Lara's Ambush

One of them activated a shield and raised it as his opponent descended from the air with a glowing blue blade.

Bang!

A loud crash resounded as the blade collided with the light shield, causing the Modified Combatant to descend to his knees.

"It is ours!" The one with the blade yelled.

"No, it's ours," From the side, his partner sent a punch hurling at his rib area.

Bang!

The combatant with the glowing blade was sent flying while the culprit behind was blasted with ballistic projectiles that littered the place with little explosions.

"That's one out of ten javelins..." Malik voiced with a tone of astonishment.

"There are already three groups fighting for it. We should search the area for others," Dennis suggested.

"Then we need to be quicker," Malik nodded in agreement as they turned to the side and went around the battling group.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More sounds of fighting could be heard in the vicinity as they sped forward.

Within a few minutes, they stumbled upon three more scenes like the one before. This meant that only around six more Javelins might be unclaimed. It was surprising to them because they happened to be amongst the first to reach that distance, yet getting a Javelin already seemed difficult.

With Malik's speed getting maxed out and Dennis following closely behind, they soon surpassed nearly everyone. Only around two to four more could be seen in the surroundings.

They scattered around to search more of the forest areas for Javelins while doing their best to evade traps. A few minutes later, Dennis and Malik had arrived at a part where they couldn't visibly spot any other modified combatants.

Except for the distant sound of battles, it almost looked like they had arrived in a completely different area. Vines and all sorts of extremely large trees could be spotted in the vicinity. The canopies of these massive trees blanketed the environment, making it even darker.

A normal person wouldn't want to venture that deep into the forest for sensible reasons. Fortunately, it was still within the walls of the shelter, so every animal within was domesticated and harmless.

The digitalized view within the UVS upgraded prototype continuously clocked in on several little hamsters in the distance and outlined grasses as well as items in the vicinity.

There was still no sign of a Javelin around.

"This is getting difficult," Malik frowned as they kept pushing forward.

[Does Operator Have A Specific Item Of Interest?]

Dennis suddenly heard his AI ask.

"Hmm, yes... I'm looking for a Javelin like the one we saw back then..." Dennis answered.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

At the left corner of Dennis's view, he could spot pictures of items he had seen just a couple of minutes back changing continuously.

In the next moment, a Javelin picture was highlighted and brought to the middle of his view.

[Is This The Subject Item Of Interest?]

"...Yes...?" Dennis answered with a skeptical tone, wondering what the AI was up to.

[Scanning 0.1 Mile Radius For Item Of Interest...]

A blueish glow was suddenly emitted from the lines strewn across his UVS suit.

Thiiigggiiii~

A small energy reading spread forth from his being, sweeping across the surroundings.

"What the fuck is going on?" Dennis voiced warily as he noticed his vision turn blue.

The digitalized imagery feedback helped them see better, and quicker and gave them a fast reaction speed but no one had that particular function where it could specifically search for an item of interest in the environment.

[Item Of Interest Not Found]

[Scanning 0.2 Mile Radius For Item Of Interest...]

[Item Of Interest Not Found]

[Scanning 0.3 Mile Radius For Item Of Interest...]

"What happened to your suit? Why did it go from purple and red to blue?" Malik questioned in dumbfoundmemt.

"Eh I don't know... maybe I activated something," Dennis responded with a disturbed tone.

He quickly decided that he was going to deactivate it right away as he realized that the feature did not exist with the upgraded prototype.

"Sto..." Just as he was about to speak, the AI gave him an update.

[Item Of Interest Located]

Ting! Ting! Ting!

Blueish circular outlines appeared on the left side of his field of vision. They seemed to have zoomed in on something that wasn't even in their visual peripheral.

[Item Of Interest Is Located Thirty degrees North East]

[Subject Is 1492 Feet From Item Of Interest]

'With our current speed, we can get there in less than a minute,' Dennis's eyes gleamed with opportunity as he stared at the data before him.

"There's one over there," Dennis said while pointing slightly toward the right and changing his running direction.

"What? I don't see anything," Malik said with a tone of confoundment as he squinted his eyes within the suit.

His UVS screen outlined multiple areas in the distance but he still couldn't see anything even after zooming his sight for more than sixty feet.

"I don't see nothing man," Malik stated once more.

"Trust me," Dennis voiced before increasing his speed.

Twwhwooosshhh~

Leaves on the forest ground got stirred up as they sped forward at a faster pace. Malik was struggling to keep up once more and in just a few seconds, Dennis's back was all he could see.

"Come on," Dennis yelled from ahead.

He wanted to make sure they got there in time before anyone else.

[Subject Is 1060 Feet Away From Item Of Interest...]

[Subject Is 1010 Feet Away From Item Of Interest...]

[Subject Is 976 Feet Away From Item Of Interest]

Dennis kept releasing the limit he placed on his speed bit by bit as they closed in on the area.

After thirty more seconds...

[Subject Is 17 Feet Away From Item Of Interest]

Dennis had arrived before a tree.

"Hmm?" He was a bit confused at first until he raised his head.

Ting! Ting!

The digitalized view zoomed in on a long blueish stick halfway pieced into the giant tree before Dennis.

The tree was almost thirty feet tall so the Javelin was stuck above its middle range.

Ssshhhhsshh~

Malik came sliding to a stop a few feet away from the tree while breathing in and out profusely.

"Damn man you're fas..." Before he could complete his statement Dennis leapt upwards.

Thooommmmm~

His menacing-looking giant figure, ascended across the air, ripping the branches in his path as he reached out to grab the Javelin.

The moment his right hand wrapped around the girth of the stick, four parts of a metallic entrapment streaked in from all directions.

It was extremely fast and Malik's eyes couldn't follow the speed. All he saw was a cage forming in mid-air almost instantly and Dennis getting trapped in it.

"Partner!" Malik yelled while raising his hand in a bid to reach out but it was too late.

Bam!

Metallic locking sounds rang out as the prison cage completely sealed shut and remained in mid-air due to the massive rows of chains connecting all four eyes.

"Shit!" Malik cursed with a look of frustration.

"Dennis!" He yelled once more.

"Hey, man. Relax," A familiar voice responded from above.

"Uh?" Malik muttered in confusion as he looked up.

His eyes widened as he noticed a UVS suit atop the cage. It was Dennis.

"I got it," Dennis smiled internally from the top of the cage while waving the Javelin stick in his grasp.

"How did you escape that? What the hell?" Malik couldn't help but exclaim in utter disbelief.

"Haha I saw it coming," Dennis tried to wave it off.

The truth was, he did see it coming. Due to how high his reaction speed was. Dennis's body instinctively stopped holding back at the last moment.

With the Javelin stick still embedded into the tree while his hand was wrapped around it, Dennis used it to sweep himself upwards and did a flip to escape the four different parts of the prison cage.

The moment the parts collided with one another and sealed shut, he landed atop it with the Javelin in his grasp.

"At least we got it," Dennis voiced while jumping forward.

Twwwhiii~

Before his body could descend completely, an extremely fast figure streaked past him in mid-air.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Malik and Dennis voiced at the same time with looks of disbelief as the Javelin was yanked from Dennis's hand in mid-air.

"Shit!" Dennis cursed the moment he landed.

Up ahead, a six-foot feminine-structured UVS upgraded prototype could be spotted, holding onto a tree with one hand and the Javelin in another hand.

"Kiki, you should learn how to hold on to things better noddle kneecaps," A familiar feminine voice resounded in their ears.

"That voice... Lara," Malik voiced his disappointment with a low grunt.

'She went back to calling me that name... why do I feel like she harbors some type of grudge?' Dennis wondered internally as he peered forward.

"I thought we were all friends now?" Dennis questioned.

"Hmph! This is a competition. I cannot be sentimental here," She responded while turning around to fling the Javelin forward.