Chapter Text
As Lloyd and Zane approached the others Cole leaned over and whispered. “Keep in mind the only laser tag place any of us have ever been.” Lloyd nodded slowly as they headed inside. His senses took a second to adjust. Neon everything, the everlasting smell of popcorn, pizza and perpetually sticky carpets.
After paying they were sent into locker room to put their stuff away and put on the gear. One chest piece with a big colored hexagon in the middle. Low quality eye protection and a plastic gun. They split into the teams and headed to their respective starting locations.
Rules were simple: You had one life. If the other team shoots your chest piece your dead. You can no longer shoot the other team if you’re dead.
The arena was a huge circle, dimly lit outside of the neon lights that outlined dozens of different structures. Black towers, blocks, ramps, walls. Small beams connected many of the structures and concrete support pillars were dotted across the arena.
Nya, Kai and Lloyd were team red. The LEDs inside of the hexagon showed as much. Their starting point was a platform that was covered on one side by a huge wall that faced the center of the circle. The other three ledges of the square platform were ramps.
Kai was peaking over one side of the wall to scout out the other team while Nya strutted over to Lloyd.
“Me and Kai have a tried-and-true strategy to kick all of their asses. The fact we lost last time was purely because they rebuilt the arena but that’s not the case this time around. Jay is quick, with insane aim, but clumsy and loud. Cole is slow but surprisingly hard to hit. He’s really good at using the terrain to his advantage. Zane will always observe first, and he only acts once he’s certain of what to do. Meaning he’s incredibly slow to react once you do something he doesn’t expect. So, the plan’s really simple: Hit em’ hard and fast before they know what’s coming!” A proud smile boasted on her face. Which Lloyd started to notice was a common expression for siblings. He absorbed this information as well as he could. Though hit them hard and fast wasn’t actually a plan… right?
“The game itself is pretty simple, try to aim for their torso since that’s where the sensors are. You shoot like you would shoot any other gun minus the delay between shots is about a second so don’t rapid fire.” Ok that was very helpful considering Lloyd had sooooooooo much experience shooting guns. He didn’t know if he should be surprised or slightly concerned by the fact it sounded like she did have experience.
“Any questions?”
Life’s purpose?
She took his silence as nervousness. “You’ll do great! I know it.” Nya smiled and patted his shoulder before running to her brother’s side. They started conversing again. Lloyd took a few steps closer to listen in. “I haven’t seen any movement but there was a little noise of chatter to the left of their starting point when they were walking over. For it to reach us it must have been loud. Kinda sounded like one of Jay’s complaining screams.”
Ohhhhh Lloyd could see the ninja stuff is coming out. Atleast Lloyd was pretty sure this wasn’t a normal level of laser tag. He hadn’t actually ever played before. But then again, the other boys sounded exactly like this when playing cops and robbers, so who knew.
A large booming sound roared from speakers far above their heads. Great. Action time. This was great. He’d do fine. Calm down. He couldn’t possibly fail, right? And nobody actually expected him to do well, right? RIGHT?!
He stared at the gun in his hands and at the two ninjas basically planning out a laser tag assassination in front of him and wonder for the umpteenth time what the hell he was doing with his life.
“I say we migrate to the right, heading for the tower. If we don’t interact by then, we’ll have a vantage point at least. We’re the less mobile team so finding a location to camp out is good.”
Even though the siblings pretended to strategize by themselves they were paying very close attention to Lloyd and how he was listening to them. If Lloyd had to guess they were trying to get Lloyd to participate, or to engrave some of the tactical thinking into him. This wasn’t some weird way to test his potential as a ninja? At least he was following thus far. The thing about them being less mobile was kind of odd but that was probably because of him. If all the ninjas had Nya’s stamina with Zane’s quiet. He really was far less mobile.
What Nya said earlier about attacking quickly with no plan was probably a joke in retrospect. It was clear the siblings were taking this very seriously and he could assume the same thing for the others. The other team would probably use Lloyd’s inexperience against them. During an ambush he probably wouldn’t be able to detect them in time and after that there would be an outnumbered encounter in which his team would be at a clear disadvantage.
…
Oh my god he as starting to sound like them. He just thought tactically. Ewww.
Another dozens second of empty recon passed before the team slowly made their way to the tower hugging the circular wall. Even as a minute passed there was nothing from the other team. Definitely eerily quiet.
What was the other team doing? Did Nya and Kai know? Should he ask? Was this normal?
Nya turned slightly and whispered to her brother. “What do you think they’re doing?”
“Right! We haven’t heard anything from them somethings wrong.”
Lloyd was about to speak up when he made eye contact with Kai for a brief second. It was clear Kai had intended that. What was he trying to say? That was the “I can’t speak but I need to say something” type of look.
Kai was intentionally not speaking. Or rather keeping Lloyd from speaking. He had no reason to want to Lloyd shut up if they were actually alone. So, they weren’t. The other team was listening. That made sense. But why were they just listening? Lloyd was a clear weak spot to get out early since he couldn’t even know the others were around. That made no sense. Or was Lloyd overthinking? This sucked hates this. Why did his first laser tag game have to be with a bunch of ninjas.
Nya said it herself. He was a weak spot. Logic would dictate you get out the weakest link and then overpower them numbers. No? The other team, team blue, was basically waiting for something to happen. Well for an opportunity. What was it. Is he overthinking?
Infront of him Nya lightly shoved Kai to get his attention. She widened her eyes noticeably while a small frown crossed her face. In response, Kai opened his posture to shrug his shoulders while also widening his eyes.
Ok so what was that.
That was clearly in response to Lloyd. Did he do something? What could they be upset at? Did they know he was overthinking and were angry at that? No, that made no sense wouldn’t the ninjas be proud of thinking strategically and overthinking? Isn’t that how Nya described Zane?
Ohhhhh.
Lloyd quickened his pace which turned into a full sprint. He passed between the siblings as he ran towards a group of obstacles. He made one decisive jump onto a box and without losing any momentum he flung himself at a nearby obstacle wall. He hit the wall with his legs then squatted down and absorbed all of the energy into his leg a sprung back out with his arms swinging for momentum. Finally landing onto a support beam.
Without giving anyone another second the siblings ran towards the tower leaving Lloyd behind. Seems his hunch was correct. He in turn continued running across the many beams heading towards the center of the arena. It felt as if he was about to fall many times, but he just kept running. The beams were barely thick enough for his legs to stand side by side. One slightly misplaced leg and he’d never live with the embarrassment. He just needed to find his target. He was probably pretty close, well within earshot.
At a cross section in front of him three beams joined at one central column. And waiting behind the column was the lovely white and navy stripped hoodie Zane had been wearing. Adrenaline surged in Lloyd’s chest. He had no idea if Zane knew where he was, but this was his chance. He ran quicker than he truly trusted himself too. Only a couple more strides and he’d hit the ice ninja.
Only a step later Zane noticed Lloyd and quickly turned, running across another beam. Lloyd jumped around the column and onto the unused beam. He aimed his gun at Zane but before he managed to pull the trigger Zane jumped off his beam and turned to face Lloyd. As he landed Zane raised his gun towards the others’ face. His shock written face turning deadly serious. Making Lloyd jump off his own beam in return. As Gravity was pulling him down Lloyd faced Zane and shot one decisive laser at his torso. As they both landed securely on the ground Zane’s chest piece blinked once then faded away. All in less than 10 seconds.
Lloyd immediately slumped and caught up on some much-needed air. He tried to stabilize himself as his knees buckled. He managed to stay upright. Sweet oxygen rushed through his veins. Zane slowly walked over to him smiling curtly. Only a step before reaching Lloyd he took one odd step to the side.
There from that odd distance he spoke. “You did good, your aim and agility were very admirable.”
“oh tha-” a low buzz reverberated through the air and before Lloyd had truly heard it his chest piece flashed once before fading away.
Lloyd whipped his head twice before finally spotting Jay in the distance. He was standing exactly where Zane was just a moment ago. Gun pointing right at Lloyd, smile as bright as ever.
That’s why Zane took that step to the side. To clear up Jay’s shot.
Fuckkkkkkkk.
Jay waltzed proudly. “Don’t let your guard down too quickly Lloydy. You never know what awesome shooter might be around. Of course I would have hit you regardless.”