Well then... The Illuminati imparted a sense of pride in the group, a feeling of optimism. You are ready for the next set of tests, my children.
     The Applebus crew exchanged semi-nervous glances, though none could feel entirely misgiving about it, knowing that the Illuminati seemed to believe in them.
     There was a watery-looking sparkly glimmer in the air nearby, and after a moment of being only half-visible, the Applebus appeared.
     The transportation will be more comfortable for you if you remain in your..Applebus, I think. Once again, that strange non-visual sense of a smile...
     "But where are we going?" Gavin cried out. "I thought you said my way home lies through a cave! Isn't this it??"
     Patience, child, patience... Yet Illuminati did not sound angry at all - amused, if anything. Climb into your Applebus. And I think it is Gavin's turn to select a button to push...
     They felt Illuminati vanish, as much as they saw it...yet they did not feel entirely alone, they could still feel its presence, but at a distance now. They climbed aboard the Applebus, and settled into the various seats, Maik again behind the wheel.
     "Wahl, son, go ahead. Pick whichever one ya think is best," Maik gently said to an unexpectedly calm Gavin, who was seated in the passenger seat.
     The boy took a deep breath, and pressed a button that was in the shape of a single white feather...
     "Any partick'ler reason ya picked that one?" Maik asked quietly once the bus had begun moving.
     "Well, I...I'd rather not say," Gavin said hurriedly, abruptly turning his face away and gazing moodily out the window. [Note: Has nothing to do with dark Aubrey and his feathers...!]
     The Applebus passed through a sparkling fog of swirling sky blue and iridescent green, then stopped on a world of about the same colours. The sky overhead was an unbelievably clear, pure pale yet vibrant blue, reflected in a small stream that ran nearby; the leaves of the strange trees in the forest that surrounded them seemed to nearly glow green (not like radioactive, like the sun was shining through each one, even those that should be in the shade).
     Gavin's eyes lit up. "It's Drydia [duh-RID-ee-uh]! I'm home, I'm home!!!" he cried, leaping out of the Applebus. He ran to a small hut nearby, calling to his family all the while.
     After a minute or two, when the rest of the passengers [*g*] had gotten out, his joyous cries stopped. He walked slowly out of the hut, alone, back towards the Applebus.
     "There's no-one there," he stated flatly.
     "Maybe they just went for a walk--"
     "No." Gavin shook his head firmly. "They're gone. The ashes in the fireplace are stone cold. There are mice living inside now, that's all. Mice and spiders." Tears began coming to his eyes, and the others suddenly remembered that Gavin was still a young boy. Naomi rushed over to him and put her arms around the now-sobbing boy.
     "It's alright, Gav, it'll be alright...we'll find them...I promise. Cheesy as it sounds, we won't stop until we find them." Naomi pulled back and looked firmly into his eyes, locking her sad but determined eyes with his. "I promise. There hasn't been any trouble yet while we've been on the Applebus, an' it's sure not gonna start now...somehow, things've always ended up alright, I've a feeling Someone's watchin' over us, I know it'll all work out in the end."
     Gavin's tears had stopped by this point, Naomi's determination spreading to him. He nodded. "Okay. We've gotta find out where they are."
     "Well, we know your sister's been kidnapped, could the rest of your family have been, too?" Blake asked.
     Gavin let out a slow sigh. "Well... actually..." He hesitated, and the rest waited in silence for him to continue. He took a deep breath, and went on. "I can guess where my brother went. Ever since our parents died, he and my sister fought a lot, especially about me."
     Various members of the Applebus exchanged sympathetic looks, some having had to go through deaths of loved ones and family arguments themselves...[Oh, right, you meant Daivi and people, as far as the deaths go. I'd forgotten. ..dude, I was just gonna say I was thinking more like Bono and Larry..! gah! *g* ..wrooong story..! But yeah.]
     "I know it wasn't my fault, they just never really knew what to do with me, I guess. I'd always wondered, and then one night I overheard them, they said I was adopted, and Teraa said maybe they should try to find my real parents for help or something, but Neo said he didn't want any part of anything, he just wanted to get off this planet and go somewhere "real", and Satoru [sih-TAR-oo; it's Japanese, this's my an' my sister's pronounciation, anyway], our friend, was on Teraa's side, but Neo started to get really mad, and... I bet he left on his own."
     Wow was the general collective thought.
     Maik whistled low. "Boy, you've been through ah lot, kid."
     "Hey..." Piyteur began thoughtfully. The rest turned to him expectantly. "What about that Satoru kid? Would he still be around here? Maybe he'd know something."
     Gavin's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I'll go get him!" He ran off into the woods.
     "Piyteur, I think that's the best idea you've evah 'ad!" Daivi exclaimed.
     "It's the only idea he's ever had," Myki muttered.
     "My-ki!" Ananda reprimanded, punching him even as she giggled.
     About ten minutes later, Gavin burst back into the clearing, an older boy in tow.
     "We're here!" Gavin exclaimed breathlessly. "This is Satoru!"
     A chorus of "hello"s (and various variations) came from the travelers, with Satoru responding in kind.
     "I hope you don't mind if we save the introductions for later," Daphne began.
     "Yeah, 'cus we've got Gavin's folks to save," Maik finished.
     Satoru shook his head. "No, that's quite alright. There will be plenty of time later." Satoru was about twelve years old [Like Gavin, right? You said at first that he was something like twelve... Gav's younger..not sure by how much..but he is younger..], with straight dark blue hair [Whoa, I wasn't expecting that...guess it's 'cause I don't watch anime, huh?] that came just past his chin, and dark eyes. He spoke somewhat softly, but firmly.
     "So do you know what happened to Gavin's brother and sister?" Aubrey asked him.
Larger version
     Satoru nodded slightly. "Somewhat. When you disappeared, Gavin, your brother and sister had another fight. This one was their biggest one yet, and Neo stormed out. He came to my house and told me what happened, and that he was leaving. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen to me. He's been acting strangely for the last year or so, you know that, but he'd gotten worse, especially after you disappeared. So he left, about six months ago, I'm not sure where, but it must have been to a planet with at least one large city, maybe Shinjuku [shinn-JOO-koo, I think.. 'least, that's the way Bono and my sister pronounce it, so..], since he's always talked about city life and how things were so backwards here. Teraa was obviously very upset, and I tried to comfort her, but she missed you both so much... A few days ago, I went for a long hike through the woods. I was gone all day, and when I came back, I stopped by your house to see Teraa, but she was gone. I waited all night, and the next day, but she didn't return. She wouldn't have left without telling me, and nothing was missing from the house. And I found this on the floor." He pulled a necklace out of his pocket, and let it dangle in the air. At the end of a white cord was a strangely-shaped tag-like pendant, silver in colour, with a white rectangle inserted into it. The rectangle bore a strange marking on it.
     Gavin gasped. "Her crest!"
     Satoru nodded. "This is something that she would never accidently leave somewhere," he replied to answer the others' confused looks.
     "So where do we go now?" Myki asked.
     Fortunately, they were saved from having to devise a plan, as Gavin, Satoru, Naomi, Blake, Ananda, and Myki suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but a few sparkles behind.
     
     In the few moments of seeming nothingness of trans-planet transportation, the six somehow heard a message, whether with their ears or in their minds they could never quite decide... Here you will find Gavin's sister, a familiar voice said, ...and be tested.
     
     "Well, that was convenvient," Blake commented.
     "Yeah," Naomi replied.
     "But where are we?" Ananda asked.
     Satoru and Gavin looked around. "I think," Satoru said, "we're on Shinjuku."
     "Isn't that in Japan..?" Naomi wondered aloud.
     "It's a city planet," Satoru continued in explanation. "Nearly the entire planet's one big city."
     "Like Corescant!" Naomi added, drawing blank stares from the rest. "Star Wars, guys!" Continued blank stares. She groaned, sighed, and gave up.
     Looking around, though, the city did look sort of like Corescant, Naomi thought. Corescant crossed with U2's ZooTV, with maybe a touch of Tokyo and the movie Hackers... basically, very close to your standard sci-fi futuristic city. [Having been reminded of ZooTV, Naomi and the author promptly got "Zooropa" stuck in their heads. *g*] From their landing spot on a balcony of some sort, the group could see nothing but buildings all around them. Cold, metal skyscrapers stretched to the sky, seeming to pierce the atmosphere with their harsh geometric lines. It was nighttime, or so they guessed, as the sky seemed darkish, though neon lights banished the shadows from the ground and buildings. White and red and yellow and blue lights glared from windows and street signs below, advertising who-knew-what in countless languages. [But not English, as you don't know what they mean? Hm, so much for English being the dominant language. *g*] There appeared to be traffic on the streets below, though the vehicle shapes were different, the lights an eerie neon green and sickly yellow.
     While the group was looking around, however, steps sounded from a stairwell behind them. As they turned around, a bright green light enveloped them, knocking them all instantly unconscious.
     
     "Well," Satoru muttered grimly, "at least we didn't have to worry about deciding where to go." He and the others sat on a metal floor, hands and feet bound with an unfamiliar material that seemed to be a combination of silk, steel, and rope. They were in a cell that reminded Naomi of the brig on Star Trek - metal walls and a forcefield of some sort to keep them in.
     "At least we're all still together," Naomi whispered (whispering so as no-one would overhear and split them up, she hoped).
     "Yeah," Blake whispered back, sliding over closer to Naomi as best he could. "That's how I could've lost you before... and I won't let it happen again." He kissed her gently on her cheek. Naomi blushed slightly - though such actions and words were becoming much more common from Blake, they were still strange to her; so many times she was sure she had to be dreaming, reality had never been so nice... and then, too, there was the memory of Reûic - beginning to fade, but not enough yet that she could feel entirely comfortable with Blake again, between being constantly reminded of her time with the three-l lllama and now beginning to wonder if...if maybe she'd be happier with someone beside Blake... and then, too, the constant wondering, what had he done with Ràspia?
     Before Myki could make a sardonic remark, a screen on the wall opposite the forcefield came on. The face that appeared was unfamiliar to those from the Applebus - nearly white hair that was almost fuschia at the roots stood out at random-but-neat angles from the boy's head. His cat-like eyes gleamed with malicious amusement, a scar on his right cheek contorting with his slight grin. He seemed to be about sixteen, and Naomi and Ananda found themselves thinking that he was kinda cute... Before they could even begin to wonder who it was, however, Gavin and Satoru answered their yet-to-be-asked question.
     "Neo!" they both shouted in surprise, Satoru in slight anger, Gavin in relief.
     The boy's smile widened a bit, though it only added to his look of evil intent. "Hello, Gavin, Satoru. Such a surprise to see you here - finally decide to leave that backwater planet of ours? Smart thinking. Surprised you two thought of it."
     "We're not here entirely by choice, Neo," Satoru replied firmly. "Teraa's disappeared, and we thought you had, too--"
     Neo laughed. "We didn't disappear, my old friend. My dear 'brother', you weren't worried, were you?" he asked sarcastically. [But Satoru's no relation, right? Did you mean for that to be Gavin's line? No - err, well, "old friend" is Satoru, Gav's "'brother'".] He paused for a beat, and narrowed his eyes. "If you were, well then, you've had a taste of what we went through when you disappeared. You've caused us a lot of trouble, boy..."
     "But it wasn't his faul--" Naomi began to burst out, but was cut off by Neo.
     "Don't try that! It is his fault!" Neo spat out angrily. "All the problems that ever came to our family were his fault! My parents gone, my sister... corrupted! Because of you, little demon-boy!"
     Naomi, Ananda, Blake, and Myki gasped, shocked at Neo's harsh treatment of Gavin. Satoru seemed to take it in stride - this was pretty much normal?
     Gavin simply stood stock still, arms to his sides, face blank but not in hurt, in defiance.
     Neo gave up his tirade with a sigh. "Well, what's done is done. In any case, I suppose you all would like to know where Teraa is?"
     They all looked up at the screen sharply and intently.
     "She's here. She's been with me the whole time." A girl who looked to be the same age as Satoru, with black hair in a ponytail just off to the side of the top of her head, appeared next to Neo. Her eyes were black, as was her clothing.
     "Teraa!" Satoru and Gavin cried out in unison, this time both purely in relief.
     "---Teraa, why didn't you tell me where you were going?! I was so worried---" "---Teraa, why'd you leave? There was no-one at home to take care of me---"
     "Quiet!" Neo yelled.
     "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going," Teraa said softly. "But Neo asked me to come here right away, the sooner I got off the planet the better. So I came. And it's much nicer here. I think I'll stay."
     "What?!" Satoru and Gavin exclaimed in shock. [They're getting quite good at this synchronized speech stuff, aren't they? *g*] [Actually, yeah, come to think of it...]
     "Quiet!" Neo yelled again. Then, softer: "Teraa has decided to stay here. Gavin, we're going to begin searching for your real parents, or someone better to take care of you. We're just kids, we can't do it, we don't know how, the responsibility was forced on us and we don't want it. So you'll be leaving us soon."
     "What???" Gavin cried out, tears rapidly forming in his wide eyes. "Teraa, I thought you loved me!!!" Naomi rushed forward to put her arms around Gavin [I think I have a strong mother-instinct or something...] [Well, that's all well and good, but aren't you still tied up? You don't get out for a whole 'nother seven paragraphs! *g* Shush! Yer ruinin' my moment! ..ehmm...tho I think yer right...go AWAY, dangit!!! *g*].
     "I do," Teraa replied smoothly. "We both do. But this is for the best, Gavin, for you and us. So you'll just have to accept it."
     "Now enough of this," Neo said tiredly. "We're very busy, and have no more time for this nonsense. I believe our friends that brought you here would like to speak with you again, so we will leave you now to wait for them."
     "No, wait! NEO!!!!!" Satoru screamed at the screen in vain as it went dark. He punched the wall in frustration, having pulled apart his bonds in his anger - either he was very strong, or the cords were weaker than they had first appeared. "We've got to get her out of there! Can't you see, that's not Teraa! It looks like Teraa, it sounds like Teraa, but Teraa... isn't like that!"
     "Teraa loves me," Gavin said simply, letting his eyes say the rest.
     There was a silent moment of thought.
     Blake sighed. "Anybody have any ideas?"
     Satoru began walking around the cell, first helping the rest out of their bonds, then carefully inspecting the walls. Myki joined him, and after a few moments of hushed discussion, motioned Blake over.
     Meanwhile, Naomi and Ananda talked with Gavin, trying to figure out what might have happened to Teraa... Gavin had spoken of her before, and made her out to be, well, not exactly a loving and caring mother type, but certainly not the cold-hearted person they had seen on the screen. There seemed to be some sort of mystery behind both her and Satoru that they and Gavin were keeping from the Applebus crew, but no-one pressed them for information. (They also wondered how on earth Gavin got to Ràspia and Reûic's from his planet, but they sensed that he didn't really want to talk about Reûic at all, although Ananda guessed - correctly - that he might've spoken of some of it to Naomi.)
     After several minutes, the guys walked back over to the girls and Gavin.
     "We might have a way outta here!" Myki whispered excitedly.
     "I think Blake and I can re-wire the force field on the door to let us out without tripping the alarm," Satoru said. "I know more about the technology, but Blake knows more of the computer code, so between the two of us, we should be able to do it."
     "And Myki can just stand there and look pretty," Ananda said with a wink.
     
     About ten minutes later, the faint shimmer of the force field disappeared. Satoru and Blake quickly got up from their crouched positions in front of a small panel in the wall, and they all quietly hurried out of the cell. Once outside, Satoru pressed a glowing square on another panel, and the force field reappeared.
     "We're only safe until they come to check on us," Ananda said worriedly as they stood in the corridor a short distance from their cell. "Do we even know where to go?"
     Satoru nodded. "I have an idea of the layout. I haven't been here before, but I've been in similar buildings. Chances are, Teraa's in a secluded area, either in a cell like the one we were in, or a bedroom."
     "Do you think we should split up, then?" Myki asked, looking somewhat frightened [we all know what happens when Monkees - or even pseudo-Monkees - split up in strange places... *g*] [Or Naomi, for that matter...*g*].
     "I think that would give us a better chance of finding them," Blake said, though he glanced at Naomi, slightly concerned.
     "Let's split into two groups, then," Naomi said. "Why don't Gav, Blake and I check out the cells around here, while the rest of you go look for the living area? Since Satoru has the best idea of where he's going--"
     "--and you always get lost," Blake finished with a grin.
     "Not always! Just...well...okay, maybe most of the time, but..."
     "Alright, alright, you guys, enough," Ananda said. "You guys'd keep at this all day if we let you, but we've gotta find Teraa, and Neo, too, I think."
     "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea. Finding Neo, that is. That boy needs some help," Naomi admitted.
     "And he's kinda cute," Ananda added.
     "True, I'll give you that," Naomi replied. The two exchanged winks, as the guys rolled their eyes (and Blake and Myki looked slightly jealous). [That was a bizarre exchange to write, there..I'm bleedin' talkin' to myself!!!]
     "Anyway..." Blake hinted.
     "Right. Let's away!" Ananda said.
     "Meet back here in an hour!" Blake called as the others left.
     "And be careful!" Naomi added.
     "You too!" Ananda called back.
     [Naomi grinned.][I thought you guys were supposed to be different in something besides your choices of boyfriends...*g*]
     
     About twenty minutes later, Gavin, Blake, and Naomi were still searching the corridors around their cell. There had been no sign of anyone else but themselves, and they were beginning to lose hope of finding Teraa there, with even Gavin starting to tire of the fruitless search.
     "Maybe the others have found her," Gavin said listlessly.
     "Maybe," Blake replied. "But we don't have any way to know yet, so we may as well keep looking, I guess."
     Naomi sighed and leaned heavily against the nearest wall. Suddenly, she gasped and stumbled backwards - a hidden passageway had opened!
     "Now that, is just weird," Naomi commented. "I dunno, it's a little too unoriginal."
     Blake rolled his eyes. "Not everyone makes a point of being unconventional, you know."
     Gavin ignored the two's friendly arguement in his excitement. "C'mon! Maybe Teraa's back here!" He rapidly took off down the passage, leaving Blake and Naomi to attempt to caution him to be wary, while trying to catch up with him themselves.
     The corridor was similar to the ones they had already walked through, with cells lining either side. The cells here were empty as well. Gavin was the first to reach the end of the hall. He looked to each side of himself, and saw only two empty cells. He stood for a moment, hopelessness settling in.
     "TERAA!!!!!" he cried in despair. He collapsed on the floor, sobbing. Naomi rushed over to attempt to console him, while Blake stood, trying to figure out what to do next.
     "Hey, what was that?" Blake asked suddenly. "I thought I heard something."
     "Be quiet for a minute, Gavin," Naomi said, seeing Blake's look of concentration.
     *bzzzzt!*
     "There!" Blake cried. "Teraa?" He rushed over to the cell to the left. "I saw a hand!" he explained excitedly.
     "There must be some sort of holographic projection to make it look empty, but she touched the forcefield and disrupted it. Here," Naomi said to Blake, "help me open this!"
     After a moment or two of fiddling with buttons, the force field disappeared, and a young girl of about Satoru's age tumbled out.
     "Teraa!!!" Gavin rushed to her side as she collapsed on the ground. She looked and was dressed similar to the girl they had seen on the viewscreen in their cell, but her shirt was torn, and there were scrapes and bruises on her arms and face.
     "Gavin!" Teraa cried, embracing him. "What are you doing here?!"
     Gavin looked puzzled. "You already knew we were here, didn't you? We just talked to you..."
     "Gavin," Blake replied quietly. "I don't think that was really Teraa we saw earlier." He and Naomi exchanged worried glances, which Gavin saw, and shuddered.
     "You mean..." he began to ask, fearfully.
     Blake and Naomi nodded. "It does make sense," Naomi said. "You even said that they wouldn't let us go so easily."
     "What are you talking about?" Teraa demanded.
     "Ràspia and Reûic," Naomi answered. "They're the ones who kidnapped Gavin, and the rest of us."
     Teraa nodded slowly. [Oh, does she know about them, then? Hm, that'd make for an interesting flashback...] "Did they bring me here, too?"
     The two from the Applebus began to shrug, but Gavin drew a deep breath. "I think it was to get me to come here," he said quietly.
     A trio of what?/huh?s answered him, but he refused to elaborate, so the matter was soon dropped. They quickly filled Teraa in on what they had encountered so far.
     "So what are your plans now?" she asked them.
     "Well, the rest of us are looking for Neo... Do you have any idea where he might be?" Blake asked.
     Teraa sighed. "Well, I guess maybe in his room, which should be near the others, but I don't know for sure."
     "Well, the rest of our group should be back in about fifteen minutes," Blake concluded, checking his watch. "We can head back and wait for them, or we could head straight for the living quarters..."
     "I... don't wanna get us all lost," Naomi said. "Let's all meet up first, so they don't worry about us."
     
     The groups were reunited shortly (and, in the case of Teraa and Satoru, quite enthusiastically), and debate over the next course of action ensued. Though Gavin wanted to stay with Teraa, he seemed to feel that he might be a nuisance to her and Satoru, they might not want him around, and so did not object when his elders decided it would be best if he didn't go far - Gavin's own instincts about being lured here having played a major role in their decision. Despite protests from her, it was also decided that Naomi would be best left in a position where she was least likely to get lost again, so she and Blake stayed with Gavin. They would scour the nearby area for any information they could find, on the layout of the building, where Neo was, why they were all here, etc. Teraa, Satoru, Myki, and Ananda would go off in search of the living quarters, where they assumed Neo to be. Once again, they agreed to meet back in an hour, and the groups parted.
     
     Satoru, Teraa, Ananda, and Myki remained together for a time, but Ananda and Myki soon lagged behind the other two. Eventually, the two groups lost sight of each other, but neither was concerned, as they figured they'd all find their way back to the meeting place eventually - the important thing now was to find Neo, and splitting up would actually make it faster.
     

Chapter Notes

Ananda is finally involved in the story!!! *g*