Decision

"Oops! Hi Brother! It's OK? "A man with some reptilian features on his torso raised his arm and waved to someone in front of him.

"What's up dude! Is it time to change shifts yet?" Another man replied, this one in turn had no visible mutation.

The two exchanged a few words before they both noticed a human figure walking slowly towards them. The two guards had already been instructed on what to do in case, a survivor arrived at the gates, so despite the shift change, the two remained there to welcome this new member.

However, they did not stand still for long, as they soon realized that there was something wrong with this survivor.

"Hey look! Does he have only one arm?" asked the deformed mutant.

"It's not just that! He's barely walking! Come on, he could be hurt!" After these words, they ran to the survivor's aid from a distance.

…

Almost an hour later, in an infirmary room, Asa and Roberto were facing a mutant bedridden. He did not have many injuries, but the only one he had enough to take his life if not treated properly, his entire torso was bandaged, his right arm was nowhere to be seen, and his skin despite having a lot of hair, was very pale. That mutant was Fred, he took a long time to return to base, and his body conditioned his journey to base worsened, the blood loss was immense, he even tried to stop the blood with what was left of his clothes, but it didn' t work. sure and soon he had no more strength to press on the wound and stop the flow of blood.

Finally, after finally reaching the settlement, he was taken care of by Morgana, who promptly used her red ooze and branches to treat the wound. However, Fred, by his own choice, did not have much time to rest, he played an excellent role as a member of the exploration team, as even being in this near fatal state, he asked them to call Asa or Roberto immediately after regaining some strength, summarizing previously events so that they both arrived as soon as possible after receiving the message.

So the two coaches entered the room at the same time, stunned and worried about the situation, both Fred and the rest of the team.

Roberto did not suppress his anxiety and curiosity him, asking hastily:

"What happened? How did you get hurt so much? And where is the rest of the team?" His face radiated deep regret and concern. After all, he used to go exploring with the teams, he rarely did, and this time, one of those rare situations, this tragedy happened, and despite not knowing the status of the others in the group , just by seeing Fred's status he already he had dropped his hopes that they had survived.

Wing put his hand on his friend's shoulder and said softly in his ear:

"Calm down, remember that what he is going through is much worse than you are, we have to be the support he needs now."

Roberto calmed down a little at these words and tried to be that source of comfort and support for Fred.

Fred was a little startled by the barrage of questions and even though he was very hurt, he did his best to report the situation as clearly as possible.

"S-Sir, we were exploring normally, just saw the black area on the ground-" His voice was weak and due to his injuries, he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Easy, easy, don't rush, talk in your time, we're here to help you." Asa, as always a good speaker, bypassed the situation and calmed Fred down.

To prove what he was talking about, Asa pulled out a chair for him and Roberto, and with both of them seated, they waited for the mutant to regain his strength.

After a few seconds, Fred resumed his story, but this time more calmly, which made it easier to report more details.

"We were patrolling the area as usual, but then Luciano saw black land ahead. I used my fur to see if there was something there, I just felt something big, I couldn't explain it right… We started digging the place and it was only after a long time that something appeared. There was a kind of very hard giant crystal that prevented us from continuing to dig, even after many minutes of trying, not even a scratch was on it... But out of nowhere the crystal disappeared, and we all fell, I felt like I was sinking into the Water."

The trainers listened with the utmost attention, and the more they listened, the greater their amazement. Their expressions struggled not to show their feelings, but there was no way to help it.

'Is that so?' Both Asa and Roberto had the same doubt, one of the goals of the exploration team was to find certain items very important and Fred's history so far made them hope for those items.

Fred continued the explanation:

"When we fell, I saw that we fell into a big cave… There were black crystals on the walls, they were very beautiful. I don't even know what happened to me, I just wanted to go there and take it with my hands and I really went, it wasn't just me, the whole group did it too!... Look, when I played, I felt like I was in the stars, but I suddenly got back to normal and that's when everything started to get worse…" His voice weakened in that last part, it was extremely painful to start telling what happened from that moment on.

Roberto and Asa widened their eyes more and more when they heard the story, all their doubts dissipated when Fred mentioned the black crystals. Euphoria could be seen in those two pairs of eyes fixed on the bedridden mutant. But they suddenly noticed something they had missed at first in the story.

"Did you say cave?" Not even Asa controlled his uneasiness and asked hastily. A cave full of black crystals… it never crossed his mind that such a thing could exist.

"Yes, a cave." Fred didn't quite understand why he was in such a hurry, but he still responded in his weak voice.

"Do you know how many meters it was?" Roberto finally realized the nuance of the question and also joined in the questioning.

"About 10 meters, I think…" Fred replied.

The trainers were wide-eyed and amazed, confusion and joy filled their bodies and even their hands began to shake, they didn't know how to react to this situation. They've found a maximum of 2-5 crystals so far and were shocked by their effects, making them targets for their explorations. So, hearing that there is a cave full of this mineral made their minds almost explode.

However, this joy did not last long, as Fred, who did not understand the situation, continued to narrate the events.

"Right after we released the crystals, I can't explain it very well, but a kind of pressure or feeling appeared... It was very strong and it scared me, my hair activated on its own and I finally saw what was out there... There was some 30 mutant animals outside the cave…" Fred continued to relate what had happened, from his plan to leave the cave to the loss of his arm, and more and more the trainers' joy faded.

Before, when they received a short summary, thinking it was just a rescue situation, Asa even asked Lucas to participate, as he was confident in his abilities. However, after hearing Luiza's terrible death and Luciano's condition, he was sure the rest of the group was dead. Roberto also lost his excitement from before, after knowing all this, weighed the pros and cons, coming to the conclusion that it was not worth the effort they would have to make to get to the crystals.

…

Outside the room, a black woman with some roots sticking out of her hands was using her shoulder to lean against the wall. This woman was Morgana, the head doctor and the one who attended to Ruby when she got injured in the fight with Lucas. The doctor had a sharp gleam in her eyes, even a sliver of madness could be seen in them.

'That's it! Can't miss it!" With those thoughts, she hurried away, heading for an unknown location.

…

The two trainers left the room with their heads bowed, knowing that going back was, in addition to being dangerous, a waste of time.

"Even if we go, it's very unlikely they're still alive, especially with those mutated animals around." Asa commented helplessly.

"Yes, and it's the same with the crystals, how are we going to get there with all of them protecting the mine? The worst thing is if they eat the crystals, we definitely don't have a chance." Roberto complemented.

At that moment, a little girl of 9 years old at most came to them, she was carrying in her hands a straw basket, in which some fruits were in sight. She had some deformed features, the most apparent being her hair, which instead of hairs with normal composition, was made up of a light blue liquid. Visually, her hair was made of water.

"Uncles, do you want a fruit? I just got these." She offered the fruit with the kindest face and cutest eyes in the world.

The two men, despite being tense and at a critical time for decision-making, accepted the fruit, there was simply no denying it to that child.

So Asa and Roberto took respectively an apple and a pear. The girl plastered a big, charming smile on her face after she saw her fruit being enjoyed and quickly ran to continue offering her fruit to others.

The two men went back to arguing after eating their fruit.

"On second thought, I think we have a chance, after all we have a lot of mutants here, and even if they aren't good fighters, we can compensate with the amount. What do you think?" The black-handed man, Roberto, asked.

"I agree, let's find the top 20 here and leave. I've already talked to the new blood recruit, he's already getting ready." Asa complemented and both reached a consensus.