Hope happily skipped through the forest as the rest of Gale Force followed behind her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hope this excited before,” Kiara mutters.

“I didn’t think she could get this excited,” Silver retorted.

“Oh, let her be happy. She’s been working hard on this project for the last month,” Rachel chuckled.

“I can’t wait to see what it is!” Karla exclaimed excitedly.

“Do you guys have any idea what it is?” Mizu asked politely.

“I could tell you what it is. Ow!” Draco exclaimed after Halo hit him.

“We would rather not spoil the surprise. Hope has worked quite hard on this for you all,” Halo assured. 

Hope suddenly stopped and turned back to the rest, all eyes on her. “You ready?” She beamed, pushing away the branches in front of her.

Rachel, Mizu, May, Kiara and Karla looked on in shock. 

“Introducing the Tactical Innovative Tank Ultra Structure!” Hope smiled, gesturing to the vehicle behind her.

The vehicle in question was massive, about the size of an ordinary dragon. It looked like an electric train, yet it was built with the sturdiness of a tank. It was mainly white in color yet with teal stripe designs. The letters T.I.T.U.S was also painted onto the tank.

Silver whistled, her face as monotone as ever.

“Also known as the TITUS for short,” Hope stated proudly, her hands on her hips.

“There’s no way that long name is real,” Karla exasperated.

“It isn’t,” Hope smiled, sticking out her tongue. “Titus was its first name. In some places it translates to protector, so it felt fitting. I only gave it the long name to sound fancy.”

“It’s very impressive Hope, but if you don’t mind me asking, what is it for?” Rachel questioned.

“It’s our new home!” 

“It is?” Mizu asked surprised.

“Of course, we can’t sleep in the woods every day. Come on in and I’ll show you,” Hope gestured.

Walking up to the TITUS, she pressed a small button on its side before a doorway opened up as she walked inside. The group followed behind Hope, gasping as they looked around.

“This is so cool!” Karla muttered with excitement.

“This here is our living area. It’s a general place for us to just hang out and relax.”

The room contained a few couches and tables with a few rugs on the floor. It was nothing fancy yet it was cozy and hospitable. Hope walked into the next room behind the living area before she spoke, “This here is our kitchen and dining room. I’m not very experienced in the culinary arts however, I hope it has all the major things we may need.”

The tile floored room was lined with wooden cabinets from the left side wall across the back, only interfered with a few ovens, a stove, sink, dishwasher and a refrigerator. There was a nice granite countertop over the bottom cabinets and a large island in the middle with eight barstools. It was all quite nice.

“Now down this hallway,” Hope started as she exited the kitchen and began walking down the left hallway.

“Contains my lab on the right, and the infirmary on the left. Hopefully this should be a sufficient place for you to work,” Hope stated turning to Rachel.

“It’s perfect Hope, thank you,” Rachel smiled.

The infirmary contained a couple of cabinets alongside a sink on the right wall, while the left contained four small beds, each with their own curtains and small nightstand. There was also a viewing window from the hallway into the infirmary. As for the lab, there were several tables and chairs scattered about the place surrounding some kind of square testing section of the floor. On the tables there was lots of tech equipment and tools alongside scattered materials, extras of which were in the corners of the room on the floor.

“What does this thing do?” Karla asked poking a piece of equipment in the lab.

Hope was by her side in an instant, her tone irritated as she slapped away Karla’s hand. “This is my lab. Where I can work and build things that might help us. This is therefore, my private space that you are not allowed in. Do. Not. Touch. Anything. Now out!” Hope shouted, pushing everyone out.

“Now,” Hope started, satisfied. “Up here is the bridge, basically the control room of the TITUS. There’s nothing really to see at the moment, just an empty room,” Hope stated from the stairway.

There were four doors in the stairway room they were in. The first door behind the group, (the one they came out of), one in the balcony above them accompanied by two ladders to reach the balcony, one in front of them directly, and the last door above the one in front of them, (the bridge), accompanied by a set of stairs on each side of the wall leading to the other second-floor balcony. 

“Across from the bridge are the living quarters. There’s a room for each of us plus a few spare rooms in case of emergency. Also, a laundry room and bathroom. They are just up this ladder, and there are stairs on the other side of the TITUS as well. The rooms are all empty right now aside from a small bed as I figured you would want to customize them yourselves.”

“So, that’s all for the second floor, the last two rooms to show you are on the other side of the living area. Follow me!” Hope waved.

“Hold on, what’s in that room?” Karla asked pointing to the room underneath the bridge.

“Oh that? That’s just the generator room. Nothing but a couple of generators in there,” Hope waved off. 

Walking back through the left hallway and through the living area, they arrived at the right-side hallway of the TITUS.

“As I stated before, this is the right stairwell. It leads to the rooms upstairs and also leads to the roof. It also has an emergency back door outside, but that’s all for here. Now, these last two rooms are far more interesting. Voilà!” Hope smiled, opening the door on her right. 

“This is the TITUS bath!”

The room was beautifully tiled with intricate designs along the floors and walls. A large fountained bath sat at its center with multiple showers along the sides and small cubbies along the wall with the door.

“There are cubbies for clothes, showers, and the large baths fountain has a mini bath on top for Prism, Halo, and Draco if they wish it!” Hope beamed happily.

“Whoa,” May spoke up, astonished.

“But wait, there’s more! And I saved the best for last! I know you guys will love this one!”

Leading everyone to the last room across from the TITUS bath, Hope beamed walking inside the empty, yet sturdy looking room.

“This here is the training room! The walls and floors are especially made to withstand strong magic spells, and the room is fitted with my latest holographic technology to accommodate any of your training needs. Also, if there is anything else you guys need just ask and I’ll upgrade the system for you!” Hope stated proudly, placing her hands on her hips.

“This is so cool!” Karla exclaimed.

“Very nice,” Kiara smiles, Silver nodding along.

“You guys really like it?” Hope asked nervously.

“Hope, this is amazing!” May exclaimed, making her blush.

“Oh! Mizu!” Hope exclaimed suddenly.

“Before I forget, I created signs to go next to the doors for each room with braille on them to help you if needed. There will be ones for each of our rooms as well once we choose them. I wanted to double check with you of course before I put them up to make sure I wrote the braille correctly. I wouldn’t want to lead you to the wrong room by accident,” Hope explained. 

Mizu’s blind eyes seemingly sparkled with gratitude, “Thank you so much Hope!”

“You’re welcome. Well guys, welcome to our new home!” Hope smiled.

“It’s wonderful Hope,” Rachel smiled back.

“So, can we pick out our rooms then?” Karla asked excitedly.

“I don’t see why not, but I was hoping we could all go shopping in town together before we settled in,” Hope stated.

“Well, it’s too late now, we can go shopping in the morning before it gets too busy,” Rachel answered.

“Aw,” Karla, Mizu, and May whined.

“One more night outside won’t kill us, cheer up,” Rachel smiled to them.

“Hold on, even if it isn’t busy, we still can’t just walk out in the open,” Silver spoke.

“We’ll need some kind of disguises or something,” Kiara agreed.

The sky was dark as night has fallen over Cedarwood city. An ominous feeling hung in the air as the clouds rolled in, darkening the sky further. Above the quiet city, six shadows rested atop the highest building.

“This is Team Six reporting in,” a dark-haired man spoke, his eyes hidden as he spoke through the communication device.

“We’ve arrived at Cedarwood city.”