A Fleeting Utopia

Chapter 1

"You might want to get up before something bad happens." A cold hand prodded Tsumi's bare shoulder.
"Maybe you would think THAT SHE CAN'T, Juno. Did she not just get hit by the spider?" Another voice, which seemed to be shaking from something (Combat? Running?) came from a little ways away. Tsumi tried to open her eyes and sit up, but the excruciating pain in her legs and spine prevented her, leaving her body limp on the slightly damp grass.
"Hmph. Maybe I can help motivate her to get up, since you two don't seem to be up for the job," A self-assured, bossy sounding voice exclaimed.
Tsumi, with the little consciousness she had left, flinched when she heard the same voice yelling into her right ear, "HEY YOU! WAKEY WAKEY BEFORE YOU GET SMASHED IN PIECES BY A GIANT ROBOTIC SPIDER!"
Okay, so maybe the pain in her legs wasn't so bad.
            "Hah! See? It worked! She's sitting up. Nova to the rescue, once again!" The girl who had screamed in her ear, Nova, stuck out her tongue at a short, angry looking boy nearby with sapphire colored hair. "And you didn't even try."
"You know, that might be because I'm in the middle of fighting a deadly beast ! And I don't see either of you helping!" The giant, silver robot spider extended one of its oversized legs, attempting to wrap the boy in its webs while he was speaking, and he barely dodged it.
"Okay, well, I have a justifiable reason, unlike Nova. I'm the only one trying to heal this new girl over here!" The same cold fingers from before were slathering some kind of pungent cream all over the wounds on her legs.
"Fine, Ikuu! I give in! I'll help you fight the stupid Aloi beast," Nova sighed, rolling her eyes. "But don't think this means I'll help you like this again. Consider it a special occasion for new girl here's first team battle. Not that it seems to be going very well for her."
'Well, excuse me! I don't even know who you guys are!' was what Tsumi intended to say, but it came out as a few dry coughs. What was wrong with her voice? And what was this "Aloi beast" the girl named Nova was talking about?
"Shh. I know it hurts, but this is just part of fighting beasts like this. You were the one who signed up for this, you know," Juno soothed, leaned over Tsumi to get more cream to slather on her, her lilac curls brushing over Tsumi's face.
"Oops, sorry. We should be out of here soon, once those two finish off that beast."
"Remind me who you are again? And why I'm here?" Tsumi rasped, clearing her throat.
Juno sighed. "Last week you signed up to help fight the Aloi beasts overrunning our forests before they break into the city. Since we only have three people in our team, you were assigned to help us today to fight this Shapeshifter Aloi beast."
Tsumi blinked. What was she talking about? She was referring to the robotic-looking spider as a beast, which was odd in itself, but it was more strange that  she was mentioning Tsumi doing things she didn't remember in the slightest. And Shapeshifter? Did that mean this robot could turn into other types of animals? "Okay, sure. Where was I born, then? Do I have any siblings?"
Juno shrugged. "You tell me."
"I'm asking YOU because I don't know! I don't remember anything!"
"Oh. I thought it was more of a 'I know the answer to this question but I'm still going to ask you to see what you know' kind of thing, but I guess not." Juno set down the tin of cream and packed it into a small black bag that was slung over her shoulder. "That should do. You'll be healed in no time. Oh, it seems like that spider's almost finished off."
Tsumi turned her head and watched as Nova, with her blue and silver lined broadsword, delivered the killing blow to the head of the spider, smashing in the metal. Red, blood-like liquid smeared onto the floor equally with the parts and pieces from inside the machine. Ikuu used his nunchucks to pull the rest of the robot's parts into the bushes.
Nova laughed as she walked over to Tsumi and Juno, Ikuu following.
"Not bad, Ikuu!" She gave him a pat on the back, which knocked him over into a leaf pile. 
"Did you really have to hit me that hard?" Ikuu said, spitting out a leaf.
"Whoops. Guess I don't know my own strength," Nova cackled, not sounding sorry at all.
Nova turned her attention to Tsumi.
"Ah, Tsumi is it? Sorry to break it to you, but you're going to have to toughen up a bit. Defending our city isn't easy." Nova tried to give Tsumi one of her bone shattering back pats, but Tsumi moved away, glaring. She didn't need these weird people touching her.
"I'll pass on that one, thanks."
"I hate to say this, but Nova's right. It looks like you're on our team tomorrow, as well. There's been an outbreak of even more Aloi beasts near the east border of the city, this time Aero Aloi, with the ability to fly and shoot explosive items at us from the sky. If we don't destroy them soon enough, they'll get into the city and start attacking innocents. If you can't fight tomorrow, we'll have to find a replacement for you," Ikuu said, looking at a tiny cell phone chip in his left arm.
"Guys, be fair. It is her first day after all. Not to mention, she seems to have some sort of memory issue. Right, Tsumi?"
"Yes! I don't know where I am, who any of you are, and-"
"IKUU, STOP!" Nova yelped. Tsumi turned to see Ikuu tugging on one of Nova's bright red pigtails.
"There was a bug in your hair! Am I not simply being a decent friend by assisting you?"
Juno groaned.
"Come on, Tsumi. We need to at least start heading back to headquarters now. Besides, we still need to figure out why you can't remember anything. Wait, you can't remember anything, right? No memories from before you woke up?"
"Correct." Tsumi nodded vigorously, giving her a profound headache. Who were these people?
Juno nodded. "Then let's be on our way. I'm sure those two will catch up."
An hour of loud arguing later, the four arrived at a huge, sleek, glimmering silver building around a hundred stories tall. Tsumi gazed up in wonder.
"This is where you guys train?" Nova glanced at her and smirked.
"Yeah, what were you expecting? A rat-infested temple? A dirty basement? And hey, you were here a week ago. Why don't you remember?"
"Nova, did you not pay attention to the part where she said she LOST HER MEMORY?" Ikuu rolled his eyes, picking up the pace.
"We train at level 35, so we need to use the elevator to get there."
"Well sorry that I wasn't paying attention!" Nova scoffed. But Ikuu was already too far ahead to hear her. She glanced at Tsumi again, her eyes glinting. "Hey, how about I give you a hug to say I'm sorry?"
"Help me!" Tsumi cried, scrambling behind Juno.
"I think it's time for a group hug!" Nova said, trying to put her arms around both of them. Tsumi couldn't help being taken aback by how comfortable these people already seemed around her.
"Guys, are you coming? We need to train Tsumi at least a bit or there's almost no chance we'll be able to stop those Aloi beasts tomorrow. You do realize there are people's lives in danger, right?"
"Hey, it's not my fault Tsumi here wouldn't let me give her a hug!" Nova said defiantly.
"She's trying to crush my bones," Tsumi whimpered, clutching Juno's wrist.
"Please get off me," Juno peeled Tsumi off, eyeing the red marks on her wrist.
"Don't make me make you come in here!" Ikuu hollered, his pale face turning red.
"Okay, okay," Juno sighed and grabbed both Tsumi and Nova's wrists and pulled them into the building.
Tsumi gazed in awe at the blue paned-windows all around the room. Sunlight filtered through them, hitting the chandelier and lighting up the room with the colors of the rainbow.
"What are you doing? This is only a regular working room. We need to get to the elevator." Ikuu said, directing her to the door of what appeared to be a normal elevator.
"Ikuu," Juno said, her voice wobbling. "Why are we going in this elevator instead of the normal one?"
"This isn't the normal one?" Tsumi questioned. Nova scowled. "You're such a little wimp, Juno. Come on guys," Nova beckoned, swiping a card on the side of the elevator door. "Access Denied" An automated system said in a monotone voice. 
"Oops, it looks like I must have swiped it wrong, haha,"
"Your card probably expired. Typical. Here, let me do it," Ikuu stepped in. Access Granted. A green dot blinked cheerfully up at them. Tsumi cautiously hopped into the elevator to find that it was completely made of glass.
"I can't do this, guys," Juno cried, shrinking into a corner.
"Ah, you'll be fine," Ikuu assured. "It'll be over in a couple seconds."A couple seconds? Just how fast was this elevator? Tsumi wondered.
Ikuu hit the button for floor 35. "Brace yourselves."
Suddenly the elevator began to spin and jerk side to side, blurring Tsumi's vision. It was over in a matter of seconds, leaving her on the floor, practically buried under her new teammates.
"Oww! I told you we shouldn't have done that!" Juno protested dizzily.
"It's all in good fun...!" Ikuu countered, but even he didn't look so good.
"I vote we never do that again!" Tsumi said with false enthusiasm.
"Ah, be quiet. It wasn't all that bad." Nova said. She stood proudly at the exit of the elevator, completely intact.
"Well it's not our fault that you don't get, ehm, elevator sick, if that's a real thing." Juno exclaimed, though her face had a weary expression on it.
"Come on. Tsumi needs her training."
"Do I really, though? I mean I guess I wouldn't mind it, but I just woke up here and I don't remember anything. Who knows, maybe my abilities are top tier."
"You do have a point, but if your skills do happen to be something exceptional, we'll see that in training," Ikuu said firmly.
   "Fine, fine if you insist," Tsumi said, her voice fading out at the end. Her head was still pounding from when she had gotten stuck by the Frostbite spider, and she felt unmotivated and dizzy.
The four quickly excited the elevator, Ikuu leading. They walked over a huge bridge with glass walls. Tsumi was starting to see a theme with this building's architecture.
Soon enough, Ikuu had led them into a corridor with 2 doors in front of them. "The left one is a regular training room. You'll have things like weights, and punching bags, almost like a martial arts class of sorts."
Ikuu paused, shifting his body towards the right door. "The right one is a simulation training of real things we encounter while protecting this city. Some of them are merely prototypes, but if we've interacted enough with that certain kind of Aloi beast, we can more accurately replicate the features."
"What does Aloi mean? Is that just what you call these robotic beasts, or what? And I've heard you mention more than one type of them as well." 
"Honestly, I'm not completely sure why we call them that. No one here knows where these beasts came from, but the first we knew of them was when one attacked someone in the forest at night while they were taking a walk. In fact, it was a robot similar to the one we just took out. The person got away alive, but when professionals investigated the situation, they found the word 'Aloi' on the belly of the spider after they took it out. They've been known as Aloi beasts since then, though we still don't know where they came from, but there are more in the forest every day. Some people think aliens sent them here, or something." He shrugged. "And for your second question, there are indeed 3 known types of Aloi beasts found. The spider we saw was a Shapershifter Aloi. They can change into any currently existing mammal they want. They aren't often seen while not occupying an animal's form. Standard Aloi beasts are large, tall, vaguely humanoid thick-limbed mecha robots. They mostly attack using their limbs. And Aero Aloi closely resemble Standard ones, though they have retractable wings, tend to be bigger, and are armed and shoot from the sky." Ikuu smiled, looking proud of his description.
Tsumi tried to force a smile. Many of the things he had said sounded completely foreign to her. Up until now she had been just trying to compose herself, but she felt that her shell was beginning to crack on the sides.
"But after that, can we please at least try to figure out why I lost my memory?" Tsumi said, giving Ikuu puppy-dog eyes.
Ikuu wrinkled his nose. "What are you doing with your face? And sure, as long as you do well on your training. We can also find you a dorm to sleep in and some fresh clothes, since it seems like you'll be staying on our team for a while."
"Let's just hope you don't fail!" Nova grinned cheekily, shooting her a thumbs up.
Juno frowned in Nova's direction. "What she means is, good luck, Tsumi."
"Yeah, yeah, friendship, whatever!"
Ikuu sighed, looking exasperated. He swiped the same card he used to unlock the elevator, and the door popped open, with something that looked like nitrogen smoke flowing out. "Go ahead in, we'll be watching from the window."
Tsumi entered the room. It was completely empty except for a small tablet-sized screen in front of her. All 4 walls surrounding her looked like they were made of soft rubber. Tsumi pressed a green button on the side of the tablet, and suddenly the smoke in the room vanished. The rubber walls began to light up with disco colors. What was this, some kind of video game?
"Welcome to the city of Kuavera fighting simulator. Please choose your weapon and Aloi beast opponents." An automated voice similar to the one on the elevator said.
Tsumi watched as a display of weapons seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She had never seen so many deadly things in the same room all at once, that was for sure.
Well, if she did, she wouldn't have remembered it.
Tsumi picked a huge broadsword similar to the one Nova had been using when they had fought the spider, remembering the beast's metal breaking as Nova slammed her sword into it. Her fingers settled onto the places on the sword that seemed correct, but she really had no idea what she was doing.
I guess I wasn't a sword user before I lost my memory, Tsumi thought exhaustedly, or maybe I didn't use a weapon on the daily at all, like a normal person would.
"Weapon selected; broadsword. Would you like to keep this weapon for your simulation?" 
"Uh, sure." Tsumi replied cautiously, not sure if the voice could hear her. She glanced at the supposed window the other three were watching her from, but she couldn't see anything through the flashing lights on the walls.
"Select your opponent." The screen changed to an exhibit of all of the creatures that were available to test.
"I sure hope never have to fight these," Tsumi murmured as she spotted what looked like a giant cockroach as she was scrolling through the pages of the many forms of Shapeshifter Aloi beasts. Finally, she found the one she needed, Aero Aloi.
"You have selected the Aero Aloi beast as your opponent. Trial beginning in 3, 2, 1 start."
Suddenly the room began to spin and spin and the lights began to flash so bright that Tsumi's eyes were forced closed. She felt the spinning starting to slow and she slammed her feet onto the floor.
Wearily, Tsumi reopened her eyes. Her sword was on the floor next to her-thankfully it didn't smash through her head in midair when the room was whirling around. The room around her had transformed into scenery similar to the forest they had fought in earlier that day. She jumped up and down. The floor was still made of the same rubber, but it had the appearance of grass. Somehow the ceiling seemed to extend, leaving around 25 feet of free space in the sky.
"Spawning Enemy. Please ready yourself," The automated voice informed, sounding lifeless as ever.
At once, a giant robot bounded into the room, its metal legs clanking on the rubber. It perfectly fit the description Ikuu had given. This thing was so big that if it was even a few feet bigger, it would need to crouch down to be in this room. The only advantage of this is that it supposedly attacked from the air. Maybe she could dodge it for long enough to land a hit on it. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she would have to do the next day, when the robots would attack her with their cold, thick, metal limbs. Among the thoughts she had while practically glued to the floor, she wondered if someone could sub in for her tomorrow.
         Or if she could quit.
Jarred out of her thoughts, she watched the robot's lifeless eyes catch hers. The robot swiftly extended huge metal wings, so big it clanked and hit the side of one of the walls. Tsumi took a deep breath. How hard could this be? Robots are just stupid lumps of metal, she told herself unconvincingly. And though this was nerve racking, this was just supposed to be a simulator. The robot wasn't real, and she wasn't actually outside, fighting a huge beast. The simulator was probably just built so she fell down into a bigger area for training.
The robot was now flying in midair, making loud whirring noises as its thick head hit the ceiling of the room. Tsumi cringed as the robot, seemingly desperately tried to slash her with its wings. It righted itself and the small metal cannons Tsumi hadn't even noticed before started to light up with a frightening orange-red. Fear pierced Tsumi's mind as she realized it was about to shoot. She tried to dart to the side, but she collided into the rubber wall. The room was much taller than it was wide. She felt tears welling in her eyes. Stupid! Stupid that I picked a weapon that I can't even get high enough to hit this thing. Stupid that I didn't ask if I could just leave this place.
Tsumi tried to let out a cry for help, in hopes someone could hear, but she was cut off when a sharp, burning pain was sent through her side. Her face felt hot, her throat dry and aching. She couldn't move from off the floor.
"I thought this was a simulation! Why am I getting hurt?" Tsumi cried in agony, hoping the automated voice from before would hear.
"It is called a simulation merely because the robots in front of you are lab experiments that replicate the real species. It does not indicate that it cannot hurt you."
Tsumi grunted. This definitely wasn't what she signed up for-but she at least needed to try to get out of this, preferably un-paralyzed from the pain.
She put one hand flat on the floor, trying to stabilize her feet. The Aero Aloi beast was now positioned to the side, stuck between the walls too narrow for its wide wings. She didn't have time to appreciate how lucky she had gotten that this thing had got trapped, and it was low enough for her to strike as well.
Forcing herself to move quickly, she grasped the sword, pulling it toward her with all of her might. Again she raised the sword high over her head, her arms on fire. Then she slammed the sword down on the beast.
Red ooze sprayed across the room, coating her face and clothes. Pieces of metal and other internal parts from the beast scattered across the floor. Tsumi wiped a piece of metal that was sticking to the ooze off her arm as she wiped her eyes. Her body sank to the floor.
"May I be let out now?" Tsumi said, her voice barely a whisper. Who had even made this thing. She had a feeling that not very many other people had used this simulator before her, or this wouldn't have happened to her.
"Affirmative. You completed the trial." 
The bouncy floor began to rise up, and Tsumi watched as she was lifted back into the same room she had started in. At this point, all Tsumi wanted was to leave. Leave this room, leave this place, leave this city, leave WHEREVER this was. Because she knew this wasn't right.
"Tsumi? You coming?" Ikuu called in, peeking around the door. Then he noticed that she was still sprawled on the floor, unmoving.
"Are you okay?" Ikuu, Nova and Juno hurried in, grimacing at the slime still layered on the walls.
"I'll carry her, since I'm the strongest here," Nova said loftily.
Tsumi inwardly groaned through her pain. She couldn't even be bothered to ask how I was!
"Nova!" Juno looked like she wanted to give Nova a scolding slap on the wrist but she refrained.
"Please exit the training room if not in use," Came the automated voice again. Was it just Tsumi or did the voice sound sterner than usual?
"Does that mean I can carry her?" Nova asked.
"Fine. But we're taking her to the infirmary, AND THEN we're going to figure out why the simulation hurt her." Ikuu replied. Tsumi caught him mutter under his breath after, "I swear that kid said he had tested it before..."
Tsumi felt dread spiraling through her body as Nova lifted her into the air. And what did Ikuu mean, 'figure out why the simulation hurt her?' Was that not what it was supposed to do? Then again, if it was supposed to and no one told her...
Soon after, they had arrived at a small, white room with a twin-sized bed adorning a scratchy-looking purple felt blanket.  Nova plopped her down into the bed, then took a seat on a nearby chair. "I'll let doctor Ikuu here do the work."
"I'm not a doctor! Just simply an educated person, unlike you." Ikuu moved the purple blanket off the bed and examined Tsumi. "You don't have any serious wounds, apart from this scratch near the side of your ribs. But I can still tell you were in a lot of pain out there. I'm still not sure why the simulation caused so much damage, but I do know what can help heal you."
Ikuu was rumbling around in a big, plastic bin in one of the corners in the room. A huge, white four-post contraption with an about 6 foot across, purple tinted light stretched across the 2 front poles.
"This shouldn't hurt at all. I mean, I've only tested this on one person-well, technically it was a cat-but I'm sure that it'll go over smoothly." Ikuu beamed.
Tsumi decided this was a good time to try to talk. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that-"
The purple light scanned over her whole body, leaving a warm and tingling sensation with every centimeter it touched. It was like all of the stress, pain and tension from the last few hours had just vanished.
Just like your memory did, a voice in the back of her head chided.
Hush, unknown voice in the back of my head! Let me enjoy my moment!
"I think she likes it," Juno commented, pressing one of her fingers against Tsumi's forehead. "Or maybe she passed out."
"I did not pass out, thanks." Tsumi said as she sat up from the bed. "Can we go figure out how I lost my memory now?"
"A 'You're welcome, Ikuu,' would be appreciated." Ikuu grumbled.
Nova rose from her seat. "It's already so late. Let's just get a snack and head to bed. We can do her little memory thing in the morning before we fight the Aloi beasts on the border. Oh, and figure out why the training simulation hurt her."
"For someone with so much attitude, you'd think they'd be able to stay up a little later than 9:30," Ikuu said under his breath.
"What did you just say?"
"Fine. I agree with Nova. Though that contraption of Ikuu's did help the pain and stress, I am still tired, and I don't want to start worrying about ANYTHING else again," Tsumi interjected.
"Hmm. Maybe you aren't so bad, Tsumi." Nova said, looking her up and down.
"Would you stop looking at me like that?!"
"I'm going downstairs to the cafeteria. Hopefully there are some milk glasses and cookies left! But be warned, if you guys aren't down there in 2 minutes, I'm not saving you any." Juno yawned, waving as she backed out of the room.
Nova perked up. "What was that?"
"I said what I said." Juno shrugged coyly as her face disappeared from view.
"Come on guys, let's go!"
By the time they had reached this place Juno had called the cafeteria, there were only 2 cookies left, Juno greedily stuffing her face with what had been the 3rd one.
"Looks like two of you are gonna have to share one," Juno said blissfully, her speech muffled by the food in her mouth.
"I call not sharing with either of you!" Nova said, leaping towards one of the cookies.
Ikuu shook his head. "'Call?' What are we, ten?"
"No, no. You've got it all wrong," Juno said in a dramatic and low voice. "I get to decide since I got here first."
"Hmm, which would Nova hate more? Sharing with Ikuu, or with Tsumi..."
In rage, Nova snatched the half-eaten cookie out of Juno's hand and stuffed it in her mouth.
Juno giggled. "Seems like someone's worked up."
Nova fumed, crumbs dropping on the floor as she chewed. "Why does everyone here like picking on me so much?"
Meanwhile, Tsumi and Ikuu each grabbed one of the cookies still on the long, smooth marble countertop.
"Cheers," Ikuu grinned from ear to ear as he bumped his cookie against Tsumi's. Nova slowly turned around, her mouth open in shock.
"You two are really gonna get it," Nova said, giving them the death stare.
"Oh, please. You'd never actually hurt us. Plus, Tsumi just joined our team today. You really wouldn't beat up the new girl, would you?" Ikuu said innocently. Tsumi beamed in Nova's direction.
"Yeah, well something about her is vaguely familiar," Nova said, gritting her teeth, "familiar enough to beat her up, anyways."  
As Nova chased them around the cafeteria, Tsumi stared out the windows, watching the full moon shine sparkling light onto the buildings below. She couldn't help but agree to what Nova had said, even if she wasn't completely serious. She had only known them for a few hours, but something felt off, like she had known them before. She felt so comfortable around them, even excessively comfortable for people she had just met. And she wasn't the most outgoing person or anything of the sorts.
Agh, I'm not supposed to be worrying again. It's probably just because I lost my memory. Tsumi scolded herself as she snapped back into the game of tag. But the thought stuck with her all night. Something was off here.

What do you think is going on in this mysterious city?💙🏙️