Chapter Two: A Change in Scenery and Perspective
I do not know when I regained consciousness, but soon afterwards, my eyes awoke hesitantly. They felt heavy at first, as if they did not want to open, but I eventually managed to do so to see…blue. The sky was all around me, but not above…rather, next to me…all around me…was I flying? I looked below me to see the ground about a thousand feet below me. Well, at least I am out of danger now. A moment later, though, my tune had changed from gratefulness to fearfulness, because in that moment, I started falling instead of flying. I tried to cry out, but my voice would not let out a scream. It was like a dream…but I felt the air pushing up on my body, so that option was quickly ruled out.
After approximately a minute or so of falling, leaving me only about five hundred feet from the ground, a box-like, florescent-green barrier came up around me, abruptly stopping the fall. A loud grunt came out of my mouth as I landed hard on the barrier's "floor" – well, I mentally told myself, at least I can talk now.
I turned around in the box to see two figures behind me; it was only then that I remembered that I was not alone. The first person to come into my line of sight was Velocia – her eyes were closed, and no motion was apparent, bar the continuous contractions and expansions of her stomach. Breathing a sigh of relief that she was at least moving slightly (and thus still alive), I surmised that she was probably unconscious or asleep, the former being the more likely of the two.
My eyes then shifted to Tecna. She was further away from me, and her eyes were closed as well; however, she was sitting up, caressing her left elbow. I walked over to her, observing small drops of sweat lining her eyebrow and skin indicating she had been sweating profusely. Her eyes started to flutter open not a minute later, revealing two bright blue orbs which sparkled in the sunlight from the sun above. My brain stopped working for just a moment as I looked into her eyes. Wow…t-they're so-
"Ti-Timmy?" A voice not belonging to me shook me back into reality. When I came back, I saw that Tecna's eyes, now near-fully open, looking straight at me as if she was surprised I was there.
"Are…um, are y-you okay, Tecna," I asked her, looking down to relieve the awkwardness I was feeling at the moment. My face started warming up as I awaited her response.
Subsequent to a minute or two of total silence, I received a response – not one I expected, but a response nevertheless. "How bad is it?" I was confused at first, but then saw her jerk her head towards her left elbow, still being cradled by her right hand. Hesitantly, my eyes moved to the body part; Tecna took her hand away, and I almost gasped at the sight. Where her hand had laid, a cut was bleeding copiously. It was only approximately four centimeters deep, but that depth combined with the ten centimeter length of the cut made it out to be grotesque and, for lack of a better term, very, very bad. "It's… "I paused, trying to figure out what to say to her.
"Just tell me – how does it look?" I heard a slight notion of desperation in her voice for the answer; however, when my eyes looked to her face, I saw it still expressionless.
Finally, after moments of contemplation, I gave in to her whim, telling her exactly what I thought of it: "bad."
"The edge of the knife did it." Her voice stated it so nonchalantly, one could have thought she was just saying another statistic. Her eyes then turned towards Velocia, who was still lying unconscious about ten feet away. "When did she collapse?"
"Before teleporting, I would assume."
"Weakling." Tecna yawned, taking her arm away from her elbow only to stretch her right arm behind her back, then immediately replacing it to the site of impact. "I feel so weak…I believe I have drained my powers by teleporting us here and creating this barrier." Her hands gestured to the green shape around us; well, at least that explains where this box-thing came from.
"Where is here?"
"Zenithian Simulation Woodlands. It's the safest place in Zenith at the moment because it is the furthest place away from Meta not crowded with any technology which Cos might have brainwashed or might have under his control." She breathed another heavy sigh. "I'm…I'm not sure if I can ever use my p-powers again." This time, despite all attempts to hide it, my mouth hung wide open at her statement – Tecna was always confident in her powers (bordering on cocky), no matter what her mood was. And, more so, considering that I have no powers and Velocia is, at the moment, out of commission, having Tecna to help us magically and technologically definitely is an advantage we cannot afford to lose. So, again, for lack of a better term, this was bad – really, really bad.
"W-why are you saying that, Tecna? You should not think like that – you are a Fairy of Technology, the first one Zenith has had for the last thousand years. And, moreover, you are one of the most powerful fairies that I have ever seen, and yes, I have not seen that many fairies in my lifetime, but-"
"Timmy, listen," she interrupted me, making my mouth shut instantaneously. "I am the Fairy of Technology, meaning my powers are based upon technology and the working of it around me. And, as you and I both know, all of the technology present as of now in Zenith has been shut off via Cos. So, how do you propose I can use my powers when I have a power source that is not present?" My head lowered as I took it all in. To be completely frank, I felt pity for her – she had a valid point in that. Nevertheless, my mind was singing a different tune. Still, she should not be thinking like that – despite how little she thinks of me and how annoyed I am at her for it, she is a skilled fairy. Plus, it would really be great to have someone familiar in Magix when I go to Red Fountain next year; Velocia is not going as of right now, and, although she may be a pain most of the time, Tecna would not be going as well. At least having someone I knew there would be a comforting feeling.
"Uh-ughhh." A soft, almost inaudible sound shifted my focus back to Tecna. Shaking me to my core, I found her on the box's floor in somewhat of a fetal position. I rushed over to the slender figure; her short, pink hair was covering most of her pale-skinned face except for her chin and mouth, the latter of which was twisted in an awkward, almost indescribable way. Her hands came up to her head, indicating some type of pain in that area.
"Are you okay?"
"Ughh-huh…" Slowly, her groan faded away, and her eyes closed. Great, so, now, Tecna, the only person who, as of now, has fought a decent fight against Cos, is unconscious. And here I am left, the only one not unconscious in this forest who-knows-where in Zenith and, more so, the only person with knowledge of Cos' attack against the Count and Countess of Meta and Meta itself. Me, Timmy, the supposed "Red Fountain Specialist" – ugh, how can I be called such a term and not be able to protect my planet from such a heinous man? I am not even at Red Fountain yet, but I am already messing up. Maybe I shouldn't go to Red Fountain – Red Fountain does not want, nor need, such scrawny, incapable people like me to walk their halls…
My hand came up to and made contact with my face. My eyes closed and I bit down on my lip as it happened, but I knew that the only way to get such perturbing thoughts out of my head would be to, quite literally, slap myself for them. Timmy, the only way you're going to get through this is to keep positive and to not give in to self-pity. You are a Specialist – now, act like it. I nodded slightly to myself, the action only being interrupted by a migraine that started on the left side of my head, then shifted to the rest of my cranium. The pain forced me to retreat from Tecna's unconscious body; then, in an attempt to make the headache go away, I tried to shift my thoughts elsewhere.
I'm sure my dad has not noticed that I am gone – he always did go off into his own world, whether I was present or not. Then again, I did tell him that I would be back in less than an hour, so maybe my lack of being there will be noticed when he comes out from his room for dinner. Wait, what will he do if I am not there? He cannot call the police, because for all I know, they are on Cos' side, and none of us saw anyone outside when we left Velocia's house. My eyes were getting heavier as I tried to mull on the subject. However, I soon became aware that I, too, was falling deeper and deeper out of consciousness. Not able to escape from the downward spiral, I unwillingly closed my eyes, determined to open them again soon. I fell into a deep slumber, the only sounds accompanying it being that of my breath going into and out of my body on a slowly-decreasing basis.
"TIMMY!" The sound registered in my ears just as I started to regain my senses. As if in slow motion, my eyes opened. The vision above me was blurry at first; nevertheless it eventually came into view. First, the blue sky, then a shadow – it seemed like an animal…no, a person. My hands moved about the ground blindly to try to search for a clue as to what it was until a faint thought came into my head: the Zenithian Simulation Woodlands.The voice that said it was faint in my mind, as I could only grasp the sound and not where it came from. However, it immediately clicked with me that that was where we were – not the ideal spot to be hiding out in, but a safe one nonetheless.
I tried to grasp around for my glasses, only to have them be thrust into my hand a few seconds later. I placed the red-rimmed frames on my nose; after readjusting them on my face, the picture of the person in front of me became clearer, so much so as I came to recognize the girls with curly, light-brown hair in front of me.
"Vel…Velocia?" Her curls bounced up and down as she nodded her head. Eventually, her features came into view: her minutely-tanned skin, pink dress, bright-pink lipstick – all of which quickly helped me to identify it definitively as the Countess.
"Good, at least the two of us are okay." I nodded slowly. Yeah, at least…wait, 'at least the two of us are okay?' I forced my eyes open and sat up straight, causing Velocia to fall back slightly in shock. "Hey, what was that for?"
I ignored her question and, instead, asked her my own. "What do you mean, 'at least the two of us are okay?'"
"I mean at least you're not dead." My eyes burst open even further at her even-more-cryptic answer.
"Wait, what? WHO'S DEAD?" Okay, it's probably very improper and, quite possibly, against the law to yell at a Countess, but I knew that if I did not, her answers would get no less enigmatic. I noticed tears welling up in Vel's eyes; her make-up, however, was still near perfect.
"Tecna – she's not responding." Then, I remembered Tecna's cut she had showed me before I blacked out. Oh, no – if germs entered such a large incision, then it could possibly become infected, and…who knows what would happen if a disease came into it.
She was lying just as I remembered, except for the fact that we were now on the ground rather than in her neon-green shield. Her bright-pink hair still caressed the majority of her face, as well as the ground around her head. Her pair of glasses – thin, purple frames with green lines randomly spread throughout the sides, all of which ended in a small, green circle – were still in her hands, being clutched by her left fist as if for dear life itself. Quickly, I picked myself up and grasped her right hand, the one not balled in a fist laying on top of her left elbow, and, putting my index and middle fingers to her wrist, checked for a pulse, a beat, anything that could tell me that she was alive.
Thank Magix, I did find a pulse – it was faint, but there. I jumped a bit when I first felt it, a slight spark coming into my body – most likely a discharge of electricity from her powers, I concluded. It did not hurt me, but it was…kind of strange, as the electricity went through my finger and down my spine, giving me this almost…interesting feeling…but, nevertheless, it was strange. I breathed a sigh of relief I did not know I was holding in and slowly pulled my fingers away.
I shifted my attention to the wound. The ten-centimeter laceration had stopped bleeding, for no fresh blood was seeping out from the wound, but caked blood was prevalent over and around the site of the cut. From the atrocious look of it, I could tell it would hurt her and could, quite possibly, already be infected by germs or foreign specimens, making it possibly life-threatening. My eyes darted around me, looking to see if my surroundings might help out. It was definitely not the ordinary surroundings for Zenith: trees, flowers, and plants of all kinds spread sporadically around, coupled with small animals that could be seen crawling around in the grass. I could tell Vel had noticed these creatures, too, when she started somewhat-randomly stomping on the ground and scratching herself in a manner that would have made me laugh hysterically had I not bit my tongue.
Afterwards, a period of near-silence ensued. The only sound to be heard was that which nature threw at us – the occasional rustle of leaves mostly – and the rhythmic pattern of our breathing.
"Let's get out of here." Even with the muted surroundings, her utterance almost went unheard by my ears. In all truth, I almost thought I had heard her wrong.
"What did you say, Vel," I asked her, turning around to face the now-completely-still Countess.
"Let's get out of here." I blinked twice, but I could tell that my eyes were not deceiving me; my mouth stayed open as I mulled over the illogical comment, only my own sense breaking me out of my thoughts.
"And…a-and get killed? Vel, be reasonable, this is our cover."
"Let's get out of here." Her voice sounds so…distant…one could possibly mistake it for Tecna's. What is up with her?
"What are you, crazy? What about Tecna?" You know, your friend? My near-enemy? The person who saved us from your crazy, power-hungry uncle? Remember?
"I'm…I-I'm s-scared of having a d-d-dead p-person around me!" She ran up to me, embracing me as if I were her last hope of survival on Zenith; I did not notice, conversely, for a minute that she was there out of pure speechlessness. I tried thinking about what she was doing – here, the person who I liked was hugging me, putting me in the "hero" position…it would have been any guy's dream – but I could not, would not, not with what she was asking me to do. Even with it being Tecna who is injured, I just cannot leave her behind. Then, I did something that surprised myself: I snaked my body out of the hug. It apparently surprised Vel almost as much as it did me, for her face showed an expression going to the tune of what are you doing?
Strangely, I found myself boiling with anger from the inside out. "She's…n-not de-dead, okay? S-s-she's n-not dead!" I walked back a few steps and pointed towards Tecna. "That girl saved you, and you're trying to leave her all by herself…to…to die?" Tecna must be in so much pain because of that cut even though she's not showing it, and Velocia is trying to leave her out here to die. I mean, Tecna may be my enemy and all, but I still won't leave her out here to die.
"I'm afraid of her! She's dead…and bloody…and…dead…I WANT TO GET BACK HOME!" Velocia's voice had risen to a screeching yell, one which almost knocked my eardrums out of commission for a week.
"No." Okay, now I am positive that one is not supposed to say that word to a Countess (quite conversely, it is usually her saying that to you), but her actions right now were just rude, uncalled for, and just unprecedented for someone like Vel…she's usually so kind and sweet…maybe she is sick or something…
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME, I WANT TO GO BACK TO MY PALACE! THAT IS AN ORDER, TIMMY!"
Okay, Timmy. Think about this: you have a Countess with you who is mentally depressed, and an unconscious fairy who is not dead as of the moment, but could become such at any time. Now, either you start using your instinct and intelligence and do something, or else Vel will back to Meta to meet her death sentence, Tecna will die, and/or you will go mentally insane from the former's incessant pleas to go back to "her palace."
"Ugh-uh-uh…ugh-uh…" Simultaneous with my upbraiding myself for not doing what I should be doing in this situation, a faint sound came from behind me. I could not decipher it at first, but then I heard it again – it was…coughing…wait, coughing? My hopes rising, I turned around instantaneously, fixing my eyes on the only hope-filled sight that I have had since I arrived at Vel's house that morning: Tecna trying to get up. She's alive…thank Magix…just, thank Magix…now I'm not the only sane person here. I could not tell what happened to me next – whether it was the relief of her not being dead or the fact that I had proven to myself that I did possess at least some qualities a real Specialist should have (perseverance and negotiation mainly [though I cannot say that I successfully negotiated with Vel yet]). Whatever it was, the outcome was the same: once she was somewhat-awake, I ran up to and hugged her. Hey, there's a first time for everything.
"Uh-uh…need an…ugh-uh…anti-Timothy spray." Well, at least she has not changed.
"Good," Velocia chimed in, "you're not dead. Now we can go back to my palace."
Tecna's face showed barely any emotion (as always), but her voice detailed the confusion she was conflicted with perfectly. She placed her glasses back on her face and, after adjusting them, asked "what in the world is she talking about?"
"Um…well…before you woke up, Vel was saying how she wanted to go back home."
Vel nodded and added, "yes, now come on, let's go!" She started walking off blindly to the north. Something is wrong here…I mused to myself…I do not know what drastic change Vel went through, but whatever it was, it certainly was not for the better.
"Looks like she has a bug on her head." I almost missed Tecna's statement I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts.
I asked her, "huh?"
"Let us see…if this were a normal situation, I would try to debug her myself; however, considering she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the best course of action would probably not be to do so in such a frank way…" I really had no idea whatsoever what Tecna was going on about; thus, I started to zone out. Well, I did, until I looked at Tecna's elbow – like before we both passed out, her elbow was being covered by her right hand. By the way she was gripping it tightly, I presumed that she was in a great deal of pain (how much, nevertheless, was something I could not tell). From my look before, I knew that it had blood caked over it, though beyond that, I had no idea how it was.
"Can I take a look?"
"-And, taking into accou- wait, what?"
"Let me take a look at your wound." I jerked my head slightly towards her elbow, at which she flinched back slightly.
"No, there is no need to do so. It is 100% fine; I'm sure I can handle it myself." To prove her point to me, Tecna stood up without any help; her hand was pressed with an extreme amount of force to her left elbow while she did so.
"Good, so now we are going to the palace, right?" It was then that we both realized that Vel was still behind us. I turned around to see her looking at us, visibly excited that we had chosen to go with her idea.
"I'd beg to differ, Vel."
"Grea- wait, what do you mean, you 'beg to dif-'" BAM! Before Velocia could finish, she fell to the ground suddenly. My jaw fell open as I looked up, seeing a piece of wood in Tecna's left hand. I blinked about five times, then looking from Tecna to the piece of wood to Vel and back to Tecna. The pink-haired fairy's eyes still looked stoic (no different than any other time), but this indifference to what had just occurred made me extremely uneasy about the situation I was now in. Tecna would not try to hurt Vel or me…right? Well, she just knocked Vel out, so the only logical answer would be-
My thoughts were interrupted by Vel who, despite her supposedly being unconscious, was blindly, jerkily moving on the ground, almost as if she were having a nervous breakdown. What is going on here?
"Didn't you see the symptoms?" Tecna's voice sounded distant to me, as if she were telling it to me from a mile away, not less than a foot. And, though not for lack of trying, I was unable to understand anything she was saying at the moment. What does she mean, 'did you see the symptoms?' The only "symptoms" I could see were that of Tecna herself going mentally insane, between knocking Vel out and her normal, emotionless, unattached behavior in an even more acute focus. Then again, Velocia has been acting strangely for the last hour – or has it been hours? – ever since she saw her parents' bodies. Plus, the flopping around uncontrollably…paired her out-of-character behavior…it could only mean…
"Zenithian Network Disaster?"
Tecna nodded. "Correct; when human neuron cells are attacked by foreign electronic signals, they start to act strange and, eventually, either turn the body against itself and/or everyone around them when the waves penetrates the cell's membrane barrier. I had to render Velocia unconscious to stop her from doing either, as well as to deactivate the attacking signals." I breathed a sigh of relief: well, at least now Vel's actions are justified. I knew that something was up with the way she was acting, that that was not what she was usually like.
"But," I asked, now a little confused and worried about what was attacking Vel, "what was the electronic signal attacking her?"
"Most likely a GPRS system. If I did not deactivate it, she would have unknowingly revealed our cover."
"To Cos?"
"Most likely. Now that he has assumed himself to the throne of Meta, there is no telling if he might try to gain other, higher positions of power and, more so, how far he might go to usurp them."
"That means one thing-"
"Cos has some spare technology source." I looked at her and she at me as we came to the same conclusion about the topic. I always hated it when our thoughts came out of our mouths simultaneously; right now, however, we needed the unity. We stood in silence for the moment, both contemplating the conclusion: besides coming to it together at the same moment, it had scared me to the core. If Cos has some kind of "spare technology source," I wondered, then could he power some kind of army or other technologically-powered weapon?
"Do you think he might use it against Zenith?"
Tecna nodded. "Yes, and that is why I am going to go back and defeat Cos myself." Her left fist was closed, tightening with every word; her voice was determined as ever.
"And how are you going to do that?"
She had started walking in a seemingly-random direction, calling out to me without turning around, "I am not sure at the moment, but I know that first I must restore technology to the whole of Meta, then somehow concoct a way to defeat Cos."
I stood there, just thinking about her answer. I mean, here was a fairy who, not a few hours (I think) ago was telling me how she might never be able to use her powers ever again. And now, still powerless (and vulnerable with that cut on her arm [no matter what she might attest to]), was trying to go back and defeat Cos while she was barely able to avoid him with her powers beforehand. Either she is extremely determined, or she is just plain old insane. By the time I had stopped contemplating the subject, however, Tecna was up and walking slowly towards one side of the forest; yeah, she is probably insane – determined, but most definitely insane.
I ran forward about twenty feet to catch up to her position. "Wait – let me go with you."
"No."
"Let me help – Zenith is my home, too."
"No, I have to do this myself."
"Tecna, come on, be reasonable. You cannot just go out there and expect to defeat Cos' whole army which, for all we know, could by now be filled with every robot in Meta."
At that, Tecna turned around to face me. "Listen, Timmy, I know the risks of going – even without my powers or technology itself, I have a strong sense of approximately what they would be, and trust me, they are not promising in the least. I know that I cannot go out there and just destroy whatever army Cos has developed, and that most likely this whole thing is going to lead to the destruction of Zenith. But, nevertheless, I still have totry. He is powerful, you and I both know that and have seen it firsthand, and he will not stop to let anyone get in his way, nor be lenient on anyone who decides to try to do so. You are needed by people here in Zenith: your father needs you, and Vel, in light of her current state, is relying on you to bring her back to safety, as well as all of those out there who want their 'Countess of Meta' to come back alive from this all. Meanwhile, I am nothing to the populous of Zenith, to any specific person, not even to an extent to myself – the only thing making me 'special' is this magic inside of me that has not been taken on by a human being via birthright for a thousand years, the power source of which Cos has taken away in his conquest for power. I have to go get it back, not just because I am being reckless or acting like 'the heroine,' but because it is my duty as the Fairy of Technology to do so. Now, go back and help Vel; she will probably be waking up in an hour or so, and as she was not acting like the most stable person when I knocked her out, you might want to go and make sure she is okay." Tecna turned back around and started walking away, leaving me to just stand there, absolutely and utterly speechless.
Okay…sure, Tecna was never my first option for a friend, rather usually my last. I hated her, she hated me, and we stayed mutual enemies for as long as I could remember. She's aggravating, minutely (to say the least) antagonistic, extremely skilled at pointing out everything I mess up on, unfriendly, and a number of other things. I could just walk right back to Vel right now: just ten, maybe twenty steps backwards and I'll be with the girl I have a crush on and, once Meta is safe to go back to, my dad and the life I had before this whole ordeal started. I could just leave right now…but then, where would that leave us? Tecna would go off, most likely to die at the hands of Cos, and Vel and I would go back to our homes as if nothing ever happened, with no qualms about it whatsoever? No, no…no, I…I just can't. Zenith is my homeland as well, and, moreover, I am a Specialist, charged with protecting my home planet. Tecna risked her life to save us from Cos once – she is still having repercussions from it – and I cannot just let her go out there and risk her life again for us. I…I have to go and help her, no matter what she might say about it.
She was about fifty feet in front of me by the time I had made up my decision. I started running to catch up to her; when I was about fifteen feet away, I called out, "Tecna, wait!" She turned around just as I caught up to her, panting somewhat heavily at the spontaneous burst of exercise.
"Li-listen…Tecna…uh…huh…I am…c-c-coming…w-with you."
"Timmy, I already told you, I'm-" She started to turn around in an attempt to walk away again. Before she could do so, however, I grabbed her arm and turned her around again – not too hard, but just enough to get her attention (as the minutely shocked expression I saw for a millisecond in her face described).
My face must have been just a foot from her face when I rebutted, nodding at each point as if I agreed with them, "I know, you're fine, you can do it yourself, you are going to go save Zenith alone from the wrath Cos is going to deal out to you and bring back technology to the whole planet. Now, just listen, okay? I am part of Zenith's populous along with you, and cannot let you go off to, in all frankness, die at Cos' hands." I pointed to her, then me, while saying, "you and I may not be on the best of terms most, no, all, of the time, but right now, you need all of the help you can get. And, more so, I am not letting you leave without letting Vel and I come with you. Either stay here forever or let us help you – it's your choice."
I could see her think hard about what I had just said. She blinked (something I did not actually know she did) and responded, "okay." She then wiggled out of my grasp and walked past me, towards where we had both left Vel. I stood there not moving one inch, gaping at her sudden change in attitude towards my going with her and the fact that I was able to convince her to change her mind. I came back to reality just to see her walking behind a tree and just out of my line of sight.
"Wait for me, Tec!" At top speed, I started running in the direction she was walking at top speed until I caught up to her. She stopped for a moment, causing me to almost trip into her.
Her hand came to rest on her chin, and she commented, "you know, I've never had a nickname before."
I stood there, mildly confused at her statement. "Wait, what do you-" However, subsequent to going over the last conversation I had with her in my head, I found the answer inside my last sentence in mid-sentence: "wait for me, Tec!" Truth is, I had not even meant to say "Tec" instead of "Tecna" – it just kind of came out spontaneously. Now that I think about it, though, it does sound cool.
Her head nodded as her hand returned to her side. "I like Tec – it's…simple." I looked at Tecna and – though I could not say definitively if I was correct or not – I though, just for a moment there, that I saw a small smile develop on Tecna face. I smiled as she and I both started walking together, side by side, towards where we had left Vel not an hour ago…I think.