A few more targets from what Sui was now dubbing. ‘the warmup rounds’ were shot out around them. They were all very clearly for a specific person, and each member of the group managed to increase their total by two targets without any troubles. Aife and Trina did share a quick glance, as if to ask if Trina should grab one of Aife’s, but so far they hadn’t made up their minds.

Another target was let loose, this time coming rushing in from the left side. Sui could also see, what was likely going to be Aife’s target coming in from a ninety degree angle to hers. Hmm, interesting. I wonder if it is a coincidence that Aife and I share this pathway for targets? Is it because we both have the highest? Or is it mere coincidence.

Sui dearly wanted to check to see what Trina’s side was like, but knew that she didn’t have the time. Lining up a shot for the target that was making it’s way towards her, Sui was just about to pull the trigger when the target stopped. It was completely still, as if momentum had no affect on it. It had gone from rushing in at around 50km/hr to a complete standstill in a mere moment.

The change in motion alone was almost enough to cause Sui to flinch and fire her paintball gun let alone the fact that it was also only a second away from passing the barrel. Sui waited, for it to move for a few seconds. She was willing to wait more, but heard Aife’s gun go off beside her and knew she should move.

Letting her wrist move the gun slightly to the side, Sui shot the target on the side, clipping the edge and causing it to disappear and register another point for her. Nice to confirm it really doesn’t matter where we hit these things. All locations are valid even the sides. Trina’s gun went off shortly afterwards, but before Sui could properly acknowledge that fact. The ground started to shake.

Sui instantly dropped to her knees to prevent herself from needing to struggle to stay in place. Aife and Trina however… well they had different responses. Aife seemed to just set her stance slightly better and glare at the ground, as if it was somehow personally at fault for interrupting her enjoyment or something.

Trina struggled to stay upright for a few moments as the shaking got progressively worse, before… sort of half deciding it wasn’t worth it right as she was failing to remain stable, and fell backwards onto her ass. The instant she hit the floor though, the shaking stopped and the world seemed to shudder.

Sui’s eyes started to water and something forced her to blink, in that second, she felt like she’d been squished between two iron plates like some bad tomb raiding movie. Sui wanted to open her eyes but it was a strain. They felt heavy, like when she didn’t want to wake up for school after sewing most of the night… but this was difference, no sense of comfort or tiredness was present.

Ito tapped Sui on the shoulder to show she was still there, but it was a soft, calm tapping, leading Sui to believe that there was no need to rush. It was simply a reassurance that all was ok. Sui did still try to open her eyes but that clearly wasn’t going anywhere. Stretching her awareness out into her threads, Sui got them to unwind and tried to use those to scout the area but found very quickly… she was in a box.

Well… that does raise a few questions. Namely… why the hell am I stuck in a box while I’m in the middle of a contest? Did this happen to the others? Should I try and push against it? Sui tried to lift her arms and feel the box, but found them bound to her sides just like her eyes were forced shut.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Well, that does make me wonder what’s different about my thread manipulation… is it not physical? No that can’t be right, Ito can still move as well… maybe it only effects my body? That makes the most sense I suppose.

Sui forced her thread to explore further, climbing the walls and putting stress on her mind as she felt it rebel against lifting so much string off the ground. Luckily, it didn’t take to much extra effort to find the roof. Once it was confirmed that the box was completed enclosed Sui pulled all the energy back to herself and felt her mind relax.

About five seconds after that, Sui started to hear movement. It wasn’t like somebody was walking but… it was clearly something. She struggled to identify, and the best comparison she could come up with was that it sounded like a hundred people all scuffing their feet against the pavement at the same time. Except, the sound was a bit too uniform for that, spreading out somewhat evenly, though not completely, and it was all so in time. Perhaps rather then a hundred people scuffing their feet on the sidewalk, fifty rotating machines designed to scuff pavement was a better analogy.

Though who would ever design such a strange thing? It surely cannot be that, so I must think of something else. Before Sui could come up said something else, though all sound stopped for a split second, before she heard what must have been the walls of her box fall over and the was allowed through to shine onto her face.

Whatever was holding Sui down vanished as well, and she pushed herself to her feet, using both hands, or rather one hand mostly and using the other as best she could with the gun attached, to get to her feet. Once there, Sui threw her eyes open, and found herself surrounded on all sides by targets.

Swiftly bringing up her paintball gun Sui fired rapidly, aiming half-heartedly at best and focusing on speed. Each click of the trigger, another target went down as Sui quickly spun her body around to hit as many as possible. At around the halfway point though, the targets started speeding up and away.

Sui followed them the best she could grabbing another five after her initial run of fifteen. Seeing the rest well out of range, Sui clicked her tongue and checked the scores. Looks like Trina’s caught up. Twenty Seven for both of us… but Aife is already up to thirty two so really, whose actually doing well. I’m a little surprised that Trina managed to catch up with me… how did she do it I wonder?

Sui then slapped her face as she realised the obvious. She shot from the ground and moved her arms around rather then standing up first. Aife managed to stay standing. Of course that’s how she got so far ahead… wait though… applying that logic I’m surprised Aife didn’t get even more.

I wonder why she didn’t get that many? Could she be holding off from trying to get too far ahead? Sui shook her head to clear the thoughts that had been gathering. She didn’t have time for this now that the game was afoot once again. Looking around, Sui saw that the arena had been completely transformed.

The first thing she noticed, is that she was looking back where the house should have been. Instead it was white as far as she could see. Of course, that wasn’t actually that far anymore now that certain elements of the terrain had popped up and blocked her view, but it did mean that she had actually been moved and not just had a few walls pop up.

Trina and Aife have probably been sent off as well. Looking around, Sui found there really wasn’t much to see. There were randomly placed walls of varying height yes, but the fact they were all the same damned shade of white made it really difficult to tell where one thing ended and another began.

The most she could really tell is when the spaces between two rather tall obstacles was exceptionally large or when the height difference was extreme. From what she could see though, most were, at their highest, around four metres tall and they were EVERYWHERE.

Navigating this all is going to be such a massive pain…