“I take it back,” Sierra addressed the Traveler again, “Just strike me down now.” “Veronica!” Trixie rushed up and hugged her friend, “Where were you?” “Hello sweetie,” Veronica returned the embrace, “I was just doing some shopping for Craggy.” Everyone looked to Crag. “Oh no…no, no no-“ Crag put his hands up defensively. “You’ll love it,” Veronica smiled sweetly, holding up a data card. “A shader?” Crag hissed, “I’m not parading around like a show pony.” “Or like Drew,” Sierra coughed to cover her remark. “Do it for me,” Veronica managed to get past Crag’s guard and take him by the shoulders, rubbing her hands over them flirtatiously, “Please?” After a moment Crag let out a sigh of defeat and crossed his arms indignantly. Grinning at her victory, Veronica held out the card towards him and waited for his Ghost to transmat it from her hand. Crag’s outfit flashed from its usual mottled black and green to almost pure white broken only by a couple patches of red on the arms and chest. I blinked a couple times in surprise, adjusting to his new brightness and to the shock of seeing him in different colors. Sierra whispered something and John appeared, pointed directly at Crag, and started hovering in circles around the grumbling Hunter. “What are you doing?” Crag tried shooing the Ghost away. “Oh, you know,” John avoided Crag’s attempts to swat at him, “Video, pictures, the good stuff.” “I will rip you to pieces,” Crag threatened, then jabbed an accusing finger at Sierra, “And you’ll be next.” “Oooh, scary,” John cackled, but disappeared right after since he had gotten what he wanted. “Rush,” I whispered with my hand over my mouth so only he could hear, “You know how I told you to always be recording everything?” “Got all of it,” Rush transmatted in next to my ear and whispered back. “Oh don’t worry, you look handsome,” Veronica tried cheering Crag up, then addressed the rest of us, “I believe we’re all ready to go now.” “Let’s get to it then,” Sierra was relieved. “Where are we going?” Drew and Trixie asked in sync. “The Crimson Doubles, of course!” I declared. • • • “So we’ve got our groups then?” I checked. “Me and Crag,” Veronica verified. “THE AWESOME TEAM!” Trixie and Drew both shouted, making me wince at the pain in my ears. “And I’m with you, Will,” Sierra grunted, annoyed that I had to go over it so many times for Drew and Trixie’s sake. “Why can’t we all be on the same team?” Trixie whined. “Because it’s only two versus two matches in Crimson Doubles,” I explained for the third time, “Maybe we’ll end up fighting each other in a match, but the rules only let us stay in pairs.” “That’s no fun,” Trixie pouted. “You’ll like it once we start, Trix,” Veronica assured her. “Okay!” Trixie believed everything Veronica told her. “We’re gonna smash some skulls!” Drew cheered. “Red is not just a color of love, but also blood and pain,” Trixie lapsed into another of her dark episodes, “But today both will be present in our victory.” “Traveler above, Trixie…” Sierra shuddered. “I love when you say violent stuff,” Drew sighed adoringly. “Sierra, Will, I found us a match,” John broke in. “Good,” Sierra grunted, “Follow me William.” “Good luck guys!” I told everyone else, receiving a chorus of positive responses before dropping out of the channel and joining Sierra’s personal line. Taking the controls, I turned my jumpship and trailed behind Sierra, heading away from Earth for a moment before shooting off into warp. “Alright zippy, time for some ground rules,” Sierra began abruptly. “Rules for wha-?” I began. “Rule number one, don’t question me,” Sierra interrupted, “But that’s one of my usual rules so you should be used to that. Two, this is not a date, so don’t go getting any ideas.” “A date?! Who said anythi-?” I sputtered. “No questioning!” she repeated herself, “Three, no screwing up and making us lose; we need to fight smart. That’s how you usually roll so you should be fine. Four, don’t give the other team some freebies just because you feel bad that they’re probably close friends or lovers. Five, do as I say.” “Simple enough,” I grunted sarcastically. “And it’d be in your best interest not to sass me, smart mouth,” the Huntress snapped. “This is going to be the best Crucible day ever,” John snickered. “You said it,” Rush chuckled. “Oh don’t think you’re off the hook, scrap balls,” Sierra shot down our Ghosts, “John, today is not the day for any of your funny business. Seriously, too close to the holiday theme.” “Fine,” John mumbled, crestfallen. “And Rush,” Sierra paused for a moment, thinking, “Don’t be stupid.” “Hey!” Rush was offended. At that moment our ships slowed and Venus shot into view. “Oh look boys! We’re here,” Sierra announced. “Why do I feel like she’s the warden and us boys are the inmates?” Rush sighed. No one responded as our two ships cruised down close to the surface and we transmatted down. We were in the Crucible arena known as Shores of Time; an abandoned site that the Vex had only partially transformed with their construction and machinery. Foliage covered everything, including the demolished Skiff that Sierra and I appeared next to, and we couldn’t see past the towering walls of stone and smooth Vex structures that stretched across the center of the arena. Somewhere on the other side were our opponents, probably inside the caves that were opposite of our starting point. “I go to the center and you cover me?” I suggested. “Sure thing, zippy,” Sierra drew her sniper rifle and headed to the right past the Skiff for a clear shot at a passageway through the Vex structures. “Why zippy?” I sighed. “Don’t know,” she shrugged, “Maybe because you’re always zipping from one nerdy thing to the next.” “Sure,” I shook my head, knowing she had just come up with that off the top of her head. Knowing our opponents would be approaching, I began jogging towards the central passageway with my auto rifle in hand. “Careful, I heard there were some weird rules to these matches but have no idea what,” Sierra warned over the channel. “Thanks, that information totally helps and doesn’t worry me,” I groaned. “Hey, keep the sass level down,” the Huntress scolded. Reaching the mouth of the passage, I pressed my back against the wall with rifle ready and peered around to the left and right branches to make sure no cloaked enemies were sneaking through. Nothing came into my sight and nothing tripped my motion tracker. “Maybe they’re trying to lure us in?” I suggested after several moments. Gunfire sounded and I snapped around to see Sierra diving away from a burst of bullets that came from the natural tunnel where most of the foliage was. “Nope!” Sierra fired a couple sniper rounds back at her assailants. It was clear that the shots came from two sources, meaning the other team was keeping together. “They’re heading around towards the Skiff!” Sierra reported, “They haven’t seen you yet!” Pt1: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/243102628/0/0 Pt3: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/243103052/0/0 ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0