Erasers.
All around her, mutants exposed claws and bared teeth. Fur fluffed out and tail straightened, scales hitting each other. Mutants lowered themselves into a battle-ready stance, eyes flicking over the forest.
Mutants faced every direction. Which way were they?
Ophia was terrified, eyes whipping in every direction. She pulled herself out of the pond, Neon right behind her. The air was quiet, but the terrible kind of quiet. The kind that suffocated. The kind that drowned.
The kind that killed.
The white winged mutant landed heavily on the ground by Loki. His feathers were puffed out and broken in some places. A cut spread like an earthquake up his leg. Blood spilled from it and onto the ground. He winced as he put weight on the leg.
Ophia shook the last bit of water off of her legs and snuck toward the mutant.
Loki was crouched in front of him, her pale green eyes wide. "Lukas. Report. What's goin on out there?"
The mutant winced once before straightening. "We were just going for an aerial view. Trying to find out where the Erasers were so we could tell everyone. But-" he coughed, and a bit of blood seeped through his fingers. "They were in the air. I don't know. They were like regular Erasers. But they had wings."
He shook his head, blond hair shaking. "We didn't see them coming. I was able to get away. But-" his breath hitched. "Renegade is dead, and i wasn't able to see what happened to the others."
Loki's eyes widened. "Lord. You said that they were flying? Which way? Where were they going?
Lukas paused, looking up in the air. Blood still leaked from his wound. He paled rapidly.
Loki shook his shoulders. "Where? Where were they coming from?"
With a shaking head, Lukas sighed. "Here. They were flying right toward here."
Loki released a flock of curse words so vivid and creative that Ophia could have blushed if she didn't have scales on her cheeks. The mutant's wings snapped and flexed in a horrible kind of anger, dark green feathers cutting through the air.
She snapped to Lukas. "Can you still fly?"
He winced, looked at his leg, and then straightened up. "Yes. Though not for very long."
Loki nodded. "Good. I need you to get to either the Predators or the Prey - whichever you can find first. Tell them to come back to the Pride."
She paused. "Actually, find the Predators. The Prey need to find the other mutants before the Erasers get to them."
Lukas nodded his head. Loki backed away from him, leaving a clear path. He took a few steps back before breaking out in a stumbling run. He snapped his wings out and leapt as high as he could.
It was unsteady, but eventually his wings caught a draft and he flew off toward the forest.
Loki sucked in a deep breath, eyes closed. The black scales glittered on her throat. Then she took a deep breath and started to shout.
"Mutants!" Everyone immediately flocked to her, eyes full of worry and panic. There weren't that many here. Only the mutants who weren't part of the other groups. It was only around fifteen, and three of them seemed to be only six years old.
Ophia jogged up to Loki. She could feel her fangs flexing inside of her mouth, long and sharp. She had never fought an Eraser before. She hadn't been in the Arena, having spent most of her life adjusting to getting DNA after she was born. She hadn't fought before.
Neon came up behind her. The mutant stayed a good two feet away from everyone, arms tucked in close to her body.
Loki spoke in a voice that demanded attention. "We are under attack, and it may be a while before the others manage to come back. There are some sort of flying Erasers that are coming to attack us here. We will fight them off."
"Remember." Her voice changed, becoming harder. More war-like. "They are the ones who made us run until we passed out. Stuck needles and cut us open. The ones who tortured us and expected us to obey them. But will we obey them?"
Every mutant screamed back at her. "NO!"
"Then let us show them that we do not!" Loki roared, slowly extending her wings. She flashed two inch long fangs out of her mouth.
"They have made us like this. Let us show us what we can do!"
It was a roar of sound, something furious. There weren't that many mutants there but everyone poured their heart into it. Ophia joined her voice with theirs, feeling the ground shake beneath their feet.
A howl echoed through the forest. It seemed to be answering back to them.
"Get ready!" Loki warned.
Every mutant took several steps away from each other. Fangs were bared and claws extended. There was no one with wings except for Loki, and she took a running start and leapt into the air. Slowly she rotated around, before her face went pale.
She landed heavily, before pointing in a direction. "They are coming from there. Let us make them regret this!"
Ophia heard a hiss and saw Reflex push her way toward her, pale green eyes narrowed and pupils slitted. Her ears were straight up and her fur was raised. Claws extended out from her paws.
Ace was right beside her, but something was wrong with him. His eyes were wide with not only fear, but something else. He covered his ears with his paws, but there wasn't any sound.
Neon didn't make a sound, but she sucked in a deep breath. Her throat extended out somewhat, and the blue and black splotches seemed to glow with a fevered light in the dying sun.
Ophia took a cue when she saw it. She settled herself into the most stable position she knew, one foot behind and one in front. She clenched her hands into fists, the scales on her right knuckle shining in the light. She bared her fangs and hissed.
There was silence except for the rustling of mutants, soft growls, and low hisses. Everyone was as tense as could be possible.
Then the first Eraser dropped from the sky.
It landed in front of them, fangs bared and grey wings tucked to its back. It seemed to grin at them, tensing its back legs.
Then Loki exploded toward it.
It tried to throw a punch but Loki grabbed the arm and bit down as hard as she could. The Eraser shrieked and tried to pull back, but its movements were sluggish, slowed. Loki kept on biting until the Eraser let out a gurgle and slumped to the ground. It did not move.
"Use what you what!" She roared at them. "Everything you have- attack them with it!"
There was an howl from above, and a dozen Erasers landed with thumps all around the group of mutants.
There was one in front of her. A brute with black wings.
Ophia hissed and ran at it.
It swung a punch at her. She blocked it with her scales. The impact hurt much more than she had thought.
She bit her lip and started to attack.
She just had to get her fangs on it.
The Eraser howled and leapt at her. She fell to the ground and watched as it sailed over her head. It ran toward Neon.
Ophia jumped through the air and landed on its back.
The Eraser yelped and tried to buck her off, but she gripped its fur and hung on. She found its neck.
She lunged down and sank her fangs in.
It was horrible. She could feel the skin break and her fangs slide into its flesh. It screamed underneath her, sounding so, so human. But she pumped her venom in and it stopped moving.
Neon was gone already, running toward a Eraser battling Reflex.
Ace was frozen only feet from her, eyes squeezed shut and hands clasped over his ears. An Eraser took notice and sprang for him.
Ophia met him in midair and was thrown backward.
Her head slammed on a rock and her vision immediately grew blurry. A hand reached for her arm and she lunged at it.
"Me, Ophia, me!" Reflex panted, pulling her to her feet. The Eraser was under siege by three mutants.
But-
It was the last one.
Slumped piles of fur were strewn around the clearing. Ophia could see the one she killed, frozen on the ground.
The Eraser got its fangs around a mutant's arm and they shrieked. The other mutant grabbed it by its wings and pulled it off.
Its neck was snapped and it fell to the ground.
They-
They had won.
There was silence but only for a moment, and then everyone began to cheer. A loud and awestruck sound that filled the air with their victory. It was like nothing she had heard before. They had won.
Mutants everywhere leapt at each other, wrapping others up in their arms. They yelled as they hugged each other, though one ran off to one of the tents. They came back with a roll of something white.
The four injured mutants went to them, wincing or stumbling. Others helped wrapped their wound, brushing off their blood.
They had won.
Reflex stumbled toward Ace, placing a paw on his shoulder. He jumped.
Ophia turned around and searched the crowd. She found the one mutant standing away from everyone else, arms tucked it.
She ran to Neon.
"Are you okay?" She asked, voice low.
Neon jumped, looking over at her. Eyes wide, she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."
Ophia grinned, the realest she had ever done since she escaped the School. It felt natural.
And Neon didn't flinch away from the fangs that extended out of her mouth, the edges glinting with scarlet blood. She just sighed happily and closed her eyes. "We won."
"That we did."
They both glanced at each other and started a low laughter built from stress and relief.
But then Neon's pure black eyes widened in horror and she screamed.
Ophia leapt backward and raised her fists. Neon shrieked "Behind you!"
She spun around and was met with the claws of an Eraser.
They caught her on the face and threw her to the side. She fell heavily on the ground, cheeks burning with red hot pain.
Neon tried to lurch backward but the Eraser ran at her all the same. It grabbed her around the white clothing and slammed her on the ground. She slumped down and didn't move.
Ophia tried to reach for her, tried to save them both, but the Eraser's foot came down on her head and she knew no more.
Hello! Totally not dead.
*blushes heavily and tries to come up with an excuse*
Well, so here's the story. I've been working on my novel - slow going, eh? - but it just wasn't working for me. So I've posted little oneshots and tried to get another fanfic going to get the old juices flowing again, but that didn't work. So I had to come back to my masterpiece XD
But anyway! Story details.
Sorry if you submitted an Eraser and I didn't use them. Don't worry. I will ;)
But everyone was captured! Oh no!
What happened was that after they beat the flying Erasers, normal Erasers came in and attacked them. A lot more than just a dozen, and everyone lost.
But I also used Lukas this chapter! Thanks to VentustheStorm!
How did you like the chapter in Ophia's perspective? I've been thinking of posting side stories about each of the character's backstory, or something like that. I'm no quite sure, but I know the theme I would go for. So for I've got the backstories of Ophia, Neon, Reflex, and Ace. Tell me if you want me to write those!
But now they are back in the School, and they won't be treated quite as nicely as they were before! (Though there really wasn't a 'nice')
Anyway! Please read and review!
Frost OUT!
