Three Days Later...

Plucking the strings on her new acoustic guitar, Zephia avoided eye contact with Lumina and simply replied, "Sorry. I don't think so."

Lumina pleaded, "Please, I don't want to be the only one that does this."

Zephia shook her head, "No. The idea of doing that with guys is disturbing."

Lumina agreed, "Yes I know it will be a bit uncomfortable but it will also be fun."

Zephia kept strumming the guitar, "Lumina... I'm not doing it. Maybe you can get Flare to do it."

"Can't. She's too busy playing with chemicals for her wonder acid."

"What about Terren?"

Lumina sighed, "I haven't seen Terren for two days now. She just wanders to a corner of the city and just does katas the entire day... and the only reason I know that is because Fissure, that real big guy with brown hair, sees her there whenever he goes to school. She's taking all this harder than the rest of us. And she refuses to talk to me or Flare."

Zephia stopped playing the guitar, "What? Why won't she talk to you and Flare? Did you say something that upset her?"

"Well, three days ago, after talking to Flare about escaping, I saw Terren in the street and we got to talking. We eventually got onto the subject of Photus. She started yelling at me on how easy I've gone on him. I took exception to that and began to argue back. The argument escalated and escalated up to the point where she accused me of quote, 'never wanting to see my manhood again' and stormed off."

Zephia groaned, "You know better than getting into an argument with Terren. Both of you have huge competitive instincts and always end up hurting each other either physically or emotionally at the end of them."

Lumina opened her mouth to protest before Zephia interrupted her, "You know what... no. I don't want to get into an argument with you over an argument with Terren. Why isn't Terren talking to Flare?"

"Terren saw Flare 'flirting' with Fuse. In reality it was just Flare using our newfound femininity to get more chemicals and compounds. But Terren much rather assume the worst. So I had to send Tidranna to explain to Terren the escape plan."

"So why won't Terren talk to Flare now that she knows her flirting is an act?"

Lumina exhaled, "Terren can't accept the fact she was wrong."

Zephia began playing Farther by Third Eye Blind. (Author's note: Download the song... it's great!) Without missing a note, Zephia spoke, "You need to apologize to her."

"I still don't see why I..."

Zephia kept playing, "Do you realize what girls you two are acting like?" Lumina fell silent. Zephia continued, "As guys you would have punched each other's lights out and gotten over it. But no, you give each other the silent treatment. After that one of you just stays alone and let's her feelings fester while the other goes to her other girlfriends and tries to get them to join her side of the fight."

Zephia stopped playing and began to adjust the strings, "Maybe Terren's right when she says you never want to see your manhood again cause you're sure acting like a woman. Apologize to her Lumina. We have to stick to together. It's the only way we'll get out of here."

Lumina took a good minute to let what was said sink in. She would have kicked her own butt had her legs been long enough. She shook her head and sighed, "As much as I hate to admit it... you're right. We can't afford to get split right now... not with our escape plan so close to being executed. I can't believe how teenage mall rat I've acted."

Zephia smiled, "Don't worry too much about it. Our bodies are trying to pull us in that direction 24/7. We're bound to slip up every once and a while."

Lumina stood up and began to walk out, "You sure you don't want to play some basketball?"

"It's like I said earlier Lumina... The idea of doing that with guys is disturbing. There's too big a risk of a guy trying to swat the ball and grabbing a handful of boobs. You may enjoy that kind of thing but I'll pass."

Lumina stuck her tongue out, "I'm just going to show them how basketball is supposed to be played."

* * *

The guys had already started the game. The teams were the same as they were last time: Raydiun, Fuse, Gale (one of the platinum blond twins) on one team... Tude, Tsuno, Gustin (the other twin) on the other with Fissure (the really big guy with brown hair) on all-time offence.

None of the guys noticed she was there. Before making her presence known, she watched some of their tendencies. For example she noticed that Tsuno would only dribble to his right and that when Fissure would use his size to bully his way towards the basket that he would leave the ball unprotected. She also noticed that Fuse could dribble comfortably with his left and right hand and that Raydiun had the best shot of all the guys. The twins seemed to be about equal... which made perfect sense. ~If I get on Raydiun's team we will clobber the other team. They may have a size advantage but I can actually run an offence that has real direction. And Fissure is always all-time offence, he won't respond well to playing some D.~

She waited for Fissure to score to interrupt them, "HEY GUYS!"

When all the guys turned, they noticed something was very different from the way Lumina normally looked. Her hair was in a super tight bun and her bangs were combed to the side so they weren't in her eyes at all. She wasn't wearing a skirt but some light weight shorts. She wasn't wearing sandals but tennis shoes. Her shirt was a simple thin t-shirt and it was thin enough to reveal the fact she was wearing a sports bra underneath. It was almost as if... she wants to play?

"I see you guys have an odd number. Mind if I even it up?" All the guys were stunned. Especially Raydiun and Tude; they were used to seeing her inside the Solace house cleaning and cooking with Solmaren... not play basketball. Sure she had swooshed that one shot a couple of days ago but that was just luck... right?

Each guy looked towards the other for an answer. Eventually all eyes fell upon Raydiun who responded intelligently, "Why you all looking at me?"

Gustin tried to whisper but Lumina could still hear him, "Because you're the one who likes her." More whispers could be heard but the rest of them were too soft for Lumina to discern all that was said. After much deliberation, the job of telling Lumina the news fell upon Raydiun, "Um... sure... you can play. We'll just have to change up teams."

Lumina didn't want to change teams, she just wanted to make sure and get on Raydiun and Fuse's team where she could best show off her talents, "Just keep the teams the same and I'll go on Raydiun's team while Fissure goes on the other."

The guys looked at her as if she was nuts. Place the tallest and strongest on one team and on the other team put someone tied for smallest and probably weakest? Fissure spoke up, "You're going to cover me?"

It was Lumina's turn to look at him like he was an idiot, "No! I'm way too small. Gale's covering you. Raydiun's now covering Gustin. Fuse is guarding Tude and I have the assignment of Tsuno."

The guys were stunned.

The little blonde hottie had just walked onto the court and took complete control. More amazing was the fact that not one of them had the courage to stop her. Picking the ball off the ground, Lumina went behind the three point line and said, "Do or die. I'll shoot for our team." Without hesitation she jacked up the shot... swoosh.

"Ok, our ball. Full court. First to 21 wins. Gale, fight for rebounds. Fuse don't shoot it unless you're open, try and find the open man first. Raydiun, as soon as I have the ball cut to the basket. I'll play the point. Got it?"

Gale was confused. How does that girl know so much about basketball? Fuse was astonished. How does that girl know so much about basketball? Raydiun was intrigued. How does that girl know so much about basketball?

Lumina in-bounded the ball to Fuse who immediately gave it back to her so she could run the offense. She dribbled at the three-point line waiting to see what the defense would do: everyone had a man on them... except for Lumina. Tsuno was cheating on Raydiun and trying to prevent Lumina from getting it to the man they thought was the best shooter, ~I'll teach them not to leave a man on me!~

Rising into the air she flicked her wrist and send the ball arcing to the rim... swoosh! Smirk on her face, she back-trotted to the other basket to play defense. All the boys froze again. Raydiun was the first to snap out of it as he smiled and followed Lumina to the defensive end of the court and muttered, "Guess that shot wasn't a fluke after all."

Everybody else finally recovered and Tsuno carried the ball up the court for his team. Knowing Tsuno hated going to his left, Lumina doggedly blocked off any chance of him going to the right. This forced Tsuno to dribble too high; Lumina slapped at the ball and knocked it free. She beat the shell-shocked Tsuno to the ball and raced down the court for an easy two points.
* * *
21-6 was the final score with Lumina scoring 10 of the 21 points. The remaining 11 points were all assisted by Lumina. Lumina's ability to penetrate the lane and dribble dumbfounded them. She could dribble with her left hand as well as her right, had a mean crossover, would dribble behind her back and between her legs, and could shoot on the run.

The fact that Fissure's team only scored six was amazing considering Lumina's team had quite a few turnovers; many times her teammates just weren't expecting her to pass. These guys had never seen someone who could pass behind the back, over the shoulder, and would consistently throw some no-look passes. They would be looking the other way as the ball hit them square in the chest. And as soon as that happened Lumina would give them a look that told them to never do that again. Raydiun committed the most turnovers because Lumina would laser in passes from angles he would have never dared to even tried when he would cut to the basket.

Just as impressive as she was on offense, she was even more impressive on defense. She has stolen the ball from each of her opponents at least once. Tsuno never scored a single point or dished out a single assist. Lumina had told Gale what she had noticed about Fissure's tendencies and Gale held Fissure to 4 points.

Lumina quite simply dominated. Not only was she way better than they were, she made those around her better with her passing ability.

When the last shot was drained by Lumina, she went to the sidelines and grabbed her water bottle. As she chugged away, the members of Fissure's team stood in disbelief as they marveled how the little girl picked them apart like a Pull-and-Peel Twizzler.

Raydiun approached Lumina as she drank, took a deep breath, and asked her with a tired voice, "Where did you learn to play like that?"

~Well, it looks like one of them is willing to swallow their pride.~ Removing the drink from her lips she smiled, "Back home... I've been playing this game since I was 5."

Raydiun just shook his head, "The stuff you did back there... that was amazing!"

Lumina was about to thank him when a female voice from behind her piped up, "Better hold back on the praises. We wouldn't want her head to get too big." Lumina turned around and saw a smirking Zephia and Tidranna. They were still dressed in street clothes.

Lumina smiled, "I thought you two weren't playing."

Zephia nodded, "You're right. We're not. We just decided to come and watch you kick butt. How bad was it Raydiun?"

Raydiun scratched the back of his head, "Well... it was a blood bath. Our team won by 15... pretty much Lumina took control of the game and never let go."

The conversation continued for a little bit when Tsuno called over to Raydiun, "Raydiun, look up on top of the city wall." His tone was one of worry.

Raydiun and the three girls looked up on top of the wall. They could see about 25 men standing on top of the 30 foot wall. They all had skin the color of obsidian and no coloring to their eyes... just pure white. Their arms came down past their knees. And all of them were staring down at Raydiun. That's when Raydiun gasped, "Oh [1]churut!"

Lumina was now worried, "Raydiun, who are those guys."

With venom in his voice he replied, "Resulkans... go get inside the Hurrcanik house..."

Lumina persisted, "What are Resul..."

Raydiun turned and gave her a look of anger and worry, "Get inside the Hurrcanik house NOW!"

Lumina slowly began to back away. She noticed that across the court, Tude was stumbling over to his sports bag and pulled out what appeared to be a [2]kodachi from it.

That's when all 25 obsidian skinned beings JUMPED from the 30 foot wall. When they landed, they spread out and within seconds surrounded the group.

Without warning, a burst of light shot out of Raydiun's hand and sliced through one of the things he had called a Resulkan. Chaos then erupted as each Resulkan collapsed in on the group and all the boys opened fire. A few Resulkans were caught by hurricane force winds that somehow emanated from Gale and Gustin. A number of Resulkans were trying to swim out of a dome of water that had suddenly appeared around Tsuno. Fuse had literally erupted and was spewing flames from his body and incinerating anyone he could. Morphing his body into pure stone, Fissure rampaged around the court and punched hole through the attackers with god-like force. Tude was stuck in one on one combat with one of the obsidian-skinned men, using only his kodachi.

Then there was Raydiun: anyone who got near the girls was met with a small, but deadly laser blast that cut through skin and bone like a hot knife through butter.

That's when it hit Lumina, ~None of these people even tried to attack the guys first. They all jumped in our direction! These... things are after us! We're their targets! I'm a target!~

[2] kodachi= A short Japanese sword. Longer than a knife but shorter than a katana. These weapons are lightweight and are used to make quick slashing movements. The kodachi is the weapon of Shinomori Aoshi in the anime Rurouni Kenshin.