Rowdy wasn't kidding when he said that we were visiting the neighbors to give them hell. I only barely had enough time to text Justin and tell him thank you for his advice, and that I had found my place among the Phoenixes.
A few seconds later, the Moderator of Copper Phoenix shoved a crossbow with similar child-like arrows to the ones I'd seen Rory carrying around into my hands. He assured me I'd get to pick a different weapon later if I didn't like it, but there wasn't really much time to lose. They'd been waiting on my decision to join or deny, I guess, before they went out to do this.
Minutes passed and we scurried outside, and completely ignored the path to walk north in the quiet woods. Nothing stirred.
"Ever been on a rescue mission, newbie? Did you transfer teams? You look like a Senior." Someone spoke from my side, and I couldn't help but jump at his voice. My eyes grazed over his dark complexion and handsome brown eyes. His black hair fluffed around his ears, but was kept short and didn't get far past it. A small necklace hung around his neck, adorned with the characters '神羊 'on a plaque, but I didn't know what they meant, much less what language they were in. His shirt showed some weird depiction of justice scales.
"Uh, no. I transferred schools. I've never done any of this before." I answered, trying not to stutter or seem scared. Honestly, I felt more than petrified. I had never been out here, and here I walked with all these people, not knowing our objective.
"We're headed out to rescue our Advisor. Her name's Melissa Byrd, she's a frenzied spirit." He smiled, holding his spear over his shoulder so that he could see me better. "I'm Leighton Hyles, a sin-you. Since she's captured, if she's on school grounds but it isn't during class time, she has to stay in the base of her captor. So we have to break her out."
"Uh, I'm Fey Norris, the harpy. What's a sin-you?" I tried my best smile, but I really hadn't the slightest clue of he was talking about.
"Harpy? Badass. Sounds like you'll be a great addition." Leighton grinned, and shifted the weight of his spear, that I noticed was made of foam. Someone constructed all of the weapons so that they wouldn't actually hurt anyone. He started to speak again in response to my question. "It's a Chinese creature, and it looks kind of like a sheep with cat paws, and a unicorn horn." I made a face, and he laughed again. "I know, I know, it sounds crazy. But they can tell if a person is lying just by looking at them, which really comes in handy when dealing with certain teams." Leighton frowned as his voice trailed off. "I took classes with the Superintendent and the Science teacher in facial recognition and deception on my own time. I'm not perfect, but I can usually tell when someone's lying to me, and a few players never stop lying."
"Wow, that's amazing!" I commented, smiling brightly. A wave of Rowdy's hand in the air created a hush among the environment as the mass of roughly twenty kids stood on the edge of this clearing, peering in. A large opening jutted out of the ground, topped with a dirt-colored metal door that made it look like the entire entrance was just a mound of dirt from a distance. No one stalked around; the door remained unprotected. I began to step forward to go open it when Leighton threw out his arm to halt me.
An arrow landed inches from my feet, surprisingly sticking into the ground despite it not having a point. Leighton's hand over my mouth was the only thing stopping my scream.
"Quiet, Rory's a good shot. Hearing us is all he needs to shoot us." He whispered, almost inaudible. Something else whooshed behind us, and an arrow planted itself in the ground behind our feet.
Rowdy's hand flicked forward and I felt the sheer force of everyone rushing forward into the clear open space. Nashita and Rowdy took advantage of the soon erupting chaos to make a bolt towards the door while people crashed into a fray of weapons.
Bile rose up into my throat. This was totally going to build my inner character.
I trailed after Rowdy and Nashita towards the bunker's door, feet shaking, because I didn't really know how to fight in any of this. Did you actually hit each other with weapons? Did the player you attacked decide if you 'hit' them or not? Rowdy knelt on his knees and took the padlock up in his hand. In a few seconds, he had a bobby pin out of his pocket and the padlock opened. He threw both aside and climbed back to his feet, opening the door with a terrifying slam of arrogance. Then again, if I could crack a lock that quickly, or even at all, I'd be pretty arrogant about it too. Someone painted the inside of the door with the coat of arms for Bronzed Syndicate, a Roman-esque building of power stacked on two rolls of parchment. Rowdy vanished down the steps of the cellar, and I saw Nashita disappear behind him, just as quick on her feet. Over all the kids screaming and yelling, no one heard the door being open. Thinking I would appear clever, I slipped in after them, and shut the door behind me. The only light now that showered down on us emitted from hanging lamps from above, made to illuminate the large cellar.
Both Nashita and Rowdy turned to me in fright, probably thinking I was an enemy at first. Rowdy looked annoyed that I had snuck in after them, but Nashita just looked glad that it was not someone who was going to attack them.
"Fey, what are you doing? Why aren't you out there fighting?" Rowdy grumbled, eyes narrowed in the low lamp light. I then noticed a symbol on his shirt that I hadn't before; one could faintly see an image in the faint light, and I'm sure if the room would have been dark, it would have glowed. The image of some creature that seemed to be transforming into different bodies snarled back at me.
"I don't know how- I was afraid I'd get captured or something, uh, and the door was open. Anyone from the other team could've noticed." I started, looking at the barely legible image. "What's on your shirt?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Skin walker. You know, like, in those old legends. It's what I am. My dad's a half-blood Navajo, so I got to hear a lot of old stories." I could see the smirk slowly slide across his face, proud of his decision. "And we're here to rescue Melissa."
"Right, she's a frenzied spirit." I nodded, and Nashita and Rowdy looked at each other for a few moments before shaking their heads.
"Well," Nashita adjusted her shirtsleeves, frowning. "In simpler terms, yes, she is. She's a buruburu. It's a ghost in mythology that creates fear within people, and turns them into a frenzied state." The woman explained, headed to the side of the enormous cellar where a wooden door stood.
The entire place looked neat, set up with tables and chairs, and a large map similar to that of one back at our own base. Ancient chemistry supplies sat abandoned on one table, like someone left in the middle of something. The other appeared just as messy, covered in battle plans and a lot Badger-related stuff. I could have sworn I saw a picture of Abigail's face, with some phrase written next to it. The sound of Nashita opening the door pulled my attention back to the mission.
When it opened, the first thing we all saw was a girl who I assumed to be Melissa. She had a blindfold tied around her eyes, possibly because she used her eyes to instill fear in others. She sat on a nice, cushioned bench, unbothered by the fact she breathed in the dust of an old cellar. The blindfold seemed thin enough, though, that I could tell she could still see through it in real life. Otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting there watching text roll by on her phone screen.
"Melissa?" Nashita started, half of her tone to tell her we arrived, the other half curious to see if anyone else remained in the room.
She instantly turned her phone off and put it away, and it took everything I had not to laugh. So much for 'being in character' I guess, but then again, I would probably do the same thing if I had to sit in a cellar and wait for someone to rescue me.
"You guys showed up!" She smiled, but before she could speak again, I regretted following them down into Bronzed Syndicate's base.
The dim light kept me from seeing him, but in a few seconds, I found myself with a fake blade pressed to my throat and held deafeningly still by someone much taller than me. I couldn't even sputter any words out, despite the blade being fake; that didn't make this any less scary.
Nashita and Rowdy turned at Melissa's frightened yelp and pointing finger, putting their gaze on me and my captor.
"Arthur, really, she's an initiate. Calm yourself and let her go." Rowdy rumbled with a look of someone annoyed at the very thought of what he did, let alone the action. Arthur laughed in my ear, and that made me connect him and the tallest boy that stood at the well earlier that day.
"Should've known you'd have no problem with the lock, Washington." Arthur sneered, and Rowdy actually looked a little bit embarrassed despite his glare back. "Like I'd believe you would take an initiate into Headquarters. Who is she really? Is she a prisoner you got from the Badgers? I saw her heading there earlier." Arthur grumbled, though I noticed he held me in a way that wouldn't be uncomfortable- that reminded me that it was just a game, and he only used the brutal demeanor as a front. He wasn't inclined to hurt me- at least, the real me. "I could really use a Badger prisoner. What do you say we trade?"
"She's not a Badger, she's a Phoenix!" Nashita growled, and I noticed that she held something weird in her hand. "Let her go, Arthur. We'll take Melissa and go, we won't take any of your artifacts."
"Then go," Another voice called from the wall, the small boy that I had also seen at the well. "Just let them leave, Arthur. It's not like they're higher in the rankings than us, we need to get the Badgers. So this girl won't help us."
"Fine, Miles." Arthur grumbled and I felt his loose grip on me release. I stumbled forward, and Rowdy easily caught me within his arms and pulled me to his side, out of reach of Arthur or Miles. Nashita looked away from me, glaring at Arthur and Miles the hardest she could muster instead.
"Take your ghost and go." Miles said, though he acted much more nervous than Arthur did the entire time. He held some weird looking beakers in his hands, both filled with different colors of liquids. We'd interrupted the duo's experiment.
Nashita ran to take off Melissa's blindfold, and they both headed out the top of the cellar without another word. Rowdy ushered me towards the door as thought me a small child, which I found embarrassing. Arthur's snickers didn't help the factor, either.
When I made it towards the stairs, I looked back at Rowdy, who grumbled something at Arthur. Eventually, they shook hands and he headed out towards me. I turned my head quickly and headed out after Nashita.
The troops were gone, supposedly fled, but a few kids lay about on the ground with their eyes closed- acting dead. You could easily see them breathing. Copper Phoenix troops, including Leighton, staggered around. A person traveled around, one by one, 'reviving' people from our team and helping them up. We won. Rory didn't appear among the casualties. I suppose he got away.
"Welcome to the Phoenixes, Fey." A voice called behind me. The blindfolded girl, Melissa, already returned to tapping on her phone. I smiled at her, even though she ruined the ambience of this game. I muttered thanks, shrugged, and headed towards Rowdy, who'd just emerged from the cellar.
"Alright!" Nashita shouted once she fell in next to him, smiling and waving her hand to gain attention of her troops next to the much taller Rowdy. Everyone stopped to turn to her, and she lowered her arm.
"Thank you all for coming out. We appreciate your help in this fight. You may do as you please for the rest of the day," She smiled, elbowing Rowdy, who laughed at the prospect of doing what he wanted.
People cheered and began to disperse in different directions. As I started to head home, glad to rethink all this chaos by myself, Leighton stopped me with a light hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, want to hang out? You seem pretty cool, and I don't have anything to do after school." He asked, smiling. Rowdy approached behind him, calmly and politely waiting for our conversation to end. As Nashita walked away, she waved in a cute way to Rowdy, who chuckled lowly and waved back.
"Sure, sounds like fun." I agreed, and then glanced towards Rowdy, prompting him to speak.
"Mind if I tag along?" He lifted his eyebrow, but tried to appear kind. "I gotta talk to her." By her, I assume he meant me, so I shook my head.
"I don't care if Leighton doesn't."
"Fine with me." Leighton answered, though something in his face indicated that he wanted to hang out alone. "We can go to the diner, it'll be fun." Rowdy's face turned nervous for a moment, before Leighton spoke again. "I'll pay, dude, no worries."
With Rowdy's shaky thanks and an oddly started friendship, we started the long trek off school property and out to wherever this diner may be.