Thicker Than Water: Part 2
When Tred got into the house, he almost left again. The place was a mess. It was Halloween night and everyone was trying to find costumes. The rejects were tossed on the floor. A pizza box and food wrappers littered the table. Tred waded through the mess to the living room. There he found Tracy laying on the couch, talking to someone on the phone.
Tred went over, moved her feet and sat down. “Were you planning on leaving anytime soon?”
Tracy kicked him in the side. “Shhh! I’m talking to Rowen!” She turned her attention back to the phone. “Yeah, it's great that you finally defeated Talpa. He was a real pain. Have you heard anything from the Sailor Scouts?”
Tracy felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Tred pointing to his watch. “Would you just wait a minute! We can’t leave until everyone else is ready, so go and bug them.” Tracy got up from the couch and began walking towards the kitchen. “So Rowen, who are these friends you’re bringing?”
Tred couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Now we have to wait for them?! And I suppose that I need to teleport the Ronins here as well.”
“Nope, they have a friend who can teleport them.”
“Who do they know that can... oh, nevermind. I don’t care, I’m going to find the others.” With that, Tred left the room and headed upstairs. He searched until he found Danielle, Erica, and Amanda. They were sitting in their costumes, playing poker.
Danielle dealt out a new hand. “Ok, 5 card draw, two’s the ante.” She looked up and noticed Tred standing in the door. “Hi, Tred. How’s it going?”
“Oh, it's going.” He looked at their costume choices. Danielle was dressed as a Jedi knight. She was wearing a brown robe over a black outfit. Her lightsaber hung at her belt. Amanda had on a green and gold outfit. She had sprayed her hair so that there was a white streak running down the center of it. Tred thought that she was supposed to be Rogue. Erica was in some sort of a green elf costume. She had a fake sword and a shield strapped to her back. Tred pointed at her. “Who are you trying to be?”
Erica’s eyes narrowed. “I’m Link, from The Legend of Zelda. You know, the game with the little dude who runs around with a sword.”
“That’s... uh, great. Are you ready now? Because I really want to get going soon.”
“Why, Tred?” Danielle paused for a second to take a card. “Are you excited about the party?”
Tred looked confused. “What party? I thought that I just had to take you trick-or-treating and then we would be done.”
Amanda smiled. “Well, we would be done, except that we are going to the party that our new neighbor is throwing. Don’t worry, it will be fun.”
“Yea.” Tred felt sick. He just wanted this night to be over with. As he walked back downstairs, Tred heard the doorbell ring. He headed to the door, but was shoved aside by Candice.
Candice opened the door and saw Rowen, Sage, Cye, and three guys she didn’t know. They looked funny. One had long, white hair and an eye patch over his left eye. Another had blue hair and a sword shaped scar over his left eye. The other one had weird eyes and purple eyelids. He had green hair.
Candice said hello, let them all in, and walked over to Cye. As she gave him a hug, she whispered, “Who are these people?”
“Oh, sorry Candi. These are the former Warlords, Cale, Dais, and Sekhmet.”
Candice looked as if she was shocked over what Cye had just said. “The warlords? Like the ones we beat that one time?”
Cale reached over and shook her hand. “Yes, we’re those guys. But don’t worry, we won’t hold it against you. It was our fault, we underestimated you guys.”
Candice looked relieved. “Oh, well that’s good to know. Do you need costumes? We have tons.”
Everyone nodded. Cye looked at Candice and asked, “What are you wearing?”
Candice smiled. “I’m being a princess. I have this awesome medieval gown that my mom made me.”
Cye returned the grin. “Well then, I’ll just have to be your knight in shining armor. Armor of Torrent, dao shin!” He transformed into his light blue armor. “How’s this?”
“Perfect!” Candice went over to Cye and kissed him.
Rowen shuddered. “Ok Tred, how ‘bout we go see Tracy about those costumes?”
“Good idea.” Tred lead the group to where Tracy was and left them with her. He went back to the couch and laid down. “This is going to be a long night.”
* * * * *
Later, Tred had moved into the kitchen to get a drink of water. He was just about to sit down when Tracy burst into the room. She had made her hair lavender and was wearing a black outfit with a blue jacket over it. Her nodatchi was on her back.
"What are you supposed to be?"
Tracy struck a pose. "I'm future Trunks! Look at everyone else, they look great!"
As Sage and Sekhmet walked in, Tred couldn't help but shake his head. He definitely recognized where the costumes were from, but he couldn't quite remember the names. Both were dressed as a characters from DragonBall Z. Tracy had made Sekhmet's hair black and spiky. He was wearing odd clothing that looked somewhat like a fighting outfit. Sage was wearing a bright orange fighting outfit. His hair was still the same color, but was standing strait up. It sort of reminded Tred of a porcupine.
"Don't we look great!" Tracy pointed to them. "Sekhmet is adult Gohan, and Sage is Super Saiyan Goku!"
Tracy ran out of the room again, and dragged the others in. "Cale's Batman, Dais is Nick Fury, and Rowen is Gambit, didn't I do a good job?"
Tred got up from his chair, a disgusted look on his face. "Yes, you did. Is everyone ready? The sooner we leave the sooner this is all over with."
Rowen started to follow him. "Geez, Tred. You're such a party pooper! What are you gonna be anyway?"
"Myself." Tred saw the others come downstairs, all in costume. "Can we get going now?"
"Yes, Tred." Erica began to pass out the candy bags. "Remember, don't eat anything until its inspected."
Sekhmet looked at Cale, who shook his head. He turned to Erica. "Why can't we eat it?"
Erica looked annoyed. "Because, some creep could be poisoning his candy and I don't think that Tracy wants to drive anybody to the hospital."
Sekhmet smiled. "Well, then I don't need to worry about anything because I'm immune to poison. I'll test everyone's candy for them."
"No way!" Amanda hugged her candy bag protectively. "You'll eat it all!"
Tred had had enough. "Can we get going before I poison all the candy!"
"Yes sir." All they all filed out the door, Sage whispered to Tracy, "Is he always this grumpy?"
"No, just most of the time. He has been worse than normal, though"
Tred glared at them. "I can hear you."
"I know." Tracy grabbed Sekhmet's arm and ran down the street. Everyone else followed her, leaving an annoyed Tred behind.
* * * * *
“I can’t believe we got this much candy!” Amanda ate some more candy and started to dance happily in the street.
Tred shook his head. “I can’t believe how much candy you ate.” He took Amanda’s candy bag from her, and peered inside. “Is there anything left?”
“Hee hee.”
“Oh, my.” Cye was walking with Candice, his arm around her shoulder. “Should we be afraid?”
“You should always be afraid.” Rowen had stopped hanging around Amanda a while ago. “Hey, shouldn’t we be headin’ to the party now?”
Erica checked her watch. “Yeah, it's almost nine.”
The group headed to Tracy’s house to drop off what was left of their candy and then walked down the street to where the sounds of a party could be heard. As they walked up the sidewalk, a girl opened the door. She was dressed as a Greek warrior.
“Come in, it is good to finally meet you!” She stepped aside and let them in.
“Yeah, nice to meet you, too.” Tracy pointed to her friends. “It’s ok that I brought them, right?”
“Of course, the more the better. My name is Athene. Go and make yourselves comfortable.” With that, she walked off to talk to more guests.
Tred glared after her and whispered to the group, “Did anyone else feel any strange vibes from her?”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Oh Tred, its Halloween! You’re supposed to feel spooky. Now quit looking for trouble and go mingle.”
As the group spread out, Athene headed towards the kitchen. When she got there she checked to see if anybody was around. “Masters, they have arrived.”
Two black figures appeared in front of her. One was a girl with long, brown hair. She wore a long, black dress with a red stripe going around it and a black cloak draped down her back. The other was dressed in all black. He had the same color hair as the other one. His black cape was wrapped around him, giving him an air of mystery.
The girl walked to the kitchen door and looked out it. “How do you know it is them?”
“Mistress Ebiru Shizaku, there is a Ronin in his armor. The one you described is standing in the corner, not talking to anybody.” Athene bowed to them. “If you wish, I will dispose of them.”
The man looked at her sharply. “No! They must not be killed! All our plans are for naught if any of them dies.”
“I apologize, Master Darker Shadow.”
He turned toward Ebiru. “Take Athene and test their strength. See if he has gotten his full powers back yet. But just test them, we need all of them in fairly good condition. Of course, the Ronins were never part of the plan. It would not be affected if an accident should fall upon one of them.”
“Yes, brother.” Ebiru and Athene walked out of the kitchen. Nobody gave them a second glance, believing that they were dressed up. Athene headed toward Cye and Ebiru walked up to Tred.
Ebiru stood in front of Tred, waiting for him to recognize her. When he did, she could see the fear in his eyes. “So, Tred. After all these years, you finally escaped. How tragic, for you.” Ebiru release a large amount of black energy at Tred.
He jumped out of the way, just barely missing the blast. “I cannot believe that Kasei would hold a grudge this long!” He sent a blast of his own at Ebiru. All the while, the other guests had cleared the house. He heard the Ronins transform, but he hadn’t seen the girls.
Ebiru sent another blast of energy at Tred, this time knocking him through the window. “None of us will rest until you and your little team are dead! Kasei was very upset when you escaped, even more upset when you weakened Queen Beryl just enough for the Sailor Scouts to defeat her! She will not be so gracious this time!”
“This is crazy.” Tred got up from the lawn. “Kasei should have realized last time that she will not be allowed to rule the world.”
“The only thing she realized was that you Guardians are in the way!” Ebiru stepped out of the way of Tred’s energy blast. “Now that there is only one left, it won’t be a problem.” Ebiru telekinetically threw Tred against the house. He was still conscious, but he didn’t get up right away. She went over to him and lifted Tred up by his shirt. “You’re lucky, we were just ordered to test you.” Ebiru threw him across the lawn and then rose into the air. “Next time, I won’t be so nice.”
Tred watched as Ebiru teleported away. “This isn’t good at all. If they attack again, we might not be able to stop them.”
Tred got up and left to find the others. When he did, he saw that the Ronins and the girls were together. “Didn’t you get attacked?”
Erica nodded. “Yep, this weird dude fought us, but he disappeared suddenly.”
“Same here, but that girl attacked us.” Rowen pushed his hair out of his eyes. “What were they after?”
Tred shook his head. “I’m, uh, not sure.” He turned away and headed towards his apartment. “Just watch out for them, they might be back.”
