T’charrl felt like he was just on the road to disappointment as he tried some more, but the results were terrible and didn’t look like they would hold up. It would be easy to say that his spirit just wasn’t in it, but really his whole mind was not in it at all. He was wanting to use his powers to help the area, but he was finding it too painful to keep going as he was. It was depressing and especially hurtful when Haku had to take a closer look to see if he had actually managed anything. It was no use, he wasn’t going to be able to find his centre again or manage anything like he had done before; instead, he was just going to continue being a sponge to energy with negative results. “It’s fine…I mean, I’m the one who is still a beginner at all this stuff…” Pulling his legs up close he wrapped his arms around them, his eyes staring at the ground before he looked to Haku at the suggestion, his eyes quickly going to the spirit as he frowned. “Umm…I-I guess…but I don’t want to hurt it either”, he spoke, giving his neck fluff a quick scratching at, “I don’t know how my energy affects spirits”.

----

Kiton was just fuming. Who was this guy to judge him on his desire to find a home? He had been trying for so many years that he had lost count and yet here was this guy telling him he didn’t try hard enough. Nobody wanted a Frost Demon to be a part of them unless they were pirates set on destroying whatever they came across to make a profit. Racing straight for the man in a surge of energy he managed to make contact, trying hard to push the man into the ground before he was tossed to the side. With his energy still fired up he caught himself against the ground, the energy cracking the ground as it came in contact with it. Glaring at the man he raised his fists again, keeping them to his sides. “Who are you to question regard?? You just blew up a building full of them!” With a quick stomp he forced his energy into the ground, splitting the land around him. Maintaining a glow around his body he slowly raised his hands as he started using telekinesis to lift large formations of land into the air. “Who are you to question me!” Throwing his hands forward the large formations were thrown at the captain with great speed despite their size. “Why should you be concerned about people??”

----

“You’re one to talk about stress…” Viral grumbled, hardly amused by the joke. He was annoyed at almost everything right now and Aito’s banter wasn’t helping, especially the unexpected rufflings everyone insisted on giving him. It was stressful, sure, but it didn’t feel as if anything was going to help him right now even with all the talking. Growling in annoyance when Aito still tried to joke around with embarrassing phrases he slowly rubbed his face, ending in a sigh. “I would like to know what you think I could do that would make you prouder than me running around like an idiot. I don’t need to work on anything to do that”. He didn’t have any goals and he knew it would be pathetic to say that, especially when everyone else was working towards something. He was just living at this point and that wasn’t exactly a goal when it was a matter of not failing and dying. He didn’t want to work on his forms when those caused the most trouble and who knew whether he would just try and kill someone instead whenever he was at full power.

Looking in Aito’s direction he frowned at the mention of his vision, his eyes going to the ground instead. He was already pretty pale already so to be even more than that meant he really must’ve looked sickly. He was terrible at trying to hide ailments, but then again Yumi probably told him about that. “Oh great, back outside. Fine…” he spoke, not feeling too confident about standing up now that he had sat down, “I didn’t much care about my appearance when I can feel what I’m wearing and how little I have on. I’m not that out of it, you know. Maybe I should get some clothes, I suppose…” he sighed, not particularly bothered by it but maybe it would make him feel warmer overall, “How long was I out there, anyway? I can’t remember anything, just a lot of pain and falling…or both at the same time…”

There had to be some way they could help T'charrl, it sucked seeing him so down like that. Knowing it was effectively his fault too made Haku all the more determined even if he had no ideas. No ideas anyways until he gave his newfound friend a passing glance and a smile crossed his face, surely his spirit could help T'charrl? After all he'd been freaking out moments ago and now he was fairly relaxed, if T'charrl gave the spirit a chance he could relax too! Making the suggestion to his friend it came as a relief when T'charrl accepted the idea; whether the creature could actually help anything or not was yet to be seen but it was better than nothing. "It hasn't seemed to bother it yet, I think you don't need to worry about that," Haku answered before giving the spirit a petting, nudging it gently to send it T'charrl's way. "It won't hurt you, I'm sure it won't. So uh... Relax and let it do its thing. Whatever that is."

Maybe now he could nuzzle against this one? The two spirits still had the creature very curious yet every time it went over the large being grew frightened. It struck it as funny, that something so big would be afraid of something so small. Trotting over to T'charrl's side it paused this time, watching him silently to see if he might flee again. When it didn't appear as that would happen it let out a happy yip and went all the way, moving up against his side and nuzzling its head along his leg, trying to convey it wished to be pet. Pet or not the creature would begin to subtly glow as it had before, not nearly as bright yet still noticeably glowing. In doing so grass began to sprout up around T'charrl along with some flowers, creating a bed around them as opposed to the dirt patch T'charrl had been on seconds before. It had assumed this person was sad because there were no plants, and while it was a bit too tired to revitalize the entire forest it could do this much, it was a start.

-----

Was this all it took to push Kiton? A building of supposed casualties and the Frost Demon all but lost his reason, not a good sign. As it was the captain had barely managed to stop himself from being smashed into the ground and yet it seemed like the ordeal was far from over. After throwing Kiton aside to get some space he frowned when it appeared like he was rearing up for another attack, poised to defend against a potential blast. What he would get instead wasn't a blast but a mammoth chunk of land, probably someone's back yard, being hoisted into the air and hurtled at him. "Can you truly not see it boy? At all?" he shouted back as he flared his power up, aiming to blast apart the first chunk of Earth before pausing in refrain; blowing apart the earth would cause debris to scatter and buildings be destroyed, they couldn't ruin any more than he already had. Gritting his teeth he tensed and caught the first chunk head on, shouting in exertion as he hoisted it up and sent it hurtling over his head, landing several hundred meters outside of town. Another chunk he had no choice but to blast, vaporizing it entirely and then finding a third smashing into him. Being driven groundward he tried to use more Ki to stop its trajectory, speeding down too quickly and smashing into the road as a result, being buried by the rubble.

"He's fucking lost it... He'll tear this place apart fighting him!" Ricken shouted as he slammed a fist into a nearby wall, "I'm stopping this, it's ridiculous." Trying to make for the door he growled when Sasha grabbed his shirt and yanked him back, swatting her hand away and glaring at her, "It's obvious by now he's not a fit! He's just some thug who doesn't care, he'll kill York if we don't stop this!"

"He just watched us supposedly die, you'd be pissed too Ricken. Give it a minute, York's not going to go down that easily." That being said the damage the fight could cause was starting to get dangerous, they'd only agreed to use that single building as a prop. Now some parts of this road were in tatters and the road itself had a massive hole in it, with York buried beneath the rubble. If going out wouldn't jeopardize the entire point of the training exercise then she'd gladly go out to help, but Kiton had to be able to do this himself.

It took a few moments from impact, but soon enough York was clawing his way out from the rubble, using a blast of Ki to finally clear himself a hole to emerge from. Dirtied and bloodied he managed to get back to his feet, smiling in spite of the pain as he wiped some gunk from his face. "Feel better yet? Would killing me make things right?" he shouted up to Kiton, stumbling out of the pit and back to the level ground, "Because my death will bring them back, right? Well go on then, stoop to my level." This was likely the tipping point, his bluff had been called and he'd taken one heck of a hit from that attack. Pouring all of his power into those first few attacks to try and seem more daunting too was backfiring, he wasn't a match for Kiton. "Come on then! Kill me, make your friends proud!"

-----

"I've had my fair share in the course of my life. Or do you imagine I felt nothing when I saw my previous attempts, other 'children' of mine die?" Aito posed, smiling slightly before shaking his head, "Sorry, I shouldn't be making this about me. You're right, it's not fair for me to sit here and speak to you as I know. Everyone experiences stress but its presumptuous to believe I understand your plight completely just because I've had my own. I apologize Viral." It seemed he wasn't terribly good at joking about this, perhaps mostly due to a feeling this was arisen from his own incompetence. If he'd figured out Viral's problems sooner then this never would have come to pass, he could have left something for Vegeta to see it remedied long ago. "Well... Given all you've endured and the fact you still carry on is enough to be proud of. And the fact that you're regaining your strength and you're determined to fight to protect, that's something to be proud of. And you had your first kiss, that's plenty to be proud of," Aito added at the end with a playful wink.

Much as the doctor tried to ignore Viral's condition he couldn't do it, every little discomfort and pain was as clear as day to him. The fact his eyes were largely unfocused and his pupils distorted, not blind but certainly in need of attention. Doubtless it was due to being in a low light area for so long, but some time outside and time to take in the sun's rays should remedy that on its own. Nodding when Viral agreed to head outdoors Aito waited patiently for him to get to his feet, going to the door first and asking Vegeta to fetch a change of clothing. "Uh... Just over a day, give or take a few hours," the doctor recounted thoughtfully, "Almost two. You most likely changed in response to being in danger, a sort of survival instinct. No one can fault that, it's just your body's way of responding to a trauma."

T’charrl felt a little lost, wondering if he had done any of that in the first place or if it was the spirit instead. He had his eyes closed and the energy he was channelling had gone into his own so that’s all that could had happened. The spirit had done it so easily so there was nothing to stop it from doing that to the entire area while he was trying to instead of him actually doing anything. It did scare him that he wasn’t doing his job when everyone had hoped that he could bring peace to this area, his mind going to the thought that everyone would be disappointed in him even if they said he wasn’t. Not entirely sure whether the spirit would be nice to him or not he hesitated with his answer, frowning when it was nudged towards him before hiding away in his arms when it started to come over to him. He was pretty worried he might hurt it if he touched it, knowing the possibility was fairly high with spirits concerning his energy.

Remaining fairly still as he watched the creature come over he watched it carefully, keeping his knees close together as he kept his claws away from it for now. He didn’t know what might happen now, he didn’t really know what to do with this kind of spirit, not even his own internal spirit did he have any clue to how to help. With antennae twitching as he watched it he tried to identify it, squeaking when it touched his leg. Feeling a little worried that his energy might transfer into the creature he hesitated, slowly reaching down before pulling his claws away when it started to glow. “D-Did I do something??” Worried that he didn’t have control over his abilities he pulled his legs closer, frowning as he watched the spirit before gasping when the grass around him started growing longer and flowers sprouted around him. Looking around quickly at it all he frowned, making a clicking noise before speaking. “Why can’t I do that…? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong or how to do it right…” he muttered, rubbing his legs, “Did I do any of this?”

----

Kiton didn’t know what this guy’s deal was or why he was so determined to question him so much, even if he knew it was probably not that important. He was going to defeat this guy and show him the power he was so determined to see. Destroying the ground around him he proceeded to lift it up telekinetically before hurtling it at the man, throwing each chunk with the weight it carried right for the man. His anger for the man was projected in the force he was throwing the earth at, watching as one was tossed away before he simply threw more in succession. With little regard to the environment around him he didn’t waste time to throw more, this time managing to strike the man down quite gloriously. Glaring at the rubble he stopped his destructive tossing, instead taking a step forward before slowly lifting up into the air.

With shallow breathing he stared down at the rubble, waiting for the man to show his face before giving a glaring at when he finally did. Keeping his fists to his sides he looked ready to attack again, staring at him as he spoke. Watching as he slowly made his way out of the rubble he raised a finger, a little but powerful globe of Ki building up just above his fingertip as he glared down at the man. He looked primed to kill him as he was taunted, soon growling lowly before shouting. “I am not like you!!” Swiping his finger across the way a beam of energy was fired right across the front of the man’s feet, the ground lighting up at first before dirt just blasted up from it rather spectacularly.

He wasn’t as low as that man, everyone would had been disappointed in him if he sunk that low. Lowering his hand slowly he grasped at his side, narrowing his gaze. “My challenge was to beat you…and I did just that! Like I said: I could had killed you at any time! Even if you took everything away from me…” He was coming down from his adrenaline rush, the pain really starting to kick in after that tackle. It was just his luck, but then again everything fell apart around him, even his body continued to take punishment. There was nothing left for him here, everything he was supposed to protect was gone. Feeling that there was no point on staying here and started flying away towards the ship, trying to keep going so that he wouldn’t pass out.

----

Viral growled lowly before he let out a huff, not feeling too sure as to whether he should feel responsible for the other Beastmen before him not surviving. If one of them did survive then he would never exist, something which Aito was failing to realise. If one of them did survive then he doubted they would be as much trouble as he was, but then again if he didn’t exist there would be no need to compare. Staring at nothing for a moment as he went through a mild crisis he soon snapped out of it and looked up again, huffing a sigh. “Hmph, that was years ago too, anyway. I don’t know why you bother bringing that up now…” he muttered, looking elsewhere. Hardly feeling impressed with his little speech he let out a short gasp at the mention of the kiss, going red for a moment before snarling. “I’ll tear your face off in a clean swipe! Will you be proud of me then??”

Feeling quite angry at Aito now he growled lowly, looking to the floor as he took hold of the back of the chair and slowly pushed himself up to his feet. Remaining where he was for a few moments he waited for his head to stop spinning, his body feeling worse now that he had sat down for a bit. He really was in shambles and all because he changed. He didn’t know what that form of his was but it sure did take a toll on his body, a lot worse than the time he changed into his feline form. From the sounds of what everyone else said it must had been a quick first transformation, otherwise his body wouldn’t be feeling the trauma so badly. Turning to look in Aito’s direction he tried to get an estimate of where he was, slowly turning to face him when he told him how long he was away for. That was a hell of a long time he was changed for and it definitely scared him, he couldn’t deny that. Being in a destructive form like that for so long would had been dangerous in any other situation, especially when he had time to wander towards the city. “I think I would rather take the body trauma over that again. I don’t care if I take a lot of damage, I would rather that than that happening…”

The creature just wanted to help T'charrl relax, it could sense he was in distress. When it had approached the other person he'd relaxed quickly enough and even seemed happy now so why was this one so nervous? They had been contacting spirits earlier even so it shouldn't be that, was it scary looking? Very confusing. Hoping to relay something to the being it settled down beside T'charrl and let its energy flow freely, creating a vibrant patch around them before yipping proudly and waiting to see T'charrl's reaction. Even if their goals were aligned and they both wanted to revitalize the forest it didn't appear like its sprouting plants did anything to help T'charrl relax, how sad. "Help! Help!" the creature said telepathically, finally managing to pick up on some scraps of the language being used around it. Yipping happily it wiggled its rear before nudging T'charrl's leg with its snout, springing up on its feet before padding over to a nearby dirt patch. "Heal! Heal! Follow!"

-----

Hells, what power Kiton had. He couldn't say he'd ever battled anyone quite like this before, throwing massive chunks of the ground around like that. The Frost Demon said he could have killed him any moment and he'd believe it. York expected more attacks after the ground at his feet was blasted away yet it appeared as though the battle was done. Despite what he had done, supposedly killing dozens, he was being spared. Quite a bit of damage was done to the town and he was rather beaten, but by all standards Kiton had performed as one might hope one of theirs would. Coughing out some dirt and spitting to the side York trudged after Kiton, frowning seeing as he was starting to fly away. "Kiton, wait! Get back here!" he called, annoyed with himself that he hadn't the Ki left to take flight and go after him. "You don't understand, come back!"

Well so much for this, though it seemed like Kiton had somehow managed to pass. Ricken was going to go out and fetch their newest recruit when Sasha opted to instead, and probably for good reason given her brother's penchant for stirring trouble. Racing out towards the site of the battle she passed right on by York who was being seen to by some medics, with Sasha flying up to where Kiton was. Getting ahead of him she stopped in mid air, an apologetic smile on her face as she placed herself in his path.

"Kiton... I know you're probably confused right now and you might even feel betrayed, but I just want you to understand something, before you say anything. This was a test and you passed, with flying colors." Well, maybe there was a little more destruction than they would typically have liked. Aside from the building they had blown up a few suffered some minor damage from earth being tossed about, yet overall it had gone smoothly. Approaching Kiton, Sasha reached into the back of her suits and pulled an injector from her belt, holding it out for Kiton to take.

"It's some of the serum from healing tanks, its been changed a bit. We can use these in the field to help heal ourselves, and I brought it for you, just in case," Sasha continued, getting right up to him and reaching out, taking his hand and placing the injector in it, "We're sorry for deceiving you, but like I said... Every one is tested. We would never make you really fight people you may have once fought alongside, we're not that heartless."

Another power came surging towards Kiton and Sasha, one that the former was probably dreading to feel. A figure far larger than Sasha's sprung up behind him and two massive, trunk-like arms embraced the Frost Demon in a hug. "Kiton, I am so very pleased that you've passed your test! It fills me with unimaginable joy!" Leto shouted, tears streaming down his face as he tightened his hold, "I feared the worst for a moment there, but I am happy my fears were unfounded! Oh joyous day indeed!"

-----

Aito put his hands up defensively after making the tease, relieved to see Viral wasn't that exhausted. Tease as he might he'd never tell anyone else, it wasn't his place to share. They should get him outside to get some sun and start healing, albeit even with the sun it would doubtless take most of the day for Viral to feel right again. At the very least there was nothing prompting them to leave any time soon, he would have all the time he needed to rest. After tasking Vegeta with fetching a new set of clothes for Viral the doctor returned to the kitchen, giving Viral a once over just to double check for any injuries he may have missed. "Well once you learn how to control that form it shouldn't activate so suddenly, and we can work on that later. I don't imagine you're feeling terribly up to training at the moment," Aito pointed out, smiling slightly as Vegeta then returned with a stack of clothes. Thanking him he gestured for his son to be on his way, placing a hand then on Viral's back to guide him towards an adjacent room. Once Viral was dressed again Aito helped him outside, leading him over towards one of the chairs as opposed to the cot. "Anything we can get you for now?"

T’charrl wanted to try and understand his powers but every time he thought he had come to an understanding he just fell on his face again. He didn’t know where to go from here at all and when a little spirit like this could do that it made him doubt whether he had been able to heal the area in the first place. Now feeling like he was carrying the burden of the entire area around with him because he managed to screw up. Staring at the flowers that the spirit made grow he slowly reached out and touched it carefully, giving it a little poke a few times before suddenly gasping. “W-What??” He didn’t know what was going on but his eyes went to the creature when it nudged against him. Staring down at it somewhat worriedly he didn’t know what was going on, frowning when it began to move before gasping when he heard the voice again, feeling rather unsure about it before slowly standing up. He didn’t know how it was doing that but he felt like he might end up dying or something if he didn’t comply. Frowning, he slowly made his way after the little creature, staring at it the entire way as he kept his claws close to his chest. Staring at the patch of dirt he felt confused, not understanding what it was wanting from him when he already showed he couldn’t heal the place.

----

Kiton wanted to get away as quickly as possible, the feeling of betrayal remaining on his mind as he flew off. He probably would had killed the guy if he was still on his own, but he now saw it as a waste of time. He probably wasn’t going to see that man again and with everybody gone he was once again on his own never to return to the rebels or the people who saved him in the first place. Despite his pain he felt empty inside, almost having his own moment of solidarity once more before a sudden power came flying towards him. Having no idea who it was because of his own inability to concentrate on the power he stopped when it suddenly flew up in front of him, gasping when he saw who it was.

He thought she had died, yet here she was looking perfectly okay and not at all hurt if a bit messy. He didn’t understand what was going on and could only stare on as she spoke quickly to him, trying to tell him something about passing. He didn’t understand what it meant to pass the test, he didn’t even know what he was supposed to ask about it either. Floating stunned in the air he slowly looked down, stunned by what he was witnessing. He didn’t seem to take notice of the injector either but with his state of mind there was very little to take note of. Was there even any hostages in the first place or was this part of the test too?

Feeling like he had just been viciously slapped in the face and laughed at he continued his longing stare up until Sasha took his hand and got the injector, gasping when she did. He thought that whole scenario was heartless in itself, playing him like a fool into thinking he was forced into solitude all over again. Unable to find the right words to describe how he was feeling there was a sudden burst of energy again and before he could so much as give a reaction he was squashed in a very large hug. Going back to now feeling quite a lot of pain again to also being breathless he gasped in Leto’s hold, trying to grab his arm with his tail. “W-What’s going on?? What is happening?? Get off!”

----

Viral would have to strangle Aito later, right now he could barely lift a paw let alone try and find his position and charge right for him. He didn’t know how many of them saw that now, he probably would had been able to notice if he could see and use his senses correctly but it was now left as an unknown which made him incredibly paranoid. He didn’t know what it meant to be kissed because of something like wanting somebody else to shut him down, he thought there was usually some sort of flirting that went on before such a thing and there definitely was none of that prior to her kissing him. Feeling pretty annoyed at Aito he sighed in annoyance, disliking the idea of having to go back into training. Training meant he was going to have to use the abilities, but even when he protested about using them his protests continued to go unheard. “Yeah…I don’t feel up to training them up later either…”

Quite angry about having to be forced into something he didn’t want to do later he gave Aito an annoyed glaring at when he came over to help him along to a room so that he could get changed. Once he was in everything felt like a struggle all the way down to getting what remained of his clothes off to getting the new ones on. It was a pain to move and his joints were very stiff, his arms feeling like they might lock up at several points. He wanted it all to end, but thankfully with the last of the clothing on he was ready to get moving again to wherever he was actually going. It was hard enough doing normal things nevermind trying to figure out what he was supposed to do now. Once Aito was back to helping him again he slowly sat on one of the chairs outside, his eyes nearly closed as he stared at nothing in particular. “You could…get me a mallet. Maybe if I hit my head hard enough I’ll be free of this pain for a long time”, he sighed, sounding like he was actually considering it, “Or maybe water, or maybe…something hot. I feel like I’m going to die from this slight breeze alone…even if I can barely feel anything right now”.

Speaking with people was always so difficult! It only knew a few words and it wasn't even sure if it was using them correctly or not but it had to try communicating. This one wanted to help, it could tell, now it just had to show him how. Leading T'charrl to a nearby barren patch it smiled when followed, yipping before nudging the dirt at its feet. "Heal! Heal!" it told him eagerly, patting the soil with its paws before jumping, "Seeds! Life! Heal!" Despite it trying to be as clear as possible there was still confusion the spirit noticed, tilting its head to the side before walking a bit closer to T'charrl again and nudging his leg with its head. "Happy? Happy thought! Happy thought heal!" That was how it healed things, it thought of good things and its energy did the rest. Did this one work the same? They had to try, maybe he would be happier if he was able to help.

Haku watched on silently and confused, not sure who T'charrl had spoken to just then. It seemed like he and the spirit were somehow talking with one another and he hoped that meant his friend would relax a little as a result. Surely by now he could see the creature was harmless and only trying to help, no bad things made flowers and grass grow like that. Of course he could be completely wrong too, here he was sitting in utter silence with nothing but the occasional breeze ruffling some debris, waiting for something to happen. Unsure of what to do with himself now he decided to get up from where he sat and go to a nearby pile of rubble to clean it up, or try to anyways. He couldn't make plants grow or anything of the sort but he could do simple labor, he'd help out where he could.

-----

"I am so very happy you've passed! I was so worried!" Leto shouted despite their proximity as he held his embrace fervently. It was only when he noticed Kiton's tail pulling at his arm did he release the Frost Demon, an apologetic yet ecstatic grin plastered on the man's face. "Forgive me, young sir! You seemed so distraught I couldn't just sit back any longer! You shouldn't be sad, you should rejoice! You've done the most manly thing a soldier can do and spare his enemy, even after supposedly losing your comrades! That takes true strength!" he continued, breaking into a series of exaggerated poses to flex his physique, "And believe me, I know a thing or two about strength!"

Right, shame he didn't know a thing or two about keeping quiet. Sasha's mouth twitched in mild irritation watching Leto but she kept a clamp on it, sighing when he finished before smiling at Kiton again. "We couldn't tell you, otherwise you would have acted differently. We didn't lie when we said Korian has some people fight their former allies, because that's what you thought we were doing. And for all purposes they were pirates, as long as you believed that then the exercise would work. We're sorry we lied to you about all of this." They were done though, there was no reason to keep going with the test at this point when Kiton had managed to pass. Reaching out Sasha tried to grab hold of Kiton's arm, hoping to guide him down to the ground so he could rest and be seen to by medics.

"Not the smoothest of tests, but he passed," Ricken mused aloud as he watched Leto and his sister above deal with Kiton. Down with him medics were checking over the rebels unfortunate enough to pull guard duty, their role requiring them to be genuinely knocked out. He'd had that job before and it was never fun, knowing you were just standing around waiting to take a very painful nap. He and Sasha had already apologized to their comrades much to their amusement and now everyone was helping to wind down from the exercise. "He did a number on you, and all he did was smack you around a bit. So much for your big talk," Ricken pointed out as he glanced at York who was sat on a crate, medics currently patching him up.

York scoffed before smiling slightly amused, looking in Kiton's direction thoughtfully. "He's very powerful, but he seems like he's a bit too driven by his emotion. It's good that he felt upset by your deaths, shows he's got heart, but he tore the place apart over it. I think with some help he'll make a fine soldier," he answered before nodding appreciatively as the medics bound his last wound. Standing up to his full height again he gave his sore jaw a rubbing, rolling his neck again and groaning as there was an audible pop. "Oomph... I'm going to be feeling this for weeks... Next time have someone else play the villain..."

-----

"There's no rush then. We'll do it when you feel ready," Aito added in as he fetched Viral's change of clothing. Once they had him changed and dressed he took his son outdoors once more, opting for a chair to keep him in the sunlight. The chair itself was lightly padded and should prove some comfort to Viral's fatigued form and hopefully the sunlight would do him some good as well. "That defeats the entire purpose of trying to help you, letting you play whack-a-mole with yourself," Aito pointed out with a slight chuckle, "Water is more reasonable, and if you'd like something hot then I could brew some tea. I believe they've provided a few different types for us, let me go see what we have." Clasping Viral's shoulder gently he glanced back towards the house as the door opened up, smiling seeing Yumi standing there. "I believe I'm being relieved, I'll go make your tea all the same and be out with it shortly."

Yumi smiled patiently as she waited for Aito to walk back inside and leave them be, watching the door close behind her. Letting out a sigh she cut across the yard and stopped just beside Viral's chair, lowering herself to one knee and looking up at her friend hopefully. "Well you're dry and dressed now, you're already looking better," she teased as she reached up and placed the back of her hand on Viral's forehead, wondering if he might be ill from being wet for so long. Surprisingly not, albeit this wasn't exactly the best way to test for a cold. Lowering her hand she placed it on one of his paws instead, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the thing you fought? It's being contained back at the rebels headquarters, in some kind of high tech cell. I'm not saying that we should go there at some point and you can question it, or whatever you want to do... But just saying that's where it is," Yumi said with a shrug, looking down at the grass for a moment before back at Viral, "Anything I can do to help you? Whatever you need."

T’charrl didn’t understand what he was supposed to do, if he couldn’t make the seeds grow properly then he wouldn’t be able to help here. He was feeling pretty useless right now. Maybe it would had been good for the spirit to take the energy he was harbouring and use it to heal the area since it could do that much better than him. Staring at the patch of dirt he gasped when the spirit rubbed itself against his leg, trying to tell him to think happy thoughts probably. “What but I, uhh…I-I don’t know what to think for happy thoughts…” he spoke, looking down at the patch again. Just what did he have that was a happy memory? There was his family but he missed them so that wasn’t very happy, then there was his friends but he missed them too. Slowly bending down he gave the dirt a light poke, trying to think of a happy thought that didn’t just make him feel nervous or nostalgic. “Uhh…I-I don’t know any happy thoughts. Is that what I’m missing…?” he questioned himself before looking to Haku, “I need some happy thoughts! I don’t know any, though!”

----

Despite being crushed before he could even have the serum help him, Kiton’s thoughts were elsewhere. He didn’t know what he was doing or whether he could trust these people for lying so harshly to him, even if it was for their best interests. He genuinely thought he had lost everything, but here they were all fine and well. As he was finally let go he gasped and held onto his ribs, wondering if he might just pass out just from that alone. He didn’t understand what he was supposed to say to all this, he was completely lost for words. Staring at nothing for a moment he soon looked up to Leto, a moment of disbelief on his face before he looked to Sasha. “That’s a…really horrible lie…”

Finding it hard to process the lie he gasped when Sasha took his hand, leading him down to the others who had arrived. He didn’t know how to process any of that or what he was supposed to say about it, but he did know he was still angry and disappointed in himself. He honestly thought he was going to be alone again and couldn’t even process the thought that the others might be alive. Staring down at the other rebel actors who were pretty much out of it he felt angry that they had to be put through all this just for testing him, then there was the man he had effectively beaten. “Do you…always do this for new people? What if I did kill him? What would had happened then??” he questioned her, still feeling pretty terrible about it all, “Would I had been ambushed and killed off? Is that it?”

----

Viral did take a moment to contemplate whether he could actually dull the pain elsewhere in his body and replace it with a singular pain. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do about this pain or how long it was going to last, but it was expected when he was transformed for so long. All of his transformations took a massive toll on his body and for him to wander around all willy-nilly made him wonder just how far gone he would have to be mentally to not realise he was struggling with his energy resources. Sighing at the offer of tea he simply waved his hand a little, his arms feeling oddly heavy. “Sure…tea, whatever…” he spoke before looking to his shoulder, getting quite annoyed with how handsy everybody was with him since he wasn’t noticing them.

Growling lowly in annoyance he sat back slowly, gradually managing to fold his arms as he closed his eyes. In the brief moment of silence he had to himself it was interrupted once Yumi arrived back on the scene. Looking up he pushed himself up he stared in her direction, frowning before pulling back a little when she touched his forehead. “What’s with all of you today and touching me without my permission…” Frowning when she decided to touch his paw instead he let out an annoyed sigh, feeling confused when she talked about something they had. “I don’t…know what you’re talking about. What thing? I don’t remember…” he muttered, slowly rubbing his head as he tried to remember it. There wasn’t much of the other day he could recall, he felt like he had woken up from a bad dream with whatever battle she was talking about having flown right over his head. Trying to think about it he soon looked back to Yumi when she asked him a question, frowning a little before he sighed and reclined back. “Maybe punch Aito when he gets back. He’s clearly taking advantage of me with all that touching he’s doing…” he sighed, “Otherwise I don’t know…unless you can get me painkillers, but Vegeta keeps those hidden from so that’s annoying. I can’t see anything, I can’t smell anything or hear right, my bones feel like they are going to cave in…I just want some relief”.

Now Haku was seriously confused that the creature and T'charrl were talking. Not to mention he felt left out, how come he couldn't speak with it? Not fair considering it had come to him initially. It seemed to be trying to help out T'charrl which he was all for even if he couldn't help much himself. Hearing something about thoughts he scratched at his own head curiously trying to make heads or tails over it and what the creature could have meant. Happy thoughts? Was that all it took to help heal the world? "O-Oh? Uh, happy thoughts... Happy thoughts..." Jeez what were some happy thoughts? Thinking of it himself there wasn't much in his own life he would consider terribly happy, having been more or less a grunt since the day of his birth. There was one thing though and maybe it would help. "What about when you started traveling with your friends? That had to be happy right?" he suggested hopefully, shrugging as he rubbed at his arm, "I never had friends before this really, so... It makes me happy having some now. And I'm happy we're friends too."

-----

"Not always no. Korian does it with people we're not completely sure about. It's nothing personal, but where you came from made some people uneasy about you being with us, so we had to prove you weren't a bad person." It was most certainly a trial by fire if Sasha had ever seen one, and indeed there might be better ways to test a person. As Korian and others argued though you didn't know someone's real character until they were against a wall and in danger, which if that were the case they had certainly seen that of Kiton today. "We were standing by in case something happened, York would have been fine. And no we wouldn't have killed you if something happened either, killing you wouldn't have fixed anything." It was part of their philosophy, that killing someone for having killed your own did no good in the end, it was only revenge and revenge was pointless.

Ricken found himself moderately annoyed with how Kiton was taking this but kept his complaints silent for now, knowing he'd be cussed out if he so much as said a word on it. "You passed, you're allowed to remain on Uuonoe and travel with us if you want, consider that a good thing," he pointed out impatiently, "Even if you don't stay with us, as long as you don't go be a complete asshole you'll be recognized as an ally of ours. I don't know if it will make the Galactic Police stop harassing you but it'll keep other people from thinking you're some kind of criminal. So you're welcome for that."

"Easy Ricken, the boy has just been thrown through a loop, we can do without the attitude for now," York said tiredly, waving a hand dismissively before glancing down at Kiton. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but I agree with what everyone else has said, you've done admirably today. I know I'll certainly be happier to count you among allies in the future than enemies, welcome to the fold," he added, extending a hand out to be shaken, "No hard feelings."

-----

"Sorry, I think its just something people do when they're taking care of someone," Yumi answered uncertainly, shrugging as he laid her hand across Viral's paw, "It's like how hugs make people feel better, maybe?" She hadn't much noticed any difference in how she was treating Viral, kiss aside. If the others were being more handsy with him too then she hadn't noticed that either. Now that she was with him though there wouldn't be any unwarranted touching if she could help it; if Viral was upset or in pain he was liable to be given a hug still. "Punch him? If you really want me to I can do that," she said with a small laugh, "And no, I can't get painkillers. I can ask when Aito gets back though and he might bring you some. I think they just don't want to give you some every time you get hurt, you might get addicted or something." None of them used painkillers even though they were often banged up as well. Nothing wrong with taking them, Yumi just figured she'd let herself rest up without medicine. "Anything more you need? Besides hitting Aito and painkillers that is."

Despite having a relatively stable life he didn’t really have very many happy memories he could think of to give him happy thoughts. He had memories of being happy, but nothing that would make him actually feel happy enough to do this. He wouldn’t say he was unhappy, he just didn’t really express his emotions very well because he never got a chance to when he was growing up. He was always by himself or talking to the spirits, never actually trying to get anything from them that might give him a happy memory. He was really starting to feel his limitations here, that his social awkwardness was going to get in the way of his ability to use his powers. Feeling all stressed out he quickly asked for help from Haku, frowning a little when he didn’t really have many answers himself. “I-I guess that was kind of happy…but then again I was really nervous too. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me or anything, really”, he spoke before sighing, rubbing his claws together, “I never had friends either. Everybody thought I was weird, even my parents. I guess I have only two emotional states: nervous or angry…”

----

Kiton stared at Sasha in disbelief, the very notion that he would be fine with all that seeming to be all they concentrated on. He wasn’t a child, he could still feel betrayal even if it was a test of character; however, while it did hurt he couldn’t exactly complain much about it unless he wanted to get into some degree of trouble. Just because he had passed some sort of test didn’t mean they were over with judging him. He didn’t know what to say or do without them judging him now, knowing if he complained too much they would just say it was ‘for his own good’ so that he didn’t have to go to prison. “I guess the real question is whether death is a more suitable punishment than spending the rest of eternity locked away…”

Sighing aloud he dropped his head, only looking up when Ricken decided to give him an answer too. Letting out a groan he dropped his expression, looking rather disappointed before looking to York when he decided to pitch in. Dropping his head he felt pretty lost, really finding it hard to tell what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to feel happy about it? He didn’t know whether to party or think about his future. Looking up at York’s hand as it was extended out to him, frowning as he looked up at the man. “I don’t know what my future is supposed to be, nevermind how I’m supposed to see you people as in it…” he sighed, eventually slowly raising his hand up but paused, seeing the size difference between his own and York’s, “…You know, I contemplated dying back there several times, I’m sure you could had annihilated me easily if you tried”.

----

Viral let out a grumble at her answer, not finding that to be a terribly good answer for him. He was supposed to give permission before they could touch him, he was sure that’s how it happened. It was just another thing he didn’t understand, but then again he definitely wasn’t used to it. Nobody had wanted to touch him for many years unless it was for medical reasons, making it hard to disassociate gentle gestures from that. “I’m not really familiar with hugs, but if you say so”, he sighed, shifting himself in his seat, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do when that happens”. Definitely still annoyed with how he was seemingly being babied and treated like a patient he frowned when he was denied painkillers for the moment, sighing as he slowly reached up and rubbed at his neck. “Well what else am I supposed to do whenever I get hurt? My body heals but the pain remains, I wouldn’t even be surprised if what I’m feeling is still lingering from when I transformed”, he sighed before slowly shaking his head, “Maybe…you can get me that mallet instead, otherwise I don’t need anything. I don’t know where to begin with so many requests, anyway. I’ve barely been awake and I don’t know where exactly I am…maybe you can get me some sunglasses or something…”

"Oh...? Well um... Uh..." Haku stumbled for the words that would help his friend, having little success in doing so. Scratching at his cheek he glanced around the area before letting out a sigh at his own lack of happy memories. They really were a pair, both probably had plenty of reason to be happy yet neither of them could be completely happy. "I mean... Uh... Were you thinking happy thoughts before? When you did it? M-Maybe you don't need to do that for yours. Maybe... Um... There's something else?" A lot of good he was doing in helping with this, trying to come up with something on the spot was a huge headache. Walking over to where T'charrl was he gave his friend a smile to try and cheer him up, reaching out and giving him a pat on the back. "I know you can do it... I mean... Even if it was an accident before you did it, right? S-So maybe... I don't know... Can you ask the spirit for help? I mean your spirit. Or uh... Maybe you and this little guy can work together?"

The spirit seemed to like that idea as it let out an excited yip, bouncing on its feet before smiling up at T'charrl. "Together! Heal, help!" it echoed as it padded over to his feet, sitting down then and wagging its tail cheerfully. "Sit, relax! Happy thoughts!" It would try to help T'charrl calm down somehow and maybe then he could do what he needed to.

-----

"Some people might say death is better than imprisonment, others would prefer imprisonment," York chimed in with a shrug, "Depends on how badly you wish to live." He had known some who were captured and fought and died, probably deciding that life behind bars was no life at all. Others still would live on even if it was in a cage, so long as they were alive. After that show of power on Kiton's part he was rather happy to be alive even if he was sore as anything now. To show there were no hard feelings between them the man got to his feet an extended out a hand, wishing to bury any animosity between them now and for good. "I doubt that, you are far stronger than I am, Kiton," York said as he rubbed at his shoulder, "If I fought you like I had from the beginning I wouldn't last 5 minutes, I'd burn out and be as good as dead. But you had power still to spare, it's not even a contest."

"I don't know about that York, I think you could last longer than that. Maybe six minutes," Sasha teased with a smirk.

"York could easily last fifteen minutes! He is the embodiment of bravery and manhood!" Leto shouted in chorus, flexing once more before clasping his wounded comrade on the back and nearly making him topple over.

"Please... Don't say manhood... It sounds wrong," Ricken grumbled as he smacked his forehead.

Sasha got a bit of a laugh out of her brother's discomfort, letting Leto and Ricken go on over some silly argument between themselves. Directing her attention back to Kiton she noticed he'd yet to use the injector, standing at his side and pointing down to it. "I know we lied about this whole thing, but I wasn't lying about that, it'll help heal you up," she said, holding out her hand to take it back, "If you don't want to do it yourself I can do it for you. There's going to be a bit of a pinch but believe me, it works. Used one the other day and I was back on my feet in minutes, it's amazing. Almost like a shot of adrenaline. Uh... Except this heals you."

-----

That was right wasn't it? Viral rarely was ever hugged far as Yumi recalled, not since Aito and June had been alive the first time around. Aside from that there had been the handful of hugs from her and that was it, no wonder he wasn't used to them. "Well you could do what I do, try and look at the pain as a good thing?" she suggested with an uncertain smile, "I don't mean I'm some freak and I enjoy it, don't get the wrong idea. But pain means you put your all into something and your body shows it, it's kind of a... A badge for your effort in a way. When I used to practice martial arts in studios I'd keep fighting my classmates even if I was hurt, I was proud of myself for feeling pain and fighting. I get wanting to get rid of the pain but unless its crippling maybe try and see it as a good thing?" Probably a warped way to view it now that she considered it, albeit it always helped her get through any discomfort she'd had. Now they were surrounded by those healing tanks and T'charrl had his energy to heal, there was plenty of reason not to feel pain. Pain kept you from going too far too, she supposed, so it was a good way to tell when you had to take it easy.

"You're insane if you think I'm getting you a mallet. There's only one thing you could do with that and forget it," Yumi said with her eyes narrowed, getting back to her feet, "If you want some sunglasses though I can go and see what's inside. Be back in just a second." She seriously doubted they had sunglasses on this planet but it couldn't hurt to check. Disappearing back inside the house she paused briefly seeing Aito making tea, though his way of doing so looked more like a lab experiment. Blinking a few times in confusion she passed him by for now before going to June for her search, having to wait then as June went upstairs to scour the bedrooms for some. A few minutes had passed by the time she returned empty handed, though she did have a wide brimmed hat for Yumi to take. On her way back out Aito handed her a tall glass of tea, the color of which made her do a double take. It was pink and smelled oddly sweet, yet she took a small sip and it was a bit bitter. Not sure she even wanted to know she brought both items back outside to Viral.

"Your tea, your majesty. Watch it, glass is a bit hot." Glancing at the hat in her hands Yumi raised an eyebrow, trying it on and finding that while it fit it was a bit of a tight squeeze. No way was this going to fit on Viral's head. Then again... Smiling to herself she turned the hat over and tried placing it on his head without so much as a word edgewise, laughing when it wouldn't fit on his head. "S-Sorry, couldn't help myself!" she giggled as she took it off, placing it back on her own head, "I can just stand in the way of the sun for you, we don't have sunglasses."

T’charrl certainly felt a little disappointed in himself, he should had been better than this and be able to stabilise himself. He was definitely pretty pathetic when it came down to it, definitely not leader material. He was going to have to get things together eventually, he was supposed to take over leadership of his own people eventually and to have an emotionally unstable leader would be very dangerous. “When I did it before I cleared my mind of all thought. I wasn’t particularly trying to think of anything at that point”, he frowned, shaking his head, “Maybe there’s something else, but I’ve only done it a few times now…” It was a lot of pressure, expecting this from him when he was still a complete rookie. He had no experience other than times of luck and desperation.

Looking to Haku again when he patted his back he gave a little smile before looking down at the soil again. “I would have to go to sleep and hope I don’t dream about flowers if I want to speak to my spirit again”. It was hard to tell what he was supposed to think about for doing this if not for happy thoughts. Looking to the little spirit he gasped when it talked to him again, looking to Haku quickly before back to the creature. He didn’t know if he could talk to it as well but then again he didn’t know how far the creature’s telepathy went or if it was just because he could naturally speak to spirits; however, he had only spoken to plants before and other spirits of his species. Frowning, he sits down from his squat and held a pair of claws out in front of him. “Uhh…I don’t know what you mean by ‘together’…what do I do now?”

----

Kiton didn’t know what he wanted in reality, he didn’t know why he had been trying to so long to keep living either. His life had been too hard for someone to grow up in and managing to get this far was only because of his power. His inheritance was all that had been keeping him going and he didn’t know if he deserved that. “I don’t know…how badly I want to live. I just happen to keep living and get on with it”. Trying not to think about it too much he didn’t know how to handle trying to shake York’s hand so instead decided to give his palm a quick pat before lowering his hand again.

Staring down for a moment as the group had a little debate on how long they would last against him he couldn’t help but frown, feeling like he didn’t deserve this kind of chatter. He didn’t really like how they were having a laugh about how long it would take for York to die against him, kind of hoping that York might had been more modest about his power. It wasn’t what he wanted, he didn’t ask to be flattered. He knew he was powerful but it wasn’t exactly a power he could control as demonstrated in the battle. He couldn’t exactly stop everyone from thinking that about him, it wasn’t his place to try and tell them their praise wasn’t something he was flattered about.

Continuing to stare down at the ground he did eventually look up to Sasha when she talked to him again, staring at her for a moment before looking to the injector and gave that a prolonged stare instead. “…Oh, I uhh…I don’t do drugs”, he said before briefly smiling, eventually ending on a sigh. That was probably a pretty lame thing to say as his excuse, but he didn’t have much to lose right now. Raising his hand he gave the injector back to her, keeping his gaze low. “I’m just not very good at medicine stuff or injecting things…as in I never do it…”

----

Viral didn’t know what to think about Yumi telling him to embrace the pain as a good thing, it was as if she had never felt it before if she thought of it like that. Groaning in response to her ‘badge of honour’ mentality he slowly rubbed his arm, frowning. “I understand that feeling pain while training and to test your resolve may be a good thing, but I did nothing to earn this pain. You worked hard to get where you are while I did nothing, as far as I know. I woke up like this and don’t have any memories that can tell me what happened…so I just want to get rid of the pain and forget anything happened”. He had no reason to hang onto the pain he was feeling and waking up with it was hard enough, especially when he didn’t understand how he got it. “Just like waking up with a headache, I don’t want it to be around and will want to get rid of it…”

Sighing when Yumi also denied him the mallet be slowly sat back again, looking elsewhere as he scratched his chest. It wasn’t that hard of a request to fulfil and if he was going to be denied the ability to get rid of pain then he would be able to do it himself. If he wasn’t able to get a mallet then the next best thing would have to do. When she disappeared he looked around at all the blurry shapes before closing his eyes, trying to do his best to relax. He was still feeling incredibly tense as his heart wouldn’t stop racing, his body feeling like it could break if he so much as bumped against something. He definitely didn’t know how he was going to get rid of this pain but he did know once it was gone he didn’t want to feel it again for a long time.

Keeping quiet as he tried to relax he opened his eyes when Yumi had finally returned, feeling a little confused as to where she was until he spotted the shadow of the tea. Reaching out he took it calmly, giving it a quick sniff before looking up when something was placed on his head. Frowning as he reached up the hat was already gone, giving Yumi an annoyed look instead. So she wasn’t able to get sunglasses but came out with a hat of some sorts, his disappointed reflected in his face before he sighed and leaned back. “It’s not the sunlight that’s bothering me, I just don’t want to be looking like I’m staring at whatever rather than at people’s eyes…” Taking a sip of the tea there was an immediate reaction that was a mix of questioning and wondering if he was going to be able to drink this. There was also the thought of realising how thirsty he was too, but given how hot the tea was he tried to shrug that off. “…You know that aquatic lifeforms don’t drink fluids, but rather get it all from their food. I’m only semi-aquatic and…I doubt I even consumed enough fluid that I actually need to function…”

"Well then... Maybe you just need to be not worried to do it? If you weren't even thinking happy thoughts..." Haku muttered, trailing off as he shrugged and cast his glance sideways. He didn't know really, he could take shots all day trying to guess and probably never get any closer to the answer. Shame that as he really wished he could prove helpful to T'charrl if no one else, yet here he was without so much as a single word of advice. His idea of asking the spirit for help too proved to be fruitless, if they couldn't do that much then what else was there? "W-Well um... What if you... Just tried that sitting thing again? I promise I won't bother you again." That seemed to work before, until he'd gone and messed it up for T'charrl. Maybe he should just go back to the ship and let his friend work with the spirit.

The spirit had an idea, but it needed T'charrl's help in doing it. Smiling when he sat down the spirit jumped up and settled itself in his lap, glancing up excitably at him. "Together, heal! Sit, help, heal!" If it could help its world then surely it could help one person right? Closing its eyes the spirit gathered its energy up and slowly began releasing it, sparks of pure natural energy forming in the air and seeming to rain down around them. A calm breeze blew across the barren landscape as the spirit conjured forth its power, the sparks being spread about with the wind and falling across the dirt, giving way to grass and plants in its wake. "Breath life! Happy thoughts, sit, think, heal," it urged telepathically, focusing intently on its task at hand. Maybe if T'charrl saw the world being healed he'd be encouraged, it hoped.

-----

From the sounds of it Kiton needed a reason to live, right now he was just moving place to place trying to survive. York hoped his becoming a part of their group might provide that reason, or if he chose to travel with the princes. Many people had a hard time adapting to a new life, whether you were working on the side of the law or leaving it behind. In his experience with these exercises people often needed time even after they were put through the ringer, time to figure out what they themselves wanted and where they belonged. Glancing at Kiton as he pat his hand the larger man simply smiled, figuring he'd not bother saying anything for now. Korian would want his report on how things proceeded here today, he'd do best to let their commander know to give Kiton a little more time. He had the potential to be a good soldier but it wasn't their decision for him to be that, he had to decide on his own.

"Don't do drugs? Well neither do I, it's a healing serum," Sasha laughed, smiling as she took back the injector, "If you've used a healing tank before its the exact same thing. Well... I mean this one is in a tiny injector, but you get the idea." Sayomi could probably explain it better, all she knew was there was medicine inside of the device that helped accelerate recovery. "It's not hard, I can do it for you if you'd like. We've used these before, it's perfectly safe. Here, just hold still and I'll help you with it." Grabbing hold of his hand she held his arm out, tracing it with her eyes to find a vein visible enough to stick. "Little pinch, it'll be quick." Putting the needle in she eased the solution out of the syringe as Kiton would feel a cool sensation in his arm. It would spread through his body and begin to help accelerate tired cells, rejuvenating his muscles and repairing any damage. "See? Nothing to it, and you should feel better in no time."

-----

Yumi supposed that was true, pain was a little different if it was just inflicted on you for no reason. She couldn't imagine losing so much time to herself and ending up hurt for it, seemed kind of scary really. Thinking about it that way she could see why he would want the painkillers, maybe she would go and ask Aito about some medicine. Certainly those would come long before he was ever given a mallet, hard to understand how more pain would stop the pain. "Maybe after you relax a little I'll go and get you something for the pain, I'm sure if we ask they'll give us some... Probably. And if not I can always steal some!" Yumi said with a smirk, "They won't notice if one or two pills are missing." Then again knowing how anal Vegeta could be about some things maybe he would notice, for all they knew he'd counted every single one to make sure none were gone. Oh well, she'd still grab a couple.

"It's fine, you were only staring at my butt," Yumi teased as she placed the hat on her head, grinning in amusement at Viral's expression, "It doesn't mean you can't drink. I'm part cat and I'm not coughing up hairballs am I? Well... Part space-cat... Thing..." Come to think of it she wasn't even entirely sure what she'd been combined with. It didn't seem bad though and the only real difference she'd noticed was her ears, which all things considered was a small change. "I'll get you something more to drink if you need it, just let me know. We don't have anything to do today too so we've got all the time to let you relax. I'm sure you're dreading have to sit around though," Yumi mused, smirking as she leaned over and looked Viral straight in the face, "Once you feel a little better we can do something, but for now you're going to sit there and take it easy, or else!"

T’charrl let out a sigh, turning away from Haku as he stared at the soil in front of him. “I remember when it happened on Earth I was trying to channel Ki into some sort of seed they have there. I was really excited about learning Ki but I accidentally made the seed sprout. I really liked that planet”. He really did miss that planet, it had everything and very nice food. While his mutation had caused him to turn more towards eating meat for the boost of energy he still loved trying all sorts of fruits and flowers and that planet had some nice tasting ones. He remembered these red flowers with spines on them that were really tasty, but other planets he had been to either had no flowers or was just this planet with flowers that were so far away. It was hard being him when everyone else was so very into meat, apart from Shu that was. He didn’t mind meat when he was craving it, but otherwise it was bland when eating it normally.

Letting out a sigh to try and calm his shaky body down he looked to Haku, giving him a little smile. “You can always learn how to relax while sitting too. You can try so that you can train your Ki even more or to try and bond with the spirit”, he spoke before looking away again, “I mean, that’s how I do things…so maybe a weaker spirit than mine can still do it and become strong. Even if you can’t use it physically and see other spirits”. Speaking of relaxing he really needed to try and do that too or he was going to change and then everybody would just be having a bad time.

Trying to get settled again he gasped when the creature spoke to him again, looking to it before looking around himself. There was a lot of energy in the air suddenly, his eyes gazing around at the area around him as each speckle of dusty energy caused the plants to grow a little more. Looking to the spirit again he frowned at its instructions, not quite understanding what it was trying to say other than treating him like he was a servant or something. Trying to go back to concentrating he attempted to breathe clearly, making an attempt to calm his energy down. It was rather hard with so much negative energy, but maybe he could make it work without causing harm to the environment. Trying to concentrate on it he pulled his claws close to himself, trying to focus on the energy before outstretching his claws as he threw it forward, trying to merge it with the spirit’s own energy to neutralise it. He may not be able to heal the area properly but the least he could do was get rid of the energy and try to get the creature to heal the land instead.

----

Kiton didn’t know what he wanted to do after all that, knowing he was going to be in a lot of trouble if he let himself get out of control like that again. He was aware that he had a lot of power, the form he had just now was designed to contain that power naturally but it still didn’t mean he wouldn’t go out of control when he got emotional. He had a lot of power that he had very little control over when things got dire. He didn’t know how much they could trust him if he was going to do that again and what was worse was there was no other Frost Demon to teach him how to control his power. He would just have to keep trusting himself that he will be able to pull out of the temptation to go all out when he had to, otherwise he was going to have a lot of trouble in the future.

Giving Sasha the injector he felt he was only going to be able to trust her with it rather than himself, feeling like he was not going to have a terribly good time with a needle. It made him feel nervous, having to inject something into his body. “That thing must be expensive to make…” he muttered, giving it a quick glance before looking away slowly, “Would probably go for a lot on the black market…” He probably shouldn’t be thinking about such things, especially as he was being administered it. Gasping when she took his hand he watched her finger as it moved up his arm, looking away quickly when she was ready to give him the injection. Gasping when it happened he pulled his arm away once she finished, rubbing at it sorely. “I…guess I feel better…” he muttered, sighing, “Maybe next time for something like this…don’t try and get me to use my power again, please? I’m not strong enough to control it, so even if I don’t want to kill him I still could had accidentally done so”.

----

Viral would certainly enjoy not feeling pain for once, but it seemed like that task was going to be harder than he thought. What’s worse was he was going to have to live in this constant state of pain for a while until he fell asleep again, but even falling asleep would be hard with how sore he was feeling. A mallet to the head would definitely put him out cold and with only temporary brain damage too. He had certainly felt worse over the years, but right now he just wanted to finally feel relief from all of it however way he could. Opting to focus on his tea for now he stared at Yumi’s shadow as she plotted the possibility of stealing some painkillers. “I’m sure he won’t. It’s not like I’m going to get addicted to them…or use them as a coping method, whatever he thinks I might use them for…” He knew if he was going to get addicted to anything he would probably keep away from painkillers. It was good that they took away the pain he constantly went through, but he was aware that they could kill him pretty quickly. Nobody had faith in his ability to control himself, though, but he probably couldn’t blame them when he did just get out of a life of torturous experimentation and mental slavery for a year.

Growling in annoyance when Yumi tried to make him sound like some sort of pervert he quickly let out a huff, shaking his head. “It would be just as rude of you to face away from me when I’m talking to you!” Sipping his tea he was finding he was more bothered by how thirsty he was, the taste not really bothering him as he grew used to it. He didn’t know what kind of tea it was, but at this point he could barely care so long as he got something to drink. “It means I won’t think to drink while I was out there! Maybe if I was running around out of my mind as a cat I would be drinking and hunting, but sharks only know how to hunt and kill until they’re full and then wander around for a bit”, he spoke as he swirled his tea, feeling confident that he knew enough about his other genes to understand how felines and sharks functioned in the wild, “And I’m still ‘part-cat’ myself but you don’t see me coughing up hairballs either. That’s because I’m not stupid enough to eat hair…” He didn’t really know if he groomed himself when he was out of his mind as a giant feline, but he didn’t want to think about that stuff right now. Sighing, he continued with his drink before feeling his personal space had been invaded, looking up to Yumi as he tried to back away on his chair. “I am taking it easy! What exactly can you threaten me with, anyway?? Aito and June would be furious if you did something to me…”

Haku didn't know what to do with himself but T'charrl had a decent idea. He'd tried to sit down before only to be interrupted by the spirit and now he had a chance to retry. "Good idea, I guess I'll give it a shot," he agreed, setting himself down and crossing his legs. Since the spirit seemed preoccupied with his friend there was nothing to distract him this time around. Inhaling deeply Haku closed his eyes, folding his hands in his lap and trying to... Well, he wasn't sure still. All he'd ever witnessed was people sitting down like this and aside from that no one ever explained what you were actually supposed to do. At a loss he simply sat in silence, listening to the sound of wind rushing through the newly sprouted grass and flowers; the landscape was so barren one could almost hear every blade of grass, or maybe he was just crazy. Heck he was making friends with a spirit so that was a good possibility.

Between the two of them the spirit was confident they could heal the world, at least this part of it. Other spirits were doubtless busy repairing their own homes as well, it would be some time until the world was back to itself. Longer still until the people returned too it recognized, but that was out of its control; heal the world and bring back plants, with the return of plants animals would come, and people would follow. Sensing another energy the creature glanced back and saw T'charrl finally managing to rest some, though the energy he was releasing wasn't all that pure. Smiling the creature shimmered and released more of its own, using some of it to help mellow out T'charrl's in the process and, hopefully, soothe him.

-----

"Eh, we have a lot of them, can't be that expensive," Sasha remarked with a shrug, grabbing Kiton's arm in her hand, "The solution in the tanks can be mostly mass produced, and the tanks are just glass with some monitors hooked up to them. I'm sure this injector isn't anything fancy either." She let the black market comment slide without a care as she knew Kiton wouldn't seriously consider bringing any there. Tracing his arm with a fingertip she slowly placed the injector as she found a vein, emptying its contents into Kiton's bloodstream before pocketing the empty tool to dispose of later. "There won't be a next time, you proved that you're not that kind of person. And if you're worried then there's plenty of people who can help you train, and Ricken and I are among them. I doubt Korian will put you on a mission right away if you decide to join us too so you have time to learn."

Ricken would be lying if he said he wanted to train Kiton, hardly seemed like a good time to him. Annoyingly too was the knowledge that the Frost Demon had more power than they had seen and yet he was so uncertain and meek. Where was the confidence? It was humiliating for him to see an ally like that. "Don't get complacent just because you passed by the way, there's still more you'll have to do," he pointed out, looking at Kiton sternly as he folded his arms, "If you join us you'll be at the bottom of the ranks, doesn't matter how strong you may or may not be. Don't expect special treatment for anything."

"But Ricken, I do believe I was given the rank of captain upon my joining!" Leto boasted, and of course he flexed as he spoke, "Korian must have seen my potential and my drive, he accepted me and gave me the same rank that I was bestowed in the Saiyan military! Though I feel now I command even more respect than before, to be sure! And I value my comrades more greatly!" Turning himself then to Kiton he turned around, flexing and making an unusual point to flex his posterior as well. "My dear Kiton, do not be dissuaded! You may yet be given a rank befitting your strength yet! Have heart and go forward with your head held high, wherever you decide to go!"

"Honestly Leto, just shut up..." Ricken grumbled, rolling his eyes in disbelief. The man had no off switch, he was always incorrigibly obnoxious like this.

-----

"I don't think you will either, but you can't blame him for being concerned. It means he cares and he wants to make sure you're safe, that's all," Yumi explained patiently, feeling like it was falling on deaf ears despite the best of intentions. "You've never been addicted to anything as far as I remember, I can't imagine there's any reason to worry." She had to suppress a giggle after she teased Viral for being a pervert, wondering why he even was upset when he knew it was as far from the truth as could be. Deciding to take mercy on him and stop teasing she let him enjoy his tea, listening curious to what he knew about sharks. Was that right? Truth be told Yumi didn't know a single thing about sharks save for they had a lot of teeth, and they were pretty tasty. Old Master Roshi had treated them to a dinner with shark steaks once and they had been delicious, maybe they could have some again when they returned home.

"Oh I'm sure I could think of something if I had to threaten you. Not saying I will, but I could," Yumi mused, smiling as she folded her hands at her back and walked around the chair, "I wouldn't hurt you, that would be stupid. I'd just... I don't know, tease you, embarrass you. I doubt they would be too mad if I did that." Maybe just the threat of using a threat was enough to make Viral behave and not do anything he shouldn't be. Until he recovered from this latest hiccup she wasn't going to allow him to do anything that might hurt him, whether he liked it or not. Smiling knowingly she grabbed herself a chair nearby, placing it beside Viral's before dropping into it, laying her legs over one of the arms to recline in it. "Ah... Now we just relax, and it's a beautiful day for it too."

---

The vacation afforded to them had been a brief one. With the capture of the creature at the dam it became apparent there were more threats out in the universe. To be exact sightings of monsters would likely be rising soon and they would need to remove the problem at the source. Not by slaying the beasts that passed through, that only temporarily fixed the problem. Keeping alive the creature had been the right call as invaluable information was learned through it; the monsters they had been fighting, the ones which seemed to vanish into smoke, they were from their own realm, their own plane of existence. It was a revelation that both concerned mostly everyone and made Aito unusually excited, knowing his hypothesis had been correct. Most important of the revelations was the fact that these creatures passed through rifts, and these rifts, linking their existence to another, had to be sealed to cut off passage for the beasts.

There wasn't much in the way of specifics shared, the creature seemed to only know so much. There was one more valuable tidbit of information gleaned from its questioning however; Ki was ineffective against the creatures for the most part, this they knew. Yet in the other plane of reality Ki was all but void, there was no point in using it. This was a massive blow to the majority of those who might fight back the beasts as they used Ki in several forms to fight. There was one particular group that wouldn't suffer from this limitation however, one which could still drive back the forces, go to their home and stifle their efforts. Viral would lead the Beastmen, namely composed of himself, Yumi, Eris and Orion, the lion Beastman, into the rift. What lay on the other side no one really knew yet they would have to travel beyond, close the rift and get back in time. A dangerous task but one only they could complete.

The shuttle was on its way down to the surface of the planet by now, its contents packed with the two teams that would be tackling this latest development. Remaining on their side of the rift was Vegeta, Shu, Takeshi, T'charrl and Haku, a five man team made to prevent the beasts from spreading too far from the rift. While they handled things on their end the Beastmen would shut things down and, with luck, they would prevent any serious damage from the creatures.

"We should be landing in just a few minutes, everyone be ready to go from the moment we land," Vegeta said over the intercom, shutting it down and adjusting his display to get a better view of the world below. From up above it seemed unperturbed, nothing was amiss and it almost looked peaceful. Shame they were going down to fight those blasted things then. At the very least he supposed he was glad to be involved in some action again as opposed to being glued to a screen, monitoring vitals and running tests; Viral's condition had largely stabilized and while there was some concern with his latest change there was little need to watch him every waking second, he could finally get back to fighting alongside his friends.

Takeshi couldn't wait to land, in part because he was eager to fight and also Shu's hugging his arm so tight threatened to cut off circulation. His brother still wasn't a fan of flying inside the ship or cramped quarters it seemed and anything he tried to say or do did little to alleviate that. Good thing he was right handed because by now his left hand was mostly numb. "Those things won't know what hit them by the time we're through," he said confidently, grinning as he looked at Shu and flashed a thumbs up, "We'll show them some of the stuff we've been working on yeah?" In taking a page out of Kai and Choi's book he had tried to teach Shu how to perform some attacks with him, mostly by making it seem like it was play. It worked, probably, unless his little brother got cold feet or panicked. No telling how he'd fare once they were actually down on the ground.

The time they had spent relaxing had felt pretty short, the reality being a lot of the time had been spent in training. Shu had been struggling with finding his own way through training and had been particularly wild, but Kai and Choi had been helping him along with some tips on how to sync up with his brother and become a near unstoppable duo. The main problem Shu had was his own self-control and the lack of it. He couldn’t control his strength nevermind the biggest problem he faced. He had been completely avoiding all training and mention of his changing problems and how they might be beneficial to nail down. He was just terrified of it is all, that and he didn’t like how different it made him feel compared to everyone else. He was scared of what he was and in denial that it even happened to him, finding it hard to keep running away from it as he continued training.

While most of his fears could be contained for now he was still afraid of the whole vehicle business and clung onto Takeshi as if his life depended on it. He couldn’t handle riding in these things when one little bump or gust could send the vehicle spinning. He didn’t get sick from the motion, just incredibly scared that something bad was going to happen. He wasn’t scared of the fighting too much, he knew it had to be done to save people but the ride down was always going to be rather nerve-wrecking. “Ah! No way! Uhhh, they will be…really umm…I’m no good at saying that stuff…” Shu muttered, trying to work off his brother’s confidence but ultimately failing to come up with his own bravado, “So we can keep beating them up and it be okay…? The last one was really hard! What if I’m not strong enough?”

Viral was particularly anxious about this fight, but not because he was worried he might not be able to fight very well, but more because he might not live up to expectations. It was his first time going back into battle with everyone else in a while that involved actual world defending. His last mission was something he couldn’t remember and the one before was simple infiltration and nothing to really try and improve over. He also had the other two Beastmen to impress and show that he was worthy of being a leader, placing a lot of pressure on him to succeed. He was sure he was going to do fine, he just hadn’t felt like he had his pride on the line too. If when they fought together and they thought he was amateurish there would be no way for him to recover and he would end up being subjugated to mockery by the other Beastmen.

Despite the concerns for his mental stabilities he was allowed to use his weapon for this run after so long of being denied it. Since the creatures they were facing were not in the realm of saving in the eyes of the others he was allowed to kill them whenever necessary, giving him more freedom and fulfilling what he was made to do. He was going to keep his blade this time round, there was no way he was going to give it up to Aito or Vegeta even with the risks that came with him having it. He hadn’t been allowed to have it for so long and all it managed to do was make him feel inadequate. Glancing to the Beastmen he soon sighed and looked the other way, only to see Yumi there before finally deciding to sit back and close his eyes. Seemed he couldn’t look anywhere without feeling awkward at this point.

T’charrl, on the other hand, was completely nervous and didn’t know where to look. He knew he was going to fight those creatures, but he didn’t know how well he would be able to keep a handle on everything too. He was worried he might hurt someone if he went on a rampage or just plain embarrassed himself. Scratching his claws against his legs he let out a sigh, glancing to Haku before looking away again as he decided he wasn’t able to strike up a proper conversation at this time. He was nervous after what happened on the other planet and how out of touch he was with his powers, something that would make him more of an asset if he didn’t figure them out properly. Eventually deciding on sighing he shuffled his feet together, staring down at them. “I-I hope…things don’t turn out too bad…” he muttered, letting out a sigh, “I don’t mean to be negative, but those creatures are really tough…”

"Come on buddy, you know we're plenty strong enough. I mean we know there's stuff like that now, you know? Before it was the little guys but this time we'll be ready." Well prepared or not they were going off to fight again, Shu had best get comfortable with that idea before they had their boots on the ground. No surprises that didn't do much to reassure his brother, maybe something more would do the trick? "Hey... Look at it this way: we're all here, me, Yumi, Viral, Vegeta, T'charrl, the others, there's loads of us right? We know what we're doing so you're going to be fine buddy," Takeshi said with a smile, reaching over with his free hand and giving Shu's hair a ruffle, "And we know all kinds of new stuff now too, we'll do great. Just stick with me and there won't be any problems."

Seriously, why had he agreed to go on this mission? Just to be with his friend? Haku had never fought one of these monsters before and yet here he was, tagging along to a place he had absolutely no business in. At the very least he supposed he might be good for bait, he could run like no other. Wringing his hands together uneasily the Saiyan gasped when something nudged his side, glancing down and smiling meekly at the spirit at his side. That's right, he had his new friend too, though he wasn't sure what it might do here. Better than going it alone. Hearing T'charrl not be terribly certain about things either hardly instilled confidence in him, it was awfully conflicting with the bit he was hearing on Takeshi's end. "W-Well... So long as we're careful, we should be okay..." Haku offered lamely with a smile, "And I'll fight with you, for whatever that's worth."

Eris just wanted to be into the fray already, sitting around was so dreadfully boring. When your lone purpose was to fight anything but often seemed dull by comparison and she hadn't had a decent battle in a few days. Or a few weeks, hard to know how much time passed when you were down in the cells. Now that she had spent some time outdoors and away from the facility she'd never go back, life was much more exciting away from that place. People sounded mixed about going down with half of them eager for battle and the other half dreading it, she could count herself among the former. Glancing across the shuttle at Viral she put on a smile, leaning forward and reaching across, casually tapping his knee. "I expect I'll have you to count on when we fight? I'm eager to see what the alpha is capable of," she said excitedly.

"He's not the "alpha", we're not a pack," Yumi quipped in annoyance with Eris, "And he's not the only one who's fighting, it's all of us. Don't put that kind of pressure on him." She didn't want Viral thinking everything hinged on him, it was a group effort to fight these monsters and keep them from causing trouble. That and she just hated Eris, she was far too friendly with Viral for someone that had only just met her friend. She was convinced she was just trying to get into his pants, how gross. Being next to her friend she smiled somewhat smugly as she leaned over so her arm touched his, placing her hands in her lap as her eyes never left the other woman. "Besides, you'll find I'm a perfectly capable fighter, just as much as he is. I'm probably more experienced than you are too."

"Is that right? Good thing you're just a knock off, otherwise I might be worried," Eris retorted with a smirk, though her smile faded as Yumi seemed to cozy up to Viral more. Letting out a low growl she folded her arms and leaned back into the side of the shuttle, turning her head away angrily.

"Having two females vying for your attention, what a hard life," Orion teased across the way, ignoring Eris as she glared at him and laughing as Yumi became flustered. "I'm sure this will go well, we're all talented warriors and we work well together, Eris and I. I imagine you and Yumi are just as good, let's bring this mission to a quick close."

The sound of the intercom flipping back on silenced the side bar conversations and a second later Vegeta's voice came through the speakers. "We're hitting the atmosphere, everyone be sure you're strapped in, may be a bumpy entry. Expect to be on the ground in roughly two minutes." And probably not much longer before the fighting began. They had a plan in place and, thanks to the creature, some degree of an idea what to expect. Like the turbulence that came with entering an atmosphere however even the best plans were liable to be bumpy, and there was always that minor chance to fall apart entirely. Best to be prepared for anything.

Over the canopy of trees the shadow of the shuttle raced across, stirring wildlife below and causing it to scatter at the sound of the roaring engines. Smaller trees whipped every which direction as the thrusters were adjusted, speed fell and the shuttle came to a gradual hover over the forest. After some careful maneuvering Vegeta managed to set it down just on a small rise on the edge of the treeline, adjusting slightly for the incline before finally releasing the supports to let the vehicle land. All things told it was a fairly smooth entry and landing, here was to hoping the rest of the day went as well. Turning off the engines he opened both doors on the sides to allow everyone to leave the shuttle, undoing his harness and letting out a long sigh as he rose from his chair. The easy part was done, time to get their hands dirty.

“I guess so! Maybe I just be silly! Maybe little silly! I is just silly!” Shu giggled, trying to laugh away his nerves. He wasn’t very good at it since he just sounded particularly nervous as he spoke which just made it even worse for him. He was so busy trying to be brave that he was just sounding a little daft as if he couldn’t come up with an excuse for his fear. Despite all that though he hoped Takeshi was right about being strong enough, he didn’t want to sound like he had been slacking off and was therefore weaker than everyone else. He didn’t know how to unlock his power like the others did, he just faffed about trying to catch up to his brother despite being told he was extremely strong too. “Ooohhh…I guess so. Just don’t want to be hurting or for bad to happen!” he spoke quickly, reaching a hand up to his head as it was ruffled, “I try stick with you…and be good too! Not be silly or scared. They no that scary, anyway!”

T’charrl was trying really hard to be positive, but fighting normal people was easier than those creatures. He didn’t know if he could manage it all that well when there was so many factors that could go wrong for him, more than everyone else. He was always going to have confidence problems it seemed, but he definitely didn’t mean to project that problem onto somebody else too. “Uhh yeah! Fighting together will be great. I mean, you’re smaller than me which is a good advantage to have when teaming up…a-and even if I do transform, you can sit on my back if you don’t mind how I feel…” T’charrl was at least trying to see a positive in a potentially bad situation, even if it was at his own expense. He didn’t want to end up changing at least, he would still try and not do such a thing if he could help it.

Viral was simply trying to mind his own business and not attract these kinds of conversations, but of course Eris and Yumi could hardly help themselves. Keeping his eyes closed and his arms folded he grew frustrated with the poking and leaning against him, trying to ignore it as best as he could but his cheeks still went a little red. He didn’t understand why Yumi had to posture over him whenever the Beastman girl decided to talk highly of him, but then again she was probably feeling threatened by it for some reason. It was hard for him to understand such things, she should know the Beastman wasn’t close to him enough for him to want to spend time with her more. He had feelings too, he didn’t exactly want to be treated like a trophy to be claimed like this. Groaning lowly when Orion decided to chip in, sounding a little frustrated. “So long as nobody treats this as a walk in the park…”

Once Vegeta made the announcement Viral couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief knowing they were going to be out of here soon enough. He would rather battle for his life than have to be stuck in the middle of their little fight. He needed to get mentally prepared and not end up losing because the girls were constantly fighting over him. The faster they did this the better. Waiting the few minutes it took for the ship to land he soon slowly sat up, not looking at anybody in particular as he waited for the ship to land. Once everything was ready and the doors were opening he quickly unclipped his seatbelt and got up immediately, heading out without even a glance at the others.

Once they stopped Shu was immediately trying to get up, forgetting about his seatbelt as he uselessly tugged at it for a moment before managing to unclip it. Bouncing right out of his seat. He hated the ride down with a passion but now that they were on the ground he couldn’t wait to get out. “Takeshi! Takeshi! Let’s go and win together! Show how strong I be against bad beasties!” He didn’t actually know how strong he was but he was going to try and show everybody he was capable of self-control and could destroy those creatures like everyone else. He lived in the jungle and had to fight off big predators before, so he did hope he could get over his fears and show he was the predator now.

"Yeah, just silly. You know we know how to fight and we have all this new stuff to try, so relax! We've got this buddy!" Takeshi said encouragingly, smiling as he figured Shu was actually cheering up now. There was one thing he wanted to remind his brother of though, and he did so with a ruffling of his hair. "And hey... It's okay to be a little nervous, you know? But you don't gotta be scared, there's a lot of us and we're all strong, including you. Like I said, just stick with me and you'll be fine buddy." He wouldn't let any of those things hurt Shu, he'd tear them to pieces if they so much as tried. It wasn't like they had a tough job anyways, just kill some of the creatures while the others took care of the rest. Glancing over his shoulder at the sword on his back Takeshi smirked, eager to use the weapon for a change against those things.

Haku hated seeing T'charrl so uneasy so he had to try something, even if he didn't exude confidence himself. For what little it was worth he'd keep to his friend's side as much out of self-preservation as he would be trying to lend a hand. "Heh... Y-Yeah, good thing I'm small," he chuckled nervously, rubbing at his neck before shaking his head, "And I don't care, I mean... You're soft, it's nice actually. I don't mind at all." He knew Takeshi had some weird thing about it and Haku couldn't understand it, how could anyone dislike how T'charrl felt? It was a lot like some of the animals back on Earth in a way, short bristly hair that was soft if you touched it right. Plus the spirit was along for the ride, it could maybe help out too if they needed it.

The shuttle had finally landed down and Vegeta shut down the systems, opening it up to let everyone out. Probably a good thing he'd done it when he had, as soon as he came into the hold of the shuttle he found Eris and Yumi glowering at one another, Viral at his feet and already leaving the ship. Rolling his eyes he stood between them and cleared his throat, motioning towards the door. "Let's go ladies, there will be time later to fight over Viral's affection," Vegeta said impatiently, wanting to get things underway as soon as possible. Eris gave him a curt stare before getting up and going out with Orion, but Yumi lingered and got to her feet, staring at him testily. Letting out a sigh he folded his arms and stared right back, arching an eyebrow at her slightly reddened cheeks. "It was a joke, I get it. We don't know her and you don't want her possibly hurting Viral, I'm the same way. Just don't expect me to cozy up to him to do that," he said before leaving as well, leaving a puzzled Yumi behind.

"For a smart guy... He sure is stupid..." Yumi mumbled in amazement, shaking her head in disbelief then smiling amused. It looked like Aito had kept his word and not shared the information about what he had seen. Good, one other person knowing already was too much. Taking some relief from that she headed towards the exit as well, pausing as she ran into Shu and Takeshi along the way. Giving the former a happy smile she reached down, ruffling his hair gently before waving to him. "We both have our jobs to do, so be safe! I want to celebrate with some fruit after!" she said, glancing at Takeshi and pointing at him sternly, "Both of you, be safe. And don't put your eye out with that dang thing." Stepping out of the shuttle herself then she went over to where Viral, Eris and Orion were gathered, smiling at the former as she placed her hands behind her back. "Excited yet?"

"Yeah, we'll show them just how strong you are!" Takeshi agreed with a grin, going to pat Shu again before stopping as Yumi butt in. Looking at her as she gave Shu a little word of encouragement he recoiled when she was much more stern with him, nodding nervously and watching her leave. "Man... She's always so nice to you, not fair you know?" Shaking his head the older boy paused before living the shuttle, reaching under the seat and fetching something wrapped in a blanket. Giving Shu a knowing smile he unwrapped it to reveal the staff he'd bought Shu in a harness, offering it out to his brother to take. "Remember this thing? Figured you could try using it here, it's like smacking things with a stick," Takeshi offered as a lame explanation, scratching his cheek as he left the ship, "Well... It's a big stick, but you get the idea. No better way to practice than by doing right?"

Once everyone had exited the shuttle Vegeta sealed it back up, not wanting anything wandering inside while they were off on business. "So everyone knows the plan, right? Stick together until we find this rift, then we split up and do our jobs," he recounted, stepping over with the others on his group. Viral would be the leader of the Beastmen and he'd be in charge of the rest, with luck everything would go well. "Everyone has been given scouters to use as communications, we don't know if the signal will hold through the rift or not, so don't be too shocked if the lines go down. According to what we were told the rift won't close until whatever is keeping it open is killed, and there should be a few moments after that before it does seal itself up. Once you finish on the other side get back here as soon as you can, we'll kill whatever else makes it through and stay until its completely sealed."

Viral didn’t know what he was supposed to do about Yumi and Eris other than ignore them, finding it much too difficult to find his own focus when he was instead forced to focus on their antics instead. He was just one guy and was completely uninterested in everything like that, especially when a big battle was supposed to start soon. He needed to get into the zone and try to protect and defend all at the same time and couldn’t afford to be put off by these distractions. He was made to fight these creatures and to defend, he needed to show that he was capable and not going to mess it all up with his problems that he had before. He couldn’t risk becoming a crutch once again in a fight like this. He needed to show the Beastmen he was capable of being a leader.

Getting out of the ship quickly he let out a sigh as he breathed in the strange air, feeling relieved to get out of that cramped and awkward spot. There was such a thing as being smothered and that’s exactly what he felt like he was. As everyone started coming outside in their own time he was soon finding that he was feeling irritable again, letting out a groan as he looked away from Yumi. “As much as I can be…” he muttered, wanting to just head off at this point. “I’m not used to the whole ‘traversing realities’ like some people might be and who knows if we’ll ever get stuck out there. I just want to kill as many as I can”.

Shu didn’t really know how to relax properly but at least Takeshi was there to keep him in check and point him in the right direction to find what can make him feel calmer. Talking certainly helped when it came to stressful situations, especially when things could be considered worrying in unknown situations. Trying to shake away his stress with some happiness he kept his focus on Takeshi, his eyes only briefly going to Yumi when she spoke to him so kindly. “Ooh! Yeah! I’ll be good! Will win and then fruit!” he squeaked, his fists shaking in excitement for a moment before he looked to Takeshi again, tilting his head. “Ooh? Not fair?” he spoke, tilting his head as he didn’t quite understanding what wasn’t fair about the way she treated him. It was normal for her to be nice to him so seeing Takeshi getting all bothered was just a little strange. Trying to move on after everyone else he found that Takeshi wasn’t really going anywhere, pausing a moment as he tilted his head. Not knowing what he had he squeaked when he saw it was the staff, bouncing on his toes “Ooh! Ooh! Big stick! Use here? Is that okay?” he spoke quickly, following him out, “Think it will be good enough…?”

T’charrl really did hope things would go alright for all of them, especially given they were supposed to be brave and able. They were going to win, he was sure of it, but there was still the issue of whether he could help prevent injury to himself and others by keeping in control and helping out the others when they could. He didn’t know what they were supposed to look for, only that there was a bunch of monsters that would probably be highly aggressive and very tough guarding whatever might be the cause of this rift thing. Once he was out of the ship he looked around slowly, his eyes going to his hands. Unsheathing and sheathing his evolved blades repeatedly he soon sighed heavily, trying to calm himself down so that he might be able to focus his energy. Everything was going to be okay, they were going to be within communication range and it wasn’t as if the Beastmen wouldn’t be able to accomplish their task.

"'Course it's okay, I said so didn't I?" Takeshi asked, smirking as he handed the staff over to Shu, "I know you didn't get much practice, but better now than never, right? And I mean you don't gotta use it, but it's there if you want it, you know?" He planned on using his sword just because Ki seemed to be pretty useless against most of those things, and beating it to death seemed like it took too long to do. Granted he hadn't gotten terribly much in the way of practice either but he'd do his best to make use of the weapon. Vegeta sounded like he was about ready to get going and the Beastmen definitely were, everyone was itching to get this underway and over with. Except maybe T'charrl and Haku, they weren't even trying to hide the fact they were nervous. Going over to the Kaesstrian he moved to reach out and pat him on the back, pausing and instead nudging his friend's arm to get his attention. "Hey, ready to kick some monster ass?"

Seemed like there was no issue with moving along, best to get this underway then. With no means of accurately pinpointing the rift they had to wander essentially and hope to find it then, and since flying might cause them to pass it by they would be going on foot. The creature had mentioned distortions around rifts so they had something to go on at least. Vegeta decided to take point as he headed out into the field they had landed in, wading through the knee high grass as he looked around for any signs. Being an alien world it was hard to know what was unusual and what wasn't here, the blue grass at their feet already confusing enough. Air shimmering, unusual vents of heat, or a couple of creatures roaming around, these should be telltale signs for a rift before them. Of course half of those could simply be a natural occurrence on the world as well. Damn it all, with no natives here to act as guides they couldn't exactly ask anyone either, it was going to be a bit of a trek.

Yumi didn't know what exactly they were looking for aside from some apparent hole where the monsters would be emerging from. She could try smelling them out if the entire world wasn't just a platter of odd odors, she couldn't differentiate anything here. They would just have to get lucky and manage to find it she supposed, and who knows how long that might take. "I wish they had something about this world before we came here, but Korian couldn't even share anything," she muttered to no one in particular, turning her head then to speak to Viral, "Why do you suppose the monsters would be sprouting up here? Everywhere else there have been people but there's nothing here, I don't get it. You would think there's something they might be after... But all I see is grass..."

"Man this stuff is itchy, it keeps tickling me too," Haku mumbled, keeping behind T'charrl as they walked. Behind him the spirit nipped at his heels playfully before jumping up, perching on his shoulder for a ride. Aside from his friend no one else in the group could see it and as such they kept it between them for now; no sense in having everyone think he was insane for playing with imaginary creatures. Still when it licked his cheek he couldn't help but laugh, giving it a petting happily. "This world is nice, don't you think? It's... Odd looking, but it's nice. I kind of wish we were just here on vacation instead of fighting."