Starting Friday off with a new chapter.😎 Enjoy!
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MARA
"Hudson's fallen for you like a lost puppy coming back to its mother," Priscilla claims as we all prepare to go upstairs for training.
A blush creeps onto my face, as I nervously brush a strand of hair behind my ear. "Maybe."
Everyone was here except for Hudson and Ryan, and I could only pray that the two hadn't been beating the life out of each other for the past hour. The four of us were huddled around the kitchen counter as we discussed future plans for the battle. Today would be our last day of training before we head back to Sector 50, the sector next to the Capitol, to meet with the Rebels.
Connor's abilities were... Well, it's hard to describe. He doesn't have a physical power, in any way. But the kid has serious brain power. He's created inventions and formulas that even put Einstein to shame. His power is his IQ—and nobody in the world could top his brains.
For the past couple of days, he's been working on a plethora of different weapons for soldiers to use in the battle. When we beat the Plague, Connor will surely have a high ranking in the armed forces for his brainpower.
Despite Connor's sleep protests, he managed to stay up all last night to work on it and was still as energetic as a bee. And get this—he doesn't even drink coffee.
"Connor, you can stay here and work on your invisibility device," Priscilla says. "But please watch the Morse code device. I'm sure with your brain you could decipher it in a heartbeat." She smiles before turning to Lucy and I. "Ready for training, ladies?"
"Heck yeah," we say simultaneously, fist bumping each other before we follow Priscilla up the stairs and onto the top of the mountain to the training arena.
"Today I'm going to win," Lucy teases proudly as I playfully punch her on the shoulder.
"I'm just going two for two." I smile. "So if you don't mind, I have a winning streak to keep."
"Ladies, I swear you act like young boys sometimes!" Priscilla scolds making us both laugh.
As we reach the top, I saw something I never expected to see. Hudson and Ryan were both fighting... in a friendly way. Ryan wasn't completely rock this time either, as they both had smiles on their faces as well.
Did somebody give them drugs?
Ryan suddenly pins Hudson to the ground with a loud thud, but instead of feeling pain through our bond I felt happiness.
"Yes!" Hudson shouts with a smile. "That was exactly how I showed you to do it!" Ryan helps him up and gives him a high five. "Damn, when you use your abilities you'll be twice the fighter I am."
"My God," Lucy breathes, stopping in her position next to me. "That's the first time I've seen Ryan genuinely smile since..." she pauses. "Six years ago."
I look at Hudson with proud eyes, and immediately he turns as he feels my gaze. I smile shyly at him, and he smiles back even though we were a good twenty yards apart. The walk over to the training arena felt like ages, as his eyes didn't leave my figure once the entire walk.
"Ryan, Hudson," Priscilla greets them, as we all huddle up again. "Today's training will be slightly different. Here I have a device that allows me to simulate a real life battle, which is what you all will be doing in two days anyways." She pulls out a small mirror-like object which I assumed was a projector. "This machine will spawn enemies that are almost like regular humans. Except if they touch you, they zap you. I won't say how hard so you can all experience it for yourselves. This exercise will enable you all to work better as a team and work on communication skills. Swords and powers are allowed."
We all smirk at each other, knowing that the fun was really about to start. Mutants fighting together? These holographic soldiers are going to regret spawning in the first place.
She throws the device onto the ground and backs up, the gears inside it whirring as it suddenly opens into a circle five times larger than it was before. It began to glow a blue light.
All four of us tapped into our abilities, in a protective square so that none of the enemies could sneak up behind us. The projector didn't spawn the enemies from the middle, instead the soldiers would spawn in the distance and run towards us like a real battle.
We all summon our swords simultaneously and get into ready position. Hudson and I have one side, while Lucy and Ryan have the other. This battle was going to go down in the holographic fight hall of fame.
"Let's kick holographic butt!" Lucy shouts, and that was all it took for us to run into battle.
I eye my first enemy who appears a solid ten feet away from me. Charging towards him, his fist swipes towards my face which I easily dodge, roll and swipe his legs out with my sword. The soldier then disappeared into a cloud of pixellated dust only causing a new one to spawn. Thank goodness there was no blood, because I was wearing my favorite white fighting shirt.
Enemies were starting to appear by the dozen as I felt Priscilla's intense gaze on us the entire time. Ryan was easily taking out enemies right and left with his strength abilities, while Hudson and I were slightly struggling on the other hand.
"Mara!" He shouts gaining my attention as he fights three enemies off at one time. "I'm going to levitate you in the air, and when you hit the ground use your energy ability to ground slam," he shouts over the commotion and I nod.
Suddenly I felt my feet being lifted off the air, and I was at least six feet off the ground before I clench my fist. It began to glow a bright gold as I channeled energy directly to it. And when I hit the ground, a wave of gold rippled through the ground while Hudson jumped over it, knocking out any enemy that stood in its ten-foot perimeter. When I look up, all I see is enemies fading away and Hudson with a proud look on his face.
"You know, we should've done that the day we broke out of the Rebel base," Hudson says to me charging into battle once more, defeating the countless enemies that were spawning again.
"Yeah," I shout back to him as I summon a force field blocking a simultaneous punch from three soldiers at once. "I still think your levitation powers work the best!"
Right as I say it, a guard goes crashing into the enemies in front of me, as I look over to Hudson who has a smirk on his face. He had just levitated the guard to show off.
"Thanks," we both say simultaneously, and we laugh before taking on some more.
Ryan was literally crushing the competition as his boulder hands were able to slam multiple people at once. Clearly whatever advice Hudson had given him earlier was really paying off.
Lucy on the other hand, was fighting as graceful as a ballerina as she took out three enemies in a simple spin. She could've been a cat if she wanted because of how effortlessly she fought.
The enemies kept coming for minutes, then what seemed like hours later the final minute warning rang.
As my fist knocks the living life out of an enemy in one hit, I notice the new enemies that were beginning to spawn were equipped with weapons such as swords and in some cases guns.
"Come on Priscilla," I complain. "What happens if we get shot?" I shout to her, but she just sits there like the innocent grandma she was.
Suddenly I felt a sharp pinch on my shoulder, as I notice one of the guards with a gun escaped my vision. The bullet didn't hurt for long, but it was hard enough to leave a red circle along my skin.
I throw my sword at one of the guards as it gets impaled, being sure to follow my shot to pick it up afterwords. Priscilla sits there and chuckles at my frustrated emotion.
"You got this Mara," Hudson says reassuringly. "Don't let the weapons intimidate you. You're stronger then all of them combined."
I let his words ring inside of my head, as I begin to channel a force field in front of me. I was able to dodge incoming bullets as well that were being fired from guards, which was absolutely sick in my opinion.
"Thirty more seconds kids!" Priscilla's voice shouts in the distance. "Hold them off!"
All of the enemies on our side began simultaneously floating as a faint red outline surrounds them. Hudson has one hand lifted, levitating fifteen guards at once. It probably wasn't the easiest thing ever, due to his tomato red face. He then brings them down all in one slam, with clouds of pixellated dust flies by our heads.
"Show off," I murmur to him as he smirks.
"Only for you, Mara." His comment makes me blush.
About fifteen seconds remain as loads of guards were beginning to spawn. Too many to handle, in fact. My force field was beginning to diminish as it was hard focusing on all three guards I was fighting at once. If this kept up, then we wouldn't win the last moments of the battle.
"Everybody jump on my command!" Ryan's voice booms over all of us. He jumps into the air with such power, I could've sworn he went up twenty feet before yelling, "Now!" And as we all jump into the air using our strength, Ryan pounds the ground so hard it sends enemies flying backwards in every direction. Even Priscilla was slightly shaken up from her position twenty feet away. He was lucky the whole mountain didn't just collapse on us either.
The timer on the machine rings, and finally the enemies stop spawning.
"That..." I start off looking at Ryan with wide eyes. "Was absolutely wicked!" I exclaim, truly blown away at the power he has. Ryan slightly blushes, as he receives a pat on the back from Hudson as well.
"Are you kidding me?" Says Lucy as she punches my shoulder in disbelief. "I saw that energy blast, girl. Use that and Hudson's levitation ability on the battlefield and you could wipe out armies."
"Alright folks," Priscilla says walking over to us. "You all were amazing out there. I want you all to make sure you're sleeping well and staying hydrated for the battle. Meet me in the kitchen for lunch, and I'd love to give you all individual advice." She smiles before beginning to walk towards the house.
Lucy gives Hudson and I one more look as she walks with Ryan. "Man, if only you guys got the chance to meet Asher and Elle. They would absolutely love you guys!"
"I'm sure we'd love them too," I say to her figure as she walks away with a smile on her face.
I felt Hudson's arm snake around my waist as he pulls me into his side. We stand outdoors watching them all walk away, smiling at each other.
"Look at you," I say softly punching his chest proudly. "You made a new friend today!"
"All thanks to you, sweetheart." He winks at me and I immediately cringe. If he was going to be with me for the rest of my life, he was not going to call me that.
"Disgusting!" I exclaim from the pet name. "Only the guys in fanfiction books would call their girlfriends 'sweetheart'." I begin walking away him—more like running from him as he begins to chase me down, not letting me get away so easily.
He then captures me in his arms again laughing, only to cup my cheekbones as he presses his lips to mine in a passionate kiss.
"Sweetheart is is," he mumbles before dragging me back in the house.
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The next chapter is the one you've all been waiting for!🤫