Strength Comes From Within

Chapter 3

The next morning in the Copiel house, the air was so riddled with tension that Scorpio was almost afraid to move, fearing that such movement would spark an argument that would turn into the third world war. He just couldn’t believe how calm Grandma Copiel was being. As she walked past him to out some of he breakfast dishes in the sink, he whispered, “How can you be so calm? It seems to me that they’re going to kill each other!”

But Grandma just smiled at Scorpio and replied, “Scorpio dear, you have to understand that they only just met each other a few weeks ago. We were all naïve to think that they would get along together all the time. They may be twins, but they are still two different people.” She looked him up and down. “And, as I recall, Thunder isn’t the only one she’s mad at.”

He blushed slightly at this observation and then got sudden chills. Suddenly fearing for his life, Scorpio glanced over his shoulder to see Casey glaring angrily at him. Then with a “harrumph”, she marched silently over to the front door, grabbed her book bag and left. Growling, Thunder quickly followed, muttering about ‘Stupid twins.’ With a sigh of exasperation, Scorpio put up his dishes and then jogged out of the house to catch up with him.

The three walked toward Flash’s house in complete silence. Casey made her distaste with the boys apparent by walking as far away from them as possible without going into the street. Every few steps Thunder would glare in her direction and then shake his head angrily. After each time he did this Casey would glare at Thunder and stick out her tongue, before going back to walking in silence. Scorpio felt in mortal danger just by being between them.

Tension in the air built up until Thunder snapped. “Casey! You’re being so immature! Scorpio and I already apologized to you.”

Casey turned to Thunder. “Yeah, I know. A fake, forced apology just so I wouldn’t be mad anymore. Some respect you showed me, Niisan.” She spat the last word out like venom.

“Look Casey, I’m not going to retract my defense of you. Those two boys could’ve taken advantage of you and yet, you’re angry at Scorpio and me!”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes, that’s right. They were going to take advantage of me, right after they defended me from that crazy, stalker guy that liked to jump from tree to tree. They were really dangerous.” Suddenly, she turned to Scorpio and start jabbing his chest with her

finger. “And you! Who gives you the right to call anyone fat! Do you know how upsetting that can be? No, I’m sure you don’t.” She glared up at him.

Scorpio blinked down at her, suddenly noticing the close proximity of her body to his. And then he had the strangest feeling that he didn’t care if see was angry with him, as long as she was close. Then she turned as someone called out to her, and the feeling left him.

“Oi! Casey!” Rowen called out from across the street, where he stood with the other Ronins. She turned in his direction and then waved to him, smiling. Thunder stiffened at the appearance of the items of Casey’s wrath.

Scorpio just sighed and had the feeling that things were only going to go downhill.

“You know what, I do believe I have other plans for walking to school.” She stated and then ran to the other side of the street. Scorpio looked over at Thunder, expecting to see him absolutely livid. However, what he saw was a very hurt brother. Sure, it wouldn’t be apparent to anyone, possibly even Casey, but Scorpio always had a knack for seeing what Thunder tried to hide.

He slung an arm over Thunder’s shoulders. “Hey man, she’ll come to her senses. I’m sure of it. She didn’t mean to hurt you like that. She’s just doesn’t understand the danger we’ve been through and because of that, she doesn’t understand why you’re being so protective.”

Thunder sighed. “I know.”

Casey watched them go, and then turned to Rowen. “So, what is happening, my brilliant blue haired friend?”

He smiled at her. “I figured I should introduce you to my posse, so to speak. This is Ryo, Sage, Kento and Cye.” The four Ronins waved to Her. Kento added a wink.

“Well, I’ve already met muscles and red head,” she stated, pointing at Kento and Cye respectfully. “To the other two, pleased to meet you.” She smiled at both them, then stopped to stare at Sage.

Rowen sighed with resignation, while Kento thought, ‘Meh, looks like Sage has snagged another one.’

“You know what,” she started slowly, “you look a lot like my brother.”

Ryo and Cye burst out laughing while Rowen and Kento had slight looks of victory on their faces. Sage just slowly followed them to school, completely flabbergasted. That was certainly a response he had never gotten before.

The school day passed quickly for Casey. Before she knew it, the bell for lunch rang and she was faced with quite the dilemma. Where was she going to sit? As the day had gone by and she was away from both Thunder and Scorpio, much of Casey’s indignant anger had disappeared. She had realized how childish she was being and really wanted to apologize. But now,

standing in the door to the lunch room, a bit of her courage failed. ‘What if Niisan is too angry to accept my apology?’

Rowen, realizing Casey was no longer with the group, turned around. “Earth to Casey, you still with us?” He smiled. He frowned as he saw she was biting her lip. “You okay?”

She sighed. “Rowen, I know you and the rest of the guys are still mad at my Niisan, but I just can’t stay mad at him. You won’t be too annoyed if I had lunch with him, would you?”

He gave her soft smile and replied, “Of course not. Family is family, I understand.” He winked. “I’ll try to get the others to change their tune.”

He watched her run over to her brother’s table then walked to his own.

The talking around the Warrior’s table stopped when Casey asked in a timid voice, “Niisan, can I sit down?”

Thunder looked up at her, completely surprised. “Casey!” He exclaimed, then jogged to his senses. “Of course you can sit down. Flash, can you-“

“Here, Thunder, she can sit between me and you,” Scorpio interrupted. As Casey sat down, Thunder looked over at his friend, look of introspection in his eyes. But his attention turned back to Casey as she began to speak again.

“Niisan, I’m sorry for overreacting the way I did. But I just couldn’t understand your reaction to Cye and Kento. Especially after I told you how they had saved my life. I know the world is a dangerous place, but I can take care of myself.”

‘But Casey, I wish I could tell you that there are some things only I can protect you from.’ But he sighed and instead said, “I understand Casey and I’m sorry for overreacting as well. And for insulting the guys that helped you.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” Scorpio added.

Casey smiled at them both. “Well, you know what would make me feel better? If you two would go over and apologize to Kento and Cye.” She blinked as Thunder suddenly paled.

“Casey, if you had asked at any other time, I would have gladly walked over there and apologized. But not now. Not with them out there, just waiting for my moment of weakness!”

The rest of the Warriors laughed at Casey’s blank expression. “Let me explain,” Chile said. “I’m sure you’ve noticed all the posters and signs for the Homecoming dance, right? Well, as you can imagine, ever since they’ve been put up, you brother has been bombarded by the female sex

non stop. We’ve taken to giving him a guard just to get him through the hallways. So, it’s made Thunder just a bit jumpy.”

Casey looked over to her brother and Thunder smiled weakly to her. “I just can never get used to being around girls I don’t know,” he said a little sheepishly. His sheepishness turned into surprise when Casey suddenly leapt onto the top of the table.

“I have an announcement to make!” she stated loudly. “From this moment on, my brother, Thunder Copiel, is off limits to everyone. And I mean everyone. Any such attempts shall be considered a hostile attack and will be dealt with accordingly. However! Do not despair! If you turn your attention to the north end of the cafeteria you will see a table filled

with good looking boys. Sitting among these boys is a boy that looks almost exactly like my brother. Please, feel free to mug him instead of Thunder. Thank you.”

She sat back down in her seat among the complete silence of astonishment. “What?” She looked around the table, finding nothing wrong with what she just did.

But then Thunder’s face broke into a huge smile and he said, “Nothing, Casey. Nothing at all.”

Tutock walked through the training room, watching the newest editions to his army, Talpa’s former Warlords, sparring with his Guardians. Yes, things were looking up. “Come to me, my new soldier Dais.”

The Warlord of Deception stopped his sparring and went to kneel before Tutock. “How can I be of service, master?”

“I understand you can cast illusions similar to those of Guardian Karma.”

“Yes, master.”

“Can you undergo the appearance of animals, or can you only project humanoids?”

“I can project anything, master.”

The overlord smiled evilly. “Good. Here is what I want you to do.”

“Ugh, why does every teacher in high school seem to think that their class is the most important one in the world, and then gives far too much homework,” Casey groaned, resting her forehead on the desk in her room. “I am never going to get this all done.”

She let out a sigh and then sat up, leaning back slightly in her chair. She felt undeniably bored, with just about everything. Her first couple of weeks had been really hectic, after all she had a new home, a new family, a new school and new friends to get used to. But once she had gotten

familiar with everything, life had slipped into a quaint little rhythm. One that Casey was starting to get sick of.

Never famous for commitment, Casey had been drifting for most of her life. She personally blamed it on the fact that she had never had a real family, so she had always been yearning to search for them. But now, she had finally found them. Despite this however, her wanderlust had still resurfaced. She sighed. ‘I guess I’m just going have to get used to this new life and just wait for excitement to come to me.’

Almost as if on cue, she heard a sound from outside her window. She got up from her desk and walked over to the window, sticking her head through it.

‘Yes, that defiantly sounds like some kinda hurt dog. I think I’ll go check it out,’ she thought and the grabbed her coat and went downstairs.

“Niichan, I’m going outside to check something real quick. I should be back in a few minutes,” she told Thunder as she opened the back door.

“Okay,” Thunder said, looking up from the football game he and the other Warriors were watching. “But don’t stay out too long, you’ll catch cold.”

Casey stuck her tongue out at him. “Yes, o wise one,” she muttered as she walked outside. As much as she hated to admit it, Thunder was right. The serene month of September was slowly passing by and soon the colder months of winter were going to set in.

So, she pulled her coat closer around her and headed for the woods behind the Copiel’s house. Just as she reached the edge, she heard the sound again, a low whine followed by a yelp. No doubt about it, there was a hurt dog somewhere in there and she was going to find it.

The whining continued non stop as she ventured deeper into the woods. She paid no attention to the direction she was going in, sure that she would be able to find her way back out again. After fighting through a particularly nasty patch of knee high bushes and weeds, Casey came to a small clearing, maybe only a few feet across. Sure, enough, there was the dog she had heard. The poor animal’s left hind leg was slashed straight to the bone and bleeding profusely. Swallowing to brace herself against the gruesome sight, Casey walked forward slowly, crooning, “It’s okay, puppy. I’m here. I’ll take you home with me and-“ She yelped as the dog suddenly disappeared right in front of her eyes. “What in the world?!” she whispered.

In the next moment, the entire world turned upside down for Casey.

She found herself slammed up against a tree, starring into the eyes of being that could only have been from someone’s nightmare. He was covered in some sort of evil looking armor, with pieces protruding from the back that gave him the look of some sort of evil spider. The lower half of his face was covered by a metal mask and one of his eyes was missing. But, it was the other eye that terrified her the most. Looking into it, she saw evil unchecked. She saw the evils he had done and the evils he was about to do to her.

He stopped looking at her to stare up to the sky. “Are you ready for the test, master?” he asked. There were a few moments of silence, during which it seemed that the armored man was getting directions. The he nodded and said, “As you wish.” He then turned to her again, and Casey felt her blood run cold as he pulled out a sword.

“W-what are you going to do-“ Casey never finished her statement, because suddenly her entire world was just one feeling. Pain. The man had thrust the sword into her shoulder, ripped through tendons muscle and bone, pinning her to the tree. The girl had never felt such pain as this and the

sensation ripped a blood curdling scream from her lungs. She couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t see straight, the only thing her entire being cared about was removing the sword from her body. Her other armed moved to pull it from her when the armored man twisted the sword, eliciting another scream from the girl.

“No, you don’t. Lord Tutock wants to test this bond, and test it we will.” With a cruel smile hidden by his mask, Dais gave the sword another slight twist.

Inside the Copiel household, the calm and peace was shattered when Thunder suddenly fell from the couch, clutching his shoulder and screaming.

“Thunder!” Shades exclaimed as she and the other Warriors ran to Thunder’s side. “Thunder, what’s wrong?!”

“Feels like… being stabbed… hurts… so much,” was all Thunder was able to get out through the pain. The Warriors were at a loss about what was wrong with their friend. No one could figure anything out, when suddenly Thunder cried out, “Casey!” and then fainted from the pain.

Scorpio suddenly felt huge feeling of dread descend upon him. “Didn’t Casey just go outside?!”

“Yes,” replied Ice. “She said she had to check something.” But Ice was talking to air, Scorpio had dashed out of the door before he had finished the sentence, already armoring up.

“CASEY!” he roared, running with breakneck speed through the woods. “Where are you?!”

Dais frowned. The girl was starting to be less fun. After the first few times he had twisted the sword, her cries had been quieter and quieter. He figured it was due to her blood loss. A pool of it was forming at her feet. ‘Oh well,’ he thought. ‘Might as well have the most fun I can with her before she dies.’

However, suddenly a voice ringed out, calling a name. The girl stirred and her eyes began to regain focus.

Deep within her mind, Casey recognized Scorpio’s voice. The sound forced her to be semi conscious and she heard herself scream out his name. It was quickly silenced as the man slapped her so hard she was seeing stars.

“Who gave you permission to speak, girl?!” he snarled. However, at the next moment he leapt away from her, and in the spot where he had standing was a very pissed off Scorpio. Dais smiled evilly and pulled out his weapon, ready for a real fight, when he heard the voice of his master calling him back. “You got lucky this time, Current. But tell your little friend not to worry, because I’ll be back.” He laughed maniacally and then ran off.

Scorpio disarmored and then turned to Casey, fighting back tears. “Casey, please, please be alive,” he murmured walking over to her. It wasn’t until he was right up close to her and slipped in the pool of blood at her feet, did he realize just how much blood she had lost. He knew he had to get her down now and patch her up as quickly as he could. He put his head near hers and whispered in her ear, “Casey, this is, frankly, going to hurt like hell, even more than when he stabbed you with the sword. But I have to pull it out to get you any help at all.”

“I can’t move my arm, Scorpio, I can’t move my arm!” she whispered in a frenzied voice. Scorpio could tell she was in shock and on the verge of hysteria. Scorpio grabbed Casey’s good hand and squeezed it. “Listen Casey, I want to you grip my hand as hard as you want to while

I pull the sword out, okay?” Casey squeezed his hand once and he took that as a yes. He gripped the sword with his other hand, and then gritted his teeth. His muscles bunched and he ripped it from her shoulder with one pull.

Casey screamed out in pain again, then collapsed against Scorpio, crying.

“Oh, Casey, I’m so sorry. This should have never happened to you,” he whispered as he stood up, Casey in his arms. He carried her into the house, and was greeted by the exclamations from the other Warriors. They had been gathered around Thunder, who had just begun to regain consciousness. He no longer felt the pain and terror that had been drowning his senses. He

looked up and saw the trembling, bleeding form of his sister and all he felt was worry.

“Scorpio, what happened to her?!” He yelled, running over to him.

Scorpio gingerly handed the now silent girl. “I found her pinned by her shoulder to a tree. A man in armor I have never seen before was torturing her, twisting the sword and watching her writhe in agony.” Scorpio’s face could’ve been made of stone, for all the emotion he was showing. However, both his hands were clenched and trembling with rage. “Her shoulder is messed up pretty bad. I think only your healing will be able to fix it.”

Thunder nodded and then pulled her shirt off, hissing at the severity of her wound. “Her shoulder joint is completely ripped to shreds.” He pressed his hands to her wound, but before he could begin healing her, her eyes popped open and she began to scream at the top of her lungs.

“No! Get away from me! Get away from me!”

“Casey! Calm down it’s me, Thunder! I have to press my hands on your shoulder for just a few seconds, then I promise the pain will stop.”

However, she just kept on screaming, as if his words couldn’t reach her. He gritted his teeth and looked up at Flash. “I’m gong to need your help holding her down for me.” The fiery girl nodded, and grasped both of Casey’s forearms and held her as gently as she could to the floor.

Thunder again put his hands on the wound and she started to fight again. It only took a few seconds for Casey to be healed, and then she fell limp, unconscious from shock and exhaustion.

Thunder gently put her shirt back on and carried her up to her room.

The other Warriors could only stand in shock in the living room