stepping into the building aero held back the desire to take in every inch of the building. it was kind of incredible the mounted trophies and pictures of people who trained here. he knew of some of them, people who'd discovered useful melodies or hunting methods. all of which were incredibly interesting or useful for his team's line of work.

'i'm gonna end up this wall!' aero decides this as they arrive at the point to register a training space for the team. "we should get a space until the meeting, then if he needs to stay longer come back and get more."

"that's a good idea," loir commented as she looked at the menu of what was available. "we get a discount for being in a team, so what should we get?" they took some time on this as they had spent a good amount of the funds they carried getting gifts and survivors.

"Maybe we should have saved the shopping for later," Idit commented. which Lior agreed with," on that note we should probably have more funds sent over if we going to stay here that long." no one had a complaint about their suggestions and some of them started mentally writing out letters for that while they all counted out all the money they needed piling their coins together. with the payment taken care of someone read them to the room, they were renting out.

"This should be enough space," Lior commented. as aero started his long list of stretches, then followed up with excises he wanted to start building up his muscle volume. his teammate went through their own warm-up before they started working on adjusting their fighting styles, he watched out of the corner of his eye as he worked on his core muscles.

'there doing so well!' his chest felt funny with the pride as seeing how well they did. he even felt his energy reacting as well, and he paused in his workout to think about his reaction. 'i do take pride in how they're doing, I helped so and I want to see how far they go with this.' he wondered how they worked with people who went aware of the energy.

how did it work with other people, 'i don't believe for a second that craftswomen and men don't take pride in what they make. would it have any effect?' he would have to look into this, if it could have some kind of effect he could. well, he wasn't sure what it would do, but even if it did nothing he would learn something. he was optimistic that he could figure out some kind of use.

done with his muscle-focused workout, aero started moving through some weaponless stances, hitting a log set up in the room with his fist, it was vaguely shaped like some kind of bear-sized creature. it lacked enough details for aero to give it a specific name, but he did know where to guess the location of its organs as he attacked the wood.

he stepped back when his hands began to ache too much, instead taking a water break. which Inni joined him on. there wasn't much said between them but aero was aware his guard rose for a moment before he pushed it down. she wasn't a threat, not at the moment anyway.

when he felt rested enough aero picked up his staff and started practicing his swings. over under, thrust, mix. his footwork changed with each movement. soon he started mixing kicks and punches, using his staff as a client or distraction. this wasn't something for lower intelligence. no, it was for the fight in his future,' probably going to use it before I get off the planet!' turning around he let the staff scrap against the ground before he brought it into the air with renewed force.

he turned his body with the force of the swing, adding more as he brought the end of the staff around. driving right into the fake creature, causing it to shake which brought Aero up short for a moment. he's pulled that move before, cracking rocks and breaking bones. 'oh that is some durable wood,' he wondered if he could get his staff made of it. but for now, he pulled out more strong moves. putting more and more momentum behind the swings.

a part of him just wanted to see if he could break it, but his logic told him that was a bad idea. so he listened to it over his pride this moment. 'i need the money to replace it before I break it,' that is what he deice on. he would think about how he would break such solid material without the use of a melody. that would be useful in the future.

they returned to the inn for the night, tired from spending hours training. while they had their third meal aero deiced it was time to start talking battle tactics. which was largely what kind of melody they chose to use when fighting. aero by default used whatever he had so he didn't have to rely on anyone else. which is something that wasn't needed with his team now.

"your rather adaptable in combat," Tzillia commented after hearing a few of Aero's hunt stories. "but man do you take some big risk and start a lot of fire." she wonder if that was a concern. aero rolled his eyes," I don't have the time or energy to fight such large numbers by myself." he defended the fires he started as necessary to complete his hunts.

"we're not saying that it wasn't a bad idea or unneeded," idit brought u[," but did you need to take so many missions that ended in flames?" aero plainly stated he was proving points with each mission completed," so if I ended covered in ash I don't see the problem." idit didn't say anything for a moment.

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"When your pride is on the line you don't see the problem with many things," idit stated to which aero asked what was wrong with that. "a few things... like why fire. you could start a forest fire." on the heavily forested planet they lived on forest fires quickly became big problems.

"I take precautions, cutting off possible growth paths, and know the nearest locations of water. I also make sure I have a water melody on my mind so that I can start putting out the fire once it has done what is needed."

"and if it goes out of your expectations?"

"put it out, what else would I do?" aero looked at her weirdly. " you know he's got a point," Inna commented to which idit sighed." yes you should put out the fire you start." she didn't want to continue this topic and instead asked what he would do if a fire wasn't a viable option.

"I guess it depends, if the area is too wet I'll probably use water melody to drown out the numbers. or a wind melody to suffocate them."

"you are so brutal, you know that right," aero only shrugged. was the first time someone time told him that, he just used his all in every situation. as his pride demanded. he wondered if his team understood it, but he also wondered how he would explain this. his team knew how much he valued his pride, but did they know how much it affected his actions? would they stay around long enough to find out?

aero didn't dwell on these thoughts as they moved on with the tactics conversation. before going to bed, aero made his letter for his mother. sending it out the next morning before his team headed to train.

today he crossed weapons with tzilla and loir, taking them both separately." your' doing great!" he couldn't keep back the swell of pride at how skilled they'd become. both of them have come close to sticking him with a low-powered medley. the fact they've made it this far said incredibly about them.

'i picked great people to be on my team,' aero beamed as he tended to his bruises. while they hadn't managed to land a melody they've still managed a few hits. though there was clear concern in their eyes when they spare. aero considered the fact they willingly hit him a great improvement. he made good choices and he couldn't wait to see more of the results.

the training helped fill their time until the meeting. which they didn't talk about much as they were truly unsure of what to expect. Aero mentally prepared himself for confrontation. physical or verbal he was sure it would be either of these. when the daybreak of the meeting came aero readied himself by stretching and reading. relaxing himself the best he could before the meeting.

a squadron of guards came to retrieve them," you'll have to leave your weapons here." the lead guard stated, which unnerved all of his team. they lived with their weapons, and each of them felt off balance without them. aero's skin itched as they were led out of the inn and down the streets until they came to the center building. he looked around the building, seeing many pictures of people who were probably important.

'but I doubt they'll have any weight about this conversation.' that was just by judging the age of some of these pictures. 'who would have guessed my foremother's attempts to turn me away from fighting would have used.' that women tried to introduce him to many things, some he did find a bit interested but rejected them on the principle of the one introducing them.

they arrived in a large meeting room, Baili was already seated silently waiting for them. aero moved toward a seat, his teammates had paused to take in the leader's appearance. which aero didn't pay the attention to until he had taken his own seat and seated his posture for the meeting?

'wow!" taking a good look at Baili aero had to admit, she was beautiful. shades of silver made her skin while her carapace was white like clouds. its patterns were a mix of hexagons and triangles. her were was bright that they just drew you in, but aero took in her beauty and pushed it aside at the same moment.

it's something that he has done plenty of time with practice, plenty of attractive people he's met while he's been a hunter. many of them were some way good-looking, but aero didn't care nor did he wish to be distracted by them. so he found the best way to deal with it, accept it.

they were good-looking but it was nothing more than their appliance, aero was prideful and that affect his thoughts on romance. someone worthy and someone who respected him, what that meant he was unsure but that was what he desired.

Baili waited until everyone had taken their seats. "the item to me and all the leaders of this world, you know about that?" she remained vague in an attempt for information. this wouldn't be any different from her usual job, subtle and roundabout like all politics and deals were.

politics is a matter that aero would never consider worth his time or patience.

"I sent the clothes to let you on the fact that their life is beyond our planet, I didn't think you'd be so foolish to fight that life." Baili was taken aback by how easily he gave up the information, then she realized she had been insulted." and what so foolish about taking the initiative about a threat?"

"Nothing, but you don't have the slightest clue about the threat! we haven't even left our own planet yet and you want to fight the people out there," aero scuffed. "what else would I call you then foolish, hell we still struggle with creatures!" Baili hid her hands under the table as they clenched, keeping her face blank.

"alright you have a point," she notice how some tension left the male teammates. like they were expecting it to get worse, this boy might be a bit arrogant but how far did they think he would go? "but what do you suggest we do then?"

"Nothing I'm already taking care of it, if you are willing to help me that's another matter."

"What!" Baili couldn't hold back her voice, that was absurd." how dare you! are you prepared to face the Zatless with that arrogance!" aero's face contorted in rage, "did you call me arrogant." despite the weeks of travel they've never heard aero with such cold venom in his voice. but at that moment it sounded like venom was the only thing in his voice.

his entire team tensed, and the guards did the same feeling the atmosphere. "I am prideful! never refer to me as arrogant." his fingers dug into the wood of the table," arrogance is unfounded! I know what I've done and a clear idea of what I can do! I know I can make it to space," he stood up from the table. emotions refusing to stay still.

he slowly walked around the table, digging lines in the table as he figgers remained seated in it." in fact I've already started on that, meet a little inventor and told her about tech from other worlds. but since you're so sure I'm arrogant how about you try! how about you make it to space," he made it around the table until he was a breath away from her face.

"little tidbit of information, space is cold and without air, sound doesn't travel. gravity and pressure are so different from land that people will die from them. accomplishing space travel takes a long time, our planet's been so busy with the creatures we haven't advanced in technology fast enough."

aero leaned in even closer so that Bailia could stare nowhere else than his eyes, she looked into them. she absently noticed they were such a beautiful sight, even with the bubbling rage behind them. but more than the rage, she saw a pride so firm that she wasn't sure that the zaltess and zalts couldn't shake it.

"If you think you can make it to space in your lifetime your sourly mistaken, but try." he smiled," I encourage you to I know you won't be around when it's done. I might though." the last part was a whisper that only Baili heard.