Fight for Solaria: The First Rebellion

Chapter Eight

In Little Orchard

“You know, we’re never going to get anywhere if we stop every thirty minutes!” said Mai irritably. Wyatt had stopped to take a lunch break, again. Why was her brother so easily sidetracked? And they would have to drag him along the entire time. He had nowhere else to go.

“I’m not stopping every thirty minutes. It’s more like every hour,” Wyatt said, taking a bite out of an apple.

“Well, Mai’s got a point, Wyatt. And besides, at the rate we’re going, we’re going to be out of food by tomorrow,” Dakota said as he took the picnic basket away from Wyatt. Wyatt made a huffy sound and stood up. Mai was just glad that Dakota had some sense in him, that he wasn’t as goofy as her brother.

“How do you recognize a Chosen One, Dakota?” Mai asked as they started walking again.

“You can’t really,” said Dakota simply. “I think that the only way to know if someone’s a Chosen One or not, is to see them using two powers, or seeing their Defensive Power.”

“Oh, well that’s just great, really great,” Wyatt said sarcastically. “How are we supposed to do that? There’s no way we can ever find the Chosen Ones!” Mai and Dakota ignored him. He was not the most encouraging person in the world, and the last thing they wanted right now was to lose hope, they couldn’t lose it, it was what was keeping them together and keeping them safe. They couldn’t afford to lose it, not now that they were fugitives, and outlaws of the Fire Tribe.

“Hey, Tito,” Tito ran over to Dakota and jumped onto his shoulder. Dakota whispered in his ear, “How about you start being a little nicer to Wyatt. I think you two would get along pretty well. And besides, he’s going through a lot right now, I think you could cheer him up a bit.” Tito nodded, then in a single leap, jumped from Dakota and landed on Wyatt’s shoulder ten feet away. Wyatt, who had expected Tito to land on his head, put his arms up and yelped, but Tito only nudged him and started licking his cheek. Wyatt lowered his arms and started stroking Tito very carefully.

“See, I’ve got him trained pretty well, don’t I? All it takes to train an animal is discipline. Once you’ve got your animal disciplined, they started behaving.” Mai and Dakota started laughing. Mai couldn’t tell if he was using sarcasm or not, he used it so often that it was almost impossible to tell when he was trying to be serious. “What’s so funny?” snapped Wyatt.

“Nothing,” Mai said, shaking her head. She grinned at Dakota who grinned back. At least they could still have a good laugh together.

“So, where to?” asked Wyatt, still petting Tito. “We have a lot of ground to cover if we want to find your little friends."

Dakota shook his head. “I don’t know any of the other Chosen Ones, Wyatt, not a single one! My only friends are you four. Anyway, last night I got an idea. Since there’s no way to tell who’s a Chosen One or not, I was thinking maybe we could hold try outs, or something like that. Have tests that only people with powers could pass, that way we wouldn’t have a bunch of.…” he cast a side long glance at Wyatt, “….you know. Anyway, once we have some people with powers we can ask around; see if any of them have used their Defensive Powers or can control two elements. What do you think?” Mai considered this for a minute. It was a pretty good idea. The only thing wrong with this plan is that they would have to advertise these try outs, like posters—and what if the Fire Tribe saw them?

“But what tests would we have?” said Wyatt. “And where would we hold these try outs? I don’t know, it just seems a little—“

“That’s a great idea, Dakota,” Mai interrupted, she didn’t want Wyatt to hurt the smaller boy’s feelings, it was a pretty good idea anyway.

“Hey look, there’s town!” said Wyatt excitedly. Wyatt was right. They had finally reached the other side of the woods. “Come on, we need to restock on food and we should probably get some supplies.” Wyatt started running forward, but Mai grabbed the back of his robes and pulled him back. “Wyatt, we don’t have any money. How are we going to buy food? And besides, we wouldn’t be low on food if you hadn’t been pigging out.” “Hey,” Dakota chimed in, “I remember coming here last year with Sam and Fudo. There’s a huge park over that way. That would be the perfect place to hold try outs! Come on, I’ll show—“

“Hold on there Dakota,” said Wyatt, once again interrupting Dakota, “we still need more food. I know where there’s a store that gives out loads of free samples. If we each go up and take as many as they’ll let us from each booth, then we’ll have at least enough food to last us until we can get a job or something.”

Mai and Dakota exchanged worried looks before Mai said, “Wyatt, how are we going to get jobs? We don’t have time to work.” This was not one of Wyatt’s better plans. He rarely had good plans, though sometimes he could come up with pretty good ideas, but very rarely.

Wyatt looked very annoyed. “Mai, if we don’t get jobs we’ll starve. We’re gonna have to get jobs somewhere along the line.” Mai sighed. Wyatt gave a little cough. “Ooh, I’m so thirsty,” he complained.

“Here,” Mai said, pulling a small stream of water from her pouch. She moved her hand and the water followed it obediently and went into Wyatt’s open mouth. “Here, Dakota. Do you want some?” Dakota nodded eagerly. Mai gave Tito and Amo a drink and had barely enough for herself. She was dismayed to find her water pouch empty.

As soon as they were done drinking Wyatt said, “So, are we going to go to that store I pointed out earlier?” Dakota scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Dakota said brightly, “what about you Mai, do you want to go?”

Mai looked at her empty water pouch again. “I guess we don’t have a choice. And besides, I’m out of water. I don’t want to be out if the Fire Tribe finds us.”

“Yes! Come on, let’s go!” said Wyatt eagerly. He grabbed Dakota by the wrist and started pulling him towards town with Mai not far behind.

“Tito, Amo, you stay here, okay?” Dakota yelled back at them.

He only had time to see them both nod, before Wyatt pulled him around a corner and onto a sidewalk. As Mai watched Wyatt pull Dakota by the wrist, it reminded her of how Sam had done the very same thing with her, not too long ago. A surge of anger rushed through her. She wanted to get revenge on the Fire Tribe, on the Fire Chief, and most of all, Sam. She wanted revenge no matter how hard or how long it took to get it. Mai had only been in this town once, when her step mom had taken her and Wyatt along with her to work. It was called Little Orchard. All the stores were spread out a good distance from one another, making the whole place look empty. There were rows of houses, each with a very long driveway. The roads and sidewalks were all cracked and the whole place smelled of oranges. This was because there were orange groves lining the town, lighting the place up a bit.

“It’s this way,” Wyatt said, still pulling Dakota. They turned another corner and stopped in front of a very shabby looking store. The paint was peeling and the wooden walls were splintering. The parking lot was very small and covered with gravel. There was a sign that was nailed above the doorway that had the words ‘Jee’s Goods’ painted on it with blue paint.

“We should leave our stuff out here. I think we should hide it though,” Wyatt said, placing his suitcase behind a rickety old bench. Dakota and Mai did the same, piling one on top of the other. They walked up to the door and pushed it open. There was a small bell hanging above the door that made a jingling sound as they entered. A man, with a mustache and a very nervous expression on his face, walked out from behind a tall shelf. He was wearing very tattered up clothes, and over them, he was wearing an apron that was covered in different colored stains.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Um…no, we’re just looking,” Wyatt said, at last letting go of Dakota, and looking a bit confused himself.

“Oh, okay, carry on with that then.” With that, the man disappeared behind the shelf again.

Wyatt leaned close to Dakota and Mai. “Look, I see a free sample booth. I’ll go up first and take as many as they’ll allow. Then you go up, Mai, then you, Dakota, and then we’ll move on to the next one.”

Mai and Dakota nodded, walking around one of the shelves so the person running the booth wouldn’t see what they were up to. Wyatt walked out from behind the shelf and over to the booth. He came back a few minutes later, holding five small cupcakes. He jerked his head to signal Mai to go. She walked out from behind the shelf and over to the small booth. She had never really like talking to strangers, especially adults. She always felt very uncomfortable doing so, but she would have to now, there was no alternative. Sitting behind the booth was a plump woman wearing a frilly pink apron. She smiled at Mai as she approached.

“How many can I take?” Mai asked, trying not to look too shy, or let any guilt show on her face.

“One per person,” the woman replied.

“Well, I have two brothers and one sister here with me, I mean in the store. They aren’t with me now. Can I take one for each of them?” Mai lied, she hoped the woman would fall for it, and not suspect her of anything, though Mai doubted that stealing free samples would cause a big ruckus, after all, they were called free samples.

“Of course,” the woman replied, waving her hand at Mai, signaling her to take some of the cupcakes from the booth. So Mai took four cupcakes and walked back over to Dakota and Wyatt, feeling quite proud of herself. Wyatt smiled greedily at the cupcakes as Dakota left to take his turn. He came back a minute later with three cupcakes.

“Why’d you only take three?” Wyatt asked him.

“Because the lady there said only one per person so I took one for each of us,” Dakota answered.

“You should have said you came here with five other people or something, then we would have had way more!”

Dakota shook his head. “That would be lying, Wyatt.”

Wyatt snorted. “Lying shmying. We’re doing this so we won’t starve! Anyway, we should go put these in out basket, then we can come back in here and do that booth.” He pointed to a booth that had a plate of crackers on display. So they walked back out of the store and pulled the basket out from behind the bench and put the cupcakes inside it. As soon as the basket was safely hidden, they went back inside. Once again, as they opened the door, the bell above it jingled and the man with the stained apron came running out from behind the shelf. When he saw them he stopped.

“Can I help you?” he asked again. But before any of them could answer, he said, “Say, you look oddly familiar. Were have I seen you before?” Mai heard Wyatt snort. “That’s it! I know where I saw you three before. You deliver my paper in the morning!”

“Err… right,” said Dakota uncomfortably, shuffling his feet, Mai could tell he was trying not to laugh.

“Well, can I help you?” the man said yet again.

“No, we’re just looking,” Wyatt repeated. The man nodded and returned to his work. Wyatt gave the same instruction as before, they went to three other booths. One had peanut butter crackers, another had some cookies, and the last had carrots. Each time they would go up one at a time, take as many as they could and go back to the other two. They would then go back outside and put the food in the basket and go back inside for the next booth. Each time they went back in, the man with the stained apron would greet them the same as always. Asking if he could help, then saying that they looked familiar and ending with where he knew them from, each time a different place. Like he went to school with their parents, or they sometimes played with his son (but then remembered that he didn’t have a son), and last he though they worked in the pet store down the street. As soon as they were sure they had hit all they free sample booths in the store, they left. They had managed to get a fair amount of food. At least enough to last them a few days if Wyatt ate as much as Dakota and Mai did.

As they were walking away from the store Dakota asked, “Now can I show you that park?”

Wyatt scratched his head. “I guess, but we can’t stay long.” Dakota whooped and started running.

“Come on! This way!” he shouted over his shoulder. Mai and Wyatt started running to catch up to him.

They had only been running for about a minute went Wyatt yelled to Dakota, “Can we stop for just a minute?” He was breathing very hard and was sweating. Dakota turned on the spot and ran back to them. Mai stopped next to Wyatt to catch her breath too. She was fully rested in a few seconds and so looked around while Wyatt was panting. They had stopped in front of a small store, it was in much better condition then the last one they had stopped at. The walls were painted black and there was a big picture window next to the door. Mai looked into this window to see what the store sold. By the looks of it, it was selling armor, armor that looked very much like what Karan had been wearing. There was a girl sitting behind the register, she had long black hair and bangs. She was wearing a black robes and a bored expression. Mai wondered why she was wearing robes, but realized that the girl was a Solarian. The girl looked out the window at Mai; she had eyes so dark, Mai couldn’t tell what color they were. The girl looked over at Dakota and stood up suddenly. She walked over to the door to the shop and yanked in open.

“Dakota?” she asked. Her voice sounded bored and had a very flat tone. Dakota, who had been facing the other way, turned around to look at her.

“Darcy, I-I…”

Darcy looked at him closely then said, “What are you doing out here….with those?” She pointed to the suitcase he was holding. “Surely you're not running away again?” She sounded as though she could care less.

“We should go, come on guys,” said Dakota hastily, grabbing Wyatt’s shirt and pulling him.

“Hope you don’t get lost,” said Darcy in the same careless tone. Mai followed Dakota as he pulled Wyatt away from Darcy.

“Who was she?” Mai asked as soon as they were out of earshot. It was official, Mai was tired of asking so many questions.

“She’s from the Fire Tribe,” said Dakota, still pulling Wyatt, who was struggling to stay on his feet.

“Oh, well then, I guess we should keep going,” said Mai, looking over her shoulder to see if they were being followe. That was the last thing she wanted right now, or ever would want. She would wait to have her revenge, she couldn’t get it right now. Sam could kill her as if she were no more than a bug, kill her with a blast of lightning. She would have to wait until she was better at using her powers, then she could get her revenge on Sam. As soon as they got to the park, Dakota let go of Wyatt who collapsed in a heap on the ground. Dakota ran over to the play equipment and Mai followed.

“Let’s go on the swings,” said Dakota. Mai nodded and followed Dakota to the large swing set.

“Okay,” said Dakota as soon as they were sitting on the swings. “Let’s have a contest. Whoever can jump the farthest off the swings wins. Ready, set, GO!”

They started swinging and as soon as Dakota gave the word, they jumped. Dakota landed about thirty feet away from the swing set, while Mai landed only five feet away.

“Hey, you cheated!” said Mai with a laugh. “You can’t use you powers!” She wasn’t mad. She could never get mad at Dakota, and never would, he was the only friend she had. Her first friend, Sam, didn’t count. She could never count as any kind of friend.

Dakota laughed too. “Sorry, want a rematch?”

Mai shook her head. “No, how about we go climb on the equipment?” Dakota walked back over to her.

“Sounds good to me.”

So they both ran over to the monkey bars. Wyatt had finally got up, put the two suitcases and the basket over by a picnic table and had come running over to them.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?” he asked them.

“We’re going to do some climbing. You want to?” said Dakota, gripping one of the bars.

Wyatt looked at them for a second then said, “Sure, I guess so.” Mai and Dakota climbed on top of the monkey bars. Wyatt followed, but once he got up, he froze.

“What’s wrong, Wyatt?” asked Dakota.

“I don’t like heights,” Wyatt replied.

“Then get down,” said Mai simply. Even though she was the youngest child in her family, she seemed to be a bit more mature than her older brother. Wyatt had always had a fear of heights, ever since he had fallen out of a tall tree in their backyard. It was a fear that often got in the way.

“I can’t.”

Dakota jumped down, using his air powers to land softly. He stood under the monkey bars.

“Wait, what are you doing?” asked Wyatt nervously. Dakota sent a blast of air up at Wyatt, making him fly up ten feet in the air and he yelped, as he came down. Dakota slowed his fall with his powers, like he did when he jumped down. Wyatt landed with a small thud. He got up, brushed himself off, and marched of in a huff back to the picnic table. After playing for about fifteen minutes, they stopped to have lunch. They got the best picnic table in the whole park, the one overlooking the small lake. There was no one else in the park. As soon as they were done eating, Mai went down to the lake and refilled her water pouch and they started packing up. But just as they were about to leave, Mai heard a familiar voice from behind them. It was a voice she loathed above all others, even more than Sam’s, even though this person had never really done that much to her. But still, he was one of her least favorite people in the world.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Chosen One and the little peasant.” She turned around to see Fudo, the usual scowl on his marked face. Standing behind him was Aldrich, who was eating, what looked like, a bowl of noodles. Dakota and Wyatt turned around too.

“You! So you came back for a rematch!” Wyatt shouted as he put one hand on the hilt of one sword, still sheathed at his hip.

“A rematch! Believe me, this won’t be a match,” said Fudo coldly. Mai wanted to charge at him, hurt him, scare him off, but knew better. They would be better off if they planned out their moves, rather than attack head on, which would only result in violence.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go,” Mai whispered to her companions, wanting desperately to get as far away from Fudo as possible. But they ignored her.

“What are you doing here?” Dakota asked.

Aldrich stepped forward. “Oh, you know. Just taking a walk in the park. Isn’t that right, Fudo?”

Fudo turned around sharply to face Aldrich. “No we are not!” His loud, angry voice rang in Mai’s ears, just as his taunts and insults had.

“Temper, temper, you must learn to control your temper,” said Aldrich calmly, stepping back slightly.

Fudo ignored this comment and turned to face the others. He stepped back into a ready stance, preparing to fight, Dakota did the same. Wyatt pulled out both his swords, putting one in each hand, and Mai pulled out a Water Snake. Aldrich walked over to a picnic table, sat himself down, and started slurping his noodles, like he was just going to watch—and that is what he did. Fudo shot a ball of fire at Dakota, who dodged it gracefully. Dakota launched a blast of air at Fudo; Fudo crossed his arms in an ‘X’ in front of his face and blocked the attack, though it threw him off balance. Mai ran forward, about to strike, but Dakota held out an arm to stop her. “I have to do this alone,” he said.

Mai gave him a confused looked before retreating back a few yards, pulling a struggling Wyatt along with her.

“Hey! I can fight him!”

Mai merely shook her head. Fudo had regained his balance and launched another fireball at Dakota. Dakota shot a blast of air at it and it went flying off in another direction, nearly hitting a tree. Fudo and Dakota ran at each other, but just before they collided, Fudo sent a ball of fire at Dakota and at the same time, Dakota sent a blast of air at Fudo. The two attacks hit, causing an explosion. Fudo went flying in one direction and Dakota went flying in another. Fudo got up and ran at Dakota, trailing fire behind him. It looked, to Mai, like he was pulling a sheet of Fire behind him, letting it blow in the breeze as he ran forward. Dakota jumped up suddenly and shot a blast of air at Fudo. It hit him and he went flying backwards. Dakota charged at Fudo, gathering as much air as he could in a ball above his head, preparing to hit Fudo with a massive blow, but the older boy was too quick. He got up and stomped on the ground, and from under his foot, came a blast of fire that threw Dakota of balance as he dodged it. His enormous ball of air disappeared right before Mai’s eyes.

Dakota regained his footing just in time to see Fudo running at him, one flaming fist aimed right at his face. Dakota sidestepped at the last possible moment and Fudo ran past him. Fudo charged at him again, but this time Dakota held his ground. Just as Fudo’s flaming fist was about to hit him, Dakota put up one arm and pushed Fudo’s arm away using his forearm. Fudo tried kicking and punching Dakota, though he wasn’t using any fire, which confused Mai. Dakota was blocking his attacks, like he had Fudo’s last attack. Then, he slipped between Fudo’s legs, and knocked him flat on his back. Dakota was about to send a blast of air at him, but he got too close. Fudo swung his leg around, hit Dakota’s leg, and knocked him off his feet, yet at the same time, Fudo had swung himself into a standing position. It looked like Dakota had been knocked out as his head hit the ground with much force, and he just lay there.

“Get up. Come on, get up,” Mai whispered, she couldn’t just sit and watch anymore, she had to help Dakota. Fudo walked forward and grabbed Dakota by the collar and started dragging him over to Aldrich, who was still eating his noodles. Fudo had seemingly forgotten that Mai and Wyatt were crouched behind a tree, watching and waiting, he must have thought they had run off and abandoned the smaller boy, which gave Mai an advantage.

“NO!” Mai ran forward and pulled out a Water Snake.

But just as she reached Fudo, he turned around sharply and grabbed both her wrists, dropping Dakota, who was slowing waking. Mai dropped her Water Snake, the water absorbing into the ground, and fought against Fudo’s grip, but he was too strong. He was once again holding her gaze, his golden eyes locked on hers, and she felt her angry thoughts racing as she tried to push his away. Wyatt had started running over to them now, both swords raised. But he couldn’t get there in time to stop Fudo from roughly throwing Mai to the side. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head as she landed on the hard ground, then everything started to go fuzzy. She saw a strange light and felt a wave of air. She saw a shadow against the light; it looked like a girl. She saw Fudo collapse beside her and saw a blur of red and blue. She knew no more, for everything went black.