Disclaimer: Really? If this is the first time you're reading a part of this story, I'd recommend you read what comes before this chapter. Regardless, I don't own diddly.
I feel like I should thank Comrade. I find myself looking forward to his input, and I still wonder why he doesn't just make an account. Also, I have no idea what "canary" you're talking about. Maybe Sani made Melina so easily hate-able that you had to make a completely different Melina in your mind, so she's not a bitch?
Near the end of that day, I found myself running once again for sixth period. Of course, I wasn't late, but after remembering what Mr. Fritz had in store for the tardy students, I decided being late was not what I wanted. Conveniently, I ended up being one of the first ones there again. I went right inside, and Mr. Fritz calmly told me to grab a paintball gun and stand along a short line of people. I did what he asked quickly, surprised that he was even capable of being calm.
I did like the feel of the gun in my arms. I mean, it was just a paintball gun, but I at least knew enough about the weapons to know that this one was all set up and ready to fire. I shook it slightly near my ear, and heard the quiet shaking of a canister nearly stuffed full of paintballs. I smiled and nodded, letting myself get excited for the game that would start soon.
I looked around after a few seconds, and noticed I was standing right next to Katherine. Nothing but boredom showed on her scaly face, and I wondered why she didn't seem to enjoy anything.
"Hi," I said. Apparently Mr. Fritz didn't mind me talking.
She glanced my way for a second before saying, "What is it with you?"
"I'm just trying to be friendly," I said with a smile. She rolled her eyes and shifted her weight, pointedly ignoring me.
"What's goin' on, Captain Fritz?" Bill asked.
"Take a gun and line up," the leopard said.
"Yes, sir!" Bill said excitedly. After grabbing his weapon, he stood next to me with his tail wagging happily.
"I take it you're excited?" I asked.
"Fuck yeah!" he shouted. I almost asked him to tone down the profanity, but he continued before I could make up my mind. "This is the only class I looked forward to all summer."
"Unless you get your butt kicked," I said with a smirk.
"Yeah, right. By who, you?" he asked smugly.
Actually, by Fox, I thought with a snicker.
"Take a gun and line up," Mr. Fritz said again. I looked toward the door and saw Falco and Slippy entering.
"What were you two doing together?" Bill asked. "Don't you have classes on opposite sides of the building or something?"
"I had to save Slip from a couple of bullies again," Falco said, pointing at the frog with a thumb.
"Thanks again, Falco," Slippy said, ducking his head.
"Why not just defend yourself?" I asked.
"Slippy? Defend himself?" Bill asked, before laughing.
"Well, then build something to make people leave you alone. It's not against the law to taze people, right?"
"Taze?" Slippy asked.
"I figured you'd know that word," I said under my breath. "Electrocute."
"I don't know if it's against the law, but how would I even do that?"
"Slippy, if anyone can build a high-tech weapon, it's you."
"Why do you keep saying stuff like that?" Falco asked. "First you say I'd be good in an arwing, and then you say Slippy's gonna be good with his hands."
"Actually, I said Slippy can."
"But he can't," Bill said. "He's got the brain, but he can hardly hold a screwdriver."
"That's not true," Slippy protested. "I've built things before."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, I've taken apart a blaster and turned it into a laser pointer," he said, making Bill and Falco laugh.
"Isn't it supposed to go the other way around?" I asked. "It'd be cooler to turn a laser pointer into a blaster. Or a shoop-da-whoop."
"A what-da-what?" Katherine asked.
"It's a clip making fun of...wait, you were listening?" I asked.
"No," she said, turning away again. The tip of her tail flicked the back of my leg, but she didn't seem to notice.
"I haven't tried to make any weapons," Slippy said.
"Hey, next time you have free time, do me a favor," I said. "If you can make me a hoverboard, I'll do whatever you want."
"A hoverboard?" Slippy asked.
"What? It's been seven hundred years, and you don't have hoverboards?" I asked.
"Seven hundred years?" Falco asked. "Seven hundred years since what?"
The minute bell rang once he had finished speaking, and I was desperately searching for an excuse for my stupid mistake. If only Krystal were here, I thought.
"Since...uh...they started trying to make them..." I said, hoping that I was right. I doubted if anyone had tried to make hoverboards in the nineteen-hundreds. Falco still looked at me suspiciously.
"Well, why would I make you one?" Slippy asked. "Why don't you just go buy one?"
"They do have them?" I asked.
"Of course."
"Sweet," I said, smiling. I didn't even know how to ride skateboards, but since I was rich anyway, I realized that I definitely wanted a hoverboard. I actually started to daydream about getting one. Of course, it'd take me a while to actually get good at using it, but I was confident.
I heard a commotion in the hallway, and leaned forward to try to see, but Mr. Fritz was standing in the way.
"Fox!" he shouted, making most of the students in line jump. "If you're done making out with your boyfriend, line up!"
There goes the calm Fritz, I thought as Fox and Relics scrambled into the classroom. Relics was trying to avoid the leopard's gaze by looking down, so he didn't immediately notice that everyone was holding a gun. When he did notice, he froze in fear. He spun around to leave, but Fritz closed the door before he could move.
"Something wrong, Snowflake?" he asked.
"S-sir...I...I think I forgot something in my last class, sir," Relics stammered.
"Then get it after class. Now fall in beside Hollywood."
Hollywood? I thought comically. What's this guy gonna call me?
Relics walked toward the line, with the look of someone who was about to get gunned down. I'd have tried to get his attention and calm him down, if Captain Fritz didn't scare the sarcasm right out of me. But I wasn't the only one who noticed his stiff gait or his cold sweat.
"Relics? Are you alright?" Fox asked.
"He's fine!" Mr. Fritz shouted. "Now keep your damned muzzle shut or you'll be scrubbing the entire paintball course with a toothbrush by yourself, top to bottom!"
Once the word "paintball" left Fritz's mouth, something apparently dawned on Relics. He looked around at the other students and their weapons again, and sighed his relief. Mr. Fritz started to explain the rules of the course, for the new guys (like me), but Relics was lost in thought. What the teacher was going over was pretty simple stuff; if you get shot, leave with your gun and ammo. No punching, kicking, biting, or other such things, and try not to aim for the face. I blanched when he said that, and looked around desperately for the protection I'd assumed he would give us. I didn't see any.
"Since we have two lovebirds who'd rather be in the hallways making out than in class, we're only going to have two teams today. Hollywood! Snowflake! Step forward," Mr. Fritz called. Fox stepped forward with a stony expression, and Relics slowly followed. If he had a tail, it'd be tucked tightly between his legs. "You two are team one," he said, handing them two guns with much smaller ammo cartridges than the others. "Everyone else is team two."
"Hell yeah," I said under my breath, pumping my fist as subtly as I could. Maybe it was wrong to want to shoot both of the main characters of their respective stories, but I still decided it'd be fun. That is, unless I got shot in the eye. I glanced at Katherine, suddenly wishing I had her scales for protection.
"Maybe next time you'll actually listen to me and show up on time," Mr. Fritz said. "Now get moving; you've got sixty seconds."
Relics and Fox looked at each other in surprise, before taking off into the ruined cityscape as fast as their legs would carry them. I bet a hoverboard would help them right now, I thought as they took cover right in the center of the arena.
"Are we gonna make a plan?" I asked as we waited for the order to get moving.
"Why?" Bill asked. "We've got them outnumbered and outgunned. Why should we do anything other than just rush in?"
"Yeah," Falco agreed, "It shouldn't even take us a couple of minutes to take them out."
And that's why you two get shot first, I thought.
"What did you have in mind?" Miyu asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I just thought it'd be a good idea to have a plan."
"If you don't have anything to suggest, keep quiet," she said.
"Thirty seconds," Fritz said.
"Okay," I began, before I noticed Mr. Fritz watching me closely. "What if we just surround them?"
"Duh," Falco said.
"No, hear me out. There are, what, twenty-three of us? If fifteen surrounded the building, five laid out suppressive fire, and the last few went in toward them, it wouldn't even take us a couple of minutes."
"Why surround the building?" Bill asked. "You can't even see inside from behind it."
"It keeps them from sneaking away," Miyu said. "Not like we couldn't have figured that plan out on-the-fly."
"Alright," I said, accepting her subtle challenge to improve the plan. I looked closely at the fake buildings, and noticed quite a few dilapidated second floors. "There," I said, pointing to one building that would give a perfect look into the hole the two were peeking out of. "If someone went up there, we could keep them behind cover without wasting all of our ammo."
"Ten seconds," Fritz warned.
"Thanks for volunteering for that," Miyu said, slapping me on the back.
"What? Why me?" I asked.
"You suggested it."
I looked around for a better candidate, but I didn't really find one. I'd had Falco in mind, but then I realized that he was only really known for flying. Slippy probably couldn't even hold the gun straight. And Bill...I wasn't sure about his strengths, but he was waiting like a runner on the starting line, so I assumed he didn't want to listen to reason.
"Get moving!" Mr. Fritz shouted. Everyone else, including Miyu, dashed straight for the course, while I shoved my paintball gun down the back of my jacket and ran for the building I'd picked out. I stood staring at the wall on its side, planning how to climb up it. Of course, there were probably stairs inside, but I wanted to feel like a badass. So I climbed up the side of the building. After trying to run up the wall, during which I only took one step upwards, I barely managed to grab a horizontal pipe.
"Dang," I said, looking both ways. The ledge was well out of reach, and the pipe was pretty much solitary. I did notice that it curved upward to my right, so I tried to sidle toward the bend.
"Hey, check out Ditto," Bill shouted. A moment later, I heard two dull thuds, and he cried out in pain. I couldn't keep myself from laughing. I got to the vertical pipe and wrapped my hands around it, swinging side to side as I slowly crawled up the first few feet. Once I got my foot on the horizontal part, I braced my feet against the building and continued upward, until I reached the ledge, where I pulled myself up.
"That was fun," I panted, laying on my stomach. I remembered that a small battle was playing out below, though, and moved to the short wall overlooking the street. Falco, Miyu, and Slippy were hiding behind walls and fake cars in the street. Katherine was near the back, firing sparingly at the building. Bill was walking away from the scene, still upset. Once I freed my weapon from my jacket, I aimed it at the building Fox and Relics were hiding in, and ducked closer to the wall to make a smaller target.
Fox peeked out before firing, and managed to tag Falco just as he tried to make it to different cover. I aimed and pulled the trigger, firing a paintball with a dull puff of gas that hit the ground in front of the building.
"Yeah, make me the marksman," I said under my breath, trying to adjust my aim. Relics peeked out, and I fired again, barely missing his forehead. He spotted me, and I heard him shout something to Fox, but no paintballs flew my way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that someone was starting forward, and Fox peeked out again. I smiled and shot a trio of shots his way, which all missed, but made him duck back behind cover without taking a shot.
"Advance now," I whispered as I fired a shot each second. My timing was exploited when, just after I fired, Fox and Relics both leaned out. As soon as they leaned out, I shot thrice, but I ducked immediately after that so their four shots would miss me.
"Shit!" Fox shouted. I silently cheered and leaned up, but I had only hit his rifle.
"Lucky fox," I said, resuming my torrent of paint. I tried to mix my timing up this time, which apparently made them nervous enough to peek less and less. I saw Miyu finally reach their little base, and I stopped shooting.
"That's game," I said standing up with a smug grin. Once my shooting had stopped, Fox leaned out and aimed right at me. But something apparently distracted him before he could fire, and I saw a few colorful blurs shoot across the room at him. Miyu stepped into my view confidently, smiling and taking to Fox. After a few seconds, she looked toward me and waved. I waved back, and turned around to look for a way down.
"You're an ass," Relics told me once we got out of the class.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked with a laugh.
"You didn't even give us a chance to fire," he said.
"I'm not supposed to."
"Well, you could've at least stayed on the ground. They didn't need a sniper helping them."
"Yeah, I could've," I admitted. "But then Mr. Fritz wouldn't have congratulated me."
"I still don't know how you pulled that," he said.
"I made everyone make a plan beforehand. Apparently he agreed with that course of action. But it's probably mostly because I haven't been late to his class yet."
"Yeah, yeah," he said. "Kiss-ass."
"Hey, don't get mad at me because –" I began.
"Ditto!" someone shouted. I turned toward the voice, and saw Eli jogging toward me.
"Yeah?" I asked. Relics said goodbye, so I waved before turning back to Eli.
"I just wanted to say 'what's up?'"
"Oh. Not much, actually. I played the part of marksman last period, and I dominated," I exaggerated.
"Paintball?" he asked. I nodded. "We had to play that, too. I showed everyone else what's what."
"Does that mean you lost in the first two minutes?" I asked.
"No!" he shouted. I snickered.
"You didn't shoot Krystal, right?" I asked.
"I couldn't," he said. That's Krystal, I thought, imagining her in a game of paintball. Eli continued, "She didn't show up today."
I felt my heart start to beat faster, and I fought down the panic that was rising in my throat. She didn't get taken. Lana did. Just figure out where she is.
"Do you know where she is?" I asked.
"No," Eli said. "She said she was gonna walk with Lana for some reason, so I ran ahead. I guess she ditched."
"Yeah," I said, not really paying attention anymore. Knowing Krystal, she'd been taken trying to help Lana. Damn.
"You okay, man?" Eli asked. I forced myself to relax, and turned to him.
"Yeah. Hey, I've got to go home real quick."
"Didn't you say we were going to hang with Krystal tonight?" he asked.
"I guess that's off," I told him, before starting to jog.
This son of a bitch thinks he can hurt Krystal, too, I thought. I guess I'm about to see what that APIR can do. I ran straight out to the front of the school, ignoring people and questions as I dashed through the halls. Once I got there, I saw Joanne's car, and walked toward it.
"You want a ride tonight?" she asked.
"We going straight home?" I asked, opening the rear door.
"No, we have to go to the store first," she said, and I closed the door again. "Is something wrong?"
"No," I lied, shutting the door again, "I just need to get home right away."
"Okay," she said as I started running. "Be safe!"
The house was only about five blocks from the school, so I made it back before Joanne did. I barged right through the front door without hesitating, hoping nobody would ask any questions.
"Jake?" I called. Nobody answered. I shook my head and headed for the garage, where I assumed he'd hide the gun. Inside, I found plenty of boxes, along with a second car. But when I didn't see anything that looked like a good hiding place, I ran back into the house.
His closet, I thought, before dashing for the stairs. Constantly breathing heavily, I entered the biggest room on the second floor, and looked around. There were two nightstands, a huge bed, and a big T.V. sitting on top of a dresser opposite the bed. But there was a hallway in the room, and I walked into it. Sliding doors sat on both sides, and I looked in the right one first. After seeing a dress, I closed it again and looked in the second one. With a glance up, I saw boxes stacked above the hanging clothes.
I grabbed the leftmost box and looked behind it, then through it. Nothing, I thought, before moving to the second one. Before I'd moved it, I heard someone clear their throat, and froze. I sheepishly looked toward the sound, and saw Jake there, with his arms folded.
"What are you looking for?" he asked.
"I need the gun," I said quickly.
"You gonna tell me why?" he asked.
"I would, but he said to come alone."
"I'm sure he didn't say to bring a high-powered weapon, either."
"These guys aren't friends," I said. "If I go unarmed, I won't be coming back."
"What have you gotten yourself into?"
"They took her," I said, looking down. "I couldn't even keep her safe."
"Who? The same guys as before?"
"No. Some jerk named Wolf."
"Wolf O'Donnell?" he asked. I nodded. He sighed.
"I sure wish I could stop you," he said, "but you look like you've made up your mind."
"I'll be coming back tonight," I promised.
"I feel like I'm sending you to your death," he said.
"I won't be in that much danger," I lied.
"Well, either way, I've got something for you," he said, leaning into his closet. I stepped aside. After rummaging around in the boxes up top for a bit, he pulled something out and turned to me soberly.
"This was a gift from an old friend of mine," he said, before dropping a small hexagonal device in my hand. It had a glowing blue dot in its center, and I started to turn it over, inspecting it. On its back were a small handle and a clip. "I was in the military once, before I met Joanne. She made absolutely sure I got out as soon as I could, to keep me safe. Anyway, I want you to use it for tonight."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a deflector," he said, and I nodded, looking at it with new wonder. "If you want, I can show you how to use it."
"Will it take long?" I asked.
"Not more than half an hour, probably. Let's go; we don't have too long before Joanne comes back."
A/N: No, Krystal wasn't in sixth period. Yes, Ditto is going to the school to look for her. But did she really get kidnapped? And if she did, will Ditto succeed, since he's going in much earlier than Relics is? Will Ditto be able to keep his focus on Krystal, or will honor demand that he rescues both ladies by himself? And if Krystal isn't at the school at all, will Ditto still rescue Lana? Boy, I left too many questions open. Oh, well.
This part was an odd conundrum; while writing it, I was sure I was botching it, meaning I would have to come back and edit it to make it passable. But when I reread it, I didn't see much worth changing.
If you infer a little bit, Falco probably knows something's off with Ditto. The excuses Ditto gave him weren't perfect by any means, and I did that on purpose. What's going to come of that? We'll see. I guess.
I ought to mention again, I know nothing about Castlevania. Maybe I should play it before making all these references to it, but I'm pretty sure you have a sword in that game. And something about Dracula. That's it.
Oh, and Ditto's got a shiny new deflector, a still-untested gun, and he'll be trying to buy a hoverboard. He also flew an arwing, got complimented by Captain Fritz, and can apparently climb up the sides of buildings fairly well. I would be impressed, if he hadn't been a fairy at one point. (I fully intend to write a fanfic explaining that story, by the way.)
EDIT: I changed chapter 13, so that Ditto really tells Melina off. I think it adds some depth to their second meeting, but that's just me. And a note to Comrade's review, Sani does mention a sniper, but that's not on the second day. He's fighting WITH Falco and Bill, remember?