They finally reached Asuta’s home system and started navigating their way in. Sean was surprised to see that after the two of them emerged from their room after a week, that Emily was in a good mood. As in, actually happy versus just having recovered from her ordeal. Sean couldn’t understand what could have possibly happened. Although sometimes when Emily wasn’t doing anything she would look depressed for a few moments before perking back up when Asuta asked her something.

Sean still felt like a failure. Every time he gently grabbed Lira’s hand to prevent her from scratching her neck when she wasn’t paying attention. Every time he thought about everything Lira had been through. How useless he was. He would just have to improve. Do something useful next time.

They all returned to Asuta and Emily’s estate on the planet while the two women went to go park the ship with the planet destroying beam into its special cave somewhere on the far side of the planet. Sean wondered what would happen to the planet they were standing on if it were to malfunction…

Best to not think too deeply about it.

— — —

“So, you boys ready for another Sensei lesson?” Asuta asked, back to her usual energetic and chaotic self, her mood seeming to match Emily’s good mood too.

“Hey, umm. Asuta. Can I join too?” Lira suddenly said from the doorway. Everyone turned and she flinched and nervously reached up and started scratching her neck with her nails, leaving red streaks that healed back over a second later as she kept going. Not even appearing to notice what she was doing.

“Lira…” Sean said before making an aborted gesture to point at her raised hand. She looked down and quickly lowered her hand, pretending like nothing had happened after she looked up again.

“Sure, come along,” Asuta said, “We’ll have to go back to basic training. Remember the grenades, boys? We’ll have to go back to the basics to bring our girl here up to speed.”

“G-Grenades?” Lira stammered. Roger walked up to her and clapped her on the back.

“Don’t worry, Lira,” Roger said, “With the three of us together, I’m sure we’ll be able to corner her quickly.”

“Don’t be so sure!” Asuta declared confidently, “There’s a reason I’m the Sensei and you are all the young sprouts that I’m teaching!”

Sean gave Asuta a flat look.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked Lira, “Asuta’s a bit of a maniac when it comes to our ‘lessons’...”

“I’m sure she’s not that bad…” Lira countered before looking between the three of them. Roger shrugged.

Asuta laughed loudly, “Bwa ha ha ha. Coming from the losers, that's a compliment. I’m very proud of how fast I can throw those things, I’ll have you know. Maniac is just another compliment on how effective my grenade barrages are!”

“Oh…” Lira said, before trailing off.

“C’mon!” Asuta said before turning around and starting to walk off, “My blood is pumping, let’s get started already. Lira, you’ll go great. With some girl power on their team maybe the boys will be able to win a round this time.”

Sean and Roger began to immediately follow Asuta, but Lira remained in place looking suddenly unsure of her decision to join them.

Roger turned around, “Come on, Lira. If we wait too long then she’ll ambush us right when we walk into the arena. You coming?”

“Coming!” Lira said and started jogging after them to catch up as Asuta rapidly started to speed up as she saw that Lira was going to follow them.

— — —

Asuta chewed her lip as she set up near the tube in the ground that would feed her grenades. Hmmm… Go hard on the cute newbie first, or focus on the two boys and ease her into it? Asuta considered it for a single instant before smiling wide. She had gone wild on the boys when they first arrived, hadn’t she? It wouldn’t be fair to not do the same to the new girl. She turned to Lira as the first red grenade rolled into her hand.

“Why is she looking at me like that…” Lira asked nervously, only to freeze as Asuta whipped her red grenade full speed at her torso. It hit Lira’s breast and exploded, sending Lira’s remaining lower torso to fall to the ground limply as her top exploded into a spray of gore. The two boys started to move in, but Asuta stepped up her game to hold them back easily. She had been holding back her throwing speed as a nice little challenge for herself before. But she could let loose a little more with three opponents now.

Even if Lira had just stood there like an idiot and not even dodged when Asuta had thrown a grenade at her. Oh, speaking of which! Lira had finished regenerating and was sitting up, blinking and confused. Well, best to fix that quick.

“Lira!” Asuta shouted loudly, “Actually try to dodge this time! Bam!”

Her red grenade went sailing through the air towards Lira, who widened her eyes and rolled to the side. The grenade still burned half of Lira’s side and tore off an arm, but the girl seemed to be handling it pretty well. Pretty obviously in pain, but gritting her teeth and pushing through to stand up even as she regenerated.

Asuta respected that. Lira could handle a little more pressure. Asuta sent a quick barrage to send the two boys flying back by the explosions. Asuta stood behind the grenade feeder and prepared herself. She hadn’t practiced this one in a while…

The first grenade came up through the tube and she grabbed it with one hand before immediately reaching out to grab another one with her other hand. Glancing behind her, she tossed one grenade at Roger who had recovered from her barrage and was approaching closer to her again. Her other arm tossed the grenade right at Lira, who yelped and dived to the side to avoid it.

“Good dodge, Lira!” Asuta encouraged her, “But you never want to be stuck on the ground. You’ll get hit by the… FOLLOW UP!”

She threw another grenade and Lira wasn’t able to roll fast enough to avoid being hit again, her body spraying into chunks of gore. Asuta was so proud! Lira was learning so fast! Maybe she had good role models as the two boys rolled and expertly dodged as Asuta used her other hand to independently throw grenades at them constantly to hold them off at a safe distance from her.

This skill had been sooooo hard to learn, but being able to throw at two different targets independently was so satisfying when she finally ended up pulling it off for the first time. Her eyes constantly flickered between the two guys and Lira as she made her throws, only needing a single glance before throwing one of her grenades.

Lira recovered and as she gained consciousness, immediately rolled to the side. Asuta’s grenade exploded right where she had laid before. Asuta felt her grin grow wider. Wow! Lira had even anticipated Asuta’s next lesson. No sitting around being confused after regeneration for students of Sensei Asuta!

Lira managed to stand and Asuta started throwing barrages of two grenades in a row. Lira was blown up a few times, but the woman seemed determined to continue. Not asking to stop or anything silly like that.

“YEEEES! Lira, you’re doing great! But can you dodge this? BAM BAM BAM BAM!”

Lira didn’t dodge Asuta’s barrage of four. But that was okay. She was learning. Asuta Sensei would get her up to snuff in no time. Maybe if she trained these three well enough they might even be able to provide a real challenge to her one day, she mused idly as Sean failed to dodge a sticky green grenade to the face. He fell forward and his head stuck to the ground. He flailed wildly trying to extract himself from the sticky slime that had stuck his head in place on the ground. Asuta left him to it, blasting him with a red grenade would just be helping him escape faster.

Ah, a real challenge pushing her limits… Wouldn’t that be the day? Asuta kept teaching, enjoying herself all the while. Ah, these sprouts would grow so big and strong under her masterful Sensei teachings. Oh, she would have to brainstorm something mysterious and profound to say at the end. She had to make it good since it would be Lira’s first real lesson…

Asuta threw another grenade, and started using the green ones for Lira too. Time to refocus on her teaching, it seems that Lira had a tendency to always dodge to her left. Asuta would make her learn why you shouldn’t fall into such obvious patterns. Another barrage of Asuta’s grenades flew and the lesson continued.

— — —

“That was… intense. Is she always that brutal?” Lira asked as the two of them prepared for bed. It had been a long session and they all needed a nap to mentally recharge now that they were done.

Sean shrugged, “That was… a bit more than normal. But not too much more. I think she was probably excited that you joined as her newest student.”

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Lira fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. Sean stood there and waited, wondering if she was going to say anything more.

“I don’t think I mind,” Lira declared, “This is like my training with Brenda, way back when. It doesn’t matter if I can take the pain of being Immortal if I’m helpless to stop people from hurting me.”

She reached up to her neck unconsciously.

“Lira…”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. It really doesn’t bother me that much. It heals up anyway even if I do it too hard.”

“It bothers me.”

She lowered her hand back to her side with a huff, “Anyway. It’s tough, but I learned a lot. Next time someone throws a grenade at me, I’ll be ready.”

Sean sat next to her on the bed and she sat up after a second.

“I’m not going to be so powerless again,” Lira said, “Not… Not ever… ever again.”

“I’ll protect you…”

“No, Sean! You don’t get it. I don’t want to be protected. That’s still being weak, relying on you all the time. I’ve got to be able to handle myself too.”

Lira paused, “Thanks though. Didn’t mean to snap like that. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I don’t want you to feel that way ever again either. I get it. As long as you’re safe, that’s what matters…”

“As long as we’re safe,” Lira corrected, “We’re a team. All four of us, but especially the two of us.”

“Right. We’re a team.”

— — —

Their training continued, Emily even joining them occasionally as a free agent, attacking whatever side looked like it was winning the current activity.

All of them felt themselves improving in combat, with Emily and Asuta beginning to teach them stances and more formal martial arts now that they had a good enough ‘combat sense’ from their prior sessions. Emily took them to the firing range and taught them how to handle various types of weapons and little tips and tricks to help improve their shooting.

Her mood was a little dampened from when they arrived, but she seemed to still be doing well. She didn’t speak about any heavy topics, but stayed focused on the training or keeping the tone of her conversations light.

Sean wasn’t sure if she was faking, but he found it odd that after what had happened in Foundation of All that she had been so devastated only to switch to being so happy. But Asuta seemed relaxed as well, so Emily probably wasn’t doing too badly even if she was putting up a little bit of a happy front to them.

The time passed like a whirlwind, training and more training as both of their hosts taught them a variety of combat skills. Just when Sean thought they would be done there was another level, Roger had just asked in frustration when they would be done and Asuta had just laughed. Then nailed him with a grenade she had hidden in her pocket randomly. Sean and Lira were currently staring at Roger’s body that was regenerating on the floor in front of them.

“WHEN YOU CAN DODGE THAT!” Asuta laughed, before pausing as Emily came in to investigate the commotion. Asuta shrank in like a scolded dog as Emily started yelling at her as soon as she figured out the situation. Asuta had gotten Roger’s blood all over the floor and gotten some shrapnel lodged in a nearby wall, Emily said.

Roger sat up fully regenerated, “Thanks for the concern, Emily,” he said sarcastically as he made his way to his feet, “Really feeling the love here.”

Emily waved at him, “Meh. You’re fine. Asuta should know not to throw grenades indoors. What if you had actually dodged it? Then she might have actually damaged something important…”

Everyone gave her a flat look and Asuta smirked as Emily seemed to realize what she had said, “Er, uhm. Not that you’re not important, Roger. It’s just you know, fragile objects, we heal… Well, Asuta shouldn’t be throwing grenades in here either way!”

“But he asked me when he would be done with training!” Asuta protested, “How else was I supposed to answer him?”

Emily shook her head, “With words, like most people.”

“But yelling at him for being an idiot isn’t very polite,” Asuta said, “I thought the grenade communicated my feelings about it much better. And it was a good learning experience too for his combat sense. Two in one.”

“Asuta…” Emily groaned, but Sean saw the faint smile on her face. She turned to them, all three of them still eyeing Asuta warily in case she tried to surprise attack one of them again. It would be in character for her to strike just when they thought they were safe with Emily here. More ‘Surprising’ that way.

“Asuta is still training to improve even now,” Emily said, “There is no end. You’ve all only scratched the surface of it over the last few decades we’ve been training. The only limit is how long you’re willing to stick with it and what you choose to learn. At least with us here who know enough to be good teachers to teach you how to do things properly if you are interested in learning most things that you could think of.”

Roger rubbed his chin, appearing to have mentally recovered from being disintegrated by Asuta’s grenade after glaring at her for a few seconds after he woke back up.

“I suppose that makes sense,” he said, “could have done without the grenade though.”

“Bah, Immortals these days, can’t even take a surprise grenade,” Asuta grumbled, “Back in our day…”

“See how you like it,” Emily said calmly before reaching out and pulling a grenade from the belt Asuta was wearing, without the other woman even moving to stop her.

They stared each other down for a few seconds with Emily having the stolen grenade raised above her head. Sean’s eyes widened as Emily suddenly slung the grenade at Asuta with little warning. He only saw a flash of green and Asuta blurring to dodge out of the way before with a wet pop, green slime shot out of the grenade and coated Asuta. The woman fell to the ground and immediately was stuck to the floor, attached to it by the sticky slime.

“You’re just getting the floor dirtier!” Asuta said from the ground as her struggles only spread the slime around more and stuck her tightly to the ground.

“Hey, you missed your dodge,” Emily said with no remorse. “I even gave you a warning first.”

“Gaaaaahhhh. Not faiiiiiirrrr,” Asuta whined.

“C’mon everyone,” Emily said, “Let’s go have some steaks. I went hunting last month if you were wondering where I disappeared for those two weeks. I’ve finished cleaning it all up and we can have some real meat as a dinner treat.”

“Nooooooo!” Asuta cried as they walked off, “Emily, don’t do this to meeeeee!”

Lira gave Asuta an uncertain look, “It’ll be fine,” Emily said before lowering her voice, “She’s just being dramatic. Real meat’s her favorite. She’ll be out and running towards the kitchen drooling in five minutes or less I bet. She’ll find some way out if she’s motivated enough.”

“Oh. I guess that’s okay then,” Lira said, “Are we going to cook together? Do you need help?”

“Sure. I’ll show you all how I do it. Maybe you know a new recipe or two we could try, Lira,” Emily said easily, “People are always coming up with new food dishes. One of the few things in the galaxy that’s always changing with the terraforming spores always out there creating tons of brand new species. Each with their own unique flavor for the edible ones that can be used in all sorts of new dishes.”

“What animal was it?” Sean asked curiously, “That we’d be cooking?”

“Oh, it’s a large herbivore,” Emily said, “There’s some larger ones that Asuta has put in this ecosystem. She’s just trying to keep the aggressive species below a certain size so they can’t destroy our infrastructure. She let the herbivores get pretty big as long as they are docile. This particular one was nearly three times as tall as I was. Not sure if it has a name actually.”

Sean blinked, “That big? How much meat are we talking about here?”

“Oh. A lot,” Emily laughed, “I have it all frozen, so we’re only using a tiny chunk for today. Just you wait, Asuta will absolutely tear through all of it over the next few years. She can’t resist when she knows that it’s right there. It’s her guilty pleasure when it comes to her food.”

“How’d you even get that much meat back here?” Roger asked, “How’d you kill it?”

“I have a cargo shuttle I took,” Emily said, “Tied the body and attached it to a rope and dangled it below the bottom of the ship. Had to fly pretty slowly coming back home, but better than just leaving most of it to rot out outdoors. And obviously I killed it with my bare hands. How else would you do it?”

“Really?” Lira asked and Emily looked at her.

“Er, no. Just a joke. Just a normal gun. It doesn’t have reinforced skin or a shell or anything so it wasn’t too hard once I managed to sneak close enough to get a good shot on it. And I also got there without being spotted, that’s usually the hard part. Ok, here we are.”

They walked into the kitchen and Emily went to the large freezer and opened it. Inside were four very large slabs of meat wrapped in whitish wax paper. Emily picked up one of the packages with a grunt of effort. It must be twenty or thirty pounds heavy at least as Emily carried it out and slapped it on the kitchen counter with a wet thwack.

“Ok everybody!” Emily said brightly as she unwrapped the massive meat chunk from the paper containing it, “Let’s get started. We’ll cook it all so we have plenty of leftovers for later. I’ll show you how big I was thinking we make each chunk, but feel free to make as big or small cuts as you want as long as you think they’ll cook well.”

The doors to the kitchen suddenly burst open and Asuta leapt in the room, looking rather frazzled. Her hair was in matted clumps stuck together by lingering slime and she still had large chunks of the sticky substance scattered all over her body.

Asuta’s eyes lit up as she saw the slab of meat on the counter.

“Emily! You really went hunting! Ah, you shouldn’t have…”

She took a step forward and Emily shook her head to stop her.

“You’re still dirty, go clean up first,” Emily ordered. Asuta looked down at herself and blinked.

“Oh right. The slime. Yes, Chef! I’ll be back soon!”

Asuta gave a sloppy military salute before running off again, presumably to take a shower and clean off.

“Anyway, as I was saying. This is about the size of the cuts we’ll want to make, give or take a bit…” Emily said as she took out a large knife from a drawer and began to cut. The rest of them soon joined as well.

— — —

“Aahhhhhh, that hit the spot,” Asuta said sleepily while holding her hands over her literally bulging stomach. It was just ridiculous how much food she had eaten over the last hour of dinner.

Not that everyone else wasn’t full. It really had tasted good. Better than anything Sean had ever eaten before really. Even the fancy restaurants at Immortus Station didn’t serve real meat very often. Usually it was a vegetable blend equivalent or cloned meat if you wanted something closer to the real thing. On Enguli there had been real meat occasionally, but it was stringy and bland. Nothing like the rich flavor he had tasted in the meat he had just eaten. All of them around the table had a bit of lidded gazes as they sat back and collectively sighed in satisfaction.

“Yeah. Thanks, Emily. That was amazing.” Lira said in response to Asuta. She had been complimenting the meal the whole time, eyes lighting up after taking her first bite.

“Sleepy…” Asuta said as her eyes began to droop, “Food coma… incoming. Thanks, babe. Best meal I’ve had in… thousands of years.”

“You’re welcome, everyone,” Emily said, “We should probably go to bed before Asuta collapses on the spot. You look like a bowling ball, b-babe.”

Emily poked Asuta’s protruding stomach with her finger and the woman groaned in response.

“You big glutton,” Emily finished.

“Hey, food that good, how could I stop…” Asuta weakly protested before stumbling to her feet.

They cleaned up the dishes and then all went to bed, feeling full and satisfied.