"Are you guys ready"Yasmin asked as she looked around.
"We're not complete though"she looked over to see Ace shuffling his deck of cards as his crimson colored hair hung over his green eyes as he stared at her.
"Who?"She did a double take then found out"Alura"
"She should know better,master will be mad if we leave late"Yona argued.
They heard a laugh that caught their attention, turning their heads they saw here standing in her usual attire, hair in pigtails,a top showing her mid riff and mid thigh black shorts they knew was covering the guns strapped to her thighs and simple black high soled sneakers.
"Sorry I kept y'all waiting,had to make sure I packed enough don't you think so"although she apologized her voice didn't hold a tad bit of remorse in it.
"Now that we are all here,let's go meet the master"Yasmin spoke up and they made their way out of their own hideout to the master's.
Layton looked as his subordinate made their way to his own hideout.
When they were all in he spoke up"For this mission,you guys will need this"he tossed an object to Ace which he caught with ease.
"What do you mean you guys?"a boy with tousled sandy blonde hair narrowed his green eyes at Layton"you're not coming with us"
Layton looked at the boy"Yes Enzo,I'm not coming with you guys, that's why I gave you the transporter"he motioned to the object Ace was holding"you'll be able to transport here instantly if you activate it,but don't come here if you don't have the gem."
They nodded.
"Good,now go,also for this mission to the outskirts I'm putting Yasmin and Ace in charge,I've given you guys your storage rings,now bye"he closed the door after the last person had left.
"Wait"Vida spoke"you said we need a gem to know the location of the rest,what if we don't get this gem,how can we find the rest"
"I've given you a map of where all the gems are"Layton answered her,to this the rest nodded.
Letting out a sigh"everything is starting to move now,Alaster,once they bring the gem to us, we'll be a step ahead"
"Wow,talk about not caring,he just tossed us head first into danger like we were some ragdolls"Alura complained.
For the first time the rest couldn't help but agree.
"We'll just have to do it on our own, I'm sure we can"Yona said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kyle,I just wanted to apologize for yesterday, good luck with your match"
Liana looked down as she apologized.
"Hmm"he responded and went down to the floor as the announcer called for his opponent, Koruna.
His opponent came down with a dog leaving Kyle speechless, he didn't even know animals were allowed in here.
Koruna looked at Kyle a smile painted his lips, the dog barked at Kyle too.
The announcer started the match and the dog ran towards Kyle,he rose up an earth wall,the dog broke through transforming into a large wolf.
Kyle created arrows and shot it at the wolf, the wolf dodged it swiftly avoiding the arrow.
It ran towards Kyle and just when Kyle was about to kick it,it disappeared, reappearing at Koruna's side.
Kyle was surprised,then the dog transformed into a spitting image of Koruna,the both of ran towards Kyle.
As they were about to land a hit on him, Kyle created hands rose from the earth, grabbed their legs and threw them backwards.
They landed on their feet and ran up to him,their attacks were quick not giving Kyle time to make a move apart from dodging the hits.
Koruna's punched Kyle but he blocked him,he flipped backwards giving him space to create a hand that caught Koruna.
When his dog saw this he enlarged in size and smashed the hand releasing Koruna.
The two charged towards Kyle,their speed was insane and he was having a hard time with it.
He closed his eyes and when the two landed preparing to launch another attack on him,he opened a hole in the earth and they fell into it,he closed the hole.
The announcer was shocked but he quickly recovered and announced Kyle as the winner.
Immediately he did so, Kyle opened the hole brought up the earth and Koruna and his dog stood there.
They looked at Kyle for a moment before bowing with a smile uttering a quiet "congratulations" before leaving.
Kyle went up to his friends who were ecstatic that he won the match.
"That's three down,two more to go"Aviva smiled as she was referring to Ciara and Jude.
He looked at Liana who had a smile on her face,he smiled at her too before he left them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you ready?"Ciara looked up to see Rielle on her dragon.
Ciara realized she was talking about the match."Yes I am,more than ready"
"Good"she jumped down from the dragon "I believe you can do it"
Ciara nodded happy that she,a goddess had faith in her.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow after your match"she disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Aviva cried as she remembered her mother's death, these days she had been remembering them a lot,she really missed her mother.
She cried as the memories replayed in her head.
A little girl no older than five ran to a woman,who looked exactly like her the only difference being while the little girl wore her hair to a little above her waist the older lady wore her's long down to the starting of her thighs both having dark pink hair,blue eyes and dark skinned.
"Mama guess what I saw today"she ran up to her,gesturing for her mother to pick her up.
Her mother did with a sweet smile"what did you see Avivana?"she coughed afterwards beads of sweat forming on her head,her body burning.
The little girl was too worried about her mother to answer"is mama sick?, Aviva wanna help"she held her fist in the air.
"No, Avivana must sit down quietly,mama doesn't want to make you sick"her mother made her way upstairs to the room but the child followed her.
Her mother lay down weak on the bed and the child climbed the seat beside the bed,her eyes glassy with tears as she looked at her mother.
"Mama,are you okay, please I want to help"she couldn't stop the tears from pouring,her mind retributed her telling her what her mother needed was a strong child.
"Aviva come closer,I want to tell you something"
She did leaning down towards her mother's lips"I love you Aviva,I love your brothers, your sister and your father very much always remember,the world will always try to destroy what they don't like,you my dear must stand strong no matter what, when you feel tired and weary, look up,the brightest star in the sky,I'll always be with you,every step of the way,I'll always be in here and here"she pointed at her heart and mind before she let out a strained cough.
"I'm going to get you water,mama"she went downstairs after pouring the glass of water,she heard a knock.
She opened the door to find that her father had returned,her father entered then closed the door.
"Ehn,papa where are Lora,Marsh and Mave"
Her father removed his jacket"they'll be staying at grandma's today"
She shrugged"okay,gotta give this to mama"she pointed at the glass of water before leaving.
She entered and her father followed shortly after,she went over to her mother's bed and touched her,she had not noticed her father inside.
"Mama,wake up,I brought water"
No response
She tried again but no response,she looked at her father"papa,is mama sleeping, wake her up"
Her father didn't move,he stood still,"Avivana, your mother isn't going to wake up"he didn't seem fazed, almost relieved.
Five year old Aviva didn't know what this meant,not until she saw them place her mother in a box and place her six feet in the ground,not until she saw the scornful face her father always gave her.
Her father hated her,she knew,was it because she looked so much like mom,she tried to convince herself against it,all that didn't matter once she read her mother's last letter while she was going through her stuff.
All the pieces finally fit,he didn't like her because he never loved her mother,he only loved her siblings because they looked everything like him,she on the other hand was the black sheep and she faced the consequences for it.
She had the scars on her back to show for it.
Aviva crumbled down in tears,she didn't bother to wipe the tears, letting them fall freely"I'm sorry mom,I failed you,I let you die,I'm so sorry"her mind was a wreck,her heart was aching,she knew she was hurting but she couldn't do anything about it.
Her heart, mind and soul were shattered,her past was haunting and she hated that she wasn't strong enough to face it instead she ran away from it the same way she ran away from her kingdom thinking she could drop her bad memories if she did so.
She knew she was only fooling herself of course,she could never run away from her past,it was part of her.