***NEED WORK

Thya gazed at the monitor placidly, watching the readings and data come in from the sensors.
Mivian and Darvien were progressing through their given assignment at an almost-alarming rate. The target was just revealed and they were already initiated into the second phase of the mission. Her eyes browsed through the indicated time of each event.
Wow...30 minutes in submersion time and had already broken through level 1...impressive.

Thya nibbled on her thumbnail absentmindedly, her mind filled with thoughts. Their initial movement was instantaneous after submersion, and readings and recordings came filing in one after another. It was true that a second here in reality was roughly about 12 minutes in the virtual environment.
But their progression was fast---they have only been under for what was almost an hour for them.

Thya's eyes flickered to the monitor to her right, which tracked down the two Slayers' Energy activity. Mivian's was calm and relaxed, with the exception to the little spikes triggered by adrenaline. Darvien, on the other hand, was exerting Energy in a steady rate, showing up on the charts in evenly rounded waves.
Well it's obvious who's doing all the work for now.
This kid may be a genius after all...

A tap on the shoulder brought her back from her deep thoughts.

"Thya, the two subjects have initiated into combat mode. I will transfer their status right away." one of the assistants reported.
Thya nodded briefly.
"Thank you," she said before returning to the screen.

And just as she was informed, another file appeared on the monitor. Two separate captions filled the screen, the two identification pictures of Mivian and Darvien individually labeling their two physical statuses. This was the same system used for real missions, fully equipped with moving 3-dimensional images that were shadowed replicates of their bodies. All the important status were displayed right next to it, indicating the heart rate, Energy circulation, body temp and other vitals. The image rotated slowly, charting and recording every movement and damage taken physically to the body.
"Energy levels are stabilized and at healthy level, though the heart rate is picking up, they are still at normal pace." Thya mumbled to herself.
She peeked over to the Energy activity monitor. Darvien's was at the steady speed, and Mivian's was starting to warm up.
So...which side will make the first move?
A low beeping sound disturbed the calm in the room. Thya looked up at the sound, knowing what it meant. She clicked her tongue and hissed, wincing slightly at what she saw.
"Ooooh...that's gotta hurt." She tapped the blinking indication on the screen.
"What did I tell you... I warned you not to underestimate them,"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mivian's POV

The movement of the Bloodjack was edgy and fluid-like that it was a blur as it charged through the air and right at me. I flicked my dagger up in front of me in a defensive stance, my left hand supporting my right for the impact. Seconds seemed to freeze as I braced for the collision.

And it came---hard.
Except, the blow came in a completely different direction from where I had anticipated. Something hard and solid crashed into me from my left, flinging me into the air. My mind froze in surprise and became even more baffled when the second impact of me hitting the ground never came. There was a loud noise of stone striking stone, crumbling into large jagged pieces. Dust and debris flew out in every direction, forcing me to shut my eyes. I heard someone breathing heavily right behind me, their breath brushing against my cheek.

Slowly, I peeked my eyes open.
That's when I noticed the arm that was securely wrapped around my waist and the hand that had trapped my right hand, pulling the dagger harmlessly into my chest. All the sudden, everything that had occurred in the half-second span became clear. I craned my head around to look at my mission partner.
"Darvien!! What in the name of Divine---"
Darvien cringed and clenched his teeth, his grimace pain-written. My rebuke died in my throat at the sight.
"Darvien? Wha---"
I looked down and saw his left pant leg slashed open from his outer thigh to his calf. Blood flowed in unstinting profusion, dripping down in a crimson stream.
"Vardavit!!" I swore, and pried his arm off of my waist.

He grip was weakened and released its hold easily. He swayed unsteadily as he tried to straighten himself. He was not going to be able to stand by himself; the look of the injury made sure of it. I let Darvien lean his body against mine as I worked fast. I had to get him out of the combat range and somehow keep our target away.

Great; where's Houdini when you need him?

I twisted around and wrapped my left arm around as much as I could around Darvien’s torso. I held my dagger in between my teeth as I balanced his weight verses mine.
This was going to be a tough break.
The dust was starting to settle when I suddenly felt my skin tingle rather unpleasantly. My eyes flashed to the spot I was standing before the impact...
Wait...where was the target?
I pried around with my senses, scanning the area through the dust. There was a shadow on the impact side, hunched over, slowly straightening...
The dust cloud suddenly burst apart and a blur flew right into our direction, snapping and snarling. I tightened my grip around Darvien and focused on my Energy Pulse. I focused it to my right palm and shoved my hand forward into the air in front of me.

"SHIELD!!" I bellowed, and an eruption of white light enveloped us.

There was a piercing shriek somewhere in the light. I whipped around and bounded away into the protection of the shadows of the forest.

*********************************

"Vardavit!! You reckless fool!!" I spat, dodging trees as I flew through the forest.

I glanced to my side briefly at Darvien's face. He was blanched, but his jaw set in a determined manner. His eyes were dark and glaring ahead.
"I'm very much capable of taking care of myself." I went on icily, though it was getting harder and harder to stay angry at him.

I broke through the trees and into a small clearing. The moon shone brightly through the opening of leaves, casting an eerie glow. I hauled Darvien over to a nearby tree, and set him down as gently as I could. I didn't dare open my mouth again as I busied myself with tending his cut. It was still bleeding badly, and the laceration showed almost no sign of healing. That was normal for a wound marked by any Dark creatures. Our natural ability to heal fast would be useless against their venom. I pulled the torn fabric of his pants open for better access. If this was reality, all I could do was slow the blood flow. I'd have to treat him now.
Without wasting a second, I clipped off the medical pouch from my belt and started to tend the wound. My fingers worked methodically over the wound in an attempt to stop the blood flow. I swiped two fingers down the opening of the gash, my Energy tracing along the bloodied edges. Black, vile liquid lifted from his skin and separated from his blood like oil in water.
I swiped the wound clean of the venom and repeated the process couple of times. Through the whole time, Darvien was silent. He watched me work, wincing or grunting occasionally, but didn't say a word. I was half way through binding his leg with gauze.
"It was going to slash you from the side."
I looked up from my hands to Darvien's face.
He was looking at me with a serious gaze. I tried to smile.
"I know. I was waiting for it." I replied.
It was hard to stay mad by then, when I knew he was hurt trying to save me, though the intent and the attempt was unnecessary. Darvien's face fell.
"I failed this, didn't I?" he murmured.
"The missions still not over; we still have about 8 more hours." I said.

We were both silent for a while as I finished tending his wound. Finally, I finished and stood up, contemplating what to do next.
"I'm sorry." he suddenly said.
I frowned.
Now why should he be sorry?
"There's nothing to forgive; you meant no harm." I said flatly, trying to comfort him.
I laughed humorlessly, a poor attempt to lighten the mood.
"I'm overacting, aren't I? This is all simulation; just virtually happening. I should be the one apologizing." I said.

Darvien gave a weak smile.
"It would be odder if you didn't say anything. I would start to think that you are a cold-hearted person if you had just left me to bleed to death." he said.
I laughed.
"True. Still, you have nothing to be sorry for."
I kneeled in front of him so I was level with his face.
"But you can't just do everything yourself. This isn't a contest between us." I said.

Darvien cast his eyes to the ground, shamefaced. I smiled and went on.
"In teamwork, you have to believe and trust your comrades. Believe me, I would know; I had that rule literally beaten into me by one of my good friends." I chuckled at the memory.
Darvien gave me a quizzical look.
"You? Beaten? By who?" he asked curiously.
I smiled at his childish curiosity.
"You'll see. You'll meet her in the very near future. But first, we gotta take care of our little pest."
Darvien nodded and straightened against the trunk of the tree.
"So, what's the plan, partner?"

At that, I faltered. To tell you the truth, I didn't have a plan. I wasn't the one who usually made the plans. I was the one who just went with the flow and whatever happened, happened.

"Ah...um. About that...I---" I began.
There was a shriek from somewhere in the forest, and to my shock, it was not to far off. And not too much to my shock or surprise, the sound of it was all too familiar.
"I don't think we have time to make a plan."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Things couldn't get anymore frustrating.

Thya chewed on her lips as she watched data pile in through the monitors. It surprised her how she was stressing for the safety of the two Slayers under submersion, just as if this was a real mission.
"Too much of this and I'm going to go insane." she muttered to herself.
"Aren't you already?" retorted a voice from behind her.

Thya whipped around to see Sarvwen leaning against the opposite wall casually. She scowled and ignored him, turning back to the monitors.
"How are they doing?" he asked, this time coming from right above her head.

Thya glanced back and bristled in surprise. Sarvwen was looming over from behind her, gazing at the monitors.
She HATED when he did that. Her heart was racing painfully in her chest as she tried to recover herself. Sarvwen looked down at her strangely, his light silver and black hair shifting over his eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Thya rolled her eyes, covering up her discomfort at his proximity.
She was glad that is was Zavius who had learned how to read minds. Sarvwen mused suspiciously, but let the subject go. He turned back to the monitors and grimaced.
"Ugh. English, please." he begged.
Thya smirked to herself.
"They're just initiating into second combat, after the first one resulted in an injury to Darvien." she said.

Sarvwen whistled.
"Already? You sure he's 'above average'?" he asked.
Thya chewed on her lips in thought.
"Yeah, I can't be sure. Well have to see wha---"

A consistent beeping drowned out the rest of her sentence. She turned back to the monitor and typed in the codes at expertly speed. Captions of new information popped up to the screen.
"Whoa," she breathed.

Sarvwen looked through the new data.
"Whoa," he echoed.

Even he knew what had just occurred, just at one glance.
"That was totally unexpected." Thya said.