After breakfast, we continued onward towards Yorr. We stayed off the roads enough to still be able to see them with difficulty, but still be able to fully enjoy the wilderness. The breeze through the trees, the sun through the canopy, and the rustle of wildlife led us through the forest during the warmer portion of the day. While we didn't encounter any difficulty with the wildlife, we did get a few chances to test our battling capabilities.
Alexis was a natural battler, I am pretty sure that she has battled before, but she has not yet fully admitted it. She helped coach me a bit as well. She helped explain that the best battles are the ones where it feels like you were fighting as well. She said that the stronger the bond you have with your defender, the better the battle can go for you. You fight as one, and then the need for words fades. She has that connection with Borris, but I've noticed that fighting with Chomper she needs to speak a lot. It was a very drastic difference between her two defenders.
My stomach started to rumble when we came into a clearing in the woods. Alexis laughed at me.
“Hey now, it's not funny to laugh at me for being hungry.”
“You eat too much if you are hungry now.”
“I don't think that's a fair assessment. I am not used to this battling and exploring thing. This is new to me, and it's much more difficult than I initially anticipated. You're much better at it than I am.”
“I wouldn't say that.”
“I would. You and Borris clearly have a strong bond. You've definitely battled before.”
“Borris is my pet. I haven't battled with Borris,” Alexis replied overly defensively.
“I don't think you're lying, but I don't think that's the whole truth either.” Alexis stopped walking, and I stopped to turn and look at her. “What is it?” Alexis just stared at me, her eyes were almost deprived of life, she wasn't exactly looking at me. Something was troubling her. “Alexis?”
“I'm sorry Sen.”
“What are you sorry for Alexis?”
“I, I haven't been entirely honest with you have I?”
“I get that it's a troublesome topic, you don't have to talk about it. I'm just pointing out that I'm on to you.”
“You're right. I'll tell you,” Alexis said, with her eyes finally returning to this reality. She was finally looking at me, not towards me.
“Don't fret about it. I'm not trying to pressure you. I just want you to know that you can talk to me if you want.” I laughed. “We're kind of stuck together anyways.”
Alexis half-heartedly smiled back at me. “Sen, the hematites attacked my family before. That wasn't a lie. They attacked our family because they wanted my parents. They are scientists, much like your father.”
“I'm noticing a trend with the hematites here.”
“I hope you're joking, it's not exactly a secret they've been hunting scientists for whatever reason.”
“I know. It hasn't been a fun life.”
“I know. One night I returned from school and started dinner with my parents. My mom made my favorite meal. It was my turn to pick dinner. You see, I get to pick dinners on Wednesday and Saturday. My mom got to pick it on Tuesday and Friday, and my dad got Monday and Thrursday. Sundays was finishing off any leftovers. It was Wednesday. There was something I saw on the television that I had been dying to try. It included oranges, peanuts and noodles. A special sauce, and some vegetables. I saw it on the television and asked some of my friends if they had ever eaten it, and found out it was rare to get oranges. There are no oranges native here, did you know that? “Anyways, my mother made sure to special order oranges from Earth just to surprise me. It took her several months of planning to surprise me on my Wednesday dinner. The meal looked delicious; it looked just like it did on the television. It smelled like a small forest in the middle of summer. It tasted sweet and a little salty. It was smooth noodles, a nd crispy vegetables, with an extra crunch of nuts.”
Alexis paused there and looked at the ground. She wrapped her arms around her waist and shifted uncomfortably. I remained silent, I didn't want to disrupt her. She would let me know when she was ready.
“She must have spent a long time trying to prepare for this meal. I started mentioning it immediately after the show I saw it on. She would often ask me questions about it over the next few months. I would get excited and show her pictures and some of the research I did. She would always smile afterwards. I don't fully know how much time she spent into that meal, I just know that it took almost six months to send the word for oranges and get them here based on my own research. I never got to thank her for that meal.
“We just started to watch a movie. My father was tasked to do some research about Earth, so it was a documentary on the animals in the north of Earth. They talked a lot about Russia, Alaska and Canada as points of his research. I remember, I remember that the movie was about Canada and Alaska. They were next to each other apparently. Canada was a bit country, and Alaska was a small one. I know documentaries don't sound fun, but, I mean, you know what I mean right Sen?” Alexis looked at me with earnest eyes.
She had tears building up in her eyes, and a few streams that were dripping towards the leaves fallen on the ground. She was looking for someone to understand. She wanted to be accepted for her thoughts. I understood what she meant. I wanted to be a scientist like my father and brother. I knew exactly how she felt. I nodded. She rubbed her forearm across her face to dry her tears, and then she continued.
“I was spending time with my family, and I didn't know anything really about Earth. It was going to be a great experience. It was a nice family night. We barely got fifteen minutes in before my dad heard something outside. We didn't even have times to ask what we heard. As soon as we looked towards the window, the door in the kitchen crumpled under the weight of a large purple creature. It looked like a small but sturdy dinosaur. I could barely see it over the top of our couch, I could just see the top of its head, it had a horn on top of its nose.
“They called for my father and mother. My father instantly jumped over the couch to confront the intruders. He sent Borris behind him to keep me protected. My mother held my face to hers,” Alexis has slowly been pacing without really looking at me, but she had worked her way up to me and when she said this she wrapped her hands around my cheeks and guided my face to hers. Our noses touched barely, and she was looking deep into my eyes. There was worry, distress, and a hint of sternness in her eyes.
“Yes. Just like that. I remember her nose was cold. She said to me 'Alexis, you need to go outside and wait by the stream. Don't move, and don't go with anyone you don't recognize. Go now.' She ushered me to the back door, and turned to face the intruders as well. I couldn't do much else, so I obeyed. Borris followed me outside, and I went by the stream. I heard yelling for a few minutes, and then door opened up. A woman in a hematite robe came outside, she had the omega symbol.
“She looked at me, and smiled. Her smile haunts me in my nightmares. I still have horrific nightmares about that night. But my mother shouted 'Stay away from her!' I still don't know if she was talking to me about the woman, or to the woman about me. The next thing I knew the wall blasted apart and my mothers beautiful serpentine defender swung its tail and flung Omega aside. Her name was Venus. It's the mother of my fish, Venus. She... she... she didn't make it.”
Alexis plopped her head into my shoulder, it was wet almost instantly. I wrapped my arms around her and stroked her hair slightly. She cried for a few seconds before lifting herself up and placing her chin on my shoulder so she could continue talking while we were embraced.
“I didn't see what did it, but somewhere deep within the trees where Omega had landed I remember seeing that lavender light. A bunch of rod-like needles shot from the forest impaling into Venus. She went down quickly, and during a normal fight, under normal circumstances, the needles would've stopped shooting. But Omega was angry, and she wanted blood. I don't remember much after that. There was more yelling, but I wasn't paying attention. I saw the look in Venus' eyes as it lied on the ground being berated by missles.
“She struggled to move her head. She looked at me. She smiled.” Alexis cried loudly into my shoulder again. This time for much longer. I calmly waited for her to continue. When she finished sobbing she started again. “She breathed a large icy breath on the stream and kept breathing until the needles stole the breath from her. Borris grabbed my arm and jumped on the newly frozen stream, placing me on its back. Together we slid down the stream, and Borris breathing warm water behind it to help the stream thaw behind us. When we were finally safe at the coastline, we drifted in the ocean until we found city lights.
“We ended up at Pilvash. I don't remember much after that. We went to the military, they went to our house, and everything was gone. My parents, our house, but not Venus. She was still there, pinned to the ground by those horrific needles. They weren't needles as much as thin rods made from stone. That part I remember. Needles are hollow, and don't do too much damage, these were stone and meant to harm. Venus had died protecting me.
“It was might fault. The hematites have my parents. My parents had been distracted protecting me. If they didn't need to keep an eye on me, they might have stood a chance against the hematites. They might have been able to put up a fight. We might have been able to escape together if I could've held my own, but I knew nothing about battling. I was sent to live with my grandparents, and I still have nightmares. Ever since then, I've been training in secret with Borris, and I caught a fish that would eventually grow into the magnificent creature that protected me.
“I am going to be the best, so that nobody has to worry about me. I will not be caught defenseless again. One day, I'm going to face Omega with my Venus, and I'm going to redeem my mother's, and my, friend. In order to do that, I need to get stronger, and I need to learn to fight. That's what I'm doing. That's why I am traveling with you. You want the same Sen?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Of course I do. They took my father from me. I'm going to find out who did it, and get revenge for my father.”
Alexis finally stood on her own, filled with a renewed determination. “Good. That's my story. That happened a little over a month ago. My grandparents moved here because I was miserable back where they were. They hoped that moving to Kajili would get me to explore more, and help distract me. I'm glad we moved.”
“Why is that?” I asked. Alexis wound up and punched my shoulder harder than was necessary. I was knocked back a few steps. “Ow.”
“Moron,” Alexis said with a hidden smirk betraying her thoughts.
“I'm glad you did to. It's been crazy, but I'm glad that I've had someone with me the entire time.”
“Same. Now lets get going. This tree is bugging me; come on. We're almost there. Another half an hour at the most. Then we can eat somewhere nice, your treat.”
“Don't you mean my treat?” I asked.
Alexis smiled at me devilishly. “Thank you for the offer Sen, I'm looking forward to our next date.” At this Alexis rushed off again leaving me to my thoughts.
I was taken aback slightly. Slowly it dawned on me what she had set up for me. I didn't see it, and walked right into. I appreciated it regardless, she was very clever. “Hey,” I shouted after her, “Am I the first person you used that on?”
“Would you like to find out?” she shouted back.
“Sometime!”
“Well, a second date is the first step to getting a third!”
I smiled. This journey was going to be fun with her around. We would be able to work together to keep each other and our thoughts too occupied to worry about what was happening around us.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
I'm am playing super catchup right now. My family got my Skyrim for the Nintendo switch for my birthday, and then thanks giving was more hectic than last year... and skyrim. And I have little to no self control lol.
I think they are just trying to sabotage me... it worked, but I can still do this. I just can't get caught in a rut. If I do I am going to have to skip parts, and I do apologize for that for you guys.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
I smiled. This journey was going to be fun with her around. We would be able to work together to keep each other and our thoughts too occupied to worry about what was happening around us.
Walking around Yorr was very similar to walking around Avacor. The only difference was the lack of a ferry, but otherwise the two cities might as well been the same. The missing salt in the air gave way to a more pine and oak scented breeze. It was also much warmer away from the shore. I grumbled lightly about getting lunch first, but Alexis was adamant about getting certified first. I didn't complain too much as that was our goal, but I was definitely noticeably hungry.
We looked around the city for about ten minutes before we were able to get directions to the military certification center. They had recently coined the term gym, as people were able to get trained there if they didn't get certified the first time. There was a limit to how many times you could try for certification, no more than three attempts. If you didn't pass the first time, you were allowed to stay and train until you felt comfortable trying again. But if you failed a third time, they didn't want you to try again until after a period of time. I didn't pay attention to that, I wouldn't need it.
Alexis and I walked into the unusually low building for this town. Everything else was roughly three or four stories minimum. This building was only two stories high, but still built like an office building. Greeting us was an open area with a reception desk in the middle, an elevator to the right, and a stairway to the left. Immediately upon entering we were greeted by the at the desk.
“Applicants?” We nodded and the woman gestured for us to approach. “Ar you looking to apply to the military formally, or are you here for the draft?”
“Has it officially been called a draft now?” I asked.
The woman nodded. “Yes. It's still necessary for this screening process, but it's being considered a draft for all intents and purposes. We're not calling it that to the public, but once you start you will be hard-pressed to continue. Is this what you are here for?” Alexis and I both answered in unison. “Okay then, what badge is this for you?”
Alexis and I looked at each other before she asked, “What do you mean badge?”
The woman smiled, and held out her hand. “Where's your certification booklet?”
“We don't have one.”
“Okay, so it's your first. Here, take these,” she said as she rummaged through her desk. She pulled out two very small booklets with maybe a dozen pages total. She opened to the first page, and held it down on the counter. She grabbed my hand, and brought it over to a small machine. “This will sting for a moment, just getting a DNA signature.” She pressed my thumb into te slight indent, and I felt a needle pierce my thumb. She then placed my thumb on a more metallic looking portion of the page, and the blood patterned into it like a fingerprint. She did the same for Alexis in her book.
“These are now yours, you'll need to keep them to verify your certification. If you lose them you'll have to pay to replace them. Whenever you get certified, you'll need to present these. Any questions?”
We both shook our heads. The woman continued.
“Perfect. The captain here is Captain Kristina. He will be providing your tests when you are ready. If you think you are ready, you may go downstairs. If you wish to train, the upstairs is the gym, this floor is the pool, again downstairs is the arena. Good luck.”
Alexis grinned and she pulled on my arm eagerly. “Come on Sen, let's go.” I let myself get dragged through the stairs down to the arena. It was more compact than its name implied. This clearly had been an office building that had been altered by removing most of the walls. It was entirely restructured in order to safely accommodate. It looked like a small warehouse with a few benches off to the side.
A small group of what we assumed to be soldiers were lounging at a table in the back corner of the room. They look at us as the door heralded our arrival. One of them pointed at us and waved eagerly, it was Tiffany from Delknap. She jumped up from her seat and yelled over to us. “Hey you two! Glad you could make it. Kris, this is the pair I was telling you about. I knew they'd show up.”
Tiffany was not in the typical military uniform, she was clearly in casual clothes. She was wearing a sleek red sleeveless shirt, a short white pleated skirt, and white boots that went up to her knees. She had two leather belts that rested on her hips and crossed in an X in front. She had a single ribbon holding her long blonde hair in a pony tail. She ran over to us and threw her arms around me. I was shocked until she said, “I'm sorry about the other night. Did you find your brother?”
“No. We're hoping that we're following him at this point.”
Tiffany cursed. “I'm sorry Sam... no wait. It was Sen right? I was following orders to minimize the total potential for panic. It doesn't mean I was happy about it.” She turned to Alexis. “I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name before. Who are you?”
“I'm Alexis,” she held out her hand, “Nice to formally meet you.”
“Same here,” she turned to her comrades at the back table,”Come on Kristina, let's get the show on the road.” Kristina stared blankly at Tiffany. Even though Tiffany was facing away from us, she clearly rolled her eyes. “Come on, the quicker we certify them, the quicker we can get back to your banquet.”
“It's not that,” a woman, Kristina, said as she stood up. She had a light white shirt with sea-blue trim and blue jeans. She had brown hair that went down to her shoulders, and long bangs in the front that covered her right eye. “You make it sound as if you knew that they were coming right now.”
“You're right, but nah. I just get excited for this stuff. We need to take these hematites out. They've been a nuisance for long enough. I think this draft strategy is perfect.”
“Indeed.” Kristina walked over to us, but stopped a few meters away. I was able to see that she had light green eyes as the light reflected off of them. “With two of you, I don't think there's a need to have two different battles. I think one battle will suffice. Hmm, how to make it interesting.” She tapped her foot as she thought. It echoed throughout the arena. “We'll do a two versus one, however whoever lands the finishing blow on my defender gets certified. The other trainer can try again in a few days. That is my test for you two.”
Alexis and I looked at each other. Only one of us would be able to get certified. Alexis clearly had a devilish grin forming. “Sounds interesting. Can we discuss this for a moment?”
Kristina nodded. “Of course.”
“Kristina, that hardly seems fair.”
“Tiffany, I am not saying they can't both get certified, just not immediately.”
“But still.”
“Enough, if they disagree, I'm sure they will mention it soon enough.”
“What are we going to do about this Sen?” Alexis whispered, trying to keep out plans from them.
“I have no real preference either way.”
“But it doesn't seem fair. It would just delay our journey.”
“Yes and no. I think we should just give it our all. What ever happens happens, and we'll adjust accordingly.”
“If that's what you think.”
“Yeah. At this point, it's too late to turn back, let's have some fun with it.”
“Alright.” Alexis and I turned back to face Kristina. “We accept the conditions.”
“Perfect. Also, I want this to be a blind battle. I know what I'll use as a defender, but I won't tell you. We will pick our defenders, and reveal them all at the same time. Again, this is a two versus one, despite how many defenders you have at your command, you may only use one. This is to represent some of the difficulties you will face in combat, you might not have strengths against your opponent, you may even only have weaknesses. However, you must learn to prevail.” She held her hand above her wemin. “Let me know when you are ready.”
Alexis and I met eyes and nodded. I still had one question. “Are we able to discuss with each other what defender we'll use.”
“It's up to you.”
“Come on Sen, let's stay with the blind battle theme.”
“That's fine with me.”
I smiled, Alexis already knew that I'd be choosing Spurf anyway, and I assumed she would use Borris. It's not like we really needed to discuss anything. “I'm ready.”
“I'm ready too.”
“Then we shall begin.”
[Alexis uses Borris. Sen uses Spurf. Kristina uses (Bastiodon). Bastiodon is clearly a higher level than the other two, but is invested almost entirely in defense. Alexis and Sen work together to bring it down low. The battle is not quite over.]
Alexis shouted over to me. “Sen, knock it out.”
I shook my head. “I'm too weak. You have the guaranteed knock out. Go for it.”
“Fine by me. Come on Borris, finish it off.”
Borris blasted a powerful jet of water, that hit the dinosaur squarely in its face. It hit it so hard that the massive beast was actually being pushed backwards a few inches. When the beast fell to its knees, Borris stopped. We heard applause from around the room. We hadn't noticed, but a few other people, besides the group that was previously here, had showed up to watch.
“Well done you two,” Kristina said, as she returned Bastion to its pec. “Very well done. Come over here and lets heal up.”
Spurf ran over to me, clearly worn out, but clearly smiling as well. “You did great buddy. Let's take a rest.” I returned him to his pec and turned to watch Alexis.
Alexis had already jumped on top of Borris and wrapped her arms around his neck. “That was great Borris! You're getting much stronger now.” I walked over to her and she returned Borris to his pec. We walked over to where Kristina was standing, there was a large red machine with multiple slots in it.
“Go ahead, put you pecs in there. This machine will heal your defenders.”
“Is this what I think it is?” I asked.
“Are you a scientist?” Kristina asked.
“Mostly.”
“Then yes. This is the aura manipulator. It will recharge the auras of the creatures in the pecs.”
“This will age them though. It doesn't heal them as much as it makes time go faster, which, in turn, encourages growth and healing.”
“Yes and no. You are not correct, but it does heal as well, it's not just increasing time. But do expect some changes when it is done.”
I nodded.
“That was amazing you two! Great teamwork!”
“Thanks Tiffany.”
“Kristina, are you really only going to certify Alexis?”
“Of course not. That was part of the test Tiffany. If they didn't work together, they wouldn't have won. But they stayed together and worked as a team even knowing that it was not going to be beneficial to both. That heart is what we need more of. That teamwork is commendable. Congratulations, I'm glad to certify you two.”
Alexis had a huge smile and slapped my back. “You get certified too Sen, that's great.”
“Thanks.”
“I apologize if I concerned you Lieutenant.”
“Blegh, don't call me that. I trusted that you knew what you were doing when you told me off.”
“Still, I apologize.”
“Don't worry about it. We're not in the field, we're at your gym, so even then you kind of have rank on me here. I'm not going to tell the general if that's what you're worried about.”
“Please, since when have I ever worried about rank?”
“That's true. Hey, getting back to your banquet, I'm taking a plus one.”
“Is it that captain,” Kristina started to say, but Tiffany gagged loudly interrupting her.
“Nope. I'm not going to waste my plus one on someone who is already invited. Honestly, I don't know yet. But just put me down as having a plus one. I'm not showing up alone.”
“That's fine. Sen, Alexis, our defenders are healed. Come join me at the table and I'll give you your certification.” We walked over to the table and Kristina pulled a small box over to her. She opened the lid and inside was a set of stamps. “May I have your booklets please?” We handed her our certification booklets, and she stamped the first page on both of them, and handed them back.
“You both fought well for your first badge.”
“These are just stamps though,” Alexis mentioned.
“Yes. Making badges was to cost inefficient, we initially planned to have badges, but realized that most of the people getting these would not remain in the military once the war was over. We changed to stamps very quickly. Their significance is the same, so the terminology was kept. Believe me when I say that you are not getting the short hand here.”
“Here,” Tiffany said scrounging around through a pouch on her waist, “I still have a few if you want. What's you favorite color you two?”
“I like black,” Alexis answered.
“I like violet,” I responded.
“Perfect, I have a few of each of those.” She held out her hands, pooled inside was a dozen or so polished stone-looking badges of varying shapes and colors. They weren't large, about the size of my thumb, but they were cool. I definitely wanted one. There were three deep violet, two jet black, a ruby red, four dark blue, a forest green, and a marbled white. She picked out two of the colors we asked, and held them out for us. “The designs on them don't matter much anymore, just the number you have. And just to be clear, nobody is going to think you have two, we're counting stamps now.”
“Thank you though, it's very pretty.”
“Don't mention it. It's my pleasure. Say, are you two going to Naviro next?”
“Yes, after lunch we're going to head there next.” Alexis replied.
“Perfect! I can drive you there,” Tiffany said as she started walking towards the door. “I'll see you all tomorrow night.”
“Oh no, we wouldn't want to impose on you Tiffany.”
“You're not. I'm going there now to collect Keitho's badges.”
“Captain,” Kristina interjected.
“Captain Keitho,” Tiffany over-emphasized. “I thought you didn't care about rank?”
“We should be more formal than that I think.”
“Fine. Anyways, I'm heading there now. I'll treat you to lunch and give you a ride, under one condition.”
“What's that?” Alexis asked.
Tiffany turned and playfully glared at us, “You better not lose to captain Keith.”
“We would never dream of it,” I said.
“Great! Let's go,” Tiffany ushered us out the door and into the stairwell. “What do you want to eat?”
“I was craving a sandwich earlier today.”
“You're not even paying and you want a sandwich?”
“I'm a simple man, I've got simple tastes.”
“My wallet agrees with you,” Tiffany laughed. “What about Alexis?”
“You don't have to do this you know?”
“I owe you two for the other night. It's the least I could do. And it might help Sen catch up with his brother if he's ahead of you guys. It's a win for everybody.”
“Well, when you put it that way, I won't stop you. I want a pancake breakfast, for lunch.”
“Now that's more like it. You still want you 'sandwich' Sen?” Tiffany asked drawing out each syllable of sandwich.
I smiled. “I might double-down, you never know.”
“Ooooh. Well I will have some waffles myself. I know just where to go. Where they have breakfast,” Tiffany turned her head towards me, “and a sandwich. Come on.” Tiffany hopped into a rather boxy camouflage-colored vehicle with no roof or doors. It had a windshield and some bars, but that was about it. “Yeah it's military, what can I say. Hop in... Literally.” Tiffany laughed at her own joke.
Alexis and I both climbed into the backseat. We were looking around for seat belts, but we found none. I looked up. Tiffany had donned some large sunglasses, and was looking at us in the mirror. “Nope. It's military. You two love birds gonna leave me alone up here. That means I control the radio.” The engine roared to life as Tiffany started the car. “Just kidding, you're not going to be able to hear anything with this bad boy! And we're off!”
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
Cool beans. I have three days to write a 20000 word essay. Let's goooo!
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
This one is much longer than I anticipated. I lost track. I was actually going to write more, but I'm glad I paused where I did.
Spoiler
Alexis and I both climbed into the backseat. We were looking around for seat belts, but we found none. I looked up. Tiffany had donned some large sunglasses, and was looking at us in the mirror. “Nope. It's military. You two love birds gonna leave me alone up here. That means I control the radio.” The engine roared to life as Tiffany started the car. “Just kidding, you're not going to be able to hear anything with this bad boy! And we're off!”
Tiffany brought us over to a breakfast bar across the town. I ended up getting a sausage and egg sandwich while the two women had their pancakes and waffles alike. Tiffany had a military discount and so she didn't let us pay anything. It was strange seeing Tiffany like this. Not Tiffany herself, but a soldier in general. They seem almost robotic when they are on duty, sometimes distant, but Tiffany, casually, was completely different.
After our brunch, Alexis left the tip to which she told Tiffany, “You can't stop me.”
Tiffany shrugged and dragged both of us to the shop just behind it. When Alexis objected, Tiffany stated, “We have time, I'm driving you two remember? It'll take an hour, not several.” At this point it was clear that I was along for the ride. The two women flew around trying on different hats, and shirts and skirts all around.
I mostly smiled and nodded, lost more in thought than helping. Alexis tended to stay with the more black or dark casual clothes. Tiffany was more adventurous and trying on almost everything. They continuously asked me for my opinion.
“What do you think of this?”
“How does this look on me?”
“This is too tight.”
“Is this too big?”
“Is this too revealing?”
“Sen, you didn't even look this time.”
“Did you want me to stare?”
“Well, I want your honest opinion, duh.”
“Yeah Moron, come on.”
I actually turned to focus, and I wasn't expecting what I saw. Both of the women had put on semi-formal dresses. Well, Alexis had a semi-formal dress. Tiffany's seemed more formal.
Alexis had a simple black dress that look like silk, but it had a pleated red skirt that help give it volume. The dress was layered in a way that made the back flare out a bit as if she wear wearing a black trench coat over her dress. The dress covered her shoulders in delicate poofs of fabric, but it was V cut all the way down to her belly button. She twirled around uncharacteristically, and the dress swirled like waves around her.
Tiffany had on a dress that reminded me of an early sunset sky. It had a very flowery design in that parts of the dress overlapped each other as petals of a flower would. At the top of each petal it was a deep blue color, and it slowly faded to a lavender at the tip of each petal. The petals ended just below the waist, and they covered a white pink skirt that went to her knees. The dress had no shoulders and was cropped just over her chest and wrapped around her back. There were two long violet ribbons that hung from her back down to her ankles. When she turned to give me a look, they fluttered around her. She had long gloves that went over her elbows that matched the color scheme of the dress.
Tiffany coughed to get my attention. “If we wanted you to stare Sen, we would've invited you back with us. What do you think?”
“What am I supposed to say? You both look beautiful.”
Alexis looked a little hurt, but Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Ugh, typical. Look, Kristina is having a birthday party tomorrow night, and I want to be turning heads. Start with me. Do you think this would work?”
“Oh definitely,” I responded.
“Good start, why?”
I sighed, defeated. “I like the flower style. That along with the colors, and the way it is layered really stands out.” I reached over to touch one of the petals. “The fabric texture is a bit harsh, but as far as looks go, you've got that down. I think the tails are a nice touch.”
“Hahah! Yes. I want to linger just a bit. I love the tails too. Okay, now, your turn Alexis.”
Tiffany grabbed Alexis' arm and brought her closer to me as well. Alexis sheepishly followed and twirled in front of me again.
“Even though it's a simpler design, I think it's more fitting for you. It's subtle, but not forgettable.” I touched Alexis' shoulder, the fabric was definitely smooth like silk. “The texture is much better.”
“Do you think it's too revealing?” She asked.
“Um,” I stuttered. I had ignored the distraction that was the low V.
Tiffany snickered. “That's a yes if I ever heard it. Come on Alexis, a red undershirt, and everyone would think its part of the dress.”
Alexis shuffled uncomfortably. “You don't have to buy this for me, Tiffany.”
“Oh, I'm not. I promised you lunch. But it wouldn't be fair if I got to dress up and you didn't.”
Alexis laughed relieved. “That makes me feel a lot better.”
“Plus, you got to see what your boyfriend really thinks of you,” she said as she patted Alexis on the back.
“We're not together in that way,” Alexis objected.
“We're just neighbors,” I refuted.
“Oh, I didn't know. The way you two battled together, you could've fooled anybody. You make a good team. You both will make great additions to the military force.” I smiled. “Come on Alexis, let's get changed before Sen gets a nosebleed.
“Wha hey!”
Both of the women disappeared to the dressing rooms with devilish grins. When they were back in their normal clothes Tiffany bought the dress and we piled back into her car. This time, however, Alexis sat in the front with Tiffany. Tiffany leaned back and gently put her hand on my knee as if she were consoling me. “Sorry Sen, she's taken.” She smiled. “Let's go!”
As we drove, it was clear that the two women were getting along much better after their shopping spree. I left them to their chatter and focus on the wind flying through my hair. I wasn't completely left out of the conversations though. We found out that Tiffany was one of four children, the other three were killed during the war. She signed up for the military to avenge her brothers and sister. She's a lieutenant who is focused on strategizing for the lower ranks. She leads a squadron of five: the four captains we have to get certification from, and a fifth lead captain whom they refer to as Sarge.
About half an hour into our amicable drive, Tiffany's radio produced harsh static as the military line overruled the public radio. “Red alert soldiers! Hematites are sieging Silo. We request immediate back up. Repeat. Hematites are sieging Silo. We request immediate back up.”
Tiffany cursed and scowled. “I'm sorry you two. I have to go there. These rotten hematites.”
“You can drop us off here,” Alexis mentioned.
“No, it actually might be beneficial for you to come along. Captain Keith won't be in Naviro with this going on. We'll find something for you to do, and you'll be able to see Keith for certification afterwards.”
Alexis looked back at me. I nodded.
“Glad to here it. Silo is just a few minutes away, we'll probably be one of the first back ups. That gives us some extra time to prepare. Perfect. We'll get these scrotons and teach them a lesson they won't forget.”
Tiffany grew awkwardly silent for the remainder of trip. She sped through the roads and turned onto the road to Silo. In the distance we could see the city, and pillars of smoke rising from behind several buildings.
“It's good that we are able to travel here. That means they attacked from Kajili. They are based on the ocean. As long as we can hold the coast,we should be able to prevent this from escalating. Hmm, why would they attack Silo? There's no strategic benefit for them to do so. It's undefendable and surrounded except for the coast. I don't think there are any substantial materials either. There's a news station, is there something they were looking for there?”
“If it's a news station, there could've been some discovery that they are looking for information about. They are constantly harassing and kidnapping scientists. If they wanted to monopolize something this would be the way to do it!” I shouted over the wind.
Tiffany looked almost surprised. She shook her head startled. “I'm sorry I'm ignoring you guys. I'm focusing.”
“Ignore away,” I jested.
Tiffany started brooding again and talking under her breath. To be fair, I don't think she was talking under her breath, just that the wind was roaring too loudly for me to hear without focusing. As we drove nearer, the smell of the sea came back to me. It wasn't a pleasant smell given the recent events.
“We're going to be driving into camp. I need you to stick with me until further notice. Understood?”
“Yeah.”
“Also,” Tiffany paused to roll her eyes, “Call me Lieutenant.”
“Yes Lieutenant”
“Not right now, hell I hate that title. But don't burn bridges with the military. Use titles with anyone you see unless given direct orders not to. Also, follow orders. Fiev, this was a terrible idea.”
“Tiffany! We're here now, we'll help however we can. Don't worry about us, you worry about you, we'll follow suit.”
Tiffany shook her head. We skidded to a stop as we approached a group of parked military vehicles. Tiffany jumped out and wrapped around to the trunk. She pulled a large duffle bag from it, and carried it hastily through the group of cars. Alexis and I followed her silently. We saw a few straggling soldiers making their way to a large tent set up in the middle of the road. Tiffany walked up to the tent and directly walked to a large man in a dark black cloak.
“Lieutenant Tiffany reporting for duty Commander.”
“Perfect, here is your briefing, I need an assessment as quickly as possible,” he said to her in a grunt. He handed her piece of paper, and Tiffany instantly started looking it over.
“Yes Commander.”
She laid it on the table and placed her duffle bag on the ground besides her. It was not that I realized that the table was home to a map of the city and surrounding area. Tiffany was moving one finger to read her briefing, and another finger to follow paths on the city map. She was muttering under her breath. After a few moments of us shifting awkwardly around soldiers, Tiffany cleared her throat.
“Commander, is Cynthia herself here.”
“Present,” a female spoke from among the crowd. She stepped forwards gathering attention. She was wearing all black, shirt, pants trenchcoat, and a scarf. She had short orange hair that went just below her ears, and the tips were green. She had a green strand of hair dangling in front of her left eye. Her right eye was covered in a scar that went from her forehead to her cheek. Her golden eyes pierced the silence louder than her voice.
“What Phillip?”
The commander answered this time. “He is manning the coast with the res of his crew.”
“That works. Both of you, here is what I think we should do.” Tiffany pointed towards the map drawing Cynthia and the commander closer to watch. “The vikings can keep the coast. That will prevent further reinforcements from coming, and them from easily retreating.”
“But, the vikings?” A soldier started to say but was cut off by Cynthia.
“The vikings methods are questionable at best, but their priority is to help. Let them.”
“Thank you, moving on. Cynthia how many ammonites are here?”
“Twenty including me, maybe a few stragglers.”
“Okay, we don't know why the hematites are attacking here. But we heard rumors that they may want some information from the news station. Thus their focus will probably be there. However, they may be causing a distraction elsewhere to ensure a safe infiltration. Here's what I propose. I want the ammonites to work on the outskirts of the city evacuating everyone who has yet. Then work your way in towards the central district. This will help minimize casualties, and prevent land escape.”
“Understood.”
“As for us, I want us to start at the central district and fan out looking for the hematites. I want to ignore a direct conflict at the news station for the time being until we are better able to understand the situation. I want everyone to work in pairs, make sure you have each others backs. Is that understood?”
“Yes lieutenant!”
“Commander does that work for you?”
“It does lieutenant.”
Tiffany turned to us. “You two, I said pairs, but you two can't be your own pair. You'll need to split up to work with a stronger trainer. Do you have a preference of where you go?”
“I'll help evacuate,” Alexis volunteered.
“Perfect, go see Cynthia, before she gets too far. Sen, what about you?”
“I'll stick with the city.”
“Great. I'll be responsible for you. Alexis, you tell Cynthia that she is responsible for you.”
“I'm right here Tiffany.”
“Oops, sorry. Take care of Alexis. She'll be helping you evacuate.”
“That's fine. I accept responsibility for her. I've worked with her before.”
“Even better. Sen, let's go.”
Alexis and I met eyes, and nodded to each other.
“See you soon,” I said.
“Good luck,” she replied.
Tiffany had pulled a hefty vest out of her duffle bag, and handed it to me. When I accepted it, she grabbed another one for herself.
“These will turn aside most common forms of injury. It's the uncommon ones we are going to have to watch out for.” I nodded, but Tiffany grabbed my arm to get my attention. “Sen, the uncommon ones are the most common ones you know. Just don't get hit.”
“I won't.”
Tiffany sighed deeply. She blinked blankly a few times then helped me tighten my vest. I helped her tighten her vest afterwards. The tent was full of soldiers now, the ammonites had left to start evacuating the city. The soldiers were staring at the commander. After a long silence, the commander spoke up. “Alright soldiers. We have our task. Run a course through to the city center, that is district five for you locals. Then I want us to fan out like clockwork to comb the city. When you come to a building, you investigate, then leave. We are incapacitating any vermin in our way. Any questions?”
The tent filled with voices in unison. “No sir!”
“Perfect. Stay in pairs. We'll drive in, to drive them out. Our mission starts now. Failure is not an option. I want survivors if possible, but your lives are more important. Now move it!”
Tiffany and I worked our way over to her car. I jumped in the front this time, as she started the engine. She delicately maneuvered around soldiers and other cars and got in line with the convoy. We were moving slowly at first, the commander in the lead. Once the line filled with several dozen vehicles, the commander waved us onward. The convoy sped into the center of Silo.
I kept to myself, as I didn't want to disturb Tiffany. She was very focused and looked almost angry. I didn't notice it before, but she had tied her pigtails into a single braid behind her. The roar of engines echoed hollowly through the city. Debris and dust was every where, and occasional explosions could be heard over towards the coast.
We encircled the block with the town hall in the center of the city. There was a lot more military force than I remembered being in the tent, it was more crowded than I thought it should be. Once Tiffany stopped her car, we jumped out and nodded to the nearby soldiers. We started the process of combing out the hematites.
Tiffany and I quickly crossed the street and went into the first building we came across. The first floor was completely ransacked, and the second floor was unapproachable due to a collapsed ceiling. We left and walked around the corner to enter the next building. We left it alone as it had collapsed so bad that we couldn't open the door. We continued slowly working our way down the block examining buildings and ruins alike, skipping only those being investigated by other soldiers.
We crossed the street to go to the third block and saw the news station ahead. I turned to round the corner, as Tiffany said we should ignore it for now, but she motioned me forwards instead.
“I thought we were supposed to ignore it?”
“I meant, not to swarm it like we knew that's where they would be. We still follow formation and will reach there in turn.”
“Okay. I understand.”
“Good, this building next,” Tiffany said as she gestured to an apartment building in front of her.
Tiffany held her gun over my shoulder as I cautiously opened the door. A computerized click was all the warning we got before the ground erupted in a pink light beneath us. I felt my feet dangling loosely beneath me for a few moments until my back slammed against the side of a car. Tiffany slammed into the car just next to me, crunching my left arm in the process.
Tiffany cursed and struggled up to her feet. I couldn't understand her, but she was yelling something and looking around the windows. I struggled to get up. My arm, while not broken, was in some serious pain. I looked at the entryway to the apartment, it was completely obliterated. The doorway now opened into each adjoining room, the stone staircase that led to the apartment complex didn't exist anymore, except as dust rising in the air. But none of that made any sense. With that amount of destruction, we should've been completely torn to shreds, not simply thrown back.
I didn't get to think long. The arm I had be coddling was suddenly unable to move. I struggled and flailed as much as I could, but my arm wouldn't move. I reached to touch my shoulder, and my fingers found several bony protrusions sticking into my shoulder and pinning me to the car I had been leaning against. My eyes went wide and my arm started going numb.
“Tiffany!” I shouted deafly.
I really didn't need to bother. Tiffany was already armed with a electronic knife that cut through the bony spikes with ease. She wasted no time and grabbing my vest and hauling me over the car. She jumped over it herself. My hearing was slowly coming back and all I could hear was Tiffany cursing continuously. She motioned, and a small white bipedal creature with green hair appeared. It had no arms and floated delicately above the ground. I heard her clearly as she said, “Heal him.”
The magical creature floated over to me and leaned its head to my shoulder and some pink energy sparkled out of my shoulder and floated towards the creatures mouth. It had a mouth? I hadn't realized it before, but my vision had apparently been going fuzzy. I could see the creature in greater detail now as my vision returned. My arms began to feel again, and I was able to rotate my shoulder even though it hurt still. I smiled.
With my newly returned vision, I was able to spot a figure one story up in the news station looking down on us. This person was shrouded in a brown leather cloak. I pointed at them to Tiffany, who was distracted by someone behind us. A black flash erupted from that cloaked figure and bolted to somewhere behind me. I could hear the scream of someone being attacked. I forced myself to look over the edge of the window amidst the pink sparkles, and I saw a hematite pinned to the ground by a black feline with blue highlights. It was Nocturne.
Nocturne had finished maiming the hematite and perked its ears up in warning. It looked over at me, before vanishing into a lavender light. I turned back to the news station and saw the cloaked figure turn and run further into the building. I tapped Tiffany and pointed to the news station.
“Tiffany, that's my brother! We have to go there now. My brother's in there.”
Tiffany turned to acknowledge me. “Are you sure? You were out for a few seconds there.”
“That defender was my brothers.”
“I'm sure a lot of defenders will look similar when you have poison coursing through your veins Sen, we'll get there soon...”
“No. That defender my brother discovered two days ago. The first of its kind. Look,” I said as I pulled out my index. It wasn't very full, but I opened the entry for my brothers defender. “Look, there's only one picture still.”
Tiffany glanced over it, and sighed. “Fine.” She turned to the fairy creature that had just removed the poison from my body. “Hey Fae, keep us safe.”
Tiffany's defender nodded and winked with a smile. It produced a glowing barrier and hovered at our shoulder height. I didn't notice it had eyes initially as well. I had no idea my vision had gotten that poor in that short a time. Tiffany pointed to a news truck just a few meters away from the entrance to the station, then she wrapped her arm in mine.
“Let's go,” she said as she helped me up. She half-dragged, half-guided me to the truck with her fairy healer close behind us. A few times the shield glowed brightly and a loud sizzling could be heard. I assumed someone had tried attacking us and failed. As we rounded safely behind the truck, we heard another explosion in the distance. “How are you feeling?” she said as she hugged me tightly.
“Much better,” I replied. “Why didn't the bomb kill us?” I asked.
“I had Fae following us. She held up a shield as soon as she sensed danger. She has a faster reaction time than either of us. Any faster and we wouldn't have even blown back at all.”
“We were ambushed then?”
“Yeah, that creature took out one, I took out another. There are two left however. They won't be able to immediately follow us, but we won't be safe here for long.”
“We need to get into the news station. Forgetting my brother for now, it will give us a decent layout of the surrounding city. It's the tallest building in the city by far. I'd be surprised if they don't have someone there.”
“I know all of this Sen, but we need to be ready for a fight. Are you sure that you are all set?”
“Of course. I'm ready when you are.”
“Okay.” Tiffany touched her wemin, and Fae disappeared, but a new dark skinned defender replaced her. It was covered in a sleek red carapace, and it seemed to have two razor blades just above the wrists of its hands. Tiffany pointed to the front door. “Katana, don't break it, but make sure that door is unlocked when we get there.” Katana nodded its red-helmeted head and zoomed off to the door. It ran its hands all along the gaps between the door and the threshold easily perferating through any locking mechanisms.
It turned back and nodded to us, and Tiffany returned it to its pec. Tiffany again helped me up. I stretched my arm again and rotated it to make sure I had mobility. I turned to face Tiffany, “Thanks for that.”
“You can thank me by not having that happen again.”
“I certainly don't plan on it.”
“Okay. We can simply run for it. They couldn't have caught up that quickly.”
“Let's go.”
We dash the last few meters to get to the news station, and opened the door to get inside. As I closed the door behind me, I could see lots of little holes where Katana had drilled for us. Tiffany quickly dragged a few overturned desks and miscellaneous furniture to bar the door. I was going to help, but she waved me off. “We're not going to be able to fully barricade it, I mostly did it to be an annoyance. We'll be able to hear them as they come in. It's precautionary.”
I turned to absorb the destruction around me. The news station was entirely upturned. Papers were moving along the floor like a rodent. Many chairs had keeled over or been disemboweled. Desks and tables were broken, and there were even two bodies among the chaos. Tiffany ran over to one, and I ran over to the other.
It was a man dressed in a suit. His head was bloody, but the rest of his body looked undisturbed. I held my fingers up to his throat and found no pulse. I moved them around to a different position, but found nothing still. He was dead.
“Tiffany, how is she?”
“Dead. Yours?”
“He's dead too.”
“We're not going to learn much by staying down here. Lets go up to the next floor. Sen, joking aside, be careful. Stay behind me, I have the stronger defenders. You be my support.”
“I understand. You tell me what you need, I'll do it.”
“Follow me.” Tiffany tapped her hip and new defender appeared in front of her illuminated by lavender light. It was a waist-high sphinx-like creature with white fur, a white mane, and with sepia-toned skin. It had angelic wings that attached just between its shoulders. It had a short horn protruding from its forehead. It cooed gently when it saw Tiffany, and ran its head into her side. She patted it affectionately. “Sombra. Is anybody up there?” Tiffany asked as she pointed towards the stairs.
Sombra quickly turned its head squinting its ruby eyes. It raised its short snout smelling at the air, and looked all over the ceiling. It walked around the desecrated lobby almost as if it were scanning it robotically. It made a quick circle of the building and returned to Tiffany and started growling. It lowered itself towards the floor, ready to pounce.
“Sen, I need you to have a defender out now.”
I nodded and released Spurf. As soon as Spurf appeared, I noticed he had changed. It was larger than it was before, about the size of a loaf of bread. It's once fluffy fur was now more sinewy, and parts of it seemed to layer heavily on its back. It almost seemed as if was the start of a shell. It stood on two legs, and had two stringy arms. He now had a distinguished head but no neck.
“Whoa,” I muttered under my breath. Spurf ran over to me and wrapped its arms around my leg. It was almost vine-like as he had no definite hands. Minor strands of vine were pulsing along its body. “You've grown up, huh?”
Spurf nodded at me. Sombra sauntered over to look at Spurf and sniffed at it. After a few seconds it returned to Tiffany's side ready to pounce at an enemy. Tiffany motioned for me to follow her and she cautiously ascended the stairs, one step at a time. She had her gun out, and was scanning ahead of her fluently, just behind Sombra which was scanning the room in its own way. Spurf and I were behind them not really knowing what to do.
A high-pitched noise faintly ringed throughout the staircase, and Tiffany held up her hand to stop us. She looked down at Sombra and whispered something inaudibly. Sombra gestured to its left with its head. Tiffany held her hand to stop us, but angled herself to be facing the left of the staircase for the next few steps. She looked around the wall and we could see her body illuminate with a faint blue light. Sombra started to growl.
“Stop what you're doing and surrender now.”
I heard a man laugh from the top of stairs. “No need for firearms, we're more civilized than that.”
“Your methods are barbaric, not civilized.”
“Hardly. You have two options. You can retreat until we're done here, which we almost are. Are you can stay, fight, and lose.”
“We're not scared of you Epsilon.”
“It's not me have to fear. Its my friends. Individually we are nothing, but together we are strong. As I said, we are almost done here. You needn't waste your life.”
“I told you to stop what you are doing. It's over. You are surrounded.”
“Stop lying. I've been watching from here, I know where your forces are and are not. We took down your friend earlier, and you sought refuge here to hide yourself. I could kill you quickly if I wanted. That choice is up to you.”
Tiffany grimaced and readjusted herself. I climbed the stairs slowly making sure to not reveal myself. As far as this man, Epsilon, was concerned, I was dead and Tiffany was alone.
“Epsilon, we're going to take back this news station, and if you resist, we'll have no other option but to use force.”
“Mega,” was the last thing I heard before the sound of a cannon broke their conversation. A pulse of blue energy pushed into Tiffany and pushed her out of my field of vision. Sombra growled but was able to stand her ground until a large monstrous blue spider made of stone tackled into it. This creature had four legs built like tree trunks and a body that was shaped like a bullet.
Sombra was caught off-guard by this creature, but managed to get its paws on top of it. The creature brought its arm abnormally back to swat Sombra away, but Sombra had already jumped back towards Tiffany's new location. The blue creature, Mega, followed. Mega was slightly larger than Sombra, and based on its body, Sombra would need help. I looked at Spurf, and we nodded to eaach other.
I heard sounds of crashing tables and breaking machinery coming from the top of the stairs, and I heard some delicate and precise steps coming from the left. I held Spurf in my arm, and I brought him back in a throwing position. As soon as I saw a foot, I curled back just a bit further, waited one more second, and threw Spurf at the man passing the threshold.
As Spurf flew through the air, I felt him move his vines and connect with this man. I felt my muscles pulse as the vines wrapped and snared the man into an uncomfortable position. I felt my fingers tense as I wrapped my hands around the limbs of this hematite caught in my grasp, but none of this was me. I was still in the stairwell.
“What is this?” The man, a hematite with a symbol for epsilon embroidered on the back of his robes, shouted. He broke my trance. He was wrapped in a numerous series of vines. Spurf had wrapped his hands together, his feet together, and attached the mans body to the wall just barely in my vision.
“Call off your attack,” I threatened.
“I will not. You presumptuous...” Spurf tightened its hold on the man, his shoulders were slowly being pulled backwards. Mega shot towards the man, but Sombra jumped it and forced it to the side. The man cursed, and Spurf pulled tighter.
“Call of your attack.”
“I haven't lost yet boy.” He struggled to laugh, but I heard sickening pop as his shoulder dislocated. He didn't enjoy that sensation.
I walked up to him and looked into his eyes. He had no hair, and dark brown eyes. He gnashed his teeth uselessly as I approached. Sombra was struggling to keep Mega away from us. I bent down and reached for the mans wemin. I tapped all of the pecs it was holding. None of them glowed, so Mega remained.
“Haha, that doesn't work child. You're going to have to kill me to stop me.”
“Don't Sen.” Tiffany called out from the wall behind me. She was crumpled and weakly lying against the wall. Her leg was bleeding through her skirt.
I turned back to Epsilon. “Stop attacking us.”
“You know what you have to do,” he snarled at me. Spurf tightened more, but not enough.
“Sen, we need him alive. We don't need to kill him.”
I turned away from Tiffany's stare. “They killed my father! I watched him die at their hands! They need to pay!”
“Sen, please,” Tiffany reach out to me, “Revenge won't help. Dead he's useless, alive he can help us.”
Spurf tightened his hold again. I heard the other shoulder dislocate. The man grunted his agony, but choked out a laugh. I walked over to the quarreling defenders studying the scuffle cautiously. Mega kept looking for opportunities to launch an attack my way, but Sombra was deflecting them all.
A large burst of blue energy came at me, but Sombra flexed its wings and redirected it out of a window. The sunlight poured in through the hole where the window used to be lightly blinding me. It illuminated all of the dust floating inside. Mega crawled to my right, but Sombra jumped with the help of its wings to pounce on it, and drive it further away. It flipped over a desk, that Sombra dodged, and launched another burst of energy deflected into the wall beside me.
When I was close enough for it to hear me over their scuffle, I shouted, “Mega. I have your master under my control! I will kill him if you do not stop attacking us!”
Mega instantly shut itself down, and Sombra quickly made its way between us.
“No, Mega. Press the advantage. Keep attacking.”
“I will kill him. Out here you are a threat to us, and we are a threat to your friend. Inside your pec you and your friend are safe. Which do you choose?”
Mega glared at me. The two defenders were breathing heavily, Sombra was clearly worse for wear, but Mega seemed hardly phased. It's beady red eyes were looking the situation over carefully. They jumped between Sombra, me, Epsilon, then back to me.
I ignored Epsilons pitiful requests and continued to speak. “Leave now, or your friend will die.”
Mega let loose a loud grinding hum, and disappeared into a lavender light.
“No! Mega! No! Get out here and kill them! What did you do to him?”
I patted the top of Sombra's head, and it cooed. “Thanks Sombra. I really appreciate the help.” I started over to Tiffany, but I turned to talk to Epsilon. “Your friend cares more about you than you do. You should remember that.” Sombra beat me to Tiffany, she didn't seem to be in the best shape. I knelt down to better assess the situation. “Tiffany, what hurts?”
“Good work Sen. That was a clever strategy.”
“It works for now. How are you? I see blood.”
Tiffany was still in her casual outfit with the addition of the military grade vest. Her white skirt was lightly stained red with blood. I looked around Tiffany and moved the skirt a bit to look for the wound. Tiffany grabbed my hand and laughed. “Sen, don't. Pervert.”
I laughed a little as well, but continued checking her legs. I lifted the skirt up to the waste and found a series of cuts on her upper thigh. It was hard to judge the exact degree of injury, but there was no profuse bleeding. Nothing serious, but she was bleeding.
“This looks bad. I mean, you'll survive, but it looks bad.”
“I must have hit some broken glass or something.”
I checked her other leg as well. I found a series of cuts and scars on her upper thigh, but they weren't bleeding. Some we recent, but most seemed to have scabs or were almost healed.
“Tiffany? ”
“Don't judge me Sen.”
“Why?”
“That's not important right now. I'm still sore here. You go talk to Mr. Giggles over there,” Tiffany said as she pointed at Epsilon. Sombra took over for me and cuddled closely with Tiffany. She wrapped her arms around Sombra and gave her a big hug. “Mmm, you always make me feel better girl.”
I didn't notice it, until Tiffany pointed it out, but Epsilon was laughing to himself. I walked over to him. Tiffany shouted over to me, “Please don't kill him Sen. That's not a path you want to go down.”
I looked over my shoulder and smiled. “Don't worry about me. I'm not going to kill him. But if he believed that my plan wouldn't have worked.”
“I know that now though heheh.”
“Yes, but you also can't access your wemin either. So we're safe. Tell me, what are you doing here?”
Epsilon stopped laughing and grimaced. “I'm not going to tell you anything.”
“Why is that?”
“I don't betray my brothers and sisters.”
“Why did you think we would?”
“Hmph. Please. You are common rabble. The hematites are far more. We're not simply an organization for spineless cowards. You think your ammonites, or vikings or even most of the military raised on volunteers and draftees will be able to stand against us? We will never fall. When we rise up against you, many will waver, many will die. You cannot stop us. You should give up and join us.”
“Why would I do that? What benefit do I get from joining you?”
“Power. We will rule the world. You've seen our power. We've taken two islands already and all you could do was run. Heh. The military is becoming a joke. Heheh, the vikings are finding more favor than the mil...” Epsilon was interrupted by a gunshot. “Oww, you skit!”
I noticed a puddle of blood forming underneath him. I looked behind me and saw Tiffany standing up finally and holding her gun out. Her eyes met mine, and she shrugged. “I never said we couldn't torture him,” she said as she approached slowly.
“Ow! Fiev! You horrid skit, that hurts! I'll make you pay!”
Tiffany audibly rolled her eyes. “I doubt that.”
_________________
quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
Fun fact for you all... Initially, the encounter with Epsilon was supposed to be a series of battles (with Epsilon) where Tiffany and Sen slowly worked their way up to the top of the tower floor by floor. I wanted Tiffany and Sen to work together in doubles battles to strengthen their bond yadayada.
It got shortened to the pinning Epsilon to the wall, because (besides the fact that I thought it would be funny to have a powerful character caught out for his cockiness, but because) one thing I wanted to explore in this, versus just pokemon battling, is pokemon/human interaction. That's one thing I want to focus more on in this story, as technically battling is frowned upon. This is pokemon before battling, training and even the gym/elite 4 leaders are even a thing. Currently, it's just pokemon as pets, or pokemon as tools that I'm trying to focus more on. That and that they are legitimately studying / learning about them every day.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
For anyone who cares to pitch in before today ends, Do you think Ezra (the creepy girl from the beginning) is a character worth bringing back? I have a scene that I will be coming up to (later today if I'm lucky ) It's supposed to be someone else, but Ezra could work as well.
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squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
Tiffany audibly rolled her eyes. “I doubt that.” After saying that Tiffany fell forwards flat on her face. Sombra was also huddled closely to the ground with her eyes closed.
“Tiffany?”
I barely got her name out, before a loud crunching noise coming from the other side of the wall announced a newcomer. Spurf whimpered. Another loud and rapid series of crunches forced us to back away from Epsilon. Spurf continued to cry out and finally released Epsilon. Spurf ran over to me before turning around.
“What happened Spurf?”
I heard a familiar female voice speak from behind the wall. “Epsilon, the mission is a success. Leave before you become a casualty.”
Epsilon stood up straight, but his arms dangled loosely from their sockets. He limped forwards a few steps and turned his back. “Are you kidding me? I'm going to kill this skit for what she did to me!”
“No. You will leave now or so help me I will end you myself.”
“Heh, you don't scare me princess.”
A rock body suddenly ran up and two pincers grabbed hold of Epsilon's left knee, another one connected with his gut. “What did you say to me?”
“Heh, your father won't be very happy with you.”
“Stalag, give him something to remember.”
A horrible crunch could be heard as the two stone pincers connected. Epsilon's kneecap was obliterated. He crumpled to the ground once Stalag moved away from him. I knew this woman, it was Felicia.
“Any questions?”
“You dumb skit.”
Felicia finally worked her way over to Epsilon, who was now writhing on the ground. Both her and Stalag were hovering over him completely ignoring me. Felicia's hair was pulled back into a tight-knit braid.
“Not a smart man, are you Epsilon? Yes I listen to my father, but right now, right here. I'm in command. And when he finds that you refused a direct order, he'll ask me why I didn't kill you myself. I'll simply tell him that I wanted him to have the pleasure. If you leave now, I might forgive your little refusal. Stalag,” Felicia said coldly as she gestured with her head, “throw him down the stairs. I want you gone when I get down there Epsilon.”
Epsilon grunted as Stalag dragged him along the ground. It brought him next to the stair case, but Epsilon grabbed hold of my leg.
“No! I will not have you taking my power away from me!”
“You lost your power the moment you disobeyed me! Take your filthy hands off of Sen! Better yet, Sen, kick him.”
I looked at Felicia incredulously. She had her right hand on her hip. She was gesticulating with her left hand.
“Excuse me?”
Felicia sighed. “Unless you want him wrapped around you legs. He's your responsibility now. You can deal with him, or my father can when we return. Don't use Spurf, you'll need him shortly. Stalag, over here please.”
Stalag scuttled quickly to Felicia's side. Epsilon started pulling himself upusing my leg as a support. I shook him off easy enough, and gently pushed him down the stairs with my foot. He slid down several steps eventually stopping somewhere in the middle.
“You won't deny my right you skit. I deserve this power. I earned it.”
“Sorry you had to see that. I was charged with overseeing Epsilon's mission's success, I wasn't expecting his insubordination.”
“What did you do to Tiffany?”
“Tiffany?” Felicia looked surprised. “A new girl. What happened to Alexis?”
“She's around the city. Now, what did you do to Tiffany?”
Felicia laughed “Good. I thought you two might have broken up. Tiffany is fine. I put her to sleep.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Me? I'm leaving.”
I shook my head. “No, what did you attack Silo for?”
“I'm here because I was ordered to be here.”
“Why?”
“I don't ask questions. In case you haven't noticed, questions aren't very fashionable in the hematites. I was told to come here and retrieve information. I came. I retrieved. Now I'm stuck talking to you.”
At this time I noticed a yellow disc shape in her left hand.
“Is that what you came here for?”
“I can't really say. Listen, I appreciate the help with Epsilon, but I've really got to be going. Are you going to let me go or not?”
“I think you know the answer to that. You're not leaving.”
“Of course. I would never be able to simply jump out the window. You, of all people, are holding me here against my will.”
Felicia was clearly mocking me. “What are you doing? You're right where I want you.”
“Sorry to break it to you Sen, we are two stories up, and there is a tree planted just outside this window behind me. Any time I choose I could jump out this window and be a free woman. Right now I want to settle a score. I want to kick your scrawny...”
The entire building shook around us. I held my hands out to steady myself.
“Heh, I have to be fast. You and me. Stalag and Spurf. Want to find out who would've won the other night?” I looked her and Stalag over. Stalag looked the same as before, meanwhile Spurf had undergone some changes. “Here,” she interrupted. She through something at me, it looked like a potion. “Use this to make Spurf healthy again. I want a fair fight.”
I held the potion in my hands, and held it out to spray it on Spurf. Apparently, when Spurf was whining earlier, Stalag was grinding it off of Epsilon. As I sprayed Spurf with the potion, I saw a lot of the sinews start to coagulate and reform. I didn't know he was so injured, until I saw what was being restored. Spurf had its eyes closed. He was soaking in the potion entirely. He opened his eyes to look at the glowing sunlight, and he pointed with his arm.
I looked up and saw Felicia climbing over the window sill.
She laughed coldly. “What do you know, your defender is smarter than you? Good luck in the relationship.”
Without realizing it Spurf's vines had already extended all the way to Felicia's mocking salute arm. Felicia was startled, but grabbed a knife from her waist and brought it through Spurf's vines. Spurf shuddered at my feet, but his vines instinctively reformed to quickly grab the yellow disc from Felicia. Felicia cursed loudly.
“Well, at least I still have the information in my head.” She looked down and grinned. “Blow it boys!” She jumped from the window sill, and the building began to shake again. I knew there were bombs going off around me, but the noise was deafened by necessity.
I steadily made my way over to Tiffany and Sombra. They were still out could. I took Tiffany's hand and had it touch Sombra's pec. As Sombra disappeared, I pulled Tiffany up my leg. I wrapped my arms around her and locked my hands just under her chest. The building began to teeter more noticeably now. I was starting to sway with the wind. I didn't know how long I had.
I dragged Tiffany down the stairs one step at a time. As I was going down, I noticed that Epsilon was missing. Some loose ceiling tiles were falling down on top of us, but nothing serious. I felt bad that with every step down, Tiffany's feet thudded harshly against the stone steps. When I reached the bottom floor, I brought Tiffany down one more step, and brought one arm under her legs. I cradled her against my chest.
I turned around looking for an exit, I found that the doorway we came in was wide open and had been cleared. Behind me, the wall was completely gone, along with some weight bearing support beams. I worked my way over to the entrance. Once we got outside, I set Tiffany down behind the same truck we took a quick refuge behind before. Spurf followed me, holding the disc in its arms the same way I was holding Tiffany. It was cute to see how closely it copied me.
I looked back at the news station and was able to see it swaying. It wasn't going to stay standing for very long. It would crumble any second, I just hoped it wouldn't hit us. I needed to get further away in case that happened. As I was leaning over to pick up Tiffany again, I heard voice behind me.
“Here are some more. Hey are you okay?”
I turned around and saw two people casually dressed; they weren't hematites. I waved them over. They ran over, it was a man and a woman both dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans. They helped grab Tiffany's feet and waist, while I grabbed her shoulders.
“What happened to you two?” The woman asked as we carried Tiffany away.
“She was put to sleep. We're with the military. I just want help bringing her away from this building in case it collapses this way.”
“We can bring her to our designated safe house.”
“No thank you. We'll be fine just around the block. Spend your time looking for people in trouble”
“Alright.”
As we reached the corner of the street, the man opened a car door, and we put Tiffany inside the passenger seat.
“Thank you very much.”
“You're welcome. Stay safe. Other buildings are collapsing. I wouldn't stay here too long,” the man said before running off.
I waved at them and focused on Tiffany again. I noticed something as I was carrying her down the stairs of the news station. I lifted up the bottom of her shirt a bit and confirmed my suspicions. Tiffany had long cuts and scars like the ones on her legs across her stomach and waist. I sighed and pulled her shirt down again. I took her hand and touched a pec on her wemin. I turned around and saw that it was Sombra again, still sleeping.
I touched the pec again with her hand, and tried the next one. I turned around and saw the same white humanoid fairy that healed me. I stepped away from Tiffany and the fairy-like creature hovered forwards and started the healing process over Tiffany. Sparks of pink energy floated and hovered around Tiffany and slowly made their way back to the fairy.
After most of the energy had been absorbed by Fae, Tiffany stirred and looked up at me. She smiled. “You looked didn't you?”
I nodded. “I'm sorry Tiffany.
She looked worried, and reach up to her chest and down to her skirt. “Sen, I was just joking! I can't believe you took advantage of me while I was sleeping!?”
“What? I thought you meant. I didn't. I never. I ...”
We were interrupted by the news stations crumbling behind us. The earth shook mightily, and I had to hold onto the door in order to stay upright. I held my breath as the dust came over us and I waved at the air in front of me to help clear it again. I turned around when most of the dust had cleared and saw that the news station was completely fallen into ruin.
Tiffany started laughing again. “I'm messing with you Sen. You are letting this situation tighten you up too much. Here,” Tiffany said as she held out her hand. I reached for it and we helped her climb out of the car. She pulled herself to me and wrapped me in a hug. I hugged her back. “Thank you for taking care of me Sen.”
“You're welcome.”
She stepped away and brushed a few cheery tears away with her shoulder. “Good work in there too. I was impressed. I want to play chess with you some time.”
I laughed. “Maybe later. We need to get out of the city first.”
“Yeah yeah. I'm pretty sure this mission is over. The hematites are one their way out, or already captured by now.”
“How do you know?”
“When I was asleep, I wasn't really asleep. I mean, I was, but I was still aware of my surroundings, except my eyes were closed and I couldn't move. But I heard everything that happened.” Tiffany grinned largely and started to chuckle. “I think that Felicia girl kind of likes you.”
I didn't smile back. “No. Her and her father are the reason we are in this war to begin with.”
Tiffany looked hurt at my stubborn anger. “I'm sorry Sen. I was joking again. Let's get out of here so we can lose a layer of tension.”
I nodded. I reached down to get the disc from Spurf, and I put it in my pocket. Tiffany and I returned our defenders to their pecs and we continued moving through the city. As we were working our way back towards the center of Silo, we couldn't hear anymore explosions. While we didn't hear silence, Tiffany was definitely correct in stating the siege of Silo had been stopped.
As we wove between buildings through alleys, I heard a strangled noise coming from one of the crumbled buildings. I pointed it out to Tiffany who followed me in hunting for the noise. There was a building that was collapsed next to a corner store. That was where the noise was loudest. We couldn't get to far into the wreckage through all the rubble, but I decided to go through the corner store.
As I thought, one of the walls was broken down, and I crawled underneath some rubble. I heard the crying get louder and more clear the further I went. When I was finally able to stand up, I found my self in the center of the lobby of an apartment building, but it was completely shut off from the world. I could look at a wall of rubble that was where I was just a moment ago, but the only way in or out of this room was through the crawlspace I just entered from.
There was no hiding the fact, the the cries were coming from in here somewhere. There wasn't a lot of space to hide in here, but I found a fallen pillar that was rising and lowering in time with the shrieks. I had to stoop a bit in order to get to a good vantage point, and I saw a creature pinned underneath the pillar and between broken stone.
The creature look like a teal dome, and it moved like a diaphragm whenever it shrieked. It didn't look like it was hurt at all, but it was stuck in the rubble and unable to move anywhere.
“Hey there buddy, I'll help you get out. Keep calm.”
As I spoke the creature started to cry more.
“It's okay. I already know where you are. I'm going to get you out. Calm down. It'll be okay. I'm right here.”
I reached out to touched the creature, and short spikes, like a cactus, appeared over the dome body. I pulled my hand away quickly enough to not get stabbed.
“Hey now. I'm trying to help. You're giving me second thoughts.”
The creature went still after that. Either it knew that I was next to it and was relaxed, or it was tempting me to try again.
“Hello? Buddy? Hey? Can you hear me?”
The creature gurgled softly.
“Okay. I'm going to try and lift the pillar, okay?”
“The creature gurgled its response. I waddled over to the pillar, but quickly learned that it would be impossible for me to move it. Not only was I not able to get into a proper lifting position, it wasn't able to get my arms around it to try and lift it. It was far too heavy for me to risk getting on all fours and holding it for the creature. I instead tried shifting the rubble next to the pillar, but it's too heavy again. Frustrated, I kicked the stone. It hurt.
I cursed loudly, and the creature wailed as well.
“I'm sorry buddy. I can't move these stones either. I'm going to see if I can find a lever.”
The creature went silent again as I scanned around for anything I could use as leverage. This small scrap of a room was barren except for stones and some papers. There was nothing that would serve as a lever. As I shifted around, my elbow bumped my wemin at my waist. That gave me an idea.
“Hey bud, I know how I can get you out of there, but you might not like it.”
The creature gurgled at me.
I pulled an empty pec out of my pocket, and I touched the creature with it. The world went silent and turned lavender. All I could hear was myself and this creature.
“Hello?”
“Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
“You're welcome, but you're not free yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have to accept me in order for this to work.”
“Of course I accept, you are here to rescue me. What makes you think otherwise?”
“You tried to attack me.”
“No, that was an instinct. That was far from intentional. I apologize for the confusion.”
“I'm sorry too, for the accusation. What's your name?”
“I'm Wata.”
“Nice to meet you Wata, I'm Sen. Welcome to the team.”
I touched the creature again, and the lavender light was quickly absorbed by the pec in my hand. The pillar crumbled to the ground, and a few of the walls began to rumble. I waddled over to the exit and crawled my way out of that accidental enclosure. I could hear if crumbling behind me as I left. Tiffany was waiting for me at the end of the tunnel, she was leaning against the counter drinking a bottle of water. There was another bottle of water that was empty next to her as well.
“Tiffany, that's stealing,” I reprimanded her.
“Yes and no. Technically, I found these. Yeah that doesn't make it any better. Listen, that sleep powder really dried me out. I was dying of thirst. Please don't tell my commander. It's not like I am raiding it for profit, I'm just super thirst. I took two. I'm sorry. I'll put one back.”
“Relax Tiffany, I was just joking around too.”
“Hypocrite.”
I smiled evilly at her, and we both laughed. I stood up to my full height once again, I held my hand out to Tiffany and pulled her up again. She handed me the empty water bottle saying, “This one is yours.” She chugged the last bit of the other water bottle in a few seconds.
“Why's mine empty?”
“Ahh,” Tiffany released a satisfied sigh. “I drank yours first, because I knew I'd be able to save mine for later.” She locked eyes with me and said, “It didn't work either.”She put the empty water bottles neatly on the counter, grabbed my hand, and led me outside.
We quickly made our way back to the center of town where a large military force was gathered. Most of the soldiers looked fine, but at least half of them were noticeable wounded or worse. As we approached the town hall, the Commander noticed us and beckoned over to another soldier. “Lieutenant Tiffany Beals is back. Tiffany, take your friend and get out of here. We, the other soldiers, will take over from here.”
“But sir, I can stick around to help with the re-organization.”
“I understand Tiffany. Please. Go home. We don't need a civilian here.” The commander stared at Tiffany, and when Tiffany opened her mouth, the commander added, “That's an order.”
“Yes sir.”
“Lieutenant Tiffany Beals dismissed,” the commander mentioned to the first soldier he was talking to. That soldier made a mark on a clipboard. Tiffany grumbled to herself as we walked back to her car. I had difficulty telling each one apart, but Tiffany walked straight up to a car and hopped in. I jumped in on the passenger side. I looked over and saw that Tiffany had her head resting on the steering wheel. She was resting this way for several minutes.
I reached out and put my arm on her back and patted a several times. I even went in a few circles. She mumbled something and then swatted my hand away playfully. I waited another minute, and when she didn't sit up, I started patting her back again. When I started rubbing my hand in circles again, she finally sat up and looked at me. “If you're going to give me a massage, you're going to do it right.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Now, do you want to give me a massage.”
I shook my head. Tiffany cursed and we both laughed. She started her car and we drove away from the center of Silo. Within a few dozen minutes of navigating the rubble-ridden roads, we were free from Silo's clutches. Once we were free of the ruined cities boundaries, I looked over at Tiffany. I noticed that she was wearing a content face full of relief.
“Where are your sunglasses?”
“Don't ask me about my sunglasses.”
Tiffany lost her sunglasses.
“Where are we going?”
“The commander sent me home. That's where we are going.”
“What about me?”
“I'm pretty sure you are going with me.”
Tiffany and I didn't talk much after that. I could tell that, though she was happy, she wanted to zone out for a bit. I didn't pay much attention to the roads, I was watching the sky and the treetops. After thirty minutes I couldn't tell you which direction we were heading. After another thirty minutes we crossed a bridge that spanned a large river.
“Wow, we're in the middle of the continent.”
“We're in the middle of the south coast you mean.”
“Obviously. Where do you live Tiffany?”
“I have a house on the coast of Centra Lake. On the outskirts of Pilvash.”
“When you say on the coast, you mean you have a lake house?”
Tiffany didn't answer. Instead she slowly rolled her head to her shoulder in my direction and smiled smugly.
“What about Keith?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought we were going to get my second certification from Keith.”
“Sen, I'm in charge of all of the certifications. You will definitely get certified. In fact, I will give you your second certification for Captain Keitho.”
I laughed when she said Captain Keitho. “Is that entirely appropriate though?”
“Sen, you just helped me and several groups including the military defend against a siege. If you think you don't deserve a certification for that, then we are going to have much trainers certified trainers in our ranks.”
I nodded. “You are probably right. But what about the other two certifications?”
“I told you already, I'm going to each captain to pick up their certification badges. If you stick with me you'll see the other two soon enough. I promise.”
“Thank you Tiffany.”
“Don't mention it.”
“What are we going to do when we get to your home.”
“I want to take you somewhere. Actually, I want to take you to two somewheres.”
“Oh? Where?”
“Most importantly, I want you to be my plus one to Kristina's banquet.”
“Oh, I couldn't Tiffany. I don't want to intrude.”
“I'm inviting you. You're not intruding.”
“I don't know what to say.”
“I hope you say yes,” she said as she smiled at me.
“Sure, I'd love too.”
“It's not a yes, but it will do.”
“Sorry. Yes. What's the second place?”
“Technically, it's first. There is a carnival that is happening tonight a few minutes away from my house, at the corner of Centra Lake. I hear its very popular.” Tiffany paused there. I knew where this was going, Tiffany was asking if I wanted to go on a date with her. I decided that I had nothing against it.
“Tiffany, do you want to go to the carnival with me tonight?”
Tiffany slammed on the brakes, thankfully there were no cars around us. I had to hold my arms out in front of me to prevent me from smashing my face against the dash board. Tiffany was glaring and wagging her finger at me.
“Oh hell no! If this does end up going somewhere, and we do get married, there is no way you are getting credit for the first date!”
I was shocked and looked at Tiffany who was still glaring at me. Of all the reactions, that was not one that I was expecting. Tiffany couldn't keep an angry face and slowly burst into laughter. I joined her shortly. Between bursts of laughter Tiffany's hand wrapped around my chin and Tiffany kissed my cheek.
“Sorry if I hurt you. I was just joking. I'd love to go out with you.”
“Thanks for the scare. I appreciate it.”
“I have to learn what you like or not sooner or later. Trial and error seems to be the fastest way,” she said as she started driving again.
“How far are we from your house?”
“Another fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“Cool. I can't wait to get there.”
The rest of the ride we talk casually as if the siege at Silo didn't even happen. I agreed to play chess with Tiffany. She wants to go to the beach and play in the lake a little bit before dinner and the carnival. She doesn't want to go to the carnival until night falls, and I agree. The carnival is always more fun when the lights are all on.
I found out that Tiffany is a huge artist, which is what drove her to get the beach house in the first place. The view of the lake is beautiful and you get to see the sunset unobstructed by anything else every night. I asked Tiffany about the banquet tomorrow. She mentioned that even though Kristina was planning it, Tiffany was actually hosting it at her beach house. Tiffany quickly added that we didn't need to do anything to help set up for it, as the other soldiers, collectively, had already volunteers to set up.
We arrived at Pilvash, and Tiffany made a quick stop to buy some dinner groceries. In the end we both talked each other out of that settled for snacks and unhealthy, but delicious, foods. We bought a few drinks for when we would go to the beach, but nothing too fancy. We wanted our real dinner to be at the carnival. Tiffany also added that the less food she had in her refrigerator, the better. It meant that there would be more room for food for the banquet tomorrow night.
We piled into Tiffany's car again after putting the groceries in the trunk, and we started off towards the outskirts of Pilvash. This time I was paying attention to the roads we were taking. If I did end up going far with Tiffany, I would need to know where she lived. Williams to Havar. Havar to Goya. Goya to Ere. Ere to Cello. When we turned from Cello onto 1 Beals street, I was impressed.
“While I live on one Beals street technically, Beals street as a whole is my driveway,” Tiffany pointed out to me.
“Did you get to name it?”
“Of course I did. Up until recently it was twelve Cello drive. I guess it still is, though. It's both. Again Beals street is my entire driveway.”
I could see Tiffany's house other the canopy of some trees. Beals street curved around the trees and led up to a large mansion-like beach house. The beach was only fifty yards away from the street, if that. The last bit of Tiffany's driveway was up a hill and turned into a garage. The doors opened automatically as we approached, and it welcomed us in. The door closed when the car turned off.
“How rich are you Tiffany?”
Tiffany shrugged it off. “Long story short, not very. What money I did have basically went into this house. I'm pretty average, maybe a little bit above.”
“I'm having difficulty believing it.”
“Well, if I didn't build this house, I probably would've been one of the richest people on the mainland.”
“That seems believable.”
“Oh but my previous statement doesn't?”
“It's harder to believe it when I'm standing in the house.”
“Well, wait until you see the rest of it first.”
Tiffany took my hand and led me through the garage door into the entryway. She kicked her shoes off and asked me to do the same. The entry way was three stories high, with a large windowed wall looking out to the sunset.
“The third floor is one big series of game rooms. There's three rooms and a bathroom. One is the computer room. Another is the lounge with the tv and my video games, and the last room is very open and has a two pool tables, and an arcade machine.”
“What's an arcade machine?”
Tiffany's eyes grew wide, and she started dragging me up stairs. “Come on Sen, I'll show you. It's really weird.”
“You don't have to tell me twice.”
As we ran up the white carpeted stairs, I looked at several of the paintings and photographs hanging on the wall. Most of them were of nature, or nature related.
“Are these yours Tiffany?”
“No, don't look at those!”
I rolled my eyes and replied, “I'm not.”
Tiffany giggled and pulled me away from these stairs across the hall to the other staircase that led to the third floor. At the top of the stairs she opened the door to show me the computer room. It had an “L” shaped desk that held three computers and a large tablet. Next to the computer room was a lounge with a circular table with two chairs, and two long couches along the walls. There was a tv against the wall that was against the computer room. Opposite the tv was the upstairs bathroom. Around the corner was the rest of the third floor.
The two pool tables were angledin comparison to the room they were in. One wall was just a series of closet doors. In the corner next to the bathroom, a large rectangular machine huddled. It read “Pac Man” on the top and sides of it. It had a picture of a yellow circle and different colored ghosts.
“What does it do?”
“It's a game. My father's grand father won it in an auction of ancient earth artifacts. This still works. It's a simple game, and its funny to see how everything was made with boxes. I don't understand it at all.” Tiffany giggled. “Oh, also, one of the closets is actually a secret door to a hidden roof balcony.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it's this one,” Tiffany said tapping on the third door. “You open this bad boy, and pull on this Monoply game, this door will open and lead you to the rooftop balcony.”
“Tiffany, your house is amazing.”
“It's like my own secret base of sorts.”
“Yeah. No wonder you joined the military.”
Tiffany chuckled.
“Come on, we still have to see the rest of the house and get ready for tonight.”
She dragged me along the downs stairs showing me the kitchen, the dining room, a living room, another bathroom, a porch, and two offices. She pulled me along the second floor to show the two guest rooms and bathrooms, a bar, a large balcony outside, and then she stopped outside the master bedroom.
“This is my bedroom,” she said as she tapped her door.
“Am I not allowed to see it?”
“Nope. Nobody has been inside my bedroom, except for me. No exceptions.”
“Why show me then?”
“I'm letting you know, so that you don't accidentally go in here.”
“I'll try not to.”
“Don't worry, it's locked. You'd have to try to get in there.”
“Okay.”
“Anyways, let's go to the guest rooms and get ready.”
“Wait, why are you using a guest room?”
“Why is that a shocker? I have to make sure they are livable. I use them once and a while.”
“You locked yourself out of your bedroom didn't you.”
Tiffany didn't respond.
“Didn't you?”
“Shut up Sen, and let's get ready.”
I laughed.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
For any curious, I found a way to meld the two options together in way that I was satisfied with.
4018 words to go!
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
This is the rest of it. The story is a lot further from finished than I anticipated. Retcon: Olive is nov Vixen (it turned from an Eevee to a Vulpix too )
Spoiler
“Shut up Sen, and let's get ready.”
I laughed.
I had to figure out how to work the shower. It wasn't a standard issue shower, but it wasn't overly complicated either. There was only so many different iterations of knob-turning and pulling that I could try. Tiffany brought me a few towels and a robe before heading off to another guest room. I really only needed one towel, but I figured she has her own routine, and at the very least having three towels meant I had one as well.
I took this time to relax and unwind from the events of the last few days. I made the shower extremely hot, and for the first few minutes I simply stood there and let the scalding water melt my worries. I started to actually cleanse myself once my skin turned red. This shower was loaded with shampoos and conditioners and cleansers; I didn't know which one to use. I picked one at random that fit my needs.
As I was scrubbing soap off my body, I noticed that I had three wounds in my shoulder. They were clean, and fully healed, but deep and scarring. I remembered that I had been poisoned by one of the hematites. I rubbed my fingers against their indentations in my arm. It made me aware to look for any other injuries. I didn't find any as distinguishing as these, and I felt almost sad. I had a battleound that I could talk about.
I was able to talk about it because of Tiffany. Her and her quick thinking had saved my life. I needed to thank her for that properly. I know she sad it was nothing, but it's a big deal for me. I finished my shower and I let myself inhale the steam for a minute before getting out. The mirror was unusable at this point, but the steam that filled the room was purifying. After one last enormous breath I started to dry myself off.
It felt good to be clean again. After drying myself was when I met my first difficulty. I didn't want to put on the robe Tiffany brought me, it was clearly one of hers, but I couldn't find my clothes. I even opened the door a crack to see if they were outside for whatever reason. They weren't. I sighed. I put the robe over my shoulders, and as I expected the robe was more of a shirt on me. It barely covered anything that was meant to be covered.
I tightly wrapped an unused towel around my waist, and folded it so I wouldn't have to hold it the entire time. Accepting that my improvised skirt was passable, I left to find Tiffany. The guest room was open, so I walked in. Nobody was here, so I knocked on the bathroom door.
“Tiffany?”
“Is something wrong Sen?”
“Where are my clothes?”
“What?”
“Where are my clothes?”
“I can't hear you. Come in.”
I opened the door a crack and heard the shower running. I figured it was indeed safe to go in, but I avoided looking towards the shower anyways. As I turned away to face the window, I heard the shower curtain pull aside and Tiffany's head revealed itself just over the edge of the shower/tub combination.
“What's up?”
“Are you sitting in the shower?”
She looked down at the ground and nodded. “I guess. Are you going to ask about it?” She smiled devilishly.
“Nope,” I laughed, “Where are my clothes? My robe doesn't do its job very well.”
“You caught me, I tried.” We both laughed. “They're in the wash. They'll probably need to be switched over in a few minutes.”
“How long will the dryer take?”
“It usually takes an hour. Can you swap the laundry over for me?”
“Sure. Which bathroom is it in?”
“The downstairs bathroom.”
“Okay. I'll take care of that for you.”
“Hey Sen, before you go. You look good in a skirt you know.”
I stuck my tongue out at her as I left and closed the door behind me. I walked downstairs and grabbed one of the snack bars I had bought earlier. I just finished it when I heard a mechanical voice coming from the bathroom.
After the third announcement I heard silence again. I walked over to the bathroom and started to switch the laundry over. It wasn't until I reached for Tiffany's skirt that I truly noticed how dirty the clothes had gotten. Tiffany's skirt was bright and white again, despite previously being covered in mud and blood. Her skirt was almost disturbingly bright. I finished loading the dryer and turned it on. I didn't change any of the settings and started the drying process.
I left the bathroom and found Tiffany crossing the hall with just the towel covering her. She waved at me as she headed towards her room. She unlocked the door, but I stopped her just before she disappeared behind it.
“Hey, I thought you locked yourself out?”
“I never said that I did. That was all you. I'll be out shortly. Help yourself to some of the snacks.”
I held up my wrapper and she flashed both of her thumbs in my direction. She closed the door behind her, and I laid down on a couch to relax while I waited. I didn't realize that I had dozed off until Tiffany was waking me up. She was wearing a grey/black sweater that had a loose and stretched out neck so her shoulders were almost bare. She had a black under armor leggings that went down a few inches above the knee, and she had short white shorts on top of that. Her hair was braided and loop in a way that made her look like she had several rings of hair behind her head.
“Your laundry is done Sen, you don't have to wear your skirt anymore.”
I quickly remembered how plainly dressed I was, and I shot up to a sitting position.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep.”
“It's fine. Just get dressed. We'll go to the beach tomorrow morning for the sunrise.”
I smiled. As I went to get up, Tiffany hand me my clothes that had been folded. I looked out the window and the sun had just finished setting. The sky was still the brilliant combination of yellows and reds, but it was fading fast to dark.
I ran to the bathroom closed the door to change. Once I was dressed I met with Tiffany again, and we walked outside. We had seen the carnival on the way here and agreed to just walk there. It was a minor compromise to missing the beach today. The twilight helped guide us along the coast as we headed towards the carnival that had just started lighting the coast. It was still about fifteen minutes away walking, but Tiffany and I kept our casual pace, and Tiffany held my hand the entire time.
We talked about what rides there were, and which ones we wanted to go on. She brought up the games and how I could win her something. We discussed the food we were going to eat. Before we knew it, we were at the gates to the carnival. We waited in line for the ticket booth. When we approached the booth, the woman behind it looked surprised at Tiffany.
“What are you doing standing in line. You can go right in Tiffany. Happy birthday by the way.”
Tiffany nodded. “Thanks Sarah. What about this gentleman here?”
The woman glanced at me and then down to our held hands.
“He's welcome too. Free of charge. Have fun you two,” the woman said as she waved us on.
“What was that about?”
“I'm a regular here, so I have season tickets. I wasn't sure if it worked for you too.”
“I don't think it normally does, but I meant, she said happy birthday?”
“Oh, my birthday is this month. You get some benefits here during the month of your birthday.” Tiffany grinned as she said this and rubbed her hands together.
“Where to first?”
“Have you been listening to me at all? I'm hungry, we start with food, and then hopefully before we leave we can get seconds without getting bloated.” Tiffany giggled and dragged me down through the carnival path.
She dragged my up to a booth where we both got sodas and large clouds of cotton candy. We sat down at a booth to devour our dinner which hardly took anytime. As we threw our scraps away Tiffany dragged me over to the strong man challenge. We had three tries to get to one hundred. We bargained with the man to agree to let us experiment. Tiffany slammed the hammer down hard, but she only reached sixty-three. She was ranked “Undercut”. I took the hammer from her and slammed it down as hard as I could, but I only reached fifty-five. I was ranked “Puny”. Tiffany laughed and we both held the hammer together this time. Our hands alternating, we slammed the hammer down with our combined effort, but together we only reached ninety-six. Together we were ranked “Powerful”.
We didn't win a top prize, but the man running the booth agreed to give us both prizes based on the “Powerful” ranking. Tiffany bowed politely as we both accepted our new back packs. These back packs implemented the same technology that Phillip had with his carrying case and Venom. We would be able to carry slightly heavier loads with these.
Tiffany ran over to another game, the shooting gallery. I knew I would lose, and I met my expectation. Tiffany was shooting down her targets so fast, that she was also stealing some of mine. Overall, all of both of our targets were knocked down by the time the time limit was up, and I don't think the man at the booth noticed that it was Tiffany's work, so we each got first prize.
First prize was a giant stuffed bear that was larger than us. Because we didn't want to carry the rest of the night was asked if we could comeback later to pick it up, and he agreed. We stopped by the water fountain and watched it as it drizzled loudly through the night. It reflected all of the colors of the carnival at the peak of its climb, before misting and falling back to its base. We stuck our heads in front of one of the several jets shooting into the fountain to quench our thirst.
Tiffany goes to the bathroom and I simply plant myself on a bench. I watch the people walke around for a minute before I find someone I recognize. She wanders eerily through the crowd searching for something. Through the fountain our eyes meet and she walks over to me. She stands next to me and stares at me silently. Again, she's not really staring at me, but around or through me. Her black hair drifts lazily in the wind. I don't know what to say.
“Hey Ezra.”
“Hey Sen.”
“How are you?”
Tiffany comes back from the bathroom and grabs my hand, before she realizes that this younger girl was staring at me. “Sen, who is this?”
“Tiffany, this is Ezra, she's a girl that went to school with me in Kajili. Ezra, this is Tiffany.”
Tiffany reaches out her hand, but Ezra hardly moves. Her gaze stays on me, but her hand grabs Tiffany's and shakes it. Ezra was acting as if her hand and face were two different entities. She lets go and her arm drifts slowly back to her side.
“Were you two catching up?” Tiffany asks.
“Not really.”
“Yes.”
That catches me off guard. I turn to look at Ezra again. “What was that?”
“We caught up.”
“Do your parents know where you are?”
At this Ezra blinks and her blank expression is replaced with one of sorrow. She looks directly at me and answers, “Yes. They know where I am.”
“Why do you look sad?”
“That is how I feel.”
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way.” I hold my arm out inviting Ezra in, and she shuffles over and wraps her arms around my waist. I pat her back gently as I continue. “Did you get in a fight with your parents.”
Ezra waits a long time before answering. I almost repeat myself it's been so long, but she finally answers, “Yes.”
“I'm sorry to hear that. I never had a mom to argue with, and my father was usually out. I ended up arguing with my brother most of the time. We would also reconcile later. We never stayed mad for long. I bet you're parents will forgive you soon, and they won't be mad anymore.”
“There's nothing to forgive.”
“What's that mean?”
“I didn't do anything wrong.”
“Are they mad at you?”
“No.”
“Did you really get in a fight with your parents?”
“Yes.”
“You know a fight usually means someone is hurt.”
“Yes.”
I lift my arm and Ezra backs away.
“It was nice catching up with you Ezra. Tiffany and I are going to go to the ferris wheel, have a good night.”
Ezra nodded. “It was nice catching up to you.”
I laughed. “It's 'with you' not 'to you' Ezra.”
Ezra stares blankly at me again. Tiffany and I waved as we left, but Ezra stood motionless.
“Is she always this difficult to talk to?”
I sighed and then laughed nervously. “This was a surprisingly easy interaction with her. Because of her oddity, she didn't have many friends in school, but we always seemed to tolerate each other. I guess, I just know what its like to be alone, and didn't want her to feel that way either.”
“That's kind of you. I knew I liked you for some reason.”
We stand in line for the ferris wheel, and stop our more personal conversation while surrounded by people. Once we were both secured our own bubble on the ferris wheel, we opened up again. Tiffany rested her head on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm across her back.
“Why do you like me?”
Tiffany let out a relaxed sigh. “You are very devoted.”
“That's it?”
“Well, I've only know you a short while, I'm still finding things out. But I like how people regard you. It strikes me that you would treat me in a way that would make me regard you highly as well. I don't know how else to put it.” She cuddled a little deeper into my shoulder. 'It didn't hurt that you are good-looking too. That's always a plus.”
We both laughed. “The truth comes out.”
Tiffany pushed herself up and feigns a hurt expression. “Hey, that's a bonus. Like I said, initially I was just going to do you a favor, because I had to further disrupt you and your brother. But the more I thought about it, the more it dawned on me that I wanted someone to watch out for me that same way. The same way you and Alexis watch out for each other. The same way you look after Ezra.” She kissed my cheek and then returned to her pillow that was my shoulder.
I perked up talking about my brother. “Wait, I saw my brother today, but not really.”
“Hmm.”
“At Silo. My brother saved us using Nocturne remember?”
“Yeah. Where did he run off to?”
“I don't know. I didn't seem him after that. He ran back into the news station.”
“I guess the hematites didn't like him interfering and scared him away.”
“That's the only thing I could think of. He was on the second floor. But if Epsilon was a few floors higher, and saw that someone below him was causing trouble, that would explain why we met Epsilon on the second floor, while Felicia remained on the higher floors.”
I cursed softly. “I'm sorry Sen. You just missed him due to circumstance today. At least you know he's out there still. He's watching over you, and still has a vendetta against the hematites too.”
“Yeah. I'm struggling with that. They killed my father, but it wasn't all of the hematites, but still they agree to this horrific methodology. How are we supposed to forgive them?”
Tiffany shrugged. “It's a fine line. But taking revenge isn't the best option. I'm glad you didn't kill Epsilon even though you had the chance.”
“Me too. I never really wanted to, but I wanted to cause pain.”
Tiffany laughed “Hey, we both did.”
I smiled, and walked up to the edge of the window. I was mad again. I had just missed seeing my brother. He was so close, and yet the only message he could send of his existence was his defender, Nocturne. I watched as the entirety of Centra Lake slowly drifted beneath us, stop, and slowly rise again.
In the middle of the lake several people lazily drifting about; some people were on boats, and others were on pets. I focused on several of the large creatures that were weaving through the waves. There were three of them and they seemed to get along and weave within each other. They looked like they were dancing from up here. They lined up in a row and raised their mouths to the sky. Too late to change course, three bursts of energy shoot out from each of them aimed at the ferris wheel.
The three blasts hit the ferris wheel hard. I didn't see exactly where, but I felt our bubble dislodge and dangle dangerously. I was dropped to the wall opposite of Tiffany was she was holding on to the seat for support. I hit the edge of a seat with my head, and my skull did not appreciate meeting the metal. From what I could see through my agonizing pain, the ferris wheel was torn to shreds, and two bubbles had already fallen from it like apples from a tree. I couldn't hear any noises right now, but I could see Tiffany was shouting at me.
I turned my head and saw another three bursts of energy aimed at the ferris wheel, and I felt weightless as I was separated from the bubble above the ground. I don't know how high I was above the ground, but I knew that a fall from this height would drastically alter my life, if it didn't kill me. I was glad when a pair of sharp talons dug into my shoulders and carried me through the sky instead of letting me fall. I looked up to see a large owl-like creature staring at me. When its eyes met mine, I noticed that I was suddenly very tired. I didn't get to think much more before I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke to find myself laying against a wall behind bars. The place I was in was shaking and I fell on to my side. I tried to sit up, but I felt that my hands wouldn't obey my simple commands. I heard them jingle behind me when I asked them to move. I was chained uncomfortably to this wall. I weakly struggled against my restraints only to yield no results. My wrists hurt from struggling against the metal.
My head hurt, and I was stuck lying limply on my side. I looked around some more, and I saw no hints as to my current whereabouts. It looked like a refurbished office building. I couldn't see far beyond my cell, but I could hear the worried mutters of other people.
“What's going on?”
“Are we under attack?”
“Are we finally being saved?”
I lifted my face off the floor and called out as loud as I could, “Where are we?”
“We don't know.”
“A prison.”
“Isn't that obvious? He clearly meant where.”
I shook away their voices and called out again. “What prison? Who's prison?”
“Who else?”
“Hematites.”
“Why are you separated from the rest of us?”
“What makes you so special?”
I'm in my own cell compared to the others. “How many others are there? I mean of you?”
“Seven.”
“Seven.”
“Yeah, seven of us.”
“How did you all get here?”
“I was attacked at the carnival by Pilvash.”
“Me too.”
“Yeah.”
“You?”
“Same.”
“Well now that we've accomplished something, why do you tell us about you. We know about us out here. Why are you so special? Is there anyone else in there with you?”
I looked around as best I could. “No. I'm alone.”
“Why?”
“They're looking for me. That's the only thing I can think of.”
It finally dawned on me where I was. I struggled to flail around and look at my hips. My wemin was missing.
“Hey now, calm down there. Why all the fuss? Who are you?”
I lost my wemin, the hematites have the new technology that I've been trying to hide from them. I start to lose myself to anxiety,but my mind remembers a faint light at Tiffany's house.
“Good. I left it at Tiffany's house. They don't have it.”
“They don't have what?”
“They are hunting me and my brother for my father's research, they killed him so they can't ask him anymore. It's up to my brother and I.”
“That's rough kid.”
“I'm not a kid.”
“Heh, I will bet you anything that you are younger than me though.”
“That's fair.”
The building shook violently again, I tried to use this opportunity to right myself, but instead I roll over awkwardly and am in a worse position than before.
“What is going on down there?”
“I hope a rescue.”
“How long have we been here?” I struggled to push out of my currently contorted neck.
“A few hours, at least. Since I woke up. I'd argue half a day.”
I struggled against my awkward position again. I was able to get myself comfortable, but I was still bent unnaturally. The building continued to shake, and the space between violent quakes lowered with each one.
I could slowly hear shout from outside the hall, not just shouting, but screams. I could hear men and women scream and loud smashes that were muffled only by walls.
“What is happening?”
“Something is wrong?”
“It's too many screams to be bad for us. I think we're being rescued!”
“A rescue?”
The other prisoners were hopeful, I agreed. I hoped they were right. The screams grew louder and it even sounded like someone was pleading outside our door. I heard a loud crunch and the walls around my cell vibrated intensely. The lights went out, and I could hear worried calls from the prisoners outside.
“Oh no.”
“It's close, whatever is going on.”
“I'm restless.”
“I want to go home.”
A series of bangs and knocks were heard and the lights came back on. The walls just outside my cell were being prodded meticulously. It sounded like metal on metal. I heard a muffled shout, but beyond that I could understand it.
“Stop.”
“Boss, get us in there.”
The sound of thunder shook our prison, and the lights went out again. A door opened and an eerie violet glowed eliminated the darkness. A girlish voice was heard from outside my cell. I couldn't quite look the way I had ended up positioned.
“Heehee. I found you.”
She sounded familiar.
“Ezra?”
“I found you Sen.”
I heard the sound of metal on metal and the bars to my cell fell from their post. The violet light intensified, and I could hear Ezra's breathing. “Hold still Sen.” I didn't have much of a choice. I heard another clang and felt a weight drop from my wrists. I stretched briefly, and helped myself into a comfortable sitting position.
I looked at Ezra, she was the source of violet light. She was hovering about the floor about a foot. Floating in front of her left arm was a tangible violet light. Extending from her right hand was a tangible violet light. Her body was surrounded by this light, and her eyes were completely overtaken by this violet light. I rubbed my hands where the shackles had been. I was too astonished to speak, Ezra was the last person I expected to free me from this prison.
“How? How did you find me?”
Ezra stared intently at me, and she ended up tilting her head to the side inquisitively. “Death follows you. I follow death.”
I shuddered seeing Ezra like this. It shook me to the core. Ezra was a simple child, what this was, was madness.
“What's going on Ezra? What is happening to you?”
“I'm playing with my parents.”
I slowly found the strength to stand. “What does that mean Ezra? Where are your parents?”
“They're here now, can't you see?”
“Ezra, you can stop fooling now. Your parents aren't here, there are just these...” I paused thinking to myself of what this light reminded me. There was a special on the television about graveyards and how one could capture the dead spirits. “Ezra, what happened to your parents?”
“My parents died protecting me from the monsters. They continue to keep the monsters away from me. Bailey too. That's how we knew to come into this room.”
“Bailey too huh? Is it fun playing with your family again?”
I slowly walk over to Ezra, and I hold my arms out open for a hug. Ezra inquisitively looks at me and floats into my hug. I wrapped my arms around her, and the violet lights slowly fade from view. Ezra slowly floats the rest of the way to the ground, and we are again left in darkness except for the faint light coming in through the open doorway.
“I'm sorry Ezra. You poor girl.”
Ezra started crying into my shirt.
“Sen, I'm sorry Sen.”
“Shhh, don't apologize Ezra, you've been through a lot.”
“I just want my mama and papa back Sen. I want my parents back. I miss them.”
“I understand Ezra. You're a strong girl.”
“When will they be able to play with me again?”
“They'll play whenever they can Ezra. You're mama and papa loved you so much.”
Ezra stood the crying into my stomach with her arms wrapped around my waist. I patted her hair delicately. A new voice came in and brought a light in the form of a defender with him.
“Sen, are you alright? Oh thank goodness. She's back to normal.”
I could hear the other prisoners start to talk as well. Thanking for rescue was the common phrase.
“Phillip? What happened?”
“We were rescuing you few. Ezra guided us here, but when she saw Omega, she went ballistic like you just saw.”
“Help us.”
“Sorry, Boss help get those chains off.” Phillip walked over to Ezra and I. He extended his hand. “Glad to see you're okay.
I left his hand dangling, but I questioned him instead. “I appreciate the rescue, but why are you the leader of the vikings? Is that why you are such good buddies with the hematites?”
“What?”
“You seem to be wherever the hematites are. Are you and the vikings collaborating with the hematites?”
“Sen, just because I don't want there to be bloodshed, doesn't mean I'm on their side. Again, I have a respect for my enemies. Even the hematites. Especially the hematites.”
“Why? Why do you lead this group of bad people. You rob and plunder to make yourselves strong. How are you different than the hematites?”
Another voice came from outside the doorway. “Phillip, there's more coming. Omega is coming again.”
“Thank you Gio, I understand. Listen Sen, we've got to leave now. You can dislike me all you want, but right now my 'bad people' are helping these innocent people escape.”
“Phillip,” the man called from outside. “The elevator is almost here.”
“Thank you Gio. Sen, we're going to need to borrow Ezra for a minute.” He held out a hand and Ezra, who had stopped crying grabbed it. Phillip walked her out the doorand he turned his head back to say, “Anyone looking to go free, stick with us.”
I heard a brief ding as the elevator reach this floor.
“Prepare for trouble,” Gio stated.
I heard the elevator doors open.
“Oh gods its her, open fire!”
I heard Ezra shriek over the sound of bullets being fired. I heard the sound of metal smashing against the walls, and the screams of or pursuers. A hand reached inside and beckoned for us to come out, we obeyed.
As I left the prison room, I could see a majestic fight on the corridor leading to the right. A group for hematites, no more than a dozen, were firing guns at Ezra. Ezra was again hovering about a foot off the floor and the violet flames surrounded her and the the violet wisps flew around her intercepting each bullet. I could see the bloody bodies of two hematites sprawled across the floor. Ezra's shrieks were almost inhuman as she slowly drifted towards the hematites stuck in the elevator.
“YOU KILLED MY PARENTS! THEY DIED SAVING ME, AND THEY CONTINUE TO SAVE ME! ALL I WANTED WAS MY PAPA AND YOU TOOK HIM AWAY! MAMA WAS COOKING DINNER AND SHE'S GONE TOO! GIVE! ME! MY! FAMILY! RAUUGHGHGHGH!”
The hematites, who had scrambled to get off the elevator to stop us, were not scrambling to get back on the elevator to avoid Ezra's rage. I barely noticed that the other prisoners were gone and it was just Phillip, Gio, Ezra and I left.
As soon as the elevator left, Phillip called out to Ezra. “Ezra, dear, it's time to go.”
Ezra turned her quickly glaring at us. When she saw me, her features softened and she floated over to me. I pulled her into another hug, and her violet powers disappeared once again. Ezra was crying again as well. She looked up at me with death in her eyes and tears drowning her cheeks.
“Sen, will you carry me?”
I nodded and lifted Ezra delicately into my arms. She clung to my neck. Phillip helped me reposition her so that I was holding her legs and she was clinging onto my back. The elevator started rising floors again.
“Phillip, we've got to go.”
“Yes Gio, we're leaving now.”
Phillip fled through the nearest open door, I followed with Ezra, and Gio followed us. As we were running down the stairs, Phillip tossed me a back pack. It was the one I had won at the carnival.
“This was the only thing we could find of yours. Sorry if anything is missing.”
“Yeah right.”
“Sen, do they have it?”
“No.”
“Good. Make sure that never happens.”
“I understand.”
“Sen?”
“What?”
“Lucas would be proud of you.”
I stopped there. Gio ran past us.
“What did you say?”
Phillip stopped as well.
“Lucas would be proud.”
“You don't know him! You don't know anything about my brother!”
Phillip looked smug as I yelled at him.
“Do you?”
I lost it there.
“What are you even saying? You've never met Lucas, how could you have? We were a scientist family on the run. When would you have ever had a time to get to know Lucas?”
“When did you get time to learn about Lucas?” he retorted.
“I lived with him. I think I would know about him.”
“I worked with Lucas for the last few years. I think I know a lot about him.”
“You can't have. Lucas worked with my father.”
“Sen, you said you were looking for Lucas right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Did you know he was a viking?”
“NO! He's not. He can't be.”
“Have you seen him recently?”
“Yes. I saw him at the siege of Silo.”
“Oh. Did you talk to him?”
I calmed down as I slowly started to realize where he was going with this.
“No.”
“Who else was there at the siege of Silo? It think all four major parties were there. Hematites, vikings, ammonites, and the military.”
“Why are you implying this?”
“Well, I'm just theorizing that maybe Lucas didn't want you to find out he was a viking. I can't say I blame him based on your reception.”
“Leave me alone.”
“I just wanted to let you know, that your brother would be proud of your resolve.”
“Don't talk to me.”
Phillip held a warning finger up to me. “Sen, I ask that you hold off on your futile naievete. I have a respect for my opponents because it is reciprocated. Do you know what happens when it isn't reciprocated. Well, then comes the stories of the bad vikings causing havoc. We just want this war to be over like everyone else. I honestly hope we can remain amicable the next time we meet.
“I helped you out, because you weren't strong enough to fend for yourself. I helped make sure you and your friends left each terrible event safely, because I knew that until you grew stronger, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself. You are definitely getting stronger now, and with that my protection wanes. If you want to avoid conflict, I think you should remain kind.”
Phillip removed his accusatory finger from me and continued down the stairs. I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. Phillip was claiming that my brother worked for the vikings, the bad guys. The vikings took from the weak and built themselves up. They did help people, but hey also hurt people. How could my brother have been a part of that?
Phillip brings up valid points. He has been nothing but helpful to me when I needed help the most. And when I've worked with him, the vikings were doing good. Why is everything so complicated? Why can't there be a black and white. I can't stand this. I'm pulled out of my rage when Ezra squeezes me gently.
Ezra was whispering into my ear. “If it makes you trust him anymore Sen, Lucas wanted you to know that he's proud of you.”
I placed my hand on top of Ezra's hands. I can feel her smile in my neck. I continue running down the stairs. I find the group far below me, by several stories. How tall is this building? Where were we?
We were spared from having to climb down the entire staircase as the vikings had teleported in here initially. We suspected that the hematites were waiting for us on the lower levels. The vikings had set up two defenders to teleport the prisoners outside to another location. I recognized both of these fox-like defenders as Phillip also had one.
I didn't even recognize that I had teleported away. One moment I was in the prison, the next moment I'm in a completely different room surrounded by people. The nearest two people guided me over to a table and helped Ezra off my back. They laid Ezra on the table, and she continued to sleep soundly.
“Where am I?” I asked.
One of the workers met my eyes. “This is Locusin.”
I finally knew where I was. I was north east of Pilvash. That was good to know. I was a few hours away from Tiffany's house. Oh no. I hadn't thought of that. Did Tiffany make it out of the carnival alive?
Concerned, I started to look for a way out of where I was. It was very crowded, but I managed to find a way to the downstairs. The downstairs was slightly less packed, and I could breathe easier. I looked out the windows to guagw the time, but I found a clock first. It was 3:28 in the afternoon. I was going to be late for Kristina's banquet.
No, that's not what I was worried about. I was worried that Tiffany hadn't made it. Either way, I needed to get to Tiffany's house as soon as possible. I was about to leave when I was stopped by Phillip. He stepped in front of and handed me an envelope.
“What's this?”
“It's from Alexis. Seeing as you never met with her again after Silo, she left me with this note.”
“How did you know that you would find me again.”
“I didn't, but I travel more. Let's be honest.”
I ignored his sarcasm and opened the letter. Base on its presentation, I was expecting a more formal letter than what I found.
“Hey Sen, Sorry we missed each other. I'm going with Cynthia, I'm going to be an ammonite. I know it might sound weird, but she helped me a lot after I lost my parents. I hope to talk to you soon. Stay safe Sen! Alexis.”
I folded the letter back into the envelope. “Thank you for delivering this too me Phillip.”
Phillip laughed. “Mail call is easy.”
I callously put my hand out in front of Phillip. “Thank you for rescuing me and the others.”
Phillip accepted my hand with his own. “I was no problem. I actually have a present for you. I'm assuming you don't want to stay here in the desert.”
“The desert?”
“Yeah, Locusin is the top boundary of the desert, not many people come here, because vehicles can't make it. Well, after Silo, we did have a casualty. Normally, we released the defenders, but this one jumped out at me. Normally, when a defender is traded, you know the trade will work if the accepting trainer knows the name of the defender being traded.”
“So you got yourself an extra defender now?”
“Not exactly. When I touched this pec here, I only thought of one name. Sen.”
“Someone named their defender after me?”
“Not exactly,” Phillip said tossing me the pec. It was very heavy to hold in my hand, I had to use both. “I already know the answer which is what gave me pause. You can keep that if you can tell me the name.”
“Bolt.”
Phillip clapped his hands. “That was faster than I thought. I'm glad I held onto it for you.”
“This is mine now?”
“Yes. This defender was looking for you for some reason. Use it, let it help you.”
“Thanks, I guess. Anything else?”
“Yeah, take Miss Bundle of Sunshine with you. She was looking for you as well.”
I argued against him about Ezra. “I don't think she's safe with me.”
“Sen, we both know that is false. She cant take care of herself, you can calm her down almost instantly.”
“Just me?”
“Nobody else has been able to turn her anger quite as well as you.”
I sighed. “Yeah. I'll take her with me too. It can't hurt. She did rescue me too after all.”
“Exactly.”
“Anything else Phillip?”
“Nah, just make sure to heal your defenders.”
“I only have this one right now.”
“Oh, well then it's a good thing you have it. Go shopping to pack some food for you journey back. It's mostly in case you become lost, but it's good to have.”
“Okay. I go to the store and I'll come back to get Ezra.” I paused. “Anything else?”
Phillip smiled. “Nope. Get out of here.”
I walked outside and felt the heat from the sun bearing down on me. The was a tall mountainside to my right, but everywhere was sand as far as I could see. I walked around until I found the store that had been recommended to me. I bought four water bottles and four packages of snacks. That meant that Ezra and I both had two pairs if anything happened. I trudged back to the building where I started. I found that Ezra had awoken and was downstairs waiting for me.
She was back to her old distant self. I grabbed her hand and started to head out, but Phillip stopped me again.
“Sen, I would recommend taking your new defender for a ride. It will make your life that much better. Plus, you won't have as much strain on your back.”
“Thank you for everything Phillip. I'm sorry I yelled at you.”
“Forget about it. It was a stressful situation, and it was shocking news. I'm surprised it went as smoothly as it did.”
We both laughed. I pulled the pec out of my back pack and tapped it to release the defender inside. A large horse appeared from the lavender light. The horse had a pale body, with a pastel yellowy mane. It looked big enough to ride.
“This will save you a few hours, minimum.”
“Thanks for telling me about it Phillip.”
“Stop, you're giving me too much credit. Get out of here and go back to Pilvash.”
“Good bye, for real this time.”
“Good.”
I helped put Ezra on top of Bolt, then I climbed on top of Bolt behind Ezra. I wrapped my arms around Ezra, and Ezra wrapped her arms around Bolts mane. Bolt started trotting at first, having difficulty finding good footing in the sand. After the first twenty minutes, the sand gave way to stone, and then finally to grass and forest. Once we were in the thick of the forest, Bolt was able to gallop at a steady pace.
The journey went smoothly. The sun started to set in front of me, which helped me to know which direction to go. While I missed the sunset, I would still be able to make it for some of the party that I was invited to. More importantly, I was going to be able to check on Tiffany soon. Without making any stops, I arrived in familiar territory just before the moon was at its peak in the sky. It was probably about twenty more minutes of riding before we arrived.
I stopped at a roadside store to let Ezra go to the bathroom. While I was waiting for her, I bouth some snacks for Bolt to eat, and I found a pair of sunglasses that looked similar to the ones that Tiffany had lost yesterday. I bought them mostly, because I knew that it made me feel that I was going to see Tiffany alive and well. It hung over my head, but know I have a reason to doubt my doubts.
Once Ezra finished, we were off. We rode straight to the coast of Centra Lake, and from there we just followed the coast until we reached Tiffany's house. There were lights on in every room. While I was dedicated to going there, I was distracted by the lack of lights further down the coast. The spot where the carnival marked the horizon where the water met the air was gone. No more lights, no more carnival.
We approached Tiffany's house on Bolt weaving between the dozens of cars park in her driveway. Once we reached the lawn, we got off of Bolt.
“Thanks for the help Bolt,” I said as I patted his mane. I snorted in response, before fading into lavender. I struggled a bit to hold the pec again. The hematites took my gloves from me, so I was stuck holding a portion of a horses weight in my bare hands.
I quickly put it into my back pack along with the snacks. I ushered Ezra alongside me. I didn't feel comfortable using the garage, so we walked up to the front door. Walking up the stone pathway looking into the party that was happening was intimidating. We rounded the corner to the doorway, when the doors leapt open forcefully. A light brown creature was cooing purring as it flew through the air into my startled arms. It was Vixen. Vixen had gotten bigger since I last saw her, and she had two fluffy tails instead of one.
Vixen was purring and smelling my face affectionately. I cuddled her and put her on the ground so Ezra could pet her. Vixen stayed closed to my legs as I walked up to the doors. Some of the guests were watching me approach. Everyone was well-dressed. I looked down at myself. My shirt and pants were torn at the shoulders and hem. I was covered in sweat and dirt. I was very clearly not ready to be here. I heard some commotion from the second floor as I approached.
“Who is it? Who left, or who is coming? Excuse me. Did you see a small creature come by? I can't lose her.”
It was Tiffany. She was working her way towards the front through a crowd of people. She was wearing the petal dress that she showed me in the store. It flowed elegantly around her, and the two tails trailed behind her. We made eyed contact, and she dropped the drink she was carrying. Her mouth was left open briefly. I smiled and waved at her. She started to run across the hall and down the stairs. The tails trailing behind an imprint of her when she travelled.
The way the dress moved made it seem like she floated down the stairs in slow motion. She jumped the last few steps and landed inches from me. I was getting ready to bring her into a hug, but she beat me to it. She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought me down into a fiery kiss. She didn't let go for at least a minute.
Some of the nearby guests were cheering for her, I was blushing, but happy. I heard one of them mention to another, “Now that's a birthday present if I ever saw one.”
I was caught off guard, and I pulled away from Tiffany briefly to look into her eyes. She had tears building inside.
“It's not my birthday today. Is it yours?”
Tiffany smiled sheepishly, “This might be my birthday banquet.”
“Oh, Happy birthday,” I said as I kissed her again.
After my entrance, Tiffany dragged me over to the tables where the left over food was being held. She made plates for both Ezra and I and sat down at the kitchen counter as we ate. Tiffany realized that we were hungry, so she started with her side of the story since we were separated.
“I saw you fall, and it felt like my heart was being shattered. The bubble we were in split and half and you were in the falling half. When that bird caught you, I thought you were safe, but it dragger you away instead. There were people there that help fight off the attack and prevent any deaths. They had any defenders that could fly go up and rescue people from the ferris wheel.
“Nobody sent after you until it was too late. Everyone thought you had been saved already. It wasn't until I reached the ground, and I couldn't find you. I was so worried. I just. Here, I know what I can do. Are you done eating?”
I wasn't, but I nodded anyway. I knew better, plus I wasn't that hungry. I did eat all the snacks on the way here while Ezra slept. Tiffany dragged me from the kitchen through the entry way and up to the third floor. She brought me to the lounge and through her secret passage onto the roof top balcony.
“Why did you bring me up here?”
“Nobody else is allowed up here except for me. I told them that first thing. This is my escape. We can be alone up here.” She walked over to the table here and pulled the drawer open and a lavender light in the shape of Fae appeared. Tiffany pulled me over to the bench that was up here. She leaned into me, and I leaned against the pillar immediately behind me.
“Fae,” Tiffany whispered, “Can you show us my carnival trip please?”
Fae nodded, and I found myself staring at myself in front of the ticket booth.
“What are you doing standing in line. You can go right in Tiffany. Happy birthday by the way,” the woman in the booth said to me.
I nodded. “Thanks Sarah. What about this gentleman here?” I asked purposefully drawing some attention to our hand-holding.
The woman glanced at him and then down to our held hands.
“He's welcome too. Free of charge. Have fun you two,” the woman said as she waved us on.
“What was that about?” Sen asked me.
“I'm a regular here, so I have season tickets. I wasn't sure if it worked for you too,” I replied.
“I don't think it normally does, but I meant, she said happy birthday?”
“Oh, my birthday is this month. You get some benefits here during the month of your birthday.” I grinned as I said this and rubbed my hands together. I don't want to scare him off.
It dawned on me that I was experiencing the carnival from Tiffany's perspective. The games, the fountain. The bathroom trip had been a blank gap. I heard Tiffany faintly yelling and my shoulder hurt for no reason. Then I left the restrooms and saw Ezra and Sen talking together, she was creepy.
We went to the ferris wheel, and I nestled myself into Sen's shoulder. I was warmer than I remembered. Sen stood up watched as we made our third crest. Then the ferris shuddered harshly. I slipped out of the seat, but pressed myself hard against the floor and the lip of the seat. I saw that Sen bumped his head against the leg of the seat; he looked very dazed.
“Sen, hold on!” I shouted. “Here, grabb my leg. Hang in there.”
Sen writhed on the glass of the bubble, before the ferris wheel shook violently again. The glass cracked and split almost instantly. I pulled my dangling leg back into the seat. “SEN!” I shouted. “SEN! NO PLEASE SOMEBODY!” My tears dripped onto my hands making it difficult to keep myself pressed against the metal.
As if a dream had come true, a large bird swooped down and plucked Sen from the falling half of the bubble. I felt relieved. Sen was alright. Now I just needed to hang in there until I got rescued. I looked down at the lake from my vantage point. The attacks had come from there, but right now you wouldn't be able to tell. There were a dozen or so boats speeding around looking for the terrorists.
I looked down at the ground. A small group of people had mobilized and were using their pets or defenders to help stabilize the ferris wheel and rescue patrons. “Help me! I'm stuck up here!”
While I waited, helplessly, I saw that beyond the attack from the lake, there was also a group attacking the main carnival. Part of the people who were helping save the ferris wheel patrons split off in order to protect everyone. If the hematites caused trouble here, people stuck like me would likely die. I just had to wait for my turn.
My arms were getting tired. I had to reposition again, but this time I had some good news as well. A large angelic looking creature hovered directly below me. It chirped my fears away as I maneuvered onto its back delicately. It drifted down to the ground, where I was able to roll onto the ground safely.
“Miss are you okay?” A man ran up to ask me.
I nodded, as he helped me stand up.
“My boyfriend, where is he?”
“What does he look like Miss?”
“He was one of the first ones rescued, with the big owl. Where is he?”
The man shook his head. “Miss, I'm sorry to tell you this, that owl wasn't one of ours.”
Fear shot into my eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“The hematites have him. I'm sorry Miss.”
I fell to my knees and held myself up with my palms. I let my tears fall freely into a river beneath me. “No. Sen. No. What are they going to do to you?” I screamed loudly and fell into a fetal position. It was minutes before I crawled myself up to a standing position and worked my way through the carnival. I was sore from exerting myself on the ferris wheel, but I soldiered on.
I saw a lot of people running rampant in every direction. I heard the sounds of fighting to my right, and headed that direction. I saw a young girl, the same young girl that had been talking to Sen earlier, enveloped in a violet flame. There was a violet wisp floating in front of her protecting her from attacks, and there was a violet wisp that seemed to stem from her hand that allowed her to attack.
A group of hematites that had made there way here were trying to corner her, but this purple energy was keeping her safe and ferocious. A black hound lunged at her, and the wisp caught it and flung it back at its trainer. Then the other wisp swung wide along the ground to trip up the other hematies. Then she lifted it high and brought it down on the hematites. They had to jump to get out of the way. But that just meant that she caught them and flung them away. One crashed into the corner of a building and didn't get up.
As I drew nearer to this girl she became aware of my presence and turned to look at me. Here eyes were glowing the same color violet. If I hadn't seen her before, I would've thought that she was glaring at me. I heard gun shots, and the wisps quickly extended to block the bullet, but they didn't protect me. I felt a painful sensation above my ankle and saw that a bullet had gone through my shin. I crumpled to the ground in pain, and Ezra stepped in front of me.
I heard more gun shots and the wisps were quick at work to protect her. Once there was a lull in fire, a wisp grabbed hold of my and flung me over the canopy, into the arms of another large bird. This one couldn't fly, but it glided me safely back to the ground. Behind me, I could see the faint glow of violet dancing around the tents and ground. A woman this time grabbed me and brought me onto a stretcher. I was quickly being carried away.
I faded back to a rooftop that seemed so distant a few moments ago. I saw that Tiffany was crying into my shirt. I stroked her head.
“I thought you were dead, or would be shortly.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No,you don't understand. This is the reason I cut,” she said as she lifted up the dress to reveal her scars, along with two fresh wounds from today. “I had two brothers and a sister. The war took them from me, and my parents. My family died during a plan of my creation. The hematites overwhelmed us and started to slaughter all of the people. I, along with two others, survived by sheer luck. Everyone praises my strategizing, but if I was as good as everyone says, no one would die, least of all my family! Why do I get to live while others who trust me die? And, and, and tonight I thought I lost you too.” Tiffany started sobbing into my chest.
“I know I hardly know you in comparison to my family, but I saw how you handled yourself and that gave me hope that I might be able to trust having a relationship someday. Not that it matters now, but many people have asked me out, but I've distanced myself from all of them. Everybody scares me. But for some reason you don't.”
“I'm here for you Tiffany. I didn't mean to scare you.”
“I know. But I don't want to lose you. I just started trusting people again and this happened. I can't handle this anymore. I know everyone expects me to. I have a reputation as a master strategist to live up to. I have people to inspire. I need to ooze confidence. But it's all a lie. I'm just a scared little girl, looking for someone to protect me.”
I sat there with Tiffany crying into my chest for a long time. Vixen crawled into the space beneath Tiffany and started purring to make her feel better. Tiffany laughed and wiped as many tears as she could.
“I'm sorry. Some birthday huh? Crying at my own birthday party.”
I shifted forwards, and reached for my backpack. I forgot that it was left by the kitchen. As if he had read my mind, Spurf had come out to the balcony carrying a glasses case. I smiled. I took the case from Spurf and held them out to Tiffany.
“I got you a present.”
“What?”
“I bought you something on my way back here. I didn't think I'd be giving them to you tonight, but here.” I gave Tiffany the glasses case.
She laughed, and opened them. “Sen, they are perfect.” She tossed them onto her head, and they matched her previous pair perfectly. “Look, I can join the party again. Nobody would know I was just crying my heart out.” Tiffany struck a pose. We both laughed, but Tiffany was still sniffling. “Go on back to the party Sen. I'm going to sit out here a bit longer.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I'm sure. As far as I recall,” Tiffany turned to usher me away, “nobody is supposed to be up here but me.” I looked back, but Tiffany was smiling again as if nothing was wrong. I shrugged and left her to her thoughts. I felt uncomfortable at the party based on how I was dressed, but I stayed away from her secret balcony. I went back to the kitchen to see if I could eat some more dessert.
When I reached the kitchen counter where my food was, I saw the Ezra looked completely lost. She was a child, but on top of that, she was a social outcast even for a child.
“Hey,” I said as I got back into my seat. “Is everything okay?”
Ezra silently stared at me and nodded.
“How was dinner?”
Ezra started nodding again.
“That wasn't a yes or no question.” I laughed. “Are you tired Ezra? I know you tried to sleep on the way here, but I also know it's not easy to sleep on a horse. “
Ezra started nodding again. This time however, she yawn largely and stretched to go along with it. I held out my hand and she took it. “Here, I'll take you to a bedroom where you can get some rest.”
I led the way and Ezra sullenly followed me. We maneuvered through patches of people and slowly climbed the stairs up to the guest rooms. I plopped Ezra down on one of the beds and pulled the covers up over her shoulders. I thought my job was done and went to leave, but Ezra caught my arm and whispered to me.
“Please stay.”
“I can do that Ezra, I'm just going to close the door to drown out some of the noise, is that okay?”
Ezra nodded and I did just that. I closed the door,and Ezra whispered, “Please turn out the light?”
I turned off the light a worked my way back to the bed. I climbed onto it and Ezra wrapped her arms tightly around my left arm. I felt her tears as they slid down her cheek and brushed against my arm. I didn't know what else to do for this poor girl, but she clearly looked up to me in a way that I didn't know existed.
I heard he sniffling a bit trying to hold back the tears. I reached over with my right hand and wiped the tears off her face.
“Do you have dreams Ezra?”
I felt the bed move, and I had to pause and think of whether that was a nod or a shake because she was perpendicular to me.
“What do you dream about?”
I felt the bed move, but this time she was definitely shaking her head no.
“I'm sorry. Do you want me to stop talking?”
Another headshake.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Sing,” Ezra whispered.
“Nono, I don't sing. I can hum. Does that work for you?”
A headshake. I sighed. After a moment of silence, a nod. I muttered thank you wordlessly, and started humming a simple and soothing song I remembered from the radio. I remembered the words to it in my head. If I did sing it, it would be a sad song, but the melody behind it elegant and relaxing. After I finished that song, I started humming another one. Midway through this song I could feel Ezra's grip loosen around my arm, and I slowly weasled out of her grasp completely. I stayed to finish the song.
I started a third song, but this time I was slowly working my way off the bed and out the room. As I opened the door, a ray of light captured the figure of the now sleeping girl in a moment of time. I escaped the room and locked the door behind me before closing it. Tiffany was waiting for me as soon as I was outside the room.
“What a jerk, you could have let her stay up you know. I do have a game room upstairs.”
“She was tired.”
“Yeah yeah, come on. I need to you to follow me.”
Tiffany grabbed my hand and dragged me through the crowd once again. As we weaved through people I heard Tiffany humming a song to herself. It was the song that I was humming to Ezra as I left the room. I smiled. Tiffany let go of my hand a walked up to a group of people. I recognized one of them as Kristina.
“Hey all! I brought Sen with me!”
The group all focused on me, and I quickly became conscious of my lack of proper clothing.
“Sen, this is Kristina and Sarge. This here is Tyson. He is Keith, and lastly Nelson. This is my squad.
Keith walked up to me and shook my hand. “It's a pleasure to meet you Sen. Tiffany was telling us about you earlier. I was told that you qualified for the second badge.”
I shuffled a little bit, but nodded. “That's what Tiffany said.”
“That's right,” Tiffany said.
“Well, if the Lieutenant...”Keith stopped quickly as Tiffany wound up to punch his shoulder. “I mean, if Tiffany says that you qualify, then I can't do anything to stop it. I can say it was a shame I didn't get to witness it for myself.”
“I'm sorry.”
Keith waved me off. “No need to apologize Sen. We need all the help we can get, the faster we get that help the better. We appreciate that you chose to join us in our hour of need.”
“We all have our reasons for fighting.”
“Tiffany neglected to tell us the reason you fight. Would you care to enlighten us?”
I shrugged. “It's nothing special. I kind of wish it was. Hematites turned my life upside down. I want to pay them back in kind.”
Keith laughed. “We all do.”
Tiffany grabbed my arm again and started dragging me away. “I'm sorry you guys, I'm gonna go enjoy my party with Sen upstairs. Make sure you keep eating the food. I don't want any leftovers.” Tiffany continued to guided me upstairs. “Sen, do you want to play pool?”
“Sure, I'll play. I'm not very good at it though.”
“That means I'll win. It's a great birthday present to myself.”
“You know, Tiffany, you don't have to worry about me right now. You can do what you want, it's your party. I don't want you to think you have to stay with me all night.”
Tiffany stopped and turned around. She hugged me earnestly and smiled before kissing me. “I want to Sen. Trust me, I'm very good at not doing what I don't want to.”
That made me smile. I still felt bad that she wasn't spending more time with her comrades, but she was choosing to spend time with me. I wasn't forcing her to. The rest of the night was spent by Tiffany dragging me to a different area of her house every half an hour or so. Finally, Tiffany brought me to her room.
“Alright Sen, this is my last stop. I'm going to call it a night.”
“Okay, have a good night.”
“Haha, you say that as if you aren't joining me. Close your eyes,” she said as she dragged me into her room with her.
I closed my eyes, and protested with, “You said nobody but you.”
“Sen, I make the rules here.” She closed the door behind her. Even with my eyes close, I could tell that the room was dark. She didn't turn on the lights yet. “Sen,” she whispered, “the reason I don't let anyone in here, is because this is my room. It has my story in it. I brought you in here because I trust you. Nobody else has been in here except for me. I'm going to sleep, but I didn't want you to feel lost out there. If you want to stay up and learn about me, you are welcome to, hell you can leave and go mingle if you want.”
“Tiffany, I don't want to read to learn about you, I want you to tell me. I'll stay here, but I won't go browsing. I'm not exactly tired just yet, but I'll go to sleep soon.”
Tiffany giggled. “Okay, well you can open your eyes now. I was just messing with you.” She kissed me and then jumped on her bed in the corner. I could barely see anything, the room was dimly lit by whatever light was outside.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
I'm not going to post anymore until I can go back and make sure I have my notes all aligned correctly, and I don't have any more retcons.
In the mean time, any critiques, any things I should change or present differently? I'm open for suggestions now.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
Some explanations about Ezra. When I first concepted her (keep in mind first concepts were for a pokemon game), she was the Ghost-type user that was one of the players friends/acquaintences. She was always going to be young, and her parents were always going to die, and storywise she was going to use ghost pokemon that had similar features to known characters who have died (in either known or unknown ways). She was always going to have an Aegislash (to represent her parents) and a Gengar (to represent her pet), and the rest of her team would change per the story. I got this idea from Pokémon Reborn, without spoiling anything, this occurs to some extent.
As her character developed, I started to form her into a more Elle (Eleven from Stranger Things) character. Where she is very unassuming, but when triggered can have a very powerful presence, but I wanted to make sure that the trigger was constant and far from a Deus Ex Machina plot armor kind of thing. I also wanted her to be 'used' at least once as a saving grace.
Everything I've wanted to introduce from this character has been revealed, some things might not be clear yet, but that will be clarified in later, but as far as keeping her true to the ghost-using, death-tracking, trigger-applicable bomb, how did she come across?
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
So for now, the rest of the story is going to be put on hold for two reasons:
1) Now that Nanowrimo is done I'm going back and editing some things for continuity's sake, and to make things better. The biggest thing for now is introducing Tiffany. While it's very clear that she is depressed with the current iteration. It's overbearingly so. It's supposed to be more subtle, but I wasn't able to flesh that out as I was trying to write 20k in three days (not an ideal place to find myself just an fyi, I don't recommend it). Her depression is something that needs to be finessed. Also, I'm going to rewrite the events of the party. The introduction is fine, and some parts work, but I'm messing around with the order of the events for the most part.
2) With Christmas looming, I need to get my Christmas presents ready. It's going to take a lot of time to get them together, and it's not just something I can buy and have it over with in a few days.
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quotes wrote:
squinty_eyes: Alt, you have fantastic logic. And zero political prowess. CKY: Through a convoluted series of events involving three tons of garden gnomes and a pickup truck, Henderson’s Magikarp defeats the Deoxys terrorizing the city.
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) It's supposed to be someone else, but Ezra could work as well.