part0023

I threw my carbine over my shoulder and unzipped my grenade pouch to pull two out. “An experiment who can make copies of himself for a small amount of time. Cover me, Ryoko. The rest of you spread out.”

Ryoko held her gun in front of her body like a shield, and her skin hardened into diamond-shaped patterns. “Stay behind me.”

I fell in behind her and eyed her skin. I had seen her do this many times before, but it had been so long… I found it both strange and fascinating. The two of us took off, and gunfire erupted, sending bullets flying past us from the other side of the field. I pulled the pin from one of the grenades and tossed it. It exploded soon after it hit the ground, but the gunfire continued so I threw the second grenade.

“There are too many,” Ryoko shouted back to me as bullets bounced off her skin. “I won’t be able to hold as a shield for much longer at this rate. What are we going to do?”

“Ryoko, Laz, watch out!” Rylan’s voice rang through the communicator. Just then a rocket hit the ground a little ways off from us, and we jumped to the ground in an attempt to avoid being hit by anything. There was no question who had attacked us. It was her preferred weapon of choice.

Ryoko picked herself up and grumbled to herself. “I’m going to skin that cat.”

I took out a few smoke bombs and tossed them around, creating a screen. “Go find Mocha. She’s going to be trouble unless we get rid of her. Use this screen to sneak around.”

“What about you?” she asked, putting a mask on.

“I’ll be fine. Now get going.”

“Right.” She disappeared into the smoke, leaving me alone.

As I put my mask on, my mind buzzed. This game gave us unlimited ammunition, and that meant Doppelganger would fire off rounds without a second thought. I knew the original would hang back while his copies did the work, so theory would dictate he would be on the other side of this field, and that meant I could take him out, that is, if I could get close enough.

“Laz, how are you two holding up?” Rylan called in.

“I’m fine. I sent Ryoko to take care of Mocha,” I replied. “What’s the status on everyone else?”

“Argus, Blaze, and Dan took cover in your smoke screen. It looks like Seda found Nioush, and Raikidan is watching my back.” He chuckled. “Although I think Raikidan is getting antsy.”

“I don’t like sitting still like this,” Raikidan grumbled. “You’re too far away to be helpful.”

“This is what a sniper does,” Rylan responded. “We use range to help.”

“Well, a sniper is stupid,” Raikidan said.

“We are not! We watch out for our comrades from afar and protect them from enemies they can’t see.”

I chuckled. “Hey, old married couple, shut up. Raikidan, you’ll get your chance. Rylan needs you to watch his back since he’s useless otherwise.”

I chuckled. “Inform me if anything new happens on the field.”

I cut the connection and moved forward. I took out a few more smoke bombs and tossed them about. I had no idea where this screen stopped, and I didn’t need to run face first into a cluster of guns.

Using my visor, I tried to locate a target. I was shocked by the numbers. “Aurora, I need you to do a little digging.”

“What do you need me to do, babe?” she asked.

“I need to know if they’re boosting abilities.”

“Hold on while I check.” The sound of her typing the keys echoed in my earpiece. “Yes, they are. I’ll do the same for you if you’d like.”

“No, I want our team to beat them the right way. If we can, it’ll prove we really are better.”

“All right, if you say so. Also, I’m getting enemy movement close to you. Just a few yards, from what I can see.”

Without replying to her, I cut the connection and looked around. I didn’t need them to find me because of my voice. My visor caught movement and I fired my gun. My victim screamed in pain, and then it was quiet. That was too close; this smoke won’t help me. I’m going to have to risk being out in the open.

Gripping my gun tighter, I ripped off my mask and ventured out of the safety of the smoke. As soon as I did, bullets rained down on me. There was nowhere to hide, so I ran. Excruciating pain shot through my shoulder as a bullet passed through it. Glancing at it, I found a good-sized bullet hole oozing with blood. I gritted my teeth and kept going. A single bullet wound wouldn’t stop me.

I fired at every Doppelganger copy I managed to see. The bullets ceased to rain, but the sound of retaliating friendly fire kept me calm. Looking back, I watched Dan, Argus, and Blaze rush out of the smoke screen and come to my aid. I grinned and continued firing.

“About time you ladies decided to come out and fight,” I called out.

Blaze smirked and fired a few rounds of his shotgun. “We enjoyed watching you take them head on. It was quite sex—watch out!”

I turned in time to see a Doppelganger copy aim for me. I went to move, but knew I wasn’t moving fast enough. I prepared for the worst, but it didn’t come. Something pushed me to the ground and the sound of a shotgun rang through my ear. The copy in front of me burst into pixelated pieces.

I looked up at Blaze as he towered over me and grinned. “Looks like you’re of more use than I thought. I owe you one.”

He laughed and looked at me suggestively. “You sure do.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not even in your dreams.”

“I beg to differ.”

Tripping him without warning, I shot a Doppelganger copy that was aiming at him from behind and then stood up with a grin. “And now we’re even.”

He grumbled. “You’re no fun.”

A still figure in the distance caught my eye. Using my visor, I zoomed in. It was Raynn.

“Laz, I have a clear shot at Raynn,” Rylan called in. “Should I take him?”

“Take him out,” the voice in my head growled.

“No.” I ground my teeth. “He’s mine.”

I took off once again and charged straight at him. He barely moved, aside from the occasional weight shift, and my instincts screamed something was wrong, but I ignored it. Raynn looked at me and grinned as I came into range. Swinging my gun over my shoulder, I balled my hand into a fist. Just once I needed to hit him. Just once I needed to remove that smirk off his ugly face.

I swung and passed right through him. “What the—”

I turned and looked at him. His figure waved and then disappeared. My eyes widened. It was only an illusion! I had walked right into a trap.

“Not very smart, are you?” a voice cooed.

I turned quickly and was faced with one of Raynn’s other team members, who sat on a large boulder. I couldn’t recall his name, but it didn’t matter. I did know he was known for his energy illusions, and the idea that I fell for his trick pissed me off.

“Kill him for his treachery!” the voice ordered.

“Sorry you failed to take your built-up anger out on the general, but you won’t have to worry about your failure for much longer.” A twisted grin spread across his face. “I’m going to enjoy taking you out of this game.”

As he pulled the trigger, I attempted to run. I gritted my teeth as pain shot through my leg and I fell to the ground. I turned and faced him and tried to pull myself away.

“Not very smart at all,” he cooed again.

The sound of a carbine firing filled the air and the man stopped with several holes in his body. His eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground, his body pixilating away soon after, causing a large screen to appear in the sky. With a ping, images of both teams displayed, and the man that had been killed now had a large X over his picture.

“Yes, you’re not very smart,” my savior said, mocking his target. I turned to face him and was surprised to see Raikidan slowly walking toward me. He ran his hand through his hair and yelled to me. “You all right?”

I looked down at my bloody leg and chuckled. “Never better.”

I attempted to get up but failed. My leg was too badly injured and blood poured out of the wound. If I didn’t get it fixed up now, I’d be eliminated from the match due to blood loss. As horrible of an idea it was to do it here, I was going to have to use my first-aid kit immediately if I wanted any hopes to continue to fight.

As I reached for it, the ground started to shake and tremble. What the—

The two of us looked around. All around us the ground began to crack and morph. I watched in horrified amazement as the ground I was sitting on was lifted into the air, leaving Raikidan where he was. I now knew what random meant. The map was changing, and from what I could gather, it was changing a part of the terrain into a mountain.

Before I knew it, the ground I sat on started to crack as well and shift underneath me. I tried to stand up again, but the pain in my thigh was too much. Gritting my teeth, I dragged myself to what I thought to would be a more secure spot, only to be proven wrong.

The ground fell from underneath me, and I grabbed a ledge with my bad arm. I groaned in pain but refused to let go. When strong arms grabbed a hold of my suit and pulled me up, I looked up, my eyes meeting Raikidan’s, and my brow furrowed. How did he get up here so fast? Before I knew it, he tossed me over his shoulder and ran along the narrow path. “You’re such a pain, you know that?”

I grunted, not pleased he’d carry me like some Neanderthal. “No one is making you help me. You should be watching Rylan’s back.”

“Yeah, thanks for ditching me, ass,” Rylan rang in.

Raikidan snorted. “It was either sit around and do nothing or save Eira since she wanted to play hero. I opted to be productive. Though, if I had known I was going to have to carry her, I would have stayed put.”

I smacked him in the back of the head with my good arm. He growled, but the small upturn of the corners of his lips gave him away. The rock face in front of Raikidan exploded, forcing him to stop suddenly. I almost flipped over him.

“What the hell was that?” I shouted. The rock face behind us exploded in response.

“It’s Mocha!” Ryoko called in. “She got away from me when the map changed. I’m trying to get her, but she’s just too damn sneaky. I hate cats!”

“Get rid of her,” Raikidan barked.

“I am, I am! Calm down, Mr. Bossy-pants. You’re just as bad as Laz.”

“I can hear you, you know,” I muttered.

I rolled my eyes. Raikidan jumped over the gap in front of him and stumbled when he landed, though managed to keep us both from falling. Gods this is stupid… I felt so pathetic.

I looked up the cliff face and noticed an opening. It looked like a cave. “Do you think you can get up there?”

He looked up and grinned. “Hold on tight.”

“Hold onto what?” I shouted.

He didn’t give me a chance to figure it out. He let go of me, forcing me to grab onto his body suit wherever I could, and he began to climb. His climbing speed surprised me. Even though he had used a lot of his draconic power to keep up with me when we were running in the forest, I barely sensed him using any now. This confirmed my secret speculation he was built for strength and not straight speed—or I was terrible at sensing his power. I had been working on it these past few weeks, but it had been difficult to get to the level I was currently at. I suspected I still had a ways to go before I would master this sense.

As we climbed, rockets hammered the cliff face. We were lucky Mocha had such poor aim. Reaching the top of the ledge, I climbed off Raikidan to allow him to get up quicker and pulled myself up into a standing position. With my injured leg dragging behind me, I made my way to the cave. My leg was now completely numb, with blood still pouring out, which worried me.

“Hey, let me help you,” Raikidan insisted.

I shook my head. “You’ve done enough. I don’t need help now.”

He grunted. “Aren’t teammates supposed to help each other?”

I sighed. “Fine, get over here.”

He came over to me and grabbed my arm. Swinging it around his neck, he pulled me closer to use him as a type of crutch. I was thankful for this. It gave me the independence I needed and took the responsibility of carrying me away from him.

Once inside, I slid against the cave wall down to the floor. Unzipping my first-aid pouch, I took out the supplies I’d need and sighed with relief as I applied a healing ointment to my shoulder. After I was sure the entire wound was covered, I picked out a small gun from the pouch and inserted a needle and clear vial filled with liquid. This is going to suck, but it should slow the bleeding. Closing my eyes, I pulled the trigger and the liquid solution was injected into my thigh. I flinched from the sound and then the needle punctured my skin.

Suddenly the cave shook, and pieces of rocks fell as the rockets pelted the mountain, but I ignored them both. Once there was no more liquid to inject, I went to grab more ointment. Just as I scooped out some of the ointment, a rocket hit the mountain above the cave entrance. Boulders dislodged from the ceiling and crashed to the floor. I pulled myself away from my spot against the wall just as a boulder landed where I had been sitting. That was too close.

While my shoulder was almost completely healed now, my thigh was nowhere close. The injected solution helped with only the deep nerves and muscle tissue. I needed time to apply the healing ointment and let it work. Another rocket slammed into the mountain, causing the cave roof to collapse faster. Raikidan rushed over to me and pulled me farther back into the cave. When we couldn’t go back any farther, he held me close, using his body as a shield.

My heart didn’t start to pound until then. I could kill or stare death in the face without feeling a thing, but when it came to close contact with others like this, I didn’t know what to do. And why am I always getting stuck in these situations with Raikidan around?

A boulder landed close to us, and he tightened his grip. My hold on his bodysuit tightened in response. His scent was overpowering, but just as I wasn’t afraid, I smelled no fear on him. Did dragons just not fear, or was he not afraid because he knew this was only a simulation body? Most people feared even if it was only a simulation, so what was it for him?

The rocket fire finally ceased, as did the collapse of the cave, but Raikidan didn’t let go right away. After a few moments, his grip loosened until our noses were nearly touching. My heart thumped in my chest as I stared into his eyes and a strange and uncomfortable feeling washed over me. Then, suddenly, he sat up, allowing me to pull myself up into a sitting position with my good arm. When my body stopped feeling weird, I looked at him only to find an interesting sight before me. His skin was littered with patches of small black scales, and large wings protruded from his back. From the small rips in the membrane of his wings, I figured he had attempted to use them as an extra shield.

This new look intrigued me. I reached out my hand and touched his face, smearing what was left of the ointment on my fingers onto a small scratch on his face. I could feel the smoothness of the scales as I did so. They felt strange, but I enjoyed their feeling.

Realizing what I had just done, a wave of embarrassment flooded over me. Completely flustered by my actions, I retracted my touch and attempted to wipe the smeared ointment off his bodysuit. Of course, feeling his toned chest didn’t help. I grabbed another container of ointment I had, since I had lost the other in the frenzy, and opened it. Dipping two of my fingers in, I held them up. “Come over here and I’ll fix up your wings.”

He didn’t move. I looked up at him, and he gave me an uneasy look. I sighed. Placing the ointment container down, I used my free hand to gently grab the boned portion of one of his wings, and gently pulling his wing closer, I forced him to face his back to me and gently massaged the cream onto the thin membrane of his wings. His body tensed at my touch.

“Just, relax,” I cooed.

“You should be using that stuff for your leg,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

“I’ll have enough after I’m done with you. It’s the least I can do since you’ve saved me twice now.”

He tried to pull his wing out of my hand. He became less tense when he succeeded. “You don’t have to. I can take care of it.”

I tried to look at his face, but every time I tried, he’d turn his head away. I narrowed my eyes. Grabbing his wing again, I massaged on more of the ointment, careful to watch how he reacted. As soon as my finger touched the membrane again, his body tensed. I quickly moved my upper body to view his face and almost laughed at the sight—tightly shut eyes and twitching brow. Even though there was no color change in his cheeks, I knew that look. I grinned. I was going to make him regret trying to push into my personal space so many times before.

Careful of my lame leg, I let go of his wing slowly and pulled myself onto my good knee. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I leaned close to his ear and kept my voice lower. “If it felt good, you should have just told me.”

His eyes snapped open and he glared at me from their corners. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“—Both—kay—there—?” Aurora’s voice came through in bits and full of static. Looked like the mountain interfered with both the communicator signal and the tracking capabilities for computer techs and image streaming. “Raik—dan—itals—umping—”

Snickering quietly, the visor flashed over my face, and I spoke to her. “We’re fine, Aurora.”

Grinning, I pulled away from Raikidan and grabbed his other wing, my visor vanishing once more in the process. I went back to work in applying the ointment, and he exhaled slowly. A small giggle snuck past the smile on my face.

“Please stop,” he begged.

“I’m almost done.”

He didn’t let me finish. Pulling his wing out of my grip, he rounded on me. My back hit the cave wall as he pinned my arms to the wall.

“I said stop,” he growled, his face close to mine.

Smirking, I held the ointment container up to him. “Fine.”

He looked at me in confusion. Obviously, I wasn’t reacting as he’d thought I would.

“What? You expect me to always fight back? Squirm away?” I continued to grin. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I pick and choose my battles, and I’m choosing not to waste what little air we have in here.”

He let me go slowly, keeping eye contact with me, and sat back on his heels. I just watched him. “Why are you acting as if my look is normal?”

I took out my last ointment container and applied it to the large hole on my thigh. “I suspected you could take a form like this. You’re a shapeshifter, after all, so who am I to argue you can’t have an in between-metamorphosis form? I’m actually curious about why you’ve chosen to use it. Obviously, your wings weren’t much help.”

He shifted and flexed his wings uncomfortably, avoiding direct eye contact. “Our scales are stronger than your human steel. They would make it easier to protect you from rocks, but…”

I looked up at him, expecting him to continue. He looked to be searching for the right words. I beat him to it. “You’re not used to shifting, so the wings were an unfortunate side effect.”

He looked at me and blinked. Bingo. I looked back down at my thigh and continued to work. “Before we met, how often did you shapeshift?”

“Almost never,” he said. “I had no reason to.”

I chuckled and shook my head. His brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s just like me to disrupt the flow of others’ lives,” I said, glancing slightly up at him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud, pain-filled scream sounded through our communicators.

“Dan!” I exclaimed. My visor wiped across my face again. “What’s going on out there?”

“Heav—ire—” Argus came in. “—Dan—on—”

I threw my communicator onto the ground and slammed my fist on the floor of the cave in anger. The roof of the cave shook, and small pieces of debris fell.

Raikidan held up his hands. “Hey, stay calm.”

“Stay calm?” Rage boiled inside me. “While I’m sitting here chatting up a storm, with my bum leg because I decided to make a stupid move, my team is out there fighting for their lives, and now I’ve lost one! You really expect me to stay calm?”

“You act like it’s the end of Lumaraeon.”

“This simulation may be a game to you, Raikidan, but it’s not to us!” I spat on the ground. “I may have said it was okay if we lost, but it really isn’t. These simulations test our skills not only as individuals, but as a team. Any wrong move and you can affect your entire team, just like I have now. Had this not been a simulation, Dan would be gone for good! There’s no bringing back the dead.”

“Getting all worked up over it isn’t going to help any either!” he shouted. “Everyone makes mistakes, and they have to live with that fact. Now shut up and focus on getting that leg of yours fixed instead of getting all worked up. You can help them when you’re better.”

I blinked in shock. Not many ever dared to talk to me like that. He’s right, though. Getting worked up about the loss wasn’t going to bring Dan back. Shaking my head with a sigh, I worked on putting more ointment on my leg wound. While I did that, Raikidan grabbed some of the ointment from the container I had given him and attempted to get the last hole in his wing. I watched him from the corner of my eye and tried not to laugh as he struggled, guessing it needed to be fixed up before he could pull it back into his body. He sighed and looked at me.

A half smile spread across my lips. “Need help?”

He slowly nodded with a frown that looked more like a pout. Chuckling, I took some of the ointment he had in his hand and grabbed his wing. Gently I rubbed the ointment over the small hole. Raikidan closed his eyes and sighed. His shoulders sagged as he relaxed. His cheeks tinted pink, and I smiled a little. There was no reason for him to hide how it felt, and secretly I found it kind of cute. It reminded me of when you rubbed Ryoko’s ear. I just had to make sure I was careful. I didn’t need to provoke anything.

“You look nice.”

My brow rose. “Excuse me?”

“What you’re wearing. It looks nice on you.”

“Um, thank you. You… look nice too.”

He tried to look at me from the corner of his eye, but I avoided contact. I understood he was trying to distract himself from his current situation, but I wished he had chosen a better topic.

“Can I ask you something?”

More ways to distract himself, I guess. I thought for a moment. Might as well humor him. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do as I helped heal him up. “What’s on your mind?”

“Everyone continues to mention some Council. Who are they?”

I chuckled. He’d picked a fine time to ask about the Council. I took a deep breath and launched into an explanation.

“The Council of Seven , also known as the Seven Firsts. They are experiments that make up the firsts of all types of experiments from this city, from the first of all creations, to the first psychics, to the first elementalists. They keep order among our ranks and pass judgment on those who fall out of line. Just as a team has one battle leader and one main psychic, each team is led by one Council member. When major disputes or concerns arise that can’t be settled, the Council is called and they hold a meeting to settle the matter themselves.”

“Their word is law?” Raikidan asked.

“It’s supposed to be, but it’s not uncommon for decisions to be made against the Council’s orders.”

“Have you ever gone against them?”

“Many times.” I grinned, the memory of a fraction of those times running through my head. “The Council is made up of smart individuals, and for the most part, they know what they’re doing when they make a decision, but there are still many things they don’t know from experience. This is why I use my own judgment, and if the time comes where I have to go against them again, I will.”

“Your friends are smart to follow you.” He glanced back at me. “You lead them not because you are told to, but because you want to, and you use excellent judgment while doing so. Although you told me you’re not their sole leader, I don’t believe that now. You are their battle leader, but your judgment and decisions go beyond the battlefield.”

I never really thought about it that way. I’d been created to do as ordered, and lead others had been one of those tasks. But even after I broke away from Zarda, I found myself in leadership roles, and I didn’t exactly hate it. It put a lot of attention on me, sure, but I liked the tactical aspect of it all. I didn’t want to take positions that put me in what would be thought of as “glory” roles. All I wanted was to win. To be right for once.

I smiled despite myself. “Thank you.”

He nodded, a half-smile on his lips, and I went back to working on him.

Once I determined his wing was good, I let go, and with my eyes shut, leaned against the cave wall. The membrane of his wings was thin enough that it wouldn’t take long to heal, but unfortunately, it would take a little more time for my thigh. My eyes snapped open when Raikidan touched my thigh. I stared at him as he applied more ointment to it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You missed a spot,” he said, his tone calm enough to assure anyone but me.

I grabbed his hand and pulled it away. “I didn’t miss a spot.”

He grunted and pulled his hand out of my grip. “What, don’t want me touching your leg?”

I crossed my arms. “I’d prefer you didn’t.”

He grinned and grabbed my leg again. “Then I guess I’ll be applying more of this stuff.”

“I—inally—ot her!” Ryoko screamed through Raikidan’s communicator.

Raikidan growled and threw the communicator on the ground. I couldn’t help but laugh as he rubbed his ear. “Serves you right.” Pulling myself over to my communicator on the ground, I grabbed it and placed it around my head. “Good job, Ryoko.”

“—Old—ight—I’ll ge—u—uys out—oon,” she told us.

I looked over at Raikidan and watched as he shifted back to a nu-human form. His scales sunk into his skin as if they had never been there, and his healed wings folded back and disappeared under his bodysuit. No one would ever know he had ever looked that way now.

He picked up his communicator and moved closer to me. “How’s your leg?”

I looked down at it. “I can feel it healing, but it’s still pretty banged up. I’m going to have a hard time walking, but I’ll manage.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the boulders that blocked the cave entrance began to shift. Not long after, Ryoko poked her head through a good-sized hole in the wall.

“Glad to see both of you safe!” She winked. “Hope you two were good while you were alone in here.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course, she’d make a comment like that. Ryoko grabbed another boulder and tossed it out of the cave and over the cliff face with such little effort you’d think they were made of paper.

Raikidan helped me up and crouched down a little. “I’ll carry you until your leg is better.”

He grunted and grabbed me. Throwing me onto his back, he walked to the entrance of the cave. I sighed unhappily and sulked.

“Aww, you’re so cute when you don’t get your way, Laz,” Ryoko teased.

I huffed and muttered a few curses. Not only was I weaponless, I was also being treated like a child. As we made our way down the mountain, something heavy suddenly pulled on my back and shoulders. Looking back, I found two carbines strapped to me.

“The system showed you two lost yours during the cave collapse,” Aurora called in. “You can thank me later.”

I grinned and grabbed my carbine, making sure I was ready for any attack Raynn’s team would throw at us, but just as we made it to the base of the mountain, the ground started to shift again.