Chapter Two: Fighting What's Inside

The Hiroshimas were sitting in their house with all of their friends and their cousin.

"Are you OK Rikku?" Crystal Miroshi(13) asked her cousin.

"Yeah, you seem really…out of it." Courtney Smith(13) commented.

"I'm fine. I just had a really weird dream last night." Rikku said.

"So what's the big deal?" Ryan Cooper(13) asked. "People have dreams all the time."

"Well, I think it was a premonition." Rikku said.

"Oh." Alan Brown(13) said quietly.

"She told us all about it." Sydney said. He hugged his knees to his chest. "It sounded really scary."

"What was it about?" Nat Smith(9) asked.

"Us." Rikku said. "I…I saw us, but we weren't quite us. We had black eyes and wings. I think we were being taken over by the Darkness."

"Wow." Alex Smith(6) breathed.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Ryan asked.

Rikku thought for a minute. "Rafael!"

"What about him?" Courtney asked.

"He's a prophet; he can use cards and dreams to interpret what's going to happen in the near future." Rumiku explained.

"Where is he?" Patrick asked.

"Japan, stupid!" Noah said.

"But I know a way to communicate with him." Sydney said thoughtfully. He grabbed his laptop and opened it up. After typing for a minute, he plugged something in and attached a camera to the laptop. "OK, everyone gather 'round." Sydney said. Everyone crowed behind Sydney.

"Raf-Sempai, are you there?" Sydney asked.

-In Japan-

Rafael Cloud(16) heard his computer beep.

"Raf-Sempai, are you there?" he heard Sydney Hiroshima's voice.

Rafael rushed over to his computer and pressed a button.

"Syd-Kun?" he said. "Is that you?"

"Raf! It's great to hear from you again!" Rikku said.

"Konichiwa guys." Rafael said. "How are things?"

"Pretty good." Crystal said

"Crystie-Chan, it's good to hear from you."

"Thanks Raf-sun."

"Listen Raf." Rumiku said. "Rikk had a dream and we need you to interpret it."

"OK, tell me all about it." Rafael leaned back in his chair.

"OK, here it goes." Rikku said. "There were five kids that looked exactly like us except that they had black eyes and black wings. Then their-er our- weapons appeared in their hands. Then me, Ru, Pat, Noa, and Syd showed up. Then the girl who looked like me shot an attack at us. That's when we realized that they were us. Then they all started shooting attacks at us. We dodged them and started to fight back. That's when the girl who looked like me said to stop and to 'finish us off'. They all said their elements, which were exactly the same as ours, and everything started shaking. Flames engulfed everything and the wind started blowing. Lightning was flashing and evil spirits showed up. The Darkness was taking over everything. That' s when I woke up."

"Wow." Rafael said shocked. "Rikku I think you had a premonition."

"I think so too Raf-Sempai." Rikku said. "It's really got me worried."

"Well first I want Sydney to test the Darkness levels inside of you, Ru, Pat, and Noah. Got it?"

"Got it Raf." Sydney said. He turned to his siblings. "Let's go." The five of them walked down the hall to Sydney's room.

"Raf, do you wanna see this?" Crystal asked.

"Only if you don't mind." Rafael said.

"OK." Crystal said. She attached the camera wire to an extension cord and pulled the laptop down the hall to the room. Courtney, Nat, Alex, Ryan, and Alan followed her.

"OK, go sit in those chairs." Sydney said, pointing to four chairs across the room. "Crystie-chan, I need my laptop. Sorry Raf." he said apologetically.

"It's OK Syd-Kun." Rafael said. "But contact me a soon as your done."

"Got it." Sydney said. He pulled the plug and the screen went black.

"I hope they're alright." Rafael murmured.

-In Los Angeles, CA-

"OK, are you guys ready?" Sydney asked. His siblings nodded. Sydney put down his laptop and hooked wires behind their ears and on their necks. "Now, I know this might hurt you, but I want you to contact some of the darkness inside of you" Sydney said gently. "And relax" he added.

Rikku, Rumiku, Patrick, and Noah nodded and shut their eyes. After a few seconds everyone could tell that they were contacting it, because their teeth started to clamp together in pain.

"It's ok, guys." Crystal said gently, wanting her to stay in control.

A few tears slipped down Rumiku's and Rikku's cheeks and they clamped her teeth together harder. Patrick and Noah squeezed the chair handles so hard that their knuckles turned white.

Sydney typed a bit on my laptop. "You can stop now" I said to his sibs. The four kids opened their eyes and sighed in relief. Rikku and Rumiku wiped away the few tears that they had on their cheeks, and stared at Sydney as he typed some more.

I looked up at them. "Well, I'm proud to say that you guys handled that very well, and your Darkness levels is down where it should be. "

"Let's check you out Syd." Alan said.

Sydney sat down on his chair as Ryan put the wires behind his ears and on his neck. Noah typed what Syd typed on the laptop and soon Sydney teeth were clamped together as well. He gripped the chair handles and tears fell down his cheeks.

"It's OK, Syd." Nat said.

Son Noah was done and Sydney's Darkness level was normal too,

"But I still don't get it." Courtney said. "If Rikku's premonition was correct, how is your Darkness levels normal?"

"Let's tell Raf." Alex said.

-In Japan-

"Raf, we're done testing." Alan's voice said.

"And…?"

"Our Darkness levels are normal." Patrick said.

"And if Ruki's premonition was right, why aren't they high or something like that?" Noah asked, repeating what Courtney had said.

"I don't know." Rafael admitted. "But I don't think it's any good…"