Globe Tracers 3: Heritage of Triad

Chapter 17: Where we Come from

Kyle:

I was finally back at the camp. I dropped to my butt behind the cleft, holding my chest. I looked up to see- a giant pink bunny staring at me with giant lifeless eyes, about three inches from my face. I screamed like- well like a little kid. I then jumped back and slammed my head into the back of the rock.

I heard chuckles and a straight-up laugh- that definitely belonged to Xao. I stood up rubbing the back of my head as Xao and J-Star came out from behind a bush not far away. "Haha guys," I said. "What if I had been followed?"

"Pretty sure your weapons would have been drawn," Xao said. "Jess taught you well."

I sighed. "Point..." the bunny was waving at me. "So that's a projection..." I waved a hand through it. "So if I- HOLY CRAP!" To my left, I was suddenly looking at a giant grasshopper, again its face about two inches from mine. It twisted its head side to side as I eased my hand away from my lightning blade. "What's the big idea?"

The two teens made finger pistols at each other as I folded my arms. J-Star smiled and started to explain. "Well, Xao said that-"

"That thing goes away," I quickly said, pointing at the bug that was twice my size. It vanished.

J-Star shrugged. "Xao pointed out I was kinda holding myself back. I use presets when I use my projector, but it can project literally anything I imagine. It takes time to manifest a full copy of myself- but if I just project random images your average opponent will be momentarily confused anyway. The idea isn't to project-specific kinds of projections, but just as many sounds and sights as possible, rendering one's senses of sight and hearing useless."

"Hm..." I blinked a few times. "That's... actually pretty clever."

"So I'm practicing confusing the heck out of someone." That voice came from the top of the cleft. At that moment I realized Xao didn't have a bright green shirt like the person in front of me standing with J-Star. I looked up seeing J-Star and Xao waving down at me.

I looked at the ground- which now was bright pink. "Okay... this is gonna be an interesting night." I just looked forward, realizing it was meaningless to try to find them with my eyes at the moment. "All that being established, we have a problem."

A pair of giant lips appeared over my shoulder and spoke in a deep near tenor voice. "I'll say."

I couldn't help but give a grin to that as I inched away involuntarily. "The leprechauns are amassing a small army."

"Just a squad of six huh?" J-Star's voice came from behind me as the lips disappeared.

"Doesn't that thing have a limited battery life?" I asked.

"Yep!" J-Star's voice said somewhere over my right shoulder. "But if I move around and distract you, good luck figuring out when it's out of juice to find me." I looked down at my scanner- which at the moment looked like a giant eyeball- I jumped as it blinked when I almost touched it.

I continued. "Technically it still is a squad of six. The army is composed entirely of mimics and a few hunters. All of those are easy enough to dispatch at a distance since they're not smart enough to carry weapons."

To my left- "Don't the leprechauns just carry laser swords or something?" Xao asked.

I shrugged. "Those things can fire their lasers or retain them, they're good at range or close up." I sat down as the ground appeared to turn into a giant eyeball under me. I just sat down anyway and- "OW!" I shot up pulling the thing out of my behind. "Who even packed thumb tacks?" I demanded.