Rain was regaining consciousness bit by bit.
She was not fully aware of what was going on around her at the moment but she could tell she was in someone's arms. Florate? No, his scent was different and so were his clothes.
Florate's gi was green but the one who was carrying her now was in a black gi. She tried to look up at his face but the sun blinded her eyes; however, she managed to catch a glimpse of his hair. White!
This was definitely not Florate. Where was he? Did he leave her? she asked herself with worry. She was still down with the thoughts before what should have been her priority at the moment clicked in her head. 'Who was carrying her? White hair? Black gi? Now who wears a black gi and has white hair?' she thought quickly within her before finding her answer: Nex! What on Omania would he want from her? Or was he planning on killing her instead of maiming her? Whichever it was, she had to find out first before acting because jumping out of his hands would only make things worse for her as she was too weak to lift herself. She must wait till he was vulnerable, then she would attack. But for now, she would just enjoy the free ride, she said to herself with a slight proud smile on her face before closing her eyes tight and burying her face more into his chest.
She stayed that way till she felt him come to a halt. She peeped with her eyes half closed and saw that he was not alone; another boy was with him. Now she had double problems. He was putting her down at the foot of a tree while she stayed calm till she was put down and laid lifelessly like she was really unconscious, but her senses were very sharp to counter any attack he might strike her way. She stayed that way for a few seconds; there was nothing going on or seeming like an attack.
For those few seconds, she was imagining in her mind how she would be able to take the two of them in case something happened because she wasn't sure any of her teammates knew where she was now, including Lilith and Florate, let alone rescuing her. She was on her own now and must build up her courage.
She was jolted from her thoughts when she heard them speak. It was the boy with Nex who spoke first.
"You have the girl now, Nex. What are you going to do with her?"
Rain was sure he was a member of Nex's team and that he must have helped him abduct her. She believed he was not too comfortable with his idea of them kidnapping her instead of heading to the bridge and accomplishing the mission of the test. Good for him to think so; at least that shows he was not as senseless as Nex. What good would she do him?
"It is an understatement to say that I have a lot to do with her and gain from her; she is my prize in this test and I have gotten it," he replied with a dirty smirk on his face which she was able to see because she was peeking on them and they were too distracted to notice her.
'Prize? Now this was getting serious.'
"I understand, Nex," the boy was now calm. "Let's leave her here, where no one will ever find her, and let's head towards the bridge immediately because I don't trust the others to follow the path you instructed to the bridge. The final team might beat them to it," he said sensibly, hoping to talk some sense into Nex which she prayed he would heed to.
"Never, Shevan!" 'So his name was Shevan.' She saw Nex send him a death stare, and it was very obvious it made shivers go down Shevan's spine because of the way he drew back instantly.
"I will stay here with her. I trust that the rest of the team must be following the light now and very soon the test will end. It doesn't matter who accomplishes the test's mission; what matters is which team accomplished the test's mission, and I can boldly say to you that only our team has found the bridge. The other teams are out of the way long ago, well except for the stubborn ones but that does not count because I bet they have no clue where the bridge is. So relax, Shevan. We are already the team to be rewarded and leveled up at the same time, so stop bothering yourself and help me wake her up. I need to speak to her; we do not have much time for the test will be over soon."
'Oh no,' she gasped. If just Nex's team found the bridge, then that means they would get the reward which they utterly did not deserve. No, she must do something and fast but what exactly? She was still speaking within her when she heard Shevan's voice again.
"Fine then," Shevan breathed. "I trust you. Now let's try to wake her." 'What?! Wake her? Oh no! Now was the time to act and she knew it. She stayed calm till the both of them came close to her. She couldn't peek now because they were so close to her and she had no way to outsmart them on that, so she only had her instincts to depend on and hope it leads her well.
She first felt a pair of hands cup her face and from the sound of the voice and the scent that followed, she knew it was immediately Nex.
"Rain? Rain?" he called softly as he shook her face softly. "Rain, wake up." But she didn't budge at his call; she stayed lifeless with her eyes shut tight waiting for the right time to attack.
"Take your filthy hands off her!" a familiar voice she knew yelled with evident anger.
'Florate?!'
Florate? He is here! She squealed within her in joy but didn't let her guard down. Nex was distracted, she could feel it, and now was the right time to attack!
She fluttered her eyes open and as fast as she could act, pulled Nex's head down to hers and gave him a hard head bump. She didn't wait for him to yelp in pain before she gave him a hard kick which brought him down on his back and she did not hesitate to get on top of him and began raining on him very hard punches upon punches.
He was still receiving the blows before Shevan came to his aid, though a bit too late, but he really needed the save.
"Rain, watch out!" Lilith yelled from where she stood before she made to help her out but Rain didn't seem like someone who needed help in handling the situation. She was pulled off Nex by Shevan but she gave him a hard elbow blow on the stomach and as he cowered in pain, she hit his head hard against a tree beside him which made him drop on the floor.
"Rain, are you alright?" Lilith hugged her tightly.
"I am fine, Lilith, as you can see," she hugged her back.
"You really beat the shit out of those two," Florate came for his own hug and he received it. "I am sorry I could not protect you," he said sadly to her ear, still hugging her.
"I am fine, Florate, do not put the blame on yourself," she cupped his face. "It is Nex who should take the blame and I believe he is paying dearly for his mistakes now," she said as she looked his way with disgust written all over her face.
He was still on the floor grunting in pain and Lilith went to where he lay. She crouched to him and looked at him, irritated with his whole being. "If you dare touch Rain again, consider yourself a handicap that day because I swear to you, I will make sure you no longer use any part of your body that made contact with hers," she threatened.
"It's... useless," Nex said, followed by a weird laughter showing his blood-stained teeth. They were all frustrated with his laughter because they couldn't figure out why he was laughing. "Your team lost, Lilith," he finally said.
"The test would be over in thirty seconds supposedly and I am certain my team got to the bridge first because I found it first and I showed them the way. Hahaha. You lose, Lilith, and my dear Rain, we shall meet later, maybe during lunch," he blew Rain a kiss which she was utterly irritated at.
"I won. Hahaha, my team won!" he was shouting out in joy, still lying on the floor.
"He could be right. His team might be the ones to get the reward they utterly did not deserve," Rain clenched her fists in anger.
"I don't think so, let's go and find out for ourselves. I know where the bridge is; we could still..." Florate was reviving her lost hope but lost his immediately when they heard the loud buzz, signifying that the test was over.
"It's over already," Rain said more to herself than to them all.
"Well, that was earlier than I thought," Nex was getting up and grunted in pain as he spoke. "I guess they beat the time. Hahaha," he gave his most annoying laughter again, which made the three of them want to take turns in punching his face but their attention was distracted when the simulation effects began fading away. In no time, the whole place returned to the normal room they had walked into before the test began and the only thing visible were the maimed bodies of their fellow aspirants, littered here and there…