Smoke and Sticky

“What do you mean now?”

“Currently; at this moment,” Shuto said dryly. He turned to me. “Is that really such a hard word for them to understand?”

“No,” I said. “More like hard to believe. I mean, we aren’t exactly well-trained.”

For the past week, Shuto had shadowed me as I improved with the other volunteers. But seven days wasn’t nearly enough to be ready to fight. Well, I wasn’t sure if any amount of time was ‘enough’. Even so, the other cadets were definitely worried, hence the questions.

It wasn’t as if I were devoid of fear, but the idea still seemed so far away. Was I filled with adrenaline from hearing the news? Of course. Could I still picture Kyouko’s face descending to utter seriousness before she went to her station? Oh, yeah. But was I scared?

What I was feeling seemed more like the cold after I’d heard of my grandfather’s passing. The absolute nothing I’d felt when we’d sent him off to whatever comes after. It was nice to feel that numbness. It helped me focus on getting into the right position. We’d all practiced where we would go if we were to have to defend our home base. At this point, it was muscle memory more than anything else.

I was concerned for Kit, though. I’d told her to stay in my pocket so she didn’t see…whatever came with a battlefield, but I still wished I could keep her from it. She was the kind of pure that should see nothing but pretty dolls and warm hugs. But we’d tested the limits on how far she could get from me, and it wasn’t enough for me to leave her for this. Regardless, I trusted her to follow my instructions. Since she would stay put, she could keep hold of that innocence.

And everything would be okay.

“Cadets!” The commander, who I now knew was Chief Commander Takeshi Seki, addressed us. “I’m not giving a speech about hope or any of that shit. No amount of flowery words will tell you how to face this. I am going to tell you what needs to be done because, honestly, that is what you should be focusing on today.”

He walked around our troop. “We are the best line of defense this country has. You as a troop are to make sure those Taihen rebels know that first-hand. Make them shudder at the mention of us. Have them falter upon seeing our banner. Do as we have trained you this past week and Kick. Their. ASSES!”

The troops cheered, and I joined them easily. The morale was contagious, higher than ever. Encouraged regardless of the lack of ‘flowery words’, I stood fast as the commander left us. The last time I’d felt this way was when Naoki and I had finally banded together to beat my grandfather in a Turf Tussle. I’d felt invincible then, and the feeling prevailed.

I watched as Shuto fell back. Researchers didn’t fight at the front, but that didn’t mean he was without tricks. I’d given him a Kaleidoscope to catch anyone out of line. He still had his walkie talkie, as did Kyouko, and we could use those if we were ever separated. The range of those things was unbelievable.

Fshhhhhhh!

A fog fell over our troop. The rising smoke made me cough as I panicked. Was I still in that burning building? Were those cadets really broken windows? Was the dirt on the floor actually loose papers, abandoned in the chaos? My water guns should be in my hands then. Then why did the items in my palms feel thinner? More like darts, in fact. Or the ninja spikes I’d chosen during the special training.

No, I was not in a fiery blaze. I was a soldier in the midst of battle.

But if this were a battlefield, why wasn’t I holding a sword? I tried again to see, but all I saw was white—or was it gray? I heard more coughing, but this wasn’t coming from me. I felt the air move and it felt wrong. Acting on instinct, I threw a spike. My aim was true, but why couldn’t I see the attacker? I could vaguely see my weapon, but I couldn’t see the person it was attached to. Then my hearing grew sharper, and my walkie talkie buzzed.

“They have Searchers!” Shuto’s voice came through. “You’re surrounded!”

Searchers were so rare they made my ability look common. Near invisible, they could get really close to a person, stealing wallets, sneaking into places, or pulling off magic tricks. But now that I knew to expect them, I could barely trace the outline of the person who’d attacked me. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more.

Sand was a universal toy to many. So common, in fact, that we’d forgotten to test it. But one brand in particular took it to the max. I’d seen soft sand, hard sand, and even color-changing sand—a favorite of Kit’s.

Oh, Kitsune.

I checked my pocket. She was still secure within, though she was wriggling about in there. This couldn’t be comfortable for her, but I couldn’t dwell on that as I gathered energy. I felt the silkiness as it moved through my palm. I remembered the creations me and Naoki had made as kids. In my hand, I held the most controversial sand on the market:

Sandy’s Stick-Arounds.

In seconds, I doused the assailant with it, the substance glinting in vibrant shades. I expected it to do something similar to what the glitter had done in our experiments, but as I waited, nothing changed. Maybe it didn’t have any power? It was already pretty awesome as it was, and its original purpose was what I needed in the first place. But then I heard a new sound.

Laughter?

I was absolutely shook as the guy attacking me burst into giggles. Like a school child, he kicked his feet and tittered. I just stared in disbelief as the rebel continued to twist in chuckles—and I wasn’t the only one. As the smoke cleared, soldiers from both sides looked in utter confusion at the man on the ground.

Wait, this is my chance!

Before they could recover, I flung more Sandy stuff at the silhouettes. One by one, they all fell, a total of four Searchers on the ground. My aim wasn’t perfect though, as I’d caught quite a few of the other cadets in the same condition. The ones who were spared gathered up the rebels as I looked for more.

That was too easy.

If they had Searchers, why use them all on us? We would be the easiest to take out normally. And why bother with the smoke bombs if we likely wouldn’t spot the enemy anyway? I peered at them, noting their eyes swishing, searching for something. There must have been more of them. But they couldn’t attack against something they didn’t understand, not with a group that small. Hell, I didn’t even understand it. We were regrouping, taking positions to watch for more enemies when a thought occurred to me.

“Hey, Shuto?” I asked hesitantly. “Where’s everyone else?”