Chapter 104 - Introductions Are In Order Part 1
* NEFFEX - Alive *
"Ugh," waking up with a terrible headache made Scott subconsciously massage his forehead as he tried to stand up.
Blinking a couple of times before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he tried to remember the events that took place before he had lost consciousness.
*sigh*
"Not only did I get my a*s kicked," he muttered to himself, "but I also let the enemy and destroyer of my planet run amok... how did it all go south so fast?"
"Scott?" a voice yelled.
"Adam?" Scott answered in reply. "How\'s Bell doing?" Right now, it was his priority as he was the reason why Bell Holland had gotten harmed.
"Mr. Holland is in Ted\'s care, he should be fully healed by now," Adam said with a sigh, "but what exactly happened here?" he said while looking at the place that looked miraculously unscathed. "It wasn\'t all some type of weird psychological battle of yours now, was it?"
"Not quite, no, everything was real..." Scott shook his head, "let\'s talk about that later. Right now, I need you to make up something for the press to chew on since the lightshow must have attracted a lot of attention. After that, we have to deal with that little girl..."
"I\'ll deal with the press," Adam said promptly, "how are we going to deal with the girl though?" From Adam\'s point of view, it seemed rather obvious that Scott was no match for her, not that he blamed him since he had witnessed her powers himself, but this only complicates the matter as higher rankers from around the globe might be dispatched to deal with her.
The last time the country had to deal with an S ranker fight, things didn\'t go so well...
"Haha you seem very stressed for your usual self," Scott joked as Adam had never shown this side of him. He\'d only ever looked so nonchalant about anything and everything.
"Well, it doesn\'t take a genius to realise what follows next," Adam said with a sigh, "if she went on rampage again we might lose an entire city within a blink of an eye, and that would be in the best case scenario. We have to deal with her quickly, so I\'m assuming we\'ll have to-"
"No, none of that," Scott cut him off as seeing how worried he was didn\'t feel pleasant but rather made him nervous himself. "I\'ll go talk to the girl, don\'t worry about it yourself. But with that being said, I do need you to create a special class for the new A+ and higher rankers. Make sure to only pick the most talented and capable individuals."
"Wait," Adam seemed to grasp the idea behind Scott\'s words, "you\'re not planning on putting the girl into a class with A rankers... that\'s unacceptable! Plus, how would you even convince her? No, why would she even need to learn anything, she\'s practically one of the most powerful rankers on the planet!?"
"Just trust me," Scott said tiredly, "I know this incident must\'ve shattered the image of the all-mighty boss you used to see me as, but all I\'m asking for is a second chance.. can I have your trust again, Adam?"
Adam seemed perplexed since if it was someone else, he would have probably punched them to death already. The idea of having someone beyond SS rank in the same place with an A ranker was beyond crazy.
But then again, deep inside Adam\'s heart, he\'d always viewed Scott as the cool partner that knows everything as well as towers above everything.
He\'d never confess that even to himself, yet Scott has been the caring hand he was missing in his life. What made worry to no end was the fact that Scott might get actually harmed if he had to go against the little girl once more. The worse part was that he could actually do nothing about it.
"Adam!" Scott called out, knocking Adam out of his trance, "please? I trust you can make that class an official matter in no time?"
"Fine..." he said with a tired sigh, "I\'ll leave the girl to you then. Be careful."
"Of course," Scott said with a smile as he watched Adam flicker out of sight.
***
"Heh~" Camilla said with a smug smile, "let me get this straight, you had a younger twin of yours, which doesn\'t make any sense I may add. In addition, she was living in your mind... Say, like an imaginary friend? Oh and by the way, this also doesn\'t make any sense."
"Anyway, so on top of that, you had a strange man hidden inside your mind as well? Did I miss something?"
Even though Tu looked rather nonchalant about the whole ordeal, Kayla and Raven were burning red under the pressure of the group staring at them.
"I\'m not sure if you expect us to actually believe all of that," Maya teased of with a smile. It wasn\'t that she didn\'t believe Raven, but she wanted her to pay for only telling them now, "I take it that you\'ve heard of the parsimony principle; the simplest answers are mostly the right answers... So, from the looks of it, you had a boyfriend that looks at least ten years older than yourself, and you managed to get a child? How long have this been going on for even?"
"What? No!" Raven yelled almost disgusted at the idea of having a child, especially with her background as a boy. "Maya you\'ll pay for this! Mom please trust me..."
"I- I believe you honey," Maria said while shaking her head slightly, as if to force herself back to reality. "So you\'re saying that poor Kayla had been stuck without a body since the portal incident? And this man is the same one that helped you escape from Lady Luck\'s place?
"I do believe you but..." Maria seemed at a loss for words, "why have you been hiding this from us?" Maria was worried sick. She wasn\'t Raven\'s real parent yet she understood well enough about parenting to realise that withholding the truth from the parents was a huge sign of not showing trust. \'But how? Why doesn\'t she trust me!?\'
"Well... um, listen," Raven took a deep breath as she approached Maria and held her hands within her own, "I\'ve always trusted you, don\'t mistake that for even a second. It\'s just that it seemed that we\'ve all had so much going on at the time and to be honest, even though I planned on telling you eventually, I\'m thinking now maybe wasn\'t the right time..."
Taking a second to digest what Raven just threw at her, Maria sighed as she realised that what Raven was saying was the truth.
They\'ve all had so much to sort out, especially Raven herself with changing bodies and discovering new powers, etc. \'it must have been extremely hard for her, but...\'
"Raven," Maria said with a serious expression and matching tone, "I understand how things must have been from your perspective, but promise me you\'ll never hide any secrets from us again. Please, never..." Maria seemed more worried than sad since she didn\'t want to lose Raven\'s trust.
"Uhm, I\'m so sorry for hiding this for too long," Raven said while looking down in embarrassment, "I promise I\'ll won\'t hide any secrets from you."
"Uhm, Thank you honey," Maria could finally sigh in relief after hearing Raven\'s promise. "Alright, so care to introduce us again?"
"For sure!" Raven said enthusiastically, "this is Kayla, I call her Kay, she\'s kinda like my second soul, my voice of logic and conscience, correcting or helping me out whenever needed."
Kayla turned bright red while Raven introduced her which made her look so much more- "OMG she\'s so cute!" Camilla couldn\'t contain her excitement anymore as the little girl looked cuter than anything she\'s ever seen in her life.
Just as Camilla was about to pat Kayla\'s head, Maria slapped her hand away, "stop it, you\'re scaring her!" she said towards Camilla who was caught off guard.
*sigh*
"Please continue on," Maria said to Raven while making sure Camilla stayed away from Kayla.
"Err, yeah, sorry," Raven was rather embarrassed at the way her family acted, "Um, so this is Tu, short for Turanor. He\'s the one who gave me the crimson armour... I think only Maya and Maria know about that."
Maya nodded her head as in her perspective, that crimson armour, even though was scary at the time, had enabled Raven and herself to escape from Lady Luck\'s death trap.
However, for Maria who was previously \'cursed\' by the armour... things weren\'t so pleasant.
Noticing her distress, Raven spoke hurriedly, "Mom, it\'s ok! I know what\'s probably going through your head now but Tu is not all that bad."
\'I am asking for her trust so I might as well prove her that I trust her back.\' Maria said while taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
Making sure Maria was feeling better, Raven continued and introduced everyone to Kayla and Tu.
"Nice to meet you all," Tu and Kayla said in unison.