[TheRaisin]

Please reply! You don't even have to like it! You can tell me it's a bunch of oversentimental bullcrap and that I have no talent, but reply anyway! Just let me know someone has actually taken the time to read this!!

Lyra

Ms. Fletcher entered after a few minutes, and stood silently at the door. Ian leaned over the table.
"I think we'd better stick together as much as possible," he said. "We stand a better chance of surviving her little 'surprises' we work together."
I nodded silently, and gestured over my shoulder.
"Let's go," I said.
As we walked in silence toward the training room, I tried to focus on the tile pattern in the floor in an attempt to tune out the assault on my mind that swirled from every room. But now that I had felt the energy, experienced the sensation of letting my mind blend with my surroundings, there was no way to shake it off. The dark sunglasses and earmuffs I had worn had been suddenly ripped off, and now it was all I could do to keep from being blinded and deafened by the amount of data bouncing around, streaming from the walls and into my brain.
I suddenly felt a sort of cold satisfaction, and realized it came from Ms. Fletcher.
I guess it would be better to tune in to a living being than a ghost, I thought. So the rest of the way, I tuned in to Ian's sense of alertness and caution, and Ms. Fletcher's impatience and disdain at all the people and things around her that were so inferior to herself. In other words, everything.
When we reached the heavy steel door to the training room, a balding, meek-looking scientist and an escort of four black robots were waiting there.
"Lyra, Dr. Simms will take you to an alternate training room for your session today," Ms. Fletcher said.
Neither of us moved or spoke.
"Ahem."
The robots wheeled forward a few inches. We both took a step closer together, standing in a loose fighting stance.
"We train together," Ian said.
The robots advanced a few more inches. I smiled with what I hoped was a brave smile. With a great deal more bravado than I actually felt, I drew a severed robotic finger from my pocket that I had saved from that morning and tossed it casually at the robots' treads. They stopped and stared down at it. If ever a robot could show fear, these four did. A certain cold intelligence lurked behind the dim red visors, and it was obvious that whatever self-preservation protocols these robots had must have been doing some logical thinking, because the robots stopped and lowered their massive forearms slightly.
"Very well," Ms. Fletcher said, a slight bit of amusement seeping into her voice. "You will train together. You are dismissed, Dr. Simms."
The balding man had been standing nervously behind the robots during this whole encounter. When he was dismissed, he let out a great sigh of relief. He edged anxiously around us, then took off down the hall. Ms. Fletcher went through the battery of tests, as per usual, and the door finally hissed open. She ordered the robots to guard the door, then stepped through into the dark room. I took a deep breath and followed.
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Ian

We waited momentarily as the room whirred to life. The lights flicked on with a heavy slamming sound. The weapons rack slid out of the wall like last time, and we both armed ourselves heavily. We donned the heavy suits and helmets, and waited. Ms. Fletcher's voice reverberated through the room as the intercom crackled on.
"Your mission is simple: destroy your opponents using anything and everything at your disposal. Let's see you get through this one!" She cackled crazily.
Rather than one floor panel sliding aside, a whole row suddenly lifted and moved to the side. The familiar steel pedestals rose from the basement, and there were ten of them, a sleek training robot on each.
"Begin," Ms. Fletcher said.
I instinctively ducked as a volley of laser pulses zapped over my head.
"Go for the lasers on their secondary arms. When those are gone, try and get them on their backs," I said.
"I know. My training wasn't a total failure."
A laser burst hit my shoulder.
"Yowch!"
Now I was fueled by anger.
"Let's take them down!"
Lyra grinned crazily. She leapt up, whooping, and fired a long burst at the line of robots.
"Go!!!"
I rolled out of my hiding position and sprang into a mad dash. After gaining some distance, I turned and backtread, firing at the robots in an attempt to get their attention. They broke formation and the hunt truly began.
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Lyra

I drew a few robots into the hilly dirt area. For several minutes I ran from hill to hill, occasionally dropping into a foxhole, constantly sniping. Then, suddenly, the tables turned: I popped over the top of a hill, firing in the direction in which a robot had been just a moment ago. There was nothing there. Suddenly four robots attacked from four different directions, lasers blasting full-force. I took several hits, ducked, rolled away, and shook off the pain before taking off again. With an assault rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other, I was able to force a gap between two of the robots. I sprinted for a trench, firing blindly over my shoulder. I could feel two of the robots getting closer: my sixth sense told me exactly where they were. I ran full-tilt at the trench, ready to drop in the moment I reached it. Just as my toes reached the edge, a voice inside my head shouted NO! and I tripped, flew over the trench, and crashed hard into the dirt on the other side.
The robots had been expecting me to drop into the trench: they fell in, and suddenly there was a deafening, gut-rumbling boom. Dirt was blasted up from the trench floor. I crawled to the edge. Looking in, I saw a large hole had been blasted out of the trench floor, and the robots lay battered and dented in a heap.
A concussion mine, I thought.
Seizing the opportunity, I emptied a full clip into the robots, reloaded, and took off as soon as I was sure they were dead, lasers from the following two robots already burning past my head.
"Two down," I panted, "eight to go."