In a cold dark city, a young woman was running off in the streets. A man was following her down the empty roads, chasing after her with great speed. The woman kept going until she was cornered in an alley. She turned around in fear at the sight of the man ganging up on her. "I hope you don't have plans tonight," the man said as a dark energy ball formed in his hands. "Because you're going to pay for what you did!"
"You might want to think twice before ganging up on a woman." a voice called out. The man turned around slowly to see two strangers standing before him. One of them was a young gentleman, wearing a long blue colored blazer over a sleeveless blue shirt, navy blue pants, and blue high top boots. The other was a young lady dressed in a flowing sleeveless green top that was banded by a golden metallic sash, with green pants and green boots with gold bands wrapped on them. But the things that stunned the man about these two was not their outfits ofcourse...it was their eyes. The man was stunned to see the boy's bright blue eyes and the girl's bright green eyes.
"Oh...I know you two," the man smirked. "You're from the Spectrum aren't you?!"
"That shouldn't concern you right now," the boy replied. "I'd worry about your life right now."
"HA! You really think I'd have to worry about two wimps like you?!" the man asked.
"Go now while you can!" the girl told the woman. "We can handle this."
The woman ran off from the alley, going out in the streets. "So if I'm correct...you're The Hollow." the boy said.
"Someone's done their research. That would be true. I'm that one guy who can suck the life out of anyone I choose. So you're right.," the man cackled. "Kid, I don't have time for games! In fact, since you made my prey go away, I'll have to kill you two."
"Good luck with that," the boy replied. "Bhoomi, now!"
"Right!" the girl replied.
And that was Bhoomi. She swifted into full motion, going up the walls of the alley. She plunged her arm into the cemented bricks of the wall, pulling them outward and throwing them towards The Hollow. The Hollow dodged the attack, with the boy making his move, in which he launched a series of water energy beams at The Hollow, none of which got to him as he managed to escape each one.
"The stories I hear about you kids must be a bluff!" The Hollow smirked. "You morons aren't even getting a scratch on me!" Just then, Bhoomi attacked The Hollow from behind, by launching a boulder rock from the ground directly at The Hollow's back. The Hollow was crushed into the wall, while the boulder fell onto the ground. "Sagar, hurry!" Bhoomi ordered.
That was the boy...Sagar. Sagar grabbed the hold of The Hollow by his neck. "What are you doing?!" The Hollow shouted.
"You're going to need a name change when I'm done with you." Sagar grinned. He yanked off a chain that The Hollow was wearing which had a small prism shard hanging on the chain. The Hollow's eyes widened as he struggled to breathe. He then collapsed to the ground. Sagar held the chain with the prism shard up, giving a victorious look on his face. "That didn't take so long." Sagar said.
"Playing around with someone as arrogant as him makes the job easier! I could do that with you!"
"What are you getting at?"
"Don't act like you don't know! You always take credit for every prism shard we capture even though you'd be nothing without me, your partner!"
"Yeah, whatever."
"What are you guys doing here?" a voice asked. Sagar and Bhoomi looked up to see a girl hovering on an energy disc created with the use of dark energy and with her was a boy as well. The girl had long ivory black hair and was dressed in a long black trench coat, with a purple top, black and purple skirt, black leggings, and black combat boots while the boy had short black hair with red streaks and wore a long red blazer over a sleeveless red shirt which revealed a fire ring shaped tattoo on his chest, black pants, and red high top boots. Not only that, the girl was revealed to have violet colored eyes whereas the boy had red colored eyes. As the two landed on the ground, the boy fell off the energy disc with a thud. "Would you watch how you land that thing?!" the boy shouted at the girl.
"I would if you'd be less clumsy." the girl replied, rolling her eyes.
"Typical Krish and Chaya." Bhoomi said.
"Shouldn't we ask why you two are here?" Sagar asked Krish and Chaya. "You're supposed to be checking Sector Agni."
"We did. And we didn't find anything or anyone!" Krish exclaimed. "So we went to Sector Pani where you guys were supposed to be at!"
"It was all Bhoomi's idea." Sagar said.
"Okay, fine! I just wanted to come to Sector Andera for a challenge!" Bhoomi exclaimed.
"Let me guess. You guys got a shard." Chaya said.
"That too The Hollow's." Sagar smirked, holding the prism shard up for Krish and Chaya to see.
"What?! You mean you took out The Hollow?!" Krish gasped, looking at The Hollow's unconscious body on the ground. "If I wasn't stuck with Shadow Lady for a partner, I'd catch up!"
"I'll have you know that in this partnership, I'm on the higher end of the spectrum." Chaya retorted.
"Enough chit chat! We should head back to the base," Sagar said. "Chaya, can we get a ride?"
"Sure." Chaya replied.
Later on, Sagar, Bhoomi, Krish, and Chaya were all travelling on Chaya's energy disc in the night sky. They then dived downward, landing in front of a tower. Once they had landed, each of the four took out an individual prism shard they had and tapped them on a touchscreen pad that was on the door of the tower. As soon as that was done, the door of the tower opened and the four entered inside. They went a chamber room, where an older man was standing. He had no hair and wore a white cloak, turning towards the four youngsters. "Master Suri." Sagar called.
"You four are back. Anything for today?" the man asked.
"Me and Bhoomi got The Hollow's shard." Sagar responded as he showed the prism shard to Master Suri.
"Excellent work, you two," Master Suri said as he took the shard and then placed it inside a blue green box that had several other shards inside. "That boosts your amount of shards even higher than that of Krish and Chaya's."
"Oh don't rub it in!" Krish pouted.
'Now, now, Krish. No need for a competition. Besides, getting all the shards is more important than which team gets more." Master Suri said.
"And we still haven't gotten them all." said Bhoomi.
"That will take time, Bhoomi. I will tell you four one thing...it means a lot what you all are doing for this world. I mean...who would think the unified world of Ekta has now transformed into the disformed world now called Jhoota." Master Suri sighed.
"Do we have to go over this story again?" Chaya asked, irritated.
"I like to hear it!" Krish exclaimed.
"Its okay. You children would have never had to have gotten involved in this mess had it not been for Pallan. The Ekta Prism was indeed not an ordinary optical prism. It was the prism that kept this world unified with the powers of this world. But power and greed combined can be deadly. And it was Pallan's need for power that destroyed the prism completely, with the many shards going into the hands of those who shouldn't have it." Master Suri continued.
"But the prism's most important pieces were saved by us on Earth and merged the powers of those pieces with us." Sagar said.
"Exactly. And that's why you all are different. You all have become part of the spectrum. Each shard of yours not only gave you the respective color in your eyes, but the respective element as well," Master Suri continued. "Blue for water, Green for earth, Red for fire, Violet for darkness, Yellow for light, Orange for day, and Indigo for night. That's what makes you kids members of the Spectrum."
"The only question is which one of us is set to become the next rulers of the Spectrum once Ekta is revived to this world." Bhoomi smirked.
"Only time will tell. Your partnerships were selected by me on basis of strength levels with one relatively strong member with a weaker one creating a wide end spectrum between two members to form a proper sense of team work." Master Suri said.
"I find that insulting since you consider me the weak one!" Krish shouted.
"Grow up, Krish! I've actually gotten a little stronger with Sagar as my partner. So I don't care that I'm the weak link in our partnership." Bhoomi smiled.
"You still have a work to do." Chaya told Krish.
"Would you shut up?!" Krish shouted back.
"I think its time we go back to Earth," said Sagar. "Besides, I think we should go see Roshan."
There was a moment of silence in the room. Master Suri sighed, "Very well. Make sure he's doing okay. He's been having a tough time coping with everything."
"Its really sad." Bhoomi said.
"I want to know one thing before we go," Chaya told Master Suri. "You still haven't told us the reason behind keeping the indigo shard in your possession."
"That can be saved for later. Right now, you four should go back to Earth and check on Roshan." Master Suri responded.
Master Suri opened a closet door to which the four waved their prism shards over, opening a portal. The four entered inside the portal and it closed up, leaving Master Suri alone in the chamber. Master Suri took out a small indigo colored box and opened it, revealing the indigo shard inside. Its best to hide the holder of this shard...for their sake, Master Suri thought to himself.
On Earth, Sagar, Bhoomi, Krish, and Chaya had returned to Mumbai, India. Once they had returned, they each tapped their prism shards with their ring fingers, and returned to their normal human state, where their eyes returned to their regular eye color. They were standing right in front of a small house at the end of a neighborhood. "Who rings the bell?" Chaya asked.
"I volunteer Sagar as tribute!" Krish exclaimed.
"No one needs your pop culture references, idiot!" Chaya shouted.
"You're one of his close friends, Sagar. Go ahead." Bhoomi told Sagar.
Sagar let out a deep breath as he went up to the doorstep of the house with the others behind him. But he noticed that the door was unlocked. Sagar pushed the door open to see a young man sitting on a couch, holding onto a pillow as he was lost in thoughts. That man was none other than Roshan. He turned around to see the others in his room, brushing aside his short black spiky hair.
"Uh...Ro...how do you feel?" Krish asked.
"Okay, I guess. Why?" Roshan asked as he got up from the couch.
"Okay?!" Bhoomi asked. "You mean you're not upset?"
"Upset about what?" Roshan asked.
"You know...Aarushi." Bhoom elaborated.
The sound of the name made Roshan's eyes beam. He then began to whimper. "Oh now you did it, Bhoomi." Sagar nodded his head.
"WHY ME?!" Roshan cried, throwing his pillow to his face and holding it tight as he jumped back onto the couch. "SHE HAD TO BETRAY ME FROM OUR PARTNERSHIP AND TAKE EVERY SHARD WE EVER COLLECTED! THAT...THAT...-"
"Witch?" Chaya finished.
"Chaya!" Sagar exclaimed, shoving Chaya with his elbow.
"NO! She's right!" Roshan exclaimed as he jumped back from his couch. "She was a witch! She was even close to taking my shard as well! Well now I'll take her down with my own bare hands and get all those shards back otherwise my name isn't Roshan!"
"I'd say that its good your spirits are up, but the drama needs to tone down a bit." Chaya said.
"Oh, Chaya! Your small range of emotions only limits you to a small amount of feelings! Just watch and I'll get back all the shards that witch stole from me!" Roshan exclaimed.
"Okay then." Sagar rolled his eyes.
"Um...do I smell something burning?" Bhoomi asked.
There was a moment of silence as Roshan froze like a popsicle in that moment. "I FORGOT TO TURN OFF THE STOVE!" Roshan cried as he dashed off to the kitchen. "NOW MY COOKIES WILL BE BURNED!"
"So...is he really your best friend?" Chaya asked Sagar.
"Unfortunately." Sagar rolled his eyes.
"Well, he seems to be taking the betrayal pretty well." Bhoomi said.
"That's all thanks to his mood swings! One minute he was sulking and the next he gets all over dramatic!" Krish exclaimed. "Hey, Ro! I want cookies!"
Krish made his way to the kitchen. "Did he really bake cookies at a time like this?" Chaya asked.
"Whenever he's depressed, baking cookies turns his mood a whole three sixty degrees." Sagar replied.
"How amusing," said Bhoomi. "Is it possible we can take a break from shard hunting? I'm worn out."
"Master Suri will probably call us back in a day or two. So we might as well relax." said Sagar.
"THE COOKIES ARE BURNED!" Roshan cried as he held a tray of burnt cookies. "BURNED COOKIES ARE EVEN MORE DEPRESSING THAN BETRAYAL!"
"And his mood swings are kicking back in. Krish, handle him. I'm going home." Sagar said as he made his way towards the door.
"Why should I handle him?!" Krish asked.
"Because one idiot can handle the other." Sagar replied.
"WHO YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?!" Krish shouted.
"Anyone would call you an idiot." Chaya said.
"Would you quit the smart talk, Shadow Lady!" Krish retorted.
And so, Sagar left the chaotic situation in Roshan's house. As he walked outside, Bhoomi came out and followed him. "Wait up, Sagar!" Bhoomi called out as she caught up with Sagar, walking with him.
"Do you want something?"
"Can't I just walk with you home?"
"I prefer alone time for myself."
"Well that's rude! We're partners, remember?!"
"We're partners in shard hunting and training. Not in the real world."
"What does that mean?!"
"Nothing that you would understand."
"How would you know?! Outside of work, you always try to shun the rest of the Spectrum out. Even me! Why?!"
Sagar then stopped in his tracks, with Bhoomi stopping as well. He turned around to Bhoomi, looking into her eyes. "You still have a lot to learn about me." Sagar softly said to Bhoomi. Bhoomi kept quiet, giving off a surprised look on her face.With that, Sagar continued walking on into the darkness of the night, while Bhoomi watched on. I really don't get you, Sagar, Bhoomi thought to herself. There has to be a good reason that we're partners. But you hardly open up to me. Or anyone for that matter. I don't know.
Bhoomi shook her head as she then headed back towards Roshan's house. Once she entered inside the house, all she could see was Roshan forcing Krish to eat the burned cookies while Chaya watched in amusement. Chaya looked up at Bhoomi and said, "You're back? That was quick."
"Sagar wanted to be alone." Bhoomi sighed.
"Aww! What's the matter?! Your boyfriend's not giving you attention?!" Krish chuckled.
Bhoomi's face then turned red with anger as she then gave a good swing directly at Krish's face, making him fall off the couch. "And the idiot asked for it." Chaya rolled her eyes.
"What was that for?!" Krish shouted as Bhoomi then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"If you think its funny to make me sound like some desperate girlfriend looking for attention, then you got another thing coming,mister!" Bhoomi shouted as she shook Krish by his collar. "And just for the record, HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"
"Then why are you getting angry at me?!" Krish cried.
"Because you set everyone on fire with that idiotic mouth of yours." Chaya responded.
"Did I ask for your opinion?!" Krish asked.
"Freedom of speech, Krish. Its in the Constitution," Chaya said. "But then again...since when do you read?"
"WHY YOU?!" Krish shouted.
"Can't someone eat these cookies?!" Roshan asked, holding the tray of the cookies.
"No one wants to eat burned cookies, Ro! Why don't you eat them yourself?!" Krish shouted.
"Because they're so far from perfection that it kills me! At least someone as imperfect as you can handle it!" Roshan cried.
"You morons." Chaya nodded her head.
As all the commotion was going on in Roshan's house, Sagar was making his way home down the road. I know it seems wrong that I keep my distance from all of them. But I prefer to be alone anyway. Maybe if I had my way, I'd go find the prism shards on my own. But I guess it doesn't work like that, Sagar thought to himself. It doesn't matter. Aside from all the nonsense of my group, I just need to be alone when I want to be.
The next day, around nine in the morning, Roshan was sound asleep in the bedroom of his house. The first ray of sunlight had gotten into his eyes, making him wake up. As he stretched his arms, he turned to the alarm clock on his nightstand and gasped. "ITS NINE O'CLOCK!" Roshan screamed as he jumped out of bed. "I WAS SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP AT EXACTLY EIGHT FIFTY FOUR! I'M SIX MINUTES LATE!"
Roshan hurried up and went on with his morning routine which involved brushing his teeth for four minutes and twenty two seconds, taking a shower for eight minutes and forty four seconds, and making his breakfast which consisted of eggs and brown bread. Roshan waited impatiently for the eggs to be done as he stood in the kitchen. Once he finished frying them, he turned off the stove and checked his watch. "Good! Exactly ten minutes and twenty seconds!" Roshan exclaimed. He took a spatula and carefully flipped the fried eggs onto the side of the plate, making sure they didn't touch the bread on the other side. He then took his breakfast and sat down at the couch, turning on the television. The news channel had started.
"Breaking news," the television reporter announced on the television. "Reports have come in that a Bengal tiger has gone off loose in the city. The local Mumbai zoo reports that the tiger is not from their facility, so no one is sure where the tiger has come from. We are warning citizens to be on alert."
"A tiger? In the city? Now that's something that doesn't happen every day!" Roshan exclaimed. "Good thing I don't have to work today." As Roshan looked down on his plate to eat, he gasped at what he saw. The eggs had slided on the plate, and were now touching the bread. "NOOO! THE EGGS ARE TOUCHING THE BREAD!" Roshan screamed.
On the other hand, in the local flower shop, Bhoomi was working at the register, tending to a customer who was purchasing jasmine flowers. Once Bhoomi had packed the flowers, she gave them to the customer with a smile and said, "Thank you. Have a nice day!"
"Who can I help next?" Bhoomi asked as she was turned around for a moment.
"Um...hi." a voice said.
Bhoomi became startled as she turned around to see it was Sagar who was standing before her. "Oh...its just you, Sagar," Bhoomi said. "You need something?"
"No."
"Oh. Then what do you want?"
"I just thought...I just thought I should apologize for last night."
"Really?!"
"Yes. I'm sorry. I just needed some time to be alone."
"Oh...well its okay."
"Are you busy right now?"
"Well, I'm just working with Lilly today. Why?"
"You want to get some coffee?"
"Coffee?! With me?!"
"Yeah. Who else?"
"Uh...sure. I'll just tell Lilly to cover my shift."
"Okay."
After Bhoomi had gotten Lilly to take over the shop, Bhoomi went along with Sagar to a local coffee shop. The two were seated at a single table and two cups of coffee were then brought to their table by a waiter and Sagar paid off for the coffee. Bhoomi looked at Sagar as he took a sip from his coffee. "So...what's up?" Bhoomi asked Sagar.
"Nothing, really. Why?"
"Well...I was just surprised."
"By what?"
"You inviting me for coffee. You usually don't want to hang out with the rest of the Spectrum outside of shard hunting. So why now?"
"I just thought of it for a change."
"I see. So how's Ro doing now?"
"That moron? He's fine. He can handle these things on his own with that erratic behavior of his."
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
At that moment, Sagar felt his heart beat faster for a moment. Bhoomi noticed this as well and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I sense something."
"Sense what?"
Sagar then got up from the table and rushed outside of the shop with Bhoomi following him. "What's wrong?!" Bhoomi asked Sagar. She then turned to see a tiger that was running down the streets among many frightened people. "What's that tiger doing here?!" Bhoomi asked.
"I don't know. But something's unusual about it! Come on!" Sagar said as he then jolted after the tiger with Bhoomi following. The two chased the tiger down into the far ends of the street, going into an alley. "Why are you concerned about the tiger?! Let the police worry about that!" Bhoomi exclaimed.
"There's something I sense about that tiger that's not normal!" Sagar exclaimed. The two then managed to corner the tiger right in the alley. The tiger looked at Sagar and Bhoomi with fierce looking eyes. Both Sagar and Bhoomi kept the guard, but the two did notice something odd about the tiger. Bhoomi's eyes then beamed and she said, "Sagar! Look! Around its neck!"
Sagar was shocked as he saw the tiger was wearing a chain that had a prism shard on it. "What the hell?" Sagar said, surprised. "There's no way!"
"Why would a tiger have a prism shard?!"
"I don't know. But we better catch it! You have your shard?"
"Of course."
"Good. You know what to do!"
"Right!"
Sagar and Bhoomi tapped their prism shards with their ring fingers and had transformed into spectrum form, their eyes changing into their spectrum color. The tiger's eyes beamed at the sight of their transformations. And so, the tiger leaped forward to attack. "Sagar! Watch out!" Bhoomi shouted as the tiger came for Sagar. Sagar jumped out of the way, but the tiger then pounced right at Sagar, tackling him to the ground. Sagar then kicked it off and tried to attack with a water energy beam to which the tiger dodged. The tiger then leaped at Bhoomi from behind, pushing her onto the ground with her unable to get away. Sagar then turned towards a pipe that was coming from a building wall. He raised his hand towards the pipe, and the pipe began to shake, erupting a gush of water that he aimed at the tiger. The tiger was blasted off of Bhoomi into the wall with the water holding it down.
"Bhoomi! Now!" Sagar ordered.
"I'm on it!" Bhoomi responded.
Bhoomi slammed her hand to the ground and it created a crack that went towards the tiger. A vine then emerged from the ground which tied down the tiger by its legs. Sagar then waved his hand over the pipe, making the water flow stop.
The tiger was left stuck as it remained tied by the vines Bhoomi had launched from her attack. "That wasn't too bad." Bhoomi said.
"Now all I have to do is take the shard back."
"And then we'll free the tiger!"
"What?!"
"Its an animal, Sagar! Yes, it did attack us! But we can't leave it like this! We'll free it and take it back to the zoo!"
"Fine, fine! Let me just take the shard."
But before Sagar could take the shard, the tiger suddenly began to glow a bright orange color which blinded both Sagar and Bhoomi's eyes. "I can't see anything!" Bhoomi cried. Once the glow faded, Sagar and Bhoomi opened their eyes and were shocked at what they saw. No longer was a tiger there. In place of the tiger, was a young girl that was dressed in an orange colored shawl over an orange anarkali dress. She even had the chain with the prism shard on. The girl was left unconscious as she remained tied by the vines.
"What on Earth?!" Bhoomi exclaimed.
"That tiger...was this girl?!" Sagar asked. "Who...who is she?!"
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
Book Talk
