NOTE: PLEASE READ THE INTERACTIVE PART AT THE BOTTOM!

Ashryn took Raphael's hand in hers, folding it into a fist.
She pushed it towards his chest, before taking a couple steps back.

"I don't see why this is at all necessary."

"You switch off in combat sessions, which is understandable now that you told me what really happened.
But, you still need to learn.
So, I'm going to teach you."

Raphael scoffed.
"What do you know about–ow!"

Ashryn had punched Raphael's arm, and the burning sensation that followed was enough to make Raphael believe her.

"Fine."

"Ok...", she said, before taking a few steps back.
"Hit me."

Raphael stuck his head out and raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Come again?"

"Hit me", she repeated.

"I don't–"

"Hit me or I'll break your stupid water bottle with a robot head on it."

Raphael's eyes widened.
"Not Barnaby Hydro–Quill!"

"Wow."

"Fine, fine!"

Raphael swayed from side to side as he made his hand into a fist once again.
He pushed his fist forward, closing his eyes as he did so.

He collided with something hard, and then the next thing he knew, his arm had been twisted and he was kicked to the ground.

"I hate this..."

Ashryn smirked.
"Don't close your eyes when you fight, Robo Boy.
You might be the worst fighter in the world, but you'll improve even a little if you open your dámn eyes."

Raphael nodded.
"Fair."

Ashryn held her hand out.

"I thought you were smart."

"I am.
But combat doesn't require the same brain power that inventing does."

"Well, use what you can do to your advantage."

Raphael groaned.
"Fine."

He grabbed on to her hand.

"I must admit, I'm surprised you're so calm about Imelda calling your skills weak", he revealed.

Ashryn's eyes widened.
"She said what?"

"You didn't know?"

"I'm not weak!", she exclaimed.

After a few seconds, Raphael chuckled.

"What?
What's so funny?"

"You have such an intense desire to appear strong, that you lose all sense of reason.
Think about it.
I don't spend any more time in the combat sessions then I need to, and you would've heard if she said it in class."

Ashryn scowled.

"Don't cry about it, Blondie."

"Whatever.
You're still rubbish at combat."

Raphael smirked, a mischievous expression appearing in his eyes.
He yanked Ashryn's hand, sending the young woman toppling to the ground.

He climbed over her, making sure only his arm touched her.
He held his arm out to stop her from moving.

"Oh, really?
It's like you said... use what you can do to your advantage.
That might be kicks and punches for you, but for me?
That's my brain."

Ashryn glared at him for a few seconds, before smiling a little.

"Well played, Robo Boy."

★★★

"Today...", started Knox, handing each of them a Shatterer.
"...we're going to teach you how to safely defuse one of these bad boys."

Minerva was next to him, handing each of the trainees a small metal stick with a hook on the end.
She looked down when she reached Raphael, her stomach tying in a knot as she thought back to what he had said to her.

Rhiannon picked up on this, her bottom lip sticking out a little when she frowned.
"I think I'll call mine Dina."

Minerva furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Dina?"

Rhiannon nodded.
"Come on, look at her face!
She's definitely a Dina", she said, waving her Shatterer in the air.

Knox opened his mouth to scold her, but stopped when he heard Minerva chuckle.
A small smile appeared on his face, and he nodded to himself, before taking a step back.

Makoto held their Shatterer up, pushing it next to Rhiannon's.
"Hello, Dina!
I'm Shiro the Shatterer!"

"What fresh h*ll is this?", questioned Raphael.

"Let's focus please", said Knox.

"Ok, so, every agent is given a utility belt that contains essentials", said Minerva.

She waved a small metal stick, with a hook on one end, in the air.

"This is the tool that's going to help you defuse the Shatterer", she revealed.

She turned the Shatterer around so that she could see the number of minutes until it went off.

She scraped at the number with the metal stick, revealing tiny blue, green and yellow wires.

"Pull out the green wire first, and then cross the blue and yellow wires together", she instructed.

She finished pulling and crossing the wires, smiling to herself when the Shatterer glowed red for two seconds.

"Mine didn't do that last time", said Raphael.

"There's a special chemical that each metal stick is coated in.
It helps agents know when they successfully defused the Shatterer.
You didn't use one the first time, so that's why yours didn't glow red."

"Can the creatures be harmed by these?", asked Ashryn.

"Nice", remarked Raphael.
"K*lling them with their own weapons? That's just perfection."

Ashryn smirked, shrugging in a nonchalant manner, although Makoto sensed warmth radiating from her.

Minerva looked at Knox for guidance, and he looked at the trainees.

"That's a question that Eila and Caia will be able to answer", he replied. "They're much more knowledgeable when it comes to the creatures."

★★★

"Yes, if modified, a Shatterer can harm the creatures", said Caia.

"Modified?", asked Ashryn.

"We'll get onto that in another session. Today, we're going to talk to you about the creatures' most commonly used trick", said Caia.

Raphael, Makoto and Rhiannon got out their notepads, and even Ashryn leaned in closer, clearly paying more attention that she had before.

"Ok, so... all of the creatures are Terrain Shifters", said Caia.

"I'm sorry, what?", asked Ashryn.

"Terrain is land, so I'm guessing they can change their surroundings to different places?", questioned Rhiannon.

"That's right", said Eila.
"The change is triggered within them, so it's almost impossible to tell when they're going to do it, and you don't know where you'll end up once it's happened."

Caia nodded.
"One minute you can be in Agoraville, and then the next you're stuck on the top of a mountain."

Rhiannon frowned.
"Great.
That's just perfect."

"Wait, how can they do that?", asked Makoto.

"We don't know.
It's just an innate ability that most of the creatures have", said Eila.

"Wait, most?
I thought you said all?", asked Raphael.

"I can't believe I never asked this before, but how many creatures are we talking?", asked Makoto.

Eila and Caia looked at each other, a look of uncertainty flashing in their eyes.
Eila nodded, and Caia cleared her throat, before turning back to the trainees.

"So, the main creature that attacked Agoraville a century ago... it's not just one creature, or one species", explained Caia.

The trainees' mouths opened wide, and they looked like they had seen a ghost.

"The main 'creature' is a black fog, and a variety of different creatures usually emerge from it.
We only have a handful of images of some of them, but we'll show them in another session."

"The creatures are essentially the fog's henchmen", added Eila.

"So... we need to learn all about every single creature?
How the heck are we supposed to do that in such a short amount of time?", asked Raphael.

"This is a su*cide mission!", exclaimed a raging Ashryn.

She stormed out of the room, leaving her fellow trainees behind to process the information.

The voices around Rhiannon distorted, as she fixated on the only words that were clear in her mind.

They were never making it out of their alive.

★★★

Sophia walked into Astra's room, her eyes lighting up when she saw Astra on the floor, in amongst a pile of her own clothes.

Astra's eyes widened when she saw Sophia.
"Soph!
Sorry, I'm having a fashion crisis right now."

"It's ok", replied Sophia.
"Today's been a crazy day.
I just wanted to see your face."

Astra looked like Sophia's words melted her heart right then and there.
She quickly stood up and waded through the clothes, before holding her arms out when she got to Sophia.

Sophia grinned and opened her arms too, her stress vanishing when she was in Astra's arms.

"See?
I told you they'd find her."

Sophia smiled.
"You did.
So how about I repay you by taking you out to eat at this really fancy restaurant?
The waiters float."

"That sounds cool... but I can't."

"That's alright, I was kind of hoping you'd say no anyway", she said, nuzzling her face into Astra's neck.
"I'm happy to just sit here with you for a while."

Astra gently pulled away, but not before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, I'm actually really busy today.
And us trainers have planned to go to Rochelle's."

Sophia's smile faltered, and her eyes widened a little.
"Oh!
Rochelle's?
Isn't that the cafe that lets you relive past memories when you eat their cupcakes?"

Astra nodded.
"That's the one!
We're in dire need of a break."

Sophia nodded.
"Oh.
I was kind of hoping we could spend some time together.
Maybe I could come along?"

"I'm really sorry, Soph.
We already bought our tickets.
I'll keep you in mind for next time though!"

"That's ok.
I'm looking forward to the next time we can hang out."

Astra smiled, taking Sophia's hand in hers.
"You're the best, Sophia."

____________________

I'm sorry for the lack of updates.
I've been really ill the past few days, and it's just not been fun at all. I'm still ill, but I want to slowly start to update more.

^
This banner was made by the lovely  kamalaskhan and it's actually supposed to be a gif banner. Please check out her graphics book 'Away With The Fairies' (chapter titled 'batch three') to look at what the banner would've looked like if I was able to get it working. A close friend of mine had one in her misc book, and I loved it so much, so when I found that kamalaskhan made it, I checked their graphics book out.

As far as I know, everyone else's banners work fine, but wattpad keeps saying I need to convert it to another format, and unfortunately I'm not able to use my laptop to do that.

I still wanted to use it though, because it's so beautiful, and I kid you not when I say the images chosen represent Alessa PERFECTLY.

I highly recommend checking out their book, and checking out more of their work. Aside from being creative, they were also very understanding of my struggles and were so patient.

-

Ashryn's given some helpful advice to Raphael! Could she have a soft spot for him, or is she training him due to her guilt?

Rhiannon's clearly struggling. Will anyone see and help her? Or will she suffer in silence?

What do you think about the creatures? Do you like the little history lessons and information you see from Eila and Caia? I hope you find it interesting!

Astra's busy and demanding schedule is starting to get to Sophia. Will Astra see how much Sophia needs her?

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

ruesbennett

SoniczurcX

bardsarethebest