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Chapter 10: Dune

As I finally got down into the trench, I found a set of footprints. The way they led was further down, but not by much, and who I found at the end was the only other super I hadn't met. "If you're gonna try and kill me, you're out of luck." he said. I felt a bit insulted again, but seeing as how I killed so many just a couple days ago, I brushed it off. "It's nice to meet you too.'' I said. He opened his eyes, and looked at me closely. "Alright, what are you doing down here?" he said after looking at me from afar. "Piece of driftwood.'' He looked a bit confused, so I said that I thought this place used to be a river, and came down here, thinking that the place had some wood that was stuck in the water for a long time. "Oh, you mean the composing wood?" yeah, there's some down about five minutes east. You may need some help getting it out though." he said, getting up and dusting off his clothes. "I'm Dune, the Super of the Second Branch." "Mason, Trainee." I extended my hand, once again in a shaking manner. By the word trainee, Dune got a bit scared, knowing that the only two trainees were Peter and me. And he must've met Peter already. He shook my hand still, but kept a good five feet away from me as much as he could. We started walking, and along the way, it was pretty quiet. It took us all five minutes before we even said a word. "Well, here's your composing wood." "thanks, one sec." I took off my backpack, and pulled out my blade. Dune must've thought I was going to attack, so he started using his ability, which was to control the earth, to make my legs sink into the world. I thought it was quicksand, and started asking for help, but instead, he just stood there. "C'mon, are you gonna help me or not?'' It was then I noticed his eyes were golden with sand. I quickly figured out his power, and guessed he didn't want me to kill him. "I'm not gonna kill you, man! I already spoke with everybody else, now all I want is some more driftwood." His eyes started turning back into their more usual hazel, and the ground stopped eating me. "Seriously, I was gonna measure and see how much I needed.'' He started pulling me out, and helped me out with cutting the wood using the sand to form a long glass saw. As I started to leave, I heard him say my name again. "Yeah?" "Sorry for pulling you in the sand." I looked at him, and with a smile, I said, "No problem, just try to keep the move on the bad guys, yeah?'' We laughed a bit, then went back. Dune said that he watched me, and saw that I used no strategy, at first glance. "You were like a dust storm, where every time you came in to strike, you hit harder, and harder. Always going for one spot." I was a bit baffled, and I found myself looking at him, wondering what he meant. "The jugular." "hah!" I yelled. "That would explain why there was so much blood everywhere. The jugular can spew further than a foot away from the original body." and as we went back into the seventh branch, we were covered by around ten people the entire time. Most of them asked who the Fore-Bladder was, but some asked about the battle itself as well. It seemed that none of them knew I was the force-blader, and that kept me happy. Though after a while, some started asking who I was, and Dune just said I was a trainee. "But there's only two trainees, and we know the other one has... " they put two and two together, and so many came towards me, wanting pictures, that it almost made me go blind. The cameras they used all seemed to have a flash on it, and when they tried to get too close, I just stopped. I knew how to get them to stop, so I drew up all my anger I had, and grew stern, stopping any movement near me. "Please stop asking for pictures, or anything else. I'm merely a trainee, and when I'm done, you all should know that there is nothing special about me." I then stood still until they passed. I could hear a couple whisper my name, but most just walked along. Dune looked astonished. "Dude! How did you do that!?!" he said, gesturing all around us. I looked at him and said, "In my age, they were the same. But with more electrical stuff. I'm just acting how the popular people of my year did.'' He was impressed, and we went along. We made it through each wall until we made it to the fourth, where the mansion was located. Dune went off to the training yard to find Blast, and I went in search of Grrga. Ghost appeared behind me again, which scared me again. "Rumbler already went home. Did you go out of the wall with Dune?" "Gah! Y- yeah, I did. He got me a piece of driftwood. Wait, how did you know I was looking for him?" I asked. She smirked, "I have my ways." she put her helmet on, then vanished again. I didn't really care anymore though, and instead went off to find Peter. He was out in the main room, eating what looked to be a large lobster. He had just finished off the rest of the arm, when he spotted me. "Hey, Mason! You gotta try this Sharab! They say it's a mix between a crab and shrimp, it's pretty good. Tastes like chicken." I looked at the meal, and it was pretty much just a lobster, but with a bit of a longer tail. I took a bite and he was right, it did taste like chicken! We ate a bit more, and he then brought up the battle. "You know, Takken was the very first Super, right?" I was a bit confused. "What do you mean?" "he's able to make his skin as tough as metal, so yeah." he answered. "Well, if he can do that, I'll just have to catch him with his guard down." Peter told me that probably wasn't going to happen, though he still said he was rooting for me. We went and grabbed a couple bottles of water, then started walking down to the first branch. We talked a bit, and I learned about what happened in the days I was out. "After you were knocked out, and all the Settlers had left, we started to clean up. The fifth and sixth branches were pretty easy, but the giant blood stains you probably saw in the seventh branch were from their leader. So yeah... other than that, I also started my training, where they took me and placed me in with my shield and started throwing tennis balls from all directions at me. It was odd, but it works pretty well.'' I was impressed by his work, and after my thoughts started racing, I finally settled on asking him to help with my blade. "Say, you mind helping with something of mine?" "no, not at all, what's up?" I told him about my driftwood, and asked if he'd be willing to help me make it into a second blade. He agreed, and I gave him both of them. "I'm gonna make us some dinner, if you work on my other blade.'' He said that was a fine idea, and I went into the kitchen area. Grrga was asleep on the couch, even though it was barely dark outside, and I was working on my family's specialty. It took me around half an hour to get all the right ingredients, and another good hour to finish the feast. I had created my great grandfather's special thanksgiving feast, built with a peanut butter covered slice of bread, and a nice bowl of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and what looked to be chicken, though with it already being shredded I hadn't a clue. Peter said he had finished with the craving and such, and that all he needed to do now was wait for the polishing to finish. I looked at him, and with gratitude, gave him his bowl. "This is amazing, what is it?" he asked, "Chicken and vegetable soup, like it?" He said he'd rather have it than the Shrap, and since that stuff was pretty good, I took it as a compliment.