Galactic High

"Hello there you two! Sorry for disturbing the lovey-dovey session!" the jovial man called out, as Jack and Nika turned towards the noise in stunned bemusement. The two strangers were koifish-looking creatures that were seemingly swimming in the air, with the speaker being longer than the other one. Though they were strangers, Jack didn't anticipate a fight on seeing them, and so didn't draw his gun, instead waiting for them to explain themselves.

"Daaaad," the smaller koi called. "You can't win a fight against him! Mum said the next time you get in over your head you're sleeping in the spare tank for a month!"

"Oh that's poppycock!" the father replied. "Besides, we haven't spoken to him yet - he may come along quietly!"

"Um…." Jack replied, really not sure what to make of this. "I can hear you mate, I'd really appreciate just being left-"

"Oh don't worry young man! I understand you want to spend some alone time with your girlfriend! Why, when I was your age I came up here with my wife and…"

"Ermmm…...Dad?" The younger koi alerted his father as he looked around.

"Oh sorry Braandun!" The father laughed, and leaned in to give a stage whisper to Jack. "Teenagers getting embarrassed by their old men, eh?"

"Dad, that wasn't…" Braandun tried to call out as he looked around, but he was waved off again.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you're not embarrassed." The father smiled as he gave Jack a knowing wink. "Yes, anyway as I was saying, you're a very lucky boy, Jack! There's a little girl out there that really likes you and was rather hoping-"

"Little girl?" Jack heard Sephy ask from the side with a laugh. "Jack, what kind of attention are you even attracting? Is there something you need to tell us?"

"Ah," the father replied, embarrassed, as he finally noticed they were surrounded, with Alora, Sephy and Chiyo strategically positioned around them. Chiyo even had several sharp stones floating around ready to strike if need be, before she dropped them on seeing Jack's raised eyebrows.

"Well, this makes things much better!" The father exclaimed joyously. "Since you can handle four girlfriends, maybe you can handle some more! These three girls were very passionate when making the video explaining the situation, apparently they're even in your class at school!"

"Wait? The Hoduth triplets?" Alora asked, trying not to laugh. "We know them!" She tried her best to give Jack a serious expression, suppressing her giggles. "It's your call, Jack!"

Jack gave a long sigh. "But I haven't even spoken to them yet! I've gone to school for one entire day! Couldn't they just talk to me when we all get back? I'm sure we can be friends…"

"See, Dad!" the son replied, trying to be done with the embarrassing encounter as quickly as possible "He kinda said yes, so can we just…"

"Oh come on now, Braandun! That doesn't count!" the father replied, turning to his son. "We're under the protection of the Hoduth clans and I hardly worked for that at all!"

"Um...sir, that's ok," Jack replied, trying to ignore the girls trying not to laugh. "I have received the message loud and clear, the Hoduth triplets are more than happy to come and speak to me when we're at school….”

"No no! The job isn't done until you work hard for it!" the father replied stubbornly. "I refuse to believe you'd just let them talk to you like that with no effort on my part! That’s far too easy to be possible! I must convince you with force! No weapons, a friendly one on one battle!"

"Mister, that's really not necessary!" Jack tried to de-escalate, not wanting to have to resort to violence. The guy was a bit dense, but had been perfectly amicable the whole time.

"Dad! How are you even going to beat him?" Braandun asked, while resigning himself to the situation and turning on the camera on his commlink to record.

"Nanomachines, son!" the father replied as he swayed side to side, hyping himself up. "They harden in response to physical trauma! Now prepare yourself, Jack, for my ultimate attack! Tail-fin slap!"

Jack didn't really know what to do as the fish charged at him and spun, very lightly tapping him on the shoulder with his tail before flopping around for several seconds to regain his balance. Jack just stood there with a complete 'WTF' expression, having not been affected by the attack in the slightest.

"Oh ho!” the fish exclaimed. "You were able to withstand my ultimate attack? Well how about this!" The fish lunged forward and headbutted Jack's chest several times, coming in for a fresh attack with each bounce.

"Um….sir," Jack asked again, as the fish kept gently prodding him to the barely restrained laughter at the display. "I'd be willing to concede a draw and work something out?"

"Ha!" the fish exclaimed after a few deep pants of exhaustion. "Yes! I am more than happy to share a mutual display of mercy with my worthy opponent! Name the terms!"

"Erm…You can tell the Hoduth triplets that they are more than welcome to speak with me next time they see me at school if that is their wish."

"Ah most excellent! I'll relay the good news when we get back from our morning swim! What conditions do you demand?”

"Um…" Jack thought. He looked to Alora, who by now had her face in her hands, the usually composed Eladrie trying to not laugh at Jack's predicament. Guess it was his free choice. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone where you found us! And if you know of any threats in the area or anything cool we could plunder for treasure and stuff, that'd be great!"

"Hmm, that's two things you've asked for…." the dad pondered.

"Can I have a selfie with you?" the son suddenly asked Jack. "My friends will be so jealous I got a picture with you!"

"Sure," Jack accepted after a few moments. "I guess we're agreed…"

*****

"Thank you for the information Mr Flopposenalitha!" Alora replied politely to the local information the fish gave to her, having composed herself on realising that some of it was actually useful.

"You're most welcome, young lady! And please call me Laandun! You boys done with your selfie?"

“We're done!” Jack replied, after having catered to several pose requests.

"Excellent! Well it was a pleasure meeting you, but we should be off!" Laandun replied. "Let's go, Braandun!"

The group stayed there for about a minute, until Sephy couldn't hold it in anymore, her laughter setting the others off as an unamused Jack put up with it.

Well as far as your first random encounter goes, I'd say it went rather well! Chiyo messaged him in between giggles.

"Well I'd rather prefer to avoid more," Jack deadpanned. "Shall we go?"

*****

The group's mood was rather uplifted after that display, helped by the fact that they were now moving downhill. The laughter at Jack's expense had served to wake them up, and so they were now chatting amongst themselves, with Nika occasionally stopping to navigate, and Jack taking the time to ask a few minor questions about things he had either seen or encountered since he arrived.

The forests and rolling hills eventually gave way to vast plains and other curious sights. Several communities had taken root at some point in history, with the telltale ruins of wood, stone and metal giving them away, each site displaying a wide variety of architecture and style that distinguished them from the others. It led back to what he was told about the Hive Station, that many civilisations attempted to settle over countless millennia, only for them to eventually fail and crumble. It only added more mystery to this place.

After walking non-stop for several more hours without incident, the group eventually stopped for a rest just within the treeline of another, much thicker forest, with a gentle, clean-looking pond by the district entrance. Alora and Sephy immediately sat down and took their boots off to dip their toes in the liquid and cool them down, while Chiyo found a comfortable spot of shade where she sat down with Jack and Nika shook the tension out of her limbs.

"So far so good?" Jack asked the Kizun, who still looked worried.

"Yeah," she sighed, sitting down in the shade with them and watching the other two relax in the sun. "With a few hiccups we got out of the city mostly unnoticed. News might get around, but by the time anything comes of it we should be well underway. However, from here we need to take it much more carefully, as there's more likely to be enemies about this far from any settlements."

Chiyo nodded in agreement from where she was leaning against Jack, quite tired from the trip.

He had asked her about it out of concern earlier, curious why she'd be tired when she could float using her powers. She hadn't been offended, simply telling him that the power she used to move was like a muscle that got tired after prolonged use, but intermittent rest, food and water would fix it the same as it would if she was walking normally, which she stopped to do once in a while. She also mentioned that different things she could do with her power required different mental ‘muscles’, but didn't elaborate much, more focused on sticking her tongue out at Sephy when she cheekily asked Chiyo to carry her.

"So eyes peeled going forward," Jack agreed. "Not that I wasn't paranoid before."

Well now it's justified. Deadlier things than floating fish around. Chiyo added, still texting quickly while her mind was resting. We're taking what we think is the safest route planned but anything can happen.

"Yeah, just follow our lead if anything happens," Nika warned. "Just don't go all psycho and start fights with friendlies, and don't run off from the group into a trap. In other words, use basic common sense and don't be an idiot."

So do the exact opposite of what characters do in horror movies and you should be good! Chiyo added, snuggling up to Jack and gazing up with her puppy eyes.

"Chiyo, you're meant to be the subtle one among us," Nika snorted as she very obviously leaned into him while showing him the map. "So, here's our route. We've got some vast forest around where we're heading, but there's certain districts we need to avoid based on what we've heard."

Jack nodded, perusing the heavily snaking route, as Nika asked Chiyo to get an image search ready on her device while they were still in comm range of the city.

"Now we all know what you're gonna ask." Nika gave Jack a knowing smile. "So ask why we can't go somewhere and we'll tell you why."

"Hah," Jack laughed. Obviously it was dangerous somehow. "Alright, what's wrong with the direct route?"

"Well that whole 'no civilization in the wild' thing isn't strictly true,” Nika began. "Unfortunately, we have tribes of aggressive, inbreeding and cannibalistic Zorn we'd like to avoid."

Chiyo then promptly showed Jack the picture. Considering Jack had met Drow and Dragons, he was expecting something like a goblin or a kobold, but he was instead surprised to see a hunched sickly-yellow biped holding a crude spear, naked and emaciated looking except for a few patches of leaves and brown mud. Its facial features were ugly and malformed, though whether that was what it looked like naturally or as a result of the previously mentioned inbreeding was unknown to him.

"These assholes cannot be reasoned or negotiated with, so don't even bother," Nika continued, seeing Jack's eyebrows rise. "They're barely sentient, just enough to form tribes and worship their god of disease and disfigurement, whose name I can’t remember."

The god's name is Gunge. Chiyo helpfully added.

"Yeah, was just about to say that," Nika added with a playful wink at Chiyo. “Anything else to add, Chiyo?”

Well it is speculated that Gunge was the Zorn’s creator god, or had a hand in the devolution of a progenitor race that became the Zorn. They like to spread disease to themselves and others, usually by smearing excrement into self-inflicted cuts and wounds, acting as vectors, though it is speculated that their god bestows particularly gruesome diseases on favoured followers to carry and infect others. She typed quickly to Jack, looking frustrated at the current method of communication they were forced to use. It was clear she wanted to say more to him.

“That’s a lovely history lesson Chiyo,” Nika replied sarcastically. “But I was hoping you’d give Jack advice on what to do during a fight.”

Chiyo’s unamused look to Nika clearly came with some choice words as Nika quickly took that duty herself without complaint. “Take them from a distance if you can, don’t stay too close for long if you can’t. They favour primitive weapons they smear in shit and like to get up close if they can after chucking a few spears. Important tribesmen are known to use more conventional weapons provided it has some way of transferring disease. Netguns and the like are very popular. Needless to say, we want to avoid them if we can, though we’d probably smell them before Chiyo detects any auras.”

They’re probably going to be the main threat we encounter, though we may get undead in the area as well. Chiyo added, typing out for Jack’s benefit.

“That’s true but unlikely.” Nika dismissed it. “We’re away from you-know-where and though they can get this far, the Zorn are usually a buffer. We’re more likely to get bandit groups or gangs, maybe a lone creature or two. Zorn are the main ones to be worried about.”

“Understood,” Jack conceded. “I’m guessing if we run into anything bad you’ll just tell me where to shoot and we can talk about it after. Though what do you mean by you-know-where?”

“Long story short, it’s a bad place,” Nika replied uneasily. “Nightwhisper Manor and the surrounding districts are not to be fucked with. It’s a powerful zone of dark energy that spontaneously spawns all sorts of risen undead and other horrors, which is why we’re staying the fuck away from it, and why I will say no more about it.”

“Fair enough,” Jack agreed. “I’m more than happy to stay away from the ominously named location of evil and anything it happens to shit out.”

“Smart!” Alora smiled as she and Sephy joined them, lying down in the shade. “As for any undead we encounter, they're probably going to be your basic unbound risen corpses that aren’t much of a threat. While they’re harder to put down, they’re really slow, and unless they’re bound to a necromancer they’re unintelligent too.”

“Sure, can they infect me by biting me?” Jack asked, curious how the walking dead worked there.

“Infect you? Usual stuff from an unsanitary dead body, maybe, but nothing like these zhombys you told us about that can make you one of them with a bite,” Sephy piped in. “Risen will try and kill you to add to their numbers if they know you’re around, though.”

“There’s no bounty system in place for Risen since it’s too easy to fake and game the system, but I want us to put any we encounter down if we can,” Alora replied with a firm look at the others. “Even if they weren’t a threat to others, the ones that were turned deserve better, and the ones that were never people to begin with are complete abominations of nature.”

"The Zorn have bounties, though they're not very high as they rapidly breed and aren't a match for most people one-on-one," Nika added. "Though it does add up if you take out a patrol or war party."

"Gotcha." Jack nodded his understanding. "Anything else I need to be worried about?"

"A few monsters, most likely," Nika answered with a shrug. "But as long as we don't wander into their dens we should be alright. Most of the monsters here are territorial and won't wander far since the Zorn or the Risen they eat tend to just come to them, but we still need to watch out for any signs of them."

"Otherwise that should be it," Alora finished. "The further away from civilization we get the worse it'll be, but we should be fine as long as we're smart."

"Agreed," Nika confirmed, and looked like she was about to continue when they heard a sudden rustling in the bushes nearby that everyone immediately trained their guns on.

Only one lifesign! Chiyo warned. But the aura’s friendly, it’s weird.

“You might as well come out!” Jack called out to the intruder as Alora relayed what Chiyo said to the group. “Let’s keep this cool!”

The rustling got slightly louder, as from the bushes a four-legged creature with dark grey mottled fur slowly padded over towards them. Its height came to just above Jack’s knees, excluding the long, pointed ears and the very long, twin tails wagging like crazy. It stopped at a respectable distance away from the group and sat down on its powerful haunches, the wagging tails now mopping up the ground behind it. It looked at the group with intelligent eyes, two where you’d expect and another two along the long, elongated snout, which grinned with visibly sharp teeth and ended in a dark, wet nose.

“Woof!” the creature announced in a polite bark as it sat there looking at them, breaking the bemused silence.

“Hello!” Jack grinned, lowering his weapon and immediately walking cautiously up to the strange-looking ‘dog’ to give it a friendly scratch behind the ears. Whatever this creature actually was certainly appreciated the gesture, and leaned its head gently into Jack who started stroking the fur on its neck.

“Careful Jack, you don’t know what that thing is! It looks dangerous!” Nika warned, eyes wide. “For that matter, I don’t even know what that is! Chiyo?”

It is unknown to me as well, it certainly isn’t native to the area, and I agree with you that it’s probably very dangerous! Chiyo replied.

“I know enough,” Jack responded with a smile, not taking his eyes off the creature as he moved to stroke the fur on its back. “You’re just a little puppy aren’t you?”

The creature gave another contented bark as it made itself comfortable

“Seems friendly enough!” Sephy grinned as she joined Jack in grooming the creature’s fur. “Can we…”

“I’m afraid not, Sephy.” Alora smiled, not unkindly, seeming to know what the question would be. “It’s a wild animal, and if it’s a youngling like Jack thinks it belongs with its parents. Besides, it'd be too dangerous with us. I’ll give it a blessing and send it on its way. Last thing we want is an adult one of these coming after us looking for its cub!”

Alora then walked up and patted the creature on the head with a glowing palm, whispering a few words under her breath before moving back and nodding to the others.

"Now that’s done, let's hustle up and get going! We've still got ground to cover!"

“Sorry boy, you can’t come with us, nice meeting you though!” Jack whispered under his breath to the creature, which seemed reluctant to leave with sad eyes, before Chiyo gave it a friendly mental suggestion that sent it cantering back where it had come from.

The next few hours were spent in relative quiet, with only a few sentences of conversation breaking out at a time, the group keeping alert for threats.

Every now and then, one of the others noted tracks, markers or other signs of recent activity, and the group would deviate on their course to avoid them. While eliminating threats was on the back of a few of their minds, everyone agreed that avoidance was for the best.

For Jack, it was almost a shame that they had to be worried about hostile people and monsters, as the forest they were travelling through slowly became less kept and much more natural the further in they went, as the canopy became thicker, and the trees looked much older. It was beautiful in a way, knowing that the nature around them was ancient according to Alora, though corrupted by the inhabitants, and occasionally interrupted by a crumbling wall, reminding him that they were still on an artificial station.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he noted another type of Zorn marker on the district wall, which he pointed out to the others despite being large and obvious.

"Oh look." Sephy gave a snort of amusement. "More shit fingerpainting!"

It was. Literally. This was the largest one yet, depicting several symbols surrounding a huge face of some kind. All around were a smattering of caveman-esque hand prints, each with three long fingers.

"I think this must be a wayshrine of some kind," Alora speculated. "The face is the Zorn god, the symbols signify the local clans, and the handprints may be passersby seeking a blessing."

"That's lovely, Alora." Nika grinned. "But that doesn't change that fact it's using diarrhoea as paint…"

Jack was quiet for a moment, no longer focusing on the conversation he had started. Something felt…wrong. He looked towards Chiyo who must have noticed his expression as she quickly hushed the others. Now that it was quiet he could hear signs of battle carried on the wind, which Chiyo confirmed.

"Jack, how did you manage to hear that?" Sephy wondered in amazement, to which Jack just shrugged, not completely knowing himself. He knew that humans often displayed a sixth sense for things at times, and this just seemed like one of them.

"Switch to closed subvocal comms," Alora instructed everyone. "I'll cast a displacement spell on all of us and Chiyo can help mask our presence as well. Nika, you're on point. Jack, go with her. We can't ignore this."

Jack nodded, making sure his gun was running as it should be. It wouldn't do to mess up on his first proper engagement. Either someone needed help, or it'd be a good opportunity to get the drop on some bad guys!

Eventually the noises got more pronounced as Jack and Nika quietly made their way through the old forest, with the others a safe distance behind them, making sure not to make any noise as they got closer and closer to what sounded like the end of the fight. Creeping up to the edge of the clearing the bodies strewn about made it clear to them what was going on.

Several Zorn lay there unmoving, smelling much worse than the disgusting creatures looked with several spears laying amidst the carnage. As well as an insane-looking, polkadot suited Klown with a spear jutted in its throat.

"Alora it's a group of Klowns that riled up the Zorn," Nika faintly whispered, which was magnified enough for the comms to pick it up and clearly be heard by the others. "Doesn't sound like there’s too many, how do you want to play it?"

"We have to take them out," Alora firmly responded. "You and Jack set up a good firing line, and the rest of us will get within casting range."

"Understood, let them thin each other out first," Nika responded, as she bid Jack follow her stealthily up to a low ridge that overlooked a clearing, where Jack could finally see what was happening.

Both sides looked to be in bad shape, with bodies littering the forest floor. It was clear that the battle was about to end, and that the Zorn were losing, though the Klowns had taken heavy casualties. Jack had to give fair credit to the Zorn however, in that they did not retreat or show any sign of morale loss. As he switched the safety off his rifle and took careful aim from their position, one of the Klowns went down to a thrown spear even as his return laser fire ripped his attacker apart.

"We're in position you two," Alora called out on the comms. "We've got Chiyo helping out with the spear throws, but I'd like to get a fireball off at the Klowns while they're occupied and bundled up together. Chiyo says there aren't many Zorn left but we can easily take them down if there’s any left standing."

"It's your call, Alora," Nika confirmed. "Jack and I will open fire on your mark."

They both stayed like that for several tense heartbeats as the main groups of Zorn were picked apart by laser fire, and the Klowns were beginning to disperse to finish them off.

Right before an impressive fireball slammed into the middle of them and blew the main group to smithereens.

"Take them down!" Alora called out in righteous fury.