Humans were such strange creatures.

Sasha marveled as she looked up at the grand monuments scattered about the city. She barely left the pine forest when she spotted the towers that peaked into the clouds. Or the hovercars. So many flew by that she had to take a step back out of shock. Even if she’d seen spaceships and aliens, human tech was still such a mystery.

“You’re a graduate?” Gabriella asked. “Then you’ve come to kill the monsters?”

“If they show up, sure. But I’m not sensing any legionnaires, yet.”

“Some truths of the world can’t be found.”

“What?”

“The monsters haven’t shown up yet. The grown-ups say they’ll be here soon.”

“Well if they do show up, I’ll take ‘em out for you guys. It’s what I get paid to do, after all.”

She offered a smile, which Gabriella regarded with a stare. It might have been her imagination, but the girl almost seemed to be sizing her up. Her speed in the trees aside, Sasha was still the taller and stronger of the pair. But something told Sasha the human girl wasn’t just factoring in the two of them.

It was something she noticed as they were crossing through the streets. Though she could see people with distended tentacles and glowing white eyes, more often than not, it was her she found people’s gazes lingered on. Especially the other humans. Every time she turned around, she caught one averting their gaze and speeding away. A few even looked to be following her.

“Gabriella,” she asked. “Am I the only grad that’s passed through here?”

The girl seemed to flinch at the question.

“Gabriella?”

The girl kept her eyes to the ground.

“We’re not supposed to talk about him.”

She pointed ahead, Sasha looking over to see they’d arrived at their destination. With her being shipless and stranded, priority one was reestablishing a connection with the outside world. As soon as she had a commpad again, she’d have access to her chets, a map, her radar, and an easy means of contacting Mr. Erin and Mr. Xan again.

Stepping through the sliding doors of the Synestia Bonds electronic store, Sasha was greeted to a soft melody playing overhead. Aisles of miniature devices spread about arranged in shelves of various sizes. Gabriella skipped over the freshly mopped tiles, coming to a halt near a collection of commpads. She waved Sasha over.

“These should do you well,” she said.

The rectangular devices Sasha knew and loved sat between rows of more uniquely shaped contraptions. Some looked like boomerangs. Others were shaped like frisbees. One customer was testing a pyramid-shaped commpad that produced a hologram from the tip. It intrigued Sasha enough to want to try it, but the terrified expression of the human stopped her enthusiasm dead. Like most of the furless, she was quick to flee Sasha’s presence.

“The house of truth cannot exist forever.”

“What?” Sasha asked.

Gabriella smiled. “Do they not have TV on your world?”

“TV?” She vaguely recalled the moving images she’d seen in Tuptree. “Those wall projection things, right?”

The girl giggled. “You’re a funny panther, Sasha. When you’re not being mean, that is.”

“I’m only mean when I get chased by weird alien girls.”

Gabriella pouted again, though Sasha could tell she wasn’t serious. The little girl might have been human, but she acted nothing like the Comet Man or Captain Mercury. Or the other humans on Omopoe, for that matter. She didn’t mind that. Gabriella picked up one of the commpads, handing it to Sasha for testing. The flat disk felt a bit strange, but it seemed functional enough.

Sasha clicked the side, a projection of the store’s logo appearing over the glass. SB spun in the air with its shimmering blue sheen. She clicked the button again, and the image went away.

“I guess this’ll work,” Sasha said.

She glanced up, catching another human slinking away. They really are following me, aren't they? She considered whipping out GT as a warning. The memory of Argos stayed her hand. Sooner I find the others, the better. She handed Gabriella the commpad.

“Can you check this out for me?” she asked. "I don't think they like me very much."

Gabriella looked at the device, gave a shrug, and skipped over to the counter. The cashier was still terrified, but at least he didn't give her the crazy stare until they'd already completed the purchase. 700 chets later, and they were back to the streets of panther-phobics. Kinda miss when the adults ignored me.

She found Gabriella staring again.

“Does this mean you have to go?” she asked.

Sasha smiled. “Why? Gonna miss me?”

“Yes.”

Her smile fell.

Gabriella looked up at her, eyes shining bright. The girl could almost pass for a cub with how she liked to lay on the sad eyes. Sasha figured herself immune after years of enduring such attacks from her younger denmates. And Cici, on occasion. But the longer Gabriella stared, the more Sasha felt her heart swaying. She tried to look away. It didn't work. She finally cursed under her breath.

“Alright,” she said. “You can come with me.”

Gabriella brightened. “Can I?”

Sasha groaned. “Yeah. But the minute we find my friends, we’re boarding a ship and taking off. And you’re not coming along.”

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

Gabriella grinned. “The life of the skies is a world of riches.”

“Will you stop with the random- whatever the crap you’re spouting is.”

“It’s Delilah Grace, meanie. She’s the best pilot in the universe.”

Sasha rolled her eyes at that. That explained it. The kid was trying to imitate some idol. Though the name Delilah Grace didn’t ring a bell, she remembered her own childhood Captain Q phase. The pictures Iris took still haunted Sasha’s nightmares.

Clicking her new commpad, Sasha was greeted with error screens when she tried to contact both her liaisons. Of course it can’t ever be that easy. She switched to the tracker, the flat map projecting over the glass. Guess I should track Mr. Xan first. If his commpad’s broken, he’s probably marooned too. And if we’re together, I’m pretty sure we’ll be easier for Mr. Erin to find. That guy’s gotta be combing through Omopoe looking for us.

She smiled at the image of the weasel racing across the globe looking for her. The smile fell when she spotted an athian running away this time around. She quickly inputted Mr. Xan's info, an icon appearing miles away.

“Is that where we’re going?” Gabriella asked. “Oooh, it’s by the sea!”

“Yeah…” Sasha considered spending her funds on a hovercar. She wouldn’t know how to drive the thing, but how hard would that-

She barely got the thought out when she saw Gabriella running across the street.

“C'mon!” she cried. “The land of adventure awaits none!”

The girl jumped into the air, spun around, and vanished without a trace. Sasha blinked at the spot. She couldn’t sense Gabriella around. Nor did the sight of a little girl vanishing elicit more than the usual hasty retreats from the Omopoe residents. Sasha narrowed at the spot. A sign hung over the glowing white tile. She translated it into Islander.

Entrance to Crial Zone. Authorized Personnel Only.

She relaxed. Right. Telepads. She stepped towards the device, the world switching over the minute her foot touched the square.

***

Seeing the Crial Zone again felt surreal.

Omopoe’s Crial Zone was slightly less destroyed than Tuptree’s. The pavements were still cracked, and there were sections of rundown buildings, but she didn’t see as many wrecked hovercars. If anything, she was more curious why the telepads seemed to all connect to the same warn-down realm. Was it just a human thing? Gabriella seemed far from disturbed, hopping around the place and using hovertruck skeletons as perches.

“Do you play around here a lot?” Sasha asked as her friend leapt to a nearby windowsill.

“Mhmm,” Gabriella hummed. She vaulted from the window, sliding down a rusted railing and landing with arms raised. “Papa taught me how to stay out of trouble.”

While she ran about, Sasha checked her commpad. The tracker was pointing to another telepad nearby. Though she couldn't sense any signals in the broken realm, the technology continued to point ahead like they were still on Omopoe. Maybe they were. Gabriella hopped from car to ledge before landing on the shiny white title ahead. It was right next to a section marked by smears of red and people who'd long since stopped moving.

What the heck is this place?

Sasha felt eyes on the back of her neck. She jerked backward, catching a glimpse of yellow fabric disappearing around the corner. She quickened her pace, the scenery shifting the minute she was on the telepad. The dark clouds of the Crial Zone were replaced by the bright sun returning in all its shining glory. Sasha froze, her ears rising as an all too familiar sound drifted through her ears.

Waves.

The light of the sun glistened off the shoreline. Small, hard-shelled creatures scuttled across the sand, the waves coming in to wash them away into the waiting sea. At once Sasha's mind flooded with memories. Of splashing in the water. Of getting dunked by the boys. Of sunbathing with Iris and Cici. She reached for her helmet, the urge to smell the sea again rising in her chest.

“Aw. It didn’t bring us closer.”

Her hand stopped.

Gabriella was pouting at the water. She kicked at the receding waves only to stumble away the minute they came back. So much so that she backed into Sasha. The panther pushed away her thoughts, pulling herself back to the task of finding Mr. Xan. It was harder than she'd hoped. Just feeling the water on her shoes made her heartache. But she pulled out her commpad anyhow, the icon pointing a couple miles away.

Gotta focus. How can we get across? Sasha looked Gabriella over. Her blouse and skirt combination didn’t make for perfect swimming attire. Guess that’s out of the question.

She considered lifting the girl on her back and paddling them both across, but she knew that would just end with a little girl crying about soaked clothes. Besides. How far would they get before Sasha got too exhausted and drowned? Sure she had a helmet, but the kid didn’t. And she wasn’t that strong a swimmer, to begin with. Maybe a raft? She looked around the beach, seeing a slightly rundown pier not too far away.

“Are you going to fly us across?”

Sasha blinked. Gabriella was looking up at her again, pointing across the water.

“You were flying through the sky before, weren’t you?” Gabriella asked.

“Falling would be more-”

She stopped herself, her whiskers twitching as realization dawned.

GT let her manipulate gravity. She’d done so enough times to know whichever direction she wanted, she could pull herself towards or away from. And if she did so in an upward direction…how was that any different from flying? Granted, GT had very limited energy reserves, so she doubted she could soar like Captain Q, but still. Maybe she wouldn't need to. If she flung herself hard enough, momentum would do most of the work for her. It was worth a shot, at least.

“Alright.” She summoned her staff. “How’s our energy reserves, GT?”

“Working at full capacity, Ms. Sasha,” it said. “Shall I activate your skill?”

“Do it.”

She held out a hand, Gabriella giving it a firm squeeze. The familiar sensation of lightness came over Sasha, her field generating around her while she focused her attention on Mr. Xan's signals. She wouldn't need much. Just enough to get airborne. She pulled back, her field gathering energy little by little. She released it all at once, her body launching like a slingshot, Gabriella yanked along with her.

A torrent of wind blew across Sasha’s helmet. The cool breeze made a purr rise in her throat. Gravity didn't immediately plunge her down, which was a good sign. She looked back to Gabriella to see her holding her eyes shut. Sasha pulled her closer, one arm around her while the other alternated between checking the commpad and resummoning GT. While the world became a blur of waves and rocks, their forward momentum steadily decreased until they were falling to the sea. Sasha gave the field a tug, launching them back into the sky. She purred at the extra airtime.

The fall-flight wasn't the most ideal method of air travel, but it gained them distance. She saw Mr. Xan's icon getting closer and closer and- Further and further away. She furrowed at the device.

“Sasha!”

Her ears perked up.

Mr. Erin? She pulled in the opposite direction, yanking herself towards the voice. Gabriella hugged her stomach for safety. Looking below, Sasha saw a small island approaching. Two figures stood waiting and waving. Sasha's smile grew. She soared above their heads. Now! She yanked her field down, smacking straight into the sand.

“Ow.”

She let go of Gabriella, who whimpered as she laid flat on the ground.

Crash landing aside, Sasha felt instantly giddy to see her two liaisons again. They were both beaming at her. She’d never seen Mr. Erin look so happy before. Or Mr. Xan look so skinny.

“Nice of you to drop in, Panther,” Mr. Erin said.

She giggled. His voice sounded a little deeper than she was used to, but she choked that up to him being tired.

“This the one?” Mr. Xan asked. His voice was a little higher than usual.

“Yeah. Kept her safe and everything.”

She looked back at Gabriella, who was dusting herself off from the fall. Her whimpers had stopped completely, replaced instead by her usual playful smile. One that seemed to grow when her eyes met Sasha’s. She barely acknowledged the two liaisons on the island.

“Sorry about this, Sasha,” Gabriella said. “The madame needed to have a word with you. It’s nothing personal, I promise.”

Sasha opened her mouth to respond when she felt something stab into her neck. She jerked away, seeing Mr. Xan stepping back, something blurry in his hands. No. He was the one turning blurry. She felt her legs buckle under her, her body feeling several times heavier. GT fell out of her hands, disappearing completely.

“Sweet dreams,” she heard a voice say.

She tried to fight the sensations, but the world was fading around her. Her head hit the sand.

"Crap."

And she finally lost consciousness.