10 Ready or Not Here We Come

I wake up to a loud pounding sound at my door. I can tell that it's Sky. I don't even bother to freshen up this time. My hair is pulled into a low ponytail, I'm wearing sweats, and my eyes are barely open. I'm half awake so I stumble on the way to the door. When I open it Sky's just standing there smiling.

"What?" I ask slightly annoyed.

"Are you okay?" He asks making the face where he smiles and raises an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" I say trying to play it off.

"I heard you fall."

I exhale deeply. "Shut up." I say and then step back so that he can come in, but he just stands there.

"Are you coming in or not?" I ask.

"Oh, that's what you were doing." He says walking in and flopping onto my couch.

"Cook me something to eat." I say.

"What?" He says surprised. "Why?"

"Because I need to get ready to leave." I say. "And since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful."

"So that's why you invited me in." He says moving to the kitchen.

I go to shower and all that other good stuff. When I get out I put on my gear and grab my weapons. I put on that gauntlet thing which adds like, 5 pounds to my arm. I tie my hair into a high ponytail with the ribbon my mother gave me and when I leave my room I can smell the food. Sky can cook. Good to know. When I get to the kitchen the plates are made and he's leaning over the counter.

"You actually cooked." I say. "Thanks."

"Like you said, I should make myself useful." He says smiling.

"Right." I say looking at the plates. Eggs and bacon. I begin to eat it and it's so good.

"You sure can eat."

"I wouldn't say that, I'm just very hungry."

"You ate for six plus last night." He says flatly.

"In my defense, for the past couple years I've been eating for one." I say. "One very small infant."

"Really? You don't look starving." He says.

"Ha ha." I say finishing the last of the food." "I'm ready when you are."

"Great to the briefing room."

We leave and head to the briefing room. I assume that's the place where I talked to The Light and of course, I was right. It's pretty basic. Everyone has the coordinates to Chaos' location, but I'm the only one who can actually get there. So Sky and I are going into pursuit and when we find him we're allowed to call back up and eliminate Chaos. The reason why only Sky and I are going is that too many of us could hint to Chaos that we're making a move.

"So I'm playing a game of follow the leader." Sky says bored.

"No. You are to be Kayano's protector." The Light says. "You're to aid her in battles and protect her at all times. Never let her out of your sight."

"Understood." Sky says nodding his head once.

"I'm not stupid." I say. "I'm not going to jump into battle without a plan. Or common sense."

"Sky has been trained for a long time to do this." The Light says. "He's so dedicated that he actually went out to look for you."

I look at Sky and I think he's blushing. "Of course."

"Kayano, I swear that I will protect you until my very last breath." Sky says.

"I'm ready." I say.

"Alright then." The Light says. "It's up to you now."

Sky and I head out of HQ and exit the city gates. The walk seems longer than it did the first time, but oh well.

"Lead the way." Sky says.

"Right." I say.

We walk for almost six hours, into what I would describe as the never ending wilds. After about four of those long hours, we hunted game and ate. Roasted chicken is good, but I miss the taste of all that fancy food. Along the way we talk about ourselves, things we hate, things we like, what we want for ourselves in the future.

"I hate when I lose." I said. "It's embarrassing and pathetic."

"That's a little harsh, but I see your point." He responded laughing. "I hate not knowing."

"I've gone my whole life not knowing," I tell him. "It's not bad."

"Yeah, but you don't want to know." He explains. "You don't care whether you know or not."

"That's only partially true, but on another note I like talking. Even though I've never done much of it."

"I like talking too! But I'm quite sure you're aware that I talk an exceptional amount." When he said that he got so happy for some reason.

"So we know about the present, but how about the future?" I asked energetically.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I know I just want to see my mother again. You know, in the flesh."

"I guess I just want to settle down. My mother always wanted that for me. She wanted me to get married and have kids."

"You're only eighteen." I said judgmentally.

"Agents like me die young."

"Oh right, sacrifices."

We went on like that, Sky telling me stories about him and his parents. Then me comparing them to things I did with my mother. We started talking about the things we did after our parents left. We made jokes and talked about how life would be different if our parents were still with us.

"I'd be an even better agent than I am now." Sky said.

"I wouldn't even be an agent if my mother was still here."

We both laugh at that and smile like idiots for another thirty seconds. Another three hours go by and the sun begins to set.

"Ready to set up camp?" he asks.

"Why?"

"We haven't came across anything yet, but they like to come out at night." I say. "And they don't like it when people stumble into their territory, but it's up to you."

I think about this for a minute. "Let's go." I say finally.

We travel for two more hours and it's really hard because the "things" Sky was talking about are pretty much everywhere. They're the same things that tried to attack me when I first arrived on Mira. Sky almost bumped into one that was sleeping and he tried to play it off, but I told him not to think for a second that he was slick. He started laughing and I told him to be more careful because if next time you wake it up it won't be funny. Far from funny. Everything's good and well until there's this giant monster thing trying to kill you. We continue the journey and we come across a mutation blocking the bridge that we need to cross.

"Are you serious!" I say.

"No biggie, I'll just deal with it." Sky says unsheathing his blade.

"Yeah right. I'm not about to let you have all the fun." I say pulling out my dagger.

"Oh no." He says shaking his head laughing. "You don't get to put yourself into danger until we reach Chaos."

"Really?" I say bored. "I've been in danger many times before and as you can see I'm quite alive."

"This isn't like other times." He says flatly.

"You're right!" I yell. "At other times the danger was much more dangerous than this! I can handle myself."

"Kayano. My number one priority is you." He says. "Just take a break and let me handle this."

"No." I say with a smile and advance toward the monster.

I hear Sky exhale very loud and exhausted, but his footsteps shortly follow. I'm not surprised. I don't bother wasting time with the thing, because we don't have much of it and we need to get moving.. It notices my presence and turns, so I slice at his arm. The whole thing comes off and it really doesn't like that. It charges towards me and I step out of the way as lightly as a feather and Sky comes over and stabs it in the chest. He uses the monster's chest as a rebound surface and he's as graceful as ever. The thing starts to scream and it's breath is terrible. I think it wants to charge again, but is aware of the slit in his chest.

"Kayano! Get back!" Sky yells and I'm unsure why, but I move out the way.

The monster starts banging his chest and screaming. He looks like a madman-no-a mad monster. Next, the monster get on his knees and starts banging on the ground. Then, I hear it. At first I assumed it was just his heart, but then I thought no way. It's sounds like a beeper or a ticking sound. The sound something makes before it goes off. I start to panic. I need to get away from here...