Hello again everyone! I am sooooo sorry for the too long distance ever since the last post! Things have been crazy busy. I joined the Army back in 2017 and have been focusing on everything going on with that. It leaves me with almost no time to do any writing! jj

This chapter has been sitting on my desktop for the longest time and I meant to post it a long time ago. I reworked it a bit and decided to finally get it up for you guys! I hope you enjoy!

When Ed came to things were in mass chaos. Fires raged through the City Hall as Fire Chief Stephens and Chief of Police Anderson ordered their men to contain the area and put out the fires as fast as possible. Ed was laying on a stretcher across the road from the Hall where two ambulances were parked and the personnel were examining civilians that were within the range of the blast. Ed sat up groaning and looking around for his friends. Loogie was rushing around helping divert traffic away from the area, though dancing and being himself as he did so. Fizz and Burn were talking with Mr. Anderson, though about what Ed didn't know. Deets was nowhere to be found.

"You're up, good." Ed turned around to see Ol' skool's sensei Rodney standing nearby watching the fire burn with a serious expression on his face.

"What happened? Where's Deets?" Ed asked standing from the stretcher.

"She is flying above the Hall. High enough to avoid too much exposure from the smoke, but close enough to take aerial photographs of the wreckage."

"Aerial photographs? Why is she doing that?"

"Take a look around you."

Ed turned to look at their surroundings. Besides the destruction of the City Hall the other buildings around didn't look like they had taken any damage. However, aside from the hover cars driving around, all the light poles, billboards, and the buildings around them were all dark. The only light in the area besides headlights was the amber glow of the fires raging within the destroyed infrastructure.

"There's no power."

"Exactly. That means there is no signals being broadcasted to the satellites to give any kind of idea the extent of the damage, that is if the satellites are still even functional. And after a blast like that, I highly doubt they are still active if not destroyed themselves."

"Did the police shut off the power?" Ed asked confused. Rodney shook his head keeping the same grim expression he had.

"No. That blast had more than just one single acting action. Once it went off it let out an EMP as well as the explosion that destroyed the building." Ed looked back to the Hall in disbelief. The multi-story building had lost a large chunk of itself where the central court room was where the meeting had taken place not too long ago.

"What in the world is going on?" Ed asked in a whisper almost unable to comprehend what was going on. Rodney sighed.

"Shortly after we recovered you all there were more explosions, all throughout the city. Chief Anderson and Chief Stephens dispatched what they could to take care of the other explosion sites. They kept the main power here as the heaviest affected area seemed to be here at the City Hall. From what they've gathered at the other sites, it's all similar to the first explosions that injured you and Burn. Which means someone is planting these bombs."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would someone do that? Why would they try to kill innocent people? What do they want?" Ed asked, his voice rising.

"Simple my dear Edward." Ed whipped around his stomach dropping and dread filling him. "War."

"Bedlam!" Ed yelled in anger and confusion. He wanted to charge and take the man down, but Rodney held an arm in front of him. The older sensei glared down the psychotic power hungry man.

"Explain yourself Bedlam. Now." Rodney said calmly, but with authority and force. Bedlam smiled.

"It's simple really. You see, the world has so much to offer, so much to control. After my duel with Ed and Ol' Skool I knew I had to change tactics. After wandering for the first two years I stumbled across a rather interesting group of individuals. I stayed with them for a time and learned I had been going on about this all wrong. If I ever wanted to really conquer, to really control everything, I had to up my game so to speak." Ed and Rodney glared at the man as he moved closer to Ed. Without warning Ed threw a punch at the man, but passed right through him. Bedlam laughed and turned to him.

"You can't harm me anymore Edward, now or ever. I have evolved beyond you." The form of Bedlam laughed before vanishing. Ed looked back confused, but Rodney was just staring back towards the burning wreckage. He turned to see Burn, Fizz, Loogie, and Deets all coming towards him. Burn was the first to speak.

"Nice to see you up hotshot. How you doing?" He asked.

"Minus the headache and sore muscles, I'm doing ok." Ed said hoping the others would buy it. Deets crossed her arms, leaned her weight to her right, and gave him a glare that told him she knew he was lying. Ed sighed remembering their conversation from earlier.

"Actually no, I'm not. We saw Bedlam." The others gasped.

"Bedlam, where?" Loogie asked as Dr. Pinch let out his usual high-pitched scream.

"He's not here." Ed said looking to Ol' skool's teacher.

"He had some hologram here. He said he had to change up his game since you all kept beating him at every turn."

"Wonder what he means by that?" Fizz asked thinking of the statement. Burn wheeled himself forward and put a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"Look right now isn't the time for chasing him. We know he is alive and building his forces."

"So what do we do?" Deets asked looking to him.

"For now we all go back to the Dojo and regroup. Relax and take time to recover. We've all been cleared by the medical team to go home so that's what we're going to do. Tomorrow we'll begin figuring out what's going on. I've arranged for the Chief of Police to talk with us tomorrow during lunch at the Dojo."

"I also was able to contact Caretaker and she's going to meet us then as well." Fizz added. Ed nodded.

"I need to drop off the photographs I took to Chief Anderson first, then I'll head to the Dojo." Deets said. They nodded and she took off for the Police Chief and the others began to make their way home. Ed however hung back with sensei Rodney for a moment.

"Um, sensei?" Rodney turned to the young man.

"What is it Ed?"

"Just before I passed out, I could've sworn I saw someone."

"Saw someone?" Rodney asked, now fully invested in listening to the young courier.

"I couldn't make out the figure, but it seemed like they knew me."

"What do you mean?" Ed paused before continuing.

"The figure called me his son just before passing out." Rodney thought for a few moments.

"That is strange. You think it's Ol' Skool don't you?" Rodney didn't need an answer by the look on Ed's face. He looked up hopefully at him, but not enough to really persuade Rodney into thinking Ed believed it was his old student. Rodney sighed.

"I honestly don't know Ed. Ol' skool has been gone for over four years. If he was back I'm sure he would make it known to at least you. You two are connected through the static. Anthony would've sent something to you by now. If he is back and hasn't sent anything or revealed himself, then either it's not the right time or something is dreadfully wrong." Ed looked away contemplating what Rodney had said. Before he could get too deep in thought the older sensei placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Head back home for now. You'll have time to think on it late."

"You're right. Thank you sensei Rodney." Ed gave a polite bow before using his hover board that Burn left to make his way home.

Rodney watched as the young courier left and thought to himself.

'You haven't shown yourself for years and now you make the smallest appearance and don't even remain to explain a single thing. I hope you know what you're doing Anthony.'

The ride home gave Ed time to think of the situation and everything that was happening. Things had gotten way out of hand. It was all a nightmare straight out of Ol' skools history books, and was becoming more and more and it had only been a few days! And now Beldam was somehow involved with it all. Bedlam arriving made things make a little more sense, but raised so many more questions. How in the world was he involved? Where did he go when he was sent away? How did he get all of this together? And what did he mean by evolving beyond them?

Ed let out a frustrated growl and focused back on the road. He was trying to clear his head and the thoughts of earlier kept stressing him out worse than what he was. In the distance Ed could see the Dojo grow in size as he approached home. He pulled up to the hanger and entered placing his hover board on the rack near the others rides and next to Ol' skools skateboard. He sighed and was about to make his way into the Dojo, but paused when he heard the hanger door open. Deets had returned from the police station.

"Hey Ed, just get back to?" She asked. Ed nodded.

"Yeah. I stayed for a bit talking to sensei Rodney."

"Everything ok?" She asked curious and concerned. He smiled and grabbed her hands.

"Things are just getting to me, but I'm ok. Or I will be." That seemed to satisfy Deets for the moment and she pulled him into a tight hug. She couldn't believe all the things that had been happening, especially to Ed. She was just glad he was here with her. As she began to pull away she noticed his arms remained around her waist and he had troublemaking smirk on his face. She looked at him with her own curious smile.

"What are you thinking mister? I know that look." She let out a small giggle. Ed's eyes started to shine which made her heart lighten and race.

"You know, it's still Saturday evening. I was just thinking that we could, oh I don't know, do something to actually make the day better, like have our date we were planning?" Deets couldn't help the smile on her face. He remembered and still wanted to try to make a date happen after all the drama.

"I'd love to Ed, but what would we do? I don't think it would be wise to go out somewhere. Who knows who would be out there." Ed thought on this before coming up with an idea. He smiled.

"Why not watch a few movies together? We can watch whatever and just relax and maybe play some games." Deets smiled and nodded.

"Sounds good. Let me go clean up and get out of this uniform. I'll let you know when I'm done." She said then kissed him once more before making her way to her room. Ed smiled and entered the living room where Burn and Loogie were watching a ZG game.

"Hey guys." Ed greeted as he walked past. Loogie turned and waved.

"What's up Ed? You're just in time to watch the game."

"Nah, I think I'm going to go change and then spend some time with Deets." Ed said. Loogie nodded and turned to Burn who only nodded his head to the courier. Ed copied the gesture before leaving the room.

Inside the bathroom Deets stood under the shower letting the water pour over her head. Her pink hair hung back reaching below her shoulder blades as the water fell down it. Her muscles relaxed under the warm water. The headache she had from the explosion faded under the relaxing pressure and heat of the water. She soon got out of the shower and changed into her pink pj pants with unicorn prints and a dark red t-shirt. She debated leaving her hair down, but decided to tie it back up for the moment. As she tied her hair she couldn't help but think about the past few hours.

'Things are just too crazy. Why does everything have to be after Ed? Why can't things just leave him be?' Deets thought letting a few tears fall down her face. She sighed and wiped the tears from her face. Now wasn't the time to cry about it. Right now she had a movie date with Ed that she had waited for for a long while now. Nothing was going to ruin this.

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on Knights so far! I can't make any promises of a quick update, but I do plan to continue working on the story. I will also be doing a writing challenge here shortly that I have begun, but it will all depend on how busy work is.

Again thank you all for sticking with Knights for this long! It means a lot! I have already started working on the next chapter, so hopefully it will be up soon! Until then, see you in the next one !