by A M Lopez
Allison groaned again while Aaron sighed.
“This is why we don’t leave them to their own devices.”
“We might as well go in after them. Come on, Allison.”
The girls grabbed their helmets and put them on.
"What the freak?" Allison exclaimed.
The team was stationed on a mountain, one full of snow. Trees lined up all around them, and wooden sleds were stationed next to each of them. The guns they saw earlier were floating next to them, and a screen appeared in front of them.
"What is going on here?" Dimitri crossed his arms, Arthur shrugged looking off into nowhere.
"I don't know, but I don't have time for this." Aaron went to take off the helmet, but it wouldn't budge.
"Help me get this off!" Aaron grunted.
Arthur and Dimitri snickered.
"I guess we should just play along." Allison shrugged, going to look at the blue screen that appeared. There were nine boxes highlighted. The top said, 'pick your poison'. The categories read blueberries, smoke bombs, a pole, a dictionary, bubbles, a blanket, gum, lipstick, and sticky notes.
"The screen says we can each only pick two, I'm calling the lipstick and gum." Allison said while tapping the screen.
She turned around and smirked. "If I fail, at least it will be fabulously."
Aaron rolled her eyes and walked up. "I'm choosing the pole and the smoke bomb. I'm definitely hitting Connor and Eva over the head for this."
Arthur examined the screen. "I'm grabbing the blankets and bubbles. Don't know why, but you only live once."
Dimitri groaned. "Well, I guess I'm left with the blueberries and the dictionary."
A yell interrupted their short conversation.
"Finally losers, let's get going!" Eva was seen on a blue sled, racing down from the top of the mountain. Connor was right behind her, in a gray colored sled. His black hair was waving all over the place, and he yelled, "Last one down the mountain is a rotten Gealfin!"
Eva looked over her shoulder to him. "What is that?"
"No time!" He yelled as he passed her. "It's from the Gryinkin Dimension!" He let out a crazy laugh.
"What are you guys waiting for, let's go!" Eva encouraged them.
Aaron and the rest of the team looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Oh, it’s on.”
The twins boarded their red and silver sleds, pushing off the ledge and down the mountain after grabbing their guns. Before Allison could say anything, Aaron was suddenly rushing past her on a purple sled, gun in hand.
“Hey! Wait for me!”
Allison immediately grabbed her gun and flew down the mountain on her hot pink sled, quickly catching up to the rest of the group.
Eva called out. “The guns shoot virtual bullets, but they will act like real bullets in here.”
Allison responded, “Where even is here?”
Connor laughed. “Here is a virtual mountain in a video game!”
Their talk was cut short when trees appeared ahead. Everyone was maneuvering around the patch of trees in front of them when they heard Connor call out.
“Eva, team up?”
“Totally!”
Allison screamed, “That’s not fair!”
Eva laughed. “Too bad!”
Making it out of the tree line, Allison spotted Arthur and smirked. “Arthur, be my partner?”
He and Dimitri shared a look before he yelled, “Heck, yeah! Let’s show them how it’s done!”
Aaron screamed, “Dimitri!”
Dimitri’s offended face turned to one of complete mischief as he replied, “It would be an honor.”
Everyone quickly slid so they were next to their partner. Allison and Arthur were on the left while Dimitri and Aaron were on the right, leaving Eva and Connor in the middle. Each pair shared a look and then chaos erupted. Allison popped the gum into her mouth and began to chew while shooting at Eva. Arthur shot at Aaron, ignoring his items for the moment. Connor shot at Allison, trying to protect his teammate. Eva shot at Dimitri, trying to take down her more threatening enemy. Dimitri shot at Arthur because he was still offended by his betrayal. Meanwhile, Aaron shot at Connor because she wanted to take down him and Eva for bringing her into this mess.
Dodging and weaving, everyone tried not to get shot. Suddenly, there was a crossroads up ahead and each pair went down a different path. Thick bundles of trees separated the paths, preventing the teams from shooting one another. This caused split second planning to commence. When the paths merged again, no one was prepared for what happened next. Suddenly, Allison swerved next to Eva while blowing a bubble with her gum, protected from Connor by Arthur’s cover fire. The bubble burst and Eva became blinded. Desperately clawing the gum from her helmet, Eva heard Connor scream her name and felt a hand grab her arm, pulling. She felt herself slowing down and was finally able to get the gum off her helmet.
The two hadn’t stopped but they were some distance behind the rest. Glancing back, Eva realized she would have ran into a tree had Connor not grabbed her.
“Thanks!”
“No problem! Now, let’s catch up!”
Eva and Connor shared a smirk before picking up speed. They stayed slightly behind the two pairs shooting it out, hoping they would take each other out. When it was obvious, they wouldn’t anytime soon, Connor pulled a pad of sticky notes from his pocket, looking to Eva. She pointed to where Aaron and Dimitri were, causing him to nod. They increased their speed and leaned right, heading straight for the pair. Dimitri turned just in time to see them, his eyes widening.
“Aaron, look out!”
Aaron’s head snapped in their direction a second too late, sticky notes suddenly in her face. Dimitri immediately tried to help her, ripped them off, causing them to slow down and for Connor and Eva to pass them. Before the two could make a strategy against the other pair, bubbles were covering the visors of their helmets. They swerved right, out of the bubbles’ path, and into the direction of Allison’s gun. She didn’t hesitate to start shooting at them, but they were quick to dodge and shoot back. Reaching into her pocket, Eva threw blueberries at them. Most were ineffective, but one landed in Allison’s open mouth causing her to choke. Arthur slapped her in the back and was able to dislodge the berry, but they had fallen far behind.
Eva smiled and raised her gun, only for it to be ripped out of her hands by a thrown pole. Turning their heads, Eva and Connor saw Aaron with her hand outstretched from throwing the pole and Dimitri with his gun raised. Using erratic movements, they were able to avoid Dimitri’s fire until he needed to reload. Connor turned to shoot back when Aaron threw a smoke bomb. Suddenly, they were no longer in sight. Connor shot into the smoke just in case they were still there, but it was quickly proven they had moved. Aaron and Dimitri suddenly appeared on their left, shooting. Connor’s sled was wrecked in the attack and he quickly hopped onto Eva’s. Wrapping one arm around her waist to steady himself, he used the other to raise his gun and shoot.
Every shot missed and Aaron was about to destroy their sled when Allison threw a lipstick at her. The lipstick smeared a line of red on her visor, causing Aaron to attempt to wipe it off. She only made it worse while Dimitri did his best to cover her. Arthur and Allison quickly took the lead as Connor reloaded and the other pair had their breakdown. Dimitri raised his gun to shoot at them when Arthur blew bubbles into his face. He and Allison laughed until they realized it had the opposite effect. The bubbles had helped Aaron clean her visor and her glare was deadly. She shot at their sleds but missed.
Connor and Eva knew they wouldn’t win so they settled for sabotaging the other groups. Connor had been attempting to shoot out sleds while Eva was pulling out another item when Aaron glanced back and fired a single shot. Connor and Eva were thrown face first into the snow as their sled was broken, only to reappear in the air to see who would win. They flew above the two fighting pairs and decided that their own fun didn’t have to end just yet.
Connor smirked. “Aaron and Dimit
ri will totally win.”
Eva laughed. “Don’t underestimate Allison and Arthur.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Five bucks?”
“You’re on.”
The noise of the fight below them brought their attention back to what was important. The two pairs were neck and neck with the end of the mountain closing in. Eva and Connor were cheering on their teams when something completely unexpected happened. Dimitri had finally pulled out one of his items, the dictionary, and Arthur pulled out his bubbles. Suddenly, Dimitri threw the dictionary at Aaron’s back causing her to wipe out while Arthur blew bubbles in Allison’s face, preventing her from seeing a rock ahead and sending her flying off her sled. Aaron and Allison appeared next to Eva and Connor in the sky, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. Below them, Arthur and Dimitri slid towards each other and side hugged as they reached the end of the mountain. They jumped off their sleds and began hollering, happy they had won together.
The four in the sky suddenly appeared next to them as they pulled out the items they didn’t use. Aaron tensed, Connor paled, Eva froze, and Allison flinched. Instead of attacking them though, the twins used their items for a different purpose. Arthur laid his blanket on the ground and the twins sat on it. Dimitri held out his hand full of blueberries to Arthur and both began to eat them. The twins looked at the four with smirks painted on their smug faces. The four relaxed, sighing.
Aaron looked at the twins. “You betrayed your partners.”
Dimitri smiled. “Nope. Arthur and I were partner’s all along. We have been since right before he agreed to be Allison’s partner.”
Aaron raised a brow. “So, you became my partner only to benefit yourself.”
Arthur cut in. “No, he became your partner to benefit the two of us, not just himself.”
Aaron gave him a look, but before she could continue speaking Allison interrupted.
“Chill out, Aaron. They’re siblings, we honestly should have known they wouldn’t betray each other. Plus, being a traitor isn’t so bad when it’s for your family, don’t you think?”
Aaron sighed, “Fine. Smart tactic.”
Arthur giggled. “Yay!”
Everyone laughed and took a seat, just admiring the view. Despite being at the bottom of the mountain, they were still high up. They could easily see the sunsetting in the horizon. All of the tense and charged silence from the past few months was gone, only comfort and love remained. No one in Astrolabe had felt this relaxed and at home for a long time. Everyone thanked Connor and Eva quietly, not wanting to disrupt the peace. However, Dawn’s voice did that for them.
“Team Astrolabe, you have only one hour until we reach Libra. It is recommended that you eat and prepare yourselves for the mission ahead.”
Allison laughed. “That sounded more or less like something Aaron would say.”
Aaron smiled. “To be honest, it does.”
Everyone broke out into laughter.
“Hey, let’s go have lunch together!”
Dimitri grinned. “Great idea, Allison.”
This time their helmets came off easily, and everyone was back in the gym. As they headed to the cafeteria, Eva and Connor shared smiles, happy that their plan worked. At least they were happy until Arthur spoke up.
“So, you two owe me and Dimitri ten bucks since you made that bet.”
Eva sputtered. “No, we don’t! You weren’t a part of it.”
Dimitri laughed. “Too bad. We will be expecting our payment before we get to Libra.”
Connor groaned. “Come on, guys.”
Arthur smirked. “Nope. You two owe us, end of story.”
Eva and Connor groaned simultaneously, causing everyone to laugh. The two couldn’t help the smiles growing on their faces. Their team was back to being a family again, that was worth more than ten bucks to them. Not that they would ever tell that to the twins, just in case they would be tempted to raise the price.
As the team settled in their rightful spots, Aaron tapped a tablet and a holographic screen appeared in front of them. Once again, the planet appeared. Aaron zoomed in so they could see a huge library.
"This is where the energy spike was seen, but we have to be careful. As you all know, the dimensions have been falling apart. We have no way of tracking which one is next, so be on your guard at all times.
Aaron looked in the eyes of each teammate.
"Don't forget. Our mission here is to save the dimensions above all else. We are saving the people."
Chapter Eight
The team was called to the main floor after having separated to get themselves ready for the mission. Eva headed up the stairs with Allison, laughing over the simulation they went through.
"How were you even able to do that? All we had to do was put on our helmets and we were in a different place. We didn't even move in real life!" Allison inquired, throwing an arm around Eva’s shoulders. Well, attempting to at least.
Eva smiled softly. "I just used the technology you integrated in Connor's room to make simulations and connected it to the helmets Connor had lying around."
"That is innovative and smart. I’m proud." Allison puffed out her chest and the two laughed, opening the door into the hallway.
Aaron was waiting by the door along with Connor.
"Where are the boys?" Eva questioned, her eyes hovering over Connor. He caught her gaze and a ghost of a smile appeared on his structured face. Allison looked between Connor and Eva, hitting her in the ribs with her elbow. Eva snapped her face to look at Allison, who was waggling her eyebrows. Eva shook her head and turned back to Connor, who winked at her.
"They're coming down, Arthur had fallen down the stairs and hurt his arm again. Let's just say Dimitri was not pleased." Aaron responded, her attention on her tablet.
With that, the twins appeared in the hallway. Dimitri had his arms crossed while Arthur had a sheepish look on his face.
Aaron rolled her eyes. "Roll out."
Dawn opened the doorway, and a breeze flew in.
"Woah." Arthur wondered.
Woah was the correct term. From the images the team saw, they knew the planet was purple. However, they didn't imagine it would be a high level of purple. Dawn was stationed on the grass, but it was not green grass. It was purple grass. The moon was purple, the trees were different shades of purple, the field they were stationed on was purple.
The field appeared to be a crop field with freshly planted seeds. Dumbbell-like flowers lined the outer rim of the field, the moon causing the already purple plants to be more purple.
"Why is everything so purple?" Allison muttered, quickly following Aaron who was heading down the escalator.
"For one, the atoms of the --." Arthur began to explain, but was quickly interrupted.
"Nevermind."
Eva snickered and looked over to the twin who had a moderately confused look on his face.
Connor bumped her arm, and Eva looked back at him. His eyebrows were scrunched together.
"I know you're fully capable of taking care of yourself, but please stick close to me. I don't have a good feeling about this."
Eva looked over his worried face and slowly nodded. "I will."
If it were any other time, Eva would bombard him with questions. Either that or be thoroughly offended. But it was now, and they headed down the escalator.
Setting their feet down on the purple grass, Aaron announced, "Alright guys, we're going to head down that trail," She pointed to a light gray path leading up a hill. "So, keep your eyes and ears open, and hang on to your backpacks."
The team made their way out of the field, and as they did so Allison commanded, "Dawn, cloak on."
The giant metal ship disappeared into nowhere, the purple sky behind it shining through.
"I'll never get over that. That doesn't even make sense on Ranison." Eva muttered.
Allison looked back at her and smirked. "You have your thing, ninja girl. Leave me to mine."
Eva smiled back
and they continued on their way. The path was lit by purple rocks that glowed, and Arthur leaned down to pick up some of them along the way.
"I've read about these. Activatus Boranis, the anomaly of the dimensions." He brought a rock closer to his face, making his neon green eyes a shade of purple. "How does a nonliving thing glow? The world will never know."
With that, the team turned a shade of silence. Their silent footsteps quickly went off the path into the forest.
"What is up with us and trees?" Eva murmured to Connor, who looked at her and realization came upon his face.
"I guess it's our thing, let's just hope giant mushrooms don't attack us today." He bumped her shoulder and they shared a smile.
Allison climbed a boulder, looking out to the place. “Why the heck is there a library in the middle of nowhere?”
Aaron shot Allison a look. “Why don’t we go find out, Allison?”
Allison laughed. “Sure thing, captain!”
Jumping off the boulder, the team began making the trek to the building in the distance.
~
“Why is it taking so long to get there? I’m tired!”
“Arthur, stop complaining. If you got out of your room more you wouldn’t be so tired.”
“But, Dimitri! I would complain the same amount anyway! Plus, we are only halfway there! We’ve been walking for about half an hour!”
Dimitri sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“It may be taking a long time, but you complaining isn’t helping.”
Arthur rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, head lowering to glare at the ground. Dimitri rolled his eyes and punched him on the shoulder. Arthur looked up at him and the two glared, then smiled. Their smiles dropped when they turned towards Eva and Allison, who were giggling at them. The twins’ glares made the two girls burst out laughing, with Connor and Aaron snickering behind them. Arthur opened his mouth to try to defend himself and his brother when the ground shook.