(A/N: Sorry everyone that wanted a boss fight! At the time of writing this the majority have voted for not having a boss fight. Have some chapter instead!!!)

***Same time as Elizabeth and Leaf were taken by surprise***

After Crystal had used her last grenade on Ethan and April, she had picked up both their grenades. Surprisingly grenades actually didn’t cause other grenades to explode - like Crystal and Charlie had previously thought to be true. With the two new grenades Crystal had proceeded to continue the plan just like she had planned. Using a single grenade she managed to take out the confused girls - and guy - that had been focusing on Charlie intently. Charlie and Crystal now have a total of 5 grenades between them.

“Charlie, you can have the extra grenade. You’ll need to hold it in your hand though.” Crystal had offered me the extra grenade that we had looted from six corpses. The reason we only had five and not six was because we used one of theirs against them, only getting five.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Crystal was smiling now; it cheered me up a little bit seeing her happy.

“What should we do now?” I politely inquire.

“There’s no way you’ve already forgotten our plan to save blue, right?!” Crystal was obviously taken back by my forgetfulness but when she was about halfway through the sentence I suddenly remembered.

“I was joking, joking!” I have a bit of an awkward laugh and do some exaggerated hand movements.

“Right…” Her cheerful tone drops for a second, “Let’s go anti-clockwise, though. We only one red wall left before the last blue wall that we haven’t been too.”

“You’re guessing that the last 3 reds and blues are right beside each other?”

“Yeah, it’s the most likely scenario.”

“I guess you’re probably right.” Was the last thing I said before we started running.

***Perspective Change: Back to the same time as last chapter with Red Getting to Blue!***

“They’re cowering in their own boots, Rex.” Annalise snickered while staring at Leaf and Elizabeth forced up against the wall with no escape.

“This is hardly fair you ugly whore!” Leaf lashed out at Annalise, clearly annoyed at the current situation. Leaf wanted to do something, he was certain that he wanted to protect Elizabeth but he wasn’t sure how he could.

“He really makes me want to use fists instead of grenades.” It was Max that had spoken this time.

“No one will be using fists, let’s have a fair fight. Alright?” Rex had come to the rescue.

“Geez, if you insist.” Annalise wasn’t pleased. She didn’t care about honor or respect and just wanted to hurry up and finish the stupid testing.

“Alright. Can they even fight though? I mean, look at them.” Max was truly a dick.

“Shut it.” Rex was beginning to lose his patience, being stuck with these three wasn’t his ideal scenario. “Are you two ready?” Rex had directed the question at Leaf and Elizabeth this time.

Elizabeth, looking towards Leaf, motioned with her eyes that they had no choice but to accept.

“”Yeah.””

“Alright then, we’ll separate by 50 meters and then we’ll begin the fight instantly. Got it?” Rex asked everyone for confirmation. Elizabeth and Leaf looked at each other, shocked that the match was so simple and didn’t seem to have any underlying motives.

“Yep.”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever.”

“Let’s just start already.”

The two rude responses obviously belonged to none other than Annalise and Max.

Annalise and Max, already pissed off at Rex began to walk away in direction that Leaf and Elizabeth were facing. Rex quickly caught up with them, unwilling to be left behind.

******

It’s be so easy to just throw a grenade at them with their backs turned... They might be dicks but I still didn’t want be that cowardly. I was really conflicted but I knew that I should at least act mature sometimes even if I really aren’t. Elizabeth was a bit dumbfounded at what had happened and was what appeared to be happy that we were at least going to be given a chance. I watch as the Blue-haired individual, Rex, caught up with his teammates and continued to walk further away from us.

40 meters. Elizabeth and I had our last grenades in our hands - two between us. Still watching the others we get into a running stance she that we would be able to run away the second it started while hoping we’d get a chance to counter-attack.

*boooom*

I hear an incredibly loud noise, a bright flash also quickly faded into smoke. All this happened right where the remaining red team members were.

Update!

Charlie just interrupted a duel!

That’s basically kill stealing!

30 down, 4 remaining. Red is out of the game!

The Salients Vs. Blue!

Confirmed dead:Max - RedAnnalise - RedRex - RedVictoria - RedHaylee - RedMichael - RedJade - RedApril - RedEthan - RedMarcus - RedHoward - RedJustin - RedHayden - RedMatthew - RedScott - RedJohn - RedZach - BlueRiley - BlueTiffany - BlueCameron - BlueEric - BlueStephen - BlueJose - BluePaul - BlueDebra - BlueChristina - BlueElenor - BlueRonald - BlueRyan - BlueSamuel - Blue

NOPE, NOPE, NOPE. I start running like the wind and drag Elizabeth by the arm with me. We are not staying here!

“What are you doing?!” She screams.

“Saving us!”

“There’ll be no need for that.” It was a foreign voice. I had never heard it in my life and I knew that only trouble surrounded it. It was clearly a male voice that had spoken but I was not sure where it had come from.

An Asian girl, small in figure but with an overwhelming bust was situated on top of the wall. Just casually sitting there with a bemused smile. She was one of the salients but it wasn’t her sudden appearance that had scared me, it was that the one called Charlie had even spoke to us but I still had no idea where he was.

“Would you like to have a proper duel?” She asked, as if it was the most normal thing to say in this situation.

“Ehhhh?” It was Elizabeth that had let out a confused sounding noise.

“Do you want a duel?” Crystal was still asking for a duel - an innocent looking smile on her face - staring at us as if we had to accept it.

“W-We accept.” I hear Elizabeth mumble from beside me. I want to disagree with her decision but it’s too late for that.

“Wonderful!” The same mysterious voice from before, except it came from a young man with brown hair and silver eyes. He was right in front of us yet I hadn’t seen any trace of him appearing. I’m terrified at this point and I start visibly shaking.

“I’m Charlie.” He was giving a nonchalant smile and had extended his arm.

***Perceptive Change***

“I’m Charlie!” I had just introduced myself while attempting to appear intimidating. It really was bothersome talking ‘Homo sapiens’ that weren’t Crystal. They often appear to scrutinise me, as if something isn’t right about my entire existence but they can’t quite place their finger on what it is. I might have made that last part up but it’s what it feels like.

Firmly grasping my hand, I could feel the man’s heartbeat pulsing through his entire body.

“L-Leaf…” I’m not really into plants but I felt like he was trying to say something.

“Yes?” Still putting up an aura of not disliking ‘Homo sapiens’, I trudge on making it seem like I was really like this. It felt like hell pretending to actually want to talk to someone else.

“I-I’m Leaf.” His name’s Leaf?!?! What kind of a fucking name is that?

“Ah, I see. A wonderful name it is!” I joyously laugh - or at least I pretend to - while attempting to fast forward the conversation so that we could hurry and fight. I needed sleep, badddd.

“What terms would you like for the duel?” This was probably the most I could skip.

“Umm.. Can we only have a grenade each?”

“I don’t see why not, what else?”

“We aren’t allowed to go to far away from the wall?”

“Interesting, is that all?”

“I-I can’t think of anything else.” Leaf’s stutter had returned, just as annoying as ever, might I add.

“What about you, Miss?” I turn and ask the woman standing next to him.

“I’m fine with those conditions.” She seemed to hold herself together much better than Leaf. It was interesting in a way and because she had piqued my interest, I had finally noticed what they looked like. Leaf was on the verge of being well built but was not the tallest, he had red eyes which looked mildly taunting and he held himself like a fucking schoolgirl. Weak, pathetic and lastly, pitiful. Elizabeth - or who I at least assumed was Elizabeth because Elizabeth hadn’t died yet - was semi-attractive with purple eyes. The purple contrasted well with her pure blonde hair.

I could tell that Elizabeth clearly wasn’t my type though so I didn’t pay much more attention to her as a woman and started looking at her, along with Leaf, as rivals. It was finally time to start.

“How many grenades do you have?” I ask so that we may dispose of extras to comply with their rules.

“O-Only 2.” They didn’t even have anymore?!? No wonder they wanted that rule.

“Oh. Never mind, Crystal!”

“Yessss??” She called out from the distance in a cute sounding voice.

“Dispose of your extra grenade, alright?”

“Sure!”

With that she simply grabbed her extra grenade and threw it off into the distance.

*boooom*

It was quite odd not having a message pop up with someone's death when a grenade had went off. Mine too, I suppose. I retrieve my extra grenade and toss it off into the horizon.

*booooom*

Even though I through my grenade further, it still made a louder noise. It was really odd, in my opinion. Elizabeth and Leaf had shocked expressions of their face as we looked back towards them. I guess they didn’t expect to see us actually comply with their rules.

“In that case, let us begin! You have 40 seconds before anyone can attack. Lastly, don’t go more than 40 meters from the wall!” With that, Crystal jumped off the wall she had sat upon, we then separated into our respective teams and began moving away.

“Should we have agreed to all their terms?” It was Crystal, one of the few ‘Homo sapiens’ I could bear talking to. No, that was wrong. I liked talking to her.

“It doesn’t matter. You wanted a 2 Vs. 2, now you’ve got one.” I smirk a little bit because it seemed like she wasn’t completely confident in her abilities.

“10...9...8…”

“Begin!” I projected my voice through the area. Crystal and I immediately begin running back towards the wall we had just left from.

“You know what I’m planning, right?” I ask Crystal as we run the 30 or so meters.

“The wall?”

“Yep, we have this.”

Crystal and I force our bodies into a quick run as we head towards the wall. We don’t slow down as the wall is mere meters from us and we both quickly jump as we extend our arms and kick at the wall with our dominant leg. The wall being three or so meters tall, we couldn’t just use ordinary methods to climb up onto it. The run and jump had propelled us high enough up the wall so that we can reach the top and pull ourselves up. I get up first and then proceed to pull Crystal up.

“Thanks.” Was all she muttered as she looked away from me shyly.

“Don’t sweat it.”

The interesting thing about these walls was that they were invincible until that had taken three hits. They also weren’t very wide at all, just long.

Elizabeth and Leaf just stared at us. They clearly wondered why we had opted for a position where we couldn’t even move. They mustn’t have realised yet as they were still, for the most part, composed. Crystal continues to smile at me because we both know exactly what we’re going to do.

Elizabeth attempts to end it all with one quick throw of her grenade towards the wall. Crystal and I had sprung into action right at this moment, draping ourselves over the other side of the wall, hanging by our finger tips.

*BOOOOM*

The sound of the explosion itself felt like it had shattered my eardrums. The wall shaking but still ultimately standing, we pull ourselves back up onto the top of the wall. This time Crystal didn’t need, or possibly it was want my help getting up the wall this time.

While we were on the other side of the wall and hanging over the edge, the fragments from the grenade merely ricocheted off the wall, going over or back towards Elizabeth and Leaf. Not even a scratch on ourselves.

Leaf and Elizabeth's eyes had widened to the maximum and it was truly hilarious staring at them. Leaf eventually realised what had happened and he whispered something towards Elizabeth. From the top of the wall and ten meters away, I obviously couldn’t make out the words and neither could Crystal. I was pretty sure that it was just something along the lines of ‘We can’t throw this last grenade until we are absolutely sure we will get them.’ If they really did waste their last grenade it would be akin to fighting a cripple out of a hospital. I considered the fish-out-of-water scenario but it really didn’t suit my tastes.

Elizabeth and Leaf might have been wise not to waste their last grenade on a futile attempt at getting us, but they had overlooked one thing, we had grenades too. At an incredible speed I lash my arm out and aim at the place where Leaf and Elizabeth were. It soared through the air and- Huh? Hang on… WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!?

“Charlie!” Crystal called out to me and it was at that moment I realised what she was talking about. They had predicted that after dodging the grenade that we would go on the offensive, assuming they wouldn’t waste the grenade. Using this they started running straight away and had made it much closer to the wall.

*booom*

I hear my grenade finally go off as it hit the ground where the pair previously were. It was at this moment, I caught sight of my deepest fears. Leaf had thrown a grenade and it was on collision course straight for my chest. I fear a chill go up my spine as I desperately try and move to the side to dodge it and have it simply soar over the wall. It was all a waste of effort because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop the inevitable. Time had slowed down and I could see Crystal's eyes widen as they lag behind where the grenade had been maybe a second or so before. I couldn’t dodge the grenade and at this rate it was going to kill us both. Crystal was too close to me after all.

What the hell do I do? It can’t all go to waste here! I need to save Crystal. If she can somehow survive this then she will be the only one with a grenade and we wouldn’t be able to possibly lose. How can I get her out of the explosion though? Could I use my body as a shield? No, they won’t do anything. The fragments will just pass through me. Wait! We’re on a wall right? If I could just… No… It wouldn’t work, would it?

“Sorry, Crystal.” I say those quick, short words, taking a pause after ‘Sorry’.

I raise my leg and apply as much torque as I possibly can to my body spinning myself and consequently, my leg. My leg smashes into Crystal’s stomach in slow motion, I watch her face as she flies off the wall with a shocked expression. As a small spray of blood left her mouth all I could think was ‘That must have fucking hurt.’ She’ll land a good 7 meters away, righ-

A warm feeling washes over me. It felt like some kind of wind but was mostly indescribable. I feel a pulsating feeling in my chest as my vision fades into the void that I had first seen when I started the game.

You have died!

Saving the princess from a gruesome death?

Expect a handsomely paying reward later ;)

Because you have died during the tutorial,

no penalties will be applied. However, you

may not re-spawn yet as the physical

testing phase is still in progress. When

it is complete you may re-spawn with

the rest of your group and receive your

results and resume.

You have had a great achievement and will

be compensated fairly for your kill count! If

your team still manages to win, you can

expect to see even more bonuses!

Handsomely paying reward, huh?

Was worth.

***Perspective Change***

“Sorry, Crystal.”

‘No!!! Charlie! Don’t leave me!’ was what I wanted to say but the words just wouldn’t come out.

A sharp pain in my stomach and I feel myself shoot away from the top of the wall over towards the ground several meters away.

*booom*

The explosion didn’t even harm me as a few fragments fly past at unimaginable speeds. The impact with the ground hurt almost as much as the pain in my stomach. Almost.

Update!

Charlie’s killing spree has ended on 7 kills and 8 assists!

Holy-fucking-shit, I didn’t see that coming!

31 down, 3 remaining. Blue is winning!

The Salients Vs. Blue!

Confirmed dead:Charlie - The SalientsMax - RedAnnalise - RedRex - RedVictoria - RedHaylee - RedMichael - RedJade - RedApril - RedEthan - RedMarcus - RedHoward - RedJustin - RedHayden - RedMatthew - RedScott - RedJohn - RedZach - BlueRiley - BlueTiffany - BlueCameron - BlueEric - BlueStephen - BlueJose - BluePaul - BlueDebra - BlueChristina - BlueElenor - BlueRonald - BlueRyan - BlueSamuel - Blue

Charlie! I try and get to my feet but instead meet with a strong pain preventing me from doing so. Charlie saved me! If I can’t even get up and avenge him than what the hell am I supposed to do? Using pure willpower I urge myself to get up only to see that the wall had in fact collapsed. The wall received damage before we started the duel? How? I was truly confused.

A leg! I see a leg underneath the rubble and an arm poking out from nearby. They are both clearly not Charlie's. Without hesitation I hurl the grenade towards the two half buried alive.

“N-Noo! Wai-” It was a female voice.

Too late.

*booom*

Update!

Crystal didn’t even show remorse at hurling a grenade at what seemed to be a pile of corpses!

I like your style, kid.

33 down! 1 remaining.

The Salients have won!

Errm... Sorry, Salient.

Confirmed dead:Leaf - BlueElizabeth - BlueCharlie - The SalientsMax - RedAnnalise - RedRex - RedVictoria - RedHaylee - RedMichael - RedJade - RedApril - RedEthan - RedMarcus - RedHoward - RedJustin - RedHayden - RedMatthew - RedScott - RedJohn - RedZach - BlueRiley - BlueTiffany - BlueCameron - BlueEric - BlueStephen - BlueJose - BluePaul - BlueDebra - BlueChristina - BlueElenor - BlueRonald - BlueRyan - BlueSamuel - Blue

You have survived!

Congratulations!

You have a total of 10 kills and 8 assists

and have managed to survive until the end.

Update!

Would you like to challenge the boss for an opportunity at gaining more?

Proceed with caution as if you fail at the boss fight you will have a

reduction in tutorial bonuses. Additionally, you will not be allowed to revive

any dead team members for the fight.

Yes.

No.

It wasn’t even a question. Without Charlie, I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere in the fight. I have managed to get so far, it would be meaningless to throw it away in an attempt at gaining more.

I press ‘No.’

Notice!

Very well.

The testing phase of the tutorial is now over!

The calculations will take a while to complete

for your resume, however, you may continue

to stay online and await the results patiently

with your tutorial group or simply log off for

a period of a few hours.

You will be teleported in 1 minute.

Will Charlie log off? He might.. but how will I know when he’s online next? I sit in silence for several moments as I think of possible solutions until I feel a lurching feeling in my stomach.

******

“Charlie!”

“It’s nice to see you again, Crystal.” We both stare at each other for a moment until we break eye contact and start laughing at the top of our lungs.

“What was with those last words?” I barely manage to ask as I feel my internals jiggle around from the constant laughing.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about…” After saying the somewhat serious sounding sentence he continues laughing as well.

Abruptly he stops laughing and turns red.

“Huh? Are you okay, Charlie?”

“Uhh, Y-yeah. I’m f-fine.” Something doesn’t seem right, despite what he had said.

Notice!

Charlie has sent you a friend request!

Friends are able to directly call each other in-game

and are notified if either player is also in game.

Would you like to accept?

Yes.

No.

“What’s this?” I ask with an evil smile on my face.

“Ehh, N-nothing…” He starts diverting his glance to the others staring at us in the white room that was mostly empty that I hadn’t even noticed until now.

“A-Alright, I’ll accept it because you’re so f-funny.” I try to act how I was acting with my last few sentences but I stutter a few times and feel my cheeks turning red. This wasn’t good at all!

I press ‘Yes.’ on the window in front of me and then I think ‘Force logout.’ I couldn’t stand it anymore and I don’t think my cheeks could have got any redder!

******

Lying on my bed, I take the CNS Cortex Linker off my head. Charlie was special. I don’t know why or how he was, but I could feel it. My cheeks go red again. I wonder if he thinks about me like tha- Shaking my head I quickly erase the thought. He wouldn’t... right...?

***End of Chapter***

I tried a few new things this chapter! Sorry about not having a boss-fight guys but it was losing in the poll when I started writing this. I could possibly come back and update it some time if enough people express interest in it but yeah, let me know what you enjoyed(if anything) this chapter! Thanks <3