Chapter #17: The Challenge [https://i.imgur.com/JDiqJQc.png]

"Before we get started, we need to outfit you in something more appropriate. Your Earth clothing is primitive and affords you no real defensive or offensive benefit. For this reason, we'll have to ask you to remove them and bathe yourselves, in preparation for our sanitation protocols." The Mowaii leading them along stops at two doors, which open quietly as he motions toward them. "We saw fit to separate you by gender and have prepared these facilities for such an occasion. To the left, the men. To the right, the women. You'll be given a chance to shower, then you'll be sanitized properly, and finally, you'll be given new clothing."

"Can we keep our old clothes?" Sophia says, tugging gently at her shirt. It's dirty and desperately needs to be cleaned, with red dirt leftover from Ziron 8 still visible on it.

"If that is what you want, that can be arranged." The Mowaii motions toward the open doors again. "Leave your clothing behind and we'll clean them for you to keep later."

With an awkward wave, the group split in different directions, with Tah-Kuell, Darius and Nicholas heading to the left, and Ava, Sarah and Sophia moving to the right, as directed. The next room is simply one large rectangular space with several metal spickets on the ceilings, each over a drain. There doesn't seem to be any buttons to turn them on. The only other noteworthy feature is the smaller door they're meant to exit the room from. To Nicholas, the room almost resembles a hotel sauna.

"So, TK," Darius speaks up as he removes his shirt, tossing it aside carelessly. "Can we trust these guys? I mean, I get that they're your people, but is what they're saying true? Will they let us go after this?"

"Of course. Though they hold considerable disdain for me, they hold no ill will toward you or your friends. Everything they've said so far is truthful," Tah-Kuell responds, easily pulling his single piece uniform wide enough to climb out of. Without the uniform they were so used to seeing him in, it's clear that their friend has no outward genitalia. His entire body is perfectly smooth from head to toe, barring the occasional wrinkles from a more notably active lifestyle in research back on Ziron 8. At this revelation, Darius and Nicholas glance at each other and decide to simply completely disrobe.

"So, uh, how do these things work?" Nicholas holds out his hand underneath one of the spickets. It suddenly activates and begins to shower a steady stream of warm water over his hand, and with a shrug, he moves underneath it. "Never mind, I got it."

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think we'd ever get to shower again." Darius responds, picking a shower a bit further away from the other two. Darius and Nicholas soon discover that, at some point during their shower, they'd been left nondescript clear bottles of what they can only assume is some type of body wash. "I wish I could read what these say."

"Oh. The one with what looks like a C in your language is essentially what you might consider to be shampoo. The other should be some sort of soap," Tah-Kuell advises. "We don't create oils, so just a quick shower is usually enough for us." He steps out from underneath the torrent of water, looking around. "Interesting. These facilities don't have instant dryers." He steps across the room as Darius and Nicholas lather up, and once on the side with the door, gathers up one of the three towels that seem to have also appeared from nowhere. Tah-Kuell carefully holds one up to his face and lets out a satisfied sigh. "These must be what you call towels. It seems they've pulled out all the stops to make you feel more welcome here."

He begins to dry off with the towel, but he pauses his enjoyment to throw Darius and Nicholas their towels once they've finished washing off. "Okay, what's next?" Nicholas asks, to which Tah-Kuell turns to face the smaller door opposite of the one they'd entered.

"The sanitation process is very simple. I'm not allowed to explain the intricacies, but it's very safe and practically painless," Tah-Kuell smiles, leading them toward the door, which opens as they approach. Darius, still holding on to his towel and drying himself, gives Tah-Kuell a worried look. "What do you mean, 'practically'?"

Once they are through the small door, the floor begins to slowly move like a conveyor belt. Nicholas steps on after Darius and Tah-Kuell, noting that the floor is warm and soft. He can still stand properly, but it has some give to his weight, making standing more comfortable than on the earlier cold metal floor.

Slowly, they're conveyed through a hallway, hit by gentle flashes of light and the occasional spritz of air from some unknown place. "What is going on, Tah-Kuell?"

"It's okay. We have to hit you with a light electric jolt to destroy any spores or unwanted organic hitchhikers you might pick up from planet to planet," Tah-Kuell explains. As if on cue, they feel a shock of electricity flow through their bodies from their feet. It's only mildly painful, if a bit surprising, and it forces their hair to stand on end. Tah-Kuell chuckles at the sight but says nothing to tease them.

Once on the other side, a door opens and allows them to step through to another nondescript rectangular room. This one, however, is host to several outlined circles settled on the ground. "Okay. Here's where we acquire our new apparel. I haven't received one in quite some time, so this should be exciting." Tah-Kuell steps forward to demonstrate, standing in one of the circles. Nothing happens, leaving Darius and Nicholas standing behind, waiting for anything to occur. "Come on, this won't work unless all three of us are on. Just be sure to stand as still as possible."

Moving to stand in the circles themselves, Nicholas and Darius try to stand perfectly still and tall. Out from the floor and the ceiling, two brilliant blue rings of light ascend and descend, narrowing until they perfectly touch and hover over their bodies, following every single contour perfectly. From seemingly nothing, the lights create fabrics and begin to materialize new clothing: a greyish-silver, skintight uniform; like the kind a scuba diver might wear. Embedded within the material are darker lines, almost organic circuitry that can be seen on the surface. Over their shoulders, elbows, knees, or other vulnerable areas, the uniform is thicker, and padded. Though the uniform lacks traditional shoes, they still have obvious padded soles to protect their feet.

"Wow..." Nicholas blinks in surprise, looking himself over once the light has disappeared. "I figured we'd get something strange but nothing like this. It's like I'm not really wearing anything. Which I guess is still sort of awkward." He tugs at the uniform. It relents when he does, but snaps back into place once he releases it. "Feels tight. Like a second skin."

"I wonder what the girls are going to think of theirs. Sophia is pretty body-conscious, so I'm thinking she's not going to like it," Darius speaks as he feels himself over as well. "You know what's weird? When I touch the suit, it still feels like I'm touching my own skin."

Tah-Kuell looks himself over as well, clearly pleased with the upgrade to his original uniform. "Oh, these must be one of the newer models. Very well-made. I'll be able to go over with you what they can do once we get back to the ship, but for now you'll probably discover it as you go." He steps forward to open the door leading out to the new hallway, but the girls are already waiting for them on the other side of the door. "Oh, it seems the other group has beaten us."

"Here I figured we were being quick," Nicholas chuckles, looking over the other women to see how they have handled their uniforms. Like the men, their uniforms are the same skintight silver suits, clinging to the girl's curves. Though the chest has thicker armor plating as opposed to the men, as well as over their hips, lending them greater amounts of modesty. Even so, without the normally modest clothing they had been wearing, the girls look much more developed, with Sarah being the one benefiting the most out of the transition to the new uniform.

Sarah blushes, though it's unclear if it's from the looks from the boys, or from the fact that the uniform leaves considerably less to the imagination than her old hoodie. "I don't mind the uniform, but Sophia," She chuckles, looking over toward the smaller girl, who's busy tugging at the uniform to try to get it off of her.

"Por favor, Dios me ayude," Sophia mutters aloud, finally giving up with a frustrated sigh, covering her chest with crossed arms in a desperate attempt at greater modesty.

"You can always tell when Sophia's upset because she speaks Spanish," Darius laughs, leaning back to avoid a halfhearted swat from the smaller girl.

"Oh, hush," Sophia huffs. "I hope they give us our clothes back."

"It would be ill advised to wear your old clothing. Mowaii uniforms are some of the best defensive wear you can find in the galaxy," Tah-Kuell explains with a smile toward the embarrassed girl. "It's resistant to heat and cold, toxins, radioactivity, creates its own oxygen, and--"

The same Mowaii from before appears from around the corner, frowning at Tah-Kuell. "If you continue to hold these children by the hand, Tah-Kuell, they will never grow. Even plants can die from too much water. Let them learn on their own."

Though he'd been bright and cheery a moment before, the other Mowaii's words force a frown onto Tah-Kuell's lips as he moves to follow the group.

They stop at the end of the hallway in front of a large vault. Like the rest of the entrances about the station so far, it is smooth and metallic, without even a sign or any indication as to what might be inside. "Here is your first trial. It will be your one and only challenge. Conquer it, and you will find yourselves being able to unleash the full potential of the tools given to you by the Makers. And you will be in much better condition to survive the universe at large." He steps aside, allowing the door to open and the teens to enter. 

"Alright," says Nicholas as he inspects the door. "What is this, like some sort of VR? A simulation?"

The Mowaii walks away from the group and heads back. "Tah-Kuell. You'll be staying behind with me. The elders wish to speak with you."

Though obviously displeased by this, Tah-Kuell clearly has no choice, stepping aside as well to let the others enter. "Fine. I'll see you all when you return. Good luck, everyone!"

The vault slides shut quietly behind them once they're all safely within. The interior is a sterile white room, much larger and intimidating than the showers, with silver outlines lining the floor and walls into ceramic squares on the ceiling that look to be made of some sort of marble-like material. Metrics are laser etched into the metal padding of the room, showing distance and height in meters. In the middle of the chamber lays a single square hole on the floor. A gentle clicking noise echoes from the darkness inside of it, but none of the teenagers are brave enough to have a look.

"Great. Odds are there's something dangerous in that hole. Who should look?" Ava looks between everyone.

Sophia cowers behind Darius and only peeks out from out of his shoulder. "I don't know. Should we even?"

"We have to find out what's in there or I have a feeling TK's people won't let us leave this place until we do," says Sarah, who is already prepping herself to be the first one to look inside the mysterious opening.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Alright, I vote Nicholas," says Ava, stopping Sarah from what she was about to do.

"Wait, what?" Nicholas gives Ava a disapproving look, but the female shrugs helplessly.

"You're kind of the de facto leader, no? Or at least, you like to act like one. Besides, you're the guy that can make weapons with his wrist." Ava steps back, grabbing him by the hand and gently pushing him forward. "Go on. You're the best out of all of us that is suited for this."

Sophia and Darius nod in agreement behind them. "Absolutely." "Yeah."

"Way to throw me under the bus, guys," Nicholas sighs, lifting his arm with the omnitool up in front of him like a weapon and moving ahead, inching toward the hole with caution. The clicking seems to get louder the closer he gets to the hole, and the more he sees, the more he realizes that it's probably a bad idea to be looking directly inside. Whatever is in there, he is unable to identify, due to the low light—but it can clearly see him. As the thought crosses his mind that maybe he shouldn't be too close to the opening, something large and green leaps out from the hole and into the air so fast that to Nick, it's only a blur, landing with a heavy thud on the other side across from him.

Quickly taking a step back, Nicholas turns around and narrows his eyes at their 'challenge'. A large, insect-like creature: its entire carapace is that same light green as its body, almost as if it were prepared for molting. Four intimidating arms, two powerful legs. Its body from the waist up seems almost humanoid, though its head is clearly insectoid in nature, with two prominent large eyes, long, whip-like antennae that twitch and sway in reaction to every sound and movement, and a distinct lack of lips in favor of powerful jaws that shudder at the prospect of a good meal.

From the waist down, it becomes almost centaur-like in shape, with a body that tapers off into a powerful, albeit short, tail with two prongs on the end. Wings spread from its sides, vaguely translucent and a bit veiny; when not spread wide or used for some manner of flight, they seem to fold in, a vulnerability completely hidden away from potential attackers. Its two powerful legs have three distinct joints, like the back legs of a horse, but more pronounced and covered in its thick carapace, no doubt adding to its jumping power. Its arms and legs each have the occasional hardened sharp points as part of the carapace, probably used as defense or, in the case of the arms, offensive piercing weapons.

Both of the creature's eyes stare straight at Nicholas, who is backing away.

"What the hell is that!" Ava is the first to cry out, taking several steps back.

"Holy crap! It's like a preying mantis mixed with a grasshopper!" Sophia seems more ecstatic about it, perhaps not realizing the inherent danger of the situation. She lifts her hands when Darius moves to put himself between her and the creature, a protective gesture. "Hey! Darius! I can handle myself! Let me go!"

Though Darius makes no response to Sophia. "Nick, move away from it and come back to us!"

Taking his advice, Nicholas moves to cautiously return to the group, but the creature leaps over and lands inches away in a matter of seconds, putting itself almost face-to-face with him. Just as it lifts its upper limb to strike him, Nicholas raises his arm and conjures up a shield. A kite shield, to be precise; the omnitool forms it in the blink of an eye out of liquid metal, shimmering into a burst of oily liquid and then hardening immediately. The incoming swipe seems casual, but the power and strength behind it strikes the shield and sends the boy reeling back, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop. "Ow!"

Sarah, realizing quickly that this is their training, to force them to utilize the omnitools, leans forward and rushes in, her face the picture of pure focus. She'd made the omnitool bend to her will once before, and confident that she can do it again, leaps forward with resoluteness. She puts her every thought and will into the glove-like metal still formed around her hand, the metal seeming to liquidize and create an object. A mace. Primitive, but effective, though it lacks anything that might make it even more dangerous. It's simply a bludgeon. Sarah swings it forward, striking the creature in the leg. A sharp crack echoes throughout the room, signifying that she'd managed to do damage to the thing's light brown carapace.

Ava, made more confident by this, moves forward to join Sarah, but she skids to a stop when a sudden appearance of the creature's wings smack Sarah on the side and send her rolling away.

Darius and Sophia stay petrified as they stare at the insect beast causing havoc a few feet away. "Do we call for help?"

"No! We're being forced into a fight to learn how to use these things!" Sarah says, pointing to her omnitool. "Everything we've been doing until now has been running away from our problems!" She yells, forcing herself to a stand, her mace still gripped firmly in hand. "Let's stop running and start fighting!"

Sophia gently tugs on Darius's arm to get his attention. "C'mon."

Reluctant, Darius lowers his other arm, looking between the creature and Sophia. "This is insane."

"Is it?" Sophia looks at him with raised eyebrows. "Everything about this trip has been insane. Maybe we need to learn how to fight monsters to figure our shit out."

Watching this unfold, Ava regains her confidence and runs towards the creature with her arm out. The omnitool on her wrist begins to shimmer and soon a metal blade forms extending all the way up to the ceiling. Screaming out loud, Ava swings the giant blade toward the creature, but the creature anticipates this and grabs the blade, pulling Ava inward. Ava hangs on for dear life as she's pulled while still connected to the blade and thus remains at the will of the creature.

Sophia slips around Darius and begins running toward Ava, creating a pole from her omnitool. Before the creature can react, she extends it tall enough on the ground to assist her in vaulting up onto its back. She throws the pole around the creature's neck once she lands, which proves to be the correct decision as it bucks back violently to try to remove her. She barely holds on even then. "Help! Guys!"

With the creature distracted by Sophia, it releases Ava from its hold, and she hits the floor as her metal blade begins to liquefy and dissolve. She gets back up and stares helplessly as Sophia rides the creature. "Hold on, Sophia!"

Sophia clings to the creature's neck, trying not to be thrown off. "Nick! Do that cannon thing you did before!" Though she's soon removed when the creature bucks forward violently, sending her careening overhead.

"I'm trying!" Nicholas yells, who's pushed his way to a stand by now, and manages to make the shield disappear, but the omnitool doesn't form anything new and seems unresponsive. "I don't know what's wrong. It's not working!"

Ava sprints across the room to join Nicholas, lifting the arm with her omnitool on it. "Okay. Do you remember what you did to create it? What did it look like?"

"Like a large barrel. I don't know. It wasn't much more complicated than that," Nicholas explains. "I'm trying to visualize it."

Sophia gets up from the ground and grabs her shoulder, clearly in pain from the fall. "Think back on how you made it work on the red planet, Nick. Just do it again."

Ava looks at Sophia, her mind processing and mulling over her words, and sighs. "I have an idea." She moves in quickly to place herself in front of the creature, blocking its line of sight from Sophia and Sarah. "Hey! Over here!" She calls, drawing its attention. When the creature takes a swing, she hops back, the attack just inches away from impacting her.

Another swing, another miss. This time, however, when the creature leaps in to attack again, she ducks, her omnitool shimmering into an iron fist. She throws her arm back and levels a punch far fiercer than one she should be able to normally throw, the impact creating a webbing of cracks throughout the creature's hardened carapace at chest level.

"Whoa!" shouts Nicholas as he watches it all unfold in front of him. "Good hit! What was that?"

The impact is enough to force it to stumble back enough that Ava can dart away. Spotting the moment of weakness, Darius and Sophia move in together, creating shields that meld together into one giant shield, with a number of spikes as opposed to the plain dull edge, throwing their weight into a tackle that sends the already reeling creature to the wall, skidding slightly on the smooth floor before its weight slows it to a stop. Though its antennae twitches, it doesn't move for a moment otherwise. Its carapace has taken several strong hits, and pieces of it have already begun to crumble and fall off, piece by broken piece.

"We're winning!" Sophia calls out after she looks over the shield to see how their attack panned out, but instead witnesses the creature getting back up on its feet. Unexpectedly, the insect throws itself into Darius and Sophia's shield, its slam sending them scattering backwards. Its wings extend behind its back and the beast begins to take flight, landing over Darius and trapping him with its legs and arms. With nothing else to protect him besides his small shield, he quickly lifts his arms to brace himself for the onslaught of attacks that are fierce enough to make it start to crack under pressure. "I could use some help here!"

"I think I've got it," Nicholas calls, holding up his arm to show off the cannon he'd created from the omnitool. It shimmers in the light, briefly attracting the creature's attention. "Step away, everyone. I got this!"

Sophia, already staggering to a stand, spots the creature over Darius. "Get away from him!" She yells as she swings her shielded arm toward the creature; it leaps away and lands close enough to Sarah to force her to step back. Too late, unfortunately, as the creature easily kicks her away with its powerful legs.

Running over to where Sarah skids to a stop, Nicholas checks her over, finding that the girl's suit has taken no real damage from the kick. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah." Sarah moves to a stand with the boy's help, lifting her own arm and focusing on the cannon still in his hand. "Hey, good job. You did it." Without warning, Nicholas's cannon ripples, and for a brief moment, a jolt of blue energy is shared between the cannon and Sarah's omnitool. Startled, Sarah watches as her own omnitool begins to shimmer and shift into liquid. "Whoa, what is happening?"

"I don't know. I think they can share information," Nicholas says, regarding the omnitools. He stares as Sarah's own cannon begins to form in her hand.

"Okay? Not gonna question it." Sarah says, trying to get a feel for it and moving it around to test its weight. Nicholas gets up and levels his cannon toward the creature, powering up a charge. The creature takes flight, giving Sophia room to move in closer to Darius and encourage him to stand. While Darius struggles to move away, Nicholas fires his weapon without hesitation. Three energy shots fly across the room. The creature, however, seems to be anticipating them and avoiding them in mid-air.

"Shoot it, Sarah!" Sophia calls out in support of the other girl. "Take it down!"

The creature turns to face Sarah and attack, but it's too late. Sarah fires her shot without warning. The shriek of blue energy coming from the girl's blaster hits it point blank, the impact blowing away its entire light brown carapace and decimating its wings, revealing a softer, bright green carapace underneath. The sheer power of the energy sends it flying backwards, where it slams into a wall soon after. Once more the creature seems debilitated, immobile, except for the occasional antennae twitch.

With the threat gone, the cannons themselves begin to disappear, the omnitools properly returning to their tired owners and restructuring into gloves. The teenagers look at each other with surprise, exhaustion, and a hint of pride. But it isn't long before their eyes return to the creature, as it suddenly moves and hefts itself from the ground, chittering. The five prepare to fight again, but the insect lifts its arms in a surrendering gesture. "No, please, I concede."

"What? You can talk?" Sophia responds. "Well hello then!" She's visibly enthusiastic, ignoring her caution and rushing over to take a closer look at it now that the threat is gone.

"Of course I can talk," the insect speaks, its voice translated into a notably higher pitched and more feminine one, somewhere amid all the clicking and noise she creates to communicate. Even the omnitools can't seem to drown out the noise, but it still translates all the same. "I'll admit, creating sonic weaponry was a very impressive use of your tools. I've never met any guests that have created something so sophisticated, even in groups. You Humans are truly peculiar." The insect alien checks its wings, some of which are badly damaged. "The Mowaii refer to me as Daeli Dokkal, but you can just call me Daeli. I am a Todea. My race inhabits the surface of this world. I have never met your kind before now. It is truly an honor. From this point onward, for what little time we have together, I will be your trainer. We'll be working on improving your familiarity with the Maker's tools. Though it seems like you all have a solid grasp of them already."

"Not at all," Darius interjects. "We're all still getting the hang of it."

"Come now, don't be so modest." Daeli chitters, using its antennae to motion toward their hands. "You've all reached the first stage of bonding with them. Only one of you entered in this state. Now, the rest of you have caught up. Don't believe me? Look down."

Looking down, the four realize that their omnitools, no longer simply bracelets, have extended over their hands into the same sort of glove-like metal that Sarah had gained not that long ago. Even their uniforms have adjusted to this new change.

"The greater your bond, the greater control you'll have over it and your abilities. You'll find that more complicated objects become simpler to create, and that your tools will bond together into more powerful weapons. You've only just scratched the surface of what the Makers have gifted you, but there's little time for further explanation," Daeli clicks, turning to step away from them to move into an elevator platform of sorts. "Let's continue your training up above. Follow me."