Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Red)

She was trying to hide it, but I could tell she was seriously psyched about this battle.

Like her, my whole life had been one big game of hide-and-seek. Don’t get found by Argot, don’t get caught, don’t be stupid. It was the most exhausting and boring thing in the world, so I could understand her longing for a real fight.

It looked as if Blue had been a whole lot better than me at this game, though. She hadn’t done what I had. She hadn’t gotten her best friend killed.

That had been an extremely bad day, even considering the amounts of not-so-good days I’d had.

But I’m getting off the subject here, aren’t I? I doubt you want to hear some sob story about me right when we’re getting to some action. That can wait until later, when I’m ready. For now, let’s just get in some battle details.

A couple years ago, Mask had replaced all the human police officers with robots, saying that they could take a lot more damage. That’s a load of cake crumbs. He just wanted them because they’re loyal. Robots don’t disobey.

But I guess I can’t really criticize him. This makes it a lot easier when I have to burn ’em all up. Which I was about to, of course, right then and there.

I turned to Blue. “So, any last words before we start?”

She didn’t look at me, instead choosing to focus on the team of twenty robots blocking the road heading north, to Greene Wood. “Yeah. Don’t get killed. I mean, you and I are the only members of the Seven who’ve managed to meet up. I don’t wanna be all alone again.”

I decided not to tell her I’d already found Orange and Green, and instead focused on the tiny, almost undetectable, implied moment of weakness in that sentence. So far, Blue’d been a real tough one. It was kind of nice to know that underneath all that, she was still human. Just as long as she didn’t hold me back in a fight.

“Let’s do this thing,” I said, grinning and whipping off my sunglasses. “HEY, ROBOCOP!!! YOUR FACE IS STUPID!!!”

Blue shot me a look like, Seriously? That’s the best you could come up with? which I ignored, instead running forward and yelling,

“FIREBALL BARRAGE!!!”

A series of fireballs slammed into several of the robots, who instantly began beeping and announcing in their mechanical voices,

“ALERT. ALERT. HOSTILE INTRUDER. ALERT. DESTROY AT ALL COSTS.”

“You bet I’m hostile! And I’m gonna kick your butts!” I hollered, grinning.

“TORNADO BARRAGE!!!”

A series of mini tornadoes spun across the group of robots, sucking them in and spitting them out. Blue appeared next to me, smirking, eyebrows raised.

“You do realize you’re yelling at a bunch of machines, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “It makes me feel better. They’re still able to fight, you know.”

“How mature of you. Oh, well. HEY, ROBOTS!!! YOU READY FOR MORE?!”

So she had a sense of humor. Nice.

“I thought you said it was immature!” I called, punching a robot in its ugly face. It crumpled like a tin can, mostly because the metal was melting from the heat in my hands.

“I never said it was immature. My exact words were, ‘How mature of you.’” She spun around, causing another tornado and sending several robots flying. They slammed into the ground next to me. “I will say that I implied it, though.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever!”

I realized that she was taking down more robots than me, despite being a total newbie to this business, and got to work, blasting fireballs and kicking robots’ faces. We managed to take the twenty of them down in no time. (So much for getting killed, then.) Blue landed next to me, having used her air powers to fly up out of the range of one of my explosions.

“Now that,” she said, face flushed and grinning, “was refreshing.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed, surveying the damage. “And now we can get to Greene Wood.”

The smile on her face slowly faded as she stared at the field of charred, jagged, almost unrecognizable pieces of metal, to be replaced by a look of horror. “Uh. How’re we going to hide all this stuff?”

I rolled my eyes. “Hide? What the heck are you talking about? Why would we hide it?”

“Well, we don’t exactly want Argot finding out about this, do we?”

I laughed. “Are you serious? You’ve been in hiding too long, Blue. I think this is the perfect way to announce that you’ve joined the battle, don’t you?”

“Announce…that I’ve joined the battle?” She stared at me for a few seconds, the smile slowly reappearing. “I see.”

“I’m brilliant, I know.”

She punched me lightly in the arm, laughing and walking down the road toward Greene Wood.

“Well, then, let’s go. It’s time to begin this war.”

“Well…” I cleared my throat. “Uh, actually, it’s already begun.”

“It has?” She stared at me blankly for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing. “Wait. Exactly how many of the others have you found?”

“Not many. Just Orange and Green.”

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

“Well, we were kinda about to walk into a fight and I didn’t want to destroy your concentration…”

“Where are they?” she demanded. “Where are they hiding?”

I pointed up the path. “North. In Rogue City.”

Her shoulders slumped. “That far?”

“Hey, I had to go all the way down here to get to you. That wasn’t fun, believe me. And then when Argot caught up to me in Greene Wood, it got a little dangerous.”

“Understatement of the century, Red. Understatement of the century.”

She seemed a little deflated after the news, so I decided to cheer her up. “Hey, don’t be so disappointed. I’ve got a ride. We can be in Rogue City in about…four days, give or take. If we hurry.”

“So let’s hurry,” she suggested, turning and resuming her walk down the road. “Greene Wood’s already a day away by foot.

Sure. Why not. Like Green wasn’t going to have my hide if I didn’t.