It took the tall and short team ten minutes to arrive in their destination. Arma squatted down low along with Zessica behind a heavily snow coated bush a few feet away from five or so aberrant moving snowmen. Arma’s heart almost stopped beating when one of the snowmen halted to a stop and sniffed the air, causing the tall lad wonder whether it had picked up their scent already. Fortunately for him, the snow man simply growled in a bass low tone before turning its attention to the ring formation again. Only then did Arma let himself exhale out a sigh of relief.

“Okay...now what?” Arma asked and turned to find in place of where Zessica should have been, he was asking to nothing but thin air. Arma’s eyes widened in disbelief; staring at the empty spot for several seconds. Then he anxiously turned his attention around him, wondering where a small ivory haired girl could have gone.

‘Where’d she go? And why did she had to go disappear on me at this time?!”

Arma thought as panic settled in. At the corner of his eyes, he saw something move ever so slowly towards the middle of the ring. The tall lad almost slapped his forehead and swore out loud. If it weren’t for the dozen or so snowmen guarding at whatever that was in the middle, he would have done just that.

Zessica, very much camouflaged thanks to the white winter dress she was wearing and her flawless pale white skin, was using her weak presence to her advantage. Arma was more or less impressed to find it was working. Not one single snow monster sensed the small fry inching her way closer toward the center of the ring. Even Arma had to strain his eyes to catch sight of her. Once or twice when he blinked, it seemed like she vanished into thin air again till he saw several spots of sky blue, red and black moving about. It couldn’t be helped that she was so easy to miss.

The tall lad watched her stop from her tracks several times and continued forward again. He wondered where she got her courage from to take such a huge risk in walking through so many vicious snow men. She then suddenly squatted down, extending out her right hand slowly, as if reaching out towards something. As seconds ticked by, Arma saw what seemed like an invisible barrier for it rippled from her touch, causing it to reveal the dome-shaped force field and a distorted view of a small wooden cabin.

However, this was a mistake that Zessica had made unintentionally.

When the barrier rippled, no doubt it attracted the attention of all the snowmen guarding it. All of the aberrant sniffed the air and turned its head with frightening accuracy towards the small girl. Arma saw her that she was unperturbed by the sudden tight situation she had engulfed herself into for she didn’t as much bat an eye. Although, he did see her gulp nothing but air due to the tension.

Knowing that there was no chance in hell Zessica would survive with an unfair of number of opponents that was facing her, Arma did something that his brain cells could spare him to do. He ran forward with a snowball in hand and aimed it precisely at one of the snowmen. Even though he had expected it, he couldn’t shake off the disbelief that was expressed comically when the snowball smacked onto one of the snowmen’s back, not even leaving a scratch.

“Hey you overgrown snow ball! Over here!” Arma yelled loudly, flailing his arms like a wild monkey high on bananas. The gesture was well rewarded, maybe just a bit too much. Due to Arma having a higher presence than any normal teenager, he was more or less stupefied to find that all of the snowmen were now very interested to beat him to a pulp. All of a sudden, the courage for him to walk straight up to one of those terrifying creatures writhed away in shyness and Arma found himself raising both his hands in surrender.

“E-easy...Uh...Hi!...I am sure you want to beat the heck out of me but...c-can’t we negotiate? C-call it a truce?” Arma stuttered awkwardly, his mind already loosing rational thought. One thing spiralled around his mind and that was to get the heck out of there. He didn’t expect them to answer, which they only responded as a growl but he was more or less wishing any other person who was in his shoes right now good luck because he really needed it...like now.

What Arma didn’t know was even though he had the worst luck, there was someone who could balance it up by having too much good luck. Zessica squatted down and slammed both her palm down on the snowy ground, activating her Major of Telekinesis and sent a vertical avalanche that spread around her like a circle. This avalanche successfully knocked out three to four thirty feet snow monsters and send them crashing to the ground.

“WaaaAAAaaaAAh!” Arma screamed loudly, not caring that he sounded completely cowardly by then. He ran for his life, avoiding the towering monster’s crushing fall that was sent in his way. Arma would have confirmed then that either the AI doesn’t like him, or someone out there held a grudge against him, to which he knew they were limitless of people out there.

“Are you trying to kill me?!” Arma yelled bewilderedly, bracing himself as the force of one snowmen fell a hair away from him. He then leaped elsewhere, avoiding another impact of two other snowmen. Eventually, he managed to reach to his partner who was scrutinizing her eyes together and clutching her chest. Her breathing had become laboured and Arma could hear it whistling slightly.

Before he could ask her whether she was alright, to which he knew that she wasn’t, at the corner of his eyes he saw five other snowmen were now creeping towards them. They were all hungry for blood.

‘Not today.’

Arma thought boldly as he picked Zessica up by her waist and plunged himself through the barrier. At first, the force field was somewhat resistant to both of them but gradually, the tall lad and the short girl made it through once it seemed to accept that they were human. Just after they entered inside of the barrier, Arma heard a loud bang. He turned around, still carrying his partner and so two to three aberrant smashing their fist against the force field. For a moment, Arma feared that it would break.

However, the barrier withstood it all and rejected the aberrant invitation and refused for them to enter. After several poundings later, the snow men eventually gave up and returned back in the ring formation again, acting like nothing had happen.

Allowing himself to have a small grin, Arma then hopped up the stairs in front of the wooden cabin and practically burst in. Quickly, he placed the girl down to one bed and slammed the door shut with his foot. Zessica was shivering furiously and her back was arced back in pain, as if the cold was too much for her body to bear. A second later, she was showered by crackles of green electricity and the tall lad knew that was not a good sign.

“A-Arma...” Zessica whimpered, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Arma felt a pang of hurt pulsing inside of him as he gently brushed off the fringe of her hair from her face, ignoring the electricity completely. To his surprise, Zessica reached out and held on that very hand, almost as if she was treasuring it. It occurred to him that her hand was cold as ice that Arma flinched back from her touch.

“T-too...Cold...” Zessica whined lightly. There was pain in her voice and Arma felt like breaking down then and there but he knew he had to be strong for her.

“Shh...I know...Just hold on for a minute okay? I’ll make it all better okay? I’ll take those pains away...” Arma hushed lightly. After a brief moment of silence, Zessica nodded and let go of his hand. Scanning around, he saw the fire place located at the opposite wall of the bed, far into the corner.  Arma quickly scurried towards it, sending chunks of wood that was placed neatly at the wall straight into the gap and grabbed the matchbox that was placed on the shelf above the fire place. It took him five tries to light up a match and he tossed it into the chunks of wood as well.

At first, the fire didn’t spread much. Groaning in impatience, Arma grabbed something that looked like a metal stick and jabbed it at the wood, sort of stirring the logs over and about. As the minutes ticked by, making it all the more excruciatingly painful for Zessica, Arma shout out a cry of relief when the fire was finally lit up. However, unfortunately for him, the heat wasn’t spreading as fast as he wanted it too.

By then, Zessica was clutching her chest and was pretty much banging her head on the pillow, trying her best to breathe. Arma was devastated as well. He had his hands on his head, pacing back and forth for he was helpless at what to do. His partner needed serious medical attention. When he checked the inventory all of their things were gone.

‘What now what now WHAT NOW?!!” Arma thought as he panicked. He started mentally swearing words he never thought he would swear. If only Tear was with them right now, she would have known what to do.

For the first time in a long time, it seemed Arma was finally rewarded with a good luck. He was too busy preoccupied with panicking and hyperventilating at the same time, he failed to not miss dust particles in the cabin accumulating together. He only noticed when it started shining brightly, almost blinding him and catching him off guard. Blinking back to regain his vision again, he realised that there were now three people present in the small room.

“Hah! Seems like I made it in time.” Arma blinked and felt his jaw hung ajar.

“Tear?”  The woman in her twenties smiled. Instead of the usual white coat, she was wearing a white parka with a stethoscope wrapped around her neck and had knee-high winter black boots on. Tear walked over to the tall lad and placed an elegant finger under Arma’s chin, closing his jaw to a shut.

“I would prefer Dr.Tear but as of now I would let this pass mercifully.” Arma was still baffled. How did Te- Dr.Tear come here? Especially on the moment when he needed her the most?

“I know what you are thinking. This year they had me on the emergency department in Blessed Combat so when I saw the little dilemma you both were in, the AI sent me over right away.”

Tear explained as she took off the stethoscope and wore it on. Suddenly, the AI didn’t seem so bad. Arma winced inwardly when Tear placed the stethoscope on Zessica’s chest; she flinched as if it was on fire and tilted her head on the opposite direction from Tear. Arma felt guilty since he was completely helpless and Euphino’s words about him being unable to protect Zessica suddenly came crashing down, making his heart go heavy with dread.

“Tsk tsk...you really got yourself in a bundle this time Zessica... You there” Tear pointed at the guilt driven guy as he instantly straightened up from her voice. Tear simply beckoned him to come closer as she fished something out from her parka pocket. When the tall lad did what he was gestured to do so, he realised what exactly Tear had in hand. It was an injection of sort, with its tip so sharp that it looked as if it’s not there. Inside the syringe, had a transparent solution of some sort which Arma could only guess what it was. Arma gulped and wondered what Zessica would think of when she sees it as well.

“I won’t sugar-coat it this time since this has gotten serious so it will hurt” Tear explained as she expertly pulled the sleeve of Zessica’s winter dress up to where the crease of the elbow or the antecubital space was. Arma noticed then her skin had long since turned from white to a sicken shade of pale blue. Zessica turned around, looking confused at what was going on. She looked terribly lost.

“I need you to hold her down.” Arma blinked, aghast with what Dr.Tear had just said. However, he did what he was told and held her shoulders, pinning them on the bed. He grimaced when she winced in pain.

“Arma?...Dr.Tear?...What’s going on?” Zessica asked weakly, as the tall lad gulped.

“It’s going to be okay Zessica. Dr.Tear is here to help you” Arma reassured, having nothing else to say. Before he could hear her response, Dr. Tear plunged the injection straight into the crease of the elbow in such a way, it almost looked as if she was stabbing Zessica’s arm. The short girl gasped against the pain and immediately flinched. Arma continued to pin her down in place, not allowing her to squirm about but he was not expecting the blood curdling scream that soon followed.

Zessica had her back arced in pain as well but she didn’t move her arm as Tear drained the contents in the syringe. Arma knew she was fighting her best not to swap the syringe away as both her hands were clenched to fist and her short legs were sliding roughly on the bed. The short girl bit her lip furiously, almost drawing out blood as she looked away once more. Arma felt guilty again but soon the feeling passed when Dr.Tear swiftly removed the syringe and tapped a cotton ball over the area she had struck.

By then, Arma noticed whatever Tear had put in Zessica’s system, it was effective when the colour of her skin returned again. The tension in her body ceased and the short girl was breathing regularly without the whistling sound once more. Her face was flushed and she was panting for air, as if she had gone to a running marathon. Soon, the tall lad saw that her eyelids grew heavier and she eventually fell asleep.

“Phew, that was nerve wrecking” Tear noted as she tossed the empty syringe towards the fire and swiping off the sweat that was formed on her forehead.

“What did you give her?”Arma asked curiously as he released the short girl’s shoulder. Her scream of agony still made him shudder but he shook the image off from his mind.

“Just a thing that accelerates her body’s adaption to the change in temperature. It will make her drowsy but I think rest is what she needs at the moment. Here.” Tear fished out several packets of injections that was filled with the transparent solution and gave it to the tall lad. Arma meekly took them and held it cautiously, as if it was a pressure bomb that would blow off any minute.

“The effects don’t last long so she needs to take these shots once an hour. It will be painful but she knows how to take them. You are lucky that you are the eighth Team that went to safety and that the second stage will only take place half an hour after twelve teams gets themselves in shelter.”

“We are the eighth team?!” Arma bellowed bewilderedly to which Tear hushed him, reminding him that her patient was sleeping. Arma gulped and nodded to gesture that he understood.

“Yes you are the eighth team. The seven Teams before you was lucky and bumped straight into those shelters. Though, consider yourselves lucky that you are even alive after taking such a huge risk. It was smart, maybe a bit reckless but clever. I can give you credit for that.” Tear smiled and before Arma could thank the doctor, he was blinded by the intensity of the light she suddenly emanated and shut his eyes in defence. When he opened them up again, Tear was gone. 

Arma stared the packet in his hand before tossing it on the bed opposite to Zessica. Curious to what the cabin had in store, Arma walked towards the door next to the fireplace. He placed his gloved hand on the gold doorknob and gently turned it open. To his disappointment, it was a closet. There was only one unoccupied hanger and a sack of something at one corner. Interested to what it is; Arma squat down and peeled it open, only to find dozen or so glow sticks in them. There were no axes, no gear of anything and nothing that seem to hold any value. There was only the empty hanger, and a sack of glow sticks.

“This is pointless!” Arma whisper screamed as he furiously threw the sack to the corner. When he got up, his head bumped onto a shelf that he failed to notice. Wincing and rubbing the back of his head, he leaned down and stepped back again before glancing up. Up on the shelves were two huge fluffy quilts. Now that was something that had value.

Yanking one quilt down, he walked over to the sleeping girl and placed it over the sleeping girl. Gently, he tucked her in and observed her sleeping face for a moment. Sensing that it would disturb her slumber, Arma quietly pulled off the beanie hat, earmuffs and scarf and placed them on the opposite bed. As he did this, not once did Zessica stir in her sleep.

‘That must be one sedative shot’ Arma thought absentmindedly before realising that he was caressing her face. The tall lad instantly grew red and stood up abruptly. What was wrong with him? Lately he had been feeling different ever since Zessica came into his life. It was as if she had awoken the affectionate side of him. Shaking it off as something normal, Arma then finally looked around and absorbed what he saw to his mind.

It was like any ordinary cabin. Wooden walls, a fire place, one long rectangular red carpet in the middle of the room and windows that showed the snowy scenery outside. That was when he noticed that something that resembled like a touch screen was stuck at the back of the door he barged in from. Wondering what information it could offer for him, Arma stood up and walked over towards it. He jabbed his index finger on it, whirring it to life and saw it showed the map of the whole game arena they were in.

There was the frozen lake in the middle and several pine trees everywhere. There were also twelve houses that Zero had promised them about. Each house had an icon drawn on the roof. Arma tried to find the house they were which didn’t take much time since there was a red arrow pointing to one house in particular, located at the far left corner of the whole arena. For some reason, it looked neglected and had too much distance from the other houses.

Ignoring the weird feeling that settled on his chest, Arma took in the icon that represented at the shelter house they were in only to stare at it from disbelief. It was the icon of a glow stick. He then checked the others. One house had a rope icon on it and another, an axe. One house located near the lake even had a torch!

‘Why, I never-

Arma almost swore and punched the screen when he saw one house in particular, had an icon of a string. Suddenly, having a cabin with only glow sticks didn’t seem so bad. Though, whoever who had gotten that house must be in the biggest pinch in their lives. He understood what a glow stick could do, it can help both of them guide in the dark, but a string? What good can that do for a team? What benefit would come out of a string? He doubted he would get the answer soon.

Having absolutely nothing much to do, Arma used the next hour of pacing around in the cabin, chucking more wooden logs to the fire when it seemed a bit chilly and entertaining himself by playing with his thoughts out of pure boredom. Soon, he was lying on the bed from his sitting position and staring at the ceiling that looked so interesting.

‘This is getting boring...’Arma thought lazily. Just when it got to the point where he was going to roll around the carpet also by pure boredom, he heard something shift its weight from the bed. Sitting upright, he more or less shrieked inwardly to find a very dazed Zessica sitting up and staring at the quilt in awe. She placed a hand on her head, as if trying to recall whatever happened in the last few minutes before she succumbed to sleep.

“Hey...” Arma spoke softly, careful not to scare her. Zessica turned; her tired eyes boring through his.

“...Hey...” The short girl answered back to which a small smile crept on Arma’s face. He didn’t know why, but something was making him feel happy.

“How you feeling?” Arma asked gently, walking towards her before sitting on the bed beside her. Purely because he wanted to, he ran his hand through her silky ivory black hair, ruffling it and massaging her head lightly. In response, Zessica brought the quilt closer to herself, cocooning her body with it but didn’t made him stop at whatever he was doing right then.

“Better...Whatever Dr.Tear gave me did the trick.”

“Speaking of Dr.Tear...” Arma started as he pointed to the packet of syringe on the next bed.

“She said to take those once in every hour...and an hour passed so... you know how to take them right?” The short girl nodded timidly. She then stared outside the window that would have looked tranquil if it weren’t for the many aberrant snowmen patrolling around.

“...I hate shots though...” Something about this made Arma chuckle loudly. Zessica on the other hand looked impassive as usual. Well that was the Zessica the tall lad knew oh so well. The one in pain, he wasn’t sure that he would get used to that. What would happen if her body fails every time in the trials of Blessed Combat? Would she be- no, he wouldn’t think that far yet.

The next minute, Arma tore open one of the pocket of the packet and took out a deadly looking syringe. Zessica rolled up her sleeve and took the syringe from the Arma as the tall lad watched. He didn’t know why but there was this morbid fascination of watching the girl inserting the syringe deep within her flesh.

As soon as she inserted the transparent solution in her system, Arma saw her tensed up instantly. She groaned in pain once more and was visibly shaking to the point of tears. She was in too much pain to press on the injection any further.

“H-hey hey...it’s okay. Just a bit more and it will be over” Arma tried to reassure her as he placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. Zessica leaned her head forward that it touched his chest and Arma would have sworn that his heart had skipped a beat then and there.

“I can’t...too...ha...painful...” Zessica whimpered timidly, her small frame quivering violently. Gulping, he took her free hand that was supposed to plunge the syringe further and squeezed it fondly with his left while placing his thumb on the little injection. He knew he was going to regret it because he would have to witness her in pain all over again.

“It’s okay...Just a bit more okay? I’ll do it for you. If it’s too painful for you, grip my hand as hard as you can get it? It will be over in a second.” Zessica was in no state to respond but Arma felt her nod underneath his chin. Feeling guilty once more, Arma shut his eyes tightly and pressed the syringe brashly, quickly draining all of its contents into the short girl’s system.

Instantly Zessica flinched and grunted in pain, her hands almost crushing his hand with her grip. Arma winced lightly at the force of her hand and quickly plucked the syringe out of her arm. He tossed it on the ground as the girl’s frame stopped shaking once more. She was panting for air again and Arma felt even worse when she was leaning on him this time.

“Zessica?” Arma asked meekly, gently pulling her away so that he could have a better look at her. The short girl almost fell back limply before swaying to the left. Arma caught her before she could land hard on the floor. She had one hand on her hand, her eyes bewildered for once.

“What’s going on...I feel so tired...” She asked dazedly.

“It’s the shot. Te-I mean, Dr.Tear said it will make you drowsy. Rest for a while now okay?” Arma spoke quietly as he gently placed the girl down on the bed.

“Drowsy?...But...The game...” Zessica trailed off, already wrapping herself into dreams. Arma was concerned about that too. If Zessica feels drowsy every time she took a shot, how was she going to cope up with the second stage? How will Arma have to take care of her now if she was in this state? Not wanting to make her sleep with worry, Arma did the first thing that came to mind. Lie.

“I know. I know. But once you start using it, the effect won’t be as heavy as right now. So rest. Second stage doesn’t start for a long while.” After a brief moment of silence, Zessica nodded to which Arma felt a pang of guilt hitting him hard on the chest. He didn’t like this at all. He did not like where this was going and he absolutely hated himself for lying when all Zessica did was told him the truth ever so blatantly.

Once she was back to sleep again, Arma noticed that the amount of wood logs were slowly disappearing. Pretty soon, he knew that he would need to search for wood if he wanted to keep the cabin warm. Arma didn’t want to leave the girl alone, especially when he told her to never get out of his sight, but he needed something to get rid of the guilt that was slowly eating his heart.

Wearing his winter gloves again, Arma stepped out and closed the door behind him. He told himself that he would only take five minutes, ten at the max and would rush right over even if he come up empty. Passing the monsters by wasn’t an easy task; he knew that from the beginning so Arma came up with a plan this time. He ran like the wind.

Unfortunately, even if he burst out of the barrier and made a beeline to the forest of pine trees before him, he had caught the attention of two snow men and soon, they were throwing life sized snow balls for his head.

“Ugh! I swear this game will be the end of me!” Arma bellowed furiously as he leaped from one tree to another with his Minor. Just when he was about to leap for the next tree, his foot slipped on the ice and Arma suddenly realised why Zessica had told him that the surrounds didn’t fulfil the conditions for him to use his Minor effectively. He really should have listened.

However, once he fell from a twenty feet drop and got devoured by the snow below, the two aberrant halted to a stop. Arma froze, peaking at them with one eye when the other was coated with snow. He watched as two of the sniffed the air and shared a growl between them, as if having a mutual conversation. To his relief, they went back to the ring formation once more, forgetting about him.

The tall lad took this chance and got up abruptly, hopping from one leg to another against the icy cold and roughly patting off the snow that covered him head to toe.

“Well...I never thought I would bump into someone here.” Arma jumped and turned his attention towards a guy who had witnessed his comical escapade. Arma felt his jaw hung ajar to find an amused adolescent snickering lightly at him. From the chocolate brown hair, and the similar face structure to his dear friend Stabs, Arma was more or less surprised to find Caterpillar before him.

“I-I...Those oversize snowballs...barrier...” By then Arma was spewing out nonsense that even he didn’t understand but the words kept on coming out against his will as if someone possessed him. Caterpillar chuckled lightly before strolling towards him.

“What brings you here?” He asked simply. Arma blinked, racking his brain for an answer. Zatch had told him that if he could, be on good terms with this particular person.

“I was looking for wood. Well, the cabin I got ran out of logs...You?”

“On the same boat there...” An awkward silence lingered in the air. The tall lad wanted to pursue the conversation a bit more but that’s where his socially awkwardness settled in. Arma felt his voice hitched up in his throat, no words forming or coming out. He needed to break the ice.

“I am Caterpillar,” The guy in front of him started much to Arma’s mollification. Only then Arma felt his voice slowly returning.

“Armageddon...” Caterpillar chuckled again at his introduction.

“How’d you come up with a name like that?” Arma wanted to ask him the same question. What kind of name was ‘Caterpillar’ for a player?

“Well, long story short before Doomsday arrived there were news about Armageddon. I thought it was a cool word and that was the first thing I could come up with when I first entered in Blessed Combat. You?” Caterpillar nodded in amusement, understanding his explanation.

“I couldn’t come up with a name so there was this option where the AI chooses a name for you. So...Caterpillar it is...”

Silence-Then the hysterical laughter. Arma and Caterpillar laughed so hard, they both ended up having cramps in their stomach. Tears formed at the corner of Arma’s eyes as he briskly wiped them off. Well there was one less thing to worry about. This guy wasn’t afraid of him.

...Wait...what?

“Aren’t you scared of me?... Hate me?” Arma asked idiotically which brought Caterpillar’s laughter to a screeching halt. He chocked for a bit before staring at him with wide brown eyes with a grey ring at the edge of the pupil. Arma realised he didn’t had those eyes in the picture in his Team number. He wondered what happened to them.

“Why would I be afraid of you?” Caterpillar countered back with a question of his own. Arma shrugged lightly.

“I don’t know...Maybe because I am the ‘Lone Wolf’? The ‘Raging Beast’?” That’s when the tall lad saw Caterpillar smiling warmly at him.

“Well now you sort of the ‘Big Brother’ to that girl aren’t you? Your Partner?” This question struck Arma like a thousand voltage being shot at him. Arma felt his jaw hung ajar and shut again, like an absentminded goldfish. He was the second, no third person to think of him that way. Second being Titania for those of you who have forgotten.

“I...-

Arma couldn’t finish when Zero’s voice boomed into the atmosphere, almost loud enough to cause an avalanche.

“The second stage shall now begin! Fight to your heart’s content!” Arma is left stupefied. What did he say? What did he and Zessica had to do in the second stage? Where were the details? What just happened?

“Something tells me that you didn’t hear the announcement earlier before that...”Caterpillar noted loudly which caught Arma’s attention like a mouse to its cheese.

“This time we have to fight in the second stage and the eight left standing would go for the next round. Meaning four teams have to be knocked out.” Arma felt a shudder ran through his spine and the next second, the image of Zessica alone in the cabin appeared in his mind. He had left her there! What would happen if someone bypasses those huge snow men and barged into the cabin? They would have easily knocked Zessica out with the effects of those shots to her disadvantage. He had to come back, now.

Turning his heels, Arma made a dash for the cabin when he heard a loud bang which made him jump out of his skin momentarily. Instinctively, the tall lad turned around just in time to find something red, at the size of a mini canon ball striking straight into Caterpillar’s navel. The particular guy was hunched down at the brute of the force, blood spurting out of his mouth and flew a few feet back.  Arma was mortified when he registered the shock in the guy’s eyes and he wondered whether he was still alive when didn’t stand back up again.

“You have made this too easy.”A malicious voice uttered out. Arma turned to find the source of what knocked Caterpillar out and glanced to see the guy in red glasses. It was the one Zatch had warned him to steer clear of, Fog. He had one hand bleeding and Arma watched in awe when the blood hovered above his hand and solidified into that red mini canon ball.

“Any last words to your dear little girl?” Fog asked mischievously. Arma was once again reminded of Zessica and turned to make a beeline towards the cabin again. He had to warn her. He had to get her out of there and bring her somewhere safe before any one of Team 14 would reach her. The tall lad heard Fog clicking his tongue in a tone that resembled disappointment, not that he cared. However, after the fifth step towards the cabin, Arma felt something struck him on the head hard before everything faded to black.  

Silver had been seated on one pine tree that was near to the house Fog had told him where the girl and the tall guy were at. He was sitting crossed leg on one branch, formulating a plan on how to separate the tall guy from the girl. If he were to cross the barrier by being invisible, he would pass the snowmen but what then? If he opened the door it would make both of them suspicious of his presence.

However, the tree he was at gave him the perfect view of the window of the cabin. He had seen what had happened inside and judging from what he had witnessed, the girl was under heavy medication. That was one less thing to worry about; he didn’t have to do much to finish her off. Although, the real problem lies within the taller partner. What to do, what to do?

Once or twice he had seen the girl staring out the window, almost laying her eyes on him. Silver wondered whether she had seen him or not but he shook the thought away. It was impossible; he had his Minor of Invisibility activated. It was just sheer dumb luck that she was looking at his way. Even if that was so, she was staring at nothing because he wasn’t visibly there.

After an hour of freezing himself outside, he was more or less relieved to find that the guy, Armageddon had decided to separate himself from the girl and stepped out. Silver stood up groggily, stretching his arms and legs like a panther that was stiff from the cold and watched as the tall lad comically tried to pass through the ring without being noticed. Unfortunately for him it failed and Silver found himself having a fit of laughter to find two or three of the oversized snow men all hunting down for the hopeless guy who was jumping from one tree to another.

Seeing that this was his chance, Silver gracefully slid down from the tree and landed on the snowy ground with a gentle thud. He casually strolled through the ring of defence, or guard, whatever it was and passed through the barrier with only little restriction. He then slowly walked up the stairs and knocked on the door lightly, just to check whether the girl was truly asleep or not. After receiving no answer, Silver gladly welcomed himself home and opened the cabin.

However, he did not expect to see what he just saw once he stepped in. The bed that the girl was supposed to be in was empty. It wasn’t neatly arranged which indicated that someone had slept there. Other than that there was nobody in the cabin at all. Silver failed to miss that on the used vacant bed, there was the sack of the supposedly glow sticks crumpled up. He took the sack and lifted it gently, finding all of the contents in the tiny bag were missing.

“This is impossible...” Silver muttered loudly, baffled with the turn of events. The girl should have been here! Resting from the sedatives of that medication she had took just recently! How had she just disappeared to thin air?! Did she walk out? No, that was too quick for a slow girl like her.

After a long moment of mulling over his disbelief, Silver found himself chuckling lightly, excited by the turn of events. He fished out the pocket knife in his coat pocket which he had expertly hacked in to the game, flicking it passionately. He knew what he had to do as he stepped outside of the cabin. They were going to play one of his favourite games.

“You can run, but you can never hide in this little game of cat and mouse~!”

Author's note: I really suck at making chapter titles. -.- and i know i might have updated just a bit too fast but i was in the mood okay? There will be a lot of mistakes since i did all of this in a rush so please point it out k? Plus I felt extrememly guilty of putting Zessica through all that >>

I also dedicate this to a good friend of mine. Check out his book Brotherhood: Phase One. Its flipping awesome and deserves more votes than it has at the moment. Oh and dont forget to vote xD