Chapter 14 - Team Battle

They set off into the forest. Instructor Srap said they had to travel 10 kilometres to the next break, and another 10 kilometres to the camp site. And unlike when Fise and Andrew were getting to Incip, they couldn't run at all. Seah and Andrew stayed to protect their flanks and sides as Fise and Ann were holding the tents. Fise also kept a sharp eye on the surroundings. He didn't know how skilled Instructor Srap was so he had to assume he was the only one that could stop a fast long range attack like a gun. He also didn't know if Seah could turn metal into plants instead of just plants into metal, and now want the time to discuss their powers. He saw something move and looked at it from the corner of his eye. He didn't want the enemy to know he knew they were there. He focused on them but kept staring forward. If it didn't move any more, or moved in a certain way it was an animal, or his imagination.

It moved.

It wasn't an animal. He saw the human figure it had and its aura. It was a guarded. It seemed to head deeper into the woods and soon disappeared from sight. Nobody else saw it. He and Ann were the ranged fighters, Ann as offense and Fise as defense, and Ann was the most susceptible to damage in the team. He turned his head to look at her and waved his hand bear his leg. She saw it and looked at him. He slowed and she got closer. Fise turned to look forwards and only turned his head a bit, still looking forwards.

"I spotted an enemy, but keep quiet. They were far away, maybe a hundred metres. Its better they don't know we saw them, or that our defenses suddenly increased. When we reach our break, we tell everyone and then we all pretend we don't know, to surprise them. But keep closer to me just in case, you are our best ranged fighter."

Ann seemed to get it and started to look around with only her eyes but kept walking forwards steadily as she was doing before. They were now closer and sped up to keep up with Instructor Srap.

Fise began to think. How many attackers were there? How powerful are they? What were their abilities? These questions Fise didn't have enough evidence to answer with full confidence. The figure seemed to turn away from them to run. This must mean they wanted to get somewhere fast. Maybe to run away? Maybe. Or was it to alert their team? They started to trek up an incline. Fise helped Ann get up quicker by holding and pulling her hand. Even so, the rest were still waiting for a bit. They kept going. They didn't speak at all, in fear of someone hearing them. Before, the sounds of the trees kept his voice hidden but now that they were closer to their break area, there wasn't as much wind. And there were less birds. Fise felt something was up. And so did Instructor Srap, as he seemed to be walking more cautiously.

They reached the clearing designated as their break area and they sat down. Fise and Ann put down the tents. Fise didn't want to sit still remembering the sniper he t

fought on the bridge. They weren't far away from there, he thought. They were going in the wrong direction, a little too westward and not very northward, but they were still maybe 15 kilometre away. Fise didn't know on what he guessed it on apart from the fact he saw some of the places they walked on before. He walked around as if thinking, mostly near Ann. He needed to protect their weakest member, he meant that defense wise, as he was the second weakest. He didn't know who will if Andrew or Seah fought since that seemed more of a tactical fight. 15 minutes passed uneventfully. Fise only heard one bird that whole time. Instructor Srap sat up and told them to move and to get into formation. They moved to do that, Fise and Ann went to pick up the tent bags. Instructor Srap fell over.

A boom echoed around the forest and Fise saw the blood come out of the instructor's head. But he had started counting. '1.'

Ann stood frozen, staring at the instructor, while Andrew was slowly stepping into formation, taking peeks at the Instructor as Seah kept moving, seemingly not affected.

Fise was up to '5' when he walked up to the front of the group, in front of the instructor and Ann now leaning over him. He got to 6 and saw it.

Time stopped.

The bullet was small, but pointy, made for speed not power. He quickly grabbed it, being a meter away from him, and surrounded it in his aura. It didn't keep going. He moved it out of the way, so it'll hit the ground. But he also did an experiment he had planned to do with the gun he had in his backpack. He turned the bullet around. If he could shoot the bullets back at people, then he could he a ranged attacker as well, not just a defender.

Time resumed.

The bullet hit the dirt, but not where Fise thought it would hit. It seemed that he could not shoot the bullet back, but by turning it around he changed its aerodynamics so it went off course. He kept that in mind. He immediately started counting in his head again before turning to Ann.

"Get to cover, and shoot back! I'll defend."

He turned around. He saw that Andrew was in the forest already and that Seah was trying to flank from the other side. Ann ran behind a tree. 6 seconds passed. Fise kept moving, making himself a harder target. If they had the same time between attacks like last time then he needed 4 more seconds before he was completely safe. Another second passed.

Seah's chest coughed up blood. A boom sounded out and Fise turned to look at her. She held her wound, which was near her heart and blood came up her throat. Fise suddenly knew what to do, tightening his fist to hold it. Fise turned back to the forest and ran. He ran straight towards where the attacker was. They didn't change positions. He needed to make himself the target, if he didn't then another one of his friends would get injured. He ran as quick as possible, used to the forest terrain due to 5 days of running through it before. His cooldown was up, and he kept running.

Time stopped.

Fise saw the bullet, it was above him. He jumped and caught it, surrounding it in his aura. He moved it down and in front of a tree.

Time resumed.

Splinters shot out. Fise kept going. He will need to somehow use 4 seconds up, and he was now close enough to become the priority target or not. He pulled his fist back at 5 seconds. At 6 he pushed it forwards. An aura punch zoomed through the air. He finally saw them. They were on a small hill maybe a half a meter higher than the rest of the forest floor, their sniper leaned on a fallen tree. His aura punch clearly scared the sniper, and they fidgeted with their gun a bit longer than necessary, gaining him 2 seconds. Then a shot burned through his left shoulder. But he wasn't slowed. He got within 20 meters and they shot again. The bullet hit only the ground.

They fidgeted with their rifle and brought it to shoot at him again but he was gone. The sniper looked around through her scope, who was a woman, as Fise was close enough to see how they looked like now. He descended onto her. He punched her hard enough to almost through her to the floor. He landed and bent down before springing forwards and sending another punch into the woman's abdomen, making her fold over. He grabbed her head in both hands and brought it onto his oncoming knee. Once, twice, thrice. Her face was bloody, nose broken and eyes watering before Fise kicked her down and then brought his foot onto her head, hearing a crack and her body going limp as she passed out. He grabbed her and put her against a tree, before going to the sniper rifle and snapping it. He saw them in the corner of his eye and turned.

There, on a branch pointing straight at Fise, stood a man. Fise ran towards him. The man bent down and touched the branch under him just behind his foot. Fise was 10 metres away as the branch shot at him with the man still on top. Fise barely had time to dodge before the branch blurred past him. At the end it seemed to have green fire shoot out. Fise then realised there was no man and turned to almost block a kick from the man performed in mid air. It was strong enough to make Fise tumble and roll but he got up quickly enough, looking at the man.

The man ran towards him from the tree he was standing against and delivered an aura punch which Fise answered with one of his own. They collided in midair and stopped eachother. Fise waited for the man to attack first, who delivered a high kick, which Fise dodged and then blocked the man's follow up knee.

Time Stopped.

Fise launched forwards and punched the man in the chest. He hit him again and then one more time before preparing a last one.

Time resumed.

Fise threw his punch forward, but the man fell backwards, using the force of the punches. Fise misses and trips over the man, who then leaned on his arms and springsed himself upwards feet first, kicking Fise in the abdomen hard enough to make him fly through the air. Fise lands and immediately begins to stand up. He looks at the man and sees that he isn't attacking.His eyes widen and he looks behind him. Too late. A branch with the same flames at the back charges into his chest. The man must have made it when he got near the tree. The small twigs at the end stabbed into his skin or snapped off, making the thicker part ram into him with almost no resistance but his aura. It pushes him backwards into the fallen tree. Something in his chest cracked and he felt pain, intensifying more as the branch kept pushing.

The man neared him carefully and when Fise just kept trying to push the branch away, which didn't budge, he put his hand around it and pushed.

"How's this feel, lamp boy?" the man rasped.

Fise felt something stab into his lungs and suddenly felt something rise and then burn the back of his throat as he spat it out, the blood staining the branch. He then pulled. The man looked at his hand and saw a metal wire wrapped around it. He traced it and then quickly raised his hands fast enough for a knife to fly and stab into his forearm instead of the side of his head. Another one flew in and stabbed him again as he tried to dodge.

From the forest emerged Seah, her blazer a darker shade of black from the blood. She looked at the man through the falling leaves. The man jumped away from Fise and into a more open space to dodge. Seah expanded her aura and then shot it outwards. The leaves in the air turned into blades and they all quickly raced to the man. He barely saw them before they hit; 13 of them in total, 5 in the chest, 3 in the legs, 2 in the arms and 3 in the abdomen. Fise moved the branch to the left, making it slide past him, feeling the pain as his ribs moved back and more gurgled than gasped before coughing more blood. He backed away and flanked the man. The man saw this and stepped away from him, then a blade shoots into his ankle making him fall. Fise takes the chance. He charges at him. The man throws an aura punch that Fise dodges easily, which is then followed by 10 aura punches at once. But it didn't concern Fise.

Time stopped.

Fise ducked under the aura punches and arrived in front of the man. He then readies a punch with a lot of aura behind it.

Time resumed.

The punch made the man's chest sound out a loud 'crunch' before Fise sends 2 more that make the man fly towards Seah. She catches him near the tree he shot off the first branch rocket at and slams him into a spike she formed. The man yells out in pain and then coughs as Seah backs away. Fise walks up to her, holding his chest.

"How's your chest?" he asks

She shows him a thumbs up.

"Shallow," she added,"You?"

"I'm fine, pierced my lung tough." he coughed.

"Andrew and Ann are in trouble." Said Seah, her longest sentence yet. Fise narrowed his eyes. He looked at the man.

"Knock him out."

She nodded.

Fise jogged away as Seah turned a leaf into a block of metal. Suddenly the man sounded out a cough or a laugh. The tree cuts in half from where he is, green fire shooting out as he leaned forwards, bringing the tree down on Seah. The branches broke against her and then the tree shot forwards. It went forward with surprising speeds, the man detaching from it and falling to the ground, a giant hole in his back. The tree crashes into the fallen one and they explode into a fine wood powder and splinters, shooting dust out. The man quickly turns to the boy, but he isn't there.

Before he could turn, something hit him in the back and sent him into another tree, shaking it. Before he could get his bearings, knives fall and stab onto him from above. He looked up and Seah comes from behind the tree. She slices the knife on the side of his throat before bringing it into his eye with such force the tree cracked as the long blade exited. The man was dead. Seah let go of the blade and made it turn back. A flower suddenly grew out of the man's eye socket, matching the ones behind the tree he was laying on. Fise looked away trying not to puke. He had seen people die before, but only twice did he see their dead bodies. The first being the spike man and the second the invisible shuriken guy. All the others he couldn't, and didn't, want to see.

He pointed at the woman he knocked out.

"We'll come back for her. Let's go help Andrew and Ann."

Seah nodded.

They looked around ready for an attack as they slowly walked back to where they had their break. When they reached there, Fise looked around. A few trees were broken and Instructor Srap was leaned against a tree. Fise walked up to him and had some hope. He put his fingers on the man's throat, near his artery. There was a pulse. Instructor Srap was alive. Fise stood up and breathed a sigh of relief. He heard the fighting.

"Seah, thanks for saving me." he said, holding his chest.

Seah nodded.

"You saved me too." she replied.

"Guess we're even."

They began walking towards the fighting. Fise tried to get more air in, but the whistle in the hole and then the fear of blood coming up his throat made him not do it. His spine shivered everytime he heard the whistle or felt the blood. He would heal, right? Hopefully. He could barely walk. Why was he so weak? He had been injured before much heavier than this. Then he remembered he actually hadn't. Every single injury he had received wasn't potentially fatal, not even when he got shot by the uzi on the bridge, or the aura barrage as they never hurt something vital. This by all accounts, was the first time he had a hole in his lungs. His aura was weak. Throwing aura punches and moving so much still took up a lot of it. If he continued, he might die. He stopped and kneeled to the ground.

"You go on without me, I'll try to get this rib out my lung." he said to Seah.

She looked at him more before kneeling in front of him to look into his eyes.

"Don't die." she said. He looked back at her.

"Don't die either."

She left.

Ann didn't know what to do. Andrew engaged the attacker, they could make the ground and trees encase around Andrew, but he would just burn out of it. It happened quickly, after Seah had left to help Fise. Andrew was now covered in his armour of black flames, and Ann had to admit it looked cool and terrifying. But it was fading away as Andrew was leaning on the tree, looking at the fading black fire in the distance. That used to be a person.

Ann never saw someone die before and just didn't know what to do. Does she stand here and do nothing, maybe scream or shout? She thought about it. She needed to get Andrew back to Seah and Fise. She walked out from behind the tree and walked up to him. She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned towards her.

"Lets get back to Seah and Fise."

He nodded and his armour faded away. Ann walked in front and heard him come after her. Did Fise get the sniper? Seah said he needed help, does that mean they were strong? He should have defeated them, considering they weren't being sniped at right now. She didn't hear Andrew. She turned and saw him stand there. Blood spurted out of a hole in his chest.

"Not again." He said, then fell to the floor. Ann didn't think. She grabbed him and swung his arm around her shoulder before dragging him behind a tree. Just in time, as a bullet ripped through the dirt only half a metre away. She leaned him on the tree. What could she do? The tree was too thick and the wood not hard enough for her to shoot through it and hit the target. She then saw out of the corner of her eye someone approach. She turned and Seah was there. Her eyes widened.

"The sniper's back!" she shouted but it was too late as Seah jolted backwards from a shot. But no blood came out. From her metallic chest, a small rose fell out. She lunged behind the tree and looked at Ann. She was breathing hard, thinking of what she should do.

"Shoot." said Seah.

"I can't!" responded Ann a little more harshly than she wanted to. The sniper was back. Fise wasn't with Seah. Did Fise... die? No! He didn't, or Seah would have told her, right?

"Seah, how is Fise?"

"Hole in his lung."

That didn't make her feel better.

"I can't shoot. I don't know where the sniper is, or how far away. And then I don't think this tree's bark is hard enough to be accurate with the wood behind it. I'll just miss."

Seah looked at Ann and then stood up. She walked a step around the tree and pointed forwards.

"151 meters." She said. Ann understood. She went in front of Seah and faced in the same direction.

"I dont think I can aim it properly, and I'll have to use less mana. I might not get them on the first try... the bark just isn't strong enough to make it accurate-"

Seah touched the bark and it turned to metal right in front of Ann. She tapped the spot in the middle, right in front of Ann.

"Shoot." she said.

Ann pulled her arm back, holding her hand horizontally. She opened her gate wide, letting the mana flow inside, and threw the punch creation magic crackling around it. The moment her fist impacted the metal, she turned her hand vertically, pushing her index finger out only a bit, just the knuckle, and something started to form on the inside of the tree, the creation magic condensing. She then pushed it all out along with her thumb. The tree exploded.

The creation bullet travelled through the air faster than the rifle's and hit the sniper on the side of the chest. Half her chest was turn and pulverised. The ground tore and the trees before and after her were punched through. A straight line with fallen and broken trees spanned on for 300 metres from Ann. She felt a small prick as she used the max amount of mana she could for a while. She closed her gate to a little under normal size to not strain it more and give it some rest. She fell on her back and held her arms out. The bushes ruffled and she looked to she Fise exit holding his chest, mouth agape.

"Holy f*cking sh*t." he exclaimed.

Ann laughed

"Told you I could also put a hole in someone!"

"You could turn someone into a hole with that!"

Andrew laughed as well, holding his chest. He turned to Fise.

"You know, the second time doesn't feel as bad." he said, pointing to the hole. Fise laughed. Ann stared confused.

"We need to move." said Seah.

They listened and went to get Instructor Srap.

"His heart's still beating. He's alive." said Fise.

"I know, I checked." said Ann.

Seah picked Instructor Srap up and placed him on her back, holding him from. under his knees as his arms went over her shoulders. They picked up the 2 tent bags, Fise holding it more on the left side as to not damage his right ribs. Ann carried the other one again. Andrew checked the surroundings. They checked on the sniper, to see if they were dead and found the corpse already evaporating. The other corpse was already close to gone. They began walking back in the same direction they were heading before their break.

Fise began thinking, his hands still shaking and his body feeling weak. Where these people Rogues or Agents? Considering he had met an Agent sniper before, this one was seemed to not be trained well, and they were also weaker. His left shoulder burned from the time he got shot and he almost switched arms when he realised this pain wasn't as strong as the one in his ribs. From what he heard, Andrew took care of the enemy quickly, their ability was to encase things. The man had the ability to make things act like rockets by separating a part of them. The sniper's he had no clue. It must have been one to help with sniping, considering he snapped the barrel of the sniper before yet they could still aim it pretty well, which impressed him and terrified him. But what impressed him and scared him more was Seah's ability. Ann told him on the way how she turned the bullet into a rose as it hit her, making it useless. Mix that with the ability to make her skin into metal, and she is impervious to bullets. Fise doesn't know if she can turn metal into plants, but he assumes she could, he'll have to ask when they reach the camping spot.

They reached the camping spot in another 20 minutes. They have been out for an hour in total and the sun was nearing the horizon. They put the tent bags down and Fise and Ann began figuring out how to build them.

"No no, you have to stick them together!"

"What? No! You do that after you get all of them in!"

"We need to put the stakes in the ground."

"We need to do that after we build the tent structure."

Andrew and Seah looked after Instructor Srap, making sure he drank water they found in a nearby river, which looked clean enough.

After half an hour, they managed to get the first tent up, then got the second one up in 3 minutes. It was easy now that they did it before. They decided that Andrew and Fise sleep in the same tent, while Ann and Seah sleep in the other. Fise guessed it was because that's how their rooms were back at base, since Fise stayed on the same side of the room as Andrew etc.

It got dark and they started a small fire to cook a few birds they caught since Ann was hungry. According to her, they tasted a little burnt, and blamed it on Andrew's bad spit he made. After Ann ate, they heard some boises deeper into the forest. Andrew and Seah decided to leave and look at it, telling them to call them on the Emergency Toys if they needed help. Fise sat outside Ann's tent, thinking. It felt like he was forgetting something. Ann came out and took another bird to eat before sitting down opposite him.

"What's up? You look troubled." she asked.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I dont know what."

"I know that feeling. Maybe you are forgetting to get more of these birds to cook, they're delicious."

"Haha! No, it isnt that it's something e-" Fise stopped.

"Something what?"

Fise slowly stood up and turned on his aura.

"Ann, slowly come towards me." he said while looking behind Ann.

"Hmm? Why, is there something behind me?" she began to turn her head.

"STOP! LOOK AT ME AND COME HERE!" shouted Fise.

And immediately stopped and walked over towards Fise who had sweat running down his face.

"Go inside the tent." he said softly.

Ann nodded and went inside.

Fise sighed in relief. The looked at it.

"You used to scare the bejeezus out of me. You still do. But now, I can fight back."

Fise threw an Aura punch at the shroud. It exploded it's face making the rest disperse.

He stepped closer to the tent.

"Ann, sorry but I don't know if you can look at shrouds."

"I can't. I'm not Guarded."

"Then stay in the tent.

"Goddamn it, I feel so useless."

"You can deal the most damage out of all of us."

"Yet you need to keep protecting me!"

"You're a glass cannon."

"The only reason we need to stop is because of me, the only reason we need to get food is because of me."

"I agree with the food one, but that isn't your fault. You got placed on this team and are my friend, therefore I don't care if we have to get food or take brakes. We are friends right?"

Fise was kind of scared, or anxious? Seah said she washis friend and he believed her, but what about Ann? Did she think of him as a fri-

"Duh!" responded Ann."What kind of question is that? Of course we are!"

Fise felt relieved and realized, for real: he had friends.

"Hey, uhh, are you crying?"

"...no."

"I want to see this!" Ann began opening her tent when Fise caught and held the zipper.

"No fair! You're stronger than me!"

Fise wiped his eyes and looked around for any

shrouds, which he didn't see any. Not near his tent either where Instructor Srap was sleeping. Wait, Instructor Srap. Fise let go of the zipper and went to the other tent. He opened it and went through the instructor's blazer. He found it. He took out the red Emergency Toy and went to number six, before pressing the button to speak into it.

"Fise, number 4 to base, instructor is out from a fight, he got uh shot in the head. He is alive but sleeping would like someone to come help. Over and out." As he closed it, he heard something speak out of it, he leaned in closer to hear what when he realised it came from his own Emergency Toy. He got it out and saw that Number 3, aka Andrew, talked to him.

"Repeat that?" Fise asked.

Andrew spoke again, his voice worried.

"There's a wraith! Fise, get Ann and cross the river, there is a wraith!"

ROGUE 1:

DEAD

GUARDED, POWERLESS

KILLED BY: Ann

ROGUE 2:

DEAD

GUARDED

KILLED BY: Seah

ROGUE 3:

DEAD

GUARDED

KILLED BY: Andrew