The Formation of Team 55

by Neo Nidhi Baghel

  ‘The good news is,’ Justin glanced at Brent and then looked back at Ace. ‘Right now, Vanya is able to use her ability to control some features of the Earth. She is able to use it and is working really hard to improve it, even though she is being stopped by the curse. She is working on her protective skills too. The fact that she is able to use that element, is proof that she has had her first death. A piece of her is free because of which she is able to do all that she is doing already. With every death, she will become more powerful and evolve into… I don’t know, whatever she is supposed to be.’

  ‘Yes.’ nodded Brent. ‘And, you see. Look at yourselves. We all don’t need to die in order to evolve and enhance our powers and abilities. But, Vanya is stuck. Every death might set her free more and more, but if she doesn’t die all these deaths, she won’t be able to evolve as well. That is how she is trapped in this curse. She is stuck. She can’t move ahead or back. She will just remain there, the way she is.’

  ‘Oh.’ Dawn exhaled looking very exhausted.

  ‘That is terrible and badass.’ said Kathy. ‘What are we going to do about it?’

  ‘I have a point that I want you guys to consider.’ Brent looked through the scattered sheets on the study table. ‘I believe, that whoever did this to her, might have done it to trap her. But, I think they don’t have any idea about what they have done to her.’

  ‘Now, wait a minute! What does that mean?’ Ace shook his head confusingly.

  ‘If a person named Y did it to her, he had no idea that attempting to trap her with this curse would result in her growth as well. Y had a purpose to trap her growth or evolution. He wanted to stop Vanya from growing naturally into her true self. So, he put the curse on her, but he didn’t know that with every death, Vanya would evolve even more than she would have evolved normally. By the time she dies for the seventh time, she will be indestructible, like a weapon.’

  Victoria gulped. She had called Vanya a weak, fragile and cursed piece of meat. Now, it was sending shivers down her spine.

  Ace looked at the door and kicked it open. The sky kept blinking and the rain was still pouring down heavily. Vanya was out there in the rain with Moon. They had to find her.

  ‘It’s just a shower.’ He stalked out, followed by the rest of the team.

  ∞∞∞

  ‘Get in, hurry!’ Dawn was trying to hold on to Kathy as she clutched her right arm with her left hand. The bandage was really tough and Justin had done a good job.

  They had just reached the entrance of the base. Brent had been holding Victoria’s hand and was making sure she was fine. Justin and Ace were right behind them.

  Victoria was feeling very sympathetic towards Vanya. Now she wanted to apologize to her. They were supposed to be friends and sisters to each other. She was supposed to fight for her and not with her. The rain had made her tears invisible to the rest.

  ‘Are you sure that she is here?’ Ace asked Dawn. He was at the last as they entered the passage. He wanted to make sure that even though the forest was safe, each member had entered safely.

  ‘Where else do you think she is?’ Dawn yelled back at him. He was at the front followed by Justin and Kathy.

  They were walking through the passage. Victoria was shivering and the rainwater kept pouring down her. She wasn’t even wearing a jacket. But then, even Vanya had left the cottage without any jacket or shoes. She was just wearing a shirt and shorts with a pair of slippers.

  ‘Vanya?’ Dawn called her as soon as he got out of the passage and reached the base.

  ‘Vanya?’

  Victoria jumped as she heard Ace calling Vanya’s name from behind her. The torches that had his fire boomed at his voice. He was yelling so loud. She shifted aside and let him get through. She reached the base and saw that Vanya wasn’t there. Dawn kept running around, looking for her. Justin and Ace were checking behind the huge pile of rocks. Brent stood next to her, not knowing what to do.

  ‘This is all my fault.’ Victoria mumbled sadly. ‘I shouldn’t have said all that.’

  Dawn glanced at her and he walked past her looking for Vanya.

  ‘Hey, we will find her.’ He assured her. ‘Moon wouldn’t take her anywhere that wasn’t safe, alright? He’s more possessive about her than any one of us.”

  ‘Do you think he would take her there?’ Kathy yelled at them.

  Victoria looked towards the other side where Kathy was standing. She was staring at something behind the pile of rocks. It was on the side where Moon had grabbed Vanya from the air and jumped, barricading her in the clutches of his canines.

  Victoria ran towards Kathy. She was gazing at something in wonder

  ‘What is it?’ She peered at what Kathy was looking at.

  It was a passage. A huge chunk of rock that was before there had been moved and rolled aside. Those marks… Victoria ran to get a look at the pile of rocks.

  ‘Look!’ She called everyone and pointed at all the scratched up rocks. ‘Moon did that when he was trying to get Vanya. She was up there trying to save Kathy.’

  Dawn looked at the rock that had been rolled aside. It was huge. ‘Moon did it?’ his tone told Victoria that he wasn’t ready to believe it.

  The rock had uncountable deep scratches carved out on it.

  ‘No.’ Ace mumbled, kneeling next to the rock. ‘He made Vanya roll it aside. He asked her to do it.’

  A wave of wind came from the passage and hit them hard, making Brent shudder. They stepped a little away from the passage. It looked dark from where they were standing.

  ‘What was that?’ Justin shivered, hugging himself. ‘What if she’s in trouble and-’

  ‘We should go inside and see if she is there or not.’ Victoria told them.

  They all looked at her. She knew that now she really needed to get up and be who she was meant to be. She was a part of this family and she had to accept everyone in it.

  ‘I told I was sorry, alright? I was tensed about what happened and… and…’

  ‘You didn’t get to be the grade one queen!’ Brent said it in a girly voice

  Victoria punched him on the chest lightly.

  ‘Move it!’ Ace pushed Brent ahead and they all walked in.

  The passage ahead was really dark. There were no lamps or torches. Victoria felt a very soothing wave of wind touching her skin. Ace slowly raised his right hand ahead of him and fire ignited a little above the center of his palm.

  Brent screamed and fell backward. Victoria tried to run towards the exit, but she was grabbed by Dawn.

  ‘It’s just a door.’ Dawn pulled her back.

  Victoria turned and saw that he was right. Right in front of Ace’s palm was a wooden door. It was half-closed. Ace touched the door with his left hand and opened it slowly.

  The wind blew and the fire on Ace’s palm kept trying to hug his face. He clutched his hand into a fist and the fire vanished. Everything seemed dark, but then some rocks came into sight.

  ‘What’s out there?’

  Victoria heard Justin whisper to them.

  It was so beautiful. They were standing inside a huge cave that had an open mouth into a beach. Victoria felt the sand on the ground get into her slippers as she stepped outside that door. It wasn’t raining here at all. The moon was up and bright, glowing the sand white in color. And, there she was! A little away from the cave and not too close to the majestic ocean, Vanya was kneeling on the sand next to Moon. She had grabbed his canines and rested her forehead on his huge head. He kept pawing her on the lap. Victoria realized that she was smiling at the sight, without even knowing it.

  Victoria saw Brent and Justin running ahead towards Vanya.

  ‘Yeah!’ Justin took off his shirt and ran towards the waves.

  Moon spotted them and he ran after Justin who was now tackled to the ground and being barricaded by the beast.

  Dawn and Kathy had walked ahead already.

  ‘Come on!’ Ace nodded at her. He gave her a very gentle smile.

 
; She had spent so much time with him and he had never tried to correct her.

  Victoria hesitated. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘Look at it this way,’ He smiled. ‘If you wouldn’t have gotten angry, she wouldn’t have left. And, Moon wouldn’t have been able to get Vanya to open that door.’

  Maybe, he was right? There is a reason why things happen.

  She smiled back at him. He gently put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her ahead with him. Dawn was hugging Vanya tightly and going left and right like a kid. She was trying to push him away.

  ‘Don’t kill her.’ Victoria told him. ‘Or you’ll be dead.’

  Vanya looked back at her and smiled. Dawn was still hugging her and Victoria knew why. She didn’t need to think twice now.

  ‘I am so sorry’ Victoria sat on the white sand next to Vanya. ‘I had no idea about what happened and I promise, I would never say anything like that or never even think anything like that ever again.’

  ‘Now you’re being crazy.’ Vanya pouted at her. ‘We’re all going to die someday.’

  Ace sat on Vanya’s other side and sighed. ‘So? Where are we?’

  Vanya pouted at him. ‘Moon says this is the base. He found it with his senses.’ She winked at him. ‘I don’t know where we are, but I think we will figure it out.’

  ‘We’ll check it tomorrow. At least, we caught a break. This reminds me of my home.’ Ace smiled at her. ‘Let go of her now!’ he kicked Dawn and he fell back on the sand.

  He remained like that for a while on the sand, laying and resting. Then he sat up and faced Vanya and began to tickle her.

  Victoria felt so happy looking at everyone. They might be having a rough time, but the place had made them really happy and forget their problems for the time being.

  Brent and Justin were running around, playing with Moon. He kept tackling them down and they kept running away from him.

  Victoria looked ahead and saw Kathy standing close to the waves. She wondered what she was thinking of. She slowly got up and walked up to Kathy

  ‘Hey!’ she yelled at Kathy. ‘The waves are pretty rough out here, huh?’

  Kathy stood there, closing her eyes and feeling the wind and waves.

  ‘My element!’ she told Victoria. ‘I lived on Earth for so many years, but this is the first time I am seeing the ocean. I can practice here freely now.’

  She raised her right wrist slightly, clutching her arm with her left hand and pointed her finger above the waves that were cuddling with her feet. One… two… three… one by one, some thin streams of water began to curl around each other and rise up towards Kathy’s hand that was making them dance.

  Victoria smiled at her. Her eyes were fixed at the limitless ocean in front of her. She wrapped her arm around Kathy’s shoulders and stood there with her.

  Maybe sometimes it is not about what you get. Maybe sometimes it is about what you can give to others. Victoria kept staring at the moon as it enhanced the beauty of the view. She realized one thing today. Her team was stronger than she had thought. They were all ready to love her and accept her, even though she’d been a little cranky about something that didn’t matter anymore. She might have lost her family back on Earth, but here it was; her true family full of descendants who were fighting hard to make it through this journey in Bridging.

  TO BE CONTINUED...