Chapter Six
The Ways of Solaria
They ran into the forest, not a word had been spoken since they left Chung's house. Things were happening so fast, that Mai could hardly keep up. One day she was a misfit girl, the next she was friends with a Fire Princess, and the next she was running away from her new friend with her brother and a boy she hardly knew. Nothing made sense anymore. They ran for a long time, reducing their speed here and there, then speeding up again. As soon as they were sure they were far enough into the woods, they stopped to catch their breath. As they were panting, Mai said, “Dakota, what happened back there? Why did everyone attack us, and why were you glowing?”
Dakota looked at the ground, trying to avoid her eyes. “Well, they attacked us because, well…” His voice trailed off. He was still looking at the floor. “I’m a Chosen One, I guess,” he said finally. As Mai had expected, his answer made no sense to her at all. She was not particularly in a good mood, her first and only friend had just tried to kill her, but still, she managed to keep her expression gentle for the small boy. He had just gone through a lot.
“A what?” Mai and Wyatt said in unison.
“A Chosen One,” Dakota explained. “That’s why Sam, Fudo and Monkey-head were trying to get me.”
Wyatt started laughing uncontrollably.
“What’s so funny?” snapped Mai. How could he be laughing at a time like this, there was absolutely noting funny about what had just happened, or what Dakota had said.
“Monkey-Head!” Wyatt said between laughs.
“Well he does look like a monkey, doesn’t he?” said Dakota with a brief smile, though it faded right away.
“But what is a Chosen One?” Mai asked as though there had been no interruption.
“Well, it’s sort of a long story. You see, there are ten Chosen Ones, one from each tribe, and the Chosen Ones have special powers. For example, they can control two elements instead of one.” He paused for a second and looked up to meet Mai’s eyes, and she found something there that seemed very familiar to Mai. “And they have special Defensive Powers. It makes them stronger, almost invincible, and it gives their attacks extra strength, that’s how I was able to knock out the Fire Chief with a single hit. Each Chosen One’s Defensive Power is activated by three emotions: anger, sadness and threat. When you were threatened, it activated my Defensive Power. That’s what you saw, when I was glowing. The color that the Chosen One glows, matches the color of the tribe they’re from.”
“So the color of the Fire Tribe is yellow?” guessed Mai, which didn’t seem to make much sense since all of the Fire Tribe buildings had been red, as well as all of the Fire Tribe robes.
“No, it’s red,” said Dakota.
That didn’t make any sense to Mai either. “But you were—“
“Glowing yellow?” finished Dakota, with an odd look on his face, as though he was feeling guilty.
“Yeah, you were,” Wyatt barged in.
“Well, that’s because I’m not from the Fire Tribe,” said Dakota, once again looking down at the floor. Mai and Wyatt exchanged confused looks. Was everyone From Solaria just out to make things confusing for everyone? What was with them and all of their secrets?
“I’m from the Wind Tribe,” said Dakota.
Mai stared for a second at his hand, before looking up to meet his gaze, the guilt on his face had only increased. “The Wind Tribe, that explains a lot! Like how you were sending air blasts at everyone during the fight, and how you flew fifteen feet in the air when you sneezed,” Mai said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were from the Wind Tribe, Dakota?”
“Do you remember yesterday, when I sneezed and the Fire Chief got really mad at me? He doesn’t want anyone to know that I’m from the Wind Tribe. He had spotted me using my Wind Powers just a few days ago, so he sent Karan to Aldrich and Chung to try to reinstate the old way of punishing - burning them. Sometimes the burn would kill the person, or sometimes it would just leave an enormous scar. That’s what was going on when you and Wyatt came out of Chung's house. I was about to be punished for my carelessness.”
“But you weren’t being careless. It was a mistake!” said Mai, outraged. She remembered when she had first seen Karan, he was holding a piece of paper, and arguing with Aldrich about the old ways of punishment. That must have been what was going on.
“The Fire Chief doesn’t forgive easily. Anyway, I was adopted into that family after my parents died in the war. Soren never wanted to do it in the first place, but Etera made him.”
“Really?” said Wyatt. “My dad is fighting in the war right now! Well, he’s waiting for more people to come, or some sort of opening to attack!”
“Our mom died fighting in the war too,” Mai said quietly. She now understood what their mother had done, how brave she must have been to have gone back to Solaria to fight. Now she knew. “Tell us more about the Chosen One,” she said, trying to change the subject.
“Well, when one of the Chosen Ones dies, another one is born in the same tribe one year later, and when the Chosen Ones are all together, they create a force so strong, that it is almost impossible to stop. Their spirits and powers join; their minds become one, or so I’ve heard.”
“That’s it!” said Mai so suddenly it made Dakota and Wyatt jump.
“What’s it?” asked Dakota.
“Did you hear that Sam and I saw a bear-coon?” They both shook their heads, so Mai continued. “Well, doesn’t that mean that Romokka is going to attack Earth?” Dakota and Wyatt suddenly looked shocked. Dakota slowly nodded. “Well then, that means we’re going to be at war soon, doesn’t it?” said Mai, crossing her arms as she finally made her point.
“Mai, I don’t see where you’re going with this,” Wyatt said, trying to hide the fear from his voice.
“Oh honestly, Wyatt, if we gather up all ten of the Chosen Ones, then we could beat Romokka!” She knew it wouldn’t be very easy, but it was their only chance of winning this upcoming war, and they had to try. They had to, or else all would be lost, and Earth would be doomed.
Wyatt gave her a strange look. “Mai, how on earth are we going to do that, it would be impossible?”
“Well, we have to start searching. If we can find them all before Romokka gets here, I think we can win!” said Mai sounding more confident than she felt, but she had to sound convincing.
“I don’t know Wyatt, it sounds like a good plan to me. And while we’re searching, we can spread the news that we’ll be at war soon,” said Dakota, looking a bit brighter than before.
Wyatt opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment, they heard a bush rustling from right in front of them. “What was that?” whispered Wyatt.
“Maybe they found us,” Mai said.
“Shhh,” whispered Wyatt.
“But you’re talking—“
But both boys interrupted her with a, “Shhh!”
The rustling was getting louder. Whatever was out there was behind the bush in front of them. Suddenly, something jumped out of the bush at them. Wyatt yelled and put his arms over his head as some creature landed on his head.
“Tito, there you are!” Dakota shouted in delight. Dakota ran forward and pulled Tito off Wyatt, who was still yelling and flinging his arms in every direction. As soon as Tito had been removed from him, Wyatt started brushing himself off.
“Tito?” he repeated.
“He’s my pet,” said Dakota, scratching Tito behind the ear.
“Your pet!” yelled Wyatt. And with a touch of sarcasm he said in annoyance, “Of course.”
Mai walked over to Dakota and started stroking Tito, who was purring loudly. “Something I still don’t understand is, why Sam, Fudo and that Monkey Guy wanted to get the Chosen One? And why didn’t they just do it before?” Dakota put Tito back on the ground and he immediately ran back over to Wyatt, who was facing the opposite direction, then leapt onto him and knocked him to the ground. Wyatt started rolling around, trying to pry Tito off, but with no success, though Mai and Dakota didn’t notice.
“Well they never knew I was the Chosen One, and up until now….” He hesitated, “neither did I. I had never used my Defensive Power before, and I haven’t ever used a second power, so no one knew, including me.”
By now, Wyatt had managed to get Tito off and was chasing him around with one of his swords. “But why did they want to get the Chosen Ones in the first place?” asked Mai, still confused. Tito had once again leapt onto Wyatt. Before Wyatt could stop him, Tito grabbed the sword out of his hand and leapt off him again.
“Well you see,” Dakota began. Wyatt was once again chasing Tito around in circles, but this time trying to get his sword back. Wyatt lunged forward and landed on top of Tito. He managed to get his sword back, but Tito had once again leapt onto his head and refused to get off. Still, Dakota and Mai neither heard nor saw anything. They were engrossed in their conversation.
“The Fire Tribe is working with Romokka,” said Dakota. Wyatt was running around in circles, trying to get Tito off his head, flinging his arms around.
“What did you say?!” Mai asked, not believing what she was hearing. "How could that be?"
“The Fire Tribe is working with Romokka. That’s why they wanted to capture me. Because they know that the Chosen Ones could stop them and Romokka from winning the war. Now they’re trying to find the other Chosen Ones as well.”
“I can’t believe it! I trusted Sam. She lied to me.” Mai said, shaking her head in disbelief. All this time, she thought that she was trying to help Sam stop Romokka, but instead, Sam would have tricked Mai into helping the enemy planet! How could she have been so stupid? How could she have actually thought that maybe, for once, she could have a real friend, or do something important? How could she have believed that, and fell for it?
“Get used to it. Sam is the master of lying. She fools everyone,” said Dakota shaking his head.
“Wyatt could you just be quiet!” Mai yelled back at her brother. The whole time she had been talking to Dakota, he had been running around yelling, and he was still running. Wyatt looked back over his shoulder at Mai. Tito jumped off him just before he smashed into a tree. Mai shook her head then looked back at Dakota. “But if the Fire Tribe is with Romokka, then why did Sam help me, with my powers and everything? I’d have thought that they wouldn’t want to help people from the other side, especially me of all people.”
“They want as many people on their side as possible,” said Dakota. By now, Wyatt had picked himself up and sat down next to Mai, rubbing his head.
“What happened to you?” Mai asked him. Wyatt started muttering something and Mai could make out the words “stupid” and “thieving.” He crossed his arms and looked away.
“So, enough about me, what about you two?” said Dakota cheerfully.
“Well, there’s not much to say. Compared to your life, ours is so dull it’ll put you to sleep,” said Mai, smiling. “Well then, what do you think we should do?”
Dakota scratched his head thoughtfully. “Well I think we should look for the other Chosen Ones. What do you think, Wyatt?”
“Humpf,” was the only answer the pouting boy gave them, he did not look happy in the least.
“Well then, it’s settled. We’ll start our search for the Chosen Ones!” said Mai, raising her arms.
“Where should we start?” said Dakota excitedly.
“How about we start looking around town. I mean, you never know; there could be some right under our nose and we don’t even know! But I think we should go back to our house first, you know, to get supplies and food and that kind of stuff,” Mai said, she was starting to feel just a little better, though she still felt a bit uncomfortable around Dakota. She hardly knew him, he was almost a complete stranger, but he had saved her life.
“Sounds good to me.” So they started walking again. As they walked, Tito would run in circle around Wyatt’s feet and then attempt to jump onto him. When he did manage to get onto Wyatt, he would put his paws over Wyatt’s eyes. Wyatt would start running around frantically, then Tito would leap off him just before he crashed into tree, after tree, after tree. Finally, Wyatt got so fed up with it that he kept his swords at the ready, and after being hit on the head once by them, Tito did not taunt Wyatt anymore. Instead, he rode on Dakota’s shoulder.
“I think we should rest here for the night,” Mai said. It was starting to get dark and she was getting tired, she just hoped they were going in the right direction, Dakota seemed to know where he was going though, even though he had never been to their house before.
“That’s a good idea, Mai,” said Dakota, sitting down at the base of a large oak tree.
“Finally!” bellowed Wyatt as he collapsed next to Dakota. Mai sat down on Dakota’s other side.
“So, how are we going to be traveling? We can’t afford the bus every day, and I’m definitely not walking!” said Wyatt loudly.
“Wyatt’s right, how are we going to get around?” Mai asked Dakota.
“We can ride on Amo!”
“Who?” Mai asked. She was very tired of being confused and not knowing what people were talking about.
“Amo, he’s my giant, winged, leopard-horse. AMO!”
Mai and Wyatt covered their ears as Dakota shouted as loud as he could. He leaned back against the tree and waited. They heard the sound of hooves coming from behind them. They turned around to see a large creature bounding towards them. It looked like it was part horse, part wildcat and part bird. It had a long flexible tail, whiskers, spots and the legs of a cat. It also had hooves, a mane and it had large pointed ears. It had two large leather wings, which were folded against its sides. It was at least the size of a rhino, and Mai thought it was a very beautiful creature. Wyatt gave a terrified yelp and dove behind the tree.
“Its okay, Wyatt. He won’t hurt you, will you boy?” Dakota said reassuringly. He walked over to the creature and scratched its head. The creature gave a small roar and nodded.
“Wow, he can understand you?” Mai asked him as she took a few hesitant steps forward. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder, and she had now learned to expect the unexpected. She found that with Solarians, anything was possible, and she would just have to accept that.
“Yeah, that’s another power the Chosen Ones have. They can talk to animals. We can talk with our minds. Though sometimes he ignores me completely, don’t you?” The creature gave him a playful nudge then started licking him. Dakota laughed then turned back to Mai.
“Mai, this is Amo. Amo, this is Mai.” Amo grunted then walked forward to examine Mai. He started sniffing her head and she laughed. “That means he likes you.”
Mai smiled. “Hey Wyatt, come over here. Or are you afraid?”
Wyatt stepped out from behind the tree and straightened himself up so he was standing at his full height. “Of course I’m not scared, I was just…err…I dropped something back there.” He walked forward next to Mai.
“I see,” Mai said sarcastically. “Well, go on then, go pet him.” Wyatt took a few steps forward then stopped a few feet in front of Amo. Amo closed the gap between them and licked Wyatt so hard, that Wyatt fell over and landed on his back.
“Hey!” Wyatt scrambled to his feet and ran back over to the tree. Dakota and May started laughing. Wyatt scowled at them, and then turned his back on them with his arms crossed.
“I think we should get some sleep. It has to be pretty late. The sun set a while ago,” said Mai as she walked over to Dakota and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Good idea Mai. Well, it looks like we won’t have to tell Wyatt more than once.” He pointed over to Wyatt, who was already leaning up against a tree, his eyes closed, trying to fall asleep.
“Hey Tito!” Tito had just jumped onto Dakota’s shoulder. “Do you remember Amo?” he asked the fox-squirrel. Mai gave Dakota a confused look. “I kept Amo a secret from the rest, he lived here in the forest. I took Tito in here once to see him.” He put Tito onto Amo’s back. Tito curled himself up and fell asleep there. Amo lay down too, careful not to drop Tito.
“Come on,” said Mai gesturing for Dakota to follow her over to the tree they had been leaning on before.
As soon as they were lying down, Dakota said, “Good night Mai.”
Mai gave him a smile. “Good night Dakota.”
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