"I have to protect these children."
~~~~
It was a bright and sunny day, the weather was serene, like the ocean before a storm. Y/N met the other three in the forest to share their discovery about the transmitters.
"You wouldn't notice it if you put it here." Ray agreed, reaching up a hand to touch his left ear.
"It's my first time hearing about the blood test." Norman started, "Will the scar disappear quickly?"
"Yes. I never realised it before and I never had any doubts. I'm sorry." Y/N apologised, hugging the volleyball she had taken to her chest. To avoid suspicion from Sister Krone and Mama, Y/N had purposely thrown the ball too far into the forest, giving her a reason to go there.
"No, both of you did a great job." Norman smiled, spreading his arms, "Now we know the location, shape and size of the transmitters. We can move onto the next step."
"The step after that." Emma raised her hand, so did the others.
"The destruction method." The four of them said in sync.
"What should we do? Even if we cut it open and study it..." Norman trailed off, feeling his own left ear with a worried expression.
"Once Mama lifts our hair up..." Y/N rebutted, shaking her head.
"She will find the wound right away." Norman finished, eyebrows furrowing as he was deep in thought.
"Yes. Let's not think about whether it can be easily destroyed first. The function of the transmitters implanted in us is actually pretty simple." Ray explained.
"What? It's pretty simple?" Emma gasped, eyes widening in shock.
"They are not sure who's transmitting the signal. They must check to know the location." Y/N further explained as Emma listened intently. "Even if you go near the gate or wall, they won't be notified."
"But they still implanted it into us." Emma sighed.
"That's right." Ray agreed, "They seem to feel that as long as we have the transmitters, they'll find us no matter where we go."
"Wait. Does it mean that they'll be notified if the transmitters break down?" Norman asked.
"That could be a possibility." Y/N admitted, kicking the ground with her foot.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked again.
"Only when a transmitter is broken will they hear an alarm to let them know about it right away." Ray explained.
"Once we destroy it, Mama will find out right away?"
"That's merely a hypothesis for the notification function." Ray shook his head.
"But since Mama purposely revealed the transmitter's existence, we can't deny that possibility." Norman refuted.
"Touching and breaking the transmitter recklessly will be very dangerous, it will risk giving us away." Y/N said.
"We can only break it when we escape." Norman nodded along.
"What? But how exactly can we break it?" Emma interjected.
"Well, about that... Its shape and size happen to remind me of something. Can you let me handle it?" Ray offered.
"Can you do it?" Norman asked.
"Yes."
"Since you said so, Ray, we'll let you handle it." Emma nodded.
"Next, we must find a way to get everyone out of here." Norman started.
"The problem is that everyone trusts Mama a lot..." Y/N remarked, "They probably couldn't handle the truth."
"Let's lie to them to make them go out. But I wonder if that's going to work." Emma stated, defeated.
"It's simple. The problem lies in their incompetency. Frankly, they are a burden." Ray said bluntly. Emma looked offended by his remark and took Y/N's ball, ready to throw it at him.
"Ray!" Emma whined.
"But isn't that the truth?" Ray argued, completely unbothered by the fact that Emma was aiming the ball right at him. "Some of them aren't good at sports. There are even babies who can't walk." Y/N and Norman just watched, with Y/N trying to get her beloved volleyball back from Emma's grasp.
"I have an idea of how to handle that." Emma proposed confidently.
"What is it?"
"By playing tag."
"Huh?" The three of them looked at Emma incredulously.
"Norman will be 'it', so the rest will run."
"We'll train them in form of a game?" Norman said, catching on quickly. "That way, Mama won't notice."
"Y/N and I'll train everyone's bodies. As for their minds..." Emma trailed off.
"Leave that to me." Norman smiled.
~~~~
And so, a week of brutal training began. Emma trained the kids' speed and stamina whilst Y/N trained the kids on their agility and reflexes. Norman trained the kids on their minds, such as being aware of their surroundings.
"This is interesting. Unlike before, it's impossible to catch me now." Thoma said confidently, completely unaware of Norman who was creeping up behind him. "In that case, I can also escape..."
*scream*
"I thought I had successfully run away from him..." Thoma sighed, laying down on the grass by the tree, defeated.
"It's not enough to just leave fake traces. You must observe the opponent's traces too." Ray spoke up, just as Y/N was walking over.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Besides, Norman knows all about your habits. For example, Thoma..." Y/N was just about to explain more when their attention was caught by a bunch of kids running towards Sister Krone.
What is she doing?
Y/N stared suspiciously at Sister Krone as she walked towards them, Emma and Norman had just come back from their games of tag.
"It seems like you are having fun playing tag. I want to be good friends with everyone. Let me join you too. The time limit is 20 minutes. I'll be 'it'. Do your best to escape."
~~~~
"All right, what will the enemy do?" Ray mused as the three of them were in the forest. Emma had split up with them.
"She'll probably go for us first." Y/N offered.
"Along the way, she'll catch the little ones one by one. That's my guess." Ray smiled, Y/N nodded and the three of them went their separate ways. Well, Y/N attempted to split up with Ray anyways.
"Stop following me, Rayyyy..." Y/N whined as she run down the path, Ray beside her.
"I'm not following you. You just happen to go the same way I'm going, coincidences happen." Ray shrugged, speeding up. Y/N rolled her eyes as she found a tree of her liking.
"Mkay, whatever you say." Y/N shook her head, laughing under her breath as she clambered up the tree, Ray continued running.
~~~~
"NOOOOOOO!" A loud voice screamed. Y/N looked down from her branch to see Lanni running below her.
Should I save him?
"Damn it, what have you guys done to me." Y/N laughed as she lept down from the branch she was hiding on, landed gracefully in front of Lanni, scooped him up and started running for her life.
"Lanni, cling on." She whispered, ignoring the pounding footsteps behind her.
She neared a tree and with one strong leap, she managed to latch onto the lowest branch and pulled herself up. And in another quickly flurry of motions, she managed to make her way up, high enough to tree-travel.
Sparing a glance down, she saw that Krone was climbing up the tree in alarming speed.
"We're gonna get caught!" Lanni whined.
"Oh shush." Y/N shushed the crying boy s she narrowed her eyes, focusing on a sturdy tree branch on a tree adjacent to the one she was on right now.
"Hang on tight, Lanni." And with that, the H/C haired girl crouched down and leapt forward with all her might, balancing dangerously on the branch. Her landing was messier than usual, considering she had extra weight on her now, but it was still pretty good.
Not looking back at Sister Krone, Y/N continued to leap from tree to tree, ignoring the loud 'impressive' from Sister Krone who had long given up on chasing after Y/N.
After making sure that Sister Krone had gone, Y/N went back to the clearing, only to see two kids with their backs facing her, waving at the distance.
"Emma!" They cried happily. Pounding footsteps drew near and Y/N knew that Sister Krone was definitely coming.
Crap. Emma's gonna get caught.
"Close your mouths!" Emma commanded as she ran, holding the two kids in her arms.
I should follow her, maybe I can help her in some way...
"Lanni, you're on your own now. Don't get caught, you can do that right?" Y/N looked at Lanni who looked back with the same determination.
"Of course!" Lanni promised, raising his hand to do a salute motion. Y/N gave him a thumbs-up before taking off, following the sound of loud footsteps as a guide.
~~~~
Sister Krone chased after Emma, gradually catching up which made Y/N worry. As she was leaping from tree to tree, Y/N managed to snag a few thin branches here and there. It was going to be hard to aim while trying but it could be good practise.
"Here goes nothing then..." Y/N muttered to herself as she took aim, focusing on her moving target, she aimed the best she could and threw the branch with all her might.
.
.
.
It missed.
"Oops." Y/N mumbled as she watched her branch sail off into some bush. Emma was barely pulling ahead, even with the slight distraction Y/N had brought her.
Y/N tried again, missing again.
"Third time's the charm right? Luck better not fail me now..." Y/N grumbled, aiming carefully.
"3... 2... 1!" Y/N counted to herself as she chucked the stick towards the feet of Sister Krone. She watched gleefully as Sister Krone stumbled and almost fell.
"Yes!" Y/N smiled as she watched Emma pull ahead a little more.
But Sister Krone was still hot on her tail.
~~~~
They soon came to a clearing full of irregularly shaped rocks, trees surrounded the clearing however the trees were a good distance away from the rocks, meaning that Y/N couldn't directly interfere.
"You're carrying the two of them while running. You must be tired, Emma." Sister Krone said, her wide eyes scanning the presumably 'empty' clearing.
From where Y/N crouched on a tree, she could see that Emma was hidden behind a rock, her hand covering her face in fear as the two children beside her did the same.
"If you don't rest a bit, you won't be able to run anymore." Sister Krone taunted. Y/N grimaced.
What can I do?
"Do you know that Norman's weakness is his low stamina? I heard he used to be very weak. And Ray's weakness is that he gives up way too quickly. He's quick in making judgements, but he gives up just as quickly. Y/N's weakness is that she's too shy and has no confidence. She's smart and athletic but she doesn't have any confidence." Sister Krone paused and turned around, "And you, Emma... Your weakness is your naivety. You are being chased, yet you are naive enough to carry others." Y/N got a bad feeling as Sister Krone stopped right before the rock Emma and the other's hide behind.
I must act now!
"Give up and surrender! I won't do anything bad to you!" Sister Krone cupped her hands around her face as she yelled. Y/N let out a breath of relief as she set down the branch she was about to throw.
Turns out she hasn't found them yet.
"Ne, Emma. If you were the one who saw the shipment that day," Y/N and Emma both felt their blood freeze.
How come she knew of this?
"I guess that makes me your ally." Sister Krone smiled viciously. Y/N didn't trust her one bit. But Y/N was too late when she realised Sister Krone had leaned over the rock Emma was hiding behind, smiling creepily at them.
"Oi! Over here!" Y/N yelled, picking up the discarded branch beside her as she flung it towards where Emma was.
Sure enough, the branch hit its mark. It hit Sister Krone on the side, tumbling onto the floor with a 'thunk'.
"Ara?" Sister Krone said, keeping said creepy smile on her face as she turned to look over at Y/N who was crouched bravely on the branch of the tree. Just as Emma was about to pick up the kids and run, Sister Krone caught on to their plan and quickly snatched all three of them back.
"I found you~"
~~~~
Three people left. Norman, Ray and Y/N.
After Emma and the two kids had been caught, Sister Krone left the clearing, completely ignoring Y/N who was on the tree. Perhaps she had learnt her lesson from earlier.
"There should be around eight minutes left... I should go follow Sister Krone..." Y/N mused, hopping down delicately from the tree.
Y/N was following the path Sister Krone had presumably taken, only to once again hear pounding footsteps behind her. Turning around, her E/C eyes widened noticeably.
Norman and Ray were running at her full speed with Sister Krone dangerously close behind.
"Run! Y/N!" Ray yelled.
Y/N yelped in shock before turning tail and doing so.
I shouldn't have left my tree... I'm so stupid!
She spared a glance behind her, noticing that Norman and Ray both veered off into some side tracks while she remained running in a straight line. Sister Krone went for her.
"If you think I'm slower just because I'm on the ground... Then you're definitely correct!" Y/N yelped as she tried to force herself to run quicker. Only two goals were in her mind, get to someplace high where she can jump and outrun Sister Krone.
As Y/N was running, she tried to calm herself down.
Think, Y/N, Think. Right now, there should be five to six minutes left. The clearing shouldn't be too far ahead now. If I get to the rocks, I'll be somewhat better off than running on the ground. Yes, so push for the rocks!
With that, Y/N channelled whatever remaining energy she had into her legs and propelled herself forward.
~~~~
She had never been so glad in her life to see a clearing filled with different size rocks.
Listen to the footsteps, they seem like they're far behind enough for me to climb this rock.
Crouching down, Y/N managed to jump onto the rock and started leaping from one to the other.
Even though she was now on the rocks, Y/N didn't slow down, she knew she couldn't slow down because Sister Krone was still close behind, the sound of rock crumbling was enough to prove so.
"I'll need to pull ahead." Y/N sighed. Ignoring the pain in her thighs, Y/N sped up and hopped forward, pulling ahead.
Y/N was so focused on pulling ahead of Sister Krone that she didn't realise that she now had no where to go. Even though Sister Krone was quite far behind, it was too far to jump down from and she couldn't go back.
"Crap-" Y/N groaned.
"Up here, Y/N." Taken by surprise, Y/N looked up to see Norman looking down on her, smiling gently and offering her a hand. He was standing on an especially high rock.
"Wow. Thanks, Norman!" Y/N grinned, jumping up and grasping onto Norman's extended hand. Through some struggling, Norman managed to get Y/N up.
As Y/N patted the dust off of her uniform, she saw Sister Krone below her, stopping as she wondered where Y/N had gone.
Sister Krone heard a some rocks falling from higher up and looked up, seeing Norman and Y/N looking at her with cold gazes.
Then, Ray came running up to Sister Krone, patting her on the side and lifting up his watch.
"Time up."
~~~~
The three of them, along with Sister Krone, made their way back to the field where the children who had been caught were waiting for them.
"Yay! We won!" Children started yelling as soon as they saw the happy smiles on the trio's faces.
As they were about to join them, Y/N pulled Norman back.
"Thank you for saving me back there. I would've been caught if not for you." Y/N thanked Norman. He just shook his head softly.
"No problem, I couldn't just let you be caught, right?"
~~~~
(Some time after)
"Sister Krone hasn't done anything since then." Emma said worriedly.
"It must be Mama's order." Norman explained, "She suspected us at first. But she doesn't seem suspicious anymore."
"Why is that?" Y/N asked, looking up to the wall of the storage room they were in.
"What do you think, Ray?" Norman asked.
"Let's hear your thoughts first, Norman." Ray objected.
"Mama must have taken some sort of secret measure, so she doesn't have to do anything." Norman said, staring intensely at Ray.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked.
"What do you think is the easiest situation for Mama?" Norman rebutted. When Emma didn't seem to know the answer, Norman said it for her, "It's to know our every move without doing anything."
"But there are no security cameras or tapping devices here." Emma grumbled. "Could it be-"
"Yes, I'm guessing-"
"Someone else is watching us." Ray butted in, not once looking away from the shelf he had been staring at.
"It's probably one of the kids." Y/N added, looking down to the floor.
"There's a spy."
This one is little shorter. I like for my chapters to be around 3000 words but I felt like it was fit to end it here~ N E ways, double updates~ I hope it makes up for the long time I have been gone, I can't do triple though lol-
Also, have you guys watched the Olympics? The fencing one was quite amazing lol I can't wait for the other sports~