DarkFoxKit: And here we are. It's been quiet these past few weeks, hasn't it?

Connor: It's always loud at college. :P But yeah, the EB fandom's hitting a bit of a slump… hopefully we can pick ourselves back up (although I'm leaving this fandom after I'm done with Ceres so I might be part of the problem haha).

DarkFoxKit: I wonder why EB's been slowing down lately… Well anyways, I guess we should get to the reviews.

KookyMango: Connor: Hey, don't worry about it! And it's fine to be excited for battles. :) Yes, the feels may not be as real as in one of PKTofuMaster's stories where they stretch out for 14k words at a time, but we do try to focus a lot on characters' emotional sides (not that other stories are wrong for not doing that; it's just our preferred style of writing). And yes, we'll see in this chapter. :) As for the Masked Man… I don't want to give anything away just yet.

Ninten64: DarkFoxKit: Heh, if they would die, it wouldn't be now. And if you count Frank as a main character… well… heh. ^^' Anyways, Ness and Lucas finally meet here.

Chapter 9: Vengeance

"Paula," Ness said, running up and grabbing her by the arm. "You have to stop going off on your own like this."

"I'm not on my own, am I?" Paula said, shaking off his hand and sneaking around the side of a building. "I knew that you would follow me."

Ness looked over at Fuel, who frowned at Paula. Ness pictured himself in Fuel's place. He had survived the pigmask wars by following orders and working as a team, and now some bigshot PSI-users thought to put all of them in danger with stupid stunts? No wonder Fuel was irked.

"That's the arcade over there," Frank said, pointing to a yellow building in the near distance. "My Sharks often hang out around there. They could be in trouble."

"So what's our objective here, anyway?" Fuel asked. "Does anyone truly think that we can stop the Americans here? The Eagleish army is nowhere in sight. At best, we could shoot down a few fighter jets."

Ness exchanged a look with Paula. What were they trying to accomplish?

"I know that this place means a lot to you," Fuel said. "But if we're fighting without any real hope of victory, we'll probably end up causing more destruction and chaos to this pretty little town. Sometimes, you have to learn when to abandon a lost cause."

As someone who fought in an undermanned and underarmed resistance against the pigmasks, Fuel probably had to retreat many more times than he would have liked. Ness was inclined to trust his judgment.

"As much as I hate to say it, I think that Fuel's right," Paula said. "We can't fight all of the American PSI-users and soldiers that they brought along. We should fall back and wait for our army to arrive."

"Right," Fuel said. "Once the army comes, we'll actually have a chance. Ness, do you know how many people a PSI-user can bring along when they teleport?"

"I don't know," Ness said. "I've never tried it with groups bigger than four or five."

"Well, the Americans probably know, and I'm guessing that they teleported in all of the soldiers that they could. It's still not nearly enough to deal with what we can throw at them if we work with the rest of the military. They'll have to teleport back to America."

"Or," Frank said. "They could teleport to a different Eagleish town and sack that."

Silence fell over the group.

"This isn't an actual military campaign," Ness realized. "It's geurilla warfare. We'll never be able to catch them."

"Right," Frank said, drawing his knives. "So let's kill them now."

"We still can't win," Fuel said. "Would you have us throw our lives away?"

"I agree," Ness said. "We pull out right now."

Paula nodded.

"Let's wait until they make more moves to take such a big risk," she said. "We have no idea what to expect from these Americans."

"Sorry," Frank said, shaking his head. "But I can't abandon my Sharks like that."

Frank Fly ran off towards the arcade, drawing a pistol and shooting a nearby American soldier in the leg. Fuel cursed and Paula let out a sigh.

"Are you two going to chase after him?" Fuel said. "Because honestly, I wouldn't."

"He does need to learn how to follow orders," Paula said. "But we can't abandon him to die. We'll have a firm talk with him once we get back to Fourside."

"If we get back to Fourside," Fuel said.

"You can feel free to sit this one out if you want," Ness said.

"No, I'm in this with you. I'll do my best to cover you from enemy snipers. Let's go before Frank gets himself picked off."

Paula and Ness ran after Frank Fly while Fuel followed several paces behind. Ness heard a couple shots from Fuel that took out American soldiers he hadn't even seen. He reminded himself to thank Pirkle for adding the Nowhere Islander to the team.

Ness turned a corner to reach the front of the arcade. Frank stood around the corner, his body stiff as he gazed upon a dead person that Ness recognized as one of the Sharks. An American PSI-user wearing one of their standard helmets stood over the dead body, looking confused.

"Another PSI-user!" Paula shouted, rounding the corner. Her eyes widened as she looked at the dead Shark and the PSI-user standing over him. "...Oh."

For a moment, nobody made a sound.

"You…" Frank said, his voice little more than a growl. "I'll tear your head off and make you eat it!"

Ness didn't even have time to think about the lack of logic in Frank's threat before the former gang leader lunged at the American PSI-user. Frank fired off a shot with his pistol, taking the PSI-user in the chest. The PSI-user seemed to wake up from a trance, stumbling backwards and pouring energy into his plasma sword, making it flare up to life.

"That little gadget won't save you!" Frank said, firing another shot at the PSI-user's knee.

The PSI-user nearly tripped as he clutched his knee in pain. He used Lifeup to heal himself from the bullet wounds Frank had given him.

This guy's a novice, Ness thought. Even with PSI, he's no match for Frank.

Ness looked over at Paula, searching in her expression for guidance. Paula's face betrayed little emotion, which made Ness feel even more alarmed. It didn't seem right to kill someone so new to combat, but should they put Frank's life in danger to spare him?

"Please," the PSI-user said. "I didn't kill him!"

"Lies!"

Frank Fly lunged forward, stabbing the PSI-user in the arm. The PSI-user slashed at Frank with a surprisingly clean stroke, sizzling as it grazed by Frank's side. Perhaps this PSI-user had training but was overwhelmed by an actual battle.

"Is that the best you've got?" Frank asked. "I could kill you in my sleep!"

Frank slashed at the PSI-user from the side, who blocked it with his plasma sword and melted the steel off Frank's knife. Frank dropped the dagger and rammed a knee into the PSI-user's stomach, sending him stumbling backwards. Frank leveled his pistol and shot the PSI-user in the chest.

The PSI-user cried out in pain, tripping and falling flat on his bottom. His mask tumbled off, revealing a face that Ness recognized.

"Lucas!" Fuel said.

"Lifeup," Lucas said, scrambling to get back on his feet. "Fuel. Are you…?"

Ness didn't know how Lucas intended to finish that sentence. Frank knocked Lucas to the ground a second time and kicked his plasma sword away.

"Frank!" Fuel said. "Stop it, please! That's my friend."

Frank put a pistol up to Lucas' head.

"He murdered one of my friends," Frank said. "That makes him my enemy."

Lucas whimpered.

"Try anything funny," Frank said. "And this bullet goes straight into your brain."

Lucas gulped. Fuel raised his rifle and pointed it at Frank.

"Let. Him. Go." Fuel's steely voice scared Ness more than his rifle did.

"You would point a gun at someone from your own squad?" Frank asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ness could see American soldiers rushing towards the arcade. Paula called fire from the earth to halt their tracks.

"Dang," Frank told Lucas. "I would love to interrogate you, kid, but it looks like we're in a dangerous spot. Any last words before you join my friend that you killed?"

"Please," Lucas said. "I-"

"That's enough," Frank said. "I thought that you would go out like a man, not some sniveling child. Goodb-"

Fuel fired his rifle, lodging a bullet in Frank's skull. Frank Fly slumped over and fell to the ground. Lucas looked at his dead captor with wide eyes, turning back towards Fuel. The next moment, he jumped to his feet started running away.

"Let's go," Fuel said, motioning for Ness and Paula to follow him. "More American soldiers are coming."

Paula took a step towards Lucas, her eyes burning with rage.

"Come on!" Ness said, grabbing onto Paula's arm. "We need to get out of here."

Paula let out a low growl and ducked away after Fuel. They ran for a few minutes before hiding behind a remote building. Ness let out a sigh of relief. There was no way that the Americans would think to look for them here. Maybe they could finally catch a breather.

Paula summoned her plasma sword and held it at Fuel's throat, pinning him to the wall of the building.

"Listen here, Fuel," Paula said through gritted teeth. "I didn't question you when you pointed a rifle at Frank because I figured that you were a goddamn professional. I assumed that you wanted to put the pressure on him to let Lucas go but that you would never ever fire a killing shot at one of our own. Looks like I got played for a fool."

Paula moved the plasma sword inches closer to Fuel's neck. The Nowhere Islander stared her down despite the fact that a flick of Paula's wrist could end his life.

"Well?" Paula asked. "Are you just going to stand there?"

"I have the impression that anything I say will make the situation worse," Fuel said. "But I wasn't going to let my friend die when he didn't even do anything wrong."

"So you murder one of our own?"

"Paula," Ness said. "We can work this out later. "Take your laser sword away from Fuel."

"Ness," Paula said. "You have to be kidding me. I'm pretty sure that this qualifies as treason under Eagleish law. I don't think that anyone would care if I let my hand slip and avenged Frank's death."

"I'm sorry," Fuel said. "But it had to be done. He was going to get us all killed."

Frank didn't seem like a professional soldier, Ness admitted to himself. Why would Pirkle put him on our squad?

"You shot him because he was going to kill your friend," Paula said. "But news flash: he was my friend too! So if killing people for your friends is acceptable, then maybe I shouldn't feel bad about taking your head off its shoulders!"

"Paula," Ness said. "Take the sword away from Fuel's throat."

"No," Paula said. "At the very least, I'll see him locked up for betraying his country. It's disgusting that we let people like him into our borders and then they repay us by shooting our soldiers."

"If it were Jeff with a gun to his head," Ness said, "What would you do?"

"Shut up!" Paula said. "Jeff's dead because of these Americans!"

"But if it were…"

"I said shut up!"

Ness summoned his plasma sword and pointed it at Paula.

"We'll figure out what to do later when we're not in an active battle," Ness said. "Let Fuel go."

"You can't understand how this feels," Paula said. "Frank was such a sweet person under his sleazy exterior. He had hopes and dreams just like us. He wanted to help the world. To see him die in front of my eyes and watch my best friend tell me to let his murderer go…"

"I'm sorry," Ness said. "Maybe I can't understand how it feels. But I know that we don't need anyone else to die today. We'll work it out later. I promise that we'll come to some compromise, Paula."

Paula slowly lowered her plasma sword and pointed it at Ness instead.

"It's hard for me to see you as a friend when you're pointing a deadly weapon at me," Paula said. "Was I the only one who cared about Frank?" She took a deep breath. "Ugh, I can't cry. Not here, not now. I need to… be strong."

"Paula…"

"Don't act like I suddenly matter to you," Paula said. "It's fine if you want to take his side, but don't pretend like you're some neutral party. You're friends with Fuel and I was friends with Frank. It's easy to tell whose side we would take."

"It doesn't have to be us against them," Ness said.

"Well, Fuel just made it us against them when he murdered my friend!" Paula shouted. She glared at the Nowhere Islander. "The only reason you're alive right now is that I want to spare Ness' feelings. Is that understood?"

Fuel nodded, his expression unreadable. Ness couldn't imagine that he was actually grateful after Paula held a plasma sword to his throat.

"So I guess I'll go off and kill the other person who caused Frank's death," Paula said. "Goodbye."

Paula dashed out from behind the building, running back towards the central streets of Onett.

"Someone else caused Frank's death?" Ness said.

"Oh no," Fuel said, his eyes widening. "She means Lucas. I have to…"

"Stop her?" Ness said. "Fuel, the Americans will shoot you on sight and she'll probably attack either of us if we follow her. I'll follow behind at a distance to see if I can talk some sense into her, but you have to stay here. All right?"

"I promise," Fuel said. "I know that it's hard to trust me, but I won't interfere with a direct order."

"Tell me, Fuel," Ness said, turning away. "If I had ordered you to shoot Lucas, would you have done it?"

"Yes," Fuel said. The lack of hesitation in his voice surprised Ness.

"You'd kill your friend just because I told you to?"

"That's how I've been trained, Ness," Fuel said. "I've only survived this long because I've learned to follow orders."

Ness shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're a good soldier, Fuel," Ness said. "Too good of a soldier."

Ness didn't turn back before following after Paula.

Lucas was sitting at an empty house near a cave. It was further away from Onett and the war zone. He didn't want to be a part of this… this… slaughter. The Eagleland people were trying to fight back, but it's clear they weren't trained for battle. Many of them were killed by the American soldiers and PSI-users mercilessly. Lucas didn't even kill anyone, and yet the murderous and rage look in that man with the knives and that girl… there's something about that girl that disturbed Lucas.

Lucas decided to hide out here until the whole thing blows over. He hoped Ninten didn't find him out here, or he would be severely punished for not participating in the battle. Lucas hated fighting, he always did, and he only wanted to fight for self defense but not to kill anyone. He could've killed that rebel from earlier with his sword, but he held back because he didn't want to hurt anyone, but a lot of good that did since a stray arrow killed him and Lucas was accused of being the murderer. Not only that, but Fuel saved his butt from that man. Lucas suppose he could've incapacitated that man with PK Love or make it so the man would hurt himself by putting up a Counter, but Lucas was too in shock to have thought about doing that.

But Fuel… last time Lucas had seen him was when he went off to fight against the Pigmask army with the rebellion, but he hadn't seen Fuel since then. Lucas knew Fuel didn't die, but he didn't know what happened to him… until now. Fuel was working with the Eagleland, and if Lucas remembered right, he's been trained to be a deadly soldier who followed orders. That's one of the reasons why Lucas never wanted to join the rebellion; they made sure you were a loyal soldier. If they ordered you to kill your family, you'd do it, no matter the cost. That was something Lucas didn't want to be a part of, he would rather suffer under the Pigmask's thumb than to be turned into a soldier who'd kill his own father because he was ordered to.

Thinking about it now, this wasn't any better, but at least Kumatora and Ninten never forced him to be a perfect soldier whose brain is hardwired into following orders. Lucas knew he was being a sniveling coward by hiding out here like this, but he just couldn't stand all the killing and deaths. He almost wished Flint and Boney were here, but he was also glad they weren't. If they saw him now he would be too ashamed to show his face to anyone ever again. Lucas just wanted to curl up and cry here forever.

"Crying? I suppose I should have expected this," A harsh feminine voice hissed.

Surprised, Lucas snapped his head up to see who was here. He quickly rubbed his blurry wet eyes to see that girl who was with that man with the knives from earlier. She looked ticked… no… she looked murderous. Lucas knew he was in trouble, especially when he saw her finger sparking with PSI. She was a PSI user and she was not on his side.

"Listen, kid. I know that none of this was really your fault, that you're just a soldier trained to follow orders. But since Ness won't let me kill your friend Fuel..." the girl hissed as she pointed her sparking finger at him. "PK Fire!"

Lucas jumped to his feet and put up a PSI Shield. A purple barrier cloaked Lucas's body as it absorbed most of the fire's impact, though it still hurt and burn. Thankfully Lucas was used to dealing with PK Fire since Kumatora liked using it on him a lot during training.

"Please hear me out!" Lucas shouted out. "I didn't kill anyone! That guy's friend was killed by a stray arrow!"

"Hmm? And who uses an arrow at this day and age?" She growled. "I can respect fighting for what you believe in, but I have no pity for someone who hides behind a wall of lies. You're not a soldier after all, are you? You're something far less."

Lucas knew he couldn't reason with her. Seeing her eyes, he knew nothing he says would change her mind. To her, even if he hadn't killed that rebel it didn't matter because that guy with the knives, whom Lucas assumed is a friend of her's, was killed because of him. Fuel shot that man because of him.

The girl was done talking. She held up a plasma sword. Lucas didn't have time to question why she had one of those since it was supposed to be an American only weapon as she charged at him. Lucas may not be the best at utilizing PSI, but when it comes to avoiding attacks he was the master. The boy moved around her strikes, she was slashing at him aggressively but gracefully. It was clear she had some experience with a sword or something similar.

The more Lucas dodged her, the faster she swung in hopes of hitting him. Lucas managed to move around her and strike her with his own plasma sword, though he didn't cut her too deep. The girl hissed but jumped at him again. Lucas sidestepped her attacks before bringing up his plasma sword to block her swings. The girl put more force into her sword. Lucas struggled to push her away, but she was a lot stronger than she looked.

The girl had one of her hands let go of her plasma sword's hilt before shoving it into Lucas's chest. Lucas only had time to gasp as she electrified her hand.

"PK Thunder!"

Lucas yelped in agony as it felt like a thousand knives going through his system. His hold on his plasma sword wavered as she shocked him. Thankfully his PSI Shield kept him from falling unconscious, but it didn't stop him from falling to one of his knees.

Knowing he couldn't hold her plasma sword like this, Lucas dropped to the ground and rolled away just as she brought her sword down into the grass. Lucas was glad his body didn't go numb from her electric assault, and he got back on his feet. The girl ran at him again.

"PK Freeze!" She shot out ice crystals at him, probably hoping to freeze him in place.

Lucas yelped as he tried to dodge the ice crystals. He managed to dodge some of them, but more than half was able to freeze his body. His PSI Shield broke after being assaulted by so many PSI. Lucas struggled to get his body out of the ice, but the girl was already walking towards him with the plasma sword in her grip. She glared murderously at him.

"I would say that I'm sorry… but I'm not sure if there's room in my heart left for the enemy," she hissed as she raised her sword.

Lucas's eyes widened as she brought down the sword to finish him. He felt his PK Love travelling through his body before it exploded, shattering the ice and pushing the girl back. Lucas, feeling his PK Love coursing through his body, ran at the girl before he jumped and kicked her in the cheek with his foot sparking a blue hexagon. The girl was sent flying into the abandoned house and caused it to collapse. Lucas wasn't sure what just happened, but it seemed his PK Love enhanced his kick.

Of course if this was a regular human, the person would've either been dead or incapacitated, however this person was a PSI-user. She was far from finished. Her clothes looked a little torn up, but she was fine otherwise, probably from Lifeup or something. She held her plasma sword in an iron grip before she lunge at Lucas again.

"Paralysis," she hissed.

Lucas's body suddenly went numb. The boy couldn't move a muscle. The girl was not going to let him get away this time. Lucas's gasped as she was about to stab him.

"PK Freeze!"

The girl was hit by unexpected ice crystals and her body was frozen in ice. Lucas still couldn't move much with the paralysis, but he recognized that voice.

"I come out here to track down our little newbie and I find this little girl trying to kill him."

The figure walked up to the frozen girl. Lucas had never been so glad to see pink hair.

"Looks like I found one of Eagleland's PSI-users. Maybe I should put her out of her misery," Kumatora said. "After all, only a coward would go after an inexperienced soldier."

"K-Ku…" Lucas could hardly move his mouth to speak.

The girl that was trapped in the ice melted it with her own PK Fire. She glared at both Kumatora and the still paralyzed Lucas.

It was clear the girl was not done yet. She aimed her hand at Kumatora, "PK Fire!"

This fire was much stronger than the last one, perhaps in a gamma or omega level. Lucas couldn't move away from it, so Kumatora had to grab onto him and jumped. The fire destroyed the rest of the abandoned house, burning it into ash.

"Geez Lucas, what did you do to piss off this girl?" Kumatora said as she put her hand on his chest. "Healing."

Lucas felt something cool going through his numb body, restoring feeling into him.

"She blames me for her friend's death," Lucas explained when he was able to speak again. "She's out for my blood, Kumatora."

"Wow, so this is about vengeance, huh? What a petty girl. People die in a war, you can't go crying over it," Kumatora grumbled.

"But he died because of me," Lucas said.

"I don't care why or how he died, he's dead, no use in trying to get yourself killed over someone who's dead."

It was blunt, but Kumatora's logic did make sense.

The girl hissed as she pointed her sparking hand at them again. "PK Thunder!"

Lighting shot out from her hand. Lucas braced himself for a nasty shock.

"PSI Shield Epsilon!"

A white barrier surrounded Lucas and Kumatora, and it easily absorbed the PK Thunder. It wasn't like Lucas's PSI Shield, it didn't just dull down the damage it absorbed it altogether.

"Is there a problem here, Paula?"

Lucas flinched when Ninten himself came up beside him. He called the angry girl 'Paula', that must be her name.

Paula turned her murderous glare at Ninten. She looked at Kumatora and at Lucas, making the poor boy shrink back. She may be a crazy, psychopathic, vengeful PSI-user, but even she must see the logic in a losing situation with both Kumatora and Ninten, the Commander of the American soldiers, here.

"There is a problem that you cannot fix. It is a problem that you would fight me for. And trust me, I know that I'm quite outmatched... But you haven't seen the last of me." Paula growled at Lucas before turning away and running off.

"Hmph, what an emotional psychopath." Kumatora rolled her eyes. "She lost her friend, boo-hoo. This is war, going after an inexperienced soldier just because he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time is just a petty and coward move."

"I can't say I blame her," Ninten said. "Losing a friend could make anyone call for vengeance. Still, I would rather not have one of my PSI soldiers be murdered on my watch."

Lucas looked down, knowing Ninten and Kumatora likely knew why he was way out here far away from the war zone. He wasn't fit to be a soldier.

"Lucas, it's not safe to be here on your own, especially since you're still too inexperienced to fight off against the Eagleland's real warriors, like Paula. You're lucky you survived as long as you did against her," Ninten said in a serious tone. "If Kumatora hadn't tracked you down with her PSI Magnet, you'd be dead by now. Paula may look pretty and petite, but she is ruthless in the battlefield."

Lucas gave a nod, having just experienced first hand just how ruthless that girl could be.

"Kumatora, stay with Lucas. I worry that Paula may come back and bring in the big guns," Ninten said.

"You mean Ness?" Kumatora frowned.

"Yeah. Fighting her by herself is one thing, but if she brings in Ness than Lucas here can kiss his life goodbye," Ninten said. "If she does bring in Ness, make sure you get away as fast as you can and contact me at once, understood?"

"Yes sir," Kumatora saluted. "Looks like you're stuck with me for the time being, kid."

Lucas was relieved that he wouldn't be alone, but he also didn't like that he'd have to be a part of the battle after all. Still, he was more grateful to have Kumatora with him after that Paula girl tried to go after his head. If Paula was this bad, he didn't want to know how bad Ness would be. With the way Ninten talked about him, Ness sounded almost unstoppable.

"Come on, kid, we shouldn't stay here," Kumatora said to Lucas. "That fire's gonna attract the Eagleland's soldiers. They'll be swarming this place at any minute."

"O-okay," Lucas said.

Kumatora nodded before she ran ahead and Lucas hurried after her. Lucas almost wished he did die by Paula's hands, or even earlier, by the Mecha Drago, at least then Paula would've never met him and he wouldn't feel guilty for being responsible for her friend's death. Fuel was his enemy despite being friends back in Tazmily Village. Fuel may have saved his life, but Lucas knew if he was ordered he won't hesitate to kill him. Lucas wasn't sure if he could handle more, he never wanted to hurt or anger anyone, but it looks like the universe just really hated him.