Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

26 - The Past is Far Behind Us...

Camouflage wasn't exactly his color, but when all the other bows at Mindcrack's archery range either felt too heavy or too light in his hands, Etho didn't have much in the way of aesthetic choice. He'd make this one work.

His left hand held the bow as his right hand drew the string back. One finger above the arrow, two below. His feet were squarely planted. The padding along his left arm would prevent any accidental brush burns with the rough string. His eyes were fixated on the center red dot on the target ahead. He should've been relaxed for a cleaner shot, but his adrenaline was far too high, and the target was moving far too fast.

The arrow landed in the white space just to the left of the center. But it didn't matter much. The ding of a hit rang out, the target slumped over, and he was finished with that round of training.

To be honest, Etho wasn't a big fan of Mindcrack, even back then. He didn't understand why his family wanted him to train in survival and adventuring techniques when one, they were living in the modern world where survival meant going to a grocery store for food and twisting a knob for water, and two, he had no interest in it aside from when he got to practice his archery. Well, that and going on the missions with Beef and Pause was pretty fun, but the missions themselves had nothing to do with his enjoyment. They could easily hang out in their time outside of the facility like normal kids, in fact they did, and Etho always looked forward to it every weekend. So really, it was only his archery that made him even slightly want to stay.

As the contraption powered down, a familiar creeper hybrid scrolled through the connected screen for his total score. Even though Doc was right-handed, the touch screen didn't react well to his metallic hand, nor was he himself quite used to the robotics yet, so he was forced to awkwardly swipe with his left hand's fingers.

"127," he finally declared, unbelievably impressed. Etho's hands fiddled with the bow string.

"Is that good?" He asked, averting his eyes. As hard as it was to believe, the fox-hybrid was a very quiet kid. He rarely spoke to anyone he didn't know, and when he did, it was usually in a semi-hushed voice.

"Very," Doc confirmed. "The best score we've ever seen on this old thing is a 139 from one of our seniors. You said you were in the 2nd pre-course, correct?"

Etho nodded. The 2nd pre-course in Mindcrack was the equivalent to middle school, following the 1st pre-course that covered elementary. After that, the main courses were labeled just like a regular high school: freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

He had expected to get the same response he always got to his skills: the initial amazement at his talent, then followed by the classic "but you should branch out more into other fields" since the bow was basically all he was good at, but to his surprise, Doc continued his amusement.

"Do you not have your own bow?" The creeper hybrid asked, quickly checking the machine again. Etho shook his head. They were as expensive as they were tedious to get one perfectly suited for a person, and his parents were still holding out faith that he would pick up some other skill later on.

Doc hummed, then his ears perked up for a moment. "Oh, before I forget, the headmaster wanted me to give this to you. For your team."

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, folded into a small square and held closed by a single piece of yellow tape. Etho knew what it was without having to open it, it was another mission to go on. The yellow tape meant it was effective sometime within the same day it was delivered, and considering it was already well past the start of the afternoon, the fox hybrid had a feeling he and the rest of Team Canada would be out in the dark of the night. That was fine though, they've done nighttime missions before, and they always came out unscathed.