Notail Simulator Beta (4/4)

You refuse to kill E-4. Not just because murdering other notails is wrong.....

...but because you're stupid.

You could never lead a swarm.

You pull up E-4 to safety. They don't say anything except cling to you even after you entirely pull them to relative safety. You allow this for a few moments before prying E-4 off of you. The tower was still acting up, and you didn't want to be on it if something else happened. Finally, E-4 spoke.

"Give me my first aid kit."

You dug out the first aid kit from their bag for them and handed it over. E-4 took a few things out and started doing their best to patch up a nasty looking, but thankfully fairly superficial wound on their leg. If you had to guess when the explosion went off some rubble stuck E-4 in the leg and sent them nearly falling to their doom.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 1 is rolled.

Another explosion went off. You could see shadows hurling through the sky. Some striking falling to the ground, some striking the stairs. Small bits of rubble pelleted all three of you painfully.

A familiar shape flew through the air.

A knife.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 15 is rolled.

For a moment, it seemed to have hit Tiger kid, but thankfully it had just impaled his bag. He was safe, for now anyway. No one was safe as only 15 steps above you the staircase crumbled away into what might have been an abyss.

E-4 was finished doing, not a fantastic patch up job, but good enough for the minutes, if not seconds left you had to get moving. You stuffed the first aid kit into their bag and started walking down the tower as quickly as your easily tripped up legs would allow you. It was still incredibly bright, but you were able to reach Tiger kid.

"Hey, is E-4 ok? >=3"

It was hard to make out, but you could see E-4's shadow leaning against the tower for support and trying to hobble it's way down. This wasn't going to work out. The stairs were failing one by one. Sacrifices were going to need to be made today.

You grabbed your seven bones, five arrows, two capture cages, one bait and then tossed them all off the side of the tower before forcing Tiger kid to carry your bag.

You took E-4's bag away from them and wore it, before lifting them up into your arms and carrying them down the stairs.

If everyone wasn't in a life and death situation, you're sure E-4 would have been embarrassed to be mostly helpless in this situation.

==================

It took a long time to get to the bottom; thankfully the tower started to fall apart slowly and slower as time went on. You had to make stops just due to your arms getting tried frequently, and more than once you had to force E-4 to still least their pride cause them to attempt walking down themselves.

E-31 immediately started asking questions, but you tossed E-4 on Slithers and told her you all needed to get a move on right away. If the notails living around the tower learned that you caused it to start self-imploding, they'd have your neck.

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"You know....Most notails just set up camp, maybe travel a bit and sure there's a bit of danger, but I don't know, I'm only 14 after all, but I don't think most notails spend their time in the woods blowing up landmarks. xuo"

E-31 commented two days in and looking back at the tower still erupting light into the air.

"Trust me, I know I'm not doing this whole woods thing right. =3"

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You can't see the tower anymore on day 5 of booking it away from it as fast as a bunch of injured people could run, and yet at night, you can see still a bright line of light cut through the sky on this clear day.

There's something very odd about knowing you impacted something permanently. At least, you think it might be permanent unless the adults come back over fix the tower.

One thing is for sure; you definitely ruined a lot of notail's sense of direction that day. A lot of notails use the towers as markers.

==================

One day E-4 rips off a loose branch from a tree and starts using it as a walking stick.

"E-4, you can keep riding Slithers. Slither doesn't mind. =3"
"I'm fine, E-2732. <:)"

E-4 takes a few slow and rather not confident steps.

"I think your leg is still injured E-4. You shouldn't be walking on it. =3"
"I'm fine, E-2732. Please stop worrying about it."

E-4's tone is more aggressive this time, so you drop the subject.

It must be a pride thing.

==================

You've been waiting for E-4 to chew you up over what happened, and yet they haven't mentioned it once.

You kind of wish they would talk about it already. You feel extreme dread every time they start talking. You even had a nightmare about it already. It's as if they're purposefully torturing you as punishment.

==================

You obtain the knife that was a few inches away from killing Tiger kid, after almost completely forgetting about it. You compare it to the blade you got last time, and sadly it looks nearly identical save for a few engraved designs on it.

You decide this would be a perfect way to get E-4 to talk about what happened and if they were going to toss you out soon. The dread was still killing you. You offered them the knife, reminding them that it was the artifact that you got from the tower, making sure to mention that this was the tower you accidentally blew up.

What happened next was, strange, you didn't fully comprehend it.

E-4 started acting nervous. They said that you were the "Knife person" and if you were sure you wanted to give them such a unique knife. You assured them that that yes you did, while yet again talking about the tower.

The one you blew up.

That one.

E-4 took the knife hesitantly and proceeded to thank you while still avoiding talking about the tower. You didn't know what to think about the whole event.

You guess E-4 doesn't want to talk about the tower due to it giving them bad memories.

You can understand not wanting to talk about something because it only brings back terrible feelings. As such you avoided the topic for now.

You weren't able to take any detours on your way to the new ruins because E-4 demanded that they walk on their own. That meant walking at a speed even you, a person who was basically unable to run anymore could outpace.

The new ruins were, strange. The building was unlike any other building you had seen directly for yourself, but it did look like something you once saw in a book. A "Factory," which was a place where items were created in mass quantities. This one was one of the most prominent buildings you've seen, but compared to the last ruins which were miles and miles long it might as well have been a tent.

E-4 took 3/4ths of the E-classes with them into the ruins. Telling you that they would be staying here for the rest of the year and that they would have the insides well explored. They offhandedly mentioned that you were free to join them if you must, but they felt they had this in the bag.

You didn't think much about it and waved them off.

Then slowly a group of E-classes started to gather around you.

Oh right, you were second in command. That's why E-4 left 1/4th of the swarm out here.

You've never been so nervous in your life. Here was a group of people waiting on you for orders and you could barely follow orders, much less give them out.

You were going to have to learn fast.

As long as you didn't leave the square that contained the ruins on your map you're sure E-4 would be ok with whatever you do.

Actually, you take that back. You have a feeling you're going to mess up horribly, and E-4 is finally going to do the reasonable thing. Kick you out.