"We still have time, let's get out of here." Ivy said, but then the door slammed down. We turned to see the Collectors. The girl smiled at us.

"Looks like we found you, huh?" she said not out of breath. The other three however had to take their time catching their breath. Hugo took down his hood first. Ivy and I did the same.

"Ah, it looks like you caught us, Ms. Collector." Hugo said putting his hands up sarcastically.

"Please, the name's Nicky." she said. She took out a sharp skinny sword, Hugo took out his guns. The other guys that were with Nicky began taking out their weapons. One had a flail, the second had a cleaver, and the last one had ninja stars. Nicky held up her hand.

"Leave them to me, I want to see how good these so called bandits are." she said. The guys rolled their eyes.

"Sure sure, but if we think that you're going to get yourself killed then we're gonna have to jump in. We aren't going to just sit and watch, you know?" one said.

"Whatever." Nicky said and swung her sword for practice. She grinned, showing off her sharpened teeth, her eyes blood thirsty and full of electricity,"Let's go, old man." Ivy laughed then covered her mouth when Hugo looked at her angrily. Hugo turned back at Nicky, and gave a cold hard stare. I pulled Ivy closer away from Hugo and Nicky, all the way to the fence of the roof.

"At least let us get those two girls over there." a guy said. Nicky turned to look at the guy, but then a shot echoed through the empty lots. Nicky turned her head slowly towards us. Her breathing quickened as she held her sword in the air in front of her face. The bullet Hugo had shot was cut straight through the middle by her sword.

"If I was a little late..." Nicky said and grinned, her eyes sharp and wild. Hugo smiled.

"So close." Hugo said. There was a flash and Nicky was in front of Hugo, her sword was about to slice off Hugo's head. Hugo's eyes widened and he put his gun up, blocking the sword. Sparks were flying and Nicky was pushing against Hugo. Hugo is a pretty strong person, so of course he pushed Nicky back. She jumped back and Hugo fired at her. Bullets hit the ground where she once stood. She jumped from one place to another, vanishing and appearing.

"H-How is she doing that?" Ivy asked,"Is she possibly a skill user?" I shook my head. Skill Users have this unique ability born into them that allows them to tell if people are able to use a skill or not. It's this strange feeling in the pit of your stomach or the certain way their eyes shine. Ivy was still young so she found it hard telling from Skill Users from normally skilled and advanced humans. Nicky wasn't a skill user, she was just good. She wasn't vanishing and appearing like how she appeared to be, she was fast. She ran from one place to the next a blur of colors rushing by.

Hugo behind you.

Hugo turned around and put his gun under Nicky's neck and she put her sword next to Hugo's neck. A small trickle of blood dripped from Hugo's neck. Ivy was squeezing her hands. Even though she acts negatively towards Hugo, she still worries about him... a little bit anyways.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Nicky asked. Hugo smiled.

"Are you going to slice me?" Hugo asked. I saw Hugo pulled the trigger and shot, but Nicky bent back and she made a little cut on Hugo's neck, Hugo continued to shoot in all the directions Nicky went to.

"You'll never be able to hit me." Nicky said.

"I don't know about that." Hugo said. Nicky tilted her head. A small line formed on Nicky's cheek. Blood dripped and Nicky touched it. She smiled, then began laughing. Hugo turned to us and made the 'she's crazy' sign. Ivy weakened her grip and smiled. She stopped laughing then looked at Hugo dead in the eye.

"I haven't had this much fun for a while." she said,"Time for me to step up a bit." Nicky reached behind her back and pulled out another sword from beneath her shirt.

"Two swords won't do much for Hugo, right?" Ivy said and looked at me. I nodded, Hugo has one advantage that the other side does not have. Hugo twirled his guns.

"Let's get this over with." Hugo sighed tiredly. He blinked and his eyes flashed. Gray clouds were slowly coming in, blocking out the sun's rays. I looked over the side of the fence. There were dumpsters below us and it was a narrow alley way, I looked back at Hugo. He took a deep breath,"Quick question though, would you rather die from bullets or lightning?" Nicky frowned.

"Lightning, I guess." she said,"Why?" Hugo smiled.

"Nothing." he said. There was a flash and a crack of lightning singing the spot besides Nicky. She looked at Hugo.

"Haha, I see what you did there." she said laughing sarcastically,"So your skill is lightning."

"Meh." Hugo answered. There was another lightning strike, but Nicky jumped away from her spot. I looked over to the other guys and they started stretching.

"It's about time we join in." they said. The one who had ninja stars threw them towards Hugo, but Hugo seemed not to notice.

"Hugo!" Ivy yelled. One star hit Hugo on his side. He grimaced and pulled it out and threw it to the ground. He looked over to ninja star guy and lightning strikes him. He yelled and the other two guys jumped back in surprise. Hugo smiled.

"He got what he deserved." Hugo said. Ninja star guy flopped to the ground, his skin was burnt and black, steam coming off of him.

They're getting angier, Hugo, we should go before it gets worse.

Hugo nodded. He shot some more at Nicky, but this time he didn't miss. He shot her one time in the stomach and two times in the leg. She clenched her teeth.

"You couldn't hit me before." Nicky said. Hugo came over to our side.

"Oh, nobody told you?" Hugo said,"I can read minds too." The other two guys were running toward us. I grabbed Ivy and nodded at Hugo. I jumped off the side of the fence along with Hugo. Ivy blew a kiss at them and a swarm of spirits surrounded the leftover Collectors. We dropped down and Hugo landed on the pile of bags in the dumpster. I landed on the ground, up straight and normal. I set Ivy down.

"How did you-" Ivy began.

"Let's go, they could catch up to us any second now." Hugo interrupted. He pulled up his cloak and we followed him out of the alley. We ran as far away from the building as we could. We were in the middle of an isolated ghost town by sundown. Hugo walked into an old abandoned inn and we settled down in a not too shabby room. There were two beds, a couch and an old dresser.

"We'll rest here for now." Hugo said sitting on the couch,"You two can have the beds while I crash on the couch." I nodded and he took off his cloak revealing his bloodstained shirt. I stared at him and he sighed. I got out the bag that I was carrying and came over to his side. Ivy sat quietly on the bed watching us closely. Hugo took off his shirt revealing many scars along his back and body. I took out a first aid kit from the bag and started disinfecting the wound. He clenched his fists and sat calmly on the couch. I wrapped a bandage around his stomach and nodded. he started putting on his shirt again and Ivy came over and stuck a band aid on Hugo's neck where Nicky made a slit.

"First aid all done." she said and nodded. She went back over to the bed and lied down. There was a moment of silence then Ivy sat back up,"I'm hungry."

"You guys stay here, I'll go get some food." Hugo said,"Scar make sure Ivy doesn't do anything stupid."

Aye aye captain.

"I won't do anything stupid, why would you think I would do anything like that?" Ivy said and smiled.

"Yep, keep an eye on her." Hugo said putting his cloak on and walking out of the door. Ivy came over to my side bringing her bag of things. She pulled out an old dry erase board and marker. She handed it to me.

"Scar, why don't you talk?" she asked straight out, looking me in the eyes. I pulled the cap off with a squeak. Hugo had taught Ivy to read ever since we found out she couldn't, which was on the day we rescued her. I wrote on the board.

'Because when I speak, sometimes bad things happen when I don't mean it to... Since I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't speak' Ivy read my message and nodded.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then I'll be quiet." Ivy said. I shook my head and I erased the board.

'It's fine.' She nodded and erased the board. There was a crash in the building and Ivy looked at me. She nodded and we stood up and looked out the door.

"Maybe it's Hugo....?" Ivy whispered. I shook my head. Hugo would have called out that he was here so we wouldn't accidentally mistake him for an intruder.

"Do you think it's a Collector or a bounty hunter then?" Ivy whispered sticking close to me as we walked through the hallway. I nodded slowly, reaching down and grabbing daggers from my boots. I held one in each hand. There was another crash in the room that we were in front of. Ivy stayed silent and I slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. I made Ivy stay at the door and I went through. It was dim in the room and the room was musty. I looked around. No one was in there, not any human anyway. I looked around and found a shattered pot on the ground. There was a rustle and I looked over to the sound. It was coming from the window, there was a figure from behind the curtain. I slowly moved the curtain and lowered my daggers. There sat a milky colored cat.

She licked the paw she injured from the shattered piece of the pot. She hissed at me when she saw me. I put my dagger back in my boot and I inched a little closer. She hissed at me and scratched my face. I felt the blood ooze out of my cut, but I felt it slowly close. She stopped hissing at me and she put her paw down.

"Oh, so you're a skill user." she said and licked her paw. My eyes widened,"Yes, I can talk and you're not going crazy." She looked at me with her electric blue eyes.

"Scar?" Ivy whispered. I stood up and Ivy smiled,"So what was it?" I pointed over to the cat and Ivy's eyes light up.

"Aww, it's a cat!" she said excitedly.

"My name is Bubbles." she said. Ivy's eyes widened just like mine did.

"She talks?" Ivy asked looking at me. I nodded.

"Oh, Scar! Can we keep her? Please?" Ivy asked pleadingly. She went over to Bubbles and stroked her fur softly.

"Hey! I don't need an owner." she said.

"We'll feed you." Ivy coughed.

"But I so happen to want to travel with some people, do you mind if I come with you?" Bubbles said walking over to me and rubbing against my feet. I looked at Ivy and she sighed.

"I know I know, we have to consult with Hugo first, right?" she sighed. I nodded. I picked up Bubbles gently and carried her over to our room. Ivy followed quietly,"If Hugo doesn't approve I'm gonna complain about it for the rest of the trip, you know." I nodded and sat down with Bubbles. We'll just have to wait for Hugo's decision.