(A/N): Yeah...I know it's been a while yall, but enjoy!
"Wow! King's Canyon looks so spooky!" Natalie exclaimed as we looted the Pit.
No squads had landed with us for the beginning of the match, but Natalie was right. Even without a team chasing you down to kill you, the moon over Kings Canyon made the arena even more terrifying. I started to think of Bloodhound's glowing goggles moving through the darkness and Wraith's eyes. I was beginning to fear them again.
"Be careful, everyone. We won't be able to see as clearly during the day, so you better get ya' head in the game!" Makoa explained, holstering his Peacekeeper on his back. "We got defense and surveillance this match. As long as we stick togetha', nothing won't stop us from winning our championship."
Even though I wasn't interested in the costumes, Makoa's was the best out of all. He was given Frankenstein as his character. His eyes were glowing gold as his entire body was painted grey. It was odd to see him without as much gear as usual, but he'll probably be able to move faster now.
Natalie and I both nodded to Makoa's words before checking out the map to decide our next move.
"Looks like the Ring is ending in Wetlands, so let's head for Slum Lakes, Containment, and then Artillery. Hopefully, the majority of the teams are on the other side of the arena and we could set up defenses in Wetlands once we get there. We just need enough supplies and pylon recharges." Makoa explained, glancing at Natalie and nodding to her. Then, he looks at me as he puts away the map. "As for you, you do ya' thing, Crypto."
I scoffed, revealing a smirk.
"Of course," I responded, stuffing my hands into my coat pockets. "We should move through. We've been here for too long."
My teammates agreed with me and we all took off for Slum Lakes. Makoa said it was best to split up temporarily in Slum Lakes since there was more ground and loot to cover. I didn't fully agree with his decision, but it was understandable why he wanted to do it. Though, Natalie stayed by me as we walked to the houses near the waterfall behind Slum Lakes.
"So, it's been a few months…" Natalie began to say, her French accent strong on every word. "How are you enjoying the Apex Games?"
She smiled at me as she waited for my answer. I smirked back at her.
"Well, there are a few of you that I am comfortable with, so I guess I'm enjoying my stay," I answered, watching her become excited when she found a Triple Take in the building we were looting together.
"Oh, that's great to hear!" She responded in French. "Am I one of the few you are comfortable with?"
She made me chuckle when she asked that.
"Definitely. You're welcoming. You helped me a lot with opening up to the others I can trust here. If it wasn't for you helping me meet everyone, I'll probably be hiding in my room, avoiding everyone."
Natalie giggled.
"Glad I can help, Crypto!" She responded.
"You can call me, Hyeon."
"Oh! Ok…Hyeon!"
Natalie continued to giggle as I watched her with a smile.
"Hey! I'm hearing a lot of shooting in Runoff! You two ready for a fight?" Makoa asked in the mic.
Natalie nodded at me.
"Yeah. Let's head out." I responded on the mic before Natalie and I left the building.
The three of us hurried over to Runoff from the back of the location, hoping the bullets will continue flying as we rushed over. Once we were close enough to the main buildings, running across a hill just towards the area, I covered myself behind a boulder and threw out my drone. I moved it into the buildings, listening for movement since the gunfire had suddenly stopped once we made it.
"Anything, Crypto?" Makoa asked on the mic.
"I'm not catching anyone. Maybe the standing team has already left?" I answered, closely looking for any movements, but there was still nothing. Runoff was in complete silence now.
"Check the respawn beacon next to the Pit. If no one ain't there, we were a bit too late. It'll be better if we turned back and follow our original route." Makoa continued.
"Right," I responded, already moving Hack towards the beacon, but no one was spotted. "Nothing in view."
Though, if I didn't turn Hack around, I would have never seen the team hiding within the yellow tubes buried under the ground. I didn't hesitate to boot up my E.M.P. and hurried out of my drone's eye the moment I activated it to run for the enemy team.
"They're in the yellow tubes! Go now!" I shouted while running down the hill and jumped off the edge. I landed a bit hard on my feet, feeling the pain in my knees, but I got up quickly and continued running. I checked my pockets, looking for a throwable to force them out the tube, but I didn't have anything, so I pulled out my G-Seven Scout and kept watch of the reveal on the enemy team due to my drone. The silhouettes through the reveal were Bangalore, Caustic, and Mirage.
Caustic was the first to approach me, slowly stepping towards the exit of the tube while Mirage and Bangalore ran towards the opposite end of the tube. I stepped and pressed my finger against the trigger slowly as Caustic finally came into view from cover. Seeing him peek out as a clown from the yellow tunnel reminded me of an old scary movie Mila and I used to watch when we were young, but Caustic was a lot scarier than a simple movie experience.
Though he wasn't aiming a gun back at me, instead he threw his Nox gas grenade. I felt a cold chill through my body as I didn't regret turning my back on Caustic to run as the grenade exploded in seconds. The gas burned between my eyes and lungs as I gasped for a fresh breath of air. I tumbled to the ground and tried to crawl out from the gas, losing my vision.
"Crypto! We're comin', Brotha! Hold tight!" Makoa shouted into the mic.
I tried to respond, but every breath I took felt like acid in my throat. Though, I continued to crawl while hearing heavy footsteps behind me. I knew it was Caustic, so I tried to move faster thinking maybe Makoa and Natalie will be beside me when he tries to finish me off.
Caustic begins to chuckle, taking a hard step on the back of my leg to keep me from moving, nearly crushing it. I yelled out the pain, clenching my hands into fists to bite back the pain.
"What a waste of my gas grenade. All for someone like you." Caustic snarled at me, pressing harder into my leg, and forcing me to cry in agony.
Suddenly, I hear Makoa's battle cry in front of me before hearing a Peacekeeper shot and Caustic grunting behind me. The weight on my leg was suddenly gone, but the pain given was still pulsing through it. I didn't know if I could even walk yet. I felt one strong arm around my waist and a heavy cough from Makoa before the burning of the gas grenade finally settled down. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Makoa carrying me to safety. I coughed as he ran, watching my blood hit the ground.
Makoa drops his dome before running inside with Natalie with us moments later. He lays me down on the ground gently before rushing to his bag to grab me any healing supplies.
"Hyeon! Are you alright?" Natalie asked, crouching in front of me while hearing her voice echoing around me.
"Why did you push them so aggressively? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Makoa shouted at me before looking back at the enemy team to make sure they weren't pushing us as well.
I couldn't respond to him, grabbing one of the medkits off the ground, and began to heal myself. Natalie began to assist me, wrapping the bandage around some of my fingers where the gas had burned me. Makoa was correct about my actions. Why did I rush in so quickly on my own? Was it because of the adrenaline rush? The constant visual of when Caustic stared me down like a predator seeing its prey back on the dropship?
Suddenly, Natalie squeezed my hand tight. I understood, squeezing back to let her know I'll be alright. I'm glad that I'm able to trust her. I know I have trust in Makoa as well, but Natalie seems to have the ability to calm my emotions at the best times when needed.
I looked up at her, but she was already standing when I tried to make eye contact. Though, just as Natalie stood, Bangalore had shot out a smoke grenade against Makoa's dome before it had dropped. Me and my team's vision were instantly blurred as we heard a single pair of footsteps running towards us. I quickly pulled out my G-Seven Scout again, searching for not only my teammates but my enemy.
Then, I heard a gun being shot before Natalie screamed in agony.
"Natalie!" I called out before watching her health drop in seconds before going down. I quickly tossed out my drone to see if I would catch anyone within the smoke, but my extra eye didn't pick up anything as Makoa finally stepped into my eyesight. Suddenly, Bangalore had emerged from her smoke, aiming her Flatline to Makoa's back.
"No!" I called again before aiming my G-Seven Scout and taking fire just as she did into Makoa's back.
I listened to them both trying to bite back the pain in their throats as Makoa took off running past me to find cover to heal back up, but as the smoke finally subsided, a gun firing was heard behind me just as I shot down Bangalore. I spun around to aim my gun at the enemy while searching for Makoa and had only found Mirage standing behind me who had shot him down to his feet. We were the last two standing of our teams, placing us in a standoff. We both pulled the triggers quickly and our guns clicked. No ammo, perfect…
"Lucky bastard…" Mirage grinned at me. "What are the odds of that happening, huh?"
"Move for another gun and I'll take you down in a second," I answered, dropping my empty gun onto the ground. I kept my eye on Mirage since I knew his skill of trickery.
"With what? You got nothing either, kid!"
I called back my drone before it formed into a sword-like weapon. I aimed the tip towards Mirage, he panicked a little from seeing the drone turn into a weapon, but he stood his ground.
"W-why don't we do a little fistfight? No weapons, just our strength?" Mirage asked, raising his fists and getting to a fighting stance.
I stared at him in disbelief at his idea, slowly lowering my drone before finally giving in and putting it away. I sighed, raising my fists, and readied up for our fight. Mirage grin was suddenly bigger before a fist suddenly hit my cheek, throwing me to the ground. I could hear Mirage laughing above me as I regained my strength to rise and looked where I last saw Mirage, but he was a fake. I watched as the decoy disappeared before turning my head to see the real Mirage rubbing at his hand he used to punch me.
"Sucker punch." He said with a wink.
I sighed as I got back onto my feet, rubbing my cheek.
"Can't even verse me in a real fistfight? Scared of me, Witt?" I provoked and it had worked well as I watched the little smirk on his face disappear.
"N-no! Throw them fists up! Let's do this, kid!"
(A/N): Comment & Review! Also, check out my Wattpad! (ashlin_port)