Plan

My ears rang as the explosion went off, making me grab my ears. I never was sensitive to sound before however, this time was... different. Once it finally ended I stood up and saw Apollo going to the truck and searching around in the passenger seat before stopping and throwing his hands down and slamming his foot to the ground and yelling an arrangement of curse words.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Apollo kept repeating in an angry tone each word filled with emotion.

"What happened?" Dion asked then looked at the ground, his face going pale.

I then walked up with everyone else, and that's when we saw it, something shattered on the ground, it looked small enough to be a magnet on the fridge. Whatever it was, it was enough to make everyone except for me, Koji, and Kingsley, understand the density of the situation. Still not knowing what is going on I wanted to understand.

"I'm sorry, why is this a bad thing?" I said wanting to understand what was going on.

"Right, you wouldn't know what this is, this is a tracking device. This was how we we're tracking Alfred however, now that it's broken it's useless." Aza said before releasing a heavy sigh.

"Now what, we have no direction to head to and no clues at all," Kingsley said now understanding.

"Dammit! They totally threw us off! Of course, they checked if Alfred is tapped, why didn't I think of a backup plan!?" Apollo said before putting his finger and thumb on his nose and pushing them outwards towards his eyes while repeating "Think Apollo, think." Apollo kept saying lightly.

Apollo had the right idea, we needed to think of our next move with the limited information we had. Kingsley also brought up a good point how can we find someone without a clue about where they are? I was in the detective department I should be smarter than this. But now that I think of it, me being on the team was lucky, I'm nowhere as smart as the others nor as strong. If I haven't known Kingsley, I would be doing this all alone. Being smarter than the average kid has gotten me pretty far, but if there are cases like these where I am expected to make something out of nothing can I stack up to the others around me? Will I be able to exceed expectations? No, stop worrying about that for now, think of the task at hand. What can I do to help? Even if it is a little help, what can I do? Prove your worth!

I looked around, trying to see something others weren't seeing. Most of the things were lost in the explosion, so little, in fact, it was hard to tell with ever going fire behind them a truck was even there. That's when it dawned on him, a way to help everyone.

"We may have no direction however, no clues is a stretch," I said before running to behind the truck where luckily the explosion didn't hit. That's when I grabbed something and brought it to the group what I would call, our smoking gun.

"We still have this!" I said placing down the items Apollo had earlier leaving them with confused faces.

CHAPTER 18: Plan

What does an Id, a wallet filled with an unlimited pass to a place called "rehto edis, food and games", a credit card, and a spare peanut, have anything to do with Alfred?" Dion asked before Aza's eyes got filled with life.

"Z! Z you genius!" Aza yelled running and hugging me with excitement. I don't know what I did was so genius enough for a hug, but I'll take it.

"Am I stupid or something?" Kingsley asked scratching his head trying to figure out what Aza saw that he didn't.

"Well, with this credit card we can try to track down where it's been spent to figure out a general location of where they could be holding Alfred. There is also this eating and games place we should go to for clues!" I be lying if I said this was my exact intent. However, I'll take the credit. That's when Aza pointed to Kingsley who had his eyes locked onto the peanut.

"Kingsley?" Koji asked interested in what Kingsley could be thinking.

"What about the peanut?" Kingsley asked, focused on how the peanut tied it all together.

"You... Idiot!" Aza said grabbing and crushing the peanut making Kingsley's eyes making Kingsley's heart break.

"You really are an idiot, Kingsley," Koji said laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

"It's not my fault that I have respect for peanuts!" Kingsley said making Koji and Aza laugh at Kingsley even harder than before. After a minute of laughing and slapping their knees, everyone focused up again.

"So, now what," Aza asked having everyone again in a thinking complex.

"Well, we have two locations, right? So let's split into two groups, Me, Apollo, and... Z will follow the lead of the credit card. While you four go to the fun and games place, sounds good?" Dion said with a menacing smirk.

"Yeah!" Everyone responded

"Alright! Hands in!" Kingsley said putting out his fist in the circle they were in.

"Hands in!" Aza said putting their fist in.

"You guys are so corny," Koji said putting his fist in with his now tired face from all the laughing energy he used but still had enough to smirk.

"Oh, what the heck!" Dion said putting his fist in.

"I don't know how to feel about this but I think a smile coming on," Apollo said putting his fist in with a small smile.

"C'mon Z! We're all doing this!" Aza said laughing

First thing that came to my mind was I was still so shocked that bringing evidence from that someone else found that I thought could be helpful in someway actually was. I didn't think of anything Aza thought of yet she gave me all the credit, which I happily will take. Then I started to think about what they wanted me to do.

I hesitated. I don't know why but I did, something inside me just felt so light. All I could do was smile seeing everyone putting their fist in, it was relaxing something I really did miss. That's when without even thinking my fist moved on Its own and completed the circle. All I could do was smile, the only time I felt like this was when my grandma was alive. I felt like for a moment the world wasn't as cold as it usually is, the people around me aren't just friends. No matter what happens, we'll always find a way for happiness to help each other to push beyond just living but to find something more.

"See that wasn't so hard now?" Aza said shooting a smile to me, and all I could do was smile.

"Never was."

"Alright! Let's do this!" Kingsley said starting to run in a direction of the car before Koji grabbed his collar.

"Hold on speed. We don't have a way of communicating with each other if it all goes to hell.." Koji said in his tiresome voice. Again everyone was left thinking, lots of grunts and mm were heard before they started suggesting ideas.

"Alright we can get a giant air ballo-" Kingsley started before everyone responded with a harsh

"No!"

"Walkie-Talkies?" Aza suggested

"Well, that would be nice, if they had a long-range like that and we didn't bring those," Dion said while surging his shoulders.

"Alright here this one, we build a future-" Kingsley started again being greeted with a harsh "No!"

"Maybe on the way of the trails we're on we'll leave messages in the dirt?" I suggested to everyone to see what they thought.

"Smart. However, it could be very inconsistent and impractical so maybe not." Dion said

"Alright here me out, we-" Kingsley started again getting a "No!" From everyone.

"You haven't even heard it yet!" Kingsley states with a whiny voice.

"That is fair, alright what's the idea?" Koji says leaving everyone opened ears

"Well, these guys came from where they're keeping Alfred right? I find it hard to believe that these guys came together to do this plan nor when they were told to remember it. So that means they were given instructions, the drive from this point to our headquarters is already a long gap. I find it hard that underlings remember a plan to hide Alfred's tracking device only when we were next to them without a reminder, so that means they must have some way of communication. So with all that being said, the way we should get our communication is by the enemy!" Kingsley said pointing to the van that was in the flip-over van that was laid out on the floor.

"That was." Koji started

"Surprisingly." Aza continued

"Smart! He's not head of the detective team for nothing!" I said with a smile slapping Kingsley back.

"Head of the detective team!? That's totally me!" Koji and Aza both said next to each other and looked at each other intensely. "Guys, we've been over this..." Kingsley started to say that's when the trio started to argue about who was head of the detective team.

"Children." I, Dion, and Apollo said at the same time with disappointed looks on our faces.

The three finally stopped arguing as we all went over to the van "What do we do about the fi-" I started to say before Koji walked ahead and pulled out his swords. Now that I was thinking of it I haven't been able to see him use them at all so this will be a first, I will also see his style of fighting.

"2nd-Pack Hold! Light Wind!" Koji said as he gently moved his sword and it created a wind so powerful to completely annotate the fire that was dancing so high it could dance with the stars. As soon as Koji put his swords back into their holders he jerked his body and held his chest and put his head down.

"Koji! You alright!?" Kingsley said walking up to him

"I'm fine, just some slight pain," Koji said looking up and his eyes glossier and smoother than before but still maintaining a nice glow.

"Have your eyes always looked this beautiful?" Kingsley said looking at Koji who shrugged and started to feel more tired. "Can we get a move on I to want to sleep!" Koji said leaning on Kingsley and actually falling asleep.

"I got him, that pack style is draining to him. Even when he uses the starter one, it still makes him so tired when using it." Kingsley said putting Koji down against the car we arrived in and running back to help us look.

"Alright let's find... something!" Kingsley said before seeing Apollo already holding something that looked like a radio.

"This is a radio used by out of fields truckers, however, we have a problem. We need two of these to make this work, I do know what stations this is linked to and this seems a bit more advanced being able to hold direct calls from the looks of it. If we can find two of these and we use the host that we'll enable on these stations we'll be able to hold a call. I know it's a risk but Me, Dion and Z will get one in the city while you four go to the food and games place. Pete makes sure these kids are safe, I trust you know that already though. If all goes wrong meet back here unless you get a lead to where Alfred is being held with that try to write a message for us somewhere either on the way or at the food and games to place somewhere you'll know we'll see it. With that I think we're ready to split and go on our mission, are you guys ready to save Alfred?"

"Let's do it!" Everyone said before officially saying goodbyes and a few hugs before they officially split into two teams.

"Wait!" Aza yelled before running back to us.

"Mm" I said seeing Aza coming fast towards us.

"Take one of these men with you, I don't know how you'll hide him but find a way. We need this leverage so find a way to not make it seem like you're not kidnapping someone, okay?" Aza said making Apollo look more stressed than he already is before sighing and saying "Yeah okay got that."

"One more thing. Be safe, okay? All of you! I don't want to hear no tragedies alright?" Aza said looking at them with more empathetic eyes than usual.

"Don't worry Aza! We'll all be okay with Alfred. I can't tell you where since the headquarters is kind of... destroyed. But I promise you we'll all be drinking Coco with marshmallows around a fire all together!" I said with a smile to reassure her we'll all be okay.

"Okay, whatever you say!" Aza said starting to walk away.

"Make sure the cook doesn't die!" Dion yelled followed with Aza putting her thumb up as she got inside of the broken tailgated car and drove away.

"Alright! Let's figure out what we can!" Apollo said starting to walk away.

"Wait, Apollo!" Dion said pointing to the passed-out man on the floor.

"Oh right. How do we do that?" Apollo said pointing to the passed-out man on the floor.

"Well there is all this forest side next to us, maybe make a human backpack with this wood. Apollo's nails are sharp enough and Dion you have a sword and I have my drill style! We can easily do this." I said hoping they think this is a good idea.

"Genius Z! Alright let's do this!" Dion said pulling out his sword. "Iso! Multi-Chops!" Dion followed it up by chopping down a lot of trees in his Iso before putting down his Iso and having many chopped trees. "This should be enough right?" Dion asked with a smirk smile.

"Nice job Dion!" I said with a smile.

"Good job doing something a 5-year-old can do!" Apollo said holding down a laugh before Dion and Apollo started to fight and yell at each other. While those two were doing that I tried to figure out how to hide a human nether less make sure that when he wakes up he can scream for help or anything. Now that I think of it how do you hide a human with something wooden? A box? Maybe. So I made a box but Its problem became the height, how can we make a box for someone who is 5'6 and not make it look suspicious and practical. Jeez, if I had help this would be easier however, those two are no help. Why do these two team up when they're not compatible at all! I swear these brothers will be the cause of my death! For now, I'll make the box and see their thoughts on it, a simple box that the same width and length has him just a little bigger.

"Drunk!" Apollo yelled at Dion

"Dog! Annoying Dog!" Dion yelled at Apollo

"Alright you two, that's enough I made a box already, does it look good or is it suspicious?"

"It's fine, no one is going to question. Also, the streets are probably clearing out because of how late it's getting." Dion said before they all went pale to the face.

"It's getting late!" We all said stuffing the man in the wooden box that most likely had splinters and thorns but now wasn't the time to think about that. We needed to get a move on as soon as possible.

"How can we lose this track of time! The bank could be closed by now!" Apollo said running while breathing hard.

"It's because of you, idiot!" Dion said to Apollo while bumping him a little just to get under his skin.

"No, it was totally you're fault!" Apollo said bumping Dion back to do the same thing, arguably deserved, however childish!

"It's both your fault! Now get a move on or this will actually affect us! We have an hour of ground to make up here! Run until your legs physically give up on you! Even then still keep running!" I said to make them focus on something other than each other.

"He's right! Run! Run!" They both said while kicking it into high gear and sprinting even faster than they were before. At first, I was surprised it worked, but then something dawned on me, they're going so fast I might not be able to catch up! So of course I kicked it into high gear and started to sprint.

"Kingsley," Koji said in a tired tone surprising Kingsley considering Koji had been asleep the whole car ride. Pete was driving and Aza fell asleep as well, tired from probably bossing everyone around.

"Mm?"

"I never got to say thank you."

"Huh? What does that mean Koji?"

"I never got to say thank you for making sure I wasn't bored at my bedside. So Thank you." The car was quiet for a while before Kingsley's smile on his face just got a little bigger before his response.

"Anytime" It went quiet again but not unsettling, instead a comfortable before Koji started up again.

"Why did you start picking up medical knowledge?"

"What do you mean by that? I picked it up so If I'm close to dying I can always heal myself."

"You've never been interested in medical knowledge before, so why now?" When Koji said that Kingsley took a deep breath before closing his eyes and starting to speak.

"When you were on what could have been your death bed, I felt so useless. I kept thinking, if I only knew what could help you, I could help you. I kept thinking if I want to keep those I care about around me, then I should learn everything because I-" Kingsley stopped at the very end with a single tear rolling down his face. Again the car went quiet, so quiet that you can hear the rocks being crushed by the wheels of the car, yet with that Koji stepped in again.

"You don't have to force yourself to say anything you don't want to say. I was just interested..."

Koji said to Kingsley who suddenly whipped his eye and retained his smile.

"Want to play that game of sticks?" Kingsley asked in his joyful tone, yet kind of menacing this time.

"Sure, however, I can't assure you'll win this one!"

"You're on!"

For a while, on the drive, this was all there was the sound of the two boys playing a game of sticks before Aza woke up and stretched, confused about the situation.

"What going on? What are you two doing?" Aza asked tiredly and had a huge yawn to follow it.

"Well, ever since you've been asleep we're super-duper close to the next town! We figured out where the food place is because of Pete! Pete's laptop was in here the whole time! Kind of a bummer that we couldn't use it when Z and the others were here so we all could have gone to this restaurant place." Kingsley said filing her in on the last 30 minutes of their ride.

"Well, at least we know where to go, nice going Pete!" Aza said with a genuine tone

"Well, it was... lucky." Pete said as he gasped as they read a sign on the side of the road that read "Leaving Venzard, Entering Avante City." "We're entering Avante city!" Pete said with a smile that gained an applause from the three in the back of the car.

"Well, It only seems it going to take as long as 20 more minutes to get to our location and 10 before actually entering the town since we're only on the outskirts but we should be fine." "Alright!" Kingsley said as Koji nodded and Aza closed her eyes to relax. "Alright Kingsley, we're playing something different instead," Koji said having an irritated face. "Is it because you keep losing?" Kingsley said in a taunt way. "No! That's not it I'm just very tired. That's all!" "Whatever you say, Koji." They start the game and Kingsley asks the first question.

"Is it something you can eat? Is It? Koji? Koji!? " Kingsley said to Koji whose eyes became a little bigger and a lot less sleeper than normal.

"Stop the car," Koji says in a low tone.

"What was that?" Aza asked trying to hear while opening her eyes, from the sudden change in Koji's voice.

"I said stop the car!" Koji said in a louder yell making Pete stop the car.

"Why what happens what's going on?" Pete yells looking around scared out of his mind.

"I sense something wrong, bad intent. In fact, I smell bad intent in this car, but that's light. However, something aimed at us, I can feel the gaze."

"What does that even mean!?" Pete yelled looking around even more scared.

"Lower your voice, if we act like we know they're watching they'll shoot even faster. Right now they're lining up their shots for sure, I say in three seconds slam on the gas alright?" Koji said taking a deep breath before counting.

"3, 2, 1, Slam on it now!" Koji said has Pete slammed on the engine and bullets got shot at the same time. Luckily no one got touched has they managed to just hit the edge of the car, Pete pulled over and everyone got out.

"Everyone! Don't run in a straight line! Their snipers, they need to line their shots up! Take them down fast and easy!" Pete yelled before being shot in the neck with a tranquilizer gun and passing out.

"Pete!" Aza and Kingsley both yelled and Koji's teeth grinded.

"I need to do this now! Kingsley! Aza! Cover for me!" Koji yells running to the back of the car.

"Alright!" Aza and Kingsley both yelled before dashing ahead of Koji and fighting.

"Colored Flames! Orange n Yellow! Burning Col-" Kingsley try to use before getting shot in the neck as well passing out on the floor.

"Kingsley! God Dammit!" Aza said using her lighting to her advantage

"Calling all the lighting to my hands! Specialty Zoe! Direct Beauty Assasin!" Aza yelled shocking 3 of them with one lighting current.

"I'm not done yet! Th-" Aza tried to do before getting hit in the neck with a tranquilizer gun as well.

"Sorry I was late guys!" Koji said rushing over to see his but to his worst thoughts, his friends had already been hit.

"Time to use my swords to their most potential. 6th-Pack! Dancing Stars! Koji said has a barrage of chops chopped down most of the trees in the area and also getting 15 of the snipers and getting a small portion of the forest side they we're just in.

"Did I get them all?" Koji said before he felt the intent of a bullet coming straight towards him and him dodging it.

"Good thing I trained my detection to a pretty decent rate! 6th-Pack! Bat Wings!" Koji said slicing Zoe out of his swords in the shape of bat wings and slicing the man who tried to shoot him "Jeez, all I wanted to do was preserve this energy and sleep, these small underlings are never enough!" Koji said before clutching his side and feeling tons of pain

"These swords are eating at my zo-" Koji's last words we're at that moment has he got shot in the neck by someone wearing swimming goggles.

"Load them up in the truck!" The man with the goggles said as he took off an invisible cloak that was covering the truck that was on the path to the town, the dark lowly lit path.

"Yes sir! Number 9 sir!"

...

"Sir, we're getting movement!" "He could be awake at any moment!"

===============EXTRA SCENCE==================

"Where am I? No, I know where. I'm in a box due to those brats. Well I guess it doesn't matter right? I guess I don't need to struggle since If I do, I'll just die anyways. I'll wait until there gone to escape. For now, I guess I'll take a nap for the first time in a long time. However, I'm busting for a piss."