Alix's "Korra style: Ice-barge" carried us silently to the island, hopefully avoiding any detection paths they had in place. We landed on the thin beach, and Ryan quickly identified some tracks heading into the forest. We followed them.
With a machete in hand, I led the way through the thick leaves. The magnificent trees almost blocked out the sun, but we continued up a suspicious path decorated by old, broken statues that scowled at us.
"This is a trap, right?" Ryan asked, as we stopped for a minute to strategize.
"Almost definitely, so there's no point in stopping. We'll hope that we've got the upper-hand but prepare for an ambush. Think I've got a little trick up my sleeve, just in case," my angel replied, inspiring us to continue.
As we progressed up the hill, I could feel my heart attempting to break out of my chest. I was scared. But not about the battle. About her.
I constantly wanted to look back, into her magical, warm eyes and just talk to her. I wanted to spill all of my deep, dark thoughts. I wanted to feel her warm embrace as she looked into my eyes and told me that it would be alright. The guilt, the fear kept building up, and I turned my head briefly, to try to hold her hand - but suddenly, her white nails shot towards me, past my face.
Looking forwards again, a forest-green path shone off the trunk of a nearby palm tree and a thick, grey branch sprouted out like a bullet, knocking a man dressed like a ninja out cold.
"Are you alright, Piney?" my angel said, as she squeezed me tight.
"Yeah. Sorry, I got distracted for a moment."
"No worries, don't apologise. Are you hurt?" she said softly, as she caressed my face.
I shook my head and smiled, "not at all, thanks to your growth path. Riley's gonna be so proud."
Beaming, she gently kissed me - but as much as I loved it, as much as I loved her, I felt guilty. I was a fraud.
I pushed those thoughts away, however, since we had more important business to attend to; peeking through the brush, we could see 50 『Evolution Protocol』members waiting at a stone pyramid on the summit. Right at the peak, an older man in a bedazzled, purple robe sat on a grey throne. They were waiting. They had numbers. But we had each other.