Cyber Mortality

Chapter 20:

"So how'd it go?" DeNyle grins when Jez and I return.

"Pretty well actually," I smirk. "I've got this pompous jerk for a teacher and I blew the perfect little smirk off his face!"

"Blew?" Rocky raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah! I've got wind magic!" I pump my fist in the air in excitement.

"Wow," DeNyle nods slowly. "The only wind user I've ever met was this nerd at the school when we visited Jez. He was such a loser. What was his name again?"

"Zephyr," Rocky coughs and my eyes widen.

"He's my teacher!" I exclaim in amazement. "He was a nerd?! He looks like some stuck up douche bag!"

"Well, I haven't seen him in several months so I guess anything can change," DeNyle shrugs. "So when will you be learning from him?"

"At noon tomorrow," I grin.

"And when will you be training with me?" he questions.

"When would you like me to train with you?"

"I guess whenever," DeNyle shrugs. "I mean I see you as a weapons user, not a magic-user."

"I guess we will see," I wink. "What do you guys say we do something in the real world?"

"Like outside?" DeNyle questions.

"Well yeah," I chuckle. "We could go to a park or something. We've been playing this game for I don't even know how many hours now."

"I guess that's fine," Rocky nods. "I have a shift at work tonight anyway."

"Alright," A grin splits my face. "I'll see you guys on the other side!" I sign out and blink awake to the darkness of the CyberTech Helmet.

"I feel like I haven't moved in like two days," a groan erupts from outside and I flip up the visor. Nyle stretches his back and cracks his neck loudly.

"More like one day, but yeah," Flint emerges from his helmet with a smirk. "We made it into the tournament."

"We did," we all nod in agreement. Even Jezebel only glares at me a little.

"So where are we going?" I inquire while pulling my hair into a messy ponytail.

"There's a park a few miles from here," Flint replies. "If you really wanna get to somewhere rustic you'd have to travel a few hours though."

"That's kinda sad," I mutter. "The cities have sprawled out so much that it's hard to find any forests."

"Why do you think wood is so scarce?" Nyle shrugs. "Everything is plastic, stone, or metal now a day. It's too expensive to buy wood furniture."

"I know," I shake my head in dismay. "I wonder what it was like one hundred years ago. Do you think there were forests around here then?"

"I'm sure there were," Nyle shrugs. "I remember Grandpa telling us a story from when he was younger about camping in a national forest with his parents. Apparently they had a lot more protected wildlife areas back then."

"I wouldn't mind going to a mall or something," Jezebel butts in while she picks at her red painted nails.

"I'm pretty sure you are the only one who would want to do that," Flint casts his gaze toward her with a tired expression.

"What about the beach?" she pipes up again. "The weather seems nice today and there are no weather warnings."

"The beach?" I inquire. "Like the ocean?"

"Well yeah," Nyle chuckles. "Where else would we go?"

"I've never seen the ocean before," I confess and everyone's eyes widen.

"I think we know what we are doing today then!" Nyle pumps his fist in the air.

"Fine," Flint mutters and trudges toward the stairs to their bedrooms. "I'll go get my swimsuit."

"Yes!" Nyle exclaims and sprints after him.

"I already have mine," Jezebel unzips her backpack to pull out a piece of clothing that looks like it would be small on a toddler.

"Um," I bite my lip. "I guess we will have to stop back at my house before we go." Jezebel rolls her eyes and lounges back on the couch.

A few minutes later Flint trudges down the stairs in a gray and black ombre suit and Nyle slides down the banister in orange.

"Ready?" Nyle shoots me a giddy grin and I nod.

"I need to get my suit from my house though," I reply.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Beach day!"