The Human Card 2

Yvette was pretty content nowadays. So far she had spent a couple of months at the Tigeroid base, and she felt pretty at home. Yvette adored Tori, even if he could get on her nerves sometimes, and she loved Donha's food. Yvette would always challenge Rai to do different competitions with her. Sena was Yvette's person that she could come and talk to whenever she felt bothered by something, and Finn could be the person that Yvette would go on quiet walks with.

Unfortunetly, though, Yvette's new comfortable life was about to change.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we've called you in here at such short notice," said Pyron, looking at the Tai Chi Chasers and Yvette.

"The elders feel that it is time that the Chasers go back to what their mission is," said Komorka, "finding the lost Tai Chi."

It was quiet for the moment.

"Well, alright Komorka," said Rai, "of course we can, it's been a good break anyway. And with Yvette's help we don't even have to worry about fighting with the Dragonoids!"

The Chasers smiled and nodded, and Yvette beamed.

"I... I don't think you understand, Rai," said Sid, "Yvette will not be coming with you."

The Chasers' smiles slowly faded into shocked faces.

"Wha- why not!?" cried Yvette.

"We feel that it is in your best interest to stay at the base and start training," said Pyron, "that way you can be out of the Dragonoids' clutches, and you can learn to control your power."

Yvette's shock turned to anger.

"Well, I might as well have been taken by the Dragonoids," Yvette spat out, "since you guys were planning to keep me prisoner here all along!"

Komorka looked over at Yvette, sadly.

"We don't want to keep you prisoner, Yvette," Komorka said, "we just want to keep you safe."

"I'll be alright!" exclaimed Yvette, "I feel safe with the Chasers! They're the only friends that I have in the world."

"I'm sorry, Yvette," said Pyron, "but you have no choice on this matter. Chasers, you will be leaving tomorrow morning, I will let you give your goodbyes tonight."

Yvette stormed out of the room and the Chasers followed her, silently. The group went to their usual meeting place, which was the kichen in the Tigeroid airship. The Chasers and Yvette sat on the floor, the silence was like a thick blanket covering the room.

Yvette could feel the tears coming up in her eyes, but she blinked them away furiously.

"This isn't fair," said Tori, sadly, tears starting to roll down his cheeks.

"There's nothing we can do, though," said Rai, "if the elders give orders, we have to follow them."

Yvette stared at the wall, glaring.

"We'll see about that," she muttered, the group looked at her with surprise.

"I can stow away on your ship!" exclaimed Yvette, happily, "when you guys take off tomorrow and the elders won't have to know!"

Sena shook her head.

"We can't do that, Yvette," Sena said, "we can't disobey direct orders from the elders. There's a reason why they want to keep you here, and important one."

"But being with you guys is my choice!" said Yvette, "and I think that it's important, too!"

"You don't understand, Yvette," Sena said, looking at Yvette with intensity, "we all know what is important to you and we want to be with you, too. But you're not just a person with feelings, you're also a Tai Chi power. With your power, it's probably safer for both you and everyone else if you do as the elders said."

Yvette stared at Sena with wide eyes, a tear slowly dripped out.

"Fine then," Yvette said, standing up, "and don't worry, you don't have to worry about me hurting anyone anymore."

Yvette walked out of the kichen and out of the ship. Then she broke into a dead sprint. She ran towards the place where she felt the most comfortable and the most safe. It was to the Tai Chi room.

Yvette finally got to the room and was gasping for breath. Her tears were running freely now, and they didn't show any signs of stopping any time soon. Yvette reached out her hand and put it on the stone that held the Tai Chi.

Immediately Yvette felt a warm, comforting glow inside herself. She could feel the power of the Tai Chi flowing through her. Yvette could see the different symbols floating around her and could feel the life forces in them. Taking a deep breath, Yvette took her hand away from the stone and turned around.

Just as she expected, Finn was standing in the doorway.

Yvette turned back around, "I don't want to talk right now, Finn."

It was quiet for a long time, and Yvette thought, with regret, that Finn had left.

Then she heard the reply, "I think both you and I know I'm not a big talker."

Yvette surrendered a small smile, then turned to face Finn again. She walked out of the room and Finn followed her. Together they walked down the long, dark hallway. The silence went from smothering to peaceful.

Yvette took a deep breath.

"What are you going to do?" asked Finn, glancing over Yvette.

Yvette smiled, "I thought you said that you weren't much of a talker."

"Well I'm curious," said Finn, "and it's probably something you should think about."

"Well my selfish choice would be to sneak onto your guys' ship and fly with you," Yvette replied, "my unselfish, probably smart choice, would be to stay here and train like the elders want me to do."

Yvette and Finn continued walking.

"What do you think I should do, Finn?"

Finn sighed and turned to look at Yvette.

"I don't know, Yvette," he said, frowning, "it's a difficult situation, you have a power in you that needs to be controlled and trained. But you're also a person who deserves to have her own life and her own choices."

Yvette huffed, "well... hey!"

Finn looked at Yvette with surprise, "what?"

Yvette broke out into a huge grin and said, "nothing, I just thought of something that could change everything! I'll see you later, Finn, I have a lot of stuff to do tonight."

Yvette started to run down the hallway, leaving a suprised Finn behind.

Yvette ran to Komorka's room and knocked on her door, trying to catch her breath. Komorka opened the door and smiled, she seemed to be expecting Yvette.

"Komorka," Yvette gasped, "I need to talk to you."

"Of course, Yvette," Komorka said, "please, come in."

Yvette and Komorka sat down and Yvette began to explain her plan to Komorka. Komorka smiled thoughtfully and nodded.

"Yes, Yvette," she said, "that is very clever, and I think that I can get the other elders to agree."

"Thank you, Komorka," Yvette said, grinning.

"Now you'd better get to your room and get some rest," Komorka said, "because I am sure that it will be a busy day tomorrow."

It wasn't just busy the next day, it was insane.

"No, no, NO!" exclaimed Pyron, "this is unacceptable and it will not be done!"

The Chasers and Yvette were standing in front of the elders like they did yesterday.

"Pyron, please at least try to think about it," Komorka said, "Elder Sid, what do you think?"

Sid smiled and looked at Yvette.

"I think that it's a great idea," he said, "it's killing two birds with one stone. You can be with your friends and train at the same time. I knew it was a good idea to put those training simulators on the airships!"

"But she wouldn't be safe!" cried Pyron, "Yvette would still be vulnerable to the Dragonoids' attacks!"

"I don't think we need to worry about that," said Sid, "Yvette will be with her friends, and she'll be training everyday. She's also already defeated Luka. Imagine her power after training some!"

Pyron scowled at Sid, Sid just smiled back. Pyron sighed.

"Very well," Pyron said, "you can do as you wish. But you must train as much as you can."

Yvette was almost giddy with excitment.

"I will!" she said, happily.

"Well, you better take off now," Komorka said, "there are still Tai Chi that we need to find."

The Chasers and Yvette left the room. A lot happier than what they were before.

"Oh boy, Yvette!" Tori exclaimed, bouncing around, "now you can stay with us!"

Yvette laughed, "yeah, I guess I can!"

Sena didn't say anything and Yvette was surprised.

"Sena? Aren't you happy?" asked Donha, looking concerned.

Sena put on a fake smile, "yeah, of course. This is great."

"Liar," Yvette said, "why don't you tell us how you really feel. You're not happy with the elders' discission."

"You know I like you, Yvette," Sena sighed, "but it's just, I feel that they were right the first time. We can't risk you being taken by the Dragonoids."

"I'll be fine, Sena!" Yvette exclaimed, "remember how I took care of Luka?"

"Yes, I remember, Yvette," Sena said, rubbing her forehead.

"Then I can obviously handle whatever's coming!" Yvette exclaimed, "especially after I train on your guys' ship."

Sena sighed, "well, it's done now. We'd better get ready to go."

Confused, the rest of the group followed Sena to the airship.

"I was wondering when you guys were coming!" Hak exclaimed, as the team and Yvette walked into the control room.

"Yvette!" Hak said, happily, "the elders finally decided to let you come with us? That's great!"

Yvette grinned at Hak, "yeah, I would have missed you, Hak!"

"We'd better get out of here, Hak," Sena said, "we've lost enough time already."

Yvette glared at Sena's turned back.

The Tai Chi Chasers' airship took off from the air base and sped away. Tori, Rai and Yvette walked out on deck to enjoy the noon sun.

"I wonder what's up with Sena," Rai said, leaning against the side of the ship.

"Yeah," said Tori, frowning, "I thought she'd be happy like the rest of us that you were staying, Yvette."

Yvette sat down against the ship, frowning.

"Maybe she'll cool down after a while and apologize," Rai said, smiling encouragingly down at Yvette. Yvette gave a small grin back.

"Yeah, sometimes Sena gets in these moods," Tori said, "but she usually snaps out of it pretty fast. Especially when it comes to her friends."

"But she doesn't even act like I was her friend," Yvette said, "I don't know what's going on with her."

Rai and Tori were silent for a moment.

"You should talk to her alone sometime," Rai said, "that way the both of you can work it out together. I would do it soon, before this thing boils out of control."

Tori nodded, "Rai's right, Yvette."

Yvette looked up at the both of them.

"Okay," she said, getting up, "I'll talk to her tonight."

Meanwhile, in the control room, Donha was trying to talk to Sena.

"What's the matter, Sena?" he asked, frowning, "can you please tell me why you aren't happy with Yvette staying with us?"

Sena sighed, "I told you, Donha, I feel that Yvette is in danger being with us. And she is too important to lose or possibly lose her to the Dragonoids."

"Don't you have faith in us protecting Yvette, Sena?" Donha asked, "or in Yvette protecting herself?"

"Of course I do," Sena said, huffing, "but we never know what the Drangonoids could be planning right now."

Donha sighed, defeated.

"Fine," he said, "I'm going to get lunch started."

Donha walked out of the room, leaving Sena, Finn and Hak in silence.

Sena looked over to Finn, who was staring out the window.

"You agree with me, right Finn?" Sena asked, frowning, "you know that it's dangerous for Yvette to be out here with us. Especially with her power."

Finn was quiet and Sena was afraid that he wouldn't answer her. Then he spoke up.

"What's done is done," Finn said, "Yvette's on the ship and she's coming with us no matter what. So we might as well learn to live with that and accept it. And figure out what we can about her."

Sena pondered what Finn said.

"I guess you're right, Finn," Sena said, "I'll talk to her tonight."

Things were pretty quiet on the ship after that. Yvette and Sena did well to avoid one another, at least until lunchtime. Which was pretty awkward.

Yvette didn't look up from her plate much, except to thank Donha for the food.

Donha had a hard time swallowing his food, because of the awkwardness in the room. Rai fiddled with his fork, saying nothing. Tori, trying to ignore the awkwardness, attempted to balance his fork on his nose. Which succeeded in nearly poking Finn's eye out.

While Tori was rambling apologies to Finn, Yvette got up to put away her plate and walked out of the room. Sena quickly got up and went after her.

Yvette was nearly into her bedroom when Sena called after her.

"Yvette, wait!" she called, running up to her.

"Oh, uh, hi Sena," Yvette said.

"I was going to talk to you tonight, but I wanted to do it now."

Taken aback, Yvette said, "okay, Sena."

Taking a deep breath, Sena started.

"First of all, I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to make it seem like I didn't want you with us, because I do. It's just that I care a lot about you, in the short time I've known you you're still like a sister to me. I just don't want the possibility of you in danger. I hate not having the strength to protect you, like the last time when Luka got past me. But now I know that your power is really amazing, and that you can probably help us out a lot when it comes to the Dragonoids."

Yvette smiled at Sena and said, "thank you, Sena. I'm glad you're my friend. I don't know what I would do without you."

"It's nothing," Sena said, smiling, "and like Finn said, you're with us anyway we might as well get used to it and accept it."

Yvette made sure her smile didn't waver, "Finn said that, huh?"

"Yeah! I like to go to Finn for advice," Sena said, "are we good now? I hate it when I fight with my friends."

"Of course, Sena," Yvette said, "we're fine now."

"I can't say the same thing for Finn, though," Yvette thought, as she hugged Sena.

The End, will be continued in Part 3.