Day 122

[from Vanishing Point]

As the guard took another step forward, Kiyoko instinctively began to shrink back against the wall of the broom cupboard. As she did so, her foot accidentally kicked a bucket, upsetting it and knocking over the mop that had been inside, sending it clattering hard to the floor. The noise seemed to fill the entire room, deafening her. If that had not given her away, her instinctive gasp of horror upon realizing the situation definitely had. The effeminate guard gasped in response, his reaction merely confirming what she already knew. She had been rumbled. It was over. There was nothing more she could do except stand there, trembling from head to foot, sweat pouring down her face and tears of regret welling up in her eyes as she waited to accept her inevitable fate…

BANG.

***

"I'm concerned," said Cobra, looking down into her mug of tea. "The last I heard from her, there was a guard chasing her. There was a loud bang, and then I haven't heard anything since. I don't think it was a gunshot, but… what if it was? What if she was shot, Kamui?"

Cobra and the detective were currently sat at a low table in the living room, wondering exactly what was happening over at Shinsuke HQ. The cup in her hands was the final result of her tea experiment - she liked her tea strong, and with no milk or sugar. That information no longer seemed important now.

Kamui's face was also concerned, but he was trying to keep calm. "We don't know that yet," he said, "but I have to admit, what you heard - and aren't hearing now - is pretty disturbing. But for now, all we can do is sit here and have faith that she's fine, and she'll get that data back to us."

"And how long are we supposed to do that for?" asked Cobra, getting agitated. "How long are we supposed to just sit and wait while our friend is in that building, captured or even killed? We have to do something!"

Kamui sighed, rubbing his temple. "I know," he said. "But we can't just barge straight in there. We need to think of a plan first, otherwise we'll just get ourselves killed."

Cobra let out an angry sigh. "You're right," she said bitterly. "God dammit. Well… we still can't wait forever. I'll give her until morning, and if she still hasn't come back, or responded or anything, then we go in. Sound fair?"

Kamui nodded. "Yeah. I'll let Hanako know."

***

Hanako, meanwhile, was sitting on the stairs, on the phone to her mother, who naturally was rather concerned that her daughter hadn't come home for almost 48 hours. Hanako was trying her best to reassure her that everything was okay.

"No, really, mom, I'm fine!" she said. "It's just that some stuff happened, and it's kinda bad, so I'm staying with some friends for a while until it all gets sorted out. It's nothing really."

"What kind of stuff?" asked Hanako's mother. "What is it that you're not telling me?"

"I can't tell you what I'm not telling you," said Hanako. "That's why I'm not telling you it."

"But why not?" asked Hanako's mother.

"Let's just say it could get all of you in serious trouble if you got involved," said Hanako. "Please just believe me: I wanna tell you, but I really can't!"

Hanako's mother sighed. "Okay, I'll trust you for now. You're old enough to look after yourself for a while at least. But could you at least tell me where you are, so I can come visit you? I'm sure Tetsuya and your father will want to see you as well."

"Okay, sure. I-"

"COME QUICK, YOU GUYS!" Cobra suddenly bellowed from the living room. "IT'S KIYOKO!"

Hanako, startled, promptly dropped the phone, while Kamui rushed into the living room. Sure enough, there was Kiyoko, staggering up the front drive towards the house. She didn't seem to be hurt, but she was clearly exhausted. As Hanako quickly made her excuses and ended the phone call, Kamui quickly opened the front door for Kiyoko, who staggered inside and slumped straight into Kamui's arms.

"Where have you been, Kiyoko?" asked Cobra. "We were so worried about you, we thought you'd been captured! What happened?"

Kiyoko let out a half-sigh, half-yawn, gazing bleary-eyed at the sofa. "I just wanna sleep…" she mumbled.

"Alright," said Kamui, slowly guiding her over to the sofa. "You've had a long, hard day. You can tell us all about it in the morning. Oh… but did you get the data?"

Kiyoko nodded sleepily, slipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out the memory stick, which she gave to Kamui. "Thanks," said the detective. "We'll take a look at this in the morning. For now, I think we could all use some rest after today."

Kiyoko nodded again. She climbed onto the sofa, curling up on the seat, and was asleep within seconds. "Let's leave her to rest," said Cobra quietly. "She deserves it, after everything she's done today."

"Why?" asked Hanako, who had remained completely oblivious to all these goings-on. "What happened over at Shinsuke HQ?"

"I'll tell you once we're up in our room," said Cobra. "Let's go."

"Does that mean I get the single bed tonight?" asked Hanako, as the three of them ascended the staircase.

"Sure," said Cobra.

"Yay!" said Hanako excitedly.

"Quiet, you idiot!" hissed Cobra. "Kiyoko's asleep."

"Oh yeah," whispered Hanako sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well, I'm glad to see that she's safe," said Kamui. "I wonder what actually did happen…"

***

BANG.

Kiyoko flinched instinctively at the noise before realizing it was merely the door of the broom cupboard slamming shut again. As she stood there, bewildered and terrified, she heard the guard's voice coming from the other side of the door. "This floor's clear. Over."

"Are you sure?" came the reply. "Did you check everywhere?"

"Yeah, I checked every inch," said the guard. "She's not on this floor." Kiyoko didn't hear the rest of their conversation, nor the guard's footsteps moving away afterwards, for at that precise moment, she breathed a sigh of relief and fainted, turning visible again as she collapsing to the floor of the broom cupboard with a thump.

It was only a few minutes before Kiyoko regained consciousness. Her immediate thought was to peek through the door of the broom cupboard, to check if it was okay to exit, before realizing that the security team may still be sweeping the building. If they weren't, then the employees may have already started filtering back into the building, and even if they couldn't see her, they could still see the door opening and closing by itself. She couldn't hear any footsteps outside, but she didn't want to take the risk, so she decided to simply remain in the cupboard, quiet as a mouse, until she was absolutely sure that it was safe to exit.

By the time the security search had ended, and the corridor had once more filled up with employees and emptied, it was almost sunset. Kiyoko opened the door a crack and peeked through to confirm that it was safe to leave, then turned invisible again and finally made her way back out into the corridor. As a Shinsuke employee made their way towards the elevator on her way home, Kiyoko followed her, slipping inside the elevator behind her and resting her back against the wall, barely restraining from letting out a sigh of relief as the mechanical doors began to close behind her. She was safe.

Day 121

[from Space Hunter]

Aurelia's ship exited warp speed in the Kappa system. According to Dr. Sanara, the first component of the cure could be found on the planet Kappa-2. There was nothing specific regarding the planet or its inhabitants that would potentially affect this mission; however, space pirates were known to be operating in the area, so Aurelia would have to be careful. As the princess of another star system, she and her ship would command a very high price on the black market.

As she assumed manual control of the ship once more, Aurelia checked the ship's thrust vectors to make sure it was properly on course, then contacted Dr. Sanara via the ship's comms device. "I've emerged in the Kappa system," she said. "I'm on route to Kappa-2 now. Everything looks good; there shouldn't be any problems from here on out."

"Well, there's always the pirates to be worried about," said Dr. Sanara, a little warily. "Your ship isn't well-armed, is it, my lady?"

"Right now it isn't armed at all," said Princess Aurelia. This was a craft built for speed and luxury. Its only weapons were two photon blasters in the nose cone, and those wouldn't bother anything larger than a fighter. In any case, they had been deactivated ever since her crash-landing on Sigma-2, and she had so far chosen not to repair them. She had been hoping she wouldn't need them. "However, I do still have my plasma shields, and the ship's armour is pretty tough. Even if I can't out-manoeuvre them, I can still take a few…"

Aurelia paused, her voice petering out. She thought she had heard a rattling sound coming from the cargo bay. It was impossible that any space pirates had infiltrated the ship, so unless it was just her imagination…

"Is something wrong, my lady?" asked Dr. Sanara.

"I thought I heard something coming from the cargo bay," said Aurelia, glancing over her shoulder.

"Space pirates?" asked Dr. Sanara.

"No, that's impossible," said Aurelia. "There's no way they could have gotten on board."

"Then a stowaway?" asked Dr. Sanara. "Someone from Sigma-2?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of," said Aurelia. "I'll go check it out."

"Okay," said Dr. Sanara. "Be careful… and remember to turn on the autopilot while you're not in the cockpit."

Aurelia, who was already halfway out of her seat, abruptly re-engaged the autopilot, letting the ship steer itself for a moment while she investigated the cargo bay. She didn't really see the point in this, as they were in the middle of open space and there was no chance they would hit anything. Apparently it was so that evasive manoeuvres could be conducted in case of a sudden ambush, but Aurelia doubted that the autopilot would be much use in a situation such as that.

Drawing the primitive handgun General Pereira had given her for self-defence purposes, Princess Aurelia slowly made her way back through the ship, towards the cargo hold. If anyone was inside, they must have somehow snuck in while it was being loaded. The only way in during flight was through a airtight door, and like all the doors on the ship, it would only open if a sensor detected someone with the appropriate clearance level was approaching. In other words, the doors would only open for Princess Aurelia and the most trusted of royal staff.

Sure enough, as Aurelia approached the door, the sensor detected the security information encoded in the insignia of her jumpsuit, and the door slid open to allow her access. Stepping inside the cargo bay, Aurelia held the firearm at her side, her hands shaking a little. There was no chance of the bullets going straight through the wall and causing an explosive decompression, so she didn't have to worry about missing. But it was hitting that she was more worried about. She had set out on this mission to save lives, and she didn't want to end any, certainly not innocent ones.

Aurelia quickly swept the perimeter, checking behind the boxes of supplies that had been loaded into the bay. At first, there seemed to be nobody there. Then, Aurelia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, cautiously, she turned round, looking up at the ceiling.

There was something on the ceiling. Before she could properly tell what it was, Aurelia squealed, raised the primitive pistol, and fired.

Day 120

[from Sonic the Hedgehog Returns]

"Alright, Sal, I'm inside the Death Egg," said Sonic. "Told ya I wouldn't get blown off~"

Sally sighed. Even during a crucial mission he couldn't stop with the wisecracks. "Okay, good. Now for the hard part: you'll need to stay still for a minute so Rotor can synchronize your position data with the Death Egg schematics, and work out the fastest route to the generator room."

"And how long will that take?" asked Sonic, who was already starting to get a little impatient.

"I don't know," said Sally, "but it's shouldn't take more than a minute. I'll let you know as soon as we have the route ready."

"Alright," said Sonic, "but if any SWATbots show up, I'm taking off."

Sally opened up NICOLE, placing her gently on the floor. "What do you require, Princess Sally?" asked the holographic lynx.

"I need you to project the Death Egg's schematics again for me," said Sally. "This time, highlight the generator room in red. We're going to feed you Sonic's positional data; highlight that in blue for me. Then, give me the fastest route to the generator room from Sonic's current position."

"Affirmative." The lynx projection disappeared, to be replaced with the Death Egg's three-dimensional schematics. A small room in the exact centre glowed bright red. This, it seemed, was their goal. Rotor wirelessly beamed Sonic's positional co-ordinates to NICOLE, and by cross-referencing them with the Death Egg's co-ordinates, she was able to mark him on the map with extreme precision. As expected, he was currently at the very edge of the Death Egg, and his blue positional dot seemed to be jittering slightly. This was either because the Death Egg's relentless march towards the Great Forest was complicating the calculations, or simply because Sonic was already so bored that he was running round in circles to relieve himself. Sally, having known Sonic for most of her life, figured it was probably the latter.

After a further moment, a green trail began to snake its way through the Death Egg in the direction of the generator room. It certainly wasn't as-the-Buzzbomber-flies, but since Sonic would be the one traversing it, it probably wouldn't take him any time at all. Sally zoomed in on the schematics with a wave of her hand, focusing them on Sonic's location. "Okay, we've got the path ready," she said.

"Took you long enough," said Sonic. "So, which way do I go?"

"Head straight forwards, then take the third right," said Sally.

"Got it." Glad to finally be able to get going, Sonic zoomed off down the corridor in front of him. He counted the right-hand pathways under his breath, then quickly turned down the third one he encountered. "Okay, now what?"

"Take the next left," said Sally.

"Right," said Sonic, as he took the left.

"No, left," said Sally. "Then right."

"Right," said Sonic, as he took the right.

"Now there should be a staircase coming up-"

"Already halfway down it," said Sonic.

"Of course you are," said Sally wearily. It wasn't easy directing someone who could move faster than you could speak. "Now just go straight on for a while."

"You got it, Sal," said Sonic. A couple of Badniks noticed Sonic approaching, but Sonic simply tore straight through them with a Spin Dash and kept going without missing a beat.

***

A short time later, Sonic found himself brought to a halt by a closed door. "This doesn’t look like the generator room," Sonic remarked.

"That's because it isn't," said Sally. "You have to go through this room to get to it. Be careful, Sonic: Robotnik's not going to let you into the generator room that easily. I don't know what kind of dastardly traps might be lurking on the other side of that door, but you'll need to-"

Sally was cut off by a deafening clang as Sonic impatiently Spin Dashed straight through the steel door, knocking it off its hinges. "Or you could just barge straight in like an idiot," muttered Sally sardonically, "that works too."

The room beyond seemed to be almost entirely empty, save for a lone figure located at the opposite end, guarding the only exit. Sonic took one look at the figure and immediately did a double-take. "What the-"

The figure standing before him was a large metallic facsimile of himself, at least a foot taller and constructed entirely of thick silvery steel. Its eyes glowed a menacing orange as it locked its gaze on the real Sonic stood before it.

"Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," Sonic remarked.

"HEDGEHOG DETECTED." said the machine, in a harsh robotic voice. "ELIMINATE."

"What was that?" asked Sally warily. "Sonic, what's going on?"

"We've got a bit of a problem," said Sonic, as the machine started to rev up a version of Sonic's own Spin Dash. As the curled-up machine launched itself at him, its metallic spikes gleaming dangerously, Sonic leapt out of the way just in time and the robot was sent hurtling straight through the open doorway and into the corridors. Sonic watched on with some amusement. "Looks like Buttnik forgot to install the brakes on that thing," he quipped.

"What just happened?" asked Sally. "Are you alright, Sonic?"

"Looks like Buttnik's built some kind of metal version of me to guard the generator," said Sonic. "I think I lost it, though."

"A robotic version of you?" Sally made a noise over the radio that rather sounded like a suppressed giggle. "I dare say it must be an improvement over the original."

"Hey!" said Sonic, feeling rather insulting. "Who's the one bustin' his rear end to try and save you guys?"

"You're right, I'm sorry," said Sally, suppressing another giggle. "It makes a change from robotic versions of himself, at any rate. Well then, if it's safe, head towards the generator and shut it down."

"You got it, Sal," said Sonic. "Let's do this!" Spin Dashing through the door at the other end, Sonic suddenly found himself on a set of narrow walkways spanning an enormous chasm. This was the central ventilation chamber of the Death Egg, with the generator room suspended in the centre. The ceiling had to have been at least a hundred metres above him, and the floor at least a hundred metres below. All that separated him from a gruesome demise was a metre-high railing made of rather flimsy-looking metal. "This can't be safe," said Sonic.

"That's probably the idea," said Sally. "Be careful, Sonic."

Sonic nodded, and made his way across the walkways as fast as he dared. If he went too fast, the resulting vibrations would rip the thin metal sheets beneath his feet to pieces. Ultimately, however, he made it to the door of the generator room, which seemed surprisingly small, and forced his way inside.

As he entered the generator room, Sonic approached the apparatus and was suddenly taken aback. He had been expecting a large tangle of complex machinery, and generators as large as houses. What he saw instead was like nothing he had ever seen before, and it completely stumped him. "This is the Death Egg's power source…?" he exclaimed.

Day 119

[from Devastation Online]

In the aftermath of Lael'in's arrival, and her warning about the Devastators, humanity began preparing for the invasion that was to come. The world's militaries pooled their strength to form the Planetary Defence Force (PDF), a military organization dedicated to protecting the world from the Devastators; its headquarters was based in Arwing City, close to Lael'in's landing site.

The Alien Technology Research Center, or ATRAC, was set up further east in St. Leonard, with the aim of researching alien technology, such as that used by the Devastators and Lael'in, and attempting to reverse-engineer it for human use. With the impending invasion weighing heavily on the world's mind, the bulk of these applications were military in nature; however, Lael'in had not brought any weapons that they could reverse-engineer. She had, after all, been on a diplomatic mission.

Lael'in herself was taken to a special government facility, where she was cared for but also closely studied. The entirely facility was thoroughly sterilized and she was given numerous inoculations to protect her from the plethora of Earth diseases, to which her body would have built up no immunity. She also began learning English, and tried to teach her hosts Dae'loran in return, although the differences in syntax between the two languages made it rather difficult to translate coherently between them.

The Devastators did not come for almost six months. In that time, the PDF had learned to harness a mystical force that the Dae'lora possessed, allowing them to manifest all manner of supernatural powers such as fire, ice, lightning, healing abilities, and numerous others. It was found that cocoa was able to act as a weak fuel source for this power, allowing humans who consumed it to harness it, and so the price of cocoa went up considerably. Lael'in also introduced the PDF to a lightweight metal called "Bor'ael", which was native to Dae'lora and which could block the effects of this force. Though it was physically weak, ATRAC engineers were able to produce an alloy of Bor'ael and iron dubbed "Bor'en", which combined their defensive properties.

In the meantime, a religious cult known as "Steel Heaven" had begun to form around the Devastators. The Steel Heaven cultists believed that the Devastators would purge the Earth of the wicked and bring about a new age of humanity. At the same time, the wait caused a few people to start doubting that the Devastators would ever arrive at all, and questioning whether the whole thing was merely an elaborate hoax. They would, however, find out in time that the invasion was all too horribly real.

One day the PDF detected a metallic sphere heading towards Earth at extremely high speed. It was undoubtedly sent by the Devastators - it bore a distinct radio signature that Lael'in had warned them to look out for - but a single sphere by itself did not constitute an invasion, and in any case the object was too small and too fast for them to try and destroy. The sphere thus posed a quandary for the PDF, and ultimately it was decided to simply allow the object to land and then attempt to destroy it once it had done so. When the landing site was calculated to be a town near the Aurora coast, northwest of Arwing, the town was abruptly evacuated.

Less than three days after its initial detection, the sphere struck the town and completely obliterated it, killing the few remaining people who had not abandoned. Shortly after landing, the radio signals from the sphere began to grow even stronger, and several hours later, the first Devastators began to appear, warping through space-time and manifesting themselves near the sphere. The sphere turned out to be a homing beacon, launched by the Devastators in order to allow them to warp from the Devastator homeworld straight onto Earth. The invasion had now begun.

Before long, the city of Barriston to the south was attacked and almost completely destroyed. The Route 101 highway that ran through Barriston was over-run by Devastators and became a no-go area. Strategic blockages prevented the Devastators from reaching the key coastal port of Bridgestone, to the west of Barriston, but instead they made their way northwards, and towards Carston to the south-west. The PDF have thus far managed to hold the Devastators off at Carston, but the town has suffered significant damage, and the fighting there continues.

 The Steel Heaven cultists, meanwhile, constructed their own gated community to the east of the Devastator landing site. Known as "Heaven's Gate", the walled-off city has so far been safe from Devastator attacks, with some theorizing that the Devastators are capable of discerning that Steel Heaven see them as allies.

During the conflict, other Dae'lora have followed Lael'in to Earth, seeking to help the PDF in their battle against the Devastators. Inspired by the tenacity of mankind, they have given humanity the native name "Dae'in", meaning "strong, admirable warriors". Many Dae'lora have joined Aurora's beleaguered hospitals, using their powerful healing spells to help them cope with the massive influx of patients wounded by the Devastators. Others have forsaken their race's peaceful nature and taken up arms, joining the PDF's ranks and taking the fight directly to the Devastators, determined not to let another planet fall victim to the machines.

Shortly after the Devastators' arrival, a third race of aliens arrived: the Reavers. This race, who appeared to speak English already, responded to PDF communications with a message stating that they were not intending to participate in the war, but simply to take advantage of it to plunder Earth's riches. The PDF, who already had their hands full taking care of the Devastators, decided to permit the Reavers' activities for now, but have also begun a propaganda campaign aiming to convince some of the Reavers to join the PDF. Steel Heaven have also begun a similar campaign, aiming to recruit some of the Reavers.

ATRAC, meanwhile, are attempting to recover the remains of defeated Devastators, hoping to either discern the machines' weaknesses and build weapons that can exploit them, or even build their own Devastators that would work for the PDF and could combat the machines on a more even footing. Those days are still some way off, but the PDF sincerely hope that the technology gleaned from the Dae'lora, Devastators, and even the Reavers, will be the key to ending the conflict and destroying the Devastators.

Day 118

[from StarLight]

"I know your secret, Sanae Hikari!"

The accusation came out of nowhere, as Sanae was innocently making her way through the corridors to have lunch. For a moment, she legitimately panicked that somebody had discovered she was White Star. Then she realized it was just Kazuo, who probably had another of his insane theories to throw at her. "Oh?" she asked sarcastically. "And what secret would that be?"

"You are White Star!" declared Kazuo, pointing dramatically at Sanae.

Once again, Sanae panicked for a moment before realizing that this was still Kazuo making the accusation. It was likely that his reasoning was complete nonsense, and that he'd arrived at a correct deduction completely by accident. And in any case, nobody ever believed a word he said. Even so…

"Don't be so ridiculous," said Sanae, chuckling nervously. "What on earth makes you think that?"

"Your hair!" bellowed Kazuo, holding up a blown-up photo of White Star that he had printed out. It was rather pixelated, but White Star's purple hair was clearly visible. "Your hair is the same colour, and roughly the same length as White Star's!"

"Wait, that's your proof?" asked Sanae, amused. "That's your entire proof that I'm White Star? I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest, but come on, you have to admit that that's pretty flimsy."

"Do you deny it?" asked Kazuo, his glasses glinting dangerously. "Do you deny being White Star?"

Sanae rolled her eyes, and decided to play along with Kazuo's games for once. Nobody would believe him anyway. "Okay, you got me," she said sarcastically, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "I'm White Star."

"Aha!" declared Kazuo, jabbing his finger at Sanae. "You admitted it!" Turning to the nearest people, a pair of first-years who really couldn't have cared less, Kazuo shouted, "Did you hear that? She just admitted she was White Star!"

"No I didn't," said Sanae innocently.

"Yes you did!" said Kazuo, before scrambling to retrieve something from his jacket. "I can prove it, see? I caught it on tape!"

"That's a granola bar," said Sanae blankly, pointing to Kazuo's outstretched hand.

"Huh? Oh, so it is," said Kazuo, as he caught sight of the green-wrapped bar held in his hand. Shrugging, he unwrapped it and took a bite. "But mark my words, Sanae," he mumbled through a mouthful of granola, "I will prove that you are White Star, just as I will prove that the American President is actually a Martian bent on world domination! Hey, this is a pretty good granola bar." Kazuo took another bite. "I will expose your secrets, Sanae Hikari!"

"Yeah, good luck with that," said Sanae.

"Thank you," said Kazuo, the sarcasm going right over his head. "But for now, I must investigate why I only got 28% on my latest science test. I suspect that the teacher is secretly an Illuminati clone."

"Or maybe you're just an idiot," muttered Sanae.

"What was that?" asked Kazuo.

"I said you might be right about that," said Sanae. "You go investigate that, okay?"

"Alright," said Kazuo. "I'll see you later, Sanae… or should I say, White Star!" With that, Kazuo attempted to make a dramatic exit, but the impact was lessened somewhat by the half-eaten granola bar still hanging out of his mouth.

"What was that all about?" asked Amaya, as he hurried up to Sanae; she had been in the bathroom until now.

"Just another one of Kazuo's crazy theories," said Sanae. "Don't listen to him."

"I never do," said Amaya. "So, shall we head up to the roof, then?"

"Of course!" said Sanae.

Day 117

[from Faction]

"We need to have a serious talk about your recklessness."

"Why?" asked Shelley, sounding genuinely confused. "We killed all the enemies and secured the objective, right?"

Tyler's response was to simply prod Shelley's heavily-bandaged abdomen with a finger, causing her to wince. The Faction had been cleared away from the supermarket and the remaining food secured, though some of it was already out of date. With a path into the city already cleared, the army could now begin delivering food supplies to the beleaguered populace. That wasn't the end of it, of course. The Faction were sure to either attack the food convoys, try and retake the supermarket, or both.

For now, though, Tyler and his small resistance group were back at their hideout, an abandoned, heavily-fortified elementary school. Specifically, they were in the nurse's station, which had been transformed by Dr. Hristov into a makeshift hospital. Shelley was currently lying in one of the hospital beds that had been crammed into the small space, having being shot repeatedly during the mission to retake the supermarket. Although she had been wearing body armour, otherwise her injuries could have been fatal, the bullets had still left some nasty bruises.

"You can't go on a mission in this state," said Tyler. "That means we're one member down, which puts us at even more of a disadvantage. The Faction have hundreds of members here, if not thousands, and we need every member we can get. So you going and getting yourself shot so stupidly is a real pain in the ass."

"Sorry," said Shelley, pouting in a way that made it clear she wasn't sorry at all.

"Look," said Tyler, "just… don't be so reckless in future, okay? Stay behind cover, don't rush ahead, and don't isolate yourself from us. I appreciate your enthusiasm, as creepy as it may be sometimes, but the last thing we want is for you to get killed."

"Alright, I get it," said Shelley. "I'll be more careful next time, alright?"

"Good," said Tyler.

"So, what's the next mission?" asked Firebrace. "Shouldn't we start planning that before long?"

"I think, before any more missions, we should think about finding more people to join us," said Tyler. "Five people is a nice number, but it's nowhere near enough for a final assault on the Faction headquarters, which is our end objective, after all."

Tyler couldn't help glancing over at James. During the first few days of their invasion and takeover, the Faction had rounded up hundreds of civilians and taken them by helicopter to their headquarters, a massive sixty-storey tower block in the financial district that they had hijacked for their own purposes. James' girlfriend, Louise, had been one of those taken, and the team had come across him after he had tried to fight his way to the Faction HQ all by himself to rescue her, and been injured in the process. At first he had been impatient, insisting that they tackle the HQ first, but he had since conceded that the rest of the city needed to be cleared out first, and the group strengthened, before they could even think about attacking the heavily-fortified skyscraper.

Unsurprisingly, James nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me," he said. "The army are arriving tomorrow, right? To secure the path into the city? We could sure use their help."

"You think the army are gonna co-operate with a bunch of guerrillas?" asked Tyler skeptically.

"Course we would," said Firebrace, grinning. "We'd make a pact with Satan if it helped get the job done. Course, that hasn't really worked too well for us in the past… came back to bite us big-time with Afghanistan…"

"We're not the Taliban," said James. "All we want is for this city to be free, and for our loved ones to be safe. Nothing more."

"I know," said Firebrace, "and the army know that as well. So yeah, they'll work with us."

"They damn well better," said Shelley. "We've been busting our asses fighting the Faction, and where have they been?" Suddenly clutching her aching chest, Shelley forced herself to calm down, resting herself back against the cool white sheets of the hospital bed.

"Alright, we'll go out tomorrow when the convoy arrives, and make sure the army are willing to work with us and any other guerrillas who are fighting the Faction," said Tyler. "If there are any other guerrillas out there, hopefully they'll get the same idea, and we can all meet up and discuss joining forces. But for now, I think we could all use some rest. Some of us-" he glared pointedly at Shelley "-more than others."

"Good idea," said Firebrace. "Let's head back to our bunks."

"Should I stay here and look after Shelley?" asked Dr. Hristov.

"Yeah, but don't stay too late," said Tyler. "You need your rest as well, Doc."

"I know of the importance of rest," said Dr. Hristov, folding his arms. "I am a doctor, you know."

"Good," said Tyler. "We'll see you later, then." Tyler, Firebrace and James made their way out of the medical room, heading back towards their bunks, leaving Dr. Hristov alone with his patient.

Day 116

[from The Ember Stone]

As Jacob approached the spot at which he had found the stone, he saw a strange woman standing over the impact site. She had long, wavy blue hair that fell to her waist, and wore a sweeping blue dress with a low neckline, as a member of the aristocracy might. Jacob had never seen her like before. He wondered what business she might have with this stone.

The woman suddenly noticed Jacob, turning her attention to him and making her way towards him. "Hey, you, boy!" she called out. "There was a small red stone lying in the grass here, wasn't there? Did you see it? Do you know what happened to it?"

Jacob was slightly alarmed by the woman's aggressive tone of questioning. Somehow, his instincts told him that this woman was not to be trusted. He quickly shook his head. "N-no, I didn't see anything like that…" he said.

The woman stood menacingly before Jacob, towering over him. "I don't believe you," she said. "I think you know perfectly well where that stone is. In fact, I think you have it on you right now."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about-" objected Jacob feebly.

Suddenly, without warning, five watery tendrils shot out of the woman's fingertips, wrapping around Jacob's body and gripping him tightly, preventing him from moving. Two of the tendrils slid into his pocket and took out the small red stone. All the while, an astonished Jacob attempted to process what on earth was going on. He'd never seen anything like this before. Who was this woman, and why did she want this stone so badly?

"So you did have the stone," said the woman, smiling in triumph. "You know, I don't appreciate it when people lie to me. I think I'll kill you now, and-"

"Not so fast!"

A burst of flame suddenly struck the ground next to the woman, setting the grass near her on fire. Unfazed, the woman turned round to view the new arrival, and Jacob's gaze followed, his mouth agape as he struggled to keep up with what was happening. Walking towards the pair of them was a girl with fiery red hair, wearing a red and black tunic. Flames smouldered around her fingertips, and there was an vicious fire burning in her amber eyes. She did not seem the slightest bit intimidated by the woman standing in front of her, even though said woman was several inches taller than her and currently had several long watery tendrils extending from her fingertips.

The woman herself was similarly unfazed by the newcomer. "So you must be Erica, the Ember Stone Guardian," she said. "You're too late, Erica. I have already taken the first Shard, and once I dispose of this boy-"

"What? You're really gonna kill this innocent kid, who has no idea what's going on here?" Erica seemed more amused than sickened by this. "You really are a heartless witch, huh?"

"He got in the way," said the woman, "as have you."

"I really don't have any idea what's going on he- ACK!" Jacob tried to plead his innocence, but to no avail, and the woman merely tightened the tendrils' grip on him. He was now struggling to breathe, let alone move.

"Unhand that boy now!" insisted Erica.

"I will not," said the woman, "and you cannot make me, Ember Guardian."

Sensing she was getting nowhere, and that she probably couldn't beat a water elemental in a straight fight, Erica decided to change tack. "Don't you have nine more Shards to be collecting?" she asked slyly. "Every minute you spend here is a minute you could be out searching for them. You'll have plenty of time to kill us both once your master Vaz'qui collects all ten. That is who you're working for, right?"

This unexpected suggestion gave the woman thought for pause. "You would really give up this Shard in order to save this boy's life?" she asked.

"Sure, why wouldn't I?" Erica remarked. "It's doesn't matter if you have one of them, so long as you don't get all ten. I'd say it's a pretty fair trade."

The woman paused for a moment further, then nodded. "Fine. Then I will spare you both, this time. But the next time either of you crosses Caerulea, Mistress of the Waves, you will be destroyed. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes!" stammered Jacob. "Crystal clear!"

The tendrils loosened themselves from Jacob's body, and the weary boy collapsed to the ground as Caerulea's hand reformed into a normal hand. Then, in a flurry of spray, she was gone, taking the Shard with her, leaving only an amused-looking Erica, and an extremely confused young farmhand.

"Are you alright, kid?" asked Erica. "That must've been pretty scary, huh?"

For a moment, Jacob was speechless, trying to take in everything that had just occurred and trying to think of the right thing to say at the end of it all. Finally, he asked the first question he could think of: "What… just happened?"