p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After probably the longest 7 hours of my life, school ended. Which meant the REAL lesson began./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I immediately spotted Arnold standing in the parking lot with his buddies. Drinking some soda. Laughing about something. Holding a /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"literal sledgehammer. /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Oh, I was gonna have fun teaching this guy a lesson. While walking over, I did some analysis./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Him: standing in the middle of the lot, holding a 3" long sledgehammer with a wooden handle./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Parking lot: 40' x 40', with two cars in the far corner, one exit, and a stop sign by said exit./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People: plentiful. Almost all were alerted about this fight. Some are rooting for me, but not because of me. They just want to see Arnold lose./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eliza: here. Perfect. Nora is standing as close to her as she can be without touching her. Weird./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Duffel bag: on her shoulder. Good./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teachers: none./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nearby security cameras: one./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Distractions: plentiful./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Arnold Schwarzen-egg-head!" Lots of people start chuckling. "Looking for me?" I taunt, doing the Innocence Dance. Y'know, the thing where you put your hands behind your back and tap your feet? "Well, here I am, so fear not. Also, you broke your own rule."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, I said /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"you/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" couldn't bring weapons."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks for confirmation. /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cutter!" /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eliza reaches into the duffel bag, pulls out my rach-blade, and tosses it to me./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I snag it out of the air, turn to Arnold, and point it at him. "Before you say anything, /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"didn't bring this. I'm just using it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He glares at me and prepares to charge./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bye-bye Mr. Sledge, I guess. I cut through the handle faster than you can say 'splinters'. Arnold looked… actually confused. "Are you trying to /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"kill/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" me with that thing?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I could ask you that exact same thing," I commented, looking at him with cold, gray eyes. "A /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"sledgehammer/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" in a /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"passive battle?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I don't know what that means, so I'm gonna ignore it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It basically means friendly competition. Also, don't try and turn that around on me, because I pulled my weapon out after you pulled out your weapon."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"growled,/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" glared, and charged. I dropped the spear-thing, waited, and rolled to the side. He swung his fist, I dodged again. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch... not-quite-dodge. It's not bad, he just grazed my hip. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. On, and on, and on. This goes on for 3 minutes and makes a bunch of people leave./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then… things get /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"weird./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/spanspan id="docs-internal-guid-933c86f0-7fff-29c6-cce3-a2d1ca6df79b"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"First, a rach(pronounced emratch/em) blade is basically a short sword without a point, so it can only slash./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Second, who liked that Subnautica reference last chapter? nobody?... okay.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Third, sorry for the update length. And no, I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT promise a CONSISTENT update schedule. So don't ask./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Finally, let's all enjoy two things:/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"1) enjoy trying to find this chapter's garbage Undertale reference, and 2) enjoy.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"MAJEN!/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I immediately spotted Arnold standing in the parking lot with his buddies. Drinking some soda. Laughing about something. Holding a /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"literal sledgehammer. /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Oh, I was gonna have fun teaching this guy a lesson. While walking over, I did some analysis./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Him: standing in the middle of the lot, holding a 3" long sledgehammer with a wooden handle./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Parking lot: 40' x 40', with two cars in the far corner, one exit, and a stop sign by said exit./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People: plentiful. Almost all were alerted about this fight. Some are rooting for me, but not because of me. They just want to see Arnold lose./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eliza: here. Perfect. Nora is standing as close to her as she can be without touching her. Weird./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Duffel bag: on her shoulder. Good./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teachers: none./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nearby security cameras: one./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Distractions: plentiful./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Arnold Schwarzen-egg-head!" Lots of people start chuckling. "Looking for me?" I taunt, doing the Innocence Dance. Y'know, the thing where you put your hands behind your back and tap your feet? "Well, here I am, so fear not. Also, you broke your own rule."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, I said /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"you/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" couldn't bring weapons."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks for confirmation. /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cutter!" /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eliza reaches into the duffel bag, pulls out my rach-blade, and tosses it to me./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I snag it out of the air, turn to Arnold, and point it at him. "Before you say anything, /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"didn't bring this. I'm just using it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He glares at me and prepares to charge./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bye-bye Mr. Sledge, I guess. I cut through the handle faster than you can say 'splinters'. Arnold looked… actually confused. "Are you trying to /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"kill/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" me with that thing?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I could ask you that exact same thing," I commented, looking at him with cold, gray eyes. "A /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"sledgehammer/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" in a /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"passive battle?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I don't know what that means, so I'm gonna ignore it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It basically means friendly competition. Also, don't try and turn that around on me, because I pulled my weapon out after you pulled out your weapon."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"growled,/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" glared, and charged. I dropped the spear-thing, waited, and rolled to the side. He swung his fist, I dodged again. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch... not-quite-dodge. It's not bad, he just grazed my hip. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. Punch, dodge. On, and on, and on. This goes on for 3 minutes and makes a bunch of people leave./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then… things get /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"weird./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/spanspan id="docs-internal-guid-933c86f0-7fff-29c6-cce3-a2d1ca6df79b"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"First, a rach(pronounced emratch/em) blade is basically a short sword without a point, so it can only slash./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Second, who liked that Subnautica reference last chapter? nobody?... okay.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Third, sorry for the update length. And no, I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT promise a CONSISTENT update schedule. So don't ask./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Finally, let's all enjoy two things:/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"1) enjoy trying to find this chapter's garbage Undertale reference, and 2) enjoy.../span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"MAJEN!/span/p