*Beval Hernandez's POV:

"Oh my god, this is terrible!" I yelled out after forcing myself to take a sip of vinegar. "Can I please add some water in here?!"

"No. It probably won't work if you do so. Pure vinegar needs to run through your system so it can burn off the substance. Just pinch your nose and drink" Danny said before drinking his cup. I could tell he was just as disgusted as everyone else.

Gaia was gagging. Robin was coughing. Katie scrunched up her face in disgust and Kimberly was struggling to drink it. Shimizu drunk his whole cup within ten seconds, balling up all his strength to swallow.

"And we can only drink one cup, right?" Kimberly asked, breathing heavily after drinking it.

"Yes, just to see if it works. If it doesn't, we may have to drink two" Danny answered.

"You should give it about five minutes before checking to see if your powers work" Noah suggested before walking out of the kitchen. As soon as Noah left out of the kitchen, Gaia began sneezing.

I looked over at her. Even though she was sneezing, she looked like she was doing a bit better. That medicine sure did the trick.

"Hey Gaia, is your fever doing okay?" I asked as I walked over to her. I touched her forehead.

"It's doing better. I still feel a little terrible, but I will be okay. Thanks for asking" she smiled.

"Great. I was worried about you. For a second, I thought that we were going to lose you too" I nervously chuckled as I scratched the back of my head. Suddenly, Gaia grabbed my hands and held them.

"You don't have to worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with my friends. Right here with you."

I looked down at her hands, then back at her. Her eyes were focused on me. They were such a beautiful green. So warm and dazzling, as if they were happy to see me. For some reason, my cheeks were becoming red and I began having a weird feeling in my gut.

"That's good to hear" I said as I looked away, backing up a little. Our hands unraveling in the process.

"You okay?" Gaia asked me, tilting her head a little.

"Yeah, yeah I am. It just doesn't feel right when a girl holds my hand anymore."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"When you held my hands, I started thinking of Mina and every time she held mine. And now...she's gone."

My eyes gazed down at the floor and memories of Mina started running through my mind. I had many memories of the time we spent together over the span of a few months.

"Ugh, just get over her already. She is the reason we are in this predicament. She deserved to die" Gaia claimed as she furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance.

I twisted my mouth a little.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

She placed her hand on my shoulder.

"But at the same time, I can see where you're coming from. Having someone you love hurt you like that must be hard. But trust and believe, you'll get over it. I will help you through it, that way, you don't have to go alone. I love you Beval, you're my best friend."

Her smile and what she said made my face become red again. She was so sweet and kind. She was the definition of a good friend.

"I love you too. Umm, also, when you held my hands, I started getting a weird feeling in my gut" I chuckled.

"Really?" Gaia asked, her eyes were getting bigger. She seemed excited to know. "What do you think it was?"

"I don't know, um, maybe it's part of the feelings I get when I reminisce about Mina."

Gaia's smile began to fade.

"Oh...okay" she sighed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sadden by her death. She was my everything, she was my world, but I will try my best to get over her."

"You better. There are plenty of noodles in a bowl of ramen" Gaia winked.

I laughed at her reply. She laughed along with me. Two minutes later, Noah came back into the kitchen.

"Alright. It's time to try them out. Shimizu, try your powers first" Noah suggested.

"Okay. Hopefully they will work."

Shimizu placed his left arm up and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. After a few moments, water began running out from his hand like a fire hose. The funny part about that is, Kimberly was in the way and the water splashed on her.

"Oops, sorry, heheh" Shimizu apologized.

Kimberly gave him an evil glare. Next thing I knew, her form began changing into a grayish, white cat.

We gasped in shock. She ran to Shimizu, grabbed around the bottom of his leg and bit it.

"Oww, what the heck?!" Shimizu yelled out, backing away. Kimberly hissed in response.

"Stop it Kimberly!" Robin yelled as she kicked her from the side.

Kimberly began hissing and swatting at Robin. But that ended quickly with Robin scaring her away by forming a flame from her own hand.

Kimberly ran away and jumped on the living room table.

"Fight me!" Kimberly yelled at Robin as she arched her back upwards, fur starting to puff out.

"Holy macaroni! You can talk as an animal?!" Mohammed asked her, amazed.

"Yeah. Even though I am a cat, I can still speak both English and French. Hell, I can even speak cat language."

An adorable Meow came from her afterwards.

"Aww, it's so cute. Come here little kitty" Gaia smiled as she held her arms out, walking over to Kimberly.

"If you touch me with those sick, bacterial-infested hands, you will die!" Kimberly threatened as she lifted her paw up, ready to scratch. Gaia paused right then and there.

"Never mind then. I love cats, but not mean ones like you!"

Kimberly turned back into her human state. She got down from the table. Her shirt was soaking wet.

"Well, it looks like your powers are working pretty good" Noah smiled at us, obviously impressed.

"Yup, thank God for Gaia and her idea!" I smiled as I wrapped my arm around her. For some reason, she tensed up. When I glanced at Shimizu and Robin, I realized that they were staring dead at me and Gaia.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing" Robin said awkwardly as she and Shimizu snapped out of their gaze and looked away.

"Hey Shimizu, do you mind if I read your mind?" Mohammed asked.

"Sure" he replied.

Mohammed gave Shimizu an intense eye contact for several seconds.

"You are thinking about how Danny became an experi-baby and why W.E.A is after Noah" he claimed.

"Oh, wow. You're absolutely right, I was!" Shimizu smiled.

"Well, if you must know, I was experimented at five years old. I was taken while I was sleeping. Noah was furious after he found out I had powers. The reason why W.E.A is after Noah is because once after he found out I was experimented on, he tried to start a movement against the U.S government for creating W.E.A. The movement was growing and had some followers. He was exposing what was in W.E.A and what their purpose was. Many people didn't believe him, some did. Our parents were members of the group and everything, but before it could be able to grow into a big movement, the U.S. government tried to stop it" Danny explain to them as he reminisced.

"How did they try to stop it?" Shimizu asked.

"You ask a whole lot of questions kid. About a year after the movement started, the "Men In Black" knocked on his door while I, along with our parents weren't home. They already but somehow knew he was the leader. They attacked him by punching him and kicking him. They slashed his face with a pocketknife and shot him. They tried to kill him so he wouldn't have been able to tell another soul what happened, or who did it. Me and my parents came home about a few minutes later and saw him lying there in a pool of his own blood. Our dad took the house phone and called 911. They came several minutes later to take him to the hospital."

As Danny was telling the story, Noah was quietly listening along, but wasn't looking in our direction. Everyone else on the other hand, was listening.

"How did your parents react to what happened? Did they try to cancel the movement for his own safety?" Shimizu asked.

That's when Noah finally spoke up.

"They were petrified. Scared for my life. Worried about me. Out of fear, our parents built an underground home in a whole different state for me to stay in until they feel as though it is safe enough for me to leave."

"This one right?" Mohammed asked as he looked around.

"Yes. This was the one they made for me" Noah replied. "After a few weeks, when I got out of the hospital, I did not stop protesting against the government. My parents begged me to stop because they knew that I was making the government angry, but I had to spread the truth. For Danny, for Trevor, I had to do it. People had to know about the things that I saw in W.E.A and their goals. I didn't want to stay here underground. I wanted to stay in San Francisco with my family, not in this boring ass state of Oregon. I stayed with my family and kept on protesting, even with all the threats I was getting. But then, something made me stop...something terrible. After Danny came home from school shortly after I got off work, we played video games. Danny was older, he was in 8th grade at the time. Suddenly, we got a knock on our door. It was two police officers. Scared, I thought they were there to take me to jail, but come to find out, they had terrible news."

"What was the news? What did they tell you?" Kimberly asked.

Noah began to shed tears. Danny began answering for Noah.

"The police officers told us that our parents were mysteriously murdered on their way home from eating out at a restaurant. The cause of death was a bullet to both heads. They were shot in their car. Right then and there, we had no choice but to move here. For the rest of my childhood years, I lived with Noah in this underground home and even went to the nearby schools. Once I turned eighteen and graduated high school, I moved back to San Francisco, got a job and rented an apartment. While at San Francisco, I still talked to my brother often and visited him every time I was able to."

I was sadden hearing Danny's story. I felt great sorrow and pity for them both.

"Oh Noah, Danny, I am so sorry about your parents" Gaia whimpered as she went up to hug both.

"It's alright. We are still healing from it" Danny smiled as he and Noah hugged back.

As Noah was hugging Gaia, his eyes glared at Shimizu's wound on his right arm. The piece of cloth wrapped around it was soaked with blood.

"Mind if I take a look?" Noah asked Shimizu as he let go of Gaia. Shimizu looked down at his wound and back at him.

"Sure, just be careful, it still hurts."

Noah gently unraveled the cloth and looked closely at the wound.

"This isn't a bullet wound, it's a just wound. The bullet probably scarped across the skin on your arm. It must've felt like the bullet went through, but it didn't. If it was a bullet wound, trust me, you would be in more pain than you are right now. This is coming from someone who was shot once upon a time" Noah explained as he observed and touched the wound.

Shimizu grunted and flinched in pain.

"Sorry" Noah said before walking away to the medicine cabinet. "I have something that will clean up the wound. It needs to be covered up with a special Band-Aid or it will get infected."

"A special Band-Aid?" Shimizu asked, slightly confused.

"Yes, a Primapore dressing" Noah replied as he came over with a white patch, and some rubbing alcohol and peroxide in his other hand.

"Okay, back to the plan people. How exactly are we going to get to Vulcan Island? And should we use guns against the killing machines along with our powers?" Kimberly asked in a frustrated tone as she sat at the table and crossed her arms and legs.

"Guns won't work. They are specialized and made to take bullets" Noah answered as he poured peroxide on to a paper towel. He gently dabbed Shimizu's wound with it.

"Then what makes you think fire, water, air, earth, flexibility, mind reading and animal-turning with be powerful against them?!" Kimberly asked.

"You have something that the creators of those killing machines never thought to fight against. It will work, it has to work" Danny said to Kimberly with confidence.

"You're cute but crazy, a bad combination. I like it" Kimberly said as she smirked at Danny.

"Yup and too old for you" Danny said with sarcasm. I along with my friends burst out in laughter.

"Oop, looks like Kimberly got turned down by her crush" Robin sneered.

"First off Celosia, calling someone cute doesn't necessarily mean that you like them" Kimberly responded.

"What did I say about calling me by my first name?!" Robin yelled.

"But anyways Daniel, or should I say...Danny? What is the plan? How are we going to get to Vulcan Island?" Kimberly asked, ignoring Robin. Danny thought about it for a second, then answered.

"We are going to steal a boat."

"From where?" Kimberly asked.

"From Port Orford. We are right near it. The plan is to steal the biggest boat they have there and fill it up with as much food, water and medicine as possible. It should take a week to and from the island, so we don't need too much."

"When do you want to head out?" I asked Danny.

"At nighttime, in about two days. We need to rest our nerves and relax first, but also try to figure everything out before we go and do it. We can't rush. At the same time, we can't take forever."

"What should we do until then?" Gaia asked him.

"Practice using your powers. I know you guys didn't use them as much because they were looked down upon and feared by society. But I want you to just try practicing using you powers as weapons" Danny told us.

"Do it outside though, I don't want you guys destroying anything in here" Noah added. "But first, Shimizu needs to bathe, and I have some clothes set for him. I also have some coats for you guys, so you can stay warm while you practice."

"How were you able to find clothes that fit us?" I asked Noah.

"Oh, those are old clothes from when Danny was around your age. They may be a bit baggy, but they fit. Well Mohammed, since you are a bit...thicker, I had to give you a spare of my clothing."

"Gee, thanks for everything Mr. Noah" Mohammed smiled.

"Just call me Noah, I'm only thirty-eight, not forty eight" Noah claimed.

After about forty-five minutes of waiting for Shimizu to get his hygiene in check, we put on the coats that Noah gave us and headed out.

Danny came along with us to help us out of the underground home. He chatted in his language of Arabic and the ground began to open, revealing the afternoon, cloudy sky. We could clearly see that it stopped raining.

"Your hair is so pretty Robin, I wish I had red curly hair like you do, and your eyes are like two flames that won't go out!" Katie stated, seemingly amazed by Robin's whole existence. "I think it's so cool that you control fire. I wish I could have your power."

"Aww thanks Kate, you're so sweet. But trust me, you don't want my power. They are too destructive."

"You see Katie, my power is absolutely amazing. I can turn into any animal I want, whether they are from the land, air or sea" Kimberly smiled at Katie before climbing the latter.

"Wow, that's so cool. I saw when you turned into a cat. You were so cute" Katie complimented with a cheeky smile.

"Thank you" Kimberly smiled in a snuck-up manner.

"You should turn into a snake, since you act like one" Robin teased, looking up at Kimberly as she began climbing as well. She gave Robin a death stare.

"Oh, you just got served!" Gaia sneered at Kimberly.

"I'm not even going to clap back at you. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with an airhead" Kimberly said to Gaia in a passive-aggressive manner.

"Excuse me? Who are you calling an airhead?!" Gaia shouted in anger.

"You! What are you going to do about it?!" Kimberly yelled with a neck roll.

"Ladies, please" Shimizu pleaded, trying to calm them down, but Danny pulled him back towards me and Mohammed.

"Honestly I swear, we should've just left you back at the camp to fend for yourself. You are always so mean to everyone for no apparent reason whatsoever!"

"You know, I love how you're just gonna ignore the fact that Robin made a smartass comment first, and you instigated it. Yet, somehow, I'm the bully. Okay whatever" Kimberly said with an eye roll as she walked away from Gaia. Everyone, including me were standing near the entrance in the ground, watching those two argue.

I was surprised that Danny didn't try to stop the arguing like Shimizu. I was surprised that Robin didn't try to jump in. I was about to step in and tell Kimberly and Gaia to stop arguing, but Danny stopped me and gave me a look. That's when I realized that he wanted this to happen.

"You are a bully! You tried to pour water on Shimizu's book, you made plenty of boys and girls fall on their face at school, you called people names. You and your stupid friends even jumped a girl before. You are nothing but a bully, a bitch, a scumbag!"

"God your squeaky high voice is so annoying! It's God awful, just stop talking! Matter of fact, just stop existing! You're just the dumb crybaby of the group. Your body shape resembles a rectangle: straight down, no curves. But let's not get started on how insecure you are. You're even too scared to tell a certain person how you feel about them! If anyone is a "bitch" it's you!"

Gaia's facial expression began to change from anger to fear. Her eyes showed embarrassment.

"Yup, you know exactly who I'm talking about. It's so obvious, especially how you defended him when I said he was cute back at the camp's cafeteria. Too bad he isn't interested in plain girls who don't know the definition of makeup but is probably too dumb to figure it out anyway."

I was bewildered when Kimberly said that Gaia was in love with someone. At the same time, I was a little skeptical. I didn't really believe it; Gaia was never really into relationships.

It was probably some boy I never heard of before, maybe he went to our school. Or maybe it's either Mohammed or Shimizu. If that was the case, then Robin has some competition because she obviously likes Shimizu too. That would mean two best friends fighting over their boy best friend. Yikes.

Gaia started crying. Tears were flowing down like streams on her cheeks.

"Take that back!" Gaia whimpered loudly.

"No" Kimberly shrugged, not caring that she hurt Gaia's feelings. What I saw next scared the hell out of me.

Gaia's green eyes began to glow.

She slowly began to raise her arms up from her sides. As she did so, two large chunks of earth descended from the ground. The chunks of earth were two feet tall and were floating about five feet from the ground.

"Oh my God!" Robin yelled in fear as she clinched on to Shimizu's arm.

It looked incredible. It was as if she was the mythical Goddess of Earth herself, whom was also named Gaia. It felt so unreal just seeing it.

"I said....take that back" Gaia growled.

Kimberly changed her form into a huge grizzly bear.

"And I said no!" She roared, standing up on her hind legs.

"Oh my god! Should we stop them?! Gaia is going to get hurt!" Shimizu yelled at Danny, panicking a little as he shook him.

"Nope, this is exactly how you guys will practice."

"What?!" we all yelled at once.

"If you wouldn't take that back, then so be it" Gaia said while making a dark, sinister smile. She swung her left arm forward, causing the left chunk of earth to fly straight towards Kimberly at full speed. Gaia swung her right arm next.

Kimberly blocked both chunks of earth with her arms. The impact almost caused her to fall backwards. In anger, Kimberly gave out a loud roar before charging at Gaia. Gaia quickly dodged out of the way and tumbled over.

She got up and stomped her right foot hard on the ground. Then, a huge chunk of earth ascended from the ground, about twice the size as the previous ones. It was floating only a half a foot in the air.

Gaia kicked it with all her might, sending it flying straight towards Kimberly. It made impact with her upper torso, causing her to lose her balance as she was charging at Gaia.

Kimberly was fed up now. She got back up and ran at her, faster than ever before. Before Gaia could react by getting another ball of earth from the ground, Kimberly caught her.

She picked Gaia up and threw her about thirty feet and she landed on a huge pile of snow. Moaning and grunting in pain, she struggled to get back up, but eventually persevered. She raised up her hands from her sides. Her eyes were rolling to the back of her head and she began changing in an unknown language.

What happened next was unbelievable.

Several deers, moose, and even some rabbits and squirrels came to the scene. They were hiding near the bushes and trees. Gaia took both of her arms and placed them together out in front of her, pointing at Kimberly. She screamed out something in the unknown language that made every single animal that arrived there charge at Kimberly. It was as if she was speaking in a language only animals could understand.

Kimberly, being a bear had somewhat the advantage. She swung at the deer and threw the rabbits and squirrels. She even clawed and swatted at the moose. Kimberly yelled out in pain as one of the moose tried to stab her with his antlers.

I'm not going to lie to you, Kimberly was holding it down.

"Alright, alright Gaia and Kimberly! Enough fighting!" Danny yelled out, waving his arms high.

It took a little while, but he finally got Gaia's attention.

Once she looked at him, it caused her to go back to normal. Her eyes stopped glowing and went back to their beautiful forest green color.

Kimberly led out a mean roar that caused the animals to retreat into the wilderness. Then, she turned back into a human. She was panting and had scratches on her arms.

Gaia collapsed on to her hands and knees. Her kinky, coarse hair blew in the wind, covering a part of her face as she looked up at us. I could tell she was a little freaked out.

"Gaia!" I shouted out as I and the others ran to her. I wrapped my arm around her waist and tried to help her on her feet.

"Beval? Guys? Did I really just do that?!" she asked us, shocked at what she did with her powers.

"Yes, yes you did" Robin smiled.

Gaia looked forward out at Kimberly. Kimberly was standing yards away from us. Her head was down, and she was wiping her eyes, as if she was crying.

"Is Kimberly crying?" Shimizu asked me.

"Dude, I didn't even know the girl could cry" I replied with a cocked eyebrow.

Gaia began walking over to Kimberly. We followed along.

"Hey, Kimberly, are you ok-"

"Leave me alone! I hate this! I hate having these powers! I hate experi-babies! I just want to be normal! I only bully people so they won't bully me! I wanted to be feared, that way I wouldn't have to fear!" Kimberly screamed, interrupting Gaia.

"Kimberly, calm down, breathe" Mohammed said to her. Kimberly took a slowly, deep breath and exhaled.

"My parents treated me differently because I was the only experi-baby out of my three other siblings. Even my siblings treated me differently. They laughed at me, they pointed out my flaws, they talked about me. They even called me names to my face and fantasized about how much better life would be if I didn't exist. I freaking hate myself! I just want to be a normal person, maybe then, my family will love me."

"But you are a normal person!" Shimizu spoke up.

We all looked at Shimizu. He walked up to Kimberly and hugged her. Kimberly tensed up a bit, a little confused as to why Shimizu was hugging her.

I was baffled at the fact that he, Shimizu Hada, hugged the person that made his school life a living hell.

"You are enough. You are unique, just like the rest of us. Think about it Kimberly, we all have something that many people wish they could have, and that is: powers" Shimizu preached as he grabbed both of Kimberly's hands. "These powers don't define you; they are just a part of you. They are what make you special, Kimberly Martin."

Kimberly looked up at Shimizu and made a small smile in response. This was the first time I had ever seen Kimberly smile.

"Underneath that layer of toughness and domination, I see someone who is hurting and someone whose soul is calling out for help. It's okay to cry. It's okay to talk to someone. But let me tell you this; you don't have to worry about your parents or your siblings anymore. You don't have to worry about them judging you based on your powers anymore. If it is okay with you, you can look at us as your new family" Shimizu said as he smiled back at Kimberly.

"But what about all the things I did to you guys, how I treated you and such? How can you guys want anything to do with me after that?!"

"It's called forgiving Kim. We now know your story and we forgive you. You are a part of us now, our team and our family, and we will treat you as such" Robin spoke as she hugged Kimberly. Kimberly hesitantly hugged back.

"I mean, this is cute and all, but can we get back to practicing? I mean, we do only have two days," Danny said.

"Oh, right!" Robin said before awkwardly letting go of Kimberly.

After that whole emotional episode, Danny began setting us up with partners to fight with. Robin practiced with Shimizu, but she tried her best to not lite Shimizu or anything else on fire. Katie practiced with Kimberly. Mohammed didn't practice. His powers were only mental. I on the other hand practiced with Gaia. Air vs earth. A very interesting battle.

We practiced for about three hours before returning to the underground home.

"So, how was the training?" Noah asked us.

"Tiring" Robin groaned as she dried off her hair with a towel. She looked at Shimizu. "Fighting against water is no joke."

Shimizu giggled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. Noah looked down towards Shimizu's chest, at his necklace.

I remembered his mom giving it to him the day before we left for Mina's hideout. She said it was supposed to bring good luck to him and to us. Maybe we were still alive because of that necklace.

"Hey, I didn't mention it before, but your necklace is pretty cool" Noah pointed out.

Shimizu looked down at his necklace and clenched it.

"Thank you. It means "luck" in Japanese. My mother gave it to me for good luck."

"Oh" Noah replied. "Anata no okāsan ga yaru koto wa, totemo shinsetsudeshita (or in Japanese language: あなたのお母さんがやることは、とても親切でした。)."

Translation: "That was a very kind thing for your mother to do."

"You know Japanese?!" Shimizu asked in surprise.

"Yes, I have been studying it for years. A pretty hard language to learn. You're family must miss you very much."

"Noah arigatōgozaimasu. Watashi wa aisuru kazoku ni megumaremashita. Karera wa watashi ni totte sekai o imi shimasu. (Or in Japanese language: ノアありがとうございます。私は愛する家族に恵まれました。彼らは私にとって世界を意味します。)" Shimizu replied to him in his native language.

Translation: "Thank you Noah. I was blessed with a loving family. They mean the world to me."

"I'm confused. What the heck is going on?" Kimberly asked me. I shrugged in response.

"Are you guys hungry? Noah has some leftover spaghetti in the fridge" Danny said, opening the refrigerator door.

"Yeah, we haven't ate since yesterday!" Robin answered for us.

"Me and Danny will make your plates. You guys will have to eat down in the basement since the table up here only has two chairs.

"Oh yeah! It's food time, food time, yeah baby!" Mohammed cheered, grabbing on to my shoulders and shaking me.

"Chill, knock it off Mo" I chuckled.

"Oh come on Beval, you know a fat boy like me loves some food" Mohammed smiled as he patted his pudgy stomach.

After that amazing, delicious lunch, we grouped together in the living room to discuss our plans for how we will destroy W.E.A.

Shimizu came up with an idea to throw a bomb into the building. We all thought it was a great idea. What was even better was that Noah had some bombs and grenades in storage that we could take with us to Vulcan Island. Why he had them? I don't know, nor do I really want to know.

He suggested that we take some of us food, clothing and medicine for our trip. It really did seem as though luck was on our side.