By now, you know all the details of moving to a new base, so I won't bore you with the details. The basic gist is that the new base was by a leafy forest, and Resistance members were inside the base this time. Tanner got settled in quickly, not having any possessions to bring with him. The main operator of the base was a very orderly man named Ristic. He was bald and wore a black suit and tie, although there was no dress code. He didn't smile or laugh much. Tanner found that he actually preferred Edge.

Ristic got down to business quickly, inviting Tanner to his room.

"Welcome, Tanner. I understand that you've destroyed a Generator already, so I'll just fill you in on this one. It's in a clearing in the forest. We'll give you light armor and a few weapons. You'll leave later this evening. Any questions?"

"Yeah, one..." Tanner said. "Why is she here?" He pointed at Linsey, who sat next to him. Linsey grinned.

"You are not alone on this, Tanner. We have found that Generators react badly to different people attacking different Generators. One person must be present at all Generators. But if you bring someone with you, it will be okay." Tanner nodded.

"I'm your backup," Linsey grinned. "You ain't the kid who arrived at the Training Base anymore." Tanner smiled at her. She was right. He'd grown so much since then. He was sure, had his parents known about any of it, they would be proud of him.

***

Tanner liked motorcycles.

They were far better than noisy helicopters. Motorcycles, or at least the high-tech machine Tanner rode, sailed across the forest floor smoothly and nearly silently. According to Ristic, it was a "newly developed high-speed motorized bike", but Tanner liked "motorcycle" better. His helmet blocked most of the rushing wind.

"Wooooooooo!" Tanner yelled, taking in the moment. Linsey, who was on a motorcycle next to him, grinned.

"My thoughts exactly." The wheels of the motorcycle swerved flawlessly around trees, and barely bounced when rolling over fallen twigs.

"So, are we gettin' close to the clearin'?" Linsey asked. Tanner looked down at his small tracking device.

"Yeah, just a few more minutes," he replied. We continued speeding through the trees, and Tanner decided that now was as good a time as any to get caught up with Linsey.

"So, what were you doing while I was off beating Generators?" he asked.

"Keepin' the Unseen off your back so ya could be off beatin' Generators," Linsey replied with a grin. "I tell ya, the life of a world-saving cowgirl is pretty sweet. I got a gun, ya know that? It fired lil tranquilizer bullet thingies. Shaped like bullets, acts like tranquilizer darts. Got a horse. Genetically modified, of course, but still a horse. She was fast as heck, and strong, too. I felt a bit like I do now when I rode 'er." Through the trees blurring past, Tanner saw Linsey smile. "That there, that was livin'. Except..." Linsey looked at Tanner. "Except you wasn't there. Just strangers. They was plenty nice, but strangers, just the same." Linsey faced forwards again with a happy smile. "It's nice to see ya again."

"Same here," Tanner agreed. Then the conversation was over, because they'd reached the clearing. And there, in the middle, was the Generator. It looked exactly like the last one had, with its cone nose pointing to the sky.

"So that's a Generator," Linsey mused. "Not exactly what I pictured." Tanner parked his motercycle- it felt weird, referring to a motercycle as his own- and cautiously approached the Generator. Linsey followed. There was no telling what the machine might do, so Tanner tried to be ready for anything. Once he came within a few yards of the Generator, it shuddered. Then the four-legged base grew, just a bit, stretching out. And then it ran. Yes, the longer legs bent and sped away at an astonishing pace. Tanner blinked in surprise, but Linsey had no hesitation, dashing to her motercycle and jumping on. Tanner followed then, not far behind as Linsey sped after the Generator. It scurried around trees, sometimes dashing up the sides of trunks and leaping to another. It must be incredibly fast, because even with the futuristically built bikes, the Generator kept its lead on the duo of Resistance fighters, even gaining on them slowly.

"We can't outpace it," Linsey called to Tanner through the rushing wind. She hadn't stopped to fasten her helmet, so her hair flew behind her. "We're gonna have to outsmart it. Let's split up. I'll head to the left, let's say, a little from the clearing. You steer it toward me." Tanner nodded.

"Got it." Linsey sped away into the forest, leaving Tanner to chase the Generator, which was still speeding away. Tanner felt like he was in some high speed chase in a movie, except without a gun. Then Tanner noticed a quiet noise.

A river, Tanner thought. We're headed toward a river. This might have worried most, but Tanner tried to take advantage of it. The river came into view: a dark blue stream, maybe ten yards wide, possibly more. Small trees stood along its edge. The Generator suddenly bolted to a tree trunk, scurrying up it. Tanner squinted to see it through the leaves as it climbed to jump from treetop to treetop. An idea hit, and Tanner knew that to execute it, he would need to act fast. So he did. He sped toward the river... and hit a small tree. Just a moment before contact, he slammed on the brakes. The motercycle smashed into the tree, and the tree creaked and fell. Tanner's plan was to drive across the fallen tree, but it wasn't large enough. The tree fell into the water.

Tanner glanced up, gritting his teeth. The Generator was almost to the river, which it would jump over, and then it would be gone. Tanner conjured a new plan, leapt off his motorcycle, and desperately grabbed the fallen tree. It was too heavy to get out of the water fully, but Tanner moved it so that it was halfway over the water. Then he jumped onto his motercycle, immediately hitting the gas. The motercycle sped toward the tree and sped across it. Then there was only water beneath it. Tanner held his breath, hoping that his speed would carry him across the water. At the same time, the Generator jumped. It landed on the side of the river that Tanner was hurting toward, and Tanner sped past it.

"Wooooooooo!" he cried again at his success, herding it in Linsey's direction. His plan had worked.

The Generator was easy to herd, only wanting to run from Tanner and not to change course. Tanner used his tracking device to steer the Generator in the right direction. The clearing was on his right. He was herding the device perfectly... but where was Linsey? Seconds of high speed passed, and the Generator ran past the planned place. Somehow, Linsey hadn't gotten there.

Bam! Out of nowhere, a motercycle slammed into the Generator, flinging it across the forest. It tried to stand up, but Linsey jumped out of her motercycle and tackled it. It squirmed under her for a moment, but Linsey was no newbie at fighting, and she held it down. Then it stopped struggling. Linsey was breathing hard, and slowly released her grip on the device. It stayed still.

"Good job!" Tanner congratulated her, hopping off his motorcycle. "I thought I'd missed you for a minute there." Linsey smiled back.

"Nah, I just went a little far." They both stared at the Generator laying on its side for a moment.

"Do you think that hitting it with a motorcycle was smart?" Tanner asked as an afterthought. Linsey shrugged.

"I dunno, but it worked." Tanner began looking for the deactivate button that had been on the first Generator. He couldn't see it, so the teens had to turn the device. It was surprisingly heavy, and took both of their strongest efforts to do it. But they succeeded, and then the DEACTIVATE button was facing up.

"Do you want to do the honors?" Tanner asked Linsey.

"Nah, you gotta be the one," Linsey reminded him. Tanner nodded, stepped forward, and pressed.

***

Two. There were two Generators down. Still eight more to go, but whoever was destroying the Generators was working rather quickly. The Gate could feel the shield flickering, getting weaker. The Gate didn't like it. The Gate didn't care who was working toward it. It only knew that no one alive had seen the Obsidian Realm, and it should remain that way. Only the Gate truly knew the risks of opening the Gate, even for a moment. Of course, other Generators would be more difficult to deactivate. But still...

The arch of obsidian, in the middle of nowhere and everywhere at the same time, flickered with a blue aura. And again, a shape stayed longer than the flicker itself. The shape stayed for a moment, as if examining the world around the Gate, and then vanished.

***

"You went on a what?"

"A motorcycle chase."

"And you did what?" Prof. Edge's voice was screaming over the headset. Tanner smiled.

"I used a tree as a ramp, Edge."

"And it was what?" Tanner wasn't sure how to respond to that, so Linsey, listening to the conversation on her headset, answered for him.

"It was cool, Mr. Edge."

"And you didn't think to record it?" Edge rampaged. Tanner tried to keep from laughing. "What did I do to you, Tanner? What did I do to you?"

"You gave me a very nice stay," Tanner offered, trying to calm Edge.

"I DID, DIDN'T I?" Edge calmed for a moment, sighing contently. Then he exploded again. "And how do repay me? With a big fat lousy report on an epic motorcycle chase. I'm good with a ray gun! I could have helped!"

"This wasn't exactly a chase with guns-"

"Dream Crusher!"

"Really, Edge, it was really-"

"Traitor!"

"Edge, do you even know how to ride a motercycle?" Edge was silent for a moment.

"Monster," Edge whispered darkly. Tanner smiled and shook his head.

"Anyway, all is good here, Edge. We're not getting quite the deluxe meals I got with you, but you know." Edge laughed victoriously, motorcycle problems forgotten.

"Ah, you see? Once you've eaten this... um... edible substance, nothing else will satisfy!"

'Edible' might be stretching it, Tanner thought with a grin. He was definitely warming up to Edge

***

Out. That was the only thought in the girl's mind now. I must get out. Superstition and nerves had robbed her of sleep, and she finally realized that she needed help. So she ran, ran through the trees desperately, only hoping to find someone, something.

I've said, at this point, that good things turn bad and bad things turn worse. This is one of those times.

Because the girl ran, and then she tripped on a root. And it happened to be at the top of a slope, so she rolled. And before she could get her footing, the slope turned into a drop. And when she landed, she could barely open her eyes out of exhaustion and pain. And what she saw horrified her.

The girl was on a small overhang, looking out over a cliff. The way sh had come from was a sheer, impossibke climb away. She was trapped. There was a tower far away, but it didn't help the girl.

She looked out over this sight, and all hope left her. She closed her eyes. Darkness set on her. She didn't care. It was over. For her, at least. She was done with this.