Leon wandered through the darkness of the storage room. Towers of boxes greeted him at every turn, sometimes face first.

“Ow!” Leon rubbed his nose. Things were harder to see further away from the door, and the storage room was much more spacious than he had anticipated. The captain could be anywhere. He continued calling for him. “Captain? Captain Galhardo?”

A few jagged green shots whizzed by from behind him.

He turned around. “Captain?”

The bucktoothed ranger could barely make out a shadow disappearing behind some of the boxes.

Leon followed it. “Captain, it’s me, Leon!”

Whoever it was continued further into the storage room, but not without firing back more shots. They were much more random than any he’d encountered so far. Still, Leon dodged them. But why would the captain fire at him?

“Oh, I get it! This must be some kind of test!”

Leon continued following the shadow. An increasing amount of shots scattered about, but he had no trouble avoiding them. In fact, they helped guide him through the box maze.

Suddenly, he heard a thump and muttered cursing.

“Captain…?” The captain didn’t seem like the type to swear. Leon moved in closer.

Too close! Leon crashed into him, but not for long. A hand immediately grabbed his face and pushed him back.

“Get offa me!” It was Aiden’s voice, clear as day.

“Sorry!” Leon reached out for something else to guide him, but his hands kept touching his roommate.

Aiden gripped his hands and put them on a box. He then lightly pushed Leon away with a foot. A little uncalled for, but what was Aiden if not kind of a jerk?

“Thanks, Aiden!” Leon used the box to anchor himself. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“None of your business.” Now that Leon could see him better, his silhouette was much taller than the captain’s. “You think a guy would take the hint after getting shot at. Don’t you think Captain Galhardo would’ve answered after calling him the umpteenth time?”

“Maybe he’s hiding?” He guessed. “Emil did say the captain finds it hard to warm up to people.”

“...So you think he’s playin’ hide-and-seek?”

“Could be! My little brother’s really shy too. He used to hide from my friends whenever they came over. Eventually, they started saying I made him up, which was so annoying, you wouldn’t believe!”

“Oh, I can’t imagine…”

“That reminds me! One guy did see him for a split second and thought he was a ghost, so then people started thinking our house was haunted; it became kind of a whole thing. Anyway, my mom told me he might’ve made some friends! I’m really happy about it ‘cause up until now, I was the only one he had, and I was worried he’d be super lonely without me. He’s kind of--”

Leon heard shuffling behind him. He turned around to see Aiden.

“Ah, there you are!” Leon chuckled. “You shoulda told me I was talking to the boxes. I must’ve looked silly!”

“Don’t you have a captain to look for?”

“Ah, right!” Leon remembered his mission. “Do you know where he is? I can’t find him anywhere!”

“Did’ja check his room?” asked Aiden. “Y’know, where he always is?”

“Ahhhh, that makes sense! Thanks Aiden!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Aiden’s words faded away as he disappeared into the darkness.

Stopping for a chat was always nice, but Leon had to return to his search. One problem, though: The room was still very dark. On top of that, Leon couldn’t remember all of the turns he’d taken when following Aiden. Getting out of the storage room still shouldn’t have been too hard of a task.

Gotta keep hope alive! That was what Leon kept telling himself as the minutes grew longer with no sign of an exit in sight. Every time he thought he got closer, a wrong turn would send him back to where he started. Or was it? Leon couldn’t really tell. Wherever he ended up, he knew it wasn’t the exit.

“You’re still here?” The annoyance in Aiden’s voice rang clear.

Still, Leon was happy to see anyone at all. “Fancy seeing you again, roomie!”

“How hard can it be to find the exit? It’s the only place light is coming from!”

“Ohhhh!” He wondered how he’d been able to tell when he was getting closer. It seemed so obvious now! “Guess I should be going.”

“...Wait a sec.”

“Hm?”

Aiden approached him from the shadows. “You know what? I’m feelin’ a little charitable! I’ll show you to the door.”

“Wow, really?”

He chuckled. “But howzabout a little bet first?”

“A bet?” Leon scratched his forehead. “I’m kinda already in the middle of a bet right now.”

“Huh. What a shame. If you won, I might consider wearing pajamas for a week!”

Glory could wait. Having a roommate not sleep in the nude was worth so much more. “Actually… What kind of bet is this?”

“Simple. You dodge a couple patterns. If ya don’t fail, you win.”

“Okay, it’s a deal!” Leon was always in the mood to practice dodging. This should be fun!

“One catch.” Dim light reflected off of Aiden’s smiling teeth. “A bet like this needs to be a little more… shocking, don’t’cha think?”

Of course there had to be a catch. “...You want me to change my settings to Shock?”

“Shock or no deal.”

“Fine.” Leon changed his collision settings accordingly.

Aiden made his way to the top of a tower of boxes. He snapped his fingers, summoning a group of thin, green shots around his hand. The blond ranger watched them for a little bit before lazily aiming them at Leon.

Leon dodged successfully, but smacked into a box.

“Heh!” Aiden sent another group of projectiles toward Leon.

The bucktoothed ranger tripped over a box lying on the ground, sending him spinning in midair, thankfully out of the way of those shots. He couldn’t say the same for the next set.

“Gahh!” The shock hurt more than expected. It also made Leon realize something he hadn’t taken into account: He took a hit earlier this morning, which meant he was now on his last one. “Hey, Aiden. I was down to two hits before we started. Can I get an extra try to make up for it?”

“Nope.”

Before Aiden could fire another set of shots, the pattern changed from… ‘pat_1’ to ‘pat_2.’

“You didn’t name your patterns?” Leon couldn’t imagine not naming his patterns.

“Why should I?” Aiden descended from the box tower.

“That’s where all the fun is! Where’s the joy in creating an attack if it doesn’t have a cool-sounding name you can shout?”

“Pshh. Sounds dorky to me.” Aiden raised his hands to both sides and fired a spray of shots from each one.

“C’mon, it’s fun!” Leon got out of the line of fire. “I could name some for you, but uhhh--” another round grazed his arm, “--I’m kind of in a bind right now.”

The blond laughed at his misfortune. He rotated in place, firing more shots whenever he could, but as long as Leon stayed at his back, he couldn’t be hit. Leon cracked the code!

Stolen novel; please report.

Unfortunately, Aiden did too. He changed directions on a dime, and Leon wound up in the range of his next attack. Leon forgot to hold his leg out to turn around and instead sent himself flying forward, well past Aiden’s reach. Aiden spun faster, but couldn’t quite catch up. At that point, the bucktoothed ranger figured out how to turn more smoothly, flying circles around him.

Remembering how to slow down was another task entirely. Leon knew he was as good as toast when Aiden changed directions again. Before he could fully accept defeat, however, he remembered Mia’s advice from a month ago. He stuck his legs forward and propelled in the opposite direction. It made for a quick turn, too!

Leon turned around just in time for the shots to miss his stomach. After all, they were just holograms. He only needed to worry about them hitting the collision belt; the rest of him was free game. When he thought about it, that feature was counterintuitive to the whole purpose. If an asteroid or something hit him in the leg, it would still be bad, right?

As he thought about that, he noticed Aiden smirking. Leon smiled back, until he realized Aiden’s smirk was rarely a good sign. Sure enough the blond’s palm faced directly at his victim. He prepared to aim another shot, but before he could, something startled him. His pattern stopped, and his smile vanished with it.

A new pattern, ‘pat_1(2),’ began with Aiden shooting projectiles, this time in a straight line. Leon sidestepped them, but instead of staying in the same place, he followed. Aiden fired again, and Leon sidestepped. This went on and on until Leon realized he hit a wall. The stream of ammo he just escaped boxed him into a corner of boxes, priming him to be taken out by the oncoming shot.

Something sparked inside him. Maybe it was desperation from the fact that he only had one hit left, but the gaps between each shot seemed wider. Everything would be okay as long as he didn’t panic. And somehow, he didn’t. Leon maneuvered between each projectile with surgeon-like precision before his brain could even register which ones would be a threat. Before Aiden could even register he got out unharmed.

“How did you--? How the--??”

“I don’t know!” Leon laughed in disbelief, at least until Aiden fired another shot at him. “I really feel like I’m getting better at this!”

Aiden went into rapid-fire mode, but Leon took things slow and steady. Always sidestepping at the last moment so he’d have more space left over as he made his way back to where he came from. It was kind of easy, but there was a problem. Eventually, he’d wind up in the same situation at the other end, and all the optimism in the world couldn’t convince Leon that he’d be able to pull off a second miracle dodge.

His opponent sped ahead of him. Aiden fired a wall of shots Leon was bound to run into, but Leon switched directions just in the nick of time, only for another line of projectiles to be waiting for him. The tense shuffle continued back and forth. He still found himself dodging even after the shots had stopped.

The next pattern read ‘pat_3.’ No shots fired. Aiden just stood there. It kind of creeped Leon out. Thankfully, he took a step toward Leon. Wait. That wasn’t good either. Leon backed up, but the momentum from his baby step couldn’t outpace Aiden’s long-legged stride. Leon was able to make out his expression now. Any smirks or snickers from earlier were long gone, all replaced with a cold glare.

A noise across the room caught Leon’s attention. He looked to his right to see what could’ve made it, but the towers of boxes hid whatever it was from his view. What they couldn’t hide were the projectiles creeping dangerously close out of the corner of his eye.

Leon flew upward to avoid them. He celebrated to the tune of Aiden asking an expletive-filled question about why his shots went so slow. His own shadow painted the wall. Turning around, the bright light of the doorway looked so tiny from up high, but at least Leon knew where it was now.

“Hey Aiden, I found the door. Do I go now, or…?” When Leon glanced back down, no one was there. “Huh. Well, this isn’t good.”

The reflective orange stripe of an IF jumpsuit flashed before disappearing behind a cluster of boxes way across the room. What would Aiden be doing so far away? And how? Was he that fast?

As if to make things more confusing, a lone, pill-shaped shot passed from behind Leon’s head.

“Is this thing broken?”

Leon turned around to face a frustrated Aiden staring at his hand. “Ah, there you are! You gotta hit the collision target for it to count.” He patted his stomach. “See? Right here.”

“...Thanks.”

Was it foolish to show Aiden his weak point? Yeah. Did Leon think things through before doing so? Not really. Did he regret it? Surprisingly, not much. Maybe this gesture of kindness would help Aiden soften up to him. Maybe he’d really appreciate it.

Or maybe he’d return the favor by firing at Leon immediately.

The shot itself was much too slow to be a threat, but it killed the mood. As Leon watched it pass by, part of him wondered if Aiden was a lost cause. No, not a lost cause. No one was a lost cause. Still, some hearts were out of Leon’s reach, as much as it hurt to admit. At least Aiden didn’t seem hateful, just weirdly grouchy. Either way, Leon was determined not to give up yet, not so soon after last time...

Aiden disappeared again, and reappeared just as soon. Like an asteroid caught in a planet’s orbit, he haphazardly circled around Leon. Projectiles fired toward the bucktoothed ranger. While slow-moving, they quickly became a problem when aimed at him from all sides. It felt like he needed eyes on the back of his head to keep track of them all.

Leon managed to swerve in and out between each set of shots. That didn’t last too long. Aiden began firing quicker, filling the sphere he trapped Leon in more densely as time went on. Soon, Leon had to retreat to the very center. He bided his time by twisting and turning to dodge the ones that he could, but it seemed inevitable that the rest would close in on him. He watched as a few wrapped around his waist like an unwanted hug.

They all disappeared. The title now read ‘pat_1(3).’ Leon breathed a sigh of relief.

Aiden exhaled in frustration. He drifted away from his target for a little bit before firing three lines of projectiles, each at a different angle. It was nothing compared to what Leon just escaped. However, if the last attack taught him anything, it was not to judge a pattern by its beginnings.

The blond darted to a spot that was just as far away from Leon, and fired again. Then, he went back to fire from the place he started. Aiden flung himself back and forth at increasingly breakneck speeds to the point where his shots crossed over each other. It required quite a bit of focus to stay in the safe zones.

Still, Leon couldn’t help but admire his opponent’s skills. Aiden maneuvered his jets with a level of control and grace that Leon didn’t even have walking in normal gravity. He bounced off of the air itself when he switched directions. His flips were precise, never turning more than he needed to. It looked unnatural, yet he moved with the air jets-- brand-new prototypes --as if he were born with them. No wonder Emil was a big fan!

Aiden stopped just as soon as his pattern did, shaking his head and banging a fist against the wall when ‘pat_1(3)’ changed to ‘pat_(4).’

“I’m really surprised I lasted this long.” Leon observed.

“Me too.” Aiden couldn’t have sounded less thrilled. He took a momentary breather.

Just then, something occurred to Leon. “Gee, you don’t seem all that bothered by the shocks, huh?”

“What shocks? Why would I let myself get shocked?”

Wasn’t it obvious? “We were… We were both supposed to change our settings to Shock. That was the deal!”

“No.” Aiden explained. “We agreed that you would put your settings on Shock.“

“Hey, what the heck? That’s not fair!”

“What’re you complaining about? You almost won!”

Leon went from annoyed to intrigued. “Almost won? Is this your last pattern?”

Aiden didn’t answer. Instead, he clasped his hands together, took a deep breath, and opened them. When he did, translucent, holographic asteroids filled the nearby area.

“Woooah!” Leon marveled at the asteroid field. “Wait, does touching these count as a hit?”

“I don’t know.” His roommate coyly shrugged. “Why don’t you hug one and find out?”

“Ah, so it definitely counts as a hit.”

Aiden sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

With a wave of his hand, the asteroids around Leon began to float back toward the doorway. All Leon had to do was float with them. Or so it seemed.

Aiden shot a couple projectiles at the asteroid field. His target wasn’t bothered by this, until he noticed that the asteroids didn’t stop them. Leon maneuvered through the asteroids to clear their path. It was much like making his way to his seat at a movie theater, except the other guests could taze him if he bumped into them.

More shots came from different angles as Aiden zoomed around Leon and the asteroids. He became an occasional blur in Leon’s vision. The air jets had to be carrying him at the highest speed they could. The shots were sporadic; he couldn’t aim well while going so fast. However, the projectiles themselves flew by quickly, and Leon didn’t have much room to get out of their way.

Image: Aiden flying by, firing projectiles [https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/37885894_DpyYuIjYuI9U45k.png]

The bucktoothed ranger had yet another problem on top of everything else: His own mind. Whatever superhuman focus he had a few patterns ago dwindled as soon as Aiden told him he almost won. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was so close to a week where he wouldn’t have to avert his eyes from his roommate’s bedtime routine, a week where he didn’t get an accidental peek at Aiden’s birthday suit if he didn’t look away in time.

All he had to do was stay focused.

Something shuffled close by. Leon pried his eyes away from the area just in time to wiggle out of the way of Aiden’s next shots. He tried his best to focus less on how cool it would feel to fly around like Aiden, and more on how cool it would be not to get zapped at the last moment. In a way, even Aiden helped his concentration. Whenever Leon found himself staring at the ever-closer door, he would zip by and fire a few more shots.

Focusing didn’t get any easier though. The closer Leon got to the door, the closer Aiden came to hitting him. His heart nearly lept out of his chest when he realized he was only a few feet away. The middle of the asteroid belt proved to be the safest area, since Aiden fired from the front and back, but with the doorway so close by, Leon could practically walk out. He should be in the clear if he made his way to the back. Besides, Aiden’s pattern should be ending soon, right?

“‘Sup?”

Leon met face to face with Aiden as he slipped between him and freedom. Time slowed to a crawl as Aiden lifted a hand up to shoot.

Before he could, his eyes fixated on something to Leon’s left.

“What are you--?”

It was Aiden who lost focus this time. He continued soaring to the left, crashing into…

...Roxie?

The two flew further back into the storage room due to the lack of gravity. Aiden tried using his jets to stabilize them both, but Roxie had the same idea, which made them careen all over the place. They were too busy to notice Leon. He leapt out of the doorway and into victory just as soon as ‘pat_4’ ended, and the asteroids vanished.

“Get offa me!” Aiden’s usual grace was thrown off by Roxie.

“Okay~” Roxie let go, which sent her off into a different direction. “But don’t-- Uwoah!” After a little trouble, she managed to stabilize herself high up in the air. “Don’t think you’re getting away that easily. I was sent to do battle with you!”

“By who?” Aiden found a wall to stop himself.

“I will not betray the person who betrayed me to betray you, but they were priming me for this encounter!”

He sneered. “Jun.”

“Oh, you’re good.” She stroked her chin, impressed.

“Fine.” Aiden pushed himself off of the wall. “You wanna fight? I’ll give you one. You already made me lose a bet with Rookie down there.”

Roxie’s head snapped toward Leon, who was still watching from the doorway.

“You.” She turned back to Aiden. “I’m sorry but our battle will have to wait.” Her gaze focused back on Leon. “I have some vengeance to deliver.”

Aiden glanced between her and Leon. “...I can wait.”

“No, don’t mind me.” Leon felt the pressure from their stares. “You guys can go…have yourself a… great fight!”

With no more hesitation, he flew up the nearby staircase, chased by the sound of Roxie’s cry:

“CHEEEATERRRR!!!”