Beginning of the Chase

Conrad gave a large smile and said, "That's my boy. Come on now. Get ready. We move out in ten minutes."

Ray nodded. He went back to the car and took out his bag. He opened it and brought out all the knives he had and started counting them. As he was counting, he put them in his belt one after the other. After he was done, he said, looking towards Yuki, "19 knives. Will it be enough?"

Yuki replied, "I don't know, but we gotta work with what we got."

Ray got up and put on the backpack. He then met up with Conrad, Sakura and Yuri. All of them noticed the knives tucked with Ray's belt and got curious.

Yuri asked, "What are you going to do with all those knives?"

Ray said, "It's an idea of my ex-captain. We can use normal weapons to fight against Entomorphs if we channel Spirit Energy in them."

Yuri again asked, "But isn't that inefficient? Like a lot of Spirit Energy gets spilt over, also the weapon breaks after a few times use."

Ray said, "Well, it does break after a few times of use. That's why I keep carrying this many blades with me. As for Spilling Spirit Energy..."

Katarina blocked out Ray and said, "He won't be having any problems with that. I can feel it."

All of them get a little curious as to what she was saying. Katarina came close to Ray and extended her arm. Ray was a little sceptical but grabbed her extended arm, and as he did, he felt something. Like the spirit energy inside him was getting turbulent.

Katarina let go of Ray's arm and went back to her place. She said, "I was right. Even if I add all of the spirit energy inside Conrad, Sakura and Yuri, it wouldn't be able to hold the candle against Ray's spirit energy reserves."

Yuri exclaimed, "WHAT!!"

Katarina replied, "Yeah. If I had to do a comparison, if Ray's spirit energy reserves were an ocean, the spirit energy reserves of you three combined would be like a backyard pond."

Sky said, "I had a little idea that he would have a big spirit energy reserve that he was able to forge a contract with Silverfang, but I had no idea he had this much."

Conrad went and stood next to Ray. He slapped Ray's back with a big smile and said, "My boy here keeps making me surprised. That's good. That's good."

Yuri laughed and said, "Captain, you met the boy like an hour ago, and he's already your boy now?"

Conrad said, "I mean..."

Ray wasn't paying attention to anything that was being said around him. He was just thinking two things. One was, How were these guys able to keep laughing and smiling when they just lost their teammates less than 72 hours ago? The other thing was what made him more curious. He had noticed that, even though they were talking for a long time, Sakura hadn't said much. She kept sitting on that car bonnet for like forever. It was almost like she didn't like staying around people.

Ray said, "Uhm... Hello."

He moved away from Conrad and went to Sakura. Sakura didn't notice him come, so when Ray suddenly talked, it startled her.

She jumped and looked at Ray. When she saw it was just Ray, she calmed down a little and said, "Hello."

Ray said, "Uhm... I noticed that you were distant from your teammates. So, if you don't mind, I wanted to ask that if you were..."

Ray couldn't finish his sentence, and Sakura got startled. She stuttered as she said, "NO!!.... No. I have nothing against them. I…..I… I'm just not good around people."

Ray didn't know how to help, so he just said, "Oh. I...I don't know what to do. We will be travelling together for a while now, so please let me know if you need any help."

Sakura nodded. 

Conrad said in a loud voice, "Everybody. We'll be leaving now. You are ready, right?"

Everyone but Sakura yells at once, "Yes, sir."

Sakura just stood up.

Conrad asked Ray, "How fast can you run, boy?"

Ray answered, "I..."

This time Yuki blocked out Ray and said, "With the help of my powers, he can run at a constant speed of 200 km/h for hours. Me too. That's how we were able to reach here from all the way to the south in just one month."

There was visible awe on Conrad's face, but he kept his calm and said, "Ok. Then can I ask you and Sakura to go ahead and scout the area? Major Sakura hears can ride on Yuki's spirit form."

Yuki retaliated, "No one is riding on my back. It's a matter of pride for me."

Conrad asked Ray, "Please, Ray. Can't you do something?"

Ray asked Yuki, "Yuki, please? It can make a huge difference if we have someone else with us."

Yuki said in a low and whining voice, "But, master..."

Ray said, "Please?"

Yuki stated silent for a moment and then said in a disappointing tone, "OK. I'll let the pinky ride me."

Everyone exclaimed, "Pinky?"

Yuki smiled in a mischievous way and said, "If she's going to ride on my back, she has to go along with my nickname."

Everyone looked at Sakura, but Sakura didn't seem to care.

Conrad then said, "Ok then. Ray and Pinky will go ahead and scout the area. They'll try to delay the puppeteer if it seems like he will enter the vicinity of the nest before we reach."

Ray and Sakura nodded.

Sakura came and stood next to Yuki.

Yuki seemed to remember something and said, "Oh. Let me tell you. This isn't my spirit form. This is my blood pact form."

Katarina and Sky exclaimed at once.

Katarina said, "You've made a blood pact with the boy? How?"

Yuki said in a smug tone, "It just happened. Heat of the moment."

Conrad stopped everyone and said, "Ok. That's enough idle talk. We should get a move on. Go go go."

Yuri, Conrad and Katarina got on the car Ray was using, while Sakura got on Yuki.

Both teams started moving towards the west.