Chapter 3: "Lights & Clouds"

Flames? Flames filled the cave and seared away the cold in seconds before vanishing just the same. The storm continued battering the cave as another hour went by.

Sweat, the raven-haired girl woke up soaked in it. She rose up to a sitting position against the wall as a sigh of relief then caught her attention. She looked up to see Venelope sitting against the opposite wall with a faint smile.

"I'm glad you came to." Venelope said. "I was freakin' out." The girl paid little attention to Venelope as she continued wiping sweat from her face. "I hit my head on somethin'. Still hurts." She chuckled. "You feelin' all right?" The girl remained silent as she wondered how it got so hot in the cave. She adjusted herself, trying to get as comfortable as possible. Wiping more sweat from her face, she groaned in disgust. Venelope chuckled but stopped instantly as the girl eyed her sharply. It was obvious the girl wasn't thrilled to be trapped in a cave with her. "I'm Venelope." She said reaching out to shake hands.

"I KNOW who you are" the girl plainly replied as she turned her eyes away. "Obviously, you don't remember me." Venelope retracted her hand slowly. She felt nervous, wondering if this girl was a childhood friend of hers. "Not like I wanted to remember you" she thought to herself. "Jesus" she said aloud leaning forward slightly before asking-- "You REALLY don't remember me?" Smiling sheepishly, Venelope didn't know how to respond. The girl sat back with a shake of her head. "We were always competing against each other. Started way back in elementary" she said in a common tone of voice with her eyes facing down into the cave. Her face was quite somber as Venelope was pulled into the same state.

"I'm sorry" Venelope said quietly with lowered eyes. "I really can't-- maybe you've just changed so much since I last saw you, is all. What's your name--"

"Forget it" the girl interrupted with a bit of strength. "...I didn't remember you, either."

"But, you said--"

"I saw you with Travis" she interrupted again, but there was some annoyance in her tone this time. "I just put two and two together" she added as she looked at Venelope to see a quirky smile of confusion.

"It's just... really not clickin'" Venelope chuckled as the girl stood to stretch.

"It's obvious you don't know much about them, either" she said straining to the ends of her stretch. Venelope' face went blank from the comment. "...wow, I'm certain you should've been on the short bus now. Your consciences!" Venelope' eyes widened as she shimmied up the wall to her feet. Though she wanted to ask the obvious, she was rendered speechless in learning the girl knew about her counterparts. Venelope' expression alone begged for answers. "You're still in between on the whole thing. Lights can't use fire, only electricity. That's how it is in the beginning. You just gotta figure out where you wanna stand. And I doubt with your lack of info, that you've been using your powers long enough for them to be strong enough to heat up this cave like you have..., but, obviously, that isn't true." Venelope continued free-falling without a clue to catch herself with. "You don't look like a Cloud. I was out-cold, but you obviously used fire and not electricity to heat this place up." Venelope looked to her sides to see Penelope and Cassidy standing there now. Looking back at the girl, she saw her angelic conscience standing beside her as well. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight. Like Penelope, the girl' conscience emitted a light of safety and purity. She was also dressed in white and light brown clothing like Penelope. Venelope' mind went blank in a wild scramble from being unable to process it all. She grabbed her head and rubbed her eyes strongly before looking back at the girl and her conscience, trying to force her mind to believe what her eyes were seeing. Cassidy vanished like smoke as Penelope remained. Venelope paced a bit trying to get this all through her skull.

"Okay... okay" Venelope said with her hands out front. Stopping, she took a deep breath and exhaled sharply out her nose. "Rewind a bit, and chop this down for me, please--" They both went silent as a grunt sounded from deeper within the cave. A deep, rough and scruffy sort of grunt. Not the kind of sound you'd hear from a human. The girls etched back as quietly as possible as the grunting grew closer, louder and more consistent. Tip-toeing backwards, they gradually neared the entrance. Venelope' lips quivered with fear as Penelope took her hand to help keep her calm. In contrast to Venelope, the raven-haired girl was surprisingly composed. No, she was more than that. There was strength in her and her conscience' eyes. The mouth of the cave was only several steps away now. Venelope bumped into a cluster of rocks causing a fairly loud clatter. The unknown creature seemed to grunt in response to the noise. It was now certain that something was in its cave. A large bear stepped into sight. upon seeing the girls, it roared fiercely, sending chills up and down the their spines. Due to Cassidy' flames, the cave' frozen mouth had been melted away enough for them to easily run out. Needless to say, said flames yielded a double-edged effect, and had awakened the bear from its hibernation. The snow was knee-deep, but the blizzard itself was over. The bear roared again upon exiting the cave, now fully awake and livid. "Come on! Let's go" Venelope shouted from a fair distance away. The raven-haired girl remained much closer and eyed the bear with the same focus as before. "What the hell is she thinking" Venelope thought. The raven-haired girl slowly opened and closed her hands with knees bent in ready position. Venelope slowly read the feel of the moment and now knew the girl was bent on fighting the beast. How could she possibly take on a bear, or even think of trying to? The girl was a bit shorter than Venelope and around the same weight, but this wasn't a Boxing match. The odds were gravely slanted in the girl' favor in Venelope' mind.

"I can move... I'm calm..." the girl thought to herself as she continued opening and closing her hands. Electricity became visible around her hands, coming and going every few seconds. Venelope looked on as she remembered the girl mentioning Lights and Clouds, and fire and electricity. She still didn't fully understand. The entire scenario was jumbled in her head. "...move... move... MOVE!" Running at the bear with some speed, she stopped just outside its reach as it swiped at her. Growling ferociously, it continued its attack as the girl backed away quickly with several short hops. Just from that small display of skill and nerve, Venelope knew the girl wasn't ordinary. But as of late, the same could be said about her. However, who in their right mind would be audacious enough to take on a bear barehanded and alone? The bear' berserk assault continued, though the girl' evasive skills were unbelievable as she remained out of harm' way. "Whitney" the girl shouted to her counterpart whose body became covered in electricity before firing and striking the bear from behind with a strong volt. The bear released a pain-filled grunt as it circled around speedily. It swiped blindly in Whitney' general direction, but such was simply a compulsive reaction as it could not see not harm the conscience. The girl timed her own strike perfectly and seized the moment. With a fist full of electricity, punched the bear in the temple, and astoundingly, floored it. Whimpering and bewildered, it rolled over itself and shook about before fleeing into the cave. The girl panted her hands on her knees as she smiled at Whitney. Smiling in return, Whitney then vanished as a beautiful cluster of glittering light.

"...that was freakin' awesome..." Venelope whispered with a featureless expression from the astonishment. Walking up to the girl a moment later, she continued-- "I-I can't believe what I just saw..." She was containing the full amount of her excitement, but it shined thru her smile as the girl stood with a sigh.

"You could've helped" the girl said staring into the wood.

"Well, I wanted to, but... honestly, how much could I have done? I'm sorry... this really is all foreign to me" Venelope sadly replied to which the girl smirked at.

"That's true" the girl replied as a genuine smile replaced her smirk as Venelope' returned. "You don't know squat about this kind of stuff... so, I guess I have to be cool with that" she added upon looking at Penelope for a moment. "...that's how I remember you... when you left town, I mean" she said referring to Penelope' longer, shoulder-length and curly hair style.

"Well, you're not the Gabrielle I remembered, either" Venelope replied as the girl faced her quickly with surprise. Venelope chuckled from her espression. "Somewhere during that fight, I remembered you. I don't know why, it just clicked, finally."

"...you remember anything else" Gabrielle asked as she placed her hands in her pockets. Venelope shook her head nervously. "Mm... I need to sit down for a sec." Taking a seat on a log, Venelope then sat beside her and rubbed her own arms to build up some warmth. "Where'd you move to" Gabrielle asked.

"Laguna Beach. California" Venelope replied. "I've been living with my-- HOLY! I completely forgot" Venelope exclaimed shooting to her feet. "My uncle and Travis! I forgot about them during all of this! They were caught in the storm with me." She looked around with a worried expression, trying to figure out which way to head.

"I don't know about your uncle, but I'm pretty sure Travis is all right" Gabrielle said which threw some confusion into Venelope' worried head. "I was near you guys when the storm started getting bad." Venelope' expression softened as she listened attentively. "I found your board snapped in two before I found you several feet away. I carried you as far as I could before I had to drag you the rest of the way into the cave."

"Oh... thank you for that" Venelope said quietly. "I owe you" she smile ever so faintly.

"We're even. If it wasn't for you heating the cave, we'd both be dead" Gabrielle smiled just as softly before they chuckled. "But, I DID fight off that big-ass bear while you stood around like the paparazzi. So I shouldn't call it even" she added jokingly. "In that regard, you did still owe me" she said as she stood.

"'Did'" Venelope questioned.

"I'll let it slide since you remembered me" Gabrielle replied as both smiled. "I guess I didn't leave a strong enough impression before you moved away" she added. Venelope offered a handshake again with Gabrielle accepting it this time.

"We can catch up on our way back" Venelope proposed. "And maybe you can fill me in on all this conscience stuff" she asked as Gabrielle sighed with a smile.

"You are asking for too much" Gabrielle said playfully as they started walking.

Now just an hour passed sunrise, Venelope' parents and the other locals began organizing a search for anyone who could've been caught in the storm. Just as Ray and Lauri stepped outside, they see Venelope and Gabrielle in the distance heading their way. Ray ran to Venelope as fast as he could. Lauri smiled with tear-filled eyes as Danny and T.J. came to stand behind her. T.J. smiled at Danny, but his face quickly saddened as he saw the latter wearing the same worried face from the night before. Ray reached Venelope, and lifting her off her feet into his arms, he hugged her strongly. Exhausted, Venelope hugged him as tightly as she could as her tears poured. Ray was silent, but needless to say, he had been alleviated from most of his worries.

"I'm okay, dad... I'm okay" Venelope said quietly thru her tears with her face pressed into his shoulder. Putting her back on her feet, he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. He didn't smile, but his joy was surely there. They then looked to see Lauri making her way over. Hugging her daughter tightly, both chuckled thru their tears.

"I was about to lose my mind" Lauri said still hugging her daughter before stepping away.

"I'm okay... thanks to her" Venelope said gesturing at Gabrielle. "I gotta bump on my head, but other than that, I'm fine." Lauri turned Venelope around to inspect the injury. "...this is Gabrielle. She saved my life."

"She's trying to give me too much credit. We saved each other" Gabrielle said modestly to avoid being seen as a hero. It wasn't the type of admiration she was comfortable with. Lauri gave her a hug and a 'thank you' as Ray followed suit.

"Yo, look! It's Travis" T.J. shouted happily as he pointed at Travis walking in the distance their way. Just behind him was Marvin who had the unconscious Nigel over his shoulder.

"...oh, yeah" Venelope thought to herself as she looked at Travis. On she and Gabrielle' way back, the latter told her that Travis could also interact with his consciences.

A bit later, they arrived at home. Venelope was presently relaxing in a hot bath with her music playing. She couldn't take her mind off of the previous events for long, though. She zoned in and out from said thoughts to singing along with her music.

"Everyone just left to the grocery store" Penelope said while remaining invisible, giving Venelope a small spook as they both chuckled after. "I'm sorry."

"Naw, it's cool" Venelope smiled. "Where are you" she asked looking around.

"I thought you'd be more comfortable if I stayed out of sight."

"Seriously, Pen" Venelope questioned playfully. "We're the SAME person." Penelope chuckled as she appeared sitting on the sink counter. "There. Now we can talk like--" Knock, knock! Venelope froze from the knocks on the outside of the door, hoping whoever it was didn't hear her talking to Penelope.

"...who is it" her voice cracked from the nervousness.

"Travis" he answered.

"I-- I thought you went to the store with everyone else" she replied glaring at Penelope who played oblivious.

"I changed my mind... We need to talk... before everyone else gets back" he said. He waited several seconds for her reply as things went silent. "...okay...?"

"Oh! Yeah, yeah" she stammered before listening to his footsteps fading away from the door. She glared at Penelope again with a smirk before submerging in the tub. "Ow" she yelped from the hot and soapy water stinging her head injury before continuing to go under.

Now dressed about a half hour later, she made her way into the living room. Travis was sitting on the sofa playing a video game on the TV. He paused the game as she took a seat on the other couch. He looked at her for a moment before sitting back with a sigh.

"I can honestly say, that I would've never guessed that you'd be one of us" he smiled as Venelope tucked her feet beneath her and sat on them while trying to smother her smile. This was a serious topic and she wanted to approach it accordingly.

"...why is it so surprising" she asked. Taking his glass of juice off the in-table, he then replied--

"It's not a big deal. Just gives me an odd feeling, is all." After a couple sips, he placed the glass back on the table. "Well, get dressed. I called Gabrielle and Marvin. We're gonna meet up at the diner so we can talk about all this." Venelope had short-shorts, socks and a long t-shirt for sleeping in on. Needless to say, to go out in THAT kind of cold, thicker clothes were needed.

"What-- Gabrielle? You have her number-- wait. Marvin, too" she said jumbling it all together. Grabbing his glass, Travis walked over to the game console, turned it and the TV off before heading into the kitchen. Venelope followed him, taking a seat on one of the bar stools as he drank half of the juice he had left before placing the rest in the fridge. "Come on! Talk to me" she said quite loudly.

"Jesus! Just get dressed like I said" he replied matching her tone. "Your mom's making that bomb-ass meatloaf tonight, and I ain't gonna be late for that" he said leaving the kitchen to head up stairs as Venelope followed him quickly and closely.

"At least tell me how you made it out of the storm. Give me something" she said stopping at the foot of the stairs as she threw her arms down with frustration. Travis continued to his room and closed the door behind himself. Exclaiming angrily, she punched the air. But she knew going along with his demands was the only way to get the answers she was after.

Arriving at the diner, Marvin walked out of the building to greet them. Minutes later, they got into Gabrielle' car who had been waiting in the driver' seat the entire time.

"Venelope" a girl exiting the diner shouted just as Venelope sat in the backseat beside Marvin. Looking out the window at the girl, Venelope smiled brightly as she began to exit the car.

"Come on. We have plans already" the already annoyed Gabrielle said scowling at Venelope via her rear-view mirror. Venelope slowed down, but continued to exit the car.

"That's Denise. I haven't seen her since I've been back" Venelope replied.

"So? Is she with us, or one of us? No, I don't think she is! So, it's not important" Gabrielle said strongly without a care to spare.

"Oh, you're just mad because I didn't recognize you right off the bat" Venelope said with a smirk as she got out of the car and closed the door. Gabrielle turned around to look out the back window at Venelope and Denise chatting before facing Travis who was in the passenger seat.

"...Get out" she said looking Travis dead in the eyes with all seriousness to which he smiled confusedly at.

"W-what" he replied with a chuckle.

"Either she walks to the spot alone or with you. Oh! She doesn't know where we're goin', so she WON'T be coming without you" Gabrielle said with the same intensity as before.

"Are you serious" he replied as his comically-confused expression gradually changed to a confused-serious one. "That's four miles-- Uphill" he added with a completely serious expression. He still wanted to believe she was joking, but he knew Gabrielle well enough to know that that wasn't the case. He opened the door and shouted-- "V, get'chur ass in the car!" Venelope brushed him off as she continued talking to Denise. Closing the door, he sat idle in thought for a moment before sighing. He scratched his nose and rubbed his eyes before looking back at the stone-faced Gabrielle. Her Poker face had no trace of a bluff on it. Venelope was partially right in saying Gabrielle was mad about her not being recognized off the bat, and the latter having a short-temper, made this a way of getting back at the former. Tires kicked up snow and rubble upon the car exiting the parking lot and taking off down the road. Travis stood beside the tracks left behind with his hands in his jacket pockets - pissed. Venelope then ran up beside him a second later.

"What-- WHAT THE HELL" she shouted with her arms out at the car speeding away. Looking at Travis who had eyes that could burn through lead, her arms dropped as only his eyes moved to look at her.

"That's cold, Gabby" Marvin said leaning forward between the front seats.

"I don't see you walking" she replied with her burning eyes on the road. Marvin cleared his throat upon falling back into his seat. He knew keeping his mouth shut would be the best course of action at present.

"...I told you... to get'cho ass... IN... the car" Travis enunciated with the voice of a quiet storm. Venelope was filled with nervousness as Denise etched up beside her.

"I, uh... I'm sorry" Denise said just loud enough to be heard. "I have a car. I can give you guys a ride" she offered, to which Travis exhaled with closed eyes as to not let his frustration lash out.

"No, thank you, Denise" he answered in the same tone of voice as before but as politely as possible before he started walking.

"What're you doin'" Venelope asked. "She offered us a ride--"

"I'm pissed off" he shouted thru gritted teeth without turning around as he continued walking. Venelope froze from his explosion. "I need to walk this off! Damn!" The girls stood speechless as only their heads turned to face each other.

"...um, I'll call you later, okay" Venelope said to Denise.

As she and Travis had now made some progress down the road, she continued apologizing.

"No, no. Just stop talking" Travis said to her with an annoyed tone.

"What's the big deal" Venelope asked. "She just wanted to be an ass!"

"And I told you to get'cho ass in the car" he said stopping for the first time since they began their walk. "Gabby ain't 'all there', and you knew that. When her crazy-ass says somethin', she usually means it. And when she means it, we have our asses a four mile walk uphill in the damn cold to deal with" he added and exclaimed as he continued walking. POW! A snowball smacked him on the back of the head seconds later. "What the hell" he shouted as he turned to face Venelope who was readying another snowball. "Quit it! I ain't in the mood."

"Too bad" she shouted back with a big smile as she threw the ball. "Yellin' at me like you lost your damn mind!" Scooping up another ball to throw, but Travis beat her to it." POW! His snowball struck her shoulder as she fell to her rear laughing before throwing hers. Travis couldn't help but laugh as they continued their battle.

"You're stupid" he said with a big smile as Venelope laughed louder.

Not too long later, they arrived where Gabrielle and Marvin had drove to. It was a large clearing fairly deep in the woods to insure seclusion. The ground had tire tracks imprinted on it, showing that they came to this area frequently. A small rusty green shed stood a short distance away with its door chained and locked. In addition to Gabrielle and Marvin, two others, Pablo and Phillis, were at the scene. Pablo and Phillis were sitting in Pablo' truck with the heat on. Inaudibly, they conversed happily as Travis and Venelope walked passed them. Travis tapped the door upon doing so as the two got out seconds later. Marvin noticed Travis and Venelope had worked up quite a sweat.

"Pablo said he passed you guys on the way here" Marvin said.

"Yeah, he offered us a ride, but we decided to run instead" Travis replied. "Gotta good warm up in" he panted lightly, though Venelope was completely composed; the benefits of her track team training showing. Sitting on a lawn chair a fair distance away, Gabrielle eyed Venelope. She walked over a moment later, unable to hide her pleased smirk from having made her long-time rival run such a distance.

"Still runnin', huh" she asked Venelope, though it was obviously rhetorical. She only asked to be a pain.

"Yup" Venelope replied with mixed emotions in mind. She was still a bit upset that Gabrielle ditched her and Travis, but her smile won over her frustration in the end. "So--" she said placing her hands on her hips "--what're we doin' here?"

"All those questions you were trying to ask me at home, you can ask here now" Travis said to her. Venelope let her hands drop as she tried to remember what she had asked. "But to answer how we made it out of the storm... well, quite a bit happened before we did" he added before everyone got seated in lawn chairs. "For starters, the blizzard wasn't really the problem. The problem was Nigel."

"Your... other friend" Venelope questioned.

"Not anymore, he ain't" Marvin said to Venelope' surprise-- actually, everyone was confused by the statement.

"Nigel's a Cloud" Travis said. Venelope was still in the dark about the Lights and Clouds thing, but everyone else looked even more surprised now.

"Let's fill her in on the Lights and Clouds part first" Gabrielle said to which Travis gestured at her to continue and give such information. "What's wrong with your mouth? It was working just fine a second ago." Her tone with a touch of annoyance in it as usual.

"I guess you could say my feet are hurting too much to continue" he smirked. Gabrielle was about to 'return fire' when Marvin intervened.

"Lights and Clouds, that's what we call ourselves and them... respectively" he said to Venelope. "I'm sure you've already met one or both of your consciences by now" he added as Venelope nodded. Marvin' conscience then appeared beside him, then Pablo', Phillis' and Travis' followed suit. All of them emitted the same light as Penelope, who had then appeared a moment later just behind Venelope. She and Venelope smiled at each other before giving their attentions back to Marvin. "For obvious reasons, you can see why we call ourselves Lights." Venelope chuckled from Marvin' faint smile.

"Do they all have names, too" Venelope asked. "Oh. I'm sorry" she added quickly. "I asked that as if they couldn't answer me themselves. This Penelope... after my mom'... I, uh... I just figured I'd give her a name that meant something." Penelope smiled lightly, as did Travis since he picked up on what his cousin was about to say.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to have that sentimental luxury" Marvin' conscience replied as Venelope chuckled. "He had, uh, a bunch of t-shirts scattered around his room when we first met. 'I'm not good with names', he said. His exact words." Marvin dropped his head chuckling at his counterpart mocking him. "He picks up a plain, dirty, coffee-stained white t-shirt and says-- 'There. T's your name'." The others laughed loudly as Marvin shook his head with a shameful smile. All in good fun, though. It was the relationship they had established.

"I never get tired of that story" Travis smiled.

"So, I'm T" Marvin' counterpart said with a proudly raised chin.

"Nice to meet you, T. I'm Venelope" she said as the laughter settled.

"Likewise" he nodded. Pablo and Phillis then introduced their consciences, Mateo and Dawn, respectively. Travis followed promptly and introduced his whose name was Vincent.

"I'm Whitney" Gabrielle' conscience said to Venelope.

"Nice to meet you-- again, and officially" Venelope smiled. "This is amazing" she thought. She felt completely at home among these people. Feeling so elated, she smiled until it hurt.

"Anyway, as I was saying--" Marvin said returning to the previous topic. "The Lights, us, have our good consciences as our dominant ones. The Clouds, are the opposite." Venelope nodded attentively. "Until yesterday, we didn't even know Nigel was a Cloud."

"Gabrielle told me the good and bad consciences have different powers..." Venelope said questionably.

"Yeah, that's right" Marvin replied. "So far, Gabby' the only one who's actually fought a Cloud" he added as everyone looked at the raven who played oblivious to all the eyes on her. "We don't know how far these powers can go, but we do know they gradually get stronger. So far, none of us have reached a limit."

"Okay, my eagerness has gotten the best of me" Venelope said enthusiastically. "What kind of powers do you guys have?" Marvin looked at Travis before they stood along with Pablo and Phillis.

"Time for some show-and-tell" Pablo smirked. Marvin unlocked the shed as he and the guys brought out training equipment from it.

"We know the Clouds and us have one power in common" Marvin said exiting the shed. "It being this--" He Lifted an 80lbs. punching bag from the ground to eye-level with a single hand. "--super-strength." Venelope' eyes widened with awe. Marvin was the biggest and tallest out of everyone, but there was no way he had the strength to lift the dead-weight of an 80lbs. object as easily as he just did. Yet again with a single hand, he threw the bag nearly twenty feet with little effort. Venelope looked on speechlessly as she waited to see what else was left to show. Pablo now stood alone in the center of the clearing where they did moat of their regular exercises. He clenched his fists as water began spurting from between his fingers. With a flashy spin, he opened his hands and fired a powerful stream at a tree, shredding the bark from it. Phillis followed promptly, striking the same tree and spot with a strong wind. The tree shook and swayed as the loud crackling of static caught Venelope' attention next. Gabrielle walked over and stood before Pablo and Phillis with electricity crawling all over her arms and upper-body.

"I went easy on that bear since I was only trying to scare'im away" Gabrielle thought to herself with a grin. "But this tree ain't gonna be that lucky!" Firing a strong volt, it drilled into the tree making large pieces of bark and wood burst away. The tree looked like something had taken a bite out of it. Venelope was standing in the spot where the tree was about to fall. Just as she was about to run, Travis flew up to the tree and stopped it. Venelope was blown away to see him flying. Frozen in awe, she took in the unbelievable sight with unblinking eyes. Travis cleared his throat after holding the tree in place for several seconds.

"...um, you can still get out of the way" he playfully shouted down snapping her back to her senses as she then scurried over beside Pablo and Phillis. The tree crashed down as Travis slowly landed seconds later. Venelope couldn't fully decide which of their powers fascinated her the most, but it was clear she was enchanted by the possibility of being able to fly.

"And, uh, since when can you use electricity" Phillis asked.

"...After I... met her..." Gabrielle replied gesturing towards Venelope. "Same thing happened before when I met Pablo. That's when I got that weird feeling-- that out-of-the-blue sense of knowing I could use water, too."

"Yeah, that makes sense" Marvin agreed. "Travis didn't get super-strength until after we were around each other more often."

"Sounds contagious" Pablo chuckled. "But maybe that's all there is to it. Just being around each other long enough to... absorb the same powers, maybe" he added questionably.

"...um, I know I'm new to all this, but going by that logic, wouldn't it make more sense if I could use electricity before Gabrielle" Venelope added with an unsure smile as the others showed some agreement for her statement.

"But we've all had our powers for awhile now, and have been around each other just as long or longer" Travis said. "I've had mine for about two years now."

"Now that I think about it. I didn't get my super-strength until after I met Gabby, and she had hers months before me" Marvin added. "I meant, her powers in general, not the super-strength, since she doesn't have that, yet. Or, do you" he said looking at Gabrielle who simply shrugged with a smile. "Anyway, we've already assumed with a fair amount of certainty from the little info we have, that someone else' powers can bring out the same or different powers in others. Or, it could be just like Pablo said, and it's just contagious. Can anyone that's simply in close contact with people with these powers get them, or is it just a rare few who have these dormant powers already and just need that close contact as a 'trigger' to wake'em up?"

"I don't think so" Venelope said. "...um, who was the first out of you guys to find out they had these powers?"

"Me" Gabrielle answered. "Marvin was next, then Travis. When the three of us met Pablo and Phillis, they already had theirs. But we've already been over our timelines, and they didn't get theirs until after Travis." The others nodded at the information. "And as far as being 'contagious' goes, they're a prime example that that's not true."

"Ah, that's true" Phillis added. "Me and Pablo had been a couple for years, before the powers. I got mine first, but we haven't given each other our powers."

"I'm even more confused now, then" Venelope said. Everyone was now back in their seats as she continued. "Of course I can't say for sure, especially since you guys seem to be experts at keeping your powers out of the public' eyes. But back in California, I don't think there was anybody at my school, or in town, who had these powers. My question being: how did I get them from out of no where?"

"That's just how it is for some" Gabrielle replied. "Me and Phillis are prime examples." Venelope zoned out as Travis snapped his fingers to bring her back to Earth.

"What? What were you thinkin'" Travis asked.

"...um, it's a crazy thought" she replied quietly. "I was thinking that, maybe... Danny has these powers, too." Travis took on a skeptical look, and though a reach, it was possible since half of what hey new of these powers were still just assumptions.

"I think we should focus on the origins later" Pablo proposed. "Right now, I think we should focus on getting Venelope' powers to a combative level."

"C-c-combat? What-- WHAT" Venelope said shooting to her feet.

"You're in this now, whether you like it or not" Gabrielle said sternly. "It's gotta be one of the Cloud' powers that lets them search others like us out. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why Travis and Marvin were attacked by Nigel." Venelope didn't know what to think. "If they found out Travis and Marvin have these powers without them being caught using them, or having their consciences visible for others like us to see, then they can find any of us the same way. Yeah, you, too. And if they do find you--" she said stepping up to Venelope "--and you're still as weak and clueless as you are right now, you're gonna be easy pickings, to put it lightly."

"... she ain't lying, V" Travis added. "Me and Marvin could tell Nigel wasn't just trying to kick our asses and bounce. He was gonna kill us and leave us out there for the blizzard to bury." Venelope sank back into her seat with her eyes on the ground. "If we weren't together... Nigel would've killed us. That's how strong just one of them is."

"It's true me and Travis debated on leaving him out there after taking'im down..." Marvin added. "...but, we just didn't have it in us. It's not in our nature to be that ruthless."

"We don't know how many of them there are and, of course, we're not trying to, or going to force you into this" Pablo said to Venelope. "But with your help... with another Light on our side... we'll be better at keeping each other safe." Venelope looked at everyone before planting her elbows atop her knees and covering her mouth. She stared aimlessly into the woods, feeling helpless and scared. She thought having these power wasn't so cool, after all. What was she to do? Was there any way to avoid such future confrontations? Was she really stuck in this dilemma with no way out?