Here's the schedule I'm thinking:

Gems: Mondays and Fridays

Carry On: Tuesday and Thursday

If there's a third part…probably on Wednesdays

Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /mY2QfzMjGt


Ruby and Oscar didn't expect Rebecca Holiday here. From what they knew about her, she was always a busy body, working her fingers to the bone in the lab. Hell, she probably got less sleep than Ceres.

So, to have her be their combat instructor was...strange.

"You kids got lucky- this is one of my 'rare days off' from the lab." Holiday said.

"...and you're still working." Ruby tilted her head.

"But my work is training you two, so it's fine. Now, I'm told you two haven't been the best when it comes to hand-to-hand," Holiday said, going right into the training.

"Well...sort of? I've been practicing, but I'm more focused on refining my weapon moves-" Ruby started.

"Same. Been more focused on Semblance and using the cane." Oscar finished.

"Forget the cane and scythe," Holiday said. "You aren't always going to be armed. Self defense won't cut it 24/7 either...you need to learn how to really throw a punch."

"Right," Ruby nodded.

"...not to sound rude, but...can you even fi-" Oscar's question was cut off by Holiday grabbing Oscar, and throwing him over her shoulder.

"Ask a dumb question...get a painful answer," the farmboy said to himself.

"You're not the first one who's asked that, either," Holiday explained with a smirk.

"So...this is gonna be one of those tests where we have to hit you three times, isn't it?" Ruby guessed.

"Somewhat," Holiday said, removing her coat. Ruby's eyes went wide- holy shit, Rebecca Holiday had BICEPS!

"W-what!?" Ruby yelled.

"I always try to hide my physique. Makes me look defenseless." Holiday smiled. "So, it always catches people off guard when I do stuff like that."

"...and here I was thinking I wouldn't be getting several broken ribs because of Harriet's training," Oscar sighed.

Holiday smiled. "Don't worry. Just come at me, barefisted. No Semblances either."

Ruby took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes..." Ruby rushed over to Holiday, ready to sweep her off her feet with a kick.

Only for Holiday to leap over the attempt and Ruby, before striking the red-hooded huntress in the back with an open palm. The hit made her stagger forward a bit, taken off-guard by that sudden display of skill.

That Ceres comparison from earlier was starting to become more accurate by the minute.

The long-awaited battle drill had arrived, and it was exactly what Ciel predicted. The gang was on the Solitas tundra, surrounded by mountains.

Cammie and Oscar shuddered, their bodies still freezing despite their armor and aura. The others weren't as chilly because they were more accustomed to the Solitas cold.

"How cold is it out today?" Cammie asked, looking around.

"About -1 degrees celsius. Or...30 degrees fahrenheit." Ruby said, looking around. She had wrapped herself in her cloak to stay warm.

"I could be sharing a hot chocolate with Yang right now," Blake huffed. "...or, still cuddled up in bed with her."

"This is EXACTLY the type of weather that would make me wanna stay in bed till springtime," Kevin said, as he had Doppler make one of Hot Shot's hands. The others huddled around it, trying to stay warm.

"Oh, that's so much better..." Cammie said.

"You're my hero, Kevin." Oscar said.

Ben put his hands near the fire, and looked around the area. "Ciel...you said we were dealing with a hostage situation, right?"

"A fake one, yes. One squad goes in for the rescue, another tries to stand their ground."

"...and which side are we?" Ben asked.

"That...I don't know about." Ciel said. "But we'll get our answer soon..." Ciel motioned over to Harriet, who was approaching the group...with something over her shoulders.

"Alright, kids. You're gonna be taking a hostage." Harriet said, throwing a dummy down in front of them.

"Dang, we're the baddies." Ben said, as Blake picked up the hostage.

"Your hostage is a criminal." Harriet said.

"Okay, we're morally dubious now."

"Shut up," Harriet huffed, not in the mood for games. "But still, you'll be holding the hostage. Exercise will be over when you capture the other team, or when the other team gets the hostage over the threshold. Blasters will be set on stun only."

"Alright..." Ruby said, pulling out her blaster.

"And Ben," Harriet said. "You're allowed...one transformation."

His eyes lit up. "One?"

"Just the one. You can use whoever you want...just don't waste the transformation." Harriet said.

"Oh, I have the perfect alien for the job." Ben said, dialing up Shocksquatch. "Get ready for a one sided match!"

Ben slapped down the Omnitrix and shrank down into a small insectoid like alien. Harriet huffed.

"Welp, you wasted it."

"Woah!" Ben said, looking down at himself. "This is a new one!" Ben had morphed into a little yellow extraterrestrial with black eyes and green pupils, resembling an insect. He sported four thin legs, a beak, and a large antenna. The Omnitrix was on his back.

"So, what can he do?" Cammie said. "You're like the size of Nugget."

"You gotta have something beyond the power of cuteness, dude." Kevin said. Ruby picked Ben up, and put him in her hood.

"We'll figure it out as we go. Let's get this hostage situation set up before the other team gets here." Ruby said, as the group started to prepare.

The group scouted out for a good secluded area, and set up their base there.

"So, here's the game plan-" Ruby said. "Ciel, you'll be with Kevin. You'll predict where the enemy pops up, and he'll snipe them. Blake, Oscar…you'll handle the hostage. Cammie, you're with Ben and I."

"And what'll Ben do?" Cammie asked.

"Dunno," Ben said, looking at himself. "I've learned a lot of my smaller forms are some of my unexpected heavy hitters. Like Echo Echo, Upchuck or Slapback."

"I know EXACTLY what you are," Doppler said, sliding on up to Kevin's shoulder. "You are a AtrociCurculion."

"Come again?" Ben asked.

"A weevil-like species from a rather disgusting planet. Just…spit." Doppler said. The group winced, as Ben made a face.

"Uh…okay…" Ben said, as he sucked…and spat out a weird green blob that landed on the ground and formed into a ball. It was the size of a soccer ball.

"Please don't call this dude Spitball." Ruby begged.

Ben gagged. "That'd be wayyyy too gross, even for me." Ben leapt out of Ruby's hood, and onto the ground. "So, what, I roll this thing around?"

"Correct- that ball is made of plasma goo. It will absorb any and all matter or energy. You can detonate it at any point." Doppler said.

Ben looked around. All around him…there was something he could freely take in. Ben got a mischievous look on his face.

"Ruby…change of plans. Let me guard the dummy…" Ben said. "I think Ball Weevil's got this covered."

"Ball Weevil?" Blake repeated.

"Oh what, like you could come up with something beyond 'Spitball'?" Ben taunted.

"Fair." Blake nodded.

With the plan set, the group went off to different positions to set up. Cammie had an idea of what Ben was planning and she felt a little sorry for whoever was going to try and "rescue" the hostage.

Ciel and Kevin set up in a perfect sniping position, the former holding onto the stun-blaster just in case. For the most part, she'd be acting as Kevin's spotter.

"So these guys are bound to have their Aura up...so this shouldn't hurt," Kevin said, setting his blaster aside.

"What shouldn't hurt?" Ciel asked, a bit worried. Her question was answered when she saw Kevin's arm morph into what seemed to be a giant cannon...made of Legos, complete with a sniper scope. The Atlesian blinked a few times in confusion, not even sure how to take this.

"One of your aliens..." the punctual huntress began, "is made of Legos?"

"Just looks like Legos. It's weird," Kevin admitted.

"I don't get alien biology." Ciel sighed.

"This form gets a lot of biologists mad, it's kinda funny." Kevin admitted.

"Isn't Holiday a biologist?" Doppler asked.

"...we are not making her go insane. Weller's fine, though," Kevin said.

"Let's focus on the field for now." Ciel said, as her eyes lit up. She could see the targets, clear as day. They were going to try and sneak around the rocks, and pincer attack.

"Encirclement technique approaching- aim for left or right." Ciel advised.

Kevin adjusted his aim to the right, peering through the scope. Sure enough, one of the other trainees peeked out from behind a snowbank, clad in an unmarked version of Atlesian soldier armor. At just the right moment, Kevin fired and a giant Lego brick slammed into the side of the guy's head, knocking him on his back.

"One down," Kevin smirked.

"That is surprisingly effective salvo." Ciel hummed.

"You'd be shocked." Kevin said, taking aim once more.

Two other students peeked around the snowbank and began firing in Kevin's general direction, throwing off his aim. A third, Chiffon, raced out and pulled the downed trainee back into cover. It was just pure coincidence that the two acting as a diversion were from Mantle and the trainee the self-proclaimed superior Huntsman was saving was from Atlas proper.

"There's three more targets- what's their next move?" Kevin asked.

Ciel peered into the future. "We're just gonna be firing at each other, but it's a distraction. Another extraction team is on their way..."

"Which direction?" Kevin asked, taking a few shots at the distractions.

"They'll be meeting up with Ruby's team in about three minutes now."

"She can handle it- and if anyone slips past, Ben will handle them with ease. Hopefully." Kevin said.

"AtrociCurculion are often underestimated. Ben's creative. He'll inch out a win with ease." Doppler stated.

Ciel looked over at Doppler. "I don't even know what you are, but you better be right."

"Doppler. And I'm technically this guy's life support. Don't worry, we'll explain the whole thing later! Promise! But let's just say there's equal parts mental and physical trauma and lots of anger issues."

"That...I..." Ciel said, just processing everything she heard, "...I'm just going to focus on the opposing team now."

"Good idea," Kevin said, returning his focus on the field.

While Ciel and Kevin dealt with the distraction, Ruby, Cammie, Blake, and Oscar were circling around to try and catch the other team unaware. Of course, with Chiffon's teammates thinking of a similar plan, it wouldn't take long before they met up. The first sign of them was for one of the trainees to take a shot at Ruby, who managed to leap out of the way and fire back. Considering her marksmanship skills, one stun-shot was she needed to knock that guy flat on his ass.

Cammie fired some random shots, hoping to hit someone. Marksmanship wasn't her strong suit, she was more a 'melee' fighter with her weapons. The shots just hit some of the landscape.

Even if they didn't hit, the other members of the opposing team dove for cover. Blake, thinking Cammie was trying to keep the opponents pinned, fired along with her, motioning for Ruby and Oscar to take cover or take advantage of the situation.

Ruby took advantage, aiming with incredible precision. Oscar took cover, not behind a rock though. His shield went up, blocking the team from the opposing squad's attack.

"The hell...no one said they had a shield," one of the other trainees cursed.

"Even shield Semblances have a limit," another said, "Focus on him. I got an idea!"

Oscar grunted as the cannonading focused heavily on his shield. "U-ugh!" Oscar said. He'd never held back this many attacks before.

While the other trainees focused on him, the one that seemed to be in charge was trying to sneak around from the side. There was one obstacle he still had to get by, though. He wasn't as stealthy as he thought he was.

"Blake, keep it up! I'll be back in a minute!" Ruby yelled before racing off to intercept the other trainee.

Ruby hustled over to her target, and began firing wildly. The trainee was caught off guard by the attack.

He ducked as soon as Ruby opened fire, but there was one way he could turn the tide. The trainee waited for Ruby to stop firing for a moment, before he rushed in. The red-hooded reaper opened fire with a new barrage, but she wasn't able to stop him. He grabbed a hold of her gun by the barrel and before Ruby could pull the trigger again, she watched the weapon freeze.

"Oh. Ice Semblance?" Ruby asked sheepishly.

"Ice Semblance," the trainee grinned.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "That's annoying." Ruby punted his chest in, sending the man stumbling back.

"Maybe," the guy said after regaining his balance, "but it helps in times like this!" He raced back towards Ruby and started throwing punches. Ruby's instinct was to try and dodge out the way, let the guy just hit air and see rose petals land on the ground.

But she decided to take a risk.

She dodged one punch and tried to counter with a flurry of punches of her own.

Ruby was mimicking Yang's movements, and she hoped it was successful. Ruby was boosting her strikes by use of her Semblance. The speed boosted her strength by a small percentage, but the rapidness of her her attacks made it quite effective.

Some of the hits landed, but they weren't packing as punch as Yang's; maybe that was a given, though. Most of the hits were being deflected and the opening those deflections created were expertly exploited. A palm-strike after a left jab, a right-jab after a right hook, each hit slowly whittled away at her Aura. The ice Semblance this guy had was probably doing more damage than the strikes themselves.

Ruby grit her teeth- but she also had something else over this guy. Ruby let up her attack, and used her semblance to split into three. She reappeared behind the attacker, and kicked him in the back of the skull.

He staggered forward, almost tripping over himself and landing in the show. His Aura flared at the impact site. He spun around and tried to land a right-hook to Ruby's face, only for her to duck and rise up with an uppercut.

Thank god she remembered how Yang pulled one of these off!

The man toppled over, and groaned. "Ow..."

Ruby looked at her hands. She wiggled her fingers, and grinned. Ruby could now throw punches- now she was unstoppable.

Her power trip was cut short when another stun blast barely missed her.

"Oh shit, almost forgot!" Ruby yelled before racing back.

Chiffon growled, seeing both of his teams stalled like this. He was going to beat them. He whistled to the two soldiers firing at Kevin and Ciel.

"I'm breaking this stalemate. Cover me!" the Atlesian ordered.

"Cute on how you think that's gonna happen." Ruby scoffed, rolling her eyes.

The Mantle and Faunus trainees nodded and took aim at Kevin's sniper perch and peppered it with repeated fire. He had to duck from all the fire and rolled his eyes.

"How many clips do they have?" Kevin asked.

"Not many," Ciel said, opening her eyes, "if what they plan to do next is any indication." (edited)

"Would be handy if we had hints on what that plan COULD be." Kevin implied.

"Ignore the ones firing. Their team leader's about to rush in from the right. He's getting impulsive, thinks he can bypass by himself," Ciel explained.

"And what about Ben?" Kevin asked. "Hopefully he can do his part."

"If you miss, I have faith in him."

"Great vote of confidence there, Miss 'I Can See the Future!'" Doppler rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean 'if I miss'? I have a literal aimbot hack on my gun. No way I'll miss." Kevin scoffed.

Ciel gave him a look.

"Prove it then!" Doppler cheered on.

Kevin aimed at one of the men- he lined up the shot, and fired. He could see no way this could backfire-

Until the person in question activated their semblance. Kevin only saw a 'shimmer' of light form around their body, and the shots they fired suddenly bounced off their body. Kevin gasped, as the two shots rebounded towards him.

"Told you." Ciel said.

"Good thing I didn't bet on it," Doppler scoffed.

"I hate that Semblance." Kevin grumbled.

Right as the shots rebounded towards him, Chiffon made a dash for the right, trying to race past Kevin's field of fire.

Chiffon was successful in breaking past Kevin's blasts- he assumed it would be smooth sailing from here on out. But, then he realized-

Where was Ben?

"Oh hey! It's you again!" Ben called out. For a reason Ben couldn't fathom, because it was insane, Chiffon got annoyed at the callout. Why was he so casual when addressing someone like him? Clearly, this...riff-raff, for lack of a better word, had absolutely no idea who he was talking to! Chiffon was about ready to open fire on Ben, not even noticing the higher pitch to his opponent's voice.

And then he saw a massive snowball of destruction.

"New alien! Testing out its powers!" Ben waved from atop the green orb.

"...this feels unfair," Chiffon deadpanned.

Ben felt like he was rolling a log in water. This alien was strangely adept at that. With all the snow being absorbed into his plasma orb, it had grown to a notable size. It looked like it could crush a small car at this size. It was fast too- Ben was rolling around at 30 MPH.

Ben grinned. "Eat exploding plasma ball thingy!"

Chiffon just took aim with his weapon and opened fire. Maybe it was a fruitless struggle, but damn it he wasn't going down without a fight! Or a...pointless last stand! Either one!

As Ben kicked the massive plasma sphere at the boy, the blasts were quickly absorbed into a plasma ball, and Chiffon's expression fell. Chiffon ducked for protection- not that it would help.

Right when the ball hit a nearby snowbank, it exploded.

Harriet, who was overseeing the exercise with Marrow, blinked a few times at seeing the blast. For context, the two Ace-Ops were far enough away so that the two teams were essentially no more than specks to them.

"So uh...you said Ben turned into a beetle?" Marrow asked.

"Yup," Harriet said.

"And you said he wasted his one transformation."

"...don't push it, Amin," the speedster growled.

"I'm just saying!"

Chiffon's ears were ringing when his eyes opened. The battlefield behind him had been decimated by that plasma ball- scattered fragments of ice and rock littered the ground. He stumbled around, looking dazed and confused.

The Atlesian groaned as he moved, trying to get his bearings. He still had his weapon, so he was ready to put up a fight.

"Where...where did he..." Chiffon growled.

Chiffon stumbled around, but was unable to find Ben- had he shifted forms? No, no...Harriet disallowed that. He was still that annoying bug...

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Ben had shifted forms, just not in the way Chiffon had thought. While scanning around for the little bug, Chiffon failed to notice a hand reach out from the smoke the blast had covered the area with and grab hold of his stun weapon. Ben then managed to disarm Chiffon entirely, forcing the weapon to drop to the snow below.

"Sorry about that." Ben said, as the ringing in Chiffon's ears started to fade. "First time using him- didn't know the explosion would be THAT big."

"You're...apologizing? Here? Now?" Chiffon asked, almost insulted at the idea.

"Well, yeah. I seriously had no idea it'd be that big." Ben said. "Ball Weevil hits MUCH harder than I thought."

"Would you...just...shut...UP?!" Chiffon yelled, taking a swing at Ben. He managed to catch the punch and throw Chiffon over his shoulder. The Atlesian slammed into the snow with a groan as his Aura flared.

Ben blinked. He thought he was being inoffensive- why was this guy getting so worked up?

By now, all the gunfire had faded, either because the other team had all surrendered or they were beaten. Either way, the "criminals" were finished.

The exercise ended abruptly, with Harriet and Marrow returning to judge everyone.

"I'll admit, that was a extremely one-sided battle. That's my fault for not realizing how powerful that tick alien was." Harriet agreed. "Regardless, Ruby's squad had better battle control than Chiffon's."

Ruby blinked. Was that a compliment from Harriet? That never usually happened.

"Speaking of...Chiffon? What were you doing?" Marrow asked, "You were just...throwing your teammates out there as shields or distractions."

"Not true, sir. I ordered half of our squad to flank them!" Chiffon defended.

"That so? If I asked the members of that part of your squad, they gonna say the same?"

When Marrow turned to face his team, they glanced away. Marrow shook his head and then turned to face Chiffon.

"I heard a lot of good things about your brothers. Dunno what happened with you, but you're certainly a far cry from them." Marrow sighed, sounding like a disappointed father. Another shock for today- Marrow being professional.

Did we end up on bizarro Earth? Kevin wondered.

"Tennyson, the only problem I can actually think of is how excessive that blast was. Even then, that's negated by the fact that the alien was...experimental, let's call it," Harriet explained, "Aside from that...you handled this rather well."

Oh my god, what is happening. Cammie thought to herself.

"Thank you, ma'am." Ben saluted. "Again, was trying to dial up-"

Harriet held up her hand. "I don't wanna hear what your original plan was. Just...good on improvising, especially under such-"

BOOM. The area shook, and people gasped. Harriet looked up and examined the area. What was that noise? Her eyes widened as she saw...what was coming their way.

"AVALANCHE!" Harriet yelled, as the team spun around.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Kevin sighed. With that, all of them bolted.

Ben was the only one who didn't run away; instead, he raced towards the massive avalanche.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, KID?!" Marrow screamed. Ben just gave him a thumbs up, before activating the Omnitrix.

Ben slammed the Omnitrix down and changed into Heatblast, but he could see this was going to be a far more difficult task. And that avalanche was going to HURT if it hit him. Ben slapped the Omnitrix symbol down, and the Omni Drive armor covered his body. With no time to waste, he raised his launcher arm and charged a shot.

"TENNYSON, COME ON!" Marrow yelled.

"Wait, what's he doing?!" Ruby stopped and turned to see Ben charging up a shot, "Huh...that...could work."

"One kid against an avalanche? Why are all of you irredeemably INSANE?!" Chiffon yelled.

"Get used to it," Kevin scoffed. This dude needed to get with the program.

Ben fired his charged-up shot. The fireball he had created was thick and strong. When the flaming sphere connected with the avalanche, it instantly vaporized it.

Ben huffed, as he reverted back to human. "Thank God I had that."

Many of the trainees stopped when they felt the rumbling in the earth fade, causing them to turn around and see that the source had faded with it.

"...holy. Shit," the trainee with the ice Semblance muttered.

Harriet sighed with relief. "Thank God for that idiot."

"That was a close one..." Oscar said- a minute ago, he was seriously scared for his life.

"Did Ben have anything to do with it?" Chiffon inquired. "He was the one who detonated a massive plasma ball, you know."

"I'm not sure—probably not." Marrow said. "There was a secondary explosion, separate from that plasma explosion."

"There was?" Cammy asked.

"He's right- I heard it." Harriet said. "Dunno where it came from, though."

Ben walked back over, as if nothing had happened. "Weird- I'm always used to running from avalanches."

"...I have got to get a better understanding of the power scaling for this shit," Harriet groaned.

"Power scaling? Throw that out the window." Ben shrugged. "I've had my heaviest hitters taken down by Yang. Sure, I'm holding back, but...y'know."

"Get a drone out." Harriet demanded Marrow. "Scan the area."

"On it," Marrow said, bringing out his Scroll and calling it in.

"So...anyone think this is another part of our little theory?" Cammy asked, being vague in case someone was eavesdropping.

"I don't know." Ciel said, looking around. "I didn't predict that would happen."

"Wait, what?" Ben asked.

"I can only predict things that are planned, like organized attacks or timed bombs. If the bomb was remote, it could go off at any moment." Ciel explained.

"...Ciel," Blake began, "How...well known is your Semblance?"

"I tend to keep it to myself. Otherwise, I would be the first person taken out in battle." Ciel said. "Why is this relevant right now, though?"

"Because what if someone knew that and exploited that loophole?"

"They knew you could predict bomb...so they found the workaround," Cammy said.

"Doubtful- the only people I told was you." Ciel said. "And I know you wouldn't betray my trust..."

Ruby nodded. "We'd never do that to a friend."

"So...maybe it was timed then? Or would that count as being planned?" Cammy asked.

"Nope. Would have detected it then." Ciel said. "I've trained my powers to act as a 'sixth sense' since..." Ciel trailed off.

Ruby made a face.

"So we've got an 'accidental' live explosive being used for a training exercise, and an 'accidental' blast that caused an avalanche," Cammie said, "Yeah, no, call me crazy, part of that feels like it was connected."

"We need to find out where the bomb detonated," Ben said. "Then I can use Clockwork to see who planted them there."

"You can do that?" Ciel and Cammie asked in unison.

"As long as its within a few hours." Ben said. "I can't go back too far for some reason."

"That...sounds incredibly useful." Ciel tried her best to hide it, but her words carried a somewhat jealous tone. If she had a similar power, just moving forwards in time, maybe she could've changed certain things.

"Give or take." Ruby said. "...then again, Clockwork is pretty messed up."

Ben looked away. "A lot more messed up than we give him credit for."

"...there's a story to that," Cammie immediately picked up.

"We're not telling," Ruby said.

The drone didn't go out until an hour later, significantly cutting down their chances of seeing who planted the bomb. According to the drone, the bomb was an Atlesian "cluster" grenade- an experimental and deadly bomb made for exploding Grimm nests.

"So first a normal grenade, now a 'nest-buster,'" Marrow hummed.

"It feels to specific for incompetence doesn't it?" Harriet asked, checking an armory manifest.

"Whoever is trying to target us, they're not holding back." Marrow said. "They know we're the best of the best, so they're hitting us with the 'best'."

"Which means either black market or an inside agent," Harriet explained.

"My gut tells me its inside agent, but then again, my gut feeling is always wrong." Marrow shrugged.

"...not always," Harriet remembered something Marrow said earlier, something that warranted more investigation. He mentioned Chiffon had "brothers"...

"Well, I'm gonna check in on the others. They seemed pretty freaked about the avalanche." Marrow said.

"Tell them we're 'taking it easy' until further notice." Harriet said. "I don't want them getting injured."

"Because it'd be terrible, or it'd hold them back from their fullest?" Marrow joked.

"Whichever you think would they'd take easier," Harriet said, fully serious. Her focus was on her new investigation now.

Marrow walked off. He wasn't too bothered by the whole 'two near death experiences' recently. He felt he should be, though.

He checked his pocket for his Scroll and groaned when he didn't feel anything.

"Great. Musta left it behind," the wolf Faunus groaned and made his way back to his quarters. Maybe Elm could help with some of the lessons.

Marrow went to his dorm, and entered in his passcode- it was normal for all special dorms to have this security, in case o-

BOOM.

Alarms started blaring as soon as the blast went off, sending the whole base into lockdown.

Marrow stumbled out of the blast, clothes on fire and aura shimmering. Marrow coughed and wheezed, trying to get clean air-

BOOM. A second detonation- the force of the explosion caused Marrow to smash against the wall. His aura shattered, and his consciousness was fading…


Oooh, cliffhanger. : )

Suffer.