But he can't catch it. It's too fast.
Drake attacked the orb again, launching a blast of fire. The orb levitated higher to avoid the blazing flames. Some of the surrounding trees caught fire.
The orb was ignoring everyone's attacks but Drake's. Drake was too slow, though. I would have to be the bait, then.
It was going after me, wasn't it?
Possibly.
To test that theory, I jumped out in front of the orb.
"Hey, metalhead? You still want me?" I jumped and did a little spin.
"Hunter! What're you doing?" Drake roared.
"It wants me. I'll slow it down so you can deal with it." I searched the forest for Julie but couldn't see her. I had to trust that she was around, waiting. "Julie!" I yelled. "I need a bunch of webbing across these trees!"
I jumped and bounced off several of the nearest trees. When I glanced back, a black shape was scuttling over the trunks. Julie.
I stopped to send a Sonic Screech at the orb, making sure I had its attention. The orb ignored my attack and zoomed closer to me. I turned and ran deeper into the forest.
Something red was flying above me. Claire was tracking me from above. "Claire, I'll bring this thing back to Julie's web. But I need everyone to distract it. And tell Drake to get ready."
Claire didn't say anything, but she did a U-turn and flew back to the others.
I screamed as another laser beam glanced off my back leg.
ENERGY: 327/700
Damn it. Half my energy gone. I jumped onto a tree and started climbing. The tree exploded in a burst of splinters behind me as I leaped onto the next tree, then the next. I was leaping from tree to tree, now, turning to head back to the others.
I risked a quick look backwards to find the orb in hot pursuit. It dodged some of the tree branches, bulldozed its way through others, or simply fired its laser at anything between us.
Up ahead, I could make out the colored glow of several Beastforms. I adjusted my course, heading towards them.
A laser beam struck the branch underneath me, shattering it.
"Shit!" I toppled to the forest floor but landed on my feet and kept running.
To the right more. Julie's web.
I veered to the right a little at Zoe's suggestion, then spotted something hazy in the distance between the tree branches. Now I had to hope that the orb didn't notice what was happening.
Right on cue, Kayla's green Beastform dropped from the branches above as I ran past her. I glanced backward and saw the orb weave its way between Kayla's body, continuing uninterrupted.
Mia suddenly emerged in front of me. I hopped onto her shell and pushed off. She snapped at the orb with her beak as it followed me, but Mia was too slow.
Julie would be waiting with more webbing, I hoped. That left the three fastest ones.
I could see the webbing clearly, now. I was closing in on it quickly, the orb right behind me.
Three Beastforms appeared in front of me, red, white, and blue.
First, Nikki shot forward, her laser beams firing. At the last minute, she somersaulted, leading with her powerful feet.
I Phase Shifted, letting Nikki's attack pass through me.
A blue streak zipped through me before my Phase Shift had finished. Stella.
Claire dove towards me as well, turning into a blazing fireball at the last second. I Phase Shifted again, jumping to leap through her and the webbing beyond.
I hit the ground and dragged my claws in the soft earth to stop myself. I turned to see the orb crash into the webbing behind me.
Julie immediately showered the orb with a large swath of more sticky dark fluid.
For a moment, the orb stopped moving. Then, it began glowing a bright orange color, as if it was burning through the webbing.
But a large pair of silvery jaws descended from the skies to swallow the orb. There was a loud crack.
Drake landed and spat out broken pieces of metal.
"Hunter, you have the night eyes. I want a visual inspection of the entire vectorjet. The rest of you, get back on board."
Five minutes later, we were flying through the night skies again.
CHAPTER 13
"A tracking device?" Julie asked. I had just explained to the others what had happened.
"Something like that," I replied. I fidgeted at the thought of the tracker Dr. Hill had made me swallow. Should I take it how? How would I even do that? Surgery?
"But how did it get there?" Claire asked. "Are we safe now?"
"It's as if they knew we were going to take the vectorjet," Stella said. "They were ready."
"Drake was right," Mia said. "The Academy was compromised."
"So we'll be camping for longer?" Nikki asked.
We were heading further south, hugging the Appalachians. Drake hadn't wanted to risk leading the Mekanics to a population center. They had been more bold with the Academy attack than usual. Who knew what they were willing to do now?
The other bases were still suspect, too, if the entire military network was breached. We had no other option but to stay on the run.
"I guess," Claire said with a yawn. It was late now, past midnight. Her eyes darted to the lone bathroom.
I wasn't sure what was going on, but the girls except Stella and Mia all rushed towards the bathroom at once.
Nikki was going to reach the bathroom first, but Kayla's snake, Squeeze, tangled itself around her legs, tripping her.
"Sorry, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," Kayla said as she stepped over Nikki.
Kayla shrieked as Pecker, Claire's red bird, beat its wings in fury at her head. Claire dashed into the bathroom, turned to stick her tongue out at the others, then slammed the door shut.
The remaining girls jostled for position outside the bathroom.
Oh. You could have warned me, Zoe.
I prefer to bathe myself. She sat down and started licking her fur.
I guess I was last, then. There was no reason to stand in line. I hopped onto a closed footlocker to the side.
Julie smirked. She was now third in line. "Ladies first, Dustin."
I could make out the faint sound of running water for a while. I tried to take a nap while some of the others chatted off. Then, the water cut off. Kayla, who was next in line, stood.
The door opened, and Claire stepped out wrapped in a large white towel. Her hair was wrapped in another towel, but strands of wet red hair peeked out from underneath. I idly wondered whether there were more spare towels.
"Don't use all the towels, Claire," Nikki chided, apparently having similar thoughts.
"Sorry," Claire giggled. "Here, you can have this one."
She casually unwrapped the towel around her body and threw it to Nikki, who caught it with one hand.
I made a noise of some sort, halfway between a cough and a hiccup.
It was more of a strangled cry.
Thanks, Zoe.
Claire took the towel off her head and began wiping down the rest of her naked body. That was when I discovered something amazing about the metallic surface of the footlocker beneath me. I studied the footlocker religiously.
Don't worry, Dustin. I'm recording it all for you.
I didn't have to reply. Zoe knew I was a hypocrite about these things.
Someone, likely Stella, made a loud exasperated sigh.
"What?" Claire asked. "Who knows how long we're going to be stuck together here. Might as well get comfortable."
The bathroom door creaked open. Kayla's voice rang through the cargo bay.
"Dustin, care to join me?"
"Damn it, I should have thought of that," Claire muttered.
I stared hard at the footlocker, shaking my head. "Uh, that's okay. Looks crowded in there."
"Not too crowded for us," Kayla said. "I'll leave the door unlocked." The door swung shut with a gentle thud.
Is it safe yet?
Hold on, Dustin. I haven't started yet.