Legends of Ardonia 3: Color Balance

Chapter 16: Systems Check

Enair was woken up by the sound of a plate being slid across metal. A piston activated and a section of the wall lowered to reveal a plate of food for Enair. A voice crackled through the speaker.

Color Balance Guard: "Eat up, you'll need the strength for later."

Enair got up and took the plate of food: a few slices of bread and some chicken. It certainly wasn't the worst food in Ardonia, but there were better meals that could be had. Enair ate the food before sitting back on the bed, a bit anxious about what would happen next. An hour went by when the glass wall opened. Enair heard the whirring of mechanisms and the scraping of metal against metal. When she stepped out, the last iron door closed and slammed into place, creating only one path that she could follow. She walked down the hallway and, after climbing up a set of stairs, emerged into the Ring. Her warhammer was set down in the middle of the space and she went to grab it. When she lifted it up, she heard the roaring of a Droug engine and turned around to see Treehopper hovering in the air. The suit landed and the helmet folded away to reveal Jeeno.

Jeeno: "Are you the volunteer?"

Enair: Confused "Volunteer?"

Jeeno: "Yeah! Killic said there was a volunteer to help us test these things out and when I saw you I figured you were her."

Enair: "What do you mean by 'test out'? What's happening here?"

Jeeno: "Oh, it's simple! Just try to beat me before I beat you, sound good?"

The arm blasters folded out of Jeeno's arms, the plasma energy glowing yellow.

Jeeno: "Good luck!"

Jeeno's helmet folded back around her head and she took off. Enair was still in confusion when Jeeno flew back around. The jetpack opened up and the two Droug guns from before opened fire on Enair. Enair jumped out of the way as the bullets sizzled on the metal floor. Enair grasped her warhammer tightly as Jeeno flew back to make another round. This time, Enair charged at Jeeno, blocking the bullets with the front of her warhammer. She Mobilileapt into the air and barely missed Jeeno as she banked away from the blow. Jeeno turned around to hover and used the arm guns to fire at Enair. Although these guns were smaller and weaker compared to the jetpack's guns, they fired considerably faster. Enair had trouble blocking them and was eventually hit on her arm. The yellow bullet shocked Enair painfully and she yelled in pain. Despite there being no physical wound, it certainly felt like a real Droug bullet. Enair spun before throwing her hammer at Jeeno. The hammer made direct contact, knocking Jeeno back as a burst of orange energy dissipated from the suit. Jeeno rolled as she hit the ground, perfectly recovering from the attack.

Jeeno: "Huh, Killic wasn't kidding when he said this suit had little defense."

Enair charged at Jeeno but Jeeno simply raised her arm and fired a burst of bullets at her. All three hit their mark and Enair collapsed to the ground in pain.

Jeeno: "Well, it was fun doing this trial run with you, but I have to go since someone else needs their turn as well. See you later!"

Jeeno quickly flew to the entrance of another hallway before touching down and disappearing around the corner, a few Color Balance guards passing her to drag Enair back to her cell. She was thrown unceremoniously to the ground as the glass wall slid back into place. She grunted as she got up to her feet, the pain of the shocks still affecting her. She knew that she would be needed for something else, as Jeeno had said another person needed a test run as well. She went over to the bucket of water in the corner of her room and eased her pain with the freezing cold water.