The Paintball Arena:

"Enemies?" Harper took a step back then pointed his gun in the direction Leila had been facing. He was still stunned by how amazing the dome and the technology were, and it took him a while to notice the rustling of the leaves nearby. A twig was crushed beneath the sole of a metal boot and he finally noticed them—robots built like rocks with guns far larger than any of theirs.





Lizbeth raised a hand in front of them, her other hand reaching for the smoke grenade that was clipped to her belt.

"Yeppers," Aiden was speaking quietly, but there was no mistaking the cheer in his voice. "The enemy team isn't the only thing you have to look out for. Oh, and we aren't the only players around either." He held onto a device that looked like a radio, on its screen were several blinking dots of various colors. "It looks like we have an orange team and a pink team on the field too...oh and lookie here, blue team is somewhere near the ruins."

The robots were looking right and left, communicating with each other in incomprehensible sounds.

It didn't faze Aiden and he continued talking in a cheery but hushed voice. "The other teams have this tracker too so we'll need to keep moving before any of them move in on our location—oops they've spotted us." He let out a hearty laugh and pulled out pointed his pistol at the closest robot. With a flick of his thumb he turned the safety off and fired, nailing the robot right between its eyes. Red paint dripped off its head and onto it's chest and the soldier snickered.

"Target ahead," a metallic voice rumbled. "Sending coordinates to team Foxtrot..." Aiden got the robot in the chest and it staggered back.

Lizbeth's lips curled into a frown and she turned to look at Lesley and Leila. "They sent out coordinates, we better go."

"BUT LIZZIE," her partner pouted, "things are just about to get fun."

"We aren't with the rest of the platoon, these are newbies." She pulled off the smoke grenade's pin and rolled it towards the robots. Soon, the place they were in was enveloped in a blanket of odorless smoke. It wasn't hard to breath in, but their vision was obscured. As soon as the smoke filled the area the robots began to open fire and one of them managed to hit Lizbeth in the shoulder. Her health bar went down to 95 percent and she muttered something about them leaving.

Harper fell onto the grass, a bright yellow splatter visible on his chest. He was a little dazed, but it didn't hurt. Bright lights flashed across his visor: Warning you are down to 80 percent, that was what the flashing words had said. "It doesn't hurt," Harper picked himself up and gave his friends a smile. "Were any of you sho—oh boy," he staggered back a little, fumbling with his fallen rifle.

"Back up has arrived!" Another robotic voice screeched. "Team Charlie we have reached your coordinates."

Through the waning smoke they could make out the outlines of the heavily armored robots. The sound of bolts and rusty kneecaps grew louder and one of the robots (now crimson all over) appeared before the group. "Aha! Humans spotted. Humans spotted!" He fired a flare up into the sky then aimed his machine gun at the stunned humans and guides.

Harper scrambled back, accidentally pulling the trigger. He yelped when a loud popping sound echoed across the forest. The robot before him had a bright blue stain over his face and he looked a little daze from the unexpected shot. They actually had an opening.

"Good going, we're not running now! C'mon humans, show us you've got spunk." Aiden fired two rounds at the second robot's hand and managed to disarm it, but by then the first had recovered and he lurched forward, a bright red stain on his shoulder. He could make out the outlines of two approaching robots, he fired a shot at the first one's head. "There are four of them, aim for the one with the least amount of...FOR CELERY'S SAKE!" He took a shot to the gut, his health bar dropping down to 85 percent.

Three shots rang out and the first robot fell to the ground with a clatter, it's health bar empty.

Aiden gaped. Lizebeth had shot it thrice in the head, and he made a mental note to avoid pissing his partner off. "Aim for the one with the lowest health," she finished Aiden's sentence and helped him to his feet.

The remaining robots were firing even more flares into the sky, and they erupted into an assortment of bright lights, alerting not only nearby robots but other teams near the vicinity as well. If they didn't roll out soon, it would be one hell of a brawl.

“Out of my way!”

Nympha pushed the old man aside as she sped pass once again. She was starting to get annoyed that he managed to keep up with her till now. Dirty old man! Shye grinned wickedly as she spotted a familiar glint up ahead. Bingo!

“Not so fast, missy!”

Ellie shot forward, nearly knocking Nympha over. He stuck out his tongue as he zipped pass the mystery box. He waved the power up tauntingly overhead as the reels spun wildly. The not-so-gentlemanly Ellie shook the box violently even when he knew it wouldn’t affect the reels. One by one the reels came to a grinding stop. He grinned like a mad man as the box shuddered and expanded. Oh yeah!

Announcer Goomba said “Would you look at that! Things are getting ugly folks, and we aren’t even at the second leg. Time to change your bets, ladies, gentlemen, celery sticks and potatoes! People are getting eliminated left, right and center. Stay tuned to find out who goes down.”

He whipped round and aimed his pie-launching bazooka at the faerie girl. “This is for the thunderbolt!”

He sent 2-lbs of cream and custard towards the poor girl. Nympha’s brown eyes widened in horror as she barely dodged the first one, when a second one came hurtling towards her, then another. There was no telling how many pies were loaded in that ridiculous contraption! Just as she was about to resign to her fate, the hovercrafting enthusiast spotted another mystery box a few feet away. She veered towards it, barely missing the next pie coming her way. The competitor behind her wasn’t so lucky.

“Sorry!” yelled Ellie insincerely as the boy fell onto the invisible net below along with two other competitors. All of them covered in cream, custard and crust. The crusty old inventor tossed his now empty pie launcher after them.

Nympha’s eyes glinted evilly as she aimed her freeze gun at the pie-throwing maniac. “I think it’s time to say good-bye!”

She didn’t waste any time pulling the trigger. A bright blue beam shot from the gun as the recoil sent her back slightly. The girl watched with bated breath before swearing loudly. Every word was so foul that the tv crew had to do live censoring to protect the children. Only one phrase was polite enough for them to allow on air.

“Who in the celery god’s unfathomable [censored] [censored] is that [censored] [censored] [censored] red head with Lavi? [censored]! That will teach them to intercept my only shot.”

Announcer said “Sorry for the technical difficulty folks. We are live once again! Looks like most of our contestants are now entering the outskirts of the Central Business District. Yes, folks and gentle lunchables, the mayor has kindly allowed us to race within the city itself! Our contestants will have to battle it out among the cargo ships, the trams, the heavy traffic, the hazardous road works and the geyser lifts for the seven mystery keys.”

Members of the audience ooo-ed and ahhh-ed as the cameras zoomed in on various parts of the all too familiar city center. Clearly the area has been minimally modified for the race. Random power up boxes and bobby traps dotted the roof tops, the sewer entrances and balconies. This was the first city race ever!

Announcer said “The second leg tests the contestants' wit and not their speed. They will have to solve puzzles and navigate through hidden mazes to find all seven keys. Only one chest contains the trophy, and contestants are allowed to snatch keys from one another in this winner-takes-all competition! Shoutcaster Jake shall provide us with tantalizing live updates and gossip for this leg.”

Local Shoutcaster Jake said “Thank you, Goomba! Yes, I am now broadcasting live from the CBD itself. The first few contestants have just arrived. They are given time to refuel their hovercrafts, catch their breath and read over the instructions written on the board. I heard rumors that some even crashed into the hovercraft pit. Boy, I can’t remember when the first leg was ever this intense.”

Announcer Goomba said “Neither can I. More than a third of our competitors have already been eliminated. Not to worry folks, there should be fewer eliminated competitors this round.”

Shoutcaster Jake said “Or this will be the shortest race ever! The blood bath fun always begins in the third leg.”

One by one the vultures flew off thanks to Ace. The dangerous duo hardly got the chance to thank Ace before she disappeared into the distance. Toby was nowhere to be seen either. All Ran could do was hope that the other two stay safe, and he and Riley manage to land somewhere in one piece. He had volunteered several times to jump off the hovercraft onto the invisible nets below, only to find Riley clinging onto his arms so that he can’t let go of her waist. A loud rumble came from the hoverboard engine. This time the shaking won’t stop. He gulped. Did they just drop several feet?

“Errr… I think… err…. LAND HO!”

There were so many buildings up ahead. Some were freakishly tall and others had only a three to five floors. All of them covered in glass. Ran found himself shielding his eyes slightly as they inched closer to the business district. The sun beating down on the buildings at the moment, and he could see the air shimmer slightly. Soon sweat began forming on his brows. Boy, this place is hotter than Vegas!

“Hey you two! Come here and get your board checked. She looks like she’s gonna crash any minute now.”

Both of them turned to look. A man in overalls was waving at them from above. Ran craned his neck a little more and spotted a sign – Pitt Stop! He shook Riley’s shoulders a little and pointed to the sign. The board refused to lift no matter how hard they tried; in the end it had to be lifted up using a complex system of ropes of pulleys. The shuddering grew worse the higher they climbed. Ran was literally gripping Riley’s shoulders till his knuckles turned white. He prayed the craft would remain in one piece now that they are twenty five floors above the streets below with no additional platform underneath.

“Oh fudge cake!”

Ran let go as soon as they touched down. The pit crew raced over to inspect their hovercraft, and the two were pushed aside unceremoniously. The man accepted the box of juice offered to him and he began sipping it slowly. There was no telling how long they were going to be grounded. Apparently their combined weight did something to one of the hick-a-magigs, so the crew was now trying to customize their board so that it can support two people instead of one. He turned to look at the countdown timer. One hour and twenty minutes before the gates to the next leg of the race open, and a few keys have already been found. This guys are fast!

He chewed on his straw thoughtfully. “Looks like we can opt to explore on foot using the jet shoes found around the pits.”

"Bend your knees, keep yourself balanced. It'll be easier for you to maneuver sharp turns in the city and avoid traps, heck, it might even keep ya from getting knocked off your board. Steer with your legs, rotate with your upper body. If you do it the other way around, you'll end up flying through the air upside down like you were a few minutes ago, heh. Try not to fly too high, you'll be an easier target for those cannons. Oh, remember to smile for the camera too, no harm in putting on a show, this is for fun after all."

Toby recalled the advice Jay had given him, which was proving to be quite helpful as he progressed in the race. "Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through! Beep beep!" He capitalized on a sharp turn and wooshed passed two competitors in an effort to catch up to his friends as fast as possible. The boy hanged back for some time to get a handle of the hoverboard, he wasn't sure how far back he was though. Nobody was passing him, so that either meant he was better at hover-boarding than he initially thought, or he was in last place. Hopefully it wasn't the latter.

Since the competition had begun the boy couldn't think precisely, he was appalled at the loud shouts and cheers of the audience. Toby absolutely loved being the center of attention. Being surrounded by an audience as large as this practically gave the kid an adrenaline rush. Although the whole thing was quite exciting it was difficult for the boy to calm down and pay attention to the race. He found himself relishing in the crowd's cheers, thankfully Jay had set him on the right course both figuratively and literally. Now he found himself in the very thick of the race, speeding through the air amongst the other competitors in search of his friends. Even amongst the lighthearted chaos Toby could somewhat make out the fire red hair that could only belong to Ace. However, Riley and Niran were nowhere to be seen. The thought of them being eliminated dampened the boy's excitement.

Toby squinted his eyes, his tongue stuck out as he concentrated on the race. He was determined to catch up to Ace when suddenly a small object floating in the distance caught his eye, which was no doubt an item box. A troublesome smirk overcame the boy as he pondered what the box would award him upon retrieval. "Dibs!" Toby shouted to himself as he pressed on towards the box. The closer he came within the items grasp the faster his heart beat. His eyes grew wide as the box was now only twenty or so yards away, his arms reached out, prepared to grasp the object.



yoink!

"WHA?!"

Toby shouted in disbelief as Namine snatched the item box for her own before he could grab it. The two had spotted it at about the same time, however Namine had been flying below the boy and used the element of surprise to her advantage, ascending quickly into the air and grabbing the item box for her own just as Toby came within inches of taking it for himself. The savvy rider now flew above him, holding the box between her arm and hip. She gave a cheery smile, "Sorry! First come first serve I guess," The girl spoke in an apologetic tone, she seemed genuinely sorry despite her smile. Even so, Toby was left flustered, his troublesome grin now an agitated frown. "HEY! That's mine! I saw it first!"

Announcer Goomba said Take a look at this! As the first leg comes to a close another item box makes it's way into the hands of a rider. No doubt this is a critical moment for the competitors, an item now can make or break you!

The sound of a cannon firing startled Toby, he looked to his left to see a blue ball soaring through the sky towards him. The boy prepared himself for impact and caught the ball, an action he was quite familiar with thanks to numerous games of dodgeball he participated in as a child. With ill intentions he watched as Namine delightfully held the item box in her hands, waiting for the slot machine to come to it's conclusion. Toby hurled the blue ball at the girl just in time, knocking the item box out of her grasp. "Wha? Hey! Not fair!" Toby couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, even he was surprised the ball met it's target.

Announcer Goomba said How creative!

Toby and Namine chased the item box as it flew through the air. Both of them managed to catch up to the item, simultaneously grabbing the box as they sped through the air parallel to eachother, moving at the same pace. Both riders now found themselves playing tug of war with the item box. "You're lucky I promised my mom I wouldn't hit girls!" Toby shouted and began to pull with all of his strength. "Yeah? Well you're lucky my hands are on this box, otherwise i'd punch you right in the throat-WHOA!" As Namine yelled her comeback at the boy, he intentionally released his grip on the box, causing the girl to spin 360 degrees on her hoverboard. As gravity brought Namine back to an upright position she was momentarily disoriented whilst attempting to regain her balance "Son of a carrot" She muttered. Toby didn't hesitate to snatch the item from her hands.

"Mine!" He shouted with joy, where as the girl immediately bent down, grabbing his hoverboard and pulling it from beneath him, causing Toby to reel backwards and release his grip of the item allowing Namine to take possession of the box once more "Mine," She said in a sarcastic tone as to mock the boy. Toby once again found himself flying upside down. A troublesome smirk overcame him once more as he suddenly spun himself in a circle whilst flying upside down, using his hoverboard to launch the item out of Namine's hands through the air and into another riders possession.





"Hm? Yves, seem's an item box has made it's way into your hands."

"It appears so. Today must be my lucky day." Yves studied the item box in his hands curiously, as if he was intrigued by it's presence. "Out of all the days. I'd say that's quite fortunate, wouldn't you Landon?"

"Quite fortunate indeed"

The two seasoned veterans spoke in what seemed to be english accents. Both Landon and Yves intentionally decided to pull back from the lead as to avoid the mayhem caused by Ace. The two were a perfect example of the saying "slow and steady wins the race," and took the competition a bit too serious. Yves waited patiently for the slot machine to come to a stop. Once it did, his face remained blank, as did Landon's. Even so there was still a hint of arrogance surrounding the two.

"Not a bad item," Landon said, Yves gave the box a look of distaste, "It would've been much more useful had I obtained it earlier,"

Toby eventually regained his posture and balance, the boy was quite irritated, even to the point where his cheeks were starting to turn a little red. "Hey! Numbskull! That's my item!" He shouted and with haste began to ascend towards Yves, blinded by his sudden obsession to claim the item box for himself. Namine's eyes suddenly grew wide as she realized what item the box had provided. "Wait, hey stop! Stay away from him!"

"Mine as well use it now," Yves spoke in a non-chalant tone and turned his attention towards Toby, aiming what appeared to be some type of pistol in his right hand. "I'm really kinda getting super annoyed, I saw it first an-OH! Oh geez, what is that?" Steam began to shoot out of two holes in the pistol which began to make a sound similar to that of a teapot whistling. The sound of a gunshot shook the audience as a pointed bullet whizzed through the air and lodged itself into Toby's hoverboard. Within moments the hoverboard began to shoot out steam as well and gradually started slowing down. "Oh no, oh no no no come on, what did you do!" The pointed bullet damaged the mechanism that allowed the hoverboards to actually hover. "Poor fool," Landon remarked, he and Yves sped off as Toby made the slow and inevitable journey to the ground. He began to curse profusely.

"Heeeeeeyyyy!" Namine flailed her arms about at an attempt to catch the boys attention. "Go to the pit stop!" Toby looked up, cupping his hand around his ear with a puzzled look. "What?"

"Go. To. The. Pit. Stop."

"Huh?!"

"GO TO THE PIT STOP!"

Namine's voice faded as she eventually sped off as well. The boy turned his attention to what lay below him and managed to catch sight of a sign labeled "Pit Stop," There weren't many options, in fact the pit stop was Toby's only option at this point. He sighed, and slowly began to descend towards the Pit Stop, eager to get back into the competition as soon as possible.

"I've never been so happy to be on the ground." Riley pressed her cheek against the warm asphalt and laughed.

She didn't care that they were falling behind, or that their hoverboard was being torn open. They were alive and she was just so goshdarn happy. The girl pushed herself onto jelly legs then stared up at the giant screen. Mazes, Keys, and puzzles, the race was only getting more intense.

"Hey, is our board still functional, or are we out of the race for good?" Riley arched an eyebrow at the cogs and gears they were ripping out of the hoverboard. They pulled out a charred core and it looked like the thing had overheated.

The mechanic on duty wrinkled his nose, "the core overheated, some of the wires melted. Whatever you two did, it messed the board up real good." He shook his head then sighed. "No way you'll be able to fly on this but..." he was just about to suggest the jet shoes, but it looked like Ran had it all figured out, "yeah, your friend has the right idea. You're better off continuing the race in those."

"Hm?" She spun around to look at what Ran was talking about. If they crashed into something in those...well, it would hurt, badly. "I guess we don't have much of a choice and we can't leave Ace and Toby with those meanies who tried to knock us overboard!" Ace had saved them from the riders that had tried to strike, but two or three of them were still up there and trying to win the race. Riley grabbed a pair of jet shoes and pulled it onto her feet.

The mechanic working on their board nodded, "just think about what you wanna do and the boots will respond."

"NO WAY?" That sounded crazy, was he serious? Then again, this was Nowhere.

He snorted, "what do you think of us? Low-tech? 'Course it'll work, I made the engine myself."

Announcer Goomba said Ladies and gentlemen, carrot sticks and apricot pies! Four keys have been found, I repeat, four keys have been found. This might be the most intense race we've ever had and soon we'll be moving onto the maze. We're halfway done with this race folks, so hang onto your seats, this is one heated competition."

They had already managed to find four keys? Riley blinked numbly before linking her arm with Ran's. "Noooo way, I can't believe they're that fast! We can't waste anymore time. Ugh, if you were a key were would you hide—hi Toby." Riley did a double take then blinked, "oh, it really is him."



"My, my, this is quite unfortunate." The mechanic shook his head left and right, tinkering with the inside of Toby's board. "The circuit board is fried beyond recognition and the core has burned out. It's such a shame, this was quite a lovely board." He gave the core a tap and for a moment it let off tiny sparks. "You'll get into an accident if you fly on this thing. In fact, this hoverboard is going to the dump as soon as this race ends."

"Tobs!" Riley clamped a hand over his shoulder and spun him around. "First, hi, and second, you aren't out of the race yet," a grin crept onto her face and she held out a pair of jet shoes. "Look at what Ran found. Hoverboards are so yesterday, these things respond to your thoughts." She held onto his wrist then began tugging him along. "Ace is still up there, she passed by us, so we can't just sit here and give up."

Announcer Goomba said Ladies and gentlemen, the fifth Key has been found!

"Eh! There are only two keys left. Let's go, let's go." Fly she thought.

The jet shoes roared to life and before she knew it, she was propelled upward at an unbelievable speed. The girl let out a surprise yelp, but soon it turned into laughing. She was a little wobbly but the shoes were much easier to control and she did a wobbly cartwheel in midair. Her eyes lit up and she managed to hover in place, waiting for Ran and Toby to join her.



The fifth key was in her hands! Ri beamed at one of the cameras and waved. Her spot in the second leg of the race was secured, unless of course somebody took her key. The holder of the key would be able to bring as many friends as they liked into the next round. She thought about taking Lavi with her but shook her head. He was helping the redhead and the girl had nearly blown her off her board. She'd keep the key to herself, the less competition she had, the better.

"Oh look, I see you two don't have a key yet." Ri gave Ace and Lavi one of her sickening sweet smiles. "I'd say catch you later, but I'm not sure you'll make it to the next leg." She blew Lavi a flying kiss then waved. The two of them had always had a rivalry when it came to racing. "Good bye, sweeties."



The Nobody shook his head and sighed, "this year is quite intense, I'm afraid we might not get to a key in time." A glimmer caught his eye, it was hanging on the edge of a balcony. Well, what do you know, it was a key. The building wasn't too far from where they were, but a few riders were charging towards the key at full speed. It would be their ticket to the second round of the race. "Well, well, I stand corrected. Let us go and get that key, Ace." He leaned forward, zipping off at a maddening speed.

Lavi intercepted two riders then spun around so he was hovering in front of them. "G'day gentlemen and lady, but I'm afraid we'll have to drop the formalities for now." He pulled out his chocolate bar and grimaced. This wasn't polite at all, but the circumstances called for it. "I do apologize sincerely." He threw the chocolate bar at the man's face and with a curse, the Nobody crashed right into his friend.

Hopefully this would buy Ace some time.

"Now, now, have you heard about the fish who wanted to fly?" Lavi was talking casually to the woman before him. She stared at him for a moment before attempting to ram into him with her shoulder. The Nobody remained unfazed, he dodged and continued to tell his little tale.

His distraction was quite the success. "Anytime now Ace, I do believe a few fellows are coming our way."

"Yeesh. This is a long tournament..." Ace had a short attention span. After having so much fun, she was getting a little tired of the game. Though, that all changed when she heard the Announcer change their course. "Going through the city? That sounds fun."



"Oh that's new. We've never gone out so far before. Things shall get very interesting quite soon." He glanced downward seeing all the people crawling off the net to get patched up, or go sit in the stands. "Looks like we'll both be learning in this lap of the tournament. I hope Ri doesn't get into too much trouble." He blinked and noticed the attack coming straight for them. "Oh dear, Ace catch!"

She looked over, noticing the blue beam and caught Lavi's hat. "Ah! .... Hey your hat froze." She held it up, only to toss it when he gestured it away. "Thanks! You saved my butt." Lavi was about to tip his hat, but it was no longer on his head. He sighed, but nodded and smiled. "Don't worry, we'll knock that one off her board. Then she'll owe you a new hat!" He smirked a little and followed as she lead the way into the city.

"Oh, Ace? Dear, the Announcer said to collect keys. And it's a little dangerous to be hoverboarding through the streets." Lavi looked around already having to fly lower to avoid being hit by the sudden cars. He stayed near Ace, planning to help when she needed it, which was more than once when she flew to low and nearly ran into a tree, or too high and got hit by a car.

"That's not our plan Lavi!" He escorted the confusing redhead to the pit stop. "Come on, come on...Let's go!"

"You must tell me this plan!" Lavi stepped on his board, following after her. She was surely a ball of energy. Surprisingly enough, she slowed down when she realized she was too far ahead. "You know, we're passing the appropriate places for keys?" He was truly confused at this point.

"No, no Lavi. We're going to steal them! It's much faster, and so much easier. You on the other hand would probably do fine." Ace coasted against the breeze but the paused for a moment. This was around the time Ri passed as well. Ace puffed up, wanting something to through at the girl. Man she was annoying. Ace was about to speed toward her until Lavi found a key in range. "Good job Lavi!" She watched as he went on distracting the two that raced towards the key. Ace grinned and grabbed the key. Lavi paused his tale and waved a goodbye to them before following Ace. "Here, you hold onto the key." She handed them to Lavi, and he nodded, putting them in his inside jacket pocket. Ace only grinned deviously and the two continued flying to the next part of the race.

"Actually... that'll be too easy. And I'm kind of bored now.... Hey, Lavi you go through the mazes all you like, but...I never cared about winning anyway." She laughed. "I just want the board."

A shocked expression overcame the gentleman. Once again the fiery redhead had surprised him. After all that hard work she was just going to bow out? The shock turned into a small smile. "You're quite impressive Ace. I am truly honored to have witnessed it."

"No big deal really. Just cruising along and causing trouble- though not as much as the duo. Anyway, you go on. You still have a chance to win you know. I can always steal keys for you if you want. Pickpocketing is a piece of cake for me." She laughed a bit and waited for his decision.

"I'm nowhere near as competitive as Ri.... And it's such a nice day. I think I'll cruise along with you. Heh, besides, I won last year. She'd hate to know that I let her win. But I'll hang on to the key we have. And if it works, then it works." Ace chuckled and nodded. The two went straight towards the mazes being quite casual.

Announcer said "What's this? Is one of our champions planning a new strategy with the redhead!? It appears they're slowing down! But the redhead newcomer nabbed a key and handed it Lavi! Well folks, we'll just have to wait and see!"

"There's a couple of naughty competitors coming up. Hopefully they don't try to do anything foolish."

"Ah we can take them. I don't mind knocking a few off there- heh, well what do you know. A mystery box before I go to the maze." She grabbed it and watched the icons spun.




He had left Toby some time ago and gotten ahead. His fans continued to cheer him on and he flashed a smile to the camera. Of course it caused the fan girls to squeal in delight, some still next to Japhet. He had snagged a key tucked off on a billboard and was easily making his way to the front.

Announcer said "Jay has found a key! That's another key! Who will take the last ones?! Things are getting quite intense with the competitors! "

"W-Whoa!" He narrowly dodged the sudden pie that hurled towards him. Instead, it two of the guys following after Ace and Lavi. "Watch it there." He laughed and nodded to both Lavi and Ace. He then grinned. "Nice seeing you again redhead. You and your friends are causing a lot of trouble. But, I'll catch you guys later!"

Ace merely watched the guy go and shrugged. "Come Lavi, we still have to get through the maze." He nodded and the two continued their now casual journey to the maze.

Paintball field- Blue Team (a.k.a Bestest Team Ever)

So they only had two humans coming with them, huh?

"You guys better take good care of them! If anything happens I'm not taking responsibility for it!"

Breeze yelled out after the two soldiers, very much inwardly excited. If they were here that meant it was open game day- Meaning that it was going to be an absolute blood paintbath. It was a good thing the stadium had switched to automatic cleaning a few years back or every time this happened it would take weeks to clean. She laughed as the frazzled Est charged down the tunnel, before coming back to retrieve his gun. She herself hefted up one of the more sizeable guns with ease, being used to heavy lifting in her line of work (not to mention that she often joined in games like this when the soldiers had an uneven team).

"After you two darlings," she nudged the humans forward, walking through the metallic tunnel until they reached the end of the hallway. While they waited, Breeze fiddled with a small contraption in her hand until it lit up, a small green hourglass popping up on the gridded surface. The merchant could hardly keep the excited smile off her face though at this point it was more of a predatory grin- she could only hope that the tinted visor would keep her from scaring the humans. She had heard they had rather weak psyches.

The moment the doors slid open she rushed out, looking around. "Looks like we're at the ruins," she remarked offhandedly, looking down at the tracker. The Red Team was a ways away and it seemed that they had already ran into adversaries, as marked by the colored flares in the distance. As for them...

"Our game plan? How about... Taking care of these guys first?"

She leapt into action as a barrage of paint pellets flew through the air, tugging the humans to duck behind a ruined wall of the stone structures around them. Three robots emerged from the forest, clicking and whirring as they advanced. A few more shots rang through the air, blue this time, hitting each of the mechanical giants in the head with deadly precision and stunning them for a short moment.

"Awesome, Est! C'mon, let's go! Get them while they're frozen!" She did a front roll out from behind the wall, aiming and firing at the first robot. A splash of blue painted it's abdomen nicely, before its shoulder was drenched as well.

"The DUMP!" The boy shouted in response to the mechanics verdict of his not so hovering hoverboard, "Awh, donuts! It's like the coolest thing i've ever seen." He crossed his arms in irritation whilst letting out a huff, causing his bangs to briefly shoot upward in the process. "I wanted to hang it up in my room or something. Err, or should I say hover it up in my room? Or uh, float it up in my room?" Toby gave Ashton a perplexed as he struggled to find the correct terminology. The Mechanic merely chuckled in response as he lifted the hoverboard into the air and began to examine it.



"Heh, well since it's pretty much damaged beyond repair it doesn't look all that 'cool' anymore, at least not to me." Ashton set the board back down before placing his hands on his hips and letting out a definite sigh, "Sorry kid, but it's pretty much safe to say this hoverboard is totaled." Toby kept his sights trained on the hoverboard as he perked his lips in thought. He couldn't help but recall the moment just before his hoverboard was shot, when he and Yves locked eyes momentarily. Just the thought of that snob Nobody was bothersome enough, this was all his fault.

"So does this mean i'm out of the competition?"

"Well, we don't have any extras in stock, but-" as if on cue, Riley popped up from out of nowhere and spun the boy around. Niran was right beside her. Toby greeted the two with a radiant smile, glad to see his friends were still in the race. His eyes lit up at the sight of the jet shoes "Radical, nice find Ran!" So he was still in the competition. Good. It was time for some payback.

He followed Riley and Niran to an area where the trio could safely fly off and make their way back into the race. Quickly Toby began to slip on the shoes just before Riley shot up and into the air. Even though she kinda yelped while doing so, it still looked fun. With haste he stood up straight and squeezed his eyes shut. Fly! he thought to himself. Immediately the jet shoes came to and the boy shrieked in confusion. For the third time he found himself hanging upside down in the air, his arm and hair moved about helplessly and his clothes fell downward, revealing his belly "Oh, cmon! What's with me?" The boy began flailing about as he attempted to fix his posture.

As he found himself now hovering beside Riley it was quite noticeable how much easier it was to handle the jet shoes instead of the hoverboard. Even so, Toby thought the hoverboards were a lot cooler. He was quite eager to find Landon and Yves so he exact his revenge upon them. "Uh, sorry to go all lone wolf on you guys, but i've got a score to settle with some other competitors. I'll catch you guys later, give Ace my regards!" With that, the boy sped upward and back into the race.





The two veterans soared through the city at a particularly high altitude. Cannon's fired at the duo frequently but to no avail, the pair maneuvered their way around the blue balls with little to no effort. "This key business is interesting, I don't think we've ever had to deal with it before. We'll have to get our hands on one sooner or later," Landon stated. "This year has been quite hectic, humans are so troublesome." Yves looked below in search of competitors. Being eliminated in the first round was not an option for the nobleman. "Landon, let's remedy this key situation immediately." The Nobody pointed towards a competitor that had managed to obtain a key and was now heading towards the maze. "It seems our luck has not yet ceased to run out, the prey has come to us this time." Landon smirked, "Let's not waste any time than chap,"

Landon gradually began to descend until he was leveled with the rider that had obtained a key. The two eyed eachother for a moment and the Nobody simply waved with a smug grin, causing the rider to tense up and prepare himself. Usually when two competitors were leveled one would try to ram the other, this was doubly true if one of the competitors had a key. But rather than attack, Landon merely began stood up straight and placed his hands behind his back.

"Evening," he said aloud, the rider merely responded with a puzzled look and tightened his grip on the key. Just as he was about to speak, Yves dove downward towards him like a hawk and rammed his shoulder into the tail of the riders hoverboard causing it to shoot upward and launch the competitor off. Landon swooped in and grabbed the key. The move was executed so smoothly, it was obvious the pair had conducted it numerous times. However, the rider had yet to release his grip on the key and dangled beside Landon who was unwillingly keeping him from falling to elimination.

Announcer Goomba said Well, this is....interesting. I don't think i've ever seen teamwork like this before!

Landon and the rider were now being broadcasted on the screen. "Oh come now, it's over for you! Let go!" The Nobody tried his best to swerve side to side at an attempt to have the rider release his grip, but it simply wasn't going to happen. It was pretty much life or death. Not literally, but letting go meant he was out of the competition. Yves flew beside his partner and laughed aloud at the spectacle. "Bugs can be quite clingy, ay old sport?" Landon scolded the competitor, out of irritation he lifted his leg and drove his foot into the riders face.

In unison the audience let out an "Oooooooooooo!" As his foot made contact and the rider finally released his grip on the key and fell towards elimination. Landon began to brush himself off as if his clothing had become dirty.

Announcer Goomba said Oh my! What a dirty move! It seems one of the keys has changed hands ladies and gentleman! Keep an eye out for this scholarly pair, with power hungry moves like that they just might win it this year!

Toby frowned at the sight of Landon obtaining a key. He had been watching the scuffle on the screen as he soared through the sky. He couldn't help but mimic the motions of a superhero he admired long ago. He wasn't really planning on progressing to the next leg, he was more so determined to take out Landon and Yves as soon as possible, them having a key would only make things more difficult. The boy slowed down and eventually came to a stop. Floating in midair he pondered how and where he could procure a key of his own.



"yoohoo!"

The boy's eyes grew wide at the familiar voice. He turned to see Namine approaching him on her hoverboard, eventually she came to a halt. The boy was reminded how much he missed his own board. "Oh geez, it's you." He said sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" She placed her hands on her hips and bent forward as she spoke with an attitude, which was when she realized Toby was wearing jet shoes. It wasn't a surprise, considering Yves shot his hoverboard to the point of no return. Even so she hadn't anticipated he would obtain another means of transportation. "Where'd you get those shoes?" Toby crossed his arms and glared at the girl. "What's it to you, jealous or somethin?" He recalled what Riley had said earlier and couldn't help repeat it. "Hoverboards are so yesterday," Namine scoffed, "Gosh, you're kinda rude. And here I was, about to offer you my assistance," Toby's eyebrows perked and he un-crossed his arms, "Assistance?" he asked curiously, "Why do you want to assist me? That's kinda weird,"

"Dummy! I don't know if you noticed, but a bunch of people around here are teaming up with eachother. And, well, it was interesting how you fought me for that item box. That was the first time someone tried to steal it back after I swiped it from under their nose. You seem useful, even though you got yourself shot. I don't know about you, but I want to win this thing, so you're gonna be my partner." Toby couldn't help but smirk, he admired the girls attitude. It reminded him of his troublesome friends. Not to mention the fact that two is always better than one, especially since he wanted to take on Landon and Yves " Fine, but only because you're kinda cool. Just so you know, i'm trying to eliminate those two british speakin dudes. I want some payback since they pretty much trashed my awesome hoverboard. I was planning to take it home and hang it up in my room...or...hover it in my room. Or uh-nevermind"

"Didn't those two just get a key?" The girl asked "Yeah," Toby started to scratch his head and scrunched his face, "They're kinda good at this stuff, but i'm gonna kick their butts anyways." Namine slightly chuckled at the statement. "Well, either way we're gonna need a key. Got any idea where we can find one?" Once again Toby scrunched up his face, "Er, no. But, maybe my friends do! Let's go find em!" Before Namine could say anything Toby turned around and sped off and backtracked in search of his friends. "Wha? hey! Wait up!"

Game plan? Ha!

“Shoot everything that moves until it stops moving!” Est quipped in addition to Breeze’s reply, and he threw his fist in the air with overflowing vigor. One could probably wonder whether Jasper and Inadi were assigned to the wrong team. The soldier brought his hand down and fiddled with a panel on his wrist, bringing up a small hovering map of the area. As usual, the colors of the teams included in the game were listed in the legend, and since it was just the beginning-

Since he was already leaning against a broken stone pillar to begin with, Est was easily able to take cover when the robots appeared. Breeze and the humans hid behind the wall on the opposite direction; it seemed as if the robots were focused on them and didn’t notice him at all. Talk about “unknowingly giving the element of surprise to your enemy”, right? The soldier whistled and then flicked the safety pin off.

Bang!

After that initial shot, several more followed and unerringly hit their mark in the center of the synths’ heads. Breeze’s shots, coupled with either Jasper or Inadi’s, and as they paused to reload to finish off the last remaining droid, it collapsed with a loud hiss. The thick glass covering its headpiece had been shattered due to repeated headshots from Est, which was pretty much what he was aiming for in the first place. Est stared down the barrel at the whirring machines before turning to his teammates and waving them over. “Quick, I got Team Orange- blech, what an ugly color- coordinates! They’re pretty close to us, a bit off to the left in the… Ohhh, we call this site the ‘Miasma’. It’s a really creepy mini swamp. Don’t know why the bosses had a frigging swamp inside the arena but oh well. I heard they use really mud and moss too! But, let’s go, quick quick quick!” While the soldier’s voice was as cheerful as it was before, the way he was rechecking his gun and glanced around every now and then fitted the description of a somber and seasoned veteran. When the others were finished with what they wanted to do, the team headed off towards the Orange group. The surroundings, from a high, sloping meadow scattered with cracked Corinthian pillars and brick walls, slowly changed to a dour and colorless landscape. That and an unsavory green fog was now rising up a few inches from the ground, along with some dead trees and murky puddles strewn about.

“They should be around here somewhere- blast it!” The Orange team’s coordinates disappeared after a set time and it was up to their team to navigate on their own. Est, of course, was much more focused on sniping down targets, and would most probably expend his energy on those matters- and expertly too- rather than try to scout the area.

As Aiden told them that there was more than two groups out on the field, a pair of funky looking robots had emerged from some shrubbery. His heart jumped a little in his chest, but the soldier in red simply whipped out his pistol and shot it right in the forehead. Lizbeth suggested they escape which prompted Aiden to whine a little, but nonetheless, she popped a smoke and they were set up for an escape. Unfortunately, the other robots had alerted their mates and others were closing in on the paintbath as well. Lesley's eyes widened as he observed his mini map displayed at the corner of his helmet. In his paused state whilst studying the coordinates, a robot targeted him easily and shot him right in the leg. It stung a little and his health bar dropped to 90%. Swiftly turning, he fired without much thought and calculation, bombarding the poor bot with dozens of bullets. In the now dark haired man's paintball frenzy, he managed to land a couple hits and the opponent was down to 70%.

Deciding that remaining in the heat of the battlefield was not so bright an idea, he beckoned for his team to follow him into the trees so they could attack from the perimeter. Positioning behind a tree, Aiden and Lizbeth were secured behind their own trunks as well and firing away with increased precision. Mimicking the soldiers lead, he pointed the gun at his target and they all aimed at one robot until their was only three remaining. Meanwhile, his radar alerted him and he could see the pink and orange teams circling the hot zone as well. The others saw this as well, and they silently agreed to finish off at least one more robot before moving out.

Turning to scurry behind Aiden's tree a robot approached from his side and fired a shot at his chest, Lesley shrieked and ran faster, aimlessly firing behind him as he did so. You might call it beginners luck, but one of his ten shots actually hit the thing in the head and with the help of Lizbeth and Aiden, using him as bait, they were able to knock down their second bot. "Holy that was close!" He gasped as he glanced at his life bar which blinked an alarming 80%. "Crud, looks like I'll be dying first." Lesley scratched his head with an apologetic smile as they diffused for a different location. The two remaining bots were going to be finished off by the other teams and they could already hear that happening as they distanced themselves for safety.

They hadn't gotten very far until they hit a swamp like section of the arena. Lesley shuddered as he heard a squelch underneath his boots. Right as they entered, a few blue dots blinked on his mini map along with a couple orange ones as well. Ducking under a log, he could hear the shots being fired a distance away which then was followed by silence and a voice.

Est: “They should be around here somewhere- blast it!”

Holding in his breath, Lesley knew it was Est and Jasper, Inadi, and Breeze must be with him too. Remembering the promise with Inadi, a devious grin curled upon his face as he rounded the log, a sly glint evident in his eyes. Spotting the group headed their way, the blue points had vanished from his radar, but they had advantage since the others still didn't have knowledge of red team's presence. Raising his eyebrows at Leila, Aiden, and Lizbeth, he nodded and mounted his gun onto the log, trying to keep it on Inadi. Flicking the safety, he was ready to fire until he felt a wet glob of sludge seep into his boots which made him yelp, twitch, and misfire on Jasper instead of Inadi.

Shoutcaster Jake said “Looks like I’m out of the race, folks! Gosh what an opportunity this is. We shall provide you with exclusive interviews with the fallen… or shall we say the free falling. It’s a long way down!"

“Give up old man!”

“NEVER!”

Both Nympha and Ellie continued racing at breakneck speed as they home in on the key hovering a few feet ahead. All other competitors have disappeared. Some unfortunate enough to be entangled in their on-going battle have been pretty much eliminated. Well some. The others in the area evacuated as soon as they can. The audience grumbled slightly at having missed the actual fight as the cameras panned in on the wreckage left behind. Drying wads of paper and glue covered several windows, multicolored balloons were flying everywhere and millions of brightly colored feathers drifted ominously from a window above.

Announcer Goomba said “Glue guns, paper bombs, balloon traps and feather whirlwinds in a cans – nothing ever stops these two heated rivals. Nothing! Celery God help those caught in warzone. They even knocked Shoutcaster Jake out of the race. Even I didn’t know that was possible. And… the key goes to…”

The two racers reached out for box containing the key. Their fingers brushed against the surface of the transparent box at the same time, and it began shimmering. They refused to let go. Nympha and Ellie grabbed the glowing cube with their other hand as well. They pulled the box back and forth in a deadlock tug-o-war when a burst of blinding white light engulfed the entire area.

Announcer Goomba said “Rabbits, mallards, peaches and all that go on a biscuit! What was that?”

The faerie scrunched her eyes tightly a couple of times as tears began leaking from all corners. She groaned. Slowly she opened her eyes a little, but still couldn’t see much except greyish outlines here and there. She blinked more. The outlines sharpened and color returned though millions of white dots swam around stubbornly. Nympha attempted to wrestle her hands away. They seemed to be stuck. She squeezed her eyes close one more time, and then stared ahead. She gasped.

Censored!

Both her hands were curled round Ellie’s two clasped ones. Binding their hands in place was a thick chain with combination padlock. The stupid lock was placed at such an angle that a third person was needed to undo the [censored] thing. She searched for the key only to notice it dangling from one of the links closest to the padlock. She staggered a little as her arms were yanked forward. The faerie retaliated by attempting to pull her hands closer to herself.

“Don’t you silly donut! I will fall off my board.”

“Pffft!”

Announcer Goomba said “First they were bitter enemies, now they are team mates. I can’t wait to see what these two will come up with next!”

“We'll hafta fly sideways, but at least we'll keep our key,” Ellie said gruffly.



“Where would I hide if I was a key?”

Ran smiled a little as his mind came with several answers at once. The more ridiculous the answer the more likely it would happen. This place was certainly more whacky than the average episode of the Simpsons. Heck they even used stars for money like Mario. What next? An avatar like turtle island? Or or Judge Totoro? But at least they were still pretty straight forward with their clues - "check out our key location". The word key was had bolded fonts and it was heavily underlined. How kid friendly (in a creepy sort of way; almost like pokemon). Putting his suspicions aside, Ran memorized the directions on the poster, as he finished his juice. He can't help wondering what the other posters said. Six others had been ripped clean off the wall.

“Thanks for everything!”

He waved cheerily to the mechanic and the rest of the crew as he launched himself into the air. Words cannot describe the experience. It was like riding an elevator or using a set of automated rollerblades minus the usual balancing act. The whole thing was almost like dancing! Niran pirouetted round and round and round in the air in front of Riley. He grabbed her arm suddenly to stop himself from kneeling over. The entire place won't stop spinning! This was worst than riding those teacups in a fun park.

"This will be fun, won't it, Toby?"

Hearing no response, he looked up, and noticed one person was conspiciously missing. He swivelled his head round from side to side till he spotted the boy. The rascal had his back to them, and he was accelerating! Wait, where was Toby going? He can't leave. Not yet! Not when they were about to find a key.

[i]Toby was leaving them behind. Again! Why? Noooo...

Toby said "Uh, sorry to go all lone wolf on you guys, but i've got a score to settle with some other competitors. I'll catch you guys later, give Ace my regards!"

“Toby! Wait. TOBEEEEEEEEEEEE.”

He watched as the chirpy teen disappear out of sight. Somehow he wished the bubbly boy could waited awhile longer. The kiddo would certainly love where they were headed next. Maybe they could change his mind if they bumped into him again? Maybe. The happiest people are usually the most bull-headed (especially in manga), and Toby was no exception. It made Toby, well Toby, the sugar coated bubbly bundle of joy. Ran sighed.

“Guess Toby will miss out the fun. So let’s go find the key?”

He jetted off to the right and motioned for Riley to follow him. The once clunky duo flew smoothly with fewer mishaps towards their destination, and hopefully the key. A huge sign board hovered over the next street they passed – Cog City’s Largest Bouncy Castle. The older human grinned as he turned to look at his partner. Several competitors were heading there too.

“I was right! There’s a key inside the bouncy castle!”

The bouncy castle was housed in a towering roofless dome. There were ladders and cloud-like platforms here and there. Some platforms were moving while others remained stationary. None of the platforms were accessible without a hoverboard. Ran watched in awe as the other competitors zipped the nearest platform only to use it to bounce towards another platform. Basing on the number of failed jumps he witnessed, the man realized that not all every cloud acted like a trampoline. Some even disappeared after people landed on them. He fell backwards as something whizzed pass his face. He gaped as he saw the feathery object hovering mockingly out of reach. The key… it had wings!

“Harry Potter rip off!” He grumbled.

Inadi followed Est and Breeze through the fields of battle that he and Jasper had been thrown into When he heard that the paintball tournament was going to happen he thought it would be something similar to ones back home. Just a few small plastic walls here and there with different spots to get advantages on your opponent. But it seemed that the City of Cogs took their paintball pretty seriously when Inadi saw the massive stadium for the event.

The whole thing reminded him of something out of a dystopian story he read for some inspiration for his own book he was trying to finish before he went on the train. There was so much in here that it almost had the feeling that it was a completely separate habitat from the rest of the city. It was covered in tree lines and it honestly felt like some kind of a rainforest with how thick the air was around them. Inadi had to cover his mouth in shock as his jaw was left hanging from the place around him. What in the world did he get himself into?

Breeze brought him back to the moment as she urged both he and Jasper to continue one their way into the crowded forest. Inadi gave a nervous nod as he began walking through the landscape, trying to watch his footing all the way, his mind wondering about the off chance that there was a trap or some kind of surprise waiting for them in their way. Inadi knew that a lot of these stadiums more than likely held some kind of danger for them all. Who knew what that could be with how strange this place was with their nanomachines and robot dogs. The only thing Inadi felt confident about was the idea that it was going to be some kind of machine.

Sure enough as he thought that he saw a robot walking around and realized that Breeze had gone after them. Inadi quickly followed suit and began shooting at the enemy as well. The gun had some kick to it and it was clear that it was going to take some getting used to as he saw his shots sail on him a few times as he tried to recollect his grip on the handle of his gun. Inadi continued firing up until he saw Breeze and Est begin reloading. Looking up at the target he noticed that it had fallen about three or four shots ago and he had been firing blind after the first few shots. Letting out a sigh he began reloading his gun as Est began telling them he had found Team Orange on his radar.

When Est mentioned the swamp it made Inadi shake his head in revelation. Again, this place seemed like a giant habitat for some reason. Why would they put so much trouble into making this stadium so unbelievably complicated. Either this city had a lot of free time on their hands or they were using this for very extensive military training. It made the frame faced boy shutter at the thought of how strong this city's military was in the grand scheme of things.

Inadi could tell where the swamp was by the disgusting smell that entered his mouth that made him gag to himself. “Good gracious! What in the world is that smell? I know this is a swamp but this just seems a bit too much. Smells like thirty year old cheese on a hot plate.” Inadi complained as he quickly threw the collar of his shirt over his nose to try and block out at least some of the scent. It was not going to be easy to focus on the task of hunting down the other group in this thing. Plus with the water beneath them it would be difficult to track anything in this place.

When Est seemed to lose the ability to track the enemy, his frustration went to Inadi as well. Again, he hated the place they were in right now and it was not going to get easier to find their target in here. If they were nearby they could already be surrounding them as it was. He gave a quick look to Breeze and waved at her. “Breeze, we should probably keep it a little closer in here. This place is way too perfect for an ambush. We need to make sure we can keep an ear out for movement, since sight and smell is going to be impossible in here.” Inadi said with his voice still muffled behind his shirt collar. The least he could do was try and provide some kind of assistance in the planning aspect. He had been quiet for so long it was about time he started showing his leadership qualities.

Afterwards he looked to Jasper with a nervous look in his eyes as he tried to wave away the smell from his nose. His look started softening a bit as he let out a small chuckle. “Definitely have to say that this place smells almost as bad as that place that had the witch huh?” He joked with her as he let out a cough from the air. As he did a loud sound similar to a paintball gun went off and he saw as Jasper was shot around the chest. Inadi's eyes went wide as he turned to where the shot came from and began blindly firing towards the spot. He didn't care if he hit anything, he just wanted to make sure that whoever did that knew their mistake.

After letting out almost half around in that spot he quickly turned and grabbed Jasper's hand and began running with her. The splashing of the puddles beneath his feet made it clear where they were going, but he was able to find a nearby log that seemed just perfect for some blind fire and cover as well. He leaped over and helped Jasper as well as they both got behind the log. Shooting his head out he looked to where he last saw Est and Breeze and tried calling them over, all while laying down some supressing fire towards the enemy. He still didn't know who shot at them but at this point he didn't really care. He was in the middle of it now, and the only way out was to win this game. Though at the moment it really didn't feel like a game at all.

“Yepper?”

Leila wasn’t exactly sure what to make out of the response. She would’ve assumed that to be a ‘yes’ if not for the prominent signature of cheer in his voice, which would require some explanation if the appearance of the robots wasn’t a good thing. It might be that the people of Nowhere had different guidelines towards curt positive/negative responses than she was accustomed to on earth.

“Does that mean ‘yes’ or...”

She decided to ask and make sure because she didn’t want to accidentally fire at - and then she had to duck because because the robot Aiden nonchalantly fired at just happened to be nearly right behind her.

Okay, that was a yes alright.

She quickly stepped aside to place herself temporarily out of danger before bringing up her weapon, as well as taking some time to be confused about Aiden’s attitude towards the entire scenario.

[/b]"BUT LIZZIE, things are just about to get fun!"[/b]

“I - I fail to see how this is supposed to be fun?”

Leila said as she fired at one of the approaching robots. She wasn’t that familiar with guns except from seeing other people use them, and her own gestures were mostly somewhat clumsy attempts to map to firearms a very different kind of ranged weapon that was the bow that she used back in their days at Sol. The spherical paintball was much less aerodynamically ideal than the arrow and hastily made estimates resulted in her first shot being way off, joints hurting as the shock from the recoil propagated up her right arm.

The subsequent trajectories were adjusted and she managed to land two shots on one of the robots, dropping its healthbar significantly but not enough to put it down. That was all she managed to do before she was distracted by the robot approaching Aiden, who Leila tried to warn but not before he took a shot and fell back. Leila took aim too much slower than the robots did, and soon she had to find cover as well, tumbling back with her virtual health down for a fifth and two marks of paint across her armour.

Commands were shouted, but things were hard to keep track of when there’s also gunfire to worry about. The team soon started pulling back as the group of robots as well as the incoming teams seemed too much to deal with at once, the two soldiers firing in the opposite direction as they retreated.

Both hands, both hands...oh nevermind. Leila followed, noting to herself to adjust the way she used the weapon, only to find it a bit too hard. She shifted the gun to her left hand and made an effort to interrupt one of the robots advancing a bit too fast. Aiming at silhouettes through the fog of a smoke grenade was harder and tt resulted in two splatters on a robot’s body (which then dropped powerless) , another two less usefully on the trunks of nearby trees; and one of a non-red colour on her arm.

Leila skidded to a stop behind a larger tree that seemed like decent protection (at least for a while), and quickly looked around the reassess the situation. Above the distant treetops were colour-coded flares which, as much as she could infer, probably pointed out their location - which probably wasn’t a good thing no matter who fired them. The whole area was filled with activity and the noise was overwhelming - she remembered not so long ago imagining how finding opposing teams would be hard in a place as large as this. Leila unloaded the empty magazine and in the meantime checked on the places the paintball shots landed on her chest (admittedly, this should have been fatal to a reasonable degree). She also noted how it didn’t hurt - quite a curious fact, she didn’t even seem to feel the impulse from the shots. The seventy-five percent blinked stably on the display.

Looking to the side, she could find the other members of her team - it took her longer to identify Lesley, his hair now a shade of black and mostly tucked into the helmet made it harder to tell him apart.

The scene sudden fell considerably more quiet, triggered by the turning off of the early-game tracking devices - a reason unbeknownst to her at the moment. Leila swallowed some questions she was about to ask so her voice didn’t give them away. She looked at Lesley and he wriggled his eyebrows in an expression that was read as near mischievous before the man took aim across the swamp at a number of nearby players.

Leila herself would’ve preferred to stay silent and hopefully wait things out, and was unsure whether it was a good idea to go on offense under these circumstances - but before she could do anything Lesley let out something that she interpreted as some kind of absurd battle cry before firing at one of the members of an opposing team, hitting her square in the chest.

A sudden rise in frequency of gunshots and the scene was a storm of paintball pellets all over again. Leila grunted, tucking herself closer behind the tree as splinters flew from the bark that took the hits for her.

Shoot everything that moves? That was their game plan? Jasper guessed that Est was more of an offensive player than anything else. That personality trait definitely marked them opposites. If the leading was up to her, she'd get to higher ground and await for passersbys instead of hunting them down, but she guessed that's not how the game went here. Despite her preference to hide and wait instead of tracking down the others, Breeze and Est continued towards the commotion and gun fire not too far from where they were venturing and soon enough, they met with a couple of bots. Her heart almost leaped out from her chest as she pointed her gun, but then blanked out and ducked behind a tree trunk instead. Luckily, she had soldiers and Inadi on her her side for they finished the mechanical enemies without needing her help.

Peeking out from her concealed hiding spot, she emerged from the foliage and joined her group as they reloaded their guns, inspecting the healthless droids laying on the ground with broken head domes. Tightening her grip on the gun, Est announced that the Orange Team was nearby and they were to go towards the swamp in order to cross paths. Strangely enough, the swamp did look real, a scene one would find out in actual nature; outside, not inside an arena. She was surprised at the detail they put in. Unfortunately, the smell of a murky swamp was there hovering over the area too. Inadi didn't appear to be taking the aroma too well either, using his shirt in a poor attempt at blocking off the wretched stench. More than once, she almost ended up slipping on a moist stepping stone or a marshy patch and the haunting quiet, apart from the nature noises, was drifting more towards a dangerous kind of quiet.

Inadi joked about being reminded of the smell of dead corpses and she wrinkled her nose with a grin and a nod. Eventually, a strong sense of vulnerability began to eat away at her confidence and before she could nudge Inadi to tell him about how she was feeling, a shot was fired from who knows where. A sharp sting on the chest alerted Jasper that she had just taken a hit and a pretty harmful one at that, bringing her health bar down to 90%. Inadi went frantic and fired towards the direction of the paintball while Est and Breeze took a stance that looked ready for anyone that was out there. They were at a disadvantage she knew that and the fact was making her want to surrender. Feeling a hand wrap around her own, she was then pulled along with Inadi towards a log that would provide for much safer cover and they called Est and Breeze to duck somewhere protected as well.

Scanning the radar displayed on the lower left side of her view, she saw a single red coordinate blinking close to them. Whoever that was must've shot them. Inadi's coordinate was blinking too and she grinded her teeth as she willed it to fade away. It was giving away their current position, but at least they knew that the enemy was in close proximity. Peeping from behind the log, she eyed Est and Breeze for some sort of signal on what to do next. Suddenly, a fire was shot at her peeking head — landing headshot. That was one of the most fatal targets and her health further decreased down to a 75%. She crouched back down and wiped some paint from her helmet that was obscuring her vision. Jasper's brain had been shaken a little by the impact of the shot, but over all she was alright.

The paintball had come from Aiden who was snickering gleefully at his deadly precision. "Headshot!" he whispered in a sing songish tune whilst he jeered with light punches to no one in particular.

Lizbeth rolled her eyes at the soldier and couldn't believe how brutally he had shot the poor human. "Take it easy. You probably gave her a second heart attack apart from Lesley's." Turning to Lesley and Leila, she beckoned for the four of them to huddle up. "Alright, here's the game plan. Aiden and I will take on Est and Breeze while you two do what you can to take out the couple." Lizbeth made eye contact with the two off them, seeking out any confusion in their expressions, but the two seemed to understand. "Ok, you know what to do," She made a gesture at Aiden and the pair creeped to a different section.

Aiden had a playful smile on as he spotted Breeze. "Aye Lizzie, you deal with the girl. It'd be unfair for her- OI!" He wasn't able to finish his sentence since Lizbeth had reached over and knocked him on the helmet.

"Whatever you say 'captain' but don't bring gender into your reasoning. You know very well I can beat you in a one on one," She challenged him.

The male soldier stuck his tongue out at her as he departed in search of Est.

Meanwhile, Lizbeth had propped up her gun and peeking into the scope. Breathing in lightly, she exhaled with a sigh and fired at Breeze's leg, a splatter of red washing over the Nobody's boot. Lizbeth tensed up and fired two more for good measure before sprinting for a different location.

Paintball field- Blue Team (a.k.a Bestest Team Ever)

“Breeze, we should probably keep it a little closer in here. This place is way too perfect for an ambush. We need to make sure we can keep an ear out for movement, since sight and smell is going to be impossible in here.”

"Heehee, trying to strategize already? Very nice." The merchant nodded in approval. "It's not a bad plan, but-"

Breeze whipped towards the sound the yelp had came from, but before she could fire a shot an explosion of paint burst on Jasper's visor and Inadi had shot a wild barrage of bullets in the direction that the shot had come from. She heard a faint splat, but whether that was because lover-boy's shots hit a target or a errant tree she couldn't tell. The bright red splash of color on the poor girl's visor, however, had a large grin spread on her face.

"Looks like Denny and Lizzie got us first this time, eh?"

Jasper and Inadi had ducked behind a fallen log and called for the her and Est to join them. While it might have been more tactically sound, where was the fun in that? Her mind was set when a splash of red paint spattered across her boot, taking off a thankfully low 5% off of her health.

"Oooh, that's done it." The wicked grin on her face only grew when two more shots came her way, her managing to step out of the way just in time. She raised her own gun in retaliation, firing off a few shots blindly towards the direction of where the red team was. "Feels like they're challenging us, doesn't it?"

Her tone was almost conversational as she ducked behind a standing log. She shot a glance towards Est, knowing that the two soldiers on the other team were trying to split them up for one-on-one battles. Perhaps it was reckless, but this was a game and the point of a game was to have fun, right? And win, and have the opportunity to gloat about winning afterwards of course.

It wasn't like they haven't done this before with Denny and Lizzie anyways.

"I'm going after Lizliz! Any protests? No? Ok bye!"

She darted off, doing a dive roll behind a boulder and slinking after Lizzie under the cover of a few fallen trees. The soldier was fast, and soon the dead brush and mucky ground gave away to leafy trees and underbrush. She hid behind a bush, listening for signs of where the soldier could be and tracks of trampled vegetation.

Collab Between Ryver and Fox

It was the last key, and it was so high up. Really, there had to be a dozen other competitors zipping towards it, and to top it all off, Toby had left them again. Dagnabbit! She and Ran would need all the help they could get. "Ran, we're going up, this is our last chance!" Riley doubted they'd be able to steal the key if a more experienced competitor got to it first.

"I think we'll have to... oh... you got it." Ran watched as his partner zipped off. The man kicked the back of his heels and headed for the nearest platform. The cloud poofed right underneath him, and Niran plunged through several clouds. Just as he thought he was about to hit the ground, he landed on a particularly bouncy cloud and was catapulted out of the dome.

Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration and soon she was propelled up, the girl wobbled for a moment or two then steadied herself. The key wasn't so far away, but a few others were getting quite close. "It's just skating," she said to no one in particular. "Just skating, but a 100 feet above ground...yeah." Her jet shoes propelled her towards the key at what felt like mach speed, and she yelled the whole way, distracting the riders who were battling for the silver key. Bam! She crashed into a young man in a suit, throwing him off his board and onto the safety net. And then she kept flying and crashed into the key, arms flailing and hair obscuring her vision.

"What the cellery? The Key!" The nobody scowled then turned to his fellow competitors. "Right from under our noses too!"

"What key?" Riley looked down to see the key clinging to her coat and she grabbed it between both hands and stared. Well, wasn't this a lovely surprise. The girl grinned and rather impulsively, she raised the coveted key above her head. "Ran—whoa, Ran! I got the key!"

Every competitor within shouting distance turned to look at her and their eyes landed on the key. Soon, they were zipping towards her. Riley looked confused for a few moments, but then she realized what was happening—she crashed into one of the platforms.

"Riley! Watch out!"

Ran felt the air leave his lungs for a second time this race. He immediately wrapped his arms round Riley as both of them plunged downwards. Uh-oh! This felt awfully familiar! He braced himself as the both of them hit the last cloud. They sank into and stayed there. He held his breath as he watched the other competitors hover overhead in a vulture like fashion. He felt the cloud compress and little more before it sprung back. The force of the launch sent them flying straight at several off those vultures. several of them were knocked off their boards and into the springy clouds.

"Sorry!" Ran yelled as they flew pass.

The two of them were hurled out of the dome, and passed a camera crew riding on a blimp. Ran smmiled nervously as he waved to the startled crew. That was when he felt himself begining to descend.

"Note to self, not all clouds are soft and, ugh...don't eat anything before a hoverboard race." Riley let out a groan, still partially dazed from tumbling through the air and falling into clouds. She had a hand a clamped around Ran's own, and if not for him, she would have crashed into another rider. "I feel sick." the girl was a little green in the face but as soon as the gang of riders began to surround them, she snapped out and if and frowned. "Hey Ran, we should probably..."

Several Nobodies in hoverboards began speeding towards them.

"RUN! I mean, FLY AND FLY FAST!" Once again the boots did as told and with Ran in tow she was sent tumbling through the air and towards the maze. Was that Toby? "Toby! We have a keyAGHG!" One of the nobodies nearly hit her in the face with a dodge ball and it barely missed her head. "To the maze!" Some of the nobodies had even turned on Namine and Toby. It was the last key and they were getting desperate.

A fog horn sounded! It blared repeatedly several times. All the item roulettes changed into balloons that flew off into the sky. All over the city center competitors groaned as their weapons changed to confetti. The only thing that remained were the shackles round Nympha and Ellie's hands. "I swear the game makers have it in for us!" Nympha yelled angrily as she stuck out her tongue at a nearby camera.

Ellie chuckled wryly. "They do things to please the sponsors. Heck I heard those rich [censored] get to choose the items we get from each roulette."

Goomba said "There goes the signal! The gates to this year's Thunder Dome are now open. Competitors have to team out or get out."

Across the screen several competitors were shown blown away from the gates when they tried to enter without a key. Many were now crowding round tue enterance begging those with keys to let them in.



"Hmm, it looks like the gates have opened." He gave Ace a polite nod, "once again, thank you for the save. It's quite odd, I thought more people would be after us..." Several Nobodies on hoverboards zipped past them, ignoring them completely.

The gentleman arched an eyebrow then noticed a handful of familiar faces. "My, my, it looks like your friends kept them occupied. You humans can be quite troublesome, can't you? I think I'd like to see earth for myself, you're all a rather interesting bunch." Lavi grinned as they slowly made their way towards the gates. Ace's friends were making quite a ruckus and the girl with orange-ish hair was dragging a poor blond boy by the sleeve of his shirt.

"Ran, Toby, we're almost there—hell yeah!" A red light scanned the key in their hands and instead of crashing into the barrier they slipped past it, as if it were air. The trio crashed into the thunder dome, but their pursuers could not get inside.

Lavi laughed at the heap of Nobodies and one even had his face smooshed against the barrier. "Let's fly in while they're distracted. I think Ri's already inside, we best catch up to them." And with that he leaned forward and sailed past the barrier with ease.

As soon as all seven keys had passed, the gates to the thunder dome snapped shut.

Announcer Goomba said Folks, it looks like we're reaching the end! We're are now inside the thunder dome! Mazes, obstacles, and traps, which of our competitors will make it to the end without wiping out! Let me hear a cheer!"

The crowd went absolutely wild.



Somewhere in the crowd Japhet groaned. If this kept up, he was going to go deaf. Still, he was pretty amazed with the humans. To be honest, he was expecting them to fall flat on their faces as soon as the race began, this was an absolute miracle.

He felt communication device by his hip vibrate and he pulled it out to look at the screen.

One message from Sgt. Keyes said Suspicious figures have once again been spotted outside the city walls. All personnel keep your eyes peeled.

Japhet frowned and wondered if was them. They'd need to get back to base soon, he didn't want the humans to fall into any danger...

Before he could protest, Aiden and Lizbeth were gone and a barrage of bullets struck the rock he had positioned himself behind.

He waited for the barrage of paint bullets to cease, then crept towards where Lesley and Leila were standing. "I guess it's up to us to find Jasper and Inadi," he laughed a little but froze when the sound of gunfire echoed across the forest. Judging from where the bullets came, Jasper and Inadi were somewhere closer to the swamp. He couldn't see Est or Breeze, though Harper doubted they were far away.

"Leila, Lesley," he gave them both a salute. "If we circle around them we might be able to get some shots in." He tapped them both on the shoulders and laughed. "Leila's an archer and you're a paint master, so let's go win this game!" He wasn't one for confrontation, but this was all in good fun and after spending who knows how long at the Queen's castle, being out and about felt good. He nodded his head and ducked made his way towards a rotting tree. "Don't stick your head out and be careful for robots."



Unlike the humans who were being all strategic, Aiden was hopping from rock to rock, chirping gleefully like some ecstatic rooster. "Est! Hey, hey, Est? Are you here? No?" He circled around a tree and peered at some of the bushes. "How about here?"

Silence greeted him and the Nobody puffed out his cheeks in disappointed.

"Lizzie?" No one answered. "Oh c'mon, this is getting boring. We're here to have fun!" He heard the rustling of leaves a devious grin lit up his face. "Est?" There was no answer, so he began tiptoeing towards the bush, grinning like a cheshire cat as he did so.

There was more rustling and soon a squirrel leaped out of the bush, attaching itself to the Nobody's visor.

Aiden shrieked like a banshee and all the birds in the vicinity flew off.



That...idiot? Cheese for brains? She couldn't even come up with the appropriate word to describe her partner.

She wondered what had happened, had Est and Breeze found him or had he fallen into one of the traps set by the other players? Lizbeth let out a sigh, whatever he was doing, he had better shut his mouth. If he kept this up, all the enemies in the area would be alerted.

She shook her head right and left then made her way back towards the edge of the forest. Neither Aiden nor the humans were there and it was absolutely empty. She wondered where they had ran off to and had prepared to turn around, but gray smoke caught her eyes.

And then the trees began to shake and the beeper on her shoulder began flashing red. Something was coming...

Meanwhile, Lesley, Leila, and Harper had finally managed to locate the couple. The duo were hiding behind a log and now would be their chance to strike. Harper took a step towards Inadi and Jasper but as he did so, the trees behind the duo began to bend and heavy footsteps resounded throughout the arena. "OH..." he gasped and clamped both hands over his mouth. If Jasper and Inadi hadn't noticed him yet, then there was no way they wouldn't notice that.

"Source of noise, detected!" Apparently, one of the robots had heard Aiden's screaming, but instead of finding the soldiers he had run into the humans. The giant creature had to be at least nine feet tall and it had two paint cannons where its arms should have been.


Harper's eyes went wide and he backed up into Lesley, apologizing when he stepped on his friend's toes. "J-J-Jasper...Inadi," he gestured around awkwardly with his hands, his mouth hanging agape. "I think you should walk away slowly..."

A burst of steam shot out of the creature's back and two bright red laser dots landed on Inadi's and Jasper's visors. Three more dots shot out of the robot's own visor, positioning themselves over Lesley's, Leila's, and Harper's chests. "Or run, we can all just run!"

The creature opened fire and he tackled both Lesley and Leila to the ground. "Guys, guys, guys! The forest," he scrambled to his feet and motioned wildly for Inadi and Jasper to join them. "Let's go—oh my God." The robot fired another shot, snapping a tree in half.

Harper's eyes grew the size of saucers, and soon each of the humans had a bright red laser positioned between their eyes.

Lesley cringed at his misfire which was immediately followed by a violent barrage of bullets his way. Swiftly ducking back down behind the shield of the log, he felt a bit guilty for shooting Jasper, but hey, she was still an enemy. Someone had to take her out eventually. Aiden seemed to be cheering about getting a head-shot on someone right after him. At first he wondered who it may have been, but when Lizbeth mentioned that it was the same player he hit, Lesley immediately felt pretty bad for Jasper. The female soldier beckoned for them to huddle up into a scheming formation as she laid out individual duties.

Lizbeth: "Alright, here's the game plan. Aiden and I will take on Est and Breeze while you two do what you can to take out the couple."

Rubbing his hands together in excitement, he nodded.

Harper: "Leila, Lesley," he gave them both a salute. "If we circle around them we might be able to get some shots in." He tapped them both on the shoulders and laughed. "Leila's an archer and you're a paint master, so let's go win this game!"

Lesley's face brightened with eagerness as they approached Jasper's and Inadi's hiding spot. As they were going to take positions to gain advantage on the two that were already outnumbered, an ear shattering scream rung from behind them. Meanwhile, the forest ground was beginning to tremble and shake beneath his feet. A giant robot emerged from a browd of trees and Harper jumped Leila and him to the ground, yelling for them to head towards the thicket. Grabbing Leila and Harper, he tugged them along as they raced for protection, Jasper and Inadi were lagging behind a bit, but he hoped they'd be wiped out by the robot. It'd would be a huge help for them. The thought was rather selfish but in the end, this was still a paintball match and the more people eliminated from the other the better.

Yanking Leila onto his back, the girl just wasn't running fast enough and they narrowly missed some shots from the robot. "Shoot while I run Leila!" He commanded so they'd at least be able to decrease its health. Lesley opted to run in unpredictable movements instead of a straight line so that the droid would have much more trouble landing a hit.

Aiden turned swiftly to see the gigantor bot emerge from the tangle of leaves and he chuckled in delight. "Now this is a challenge!" Loading up his gun, he chased after the thing, using the humans as distractions, he shot the robot's butt multiple times, landing a few headshots before it finally slowed down enough to realize that the shots were coming from his backside. "Ok Leila, keep shooting it from that side, you too Harper! We can double team im'!" The continuous shots from both sides confused the enemy bot.

Lizbeth on the other hand, was taking care of Breeze and Est. Taking cover in some bushes, she turned to see Breeze crouching just a few steps beside her. Gulping she quickly turned and fired before jumping up, rolling, and making a mad dash for coverage in a different section.

"Well if I didn't save you, they'd definitely come after me as well. In fact, I'm sure they'd come after me. I get the feeling they don't like us humans all that much." Ace laughed and followed him through the barrier.

She looked back as all the disappointed faces flew back to the stands in defeat. "Aw, too bad. They tried. I'm pretty shocked I even made it this far." The redhead laughed. "I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing."



Lavi gave a look of confusion as they soared through the skies. "What do you mean??" For the entire race, she had manage to survive with little help from him. She had to know what she was doing! No beginner was ever this good- or this casual when it was their first time hoverboarding. Even her friends were panicking and causing dismay!

Ace drifted in a zigzag motion on purpose as she spoke. "I mean, I'm sort of winging it right now. Go with the flow and hope for the best." She grinned and continued their flight.

That girl was truly a wonder. Lavi looked ahead and couldn't help but smirk a little. With the shortened amount of competitors, the two were catching up close to the front. If he wasn't mistaken, Ri want too far ahead. "Even though you say you've basically quit, it's now a straight shot to our destination. I think we should make it count. For the fans."

"Yeeeaaah, there's no turning back now. Might as well see through it till the end." She shrugged, stretching her hands over her head. "Man this helmet is squishing my head..." She tapped it and then took it off her head. The wind instantly swept her hair back causing her to laugh. "This is awesome!" Lavi looked a little concerned, but decided to let her be. Ace was doing fine so far, no reason to bother her now. Things were going to easy though... This was the final stretch and the racers were practically going straight through. Something wasn't right- "Lavi! Watch out!"

"Hm- Oh!" Lavi dived downward as a large boomerang flew towards him. "That was close." He was careful to dodge it as it made a U-turn towards him again. "Thank you Ace. I might have been knocked out of the competition."

Ace saluted. "Wouldn't want a veteran getting knocked out by a cheap shot would we?" They nodded and sped forward. The crowd continued to cheer, and when the camera zoomed in on her she waved to the fans. Ace was still holding on to the helmet as they sped through, only to look back. "Another one! Heads up!" As she warned Lavi another, the obstacles got a little more complex and harder to notice. Darts were being shot at them. It did nothing to the person, but one hit to the board and it would be sent spiraling out of control. Ace and Lavi were dodging this obstacle at the time. "This. This is getting-" The slight moment she broke concentration, her board was hit. "No! This isn't how I wanted to end..."

Lavi prepared to go to her aid, but she stopped him. "No! Win the race! Beat Ri! I'll be fine!" She startled to spiral downward. "Man... I liked this board..." They weren't in the city anymore and the net was- well Ace wasn't sure if the net was still there, but she spotted a tree and that was good enough for her. Ace braced herself for the crash landing. "Gyah- oof!" There was a dramatic gasp from the crowd as her board fell from the tree, but she didn't. But, a small floating camera floated through the branches to see Ace draped over one of them like a blanket. She put a thumbs up and giggled.

Announcer said "She's alright folks! Out of the race, but she's alright! A mere rookie and she made it this far! What an amazing race! She's put up a good fight! Now let's see how Lavi handles his loss of a partner!"

"Well, that was fun while it lasted..."

After clearing her helmet from the paint splatter that was obstructing her vision, she felt a low rumble begin to vibrate the earth below her. Looking at Inadi with alarm eminent in her gaze. Attention flicking towards a curtain of parting trees, a tall robot more dangerous looking the the ones they had encountered earlier stepped into view. Hand latching onto Inadi's, she struggled to her feet quickly before breaking into a sprint right behind Lesley, Leila, and Harper. Grabbing for her pistol since she had accidentally put down her larger one and mistakenly left it behind the log, she fired some blind shots at the robot as she sped up, feeling it's heavy clodding steps stomping close behind.

Catching up to the others she was a bit out of breath, but was glad that the monstrous bot had turned its wrath towards Aiden. "Let's call it truce for now ok? We can shoot each other after we take down that thing and the other teams." Jasper held out her pinky towards Harper with an earnest smile. Once he took it in acceptance, they turned towards the robot and shot simultaneously, their bullets decreasing its health bar rapidly although it was able to land a couple of shots on her and a few of the others. By the end of the paintball war, she was down to a mere 50% health.

Aiden was luckier with 70% still clinking on his screen. He had taken a few hits, but was fine for the most part. Joining up with his team, he was ready to turn on Inadi and Jasper, but he was quickly informed of the temporary truce. "Aw man. I really wanted to eliminate them! Well I guess obliterating Est will have to wait," He murmured with a childish pout as he crossed his arms.

Lizbeth, Est, and Breeze had joined in at some point in the battle to take on the giant droid as well. Lizbeth still only had 5% docked from her health leaving her with 80%. Pulling her cartidge container back, she popped in a couple more bullets and jammed the holder back into place. "Phew, that was a close one."

"Well looky here. The other teams must've heard the commotion!" Aiden cheered as he eyed some coordinate points coming their way. Motioning for them to hide among the trees, they awaited for the opposing teams to appear. At the first sign of pink, Aiden fired mutiple bullets at a pink member with a gleeful chuckle,. "Aha! Gotcha!"

The pink victim turned swiftly and climbed up a tree, spotting him.

Aiden snorted. "You can't hide from me silly." Positioning himself beneath the tree, he aimed his scope and landed the crosshairs on the opponents helmet. With a few fatal shots he was able to eliminate one of the team members and Lizbeth was able to do the same.

Jasper had her own pistol out and helping out with another pink member. The soldier was a rookie as well and had just as lousy a shot as Jasper's. By the time she was able to finally get the hang of shooting the paint ball pistol, she was down to a mere 30%, but was able to take out another pink member only leaving one of the pink guys behind. She hoped Inadi could take him.

After clearing her helmet from the paint splatter that was obstructing her vision, she felt a low rumble begin to vibrate the earth below her. Looking at Inadi with alarm eminent in her gaze. Attention flicking towards a curtain of parting trees, a tall robot more dangerous looking the the ones they had encountered earlier stepped into view. Hand latching onto Inadi's, she struggled to her feet quickly before breaking into a sprint right behind Lesley, Leila, and Harper. Grabbing for her pistol since she had accidentally put down her larger one and mistakenly left it behind the log, she fired some blind shots at the robot as she sped up, feeling it's heavy clodding steps stomping close behind.

Catching up to the others she was a bit out of breath, but was glad that the monstrous bot had turned its wrath towards Aiden. "Let's call it truce for now ok? We can shoot each other after we take down that thing and the other teams." Jasper held out her pinky towards Harper with an earnest smile. Once he took it in acceptance, they turned towards the robot and shot simultaneously, their bullets decreasing its health bar rapidly although it was able to land a couple of shots on her and a few of the others. By the end of the paintball war, she was down to a mere 50% health.

Aiden was luckier with 70% still clinking on his screen. He had taken a few hits, but was fine for the most part. Joining up with his team, he was ready to turn on Inadi and Jasper, but he was quickly informed of the temporary truce. "Aw man. I really wanted to eliminate them! Well I guess obliterating Est will have to wait," He murmured with a childish pout as he crossed his arms.

Lizbeth, Est, and Breeze had joined in at some point in the battle to take on the giant droid as well. Lizbeth still only had 5% docked from her health leaving her with 80%. Pulling her cartidge container back, she popped in a couple more bullets and jammed the holder back into place. "Phew, that was a close one."

"Well looky here. The other teams must've heard the commotion!" Aiden cheered as he eyed some coordinate points coming their way. Motioning for them to hide among the trees, they awaited for the opposing teams to appear. At the first sign of pink, Aiden fired mutiple bullets at a pink member with a gleeful chuckle,. "Aha! Gotcha!"

The pink victim turned swiftly and climbed up a tree, spotting him.

Aiden snorted. "You can't hide from me silly." Positioning himself beneath the tree, he aimed his scope and landed the crosshairs on the opponents helmet. With a few fatal shots he was able to eliminate one of the team members and Lizbeth was able to do the same.

Jasper had her own pistol out and helping out with another pink member. The soldier was a rookie as well and had just as lousy a shot as Jasper's. By the time she was able to finally get the hang of shooting the paint ball pistol, she was down to a mere 30%, but was able to take out another pink member only leaving one of the pink guys behind. She hoped Inadi could take him.