Delilah, on the bridge!

...Argh, fine! {if CombatJaceInTrouble == True}Cameron looks like he's going to be fine, and Jace is quite far away from you. Delilah's the middle ground on both of those, so you guess.... fine, you'll help her!{else}Cameron's probably going to be okay, honestly, and Delilah's situation looks way more 50/50. So you'll help her. But this doesn't mean you condone her attitude!{endif} Maybe she'll start acting a bit better after seeing you for the hero you are, at least.

You run down the remaining length of gravel path as quickly as you can{if Armour == 2}{if Weapon == 2} with having to lug your big Sledgeaxe with you{endif}{else} with your heavy armour on{endif}, arriving at the base of the bridge. Delilah and her monster are still locked in a stalemate when you get there. You stop at right at the start of the bridge, just in time to see Delilah show off with an extravagant dodge involving a flip off of the railing.

"I'm here, Delilah!" You cup your hand and call out to her. "Don't worry! Everything's going to be fine!"

Delilah turns her head to see you, and an outwardly visible look of irritation takes over her whole face. Which is really rude. Without even replying, she just goes back into battle-mode, paying attention only to the monster and not to her helpful classmate. You're only a little bit annoyed by this.

Okay, so you're here now, but it's a little bit hard to decide what to do{if@ Effective SPD <4} as you catch your breath from the run{endif}. Do you just rush up and just start swinging? You're not sure if the bridge is wide enough to pull that off effectively, but you're also not sure how trying to co-ordinate something with Delilah would go.... well, it's probably worth an attempt -- if you don't get any results, you can just go with that first idea.

"Delilah!" You call out, cupping your hand to your mouth again.

"Shut up! You're pulling me out of the zone!"

Yeah, okay, that was expected in all fairness. You lower your hand again. {if CombatJaceInTrouble == True}Well, still... even if she doesn't think she needs help, you can still tell that she really does. And if you're going to be a Warrior, then you need to start helping people out in times like this!

You charge up the angled bridge, eyes shut, crying out in the language of war and raising your {if@ Weapon == 2}Sledgeaxe{elseif Weapon == 1}{if BatonVolt == True}electric staff{else}twin batons{endif}{endif} high and proud. Sitting on the sidelines is not the way that Debbie does things!

As you reach the summit, ready to fight the monster and save your friend, y- wait, hang on. Redo. As you reach the summit, ready to fight the monster and save Delilah, you're surprised to find that she's not there anymore when you open your eyes. You blink a few times and look around for her, eyes passing over the equally confused monster who just lost its dance partner and now looks down to the other side of the bridge.

You follow its gaze, to see Delilah landing daintily on the other body of land and spinning around with a wicked grin. Just she just jump off the bannister all the way over to there? She pulls something out from behind her back, but her face drops when she sees you standing there in complete bafflement.

"Debbie!" She shouts. "You idiot! Get away!"

You shoulders sag, and your spirit drops too, as you hear her words.

"I- I just wanted to help!" You shout back, startling the monster in front of you who now looks between you and Delilah in even more **** confusion. It doesn't dare try something to interrupt either of you just yet, until it figures this all out.

"Fucking- quickly, just leave!" Delilah frantically waves her arm to one side as she continues shouting over to you. Even though you don't really like her, being treated like this still doesn't make you feel very good, so you're getting pretty upset as you stand there. "Go! Go, go!"

Your emotions take over, and you're pulled fully out of the combat simulation now as you reply. "{if DelilahGotYa == True}I'm only ever trying to be nice to you! What's even your problem?! I tried to thank you for the food and letting me stay over last week, and you yelled at me. I'm trying to help you now, and you yell at me. You're always yelling at me! Stop being so mean!{else}Why won't you just be friends with me?" You shout. "I'm only ever trying to be nice to you, and you're always so mean and yell-y!{endif}"

"Debbie, you idiot! I'm trying to blow the bridge up! Get the fuck off of it!"

Oh.

You look down at the several small groupings of boxes on the bridge and on the railings.

Oh.

Oh no.{else}At this point, you've been here for about half a minute, and Cameron jogs up from the gravel path behind you, panting heavily.

He stops next to you, looking between your face all scrunched up in concentration and Delilah's dodging manoeuvres on the bridge.

"Are we fighting it, still?" He asks.

"I'm not sure."

Cameron cups his hand to his mouth. "Hey, Delilah! I'm here to help!"

Delilah grunts out in angered frustration. "No, just- no, both of you, stop this, go away, I'm trying to-"

"Yeah, we're coming Delilah!" You shout at last, having made your decision. Just because she doesn't want help doesn't mean she doesn't need it, and as a Warrior student, it's your job to help people out when they need it!

You charge up the bridge, roaring combatively, and Cameron joins you soon after. Together, the two of you blitz past Delilah and completely swarm the very surprised monster who looked to be getting into the one-on-one as much as Delilah was. The two of you rain down hits onto it, far more plentiful and far faster than it can evade or deflect them. Even though most land on its chitin, the blunt **** behind the strikes still send the simulated monster down to the ground, where the two of you keep whaling on it while Delilah stands behind you in disbelief. After a short time of the Debbie/Cameron blitzkrieg, the monster goes still, and the battle is won.

"Yeah!!" You shout victoriously, pounding your chest with one hand.

"You- I had that, you- what did, why did you-" Delilah looks at you with both of her arms hanging by her sides, and her mouth opening and closing as she tries to think of something to say. Eventually, she sets her jaw and her face takes on a look of determination. Oh no, is she mad?

"Uhhh... s-sorry, Delilah...." You say, stopping your celebration and lowering your chest-pounding fist.

"I had that." She says quietly to herself.

"Alright, everybody, come in!" Professor Phoebe calls out to you all from the back of the room, jumping down from the hut's thatched roof and bringing everybody's attention to her. "It's evaluation time."

Jace comes out from the hut, looking a little sheepish for not being able to do much in the fight, and stands by her. The rest of you slowly trudge your way over, Delilah marching a good few steps in front and speeding up any time you or Cameron catch up to her. Hey, you and Cameron did really good jobs this fight, didn't you? Yeah, totally!

You spend the rest of the walk complimenting each other and talking about all of the cool stuff each of you did, but it's mostly you and Cameron both talking about all of the cool stuff that you did, because he is modest and you are not. In any case, by the time you reach Professor Phoebe for the nerve-wracking evaluation, you're feeling pretty good about yourself.{endif}