Absorption Distortion

Chapter 44

Present day continued;

Luna and Drake had sat in the lounge room of his quarters as they spoke of different experiences and strategies beside the warmth of a wooden fireplace that Drake maintained. Luna ended up falling asleep on the couch to which Drake slept on the other couch opposite Luna. In the morning, Luna was first awake and she left Drake's quarters to return to hers so she could get dressed. She changed into black tactical gear, with the tight black body suit padded with selected amour underneath her jacket. As she finalized her body belt which wrapped around her legs, Luna stepped back into the main area of her quarters. She wanted to get ready for her training so she was prepared. She tightened her hair as she could see Drake standing there waiting for her. "Whoa, that was quick..." she said, not realizing he would be up, let alone ready. He smiled at her with his hands behind his back. She moved forward, not yet wearing her shoes and questioned in her mind why Drake would be standing still. She stood in front of him, "Drake.." she started and he swung his hand at her, she dodged it and they broke out in a fist to fist hand battle. He hadn't told her training started early, but this was his way of keeping her on her toes. Luna fought back, throwing punches in Drake's direction as he swung back at her. They continued to miss her until Drake caught Luna off guard and threw her into the small dining area she has. She fell into the table and it smashed into the wall, breaking Luna's fall. Drake looked at her as she rolled down onto the floor. She looked up at him and jumped to her feet, swing her leg out to trip him up. He jumped over it as he anticipated her move and helped her to her feet. "It could happen at anytime, you need to be prepared," he said, dodging to catch her fist she went to swing at him unexpected. He again was able to anticipate her move and held her fist in his hand. He moved it down slowly and she look at him, feeling a little flustered being so close to him. She was reminded of his dream that she accidentally stepped into and he released his grip on her. Noticing the heat in her body rising slightly. Luna looked away, and took a deep breath. She felt slightly uncomfortable. She looked back at Drake, "Can we take a break today? Maybe do something ... fun?" she asked, trying to break the monotony of their training practices. He smiled, "Like what?" Luna shrugged, "I dunno, a hike or something?" Drake nodded, "Sounds good to me," She moved into the lounge room and put on her hiking boots. Drake grabbed a tank top and his runners and they met outside Main Chambers. Drake pulled out of the car park with a black range rover. Luna jumped into the passenger side and he took off, driving towards the outskirts of town towards a nearby mountain for them to climb.

Drake purposely drove in a direction away from passing Nick's house to keep Luna's focus elsewhere. Drake drove the car off road to the base on the mountain and parked it under a tree. He and Luna moved towards the mountain and began to follow a path to walk through the cliff side. Drake followed behind Luna and they made small talk while make their way up the mountain. They took a short break half way up the mountain and found a short small flat area where they could sit down. Luna pulled out some water and handed it to Drake to take a sip. She could see the shadow of a figure at the bottom of the mountain, but the distance made it hard to work out who it was. "Can you see that?" Luna asked Drake, pointing to their starting point. "No, I can't tell who that is?" Drake replied, using his hand as a shade for his eyes but he still couldn't see. "I wouldn't worry... come on, let's continue," he advised, as Luna followed him the rest of the way at the top of the hill. Luna looked back when there was another clearing up the mountain that was growing dense with trees from the half way point upwards. She couldn't see anyone at the bottom of the hill from where she was, but she just decided to ignore it and continued behind Drake on their hike. He had to hold out his hand for her to use to climb up some tricky spots in the mountain. They helped each other make it to the top which overlooked the town of Distortion. Luna sat down on the floor, having spent over an hour climbing the mountain, she felt a little tired and took a moment to relax and rest while Drake was still overlooking the side of the cliff. She had a sip of water and looked over the town. The sun was out and it was a nice day with a slight breeze. She pulled off the jacket and laid it on her lap. Drake moved over and sat near Luna. "It's really nice up here," she admired, noticing him nod back in agreement. "Do you think we're gonna defeat this...?" Drake turned to Luna, using one of his legs to lean against. "Hmm? Eville?" He queried, "Yeah?" Luna replied laxly. "I think with you.. we have a shot at beating this," Luna looked down, recalling the memory of Fae's vision. "I wish I could control the future, that's one ability I don't yet have," She joked, finding a light hearted way to change her thoughts. Drake smiled, "Yeah, but where's the fun in that hey?" He leaned on his back and put his arms under his head.  Luna kept her attention on the town ahead in the distance, "Sometimes you need the unpredictability of life to keep you on your toes," she could hear the smile in Drake's voice but didn't think anything of it. "Yeah well our lives are so unpredictable as it is, I guess they can never truly be controlled," Drake shrugged his shoulders although Luna couldn't see it. "If you want something to happen a certain way Luna, you just have to pursue it enough... make sure it happens," She turned to face him, and she didn't want to cloud her thoughts with what Drake was thinking. She gave him a friendly smile which he returned. He sat up with a jolt and froze. "Drake what is-" He held out his hand and she hushed instantly. "I can hear someone," just as he finished, Luna could hear the movement in the trees nearby down below. Drake pulled his feet underneath him so he was crouched as he moved down the mountain side, slinking behind a tree to remain hidden. Luna stayed at the top, unsure of what she should do or why they would be followed. She prepared for a fight, as anyone in Distortion wouldn't usually hide themselves when approaching each other. Luna moved around the clearing at the top but she no longer could hear anyone, not even Drake. She just waited, constantly searching around until Drake reappeared. He stepped into the clearing and he had blood over his tank top. "Oh my god, Drake are you okay?" Luna asked concerned but he just smiled and held up a rabbit. "Found something to eat," she looked at him with shocked eyes. "I thought someone was following us," He nodded, "There was," He pulled out the rabbit and using some nearby sticks and lengths of fallen leaves, he was able to tie the rabbit to a stick for easy transporting. "I thought it was the rabbit, so I went after it. Just as I reached it, I heard the footsteps of someone moving down the mountain," He looked down at his shirt, "Oh man," he exclaimed, annoyed at himself. He looked at Luna, "Must be a bit rusty, I normally have a clean kill," he smiled as he pulled his tank off, wrapping it around the rabbit to hold it together. Luna admired the warrior side of Drake. He seemed self sustainable and in a world of people with advanced abilities, he was able to stay grounded on his own. Drake caught Luna looking at him longer than normal and he stopped, "Hey, you okay?" he questioned. She shook her head to snap out of it, "Yeah, never been one to enjoy the sight of a rabbit like that," she pointed to the impromptu carry bag Drake made. He let out a laugh with a sincere smile at her distaste for his skill. "Come on, let's get back so we can put some training in," He waited for Luna to come close by before holding up the rabbit, "Right after lunch though," She squealed and he laughed being playful and she jogged ahead of him to get down the mountainside quicker. It took them a shorter time to get back to the car. Luna had made it to the passenger door first as Drake was fiddling in the boot to put the rabbit in one of the esky's. She looked down at the ground, bored momentarily as she waited for Drake to unlock the car. She could see marked in the ground were the words "meet me here tonight 7pm" The dirt on the floor was shallow enough for the words to be clearly written. She went to call Drake's attention but she could tell it was intended for her to see only. She quickly used her foot to remove the writing just so Drake didn't see. She jumped as he closed the boot door. "Ready to go?" Luna quickly turned to him, "Ready," she said high pitched, caught off guard. Drake didn't pick up on it and unlocked the car doors. They made their way back to the main chambers.