The Lightning Flash

Chapter 25: Round 2 of Bullet of Bullets Pt. 4

Why is she always so depressed? I mean...I get it. She went through a traumatic event and even had to kill a man but how long is she going to let that affect her? It was years ago and she still comes to class, every day, and just sits in her seat, quietly, looking depressed. It's so off-putting and not a surprise that nobody wants to talk to her. No one wants to talk to someone, who's that gloomy. I know that what she went through was horrible but why can't she just get over it and show some actual strength, for once? I have so much more respect for people, who go through traumatic experiences, but end up moving past it and becoming stronger from it. Why can't she just do that, instead? She's just letting that one event ruin the rest of her life, instead of doing anything about it. It's pathetic...and sad, really. Why can't she just be stronger?

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As soon as the voices from students at her school disappeared from her mind and she regained her awareness of the situation she found herself in, Shino felt that she was on the hard, street, of the city that her and Asuna both had fought the mini gun player in. They were both on the ground, recovering from what seemed like a grenade blast that interrupted the two's brief and heartfelt reunion. As Shino regained her vision and hearing, a figure began approaching her...another female player, it seemed...a female player, who seemed to have her sights set on taking out Asuna and Shino both. Shino squinted her eyes at the female player, to get a better glimpse of her physical characteristics. The player had long, dirty, blond hair, camouflaged body armor and combat pants and black combat boots. The weapon she was holding seemed to be a grenade launcher which made sense, considering the situation that Shino found herself in. Shino couldn't make out the exact model of the grenade launcher from the distance she was from her enemy. It could have been Shino's imagination but, even from how far away she was from the player, she thought that she could see a wicked smile on the female player's face as she, briefly, pulled up her menu screen to unequip her grenade launcher and, instead, equipped a much smaller item, that materialized into her right hand. It didn't even look like a sidearm of any kind and the player pulled back her arm, almost like a baseball pitcher, and threw the small item right at where Shino and Asuna were still on the ground. As the object got closer to her, Shino was able to observe that it was C4 explosives, causing her to panic and, immediately, begin shaking, Asuna, who was still struggling to regain her own senses, after the grenade attack.

"Asuna, we have to move, now!" Shino shouted; just in case Asuna's hearing hadn't returned all of the way.

Luckily, Asuna nodded her head in understanding and the two girls forced themselves up, the best they could, sprinted a small bit and dove out of the way of the impending danger, in the form of the C4 explosive that landed on the exact spot, where they were just lying in. In less than a second, the C4 explosive, went off, causing another massive explosion, that just, barely, missed Shino and Asuna both and, once again, damaged their hearing, immensely. The ringing in Shino's ears, slowly, disappeared and she looked through the smoke that had formed from the explosion and a figure, that matched the girl, who had thrown the C4 at them, walked through the smoke, almost like it didn't faze her at all. As soon as Shino observed that the girl was pulling up her menu screen, she began checking on Asuna to see if she had recovered from the blast. Luckily, she had, and was sitting up in a similar position to Shino and had her eyes fixed on their enemy, in concern.

"She's about to reequip her grenade launcher," deduced Asuna, from the fact that the player's main menu screen was open.

Sensing impending danger, Asuna and Shino both quick selected their weapons by using the corresponding hand motion and, before they knew it, both of their respective weapons had materialized in their hands. In Asuna's case, it was her Uzi submachine gun and in Shino's it was her Hecate sniper rifle.