Odd, but Gentle | Wattys2016

Part 8 - "And so Starts the Adventure!"

The bell chimed marking noon. Oh! I thought at the end of the bell chime. I grabbed up my books and headed for my dorm. I opened the door to see Rena packing her bag. "Oh, hey Aisha." she said as I closed the door. "Hey." I said with a sigh. I leaned against the door for a second and then headed up the stairs to pack. "What's wrong?" Rena asked from her bed. "Nothing really." I said looking away. Rena jumped and grabbed the railing; she then proceeded to pull herself up and plop down on my bed. I chuckled. "You know there are stairs, right?" I said playfully. She smiled and nodded. "Stairs are the boring way." she replied. I pulled out my small bag and placed some clothes. I then walked over and grabbed a first aid kit. "Will we really need that?" Rena asked, motioning towards the first aid kit. "Well, I hope not." I replied. I pulled the drawstrings on my bags and grabbed my wand case. "You ready?" I asked her. "One second." she replied. She jumped over the railing and landed below. She grabbed her bag and gave me the thumbs up. "Okay!" she said as we walked out of the dorm. We walked to the gates where Eve, Raven, and Add were waiting on us. "What took you so long?!" Add said angrily. Rena discarded his question and went over to talk to Eve and Raven, leaving me alone with an annoyed Add. I glanced around, trying to ignore the awkward silence. Just then a bus pulled up by the gate. "Took long enough." Add said as he motioned for his metal plates to carry his bag. He walked ahead of them as they strained to carry this. "Oh." I muttered as I walked over to the metal plates. I grabbed the bag from on top of them. They jerked back quickly and fluttered around. "Here let me get it." I said with a smile. They fluttered around happily and entered the bus. Hmm, can those things understand me? I thought curiously as I looked at them float around Add. I placed my bag and Add's in the cargo part of the bus. I sat down in an empty seat and looked around. The speakers chimed overhead and the bus drivers voice blared, "I will drive you only to the outskirts of this village, the rest of the way is up to you. This ride will be likely 20 minutes, so sit back and relax." With that the hum of the bus caused me to slowly drift off to sleep.

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Someone shook my arm gently. "Hmmm?" I mumbled as I opened my eyes. Raven smiled and said, "Wake up, sleepyhead. We are here." I nodded and rubbed my eyes. Add's head popped from the stairs. "Is she up yet?" he asked. "Yeah, she's up." Raven replied. I stood up and stretched. Mmmm, that was a good nap. I thought as I looked out the window. All I could see were trees. Raven handed me my bags and I walked off the bus. With a wave, the bus driver shut the door and drove off. "Well, let's get going!" Rena said enthusiastically. "Yeah, we have a long journey ahead of us. We need to get far so we can set up camp." Raven agreed. We all started through the forest. Eve pulled out a triangle which pulled up a hologram map. "From my calculations, we will arrive in Elder Village in 2 to 3 days. This is based only on us resting only at night and to not stop moving." Eve said as she placed the map inside her bag. Several grumbles came from the group. 2 to 3 days?! I thought with a sigh. I glanced over at Rena, who was chatting with Raven. Eve was at the head of the group, Add and I were at the back. I looked over at Add. The expression on his face made him look like he was having a bad time. As we continued to travel the forest got thicker. "How is everyone holding up?" asked Rena as she looked around. "Pretty good." I replied. "This sucks. It's a waste of my time." said Add. Rena rolled her eyes and walked beside me. "So, how is everything going?" she whispered. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, things between you and Add seem to be awkward." she said. "No, nothing is going on. He just annoys me." I said annoyed. "Oh," she said. "For a minute there, I thought you had a crush on him." She punched my arm playfully. "W-What? Me liking him!?" I said while blushing furiously. I looked away and walked on up ahead. Me liking Add?! Yeah right! I thought. I mean yeah, I thought he was pretty cute when we first met, but his personality is terrible. I glanced up at Add's back. Though he does look better from behind... I thought. Caught in deep thought my foot caught on a stray root and I fell. "Ouch!" I said as I clutched my ankle. Rena and Raven ran over to me. "Are you okay?" Raven and Rena said in sync. "Yeah," I said. "I think I'm alright." I attempted to stand up when a pain shot through my ankle, making me fall back down. "Ow, my ankle. I think I twisted it." I said. "Oh no." said Rena. "Here I will carry you." Raven said with his hand out. I went to grab his hand when Add intervened. He sighed and looked at me. "Man, you sure do cause a lot of trouble." he said as he kneeled down with his back to me. "Grab on." he said. I blushed and looked at him in astonishment. "B-but... I mean, you can't possibly-" I stammered before he interrupted me saying, "Grab! On!" I took a hold of his shoulders and he grabbed my legs and picked me up. Raven looked at him in astonishment, but then turned away. "Let's keep going." Raven said. I buried my face into his back in embarrassment. "Hey, don't you fall asleep on me." Add said annoyed. "I won't." I retorted as I laid my head against his back and closed my eyes.

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The talking of everyone woke me from my nap. I lifted my head from Add's back and looked around. It was getting dark and was currently in a clearing. "You awake?" Add asked. "Yeah, I think I can walk now." Add knelt down and I stood up and stretched. "So what's going on?" I asked as I stretched my legs. "We are setting up camp here, Eve believes this is the most suitable camp site." replied Raven. I glanced over at Eve, who nodded in agreement. I sat my stuff down with the others. "Okay, now that we got a suitable campsite, we need to gather fire wood." Rena said. "I'll go collect firewood." I said. "Here." Raven said as he tossed me a flashlight. I caught it and headed into the woods. The shadows bounced off the trees with each step I took. I grabbed a few branches lying around. "Man, I don't like the dark." I said as I clutched the branches closer. The sound of a branch breaking made me jump. I whirled around to see Add standing behind me. "What the heck Add!? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I yelled at him. He scoffed. "I didn't come here because I wanted too," he replied. "Rena sent me out here because she was worried you'd get lost." I sighed. Rena! I thought annoyed. "Well, help me gather more wood." I said. I handed him the pile of wood I gathered so far. We continued walking in silence. Man, this silence is killing me. I thought. "So...." I said to break the silence. "What is it, runt?" Add asked. "Nothing! I just wanted to thank you for carrying me." I said frustrated. "Oh, it was no trouble. I just didn't want you to cause trouble for the others." he said.

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After a while we managed to grab enough wood to keep the fire going. "Well, let's head back." I said as I positioned my flashlight on the wood I was carrying. Add nodded and we started to head back. After, what seemed like forever, we made it back to camp where Raven and Rena were holding flashlights and laughing, while Eve was sitting over rummaging through her bag with her flashlight. Rena looked up and waved. "Welcome back!" she yelled. "Thanks." I said as I set the fire wood down. Add set his share down and sat in front of the small pyramid Raven was making. After he was done he wiped his hands on his pants and sat down. "So, how are we supposed to light it?" Raven asked. Everyone sighed in realization. "No one thought to bring something to light it with?" Add asked annoyed. They grumbled when an idea came to my head. "Here, allow me." I said. I snapped my fingers together and a small flame appeared at the tip of my finger. I placed the flame at the base of the wood where it caught. "Wow, Aisha! I didn't know you could do that!" exclaimed Raven. "It's nothing." I said blushing. Add scoffed and scooted closer to the fire. Eve later joined us with her bag. "So what were you looking for?" asked Rena. "Nothing. Just for this." she said holding a data chip up. "And that is?" I asked. "It's my Nasod Shut Down Protocol 0-A39D." We all stared at her with a blank expression. Eve sighed. "It is what you humans call sleep." she said. "Oh." we all said in unison. "I will be done for the night." Eve said. She walked over near our stuff. She then pulled out a blanket from her bag and placed it on the ground. She flipped her hair up and she had a slit on her neck. "Whoa." I muttered as I watched her. We were all watching her in fascination. She placed the card in her neck and laid sideways. "Well," started Add. "I'm tired of having to deal with you guys. I'm going to bed." Add's metal plates grabbed his bag as he walked over away from everyone. He went to the farthest part of the place away from us. Add motioned and his plates dropped his bag and he laid down. "Well I agree that it's getting late." said Raven. "Let's go to bed." said Rena. I nodded and we all stood up and found a place to lay. The night got quiet and the only sounds were the sounds of breathing. I drifted off to sleep.

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As the night dragged on it got colder. Man, it is cold. I thought as I shivered. Just then something warm was wrapped around me and I drifted back to sleep. That's better... I thought as I went back to sleep.