I sat my butt down on the cold rock floor. Stable had scouted out a cave for us to rest in. After a hard battle and a couple miles walk, the rock may as well have been velvet. I released a huge sigh of relief. I placed Stable next to me. She rested their cold faced.

“Stable, these new clothes are kinda big”

That’s right. I finally had ditched the Mickey-Mouse PJs. Stable had used some strand-synthathingy to give me some new threads. I didn’t understand how the machine works. It just seemed like She typed something, and then something appeared. I asked her if she could recreate the bow staff using it, and she responded with no. The science was over my head, but I've learned to respect that. The clothes were not to fashionable, and questionably practical. They made me look like a generic foot soldier. White T-Shirt and green cargo shorts. They were a size greater than my body, and I had to use a vine just to keep the shorts on.

I raised my voice, “Stable, I said these clothes are kinda big.”

She responded quite agitated. “I know they are big. However, the synthesizer’s markings are a bit off.”

I sighed. “Can’t you do anything about that?”

Stable snapped. Ironically she was anything from emotionally stable as of late.

“Gambit! We are at a big resource disadvantage. You should be thankful that we even got anything from that run-down city."

She let out a sad groan, “Besides this synthesizer, we pretty much came back empty-handed.”

“Not completely empty-handed,” I replied as I motioned towards our special guest.

Our predator from our most recent escapade sat at the opening of the cave. His arms and legs were bound by vines similar to those that fastened my shorts. His dangerous hand clasped by muzzles Stable had synthesized. His emerald button was placed around two feet in front of him. It was also close enough for me to reach over and grab. I was now under the protection of both Stable and his button. If he tried to escape he would likely find himself disqualified.

I still wrapped my head around how I was able to beat him. It seemed almost like an impossible victory. But I was able to do it. Despite the odds. Due to my victory, we were in an advantageous position. In my whole life, I've never really felt the impact of victory. In the end, each individual victory I made on Earth changed my life by minuscule amounts. This victory was a single defining moment in my future. As such, I felt the reward.

“So finally, you guys choose to acknowledge me. I was starting to wonder if I had the invisibility of a #5621!” Our hostage smiled as his eye visors sparkled.

Stable ignored him. It had been like this for the whole time since we had captured him. Stable refused to acknowledge his existence.

I thought Stable needed to humble herself a bit. I had brought him along despite her hesitance. But I didn't think that a mild inconvienice should lead to such petty behavior.

"Stable, you can’t ignore him forever.” I reasoned

“Ignore who?” She snappily replied.

“Stable, I know you aren’t a big fan of keeping our old enemy prisoner bu–”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I was cut off as Stable raised her voice over mine.

“Gambit, I would definitely not be a fan of having an enemy around me. I, however, do not understand how this conversation pertains to our current situation.”

I tried to provide a counter.

“Stable, I kept him with us becaus–.”

“How does this pertain to our conversation?”

The minor aggravation I once held grew into a greater one. I had just saved both of our butts. Yet she still refused to hear my word. She still saw me as less. I get it, I had also seen myself as less. But that was until I saved our button from being stolen or shattered. In fact, I had snagged ourslefs an extra button from our current hostage.

I took a deep breath, I couldn’t let anger cloud my vision. I was above that. I needed to think clear and calmly. I needed to peacefully explain to Stable why she was wrong.

I slowed the articulation of my words to drive my point home.

“Stable, I have a plan.”

She had no response. She started pressing buttons on the synthesizer. Aloof to my comment.

Ok, princess.

She was lucky I was patient.

I continued with my explanation.

“You said it yourself ‘we’re at a big resource disadvantage’. That town was supposed to be chock-full of resources, right? So obviously someone took them. It has to be the people in the gang he’s in” I pointed towards our predator.

“Name’s Gale.” Our predator smiled at us.

I continue.

“Yeah, so we use the captiv–, Gale. Right? We use Gale to get info on the gang and steal the resources right from them.”

I smile at my idea. This was going to be the only way we, Stable and I, were going to get ahead. From my understanding, we needed some upgrades to stand a chance.

“What do you think?” I said awaiting Stable’s response.

Stable looked to be thinking to herself. She smiled.

“Good idea Right?” I asked. "I was thinking, they would probably send a pretty strong guy to patrol the town. And if I can beat him. I should be abl–"

I trailed off as she turned her head away from the keyboard and then looked at me with an amused and smug expression.

She spoke.

“I am completely appalled. I was foolish to trust your judgment.”

My facial expression quickly turned from excited to confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She spoke in a tone as if the flaws of my plan were greatly apparent.

“This. This plan of yours? To think I let you carry an enemy with us. I knew you had to have some kind of plan. But one this ludicrous? Are you stupid? Is that how your species think?”

I raised my voice. I was angry now.

“I saved us yesterday. Want to know how? Because of my planning!” I yelled.

Stable kept a cold voice. And returned to type on the synthesizer.

“Maybe you misinterpreted the events that happened.” She sneered. “That was my staff. I kept you with me purely because of your body heat. Your body heat was what saved us. No, my planning saved us.”

I retaliated. My voice rose once again. Had she forgotten how ill-composed she was during our last fight? She needed me.

“I won! That was my victory! You were a mess and I pulled us together. You lean off my back! You need me.”

Stable stared at me, confused.

“Gambit, do you realize that you simply just completed the exact purpose I lugged you along to do?”

I winced.

“Stable am I just a tool to you?”

I already knew the answer to that question. I had tried to avoid it before. To think I had made an actual friend among the aliens that existed on the planet.

“I thought you didn’t want to know,” She said as she made a loud tap as her finger finished pressing buttons on the synthesizer.

A circle of light flared on the floor in front of her as she laid the synthesizer on the ground.

Out appeared the lower half of a human body. It was bright shining chromium, with the smoothness of a mannequin. Stable crawled over to the legs and attached them to her torso.

Making up the missing lower half she previously had. She was full again.

For the first time, Stable Stood up. She started walking further from me to the edge of the cave.

She stopped and looked back at my dumbfounded face.

“I won’t be needing your back anymore.”