Chapter 12
There was an explosion of energy, and Buttercup let out a mischievous grin.
Hovering in front of her was a humanoid-shaped holographic figure, made to look similar to an old cardboard target on a shooting range. With it's head blown off. She waited till the energy meter was full again (for a longer range of shots), and reactivated the target range. Approximately 7 more humanoids appeared, moving as evasively as possible. Too easy. She adjusted the difficulty dial and set it to hard. Immediately, 7 other, red humanoid shapes appeared, each with the symbol of the Rebel Alliance on them. Difficult, but fun.
She closed her eyes, gathered as much aiming skill as she could, and began to fire the blaster. The thrill of the kill filled her mind, as did adrenaline. She opened her eyes. She always had an excellent feeling about fighting, sort of an intuition on what to do.
Her mouth dropped open in shock. She had destroyed all of the enemy targets, but…
She had hit one of the red ones, representing the Alliance.
The holographic paper that was a part of the illusionary "chest" floated down like cardboard would.
It wouldn't have normally been such a big deal, but what if she was actually in the battlefield, or on a secret mission? If she shot a companion in the chest, bursting their heart, it would give them just enough time to barely realize what had happened. And then look into her eyes, and mutter: "Why?"
Then the companion would collapse, dead. What if it was Blossom? She could never forgive herself if that happened.
"BC?" a voice called.
"Um…oh! Blossom! I was just…thinking about you. How's your Jedi stuff going?"
"Pretty well. I'm learning how to lift simple objects with my mind…and, well, failing miserably."
"Ah. Sounds like one of those psychic manga stories Bubbles used to read," Buttercup said, laughing.
The moment she finished that sentence, she regretted it.
"I—I'm--" Buttercup stuttered frantically.
Blossom hesitated, then spoke. "It's good that we're talking about her. We need to learn to just mention Bubbles casually without flipping out."
"Yeah…uh. Sure. So, let's get back to the Jedi thing."
"Got it. I'm learning to do all sorts of cool stuff with the force. Like for an example. Fire at me with that blaster," Blossom said, quite seriously.
"What? Are you--?" Then Buttercup saw the signature 'I'm Not Kidding' look on Blossom's face, and shook her head vigorously. "I'm not going to shoot at you. Something could go wrong."
"I guess you're right. Luke told me a friend of his who always reminded him: 'Don't get cocky, kid'." Blossom said the last part in a low and ridiculous voice that made both Buttercup and Blossom laugh.
"So…do you want to learn how to fire this thing?" Buttercup said, gesturing to the rifle.
---
He was the boy who had lost and gained everything. One of the last the people of earth trusted, along with the others.
"Move out," he commanded, and his troops moved forward through the warzone.
"Yo, b--…I mean, Commander," said one of his troops said, looking at him suspiciously.
"Yeah?"
"I hate my life," he said, bursting out into laughter.
"Shut up."
The war party moved forward.
"Right in front of us is what used to be Town Hall. The Imps turned it into their all-you-can-torture prison. So we're going to kick their sorry asses."
There was an audible beeping noise.
"What the hell?" the boy shouted, his eyes darting over his troops. "What was that?"
Beep.
One of the troops that the boy didn't know as well grinned insanely.
"What the hell are you--"
Beep.
He held out a small metallic device.
"Oh my god. Duck and cov--"
There was an explosion, and everything went red.
End Chapter 12
