The flipside, p.7
The FlipSide, page 7
part #1 of The Connected Worlds Series
He stood up quickly from his chair and the world around him seemed to go dark. He couldn’t see and collapsed down to the ground, knocking himself unconscious.
Chapter 9
The transfusion had gone far from perfect. It didn’t go as badly as to kill Axel, but it kept him bedridden for over a week. His body convulsed daily, struggling to adapt to the blood. Since he was in a coma like state, memories of the week slipped through his mind and when he finally awoke, it felt like only minutes had gone by since the transfusion took place. It hurt to open his eyes, the room around him was coated in white like a hospital. He squinted to let a small amount of light enter so he could get used to the brightness. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was also clad in a white hospital gown. An IV was stuck into his arm with fluid being pumped into him. He opened his mouth to try to call for help, but he was unable to form any words while his lips cracked with dryness. He lay there for a few more minutes, trying to remember how he had gotten there in the first place. What if he had been dreaming the entire time since the man in black chased him down the sewers into Chicago. What if he was brought to a hospital in Chicago after nearly drowning in the sewer? Not having anyone around him to explain started to set him in a panic state, which lead to his heart rate beginning to rise. The monitor began to beep more rapidly causing him even more anxiety. Before he was able to completely spiral into insanity, the monitor’s sound did its job and a door slid open with Lexa stepping through.
“Someone grab a doctor! He’s awake now!”
Axel looked toward Lexa and still felt like he was in a dreamlike trance. Seeing another person now made him question whether the reality in front of him was true or not. As Lexa came closer, everything started to seem more real. He wasn’t entirely positive of the reality in front of him until he felt Lexa grab his arm and start to rub it to calm him down. Her eyes had large black circles around them, and they were blood shot. She looked like she hadn’t slept properly in days. She looked just fine during the transfusion though.
Axel still searched for words but couldn’t find them. As if Lexa could sense what he was thinking, she put a finger up to tell him everything would be okay and that she understood. They held eye contact for a moment until a doctor came through the door with a clipboard. He set it down next to the bedside and immediately started through a routine to check through all of Axel’s vitals.
“That was quite a fall you took last week, son. You’re lucky to be alive I’d say.”
“Last...week?” Axel’s voice croaked to life.
“Axel, you fell right after the transfusion and have been in a coma since then.” Lexa said. “Your body has been fighting to merge our blood together. It wasn’t until two days ago that we started seeing signs of success for the transfusion and signs of recovery.” She started to tear up, “We weren’t sure if you were going to make it.”
General Priver walked into the room before Axel could respond. He looked the same as when Axel had first met him. It was hard to tell whether or not he was smiling at him because of his thick mustache, but it seemed like he was happy to see Axel alive. He strode over to the bedside and put his hand on Lexa’s shoulder.
“You both had all of us worried that we were going to lose the two of you. Glad to see you recovering Axel, for Lexa and your sake.”
“What do you mean lose the both of us?” Axel said as Lexa looked down. “The transfusion only went bad for me, right?”
Priver gave him a look that told him he didn’t know the whole truth once more. “You and Lexa are a connected pair you see,” Priver said, “since you were connected by your birth, that means you are also connected by death. If one of you were to die, even while in another world, the other would feel life slip from them just moments after.”
“You’re telling me that if I didn’t make it through this, Lexa would have died too?”
“Precisely.”
“Why would you risk our lives like that? Lexa, why would you go through with this without even batting an eye?” Axel asked.
She looked up again with her sleep deprived eyes, “For the cause. Sometimes the bigger picture is worth it. And for the record, even when you’re in significant pain like you were, it takes a toll on me too.” She said as she rubbed her eyes again.
“Wow, and here I thought you just looked so bad because you’d been staying up agonizing over how sad you’d be if I didn’t make it!” Axel said while mustering a small laugh.
“You’re lucky you’re in a hospital bed right now, cause otherwise I’d definitely punch you in the arm right now.” She returned with a smile.
The doctor continued to go through all the necessary checks to make sure Axel was in good health. Although he had just woken up, his body already felt like it was returning to its normal self. In fact, his body actually felt better than before. He could slowly start to feel more strength in his arms as the minutes past, which meant the transfusion was starting to take its course to full effect. The doctor reminded him to take it easy for the next few days, but it already felt like he had wasted so much time being stuck in bed for so long.
“What’s the plan now? What do we do next to take down Donwin?” Axel asked.
“Well first you need to get better, then we need to start actually training you.” Lexa said.
“I’ll be fine as I am, I can already feel myself getting stronger. The transfusion is working fine now, I’m ready for whatever we need to do.”
Priver smiled big enough to show his teeth through his mustache for the first time. They were big and yellow, but still shone under the hospital light. “We appreciate the enthusiasm, Axel, but you’re far from ready to be fighting any FOFs, let alone taking down Donwin. As strong as you feel, you haven’t had any training yet. Lexa’s blood will help you with the core strength and your ability to learn, but it will still take time.”
“I’m ready now, trust me.” Axel insisted.
Priver’s smile faded away, “And you trust me. We dealt with Donwin’s tyranny long before you were even born, let alone stepped in our city. We can deal with it a little while longer while we make sure we have the best course of action. I’ll see you when you are fully recovered and begin your training.”
Priver turned as if on a dime and strode back out of the doorway. Axel felt like he had just been yelled at by his grandpa. Lexa saw the look of annoyance on his face.
“I trained my whole life to get to where I’m at today.” Lexa said. “It won’t take you a lifetime, thank goodness, but it might take a few weeks to get you to where we need you to be. I’m the one who should be mad actually, I had to work so hard to be as good of a fighter as I am, and you come along and get to cheat by using my blood!”
She had a point – Axel hadn’t had any formal combat experience in his life unless you counted small fights between the guys at school. Most of those had just been over stupid stuff though, none of them had been with the intention to seriously harm or kill someone like they would be out here in FlipSide. Regardless of whether the next step would be to take Donwin head on or to start training, Axel wanted to do something that beat just lying in bed. He started to pull himself up from the bed and immediately felt a sharp pain in his chest and fell back down.
“Alright maybe you’re right about waiting a little bit.” He said.
“Of course I’m right! Now get some sleep that isn’t coma induced. I think I might do the same thing.”
She left his bed side and went out of the room. The doctor finished all of his tests and told Axel that he should follow the advice of Lexa and the General and just stay in bed till he felt completely better. He finally gave in to all of them and agreed to rest. It was difficult to fall asleep at first. His mind was telling him that he needed to get up and move around to get used to his body again, but his body definitely had another plan. Axel lay on his back and stared up at the white ceiling. After about a half hour of boredom laying down, he found himself drifting into sleep. This time his dreams took him back to his classroom in Chicago. Sitting down in his desk and contemplating what it was like away from Chicago and comparing himself to others that had traveled the world. Now he had been to a place that no one else on his planet could say they’ve been to. He seemed to be daydreaming about his newfound adventure while sitting in his desk when all of a sudden, his teacher appeared again and tapped loudly on his desk with a ruler. Now he noticed that the classroom seemed to be dissolving around him. First the walls disappeared and slowly everyone around him began fading away. The last thing to go was the floor, and as it dissolved, he could see the city of FlipSide below him. The aura of the sky was right below him and seemed like a massive cloud to break though. He still sat in his desk floating in the air, until his seat started to slip from under him too. Within moments he was free falling through the sky down towards FlipSide. It was as if he was skydiving down to his destination, but he lacked a parachute to save his fall. His speed seemed to increase as he glowing aura approached closer and closer. He flew by it and felt a tingling in his body as he did, the lights of the entire city shown back at him. The neon lights and glow seemed as beautiful to him now as it first did when he had seen FlipSide for the first time. His flight path seemed to avoid all buildings, but the ground approached even faster than the aura had. Within an instant he had crashed into the ground and his eyes opened again to see he was still in the hospital room, except now the lights had been completely turned off and it was dark. He had no idea what time it was but decided to turn over to go back to sleep. This time he didn’t dream a single thing. The world was black around him.
It took a few more days, but Axel was able to rise to his feet again. Everything seemed perfectly normal from his perspective, but he could feel an unlocked power hidden deep within him now that was just waiting to come out. Lexa agreed that he would be ready for formal training once he was back to sleeping in a normal bed without doctor’s supervision. When the time came, he met her in the Linkers’ training center. As he walked into the facility, it seemed simply thrown together, like the rest of the headquarters. There was a weight section, some cardio equipment, but most of the space was taken by fighting equipment like heavy bags, punching bags, and a ring. Most Linkers seemed to be occupied with the fighting section and weights as opposed to the cardio at the moment. Lexa was waiting in the corner by the fighting ring. As he approached her, she threw him a pair of MMA style gloves and protective head gear.
“Put that on before I end up accidentally putting you back in the hospital for a few more days.”
Axel silently put the headgear on and strapped the helmet in place. He tried to make it seem like he knew what he was doing, but he struggled getting the gloves on for a moment. Lexa was too busy getting ready herself and getting into the ring to notice. She was already in and ready to go by the time Axel clumsily started climbing in.
“Okay, first I gotta test to see where your reflexes are at and how much of this has already come naturally to you through the transfusion. I’m going to try hitting you and I just want you to see if you can keep dodging my fists.”
“What and I can’t even swing back to defend myself? Seems unfair to me!” Axel said while trying to sound tough.
“A good fighter can win a match sometimes by just being evasive.” She replied.
Lexa began approaching him with her gloves held up. He held his up too, and the movement came to him more naturally than he thought it would. Within an instant, Lexa’s right glove shot forward like a lightning bolt and hit Axel square in the face. He stumbled backwards and reached for his nose in pain. He had been hit, but he felt as if he saw the fist coming despite how fast it was going. It had actually seemed in slow motion in comparison to how her fists looked when they had fought the FOFs on the roof. She approached him again seeing that he had recovered from the first blow. Axel sensed her left glove rising up and coming in for an uppercut. His eyes followed the glove as he jerked left and out to avoid the blow. A moment of celebration caught him for a second and he lost focus as her right glove came swinging from the other side to connect in his abdomen. The hit hurt, but he could already feel himself getting used to her movements.
Axel jumped back for a second to get his bearings back. Lexa came forward just as quickly and tried to throw a haymaker to his face that he ducked from just in time. This time, Lexa had to be the one to step back and recover. If they weren’t playing a game of evasiveness, he could have easily taken advantage of the situation and struck now. It didn’t take long for her long arm to reach out again to try striking him in the chest this time. Instead of dodging, Axel parried the strike with his glove. Lexa’s red hair started to get in her face, and she pushed it aside. She was clearly starting to get a little tired too after each punch. A smirk came across her face before she jumped in the air wildly with her legs flailing. Axel kept track of each body part, trying to sense from which angle she was going to come at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the ball of her left foot closing in on the side of his face. He quickly grabbed her leg by the ankle and brought her hard back onto the ground. A loud thud erupted as her back slammed into the arena and the other Linkers turned to look at the source of the noise. Axel had slammed her down way harder than he had intended. Lexa made a groaning noise and started sitting up again.
“Well at least we know it’s working.” She managed to say.
“Sorry, I guess I didn’t realize my own strength now.”
“Our strength is combined together now; we should be pretty equal actually.”
“Well I only see one of us on the ground so maybe one of us is just a tiny bit stronger, no?”
No sooner than Axel finished his joke did Lexa quickly jump up and sweep him off the ground by kicking into his ankles.
“Don’t get cocky and let your guard down so easily next time!”
Lexa made her way outside of the fighting ring and took off her head gear but kept her gloves on. Axel took longer than her to recover, and rose much slower, but eventually followed her out as well. She found the one heavy bag that wasn’t in use and waited by it until Axel eventually got over there, still wearing his headgear. He started taking it off once he realized no other Linker around him was wearing any outside of the ring. He threw it to the side of the heavy bag and looked to Lexa for direction.
“Alright, it’ll take a while for you to get the fundamentals down. We can spar every day like we just did but you’ll need to spend just as much time in this area as the ring.”
“Fair enough, so you just want me to hit this a few times.” Axel said as he jabbed at the bag with a 1-2-3 combo.
“Yup, just get a thousand hits in on this and then come find me for more training.” She said as she walked toward the exit.
“Wait! A thousand hits?” Axel called after her. “You can’t be serious!”
“With EACH hand. So that’s two thousand if that makes more sense to you!” She yelled back.
Axel exhaled deeply and stared at the bag. He looked around at the other Linkers who seemed to be in the zone hitting the bag punch after punch. He let out one more breath and then got to work on the bag. Stopping after every few hits to put it back into place from swinging. 27...28...29...30.
Chapter 10
It was impossible to tell how long it had been since Axel had first laid his eyes on FlipSide. The first few days within the city seemed to fly by, but after his first encounter with Donwin, time simply escaped him. The first few days had seemed so magical, dangerous, and new all at the same time, but now his days had become a routine. Every day he would wake up in his tent on a small cot, get dressed and head towards the mess hall. Despite all of the advanced developments within FlipSide, the food was surprisingly not that unique. He would have scrambled eggs with sausages and a biscuit on the side. Sometimes the meal would be accompanied by orange juice or milk, depending on the day. Axel hadn’t seen a single livestock animal since he had been in the city, so he finally decided to ask the chef one day. He was told that FlipSide had developed an artificial means of creating food many years ago that replicated what they researched from his world. It was their only option since there wasn’t any room to raise animals or grow crops in the city, and no one had been outside the city walls in decades due to the dangers that they were repeatedly warned about. Axel was also lectured about how his world’s method of raising livestock was unsustainable and how FlipSide’s method was more humane. It made sense to him, but it all seemed to go in one ear and out the other as he only thought of his routine.
After his hefty breakfast, Axel would immediately head to the training room and begin his punching exercises. He would always make sure that he had hit the heavy bag at least a thousand times with each fist, and if Lexa still hadn’t shown up, he would keep doing pushups until she got there. His hands were constantly sore and bruised during his first few weeks of training, but his body had slowly gotten used to the rigorous physical routine and now he wasn’t able to feel much of the pain. Once Lexa arrived, they could go into the fighting ring and spar for an hour or so. No matter how much he trained against a heavy bag or strength trained, he would never be able to face Donwin or any FOFs without having legitimate fighting practice. Axel could tell that Lexa took it easy on him when they sparred, but every now and then he could see the look of surprise on her face when he got a strike in that she wasn’t expecting. Once their bout was finished, they would both sit and talk for a few minutes before Lexa said she had to go help Priver with urgent business. Since his training started, he barely got to see or spend time with Lexa besides their sparring time. She had gotten so busy with helping Priver run the resistance that she never seemed to have time to just relax.
Outside of his training, Axel didn’t have much to do. Even if he spent four to five hours a day working out, he’d still have the rest of the day to lounge about. He would often go around the Headquarters and see if any of the other Linkers needed help with anything. They were always appreciative of his offer, but there was rarely anything that seemed worth teaching him how to help with. It still gave him the opportunity to get to know some of the other members of the resistance. There was only so much time he could spend with Saul before he wanted to put his head through a wall. Everyone else that he had met in the Headquarters seemed just as determined and ambitious as Lexa, but Saul was the only one that didn’t seem to really care what happened in the end. Axel wasn’t sure if the alcohol made him so bitter, or if his bitterness was the thing that turned him to the alcohol.
