Chapter 1. Lost

The air of the battle zone was filled with the unmistakable sounds of combat. Dust flew all around Agura as she kicked Kyburi back and ran towards the Reverb, which had crashed into a cluster of rocks causing its sonic cannons to break and the front end of the vehicle to partially crumble inward. While hand-to-hand combat with the Reds wasn't ideal, Stanford hadn't responded after the crash, and she was the closest one to him.

The Reds had caught them by surprise in this zone. Sage had sent them out to investigate a signal that had supposedly come from a lost data log. Instead, they were met by Krytus, his team, and their new weapon. Agura didn't know exactly what it was or what it did, only that it was powerful, and that it was kicking their collective asses.

She climbed up the hood of the Reverb and forced its door open. Stanford lay slumped forward in the seat, blood dripping onto his lap from both a gash across his forehead and his very likely broken nose. Shit. She pulled him out the seat and threw him over her shoulder, hauling ass trying to make it back to the Tangler.

"Agura, watch out!" Vert's voice rang over the comms. She turned in time to see Kytren pointing something at her and everything flashed white.

...

The first thing Agura noticed was the quiet. The sounds of their fight with the Reds had completely dissipated, swallowed up by whatever Kyrten had done. She sat up and rubbed at her eyes, still unfocused from the blast of light, and blinked several times. When she could properly see again, her eyes went wide.

There were no Red Sentients, no Reverb spun out in the rocks, no Tangler, no team…

She was in a completely different battle zone.

She closed her eyes again, shaking her head. This wasn't happening. This wasn't real. Her eyes opened, and she was still in the middle of absolutely nowhere. She looked around frantic. A wave of relief washed over her when she caught sight of Stanford, still unconscious, sprawled out several feet away. She crawled over to him, not daring to trust her legs. He was still breathing, which was a good sign. His nose was definitely broken, though, but at least it seemed to be the only part of him that was. Good. They were both alive.

The next thing Agura did was check the comm link on her wrist.

"Vert?" She said into it, desperately trying to ignore the static. "Sherman? Spinner? Zoom? Anyone? Do you copy?"

Nothing. She grabbed Stanford's wrist and tried his comm.

More nothing.

She took several deep breaths. Okay, so not only were they stranded without their vehicles, they also had no working comm link to try and contact the team. And it their comms were out, that meant their beacons were offline as well. For a moment she was suddenly grateful that Stanford was unconscious because he would be panicking right about now, and that was the last thing she needed. She drew in another deep breath. The team would find them, she told herself. Sage could figure something out and they would be home in no time. There was no reason to panic.

Agura slowly picked herself up off the ground. She stood for a moment, testing her weight to make sure she was steady, before once again slinging Stanford over her shoulder. Her first priority had to be finding shelter. She had no idea what tricks this battle zone might be hiding and she didn't want to find out.

The land, for the most part, was flat. She headed towards the mountains in the distance, hoping to find a cave to hole up in until the team found them. The air around them was dry and tasted stale on her tongue, much like the air back on the Salt Flats. If it wasn't for the two suns burning brightly overhead, Agura would have guessed that Kytren's device had simply sent them home. Whatever that thing had been, it was dangerous, and she hoped it hadn't affected the rest of the team. She stopped in her tracks. She hadn't even considered that. If the rest of the team had somehow been affected-

She shook her head. It wouldn't do either her or Stanford any good to think about that now. Besides, even if the team had been affected, they had still been in their vehicles. With that in mind, she pressed on. If she could make it to the mountains before nightfall, she could find somewhere to rest. Stanford was starting to get heavy. She thought about trying to wake him up, but decided against it. He probably had a concussion and would only slow their pace stumbling around this strange desert. She walked on.

The suns were low in the sky by the time she reached the mountains. She didn't have to look for very long before finding a small cave, shallow enough that she could see the back, but deep enough that she could stretch out. She gently laid Stanford down on the ground. Her muscles ached as she stretched before sprawling out in the ground herself. She was exhausted. She wrapped her arms around herself and slept.

...

The first thing Stanford noticed upon waking was the pain in his face. He remembered crashing during the fight against the Reds and that was about it. He'd assumed the team had gotten him home safely, but that didn't explain why he hurt. Sage would have given him something for the pain, right? He slowly opened his eyes.

He had been expecting to see the light of the Hub, Sage hovering over him. Instead it was dark. He blinked several times, willing his eyes to adjust. It stayed dark, however. Then he noticed the ceiling. It wasn't the normal tech that the Hub was made of, but rock. Actual rock.

He slowly sat up. Where was he? He looked around, feeling a growing sense of panic rising in his chest. Tears sprung up in his eyes and it was suddenly becoming difficult to breathe. He checked the comm link on his wrist, but it wouldn't turn on. He was stranded out here, wherever here was, alone and with no way to contact the team. He pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around himself. This couldn't be real.

"Stanford?"

He lifted his head immediately.

"Agura!" He cried in relief, launching himself at her as she came through the opening of wherever they were. He half expected her to shove him away, so when she hugged him back he was a little surprised. "Where are we? What happened?"

"I'm not sure." She said. "I'd pulled you out of the Reverb after it crashed and was trying to get back to the Tangler when Kyrten did something. I don't know what, but he pointed this thing at us and when the dust settled, we were here."

"But where is here?"

"I don't know, Stanford."

He shivered.

"The team will find us." Agura told him confidently. He nodded slowly. Without their comms and without their vehicles, it would probably take them some time, but Agura was right. The team would find them. They had to.

Agura was the first to pull out of their embrace. "I'm sorry I left." She said. "I wanted to see what was around here and I didn't know when you were going to wake up. You took a pretty nasty hit."

Stanford winced. He was definitely feeling it. "How bad does it look?"

"Bad. Your nose is broken."

"Fuck." He whispered. Then louder, "You'll punch me in the face if it heals crooked, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, Stanford. I'd love to punch you in the face." She was being sarcastic of course. Trying to make light of the situation. He laughed a little and looked around the cave again.

"Agura," he said her name quietly. "Promise you won't leave me along again."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "I promise. Whatever happens, we're in this together."

"You make it sound like we're married." He teased.

She dropped his hand. "I will punch you, Stanford."

They sat there without speaking for several moments.

"So, what do we do now?" Stanford asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Survive."