Our Hybrid Hearts

Chapter 21: Helps Arrival

Sky began to slip from the edge, due to losing his consciousness. Panicking, Cory rapidly pulled him back onto the platform. Gently lying him down onto the cold wood, he began calling out Sky's name.

"Sky? Sky, come on wake up!" Cory faintly shook his friend's shoulder, hoping at the back of his mind that it would help.

Hearing the darts begin to fire behind him again, he briskly ducked out of the way, making sure Sky wouldn't get hit either. Attempting to be quick, as to not get caught by one of them, Cory cautiously reached up and snatched one of the darts from the air. He drew his hand back down and examined the tiny missile. It contained a bizarre type of green liquid.

Peering down at Sky, Cory noticed the glistening metal needle that was sticking out of Sky's wrist. One of the darts had hit him and knocked him out. He carefully pulled the dart out, though he knew it wouldn't do anything for a while. Just as he did so, Cory heard two sets of feet come rushing into the room.

Max sprinted into the room, still pulling Shelby along with him. He saw the guards lined up in front of him and skidded to a stop, bringing his arm up to stop Shelby as well.

"Called your little friends here for backup, have you?" One of the guards snarled as he lifted his weapon to point it at Max.

The boy just rolled his eyes, reaching up his hand and smirking. Lethal flames began to shoot out of his palm, causing blazing heat to travel through the steel of the dart gun and slowly melt it away. The guard's expression immediately changed to pure fear as he instinctively dropped his weapon; due to the thought that they were only fighting against Cory and Sky, who had dark and air abilities, they weren't at all prepared to be fighting Max or Shelby.

While Max was holding off the guards, Shelby quickly surveyed the room in search of any signs of Cory and/or Sky. She wasn't able to see them anywhere and tensed up a little, getting ready to panic. Calmly having a second glance around the area, this time looking more carefully, she saw Cory lean over the edge of one of the platforms.

"We're up here!" His hands gripped onto the perimeter of the wooden surface. Shelby was surprised to see his ears pressed to his head, meaning he was either upset or scared. She knew that Cory didn't show fear for many things, none of them really did, so she naturally wanted to know what was wrong.

Letting her eyes travel downwards, she searched for the way up to the ledge. She spotted a rope ladder that lead up to a smaller platform that was lower down. Taking a running jump, she latched onto the step and began to make her way upwards.

Cory reached out his left hand to help her jump up. Gratefully accepting his offer, Shelby grabbed his hand and leapt up to the platform. She quickly steadied herself and looked up, only to see Sky laying unconscious with Cory kneeling down next to him. She felt her heart drop and rushed to his side, placing a hand on his forehead.

"How long's he been out for?" Shelby made eye contact with her friend, a worried expression covering her face.

"Not long." Cory picked up the dart lying next to him, showing it to Shelby. "He was hit with one of these and it knocked him out..."

The pair gazed down at the unconscious ally and, working together, they gently lifted him up and were able to get him down to ground level. Max had dealt with most of the guards, Cory helping with the rest of them as Shelby began attempting to wake Sky with her powers.

Afterwards, Max and Cory ran over to their side and watched in anticipation to see if it would work. Ultimately, the attempt was unsuccessful; Sky remained unconscious, though he did seem in a slightly better condition. Shelby continued trying, her energy quickly draining as she did.

"Shelby it's ok." Max looked up at her, looking concerned. "You can stop..."

"Yeah. Your energy's dropping way too much." Cory agreed. "You should take a break."

Shelby let out a small sigh and leant back a little. She watched her hands as the white aura gradually faded away. The pair of boys glanced at each other and then down at Sky. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long until he did wake up.

As he was looking at his friend, the memory of Cory screaming suddenly returned to Max's brain. He couldn't see any injuries at the moment, though his concern didn't leave at all.

"Cory? Are you ok?" Cory turned at the sound of his voice, showing that he was listening. "When we were running down here earlier, we heard you scream. Did something happen?"

"I'm fine." Cory just smiled, crossing his legs on the wooden flooring. "It was to try and grab someones attention. Since Sky couldn't use his powers and all."

Shelby and Max seemed relieved that they were both ok. Though Shelby wasn't really buying the attention excuse. She believed that something had indeed happened and, as usual, Cory was hiding it from them. This had happened before, yes, but the big giveaway for her was the small trickle of crimson-coloured blood dripping down onto Cory's right hand.

I'm really sorry for this taking so long. I'll be honest, every time I tried to finish off the chapter, it was either I couldn't put what I wanted into words or I just couldn't find the motivation to do it. I will try to get the next chapter out a little quicker but if it isn't out for a while then it's most likely because of one of those reasons... Sorry again but I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Have a nice day/night!