Inert, Depressed, And About To Die

" We've all come to an agreement, Kais.... I'm sorry but, your off the team"

" wha... what do you mean Jenny "

" This decision is final. We actually just submitted the forms"

Kais stood there, mouth open... heart pounding. He wasn't angry.. he excepted this. Its just... Who will ever accept me into their team now.

" Bye, Please don't bother us "

" See ya, Trash"

They all walk off.

Heh, My life's over.

And its all my fault. If only I had been more carful... I wouldn't have gotten injured and my PSY points halved. And cursed to lvl up at a snails pace. If only I had any power besides energy shield. Well, I better start looking for a job.

Kais spends the next week and a half looking for a job. Non of the jobs he went to were hiring. He returns home at 8:40 pm after another unsuccessful day of job hunting.

sfx * brzttttt brztttt* (phone buzz)

Huh? That weird. ( There's only 8 people who have my number Minus my old team member I have my mom, dad, sister, and Jealenne My best friend... who I haven't seen since high school )

huh?

It's, Martel??

What's this b*tch want?

" uh, Hello?"

" Hey, Kais. How've you been these last few days?"

Terrible.

" I've been doing just fine"

" Glad to hear it. So Ill get right to it. Would you like to join the team again"

pfffffft**

*cough*

" What did you just say?"

" Listen here, the only reason I'm asking you for this is cause the team dynamics been thrown off. We used to use you as bait and sh*it, and ill admit, you shield ability was useful.... sometimes"

" Yeah, well you guys could just get someone to replace me easily"

" C'mon man, did you forget were all F ranks with low potential too?"

He has a point, they only ever accepted me because they too are bottom of the barrel psychics.

" Plus, you really need this job don't you?"

Motherf*cker!

" Yeah, Ill come back. I don't have a choice"

" Course ya don't. Well , we're taking on a F rank aquatic dungeon tomorrow. Ill send you the time and place right now"

" Ill be there "

" See you then, Trash"

Kais places the phone down onto his table and stretches his back.

Hmmm, that's weird.

I haven't felt this in a long time. Last time was when Bre..... never mind. No use digging up old memories.

The next day, Kais in his worn down raid gear, makes it to the portal 10 minutes before 4:50 pm.

" Welcome back Kais"

" Good to be back Reinde "

Kais looks around....

" Wait... where's Hallam and Jenny "

" Oh? Guess they're running late. Well, more for us"

" Are you insane?! we're down a healer and mage. What'll we do if we have to fight a water elemental or get injured??"

Martel and Reinde give each other a smirk.

" We've done dungeons a man down before"

" That's not..."

" Plus, we ranked up "

" What? When??!"

" Me and Reinde are now F+ ranks. The both of us gained new skills to. I got a defense buff and he got a heal tool summoning skill"

" I guess we've got our bases covered"

" Yup, well lets go in then. I have a feeling this'll be a good run for us"

They all walk into the swirling vortex on the ground. They are then teleported to the pocket dimension this portal is linked to. Its just an aquatic dungeon, meaning that the types of creatures you'd find here are evolved to live underwater. Depending on the rank you could get gigantic crustaceans that could kill you with a single strike. Or get crushed by a camouflaged clam waiting with its mouth open. These clam type monsters usually have giant pearls inside of them that work as either just a treasure to look at or a crafting material. Which is what we're going in here to do, collect a magic pearl from one of these beasts.

This dungeon isn't one kais knows about but its actually a farming spot. Every now and then they send in squads to cull the PD's population so that it doesn't rank up. It's also been known to have a survival rate of 97%. But, lucks never been on this poor f*ckers side so why would today be any different.

5 minutes in the group face 5 wulsks. They're literally just squid wolves.

Kais manages to clip the back of one with his sword but gets hit with a tentacle whip.

" Ahh!"

He managed to activate his shied in time so he was only slightly pushed back. The force of impact injured the wulsk so it dodged back awaiting a reaction from kais. He then proceeds to dash forward for an attack. Just as the wulsk was about to slash Kais' face, its head got a hole blown in it by Reinde's rifle.

" I could have handled that you know "

" I just saved you and this is the thanks I get?"

" Listen man I was ju.... wait, you guys killed them all already?"

Reinde and Martel look at each other and then to kais.

" Well they were just F- rank monsters, we're both 2 ranks above them now so..."

That doesn't make sense. A F+ rank gunn mancer would still only be able to kill a wulsk or any weak monster with a shot to its vitals, all those bullet holes are in non-vital points. There also really big. Like shooting Styrofoam with a slug from a shotgun.

" Yeah your probably right, what do I know?"

They continue on fighting low rank squlchers, churners, and wulsks until they reach the Clam shelf. Its a giant plateau covered in clamsters. Reinde spots one with a softball sized pearl in it. The team makes there way over to it trying their best not to set a clam off.

Once they reach the clam kais activates his shield ability. He'll set it off and stand at its tip, holding it open while either Martel or Reinde snatch it.

" Alright guys, I'll go over an..."

** Thump **

Huh?

Kais falls into a small gap in-between the platform their standing on and the upper clam shelf.

Kais hits the ground after falling 13ft. His shield ability took the blunt of the damage.

A face of confusion is worn by kais while he sees Martel and Reinde laughing their asses off.

" Guy's, I-I fell in by accident. If you guys could help me find a wa....."

" Are you mentally r*tard*d or something"

" l pushed you in, are you really so stupid that you can't process what just happened"

I can, just don't want to.

" Sto..p joking like that. look for a way out of here further down that wa"

" Stop whining "

" Were leaving you to die"

" Martel why would yo..."

" Hey"

" What is it Reinde?"

" You forgot to hit him with the DNA sequencer"

" Oh shit, yeah, I was just to excited that I couldn't wait anymore"

Martel pulled out a barcode scanner looking device and shot out a needle attached to a cable directly at Kais. He activates his shield ability but the needle went straight through it.

It stabs him in the left side of his skull which causes him to fall to the ground and twitch. It begins to extract his PSY energy directly.

" Look at him, the little b*tch might just die"

" Don't be ridiculous Martel. Were just taking his power, this process hasn't ever killed anyone. Hell, once the needle lodges itself the wound'll heal"

After about a minute the transparent crystal attached to the machine begins to glow grey.

" we're done here. lets get going, we have to be at the auction house by 6:00 and its 13 miles away"

The needle zips back into the device as the blood strts to sizzle from heat ( the device is cleaning itself) and kais gains a new scar.

He didn't here any other word besides auction.

looks like they got involved with the bottom feeders. Well, I hope my power sells for at least 100,000 since its rare and all.

The Bottom Feeders are one of the thousands of black market sites in the world. They deal in weapons, armor, powers, and people. They don't accept random power cells just in case it was acquired through a source that may become a problem for the auction house. Which means someone put a contract on me. I wonder how much I was worth.

As Kais lays there paralyzed, Reinde and Martel make there way to the exit. After 26 minutes the numbness that Kais was feeling is gone but he is still unable to move his body.

I wonder how long it'll take for the paralysis to wear off, I really need to use the bathroom.

**Cruogk?

Oh sh*t, it's a churner.

These things launch their stomachs out and grab you. They also launch a very powerful acid that melts even steel.

Guess I'm dead.

Crougk** Bluaghh*

Here it comes.

The creature stomach smashes down onto kais and instantly returns inside of the creature like the tongue of a frog that just caught a fly. Of course the creature acts all confused, why, because all it got was a mouth full of rocks.

" Almost got me"

The creature turns around to see Kais standing there.....

" Try harder next time "

Kais dashes at the churner and ready's his right fist for a punch. The churner isn't the least bit worried. What could the punch of a F- rank do to it.

" Shatter Shot"

Crougk??