The Story that never Ends #2

( If you change the name from clan to maybe section or something else it might work. I just don't want them to be separated. Oh, and let's not make this a Japanese tale. That's all.)

(What's wrong with Japan? U aren't raceist r u?? JK :) lol)

(No, it's just too much like Avatar that way.)

(Oh I wouldn't know. :) )

"What??", John yelled, "What do you mean?"

"Well most of the people here doubt what I saw, but there are a few tests you can take to be sure. I'm just trying not to overwhelm you right now." , the boy replied.

"I think your failing at that"

"By the way, my name is Liam". He held out his hand. "I already know that your name is John because of your shirt."

John looked down, and realized he was still wearing his blue baseball shirt with his name on the back. He shook Liam's hand. "Nice to meet you Liam".

"I almost forgot!", Liam exclaimed suddenly, "There's someone here who would like to see you. Bring him in!", He yelled out the door.

When the person stepped in John gasped, "Josiah?"

(Okay, since no one else is doing this I'll keep going.)

"Yeah, it's me", Josiah replied.

"But what are you doing here?", John asked.

"Well, it's a long story."

'I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon."

"Good point. Okay, this is what happened."

                           ****************************

Josiah knew he had to do something, or these creatures would kill this girl. Thinking quickly he grabbed a gun that was under the counter. He stood up and pointed the gun at them. "Stop!", he yelled.

They turned to him, and one of the creatures started to melt revealing a grown man with an evil smile that had those freakishly shiny Hollywood teeth. "Put it down boy.", he said.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

"You leave me no choice then.", the man said calmly. Immediately he shot a spray of ice which plugged the hole of the barrel. Josiah looked at the gun in horror. "Now if you excuse us, we have work to do." The man turned back into his ice creature form, and the three started to move toward the girl again.

Josiah couldn't take it anymore. Without thinking he pointed his figure at them and screamed, "NO!". Immediately a bolt of lightning burst from his finger and knocked the three aside. After they got up, they ran out of the store as quickly as possible. Josiah looked down at his finger wondering where that lightning bolt had come from.

Meanwhile the girl had woken, and was able to see all that had happened. She was barely strong enough to stand, and when she did Josiah went over to help her. "Are you all right? Who were those guys? What are they?", he asked her.

(Okay, Whew! I think I should stop now and give someone else a chance.)

Nice job! :)

(Good job, Ian! Sorry I haven't been posting here… I'll make an addition now. :) )

The girl, greatly shaken, at first had trouble speaking to Josiah. But after a little while, she gathered her senses and said, "Those people were from the Ice Clan. I accidentally trespassed their borders with a friend, and they chased me all the way over here to kill me. You saved me just in time."

"What do you mean 'the Ice Clan'? Who in the world are they?"

"They are the main portion of the Ice Family, and they broke away from it not long ago to set themselves up as tyrants over the rest of us."

"The rest of us? Who are the rest of us?"

"I mean the rest of the Families in Asfaroth. Of who else could I be speaking?"

"I'm sorry–I have no idea what you're talking about. What is Asfaroth?"

The girl stared at him with an utterly confused face. "Don't you know? Have you not been there?"

"No, never! I've never even heard of it."

"But you are one of the Lightning Family! I saw it myself!"

"You mean that lightning bolt that came out of my finger? Yeah, I actually have no idea what that was. But I'm definitely not part of any 'Lightning Family.'"

"This must mean… oh my, I never expected to experience this myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Boy, I think you are a member of the Lightning Family… without knowing it."

"What? Okay, I need a big explanation. I still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Follow me" said the girl. She put her hand on his shoulder and imediantly a bolt of lightning seemed to strike right in front of him and he was unconscious.

(Thanks SBG! I think we can use the term ice "clan" in here since it shows the separation of the ice people from everyone else. I like the your use of the term family. It gives me a feeling of togetherness. BTW, maybe later we could throw in a few good ice people instead of having every single one of them be bad guys. Any thoughts?)

Josiah woke up in a white room with a wicked headache. The girl was sitting on a chair right next to the bed he was on. "Nurse", she called, "he's awake!" An elderly lady walked in with a glass of water. "How are you feeling?", she asked.

"Well, besides this wicked headache of mine I'm fine.", He said. Then he remembered what happened the night before. "Where am I, and what was that?"

The nurse looked at the girl and smiled. "You are in a hospital underground. As for what happened last night, she can tell you that." The girl's face turned bright red.

Josiah looked at her and asked again, "What was that?

The girl's face turned back to normal, and she started to explain, "That thing that knocked you out last night is what we call a "knock-out-shell". That lightning bolt that you saw was a form of energy that knocks out members of the lightning family.

Josiah held up his hand for her to stop. "Lightning family?"

"Yes, lightning family. You are a member of that family. I proved that by knocking you out with it. People from other families wouldn't be affected by it. Another way to tell is the color of your hair and eyes. Your hair is a pale blond, and you have bright blue eyes which most lightning people have."

Josiah held up his hand again. "My head already hurts, and you're not helping."

The girl looked away sheepishly. "Sorry." Her eyes widened, she turned back, and held out her hand. "I'm such a fool. I've been telling you all these things, and I didn't even introduce myself. My name's Zephani."

Josiah shook her hand, "I'm Josiah"

(I really need to slow down. I think after this I'm gonna stick to the seven sentences rule as best I can. :P)

(Lol :) is Zephani a part of the lightning family? Or something else? :P :) I think the ice family should be good execpt those that rebelled and estabilized a tyrannical rule over the other ice people. Their ice should be like a darker shade. What do you all think?)

(Good job! This is getting along pretty well. :) )

"Good to meet you, Josiah. Again, I'm really sorry for the knock-out shell. I wasn't entirely sure if you were one of the Lightning Family, and that was the only way I could think of to solidify my certainty. I hope you don't mind too much."

"Nah, I guess it was okay. It didn't hurt me too bad anyway. But I'm still very confused. Where am I?"

"You are in the Wind Family's section of Asfaroth."

"Asfaroth? I remember you mentioning that before. What is Asfaroth?"

"Asfaroth is the hidden city where all the Families of Power dwell together."

"I'm sorry to be asking so many questions, but what exactly are the Families of Power?"

"My, you ARE ignorant, aren't you?"

"Hey, it's not my fault! I've never been told anything about any of this."

"I suppose I can understand. But it is extremely rare for someone who is a member of one of the Families of Power to remain in ignorance of his membership for so long. Anyway, the Families of Power are… well, how exactly do I explain it? There are thirty Families, and each Family has a specific power. There are some, like us, who control wind, some who control lightning, some who can read minds, some who can communicate with animals, some who can shape-shift… and the list goes on."

"That's incredible. It's… unimaginable! I never thought that stuff like this could actually be true!"

"Well, it certainly is. The Families have been in existence for thousands of years. Most live here in Asfaroth, but some live in various places around the world, living normal lives and using their powers to help where they can. But we all make sure to keep our powers a secret. We do not want the outside world to find out."

"How many people are in each family?"

"In some, there are up to fifty members, but in most, about twenty to thirty. In a few, though, there are only four or five."

(And I could go on, but… I really think I should stop here. :P)

(You guys do know that we didn't establish the Ice Clan as evil, only strict, right?)

(Sorry, just read Ian's addition, and you can't delete comments on iPads, so ignore my last comment! Sorry Ian!)

(Haha, yeah, I was about to respond to your comment, until you told me to ignore it. :P)

(Thanks for the addition SBG! I'm having "writer's block" right now, but I might be able to add something later. :P

Danielle- I wanted Zephani to be part of the wind family. I made her name from the Greek word zephyr, which means wind or breeze.)

Josiah started to chuckle, "Oh, if only my friends and family could see me now."

"What are your friends and family like?", Zephani asked.

"Well, my mom and dad own an appliance store, the one that you found me in, and I'm an only child. My one friend Harry has been around as long as I can remember, and then my best friend John…" Before he could finish Zephani interrupted.

"John?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with his name?"

"No, no! It's just, in the storm last night we found another boy with special powers, and his name is John."

                                ****************************

"And that's my story. Zephani and Liam already told me your story."

John was working all this information through his head when his stomach grumbled. Liam smirked and said, "Looks like you're still hungry. Come on, let's go to the cafeteria, it's almost lunchtime anyway."

(Ok! :) )

(Thanks Danielle!)

In ten minutes John found himself in a huge cafeteria eating a huge cheeseburger with a ton of french fries and a 20 oz. milkshake, while everyone stared at him wondering where he put it all. Josiah had a lot on his plate too, but not as much as John did. Finally he stopped eating for a few seconds and asked, "Okay, so what is this all about?"

Liam started by saying, "Well if your talking about your powers it all starts with your genes."

"Jeans?", John looked at his pants in confusion.

"No genes! As in genetics!", Zephani interrupted, "Each one of us has a special type of gene that gives us these abilities. These genes can also alter the colors of our eyes, and hair. You know what is a recessive gene is, right?

"Yeah." John and Josiah said simultaneously .

"Well the genes that gives us these abilities are called super-recessive, which means that instead of two genes having to match exactly four have to match up."

"Except for you John.", Liam interrupted.

"Why?", John exclaimed.

"The gene that gives you your abilities is super-duper recessive, which means instead of four matching up six have to match up."

"You're losing me.", John said.

(Okay, I really should stop right here. Hey guys, could you not post a whole bunch of stuff this upcoming week on? I have to go to camp tomorrow, and I won't be back on until Friday, so I don't want to have to go through a ton of additions because I might not have the time. Thank you!)

(Wow! I can't believe this turned into a dead thread. :( I think it's partially my fault though. I was acting to much like a control freak, sorry about that.)

Liam, and Zephani started to look a little irritated, "It means that six of your genes have to match up exactly in order for you to have these powers.", they said simultaneously.

"Whoa! You got them mad now John.", Josiah said chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. If you were as bad in Biology as I am you would have said the same thing.", John retorted. then he turned to the other two, "I think I know what you are talking about now. I don't think my mom or dad knew about this though. They never treated me special, or seemed to be hiding something."

"They might not have known. They each could have had half of the correct genes, and you might have been born with those genes in the correct order without them knowing it.", Zephani replied.

"Then why don't my brother and sister have it?"

"All they need is one dominant gene to be in their genetics, and they don't get these powers.", Liam explained.

(I'm sorry I let this die too, Ian! I really liked it, but I just totally forgot about it! Here's my next addition. :) )

"I think I understand. So, the power I have is really pretty special, huh?"

"Unbelievably so." Zephani said. "We thought for certain that your kind had all gone extinct. The chances of another Groundshaker reappearing after eight hundred years of extinction are astronomical."

"But you know as well as I do, Zephani, that chance has nothing to do with it," Liam put in. "This is obviously from God Himself. How else could we have just stumbled upon him out of nowhere? And I think that you too, Josiah, have a role in this; the fact that you two are friends, that you both have special powers and did not yet know it, and that we came upon both of you at the same time practically proves that God wanted us to find you."

"I guess I didn't think about that," said John. "But why exactly would God want you to find us? Are we supposed to do something for you?"

"I don't know," said Liam, "but I know that there has to be a good reason. And I have a feeling that we will discover that reason soon."

"In the meantime, you guys need to get some rest," Zephani said. "I'm sure you're exhausted after all this."

"Well, actually, I'm not," said John. "I just slept all day. I'm feeling ready to do anything!"

Zephani put her finger to her chin. "Hm. If you really aren't tired, I think I have an idea. Follow me. I'll lead you to the training grounds."

(Nice addition SBG! I do have one thing to say though. In my post John talked about how tired he was when he told Josiah to laugh it up. This is just a minor detail, but it can be a bit confusing. Thanks for adding on!)

(Thanks! But, um… well, doesn't my addition fit the context a bit better? As he said, John just slept all day. It doesn't really make sense that he would already be tired again. Do you agree? :) )

(I see your point, but then should I edit my post, and if so, how?)

(Maybe you could have John say something like, "Hey, I never was very good in Biology class. Especially not genetics and all that." I think something along those lines would work. :) )

Lol! :)

(Thanks for the tip. I will write something along those lines, but not those words exactly. Thanks again! )

(Edit- Is that better?)

(I guess it's my turn to write something. Here goes. :))

All four of them walked out of the cafeteria, and walked down several hallways with pictures of past heroes. John almost stopped when he saw a picture of someone who look exactly like him, but he didn't say anything and moved on. Finally they came to a purple door. When they went through the door, John and Josiah were completely taken aback by how large the training grounds were. It was like a huge arena made out of stone, about two hundred yards in length, three hundred in width, and one hundred in height. The top was a huge dome with a small circular opening just large enough to let sunlight in to light the entire arena. "This is where you will be training almost every day", Liam said, "except on Sunday when you get to rest." John and Josiah were speechless.

"Hey!", Zephani said snapping her fingers in front of their faces, "Anyone home?"

Josiah was the first to react. "Sorry, it's just this place is so… so big!"

"Yeah.", said John still a little dazed.

"Come on.", Zephani urged, "Let's go over there." ,she gestured to an open space. Once they arrived, she explained how it would work. "We are going to test your powers just in case what we saw was just an illusion, or a trick that the ice clan wants us to believe. It's only happened five times in the last century, but it never hurts to check. We are going to give you a task, and you must carry it out. Josiah, will you be first?"

"Okay.", Josiah replied. He was just about to ask what kind of task it would be until he saw a guy who could manipulate plants make a tree grow out of nowhere. He didn't have any questions after that.

Liam pointed to a target about fifty feet up on a pole. "Hit that with your lightning."

Josiah pointed at it, but nothing happened. He then remembered how he pointed his fingers before. He put his middle finger on top of his index finger and tried again. This time his eyes glowed an electric blue, and a bolt of lightning went right up to the target and split it in half.

"Very good!", Zephani exclaimed, "All right John, you're up!"

John stepped forward. "My head isn't going to look like you said it did when I first used my power, right?", He said to Liam.

"Not this time. It happens to everyone with a special power, but it only happens the first time they use their power. It happened to me when I was one, and according to me mom, my face turned bright blue and electricity came out of my ears. You startled me because I'm used to seeing it on babies and toddlers, and to tell you the truth, it's much cuter with them." ,Liam explained with a smirk.

(Okay I think I should stop now. :P)

(Great addition!! :D But, um… Liam had seen the Groundshaker face on babies and toddlers? How does that work?)

"Okay, come and step over here, John," Zephani said. She led him to a large circular stone on the floor to one side of the room.

"Stand right in the middle of this stone." John nodded and stepped into the middle of the massive rock.

"Now use your Groundshaking power on it, and see what happens."

John thought for a moment, trying to remember what he had done before. He had thrust his hands out palm first and shouted, "STOP!"

"Do I have to shout anything to use my power? I shouted the last time I did it, but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it."

"Yes, I think I've read that a Groundshaker does have to shout something to use his ability to its fullest extent," Zephani said.

"Does it matter what I shout?"

"I don't think so."

"Good," he said with a smile.

John slowly put himself into position, pulling his hands back. Then he suddenly thrust them forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "CHEESECAKE!"

Instantly the stone began to shake. It rumbled and rocked, then began to form huge cracks; finally, it broke into thousands of tiny pieces. Only the portion of rock where John was standing stood firm.

"Wow," he said.

"Incredible!" Liam and Zephani exclaimed together.

"Cheesecake?" Josiah laughed.

(Great Addition! But how did Zephani know what to tell John if she herself is way to young to have ever met another Groundshaker? Also Liam didn't give much instruction to Josiah, he just gave him the objective and had Josiah figure it out for himself. Also I love the Cheesecake addition :), but Josiah didn't have to shout anything when he used his power. Sorry if it's a long list, but there's just somethings in there that are a little confusing. Finally, Thank you for pointing that out! I was wondering if it would be a little vague, and you confirmed what I was thinking. I'll edit it, so that it won't be confusing. Thanks again!)

(Thanks for pointing all those things out. I think I actually have satisfactory explanations for all of them. Please tell me what you think. :)

1. It was mentioned earlier that Liam had seen the "Groundshaker face" in ancient books. I think it can be assumed that such books would probably contain something of what a Groundshaker can do and how he can employ his powers. Zephani had likely seen something of this, and told John what she remembered.

2. Maybe Zephani thought that John needed help remembering exactly what to do to use his power. I think she would be right in assuming that since he had only done it once, he would need help remembering just what moves to make to Groundshake. If you think it would be better for him to have to figure it out himself, go ahead and tell me, and I'll change it. :)

3. Well, all the powers obviously have different ways of being employed. And Groundshaking is certainly a unique power; I think it would be good to make it necessary for John to shout something to use his Groundshaking power. But again, if you don't think so, I'll change it if you want me to. :)

BTW, I'm glad you liked the cheesecake thing. :D I hoped you wouldn't think it was too ridiculous. :P)

(Here's my thoughts:

1. I had forgotten that Liam had said something about an ancient book. I actually had to go searching for it. :P I think before I add on anything else I need to read over this again. :)

2. I think we should have John figure it out for himself. I think it just flows better with what Josiah had to do.

3. I never really thought of that. I think we can keep that in. Also it doesn't conflict with when he first used his power. He said NO! right before he used it. also I almost facepalmed when I saw the cheesecake thing, but then I realized you were trying to make things a little funnier. :P

Just one more thing, I think we need to bring John and Josiah's families back into the picture. Maybe one of Zephani's or Liam's family members would come up to them, and it would remind the boys of their families, and that they're probably worried sick. Just a thought, and maybe we could call that the end of the first chapter. :))

(Okay, I edited my post. Do you like it? :)

I agree with you that it would be a good idea to bring the boys' families back. I think, though, that instead of it going like, "Oh! I just realized, my family's probably worried sick about me!" "Oh, we hadn't thought about that! We'd better do something!" it should go more like, "Oh! I just realized, my family's probably worried sick about me!" "Don't worry, we have it all taken care of. We've done (fill in the blank), and everything's just fine." It wouldn't really make sense for them to have brought the boys to their village and totally forgotten that the boys had families. They'd done similar things to this before, so they probably would have done something by now to make everything right. What that is, I'm not yet sure. But it's your turn next. ;D)

Wow good job u 2! I can't believe ur sticking with this. :) keep going! :)

(I'm kinda stuck right now, but I might be able to write something small.)

John looked at Josiah almost forgetting that he was there. "Um… yeah. What's wrong with it?"

"Well, it sounded a little cheesy thinking of all the other cool things you Goudave said.", Josiah responded. Zephani, and Liam chuckled while John just rolled his eyes.

Suddenly a young girl ran up to them, and jumped into Zephani's arms. "Zephani! I missed you!"

"Winia!", Zephani exclaimed, "I'm so glad I got to see you again!"

"Oh no!" John suddenly yelled.

"What?" Josiah asked.

"Our families…"

Josiah knew immediately what he meant. "They're probably worried sick about us."

(Okay I got a little dramatic there. :P)

LOL!

(Hmm… maybe Josiah could say a little more than just "Nothing, nothing!" We could make him say something funnier; I think that would make it better. Do you agree? :) Anyway, I'll write another addition as soon as possible. :)

@Danielle–Thanks! Maybe you could join in…? :D)

(I didn't know what else Josiah could have said, but I agree we could make it funnier. I might need your help on this one though; since I'm not that great at making up jokes. :))

I would if I had the time. :)

(Hey Nicolas, do you have any ideas yet? Sorry if I'm being impatient. :))

How about something along the lines of, "That was a pretty CHEESY joke". Make it sort of a pun. :)

Lol!

(Thanks for the suggestion. That kinda narrows what I was thinking of putting down, but I'm still kinda lost on this one.)

(Ah! Sorry for taking so long to get back to you! I haven't thought yet of exactly what to put instead of what you put, but I'll think over it more. I'll probably get back to you tomorrow.)

(Hey Nicolas I edited my post. What do you think?)

(Oh, wonderful. I completely forgot I had said I was going to get back to you soon. (Could you tell? :P) I'm so sorry! But yes, I do like your edit. Good job. :) )

(Thanks, and don't worry that you forgot. I forgot that you forgot. :P)

(This has turned into a long dead thread. :( I'll revive it! :))

Liam put a hand on John's shoulder. "Don't worry. We sent a letter to each of them saying you got lost in the storm when you were checking something out, but that we found you. We said we could get you two home tomorrow morning. I'm just hoping it satisfied them. We've had people sue us because our explanations weren't good enough."

"I'll vouch for you! Don't you worry!", Josiah said with an heroic voice while making a pose.

John, laughing, said, "Ha ha! I'll vouch for you too. He-he!"

(I hope that works. I was wracking my brain to figure out how to explain this situation. :))