock said with a sickening grin. There was something peculiar about his look, and if Rowen didn’t know any better this could mean trouble. Before he had time to react, Brock slammed him hard against the lockers. His breath caught and he was amazed at the strength Brock seemed to possess.

The blows came quick and hard, and Rowen barely had time to defend himself as punch after punch landed on his face, torso, stomach, and just about everywhere. Rowen tried to block Brock’s attack, hoping that maybe one of the teachers would see what’s going on. A crowd of students gathered around, some cheering Brock on, others encouraging Rowen to fight back, some demanding that Brock stop, and others were just watching quietly.

Finally Brock did a roundhouse kick to Rowen’s head, and the Ronin of Strata flew back against the lockers and fell face forward to the floor. As he flew back, the necklace the Rowen wore fell off. Rekino’s ring shimmered in the fluorescent light as it came off of the necklace and into the floor next to Rowen’s unconscious body. He made no movement and looked pretty much dead. Brock grinned in triumphant and made his way through the crowd who stared in disbelief at the injured school genius lying unconscious on the floor.

“Someone get help!” A girl screamed. Two boys turned and ran down the hall, looking for the nearest teacher. Brock continued down the hall, laughing to himself at what he had done to Rowen Hashiba.

*~*

Mia was on the tennis court hitting balls back and forth from the machine while the coach was watching her. Suddenly, she got this strange feeling that something was wrong with her partner in arms. She stopped concentrating and started to concentrate on Rowen. She didn’t see a tennis ball flying straight for her head, and the ball made contact right between her eyes.

“Mia!” Mrs. Gardner said. She ran over to her star play, “Are you alright?”

Mia shook her head a bit. She could feel a headache forming. She looked at her coach, “Yeah, I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Mrs. Gardner said.

Mia grabbed her tennis racket that had fallen out of her hands. She got ready to hit some more balls; however, her mind kept going back to her partner in arms. Was his okay? She could only pray that he would be.

*~*

Rekino had finished lacing up her running shoes. She sat down on the ground and started to stretch her muscles out. She never ran before stretching. That’s what cause many injuries in sports. She stood up and winced in pain. She grabbed her knee and started to rub it. Once again, it was hurting. She couldn’t afford to miss practice, so she just ignored the pain.

“Rekino,” Ms. Rowland called out, “You’re up to run. I want to see if you’ve advanced in your speed any since last year.”

“Alright!” Rekino said excitedly. She made her way over to the track, and got in position despite the demands of her knee. Before Ms. Rowland told her to start, Rowen’s ring slipped off of her finger. She didn’t see it, and when the coach told her to go, she ran. Her foot ran right over Rowen’s ring.

Rekino had sprinted to the hundred-mile dash. She finished in a record time of forty-five seconds. She slowed down when she crossed the line, and knelt down to breath. Ms. Rowland came running over to her.

“That was GREAT!” The young teacher and coach said, “You are definitely running in the sectionals next week!”

“Thanks!” Rekino said. She stood up, and made her way back to the locker rooms. She stopped when she noticed Rowen’s ring wasn’t on her finger. Faster than she had ever moved before, she ran back out to the track field, and started to look around for it. She found it near her starting area, “Thank the ancients!”

Rekino slipped the ring back on her finger, and, once again, headed towards the locker room. She slipped off her track clothes, which were sweaty and stinky, and hopped in the shower. She suddenly thought of something. Rowen’s ring had never fallen off of her finger before. Rekino laid her head on the side of the shower as the hot water fell on her tanned body. She brought her hand to her heart, which had suddenly started hurting.

Without a thought, she turned off the shower, and put on her after school clothes. Something was wrong with Rowen. She felt it in her heart that he had been hurt. She let out all of her anger on one of the lockers. She punched a humongous hole in it. A voice brought her back to the Earth. It was Brock Smith’s current screw, Krystal Murray.

“Oh, little Miss Sanada is pissed off,” Krystal taunted Rekino, “What happened. Did the nerd break up with you?”

Rekino turned to Krystal, “Fuck off,” she grabbed her things, and started to walk away. Krystal grabbed her arm, and Rekino’s mind went blank. Not thinking, she used her non-dominant hand, her left, and punched Krystal right in the face, “Don’t EVER touch me again, you slut.”

Krystal held her nose in anger. It was bleeding. She stood up to say something to her archenemy, but Rekino held up her hand, “Krystal, that was my left hand. Just think of what I could do with my right hand.”

“Hmph!” Krystal huffed, and ran out of the locker room with blood all over her body.

Rekino walked out of the locker room to find Mia. Maybe she could tell her something about Rowen. If not, then she would go and talk to the archery coach and see if Rowen made it to practice or not. If he didn’t, then she knew something was wrong. Rowen never missed practice.

Brock returned to the gym, searching for his next prey. He spotted him talking to the Gym teacher in the gym. He studied the boy for a few minutes, hearing Mesu tell him that was indeed the one. But what was so special about him? he wondered.

‘You’ll see soon, Brock,’ Mesu reassured him.

‘Alright, fine,’ Brock said. ‘So how do I get him?’

‘I’ll guide you. Just follow him,’ Mesu answered.

Brock agreed and watched the boy. This was taking far too long, he thought to himself. He watched Thunder for a few minutes longer, his patience wearing thin. Finally after what seemed an eternity to him, Thunder bowed in respect to the sensei and headed for the boys’ locker room.

‘Now’s your chance,’ Mesu told Brock. And Brock followed after Thunder.

Thunder searched for the locker he was to use. He found it at the end of the room and using the combination numbers the sensei had told him earlier, he opened the locker and proceeded to put his things in there and get dressed for his next class. Suddenly he had a bad feeling and prepared to get on guard, however he wasn’t fast enough. A hand tightly grabbed him, pressing a cloth firmly against his mouth. His eyes widen as he knew he was in danger. He was about to send out an emergency alert call to Flash. But it was too late. The clorophorm had already taken effect, and he was unconscious.

Mesu smiled and separated himself from Brock. He picked up Thunder and sneered. “Thank you so much Brock. Our deal will come forth to an end once I have my empire built here.” He laughed evilly and vanished into the air with Thunder.

Brock never heard Mesu’s words. He had fallen unconscious himself.

Flash frowned deeply, sensing something terribly was wrong. She paused in the middle of her weightlifting with a deep frown. She didn’t know what had happened, all she did know was that Thunder was in danger and that she had to get to him. She left the class without explaining why, much to the displeasure of the sensei, and ran straight for the boys’ locker room. When she got there, she was horrified to find Brock on the floor out cold, and Thunder nowhere in sight. The worst of her fears had come true. Thunder had been abducted.

Rekino was getting more and more worried about Rowen. She had not heard from him, and usually by now he would come and say hi to her along with a hug and a kiss. Finally she decided to ask his coach if he had shown up at all. With permission gotten from the teacher, she jogged toward the boys’ side, hoping that nothing bad happened to her boyfriend.

The ambulance quickly pulled into the school’s parking lot and the two paramedics jumped out as a crowd of curious onlookers stood by watching. After getting the stretcher and the proper bags, they quickly entered the school building where a teacher met them and led them to the injured. Rowen Hashiba looked worse than he probably was. After getting information from the students of what had happened the two paramedics set to work on Rowen, checking his breathing and his pulse beat, checking his injuries and tending to them, and getting everything ready as quickly as possible to take him to the hospital. They loaded him on the stretcher and secured him tightly so he wouldn’t roll off, then took him out of there. After loading him into the back of the ambulance, one paramedic stayed in the back to tend to him, and the other jumped up front. The lights flashing, the sirens sounding, and the ambulance took off for the nearest hospital.