Single post in Shadvex's Story [PG-13]

“And then he said, ‘Same reason I let you live every other time, Vile; I have a mythical thing called patience!’” I finished. I looked at the four-maverick audience my story had gathered: Blaze Heatnix had fallen asleep, Storm Eagle was listening intently, and Chill Penguin and Flame Hyenard were trying to take each other’s heads off. Storm Eagle poked Blaze Heatnix until he woke up. “He’s done talking, you pile of crud,” he said. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Can I go now?” “Yes,” answered Storm Eagle, “But I can’t see what you would have to do. We’re not going to be called for a mission, you know. We have the day off, remember?” “We should all go for a walk,” I said randomly. “Was that to be interpreted as ‘We should drown Flame Hyenard’?” asked Storm Eagle. “A walk?” Flame Hyenard asked, still holding Chill Penguin back. “I would much rather- BURN TO THE GROUND!- stay here. Besides, walking- BURNS YOU TO THE GROUND!- wastes your energy.” “Y’know,” Blaze Heatnix whispered, “For once he has a point.” “The point that walking burns you to the ground? Honestly, I’ve done quite a bit of wandering around the forest, and the worst that ever happened was me getting a papercut on my nose,” I said. “Reploids can get papercuts?” Storm Eagle asked. “That’s what I said,” I retorted. “I don’t see why it would be something to bother with, taking the time to add the ability to get papercuts.” “Do you have any idea how much sense you just made?” asked Blaze Heatnix. “How much?” “None.” “Do you even care?” “Good point. No, I don’t.” I got up from where I was sitting. “Okay, well, I’m going to go roll around outside like a numbnut,” I said. “If anyone wants to join me in being a numbnut you can.” I went outside, and, true to my word, threw myself onto the ground and started rolling around. After what seemed to be a few minutes. I heard someone come outside to watch. “...What are you doing?” asked Storm Eagle after staring at me for a few minutes. Or maybe a few seconds. How should I know? “What I said I would do,” I said. “Rolling around like a numbnut.” “The day is over,” Sigma announced. “Return to your rooms. You have one minute to get to your room and talk with your roommate before the lights go out.” “Oh come on…” I whined, getting up to go find Blaze Heatnix. The new alarm that just had to be under my mattress went off, and I woke up with a bark, narrowly avoiding hitting the ceiling. “Blaze Heatnix, Chill Penguin, Sting Chameleon, and Flame Mammoth, come to Sigma’s office for your mission,” Sigma announced. “Make sure Chill Penguin doesn’t kill you,” I called. “Whatever,” Blaze Heatnix muttered, exiting the room. Storm Eagle was waiting for me outside. “When do you wake up, anyways?” I asked. “It takes, like, twenty minutes to get here from your room.” “More like forty-five seconds,” he corrected. “Come on, we should retreat to the training room before Flame Hyenard finds us.” He paused for a moment. “Actually...” “Hmm?” I said, glancing over at him with curiosity. Storm Eagle gave a sly grin. “I’m sure Sigma won’t mind if we go Maverick Hunter hunting.” I stared, dumbfounded. “But Vile... and pickles... and...” It occurred to me that I was spouting nonsense. I then found what I wanted to say. “You never seemed like the kind of person to just randomly break rules for no reason.” Storm Eagle shrugged. “Every Maverick breaks a rule at some point in their life, it’s natural behavior.” “Two and a half years and I still don’t fully understand you guys.” “That’s normal,” Storm Eagle said. “Come on, we should go find someone to murder before Flame Hyenard or Vile finds us or something.” He started walking towards the forest. “Okay, sure, whatever,” I said, following him. Storm Eagle paused for a moment. “Are... Are you turning into Blaze Heatnix?” “No idea,” I replied. We wandered through the forest for a while. “Geez, there’s usually at least two of them wandering around this time of day...” muttered Storm Eagle. “Maybe today’s their donut day,” I said with a shrug. “That’s possible, but you’d think at least one of them would randomly decide to skip that to wander out here to terrorize the squirrels or something.” “...Terrorize the squi- Holy Altair we’re both idiots,” I said abruptly. “How so?” “We’ve been talking, in a forest, loud enough so that neither of us would hear it if someone decided to sneak up on us.” I turned around, and what I saw would have made me wet my pants if I were capable of doing that. Storm Eagle tried to say something, perhaps a warning or instructions to run and not stop, but it was far too late. The next thing I knew, the Maverick Hunter I had encountered those two and a half years ago had rushed at Storm Eagle in a blur of red and yellow, his energy saber no more than a neon green flash cutting through the air. Its path was intercepted by Storm Eagle’s chest. Had I not realized I would be next, I probably would’ve suffered the same fate. I took no hesitation and ran in the opposite direction. After about forty-five seconds or so of haphazardly charging through the underbrush, I decided to retreat to the cover of a nearby tree. I don’t know how long I hid there, to be honest. After a while, I finally jumped down from the tree and cautiously walked back to the place where we had encountered Zero. What I saw was both surprising and yet not at the same time, but neither of those things took away from the horror. Shaking slightly, I crouched down next to Storm Eagle, who was lying on the ground, looking quite dead. “Are... are you still alive?” I asked, knowing how stupid of a question it was. “Just barely...” I couldn’t find any words to reply with. I just sat there, shaking with a mixture of multiple feelings, of which included rage, fear, and a few other things that would fit in a sappy sad movie from 20XX. “Look, Shadvex,” he said with great effort. “Don’t let this get you down. It’s the fate that awaits all of us. Every Maverick is doomed to death some day. It’s what happens when your life is about fighting for what you believe in most.” “But-” “It’s simply the way it goes. It’s an endless cycle of life and death until the day comes that we won’t continue functioning no matter what’s done and become another contribution to the scrap heap. It’s nothing more than a way of life for us. But our sacrifices bring us ever closer to winning this war. No matter how hard others resist, we keep pushing with greater strength. It’s either give it everything you’ve got, or get out.” I would have liked nothing more than go back in time and make it so that this had never happened. I was legitimately on the verge of mental breakdown. “Go on, Shadvex...” muttered Storm Eagle as the last of his life drained away. “Continue fighting without me.” I'm not sure what happened after that. My life had simply become another obstacle to overcome. I must have spent days there. Maybe even weeks. When I returned to the base, I was corrupted. More corrupted than I already had been. And then I snapped.