Halfway down the stairs, Tim heard a rhythmic knocking sound.

"I know you're in there!" called a boyish voice. "I just wanna talk!"

What now? He started taking the steps two at a time.

"I really missed you!" the same voice called.

He reached the hallway landing just as Emma's door opened. The pale, naked boy from earlier stood just in front of her door. Now that he was closer and standing still, some things became more apparent.

He's really scrawny. Has this kid ever gone outside? Tim peeked around the corner of the stairwell into the hallway to remain unseen while he watched. He felt a little bad about it, but the kid was maybe a three-out-of-ten at best, and that was generous. And who is he?

"Yes?" Emma said, coming partly into view through the narrow gap between her door and its frame. She'd changed her appearance at some point recently; her hair had a number of small braids running through it at even intervals, and she now wore a nine-point-six, body-hugging, knee-length crimson dress, with thin straps that ran around the back of her neck and a plunging neckline in front, changing her previous, somewhat unassuming beauty into a ten-out-of-ten vision of seduction.

"Ise-chan! I knew it was you!" said the naked boy, an excited grin on his face as he tilted his head down and stared directly into her breasts.

Emma blinked with overt incredulity. "What?" she said, looking too confused for words.

"Wait, you're not Isemeine," the boy said, looking up at her face for a moment and sounding confused. "Are—"

His words cut off abruptly as Emma, a furious scowl of hatred on her face, grabbed his slightly raised right arm, pulled him forward half a step, then hooked her right leg behind his and flipped him onto his back with a thud using an arm pressed across his shoulders. Her foot came up, now wearing a black, heeled shoe, and rested on his neck while a ball of fire swirled into existence above her hand. She pointed it downwards, then let out a growl after a moment and extinguished it as she stormed back into her room, slamming the door behind herself.

Alright, I'll come back to see Emma later. Tim started down the stairs again. Can't imagine they're both wrong about that kid though. No point wasting time with him if it'll cause friction with the others. Better see what Ir'alith's up to and figure out if I can get some grappling training in with a shapeshifter. Damn, this seems like a bad idea the more I think of it.

He emerged into the lower level with the training area soon after. Finally, something that's like I expected. The long platform extended before him, and he walked forward a little ways, looking from side to side as he traveled along. "Ir'alith?" he called. "You in here?"

There was no reply.

That's probably not good. She seemed like the most level-headed of the group. He ran a hand up through his hair, letting it linger to scratch the back of his head. Carl, what's going on with your alien girlfriend, buddy? He sighed. I'll stick around and run through some forms. Maybe she'll come out and I can figure out what's going on to smooth things over.

Damn, Carl, you better appreciate all this next time I see you.

----------------------------------------

He didn't get far into his training. About ten minutes had passed, and he was just barely starting to sweat when he heard a loud retching sound from behind him near the stairs. He spun around, and Scipio was hunched over, leaning against the doorway as she coughed and made sounds as though she was about to vomit.

"Scipio?" he called, immediately dashing over. "What happened? You—"

"Bad legs," she groaned. "Really fucking bad. Urgh, whyyyyyy," she said in a half whisper, making a slight choking sound as she continued to retch.

Bad…legs? Tim slowed down as he reached her. What… I don't know why I expected this to make sense. "Uh…"

"Just… Just give me…" she sucked in a series of deep breaths, then swallowed and took a few more breaths before standing up fully. "Urgh, fucking five guy," she said with a grimace. "Might be stuck down here until he gets out of the hallway. Not sure if I can—Nah, I'm not fast enough. Fuck."

"Fast enough for—"

"Storm, listen carefully," she cut in, giving him a nine-out-of-ten serious look. "If you can go up and get five guy out of the hallway and into his room, I'll be very grateful."

Tim frowned. "You want me to… Why do—"

"It might even us out some for how much I helped you train so you could go and fuck all those dragons," she interrupted. "Understand?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, "sure." He glanced towards the stairs. This trip just gets weirder and weirder.

"Okay, then I'm gonna lay down for a while," Scipio said. She pulled a big reclining chair out of the air next to herself and plonked it down, falling into it with a quiet moan of pleasure and closing her eyes immediately.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I'll let you know when it's safe," he said as he started towards the middle level while shaking his head. Never hurts to have the gratitude of the higher-ups, but what the hell's going on with this kid that everyone comes to hate him so fast? Is he really… Sateus actually picked him?

He climbed the stairs one at a time, not feeling any particular urgency. When do we have to fight again anyway? Damn, I should've asked when I got back. One of the others must know. After I take care of Scipio's problem, I'll ask around. Just a regular day putting out fires, though usually it's a different kind of fire. Though I guess this is sort of like a disciplinary thing in a certain way… His thoughts veered back to the present as he reached the landing of his destination.

The fifth member of Team Sateus sat, naked, with his back against Emma's door, his hands wrapped around his knobby knees and his head tipped up in an expression of despair. He looked over when he realized he was no longer alone. "Great, another NPC," he muttered.

"Did you just call me an NPC?" Tim asked as he approached, starting to laugh right away. Immediately gives me a guess of who he is in general terms.

The boy frowned up at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nah, nothing," Tim said while still chuckling. "How about you stop sitting out here and go in there," he said, gesturing to the fifth door, which now read "Hero".

The boy tipped his head back, banging it against Emma's door. "I don't want to," he said in a tone like he was being asked to do homework for a class he didn't enjoy except he also wasn't taking any classes that he did enjoy. "Why won't she open the door?" he mumbled.

"Why do you want her to?" Tim countered. I don't imagine she'll ever open it again after what I saw. Or until she gets hungry enough to eat, but I'm sure I can get him out of here before then. Why would Sateus pick someone that disrupts the group this much? That's not typically what you want in a high pressure environment like this.

The boy started as though he hadn't expected to be heard."She looks just like her," he said after a short while, looking up at him out of the corners of his eyes. "I mean, her tits are a little smaller, but they're practically twins besides that!"

Tim sighed. "Like who, kid?"

"She looks just like my fiancée, Isemeine," the boy said in a mournful tone, his expression like that of a boy who had been abruptly dumped by his very first girlfriend. "But she's dead now. This Carl asshole kidnapped and killed her." He shivered. "I couldn't save her!"

Now that can't be a coincidence. Tim looked down at the boy. Hm. No way to tell how strong this kid is, and after seeing what Scipio can do despite her looks, I don't really want to push my luck even if he's naked. Time for Good Cop. "That sounds tough, kid," he said. He opened his inventory and scrolled to another page to retrieve a pair of two-out-of-ten pants and a shirt of matching quality. "Here. Cover yourself up."

The clothes landed next to the boy, and he stared at them for a short while before looking back up. "Thanks," he said, moving to grab them.

Tim turned around to give him some privacy. Can't imagine Sateus is going to let me get killed inside his fortress if this kid decides to jump me. I hope. This is definitely not how I wanted to spend my downtime. Then again… A memory of Enzi cooing into his ear hours earlier as he stroked his fingers over her nine-point-eight softness head-fin resurfaced, and he couldn't help but grin again. Yeah, maybe I'm not getting in the grappling practice I wanted with Ir'alith, but I doubt there's anyone else who can say they've done half of what I have today.

"Um, I'm…Kazuto," came a voice from behind him.

Tim moved to face him again after waiting a moment. "Drake Storm," he said like he always did when giving his name in his current body. Even with clothes on, this kid doesn't look like much. He must've never left his parents' basement before he got warped here.

Kazuto looked up at him with a small grimace. "Kinda cringe name," he muttered.

Starting to get a feel for why everyone else hates him though. Just need to get him out of the hallway, and then… Shit, I probably have to convince him to stay out of the hallway, don't I. What a struggle. Ah, but there's an idea… "So, Kazuto, I don't know if she's going to open her door any time soon since she's reading. What do you say we grab some food for a bit and you can tell me all about your fiancée?"

"I am a little hungry I guess," Kazuto said. He gave Emma's door another mournful look.

"Great, let's go," Tim said, waving him along as he started towards the stairs. He deliberately took a slower pace to let the shorter boy catch up.

"You think I can get that god guy to bring her back?" Kazuto asked as they walked.

"Hm. Well, there's no harm in asking," Tim lied. And now I'm a babysitter, aren't I. Great. "I'd say give it a shot. Wow, you must've really cared about her to go that far."

They started up the stairs, and Kazuto let out a long, brooding sigh like he was an air mattress that deflated far too slowly despite having a large amount of pressure applied to him. "I did. I really loved her, you know?" He sighed again in exactly the same way. "I'll try asking. I knocked on the big doors a bunch, but he wouldn't let me in. Hey, did you know I had a goddess as a girlfriend? I wonder if they know each other…"

Tim blinked a number of times, but it still wasn't enough. I… If it was anywhere else, I'd say this kid's delusional, but maybe he's actually a big shot? "Oh yeah? Who was that?"

"Her name's Lucia, and she's a goddess of Light," Kazuto said. He sighed once more. "She was so hot, too. I haven't heard from her in a long time now. Hey, do you know how I got here? I don't. Must've gotten warped over from somewhere."

They stepped out onto the floor of the dining area, which had again been completely cleaned since his last visit, and Tim stopped while his latest, most annoying companion looked around. "Can't say I do. What's the last thing you remember?"

Kazuto flinched. "Um… I…d-don't remember," he said, turning his head away.

"Oh, okay," Tim said, mentally rolling his eyes at the negative-five-million-out-of-ten attempt at a lie. This kid's not good at lying. "See anything you like?" he called, walking forward towards a certain aisle. "I'll get us some drinks."

"There's a lot of food here," the boy said in a tone that was only slightly impressed. "Do they have pizza?"

"I've seen it around," Tim called. He walked along the aisle of pitchers of drinks with a critical eye.

"What about grilled cheese?" Kazuto asked. "With… You know what American cheese is? I don't like other kinds of cheese."

Tim pressed his palm to his face, unable to prevent himself from letting out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm positive it's here somewhere," he called. Scipio, I don't know if we're friends now, or friends with benefits, or what, but you're going to owe me for wasting more than five seconds with this—

"What about hot dogs?"