Thankfully, the only thing stronger than Rae's depression and anxiety, is his insatiable curiosity.

Rae sped up and began running at his top speed. He rarely exerted himself this way, unless he was running from bullies, but something about this strange unexpected event left him possessed. The young male's body, which had been exhausted, filled him with adrenaline for a short while like he had suddenly become an athlete.

"Could it be an Astronaut?" Rae wondered, panting and skillfully avoiding roots and logs in his haste, "What if a mission went bad? Someone could be hurt!"

Much faster than he had traveled before, he quickly arrived to the edge of the impact. The trees had all been flattened, in what looked to be about a 500 foot (152.4 meter) radius, and a small crater was dipping down into the soil. It was like the shape of a huge funnel, encircling some kind of object covered with branches, dirt, and other debris. As well, there was a thick smoke hanging in the air around it. But the strangest feature was the multicolored lights dancing about all across the area. They were like tiny interweaving rainbows lapping at Rae's eyes. It reminded Rae of pictures he'd seen once of the polar Aurora lights.

"I think I should go down there. I don't hear anyone else coming. If I wait, and someone is in there, they could die!" Rae thought.

Rae climbed down the crater towards the obscured object, and as he got closer, he saw that it appeared to be a metallic looking egg shaped pod. He touched the outside of it without thinking, but quickly recoiled his hand. He realized it would probably be very hot if it came through the atmosphere. But to his surprise, there was no heat at all coming off this thing, so he reached out again and touched it. There was a faint humming noise coming from inside it. And as he began knocking off the debris, he realized that there was a small circular transparent part on the surface.

"What is this... a window?" Rae thought, slowly clearing off more dirt, limbs, and leaves.

He climbed up above the window to see if he could get a better look inside. "This is crazy, what am I doing?" Rae thought, as the bizarre reality of what was happening just dawned on him.

And as he peered inside from above, his jaw dropped in surprise at what he saw. "What the hell? There's someone in there!! Is this a jettison pod from a rocket or something? Looks like they're knocked out... Oh shit... is that blood?!" Rae thought.

More thick smoke began spilling out from the craft. Rae realized it was coming from inside the chamber of this thing, though he couldn't tell where it was leaking from. It grew so thick that he lost sight of the person inside. He held the sleeve of his hoodie up to his face, he coughed violently and his eyes watered, as smoke started invading his space.

"Fuck... they'll suffocate if they stay in there. I have to get them out!" Rae thought, and he started to panic.

The slender cat-eared boy began frantically searching the surface of the pod as he coughed uncontrollably, eyes darting, and tail swishing. He kicked at the bigger broken logs and branches to knock them out of the way.

"Come on, come on man! There should be a latch or some way to open this thing. There has to be something..." Rae yelled, as he looked into the chamber again, now filling with smoke. His eyes were wide with fear and desperation; he didn't want the death of this Astronaut to be on his conscience.

While he was gripping the sides of the craft, and pressing his face against the window; by sheer coincidence, he found an answer to his plea. His right hand unintentionally touched a spot on the hull, which had presented no differently than the rest of the exterior. Nevertheless, the area lit up revealing glowing bright green symbols. The symbols began to move, seemingly on their own, shifting along the surface of the pod. And immediately after they stopped, a slit in the hull of the craft, slightly above the window, appeared and began to widen.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yes!! I don't know what I did but—" Rae thought, "Fucking piece of shit! Come on! Hurry up they're going to die!" He yelled aloud, kicking, cursing, and prying at the hatch trying to make it open faster.

As soon as it opened wide enough, without even thinking, Rae dove his hands into the smoke filled compartment and felt for the person he had seen. After a couple of seconds of sifting through the thick smoke, he found what felt like clothing of the passenger and gripped as tightly as he could. He arched his back, as he exerted the entirety of his strength from above, and pulled with all his might.

"RGAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" Rae screamed open mouthed and spittle flying, as he tensed all of his muscles at once in a fashion he was very unaccustomed to.

"Fucking hell! You're joking! Why are they so heavy!?"

Even with all of his effort, from this angle, he only managed to pull the head and upper torso up out of the craft. Thinking quickly, he readjusted himself to use the leverage of his legs and back. He wrapped the arms of this person in need of rescue across his shoulder, and leaned their chest against his back.

"Why do I have to be so skinny, dammit?!" The short and un-muscled teen grit his teeth in frenzied exertion.

Rae gave a few short tugs from his new position. And then in one last fluid motion, he leaned forward, and finally drug the heavy person out of the craft. His effort was rewarded. But the aftermath of this reward toppled them both over, and they rolled off the side of the craft tumbling across the ground. At least now they had fallen out of the smoke.

Rae's eyes blacked out; the breath was knocked out of his chest, and he fell unconscious. But a few minutes later, he came to and opened his eyes to see a face only a few centimetres from his.

"WHAA?!" Rae screamed, startled, as he realized he was pinned underneath the unconscious passenger. Rae pushed with his legs, and after a bit more effort, he managed to roll the body off of himself.

The cat-eared boy did a double-take expression, as he realized the passenger looked way too young to be an Astronaut. This passenger looked to be a boy about his age, although his physique was impeccable compared to Rae's. He was not wearing an Aeronautic Uniform or Space Suite. Rather the boy was clothed in a strange, sleeveless, vest-like shirt that was blue with black stripes on the side. It looked skin-tight like a weird mix between spandex and flak armor. Rae could clearly see this boy was built with muscular arms and legs. As well, this pod-boy's entire frame was quite a bit bigger than his own.

Rae looked at this strangely dressed boy up and down curiously, while checking to make sure there were no injuries. This guy looked to be about 6 feet tall (183 cm), and Rae figured this coupled with his muscular physique was probably why the strange boy felt so heavy before. Despite the size difference, in this unconscious state, the boy from the pod looked rather helpless. And Rae began to feel a sense of sympathy for this hapless stranger that fell from the sky, remembering what he felt like earlier after he was beaten.

"He's got a weird haircut, long on one side and practically shaved on the other?" Rae thought, as he brushed the long side of the boy's jet black hair out of his face. "I've never seen hair that black before. And what's with this tattoo on his arm? It's got those symbols? Also, what the hell is a boy my age doing in a space capsule?"

Shortly, Rae realized he had been gawking at this guy for a solid minute, he felt slightly embarrassed and returned his focus to the dire state of affairs.

"He's bleeding a bit from the forehead, should I take him to a hospital?" Rae thought, looking down at the boy. He felt a strong sense of responsibility to make sure his new ward didn't die. "He could have a concussion."

"How the hell am I supposed to get him out of here anyways? I could barely lift him out of the pod..." Rae raised his eyebrow and his ears twitched in a bit of frustration with himself for not doing more: "Self-Maintenance".

"Heheh— I need to workout more," Rae chuckled.

Just then, Rae's train of thought was interrupted by low pained groans from the big boy, who's eyes slowly opened. They had an incredibly hazy look about them, like the look someone has after just being woken up from a deep sleep.

"Ughhh, my head what—" the hapless pod-boy mumbled, as he looked up at Rae.

"Woah, what's with his eyes?" Rae thought, as he connected with the gaze of this stranger. "I've never seen eyes that color, they almost look like silver coins. They're so... pretty..." Rae began to feel slightly embarrassed again, as he realized he was staring directly into them.

"Ishtari?? Wha— an Isht—" the boy mumbled, looking very confused, "doin here?"