Chapter 42

Rod's POV

"Alright so... what did you say I was supposed to do with this?" I asked, holding up the gun type device. I looked up to see Dr. Egs standing over the counter fiddling with some chemicals, mumbling to himself. "Uh… Doctor?"

"Uh… yes yes that'd be fine," he said waving his hand toward me. I sighed.

"So… you want me to just stand here?" I asked. He mumbled something that sounded like an "Uh huh" and went back to his fiddling. I groaned. Never again will I ever take a bet with Nicky. "Hey Egs, do think I should go help Nicky and Bakun."

"Yeah sur— oh wait no, no I need you here," he said, not even glancing backward. I set the device down on a table and walked over to him.

"Well… what can I do to help?" I asked, looking at all the different tools sitting in front of him.

"What can I… do… to help... Yes yes, what can you do… to… to help," the Doctor said, smelling a can with brown oil in it. This guy's crazy! He poured the liquid into a large tube that led to a machine. Suddenly Dr. Egs grabbed my arm and dragged me over to a seat hooked up with wires. "Sit down patient."

"Patient?" I questioned, horrified. "Uh, doc? I'm not a patient…."

"Shut up and stay still!" Egs said, rushing over to the counter. I starred horrified, as he picked up a large needle, trailed by a long black pipe. Egs hurriedly approached me, device in hand.

"Uh, what's that?!" I asked, leaning away from him.

"After I inject you with this, if you see a white light, stay far away from it." Before I could react the doctor had shoved the needle into my leg.

I yelped and clenched. Darkness filled my vision and I fell back in the seat.

"I told you strictly not to use this on any human soldiers yet! It's not ready!" A voice rang out. I turned my head, but could only see black. The voices tuned in and out. I could feel a massive headache near my temples. I tried to groan, but couldn't hear anything. Light would flood in blinding me and then blacken two seconds later.

"Wait, if we don't test it now, we never will," a second voice said. "Please, if this works, the risk will be worth it."

"And if it doesn't?"

The voices tuned out and the darkness settled in once again.

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

I woke to a loud ringing in my ear. I guarded my eyes from the light as someone entered the room.

"Wake up sun shine we got a big day ahead of us," a familiar voice said. I shook my head and sat up. My eyes began to adjust and the silhouette of a large muscular man came into view.

"Whaaa?" I asked, half asleep.

"Come on Jingle, we don't have all day," the man said, throwing a shirt at my face. "I wasted my time coming down here and it isn't going to be for nothing."

I slowly got out of the bed and rubbed my eyes. "What happened?"

"Eh the doctor said something about a reaction with your brain cells, I'm sure you'll be fine," he said, opening the door to the room. "Now come on let's go!"

I threw on the shirt and looked up to reveal the familiar impatient man. It was Crip. I gasped in astonishment. "What the heck are you doing here?"

He rolled his eyes. "Retrieving you; now hurry up, we have a meeting with Mr. Plank."

I quickly threw on my shoes, and followed him, not wanting to anger the reaper any further. We hustled down the hall of the medical building and out to the airfield. We were still in the training base. I guess that's good. I still need to finish my Selethicks.

"Alright, before you ask any more questions, Plank has gathered all of our old squad back together. We are to meet with him to discuss where we will be stationed and such. After Derk returns from his "vacation" and you and Nicky finish training we will finally be back on the battlefield," Crip said, clearly on edge. I guess he's not too excited about waiting. "So… any questions?"

I remained silent and shook my head. Crip opened the door to the building where I met with Dr. Borgous, and let me through.

"Good, cause I any question that comes out your mouth is stupid. And huh, well you know how I feel about that," he said, laughing to himself. I am never going to get used to you. I thought, staring at the floor. "Up the stairs and first door to your left," Crip said, pushing me toward the stairs.

I did what I was told. "So Derk's on vacation?" I asked, approaching the door.

"Yup basically. Ask Tenny and he'll tell you something stupid like "he is on a very important mission," Pff, garbage. I could do it in my sleep." Crip responded, following me into the room.

Tenny, Mark, Leary, Nicky, and Mr. Plank all sat at a rectangular table, Plank being at the top.

"Sup everyone, sorry about the wait, sleeping beauty here couldn't get out of bed," Crip mocked, pushing me toward a seat on the right side. I gave him a glare and sat down. In turn, he laughed.

"Well, at least we can look on the bright side, he's not dead," Mark snickered, leaning back on his chair.

"Alright you two that's enough. He could've been seriously injured. It's nothing to joke about," Leary said, resting his arms on the table. Mark looked to argue, but Plank intervened.

"I concur. Rod might've lost his life. I'm rather disappointed to see such good soldiers taking his near death so lightly," Plank said, eyeing Crip. He in turn rolled his eyes, and folded his arms. To my surprise Mark actually looked guilty, and nodded to me in apology.

"Uh sorry to interrupt, but I uh… almost died?" I asked concerned. Crip opened his mouth to speak, but Tenny beat him to it.

"Yes Rod, Dr. Egs gave you an experimental shot called Shuns Bain. It's basically a very enhanced version of Selethicks, increasing your muscle growth rate double what you normally would with the standard injections," Tenny said, taking a sip of a drink in front of him. "He was not authorized to do so and will, at the command of Mr. Plank, be fired immediately."

The Commander nodded, agreeing with Tenny's claim.

"But that is not what we are here to talk about," Plank said, moving the topic along. "We are here to discuss the future of this squad."

"What's more to discuss? We sit here, wait for Derk to get back, get these guys' training done and go kill Zerg. Sounds pretty simple to me." Crip leaned back in his chair, and put his hands behind his head. Mr. Plank sighed.

"Actually Crip, there are a lot of things we still haven't covered. So before you interrupt me and embarrass yourself, you'll think to keep your mouth shut until spoken too," Plank said, losing patience. The commander turned to look at Leary. "You've got your work cut out for you soldier. Sure you can handle him?"

Leary nodded. "Yes sir. I've done it before and I can do it again."

Plank smiled, and turned to the group again. "So, while we wait for Derk, I believe Rod and Nicky still have some training to do and I think you guys can be very helpful. I want Tenny and Leary to help them learn and pass the final tests, while Crip and Mark help out with physical training. You guys will be working with Seargent Groff on that matter."

I glanced over to see Crip tense and clench his fists. He however, remained silent. Mark nodded, pleased.

"It will be done," Leary responded, speaking for the group.

"Good to here, now you are all dismissed. We will discuss later matters when we get to them. For now, see to it that these two finish their training." Plank got up from the table and led the group out the door.

I followed behind Mark and shut the door behind us. Plank and Leary made their way back to the airfield, but I stayed behind. I wanted to speak with Tenny.

"So Tenny," Mark said, pulling out a candy bar out of his pocket. "Who do you think is going to win the Tournament? Modraggin or Craine?"

"Pff, you kidding? Neither. It's clear that Slidra will dominate the floor," Tenny replied, taking half of the chocolate from Mark.

"Slidra? The snake can barely land a blow. He's more of a pest than a threat," Mark replied, biting into the candy. I followed awkwardly, hoping not to be noticed.

"He beat Gild." Tenny led the way down the stairs and outside.

"Slidra got lucky, Gild made the mistake of going for a side swipe when he should've done an upper swing," Mark argued, heading for the shooting range.

"Yeah, a rookie mistake. If you're going to be in a professional tournament like the Brood Battles, you can't afford to do that," Tenny replied, finishing the snack bar.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway. Slidra doesn't stand a chance against Modraggin, or Craine, for that matter," Mark said, glancing back at me. Tenny was about to reply, but was interrupted. "What do you want?"

"Uh… I was just… w-what are you guys talking about?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

"Huh, you kidding? You can't sit here and tell me you've never heard of the Brood Battles?" Mark replied.

"…uh can't say I have," I said, bewildered.

"Well then, it looks like you have some very important education ahead of you. Follow me," Mark said, heading toward the barracks. I complied, not sure what to expect. "Alright have a seat my good friend."

Mark clicked a couple times on his transmission, opening up a holographic image of an arena.

"These are the Brood Battles," Mark said. I looked down at the miniature stadium. A large dragon flew out of a cave and into view. The ferocious monster let out an ear splitting roar. A small soldier in black misty armor walked into the scene.

"That's Groal, and this is the match where he defeats Zodrad," Tenny said pointing to the dragon.

"Wait so that little person kills the dragon?" I asked, confused. Mark looked at me like I was stupid.

"That's… what he just said." Mark rolled his eyes and motioned back to the games.

"So the Brood Battles is basically where you go and kill each other for fame?" I asked, uninterested.

"Well "kill" is a strong word Rod," Tenny replied.

"They don't kill each other idiot; or no one would ever join the tournaments," Mark said, with much less patience then Tenny.

"Well then what do they do?" I asked, confused. "How do you know when the enemy has won?"

Mark groaned. "Oh Rod do you know anything? Have you ever seen a TV before?"

Before I could respond, Tenny jumped in and answered my question.

"Before you enter the arena you are put into a virtual mold. Whenever the oncoming hit, for example, is too much for your body to handle your mind is disconnected and put back into your original body. The mold is left in the arena to provide a realistic death effect," Tenny explained.

"Rod just think of it like a video game, but your actually there," Mark suggested, in response to my confused expression.

"Ohhhh," I said, now that I understood. "Sounds fun. Have you guys ever participated?"

"If only we could," Mark said, sounding almost disappointed.

"Huh, me and Derk had fantasies when we were first recruited that we would run away from the Orange Terran and make a living winning tournaments," Tenny said, leaning against the wall.

"Well what are we sitting around for? Let's go get you trained so we can be ready when Derk gets back," Mark said, heading out of the barracks.

Well here we go…

Hello once again. Here's another chapter for you guys! Enjoy.

p.s. I would like to quickly acknowledge the fact that that last Author's note wasn't very fun. You guys responded far better than I thought and I would like to thank you.

I think the last Author's note made it clear what I expected and how I felt... so you probably won't be hearing any more complaining from me for a while. :D:D:D YEY!