Adventure of a Lifetime

Chapter VI

ANASTASIA

Music: Mechanical Base from Gradius III Arcade

I woke up in a... city. The sight around me sure was breathtaking. All around me was action: People driving too and from places, people walking around the sidewalks, and not to mention lots and lots of buildings. It was so much to take in.

"Wow... I could live here. If I wanted to, of course," I said to myself. I then snapped out of my daze and tried to assess the situation. "Okay, so I was teleported here somehow. Now, how do I get out..."

"A-anastasia?" a familiar voice said. I turned around to see Sean sitting on a nearby bench.

"Oh hi there, Sean!" I yelled to him, smiling and waving. I then sat down next to him and asked, "Isn't this amazing? Look at all the action going on around here!"

"Yeah... but I'd rather think about getting back home," Sean replied, shrugging.

"Well, why don't we look around and see if we can find anything?" I suggested. Sean nodded in reply, and we both got up.

We went to several of the different buildings and looked through them, including a few different shops, some restaurants, and a weapons factory. At the weapons factory, they were using bombs to try and blow up different types of material, including steel. Sean tried to break the steel with a punch and... it didn't work.

"Huh. I thought we could break through anything with our strength," he wondered.

Then a thought came to my head. "You might not be able to break through anything steel or thicker. I would assume the same applies to Shanna."

"Drat."

Music: Ending from Gradius Deluxe Pack

We then walked back outside and found the bench we were at earlier, then sat down. I took a look over at Sean and noticed that his head was in his arms. He looked stressed.

SEAN

Truth be told, I was pretty stressed out right now. I could feel Anastasia's eyes glaring at me for a few seconds before she finally asked, "Is something wrong, Sean?"

I looked up at her, sighed, and replied, "Yeah, I'm just a little stressed out."

"Why?"

"Oh, you know, worrying about what's happening right now. Worrying about what's going to happen to us. Worrying about Shanna. Worrying about everyone else. I have a lot of things to worry about, okay?" I sighed.

"No, Sean, it's okay," Anastasia told me, "I'm kinda worried myself. Who knows what's going on with the others myself."

It was silent for a few seconds after that, and then another thought came to my head. "What have our lives come to? How come we, of all people, have to deal with our new powers? It's not even been a day since we discovered we've had them, and already we're involved in something."

Anastasia scratched her head for a moment, then responded, "You're right. What if our lives are never normal again? I'm actually hoping this is just a one-time deal."

"Me too."

Then Anastasia looked straight into my eyes, and firmly told me, "Look, Sean, I know we've both got a lot on our minds now, but we've got to focus on the task at hand. For now, let's worry about it later. We've got a mission to accomplish, and we're not gonna accomplish it just sitting here."

I started to form a smile on my face. "Good point." Then we both got up and began looking for ways out of here.