Chapter 6: A Little Accident

Ms. Justice:

"So wait," SpeedBlade starts, looking at the cards in his hand. "How do I do this again?"

"I'm not sure," JumpStart says looking at the cards in his own hands. "Wait. When do I pull a card from the deck?"

"Draw," Ms. Justice says, "You draw a card when I say go fish."

"Sssooo do I draw a card now?"

"No. Not yet. First thing first, you need to ask one of us if we have a card."

Still confused, JumpStart looks at QuickShot.

"Do you, uh, have this card?"

JumpStarts takes out a card and show it to QuickShot.

"No," QuickShot answers. "Go fish. Also, that's called the Seven of Clubs, and you don't have to show it to me."

"Okay," JumpStart says. He puts the card back in my hand and draws a new card from the deck. "Now what?"

"Now it's SpeedBlade's turn," I say. I point to SpeedBlade. "SpeedBlade. Ask away."

"May I go back to sleep," SpeedBlade asks.

"No," I cry. "Come on, you already slept five hours today. How can you still be tired?"

"I do a lot of running," SpeedBlade answers. "It makes me tired. Very tired."

I sigh as I shake my head.

"Come on," QuickShot says, hitting SpeedBlade on his arm. "Let's just finish this game, okay? Afterward, we can all go back to doing our own things."

"Fine," SpeedBlade says, looking at the cards in his hand. "Do you have this card? It's three red diamonds."

"Who are you asking," I ask.

"Anyone," SpeedBlade replies. "I want to go back to sleep. So do any of you have this card or not."

"Here," JumpStart says, handing SpeedBlade the card. "Okay. I give SpeedBlade a card. Can I go now?"

I shake my head again.

"It's fine. I wanted to teach you guys how to play Go Fish, and I did. You can go now."

"Thank you," SpeedBlade says, putting his cards down and getting up. He disappears into his room and a few minutes later, we all hear the sound of him snoring.

"Uhh," JumpStart says, rubbing the back of his head. "Can I go too?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. JumpStart puts down his cards. He stretches his arms and legs before getting up and heading to his room.

As I reach for JumpStart's and SpeedBlade's cards, I turn toward QuickShot.

"You can go too. I'm guessing since you're not from another world, you already know how to play Go Fish.

"I do," QuickShot answers. She stops from getting the rest of the cards. "And because I do, it means you don't have to explain anything to me."

QuickShot then picks up a card and holds it up.

"Do you have an ace?"

"Go fish," I say, smiling as QuickShot draws another card.

JumpStart:

As I walk back to my room, I look at my crafting table. Scattered all over my table are parts, all different shapes and sizes pulled from trashcans all over the city. I pull out my chair and drop onto it. Once down, I start building.

Grabbing a gear, I place it against a second gear and start spinning them. With the two gears now linked, I place them on a piece of machinery.

"Hopefully this works," I say, placing the machinery on my table. Looking to my left, I grab my lighting maker. I think QuickShot told me it's called a generator, but I prefer to think of it as a lighting maker. After all, back home, the only thing that can make power like this is a bolt of lighting.

I push a switch and watch as my lighting maker comes on. A humming sound starts, I grab two wires, one red, and one blue. Tapping them together, they make a spark that blinds me. Blinking a few times, my eyesight eventually returning, I look at the machinery.

"Be careful," I say, carefully aligning everything. "Be careful. Be careful."

The machinery and my wires touching, the machinery roars to life. It's shooting out smokes and the gears on the side are spinning at incredible speed.

"Yes, yes, yes," I say, looking at the gears as they soon start to move faster. "Wait. No. No! Too fast! Too fast!"

Removing the wires, the gears are still turning too fast, and to make matters worst, they seem to be shaking. Also, it looks like they are getting loose. I try to stop the gears but they're moving too fast. Without a second thought, I drop to the floor just as the gears come off and fly around my room.

Laying flat on the floor, my hands over my head, I listen as the gears fly all over, hitting and bouncing off the walls.

"What's going on," QuickShot says as she and Justice run into my room. I don't even have time to warn them but the gears are heading for them.

"Watch out," I yell, getting up. However, before I or QuickShot can do anything, Justice grabs and pulls QuickShot behind her. Bringing up her shield in time, the gears bounce off of it and stick to my table.

"Again," QuickShot says, "What's going on here?"

"Just a slight malfunction," I reply, dusting myself off.

"A slight malfunction," Justice repeats. "What were you trying to do? Turn gears into ninja stars?"

"That is a surprise," I reply, looking at my crafting table. Laughing as I look at the two, I wrap my hand around one of the gears and pull.

"Come on," I say, still pulling. "Come on. Come on."

The gear finally pops out.

"Yes," I smile, laying the gear on the table. "Like I said, just a slight malfunction."

QuickShot and Justice look at each other before looking back at me. As they look at me, they frown.

"I'm missing some parts," I chuckle. "Can I, uhh, please go to your room to see if you have what I need?"

"Sure," QuickShot answers, "But just don't touch anything okay? Since Lighting Storm, I've been working on a new slime formula. It supposes to be stronger than before."

"Got it," I say, running through the two and over to QuickShot's room. As I step into QuickShot's room, I see a bunch of posters all over her room. There are pictures of flying machines and women with similar clothing to QuickShot on the posters.

As I enter QuickShot's room, I see her crafting table. A rusted steel table, the parts are all organized and placed inside drawers.

"Where do you keep your spare gear?"

I open one drawer but find nothing but a bunch of arrowheads. I open another drawer but find a sharpening stone instead. I go through a few more before finding the gears.

"Yes," I say, grabbing a few and closing the drawers. While closing the drawer, I notice some small glass cups filled with green water.

"What is this? Oh, is this the new slime QuickShot mentioned? Hmm, doesn't look even strong."

I'm about to poke it but I remember what QuickShot said. She told me not to touch anything.

I shrug my shoulder and turn to walk around. However, as I am turning, I accidentally kick one of the table's legs. I turn back to see the cups shake before tipping over.

QuickShot:

"What is JumpStart building," I say, examining the parts all over the table. They seem to be a collection of mismatched parts, and yet somehow, JumpStart had built something from them. On the table, standing out like a sore thumb is some sort of small, rectangle-shaped box

"I have no idea," Justice replies, "But I really don't think you should be in his room. After all, you asked not to touch anything in your room. You should do the same."

I examine the box a bit more before pulling back.

"I understand. We have to respect each other-"

Before I can finish, a loud crash cuts me off. It's followed by JumpStart screaming.

"Nevermind," I say, stomping my feet toward my most likely destroyed room. Justice follows after me and as we approach my room, we see something green and white flowing out of it. Whatever it is, it also forces JumpStart out.

"No, no, no," JumpStart screams as he's carried out. "Oh no. QuickShot is not going to be happy about this."

"Believe me," I say, walking right up to JumpStart. "I'm not."

"I can explain," JumpStart says. He pushes himself up and dusts his butt clean. JumpStart opens his mouth but before he could 'explain', the lights in the OutPost change colors. The change is followed by the alarm going off.

"I will explain later. For now--"

"For now," I say, "Go and grab my bow."