Chapter 4

The group of four looked toward Slert, having almost forgotten she was there in the midst of their argument. Eva, figuring she owed their two guests and explanation, stepped forward. She would be the one to come clean about her secrets.

"Slert, remember when you were talking of Qoot and the planet, how I got defensive and didn't tell you anything?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck nervously, "Well that's because I… we have a secret."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. No offence, but it was pretty obvious," Slert interjected, shrugging.

Eva continued, "No offence taken. Anyway, you know how you asked me how I was so good at flying the spacecraft? Well it's because I… I can control the wind around the ship, and wind in general. All of us can control something here."

"So then that guy, Qoot… Zierra wasn't lying? He could actually summon demons?" Nyrhtak gaped, hardly believing what he was hearing.

"Yes, he could. It's why he looked so weird. One of his summonings went wrong and a few demons embedded themselves in his body. He sustained the majority of control, though," Eva explained, "Now I suppose some introductions are in order."

She got everyone lined up in front of Slert and Streerch and Nyrhtak, and once they were ready the five of them began. Stepping forward Eva started them off.

"As you know, I'm Eva. I'm an austromancer, meaning I can control the wind around me," she told them. Her introduction was short, and she quickly looked to the one beside her to step up.

He did just that, though he wasn't happy about it. He told them coldly, "I'm Jay Vee, and I'm a pyromancer. That means I can control fire, hence why I always wear this suit. Now I don't like you, so don't get on my bad side… or else."

Slert nodded nervously as he stepped back into the line. For the time being at least, she wouldn't want to mess with him; he was quick to lose his temper, as she'd seen, and that combined with the ability to control fire was enough to convince her.

Next up was the being that they'd never seen before.

She stepped up, saying quietly and calmly, "They call me Yink. Originally I'm from the southern part of Teelak, making me a Teelakian. I generally like to stay away from the action, so I study chiromancy, or you might know it as palm reading."

"This here's Tiv. Both her parents were dririmancers, so she inherited the skill naturally. She doesn't quite know how to control it yet, but she's working on it. In case you don't know, since she's knows dririmancy she can control blood," Xenata introduced for the smeet.

"Blood?" Nyrhtak questioned suddenly.

"Yes, blood. And I'm Xenata the necromancer, meaning I can raise the dead," she smiled.

"This is all interesting and all, but it kind of seems too far fetched. Would there be any way to show us your powers so we can believe you?" Slert asked, the information not quite sinking in just yet.

"Sure. Just give me the name of someone who died. So long as their soul's intact, I should be able to get them here without trouble… possibly with their body as it was when they died too," Xenata offered kindly.

Nyrhtak was about to throw a name out there, but Slert beat him to it. She said quickly before he could even open his mouth, "Skippy! Please bring Skippy back if you can."

"OK, will do," the vortian girl agreed, as she began the process of bringing her back to the living world.

All was quiet as she concentrated on finding Skippy's soul, and Slert's eyes began to wander. She gave a small gasp of surprise as she noticed for the first time that where Xenata's eyes should have been, there were merely empty sockets.

Before they knew it something began to appear in front of them. It started slowly, but gained speed as it went. The particles in the air were gathering at her soul, creating her body.

Soon Skippy lay there in the flesh, though Slert found that she was less excited than she'd thought she'd be. The previously dead irken's body was totally mangled, and she couldn't even get off the ground.

In this state, there was no way she could be Slert's sidekick. She asked Xenata, "Is there any way to change her body? Any way to at least get her arms and leg back?"

"Unfortunately…no," the vortian answered sadly, "This is how she is now. But… either way her movements and thoughts are minimal. This process of bringing them back from the dead can sometimes have the side effect of… zombifying them. But don't worry, it's only temporary; I don't have enough skill yet for it to be permanent."

A sigh of relief escaped Slert's lips. She hated to see her friend in this condition, and was happy that she'd soon be dead again. Nonetheless she turned to Streerch to make sure it was recording this.

"Well, I'm convinced," Nyrhtak said in amazement, gazing at Skippy's struggling body, "But I just have one question: what d'you guys do all day?"

"Well… normal society doesn't exactly accept us…" Jay Vee huffed, "So most of us just stay here and improve our skills and stuff. But we need monies to support ourselves, so some of us manage to hide our skills from the population and get jobs."

"I'd be one of those," Eva said proudly, "I just got out of flying school, but there's a high demand for talented pilots. Already one of the big agencies has offered to hire me, and I immediately got my wings."

"And… what will there be for us to do?" Slert asked. She didn't want to sit around watching the others to their things; she had things of her own that had to get done.

"Well I believe in the spacecraft you said something about training Nyrhtak. And it seems like you're fairly interested in mechanics and experimenting, so if you don't mind working with one or two of us, there's a lab and a training ground down here too."

"Are you serious? You have a lab and training ground in this place? What else have you guys hidden here?" Nyrhtak gaped, barely believing it. The planet didn't look all that big from the outside, yet inside it held so many things.

"Of course! We have everything we need here to live and all sorts of comforts too. Many of us haven't left this place for decades, so the only way to not go insane is to have fun," Xenata said happily, looking to the floor.

As Skippy's weathered form withered away and her spirit returned to the land of the dead Slert thought to herself. This was starting to tickle her fancy more and more.

"Thank you all so much for your kindness," she said, looking to them all, "If not for you, we'd have nowhere to stay. But if it's all right with you, could Nyrhtak and I do a bit of exploring? We'll need to know our way around if we're to live here."

"Yes, of course. Go right ahead," Yink smiled, happy to see the irken so eager to get going.

"No! First we play!" Tiv yelled happily, lunging at the two of them.

"No, no, Tiv. Let them settle in a little bit first. After that you can play with them all you want," Xenata laughed, and Tiv stopped in her tracks. She turned around and pranced back to the eyeless vortian, a wide smile on her face.

So that was it. By a stroke of luck they'd landed a place to stay, which was more than they'd ever expected. Curiosity getting the better of them, they rushed to check out the wonders of the underground lair as the others went about their business.

"This should be fun…" Slert muttered to herself, looking forward to continuing her experiments and training Nyrhtak.

************

"Wow, this place is insane…" Nyrhtak muttered, as he poked his head into another room. This underground home had it all… and more.

"You can say that again… we've been walking for almost a good hour and we still haven't seen half of it all," Slert agreed, nodding, "What d'you say we give it a rest for a while and start your training?"

"Yeah, I guess we could do that. I think I saw the training ground a little way back," he agreed, turning around.

The two walked for a while longer, stopping by their room on the way. Streerch wouldn't be needed for the time being, so it would be there to process information and make a map of the facility. Soon they were back on their way.

After taking an elevator to the second floor and trying to find their way for a moment or two, they chanced upon the training chamber.

Walking into the room, their jaws dropped in awe. They'd seen that this place was magnificent, but to have such an insane training room… it blew their minds.

The room wad divided into four sections based on different environments: forest, desert, urban, and the fourth was a randomizer. Lining the walls of the hall that divided these four areas were various weapons and defensive measures; most all of them, including the ones meant to defend, looked quite deadly.

At the very back of the room they found a locker room of sorts. Each person that resided in the depths of the planet had a locker filled with things specifically for them. Slert and Nyrhtak each picked out a locker from the spares before checking out the rest of the training ground.

"OK, so…" Slert started, as she grabbed a small axe from its place on the wall, "We need to get to work. My mission in life is very dangerous, so if you're to be my sidekick we'll have to toughen you up."

"Toughen me up? H-how do you intend to do that?" he asked nervously, looking quickly between her eyes and the axe she held. He really didn't like where this was going.

"The best way to toughen one up is to put them in real danger. Now you'd best be choosing which location we go to, if you want any hope of dodging this," Slert said simply, as she readied the axe for throwing.

Needless to say, he ran away. He knew that he had to train a bit to be of assistance, but this was just too extreme. As he ducked into one of the four environments he heard Slert call to him, "You'll thank me for this in the end!"

Wanting to escape from the psycho he quickly looked around to find that he was in the middle of a forest. Thinking quickly he scrambled up the tree nearest him, hoping it would hide him from Slert.

Soon enough he heard footsteps and instantly knew that the crazy irken was coming for him. It figured; she'd just escaped from the most high-security irken prison in existence, so it was only logical that she'd be insane.

Suddenly everything went quiet and he could no longer predict where she stood. He shivered violently, his fear getting the best of him.

Slert looked around slyly, watching for any hints as to Nyrhtaks's whereabouts. Luckily she soon saw a few leaves fall from a nearby tree, giving away his position.

A little less than skilfully she threw the axe at the tree, watching as it spun dangerously through the air. Before long she heard a shrill girlish scream as Nyrhtak fell from the tree. He looked up at Slert with fear in his eyes.

"Come on, you're going to have to at least defend yourself. Otherwise you'll surely die when we go out into the world," Slert told him calmly, as she whipped out a dagger. Raising it high she advanced on him, a cold look in here eyes.

::End Chapter 4::

Well, it looks like Slert's gears are already grinding away. She isn't going to settle for a weakling, she wants someone she can at least rely on in battle... and this is the perfect place to do that! The question is: does Nyrhtak have what it takes? Doesn't look like he's all that good at fighting, and if he doesn't do something quick he's going to be in some deep trouble... but on the other hand, would Slert be willing to kill a potential partner? You'll have to wait and see, I suppose!