Dropped Stitch

Zelda's Adventure

While I watch her health bar refill automatically, and begin to wonder if I might have hacked my character to  be a little stronger, she strikes, hitting me over the head with a mace.  My character loses twenty health.

Of course, it's not just my character that's getting smacked around. A trickle of blood flows down my neck, and my head feels as though it may have just split in two. Wincing, I hit a few keys, trying to ignore the warm trickle of fluid down my back, soaking my shirt. Hopefully, nobody will notice until I really get hurt. 

Hacking is dangerous midfight-- she'll have free reign to hit me, with whatever chooses. I block one of her hits and wince. It's my only chance, though. My attacks aren't affecting her anymore, and I don't know what else to do.

An assist trophy pops up from the ground. Eagerly, I grab it, and out pops a small shield I pick it up and hold A to block while my fingers brush the computer screen.

This room is hacked beyond recognition. I can barely make out ones and zeroes, much less my character. I change a few numbers, hoping to get lucky, and retreat. My shield is gone, and Chordis is ready for her next strike.

I glance up at my health bar. It's not at fifty like I wanted it to be, but thirty-five. I only gained five health points. I block a strike from Chordis and step back, near the edge of the screen. Taking up my bow once more, I shoot Chordis's avatar again and again, each hit doing less and less damage.

She's recovering, and within seconds is at normal health. I can practically see her grinning. Looks like I'll have to finish her off with one shot.

But what? I don't have any weapons of that magnitude, and there was no way that I'd be able to hack my normal ones with the sort of coding Chordis put into this room.

I could use my final attack, but that would take thirty seconds of not getting hit, which didn't seem to be happening.

I stop attacking, focusing more on dodging the attacks. But I can't dodge all of them, and soon, everything hurts. My health is almost down to zero, and if I take one more hit Chordis gets control of the book.

I can see her starting to attack, using a homing missile that i won't be able to dodge. An incoming message hits the screen- {Sayonara, petite fleur.}

No. No. No. I refuse to lose, even if I do take one more hit, even if I know I'm about to get walloped.

I like my readers. They're awesome, and they don't deserve the second-rate writing from Chordis.

On the screen, my character begins to glow. I've only done this once before, but it's the only shot I have left. 

I force the glow to spread, ignoring the growing pain just behind my eyes. Chordis's avatar throws more missiles, but they don't hit me.

The shield won't last long, and I think Chordis can sense that. I push myself harder and harder, expanding my glow. My health refills, and a brand new cache of weapons line up on the right side of the screen.

My vision is filled with black spots, but I select the most powerful missile and aim it. She jumps up in the air as I fire, not knowing that it's heat-seeking. I watch as the pixels chase each other around the screen, no longer making sense to my weary eyes. At last, her avatar explodes, losing all health.  I've won, some part of me knows, but I don't care. I collapse, sinking into the welcoming arms of sleep.

**********************************************

When I wake up, I'm in the hospital. A small device beeps beside me, and a needle is stuck into my arm. I pull it out with a sigh. What I need isn't here.

"Put that needle back in," A stern voice commands. I look over to the opposite wall, where Mom leans, looking businesslike in a dark gray suit threaded with sky blue. "I replaced their normal stuff with Ravenium," She adds. "But you're still gonna take a while to recover."

"What happened?" I ask.

Lyra smiles wryly. "You passed out," She says. "Someone thought you'd fallen asleep and touched you to wake you up. He saw your blood and passed out. Then someone else called an ambulence. I've only just heard the news, myself."

"Oh," I say.  "Well. I guess I'd better thank whoever tried to wake me up."

"Funny you should say that," Lyra said, scratching her chin. "They're dying to see you, themselves. I didn't want any bad blood coming up, so I told her to wait outside. I'll get her."

Before I even get the chance to wonder who she could possibly be talking about, Cirra bursts into the room. "I'm still mad at you," she warns me. "There's no way that I'll ever forgive you for betraying me like that."

I roll my eyes. "I wasn't betraying you. Chordis-"

"Well then, you shouldn't have allowed you to ensorcel you. You were being a shitty grilfriend, and I am very mad at you."

"They why'd you follow me?" I ask. "I mean, you had o have, to know where I went."

Cirra looks uncomforable.  "Well. I, uh, kind of go in trouble. So your mom sprung me and asked where you were, y'know, and why I was in jail. And I old her, and she got this scary look on her face and said, 'Go find her. Now.' So I did."

"Why'd you even do that?" I say, as Mom enters the room once again. She grins ferociously.

"I ship Cirrily way to hard. No way am I letting you break up."

"Well, that's not really up to me, at the moment," I say, looking pointedly at Cirra.

"No," she says firmly. "No way. I am not just some girlfriend who is  going to forgive you right away. We need to spend some time separated."

"But-- um. Mom?" I say. Mom is on the floor. I can feel her spiritual pressure (so, yeah, I've been reading Bleach... the same concept still applies) rising rapidly. "Mom!"  I yell. She can't hear me. Thankfully, after a few moments, it passes. She straightens up, a grin on her face.

"Okay," She says calmly. Way too calmly. "Cirra, you'll want some separation from Lily? Cool. Cool. I'll make you an apartment. Come on. Lily, you too. I'll get you both apartments."

"Uhh... Ms. Deighton?" Cirra asks. "What are you..."

"Come on!" Mom says suddenly, and seizes us both by the arm. There's a tingling sensation, and suddenlly, we're in the middle of a maze.

"Mo-om!" I groan. "What are you doing?"

"This is the Get-Along Dimension," Mom says. "You're not getting out of here until you either break up or kiss once more. Take your time."

"Jack the Ripper's pantaloons!" I say. "You could have just let us do this the normal way-- agh!" A monster leaps out of the shadows. It's a standard-level Kyanite. The battle doesn't last long, and when I'm done, I go back to complaining. "Why'd you have to send us to this bulge fest?"

"Bulge still counts as cursing, young lady," Mom singsongs in the background, and about three more monsters leap out of the maze. "And besides, I had to use this somehow. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna get pregnant anytime soon."

"You built this place for siblings?" I shriek.

"Yup," She replies, as Cirra dispatches the last monster. "Have fun!" With that, her prescense has disappeared.

"Arrancars and albatrosses," I mutter, watching as Cirra heads off into the maze. "This is gonna take a while."