Click, I've Caught You

Arc 1: (Aim)(Needs Editing) Chapter 5

"Where do you get all this money?" Lyna asked blankly.

Currently she was in a car with Ms. Amelia driving them (James, Chika and Jewels) to laser-tag. Cars hurtled pass them as the red panda turned on her right turn signal as they exited the highway. The teens' excitement were bubbling like Mentos dropped in a coke as they finally got a break from school. They were only halfway through the second quarter of the school year and were already swamped with work.

Personally they were starting to believe the teachers were trying to kill them with extra work.

Jewels however found it a good time to relax with laser tag- her favorite form of meditation.

"Jewels is loaded." James explained. Jewels rolled her eyes at his comment.

"No, I'm not." she said flatly. James raised an eyebrow.

"You have an I-Pad, a Samsung 7, a flat screen TV and an apple desktop all in your room." he said bluntly. "You're loaded."

Chika twisted to explain to Lyna seeing as Jewels was riding in the front seat (Ms. Amelia wasn't going to be 'driving Ms. Daisy').

"When Jewels' mother died, she had money set aside for Jewels for when she grew up. It wasn't too much, just 20,000 dollars. But Ms. Melody received control of the money when she took in Jewels. Right thing to do or not, she invested a portion of the money into some now- big time stocks. Jewels might never have to work a day in her life thanks to Melody's fast thinking." Chika provided.

Lyna shook her head.

"That's crazy," she awed.

"I know," James agreed with a grin.

As they pulled into the parking lot, the four teens were still vibrating with excitement. As soon as they received the green light from Amelia, they darted in and checked the front desk. They were utterly relieved that the session would be starting in minutes rather than hours.

They went straight into the session room to sit and wait. As the guy supervising began going over the rules, Lyna began to space out. She observed her friends' attire, realizing everyone on her team was decked out in dark colors.

She was pleased to realize that everyone would take the match more seriously than the random people she used to play with.

Finally the rules were done and everyone went to get a vest. When they were filtered through the doors they all huddled up.

"Oh yeah, Jewels is on our team! We're gonna crush it!" A doberman cheered.

"Mhm." Agreed a german shepard and a grey rabbit.

Jewels went to say something only to blink at the last member of their team (barring James and Chika) in disbelief.

"....really Jasmine?" she asked the blue jay finally. She gestured towards her white sneakers that would glow brightly in the arena.

The bird had the decency to look embarrassed.

"I forgot the match was today." she replied sheepishly.

Jewels rolled her eyes fondly.

"Ready to begin?" Came from the overhead. As soon as these words were uttered, Jewels was all business.

"Right, it looks like they're going to start with the upper ramps where we want to be." she deduced from their opening.

James nodded.

"Yeah, we want up where they can't sneak and snipe us over barriers." He agreed.

Jewels looked thoughtful before spitting out a plan.

"James, Chika- I want you two to distract. Main fire from the ground okay?" she informed.

"Okay." Chika agreed with a nod.

"Nia and Jake- cover James and Chika. Make sure they don't get blindsided." Jewels commanded looking first at the rabbit before transferring her gaze to the doberman.

"You got it." Nia grinned.

"Denny and Jasmine, go left and head up that ramp." she ordered.

"Right." The german shepherd said eagerly.

"Lyna you're coming with me and taking the right ramp." Jewels told the lynx.

"Understood." Lyna chirped.

"Let's just focus on getting to the upper floor first and then we'll be in with the next plan, okay?" The serval prompted.

"Let's do it!" James cheered.

They exited the room as the match had started a few minutes ago. Chika laughed quietly at Lyna's expression.

"She's like a totally different girl, right?" she chuckled.

"Yeah," Lyna agreed. "Where'd the shy little thing that doesn't like taking charge go?"

"In storage because this is laser tag." Chika informed before splitting off with James.

Lyna was impressed.

Jewels' plan worked impressively well, like even freakishly near perfect.

If it hadn't been for Jake and Nia, James and Chika would have been sniped several times after they left cover.

Lyna and Jewels charged the right ramp and started firing at the guards. While they were temporarily deactivated, they sprinted up. Lyna automatically guarded Jewels' back, while Jewels herself took point.

After managing to get up the ramps and Denny and Jasmine had seen them sprint and made their move too, they forced the other team down the ramps and out of the upper level. When this was confirmed, Jewels began spitting out orders again.

"Chika, James- hit the balcony, pick 'em off if you can, Denny, Jaz- left ramp guard it. Don't let anyone up! Lyna stay with me, we're taking the right ramp. Nia and Jake- help anyone that needs it and take over if someone gets hit- Got it?!" Jewels yelled.

"Yes Captain!" They all replied with just as much volume.

It went off without a hitch.

Now that they controlled the air it was almost child's play to hit people. The best part of the match was Jewels almost getting trapped only to shoot three targets and gain rapid fire, shields and invisibility.

The match ended shortly after that.

It was no surprise that their team won. What was a surprise was that Jewels was only shot twice throughout the entire match. The best thing was when Jewels complimented Lyna's skills. It was like a tiny little kitten curled in her heart- warm and soft, it's little claws every so often stretching out and pricking her heart.

She stopped dead in her tracks. The lynx realized this happened more frequently than she had ever noticed.

Like when the tiny girl smiled at her.

Or hugged her. Or...

"Wait haven't I felt like this before..." she muttered.

Then it clicked.

"Um, excuse me heart but I didn't agree to crushes. You promised this would be a drama-free neighborhood." Lyna groaned to herself in despair.

Absently, she wondered if it was too late to give her feelings up for adoption.