#oh its been ages since i got glomped

[mieczyhale]

Glomp!

[greensword101]

So, I had jokingly talked to @princesstadashi a few times about an AU where everyone’s age was the same except for Ezra’s. I’d say he would be around 7 in this au, still had his parents taken from him on Empire Day.

For a year, Ezra has been surviving on the streets of Lothal as an urchin. No one offers much sympathy for him and he holds the heartbreaking belief in his head that his parents were taken from him because he must have been bad.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t try being good from time to time, like saving a fruit vendor from having his goods wrongfully stolen by Stormtroopers with a stolen communicator, a few rocks, and a decent impression of some deep voiced officer. He got a piece to eat for free as thanks that time.

During the weapons raid, Ezra manages to sneak inside one of the crates in his attempt to snag some food. Turns out it was a weapons crate. Cue chase scene where he is stuck inside a crate Zeb took and is terrified for dear life. By the time he gets out of the crate, he is on Ghost and the entire crew is staring bug-eyed that ‘Oh dear GOD, there’s a stowaway and he’s a kid!’

The thing is, they all think he is some random kid with parents out of their minds with worry. And Ezra is all ‘sure, let’s go with that’ and is secretly screaming on the inside like ‘they’ll find out I was lying and they’ll be ever more mad at me!’

As much as they want to return him to his ‘family’, the Ghost crew has already been sighted by Imperial forces and they have no choice but to do the rendezvous and mission first.

Hera takes to Ezra instantly, but not for his skills that were shown in canon. He’s a little kid and is a gold mine of questions she more than willingly answers for him. She gets the impression that he is intelligent, if a little shy.

Sabine isn’t too impressed by him; after all, he ends up adding to their load with his presence. She can’t help but think that his parents will end up killing them when they return the boy. If they’re able to.

Zeb is gruff, hates having his personal space invaded and can’t wrap his head around why the kid is treating him like a giant stuffed animal! Ezra’s only complaint is that the Lasat smells awful.

Chopper is neutral towards him. He doesn’t think they’ll see him again after the day is over and gets irritated when the boy keeps poking him for no reason.

Kanan, for reasons he doesn’t understand yet, feels that there is something strange about the stowaway boy. He keeps his distance from Ezra because of this, which is fine for the boy because Kanan kind of scares him too.

The weapons stolen from the Imperials is sold in exchange for food that the crew distributes at a resettlement camp while Ezra senses Kanan’s lightsaber in his room. He just gets his hands on the thing when he hears Kanan shout:

“Don’t touch that!”

Kanan doesn’t see a Force-sensitive kid. He sees an idiot boy with his hands on a very dangerous weapon now put it down right now young man before you lose an eye! When Ezra absentmindedly mentions that he could hear it, then Kanan gets scary.

“Stay out of my room. Don’t touch that again!”

Because Kanan is now thinking that the chances of the kid staying under the radar forever are slim if the Empire discovers him. He tells Hera and realizes that they might need to help Ezra get relocated somewhere safer too. Another thing to add to their list that they refuse to ignore.

If Ezra wasn’t scared of Kanan then, he was now.

During the rescue mission that turned out to be a trap, Ezra overhears Hera attempting to communicate with the other members on the enemy ship and decides to head out there and warn them himself. Cue Hera having a heart attack when she sees he is gone and the rest of Ghost thinking Hera sent a 7 year old to risk his life to warn them.

Ezra gets captured right as they reach Ghost and he demonstrates his Force powers for the first time, disarming the guards and saving Zeb from being shot, giving him the chance to escape. No one is happy with the outcome and turn around immediately to rescue the kid. Zeb bangs his head against a wall the entire way back.

Kallus learns of the Force sensitive child in custody and decides that ‘reeducating him’ would make him a useful asset for the Empire. He attempts to get information about Ghost from Ezra, but he doesn’t budge. He does almost cry in front of the officer, though and Kallus thinks that he’ll be easy to break.

The Inquisitor will be pleased to have a Force-sensitive child in his grasp.

At the same time, Ghost returns and everyone is battling through Stormtroopers because they are not going to leave a little kid behind. That’s not their way. Kanan is fighting especially hard, replaying the last time the two of them spoke in private and wincing more and more at the memory. I shouldn’t have been so harsh, he thinks, I’ll make it up to him somehow.

Ezra pulls the same ‘my uncle’s the Emperor’ trick and while the guards outside his cell don’t care that some little brat is their prisoner, they get nervous when Ezra threatens to ruin them - and maybe Ezra inadvertently uses the Jedi mind trick on them with the correct phrasing - and they go inside. Cue Ezra using the Force again to disarm them of their blasters.

Ezra has only been fending for himself for a year, so he doesn’t think of air vents to sneak through. Instead, he slowly starts realizing that he can do stuff like move things without touching them or mind control. So he uses the mind trick again to convince the guards that they are escorting him to his stuff, and then to a ship he can escape in. For extra measure, he has one of his ‘guards’ send a false report of a breach in the upper hangers - inadvertently making it easier for Ghost to land.

That’s when he bumps into Ghost and it takes several repetitions of ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!’ from Ezra to prevent two dead Stormtroopers. There is no small amount of relief from Zeb, Sabine and Kanan to see the kid unharmed and maybe Sabine pulls him into a tight hug that makes Ezra wish she wouldn’t let go. Zeb still punches the troopers, though no one is upset, and he doesn’t mind that the kid hugs his leg. They decide to bring one of the soldiers as a prisoner for information.

Kallus appears, now pissed that the kid is out of his cell and the Inquisitor will kill him for not delivering the promised apprentice he had just told him about. Ghost escapes and it’s happy reunion for all.

Kanan catches Ezra alone while Zeb interrogates their prisoner and learns about where the Wookies are really being sent. Its awkward for both of them. Ezra still sees him as the scary guy on the team and Kanan has no idea how to talk to children.

“Hey...kid...look, about earlier...when I saw you holding that...and you said you heard it calling to you...”

“He’s saying he’s sorry!” Sabine shouted from the hallway. Kanan is flustered, but it did the job of calming Ezra down and looking at the older man in a less intimidating light. Kanan tries to discuss with Ezra a plausible story to tell his parents when they drop him off and Ezra lets it slip that he lives by himself. There isn’t time to unpack the comment because Ghost landed at the coordinates their prisoner informed them of.

The Wookie rescue goes as well as it did in canon - aside from the Ghost crew getting simultaneous heart attacks when Ezra slips from their sight to rescue the child Wookie. Kanan reveals himself to be a Jedi and is ready to murder Kallus when he tries to shoot down Ezra and the Wookie child. They escape and Ezra leaves the room after watching the child reunite with their parent.

The crew offers to walk Ezra back to his house, but he waves them off. He reaches his tower in Lothal, having stolen Kanan’s Holocron instead and accidentally activates it. That’s when Kanan shows up and gives his little “You can stay here or come with us” speech and disappears. In canon, Ezra is amazed by the stealth hi/bye and with the knowledge that he was helping a Jedi. In this au, Ezra is a seven year old boy who lost his parents and believes it was because he was bad. He’s not impressed and becomes hysterical when Kanan pulls this trick.

The Ghost crew is about to leave, since they all realized that Ezra was lying about his parents, but Kanan decides to check himself. He comes back carrying Ezra in his arms like a parent holding a child, sobbing into his shoulder while Kanan mouths “Help me” to Hera. It takes a while to calm the kid down and when he hears that they weren’t going to leave him behind, he’s almost catatonic with shock at the news.

Kanan doesn’t even finish asking Ezra if he wants to learn to be a Jedi when the kid shouts “YES! YES! YES!” And then has to deal with the kid glomping him while the others laugh.

As if the cosmos had decided that he needed to be humiliated even further, Kanan is the one who ends up having Ezra as a roommate instead of Zeb - Zeb is both relieved and disappointed, the kid was growing on him - and therefore his babysitter.

That night, Kanan and Ezra are about to knock off.

“Night kid,” Kanan yawned.

“Night Daddy.”

Kanan suddenly realizes with terror, amusement, and joy that they didn’t just get a new crew member. Ghost gave the boy a family and Kanan as his father. 

[dietaku]

Amazing Quest 1: Chapter 4

The fourth chapter. You know how it is. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4: 2 Million Leagues Under the Sea!- We get another sepia tone flashback, this time of an only slightly-younger Hiro and Emilia. Emilia: Well… your form is good. But you swing your sword like a little girl. Hiro: I don’t like hurting people, sis. Besides, everyone knows YOU’RE the messiah the Pudding tribe has awaited! I’m only here because mom had that bottle of aged tequila lying around. Emilia: That has nothing to do with anything! You need to have more confidence! … Wait, I got just the ticket! Emilia runs behind Hiro and plays with his hair. Hiro: Um. What’re you doing? Emilia: I’m giving you a Pudding Warrior Knot in your hair. It’s an ancient custom of our tribe that when a Pudding Warrior comes of age, he gets one! Hiro: Oh. That’s pretty neat. Emilia finishes, presenting the now French braided hero, Hiro, we know now. Hiro: Somehow I feel more fabulous than before. Can’t quite place my finger on it. Emilia: It’s perfect! You’ll be beating up Dark Puddings before you know it! The scene fades, then returns, Hiro, Ozma, Kimyawa and Loyroll laid out on a beach. Hiro: Ungh. I wonder why I never dream in color. Hiro gets up and the others join him. You’ll soon discover this area is only one screen wide, so you’re left to exhaust every possibility until you investigate the water. Not just any water, though, the ONE specific square, just to the left of center. Many players wasted HOURS trying to find this event flag, and many people wrongly believed it was an anti-piracy measure. Nope. Just shoddy programming. The mermaid from before surfaces. Mermaid: So, thief, ready to pay up? Ozma: Hey! We don’t even HAVE a thief in this party! Hiro: Just a reasonable facsimile. Loyroll: You flatter me, as always. Mermaid: You yoinked the goods from that place without paying its rightful owner! Kimyawa: Isn’t that technically liberating it? Mermaid: QUIT CHANGING THE TOPIC! Kimyawa: What’s your name, Stranger-chan? Mermaid: I’m Mancala! Call me Manny and I’ll punch ya in the mug, got it?! I’m the number one marine merchant mermaid you’ll ever see in the sea! Ozma: Meh, mehmehmeh? Mancala: Ignoring that. The point is you took stolen property. So I’m gonna maroon you here until you pay up! Hiro: (Great. Now what do we do?!) You then get a prompt which can result in some different dialogue options. 1) Barter 2) Lie 3) Beg -Barter- Hiro: Okay. It was just a few things. Can’t be THAT expensive. What’s the tab? Mancala: Well… since you asked so nicely! Mancala brandishes an abacus and begins calculating. Mancala: The items total net value, plus the emotional damage to this delicate mermaid, plus interest, plus tax not withheld, plus tax withheld, social security, deducting the “asked so nicely” fee… it all tallies up to a measly 36 trillion gold! Ozma: Can I crush her head like an overripe melon? Hiro: T-trillion?! Are you MAD?! Mancala: If you’re nice, I’ll even include the “cute boy” deduction! That would knock it all the way down to 34! Loyroll: And certainly a deduction for yours truly, if I may be so bold? Mancala: I’m not into girls. … Much. Loyroll: Pardon? Hiro: There’s no way we have that much. That price is absurd. I refuse. Mancala: SAY WHAT NOW?! -Lie- Hiro: What if I told you I know of a great treasure?! It’d more than make up the difference! Mancala: Okay, I’m listening now. Kimyawa: Hiro-ni-chan! You DO?! You’ve been holding out on us?! Ozma: Hiro, how could you?! Loyroll: Most unfabulous of you, my friend. Hiro: … Mancala: … Hiro: Err. Friendship is a sacred treasure, above all material wealth in the Pudding society! Ozma: (So it was just a lie…) Mancala: *Sigh* -Beg- Hiro: Please don’t make me beg. I am not a proud man. Ozma, Kimyawa & Mancala: (This is about to get really hot…) Hiro: (Suddenly, my pride is flaring up within me and I don’t know why…) Loyroll: Well? We’re waiting. Hiro: On second thought, I think I’ll just take a moment to absorb the scenery instead. Mancala: (Darn…) Regardless of your choice, it comes back to here afterward. Mancala: This isn’t getting us anywhere! Hiro: Is there no way to come to an agreement on this? Mancala: Well… you could be my servants for a while! Y’know, help with this, that and the other for a bit and we could call it square! Hiro: I somehow get the impression you’re more ambitious than that. Mancala: Aww, you flirt~! Hiro: (Not the intended reaction. Why does it feel like my life is in danger now?) Ozma & Kimyawa: *Stare* Hiro: At any rate, we don’t have the kind of money on-hand to pay. So I guess we’ve no choice. Mancala: Well, you’re in luck! I just so happened to overhear some of the Dark Puddings talking about the Water Talisman. Hiro: You did? Where is it now?! Mancala: In the Octopus Garden. It’s some ancient ruins not far from my hometown, Mermania. Regrettably, those have been locked up tight since far back as anyone can remember. But I just so happen to know some juicy gossip that may lead us to a key. The Legendary Ice Key! Hiro: Sounds like a lead! Ozma: Or a diversion from the main plot. Poh-tay-toe, pah-tah-tow. Mancala: Either way, I need some henchmen and you need the talisman, right?! I knew it soon as I saw that birthmark! Hiro takes a moment to examine himself. Hiro: Okay, seriously, where is this birthmark you people keep going on about and why do I not see it? Mancala: But that whole “air-breather” problem… there’s only one fix for that! Hiro: Oh no, not another racket… Mancala: Calm down, calm down. It’s a Mermaid’s Kiss! Hiro: Oh. Is that some kind of stone? Or maybe a plant? Or— Mancala leaps from the water, her tail morphs into legs, allowing her to glomp Hiro. Accompanying in a loud, cartoonish “SMOOCH” sound effect, which always gets a giggle out of me. Hiro: W-whoa. That was… brusque. Ozma: *Furious* Kimyawa: *Envious* Loyroll: *Yawns* Are we ready to go now? Then we can enter the water and dive to the underwater map. Though, thanks to aquatic canyons, we can’t just go anywhere we want… yet. Our first stop is down south a ways at Mermania, a recurring city throughout the franchise. There, we can get the ��Bikni” armors for our female party members, which give a serviceable boost in defense to each. Hiro and Loyroll can get the “Trnks” which are a step up, but not as huge of one. How does an armor that covers less protect more? It is one of the long, lost legendary mysteries of JRPGs. Anyways, if we talk around at the merchant’s guild here, we’ll learn that Mancala has lost her trader’s license 17 different times due to “questionable practices”. The others roll their eyes when they learn this news but refrain from commenting. After talking to enough merfolk, Mancala fans out from the party. Mancala: Okay! We got everything we need? The legendary ice key is held in the underwater volcano! Hiro: I’d question the physical possibilities but somehow I feel like I’d just be encouraging you at this point. Mancala: Oh, don’t be so glum, chum! It’s pretty much a straight line there! … With a few curves and bumps. And a giant, angry dragon at the bottom. Hiro: Ah. There’s the hitch. I was waiting for that. Loyroll: Slaying a dragon? It’s a tad cliché but I think we can handle that! Mancala: Then what’re we waiting for?! Let’s do it! Ozma: What? You mean stroll up to the dragon and punch it in the face? Mancala: … Yes? Ozma: Metal. Kimyawa: Sugoi, Ozma-chan! At this point we can move back to the ocean floor and the cave in the top-right area is open now. Had we gone he previously, Hiro would’ve met the Giant Sentient Block, a really existential gag that plagues AQ players for years to come. In fact, in the early-internet era, whether this pseudo-character even existed was up for debate, as most of his appearances in this game are very easily missed. The cave itself is pretty straight-forward, except about midway, where the current puzzles spell out great confusion for those who tried to brute force the puzzles, which would flush them down a comically oversized pit where you’d battle the Toilet Snake monster, which is obsessed with poison attacks. Otherwise, the local monsters like the Munchkinfish, Seaweeder, and Poof Fish are actually quite weak compared to other monsters around this level. Here you can find a Coral Abacus for Mancala, replacing the nonsense “TmSn” Abacus she comes with normally (the Japanese name is “Termite Snack” and I guess they were okay with letting everyone assume it meant “Thompson” or something!). Afterward, you just press on down the stairs… up until you enter the gameshow chamber. Yeah, that’s not a joke. The party fans out and stands behind a podium as a huge, anime octopus-man plops down in a suit and tie. Octopus: Welcome, ladies and gentlefish to Amazing Quest: The Game Show: The Video Game: Home Edition v. 1992! I’m your host, Otto! And you lucky heroes are in for a treat today! You get to try my quiz game challenge! Win and you’ll receive fabulous prizes! Fail and you get… well, nothing! Are we ready to play?! We then get a prompt of “Squid yeah!” or “Fin no!”, but obviously the game won’t let you progress until you at least TRY, so, yeah… Otto: Question 1 will be an easy one to get your feet wet! What tribe is Hiro from? We get a prompt between “Pudding”, “Protagonist” and “Team Laser Explosion”. The answer is quite obvious. Otto: Correct! Question 2: What is Ozma’s family name? This one is a little trickier, being given the possible answers “Trouble”, “Tohrubble” and “Toruble”. Just be aware of what her name REALLY is, and you’ll be fine. Otto: Great job! Really kraken ‘em up! Question 3: What mystical artifacts, when united, unleash a great and terrible power? The answers this time are: “The DisKord Stones”, “Hell’s Bells”, and “The Talismans”. Interestingly enough, the other options are shout-outs to DOS-era adventure titles, which AQ4 later also shouts out to. Otto: Whooo! Now we’re gilly getting into it! Question 4: What elemental affinity is the first boss of this game? The prompt is just Fire, Water and Pie, so the answer is obviously water as it was the monster in Fog Tower. If you say Pie, Otto’s arms drop to his sides, as he turns to face the player directly and will stare at you for 10 tedious, unnerving seconds before prompting you to try again. Otto: ALRIGHT! Last one and this one separates the squids from the suckers! Question 5: Which of these is NOT an element of magic?! The answer prompt this time is four options wide, including: “Music”, “Emotion”, “Boobs” and “Food”. You’d only know the answer to this if you read the instruction booklet – which specifically references the elements of magic in the AQ universe. This is kind of a jerk move by the game devs, as losing the manual in the early SNES era was a foregone conclusion by all but the most dedicated collectors. The answer is technically food, but the AQ manga series actually contradicts this during the “Great Pudding Cook-Off” arc. Otto: N-no way! What an amazing contestant we had on the show! Everyone, put your fins together for our new winners! A bunch of fish suddenly leap-on screen and shake about excitedly as the SNES strains to emulate the sound of uproaring applause. Then they retreat to whence they came. Otto: How do you feel? Hiro: A little drunk? Otto: YOU HEARD IT HERE, FOLKS! Now, enjoy your fabulous prizes! For answering all five correct, we get 3 “Fishy Hats” which are helmet upgrades that anyone in the party can put on. We’re then booted from the quiz room and resume our trek through for a few more rooms up until we reach the boss chamber. There, there’s a huge hole in the center of the room, glowing red. Hiro: I have to assume this is where the dragon awaits us. Mancala: Better go up and check just to be sure, Hiro! We’ll wait back here, where it’s safe! Hiro: *Sigh* Very well. One moment. Hiro walks to the lip and looks down. Hiro: Deep. But I don’t see anything. Hiro kicks a small stone from the lip down below, then puts a hand to his ear to listen for it. Hiro: … Deep. Very deep. But I still don’t— The screen begins violently shaking. Hiro: Well, I’ve been wrong before. -Boss Fight!- Trench Serpent LP: 7500 MP: 1000 This gigantic beast is a real threat at last! I hope you took the time to level up on your way here! Your best bet is use Kimyawa’s Fox Flip, if you’re leveled high enough to have it by now, which can briefly confuse the monster to some considerable effect. However, it mandates being quite a bit over-leveled to use here, so she may be money ahead to spam the Mirror of Kii. The serpent’s most dangerous move is “COWABUNGA!” which sends a killer tidal wave over the party – never mind that we’re already underwater during this fight. Your Pudding Swirls should be sufficient, provided you’re not careless. If you monitor your HP burn, you should come out on top. -Boss Fight!- Hiro: Whew… that was surprising. Mancala: Look! The Ice Key! A banana in a block of ice floats down to Hiro’s hands. Hiro: I lack the words. As usual. Mancala: We have it! Now we can go to the Octopus’ Garden! Hiro: Tell me it’s not a quiz game. Mancala: Probably not! Loyroll: Life is far more fun when you never know what comes next, right? Hiro: I guess so. At this point we –can- go on to the next area, if we wanted to. However, a hilarious and easily-missed Easter egg awaits those who return back to Zaius and Heston. The people gather at a neutral ground once you walk into one of the cities. Hiro: Okay. Everyone. Watch very carefully. I’m gonna bring peaceful resolution to this once and for all. Hiro brandishes his sword, then cuts the Ice Key clean in half. Mancala: HIRO! WHAT THE HELL?! Hiro: Just watch. This is going some place. Hiro takes the banana free of the ice, then peels it from center-out on both ends. Crowd: WHAT?! N-no way! No one has ever… how did he DO THAT?! Hiro: See? Now you understand: there’s more than just two ways to do something! And each is equally valid. And now we all learned an important lesson, right? Crowd: HE HAS ANGERED THE VOLCANO GODS! Hiro: Beg pardon? The camera pans out as a nearby mountain erupts into a volcano, the magma pours out and wipes out both villages in a flash. It then cuts back to the party. Mancala: Oh. Right. This place is ruled by the twin brother gods of volcanoes: Rilk and Klir. They also had very particular food habits. And banana peeling was one of their sacred doctrines. Hiro: … How was I supposed to know that? So with two more destroyed cities under our belts, we find the Melted Blade, a new sword for Hiro as we return to the sea for the Octopus Garden. The garden is a 3D maze, using a really curious fixed-perspective isometric view and water spouts that move Hiro up and down as you run through. People have wasted HOURS of their lives here due to the numerous deadends and confusing layout. This is also only the first screen. The second area has moving platforms which Hiro must traverse in order to cross a river. For some reason, this ordeal seems quite nostalgic, doesn’t it? The third area introduces the garden’s true gimmick – the octopus jars and the red and blue octopi. When you get here, the party fans out. Mancala: Ah. I’ve heard of this room. We have to approach it from a certain angle! Hiro: I don’t suppose you know what it is? Mancala: Grandma said this: red octopi are friendly and will pull you near them for a closer look! Blue octopi are shy and if approached, will politely move you away from their homes! But don’t fear – neither will harm you! Hiro: What on Earth does THAT mean?! Mancala: I dunno. Why? Hiro: … Kimyawa: Nii-chan, I think I understand! The octopi-tachi are different colors here. Red will pull us near from far away and blue will push us from near to far. And the room is full of holes in the floor. So, to progress, we need octopi-tachi to move us from one spot to another. Hiro: So the riddle lies in the color and the distance. I see. This is the most head-scratching moments in the game, not due to the base mechanics, but to how fiendishly clever the rooms that lie ahead really are. As explained, red octopi reach out three or four spaces ahead to grab us, but will ignore us if we’re one or two spaces out from them, and blue octopi ignore us at distances of three or greater, and will move us away from them three to four spaces if we approach. Using this knowledge we must move about the map step by step to progress. The first room is very simple and just a test of how each works. The second room adds more walls and holes in the floor to test your critical thinking. The third room adds floors that collapse once stepped on (which reset if you leave and come back) and the final room adds conveyer belts for a touch of twitch-reflex testing! Even with random encounters turned off for these moments, this still routinely gets ranked in the top 5 most hair-pullingly frustrating dungeons in the series. Once you get to the end, we see another pit not unlike the underwater volcano end area. Mancala: Oh? Is this the center area of the Octopus Garden? Ozma: Ugh. Not a recolor boss fight. How uncreative can you get? The area rumbles as a large, purple Trench Serpent rises from below. Kimyawa: Ozma-chan, Snake-san didn’t like that comment. Hiro: Get ready, everyone! Before the battle can begin, something flashes across the screen, and the serpent roars, sinking back into the abyss. Hiro: Wait, what? Who was that?! ?: Light Puddings! Prepare yourselves! Ozma: Uh. Strictly speaking only one among us is a Pudding! A tall, slender man with an oversized tower shield on each arm stands before the party. Man: I am Praetorian Mih! Hiro: Of course you are. Loyroll: I understand your frustration, my friend, but you must admit, he’s got style! Mih: You’ve done enough damage, Light Pudding! It’s time your little escapade— Hiro: Excuse me. Mih: What? Hiro: How are you breathing right now? Did you kiss a mermaid too? Mih: Huh? Hiro: We’re underwater, so I just wanted to know if we did the same thing is all or if there was a better way. Mih: Kiss a mermaid? What are you on about? Everyone knows mermaids aren’t real. Mancala: *Ahem* Mih: Bah! I tire of this. Enough banter! Have at you! -Boss Battle!- Praetorian Mih LP: 8800 MP: 750 Praetorian Mih is every bit the human wall his massive design and dual-wielding shields might indicate, coupled with by far the most LP of anything we’ve yet encountered. The best thing to do is to use Ozma’s Table Flip in hopes it reduces this giant’s defenses and use Pudding Swirl with Hiro and Kimyawa in order to give him the offensive edge needed to compete. Loyroll should use the Mirror of Kii, exploiting Mih’s middling magic defenses. Mih’s most annoying ability will be “Safe & Sound”, a special technique accompanied by an unusually cool trumpet solo which will render him virtually invincible for two rounds before he opens up with a party-wide physical blow. However, if you can weather this, he has a 3 turn cooldown on the ability, so he cannot spam it. You’ll have to play the endurance game just as much as he does, but if you keep it up, you’ll send him packing. -Boss Battle!- Mih: Hahaha! Not bad. Not bad at all. But it will take way more than that to defeat the Human Wall, Praetorian Mih! Hiro: How many more times are you going to introduce yourself?! Loyroll: It seems our unstoppable tempo has met with an unmoving mountain! Kimyawa: Nii-chan, I think you’re mixing your metaphors. Ozma: Don’t give up. I have an idea! But I’ll need your help, Mancala! Mancala: Huh? Uh. Okay! Lay it on me! What’s the plan?! Ozma palms Mancala’s head in her hand. Mancala: Eh? Wait, what— Ozma then hurls Mancala head-first into Mih, who slides back as she impacts, coming to the rim of the pit behind him. Mancala falls flat, stars circling her head. Mancala: BARF! Mih: Hahahaa! You must be truly desperate to resort to such flailing, desperate measures! Ozma: Oh, am I? Mih: Huh? What did you…? Oh no! Mih panics, desperately attempting to run as the cliff below him gives out and he plummets into the pit below. After a few seconds of a whistling, falling sound, we hear a violent crash below. Kimyawa: Yatta! Hiro: That was, uh, a creative way of dealing with that. Ozma: I’m pretty pleased with myself. Mancala: My poor head… I’m gonna feel that for weeks! Ozma: Oh, walk it off. Mancala: How do you walk off a headache?! Hiro: C’mon, guys. The water talisman must be… huh? Do you guys hear something? The area rumbles distantly. Suddenly, an explosion rockets up from the pit, sending the party skyward. Hiro: He exploded?! Loyroll: Not just him! The serpent too! Hiro: BECAUSE THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, RIGHT?! Something shiny flies among the party. Kimyawa: Sugoi! The water talisman! Guy-nii-chan! Ozma: I got it! Ozma grabs Mancala’s tail and swings her around, causing Mancala to grab it. Mancala: STOP THAT, YOU CRAZY BITCH! Ozma: But it just feels SO RIGHT! How can it be wrong?! Ozma learns the Dual Tech – Fish Slap! She’ll grab Mancala’s tail and swing her about like a flail, dealing great damage to a single target. This move deals water-type damage. And we get the Water Talisman! Ozma: The important thing is that we got the Water Talisman now, right? Hiro: No! The important thing is that we’re ABOUT TO FALL AND DIE!!! Ozma: Such a gloomy gus… The party is then viewed falling, crash-landing in a seaside village on the opposite side of one of the underwater canyons that previously prevented our passage from Mermania. They pick themselves up and survey the town. Mancala: Oh! I know where this is! This is Trackland, the town known for its enormous race track and horrible, crippling gambling debt! Hiro: That seems… informative. Never heard of a place that bagged on their own town when they were naming it. Ozma: Might as well have a look around. I don’t see anything else we can do for now. Here we can buy some upgrades, like Kimyawa’s CatCap helmet, Ozma’s Blaz Knuckles and Hiro’s Shing Sword, provided you didn’t find the Melted Blade earlier. By talking to the locals, we learn the Dark Puddings have already ransacked their town, and now their sole joy remains in the race track – famous for being so long it’s also the main highway to the next town! We then go to talk to the operations manager to find a means down said road. Hiro: Hello. We were wondering if it would be alright to head down the race track to the next town. Ops Guy: No, no, no. You don’t “head down” the race track. You RACE down it! That’s why they call it a RACE track! Mancala: Yeah? Then why do they call something you drive on a parkway and something you park on a driveway?! Ops Guy: Look, I don’t make the rules – I just enforce them. If you try any funny business, I’ll run your butts down and drag you back here for the biggest lecture of your lives! So race properly or don’t race at all! The party leaves the room, then spreads out again. Hiro: Well, so much for the direct route. Ozma: Anyone have any ideas? Loyroll: Why not do what he said? After all, a race sounds like fun! No one can keep up with our tempo! Mancala: We can’t just run the track. We’d pass out from exhaustion before we hit the midway. We need something we can ride. We need a pack mule! Hiro: A town renowned for its race track? Well, there has to be a ranch nearby with animals for such an occasion. Let’s ask around. Heading over to the ranch on the east side of town we can talk to the rancher – a strangely feminine man in a long, white trench coat. Hiro: We need— Rancher: A monster for the race, right? Hiro: Wow, you’re— Rancher: I am pretty awesome. Moreover, you’re wasting your time. The Dark Puddings raided my ranch last month and I’m still putting the pieces back together. Hiro: Isn’t there anything— Rancher: Yeah, if you get a few million going spare, I could lend you one of my thoroughbreds I’ve been raising. Hiro: We don’t have— Rancher: Neither does anyone else, bro. If you want the bargain bin, you’re in luck. This way. Hiro: Are you going to let me— Rancher: No. The rancher leads us over to one particular pen where a sad, squat lizard-like creature with a camel’s hump, two wings and two tails, weighed down by mace-like appendages crawls out. It coughs out dust on Hiro’s boots. Hiro: Is it dying? Rancher: I can only hope. This here is the bottom of the bottom of the barrel. This is the last of the Griffohumps. Hiro: Okay, you’re gonna need to explain that one to me. Rancher: It’s half griffon, half camel-dog. Its eyes also don’t align properly and it’s wantonly flatulent. I’ll let you take it for 100 gold. Take it or leave it. Hiro: Well, that’s a very reasonable price. For an unreasonable animal. I was thinking more of something like a horse… Rancher: Then you’re out of luck, chum. What little I have left other than this guy is for rebuilding and repopulating my ranch. Hiro: Looks like I don’t have much of a choice. We then get a Yes/No prompt, which is entirely pointless as saying no means we just walk around town until we go back and say Yes. In the GBA remake, however, if Kimyawa is level 37 (really, only a few levels higher than the average for this segment) and knows her Fox Inferno technique, this entire segment takes on an entirely DIFFERENT connotation as Kimyawa can replace the Griffohump as our pet in this minigame. But that’s creepy. So I’ll stick with the SNES version, thank you very much. The Griffohump is then dropped into a special Virtual Pet-style menu, which we can access whenever we want by speaking with the rancher. We’re then prompted to name the little guy – his default name is “Stinky”. We can feed it either mundane items, or special items the rancher will offer to sell us, which influence its stats. We can train it in minigames, or by fighting it like it was a monster encounter – which is the most effective means to raise it. Unequip the party and let it beat on the party and its stats will skyrocket, especially if it KOs the party. We can also have Hiro pet it and talk to it, which makes Hiro spout off nonsense jokes that were poorly translated from their original Japanese counterparts. You may persist in doing this as long as you’d like or until you hit the ludicrous 999 stat caps. Really, if you get it to around 150 in everything, Energy, Speed, Acceleration and Defense, you don’t need anything more than that. Return to the ops guy. Ops Guy: You again?! Didn’t you hear me?! Hiro: We’d like to enter the race properly now! Ops Guy: Really now? Well, that’s an entirely different story. Ready to begin? We then get a Yes/No prompt. Select Yes to continue. Ops Guy: Alright! To the starting line! This cues up the race minigame, with Hiro sitting astride the Griffohump, who is barely larger than his owner. The race itself involves running to the right-hand side of the screen as other racers try to jump on/over us. We’re ranked as we go and we must be in one of the top three places in order to win the minigame. Failure to do so drops us off where we started the race and Hiro mumbling something about “Not being on his A-Game today”. Clearing in higher ranks nets us better money and item rewards, but nothing worth freaking out over just yet – but they do get better as the plot progresses. But if we manage to win in 1st, 2nd or 3rd, we reach the chapter’s end! Narrator: And thus, Hiro and his party, riding gallantly atop Stinky, gracefully coast across the valley. What awaits them ahead? Only time will tell… We then get the Griffohump Feather, a key item we can use to access the virtual pet minigame from anywhere, anytime! Don’t forget to feed him from time to time!

[roninhunt0987]

Krys, Scratch and Aqua meeting their new siblings

Krys, Scratch and Aqua meeting their new siblings By: Roninhunt0987 X3 a cute and adorable story of Krystal, Scratch and Aqua coming home finally after college and such and meeting their new siblings... :3 half of it was by via rp but i've taken the liberty to do the rest of the dialogue for kip... =3 so i suppose this something for me to do for her and such... =3 so yea.. anyways enjoy folks.. X3 this takes place in m.e.g.a chronicles 3 and such hehe Characters©belongs to their rightful owners Melody: -a teenager now excited that Krystal, Scratch and Aqua are coming home- Kotone and Misty: -same- Fuji. Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham: :?| Melody: X3 you'll love them... X3 trust us on that Kotone and Misty: X3 yea Krystal, Scratch, Aqua: -just pulled into the driveway of the house and starts getting out bags and suitcases out of the car- Lyric the fox: -coming out of the kitchen- I think I just heard a car outside. I think the Agons are home finally Merrick:  -opens the door and gets on the front porch smiling- Melody: -smiles ready to glomp krystal- Kotone and Misty: -same- Krystal: -looks over and smiles- Hi Dad! Scratch: -carrying a couple of bags and hops onto the porch- were back!! Aqua: after the longest drive of my entire life. -giggles- Lyric the fox: -walks out onto the porch- hey guys, in sure some certain siblings of yalls are waiting for all of you inside. -he chuckles- Melody, Katone and Misty: -glomps krystal soon as she walked in- X3 hehehe Fuji, Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham: -looking to the reunion there and sees what Krystal, Scratch and Aqua looks like for the very first time- Krystal: gah! -glomped by the girls, giggles and hugs them back- I missed you girls too! Scratch: -pulling bags through the front door- Aqua: -giggles at the girls- well, I'd say they certainly missed you Krys. -looks at at the 4 others, smiling- oh, well who might these 4 be? Fuji. Ayame,  Chetan and Nipaham: -looks to them cutely- Merrick: =3 these are your siblings Fuji, Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham... all 4: -walks up to them and opens arms- Hug?? Flynn: -pokes around the corner and pokes back in- Aqua: oh! Well of course! -she smiles and hugs them- its always good to gain more siblings! I'm Aqua Silver Agon. Krystal: -pulls all the girls up, her being extremely strong as usual, laughing- we have new Siblings?? Scratch: -comes back downstairs- whats going on? Merrick: ^~^ you been away for 3 years and well.. X3 lets just say your mom kimiko gave birth to Fuji and Ayame there... X3 they're 3 now.. X3 however their twin brothers Chetan and Nipaham are adopted... Fuji and Ayame: -smiles cutely to krystal which is the same cute smile melody does when melody was their age- Chetan and Nipaham: -smiles cutely as well- Kimiko: X3 mmhmm Krystal: -giggling- well its nice to meet you new siblings! I'm Krystalia, but just call me Krystal or Krys. -she smiles with her fangs- yall remind me so much of when Melody was little Aqua: -smiling back at them- Scratch: cool! Do any of you like hot sauce??? Oh, sorry, im Scratch by the way! All 4: ^~^ hehe well met Melody: X3 hehe Flynn The Horsefly: -yells in  Krystal's ear- AYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Krystal: -jumps and then grabs Flynn by the neck, ears flattened- and who is this annoying idiot?? Aqua: oh boy Scratch: welp looks like another soon to be dead man to me Merrick: ahh yes... thats new local idiot of the house now... O.o sonic wised up as well as the wario bros while you were away for a while.. his name is Flynn The Horsefly- Flynn: ACK!!! GAHHH!!!! WHAT THE F**K!!! Fuji: thats a swear Ayame: yea Chetan and Nipaham: mmhmm -smiles as they sit back to watch Krystal and Scratch beat the hell outta flynn- Fuji and Ayame: ^~^ Melody: =3 just watch Krystal even told me by via text message they picked up some new abilities with their powers and were gonna see it first hand Merrick: -smiles as he sits back to watch- Krystal: figures. Well, I guess its time to issue the usual warning, not that you will be smart and listen to it. But we dont play nice, Flynn, so you better watch it, or you might just lose a few organs~ Scratch: let's just say your playing with Fire, Water, and Electricity when it comes to us. Aqua: you got that right. -giggles- Krystal: -throws him to Scratch- would you like to go first little bro? Scratch: smirks sure thing! -his fur flares orange and yelling before trapping Flynn in a fire tornado that's slowly closing in on Flynn- Flynn: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Fuji, Ayame, Nipaham and Chetan: OwO cooooooooool Melody: X3 told ya Misty and Kotone: X3 Aqua: -does a water blast on flynn- Flynn: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! -wet and knows whats coming next- oh geeze Krystal: -smirks and fires her lightning blast at Flynn- Flynn: -getting electricuted- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! -on the floor hurt badly and says ow like shrek did on the first movie when he had the arrow yanked from his butt- owwwwwwwwwww Krystal: well whatcha think?? Fuji, Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham: XD THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!!!!! Krystal: -giggles- Scratch: -does the peace sign- XD yup Aqua: -giggles- Krystal: -smiles and sees something off from merrick which is his cyber eye and cybernetic arms- whoa... O.o dad.. how Merrick: I guess ya missed a lot so I might as well explain -sits down- -after a long talk of explaining of the current events that has already happened such as meeting with his friend tom and etc- Scratch: Dang... X3 I have to be honest but you look way cooler with those cybernetic enhancements dad Aqua: =3 yea Krystal: =3 though it has to getting used to and such Merrick: -chuckles- I know Lillacia: -comes on in and smiles as she is a teenager now and also same height as she was- X3 Heya Krys Krystal: X3 Lillacia you're all grown up Aqua: X3 hehe Scratch: X3 yea hehe Sans: -walks on in- heh.. good to see you again Papyrus: -comes from the kitchen as he was making pasta and meatballs for dinner- X3 ahh welcome home Krystal: heh thanks guys Lyric: X3 we been making sure we ya bedrooms are well maintained and such Scratch: XD thats good Aqua: so.... where did that horsefly came into the picture Merrick: oi... O.o probably since after the events I been through and such so yea... well.. yea.. he's not the only idiot around Jack: OH MY GOD THEY KILLED FLYNN!!! the other 7 idiots: YOU BASTARD!! Krystal: wait.. 9 idiots... oh boy... -facepalm- figures... Scratch: :3 well more people to toast up Aqua: mmhmm Merrick: yup Jared: -walks on in- X3 Ahh Krys welcome home Krystal: X3 hey Jared thanks hehe Scratch: X3 how the wife and kids Jared: =3 doing very well Kit Prower: X3 heya guys welcome home Krystal: X3 thanks kit Aqua: =3 hehe Scratch: X3 guess for now krystal, aqua and I can get to know our new siblings Merrick: X3 you go ahead and do that k hehe -a lil later after Krystal, scratch and Aqua unpacked- Fuji, Ayame, Nipaham and Chetan: -looking at the photo album of Melody at her age of 3 having time with krystal and etc- X3 hehe krystal: -chuckles and points to the photo where she and melody did an april fools joke on sonic of squirting him with a squirt gun- XD hehehe good times Fuji: -turns page and looks at the photo where Jared and scratch pranked sonic in the shower of pink hair dye- XD hehehehehe Scratch: XD oh god I remember that.. XD jared and I got sonic good on that one Jared: XD yup Ayame: XD hehe I never knew ya were a prankster there Chetan and Nipaham: XD yea Jazz: -walks on in smiling- X3 welcome home Krystal, Scratch and Aqua Krystal: X3 thanks Jazz Aqua: X3 hehe Scratch: XD hehe Jazz: -has made some muffins for the three of them as a welcome home present- X3 hehe Scratch: XP sweet Krystal: =3 awesome Aqua: XD hehe thanks Jazz Fuji: -turns page and sees a pic of Jazz yelling at Scratch of saying stahp eating mah muffins- :? Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham: :? Scratch: XD oh hey I remember that... O.o I was kinda hungry and then I swiped jazz's muffins while she was not looking and she yelled at me Jazz: :3 and ya gave me that look of saying no Scratch: -rolls eyes and chuckles- so how ya been doin Jazz Jazz: =3 been doing well hehe Papyrus: X3 everyone Pasta is now served... XD Bone apitit -realized he did a pun- O_o;;;; Sans: XD hehehehehehehe Papyrus: SAAAAAAAANS ITS NOT FUNNEH!!!! Lillacia: XD yes it is hehe you walked into that one Paps Papyrus: -double facepalms- -later after dinner- Scratch: -in his room snoozing as he needed to sleep after that long trip and never had any sleep- Aqua: -in her room relaxing- Krystal: -watching a movie with Fuji, Ayame, Chetan and Nipaham- X3 enjoying the movie so far all 4: -asleep close to Krystal- Krystal: -noticed and smiles- awww -Flashback- Krystal: -before becoming an adult and watching a movie with melody at age 3- X3 enjoying the movie so far Mel melody(age 3): -asleep on krystal's lap- zzzz Krystal: -smiles- awww -end of flashback- Krystal: -smiles as she relaxes petting all 4 of her siblings and also glad to be home and such after being away for a long time and then falls asleep with them- Merrick: -walks in and also chuckles as he tucks them in with the blanket and then goes to sit down on at his recliner chair and starts playing some Devil May cry 5 with the volume turned down on the x-box one and looks to all 5 and goes into a flashback back when was flesh and bone fully- -flashback- Merrick: -tucks in Melody and Krystal and sits down on his recliner chair and plays some Devil may cry 3 with the volume turned down and looks to both kids- -end flashback- Merrick: -chuckles and also glad that Krystal, Scratch and Aqua are home finally after being away for a good while as he continues to play his game- -later in the night- all 9 idiots: -raiding the kitchen- Lyric the fox: -turns on the lights as he is in his pajamas and etc not amused- =w= all 9 idiots: O_o uh oh Lyric the fox: =w= all 9 idiots: -sheepishly smiles- Lyric The Fox: =w= ya no -presses button- teleport pad: -shows up on all 9 idiots and sends them to the moon- all 9 idiots: -sent to the moon- Lyric The Fox: =w= sigh... darn horseflies and kingdom hearts villans and final fantasy villian and sonic boom villian... geeze -uses her magic to restore the kitchen and sees its no longer a mess- ^^ there we go -turns off lights to the kitchen and heads back upstairs- -on the moon- all 9 idiots: -warps in onto the moon- Astronant: uhhhhh Houston... uhhh we have a problem all 9 idiots: MOTHERFU- Scene: -blacks out in random fart noise- TFS Nappa: .w. the end -XD END XD- -RH0987 PRODUCTIONS 2019-

[thatgirlonstage]

Summary: Lance wakes up in a hospital on Earth to discover he has been missing for four months, with no memory of Voltron or the Galra. Drawn inexplicably to the desert where they found him, he discovers a hut full of research and notes that may provide the key to his missing memories. With secrets and conspiracies surrounding him, and the Garrison potentially hiding far more than he could ever have imagined, Lance grows to trust the notes in the desert - but he may not believe the person who claims he wrote them.

Chapter Five:

Lance pulled himself hesitantly onto the massive red hoverbike. He’d turned it on briefly yesterday to check that it still worked, but he had yet to actually try and ride it. Towing it back to the outskirts of town had been a pain in the neck and it would really have made more sense to switch out – ride Kent’s bike, tow the rental – but Lance was intimidated. It was almost twice the size of the bikes he was used to.

           Still, he didn’t exactly have the money to rent out a hoverbike every day, and eventually someone would get suspicious of where he was going. So he’d remembered an abandoned parking garage on the edge of town, no longer in use since the Garrison moved their bullet train station, and hidden the bike there. He couldn’t very well bring it to an actual parking lot, especially since it confirmed another of his suspicions about Kent: some of his Garrison technojunk was definitely stolen. At the very least, the bike was. Unlike the older model rentals that still used keys, the Garrison hoverbikes functioned on handprint pads programmed to specific people. Clearly, Kent had hacked the handprint pad and, lacking the finesse to reprogram it for his own print, had just made it accessible to everyone, because it woke right up when Lance touched it.

           The solar powered engine was inaudible but he could feel the bike humming with energy underneath him. He took a deep breath. “Alright, Lance, c’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?” He paused, one hand gripping the brake. “Stupidest question to ask,” he berated himself. He loosened his hold on the brake, twisted the gear, and the bike shot forward.

           He nearly went flying at least five times and by the end he was cursing the bike as a sentient, volatile thing that was definitely trying to throw him off, but he reached the shack without any major incidents and sighed in relief as he slid off the bike. It was easier to reenter this time, as certain as he was that Kent had been gone for a long time.

           “No reason he’d come back now. You’re not here, are you, Kent?” Lance called. “No aliens in the attic, right?” Anxiety made him tense for a second as the wood creaked in the wind, but the shack otherwise remained silent as ever. “Right,” he said, shaking it off with a nervous laugh. “Okay, time to get to work.”

           He rubbed his hands, turning to the piles of paper that he’d been pulling from yesterday. Some lingering fear of leaving evidence of his presence had made him replace all the papers he’d already read, so he pulled them off first, setting them out on the table. Then he slowly started to pull apart the rest of the piles, sorting them into smaller groups of pages as he followed long calculations and pages of speculation and brainstorming, trying to find a chronology or any kind of method to follow.

           The table filled up fast, until the only space left was a hole in the center around a couple sheets of paper – one with a map, one with some kind of mathematical graph, and one with that damning date – the empty water bottle, and that gross can that had once had beans. Lance considered it for a moment.

           “Yeah that’s gonna have to go,” he decided. Reaching out, he pinched the sides between his thumb and index finger, unwilling to touch any more of it than he had to, and only then realized he didn’t see a trashcan anywhere. Holding the can out in front of him, he walked through to the kitchen. Still not seeing evidence of a trashcan, he pulled open the cabinet door under the sink, and was immediately assaulted by the grossly sweet smell of rot and the listless buzzing of a near-dead fly. He pulled back, clapping his free hand over his nose, and carefully dropped the can into the trashcan. Then he kicked the cabinet door closed.

           “Okay,” he muttered, breathing slowly through mouth. “This is… This is not gonna work.” He glanced back down at the cabinet, groaned, reached down, careful to keep his face distant, and pulled it open again. He gingerly pulled out the trash bag, tied it at the top, and marched it out of the house. It might smell even worse for baking in the sun for a few hours but at least he could air out the hut.

           With the offending trash bag gone, he knelt down and investigated what else was underneath the sink. It was just as sparse on amenities as the rest of the house, with one old empty grocery bag bunched into a ball in the corner, a half-used roll of paper towels, an empty bottle of dish soap, a dried up sponge, and nothing else. Lance sighed, pulled out the grocery bag, pulled it open, and set it inside the trashcan, which he pulled out from under the sink.

           “Please tell me you at least have…?” he muttered, and spotted an old wooden broom leaning in a corner behind the ladder to the attic. “Oh good, one point for Kent, he owns a broom,” he sighed in relief. Ducking under the ladder, he pulled it out, breaking several cobwebs in the process and trying to shake them off where they got stuck to his hands. The bottom of the broom was a messy glomp of sand, dust, and hair. Lance made a face, grabbing a paper towel to try and pull off some of the mess.

           The hut may have been tiny, but it took him almost two hours before the whole ground floor felt decently swept. Lance leaned on his broom, grinning at his handiwork. “You have a floor, Kent! Not just piles of sand! Who knew?” His fingers tapped against the handle. “I bet this place even looks halfway decent when it’s clean. I mean, you’re still a weirdo hermit conspiracy theorist in the middle of the desert, but you could be a weirdo hermit conspiracy theorist with neatly swept floors and a home that is welcoming to guests.” He pursed his lips. “I’ll need some supplies, though.” He put the broom back into its corner, picked up the grocery bag now full of dirt and dust, hesitated at all the papers still spread across the table, and then shook his head. They’d be there when he got back.

           He collected the other trash bag from outside, carefully dropping it inside the second one, and slung it across the handlebar of the bike. He’d drop it in a dumpster on the edge of the city. He glanced back at the shack and gave a short wave. “See ya tomorrow, Kent!”

           The bike sped off into the desert, still just barely under his control, kicking up a trail of dust and sand in his wake.

*

           “Keeeeeent! I’ve brought preeeeeesents!” Lance let the duffel bag drop with a heavy thunk, rolling his shoulder and neck. “God that was heavy to carry all the way here. Alright, want to see what I’ve brought?” He knelt down, unzipped the bag, and started pulling out its contents. “Okay let’s see – trash bags, first of all, because I have a feeling we’re going to go through a lot of these supplies, then we’ve got more paper towels, some all-purpose cleaning sprays, some Clorox wipes, a toilet brush and some toilet bowl cleaner fluid because I am going to have to use that thing eventually, some reusable rags, rubber gloves, oh! Here’s Cal’s Swiffer, this I’m going to have to take back at the end of the day before he knows it’s gone – God knows how I’d explain having to borrow his Swiffer – but I got some wet pads for it so I can get the rest of the sand up off the floor. And I bought some Febreze, both the air freshener kind and that stuff you use on fabric, because I have a feeling that sofa and that rug have not gotten any attention in a long time.” Lance sat back on his heels, grinning. “This place is going to be spotless before you know it! Oh, and of course– the most important thing–” He rummaged in the front pocket of the duffel and triumphantly pulled out his headphones. “Can’t have a cleaning day without some music,” he said. “Let’s start with something traditional, don’t you think? I downloaded this specially, I haven’t seen this movie since I was three.” He snapped the headphones over his ears, tapped his ear to bring up the screen, and clicked his selection. He chuckled to himself as a woman’s sweet voice, fuzzy with the age of the recording, drifted through his ears.

           “Just whistle while you work…” Lance hummed inexpertly along to the half-forgotten tune as he snapped open a trash bag, grabbed the all-purpose cleaning spray and a handful of paper towels, and attacked the thick layer of grime and dust covering Kent’s home.

           He sorted papers as he went, finding an unused stack of Sticky-Notes that he used to label the neat piles he set up on the table. After his Disney princess beginning he switched over to more modern and upbeat songs, a mix of English and Spanish that kept him dancing and moving around, singing along with them. It was a little scary the way the rags and towels turned black with dirt within seconds, but the longer he cleaned the less the decrepit and depressing the shack looked. He couldn’t do much for the paint peeling off the walls or the ragged threads on the edge of the rug, but after a few minutes of scrubbing the windows clean the sunlight flooded in with twice the strength it had before, brightening the room so much it felt positively cheerful. In fact, after about an hour, the sunlight coming through the windows had gotten so hot Lance understood why Kent had sheets pinned up like curtains over them. He glanced critically at them, rubbing at the sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

           “I don’t have any kind of detergent with me. I wonder how Kent washed his clothes?” He paused, and grimaced. “I wonder if Kent washed his clothes,” he amended. “Kent, the more I think about this place the more you distress me, do you know that?” He worried the inside of his cheek, considering. “If I just rinse them out in the sink it’ll be better than nothing,” he decided. “Shouldn’t be any sweat or anything to get out of them, anyway, just dust.”

           He left the sheets outside to dry, hanging them over the back of the doors into the hut and the concrete attachment with the generator. Leaving the rapidly heating main room behind for the moment, he moved to the bathroom, scrubbing viciously at the floor, the sink, and the toilet until they gleamed. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves to clean the hair and gunk off the top of the shower drain in the floor and paused, examining what he was pinching between his fingers.

           “You really have pretty long hair, don’t you, Kent? You’re not a girl, are you? No, those were definitely boxers I saw on your bed upstairs. Well, I guess haircuts aren’t exactly easy to come by out here. Or maybe you just like long hair.” Lance shrugged. “There was this guy at the Garrison, Keith, he had a mullet, if you can believe it. I know, what century is he living in? See, normally I think long hair on guys is super attractive, but a mullet? That’s just weird, man. You don’t have a mullet, do you, Kent? As long as you don’t have a mullet we’re good.” He dropped his handful of hair and congealed soap gunk into the trash bag. “I’m gonna go see if those sheets are dry yet,” he said.

           The sheets had dried rapidly, if a little stiffly, in the heat of the desert sun, so Lance took them back in and pinned them back up over all the windows but one, cooling the room considerably. He went back to work, dusting and rubbing clean all the electronics, careful not to get anything wet. Who knew how well insulated some of this stuff might be? He sang along to his music as he went, the sound of salsa sinking him into the memory of a warm Cuban night, with the stars sparkling overhead and dancers in tight red dresses and white shirts that glowed in the flickering lights of the clubs. He and Louisa and Cal, all home for the summer, had gone out to celebrate Lance’s acceptance into the pilot program at the Garrison. It wasn’t his first taste of alcohol, but it was the first time he’d drunk enough that the world settled into something soft yet vibrant around him. His veins buzzed and everything was colorful and whirling. Perhaps that’s what had given him the courage to grab the hand of the boy with slender fingers and eyes the color of teak and wavy dark hair that fell in sweaty strands to his shoulders. Their feet kept time with the lilting salsa music, hips and legs and chests pressed close by the crowd of dancers around them. Lance’s fingers tangled in the boy’s hair as he pushed their foreheads together. Nothing but his first real flight, the first time he’d been allowed in a real hovercraft rather than the simulator, quite compared to the rush of tingling adrenaline that ran through his entire body when they kissed. His hand knotted into a fist around the thick, soft strands of hair, moving across the boy’s head down to the back of his neck. He was warm and pliant and exhilarating and his lips were sweet and sticky with alcohol.

           The loud beat drop of an English rap song jerked him back to the present and he realized he’d been absentmindedly polishing the same spot on the holoscreen projector over and over for the last few minutes. He moved on to the 3-D printer next to it, pausing to take a swig from his water bottle.

           “You know, Kent, I’ve always found flirting with girls easy. Well, I mean, maybe not so easy considering my track record of actual success,” Lance laughed awkwardly, “but I’ve never had trouble coming up with the words, you know? But guys have always turned me into a shy mess. Why is that, do you think?” The house creaked around him in the wind. The rapper spat words at a hundred miles an hour in his ear. “Yeah, I don’t know either,” he said easily, giving the 3-D printer a last once-over with his rag.

           By the time Lance glanced up and saw the sun starting to sink toward the horizon, the bathroom was spotless, the main room was clean as a whistle and the papers and books were beginning, however slowly, to sort themselves into manageable groups, and the kitchen was done except for the stove and the fridge. The stove had some old rust and food stains that were proving painfully stubborn, and Lance was going to have to consider if it was worth it coming back with steel wool to attack it with. The fridge he took one glance at and came to same conclusion he had the other day: the rotten mess inside the fridge was Kent’s problem if he ever chose to come back and deal with it. Fortunately, the only edible things in the cupboard were non-perishables: a couple cans of soup, an unopened packet of ramen noodles, and a box of cereal. The cereal was only a month past its expiration date, but Lance threw it out anyway, just to be safe. He also discovered that Kent owned a grand total of one pot, one pan, three plates, one bowl, one spoon, two forks, and four knives, two of which were the bigger and sharper kind that could be used for cutting vegetables or meat. He had run through three entire rolls of paper towels, most of the Clorox wipes, all but one of the Swiffer pads, and filled two trash bags to bursting. His clothes clung to him with sweat and grime, but he was grinning as he pulled off the headphones and put the remaining cleaning supplies under the sink – all except for the Swiffer, which he stuck back in the duffel.

           “I’ll come back tomorrow and do the attic and the little concrete shed, just to be thorough,” he decided. “Then… then we’ll see what I can find.” He slung the duffel back over his shoulder, giving one last glance through the shack. “See ya tomorrow, Kent,” he called.

*

           Lance hesitated at the top of the ladder. Even though he’d already been through everything else in the house and this was by far the barest room of the lot, it was still clearly Kent’s bedroom, and something about that seemed like a privacy barrier he shouldn’t break. On the other hand, it was going to drive him crazy knowing that the rest of the house was spotless while this room sat dusty and unkempt with piles of dirty boxers. Plus, he was desperate to see if he could get a clue about who Kent was or where he had gone. If it meant unravelling the mystery of how he’d even found this shack in the first place, he was willing to invade somebody’s privacy at least a little.

           “Here goes nothing,” he sighed, tossing his cleaning supplies up into the room.

           It was uncomfortable, sweaty work, with the slanted roof forcing him to hunch over and reach the broom awkwardly into corners to beat away the cobwebs so thick he could grab handfuls of them. He tossed the sheets, the pillow sham, and the dirty clothes down the ladder, washed them in the sink and hung them over the backs of the kitchen chairs to dry. He briefly puzzled over what, if anything, to do with the mattress, and ultimately just decided to spray it with Febreze. That left only the box.

           He dicked around for a few minutes, picking errant hairs and dust motes out of the bottom of the broom, trying to decide whether he ought to actually open the box or just leave it be, but there was really nothing else to do. He’d already dusted out the concrete shed that morning – the generator was clearly built to be self-sustaining so he just brushed the dust away and didn’t mess with it – and everything else in the shack was spotless now. It was open the box or get to work on that intimidating mass of papers downstairs, and he still didn’t have a clue where he was supposed to start with that.

           “If I can learn anything about who you are it will help me figure out what you were trying to study out here,” he told Kent. “It might even help me find you so that I could ask you myself. On the other hand…” He glanced at the box. “You might have something seriously personal in there that isn’t any of my business.” He sighed. “What am I even doing here?” he asked. “I shouldn’t ever have walked in that door. I mean, this is somebody’s home, clearly, or at least it used to be.” He fiddled with a piece of tape peeling off the edge of the box, trying to guess what was in it and if it might help him. “But Pidge and Hunk are still missing, and this is the only lead I’ve got,” he murmured. He opened the box.

           There was a book sitting on top, bound with faux leather, its edges tattered and worn, some of the pages ripped, and a pen stuffed into the middle where the writing stopped. Lance set it carefully aside.

           The rest of the box was mostly clothes, dark pants and t-shirts and a well-worn brown raincoat folded haphazardly or just stuffed in. There were also, for some reason, three pairs of black fingerless gloves. An old pair of boots with a hole over the big left toe was stuffed down at the bottom. Besides that, there were a few odds and ends: a rusty Swiss Army knife, a half-empty pack of batteries, a wallet with about $20 stuffed inside, and down at the very bottom, a picture so faded and fuzzy and tattered Lance had to crab-walk over to the little circular window at the end of the room to look at it in better light.

           It looked like it was from a vintage polaroid camera, the kind of thing people only bought for novelty’s sake these days. It was clearly a selfie, the little four- or five-year-old boy in the foreground holding the camera out in front of him at arm’s length, grinning widely, eyes round and alight with happiness behind messy bangs. He was sitting on a man’s lap, who was bending down so their faces were side by side, holding the little boy’s shoulders, smiling tolerantly at the camera, his eyes fond and peaceful.

           “Is one of these you, Kent?” Lance wondered softly. His fingers grazed over the image. “No one keeps a picture like this unless it’s the only one they have.”

           He set the picture down carefully and repacked the box, folding up Kent’s clothes and setting them neatly back inside. He placed the picture on top carefully and closed the box. Finally, he turned to the book. Wetting his lips, he opened it to the first page. The entire thing was full of dated entries, like a diary. The first few lines were viciously scribbled through as he tried to start several times.

So S is gone

The Garrison are liars they’re all fucking liars

Maybe if I’d listened to my gut I could have convinced S taking that mission was a bad idea but I wanted

Dad was

I

Finally, it restarted, much more cut and dried.

Shack is still here. Generator was off but it still works once I brushed off the solar panels. Most of the tech in here still works too, if painfully slowly. Will see if I can reconfigure anything to update it some. Will have to do grocery hauls from time to time. Not sure how long I’m going to be here. Not sure how long I can be here. Kind of shocked they never found this place.

That was the entirety of the first entry. The next entry was dated almost two months later, and all it said was FOUND SOMETHING. The one from the day after read:

Went back out to same area as yesterday. The carvings are everywhere, at least four separate caves that I just glanced into. Will make a map marking out area. I can’t explain what it is but this is what’s been pulling at me. This is what I’ve been searching for, somehow without knowing it.

Lance stiffened, clenching the book between his hands. Searching for something, somehow without knowing it, sounded a hell of a lot like what had led him to this shack in the first place. Had Kent found whatever he was searching for and brought it here? Was it now attracting Lance? Could it be calling out to anyone else? What if someone else turned up?

           Out of reflex, he glanced at the trap, but nobody leapt out of it like a horror film jumpscare. He took a deep breath. “Okay, Sanchez, chill out. No one’s been here for months, there’s no reason to believe someone would suddenly turn up now,” he said. “Better to focus on what you’ve got in front of you.” He looked back down at the next entry.

Went back out to caves with map of the area and started marking out where there are carvings. Also started sketching some of the carvings. They’re all either a lion or these symbols that I don’t recognize as any kind of language or code that I know. Will have to see if I can find a way of searching the symbols online if I don’t turn up anything in my books, but need to make sure no one traces it. I have a feeling that if the Garrison knows about these carvings, they don’t want anyone else to. Their property lines must be publicly available information; will see if I can find it. Gee I wonder if they’ll match up.

On a whim, Lance took the pen from the center of the books and wrote quickly in the margin, “Do you ever stop with the conspiracies? How do you live like this? It must be exhausting,” before looking down to the next entry, from a few days later.

Took a break from mapping the carvings to go into town because the only food I had left was a frozen pizza and a jar of mustard and I didn’t feel like frozen pizza. Anyway, took the opportunity to go to the public library where they actually have property maps of the area on paper still – hey, I’m not complaining – and made copies. Also checked out a couple books on obscure languages and symbols. Didn’t do an internet search for the images I found in the caves yet. Will save that as a last resort.

I did log into my old email on a whim. Nice to see I was right about foster family number Istoppedcounting not giving a rat’s ass about me. Not one single message from them. And I wasn’t reported missing, either. I checked.

Well, doesn’t matter. Less than a year now till I’m 18 anyway.

Lance let out a slow whistle between his teeth, setting the book down. “Kent…” he said. “What… happened to you?”

           It wasn’t the first time he considered that he could be sitting in a dead man’s house. Perhaps one of these caves he’d been studying had collapsed on his head. Or maybe he got stuck out in the desert and died. Or maybe he went into the city to get groceries and got hit by a bus. It had never occurred to him, though, that Kent might be young. He’d been picturing someone like the telescope man. But Kent was his age. Kent was still a kid with his life ahead of him, a life that should have been better than living as a conspiracy hermit.

           “How does a teenager end up living in an illegal shack in the middle of the desert?” he exploded. “Kent, what the hell went wrong in your life?” Lance felt anger bubbling under the surface of his skin. His protective big brother instincts reared like a cobra, ready to strike out at whoever had callously left this kid to fend for himself, whoever had failed him so badly that he ended up out here. He couldn’t stomach the thought of Louisa, or Cal, or his cousin Elena, or God forbid Beatriz or one of his youngest siblings, feeling so lost and abandoned that they ended up in a place like this. Whoever Kent was, he deserved better. He grabbed the pen and scribbled furiously in the margin, “I’m sorry everyone failed you so badly, Kent. I wish I could have been there for you.”

           He sat back, a little surprised by his own words. He had never even met this guy. Yet the fury that churned in his stomach burned hot and real. He couldn’t conceive of a life without his family. No matter how near or far, they were a constant, they were his rock, they were the thing he could always return to if he needed to. He knew he was lucky, but everyone deserved to have someone or something that anchored them to stability. No one should just be cut off to float in the world totally alone.

           He glanced up and scrambled to his feet with a yelp. He’d lost track of time, and while the hoverbike theoretically had enough battery life to last several hours into the night, he didn’t particularly care to test that. He scrambled back down the ladder, bringing the book with him and leaving it on the table so it could be the first thing he looked at when he came back.

           “Ah, dammit, I missed my appointment with the therapist,” he groaned, looking at the clock. “Well, whatever. She wasn’t helping anyway.” He paused on the way out the door, glancing back into the shack. “Cal stays home on the weekends and I don’t want to risk him finding out what I’ve been doing, plus Louisa’s coming over, so I won’t be back until Monday,” he said. “See you… See you then, Kent.” He yanked the door shut behind him, jumped onto the hoverbike, and took off into the setting sun.

*

           “Scooch up,” Louisa said, nudging Lance with her knee. He shuffled sideways on the couch, trying to leave room for Cal on his right.

           “How come I’m always in the center?” he complained.

           “Because you’re the youngest, and you know this, and you know complaining about it changes nothing.” She plopped into Cal’s sagging couch with a sigh. “Cal, don’t forget extra salt for that popcorn!” she called, leaning over the armrest to try and see the kitchen. Cal didn’t respond, probably giving her a thumbs up. She sat back, clicking through the previews. “God, it’s been ages since I watched Star Wars,” she mused. “You’d think that would be something the Garrison would show, as like a movie night thing.” Lance raised his eyebrows.

           “You want to ask Iverson for approval for a movie night?” he asked. She laughed.

           “True enough. Still, they’re classics.” Lance frowned and folded his arms.

           “I still like the originals better,” he grumbled. “They’re the real classics.”

           “Those special effects are painful, little bro. They are physically painful for me to watch.”

           “I’m less than a year younger than you, and it’s Star Wars. It’s nostalgic. You’re not watching it for the special effects. Besides, Harrison Ford is Han Solo. Robert Vic’s performance doesn’t hold a candle to him.”

           “True, but come on. Slave Leia? Ewoks? You have to admit that the rebooted Return of the Jedi is better.”

           “First of all, ewoks are adorable, but I will still grant you that on the basis of slave Leia and the admittedly pointless Threepio subplot if you will concede that the original Empire is still the best film out of all of them. Prequels, sequels, and reboots.”

           “Can’t we all just agree to hate Phantom Menace in any incarnation?” Cal asked, edging in front of the coffee table around to the far side of the sofa. He set the popcorn in Lance’s lap and plopped down next to him. “You two have this debate every single time.”

           “I am defending the integrity of the original stories that brought us all this joy and beauty to begin with,” Lance sniffed. “No one appreciates old movies anymore. They just want them remade newer and shinier.”

           “Hey, who watched every single Spider-Man movie with you growing up?” Louisa said, elbowing him. Lance clutched at the popcorn bowl, its warmth seeping into his arms and lap.

            “And you insist you hate every minute of the Tobey Maguire films.”

           “Just start the movie,” Cal groaned, snagging a handful of popcorn. Louisa rolled her eyes but pressed play.

           For all that he needled Louisa about the originals, Lance would admit to himself he still unabashedly loved the reboots. They’d all watched them enough times not only to recite the entire script along with the actors, but also to know the jokes and comments the other two would make throughout the film. Their watch party devolved into lighthearted banter and commentary (“Is he… going to ask him why the Imperial droids do whatever Obi-Wan says? No? We’re just cool with this?” “See, in the original, Luke did ask—” “SHUT UP LANCE”) that occasionally sunk into silence and popcorn munching at a favorite scene (“Oh shush shush, it’s Vader and Leia next”). Louisa groaned and slapped a $5 bill into a smug Lance’s hand when Cal went on his inevitable tirade about the impossible physics in the structure of the Millenium Falcon four scenes earlier than she had bet on. Lance felt himself relaxing, tension easing out of his muscles in the comforting heat of his siblings pressed on either side of him and in the wash of familiar dialogue and characters. He could practically imagine he was eight years old and back in Cuba, their mamá hushing them because Beatriz was already asleep upstairs.

           They’d planned a marathon for the evening, so they went straight into Empire Strikes Back with just a brief pause for a bathroom break. As the films rolled on, Lance felt his eyes growing heavy with sleepiness. He was sore and pleasantly worn out from his three days of cleaning up Kent’s hut, and perhaps calmer than he had been since he woke up in the hospital. He let himself slide down the couch cushion until he could rest his head against the back of the sofa, the near-empty popcorn bowl still loosely cradled on his lap, and let his eyes drift closed. All three of them had grown quieter as they grew tired, only making the occasional murmured comment. Lance felt himself slipping into sleep, making an effort to pry his eyes back open for some of his favorite bits, but he started losing seconds, and then minutes as he drifted in and out of consciousness, pleasantly suspended in secure contentment.

           The sound of an explosion sent a burst of adrenaline jolting through him. He snapped out of sleep with terrified urgency, legs and arms flailing as he surged to his feet, shouting, “QUIZNAK!” There was danger, he had to get– somewhere, had to find out who had attacked them–

           He blinked, confused and disoriented by the flashes and explosions on the television in front of him, uncomfortably bright in the mostly darkened room. Louisa had grabbed his forearm and he turned back to see her looking up at him in alarm. Cal was sitting up straight, frowning, mouth slightly parted. The plastic bowl had been upended onto Lance’s feet, popcorn kernels scattered onto the rug.

           “Lance?” Louisa asked, reaching out and pausing the movie. “Are you okay?”

           “I…” Lance stuttered, at a loss for words. “I must’ve fallen asleep and… and started dreaming. Sorry, I… I think the movie startled me.” He ran a hand awkwardly through his hair and sat back down on the sofa, bending over to pick up the fallen bowl.

           “What did you say?” Cal asked. “Quiz… What was that?” Lance faltered.

           “I… don’t know?” he said. “I’m��� Um… What did I say?”

           “Quiz-something, I didn’t quite hear it,” Louisa said, suddenly realizing she was still gripping Lance’s arm and releasing him.

           “Maybe I was dreaming about taking a quiz?” Cal and Louisa glanced at each other across him.

           “It didn’t sound like that,” Louisa said.

           “I dunno, probably just sleep gibberish then,” Lance shrugged uneasily. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened. But I’m fine, Louisa, you can stop looking at me like that. Let’s just keep watching the movie.” She watched him for a few more seconds as he stubbornly refused to look at her, concentrating carefully on picking up all the leftover popcorn kernels, but finally she sighed and pressed play again. He sat back and watched the film, an odd edge on his nerves that hadn’t been there before.

*

           He always dreamt of flying these days. He dreamt of sailing through the stars, past galaxies, spinning around black holes, passing planets hanging like Christmas ornaments in the sky, shining in every color imaginable. In his dreams he was light and free. He flew without a ship, without controls, without a spacesuit, with no need to think. He simply slid unhindered through the universe, eyes wide with wonder.

           He came awake staring at the ceiling, his headphones askew. He could hear Louisa breathing slowly, asleep on the couch. He sat up, the air mattress shifting under his weight. He’d need to top up the air tomorrow, he thought absently. He tapped his headphones silent, pulled them off, and dropped them on his pillow. He pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, staring into the dark apartment. He hadn’t heard anything from Hopkins since he went to see him, which probably meant what he had told him hadn’t been that useful. Still, aside from the shack in the desert that he still couldn’t prove was connected to his disappearance, he only had one lead.

           He bit his lip before tossing off the blanket and rolling over to grab his phone. He opened his email, hesitated, and then typed in “Keith Kogane.”

           Keith wouldn’t still have his Garrison email, Lance knew that, but in a fit of desire for petty revenge after Keith had sneered at his failings in survival training he had stalked him – just a little bit – and found out his personal email address back at the Garrison. Just to sign him up for a few particularly annoying spam email lists.

           He sincerely hoped Keith hadn’t deleted his email as a result of the influx of spam. It was the only way he might be able to contact him. He chewed his lip nervously as he began to type.

To: Keith Kogane

From: Lance Sanchez

Subject:  PLEASE DON’T DELETE THIS PEOPLE ARE IN DANGER

Keith–

PLEASE READ THIS. Look, I know we didn’t get along at the Garrison, and I’m not asking you to care about me now. But I and two of my friends went missing almost five months ago now. They found me in the desert a month ago but my friends are still missing and I have no memories of what happened, except I think I have one very brief memory of seeing you.

It’s totally possible I’m mistaken, but please, I’m begging you, if you know anything about anything that’s happened to me in the last five months, if you’ve even seen me at all, please tell me or tell the police. I wouldn’t ask if Hunk and Pidge weren’t still missing. It might be the only way we have to find them. Please.

Please.

–Lance

He agonized for a moment before pressing the send button and dropping the phone before he could change his mind, running his hands over his face.

           “Talking to someone special?”

           He jumped a mile at Louisa’s voice over his shoulder, whipping around with hands up as if to defend himself. She gave a small, amused smile.

           “You okay there, little bro?” she asked. Lance sucked in a deep breath.

           “You just startled me,” he said. Louisa nodded, crouching down and pulling her feet out from under her so she was sitting on the air mattress with him.

           “Have you remembered anything else, Lance?” she asked him softly. He glowered at the bedsheets, suddenly too reminiscent of the hospital.

           “If I had, you’d know about it.”

           “Has the therapist been any help?” she pressed. He shifted away from her, a pang of guilt hitting his chest for his missed appointment yesterday.

           “No,” he said. “Do we have to have this discussion now? It’s late.”

           “I’m just trying to help.”

           “You’re trying to help, Cal’s trying to help, Mamá and Papá are trying to help, maybe it might help if you all just gave me some time and space,” he snapped, and then sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like that, I just… I’m frustrated.” Louisa rubbed circles on his back.

           “I know,” she murmured. “Just… remember if you want to talk, we’re all here, okay? And I’m your big sister, so I’m going to keep pestering you at least a little. It’s my job.” Lance sighed, drooping.

           “I did remember one thing. Sort of. I’m not even certain it was a memory. It might have been a dream.” Louisa’s hand clenched his shoulder.

           “What is it?” she asked.

           “Do you remember Keith Kogane?” She frowned.

           “That guy who got expelled after he beat up a professor? Sort of, why?”

           “I remember seeing his face. I think I was with him at some point during those months. I was hurt and he was helping me.” In the unlit apartment, the frown deepening into Louisa’s face seemed to carve shadows into her skin.

           “Did you tell Detective Hopkins?”

           “That was the first thing I did. I didn’t tell Cal. I didn’t want to go through a whole speculation session with him,” Lance admitted. “It was barely a glimpse and I wasn’t even entirely convinced it was real. It just seemed like too much to… But anyway, that’s who I was sending a message to. I have his email but that’s it. Now I just have to… hope he says something, I guess.” Louisa’s hand resumed her circles on Lance’s back.

           “I still believe we’ll find Hunk and Pidge, little bro. Don’t lose hope just yet.” She shoved at his shoulder. “But right now you should get sleep. Your memory certainly won’t come back with you dead on your feet.” He sighed, patting her arm in a goodnight gesture, and grabbed the headphones off his pillow. He pulled them back over his ears, shutting the outside world into silence again, lay on his back, and stared up at the ceiling, breathing slowly in the calm night. Louisa padded back to the couch and dropped onto it. He could still see his vision of Keith’s face, dancing before his eyes, its clarity unnerving.

*

           “Dammit!” Detective Hopkins slammed the phone down in frustration and rubbed his temples. That had been the last person on his list. No one knew where Keith Kogane was, or even who to ask. No one seemed to have spoken to him since he got booted from the Garrison over a year ago, including his damn foster family. From the sound of it, they hadn’t even tried to contact him after hearing the news, and he had never asked them for so much as a few nickels to do his laundry.

           “Bad news?” Cho asked, sidling up to his desk. Hopkins groaned.

           “We might have another missing kid on our hands. Except this one’s been gone for over a year and no one’s tried to find him in all that time.”

           “Keith Kogane?” she asked, leaning over to look at the mugshot on Hopkins’ computer. He nodded, taking a gulp of coffee and making a face at the tepid temperature.

           “Optimistic option: he got kicked out of the Garrison, had no interest in going back to a foster family that clearly has no interest in him, found himself some apartment and a job at a carwash and is living a perfectly normal life somewhere.”

           “You’re not that much of an optimist,” Cho said, spinning a pencil in her fingers. Hopkins sighed, leaning forward on the desk.

           “You got that right,” he said. “I don’t know if I should issue an APB or what.”

           “Well, I can’t help you much with Kogane, but I do have some good news.”

           “What is it?” Hopkins asked, sitting straight up. “It’ll be a first since I heard that Sanchez was alive.”

           “So you remember how we couldn’t find a single person to contact for Gunderson? Parents out of the country and unreachable, at least according to the forms he filled out?”

           “Yeah?” Cho slapped a picture down on the table in front of Hopkins of a boy in a Garrison uniform. He frowned. “Yeah, that’s Gunderson’s picture. What about it?”

           “It’s not, though,” Cho said, grinning mischievously. “That’s Matthew Holt’s picture.” Hopkins peered suspiciously at his partner.

           “Matthew Holt, the guy who died in the Kerberos mission?” Cho nodded. “Why does he look like Pidge Gunderson?”

           “Because,” Cho said, “Pidge Gunderson isn’t a real person.” She paused for effect and Hopkins sighed, leaning back in his chair.

           “Cho, just explain,” he said. “What do you mean ‘Pidge Gunderson isn’t a real person’?” Cho chuckled.

           “I’m so glad you asked,” she said. “I am almost certain that Pidge Gunderson is really Katie Holt, Matt Holt’s little sister.”

           “But… why? And how?” Hopkins asked, shaking his head. She held up a finger to stop him.

           “Let me explain. We were so much more focused on Sanchez and Garrett the first time around because we had their families here asking frantic questions. There were people we could talk to who knew them, who could help us figure out where they might have gone or how we might find them. God knows Sanchez’s older siblings had plenty of their own ideas about how we should be running the investigation. We barely even looked at Gunderson because there was so little that we could do with so little information. But I always thought it was weird that there was no one trying to find him, except the Garrison.

           “But when Sanchez brought up Kogane, I started looking back at what little we knew about the Kogane case and anything else going on at the Garrison around that time. The only thing I could find was that it happened less than a month after the Kerberos mission crashed and everyone on board died. I have no idea if that’s connected or not, but I saw Matt Holt’s picture and thought it looked too similar to just be a coincidence. So I looked up his family.

           “Now, here’s where it gets interesting. According to her mother, a couple months after the Kerberos mission, Katie suddenly accepted a scholarship from Skilton, that one they have for like kid geniuses since Katie was only fourteen. Her mother completely believed it, according to her Katie knew more about computers than anyone. So Katie, apparently, went off to Skilton, called her mother on the phone or sent her a message every couple weeks letting her know everything was going well. Except, the messages suddenly stopped coming. After she’d been trying to get through for a week or so with no success, she called Skilton, and Skilton tells her they’ve never heard of her daughter. So then she calls the police. As far as anyone could figure out, Katie Holt never set foot on Skilton’s campus or even applied for a scholarship.

           “But, Katie’s departure for Skilton lines up exactly with Pidge Gunderson’s arrival at the Garrison, and she sent her last message to her mother three days before Gunderson and the others vanished.” Cho folded her arms, looking pleased with herself. Hopkins scratched his head and the back of his neck absently, mulling it over.

           “I still don’t understand why. Why lie to her mother? Why lie to the Garrison? None of us ever suspected Gunderson’s documents of being phony, would she really have the hacking skills necessary to forge herself a new identity? At fourteen?” Cho threw up her hands.

           “Beats me. But come on, Todd, look at this.” She pulled up a missing poster for Katie Holt on his screen, next to a picture of Pidge Gunderson and a picture of Matthew Holt. “They’re dead ringers for each other. Bad choice of words. But look. What are the chances that this girl goes missing and some guy with no real trace of his life story that looks exactly like her also goes missing at the same time? Maybe she had help with the hacking. Maybe she didn’t think her mother would let her go to the Garrison after what happened to her father and brother. But this is a lead.” Hopkins ran a hand over his face.

           “Alright, let’s go talk to Katie’s mother and—”

           “Excuse me, am I interrupting?” Both Cho and Hopkins jumped and turned to see a woman in a Garrison uniform, double gold stripes on her shoulders indicating her rank.

           “Um… no,” Cho said. “Sorry… who are you?”

           “My name is Captain Marietta Seitz. I am here to help with your questions in regard to our missing students.” Cho and Hopkins glanced at each other.

           “Where’s Lieutenant Meyers?” Cho asked. “He’s normally the person who does this.” Captain Seitz’s expression did not shift a muscle.

           “He’s unavailable this week, and the Garrison wants to see Garrett and Gunderson found as quickly as possible, just as you do.” Cho and Hopkins glanced at each other. Cho gave him just the slightest shake of her head. “How can I be of assistance?”

           “We were actually hoping to ask you about a different student,” Hopkins said, shutting off his computer screen and pulling out a chair for Captain Seitz, who sat in it stiffly. “Keith Kogane. There’s a chance he’s mixed up in this somehow.” The slightest frown creased Captain Seitz’s forehead.

           “Keith Kogane was expelled over a year ago now. He’s no longer affiliated with the Garrison.”

           “Yes, but do you know where he went after that?” Captain Seitz shrugged.

           “Home, I assume.”

           “He did not,” Cho said. “In fact, we have no idea where he is. He might be missing along with the rest of them. We were hoping you might tell us a bit more about what happened that got Kogane expelled.” Captain Seitz’s face betrayed no expression, but she sat silently for a moment, mulling it over.

           “I believe that is privileged information,” she said. “However, given the current circumstances, I suppose I can tell you a little. Takashi Shirogane, the pilot on the Kerberos mission, was a mentor to Keith. Keith took his death exceptionally hard. He became violent and unreasonable, lashing out at everyone around him. When he landed someone in the hospital it became clear he could not be allowed to stay on at Galaxy Garrison. We expelled him and as far as I know no one from the Garrison has spoken to him since.” Cho’s eyes narrowed.

           “Do you have any suggestions for how to get in touch with him?” Hopkins asked. “Anything at all?” Captain Seitz turned towards him.

           “I’m sorry, Detective. We don’t keep contact information for students no longer at the Garrison, let alone someone we’ve expelled.” The slight crease reappeared between her eyebrows. “If I may ask, what reason do you have to suspect that he is in any way connected to the other three?” Hopkins saw Cho stiffen in his peripheral vision and tried to shrug nonchalantly.

           “Lance came in a few days ago to tell us he thought he remembered Keith being with him at some point, but that’s the only piece of his memory he seems to have recovered,” he said. The frown on Captain Seitz’s face smoothed over.

           “Lance is still in town?” she asked. Hopkins nodded. “We assumed he’d gone back to Cuba with his parents. Hopefully this means he’ll be returning as a student in the near future.” She stood. “If that will be all?”

           They shook hands and parted ways, leaving Cho and Hopkins standing by his desk, watching until they were sure she had left the building before Cho turned to him.

           “Seems a hell of a coincidence that both Kogane and Gunderson are connected to the Kerberos mission, doesn’t it?” she asked. Hopkins hummed noncommittally.

           “We’ll talk to Mrs. Holt on Monday. Meanwhile, why do you think the Garrison sent us her?” Cho shook her head.

           “Who knows why the Garrison does anything?” she said. “Working with them feels like stepping into an episode of X-Files.”

*

           Lance felt his heart jolt into his mouth when he woke up to an email notification on his phone. Louisa was snoring softly on the couch still, and even Cal was taking the morning to sleep in after their late night movie marathon, so the apartment was still and quiet, grey with soft morning light, as he pressed a shaking finger to his email app.

           His spirits plummeted when he saw it wasn’t from Keith, but someone with a Garrison email address. He opened the email anyway, scanning through it, and then stopped, frowned, and read it over again more closely.

To: Lance Sanchez

From: Akemi Ito

Subject: Memory Therapy

Dear Mr. Sanchez,

I don’t believe we met during your time at Galaxy Garrison. I am Dr. Ito, one of the psychologists employed by the Garrison in order to help mentally prepare our students for the rigors of space flight, as well as provide any mental health advice or therapist referrals that may be necessary to the general student body. I studied memory loss extensively back in medical school as it was a particular interest of mine, and I may have some ideas about how to help with your situation. Even though you are not currently enrolled as a student of the Garrison, I would be happy to offer my assistance, if you feel it would be useful. Please use the link below to schedule an appointment.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ito

           Louisa’s snoring had gone silent behind him, and Lance looked over his shoulder to see her propped up on the armrest of the couch and watching him. He silently held the phone out and let her read the message.

           “Why would he only send this to me now?” he asked. “I mean, I was on the news, I feel like most people know what happened.” Louisa shrugged.

           “Beats me,” she said. “You going to make an appointment?” Lance chewed his lip.

           “I guess? I mean… what do I have to lose?”

           “Sounds good to me,” she said, holding the phone back out to him. “Just let me know when you’re coming up.”

           “Yeah, sure,” he replied absently. His finger hovered over the date selection for a moment before he scrolled down and selected a date a week from Monday. He wanted a chance to take a look at those documents in Kent’s shack first. Then he’d go see what Dr. Ito had to say.

[rohanisnothere]

Smol And Tol: A Rachel and Mike romantic side story [Part 3 Finale]

A while has passed since Michael had to listen to Rachel’s long story of her misadventures in Psanctum sine they last met. Fortunately,the two have been done with handing out all the cool water bottles to those in need of it. Now they’re currently sitting beside eachother on the edge of one the city’s aqueducts,looking out on the late afternoon sky,the city basking in the cool red-orange light of the sun.                                                                                            Michael was silently enjoying the view,satisfied with today’s finished duty. He slowly looked over to his companion,who was far more interested in drinking the water bottle he had gave her as a small bonus for helping him out,even though it was basically black mail. Michael,and as any other pure bred demon,has lived for a long time,meeting odd and interesting characters along the way. But never has he met someone so odd and interesting as this girl before him. Its not like he took a fancy to her,atleast not to him,but for some reason this particular runaway has been bumping into him more times than any other person he has associated with.                                                                                                                          He can still remember the first time they met,when thieves broke into Connie’s apothecary shop at night and stole vials of Embrosia,a rare and highly valuable elixir able to flush out nasty sicknesses and prolong one’s stamina. Luckily he was just coming coming back from an interview he had with the press at the library. The thieves were running along the roofs of the apartment buildings,silently enough to not make too much noise. But Michael heard the commotion,not because of the thieves,but because of a loud and furious voice yelling at the top of their lungs and cursing colorfully at the thieves while chasing them. Michael saw her,a girl with pink hair chasing after the robbers on the rooftops,running as fast as she could. She looked petite even from a distance,and on her head rested a pair of horns that were spiked like a bull’s horns. She also had a small tail shaped like a spade colored red.                          Michael helped her out in catching the two thieves,who were a kobold and a tanuki.                                                                                                                          Afterwards,Michael saw the girl’s horns slowly retracted into themselves,making them look like a ram’s horns now. She thanked him and went back to the apothecary,leaving Mike on the street. They were too tired to ask eachother’s name,or even introduced themselves. Michael assumed she wasnt from the city since his mere presence didnt shock her or anysort of reaction a normal citizen of Psanctum would give him. That night marked the beginning of a bond that would last for the ages.                                                    Rachel noticed Mike just staring at her with a weird look,as if she was the most confusing thing ever. Growing uncomfortable,Rachel waved her hand in front of Mike’s face. “Hey,Mike,Hey,yoohoo is anyone there? Are you ok? Do you have brain damage?” Rachel started to snap her fingers in Mike’s face. Finally,he came to his senses and looked flustered.                                                                “OH-oh,Rachel,sorry, i was just thinking about something” Michael apologetically said.                                                                                                   Rachel gave him a suspicious look at him”It’d better not been something about me,cuz that’d be reeaaalllllllyyyy creepy and,well,wrong.”                                       Mike’s face went abit red”W-ww-what nO NO no! it’s just..i..i was remembering something.”                                                                                                              Rachel narrowed her eyes at him,but she decided to drop it and view the city from afar. Michael also went back to stare at the view,but he then asked Rachel a question that’s been on his mind.                                                                         “Hey,Rachel?”                                                                                                         “Hmm? What’s up?” she casually responded                                                         “I’ve been meaning to ask,Why did you run away from your home?Your family? I know what im asking isnt my business,but i’d like to understand why you did it.”   Rachel looked at Mike,then she looked down at the city.                                        “Well”,she started unsurely,”I guess you could say i wasn’t satisfied with things back home.”                                                                                                            “How? You’re of noble blood in Mara,born into a rich family with economic influence,servants filling in your basic needs and keeping you pampered,having almost anything you could want! And you’re telling me,a prince no less,that you weren’t happy with that?”                                                                                         Rachel growled a bit at MIke,her horns slowly moving up abit.                              “I didn’t say i was unhappy, i just felt like something was missing from my life” she responded a bit angrily.                                                                                     “Im sorry, i should’ve worded that more correctly. But,what exactly was missing in your life?”                                                                                                             “....Adventure.” Rachel wistfully said,slowly smiling at saying the word. She continued on.”Adventure was what i was missing Mike! All my life in Mara i lived in the coastal city of Cephalosanges,living in a manor and having everything i could ask for at a moment’s notice. Other kids would try to get to be my friend. But i knew that that was all ruse cuz i was loaded. The only true friend i had was my younger sister Yima. But as i got older, my grandpa would tell me and Yima stories about heroes and legends from our world and Earth. Stories of people slaying monsters,finding ancient ruins,conquering lands,the list just goes on!        I especially love the Odyssey.” she dreamily finished.                                            Mike looked at Rachel,finally understanding the mind of this girl.                          “So,after some time, i made a descision to see what the world has to offer me,and now im here” Rachel proudly said.                                                              “You mean to tell me that you traveled all the way from the southern part of the continent,ran away from home,and hid your identity,just because you were having a thirst for adventure?” Michael asked critically.                                            “Well,yeah kinda, i wanted to see the world outside of my home, so i decided to do it. And man was it worth it! I rode a wyvern for the first time in my life,tagged along with a bunch of mercenaries traveling north,became queen of the squirrels,ate a gryfin egg, climbed a giant mush-”                                                   “Wait wait,hold on a moment”,Mike interrupted.”You became queen of the squirrels?”                                                                                                                “Gaze upon the queen of all that is good in nuts and acorns!” Rachel said in a mock royal tone.                                                                                                      “Umm..ok,but how?”                                                                                                “I’ll tell you another time,but right now,Michael,you got to hold up your end of the deal,remember?”                                                                                                      Michael almost forgot about the deal,but he did remembered.                                “Ah yes,right. Well, Rachel,due to your circumstances and conditions of living,how does an apartment in the upstate area of the capital sound to you? With rent and utility expenses all covered by the Psanctum department of treasury?” Only silenced was greeted by Mike as Rachel simply stared at him with an open mouth. He knew she’d react like this. Slowly,Rachel walked over to him and looked up directly into his golden eyes.                                                     “You’re bullshitting me,aren’t you?                                                                         “No, i am being genuinely honest about this”                                                         ”And how am i supposed to know that? For all i could know you’re gonna sike me out and get a laugh out of it”                                                                              “Rachel”,Mike grabbed her shoulders gently,”I am not lying to you. I am a prince of Psanctum,son of the King Fortitudo III,on my word i am being very,VERY,serious about this.”                                                                                 “But,but i thought you found me annoying,and troublesome. You’d sometimes even call me a menace before”                                                                                ‘And im sorry,but now that i got to know you better, i can see why you act the way you do. And i dont want a citizen of this city to die somewhere in the slums because of my judgment on you.”                                                                            Rachel slowly smiled. “Im a citizen now?”                                                               “Well,not yet,but i’ll work it out with some of the city’s council to make you one.”    Rachel suddenly glomped Mike,almost causing him to fall off the aqueduct. Thankfullu he didnt. And after that night,those two would soon share more adventures with eachother than before,and develop a bond that would mean more then just friends.