100 shadows (jay)

For a moment everyone stood still. The Commander had left, and there was nothing much more we could do but stand and stare after him. After a while though everyone went back to what they were doing. Thia stayed for a little while longer, and I waited for her.

"Thia," I said to her. "There's really not a lot we can do now."

She nodded. "I know." Then followed me back to the apartment.

That night, as much as I could hear, Thia stayed up late again. I thought about going into her room to talk

but thought it was best to let her get through this herself.

The next day, we got up early. We had school that day, and neither Cat nor the Commander were back yet, and the others were out on another defence mission, so we had to walk (or run.)

My pack thought this a good idea, but were a bit worried about knowing the way. For me, this was quite easy. I remember everywhere I go, even if I go there at a hundred miles an hour. It wasn't hard for me to find my way, and a good run was also good for the adrenalin.

My class had sports that day, and they took us out to play tennis. On the coach, my thoughts strayed back to the Commander

and when they were sometimes pulled into the school day, the only thing I'd think about was who's team I'd be in. I have to admit, I thought that would be a problem—I'd spoken to hardly anyone in my group, and the ones I had spoken to didn't exactly seem the team working kind—until I found out it was the whole grade going on this tennis trip, not just my class.

When we got off the coaches, my pack and me grouped together and looked round. It was a rather large group of courts, at least five of them, with a high cliff face on one side. Not all of the space around the cliff was the courts. There was a wide gap between the courts and the cliff,

which I thought must've been put there for safety, in case the cliff suddenly collapsed.

The game started, and the four of us had a court to ourselves. Thia still seemed a little pre-occupied, but the game seemed to cheer her up a bit. After a while though she started to get distracted. She kept looking up at the cliff, as if something was there that confused her. When I asked her if something was wrong, she pointed towards the cliff.

"Look!" she said "there's a truck, on the cliff."

I looked at where she was pointing. The other two looked that way too.

There was indeed a large truck on the cliff, which seemed to have stopped on some old road, just below the cliff top.

"And look there too." She said, pointing now to where a figure was standing not far from the bottom of the cliff.

"Wait...Is that...no."

"It can't...but it is."

There was absolutely no question about it. The figure beside the cliff, was the Commander.

"What's he doing there?"

"Maybe it's Cat. Maybe they're keeping her inside that truck."

It was only then that we saw another figure at the other end of the cliff face. He was sort of green, and definitely not human. He looked a bit like a Borg form that Star Trek Thia so enjoyed, with wires coming out of his head, and a claw for one hand. The only thing that showed he wasn't Borg was the greenish skin. When he spoke, he even sounded Borg, only higher.

"Bunog." Whispered Thia.

"Who?" I whispered back.

"He was the one who lead the attack on Serious."

"I thought it was Troom who lead that attack."

"It was. Bunog was second in command. In short, he did all the dirty work."

"How can you tell?"

"Dad told me."

"I know, I mean, how can you tell that's him?" I said pointing at the figure.

"I recognise the voice...how can I recognise the voice? I was barely a year old!.."

"Never mind it then. Do you think they'll fight?"

We stared at them for a while. They didn't seem to be moving, only standing looking at each other a good distance apart. They were definitely speaking though, but I couldn't tell what they were saying. I could tell who it was that was speaking at one time, as their voices were very different, but not what they were saying.

Then, after a minute or two, Bunog got out another Pokémon-like ball and tossed it into the air. What happened next, none of us believed. Out of the air where the ball had been thrown, loads of Try-bots had appeared, at least a hundred of them.

We didn't notice, but at that time, all the other children in the grade were scattering, some screaming, heading back to the coaches. One of the teachers tried to make us go too.

"Come on now. Let's not get..."

"But my father!" Thia exclaimed, once more pointing at the Commander.

"This isn't something we can deal with." Said the teacher. "you can stand by the coach and watch."

Noaba and Sam started making their way back to the coach, but Thia stayed where she was, looking at her dad. He seemed to have spotted us when the other children had scattered, and was now looking at Thia. Even at a distance, I could see the concern in his eyes. He didn't have long to look though, as the Try-bots were advancing and he was forced to fight them off.

I held Thia by the hand, and half pulled her back to the coach.

Most of the children had gone inside the coaches, but some had decided to stay outside and watch. One of them was Mora.

We stayed and watched the fight as well. The Commander seemed to be doing all right. Even with a hundred of those robot-thing's, he seemed to have the best chances. He was also using a weapon I hadn't seen before; a sort of sword but it seemed more powerful. Thia huddled close to Mora and me.

"I know that sword." She said. "He had it on display, in a case, in the Command Room."

"Is that your dad?" Mora asked.

Thia nodded.

I don't know whether it was because of that sword, or just cause the Commander was a great fighter

but it didn't seem hard for him to get rid of those bots—then it was just him and Bunog, and they were much closer now...

I thought it would be definite that they would fight now, but instead, Bunog got out this phaser type weapon and shot the truck with it. There seemed to be a woman inside. It was hard to tell at such a long distance, but it definitely looked like a woman figure—and she seemed to be trapped.

"Cat." Whispered Sam.

"She was in there the whole time."

"I did say." Said Thia.

The Commander had spotted her too

and for a moment seemed distracted form Bunog. That was probably what Bunog had wanted, as he came charging up to him. Fortunately, the Commander had turned in time, before he came crushing down on him, and at last they started to fight. At first, they seemed pretty evenly matched. (Which, in this case, wasn't a very good thing.) It could have gone on all day, if Bunog hadn't pulled out that phaser thing again, and this time shot it at the Commander. It was all a bit of a blur what happened next. I could've sworn I saw him blasted into the air and land at least five feet away from Bunog. I could also have sworn I heard a voice above me say 'Cruger has fallen' and it didn't sound very friendly.

He was still alive, because he was still moving, but I didn't know for how much longer. Bunog was getting closer, with the blaster still raised in the Commander's direction. One more shot would surely have killed him...

"No!" Thia cried.

Before I'd even realised what was happening, she was running towards her father.

I ran after her. "Thia, don't!" I called, trying to catch her up, but she was faster than me.

Bunog had seen her too. Almost at once, he directed the phaser at her. She stopped dead. I thought I heard the Commander's faint voice call out "no, Thia!" but I kept running.

Just before Bunog shot the blaster, I ran in front of Thia, cried out "NO!" and felt the blast hit me.

After that, everything went fuzzy and blurry. I couldn't tell where I was, only that I was in agony. From somewhere far off, I heard Thia scream a terrible scream. Other children were screaming too. The rest of the grade must've all been taking shelter in the bus with the others.

I opened my eyes just a little bit, and could see Thia not far off, her hand over her mouth, her eyes terrified.

Despite my pain, we seemed to have given the Commander enough time to get back up and continue fighting. I couldn't see them

but they were talking again; and this time I could hear what they were saying, though it was very faint and getting fainter.

"You're a cold-hearted devil." The Commander was saying. "Those were just children!"

"And you're a sentimental fool." Said Bunog. (He sounded even Borg-like up close.) "I could beat down shadows like you in an instant, without a second thought."

"Perhaps, but you're not going to get that kind of fight from this old Shadow."

After that I heard no more but the resume of the fight, not until the battle was won.

"Jay." Said a voice in my ear like a whisper. "Jay, are you alright?"

"Yep," I said slowly coming to and sitting up. "I think so."

I looked up at Thia. There was still that same terror in her eyes, but it seemed to have lessened a little, and lessened even more when she saw me looking at her.

"How did we do?" I asked her.

She looked to her side. "See for yourself."

I followed her gaze and saw both the Commander and Cat stood there, alive and well. Full of relief and joy, I let myself fall back on the ground and lay there.

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"On the ground, only a few minutes." Said a voice I recognised as Cat's.

"We should get you back."

I felt strong hands lift me up to a standing position and hold me there.

"I'm fine, I can walk." I said, pulling away from the grip but even then, I found it hard just to stay upright.

From behind me I could hear the Commander say "It's a miracle he's still alive. I feel there's something very special about that boy.

They took me back to the base in the Jeep, but Thia and the others were taken back to school to finish the school day.

When they got back, I was already back in the lounge playing on my Ipad mini. The others were talking about the recent fight. I'd just received a message from my oldest sister.

"I suppose it really is a war now." Said Brain, as the others walked in.

"Well, at least there's some good news." I said, my eyes wide.

"What do mean by that." Said Thia, coming and sitting next to me.

I looked at her. "I've just got word. Helinda's having another baby. If it's a girl, they say they'll name it after you," I said to Zee. "Elizabeth."

"Me!" said Zee "Why? What did I do to deserve such honour?"

I shrugged. "Don't ask me. Just because she's my sister doesn't mean I have her mind. It's probably to say thank you, though. It could also probably be for luck. It sounds as though we're ganna need it in the days ahead."

"Or maybe we won't need so much." Said Thia.

I looked at her and we both smiled. We were thinking exactly the same thing.