The Prodigies jump from bed, and exposed their Gift, and preparing for this person's next move.
Without a sound, the shadow uses their Gift, in which chains, glowing in shades of blue to pink, wrapped around the four of them as quickly as possible. Then, with a yank, pulled them to the floor.
"Damnit! I can never get some sleep without getting attacked, can I?" Catherine asked, struggling.
Verna turns on the light, revealing the mess that happened.
"I told you to wait until morning so you don't provoke them!"141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuBlkWWFlT
She scowls. "Release them at once!"
Shadow obscured his face, but he removed the mystical chains that bonded the Prodigies together.
"I'm sorry, Prodigies. If I had known he snuck out, I would've stopped him."
"He's lucky you showed up! I would've torn his ass to pieces!"
"Catherine.." Isabelle whispered, trying to fix her behavior.
"...Maybe we got off on the wrong foot.."
He steps in between the four Prodigies, allowing the ceiling chandelier glow upon him like an angel. He smiles wholesomely, before waving. "I'm Kenzo, and it's really nice to meet the four of you!"
"Those chains must've been your Gift then.."
Kenzo nods. "I really hope I didn't startle you with it.."
"Nah, you're good." Arsenio returns, taking a drink of bubble tea.
"H-How did you get that?" Isabelle asks confusingly.
"I woke up earlier this morning." He takes another sip. "...And then went right back to sleep before I could get in a sip. What, did you want some?"
"W-What is it?"
"It's called bubble tea. It's a really popular drink where I'm from." he pushes the drink in front of her. "Do you want a sip or not?"
"Isn't t-that extremely u-unsanitary?"
"It's fine, it's not like I'm sick or something..."
Nathaniel interrupts them. "Thy drink is not important at the moment. Kenzo was in the middle of introducing himself."
"Ah, don't worry about me! I'm not that interesting compared to you four!"
"Technically, there's six of us.." Catherine states. "I have a ghost dragon attached to me, and Isabelle has...a different version of herself.."
"Oh..."
"B-but don't worry...it's only triggered by Dawlly...who won't be d-doing anything until I say so.."
Dawlly slips back into her dress pocket with an angry, but defeated look.
"W-Well...no matter how many people there are, it's very nice to meet you."
"Well, unless we need to go to fight whoever the hell tries, we just hang out here."
Catherine looks around. "Not a lot to do though other than sit here.."
"I did bring something, just in case..."
He takes off his backpack, which seemed mostly empty. He reaches into the largest compartment, and pulls out a deck of playing cards.
"I love card games, they can be the ultimate decider, and a lot of fun as well."
He spreads the cards like a bird's wings.
"Pull out one card. The one with the highest number goes first."
They continue with the game, using it as an ice breaker to get to know Kenzo. After that, the group became more accustomed to his high-spirited personality, and over the course of a few days, the five became close.
***
Verna comes up with their usual wake up call.
"Good morning, Prodigies!"
The Prodigies jump up from bed, messy-haired.
"Ah, I'm sorry..." Verna apologized. "I know sleep is important, but something just came up."
Catherine stretched. "What is it this time?"
"This time I'll have to split you into two groups. They figured out we woke up during the morning hours and they've escaped into the Human Realm."
A wave of concern hit Catherine and the others.
"But don't worry, they don't seem to be causing havoc yet. You still have time to stop them before they cause a problem."
"Well hurry up with this pep talk so we can go!"
Verna takes Arsenio and Isabelle, while Nathaniel takes Kenzo and Catherine. Through two different time warps they ran, ending up in two different Time Periods.
On the other side, the sky above was a deep blue.
"So much for waking up in the morning, huh?"
As they keep walking, Nathaniel stops them.
"What is it-"
"Our threat is over there. I can feel the Tempural Energy."
Catherine tries to feel it, and a twinge of aura rushed towards her body.
"Yeah, I can kinda feel it.."
"Then we have no time to waste. Let's go."
Kenzo swings from his chains towards the danger, while Nathaniel and Catherine run on foot.
The aura was carefully getting stronger. Then, in the town square..
It was a swift blur, snatching things from every hand. Kenzo however, was quick enough himself to try and catch it.
"Gotcha..."
"Holy crap, that was easy."
"Do not let thy guard down. Anything could happen in this short amount of time."
A dark snarling fox was standing there, with long legs, sharp teeth and a pair of wings that span like a black cape. As Kenzo slammed the animal towards the ground, the wings began to flap.
"I don't think it's going anywhere in the situation it's in.."
But within a few seconds the legs of the fox grew long and wrapped around Kenzo's chains like a vine, draining from Gift itself.
The creature's high pitched chuckle taunted him as it forcefully sucked the aura from Kenzo, watching him wince as he suffers through. It's bloodshot eyes were bulging out of its sockets and its body began to glow with aura.
"Nathaniel...I think it's using his Tempural Energy!"
"Catherine, assist Kenzo. I shall take care of the beast."
Without question, Catherine dragged Kenzo's nearly unconscious body to the Phasing Dimension. While she's in there, she starts to wake Kenzo up.
"Wake up, damnit! Wake up!" she yells, shaking him vigorously. Kenzo's eyes begin slowly open.
"W-where am I?"
"A safe space, now hurry up." Catherine starts to push him out.
"I don't have nearly enough energy to fight that thing. I barely have any left to move..."
Catherine sighs. "Piravit, what should we do?"
Piravit comes dashing towards her before coiling herself around Catherine's body.
"He's allowed to stay and regain some Tempural Energy. But nothing more."
"Anything else we can do?"
"I do have this one part of my ability.. An impenetrable forcefield that gives energy and strength to whoever's inside. However, it takes a lot of Tempural Energy.."
"...At least it's better than getting him a cup of coffee..." She turns to Kenzo, who was about to doze off once again.
She grabs his wrists and drags him up to the normal realm, where the now slightly injured Nathaniel still fought valiantly.
The fox only kept weaving around his attacks and striking his weak spots whenever possible.
"Piravit, cast the spell, it'll be a while before we finish this thing off.."
Piravit uses the field of Tempural Energy where Kenzo laid, and the immediate drawback hit Catherine like a truck. She stumbled back a little to catch herself, but managed to keep standing upright.
"Don't worry, he's practically untouchable. We just need to fight this thing before-"
Piravit was instantly switched into Catherine's body.
"You know more about this thing than I do. Have at it." Catherine said, hovering as a ghost.
"... Alright then.."
Piravit immediately ran towards the fight between Nathaniel and the Time Fox, as it kept twisting and turning it's body like vines.
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Nathaniel warns before a ball of crimson comes up as he coughs. "It can...and shall.. use others' abilities against them.."
Piravit noticed what Nathaniel was talking about. The familiar cry of chains rang throughout the air as they cradled the Time Fox.
Those chains became whips as it controlled them to attack the Prodigies. The two of them barely had time to escape, taking hits from metal links and further hurting themselves when they hit the ground to evade.
They began to get up, but it was all for nothing, as the clattering of chains began to call once more. They brace for impact, when a surge of wind began flying around them like a whirlwind. Glass windows shatter from the pressure, being picked up by a tornado. Leaves begin to pluck off of the trees and become straight as an arrow. They start looking up. The Time Fox was using the chain links, spinning them like a top until an unstoppable wind tore through the air around them.
The glass was starting to cut through their clothes and strike their faces, as Piravit's and Nathaniel's become slashed terribly with red marks. The Fox only kept laughing at their suffering, and decided to take it a bit further.
With the wind's affect, Nathaniel begins to rise, as the cutting debris began closing on him. He tried to escape the gale of death, but it was no use. Within seconds, Nathaniel is enveloped in shards of glass. He has to endure as the fragile blades tear into his skin and create new scars on top of existing ones.
"What the hell do we do?"
"We have to get him out of there, even if it hurts you in the process."
Catherine swapped into her body, clenching her wounds as she looks at the situation. Then she dove into the whirlwind, reaching for Nathaniel's destroyed clothes, and tears him out.
The Time Fox cocks its head curiously, and stops the whirlwind.
"Nate!" Catherine tries to wake him up.
Miraculously, no vital points were cut, but the amount of wounds were becoming an issue. It seems that Nathaniel passed out from the pain and was laying lifeless in Catherine's arms.
"Damnit, now I have this entire thing all by myself..."
Catherine huffed as she dragged the injured Nathaniel to safety, laying him next to Kenzo.
"Alright..." Piravit peeks from her side. "There's one last move we can try. It'll remove the barrier protecting the boys, but it's supposed to deal large amounts of damage. That way we can wake Kenzo at least and finish it off."
"This better be worth it then.."
Catherine feels a surge of energy form as she felt a lump in her throat. When she opens her mouth indistinctly, the energy flew out of her mouth as a beam.
The beam's flow began to mimic one of a dragon's movement, before tearing through the sky and hitting the target.
Abruptly, before she could see the impact and the effect, a wave of unexpected fatigue made Catherine stumble, spears of tiredness prodding at her body before she fell back.
The barrier that protected Nathaniel and Kenzo faded away, with Kenzo being the only one noticing.
"Catherine! Are you alright?"
No response.
Kenzo jumps up to check on her, tripping and stumbling to get to her.
Just in time, Arsenio and Isabelle ran to their aid.
"Looks like Nate's not waking up for a while.." Arsenio says jokingly.
"Catherine e-either.."
Verna drifts behind.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgPysJhkTD
"Looks like they have lots more training to do..."
With a loud, hearty whistle from Verna, the Time Fox that Catherine and Nathaniel had used their energy to fight suddenly...141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrY5ibb59jl
sprinted right in front of her and sat down.
Verna gave it affection and gave an innocent smile.
"Surprise surprise! This was a trial. A little test to show how much you Prodigies have grown."
Catherine immediately woke up.
"You what?!"
Catherine jumps from her laying position and sprinted towards Verna in a rage.
"You made that thing tear us up for a test?!"
She points towards Nathaniel.
"Look at what happened to-"
Nathaniel slowly stands up, as if he received no damage from the entire fight. He then chuckled quietly to himself.
"I hast been through worse, Catherine, trust me.." he continues to laugh. "These are nothing but flesh wounds.."
Catherine was even more dumbfounded than before. "Oh, you have to be kidding me!"
"It seems like thou were finally bested in terms of wit.." Nathaniel begins laughing even more hysterically.
"Damn.." Arsenio also chuckles.
"Shut the hell up, both of you! It's not funny!"
Isabelle tries to calm Catherine down. "I-it's okay Catherine..."
Catherine sighs off her anger.
"Well, at least everyone's alright..."
"Yes, that's very true, however..." Verna finishes Catherine's thoughts. Catherine could already predict what she was going to say, looking at her feet.
"Don't worry. I will train you five to the best of my ability."
With a wave of her fingers, the time warp to the Sanctuary opened up, and the Prodigies tiredly trudged back into their beds, before blankly taking a well deserved nap.
***141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMydQMoPiye
As their wounds began to heal, the Prodigies trained for the next few months, taking care of any Timebreaker while on their mental journey. As the weeks rolled by, their abilities began to grow and evolve into even stronger forms.
Verna gave each of them a task to do as part of their training, getting harder in difficulty as time went on.
When Nathaniel, Kenzo, Arsenio and Isabelle met back up in the Sanctuary, a calming but piercing silence struck them as they looked at one another.
"Where is...?"
They realized Catherine hadn't returned from her training on the mountain, where she had to spar with Piravit and sleep there.
"I-I'm worried..."
"What for Izzy?" Dawlly asked.
"W-what if Catherine got h-hypothermia and...?"
"Now Belle, we have to be optimistic. She'll be fine." Arsenio responds.
"Yeah, she's stronger than a cool breeze." Kenzo says, flipping around his chain earring.
Just then, someone came from a time warp.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeojUJsjGbk
The others turning around, Catherine stood shivering and seconds away from falling.
"Catherine! Thank goodness you're alright!"
Kenzo carefully carried her to the nearest bed, and blanketing her in all the sheets and comforters that he could wrap around her.
"I take it that training did it's work..."
"Yeah.." Catherine says before coughing.
"Oh dear..." Ezra exclaimed. "Do you need some soup?"
"I'm not a kid. I'll be fine by tomorrow."
Catherine turned around to let her back face the others, forcefully closing her eyes.
The other Prodigies slowly left her with her whispering thoughts.
Eventually, Catherine got tired of laying down and jumped out of bed. Outside, she could hear voices. When she pushed open the doors to the Time Realm, the others, sat in a circle, were having a picnic.
"O-Oh. Hello Catherine..." Isabelle greets. "We were just having lunch and watching the boys p-play card games.."
Catherine sits in between the circle.
"We saved you a sandwich, by the way."141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijpqQHV7Er
Arsenio says, before pointing towards the basket.
Catherine takes the last sandwich from the basket, still quiet.
"...You alright Catherine? You've looked a little down ever since you came back.." Kenzo states, still keeping his eyes focused on the game.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired, probably.." she returns, wolfing another part of her lunch.
"Maybe a game will cheer you up."
Catherine takes the last bite of her sandwich.
"Remind me next game. I'm gonna go back home for a minute... collect my thoughts and talk to Talia.."
Catherine opens the time warp back home, walking into it's bright blue center.
The TV was on, papers lay in every corner, and Talia was asleep on the couch with her blanket, ripped straight out of her box, curled around her.
"Talia..." Catherine said quietly. "Tal. Wake up."
Talia's eyes look into Catherine's direction.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9H0Zok05E
"Catherine?"
Talia turns on the lamp on the table beside her, temporarily blinding herself.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyW20obcjW
She immediately gets up and scans Catherine's hands and face.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwocUHxVnl
"You look terrible! What happened?"
"A lot...what happened here?"
"Well ever since you left, I had to do all of your college work for you, so it's a lot stressful more for me..."
Talia sits Catherine down on the couch.
"I haven't been able to sleep for hours...and to have this effort to be rewarded to you.."
"...You take the degree then. I won't be here long enough to use it anyway.."
Catherine starts to open another time warp, when, in the distance, a loud explosion rang outside.
"What the hell was that?" Catherine runs to the window and throws open the curtains.
It was as worse as she thought. Another Timebreaker had entered from a time warp of it's own, tearing a hole from the sky.
Catherine starts sprinting out of the door.
"Catherine, where are you going?!" Talia yells from the open door.
"Stay inside! I'll get this whole thing resolved!"
Catherine ran as fast as she could, despite her minor injuries pulling her back. The sky was turned a bright maroon, as a large hand began reaching for the ground from the sky.
"At this point, I'm not gonna make it.."141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoHurVqE3s
Catherine says under clenched teeth.
She opens her mouth again, ready to expel the Phasing Dragon Wave as a distraction, but Piravit stops her.
"Catherine no! I said it's a final gambit! You won't have enough energy to continue fighting if you-"
"This is a final gambit situation, damnit!"
She looks as the dark arm pressed against the ground.
"If I don't do something, people are going to die, and that's on me."
Piravit also looks at the situation, taking in the horrors it might bring to humanity.
"... Alright. I trust you."
With those words, Catherine keeps running, but suddenly, the sky became pouring with rain.
The Timebreaker, Noelani the Siren, sat with a bland dazzle against the red sky, singing a high pitched song that pierced Catherine's ears.
More rain began to fall, water began pooling to her ankles.
"I'm not gonna make it with this water slowing me down.."
Catherine instinctively dives below, slipping into the Phasing Dimension once again.
However, someone else was in there with them.
"Chrono?"
"Catherine! It's been quite a while!"
Chrono immediately saw the concerned and frightened look on Catherine's face.
"Is something the matter?"
"Timebreaker. In the Human Realm."
"...That sounds serious..."
"You think? Now are you gonna help or not?"
Chrono pulls back his sleeves, his arms still carrying a shattered mirror of golden shards around his arms.
"...Okay.." he nods. "I'll try my best."
"We still need to get close enough. The water's gonna slow us down."
"Water?"
Without warning, Catherine pulls Chrono out of the Phasing Dimension. The ground around them was now drenched in a sea of dark water and fog.
The two had to gasp for air, as the water pushed them forward. The waves were guiding them towards Noelani.
With guidance of the water, Catherine and Chrono swam their way to the next Timebreaker.
To be continued in Prodigy: Casters of Time: Chapter 5
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