Chapter 2(Kenneth): Stopping by (1/2)

Present Day?

"Ahh, so Nicholai was right, you did step in a bear trap" I sat beside Lee, the air was cold as normal, with the fire we all made before setting up camp was slowly dying out.

"Huh? How'd you'd know?" He looked at Nicholai, confused and waiting for a response

"I don't know, Medic's intuition?" Nicholai laid back on her chair

"You weren't even a Medic at that time thouuugh..." I tired voice behind me and Lee spoke "Jeez, why are you all so loud anyways"

"Sorry Sam, I was just telling them stuff about our first day at the trials you know?" Lee sat up and went off "I'll be back, it's my turn to keep watch anyways" As he said that Crystal, a young girl who Lee and Sam found years ago, came back

"Really putting me to work already huh?"

"Hey, I did tell you if you wanted to join us you'd have to pull your weight, you being a child was just a free trial" Lee passed Crystal as she took his spot

"So? What are you guys doing?" You could tell that Lee and Sam looked after her, as she had a mixture of their posture

"Talking about stuff, like what we did before we became full fledge DTs" I answered her question, stretching in the process

"Oh! How about I hear? I mean, Lee doesn't talk much about back then, and Sam, well" She look over at the dizzy Sam who was probably still half asleep "Yeah, she's not exactly awake enough to tell me"

"Alright" I relaxed on my seat again "Sam, I know you're tired but go relax with Lee, we're meant to be in pairs anyways" I looked around waiting for Neal to come back "Hey, Crystal, where's Neal?" She looked around, I felt a hand grab behind me. I jumped up, normally I'd get in a fighting stance like Lee taught us, but, I'd grown used to Neal and Sam's shenanigans "Neal..."

"Ah, well that's not fun, Sam and Crystal always freak out" I sighed in disappointment at Neal, the guy was good at fighting, but if only he'd take it more seriously

"Anyhow, wanna join us? I was thinking of continuing off of Lee's story, but our version instead" I sat back down, but I was no longer relaxed, instead, I was waiting for Neal to sit, mainly because if he sat down, I didn't have anyone to worry about, after all, Sam was with Lee, so there was no issues there

"Sure, I don't see why not" He took a seat across from me, leaning forward waiting for me to speak

"Alright, so after Lee's day 1 right? Okay, let's begin

??? Years ago

"Huh..I thought that it would take months to drop in and help them...but a day?" My sis, Nicholai, was suspecting something as normal, but I can't blame her, this is territory we've never been in. We were waiting for a drop off point to arrive next to us and we'd practically pop up right next to them "God my head still hurts"

"Neal did say to prepare yourself" While talking, I was working on a drone that I tried fixing during the apocalypse "I knew this thing was special, but when I was fixing it, I didn't know it was from another world"

"Wait till Lee finds out, him and his brother always played that game...actually, speaking of Lee, you noticed it too right?" At first, I didn't know what she meant but, when I pieced it together I remembered

"Lee's last name right? Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are, Anc, but kind of abbreviation is that, I swear the world did him dirty" Not much was wrong with the robot, more so, just burns and some damaged wiring, and about Lee, I was more-so joking about the last name thing, I was just as confused as her, Anc...it just sounded off, yet a bit familiar. I was just getting finished with my repairs when the drop-in..thingy...whatever it's called came in

"Come on Kenneth, let's get going, we shouldn't keep them waiting, they probably already hurt themselves at this point" Ironic ain't it, I looked up and noticed Lee right away

Lee Anc
HP: 107/150

Damn, poor guy, the hell happened to him...

"He was probably reckless, wasn't he? Beartrap, tsk" huh? It...never said what he was hurt by

"Nicholai?" We both stood at the entrance to the drop pod..thingy

"Yeeess?"

"Are you seeing something I'm not? I don't see anything that says what he was hurt by" I viewed my hud in a way so Nicholai can also see it

"What the....I see something right here" She pointed right under Lee's name and even opened up her hud to show me

"Hmm, I guess it makes sense, after all, you were like our medic during the apocalypse" We both went into the pod

"Is this even safe? I'd rather not die twice"

"It'll be fiiine" She looked at me in a way of saying she didn't belive me

"Riiiight, let's get this over with" And with that I hit the button near the door and the pod activated, closing the door and launching us to where they are, most likely at least

"I realized something" With the pod sounding like an AC-130 killstreak just activated I took notice of something "Won't this basically tell, literally everyone where we are"

"..."

".....We jumping now?" I took out a crowbar from our kit we were given

"We're jumping now" and so I grabbed the crowbar and dug it into the metal door "I don't think it's working" Ignoring her I kept trying "Oi, Ken, just hack the door, you can do it right?" I looked at her confused and insulted

"What makes you think I can do that?"

"I dunno....tech, I..I don't know damn, man, you've done it at least once before right?" I smiled, she was right, I did know how to hack things

"I was joking, I can handle it"

"Bastard"

"Oooo, insulting me now are we?"

"Shut it before I throw you through the damn window" She genuinely looked like she was going to, but I know her better than that, she wouldn't do it

"Alright, alright. Just give me a minute" I jammed the crowbar into the wall breaking the casing and revealing wiring "Alright, let's get this ove-

Not even 10 minutes later

"Every limb and part of my body, feels like it's inside out" I was face-first into the dirt, apparently trying to break the casing and door of a pod going about 100 miles per hour heading into the dirt was a bad idea

"Who...ever made that thing, I'm gonna shove the wiring up thei-

"Don't finish that, my face will burn if I smile or laugh" I forced myself to get up and looked at my hud "Oh come on"

Kenneth Brok
HP 15/100
MP 95/100

Hold on, my MP went down...In games MP normally means magic, but I don't remember using magic at all. unless was I meant to die?....naawww, that's more of a Lee thing to do, it was probably when I tried hacking into the pod, maybe we crashed because I used magic without realizing that I was, I swear this whole magic, DT thing is hurting my brain.

"Come on Ken, we gotta meet up with them" I saw Nicholai in the distance stand up, we both looked like garbage

"Alrighty" I stretched but was cautious as to not hurt myself anymore "Onward then, to reunite and become the weirdo platoon once more!" Nicholai just looked at me

"I wonder sometimes if you truly are my twin."

"Hey, I can be serious, It's just you got to learn to lay back every now and then" I looked at the floor, yeah, If only we all took that advice before, maybe we wouldn't have been so scared back then "Anyways, it's not like I have the right to say such a thing, let's just get back to the others okay?"

"Yeah, let's get a move on" She walked over to me, picking up our dropped bag "Pick up the crowbar and let's go" I picked it up and looked at her, was she still scared of fighting? Well, I mean, I guess we all are, we just don't want to show it, Lee is one hell of an example, who knows what's with his head

Present Day

"God, you people love bashing each other huh?" Crystal interrupted

"Well, he did it to me, I mean, it's only fair right? After all" I looked over to where Lee and Sam went "Let's be honest, it's not really a surprise the guy has issues"

"Yeah...Let's just continue"

Back to the story

"Where do you think we landed? We steered off course by a decent bit" Nicholai began looking around, looking for some landmark

"I mean, you know they never said where they were, right? Oh wait, I guess B2, is a good enough hint right? You think we'll hear them singing?"

"What kind of out of the blue question is that" Once more she looked at me with severe disappointment

"It's not out of the blue, I mean, We've heard Lee and Sam humming before, and now that we can summon things maybe they'll be singing?"

"Or maybe, they won't, because they'd be risking themselves" Nicholai sadly, didn't really sing with us that much. She while looking at her hud which I only noticed after she called out "Here Ken" She pointed at a block with five arrows, A White-ish Pink one, a Pink one, a Grey one, a Blue one, and a Black one

"Alright, let's get going the..."I peered past Nicholai and noticed figures walking towards us "Nicholai"

"What?" She looked behind her and noticed the figures approaching, she backed up over to me "You think there the ones that were after Lee and the others?"

"I don't know, but keep your guard up" Even though I didn't know how, I tried retracing my steps so maybe I could activate the magic I did back in the pod

"What are you doing?" Nicholai noticed my raised hand

"It's a slim chance, but maybe..just maybe I can recreate what I did in the pod"

"You forget? That's the thing that almost killed us!" Her eyes were enough to tell me that she wanted me to stand down

"Exactly, it's them or us, remember what Neal said, we have to win with the others in order to be part of their base team, we'll have to wait months before we get another chance, and the seven of us has been separated long enough, Nicholai, if I can ask of you, to use the crowbar on them if they try and attack us?" My head started to feel as though it was burning, my arm too, it felt like everything was melting or more accurately, like static was filling me

"I...I can't promise" She took the crowbar from me and stood her ground

"Heya, who're you two?" One of the four figures spoke

"It doesn't matter, what does matter is what you four were doing beforehand, were you chasing a girl with a pink ponytail? Maybe a guy with weird pink and white hair?" My hand started to ignite a spark

"Ahh, those two" The figure looked up from the floor and noticed my hand "Wait, listen...I had no intention to harm them, here" The figure walked towards us, and when they stopped "Huh! Wow, all three of us have blonde hair!" The figure took down their hood to show long blonde hair "My name is Alice, how about you two?" I lowered my hand, everything from my body and mind began hurting less, and the pain must've been visible "Oh...do you two know how magic works here?"

"Does it look like it?" Nicholai grabbed the crowbar harder, continuing to focus on the figures behind the supposed Alice. You could cut the tension with just a paper clip, it wasn't apparent but it was there

"Ahh, how about this, I'll tell you guys how magic works and bring the others over, and all you two have to do, is not see us as a threat, I'd say the deal is in your favor hmm?" I motioned for Nicholai to stand down, she looked at me annoyed yet complied regardless

"Go on" I made sure not to take my eyes off any of them

"Well I can see you're still tense, but" She made a motion to call the others over "This is my team, Prime Ruby, weird name huh? He came up with it" She pointed at one of the taller figures, as he unhooded himself

"Kai, a pleasure to meet you....listen, I chased those two for a reason, I thought I recognized them, yet when I tried calling out and syncing the map....they ran" Kai looked filled with regret, maybe, they aren't so bad after all "I can't really blame them though, at least those two got a good brain on their shoulders"

"I....see, well" I lowered my guard enough so they couldn't tell, but enough to strike back, just in case "I'm Kenneth, this is Nicholai, so? How does magic here work" Alice and Kai smiled, either they're happy to know we don't think of them as a threat, or because we screwed up big time

"Kai? You know more stuff about this than I do, how about you take it from here" Alice walked back to the other two people who were currently unhooding themselves

"Listen here you two, it really ain't that complicated, magic is based on your brain but that doesn't mean smarts make your magic more powerful, to put it in easy terms, your soul and brain determine what powers you have and your weapon. Partner-Links however, is where things get a bit complicated, but Neal, Raymond, or maybe your Comms-Man will tell you, after all, for the most part, Partner-Links are based off the two individuals and their magic, catch that?"

"Yeah...Yeah, I got it, did you?" I looked at Nicholai, she seemed deep in thought though "Nicholai?"

"Yeah, I heard" Her expression hadn't changed though, she was still deep in thought

"You okay?" I said as I took the crowbar from her, she hadn't even realized I did

"I think so. It's just, maybe Kai did recognize Lee and Sam, because, I feel like I remember him" She broke out from her thoughts

"Did you say Lee and Sam!? Cause if so, I do know them, it has to be them!" Kai seemed to be getting worked up "ah..sorry for how I'm acting, it's just I heard a good amount about them, and I'm sure I've seen them when I was alive"

"Don't worry about it, I don't think either of them would mind, we're a-" I cut myself off, I was just about to say where they were, then I remembered what we were told, the fact that you can betray your own team. Even if we were to form a team, they'd still be able to kill us

"Hey...you alright?" I looked up at him, damn it, I'd have to say something now.

"We...were heading to B4, if you wanna tag along" While turning to walk I noticed the other two people, their team was built like how ours were when we were younger, 2 girls, 2 boys. Thinking about it some more, the name Alice rung a bell as well, did we know them? I mean, obviously yes, of Kai knows Lee and Sam and Nicholai recognizes Kai, there was no doubt, we knew these people.

"We'll take you up on your offer then, lead the way!" And lead the way I did, I can't say for certain where I was going, even though when we were close to that thing which told us where we were, we could see the entire map, we were almost out of range and could barley see a thing.

"Here" Kai noticed my struggle to navigate and stuck the thing into the ground, a ping went off and my map was back to how it should be "You don't have to be on the same team to use it, after all, DTs are meant to assist each other, this is only training after all" RIght, this was just training, I couldn't hold a grudge for anyone who betrayed me, so instead, I decided I'd take a risk

"we're changing our route, instead we'll go to B2" Nicholai looked at me, she looked like she was going to swing something, but instead realized, she had nothing. I got close to her and whispered "Listen, Nicholai, I think we can trust them, of course, stay on guard, but don't hover over them ready to attack" Once more she looked at me with anger

"You moron, that's what staying on guard means, anyways, we should at least warn the five of them you know?" I nodded and she went into the treeline without anyone realizing

TTS ACTIVE

god why is there not a way to shut that voice off

Nicholai-"Lee, Sam, listen, we're bringing others into your camp, just be on guard and ready, Ken thinks they're good people but...I don't trust them 100 percent"

Lee-"Alright, we'll be wary, see you guys in a bit then"

TTS Off

"You ever wonder what TTS stands for?" Nicholai asked while coming back from the treelines

"I guess, although, it's probably something simple" It was a very slight change but after we were walking for a bit I noticed I began to hear less footsteps, I turned around and noticed someone apart of their team was missing "Kai! Alice! Guard up!" The two of them turned and realized their missing teammates, and to my surprise they summoned weapons out of the air

"Suprised? We've spent a lot of time training instead of just getting straight to fighting, don't worry, I don't intend to harm you" Kai weilded an axe while Alice held a staff, but with a red outline on the end

"Sometimes you can implement your powers in your weapons, cool right?" Alice noticed I was staring at their weapons "Listen, Kenneth, Nicholai, just hold your hand out and start thinking, it's different for everyone so I can't help you there" And so I did, I held my hand up and tried repeating what I did earlier, but instead tried to imagine a weapon. It burned, every ounce of my body burned

"Kenneth?" I opened my eyes to look at NIcholai, but instead noticed a spear in my hands

"Fast learner" Kai said in a joking tone "Alright, everyone, group up and stand your ground"

UTS ACTIVE

Huh? I doubt Lee is having issues, wait no, it had a U instead of a T

"Listen, everyone, I know this is meant to be a test and the only victor is meant to be one team, but things have gone bad, someone went rouge and brought corruptors here, I ask of you all to team up and take them out. Everyone will graduate as long as all corruption becomes erased. I'll put everyone into teams, please, don't try killing each other" A voice similar to Raymond warned. Corruptors, why did that sound so familiar?

UTS Off

As whatever UTS is turned off I begun to see thousands of people join the team, and then I noticed something, Lee had a Purple Icon next to his name, and it was blinking rapidly

"That's not good is it" Kai called out as he too noticed Lee's symbol "That thing is contagious, and I bet Lee doesn't know that" As time passed breathing began to become difficult

"Here" Alice walked over to me "My main power is the ability to duplicate things" she handed me a gas mask "Although, I assume Raymond didn't expect we'd use it for this

"Alice...I'm going after Lee" Alice looked at me

"Alright, your choice, but we'll tag along just incase" And so we all went towards Lee's direction