Ascending the stairs at my base I reach the large pal bed we made for Jessica. Somehow Indigo has made her way up here with her.
"Indigo, how did you get all the way up here?" I ask.
Indigo stares into my eyes confused. That's when I see it, she has the eyes of a dragon.
"I see, you're Jessica's thrall," I say.
"Yes, once I was a human like you, but they poisoned the water, many of us were to die, Gaia took pity on our souls and saved us," she replies.
"I don't want to promise you anything, I'm not strong enough to do much with the technology I have, and I'm not sure what I can do to improve."
"Go to a dungeon, don't worry, I'll watch over the base," Indigo says rolling around on the bed.
This is the first time I see Jessica's camouflage. It kind of reminds me of the illusion Mr. Kitty uses only instead of projecting an illusion Jessica is able to transform herself into human form. That's a power that might come in very handy.
I'm not sure if I trust Indigo yet, but I gotta do something. I approach the front of a cave and pull my bat. We'll see what this dungeon holds.
It's kinda empty as I step inside. I move to the next room and a few soldiers approach me. Moon puts them down before I can engage them. Taking a left I come upon a room with a chest. I open it and don't get anything good. The last room looks like a small island with a tree. There's a large pal under the tree looking sad.
I step forward and swap my bat for my pistol.
"I'm just on my way out, don't try anything," I yell.
The large furry pink creature stands.
"Lov-ander?"
The creature begins to run toward me. I close my eyes as I sqweeze the trigger.
*Bang, bang, bang
"Lov, lov, lov!" The creature yells.
"Morado, catch her in a sphere and I will heal her!" Sam yells.
I throw a sphere at Lovander and it begins to shake. I clench my fists, but my stomach doesn't churn from the violence. Have I become numb to it? The sphere clicks and I grab it heading to the exit of the cave.
Two chests lie before me. I open the first and it's just more technical points. I open the second, and it's something more.
"Hurry back to base, that's no normal Lovander you just caught," Sam says pushing me toward a bright light.
Before I know it I'm back at base. Sam has furnished a dining room fairly well. He grabs the sphere I caught Lovander in and slams it on the floor. The Lovander appears lying on it's back.
"Sally, is it you Sally?" Sam says leaning down by her.
"Sam, Sambushi?" It replies.
I push Sam out of the way and put my hand on her side.
"She's bleeding, get a rag Sam," I yell.
Lovander looks up at me curiously.
"You know Sambushi, who are you?" It asks.
I'm starting to worry about the amount of pals I'm meeting that can speak English. Maybe it's just me that can understand her. Sam said Moon gave me the ability to understand Pal talk. Him and Vixie can speak though. Maybe this is a concern for another time.
"My name is Morado, don't worry me and Sam are going to fix you up," I say pressing a rag against her.
"Are you single?" She asks.
"I just shot you, and I might be talking to someone, maybe," I reply.
"Ahh, Sally, this is master Morado," Sam says.
"Sambushi!" Sally yells.
"You're ever the frightful minx you always were, as striking as the day I met you Sally," Sam replies.
I grab Sam's shoulder.
"I need to check on Moon, can you handle this?" I ask.
"We'll need some privacy," he replies.
"Sam, what happened to her, why was she in a dungeon?" I ask.
"It wasn't her fault, how could she have known?" Sam asks.
The scene cuts to a memory of Sally's.
"Patrick, dinner is ready," a young woman yells.
"That's wonderful honey, I'll go get Sally," a man replies.
"Patrick, don't worry about her, she's just a Pal," the woman says.
"Nonsense, Sally is our daughter, she'll join us for dinner," he says angrily.
There is a heated argument and Sally runs to the barn to hide. She's crying in the hey bails when he steps in.
"Why is that woman so stubborn, Sally is just a girl, we can't have children ourselves, why is it so wrong to treat Sally as our own?"
The next morning the woman is furious to find her husband cuddled up with young Sally. She kicks them out to roam the desert. Near a year later and Sally and Patrick are good friends.
"Sally, did you bring any mushrooms for the stew?" Patrick asks.
"Don't worry baby I got plenty," she replies stepping into the cabin.
Sally drops her plate of mushrooms as she sees the men. The brotherhood of pyre surrounding her beloved Patrick.
"Sally, run!" He yells as tears stream down his cheeks.
*Bang *Bang
The loud thunder of a double barrel twelve gauge fills the air, but so does the smell of burning flesh. Sally fleas for her life hiding in the woods.
The next morning the men leave and Sally returns to her lost lover. He is not but a set of boots filled with ash. Now wherever she goes. Sally spreads a little bit of ash from those boots.
"Moon, are you ok?" I ask petting her head.
"I'm scared," she replies gripping me tight.
"I am too."
Sambushi grabs me trying to pull me out of bed.
"I need to talk to you, alone," he says.
"Fine, but make it quick," I say covering Moon with my blanket.
I follow Sam into a clearing. He glows in the moonlight.
"If you haven't noticed then me, and some of the other Pals are 'lucky' I don't know why, but we glow," he says staring toward the stars.
"What does that mean?" I ask.
"It means we are worth more money, I wanted to warn you Morado, your Pals are worth money alive, but that doesn't mean you are," Sam says.
"So they'll kill me and take you away?" I ask.
"That would be the easy choice mijo," he replies.
"I won't let that happen, not to Moon, not to Jessica, not to you, not to any of my Pals, if I die they'll take you, so I can't die, I have to live."
"Living is more than just being alive my friend, you have to do anything to survive," Sam says pulling a box from his cloak.
"Sam, what is that?" I ask.
*User #072 received 'Butcher Knife'
"Sam what is this for?" I ask again.
"I pray you never know, mijo," he replies.
I sit in the clearing for a minute holding the knife. My Paldeck says it's used for butchering pals that are following you. Killing hasn't been a problem lately, but could I butcher one of my pals, one of my friends?
"You can put that away sweetie, no reason to dwell on things that haven't happened," Sally says joining me.
"Oh, sorry, I haven't gotten to speak with you yet, my name is Morado," I say with a smile.
"You don't have a lustful look in your eye, should I show more cleaveage, maybe if I was closer to you, or perhaps, you've a special taste," she says moving into my personal space.
Sally is really close to me and it's uncomfortable. There's a warm tuft of air and I feel her long wet tongue rub against my cheek.
"Sally, what are you doing? Why are you salivating so much?" I ask.
"Sorry sweetie, you just look so delicious, I didn't mean to be so aggressive," she says leaning away.
"But I will have you inside me," she whispers.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask scurrying away.
"Morado, where are you going?" She yells chasing me.
I run through the forest for a few hours until I wear Sally down. She decides to take the safe route and rest with Sambushi and Jessica. Those large Pal beds seem to be pretty comfy.
I step into the inner workings of my stone base and sit down reading technical manuals. Just basic stuff like aesthetics and hanging lamps. Moon joins me on a large pal rug made out of direhowl pelts. She pokes at one of the books as I read it.
"Moon?"
"That shows how to make a feather headband, like Zoey had," I reply.
"Moon, feather," she says pointing at her head.
"Yeah, I'll make you one," I say with a smile.
I hit a few dungeons and get some better manuals. I don't have the means or the resources to make them yet, but they'll be useful later.
Not a day passes that Zoey doesn't call me at 7pm on the dot. She doesn't have much to talk about, but she says she likes hearing my stupid voice. I hope she'll let me be close one day. I'd like to have someone else that I trust.
Where are my pals going? Is someone assaulting my base? Damnit, I don't want to worry Zoey about it. Can I lie to her though? Everyone is fighting and I don't know what's going on.
The worst part about it is that Zoey's on my Paldeck when it happens. When the syndicate take me.
"Morado, you're such a dork," Zoey says laughing.
"Oh, so you don't want to hear about this manga I'm reading," I say in a teasing tone.
"Well, maybe just a little bit, but you're still a dork," Zoey replies.
She begins to cough loudly. I can hear her taking deep breaths and it sounds like she's using something to inhale medicine.
"Zoey are you ok?" I ask.
"It's fine, so tell me about this manga you're reading," she says breathing heavily.
"Oh, well this girl has been friends with this boy since, well they grew up together, but she's starting to get strange feelings for him, he only sees her as a friend though, he doesn't notice she's a girl, then they find out they both-."
*gunshots
"Zoey I'll have to call you back."
"Morado, wait!"
The feed cuts out and I shove my Paldeck in my pocket. My pals lie across the fields of minerals unconscious as I step out of my fortress. This isn't a raid. The Syndicate are here for me.