Chapter 7: In the Desert

Hothead:

As my pod falls faster and faster, the window ejects, and the floor tilts. Sliding out of the pod, I fall through the cold night sky toward a sand-covered ground. With my arms and legs spread out, I reach for my sword as I spin around in the air.

Waiting for the right moment, until it looks like the sand is about to punch me in the face, I swing with all my might and unleash a massive flame. Screaming as I swing my sword, the force of it and the hot air from my fire push me back. Together, they soften my landing as I fall right onto a sand dune. Rolling down it, I hit the bottom and stop.

"Ahh," I cry out. Having to split out some sand and dust myself off, I then look around. As far as my eyes can see, there's nothing around me but sand, sand, and sand dunes.

"Hmm," I say, looking back up as rockets beneath my pod carry it back toward the hovertrain craft.

"Shoot," I yell, slapping myself on the forehead. "Did the Headmaster say east or west? Or North? Also, which way is east and west? And North?"

I look around again but see only sand again.

"Uhhh," I say, spinning around and around in circles. The world starts to spin after a few minutes and I have to stop. Shaking my head, I look around one last time before picking a direction and walking. Using my gift, I encase my sword in bright orange flame and use it as a torch. As I walk with a torch as my guide, I can't help but wonder something.

"I wonder where Shocker and Jump are, and how they're doing?"

Shocker:

As I'm ejected from my pod, I place my arms against the sides of my body and my legs against each other. Straightening myself, I fall at a rapid speed. Looking down and seeing the incoming sand, I activate my gauntlets. My gauntlets come on and encase my arms in metal armor. I then use my gift to electrify them.

As I hit the sand with my electrified arms, the impact unleashes a massive wave of pure blue and white electricity that sends the sand flying everywhere. Pushing myself up from a glass crater, I dust a few shards of glass off my shoulder and scan the surrounding area.

As far as I can see, there isn't much around me at the current moment. Just the sand, the night sky, and the full moon with the stars.

I think back to what the Headmaster said. He mentioned the game pieces that would be in a ruined temple North of where we were dropped off.

Looking up again, I examine the stars. Based on the stars in the night sky, I know which way is North and start to walk. Despite the full moon and the many stars above my head, it is still very dark and there are very few lights.

I raise one of my hands and use my gift again. Electricity flows from within me and gathers in my hand. The electricity in my hand acts as a light source for me. As I walk through the sand with my glowing hand, I begin to feel the sand beneath my feet shake.

Jump:

Grabbing onto the glass window as it ejects and falls out, I look down at the quickly approaching desert.

I spy an approaching sand dune, the tallest one around. Placing the window against the bottom of my shoes, I use my gift of enhanced jumps to jump off the window. The window shatters as I jump off the window and toward the tallest sand dune. Rocketing toward it, I flip over and use my gift once more to jump off the sand dune. I bounce off the sand dune before flipping over and landing on my feet.

Now on my feet, I adjust my wrist-mounted crossbows. As I adjust them, I look up and see only my pod flying back to the hovertrain craft.

"Wait! Where are the other pods? Where is everyone else? I know I saw other students getting dropped off but where did they land? Before I go and find those game pieces, I should try and find someone. Strength in number and besides, who knows what else is out here?"

With my crossbows loaded and ready, I use my gift to jump high in the air, landing back on the top of the tallest sand dunes. Once on the very top, I hold my hand above my eyes and look around. While looking around, I see something that isn't too far away.

"Is that the temple? No, wait. That can't be. This is supposed to be some sort of team-building test. But I haven't built my team yet. Maybe I'm supposed to build them at the temple with the game pieces?"

Still confused, I use my gift to jump from one sand dune to another. With one final leap, I land on what looks like an old stone pathway with ruined pillars on both sides. The stone pathways lead to a crumbling temple. While most of the temple is either destroyed or buried in the sand, the entrance is surprisingly still standing. Carefully peeking into a dimly lit hallway while holding out my crossbows. I scan for anything like traps or game pieces.

"Nothing," I think. "No trap or game pieces. Is this the wrong temple?"

I look back out but as far as I can tell, the only thing out here is sand and a ruined pathway. Taking a deep breath and exhaling through my nose, I carefully walk into the temple. As I enter the temple and look around, I see a series of smaller dark hallways, all leading in different directions. I pick one of the hallways and walk down it.

"This temple is bigger than it looks. I hope I don't get lost."

As soon as I think about it, I realize something and turn around.

"Oh, man!"

Without even realizing it, I had walked deep into the hallway. Deeper than I should have, especially considering I don't have anything like a light source.

"Shoot," I say. I curse myself as I start to walk back out. Only, as I start to walk back, instead of coming to the temple's entrance, I come to a room with more pitch-black hallways leading in various directions.

"Oh, man," I repeat, my hands dropping to my sides. I can't be sure which way I came from or which way to go. Somehow, I wander into a maze of pitch-black pathways, each pathway looking exactly the same.

Shocker:

Somehow, I stumble upon an oasis in the middle of the academy's private desert. Instead of sand, I'm standing on lush green grass and surrounded by tall palm trees. Only a few feet in front of me is a large body of water. It's either a pond or a lake.

Licking my dried lips as I look at the water, I look left and right for any signs of danger. When I see nothing, I slowly walk toward it, still looking. Once I reach the water, I drop to my knee and deactivate my gauntlets. My metal armor folding in on itself, I then reach down with both my hands and make a bowl. Capturing water in my hands, I bring it up to my mouth. I give the water a quick taste.

It tastes cold and plain. Exactly like water. There's nothing more.

Tilting my head back, I drink all the water from my hands. While wiping my mouth after I finish, I look down at the water again and see ripples on it. I stare at the ripples and realize something.

Before I can get out of the way, something thin and black shoots out from the water. It grabs me, wrapping itself around my waist and pulling me in. I try to activate my gift but before I can, with one last tug, the thing pulls me into the water.

In no time, I find myself sinking deeper and deeper into some sort of black void.

Hothead:

"Oh come on," I yell, throwing my hands and sword into the air. I slap myself on the head and look back down. I can't believe my eyes. I can't believe what I'm seeing. I'm trying to tell myself it's an illusion, possibly made from the tiredness, but not. It's there as clear as the night sky.

"I'm walking in circles," I scream, staring at my own footprints. I check the prints in the sand, comparing them with the prints on the bottom of my shoes. "Yeah. They matched. Prints for prints."

I slap myself on the head again before kicking the footprints.

"Okay. Okay! Don't panic. Do not panic. Remember what you've learned from Junior Fighter Academy. Panicking does nothing but waste time and energy. I need to calm my head and think. I need to form a plan."

I take a deep breath and begin to think.

"Which way is north," I ask myself. "Which way is north?"

I rack my brain for an answer but the only thing that comes to mind is whether or not I even started walking north in the first place.

"No," I told myself. "I couldn't have been walking north. If I had, then I wouldn't have stumbled upon my footprints. Darn it! Why didn't I pay more attention in navigation class? Oh yeah. I accidentally set the Professor's desk on fire and the Professor put me in the very back of the class."

As I remember the massive fire and the screaming Professor, I shake my head and look around.

"What am I even looking for? It's not like there's going to be an answer on the--Hey, wait. What the hell?"

As I keep looking around, my head spinning in circles, I look to the right and see another set of footprints.

"No way! A separate trail!"

I run to the separate trail as fast as I can. Dropping to my knees, I then carefully examine them.

"They're not mine. They're not mine!"

I cry and shout and jump up with my arms in the air.

"They're not my footprints! Yeah!"

I drop back down and examine them again. As I examine them, I make note of a single cube behind a triangle shape.

"Are these...heel imprints? No way they're Shocker. And Jump doesn't wear heels. It must be another female student?"

Getting back onto my feet, I follow the trail. It takes a while but finally, see someone walking along the sand.

"Strange," I think as I approach the person. "Don't I know that person?"

The person, a girl, had very long yellow hair and is wearing a white and red dress with armor plating on it. From the design, I think it's a very expensive dress.

"Wait," I say, my feet coming to a skid as I reach the girl. "I know you!"

The girl, having to split out some sand, dusts herself off and looks at me. The second she sees me, her eyes go from white to red. Quite frankly, the feeling is mutual.

"You," Alodia says.

"You," I say. "Oh come on! Am I not already in a horrible situation? Ahh! What is worse than this?"