Explorer X Alpha (15 page)

When the fire nail hit his arm, his gaze jerked to meet Eirena's. In an instant, her look turned from anger to remorse. His heart sunk because he couldn't believe she would purposely hurt him. He turned away from her in anger and dismissed her as he rode away.

Aadi felt the sharp burning pain of the fire nail when it sliced through his suit and grazed his arm. The pain and smell of burned flesh didn't hurt half as bad as Eirena's betrayal. He knew she was competitive, but he never knew she would turn on him in such a brutal way just to win a stupid videogame.
If she wants to play that way so be it,
he thought,
Two can play at that game.

Eirena started to slow down a bit. She glanced to the left, only to see Raiko speed up beside her. Raiko came up beside her and stood on her seat with the poise of a trapeze artist. Raiko glared at Eirena and then placed her hands on the handlebars of her quad, while keeping speed with Eirena. As Raiko balanced on the handlebars, she whipped out a snake-like kick to Eirena's face. Eirena felt the ache of the blow as her head jerked to the right.

“Raiko, I am sorry! Don't,” said Eirena. Before Eirena could speak another word, Raiko whipped out another kick to Eirena's chest and continued her attack. Eirena fought hard to hold on, but the quad was speeding forward.

“I don't want to fight you!” said Eirena, and Raiko flipped onto her seat, pulled up closer to Eirena's quad, and punched Eirena's neck with such force that Eirena began to gag and choke. A tear fell from Eirena's eyes, but Raiko still didn't back down. Instead, she kept punching, punching, and punching Eirena in the neck while Eirena tried to hold on to the handlebars. Eirena had stopped fighting, but Raiko wasn't finished. She squatted on her quad to land a powerful side kick to Eirena's stomach, sending her over the edge of her quad. Eirena was barely holding on to one handlebar when Raiko jumped onto Eirena's quad and pounded down with her fist. Eirena tried with all her might to fight through the sharp punches, but her fingers slipped one by one. Then, Raiko raised her hand and looked at Eirena with anger before she punched with all her might on Eirena's last two fingers.

Eirena was out of the game. Raiko shook her head and smiled as she climbed on her quad and threw a fireball at Eirena's quad. She watched as Eirena's quad blew up and pieces of it fell like an umbrella around her.

Eirena fell into the darkness. She shook herself awake, feeling groggy from the transition to the real world.

“What have I done? What have I done!” she said.

 

 

Aadi's arm was burned, but he blocked it out as he pushed his quad to its highest speed.
Control,
he thought.
I need to control this,
he told himself. He tried to block out what happened and keep focus on the game. Jacob was on his heels, and Jacob played dirty. Balls of fire flew past Aadi as he maneuvered right and then left to keep up the pace and his lead. Jacob started to attack shortly after Eirena's attack ended. It was an unexpected surprise for Aadi and caused him to waver just a bit, which gave Jacob an advantage and shortened the distance between them.

Aadi came up to the road where there was only a small track between two mountains. He knew he had to get there before Jacob, or it was going to get ugly. Aadi glanced back to see Jacob come up within inches of his quad. Jacob pulled back a little, and Aadi turned around to see the bridge coming up close.

Aadi felt the impact of the hit as his quad jerked forward. Jacob had hit him hard from behind again. Jacob wasn't letting up. He hit him again, and this time, Aadi lost control. The quad went forward and then tilted to the left and rolled over on top of Aadi.

“Ugh,” he forced out. Aadi watched Jacob take off and saw his team fight off Phillip and Mitchell. He knew he had to get up, and he had to do it fast. There was no time to think about the pain. He willed up the strength to push the quad off of him. The quad didn't give enough to go all the way over. Aadi sat up quickly and caught it before it fell back on him, and he gave a final push to set the quad up. He hopped on quickly, started the engine, and followed Jacob to the bridge.

Aadi pushed his quad speed as he glanced at the sphere and knew he had to get to the trading point quickly before he was out of the game and his team would be declared the losers. He gained on Jacob, and his teammates were close on his heels to protect him from Phillip. Mitchell, however, passed by them earlier to meet Jacob at the transfer point on the other side of the bridge.

Aadi yelled back, “Raiko, go catch him and meet me at the spot!” and Raiko went into hyper-speed which takes her just ahead of Aadi. He glanced forward and Jacob and Mitchell were crossing the bridge. His quad wasn't cooperating after being hit, as it couldn't seem to get into hyper-speed. Raiko looked back and noticed. She took out the robot arms from her quad, latched onto Aadi's quad, and pushed her quad into hyper mode.

“Raiko, we are coming up on the bridge! Watch out for Jacob and Mitchell!” Aadi said.

Raiko looked back briefly and smiled and drove her quad harder. They came up to the bridge, with Jacob and Mitchell riding side by side in front of them. Raiko called back, “I am going to throw you!”

“What?” Aadi yelled back over the engine noise. He braced himself for a hard-hitting landing. Raiko pushed harder, going into hyper-speed. Then, her robot arms braced Aadi's quad for the throw. Aadi was ready, and he knew he had to land perfectly or he would be going off the bridge and out of the game in one fell swoop. Raiko's robotic arms threw Aadi up and over Mitchell and Jacob. Aadi struggled to stay calm and to trust Raiko. He searched for his landing point, about six feet ahead of both Jacob and Mitchell.

Landing with a sharp hit upon the edge of the bridge, he was close to the end. He pushed hard, as he was almost to the trading point, and the sphere was now on fire. Racing harder with Jacob on his heels, he saw Raiko speed past Jacob.

“Almost there! Now, trade!” Raiko said as they crossed the bridge and rode onto a mountain ridge that ran the length of the next portion of the race. Aadi rode slightly past her, and her quad robot arms grabbed the fireball of a sphere from Aadi's quad. The trade was made, and the sphere turned icy white as it was placed onto Raiko's quad.

 

 

Raiko kicked her quad into hyper drive. Mitchell was right on her heels. She breathed slowly and methodically to keep calm and focused. Mitchell came up behind her, and she looked in the mirror to see him prepare to throw a nasty fireball her way.

“Oh, no you don't,” she warned as she keyed in the sequence to send a blast of fire in Mitchell's wake before he had a chance to see it coming.

“Yes!” she yelled out loud as Mitchell almost fell off his quad as the blast hit the front of his vehicle. She drove quickly as she noticed her sphere turn pale orange. She spied the cliff up ahead and braced herself.

“Crap!” she said at the impact from a fireball that hit her back wheel as she jerked forward. The quad was not damaged, but it made her sphere grow to a bright orange. She looked to her right to see Mitchell pass her by, and he turned to her and spat on the ground as he passed.

“Eww! C'mon!” she said. Raiko pushed her quad faster, only to feel the heat of another fireball zooming by her to her right. Jacob gained fast, but he was still a distance away. She prepared for the jump up ahead. Mitchell was already in midair. She came up to the edge of the cliff and analyzed the distance with a look. Then, she backed up to add momentum to her jump. She revved the engine and took off, pushing the accelerator to maximum speed as she jumped. She rode the quad high over the cliff and passed Mitchell to her right. The quad hit the hard-packed purple sand with a powerful jerk. Mitchell was right beside her within minutes. They raced across the sand with the finish line in sight, and Mitchell rode his quad close enough to hers to land a punch on her right side. Her head jerked with the impact, and she winced.

“Oh, that's it… I am ticked off now!” she said, and tapped her hand to put her quad in computerized drive mode. She jumped onto Mitchell's quad right behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She focused on a specific point at the back of his neck and landed the first punch. Mitchell tried to get her off by moving and hitting behind him at Raiko. However, she couldn't be moved. She wrapped her legs around his waist like a vice grip as she landed punch after punch at the back of his neck. Mitchell tried to move out of her chokehold, but Raiko refused to give him an inch. She pushed off his helmet and gave him a short reprieve from her punching, only to land a piercing blow to his temple.

She pounded him on the side of his head over and over again. He twisted his back and tried to pull at her arm, her hand, or anything to get her off of him. Raiko thought at this moment that she would put him out, right now as she realized the sphere was on fire. She calmly pressed the pressure point at his neck with such precision that Mitchell didn't know what hit him, and he fell over the handlebars of his quad with a thump, out cold. Raiko smiled to herself and then slapped her hands together as if wiping off sand. She jumped to her quad, not even glancing back as a sleeping Mitchell fell off his quad and out of the game. Raiko raced to the finish line and won the game.

Thrown back to reality, Raiko shook her head side to side and slowly woke up. Jacob stood over her, smiling with a look of admiration in his eyes.

“Wow! Wow! You are definitely going to be on my team next time,” he said, and Raiko grinned at him. He offered his hand to help her up. “Man, what a rush. You have got to teach me some of those moves,” Jacob said and took Raiko's hand.

There were other kids waiting outside the room for their turn, so the gamers got up and out in a hurry.

Aadi looked around for Eirena. Slowly, he came out of the initial sting of her betrayal and wanted to make sure that she was all right. He was anxious to leave and started to walk out of the door.

“Hey, why would she leave? ‘Cause she is definitely gone,” Jacob said, wrapping an arm around Raiko.

“Hmm… maybe she doesn't like being a loser,” Neema replied and looked at Jacob.

“Maybe. Well, this is where we have to part. We have a private session with our team Counselor before dinner,” Jacob said.

“Oh, Aadi and Raiko, let's do this again,” Jacob threw back, and his team quickly and quietly followed.

“Aadi, thanks for joining us. I'll be your partner anytime,” Neema said with a flirtatious smile.

“Thanks for inviting me, Neema. It was fun,” Aadi replied and forced himself to return her smile.

“Hmph,” Raiko said in recognition.

“Raiko, you really came alive in the game. I am glad you were on my team,” Aadi said and walked alongside Raiko. Then, he pulled out his yo-yo gasid. “Um, Raiko, why did you take Eirena out of the game?” Aadi asked as he glanced at her.

“I don't know. Why don't you ask her why she threw a fire nail at you?” Raiko said in a loud, snappy tone.

“Maybe I should. Although, I must admit, I really don't have much to say to her right now,” Aadi said. He looked at his yo-yo and pondered what he would say to Eirena when he saw her at dinnertime, if he said anything to her at all.

“Well, I gotta go. We'll see you at dinner. We have something to talk to you all about, and it must be tonight,” Raiko said, then turned down her hallway.

“That's fine. See you then. Oh… and Raiko, I am proud to have you on my team anytime,” Aadi said as he walked away.

“Hmm, then why do I feel so bad?” Raiko mumbled in return.

 

 

Raiko hesitated before scanning her eyes for entry. Then she took a deep, calming breath. As she walked in the door, she saw Eirena at the computer. Eirena was working so intently that she didn't even hear the door open. So Raiko went to the bed and pulled herself up on the top bunk.

“Oh, Raiko, glad you're back. I was just mapping out how we would get to the locations that I think we should check out tonight,” Eirena said in a fake cheery voice.

“Uh, Eirena, can we talk first about the game?” Raiko said to the back of Eirena's head.

“What's there to talk about?” Eirena asked, still not bothering to turn around.

“I am sorry I got mad at you. I shouldn't have taken you out of the game so early,” Raiko said, a bit silently.

“Well, whatever. It's over,” Eirena said and finally turned around and smiled at Raiko.

“I probably should have put Jacob in his place a lot sooner, but I wasn't really paying attention to him. Besides, he surprised me with the kiss. I don't like him in that way, Raiko, and I would never steal away someone that you like. I am just not that kind of person. Sorry you felt that way,” Eirena said and then looked directly at Raiko.

“So, do you forgive me? Jacob is kind of a flirt anyway,” Raiko rushed out.

“Yeah, he is. But a cute one nonetheless,” Eirena replied with a smile.

“Oh, he is gorgeous. He also took my arm after the game was over. I can't help it, but I still like him - a lot,” Raiko smiled and blushed.

“Well, just don't go around beating up every poor girl he flirts with, okay?”

“I won't,” Raiko said and tucked her feet under her leg.

“Well, he did give me some information about Trevor, their sixth teammate. He said Trevor broke out in these bumps, more like boils. They were transparent and had some type of bugs moving around in them, he said,” Eirena explained, placing her hand on her chin in thought.

“That's weird. Is he still on the ship?”

“Well, according to Jacob, they told him they were taking the kid home, but Jacob thinks he is still on the ship. I mean, why would they take him back to Earth until they found out what he had and if it was contagious or not? Heck, I mean, wouldn't they want to fix him first before his parents saw what the immunization did to him?” Eirena pondered, then crossed her arms.