As soon as they were all safely in the cave, the sound of their makeshift hideout collapsing in on itself reverberated through the cavern. Ethel had pulled the atmospheric bubble down here with them, and the loss of pressure had apparently been all that was holding the ceiling up. Cal was impressed. He was also worried any loss of Ethel would be catastrophic to everyone else. With whatever was going on inside of him, he might be able to continue fighting, and maybe Frank could too, but that was likely it. Her safety had to be a priority in any serious fighting they found themselves in off-planet.
“Let’s walk for maybe twenty minutes, assuming it’s safe, and then set up camp for a rest. I may not look it, but I’m starting to feel a bit drained.” Cal was surprised at how much he had been able to do before the old feeling of an emptying core had truly hit him, but then his main issue right now wasn’t just how much explosive mana he could channel from itself. It was learning to control smaller aspects of it. He needed to figure out finer controls if he wanted any chance at the rematch with the frog.
“Frank, can you run ahead for about five minutes? I’m pretty sure it’s safe, but I want to check the air quality around you as you go.” Ethel may have phrased it as a question, but Cal, and hopefully everyone else present, knew it was more of a nicely asked order.
“How long have you been able to tell the quality of the air or, for that matter, detect it through Frank?” Cal asked. The old woman’s ability to refine her power was impressive.
“I’ve been practicing since I decided I wanted to go with you the next time you left Earth. Some of us are better at our studies than others, Cal.” Cal understood her tone was only half joking.
“Hey, being this awesome has taken a ton of work.” He replied, smiling.
“Yes, and if I recall, it only took three of your realm's fruits to nearly kill you. You need to get better. I know it feels like we have infinite time here, but we don’t really know that. At some point, you are going to have to take this seriously. Do you even know how many hundreds of years old you are at this point?” Ethel’s voice had lost any of the joking quality.
“Ugh, no, but I’m still younger than Andrew!” he exclaimed, knowing that age wasn’t the real point she was trying to make. “I get it, Ethel. I really do. Trust me, I wouldn’t have the growing rage issues if something wasn’t pushing me on this deep inside. I’ve got some plans that have started ruminating in my mind. Next time everyone is together, I’ll lay it all out.”
“Alright, but remember, part of bringing Onelder with us is trying to learn some of the more practical ways of channeling our power instead of the makeshift ways we’ve brute-forced into working. This is doubly true for you, as it seems you’ve never gone back to look at your channeling at all.” She continued as they walked.
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“Alright, I’ll concede that point. Hey Onelder, when we break for camp, it’s time for you to show Ethel and me some of your fancy channeling work. We’ve got a frog to fight and need some channeling for beginner lessons.” Cal called to the alien ahead of them.
“I really don’t understand how ya rubes are both kids playing with mana and some of the more powerful channels I’ve ever had the misfortune of running into at the same damn time.” He responded.
“The trick is blowing yourself up but managing to mostly get better,” Cal answered his smile back on his face. It had been a while since his mana had caused any sort of explosion, and that was a nice change, he realized.
“Yeah, I’m sure it is…” Frank interrupted Onelder's next statement.
“There’s a cave river up here and some more plants. Oh, and glowy fish in the water. FRANK LIKES IT.”
“Frank, please let me verify that things are safe before you leap in the water next time. But as you are already there and nothing seems to be a problem so far, we will be there shortly. Enjoy the swim, son.” Ethel called back. I’m going to drop the bubble. There is a lot of mana in that chamber Frank is in. Something or someone seems to have directed it to be similar to Earth. That’s what’s feeding these caves.”
“What makes you say someone created it? Maybe it’s like Mars, and it’s just the remnants of a lost civilization.” Stan asked.
“I highly doubt it. Pluto isn’t really a planet like Mars. It’s so much further away from the sun. I just don’t see much life evolving out here. It’s much more likely someone had their hideaway or refuge down here at some point, or it’s just some effect of the Gryalth, but we haven’t seen any signs of them in the caves so far, and I think if they knew they existed, they would be hunting us down here.” Ethel answered.
Albert was the first to round the corner into the chamber where Frank was bathing. “Well, that’s just beautiful; it almost feels like home,” Cal heard the capybara say. He sped up his step to join his friend and entirely agreed with his sentiment.
Unlike the smaller plants of Mars, this chamber contained surprisingly large trees, growing a river that snaked through them all. Inside the river were schools of glowing fish that bathed the trees nearest the river in a warm light. The ground was covered in a soft clover-like plant. Cal looked closely at the trees and spotted several small eyes peering back at him from the cover of their upper branches.
“They’re birds, and I think some squirrels. I’m not entirely sure about the fish, but the rest of these are plants and animals look to be from Earth. It’s what I thought: Someone built themselves a nice refuge here.” Ethel had come up beside Cal and was looking into the same tree.