Arma felt his consciousness slowly synchronising with his mind and body as he soon roused himself from a short deep slumber. When he opened his eyes, he felt the back of his head throbbing furiously as if someone was continuously hammering on it mercilessly. The tall lad tried to shift his body up to a more comfortable position when he felt something tugging around his arms. Blinking to get a clearer vision than the pixel dots he was seeing, Arma glanced down he was bound.

A long rope was wrapped over his arms around five or seven times till it was tied to a neat knot. It was difficult to move when his hands were behind his back. Fortunately his hands weren’t tied as well but Arma knew sheer strength won’t get him out of the ropes easily. If Stabs were here he would but Arma wasn’t Stabs and he wasn’t angry enough to depend on adrenaline rush to pull him through. Gazing at the sky absentmindedly, Arma estimated it was late noon and evening was soon crawling near. How long had he been knocked out?

“Urgh...” Arma flinched when he heard someone grumble in pain beside him. He wasn’t fully aware of the situation he was in to expect someone else was accompanying him. He turned and found out it was Caterpillar, also bound like he was but was hunched over and was grumbling about in pain. Arma couldn’t stop a gasp of surprise from escaping from his lips but thankfully it wasn’t as loud he would usually do since he had gotten used to sudden ambushes thanks to someone in particular.

However, he was surprised that Caterpillar was beside him because one, last time he saw him was when he went flying from a red mini canon ball of blood launching straight to his navel and two, he actually survived from the impact.

“Caterpillar...hey you alright?” Arma asked and was surprised to find it hoarse. It was barely above a whisper and felt like he hadn’t used it for a long time. The tall lad heard Caterpillar wheezed lightly and then grumble in pain before answering.

“...No way...” Caterpillar wheezed before having another coughing fit again. Arma then recalled the second round of the game they were in.

“Hey, how are you still here if the AI disqualifies the four teams that got knocked out?” Arma asked curiously.

“Coz I didn’t. I didn’t pass out from that bloody ball. Wish I had though...Damn...my stomach hurts...” Caterpillar whispered quietly. Arma glanced around and found the culprit behind all this, Fog, sitting under one tree with both his eyes closed into a seemingly deep thought.

“That’s because he hit you there...Caterpillar, you don’t know him right?” Arma asked quietly as he could. Caterpillar glanced over the sleeping guy before shaking his head.

“Yea I don’t...do you?” Arma tried to recall a guy that wore bright red rimmed glasses and a mind reader only to find out none came up. Either he did unwittingly made an enemy out of this particular guy and forgotten about him since there were so many, or he was using them as bait. Arma’s eyes widen in realisation and almost stood up abruptly.

“Zessica!” The tall lad hushed loudly, causing the lad beside him to jump from surprise. Panic as evident on the taller male’s face. He had left the girl all alone in the cabin. How long had she been there? Had one hour passed by already? Was she taking the medicine right now? Or had this Team fourteen caught her too? If so, where was she right now?

“Zessica? Is that the girl you are partnered up with?” Caterpillar asked curiously. Arma immediately turned to the other lad beside him and nodded, hoping he had any relevant information that would prove useful. His first priority was the girl after all, even if it meant being bound with a rope.

“You don’t have to worry about her... yet. While you were out cold, I heard that guy, Fog yelling his head off to no one in particular. It only occurred to me later that he was using his mind reading skill and passing his message in the form of telepathy to his partner. Seems like your friend is lucky and got away before the other guy could reach her but her whereabouts are still unknown.”

After hearing the good news from Caterpillar, Arma let out a sigh of relief. She was safe. Zessica was out there, somewhere probably lost, but she was safe and that was all that mattered to him. Now, to get out of there.

“He can read minds right? Can he hear us right now?” Arma asked curiously, doubting that if both of them ever come up with an escape plan, they could pull it off without the other guy’s notice. Mind reading was a big factor that affected their planning greatly.

“Not us. From what I heard, he can only read one mind at a time. Right now, he is reading that other guy’s mind and sending telepathic information. So if we keep our thoughts quiet and subtle, he won’t hear us. Also, there is something that has been bugging me for a while...” Caterpillar trailed off. Arma glanced at him as he tried to hush the mini victory song that was playing in his head. After all, that factor was one less thing to worry about.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if it’s the jacket coat but something doesn’t feel right...” Caterpillar muttered lightly as the tall lad strained his ears to listen. Blinking, Arma tested his strength at pushing himself out of the ropes. Unfortunately, it didn’t budge but Arma too, felt something was odd. Then it hit him, like a lightning out of the blue.

“The ropes?” Arma asked curiously to which Caterpillar nodded weakly.

“It doesn’t feel tight at all...” That’s when Arma got it, the master plan of the escapade. He had comprehended his situation wrong the whole time. The ropes weren’t tied over his arms; they were tied over his stuffy jacket coat. Thinking it hypothetically, he himself wasn’t tied by the ropes at all, nor was Caterpillar.

“Maybe I can help you pull your arms out of your jacket and loosen up the ropes by holding your jacket sleeves.” It took Caterpillar a while to process what the tall lad had just planned out on a whim. Once he did understand the parameters of it all, Caterpillar nodded and they both inched their way in the snow, back facing each other.

Arma waved his hands aimlessly in the air before it made contact with both of Caterpillar’s jacket sleeves. Both of them sat there as precious minutes ticked by. Arma held the other lad’s jacket furiously as Caterpillar painfully tried to shrug off his jacket off his shoulders. Arma knew if they weren’t in a grave situation then and there, both of them would have looked funny wriggling about and he would never hear the end of Zatch’s insane laughter. Once the jacket slid off his shoulders, Arma tugged Caterpillar’s jacket sleeve harder. He could sense Caterpillar wriggling himself out even more vigorously.

“A little more...just a bit more...” Caterpillar muttered quietly. The moment Arma felt the jacket falling limply beside him with the ropes; Arma let himself have a small sinister grin. Caterpillar quickly removed his jacket from the bundle of ropes and instantly worked on Arma’s. After quick sharp tugging and loosing several knots, Arma saw the ropes falling lifelessly away from him.

“Yes!” Both Caterpillar and Arma hushed excitedly. Even though their voices were just barely audible, unwittingly they didn’t know their thoughts were extremely loud. So it was no surprise when Fog suddenly jumped from his sleep and snapped his attention towards the other two guys, startled to find them escaping.

“Damn! Run Armageddon!” Caterpillar yelled, knowing all too well that hushing right now would prove useless as he made a dash to the opposite direction from the captors.

“Yea!” Arma bellowed back due to being caught up in the heat of the moment. He too was trailing after Caterpillar since he himself didn’t know where in the world they were. If Caterpillar, his companion was going that way, then Arma was sure to follow.

“Hey! Wait!” Fog snarled. Arma and Caterpillar didn’t want to obey and kept on running with their hearts in the mouth which was pounding furiously. However, it seems Arma’s misfortune had acted up again in the next second. As Caterpillar and Arma continuously ran, the ground beneath them suddenly gave away and soon, they were falling.

“GyaAAaaaAAAH!” Both Caterpillar and Arma screamed in shock as they both got engulfed to a huge deep hidden pit. When they landed, it didn’t hurt much since it was snow. In fact, it felt like dropping several feet down straight into a pillow. However, from the way they landed, it didn’t stop the pain from shooting up from their legs to their chest and arms.

“Ouch...” Arma heard Caterpillar mutter. He couldn’t see him for his face was buried on the snow by landing from the front. Caterpillar on the other hand, landed on his back and was wincing lightly in pain. He eventually sat upright and coughed while the tall lad got up groggily and brushed off the snow from his face. Both of them looked up to find Fog looming over them with a disapproving look at them.

“What in the world...” Caterpillar muttered but was never able to finish when Fog interrupted agitatedly with his hands flailing about and stamping furiously, causing several chunk of snow to fall at the bamboozled two.

“What did you think you were doing?! Do you know how long it took us to finish digging that pit?!” Somehow this had rubbed both of the two captives the wrong way.

“W-WHAT?!” Arma bellowed furiously, his hand clenching to a fist and was very much tempted to drive it into Fog’s gut if he weren’t stuck down in a pit.

“AND WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! THIS IS DANGEROUS!” Caterpillar yelled angrily, waving his fist at Fog who ignored the two as he sighed with an irritated tone.

“Ah, what a waste. It was such a good hole too. What to do... make another one?” Fog thought aloud while circling at the edge of the pit, watching them as if they were guinea pigs prepared for a cruel animal experiment. Arma felt himself gulp.

“Or, you could pull us up. If you do that we promise you we won’t be in your hair for the rest of this game.” Caterpillar reasoned weakly, adding an awkward smile just for good measure. They both knew it didn’t work when Fog snickered evilly and looked down at both of them with crazed eyes.

“Or, I will bury you together with Sophie and Zessica...” Both captive’s eyes widened in fear but they couldn’t order their bodies to react. What Fog said made both of them paralysed. They were going to be buried alive, which should be impossible with one camera observing everyone’s movements but Zatch’s warning rang inside Arma’s head.

“They only act when they are out of earshot of that camera.” Meaning that if they were truly going to be buried alive, both Fog and Silver had the capability of doing just that.

“Ah! Speak of the devil!” Fog suddenly chimed, causing both Arma and Caterpillar to flinch.

“I can hear that tiny girl’s thoughts a few miles away. Oh and what’s this? She is dying? How delightful. I am going to enjoy this. You can rot in here with the thought of being helpless from stopping not only Silver, but also me from taking care of your beloved partner, Armageddon.” With that, the captives watch as Fog turned their backs on them and jogged away in a chipper fashion. It was then Arma felt the world dawning on his shoulders and he was panicking once more.

“I don’t know how this will help you but...here goes...” Caterpillar muttered casually as he brushed off the snow from his head and walked over to the snowy wall of the pit. Arma watched in a dazed expression as Caterpillar removed one glove and placed it gently on the wall. He then closed his eyes, as if focusing something and soon, Arma saw his hand emanating a corona of blue light. Caterpillar then turned to Arma and offered his free gloved hand at Arma to which the tall lad hesitantly placed his hand on top. Once he did so, Arma saw him smiling gently before he felt a great surge of power flowing through him.

“What the...” Arma was amazed to find that he was now hovering in the air, above the whole game area itself. Caterpillar was with him too, his gloved hand holding Arma’s.

“This is my Minor, remote viewing. I send observer spirits using limited medium around me. You are lucky that one of the medium I can use is snow. What you are seeing right now is from one of the observer spirits I sent. See, I can see you friend down there.” Arma immediately glanced down and sure enough, he found Zessica running for dear life. A sense of déjà vu hit him like a sack of rocks. This was the vision he saw, the moment before her death. He almost reached out when Caterpillar stopped him.

“No wait. We are not there. Right now we are physically in the pit but spiritually here. As long as I keep contact with the snow we can only watch...sorry about that...” Caterpillar awkwardly trailed off. Arma’s hope went crashing down just as soon as it came up.

“Really? There is nothing we can do?” Arma asked helplessly as he watched two figures emerged from their view. Fog and Silver, narrowing down on their prey. By then, Zessica was hopping from one ice plane to another, almost slipping to the icy waters below. It dawned on him that it was partly his fault for why the frozen lake was that way. He had lead one of the snow monsters there and caused it to split into many ice pieces. If it weren’t for him, she would have easily slid across. Guilt bore down in him again as he continued to watch.

Without warning, Arma felt a headache settling in his head. Instantly, Arma hunched down low, his free hand clutching his forehead while the other still rested in Caterpillar’s hand.

“Woah, Armageddon, you okay?” Arma wanted to answer, but the voice of Caterpillar seemed too far away. Even the hand that was holding on to his didn’t felt like it was there anymore. A while later the headache subsided, leaving Arma angry at whatever the cause of his headache was. He turned and found he was once again in a different dimension. This time it was a blank one and sure enough, Oliver was there with him. So he had summoned Arma again, at the most crucial moment at that.

“What do you want?” Arma spat a lot more harshly than intended. Of course this, odd guy wearing a Pikachu hoodie was helping him in his own way, but any moment he spent here was a breathe wasted for the little girl at the frozen lake.

“Calm your horses, I am here to help. Look over there.” Oliver motioned as he pointed at the direction opposite to Arma. The tall lad turned to find a huge screen before him. It stretched high to the point it looked as if it was touching the sky. Arma stared at the screen only to widen his eyes in disbelief at what he saw. It was the game, where Zessica was running feebly with two predators just a few meters away. It was as if he was watching a movie of what he was seeing at the moment. Almost like he was a mere consciousness watching at the back of his very own mind.  

“You can still save her...”Oliver gently uttered, causing Arma to snap his neck at him from shock. What did he meant by that? Was there still a chance for him to save her?

“H-How? Caterpillar said I am not physically there and-

“But you are seeing her right now. You don’t have to be physically there to use your powers Sawyer...You can still use it when you see the future being fabricated to reality.” Oliver interrupted politely, giving Arma’s shoulder a tight but encouraging squeeze. Arma wanted to ask more questions that were piling up but he knew he didn’t have time.

“Take me back.” Arma demanded, almost begging Oliver to do so. He was so serious of saving Zessica, he hadn’t minded him calling his real name, even though it still gave him the shivers in the spine. Oliver simply smiled and gave a small nod and once again, Arma was back to hovering above the air. Even though the meeting was very brief, Arma knew what to do.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Caterpillar asked concernedly as Arma groggily got up again.

“Nothing, I am fine. Whatever you do, don’t lose contact with that medium okay?” Caterpillar narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Arma. The tall lad would have sworn he saw the ring at the edge of his pupil turn blue, then back to grey again. It only happened for a second that the tall lad wondered whether he imagined it all.

“Okay...what are you planning to do?” Caterpillar asked curiously. Arma positioned his free hand at the frozen river, shrugging his shoulders.

“I have no idea...Can you get us closer?” Dumbfounded, Caterpillar did as he said and zoomed in to the point that both of them could touch the short girl’s head. Arma observed Fog who was very much enjoying his filthy game and then suddenly nudged Silver’s arm with his elbow. That was it, the signal.

“Finish her off...” Fog ordered to which Silver nodded. Silver raised one hand out at the girl and activated his Major. Little did he know there was someone else who activated his Major as well. Everything else then happened in slow motion. Silver was only a hair away in catching the short girl’s aura with his own and Zessica glanced back, disturbed at the way things had gone. However, Silver never caught the girl and instead, felt his aura being blocked. Zessica skidded to a halt and stared back while Silver seemed to be growing more and more flabbergasted at the turn of events.

“What’s taking you so long?” Fog asked in an irritated tone.

“Something is blocking my Major from catching her.” Silver answered back, getting more and more agitated by the second. No one knew if it were curiosity or it was a haunting suspicion, but something made Zessica to take a few steps closer to the two and reached her hand out. Her fingertips gently brushed against a barrier Arma had unwittingly made just for her. Seeing that it worked, Arma sighed in relief and quickly felt lethargic from the tension.

“Impossible...” Fog spat, glaring at the girl as if he was disgusted by her appearance. Zessica then turned her heels against them and made a dash for the forest in front of her. Fog and Silver soon was chasing after her as well, expertly hopping from one ice berg to another only to hit face first to the barrier which restricted them to enter any further. The tall lad heard Caterpillar chuckling as the two banged their fist fruitlessly at the barrier and soon, the scenery melted away. They were back being stuck on the pit.

“I don’t know what you did there, but it worked. It also proved you really do care about your partner.” Caterpillar chuckled again. Strangely, Arma found himself chucking back. Maybe the fact they were still stuck in the pit was getting into him. Caterpillar stretched his arms out before turning to face Arma again.

“Looks like we would be stuck here for a while so...lets form a pact of alliance for now, hmm?” Caterpillar asked as he politely extended his hand. Arma stared at it for a few minutes then found himself smiling warmly at Caterpillar.

“I’d rather be friends with you instead...if you don’t mind that is.” Caterpillar blinked at Arma’s request, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A short while later he was laughing again mainly from disbelief at the tall lad.

“Sure, let’s be friends.” With that, Arma shook his hand firmly, confirming the beginning of a new friendship.

***

“You don’t seem to understand my question so I will ask you once again, this time a bit more clearly. Where. Is. My. Brother?” Sophie asked sternly, holding a peculiar player by the shirt. She didn’t usually threaten people but after eavesdropping players from several trees away to take a small walk, she wasn’t happy with what she heard. Team fourteen had struck again and took Caterpillar hostage along with someone else.

“I-I swear I don’t know! I only s-s-saw him being carried away with the ‘Lone Wolf’ by Fog! Th-That’s all I know! I swear!” The young man stuttered, raising his hands up in surrender. Sophie bore her pink eyes at the player acidly, just for good measure before dropping him down mercifully. It wasn’t enough. She had to find her brother and the ‘Lone Wolf’ too. Even though she still harbour some doubts on him, she knew the tiny kid proved something else. Speaking of the kid, where would that girl be if the ‘Lone Wolf’ was captured too? Sophie had to find her too.

Just as she was about to walk away, the young man picked up a huge stick that was only a few feet away. He got up and raised it over his head, failing to notice that Sophie had stopped short and sighed.

“I am getting too old for this” Sophie muttered as she sidestepped from the blunt force of the trauma she was going to face. The young man staggered lightly, surprised to find that she moved away so quickly. Sophie took his confusion to her advantaged and jabbed her elbow at the young man’s navel, causing him to gag in discomfort and making his eyes roll to the back of his head. Sophie cringed inwardly as he fell back unconscious and shattered to a millions of pieces, confirming his disqualification. Sophie then jumped when Zero’s voice soon came after.

“The second stage is now completed. There are only eight of you remaining. Details of the third round will come out in a few minutes.” Sophie stared wide eyed at where the unconscious player before her was. Had she knocked out the fourth team out of the game? ...Ooops...

Slightly ashamed for her actions, Sophie tried to walk away unnoticed when it dawned on her. Was she too late? Was her brother still in the game? Had she failed him? Oh no no no no no! This was not what she wanted. She wasn’t going to face Blessed Combat alone! Not without the comfort to know that her brother was with her every step of the way. No, he couldn’t be disqualified yet, he just couldn’t.

‘Breathe, Sophie, Breathe!” A little voiced in her mind ordered her to which Sophie obediently listened. No sooner after she did that, she started walking forwards back to her cabin when she tripped over something. Arms flying, Sophie fell nose first into the snow and groaned loudly. She picked herself up, jittering against the cold and glared at whatever thing made her fall. Her glare then turned to horror when she realised it wasn’t a thing she tripped upon. Rather than that, it was a person.

Sophie stifled a high pitched girly scream when the body moved under her feet before resting back to being dead again. Sophie instantly backpedalled away and ran straight to a tree but she continued to stare at the person who she tripped upon. Sophie couldn’t believe it, it was as if that person wasn’t there. The white coat dress with had camouflaged her well within the snow. It only hit her then that the player was not only a girl, but pretty short too. Hey, she looked familiar...

‘........THE KID!” Sophie thought aloud, jumping back to her feet. Worriedly, Sophie picked the half dead girl up and placed her against a tree. The short girl’s skin was in a frightening shade of blue and there wasn’t much response from her till the silver haired girl lightly slapped the kid’s cheek. It didn’t do much, except maybe the colour of her cheeks returned but it did rouse her awake.

“Hey kid, are you okay?” Sophie asked worriedly. A little voice yelled at her that of course she wasn’t okay. The small girl was blue from frostbite! The girl didn’t respond much but she groggily lifted one hand, pulling the sleeve of her winter dress coat of her other arm feebly. Sophie watched in aghast to see how blue her arm had gotten that it looked quite fatal. What the girl did next only made her gasp more.

She fished something in her pocket and took out a packet of syringes. Sophie stared at it for a moment before registering something fused at the back of the short girl’s neck. It looked like a stone, no a jewel of some sort. It was emerald, like the colour of her eyes. She was what people called the Child of Misfortune. Sophie stared at the packet again before glancing at the girl’s arm. Then it clicked, like a key fitting to the right lock.

Tearing out one syringe out, Sophie slapped the crease of the girl’s elbow sternly. She had seen nurses doing it in the hospital all too many times and finally saw the vein that she needed. Gulping down in hesitation, the silver haired girl plunged the syringe deep within the flesh of the girl. The kid reacted to it and jumped lightly before refraining herself to move any further. Sophie saw that the girl was in pain but was obedient enough to stay still till the very end. Once the contents of the syringe were drained, Sophie gently took the syringed and tossed it aside.

The effect was immediate as the natural colour of the kid’s skin returned. However, she seemed to be almost nodding off to sleep but Sophie flinched when the girl slapped herself, hard. Soon, a red mark was visible on her cheek and sure enough, the girl seemed alert and awake. Sophie blinked, trying to process it all in before questioning her.

“Hey kid, how old are you?” The girl stared at her, scanning her up and down before replying.

“I have a name, its Zessica.” Sophie raised one eyebrow, liking the name since it was unique. However, that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

“Okay Zessica, how old are you?”

“Sixteen.” Silence reclaimed the winter air. Sophie stared at the girl and blinked twice. She didn’t know whether her ears were tricking her or not.

“Pardon? I didn’t hear that...so...” Sophie trailed off, still quite shocked.

“I said I am sixteen. I turned sixteen this February. I am a few months older than my partner, Armageddon.” Imaginary crickets chirped somewhere at the corner of Sophie’s mind.

“Impossible! How can a small girl like you be sixteen? You don’t even have the curves of a teenage girl!” The words were already out before Sophie could stop them and she instantly bit on her tongue.

CRACKLE! BOOM!

Sophie jumped when the tree behind her fell a few feet away from them. Zessica was immediately showered with emerald lightening as she stared at Sophie intensively, her blank eyes almost peering off cold pressure at her.

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch that?” Zessica asked innocently but Sophie knew it was anything but. She gulped and almost backed away in fear. She was surprised at herself to be frightened of the tiny ki- girl. Hardly anything scares her but this girl was on another new level in horror. Remind her never to get on the bad side of this girl.

“Nothing!...What were you doing passed out here anyway?” Sophie asked curiously, trying to change the subject as quickly as she could. Fortunately for her it worked.

“I was running away from Team fourteen.” Sophie’s ears perked up the moment she heard the infamous number.

“Why?” Zessica dug her nose deep into her red scarf, her eyes glazed over as she was engulfed deep within her thoughts on how to begin.

“After the first stage of this game, I was sick and Dr.Tear came and gave me medicine. First stage wasn’t over yet and I think Arma went out to fetch more wood for fire. Though after he did that I felt that someone was watching me so I quickly took everything I could find that would prove useful and climbed out a window opposite of the window I was facing. After I did that, one of Team fourteen’s member broke in and I dashed away trying to find Arma since.”

Sophie nodded at each sentence as the short girl explained her little adventure. A part of her wanted to share the information about Armageddon being carried off with her brother to the short girl but something made her hold back. She wasn’t friends with this girl and didn’t trust her yet. Time to put this girl to the test.

“What if I said I know what happened to him even though I don’t know where he is?...” Zessica looked up at her, staring with her bright emerald green eyes that concealed all emotions. Sophie wondered how she even did that. All of the people the silver haired girl had met; there were always emotions in their eyes. This girl here didn’t.

“I see where this is going. You want me to give you one reason to why I should make a pact of alliance with you right?” It wasn’t exactly a question. She made it sound like a statement. Sophie could only nod in return, wondering how the girl had guessed her intentions with just one glance.

“Instead of one reason, I will give you four.” The short girl suddenly declared. If Sophie was either eating or drinking something, she knew she would have chocked from shock by then.

“F-four?” Sophie sputtered out, clearly flabbergasted by the whole thing. Zessica simply nodded before lifting her gloved index finger up which represented reason number one.

“One, while it is true that in Blessed Combat, each Team are enemies but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you and I should be. Secondly, even though our means and goals differ, both of us want to find the person who is close to us. For me, it’s my partner Arma and for you it’s your brother...” Sophie felt her chest growing heavy and mostly shocked at what Zessica had just said. How had she known?

“You may be wondering how I figured out so I will tell you. I see discomfort in your eyes and I simply guessed that your brother was involved. Please don’t take it as if I am your enemy.” Sophie felt her jaw drop as Zessica stated this. It was as if the girl was reading her emotions with those blank eyes of hers. Just how does she do that?

“Thirdly, you have refrained from abandoning me and have listened to me thus far, when you could have easily dismissed my words as nonsense.” Sophie’s eyes widened in realisation for a bit as the girl continued on.

“Fourthly, it is the natural result of what I been trying to prove to you. I do not wish to make an enemy out of you nor would I like to fight you...I would like to reach an alliance with you...” Silence lingered in the air for a long moment. Sophie stared at the girl who simply stared back. She was torn between the words that clearly showed its points from the girl and the voice of her not trusting this girl in her mind.  Eventually, it was evident who won.

“Your partner was caught by Fog along with my brother and held captive somewhere which I don’t know yet...” Strangely, Sophie didn’t feel any regret as she revealed this small bit of information and she knew she did the right thing. Zessica placed an elegant finger under her chin for a moment and Sophie did not expect her to fire questions at her.

“Which cabin did you get? The pick axe?” It took Sophie a while to comprehend what the short girl just said.

“No, I got a torch. Why?”

“It might get important to use the torch. Do you have it with you right now?” Narrowing her eyes in suspicion at the shorter girl, Sophie shook her head.

“No, it’s in the cabin not too far from here though.”

“Which cabin did your brother have?” Zessica asked politely. Sophie tried to suppress the blush from her face but failed to do so. Zessica raised both eyebrows and nodded to no one in particular.

“So it was the one with the string huh?”

“How do you know that?!” Sophie barked out loud, still creeped out at how the girl was able to guess things so accurately. The girl in question simply shrugged in reply, as if she didn’t know the answer to that herself. Just then, Zero’s voice boomed through the whole arena once more, making both girls jump out of their skins.

“Hey it’s your favourite host and I am back with the details of the Third and final stage! It’s similar to the second stage but you will have to knock out four other teams using snow instead. Any damage done by using Major and Minor doesn’t count. Have fun with the snowball fights!” As soon as Zero’s voice faded away, Zessica suddenly walked up to the girl, making Sophie to step back a few steps as she was still not accustomed to the girl just yet.

“Can you take me back to your cabin so that we can get the torch? I have an idea on how to find them.” Sophie raised one elegant pale eyebrow at Zessica.

“How?”

“You’ll see...” Zessica simply answered, not giving the silver haired girl any hints of what the girl’s idea was. This of course, annoyed Sophie to no end.

“Okay, so hypothetically speaking we do find them. Then what? What would we do if we have to face Team fourteen after that?” Sophie asked curiously as she guided the smaller teenage girl to her cabin that was only a few metres away from them.

“I have a plan for that too.” Sophie halted to a stop before staring at the girl with disbelief in her eyes.

“And what exactly would that plan for that be?” The answer Zessica gave was crystal clear and matter of fact though Sophie would have accustomed to it easily if the short girl had said it with a smirk and with an evil glint in her eyes.

“Let’s say a part of that plan is that I will be frying both Fog’s and my brain...”

Author's note: Thanks to bluetheumbreon who practically begged me (in a good way) to update I was motivated enough to type all of this in one day xD The video on the side is a character song for Arma/Sawyer since I can practically relate him to it. I am thinking whether to add Zessica's character song or Phoenix's one in the next chapter. I will let you choose xD

As usual, please point out any mistakes you find in this. I will be very pleased with that. I also dedicate this to a very good friend of mine. Even though we do no know each other personally, we had a lot of things common. Oh and don't forget to vote! =)