Chapter 12: Revenge is Sweet
Jenna
The best thing to do during games is to listen to music. Sticking my earbuds in my ears and just cranking Twenty-One Pilots up to max is the best way to spend Training Tuesdays. I love Tuesdays; the days where I'm allowed to destroy stuff. Whether its King of The Hill, ManHunt, or Capture the Flag, Tuesdays are awesome! Also, Tuesdays are my rant days. I'm not even going to use the excuse of being on my period, I just like to rant. Normally it’s about Richie being a fucking twat but sometimes it’s about missions or just normal life. Normal life meaning breaking the Digital Dojo and not being able to fight the Holograms. Punching through the Holograms is by far one of my favorite things. Seeing the pieces of digitally generated people fly everywhere after one swift punch to the stomach, there's nothing better. Sorry for the detail, hopefully you weren't eating lunch.
Mitchell always tells me that my music blocks one of my senses and that's bad, unfortunately a few broken ribs is bad as well, which I threaten him with each time he tells me. Lately he's been a bit pissy and I have no idea why. I'm so kind and smart so it’s obviously something to do with him. I don't know what his problem is. He's a boy and I really don't understand boys so it’s not my problem. Neither was Preston, but you'll see how that turned out soon enough. Now, Jenna watches out for Jenna only. Don't ask why I just talked in the third person, it's my chapter! I can do whatever I want!
Anyways, it’s nice to just play deadly Capture the Flag and listen to Adele and Twenty-One Pilots every now and again. That is until the incredible loud explosion knocked out my IPod. After the explosion, it refused to turn on, only blinking white every now and again. Stupid downgraded technology not working well. I knew I should've waited for the IPhone 6 but Headmistress banned cell phones ever since Astrid and Zach basically overtook Instagram and got every celebrity to post pictures of Astrid on their wall.
"What now?" I said grumpily, marching over to a group of bushes. A huge broken branch lay just outside the trees.
"Must've been a weak branch" I said. A thought came to mind, so funny I couldn't resist saying it. "Or maybe a really fat squirrel."
From that same direction, someone was pushing through the foliage. Loud footsteps echoed throughout the forest. The crunching of dry leaves grew closer. I hid behind the tree with the broken branch getting into my fighting stance. I heard someone push through the bush just as I finished winding up my arm. A stiff arm blocked my punch. Mitchell stood in front of me, his shirt ripped to shreds and his pants riddled with holes and twigs.
"The hell happened to you?" I asked still surprised Mitchell blocked my punch so easily.
"Their camp, EMPs, traps, nearly plummeted to death, how's your day been?" he asked kind of nonchalantly.
"Terrible, I haven't beaten anyone up today!" I complained. You should know by now that beating people up is kind of my thing.
I followed Mitchell to the flag where he placed his new EMPs with his other stash of bombs in his little fanny pack.
"I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" he said. Last time he asked this he got a punch to the face for telling me we were out of chocolate cake. He back up, making room for him to dodge a possible strike.
"Good first then bad, that way I'll be prepped to kick the shit out of them."
"OK" he said with a heavy sigh, preparing himself for the strike destined to come. "The good news is I found their camp, it’s by a creek a few hundred yards away."
A smile crossed my face. My revenge was coming soon, and when it came, it was sure to be painful.
"The bad news, Richie is hurt." he said as carefully as he could.
Curiously, I asked "how exactly is that bad news?"
"Because he is a person, a teammate, and our friend."
I burst into laughter, so lively and fitful, it gave Headmistress competition.
"He's the enemy, Mitchell! You better not be going soft."
"I'm not going soft, I'm playing the game." he said stubbornly, crossing his arms.
We stared each other down for a while, glaring at each other for at least 5 minutes. I had no idea where this newfound stubbornness in Mitchell came from, but I liked it.
"Fine!" I said. Even though I liked Mitchell's stubbornness it wasn't okay, my reputation was at stake. "I'll go get the flag, you stay here and guard it from Astrid and Zach. Do not lose that flag before I get back!"
With that, I stomped into the woods. After all, you have to make a great exit, you never know who's watching. I was fairly sure I knew the creek Mitchell was talking about, if anything, I'd surely stumble upon it eventually. I grabbed a long vine hanging off of a tree a tied my gloves together and threw them over my shoulder, I wouldn't need them just yet. Oh, I couldn't wait to get my revenge on Richie! Even though it had been several months since our initial meeting, I wasn't going to let him one up me again. Brawn over brains bucko, my dad always told me. The Great Capo wasn't the greatest mentor, a few trips to JUVIE proves that point. Each time he came to get me he'd say, "As long as you proved your point sweetheart." My dad is a sweet guy under all his tattoos, muscles, and bad attitude. Like father like daughter I guess. Although my latest and last adventure hadn't ended so well with anyone, the cops, my dad, and even worse, myself. In fact, it wasn't even my fault! Stupid Preston playing with my feelings! He got what he deserved and justice was my dad's number one rule.
I know what you are thinking, no my dad isn't Batman!
Preston is too personal though, and besides, I have a game to win. Marching through the woods helped, you know the typical blowing off steam. I broke a few trees but hey, they're digitally created, it’s not they're living creatures. After breaking a few trees in half, I finally focused on finding Richie. The little prick was about to get an ass whooping he wouldn't forget.
I don't know how or why they were being so quiet. I must've came across the team at the perfect time because Astrid and Zach just sprinted away from Richie, running off into the forest. I couldn't blame them, I'd do the same to Richie, but if I had to guess, they were off to find Mitchell and fail at retrieving the flag. By far the hardest thing in this game was stopping myself from jumping out from behind this bush and ripping Richie limb from limb. But alas, I'm a civilized person. Besides, I could him talking shit about me and it’s always nice to get feedback on your personality, especially when it’s from your worst enemy.
"I'm going to be so ready for Jenna! I need to get a better visual though".
He strode over to the tree I hid behind. Oh, how naive and clueless he is! I could've jumped him right there but where's the fun in that? He began to climb the tree grabbing holds and hoisting himself up. I followed behind him, doing some horror movie type shit. Just as he was about to get to the lowest branch, I pulled his leg as hard as I could.
"Holy crap!" he screamed as he fell. Just for your information, his face was priceless.
He landed with a thud on the ground, clearly the air knocked out of him, after all, he just fell 10 feet to solid ground.
I jumped down to the ground. I was so pumped with energy, so ready for my revenge. Richie groaned, rolled over a tried to get to his feet. I kicked him back down, knocking him face first into the dirt. I couldn't help but laugh, the first true laugh I'd had in a long time, as if someone told me a hilarious joke. Well, at least I was looking at one.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" I said, walking around Richie as he struggled to his feet. He whipped out the knife from his pocket and a taser from its holster. I strapped on my gloves, the electricity coming to life as they sensed my hand. We squared up, circling each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. This reminded me of the old Street Fighter game my dad had on his Dream Caster, us circling each other, waiting for the first strike.
As if the old announcer from the game had said "ATTACK!" in the back of my mind, I sprang forward as Richie sprinted at me. My fists moved so fast, I had to go purely on instinct. Richie managed to duck and dive between my punches landing a hard punch at my stomach. I slid back for the momentum of his hit, nearly slamming into a tree behind me. Richie waved his hand, inviting me forward. The little twit had the audacity to taunt me! I lunged forward, faked out a strike at Richie head. He dodged sideways but I was ready. I vaulted around him, turned on my electricity and landing a flawless punch to his shoulder. He went down in a heap, shaking from electrocution. I walked calmly over to the flag, ripped it from the ground and held it up valiantly. Now I just needed to get it to the other side of the field. Just as I was about to sprint into the woods, Richie stood up, his eye still twitching.
"You're not leaving with that flag Jenna."
"Oh yeah? And who's gonna stop me?"
Richie sprinted straight at me, flipped over my head, and blocked my path.
"Me." he said defiantly.
With nothing but a taser and a knife, he stood in front of my quickest way back to Mitchell. I threw down the flag. What can I say, I can never resist a good fight.
"Let's go Wise Guy"
"Sure thing Hood Rat"
We launched at each other, only one of us to make it of this fight and I didn't plan on losing.