A week after having a vacation at Euphino’s uncle’s beach, things had turned back to normal, with the exception of location change of the training. Ever since Zessica and Phoenix came out of the monochrome world, battered and beaten as if coming out from a world war where they unintentionally got themselves into, both of them had accidently lost the device that made them travel back and forth to the other dimension.
The loss of Stab’s prize from winning a random was a huge blow to the lanky guy and even though he tried his best not to look upset, Arma and Euphino could tell that he failed the moment he even tried. He was out of his senses for a while, knocking into things that weren’t there according to him, tripping over nothing and eating something entirely inedible by accident, much like how Zessica would do when she is half awake. Though after a day, he was pretty much over his loss and was back to his down to earth personality, completely forgetting that he had lost something valuable in the first place.
“Hey? Why are you slowing down?” Stabs asked, huffing and panting for air, his face very lightly flushed and hardly breaking a sweat as he jogged around the school track with Phoenix way ahead of both guys. Euphino had parted ways from them and Zatch was at the corner of the track, sitting under the comfortable shade of an umbrella and typing away like a mad Einstein on his portable laptop. Both boys knew that if he continued to slack off, Phoenix’s temper would snap at one point and she would forcibly drag him to the track with them, bringing justice to all. However, Arma knew that even though Zatch was a lazy boy at heart, he had his reasons with research and gaining information.
“Nothing...Just go ahead...” Arma responded, slowing his jog to a mere two step walk. Stabs looked behind him and widened his eyes in realisation. He then glanced back at Arma and gave him a nod with a cheeky grin. Arma scoffed at him lightly and waved him off briskly as Stabs laughed uproariously and jogged ahead even further, joining Phoenix who almost blew Stab’s head off with her fraying patience.
‘It’s about time now...in three...two...one...” Arma stopped in his tracks and extended his left arm in low sideways. On cue, he felt something soft thudding against his arm and Arma smile amusedly when he heard someone gasping in confusion.
“Don’t sleep Zessica.” Arma advised kindly, lowering his arm where Zessica had run into without being aware. She gave him a very tired irritated face which was more like a pout to Arma’s eyes. They had only jogged around three times around the track and Zessica was already deep red that would make any tomato jealous. She was panting heavily and her feet wobbled in a way that it sort of scared Arma. The stone that’s fused at the back of her neck was already sparking out electricity, forcing her heart to beat and provide more oxygen to her blood supply. To summarize it, she looked spent and was going to pass out any second now.
“I am...not...sleeping...” Arma almost winced when she replied back exhaustedly. Her voice was raspy and it was the kind of feeling where someone scratched nails across a blackboard. Zatch had decided to give Zessica a different kind of training approach since the type of practice they were doing didn’t exactly help her. She knew all the skills so it was no use trying to teach her to fight. So the boy in glasses and Phoenix had come up with something simple, going with the basics of running laps.
“Come on Zessica, you can do it. Just two more and you would have jogged two kilometres.” Zessica nodded weakly in a way that Arma even wondered whether she heard him or not. She was probably hearing her heart throbbing furiously on her ears, chest and head at the same time. Well, that was how Arma would have usually felt if he ran ten laps around the track. It still surprised him that the principal had gave them permission to train in the school campus, unless Zatch had brought up the blackmailing card against the principal, which he often did to get out of detention.
“Arma...my throat burns...I feel like my heart is about to burst...” Zessica complained lightly and Arma was very tempted to make her stop running and at least take a breather. He didn’t know why but she should have been used to running three laps by now. It was her seventh day on training and she was still getting spent on the third lap.
Maybe it’s because of the hoodie she was wearing? Arma had to agree with the others that maybe she was a tad bit crazy to wear a hoodie in the scorching sun but Zessica had a point by saying she was easily prone to sun burn and heat stroke. However, doesn’t this just increase her chance of heat stroke? Even though it minimizes the chances of getting sun burnt?
Arma was about to tell her to take a couple of breathes and maybe go under the shade of the umbrella Zatch was comfortable with for a while. He will talk and gently pursue his bastard of a friend in some way but before he could even speak his thoughts out loud, Arma noticed that the short girl’s attention was entirely somewhere else, just past through him and behind his back. It was obvious the way her emerald green eyes were narrowed in perplexity which was also from dizziness. Curious, Arma turned and saw some sort of floating diamond shaped orb descending straight at to the two of them.
“What’s that?” Zessica asked, her voice small and soft spoken in a timid voice. Arma also didn’t knew what it was and he suddenly felt protective over Zessica as the diamond shaped orb came closer by standing in front of her and gently pushing her back. Phoenix was too busy venting her frustration and Stabs who was preoccupied with the thoughts on how to be alive for the next few minutes. Zatch was fully absorbed in his work to even take notice of the super natural occurrence happening right under his nose.
“Zaaatcch?” Arma cried out, extending his name while his gaze never left the orb in case it would attack both of them without warning. Arma continued to take a step back while Zessica did the same, her vision shielded from the orb by the tall lad’s back. At first, Zatch didn’t even bother looking up from his laptop when Arma hollered his name again, this time more urgently. Sensing the pressure and the necessity of his tone, Zatch glanced up finally and stared at the orb just as he saw it. He stayed there, still for around half a second till his eyes widened in realisation.
“Both of you! Run away from that!” Arma didn’t need to be told twice but the warning came just a moment too late. The tall lad spun and was about to grab Zessica, carry her up in a bridal style and sprint several miles away from the strange orb when the orb altered its shape and formed a whirlpool on the reality before them, much like the one Oliver had used to transport both Zatch and Arma to that grim place the other day.
Arma tried, he really tried and even the gym teacher would have given him an A plus for effort but in the end, the force exerted from the whirlpool dragged both of them in, as if they were marionettes and were pulled towards the whirlpool. There were several muffled scream from the background and Arma didn’t have the time to wonder which voices belonged to who as he embraced Zessica into a bear hug, shielding her from all the possible danger there was to come. Soon enough, after being hauled here and there, and feeling slightly nauseated with the trip, they were eventually burped out of another whirlpool and Arma landed roughly on his back with the short girl on top of him, clutching on his shirt as if her life was on the edge. In a way, it was.
“Uggh...I swear if this is Oliver’s doing I am going to officially kick his sorry bottom to when February thirty first comes.” Arma groaned lightly, slowly letting go of his grip. He groggily got up as Zessica sat upright as well. Rubbing the back of his head where he was struck first, Arma scanned his surroundings only to be amazed to where they were.
They were at the stadium, back in the Center, with several other players who looked just as confused as he was. Several whirlpools appeared here and there and one or two players were towed out from them before it disappeared altogether. There was already half of the Wind Crest’s population occupying the audience seat. Zero, the host was at the middle of the stadium, smiling and acknowledging each and every other players coming from one place and other which sort of eased some of the tension, but raised more questions instead. When the last whirlpool disappeared, he finally started talking.
“We apologise for the sudden teleportation to the Center but we would like to announce that the Default Trial shall begin in a few minutes, today and right now!” Arma almost choked on air as he stared at Zero in disbelief. A part of him wanted to march over the host and wring his neck for the randomness of the situation while another part of him was stunned to find that the date had took him clearly off guard. Before anyone could object or demand more answers, Zero started calling out team after team while the audience cheered for their favourites.
“This is so unexpected. Who knew we had the Default Trials today right Zessica?” Arma asked nervously, not at all prepared for the default trial and finding comfort in by trying to talk it off. He turned towards the shorter girl to find that she was still sitting upright but one hand was covering her mouth, her head hung suspiciously low.
“Zessica?” Arma asked worriedly, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. Zessica slightly tensed at the touch before relaxing again. However, what she said next only brought panic raining down on the taller partner, approximately ten seconds after she uttered it out considering that he was pretty slow in processing things.
“I don’t feel so good...” Arma let the statement replay in his mind at least five times before he fully understood the magnitude of the problem.
“HuuUWAAAaaaAAH?! SOMEBODY BRING THE NURSE! BETTER YET A BUCKET! WE GOT A SICK PATIENT HERE!” The whole stadium were hushed silent the moment Arma yelled this out loud frantically. Nobody did anything though, even Zero blinked absentmindedly as he was stunned when someone yelled something which was struck with panic. This irked Arma to no end and several vein throbbed furiously in his head.
“YO DEADBEATS! HAVE YOU HEARD WHAT I EVEN SAID??!!!” Almost immediately, everyone occupying in the stadium and the audience were calling and looking through their inventory in case they had a bucket in them. Around thirty seconds later, a male in his twenties came running with a wooden bucket that very much seem to belong to a well but he came just in time as Zessica started to gag. The man quickly pushed the bucket in her hands and almost immediately Zessica started hurling up, violently emptying her life force in a bitter mixture of bile and the undigested remnants of breakfast. Arma ignored the stench of bile and gently traced circles on the shorter girl’s back, easing her muscles a bit and bringing relief in a way.
When she was done, the man was courteous enough to make the bucket disappear into thin air while Zessica wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Arma tried not to think about the worst case scenario when he saw there was a smudge of red at the corner of her lips. Regardless, paramedics had appeared the moment she started puking her guts out and was all over her with questions, checking the pulse rate and injecting liquid medicine in her system. This certainly delayed the Default Trial but Arma didn’t care. He didn’t care what others would think about bringing a sick girl to the trials. What mattered most was making sure Zessica was safe and granting her wishes if he sees it’s reasonable.
After around five minutes later, the paramedics finally spared the short girl to even breathe and had given Zero the thumbs up, indicating that she was well enough to play. Arma sighed in relief and ruffled her ivory black hair fondly, smiling at her so gently that the man who was beside them stared. Even this didn’t bother Arma. He ignored the judging eyes from everyone and carried the girl in a piggy back, knowing well enough she was tired from running.
“Thanks.” Arma expressed his gratitude to the man who brought the bucket. He blinked twice before giving him a warm smile back. To the tall lad’s surprise, the man accepted it by patting the taller lad, albeit on being on his toes, on the shoulder before joining his team mates. Zessica rested her chin on Arma’s shoulder as the brunette took his time absorbing what had just happened.
“Looks like some of the public have started seeing the monster you are not.” Zessica noted out softly and only then did Arma look around, observing everyone’s expression. He had never really tried looking into their faces because most of the time it was always smug and always, always judged him. They would look at him as if he was not human but this time, Arma was blown away to find that not only was the judging look was gone, some of them even looked as if they accepted him. There were some who were still wary of him but there were others that looked like they were cheering for him.
“Well, now that we have cleared up our...delay, let’s proceed on with the Default trial! The rules are simple. Simply try to pass each and every obstacle you can. The first five Teams who reach the end of the Trials we get a second chance in stepping into Blessed Combat!” The audience roared in cheers and there were cat whistles and tears of relief echoing around the whole stadium. Arma almost chuckled because the instant reaction was somehow amusing. However, what Zessica whispered against his ear a second later, not only gave him Goosebumps on the back of his neck, he also felt his blood run cold.
“I don’t think he is finished yet. Prepare yourself.” Arma gulped, knowing all too well not to underestimate Zessica’s perceiving abilities and calculating the future in that complex mind of hers. Although, he couldn’t help but whine inwardly why did she had to jinx it by saying something killjoy like that?
“However, this time, the trial would be different. This time, you won’t be using your Exoskeletons.” Zero announced confidently, his voice booming through the stadium. The cheers faded just as soon as it began, leaving only tensed and nervous murmurs between each other. Arma look around to find that even the players who were taking part in the Default Trial was feeling slightly uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t they? The whole purpose of Blessed Combat was fighting with Exoskeletons on. To suddenly go without battle armour was like raising a red flag in surrender to a charging bull.
“If you think about it, it justifies the whole Default Trial” Zessica whispered gently to Arma’s ear again. The tall lad didn’t glance up at her but nodded to prove that he heard. However, he let his eyebrows furrow, knowing that Zessica would catch it from her position and would answer to why she would say something like that.
“To avoid being...unfair to the players that wasn’t disqualified; we have to work twice as hard to prove that we are just as at their level. So to go into a trial without an Exoskeleton would deem be difficult but as I mentioned earlier, it would justify us.” Well now that made sense.
“Ready?” Zero suddenly cried, startling everyone with his sudden voice. There was no immediate answer but after a while, both hesitant and confident players yelled in acceptance. However, Arma and Zessica was one of those few who kept quiet, since it would be awkward in their character to scream their hearts out. Nodding, Zero jabbed a button with his thumb on a device that magically appeared out of nowhere. Promptly, players started disappearing at a corona of white light one after the other; clockwise from where Zero was standing.
“What do you think Zatch, Phoenix and Stabs are doing at the moment?” Zessica asked out of the blue, breaking Arma’s chain of thoughts deliberately. It occurred to the tall lad then that they had pretty much disappeared to thin air before those three. No doubt they would be worried sick by now and would try to search them everywhere. Before he could prepare himself to be zapped out to the middle of nowhere or could muster up the courage to ask Zero whether they could contact those three, the corona of white light captured both of them and they were both gone from the stadium.
Now, the said three were indeed puzzled to find that the two partners who were jogging alongside each other simply faded away to dust. Everyone except Zatch was able to comprehend the fact that Arma and Zessica had simply disappeared into for a full minute, till one of them finally burst. Phoenix instantly marched up towards Zatch who was innocent of a crime he didn’t commit yet this didn’t stop the fiery girl to pin the culprit on him. After all, he was the one who yelled at them to get away, which mean he knew what that orb thing was.
“OKAY! SPEAK UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING FOUR EYES! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM AND WHERE THEY ARE AT?!” Phoenix demanded, both hands strangling Zatch as she shook him furiously, causing him to drop his portable laptop on the grassy area of the track. Zatch was trying feebly to speak, it didn’t help that someone was cutting his windpipe with her bare hands and the only audible sound that escaped from the boy in glasses was raspy breathes and groans.
“Phoenix! PHOENIX! LET THE MAN BREATHE GIRL! YOU ARE KILLING HIM AT THIS POINT!” Stabs bellowed, activating his super strength to pry Phoenix’s hands off the other poor boy. Phoenix blinked, not because Stabs did this so easily it looked as if she was holding Zatch’s neck softly, but because his accent slightly altered to a British accent. The girl did not know why but something about the English accent sounded so weird, Phoenix couldn’t help but laugh out loud in hysteria. Stabs stared back at her, wondering whether she had finally lost her wits while Zatch brushed himself off and adjusted his skewed glasses.
“And you said I had a warped sense of humour Phoenix.” Zatch chuckled and raised his hands in surrender once Phoenix snapped her attention back to him. It was a defence mechanism, one that is well heard because whenever Zatch raised his hands in surrender, Phoenix would calm down and would listen to what he had to say next.
“I believe that was a teleportation orb. Just now I saw some people from different social Medias posting about players disappearing into thin air and wounded up being in the Center. I can safely assume that today is the Default Trial and Arma and Zessica just got seized there. If you want to see them we have to go to the Center. Now.”
Stabs knew he was already a dead man from the way Zatch heavily implied the last word and the way Phoenix and Zatch was looking at him afterwards. It amazed him for a person who liked to get on the other person’s nerves and that person would passionately beat the former, these two were alike in more ways in one in particular aspects. Plus the way they were ogling him was so similar, they could be mistaken as fraternal twins, it was creepy.
“I am not your personal reindeer guys...” Stabs weakly defended himself but he was already a goner when the majority was against him. Sighing in defeat, Stabs carried Phoenix bridal style and squatted down as Zatch wrapped himself around Stabs’s back, his arms around his neck and legs around his waist so it looked like it was a piggy back. This was even possible since Zatch was an average height for a guy and Phoenix was one head shorter than him while being one and a half head taller than Zessica. By then, Stabs was already in the shade of a beetroot. It was also amazing that these two had no shame in such childish acts.
Sighing in vanquish once more, Stabs activated his strength once again and was soon jumping one roof to another, carrying two people at once. He almost slipped at one point and earned several hundred stares from the public but unlike him, Zatch and Phoenix simply waved while Stabs wished he was back at home bunking on his bed. If it weren’t for the wind causing sudden movement at the corner of Stab’s eyes, he would have missed the girl below one roof, staring at him in awe.
Stabs glanced down, curious to see what was moving so oddly at the corner of his vision only to find it was silver hair fluttering about with the wind. The girl’s pink eyes were widened in surprise behind those dark rimmed glasses and she was wearing her winged headphones with a normal green jersey, yellow shirt and denim shorts with accompanying red sneakers. The three on the other hand, wore shirts and running shorts.
“Hey, isn’t that Sophie?” Stabs asked, still carrying Phoenix as Zatch stretched his neck forward to catch where Stabs was looking at. Upon closer inspection, Zatch smirked in his Cheshire cat smile as he confirmed that the girl was indeed Sophie. There was no other girl with albino characteristics with silver hair and pink eyes in Wind Crest than her.
“Yes she is. Get us down from here. I’ve been expecting her.” Zatch ordered brazenly, causing Stabs to roll his eyes in sarcasm before landing a few feet before the astonished girl as she almost dropped all the documents that were occupying both hands.
“Hello!” All three of them spoke in high spirited unison, despite possibly being in the most awkward positions yet. Sophie blinked at three trios in disbelief before giggling like a small girl. Sophie recall Zessica describing the three as unique but she had certainly did not expected this. Still giggling lightly, she thrust the documents forwards towards the three, showing that her mission was accomplished.
“Ah, you got the information from Tear.” Zatch noted out loud, causing Phoenix and Stabs to stare both Sophie and Zatch in curiosity. What did that meant? Since when did Sophie agreed to fetch information from the hospital? And when did they started meeting each other?
“Silly me, how rude of me to forget to introduce my allies. Sophie, meet Phoenix and our reindeer Stabs. Guys, meet my second contact, Sophie. She is working with us from now on but I believe you all met after Ophelia’s match with Arma and Zessica? Oh and how is your brother by the way?”
Zatch babbled on, still latched onto Stab’s back after uttering all of this in one go. It surprised Sophie that he didn’t even take another breath to speak. Stabs scowled in a disapproving tone as Phoenix became quiet and timid on Stab’s carry. However, true to what he had said, ever since that boy with no name who possessed her brother’s body, told her to meet Zatch and exchange information, Sophie had ended up working from the ‘Boss’, to Zatch two days ago.
She was more or less not surprised when Zatch gave away what he knew of so freely just like that guy had declared but she felt slightly guilty for taking something valuable as some of the secrets behind Blessed Combat at no cost. She did not regret when Zatch offered her to be his second contact or freelancer, first one being Euphino. After all, they were all in it together to solve the mysteries that even she wanted to know the answers too.
“My brother is fine, still at the hospital but would be discharged in about a week or so.”
“Oh...so you know...about...” Phoenix trailed off awkwardly, not having the courage to say something they been keeping a secret from the public openly. Sophie sensed her discomfort and nodded lightly, guessing what she was trying to imply.
“Yes, even the world you been training which you happened to lose by accident. I know everything and I am willing to help in any way I can.” If one were to scan that first statement very thoroughly, they would have noticed the double meaning behind it. Phoenix nodded, getting the hint while Stabs simply tried to not look upset again.
“Not be rude but can you summarize your findings at the hospital? We got to go to the Center since two of us got a surprise adoption and was sent over there.” Sophie raised one elegant pale eyebrow at the guy in glasses, surprised that he was even the same age as her. He was just so...immature. Nevertheless, Sophie shrugged it off nonchalantly and sent the documents to her inventory. As Stabs started jogging towards the Center, Sophie joined in too, thinking of change and to stretch her legs a bit more. It had been a while since she ran properly without the worry of having an opponent chasing after her. There were the weird out looks from everyone both joggers had went past the point of caring.
“Apparently Dr.Tear had known Zessica ever since she came to Blessed Combat after Doomsday. She was a very frequent patient so the two of them has a lot of history. When the Taboo occurred Dr.Tear admits that while others suffered minor cases of memory loss, Zessica still had her memories intact. However, it sort of runs short there since even she didn’t see where Zessica disappeared to and even she didn’t know how. She was more or less surprised to find Zessica back a few months later with no memory of the Taboo and her daily dose of medicine was completed.”
“Not the type of information we were looking for but then it confirms that girl had her memories even after the Taboo. I do wonder where she disappeared to, going as far as to even Dr. Tear not noticing her disappearance. How many months was she gone till she came back to the hospital?” Zatch asked, not at all uncomfortable by being at Stab’s back. For a while Sophie was worried that he might fall off, even now but it was as if the boy was stuck on to the lanky guy like glue.
“Around two to three months? Somewhere along that line.” Sophie answered, almost stopping when she saw the tower of the Center entering her principal vision, encouraging both joggers to pick up speed and make a beeline towards the Center.
“Then that would mean she had her memories for two to three months, possibly even less.” Phoenix pointed out loud, catching up to what they were discussing about. Both Sophie and Zatch nodded as the silver haired girl brushed several strands of hair clinging on her face. She should have tied her long hair to a pony tail, regretting to put on the wool which she had left on the dressing table back at home. The wind was playing with her hair so much, Sophie felt some of it stopping at her mouth, forcing her to run a hand through her hair to prevent it blocking her vision any further.
“I also got the surveillance tape of the hospital on that day, something Dr. Tear had been meaning to do to check where she had gone but had forgotten to do so. She gladly gave me permission to have access to it. Oh and while she was at it, you would not believe who I saw at the hospital” Sophie suddenly voiced, her tone drastically changing to something dripping with heavy sarcasm and detestation. While Phoenix and Stabs would have taken several thousand guesses, Zatch’s ears perked up as he instantly speculated who it was.
“Ophelia?” Phoenix gasped as Stabs almost stumbled then and there. All three of them looked expectantly at Sophie who had her head hung low, her hair shielding her eyes which concealed all the emotions that would play in her pink eyes. Sophie may be able to fool others by keeping a smile on her face, but like Caterpillar always had said, her eyes would give her mask away.
“Yes. Ophelia. I don’t know why she was in the hospital in the first place. I mean what’s the Rising Star Prodigy doing at a hospital? Everyone thought of her to be invincible since she can heal herself with her Minor. I thought she was visiting someone but then again, who would that be? Even though she has tons of people admiring her strength, all of them fear her just as much as they think highly of her.” It took Zatch only half a second to guess where the subject was going.
“Let me guess...you followed her?” Sophie gulped and all three of them noticed the faint blush of dusty pink filling her cheeks abruptly. However, she did nothing to suppress it or conceal it from her allies. Phoenix’s jaw went ajar while Stabs’s eyes would look as if they would roll out of their sockets. Zatch simply shook her head as if in disappointment.
“Okay. So what if I did? I just followed where she was going. That’s it. All I saw was she was entering some psychiatric department of the hospital before coming back to where Dr. Tear would come to give me that tape. Then here I am.”
“Well you were wise enough to not enter to the room with any means necessary or surely you would be dead in some gutter somewhere. Plus, did you say she entered the psychiatric department?” Zatch mused out loud, very much interested yet at the same time, not at all surprised. Even Sophie was reflecting his expression.
“Yes. I checked just to make sure my eyes weren’t fooling me. Something tells me that she’s been in the psychiatric department more than once and it doesn’t surprise me that she went in that department from all the others. That girl has issues.” The rest nodded in agreement. After all, Ophelia was not best known for her geniality and sincerity. She was known to be ruthless, lunatic at times and most of the time just downright lazy with no care in the world. One would safely assume she was nuts but any sane person would have thought that she was sane too. That was just how complex human nature was.
“Well first we will check those documents and tape before we proceed on Ophelia...aaand we are here” Zatch concluded as Stabs finally reached to the side door of the Center. He unglued himself off of Stab’s back and lightly landed on his feet with a soft thud. Stabs courteously placed Phoenix on the ground gently before all four of them entered through the door. In spite of this, what they saw next was definitely what they didn’t expect.
Two third of the audience seat was taking and each and every one of them was guffawing loudly in laughter. The four of them blinked as they observe several of them was hugging themselves, feeling a six pack coming as they were laughing too hard. Some even had happy tears coming out at the corner of their eyes while most of them were having a difficult time to take a breather since they were too preoccupied laughing too much. Very few were cackling in laughter and there was absolutely none of them who weren’t doubling up in hysterics.
“What in the name of sanity is going on?” Stabs asked out loud. It was a rhetorical question and Stabs didn’t even expect an answer to be given forth since everyone else seemed so busy with what they were doing. Both Sophie and Phoenix were clearly perplexed with what was going on till they saw the barrier which acted as a medium to show the player’s progresses. Instead of joining the others in laughter, both girls eyes widened even more, all the more flabbergasted at what they were witnessing.
Each player seemed to be wearing some sort of costume. There was one blonde girl with her hair braided neatly and was running with difficultly while wearing some sort of ball gown. What struck them as odd was not only was this girl lifting the skirt which did very little to make her run faster, she was carrying her blonde hair too! Her hair was so long, it resembled much like the girl in that story, otherwise known as Rapunzel. She was running as if the world was on fire, away from something. There were other players, in a different environment entirely. The guy was wearing poor clothes while the girl was wearing a ridiculous oversized cow costume. Both of them, albeit very ludicrously, was climbing up an oversize bean sprout.
Zatch was the only one who was unperturbed by the whole outrageous events. Instead, he calmly walked over to one guy who was laughing so hard, he almost tumbled out of his seat and rolled on the floor. He was banging on his fist on the arm rail till Zatch lightly tapped on his shoulder. This did not go well with the man as he snapped his neck and glared at Zatch, who did not like someone being so hostile to him unless he purposely provoked them first. However, Zatch’s smile was unwavering.
“You got three seconds before I spill your deepest and darkest secret on the internet.” Zatch ordered. At first, the man seemed unafraid since after all, this guy was just a midget to him. Although, when the man absorbed the appearance of Zatch, he instantly blanched at the fact that he was talking to the infamous Human Database, an informant who gives information freely yet benefits himself by blackmailing people when he sees it best. When Zatch mentally counted down to one, the man instantly was willing to answer.
“You missed some parts of the Default Trial. Right now, they are at their fourth... test. In this Trial, they don’t have Exoskeletons on but their clothes changed anyway. Each player is a character in one of the Grimm’s fairy tales. Like Rapunzel over there. She needs to run away from the evil witch that kept her confined in the tower. She needs to get to her parent’s castle to win this test. Jack and his...cow there needs to climb up the beanstalk and get the golden egg for them to pass. That poor unfortunate boy as Snow White-
This made all four of them to turn to where the man was pointing. It was just like he mentioned. There was one guy, even though he was wearing appropriate prince like clothes for a male, the colour was definitely the same as one of Snow White and he had a bright red bow tied around his head. He would have looked embarrassed to his limits if he wasn’t busy running away from hungry forest animals and tripping over logs and roots.
“He has to find the red apple to get him out of there in the forest. Those three girls there are the three good witches in Sleeping Beauty. They have to stop the Evil Witch from tricking Sleeping Beauty to prick her finger on that needle. Cinderella needs to get to the castle before midnight so that she can take the glass crown.” On and on the man went, explaining each and every player’s unfortunates task. One girl happened to be Pinocchio, the poor thing had her nose so long and she kept ramming things into it. The only way to go back to normal was to find the blue fairy in the belly of a whale! All in all, the AI had taken the Grimm Fairy Tales to the next level.
“Okay okay, there is Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and yes I hear you! Now, if you don’t mind me asking, do you know which story line has our friend, Arma and Zessica is in? The one with the huge tall giant and the small louse girl?” For a moment, the man was having a distinguish frown till Zatch said the last sentence, which more or less earned him a scorching punch on the jaw, snapping his head back due to the force. The man recoiled in fear while Zatch rubbed the burnt mark on his jaw sorely while Phoenix’s hair was practically burning ablaze. Stabs and Sophie was beside her, trying feebly with panic as to extinguish it. Even so, Zatch turned back into the man as if nothing happened, his smile as brilliant as ever.
“You were saying?” Zatch prodded on while the man stared at him as if he was mad. In a way, Sophie confirmed that maybe Zatch was a little too numb in the head.
“Red Riding Hood.” Was all the man said as he pointed towards one screen in the barrier. All four eyes reeled their attention towards the barrier, trying to spot a red cap and a wolf in particular, since it would make sense that Arma would be the wolf as ironic as his title of the ‘Lone Wolf’ stands. It took them a while, considering that they were not going to expect what they were going to see the second they do. When they did, Zatch joined in with the audience and cackled in laughter.
Author's note: I had fun making this chapter and even more fun on the oncoming one hehe xD Oh and don't forget to vote!