Chapter 13: *Mortal Kombat voice* FIGHT!
Richie
There is nothing scarier than an extremely violent teenage girl with electrical charge metal gloves launching herself at you, fully intent on killing you. Also, falling 10 feet off of a tree to solid ground was fairly terrifying too. If Jenna's mission had been to scare me, it surely worked.
I definitely jinxed myself. While I was climbing the tree, I thought to myself "Boy, I'll be totally safe up here! I can see everything!" Yeah, everything except the 150-pound girl lumbering up behind me. That was the point when I felt something grab my ankle and I was jolted off the tree. Not to mention, I have a fear of heights. It's not terrible enough to stop me from climbing trees but still I get a little sick. So, falling a story and hitting the hard ground was definitely a shock. Getting the wind knocked out of me by Jenna for what? The third time? She is so not getting away with that flag. I won't let her win this time.
"Give me the flag Jenna."
"Give you the flag? And why exactly would I do that?" she asked quizzically. She smiled in a confident, sarcastic way.
"You're not leaving here with that flag Jenna." I was now on my feet, twigs and leaves still stuck to my clothes.
"And who exactly is determining that?"
I absolutely hated how stuck up she was. I understood that she was battling me in the game, but it was clear we had a deeper problem. We were supposed to be a team, working together to win, not battling each other for attention. In fact, I have no idea where the flip came from. I don't know where the energy came from either. My adrenaline must have been working overtime. I felt completely exhausted just a second ago, after all, I just fell out of a tree. Suddenly I was in front of Jenna, blocking her path to the other side of the field.
"Me" I said so confidently and stubbornly, I knew I wouldn't lose. My parents always said I was extremely stubborn, this was the better side.
I grabbed my knife and taser. I knew Jenna would have her gloves, there was no way she'd leave them out of a game. Electricity arced across her knuckles as if she was some sort of video game boss. We circled in a small ring of leaves where I landed. Jenna lunged at me, trying to get an easily path way to her side of the field. I dodged and dodged again. I knew I couldn't fight Jenna with strength, that was her thing. I had to outsmart her and I knew just how to do it. Jenna prided herself on being the best, her narcissism would be her down fall.
Jenna was still going like a well-oiled machine, sending various punches kicks and jabs my way. I blocked all of them, occasionally blocking and striking with my knife and taser. She got lucky a few times, managing to just get me with a quick jab in the stomach or knock my legs. She finally got lucky enough to knock me off my feet.
She stood over me, smiling. "Just like I thought".
There was no way I'm letting Jenna win that easily. I screamed, kicking my feet out, knocking Jenna's out from under her. She collapsed in a heap into the dirt.
"Gah!" she screamed, pounding her fist into the dirt.
I scrambled to my feet, flicking my taser on. I ran to the flag, still laying in the grass on the end of the meadow. I grabbed the metal rod, my taser still in my other hand. I turned around just in time to see Jenna sprinted towards me like a crazed bull. I sidestepped and swiped with my taser, barely scratching Jenna across her back. She stumbled, shaking from the electricity, but still standing.
"You indignant little piece of-"
She didn't get to finish. I threw the flag as far away from Jenna as I possibly could. I then sprinted towards her, launching into kickboxing mode. Punch, kick, block, dodge. Just various combinations of four moves flying back and forth between Jenna and me. I jumped above her low kick, knocking her knee hard as I came down. Jenna crumpled and I wrapped my arm around her, getting her into a headlock. She struggled, screaming insults at me as I tightened my grip. She threw punches where she could, my legs and hands, trying to get out of my head lock.
"Jenna, stop! Stop it!" I said, trying to calm her down. I'd prefer not to suffocate my teammate in a game.
She kept squirming and kicking. Finally, she got lucky, landing a hard blow directly into my side. It felt like getting T-boned by a tracker trailer. I sat down hard in the grass, trying hard to move. Jenna stood up in front of me, trying to catch her breath as well but smiling.
"Give me the flag and you might just survive this."
I gather enough breathe to say two words, "Not today".
Jenna's face turned red with anger. She screamed in aggravation and threw her fist directly at my face with as much force as she could. I fell into the grass my face numb.
My nose was definitely broken, I could feel the blood rushing down my face and into my mouth. The only things I could feel was the blood on my face and the coppery taste in my mouth. I felt myself get thrown in the air only to hit the ground once again. Over and over, I don't remember how many times but I definitely blacked out. I woke up to someone slapping my face. No doubt it was Jenna. I have no idea why she didn't just take the flag and win like she was supposed to. I was just able to open my eyes. Jenna was sitting on top of me, her legs on my arms, pinning me to the floor.
"Sleeping-Not-So-Beauty finally wakes up!' she said laughing. "That was only the beginning. I'm about to make your life a whole lot worse."
I heard Astrid's voice but I couldn't see her. She was somewhere off to my left screaming my name.
"Jenna! Stop it please! We already won! The game is over!" she said over and over begging her to stop.
This only enraged Jenna even more, causing her to lift me up and throw me into a tree. She held me by my shirt, punching me repeated in the stomach. At this point I couldn't even move, much less protect myself. I could hear Zach and Mitchell too, yelling at Jenna to stop. All of the sudden Jenna stopped. I don't know what happened, but I dropped onto the ground. I could still hear Jenna yelling, whether it was at me or everyone else I don't know, but she seemed exceptionally mad. I was just able to turn and see Astrid and Jenna fighting. Not yelling at each other but fighting. Astrid doing kicks and flips I've never seen before, Jenna just able to dodge them. All of the sudden I felt someone on top of me. It was Jenna again.
"If I can't win, neither will he!" she said, winding up her hand for a hard punch.
I tilted my head and saw Astrid looking terrified. I signaled to her to a small black object lying in grass near Jenna. Get the taser! Please Astrid understand me!
She understood!
"Jenna. Don't do this. Why do you want to hurt him so bad? Being aggressive isn't bad, but you need to know limits!"
That seemed to freeze her in her tracks. She looked at Astrid and saw her inching towards the taser. She picked it up and laughed.
"Really? You're telling me to stop and yet you're moving towards a weapon?"
She flicked the taser on and thrust it at my chest. I can't even describe what being electrocuted feels like, but here's the best way to put it. Imagine touching an electrified fence. Now imagine touching that electrified fence while being in a kiddie pool filled with electric eels. I guess that's pretty close to how it feels to get punched by a taser with Jenna being the one punching you.
I screamed for several seconds after she took the taser away. The look on her face told me she no longer took pleasure this. She was lowered the taser to the ground, but I guess Astrid thought she was going to shock me again. Astrid grabbed the taser out of her back pocket and ran for Jenna. She jumped Jenna and thrusted down at Jenna. There was a bright flash and Jenna screamed. I felt her get off of me and stand up, looking at 2 large black objects in her hands. The black object looked kind of familiar, like gloves, but that's not possible, Jenna's gloves were blue. Jenna was weeping in the grass.
Astrid and Zach knelt above me.
"Richie?Richie! Are you okay?"
"Yeah I think. Just help me up." I said. Each word hurt, my entire face hurt, but I had to stand.
Astrid and Zach looped their hands beneath my armpits and carefully helped me up. The whole world began to spin, there were multiple of everything: multiple Astrid’s and Zachs walking with me, multiple Mitchells running towards me, and multiple angry Jenna marching in my direction.
"You!" she said angrily. "Look what you've done!"
My eyes finally focused, just in time to see Jenna in Astrid's face.
"Enough!" I screamed.
Everyone stopped, shocked by my sudden outburst. After all, I was just getting creamed a few minutes ago. I could walk again, in fact, I felt perfectly fine. The effects should last for an hour after you take the pill. I could feel myself healing, my broken nose, my hurt chest, and pretty much every bone in my body. Everyone moved out of the way; no had ever spoke, much less walked, after getting their butt kicked by Jenna.
Only now I saw the problem, what the bright flash was. Jenna's gloves were completely blackened, their leather material scorched from heat. They were destroyed and nothing could repair them.
"Jenna, I'm so sorry maybe we can fix-" I started.
"Don't. Just don't." Her voice cold, like a frozen bullet to the heart. "Don't ever talk to me, don't look at me, don't even come near me." Her face showed extreme rage, but her eyes said otherwise.
"Jenna, please-"
"STOP! JUST STOP!" she screamed, tears coming down her face. "Just leave me alone."
She stormed towards the entrance, the digital simulation slowly disappearing behind her.
"It'll be okay", Mitchell said, " She just needs to calm down. I'll talk to her in a bit."
We watched Jenna walk to the door, but she suddenly stopped. She turned her head and murmured something. "I q-" was all I heard.
"What?" I asked, hoping she was calm enough now so we could talk.
"I QUIT!" she yelled, her braid flying around her face, billowing in the wind.
Everything went silent. We all stared at her in shock.
"I'm quitting the team. See ya losers later." she said as she angrily marched out into the hallway, nearly steamrollering Coach Harley in the process.
"Well done everyone! Go get ready for Tactics and I will see you tomorrow!" Coach Harley said, somehow unfazed by Jenna's anger.
We cleared out, walking back to the dorms to gather our books for Tactical class.
Jenna's door was the first in the dorm hallway.
"I hope she's okay." Zach said
"She'll be fine. Jenna's stronger than any of us." Astrid said, although it sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself.
But that was the one thing I was worried about. As we passed her door, I heard a soft whimpering, like a child who had been crying.
"Hey guys, I'll catch up with you in a bit."
Astrid and Zach looked at me worried.
"Are you sure?" Zach said.
I must've had a really serious expression because Zach turned around and said, "Yeah you're sure."
I had a job to do, and no one hurts a teammate, even if they hurt me.