Eniola’s feet seemed to have a mind of their own because she took off like it was nobody’s business, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her chosen weapon, a sleek gray phaser, jumped into her hands, ready for anyone who tried to get in her way. She stood at ease nervously, observing her surroundings before further running.
She was suddenly tackled from behind by the Lumians, who tried to wrestle the phaser out of her grip. Eniola turned back, eyes on the deformed alien before she yanked it out from their hands and gave them yeons. At once, she flew under them like a wisp of air and ran and reappeared at the belly of the mountain, feeling the hot warmth of lava against her. There was a narrow path leading up into the mountain.
She mowed down the Lumians with her phaser, who came at him, collecting yeons as she sprinted toward the mountain. An ULTRA team member came her way and her breath hitched as her mind tried to find a way out. But then a blast of energy shot at her stomach, and immediately she fell back onto the rocky ground, huffing.
“Eniola!” Theo yelled into her helmet. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she groaned, stumbling to her feet and wiping the hypothetical dust off. Another group of Lumians cornered her, and her heart clenched as she stood at nervous ease with her weapon. She readied her gun before shooting them one at a time, turning them into coins, before she crouched at the ground before running through the coins. One came at her from the bottom and dragged her up. She almost dropped her gun, but flipped it into her other hand and shot him.
Jay came in from the side, and Eniola slightly smiled at the extra help and Jay. Both of them got on their bikes as a blast of plasma shot off from them at all angles. Eniola crouched down, eyes glazing over to the war-torn planet. A blast of plasma came from the ground, and Eniola called her bike and jumped onto it. Then he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, body checking her onto the ground and a scream erupted from her. Keone was standing over her, a gun to her face, crouching over her. She screamed and writhed under his grasp, as his predatory gaze lingered on her.
“You’re done for,” he growled, and Eniola’s chest heaved. Suddenly an explosion, loud and deafening around her, blew her backwards and she rolled before hitting the dirt ground. A cascade of purple smoke filled the air in front of her. A figure emerged from the smoke— Jay.
“Thanks,” she quickly mumbled. before they both jumped onto their bikes again, going at rapid speed for the disk. Quickly, Lumians filled their path, clamouring toward them. Eniola revved her engine, further shooting and blasting through the crowd.
Eniola looked back and to see where ULTRA and the Black Infinity were. They were all spread out in the action.
“I have an idea,” Jay said. He quickly began dropping mini-detonators on the path. “This should do it for them.”
Eniola sped further up the track, where a ridge separated them from the other side. Lava dripped down from its edges. Eniola revved up and jumped towards the other edges still intact, as the path exploded behind them.
“What’s happening with you guys on the floor?” she asked into her mic.
“We’re fighting the aliens!” Iris explained.
“Jay, Eniola, what’s happening up there?” Theo asked.
“We’re in the lead,” Jay exclaimed, then looking back to see other teams were on their tail. One of the Mamba teammates threw a huge detonator at them, and suddenly they were blown off the mountainside.
“Ah!” Jay yelled as they plummeted toward the ground. A second later, they were back from where they started. They’d respawned.
“When’s the blind second?” Lucia frantically asked.
“Few minutes. We have to be right on time,” Eniola recalled, fear coursing through her. She saw Lucia shooting and speeding up the track like it was no one’s business. Eniola quickly weaved through the crowds with her bike, like deadly crowd surfing. She dodged the other teams that stayed on the floor, battling.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Eniola looked at her timer. She only had three minutes before she needed to activate the power-up. She sprinted through the course, shooting at the Lumians when lava started pooling on the ground. Eniola quickly shot at it and turned it to rock. Lucia was getting closer, which meant more danger for Rogue.
Eniola revved her bike up again and drove over the crowd of Lumians, shooting them all before she hit the ground again. Two minutes.
“Nice play!” Jay said to her, and all she could let out was a smile. Jay and Iris took the drive behind her, as they all worked on the floor while Theo was speeding up on the hill.
“Should we try the mountain?” Jay asked, observing.“We should! Leave the ground!” he said, shooting at another Lumian, and Rogue came with her.
“Maybe there’s something behind it?” Eniola said, but before consulting, quickly sped to the other side of the mountain which was a long way away. One minute left for her to find a way.
Eniola spotted a back opening dripping with lava and not fire. Eniola raised an eyebrow before fully entering. She was quite impulsive these days.
“Invincibility,” she called and sped through the searing liquid. It was like someone had just turned the lights off. This place was stark black, and she could barely see herself or the lights of her bike.
“Eniola,” Theo called in the stillness. “Are you still there?”
“Yes,” she said, as she felt the timer ticking away at her SCOPElenses. “30 seconds until the blind second. There’s an opening in the back.”
“30 seconds,” Jay said. “It’s do or die.”
Eniola stopped in the stillness and allowed the time to tick away until she felt other people.
“Ready to save the world?” Lucia asked them, sounding fearless.
“Not quite,” Jay said. She felt a surge of adrenaline, but fear came in there and thundered through her.
Three.
Two.
“Play God,” Iris said in a commanding voice, and suddenly they were blown back by an invisible gust of air. The dark had disappeared, and a blinding white light had replaced it. Eniola felt like someone had sucked all the energy out of her. Something replaced her vision with all lines of code, and a white noise buzzed in her ears.
Then it stopped.
She was in that same white landscape that Keone had once trapped them in, a place so quiet that she could feel her heart pounding. She was the only person there. Where did everyone go?
Then she realized she had control of the game.
Another force then blew her back, as the patch of white landscapes now ripped and glitched until they began exploding one by one. She covered her ears. The mysterious force blew her backwards again, as she tried to resist it and squirming away until it took her back again. She flipped over to her backside to see the white landscape had been destroyed, and a black-hole-like shape took its place. And was sucking her in.
But something started building up in front of it and began pixelating and coming together like someone was reversing something being destroyed. The figure rose, and Eniola gasped with fear.
Paradox.
“Give up!” he commanded. It sounded like Keone and the distorted voice was joining into one.
“Stop,” Eniola said.
“You cannot stop me,” Keone said. “I have already started it!”
“Multiplier!” she said. Doing that to a power-up as powerful as this was risky. But Eniola was a risk-taker like she had always been. Right?
She physically felt her entire body coursing with an electric-like feeling, and suddenly it was like she was glowing with a sapphire fire. She began vibrating and shaking, and before she knew it, she was running into the rift Keone had created. She dove in.
Immediately, it was like someone had given her powers that had not been yet activated until now. A shock of electricity sparked her, but it didn’t shock her, rather it tingled. Her eyes blinked a cube in front of her. As Eniola looked closer, it was a microscopic image of Planet Lumia, and it was moving. Lines of code surrounded it.
This was the SCOPEverse. And Eniola had made it into the mainframe.
Something latched onto her ankles, then swung her out and she fell onto a surface. Paradox was standing over her.
He flicked his hand out, and it was crackling with electricity. He then pressed his hand over her, which shot at her. She screamed and thrashed. It was like no pain she had ever felt before. Like she was burning up.
He took his other hand and stepped back before hurling a ball of electricity right at the cube. Eniola tried to say something, but silence filled the place of her screams. The entire thing exploded in a bomb of silence, before lighting up with an explosion that blasted them backwards.
Paradox—Keone—had just destroyed the SCOPEverse.
It seemed like the explosion was rushing straight towards them until it stopped like it was sentient before dissolving slowly.
“No!” she shrieked, but it was too late. It was gone. He then took out something from his pocket and Eniola saw the same device he had at the games.
She then hit some invisible matter before being flung back again. She hit the ground and it was like a giant supernova had occurred when a ring of purple haloed the fiery ball of energy. A tornado-like spiral came down in its place. It grew so great and fiery in her eyes.
Suddenly, the image of the tornado shattered like glass, and she fell into a world of black.
Nothing happened for a while, as the black landscape came to a standstill.
Then it felt like the ground had collapsed under her and dropped her into a vast space. She was falling until she landed on something. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in the familiar landscape.
She was back in her house.