Once again Kazamir stood in the front of the party to lead the way. With his sniper rifle pointed forward and his eyes keenly scanning the darkness ahead, he would quickly deal with any target the moment it dropped into sight. As soon as he cleared the most recent machines that came in their way, he moved up a large ramp, checked each side of an empty production belt and moved onward. As the group moved down the other side of the large ramp and back onto a leveled platform, the pale skin dewmen boy checked behind his shoulder to make sure the rest of the group was still with him. As he did, he could see Yoshi irritably rubbing her left arm in the corner of his eye. She also appeared to have lost her second blade for good. Seeing this, it immediately made him face back forward with greater concentration in his gaze.
In the midst of his deep focus, he jumped in place the moment Kreszentia began to say, “I have been paying attention to these purple triangles along the way and I believe I may have them figured out.” She pointed past three dim triangles sitting on the railing ahead and towards a gigantic metallic triangle embedded on a wall. “If you look to where we came from, the triangle facing down seems to mean an entrance. So if we are to look for the exit, I have a hunch that we should look for a large triangle pointing up.”
Kazamir lowered his rifle to look to entrance of the second floor. When turning around to notice the downward triangle Kreszentia had mentioned, he then glanced around for another with raised brows.
“Huh, I’m surprised I haven’t noticed that,” he replied.
The silver hair newmen patted Kazamir’s shoulders and softly replied, “That is because you have only been keeping an eye on the road ahead. Do not fear however,” she continued with great dignity. “I have been checking our surroundings for you and can tell you that he is no longer here. If Armon is who you are looking for.”
Kazamir held his breath and could feel his heart jump with fright. His gaze shot to the floor as he shyly mouthed, “How did you know?” When thinking further on how she knew, he also realized that her ears have stopped twitching as well. Looking back forward to hide his embarrassment, Kazamir couldn’t shake off that something was different. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about Kreszentia seemed very off. To confirm his belief, Kazamir check back to see if Noreen and Yoshi had noticed, but apparently he seemed to be the only one. Mostly because Noreen was too busy comforting Yoshi about her previously wounded arm.
“Give me a moment to scan around then,” Kazamir then replied, picking at his scope now. “My scope came with all sorts of settings, so I may be able to see the exit from here.”
“As you wish,” gently said Kreszentia. She placed an arm behind her back and waited for an answer. Believing that nobody was paying attention to her, she raised the other arm and played with the sand on her hand, making it swim and dance between her fingers.
“I see it, just up ahead past the large wall in front of us. If we go around the bend, it should be a straight path to the exit.”
Kazamir lower his rifle and smiled at Kreszentia, who clenched her hand and put on an appearance similar to that of the war generals seen in paintings.
“Oh, is that so?” suddenly sang Noreen. “That’s great.” Overfilled with joy, Noreen jumped in place and shook Yoshi by her shoulders. “We’re almost there, Yoshi.”
“Yay,” sang a greatly unamused Yoshi.
There wasn’t much trouble getting to the lower floor from there. As they moved around the bend, they swiftly dealt with the spardans and sparguns that appeared nearby, and the gilnas, tall human like machines, that dropped right behind them. However, once they got to the lower floor, they group couldn’t help but feel nervous as they stared down the lone dock leading to a dead end, and the large yellow telepipe base waiting for them. From beyond the pathway they could see giant rocks poking out of the water and could hear a stream caresses the pillars underneath them. This was the closest they have been to the large body of water, which was now finally in arms reach of them.
“This is it,” Kreszentia said, walking onto the telepipe. “Is everyone ready?”
“Yeah,” leaped Noreen.
Kazamir and Yoshi nodded.
Without looking, the silver hair newmen touched a small flouting panel and activated the device. In a blinding flash, the group then found themselves standing in a large boxed in room the next second. Just before any of them could budge or glace around, a large machine dropped from the sky and shook the ground upon landing. It was another Tranmizer, but this one looked different. Not only did it have yellow shapes and markings painted all over it, it also looked newer and fresh from production.
“Tranmizer, test variant,” said Kazamir out of obligation, since he classified the first Tranmizer they came across already.
(-/-)
Kazamir lifted his rifle, but hesitated to fire on sight like he normally would. In his mind he couldn’t help be see the bullet bounce off, just like it had with the real machine; and because of it, it made him doubt himself.
“Kaz, we’ll distract the thing while you find a good spot to shoot it from,” said Yoshi.
Yoshi ran ahead of the group, forcing Noreen and Kreszentia to follow with her. Even though Yoshi only had one blade with her, she still charged in bravely and attacked without fear. Even when she couldn’t land a good blow on the machine’s plating, she still continued fighting. Seeing this kind of determination, it filled Kazamir with newfound hope and made him pat his face before shouldering his rifle. In the mist of the battle he managed to shoot one of the Tranmizer’s hands to give Noreen more time to get out the way, and another to get its attention as the machine started to slam the ground. When the Tranmizer leaped and slammed the floor one last time, he could then see the three flap cone on its back open up and hear Kreszentia shout,
“The core, Kazamir, shoot the core.”
Seeing this as his chance to act, Kazamir reached into his pocket and pulled out a special bullet his mother had given him before the exam. With great haste, he loaded it into the rifle, took a deep breath, and aimed at a blue bulbous core exposed on the back of the machine. After he hit the Tranmizer with the special bullet, Noreen slammed down on the core with a tremendous amount of energy just before the flaps around the core covered it again. Nobody could see much after the great flash emitted from Noreen’s sword, but they did know she hit her mark. The Tranmizer got back up again and let off a roar of rage. Then, without warning, it fell back down and spit in half. Everyone stood still for a moment. None of them could believe what just happened. This had never happened to any of them before.
Out of nowhere, Yoshi leaped towards Noreen and grabbed her by the shoulder upon landing.
“Woah,” the teal hair newmen screamed in excitement.
Kreszentia clapped on Noreen’s other side.
Noreen, having never anyone get this excited for her before, withdrew behind her sword and tried to hide her presence, nervously saying, “Oops. Sorry.” When she peeked at Kazamir, she could see the dewmen sitting on his butt with a dumb smile taking up half his face.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” shouted Yoshi. Yoshi picked up Noreen’s arm and continued, “Show me that arm, girl. Show me that arm.” Once raised, Yoshi flex an arm of her own and said, “That’s right, one hundred percent muscle. Flex with me, Noreen. Oomph.”
As Kreszentia smiled and continued clapping, Kazamir couldn’t help but laugh at the display they were putting on and ended up hitting his head when falling backwards. When he opened his eye from the fading pain, he suddenly noticed MultiCore hold out his hand to pick the dewmen back up. After accepting the CAST’s hand and getting back onto his feet, MultiCore summoned a holo-panel and spun around until it faced the Kazamir with a brilliant glow. It seemed to be a somewhat outdated book about tanks.
“Read the chapters I have highlighted for you,” said MultiCore. “Its old, but it should teach you about calibers, penetration, sloped armor and what to look out for when engaging armored forces.”
Kazamir wrapped his hand around the panel and crushed it to absorb it. “Thank you, sir,” he said.
“When pitted against the unknown, knowledge is your best defense.”
While MultiCore spoke with Kazamir, Henry approached the girls and smugly leaned against his sword.
“Yoshi,” he said in his usual smug manner. “You’re pretty good with your hands. If you’d like some advice, I’d say Fighter would be your best bet. Should you feel up for it, I will gladly give you some lessons. You know, as the guy who’s already fought numerous battles with your brother.”
“No,” said Yoshi immediately, equally as smug. “But thanks for the tip. I already knew that.”
Henry smiled and shifted his attention on Kreszentia. “And cousin. You did good out there. I’ll be sure to give some positive feedback to the folks back home.”
“Flirt with Noreen and I will make you eat those words,” monotonously responded Kreszentia.
“Sheesh, can’t compliment someone without jealousy snapping back at me. Hey, the fact is, that was an impressive blow,” Henry lied. He knew Kazamir had used a weak bullet of some kind on the core of the Tranmizer. But what he didn’t understand was how it amplified the photon art of Noreen’s sword to the degree it did. Still his smile didn’t waver, so the others were none the wiser. “I think Noreen is on the right track to become a good hunter is all. That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Thank you, Mr. Borchard,” bowed Noreen.
Neither Yoshi nor Kreszentia looked very convinced.
“Everyone back to the campship,” boomed MultiCore. “With your mark pacified, that concludes the exam. You will have your results when all parties have returned to their homes. And Yoshi, don’t worry about the dual blades. Knowing your father, they’re probably a dime a dozen to him.”
Yoshi rubbed the back of her head and weakly smiled. She didn’t want to admit it, but MultiCore was right. Her father hands out far too many weapons to them. Looking back on it, she started to wonder if this will always be the case. Kreszentia sure didn’t seem to mind.
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