Post by Jas on Feb 1, 2010 11:17:13 GMT -5
Okaaaaayyy!
Believe it or not, but I wrote something else! X3
This has actually been lying around my computers for weeeeeeeeekkkkssss, but I was only able to work on it in small amounts of time.
The fic's size is quite MONSTROUS to me XD; It had 14 pages in Word. I have no idea why it went on like that, but I'm certainly not going to force anyone to read it. Only if you like to!
I also tried giving everyone's characters a cameo, small as though it might be ;; But I tried! BECAUSE YOU GUYS ALL HAVE AWESOME CHARACTERS AND THEY DESERVE MUCH LOVE FOR BEING SO AWESOME LIKE THEY ARE! <3 <3
It's not a lie X3
I hope it's not a little bit too dramatic in the first sequence. But I needed something to... Ah well, you'll find out I guess XD; If you want to read it X3
I'LL JUST STOP BLABBING NOW, YEAH.
Oh, and a little side fact is, if I remember correctly, that Niji's tears (once shed) harden and turn into crystals. At least I thought so XD;
And Masurao and Tala aren't a couple yet. YET! DO HO HO! 83
And I also believe I should start a career in coming up with titles for kindergarten's stories
Without ado:
Bam. Boof. Bang. Bam.
Fists and feet flew everywhere.
With a face rid of all emotion, save one of intense concentration, Masurao hurled and danced around his opponent, constantly anticipating and observing if he could find an open spot where he could land a punch or kick. Whenever he found half-a-second’s time, the wolf-like teenager would cast a glance over his shoulder, checking if Princess Niji was still safe. She was currently involved in battle with one of the creatures as well, shooting rainbow blasts at it and configuring shields around it to confuse it. Masurao grit his teeth, set on ending his current fight very quickly so he could aid his princess.
It was an odd planet Sector SUN had landed on today. Plans to foil the enemy’s doomsday arrangements had been successful, were it not that the leader of the aliens they’d opposed against had found out about their presence before they could make it back to the ship safely. He had sent reinforcements to prevent the GTND team from leaving the planet and so far he was doing a pretty good job.
These were strange aliens. Brainy wasn’t a word to describe them, but they were strong, muscled and quite tall. The specimen Masurao was battling against was more than twice his size and scented strangely of broccoli. The fact that their skin was a nasty shade of green might’ve had something to do with it.
Strong as they were, they weren’t particularly quick. And thus, Masurao had been relying on his agility and wit to outsmart the creature, finding openings in its defence and prodding his rod or a fist in the weaker areas. The alien either seemed to lack the ability to speak, or their native language existed mainly out of grunts and roars. Either way, it was getting rather obvious that the monster was getting annoyed by this bouncy, blue fuzzy thing. He hurled large fists at it, but Masurao hopped over them and used the opportunity to wallop the green alien on the head. The hostile creature roared and spun around, dazed from the collision. His eyes were crossed and he looked rather ludicrous as he started to punch in a direction Masurao was five feet away from.
But the stoic guard didn’t plan on standing there and watch the show. He had other responsibilities to attend to. He had already turned on his heel to make way for Niji, were it not that his path was blocked by another creature.
Masurao looked up to stare the alien in the face and saw two little, black, pig-eyes glint maliciously back at him. The wolfboy let out and exasperated huff and frowned at the new opponent, intending to get past him as quickly as he could. From the corner of his eye, the Egriadanian could see his fellow teammates involved in battles of their own, each of them using their specific abilities to bring their adversaries down. The twins used their cunning wits to outsmart their alien, tricking it into tripping over. Nalo was using a similar technique, using many of her tendrils to wrap around her opponent’s feet and hurling it away. The smaller operatives were combining their strengths to bring their monster down, confusing it by running around its feet or flying around its head while screeching frantically. And then there was also Etoile and Tala, who used their telekinetic abilities to make the enemy trip or punch them in the gonads.
So far, they were putting up a good fight and no one seemed to be hurt.
Masurao glanced back at his own foe and was just in time to avoid the creature’s fist, which slammed hard into the ground where the guard had been standing previously, leaving a crack there. Masurao jumped to the back, but felt himself bumping into something. Slightly bewildered, he looked up and found himself staring into a face very similar to the one he’d just been looking at. Narrowing his eyes a little, the boy looked over at the first monster, which was all too ready to try and punch him again. Which it did.
Masurao bounded to the left this time, only nearly avoiding the hand of fiend number two as it tried to grab him. Both broccoli-smelling aliens turned around to face him and stared down at him eerily, making their way over. Masurao wasn’t very fazed by their expressions and chose to take a protective stance instead. His bright green eyes snapped from left to right, trying to find something he could possibly use to his advantage, preferably a tree. But he found none. The planet was as barren as a wasteland, with nothing but cold, earthy gravel covering the ground.
Two fists were hurled in his direction and he jumped to the back, raising the pole in his hands to smack the beasts on the head a second time, but he was held against it when his feet suddenly left the ground rather violently. Startled, Masurao was yanked into the air, suddenly hanging upside down as something held him by the tail. Bewildered and surprised, the guard spun around his appendage and was looking straight into the large, upside down belly of yet a third martian.
The teen narrowed his eyes, seeming insulted at this move. His glare trailed the creature’s stomach all the way up to its face, where foul, brown teeth grinned evilly at him. Masurao grit his own teeth and cast a quick glance behind him, where the other two brutes seemed all too pleased with the state of affairs. But Masurao wasn’t.
With a snarl, the quiet operative used the alien’s grip on his tail him to swing around its hand. Sharp teeth were bared and sunk right into the monster’s green limb. Iech. Not only did they smell like it, they even tasted like broccoli. Masurao made a sour face, but was nevertheless relieved when he was released from the roaring alien’s grip and landed on his feet. But the other two seemed to take this opportunity to throw themselves at the guard and he was only just in time to leap to the right. But unfortunately, there was a fourth monster standing there.
And from behind it appeared another. And another. And another…
And before he knew it, he was standing in a smelly green circle.
Where are they all coming from…
Masurao’s eyebrow knitted together, looking exceptionally angry at the living circular wall around him. Pairs of inky black eyes were glaring down at them, apparently pleased they had managed to bring him into this precarious situation.
Rotating cautiously on his spot, the guard glanced around the ring, searching for an escape somewhere between their legs. But they were too thick and stumpy for him to slip through. The thing that frustrated him even more was the inability to see anyone from his fellow Sector members. He could hear battling noises coming from outside the circle, but he could see none of them. He didn’t like it. But, as Masurao had been taught, panic is never an option. Think of your advantages.
His verdant gaze now shifted towards the sky. His opponents were exceptionally tall, but it was certainly a height he could muster easily. Prior was to get out of this formation first, then assault.
And thus, in one swift movement, Masurao kicked off the floor and soared through the air, leaping over his foes’ heads.
But unfortunately, one of them seemed to have remembered the guard was capable of this move. And so, for the second time that day, Masurao felt strong fingers wrap around his tail and he was pulled right back into the circle where he collided harshly with the moist gravel. He let out a grunt, though it was most likely directed at his failure rather than the agony.
Focus… Focus…
From the corner of his eye, he could see multiple hands reaching out to him. The blue teen flicked his tail and jumped to his feet determinedly, slapping a few sausage-fingered appendages away in the process. But he had barely done so or another hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed him by the arm, lifting him into the air. Frustrated, Masurao snarled at the large green hand and opened his mouth to snap at it. But he froze midway when yet another hand appeared and fingers curled around his throat.
Masurao’s eyes widened in alarm and his frustration was replaced by a white-hot fear he was not used to having. He tried to cry out, but the fingers around his larynx prevented anything from coming out. Or coming in. His gloved hands dropped the rod he’d still been holding and jerked up to clench around the thick green fingers instead. He clawed and gripped at them, trying to loosen the hold, but he didn’t prevail. He direly tried to remember any sort of training he might have had to get him out of this situation, but none came to mind right away. Panic and lack of oxygen prevented him from thinking straight, so instead he went into instinctive survival mode.
He threw his body from left to right, desperately trying to break free of the large hand holding him, his fingers still clenched around the clutch on his throat. He felt something collide with the bottom of his boot and a painful roar followed, and Masurao took slight satisfaction that he had at least hit one of them. He gasped soundlessly when the grip tightened on him and he latched his tail around the creature’s wrist in a desperate attempt to do at least something.
It didn’t seem to make much difference. The usually stoic guard’s vision began to blur and stars danced in front of his eyes. He could feel his muscles burn and weaken, losing strength at the oxygen they didn’t receive. Then he was vaguely aware that he began to have trouble hearing… It was strange and slow, as if someone was plunging him under water or putting plugs into his ears. He heard muffled screams and he could’ve sworn he heard someone call out his name… But it didn’t matter… He was rather tired… Despite his common sense’s protests, he could feel how his hands lost grip of the monster’s fingers and dropped limply by his side. The last thing he remembered seeing were those creepy black eyes, who stared ominously at him… He could’ve sworn he saw surprise in them before he sunk into a deep, black darkness…
And then there was air.
He gasped and sputtered as the icey oxygen filled his grateful lungs, which felt most painful. He panted heavily, his breath raspy as he drank in sweet air. He was confused and disorientated and was only indistinctly aware of noises around him. It was still dark. Befuddled, Masurao wanted to throw a hand into a random direction, but found out that he couldn’t. It was then that he became aware he was lying on his stomach on the ground. His throat hurt profoundly.
Groaning confusedly, the teen opened his eyes. It didn’t make much difference. He could see formless shapes moving about in front of him, but he didn’t know who they belonged to. Voices and yells seemed to come from some place far away… He coughed effortfully, making his throat burn even more and rolled over on one side. The shapes and shades became a little more distinct as he blinked his eyes a few times more, though only just barely.
Then he saw an odd phenomenon. A wave of multicoloured light danced in front of his eyes, almost making them squint. He let out an inaudible grunt, his unusually slow mind registering who was probably causing those rainbow colours.
“No…” he croaked hoarsely and was appalled at how his voice sounded. He was lying here in what he guessed could only be considered as a miserable pile of blue fur. The guard grit his teeth and shuffled his palms over the gravelled earth. Once he had a fair idea they were positioned correctly, he pushed himself up on them, his muscles shaking so bad in a way it almost scared him. He let out a frustrated snarl and tried to lift himself up a bit more, but suddenly his sight was obscured by nothing but green. He was momentarily confused and another wave of horror overwhelmed him at the thought one of their opponents had found him. First instincts were that he had to get away from there, by all means possible. He snarled viciously, but then, suddenly, there was a hand. It wasn’t large and cold, but soft and warm between his shoulderblades. It pushed him down dismissively, though not aggressively and Masurao –much to his dismay- found his weakened body give in pretty much instantly. He collapsed onto the ground again, sending dust and little rocks scattering everywhere and whoever had pushed him back down seemed rather startled at what their action had done, and started to mutter anxious apologies.
But Masurao was hardly aware of it… The minute his physique didn’t require the use of strength anymore, he felt as though he fell into a dark hole. He continued falling… And falling… And falling…
- -
And next thing he knew, everything was soft. Soft and warm.
Hunger gnawed at him, but Masurao didn’t want to get up. This was comfortable. Comfortable and warm. He grunted softly, as if he dismissed his stomach’s cry for food as thus. He wanted to sleep. Why was he waking up? He didn’t need to… Sleeping was alright… He tried to turn to his other side, but found out that he couldn’t…
Confused, Masurao squeezed his eyes shut and twitched his mane. …What is going on here…?
Slowly, the blue-furred teen peeked one green eye open. His sight was still out of focus, but he noticed it got better as he took his time to make it adjust. As it did, Masurao became aware of a particularly clean ceiling. He vaguely recalled seeing it somewhere before, but he couldn’t place it. What had happened? Just a second ago, they were fighting those big aliens and…
At the insight, Masurao’s body gave a jolt and he meant to get up, but was very puzzled when he discovered he had difficulty doing so. Someone said “No!” and he felt hands on his shoulder that pushed him back into something that was unmistakably a pillow. His neck cramped painfully and the sensation sent adrenaline rushing straight for his brain and pull both his eyelids wide open. There he saw the ceiling again, but soon it was blocked from his view by a fuzzy white face. “Oh, you’re awake!” it said, beaming down at him.
Utterly bewildered, the startled bodyguard blinked his eyes a few times more and recognized the smiling face as Lunira, operative Numbuh L-90. Her presence certainly didn’t help to ease his befuddlement. The face moved away from him and Masurao was looking upon the sanitary ceiling once more and noticed a rather modern lamp hanging there. That’s when he realized where he was.
The infirmary?
Squinting his eyes, Masurao tried to recall a situation in which he had been brought here, but he couldn’t find one. But this made him comprehend why Lunira was there. She was the team’s Medical Officer. What was he doing here?
A little less confused than before, but still not wholly aware of the situation, he made to turn his head and inquire, but again he realized he couldn’t. Frowning, he jerked his shoulder, meaning to turn his whole body around, but another hand shot out and pulled him back, saying “N-no! Please don’t try to m-move.”
A little annoyed at being given orders but receiving no explanation for them, Masurao fell back into the cushions and now saw another face. One he surely hadn’t expected to be there.
His eyes widened as he realized he was looking straight into Numbuh Infinity’s shaded countenance. The human commander quickly jerked his hand away as if he had burnt himself and nervously glanced the other way. Masurao quirked a confused eyebrow, but soon Numbuh Infinity was gone and had been replaced by Lunira again.
“Yes, please try to hold still.” she said, gesturing over to his neck and chest area. “Your neck was hurt pretty bad. You’re wearing a supportive collar.”
“. . . I’m what…?” Masurao said, confused, and heard his voice still sounded unusually hoarse and faint. His hand reached out to touch his neck and sure enough, he felt some kind of soft appliance there. Frowning, Masurao looked down in order to have a closer look at it, but he couldn’t see it. “. . .What is this?” he said, his frown deepening. He tugged at the item, but was immediately punished by another painful jolt soaring through his neck. He cringed and hastily moved his hand away from it.
“I told you to stay still. See, that’s what you get.” Lunira said, one hand on her hip and the other pointing reprimandingly at him as she stood next to him on the bed. Masurao made a committal throat-noise and decided to stare up at the ceiling again, looking most displeased, obviously not liking the idea of this thing attached to his body. Lunira ignored it and shifted the covers on his bed while she explained. “You’ll need to wear it for two weeks and then we’ll see how you’re doing.”
“Two weeks?!” Masurao called out croakily, meaning to push himself up, but already regretting it when stars danced in front of his eyes again.
“Yes, two weeks.” Lunira replied patiently, pushing him back into the pillow, which left Masurao rather disgruntled at how effortlessly she did so. His body clearly hadn’t recovered yet. “Two weeks…” he mumbled, glaring sourly at the ceiling. Ridiculous. This medical equipment certainly went against all his principles as a royal’s bodyguard.
“It’ll be over before you know it!” The panda-like girl said with a wide smile, oozing an enthusiasm Masurao failed to share. She adjusted the covers one more time and then hopped off the bed. “I’ll be telling the others that you’re awake. I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear it!”
Masurao heard the sound of a door opening and closing. And then there was silence.
The guard stared at the ceiling for another moment, then glanced to the side, not having forgotten the other person who was there. And why was he there? Numbuh Infinity started as he caught Masurao’s stare. Apparently he’d been trying to blend in with the background, but had failed to do so.
Masurao laid there and said nothing, but kept watching him, obviously expecting an explanation. Numbuh Infinity cleared his throat, then opened his mouth to say something. He stood there for a second, then closed it again, looking nervous. He cleared his throat yet another time and then gave a tiny jerk with his head.
The blue-haired teen followed appointed direction and lifted two eyebrows when he saw another person in the room.
There was Princess Niji, who was sitting in an armchair and seemed to have dozed off. She looked rather unroyal-like as she lay there, with her mouth slightly agape and uttering a soft snore.
“She, uhh…” Numbuh Infinity began, sounding a little awkward. He was undoubtedly not used to talking to the bodyguard in person when Niji wasn’t there to guide the conversation. He fairly looked as if he’d rather not have to do this. Infinity glanced down at the sleeping girl and a certain fondness swept over his features which Masurao didn’t fail to notice. “Sh-she wanted to make sure you were alright and—“
“Whazgoin’on?” the colourful princess uttered suddenly, awaking with a start. Apparently the sound of a voice had pulled her out of her slumber. She blinked her eyes lazily, eyelids drooping. Yawning, she rubbed in them with a fist and then looked around her in mild confusion, not immediately understanding where she was. There was a crease in her cheek from the chair’s fabric she’d been leaning against.
She then turned her head, spotting Numbuh Infinity standing at her side. “. . . Jamal…? Why are… Oh, yeah… The infirmary… Masu—Masurao!” she cried out suddenly, upon glancing at her bodyguard and realizing he was awake.
Urgently and seeming far from tired, she levitated out of the chair and made her way over, almost stumbling over the wires scattered across the infirmary’s spotless floors. She was at his bed in an instant and her gestures suggested she made to hug him, but decided against it upon taking a second glance at his collar. The fact that she did, made Masurao mentally confirm that he must look utterly preposterous wearing this.
The rainbow teenager looked at him rather apprehensively, concern etched upon her pale grey face and fidgeting nervously with the hem of her skirt. “How… How are you feeling?” she inquired tentatively, as if it was something she wasn’t supposed to ask.
As usual, Masurao refrained from answering right away as he stared at the ceiling, his facial expression as unenthusiastic as one could possibly muster. “I’m perfectly fine. I think I should be able to get up right away.” For a second time, he meant to push himself up, but he didn’t even get the chance to try as Niji’s hands shot out and pushed him back into the covers.
Masurao said nothing, but his face clearly read he disagreed with the situation.
There was another moment’s silence in which he could feel Niji staring at him, as if staring might help the absurd cuff to go away. He certainly hoped it would work.
“What happened?” he asked eventually, uttering a soft huff after the question as he heard his voice still sounded distant.
“Well, uh…” Niji said, looking out in front of her and furrowing her colourful eyebrows, as if she were recollecting her thoughts from that day. “ You-you know… We… We were fighting those big green aliens… or whatever they were. I-I’m not sure, since I was focussed on my own opponent, but everyone seemed to be doing a good job…” She paused for a second, glancing down at the blue patient briefly. “…And we thought we were doing well, because suddenly they all started to fall back…” She faltered a bit and glanced at Numbuh Infinity for a second. He nodded kindly at her.
“…So, so we were relieved, because we thought they were retreating, but then T-Tala started screaming and…” Niji bit her lip, staring out in front of her. Masurao had a pretty good idea of what had happened next. “Then we saw this large group of them huddled around something and… and…”
Suddenly, the colourful girl burst out in sobs and almost threw herself upon her guard, who cringed a little as she collided with his aching torso. Nevertheless, Masurao was quite startled at the unexpected reaction and so was Numbuh Infinity, it seemed, whose sunglasses had dropped to his nose as he blinked down at Niji in surprise.
“I-I’m sorry!” she cried out, not moving away. Tears dropped upon the covers and materialized into little crystals as they made contact with the fabric. “W-we should’ve noticed they w-weren’t just f-falling b-back and-and…” The rest was muffled as she pressed her face into Masurao’s pillow next to his head, shoulders shaking.
Looking a bit flustered, Masurao was a little lost at what to do, blinking sideways in confusion as he couldn’t move his head around to look at Niji. He felt a little uncomfortable with the crying girl here, who was grieving over him, no less. He threw a quick glance at Numbuh Infinity, but he seemed just about as clueless as Masurao. Either that, or he didn’t dare to touch the girl while her bodyguard was there, immobilized or not.
Awkwardly, Masurao reached out a hand and patted the princess on the back stiffly. “It’s alright, it’s alright…” he mumbled. “Nothing happened. I’m still alive.”
He obviously shouldn’t have said that, as she began crying into the pillow even more. The guard felt very helpless lying here, with the emotional girl at his side and his face only able to look in one direction. He wished Lunira hadn’t left, so she could sort the situation out. Emotions had never been his strong point anyway.
So instead he kept patting Niji on the back, very metronomicly, hoping it could make at least some kind of difference. He was quiet for another second, staring at the ceiling. “I’m supposed to look after you anyway, not the other way around.”
Another noise emerged from the pillow. It sounded like a soft chuckle, though it could’ve been just another sob. This time, Niji resurfaced and sat up, her watery different-coloured eyes looking down at him. “That doesn’t mean I can’t turn around to look every once in a while…” she said quietly, using a fist to wipe a tear away, which hardened and fell onto the sheets as a small diamond. Staring at the ceiling still, Masurao shrugged lightly, the collar preventing him from lifting his shoulders any further. “You’re not supposed to, that’s why I’m here.”
She unmistakably chuckled this time and threw her arms around him once more. Masurao had to squeeze his mouth shut in order not to emit a painful grunt. Numbuh Infinity, who seemed to be slightly more comfortable than before now the situation was less emotional, smiled down at the colourful royalty. “Masurao is right, Niji. You are not to blame.”
Niji detached herself from her guard, who seemed slightly relieved at that and looked up at Numbuh Infinity instead. “Thank you, Jamal…” she said softly, removing a final tear from her cheek. Numbuh Infinity reached out a sympathetic hand to place it on the girl’s shoulder, but a rather intense stare from the boy in the bed made him pull it right back. Niji chuckled softly, before looking down at the serious-looking wolf. “But this doesn’t mean I’m not going t—“
“OUT OF THE WAY! I WANT IN!”
A voice suddenly bellowed from behind the door. The aliens in room turned to face the door (save Masurao, who wasn’t able to) and blinked at it in surprise. A nervous, high-pitched voice Masurao recognized as the one belonging to the nurse who usually occupied the nurses office when he brought Tala to the infirmary, spoke up. “P-please, miss! Th-there’s only two people allowed in the room at a t—“ “I DON’T CARE! I’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR A MILLION YEARS ALREADY! I WANT IN!” Masurao also recognized the much louder voice, which made him lift an eyebrow.
A quieter, more gentle voice spoke up now, but it was hard to make out words.
“I SAID I DON’T CARE, ETOILE!” the louder voice spoke up again, “IF SHE WON’T MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, I’LL JUST BLOW UP THE DOOR!”
There was a lot of scurrying and shuffling outside the room while the trio inside kept staring at the door in mild awe. Except for Masurao, who didn’t seem to be surprised at all. Then, suddenly, the door burst open, its hinges creaking ominously and a streak of yellow and green soared into the room.
A rather wild-looking Tala was floating in the air and her head snapped around in all directions, until she located the bed in the far corner of the room. Her orange eyes blazed with rage as she saw Masurao and she dashed over, followed by a very apprehensive-looking Etoile.
“YOU!” she bawled, pointing a dangerously glowing finger in Masurao’s direction, who twitched his mane and cringed at the volume. Tala seemed barely fazed by the discomfort or just ignored it. “What are you, INSANE?! Are you some kind of total MORON?!” she shouted, shaking her fists as if she tried to control her fury, which only seemed to rise which each word she exclaimed. Masurao, looking a bit stern, didn’t answer as he guessed these questions were indented to be rhetorical.
Her orange eyes spat fire as she pointed another accusing finger at him. “What were you THINKING?! Are you DERANGED?! Well yeah, OBVIOUSLY!!” she roared, green sparks emitting from her fingers. Etoile stood just a little below his sister, nervously glancing up at her and occasionally throwing apologetic looks at the guard in the bed. “What kind of STUPID LOON would take on a GAZILLION monsters all BY HIMSELF without calling FOR HELP?!”
Tala glared down at him, her fist in the air in a fashion which indicated she would have liked to throw a punch at him herself. “Only a STUPID FUZZ-BUTT would!! Oh, OF COURSE the great and INDESTRUCTABLE Masurao would have NO PROBLEM AT ALL to take out all these GIANTS in one blow!! OH NO, HE’D JUST STAND THERE AND BE TOUGH AND THEN ALMOST GET HIMSELF KILLED!!” Her voice rose to dangerous high levels, each word an octave higher than the first, until she sounded almost hysterical.
Breathing heavily and hands clenched into angry fists, Tala glowered down at the unmoving wolf in the bed, who stared right back, displaying not much emotion except for an eyebrow which was raised in a slightly bewildered manner.
Then, suddenly, the green-haired girl let out a cry Masurao could not place and startled him a second time by hurling herself onto the bed and latching herself around the fuzzy teenager’s torso. He cringed at the sudden blow, but Tala took no notice. She said something, but it sounded rather muffled as she buried her face in his shirt. She shivered a little, as if a cold breeze had wafted inside the room. Masurao, looking rather flushed, felt the grip around his frame tighten. Then, two huge orange eyes peeked up at him, watching him closely. “. . . I thought… I thought…” she said quietly, but decided not to say what she thought as she hid her face in the fabric of his shirt again.
Etoile stood near the end of the bed, smiling uneasily. He fidgeted with his hands a bit, apparently unsure of what to say. He didn’t have as much affinity with the frosty guard as his sister had, but apparently he hadn’t wanted for the girl to enter by herself and disrupt Masurao’s peace as thus. “Tala wanted to come in earlier,” he said after a moment’s consideration, uttering a soft chuckle, “But the nurse wouldn’t let her, because she was screaming too loud.”
The female Telarian lifted her head and turned it to face her brother, frowning at him. “Thank you for bringing that up, dear brother. I appreciate it very kindly.” In return, Etoile grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
There was silence for a minute, in which no one said anything. Niji kept throwing a concerned glance at Masurao every once in a while, but looked a lot less upset than she had before. She was even smiling a little. Numbuh Infinity didn’t seem to know where to look exactly and resolved this by looking down at the covers of the bed. Etoile seemed to have a similar problem and toyed with his hands a little, glancing down at his sister every now and then, who still clutched the wolf’s chest.
After a few minutes, the green-haired girl peeked up slowly, watching the guard for a moment. Masurao looked down, catching her orange gaze with his green one. She held it for a minute, then submerged in his shirt again. “. . . You look silly.” she said, muffled.
The boy, having turned back to the ceiling, frowned a bit. “I am aware of it...” he replied tediously. He could feel Tala chuckle against his chest and soon she lifted her head again, opening her smiling mouth to say something, but was held against it when another voice spoke up.
“Susu!”
The people in the room, save Masurao, turned to look at the door. The boy himself lifted another eyebrow at the name, not even having to question who had just entered. And sure enough, after a few seconds, two identical grinning faces loomed over him, giving him the strange effect of seeing double.
“We sure got you out of a ‘tight’ situation there, didn’t we?” the boy on the left said, tossing his fringe to the side to reveal a purple eye.
“Yes, it was quite a ‘gripping’ moment.” his brother said, grinning broadly, making a similar gesture and displaying a blue eye. Masurao simply stared back at them, not making a comment on the puns. But the twins didn’t seem to expect him to. The left one, now identified as Unagi, softly prodded the collar on the wolfboy’s neck. “Fancy appliance you got there.” His brother did the same and his grin widened even more. “You’re one of us now, Susu.” he added, and both aquatic aliens pointed at the cuffs around their necks simultaneously. “You’re part of the cool crowd now.” they claimed together, their long tails flicking about behind them.
Masurao looked at them for another minute, his expression as unreadable as ever. He then opened his mouth to say something, but wasn’t able to when a cloud of feathers suddenly obscured everything from view.
“OHGOSHTHATWASTHESCARIESTTHINGEVERISEVERYTHINGALRIGHTDOESITHURTMUCH-WHAT’STHATWEIRDTHINGAROUNDYOURNECKITLOOKSREALSILL—!”
Cyril’s screechy exclamations were put to a stop when a pale hand reached out and plucked the bird out of the air. Masurao blinked his eyes a few times as his vision returned, twitching his mane and nose to get rid of multiple feathers that had scattered on his face. “That’ll do, Cyril, you’re suffocating him again.” a tranquil voice said and now Vibe’s face came into view, raising an apologetic eyebrow at the guard in the bed. She glanced down at the cuff around his neck for a second, considering it, but didn’t make a comment on it as she pulled back, which Masurao appreciated silently.
As Cyril’s high-pitched protests began to subside, Masurao also became aware of other voices in the room. Lifting an eyebrow in a mildly bewildered fashion, he shifted a little and looked down. Sure enough, a large group of people had gathered near the foot of his bed. He could see Milo-Lee and Finnick, levitating a few feet above the floor, and Nalo was also there, standing next to Etoile, and Zoelin too, who seemed distracted by something on the wall that was undoubtedly shiny. On the bed itself, right near his feet, stood Nebulos and Lunira, who had their heads tilted to one side in a considerate manner. He could only just make them out behind Tala’s head, who was still holding him, he realized.
The guard felt slightly flustered at the sight of this large group gathered around his bed. He surely wasn’t used to this many people focussing all on him. Wearing this collar, no less.
From the corner of his eye, he could discern an approaching light and it only made sense that it was Nebulos who was heading over. He could feel small feet press against the mattress as the Luminarian walked, and sure enough, barely a second later, a blue face came into view, smiling kindly at him. The light from his antennae was less bright than it usually was, which he had probably done for the guard’s comfort.
“Luni said you’re going to be just fine.” he said, nodding, which made his antennae bounce. Masurao would like to have nodded in return, but the item around his neck was enabling him to. He sure hoped what the small operative said was true, this collar couldn’t get off fast enough. The smile on Nebulos’s bright face increased, seeming rather pleased about something. “She also said that you’d probably be hurt a lot more if Ynda hadn’t been there!”
The wolfboy lifted an eyebrow and found himself somewhat astounded when Nebulos suddenly reached out a hand behind him and pulled out the green alien he’d been referring to. Ynda genuinely looked as if she’d rather be anywhere but here. She shot the grinning alien next to her a sour look, crossed her arms and looked the other way, apparently determined not to look Masurao in the face. Nebulos didn’t seem to notice and went on. “She got your injury under control with her healing ability. Most of the pain you’re feeling is just stiffness.” He smiled broadly, turning over to Ynda, which Masurao also did.
The green girl was still staring at the wall, looking most disgruntled. A few seconds later, she ventured a glance to the side, but looked away instantly when seeing all the attention upon her. A soft, dark-green, embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks and her eyebrows knitted together. “Yes, well…!” she muttered defensively, making a dismissive gesture with her hand. “It’s only because Swirly and Rainbow Princess practically demanded it from me!” She crossed her arms in a huff and narrowed her eyes at Niji, who had been chuckling.
Masurao didn’t say anything for a while, but looked at the green girl on the edge of the bed, as if he was trying to imagine how she had used her powers to heal his damage. His face illegible, he averted his eyes to the ceiling after a minute and then spoke, quietly. “Thank you.”
Ynda muttered something he couldn’t understand. “Well, you looked rather pathetic, anyway.” she added, much louder. She then addressed Nebulos, still looking rather displeased. “Okay, can I GO now?” The blue teen chuckled and nodded, waving a hand at Masurao before he joined Ynda by jumping off the bed.
They had barely left or Dengeki and Unagi appeared again, their purple grins as wide as ever. Masurao felt rather startled at all of the commotion. He certainly hadn’t expected everyone to gather around his sickbed this way. He felt a little uncomfortable because of it, though he appreciated their concern.
“While everyone was busy crying and fussing all over you on the hallway,” Dengeki began, his grin widening and patting Tala on the head. The Telarian looked up and muttered something. “We decided we might as well could do something useful!” Unagi completed, his grin also widening. Masurao felt slightly alarmed when they relayed this information to him. He was quite aware of what kind of things the twins tended to do to entertain themselves. The identical boys disappeared from view, only to appear a few seconds later.
“Tadaaaa!” they called out together, lifting a large sheet of paper over his head.
Blinking confusedly, Masurao looked up at it. On it, in big bold, colourful letters, was written: “Get well, MaSuSurao.” Underneath it, various names had been written. Cyril’s and Zoelin’s stood out most, who seemed to have been competing in who could use the most glitter to write down their name. His enlarged green eyes wandered across the card and he discovered each present operative’s name on the sheet, even Ynda’s, who had written it in the far right corner so it wouldn’t stand out as much. He was slightly stunned when he discovered a short get-well message written in runes he recognized as his native language. Blinking once, he glanced down at Nalo near the foot of the bed and the silent alien caught his gaze. Seeming to understand, she smiled kindly, waving a tendril at him, before she curled it around Etoile’s arm.
“We figured you could use a little pat on the shoulder.” Unagi said, grinning down at him. “Or on the head.” Dengeki added, ensuing with indeed patting Masurao on the head, apparently quite amused at his immobilized state.
The wolf looked back up at the card and couldn’t admit he was rather amazed at the gesture. “I. . . “ he said hoarsely. He closed his mouth again, not really knowing what to say. He couldn’t deny the certain wave of inner warmth he felt when he looked at the card and saw all the names looking back at him. He could hear someone chuckle softly and he was quite certain it was Vibe, who –he remembered just now- had the ability to sense other people’s emotions. A thought he wouldn’t mind doing without at this very moment.
“Aww, he likes it.” Dengeki said, grinning broadly and shifting his bangs so they covered his eyes again. “He’d better,” his brother added, grinning equally, “We slaved all over this thing.” The colourful card was removed from his sight and Masurao heard rustling coming from his side, which made him guess Unagi was positioning the paper on the nightstand.
A short silence fell, the only noise being that of clothes rustling and people moving.
“. . . Thank you…” the Egriadanian said after a minute, keeping his gaze locked on the ward’s metallic ceiling. “I. . . Thank you.” His green gaze glanced down at the foot of his bed for a minute, though most of it was still concealed by Tala’s head. He didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t say anything else, since genuine gratitude is what he felt. In the background, someone uttered a snort-chuckle. “You’re welcome,” an amused voice said, which Masurao recognized as Milo-Lee’s. “You did look rather miserable.” A hushed reprimand was uttered by the girl’s bat-like friend, to whom she was quick to retort, ending them both up in a whispering discussion.
Somewhat embarrassed, which exposed itself through a glum look, the wolf looked back up at the ceiling, deciding not to comment.
“I think it’s best if we leave for now,” Lunira spoke up from the bed’s end. “He needs to rest, it’s been a rough day.” It wasn’t until the Ursa had mentioned this, that Masurao felt he was indeed tired. The commotion of all of Sector SUN entering had deprived him of this feeling temporarily, but as the conversations began to subside, fatigue had started to seep through..
“We’ve all had a rough day…” Niji added, sounding rather tired and running a grey hand through her fringe, leaving it frazzled. Not having budged from her spot, she bit her lip and glanced down at the boy in de bed, looking rather unsure. Masurao got it.
“I’ll be fine.” he replied to her unspoken question, redirecting his gaze to the ceiling. “All I need is some sleep. Tomorrow I’ll be up and running and take this thing off my--“
“No, two weeks!” Lunira interrupted sternly, her voice now coming from somewhere down on the floor. “And I’ll have you checked upon.”
An indistinguishable throat noise emerged from his mouth and the colourful princess at this side chuckled wearily. “I’ll stop by tomorrow.” she said, kindly patting one of his hands with her own. She suppressed a yawn behind the back of her hand, which made her eyes water. “You should rest too, Niji.” Numbuh Infinity told her, smiling kind-heartedly at her, his hands folded behind his back. The princess turned to face him and smiled in response, before nodding softly. Waving one last time at her guard, Niji turned around and headed for the door. Numbuh Infinity was quick to follow after her, but was just in time to catch Masurao’s drilling stare, an expression he was all too familiar with. As the wolf’s eyebrow went aloft, the human cleared his throat awkwardly, before he nodded faintly, signalling he understood what Masurao was telling him through this gaze. He seemed quite relieved to leave the room.
The other operatives also got ready to depart. Some of them said their goodbyes, while others simply smiled and waved. Dengeki and Unagi insisted on ruffling his hair one last time before they left the room, talking animatedly to one another. The air was considerably lighter than it was half an hour ago. Happy chatter now echoed down the hall outside the door, all of them content to share in joy just like they had shared in concern before. The voices began to subside as Sector SUN filed out and moved away from the infirmary, allowing a peaceful silence to wash over the alien in the bed.
Exhaustion was dulling his senses and Masurao deemed it a good idea to close his eyes and rest, but started slightly when a voice spoke up. Apparently he wasn’t alone yet.
“Tala?”
He recognized the inquiring voice as that of Etoile. Twitching his mane softly, the wolf blinked his eyes a few times, looking slightly bewildered. It wasn’t until he felt something detach from his torso that he realized Tala had still been holding him. An unpleasant cold sensation waved across the spot where she had been lying previously, as her body warmth had begun to mingle with his. He could see shapes moving from the corner of his eye, but was unable to turn his head and see what was going on.
The energy to ask anything or even say goodbye was lacking and the teen’s green eyes drooped, unable to help himself. He’d be of more use in the morning, he figured as his eyes fell shut.
. . .
“. . . Are you coming?” the curly-haired boy spoke up again, not having left the room yet.
Another silence passed.
“I’m going to stay for a bit… Is that okay?”
Masurao’s eyes fluttered open again, looking up at the sanitized ceiling once more. For some reason, he did not believe that question had been directed at her brother.
Turning his head slightly and ignoring the cramp it caused in his neck, the wolfish boy looked to the side. There, he saw Tala’s face. Apparently she was floating a few inches off the floor. She was looking down at him, her arms hanging aimlessly by her sides. The expression on her face was exceptionally unreadable. Either that, or Masurao couldn’t determine what kind of emotion it was. It seemed to be a lot of them, all thrown in at once. Her slender tail flicked gently from side to side, before she cast her eyes down to the floor, saying nothing.
The wolf was also quiet as he watched her, feeling rather odd as he did. She was unusually silent, and he wondered if that was the fact why couldn’t bring himself up to say no.
“. . . Sure.” he said after a minute, averting his eyes to look at the ceiling for the many’th time that day. He somewhat expected her to erupt in joyful laughter and make a series of excited exclamations.
But no.
Instead, everything remained quiet. Glancing over, he saw the girl was smiling warmly at him, having levitated a few inches higher from the floor. She turned to look over her shoulder and nodded at someone, who was undoubtedly Etoile. It took another few hesitant seconds, but then there was the gentle noise of bare feet making way out of the room and the sound of a door closing.
Silence filled the room again.
Despite the obvious need for sleep, Masurao somehow felt that he had a little bit more effort doing so. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because Tala was still suspended in mid-air, looking down at him. The idea that she might spend the whole night staring down at him like this made him feel slightly awkward. He meant to inquire if this was indeed her plan, but was held against it when he heard movement. Glancing aside, he saw that the female Telarian had averted her gaze, and was now focussed on something Masurao could not see. Her green-glowing hand jerked aside and a few seconds later the armchair Niji had been sitting in before floated into view and descended right next to his bed.
Seeming pleased due her work, Tala smiled brightly and hovered herself over to the seat, dropping herself into it, hugging her knees to her chest and curling her tail around her feet. She rested her head against the backrest and allowed her eyes to close, her curly antennae swaying lightly.
Somewhat surprised at her serene behaviour, Masurao looked at her as she sat there, looking rather peaceful. A few silent minutes passed, before the girl in the chair peeked one eye open. She held his gaze for a minute and then allowed the single eyelid to fall shut again. “. . . Have I ever told you the story about how D'thlanyian trees got their spots on them?” she inquired, her voice soft.
Masurao hadn’t exactly expected this. He looked at her, watching how she stirred lightly in the chair, but didn’t open her eyes. He shifted his gaze away from her and they came to rest upon the ceiling once again.
“. . . No. . .”
Still not opening her eyes, Tala stirred in her seat again, getting a bit more comfortable. She then began relaying the story to him, telling it how she’d been told it many times before on her planet, her voice gentle and somewhat musical, which made the much less-stoic teen in the bed soon wander off to a world of peaceful slumber.
That'd be it, meh laddies!
I certainly hope I managed to keep everyone into character. I made that story about "how the trees got their spots" up, because I seem to remember Sadie once said that Telarians tell a lot of stories on their planet. SO I HOPE IT'S OKAY I DID THAT ;; Otherwise I'll just edit it and you can throw fruit at my head.
I need to go now, but shall see you real soon! ;D
And of course, all characters are © to their AWESOME PANDA WAROARIOR <3
Believe it or not, but I wrote something else! X3
This has actually been lying around my computers for weeeeeeeeekkkkssss, but I was only able to work on it in small amounts of time.
The fic's size is quite MONSTROUS to me XD; It had 14 pages in Word. I have no idea why it went on like that, but I'm certainly not going to force anyone to read it. Only if you like to!
I also tried giving everyone's characters a cameo, small as though it might be ;; But I tried! BECAUSE YOU GUYS ALL HAVE AWESOME CHARACTERS AND THEY DESERVE MUCH LOVE FOR BEING SO AWESOME LIKE THEY ARE! <3 <3
It's not a lie X3
I hope it's not a little bit too dramatic in the first sequence. But I needed something to... Ah well, you'll find out I guess XD; If you want to read it X3
I'LL JUST STOP BLABBING NOW, YEAH.
Oh, and a little side fact is, if I remember correctly, that Niji's tears (once shed) harden and turn into crystals. At least I thought so XD;
And Masurao and Tala aren't a couple yet. YET! DO HO HO! 83
And I also believe I should start a career in coming up with titles for kindergarten's stories
Without ado:
Infirmary Visit
Bam. Boof. Bang. Bam.
Fists and feet flew everywhere.
With a face rid of all emotion, save one of intense concentration, Masurao hurled and danced around his opponent, constantly anticipating and observing if he could find an open spot where he could land a punch or kick. Whenever he found half-a-second’s time, the wolf-like teenager would cast a glance over his shoulder, checking if Princess Niji was still safe. She was currently involved in battle with one of the creatures as well, shooting rainbow blasts at it and configuring shields around it to confuse it. Masurao grit his teeth, set on ending his current fight very quickly so he could aid his princess.
It was an odd planet Sector SUN had landed on today. Plans to foil the enemy’s doomsday arrangements had been successful, were it not that the leader of the aliens they’d opposed against had found out about their presence before they could make it back to the ship safely. He had sent reinforcements to prevent the GTND team from leaving the planet and so far he was doing a pretty good job.
These were strange aliens. Brainy wasn’t a word to describe them, but they were strong, muscled and quite tall. The specimen Masurao was battling against was more than twice his size and scented strangely of broccoli. The fact that their skin was a nasty shade of green might’ve had something to do with it.
Strong as they were, they weren’t particularly quick. And thus, Masurao had been relying on his agility and wit to outsmart the creature, finding openings in its defence and prodding his rod or a fist in the weaker areas. The alien either seemed to lack the ability to speak, or their native language existed mainly out of grunts and roars. Either way, it was getting rather obvious that the monster was getting annoyed by this bouncy, blue fuzzy thing. He hurled large fists at it, but Masurao hopped over them and used the opportunity to wallop the green alien on the head. The hostile creature roared and spun around, dazed from the collision. His eyes were crossed and he looked rather ludicrous as he started to punch in a direction Masurao was five feet away from.
But the stoic guard didn’t plan on standing there and watch the show. He had other responsibilities to attend to. He had already turned on his heel to make way for Niji, were it not that his path was blocked by another creature.
Masurao looked up to stare the alien in the face and saw two little, black, pig-eyes glint maliciously back at him. The wolfboy let out and exasperated huff and frowned at the new opponent, intending to get past him as quickly as he could. From the corner of his eye, the Egriadanian could see his fellow teammates involved in battles of their own, each of them using their specific abilities to bring their adversaries down. The twins used their cunning wits to outsmart their alien, tricking it into tripping over. Nalo was using a similar technique, using many of her tendrils to wrap around her opponent’s feet and hurling it away. The smaller operatives were combining their strengths to bring their monster down, confusing it by running around its feet or flying around its head while screeching frantically. And then there was also Etoile and Tala, who used their telekinetic abilities to make the enemy trip or punch them in the gonads.
So far, they were putting up a good fight and no one seemed to be hurt.
Masurao glanced back at his own foe and was just in time to avoid the creature’s fist, which slammed hard into the ground where the guard had been standing previously, leaving a crack there. Masurao jumped to the back, but felt himself bumping into something. Slightly bewildered, he looked up and found himself staring into a face very similar to the one he’d just been looking at. Narrowing his eyes a little, the boy looked over at the first monster, which was all too ready to try and punch him again. Which it did.
Masurao bounded to the left this time, only nearly avoiding the hand of fiend number two as it tried to grab him. Both broccoli-smelling aliens turned around to face him and stared down at him eerily, making their way over. Masurao wasn’t very fazed by their expressions and chose to take a protective stance instead. His bright green eyes snapped from left to right, trying to find something he could possibly use to his advantage, preferably a tree. But he found none. The planet was as barren as a wasteland, with nothing but cold, earthy gravel covering the ground.
Two fists were hurled in his direction and he jumped to the back, raising the pole in his hands to smack the beasts on the head a second time, but he was held against it when his feet suddenly left the ground rather violently. Startled, Masurao was yanked into the air, suddenly hanging upside down as something held him by the tail. Bewildered and surprised, the guard spun around his appendage and was looking straight into the large, upside down belly of yet a third martian.
The teen narrowed his eyes, seeming insulted at this move. His glare trailed the creature’s stomach all the way up to its face, where foul, brown teeth grinned evilly at him. Masurao grit his own teeth and cast a quick glance behind him, where the other two brutes seemed all too pleased with the state of affairs. But Masurao wasn’t.
With a snarl, the quiet operative used the alien’s grip on his tail him to swing around its hand. Sharp teeth were bared and sunk right into the monster’s green limb. Iech. Not only did they smell like it, they even tasted like broccoli. Masurao made a sour face, but was nevertheless relieved when he was released from the roaring alien’s grip and landed on his feet. But the other two seemed to take this opportunity to throw themselves at the guard and he was only just in time to leap to the right. But unfortunately, there was a fourth monster standing there.
And from behind it appeared another. And another. And another…
And before he knew it, he was standing in a smelly green circle.
Where are they all coming from…
Masurao’s eyebrow knitted together, looking exceptionally angry at the living circular wall around him. Pairs of inky black eyes were glaring down at them, apparently pleased they had managed to bring him into this precarious situation.
Rotating cautiously on his spot, the guard glanced around the ring, searching for an escape somewhere between their legs. But they were too thick and stumpy for him to slip through. The thing that frustrated him even more was the inability to see anyone from his fellow Sector members. He could hear battling noises coming from outside the circle, but he could see none of them. He didn’t like it. But, as Masurao had been taught, panic is never an option. Think of your advantages.
His verdant gaze now shifted towards the sky. His opponents were exceptionally tall, but it was certainly a height he could muster easily. Prior was to get out of this formation first, then assault.
And thus, in one swift movement, Masurao kicked off the floor and soared through the air, leaping over his foes’ heads.
But unfortunately, one of them seemed to have remembered the guard was capable of this move. And so, for the second time that day, Masurao felt strong fingers wrap around his tail and he was pulled right back into the circle where he collided harshly with the moist gravel. He let out a grunt, though it was most likely directed at his failure rather than the agony.
Focus… Focus…
From the corner of his eye, he could see multiple hands reaching out to him. The blue teen flicked his tail and jumped to his feet determinedly, slapping a few sausage-fingered appendages away in the process. But he had barely done so or another hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed him by the arm, lifting him into the air. Frustrated, Masurao snarled at the large green hand and opened his mouth to snap at it. But he froze midway when yet another hand appeared and fingers curled around his throat.
Masurao’s eyes widened in alarm and his frustration was replaced by a white-hot fear he was not used to having. He tried to cry out, but the fingers around his larynx prevented anything from coming out. Or coming in. His gloved hands dropped the rod he’d still been holding and jerked up to clench around the thick green fingers instead. He clawed and gripped at them, trying to loosen the hold, but he didn’t prevail. He direly tried to remember any sort of training he might have had to get him out of this situation, but none came to mind right away. Panic and lack of oxygen prevented him from thinking straight, so instead he went into instinctive survival mode.
He threw his body from left to right, desperately trying to break free of the large hand holding him, his fingers still clenched around the clutch on his throat. He felt something collide with the bottom of his boot and a painful roar followed, and Masurao took slight satisfaction that he had at least hit one of them. He gasped soundlessly when the grip tightened on him and he latched his tail around the creature’s wrist in a desperate attempt to do at least something.
It didn’t seem to make much difference. The usually stoic guard’s vision began to blur and stars danced in front of his eyes. He could feel his muscles burn and weaken, losing strength at the oxygen they didn’t receive. Then he was vaguely aware that he began to have trouble hearing… It was strange and slow, as if someone was plunging him under water or putting plugs into his ears. He heard muffled screams and he could’ve sworn he heard someone call out his name… But it didn’t matter… He was rather tired… Despite his common sense’s protests, he could feel how his hands lost grip of the monster’s fingers and dropped limply by his side. The last thing he remembered seeing were those creepy black eyes, who stared ominously at him… He could’ve sworn he saw surprise in them before he sunk into a deep, black darkness…
And then there was air.
He gasped and sputtered as the icey oxygen filled his grateful lungs, which felt most painful. He panted heavily, his breath raspy as he drank in sweet air. He was confused and disorientated and was only indistinctly aware of noises around him. It was still dark. Befuddled, Masurao wanted to throw a hand into a random direction, but found out that he couldn’t. It was then that he became aware he was lying on his stomach on the ground. His throat hurt profoundly.
Groaning confusedly, the teen opened his eyes. It didn’t make much difference. He could see formless shapes moving about in front of him, but he didn’t know who they belonged to. Voices and yells seemed to come from some place far away… He coughed effortfully, making his throat burn even more and rolled over on one side. The shapes and shades became a little more distinct as he blinked his eyes a few times more, though only just barely.
Then he saw an odd phenomenon. A wave of multicoloured light danced in front of his eyes, almost making them squint. He let out an inaudible grunt, his unusually slow mind registering who was probably causing those rainbow colours.
“No…” he croaked hoarsely and was appalled at how his voice sounded. He was lying here in what he guessed could only be considered as a miserable pile of blue fur. The guard grit his teeth and shuffled his palms over the gravelled earth. Once he had a fair idea they were positioned correctly, he pushed himself up on them, his muscles shaking so bad in a way it almost scared him. He let out a frustrated snarl and tried to lift himself up a bit more, but suddenly his sight was obscured by nothing but green. He was momentarily confused and another wave of horror overwhelmed him at the thought one of their opponents had found him. First instincts were that he had to get away from there, by all means possible. He snarled viciously, but then, suddenly, there was a hand. It wasn’t large and cold, but soft and warm between his shoulderblades. It pushed him down dismissively, though not aggressively and Masurao –much to his dismay- found his weakened body give in pretty much instantly. He collapsed onto the ground again, sending dust and little rocks scattering everywhere and whoever had pushed him back down seemed rather startled at what their action had done, and started to mutter anxious apologies.
But Masurao was hardly aware of it… The minute his physique didn’t require the use of strength anymore, he felt as though he fell into a dark hole. He continued falling… And falling… And falling…
- -
And next thing he knew, everything was soft. Soft and warm.
Hunger gnawed at him, but Masurao didn’t want to get up. This was comfortable. Comfortable and warm. He grunted softly, as if he dismissed his stomach’s cry for food as thus. He wanted to sleep. Why was he waking up? He didn’t need to… Sleeping was alright… He tried to turn to his other side, but found out that he couldn’t…
Confused, Masurao squeezed his eyes shut and twitched his mane. …What is going on here…?
Slowly, the blue-furred teen peeked one green eye open. His sight was still out of focus, but he noticed it got better as he took his time to make it adjust. As it did, Masurao became aware of a particularly clean ceiling. He vaguely recalled seeing it somewhere before, but he couldn’t place it. What had happened? Just a second ago, they were fighting those big aliens and…
At the insight, Masurao’s body gave a jolt and he meant to get up, but was very puzzled when he discovered he had difficulty doing so. Someone said “No!” and he felt hands on his shoulder that pushed him back into something that was unmistakably a pillow. His neck cramped painfully and the sensation sent adrenaline rushing straight for his brain and pull both his eyelids wide open. There he saw the ceiling again, but soon it was blocked from his view by a fuzzy white face. “Oh, you’re awake!” it said, beaming down at him.
Utterly bewildered, the startled bodyguard blinked his eyes a few times more and recognized the smiling face as Lunira, operative Numbuh L-90. Her presence certainly didn’t help to ease his befuddlement. The face moved away from him and Masurao was looking upon the sanitary ceiling once more and noticed a rather modern lamp hanging there. That’s when he realized where he was.
The infirmary?
Squinting his eyes, Masurao tried to recall a situation in which he had been brought here, but he couldn’t find one. But this made him comprehend why Lunira was there. She was the team’s Medical Officer. What was he doing here?
A little less confused than before, but still not wholly aware of the situation, he made to turn his head and inquire, but again he realized he couldn’t. Frowning, he jerked his shoulder, meaning to turn his whole body around, but another hand shot out and pulled him back, saying “N-no! Please don’t try to m-move.”
A little annoyed at being given orders but receiving no explanation for them, Masurao fell back into the cushions and now saw another face. One he surely hadn’t expected to be there.
His eyes widened as he realized he was looking straight into Numbuh Infinity’s shaded countenance. The human commander quickly jerked his hand away as if he had burnt himself and nervously glanced the other way. Masurao quirked a confused eyebrow, but soon Numbuh Infinity was gone and had been replaced by Lunira again.
“Yes, please try to hold still.” she said, gesturing over to his neck and chest area. “Your neck was hurt pretty bad. You’re wearing a supportive collar.”
“. . . I’m what…?” Masurao said, confused, and heard his voice still sounded unusually hoarse and faint. His hand reached out to touch his neck and sure enough, he felt some kind of soft appliance there. Frowning, Masurao looked down in order to have a closer look at it, but he couldn’t see it. “. . .What is this?” he said, his frown deepening. He tugged at the item, but was immediately punished by another painful jolt soaring through his neck. He cringed and hastily moved his hand away from it.
“I told you to stay still. See, that’s what you get.” Lunira said, one hand on her hip and the other pointing reprimandingly at him as she stood next to him on the bed. Masurao made a committal throat-noise and decided to stare up at the ceiling again, looking most displeased, obviously not liking the idea of this thing attached to his body. Lunira ignored it and shifted the covers on his bed while she explained. “You’ll need to wear it for two weeks and then we’ll see how you’re doing.”
“Two weeks?!” Masurao called out croakily, meaning to push himself up, but already regretting it when stars danced in front of his eyes again.
“Yes, two weeks.” Lunira replied patiently, pushing him back into the pillow, which left Masurao rather disgruntled at how effortlessly she did so. His body clearly hadn’t recovered yet. “Two weeks…” he mumbled, glaring sourly at the ceiling. Ridiculous. This medical equipment certainly went against all his principles as a royal’s bodyguard.
“It’ll be over before you know it!” The panda-like girl said with a wide smile, oozing an enthusiasm Masurao failed to share. She adjusted the covers one more time and then hopped off the bed. “I’ll be telling the others that you’re awake. I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear it!”
Masurao heard the sound of a door opening and closing. And then there was silence.
The guard stared at the ceiling for another moment, then glanced to the side, not having forgotten the other person who was there. And why was he there? Numbuh Infinity started as he caught Masurao’s stare. Apparently he’d been trying to blend in with the background, but had failed to do so.
Masurao laid there and said nothing, but kept watching him, obviously expecting an explanation. Numbuh Infinity cleared his throat, then opened his mouth to say something. He stood there for a second, then closed it again, looking nervous. He cleared his throat yet another time and then gave a tiny jerk with his head.
The blue-haired teen followed appointed direction and lifted two eyebrows when he saw another person in the room.
There was Princess Niji, who was sitting in an armchair and seemed to have dozed off. She looked rather unroyal-like as she lay there, with her mouth slightly agape and uttering a soft snore.
“She, uhh…” Numbuh Infinity began, sounding a little awkward. He was undoubtedly not used to talking to the bodyguard in person when Niji wasn’t there to guide the conversation. He fairly looked as if he’d rather not have to do this. Infinity glanced down at the sleeping girl and a certain fondness swept over his features which Masurao didn’t fail to notice. “Sh-she wanted to make sure you were alright and—“
“Whazgoin’on?” the colourful princess uttered suddenly, awaking with a start. Apparently the sound of a voice had pulled her out of her slumber. She blinked her eyes lazily, eyelids drooping. Yawning, she rubbed in them with a fist and then looked around her in mild confusion, not immediately understanding where she was. There was a crease in her cheek from the chair’s fabric she’d been leaning against.
She then turned her head, spotting Numbuh Infinity standing at her side. “. . . Jamal…? Why are… Oh, yeah… The infirmary… Masu—Masurao!” she cried out suddenly, upon glancing at her bodyguard and realizing he was awake.
Urgently and seeming far from tired, she levitated out of the chair and made her way over, almost stumbling over the wires scattered across the infirmary’s spotless floors. She was at his bed in an instant and her gestures suggested she made to hug him, but decided against it upon taking a second glance at his collar. The fact that she did, made Masurao mentally confirm that he must look utterly preposterous wearing this.
The rainbow teenager looked at him rather apprehensively, concern etched upon her pale grey face and fidgeting nervously with the hem of her skirt. “How… How are you feeling?” she inquired tentatively, as if it was something she wasn’t supposed to ask.
As usual, Masurao refrained from answering right away as he stared at the ceiling, his facial expression as unenthusiastic as one could possibly muster. “I’m perfectly fine. I think I should be able to get up right away.” For a second time, he meant to push himself up, but he didn’t even get the chance to try as Niji’s hands shot out and pushed him back into the covers.
Masurao said nothing, but his face clearly read he disagreed with the situation.
There was another moment’s silence in which he could feel Niji staring at him, as if staring might help the absurd cuff to go away. He certainly hoped it would work.
“What happened?” he asked eventually, uttering a soft huff after the question as he heard his voice still sounded distant.
“Well, uh…” Niji said, looking out in front of her and furrowing her colourful eyebrows, as if she were recollecting her thoughts from that day. “ You-you know… We… We were fighting those big green aliens… or whatever they were. I-I’m not sure, since I was focussed on my own opponent, but everyone seemed to be doing a good job…” She paused for a second, glancing down at the blue patient briefly. “…And we thought we were doing well, because suddenly they all started to fall back…” She faltered a bit and glanced at Numbuh Infinity for a second. He nodded kindly at her.
“…So, so we were relieved, because we thought they were retreating, but then T-Tala started screaming and…” Niji bit her lip, staring out in front of her. Masurao had a pretty good idea of what had happened next. “Then we saw this large group of them huddled around something and… and…”
Suddenly, the colourful girl burst out in sobs and almost threw herself upon her guard, who cringed a little as she collided with his aching torso. Nevertheless, Masurao was quite startled at the unexpected reaction and so was Numbuh Infinity, it seemed, whose sunglasses had dropped to his nose as he blinked down at Niji in surprise.
“I-I’m sorry!” she cried out, not moving away. Tears dropped upon the covers and materialized into little crystals as they made contact with the fabric. “W-we should’ve noticed they w-weren’t just f-falling b-back and-and…” The rest was muffled as she pressed her face into Masurao’s pillow next to his head, shoulders shaking.
Looking a bit flustered, Masurao was a little lost at what to do, blinking sideways in confusion as he couldn’t move his head around to look at Niji. He felt a little uncomfortable with the crying girl here, who was grieving over him, no less. He threw a quick glance at Numbuh Infinity, but he seemed just about as clueless as Masurao. Either that, or he didn’t dare to touch the girl while her bodyguard was there, immobilized or not.
Awkwardly, Masurao reached out a hand and patted the princess on the back stiffly. “It’s alright, it’s alright…” he mumbled. “Nothing happened. I’m still alive.”
He obviously shouldn’t have said that, as she began crying into the pillow even more. The guard felt very helpless lying here, with the emotional girl at his side and his face only able to look in one direction. He wished Lunira hadn’t left, so she could sort the situation out. Emotions had never been his strong point anyway.
So instead he kept patting Niji on the back, very metronomicly, hoping it could make at least some kind of difference. He was quiet for another second, staring at the ceiling. “I’m supposed to look after you anyway, not the other way around.”
Another noise emerged from the pillow. It sounded like a soft chuckle, though it could’ve been just another sob. This time, Niji resurfaced and sat up, her watery different-coloured eyes looking down at him. “That doesn’t mean I can’t turn around to look every once in a while…” she said quietly, using a fist to wipe a tear away, which hardened and fell onto the sheets as a small diamond. Staring at the ceiling still, Masurao shrugged lightly, the collar preventing him from lifting his shoulders any further. “You’re not supposed to, that’s why I’m here.”
She unmistakably chuckled this time and threw her arms around him once more. Masurao had to squeeze his mouth shut in order not to emit a painful grunt. Numbuh Infinity, who seemed to be slightly more comfortable than before now the situation was less emotional, smiled down at the colourful royalty. “Masurao is right, Niji. You are not to blame.”
Niji detached herself from her guard, who seemed slightly relieved at that and looked up at Numbuh Infinity instead. “Thank you, Jamal…” she said softly, removing a final tear from her cheek. Numbuh Infinity reached out a sympathetic hand to place it on the girl’s shoulder, but a rather intense stare from the boy in the bed made him pull it right back. Niji chuckled softly, before looking down at the serious-looking wolf. “But this doesn’t mean I’m not going t—“
“OUT OF THE WAY! I WANT IN!”
A voice suddenly bellowed from behind the door. The aliens in room turned to face the door (save Masurao, who wasn’t able to) and blinked at it in surprise. A nervous, high-pitched voice Masurao recognized as the one belonging to the nurse who usually occupied the nurses office when he brought Tala to the infirmary, spoke up. “P-please, miss! Th-there’s only two people allowed in the room at a t—“ “I DON’T CARE! I’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR A MILLION YEARS ALREADY! I WANT IN!” Masurao also recognized the much louder voice, which made him lift an eyebrow.
A quieter, more gentle voice spoke up now, but it was hard to make out words.
“I SAID I DON’T CARE, ETOILE!” the louder voice spoke up again, “IF SHE WON’T MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, I’LL JUST BLOW UP THE DOOR!”
There was a lot of scurrying and shuffling outside the room while the trio inside kept staring at the door in mild awe. Except for Masurao, who didn’t seem to be surprised at all. Then, suddenly, the door burst open, its hinges creaking ominously and a streak of yellow and green soared into the room.
A rather wild-looking Tala was floating in the air and her head snapped around in all directions, until she located the bed in the far corner of the room. Her orange eyes blazed with rage as she saw Masurao and she dashed over, followed by a very apprehensive-looking Etoile.
“YOU!” she bawled, pointing a dangerously glowing finger in Masurao’s direction, who twitched his mane and cringed at the volume. Tala seemed barely fazed by the discomfort or just ignored it. “What are you, INSANE?! Are you some kind of total MORON?!” she shouted, shaking her fists as if she tried to control her fury, which only seemed to rise which each word she exclaimed. Masurao, looking a bit stern, didn’t answer as he guessed these questions were indented to be rhetorical.
Her orange eyes spat fire as she pointed another accusing finger at him. “What were you THINKING?! Are you DERANGED?! Well yeah, OBVIOUSLY!!” she roared, green sparks emitting from her fingers. Etoile stood just a little below his sister, nervously glancing up at her and occasionally throwing apologetic looks at the guard in the bed. “What kind of STUPID LOON would take on a GAZILLION monsters all BY HIMSELF without calling FOR HELP?!”
Tala glared down at him, her fist in the air in a fashion which indicated she would have liked to throw a punch at him herself. “Only a STUPID FUZZ-BUTT would!! Oh, OF COURSE the great and INDESTRUCTABLE Masurao would have NO PROBLEM AT ALL to take out all these GIANTS in one blow!! OH NO, HE’D JUST STAND THERE AND BE TOUGH AND THEN ALMOST GET HIMSELF KILLED!!” Her voice rose to dangerous high levels, each word an octave higher than the first, until she sounded almost hysterical.
Breathing heavily and hands clenched into angry fists, Tala glowered down at the unmoving wolf in the bed, who stared right back, displaying not much emotion except for an eyebrow which was raised in a slightly bewildered manner.
Then, suddenly, the green-haired girl let out a cry Masurao could not place and startled him a second time by hurling herself onto the bed and latching herself around the fuzzy teenager’s torso. He cringed at the sudden blow, but Tala took no notice. She said something, but it sounded rather muffled as she buried her face in his shirt. She shivered a little, as if a cold breeze had wafted inside the room. Masurao, looking rather flushed, felt the grip around his frame tighten. Then, two huge orange eyes peeked up at him, watching him closely. “. . . I thought… I thought…” she said quietly, but decided not to say what she thought as she hid her face in the fabric of his shirt again.
Etoile stood near the end of the bed, smiling uneasily. He fidgeted with his hands a bit, apparently unsure of what to say. He didn’t have as much affinity with the frosty guard as his sister had, but apparently he hadn’t wanted for the girl to enter by herself and disrupt Masurao’s peace as thus. “Tala wanted to come in earlier,” he said after a moment’s consideration, uttering a soft chuckle, “But the nurse wouldn’t let her, because she was screaming too loud.”
The female Telarian lifted her head and turned it to face her brother, frowning at him. “Thank you for bringing that up, dear brother. I appreciate it very kindly.” In return, Etoile grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
There was silence for a minute, in which no one said anything. Niji kept throwing a concerned glance at Masurao every once in a while, but looked a lot less upset than she had before. She was even smiling a little. Numbuh Infinity didn’t seem to know where to look exactly and resolved this by looking down at the covers of the bed. Etoile seemed to have a similar problem and toyed with his hands a little, glancing down at his sister every now and then, who still clutched the wolf’s chest.
After a few minutes, the green-haired girl peeked up slowly, watching the guard for a moment. Masurao looked down, catching her orange gaze with his green one. She held it for a minute, then submerged in his shirt again. “. . . You look silly.” she said, muffled.
The boy, having turned back to the ceiling, frowned a bit. “I am aware of it...” he replied tediously. He could feel Tala chuckle against his chest and soon she lifted her head again, opening her smiling mouth to say something, but was held against it when another voice spoke up.
“Susu!”
The people in the room, save Masurao, turned to look at the door. The boy himself lifted another eyebrow at the name, not even having to question who had just entered. And sure enough, after a few seconds, two identical grinning faces loomed over him, giving him the strange effect of seeing double.
“We sure got you out of a ‘tight’ situation there, didn’t we?” the boy on the left said, tossing his fringe to the side to reveal a purple eye.
“Yes, it was quite a ‘gripping’ moment.” his brother said, grinning broadly, making a similar gesture and displaying a blue eye. Masurao simply stared back at them, not making a comment on the puns. But the twins didn’t seem to expect him to. The left one, now identified as Unagi, softly prodded the collar on the wolfboy’s neck. “Fancy appliance you got there.” His brother did the same and his grin widened even more. “You’re one of us now, Susu.” he added, and both aquatic aliens pointed at the cuffs around their necks simultaneously. “You’re part of the cool crowd now.” they claimed together, their long tails flicking about behind them.
Masurao looked at them for another minute, his expression as unreadable as ever. He then opened his mouth to say something, but wasn’t able to when a cloud of feathers suddenly obscured everything from view.
“OHGOSHTHATWASTHESCARIESTTHINGEVERISEVERYTHINGALRIGHTDOESITHURTMUCH-WHAT’STHATWEIRDTHINGAROUNDYOURNECKITLOOKSREALSILL—!”
Cyril’s screechy exclamations were put to a stop when a pale hand reached out and plucked the bird out of the air. Masurao blinked his eyes a few times as his vision returned, twitching his mane and nose to get rid of multiple feathers that had scattered on his face. “That’ll do, Cyril, you’re suffocating him again.” a tranquil voice said and now Vibe’s face came into view, raising an apologetic eyebrow at the guard in the bed. She glanced down at the cuff around his neck for a second, considering it, but didn’t make a comment on it as she pulled back, which Masurao appreciated silently.
As Cyril’s high-pitched protests began to subside, Masurao also became aware of other voices in the room. Lifting an eyebrow in a mildly bewildered fashion, he shifted a little and looked down. Sure enough, a large group of people had gathered near the foot of his bed. He could see Milo-Lee and Finnick, levitating a few feet above the floor, and Nalo was also there, standing next to Etoile, and Zoelin too, who seemed distracted by something on the wall that was undoubtedly shiny. On the bed itself, right near his feet, stood Nebulos and Lunira, who had their heads tilted to one side in a considerate manner. He could only just make them out behind Tala’s head, who was still holding him, he realized.
The guard felt slightly flustered at the sight of this large group gathered around his bed. He surely wasn’t used to this many people focussing all on him. Wearing this collar, no less.
From the corner of his eye, he could discern an approaching light and it only made sense that it was Nebulos who was heading over. He could feel small feet press against the mattress as the Luminarian walked, and sure enough, barely a second later, a blue face came into view, smiling kindly at him. The light from his antennae was less bright than it usually was, which he had probably done for the guard’s comfort.
“Luni said you’re going to be just fine.” he said, nodding, which made his antennae bounce. Masurao would like to have nodded in return, but the item around his neck was enabling him to. He sure hoped what the small operative said was true, this collar couldn’t get off fast enough. The smile on Nebulos’s bright face increased, seeming rather pleased about something. “She also said that you’d probably be hurt a lot more if Ynda hadn’t been there!”
The wolfboy lifted an eyebrow and found himself somewhat astounded when Nebulos suddenly reached out a hand behind him and pulled out the green alien he’d been referring to. Ynda genuinely looked as if she’d rather be anywhere but here. She shot the grinning alien next to her a sour look, crossed her arms and looked the other way, apparently determined not to look Masurao in the face. Nebulos didn’t seem to notice and went on. “She got your injury under control with her healing ability. Most of the pain you’re feeling is just stiffness.” He smiled broadly, turning over to Ynda, which Masurao also did.
The green girl was still staring at the wall, looking most disgruntled. A few seconds later, she ventured a glance to the side, but looked away instantly when seeing all the attention upon her. A soft, dark-green, embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks and her eyebrows knitted together. “Yes, well…!” she muttered defensively, making a dismissive gesture with her hand. “It’s only because Swirly and Rainbow Princess practically demanded it from me!” She crossed her arms in a huff and narrowed her eyes at Niji, who had been chuckling.
Masurao didn’t say anything for a while, but looked at the green girl on the edge of the bed, as if he was trying to imagine how she had used her powers to heal his damage. His face illegible, he averted his eyes to the ceiling after a minute and then spoke, quietly. “Thank you.”
Ynda muttered something he couldn’t understand. “Well, you looked rather pathetic, anyway.” she added, much louder. She then addressed Nebulos, still looking rather displeased. “Okay, can I GO now?” The blue teen chuckled and nodded, waving a hand at Masurao before he joined Ynda by jumping off the bed.
They had barely left or Dengeki and Unagi appeared again, their purple grins as wide as ever. Masurao felt rather startled at all of the commotion. He certainly hadn’t expected everyone to gather around his sickbed this way. He felt a little uncomfortable because of it, though he appreciated their concern.
“While everyone was busy crying and fussing all over you on the hallway,” Dengeki began, his grin widening and patting Tala on the head. The Telarian looked up and muttered something. “We decided we might as well could do something useful!” Unagi completed, his grin also widening. Masurao felt slightly alarmed when they relayed this information to him. He was quite aware of what kind of things the twins tended to do to entertain themselves. The identical boys disappeared from view, only to appear a few seconds later.
“Tadaaaa!” they called out together, lifting a large sheet of paper over his head.
Blinking confusedly, Masurao looked up at it. On it, in big bold, colourful letters, was written: “Get well, MaSuSurao.” Underneath it, various names had been written. Cyril’s and Zoelin’s stood out most, who seemed to have been competing in who could use the most glitter to write down their name. His enlarged green eyes wandered across the card and he discovered each present operative’s name on the sheet, even Ynda’s, who had written it in the far right corner so it wouldn’t stand out as much. He was slightly stunned when he discovered a short get-well message written in runes he recognized as his native language. Blinking once, he glanced down at Nalo near the foot of the bed and the silent alien caught his gaze. Seeming to understand, she smiled kindly, waving a tendril at him, before she curled it around Etoile’s arm.
“We figured you could use a little pat on the shoulder.” Unagi said, grinning down at him. “Or on the head.” Dengeki added, ensuing with indeed patting Masurao on the head, apparently quite amused at his immobilized state.
The wolf looked back up at the card and couldn’t admit he was rather amazed at the gesture. “I. . . “ he said hoarsely. He closed his mouth again, not really knowing what to say. He couldn’t deny the certain wave of inner warmth he felt when he looked at the card and saw all the names looking back at him. He could hear someone chuckle softly and he was quite certain it was Vibe, who –he remembered just now- had the ability to sense other people’s emotions. A thought he wouldn’t mind doing without at this very moment.
“Aww, he likes it.” Dengeki said, grinning broadly and shifting his bangs so they covered his eyes again. “He’d better,” his brother added, grinning equally, “We slaved all over this thing.” The colourful card was removed from his sight and Masurao heard rustling coming from his side, which made him guess Unagi was positioning the paper on the nightstand.
A short silence fell, the only noise being that of clothes rustling and people moving.
“. . . Thank you…” the Egriadanian said after a minute, keeping his gaze locked on the ward’s metallic ceiling. “I. . . Thank you.” His green gaze glanced down at the foot of his bed for a minute, though most of it was still concealed by Tala’s head. He didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t say anything else, since genuine gratitude is what he felt. In the background, someone uttered a snort-chuckle. “You’re welcome,” an amused voice said, which Masurao recognized as Milo-Lee’s. “You did look rather miserable.” A hushed reprimand was uttered by the girl’s bat-like friend, to whom she was quick to retort, ending them both up in a whispering discussion.
Somewhat embarrassed, which exposed itself through a glum look, the wolf looked back up at the ceiling, deciding not to comment.
“I think it’s best if we leave for now,” Lunira spoke up from the bed’s end. “He needs to rest, it’s been a rough day.” It wasn’t until the Ursa had mentioned this, that Masurao felt he was indeed tired. The commotion of all of Sector SUN entering had deprived him of this feeling temporarily, but as the conversations began to subside, fatigue had started to seep through..
“We’ve all had a rough day…” Niji added, sounding rather tired and running a grey hand through her fringe, leaving it frazzled. Not having budged from her spot, she bit her lip and glanced down at the boy in de bed, looking rather unsure. Masurao got it.
“I’ll be fine.” he replied to her unspoken question, redirecting his gaze to the ceiling. “All I need is some sleep. Tomorrow I’ll be up and running and take this thing off my--“
“No, two weeks!” Lunira interrupted sternly, her voice now coming from somewhere down on the floor. “And I’ll have you checked upon.”
An indistinguishable throat noise emerged from his mouth and the colourful princess at this side chuckled wearily. “I’ll stop by tomorrow.” she said, kindly patting one of his hands with her own. She suppressed a yawn behind the back of her hand, which made her eyes water. “You should rest too, Niji.” Numbuh Infinity told her, smiling kind-heartedly at her, his hands folded behind his back. The princess turned to face him and smiled in response, before nodding softly. Waving one last time at her guard, Niji turned around and headed for the door. Numbuh Infinity was quick to follow after her, but was just in time to catch Masurao’s drilling stare, an expression he was all too familiar with. As the wolf’s eyebrow went aloft, the human cleared his throat awkwardly, before he nodded faintly, signalling he understood what Masurao was telling him through this gaze. He seemed quite relieved to leave the room.
The other operatives also got ready to depart. Some of them said their goodbyes, while others simply smiled and waved. Dengeki and Unagi insisted on ruffling his hair one last time before they left the room, talking animatedly to one another. The air was considerably lighter than it was half an hour ago. Happy chatter now echoed down the hall outside the door, all of them content to share in joy just like they had shared in concern before. The voices began to subside as Sector SUN filed out and moved away from the infirmary, allowing a peaceful silence to wash over the alien in the bed.
Exhaustion was dulling his senses and Masurao deemed it a good idea to close his eyes and rest, but started slightly when a voice spoke up. Apparently he wasn’t alone yet.
“Tala?”
He recognized the inquiring voice as that of Etoile. Twitching his mane softly, the wolf blinked his eyes a few times, looking slightly bewildered. It wasn’t until he felt something detach from his torso that he realized Tala had still been holding him. An unpleasant cold sensation waved across the spot where she had been lying previously, as her body warmth had begun to mingle with his. He could see shapes moving from the corner of his eye, but was unable to turn his head and see what was going on.
The energy to ask anything or even say goodbye was lacking and the teen’s green eyes drooped, unable to help himself. He’d be of more use in the morning, he figured as his eyes fell shut.
. . .
“. . . Are you coming?” the curly-haired boy spoke up again, not having left the room yet.
Another silence passed.
“I’m going to stay for a bit… Is that okay?”
Masurao’s eyes fluttered open again, looking up at the sanitized ceiling once more. For some reason, he did not believe that question had been directed at her brother.
Turning his head slightly and ignoring the cramp it caused in his neck, the wolfish boy looked to the side. There, he saw Tala’s face. Apparently she was floating a few inches off the floor. She was looking down at him, her arms hanging aimlessly by her sides. The expression on her face was exceptionally unreadable. Either that, or Masurao couldn’t determine what kind of emotion it was. It seemed to be a lot of them, all thrown in at once. Her slender tail flicked gently from side to side, before she cast her eyes down to the floor, saying nothing.
The wolf was also quiet as he watched her, feeling rather odd as he did. She was unusually silent, and he wondered if that was the fact why couldn’t bring himself up to say no.
“. . . Sure.” he said after a minute, averting his eyes to look at the ceiling for the many’th time that day. He somewhat expected her to erupt in joyful laughter and make a series of excited exclamations.
But no.
Instead, everything remained quiet. Glancing over, he saw the girl was smiling warmly at him, having levitated a few inches higher from the floor. She turned to look over her shoulder and nodded at someone, who was undoubtedly Etoile. It took another few hesitant seconds, but then there was the gentle noise of bare feet making way out of the room and the sound of a door closing.
Silence filled the room again.
Despite the obvious need for sleep, Masurao somehow felt that he had a little bit more effort doing so. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because Tala was still suspended in mid-air, looking down at him. The idea that she might spend the whole night staring down at him like this made him feel slightly awkward. He meant to inquire if this was indeed her plan, but was held against it when he heard movement. Glancing aside, he saw that the female Telarian had averted her gaze, and was now focussed on something Masurao could not see. Her green-glowing hand jerked aside and a few seconds later the armchair Niji had been sitting in before floated into view and descended right next to his bed.
Seeming pleased due her work, Tala smiled brightly and hovered herself over to the seat, dropping herself into it, hugging her knees to her chest and curling her tail around her feet. She rested her head against the backrest and allowed her eyes to close, her curly antennae swaying lightly.
Somewhat surprised at her serene behaviour, Masurao looked at her as she sat there, looking rather peaceful. A few silent minutes passed, before the girl in the chair peeked one eye open. She held his gaze for a minute and then allowed the single eyelid to fall shut again. “. . . Have I ever told you the story about how D'thlanyian trees got their spots on them?” she inquired, her voice soft.
Masurao hadn’t exactly expected this. He looked at her, watching how she stirred lightly in the chair, but didn’t open her eyes. He shifted his gaze away from her and they came to rest upon the ceiling once again.
“. . . No. . .”
Still not opening her eyes, Tala stirred in her seat again, getting a bit more comfortable. She then began relaying the story to him, telling it how she’d been told it many times before on her planet, her voice gentle and somewhat musical, which made the much less-stoic teen in the bed soon wander off to a world of peaceful slumber.
- - -
That'd be it, meh laddies!
I certainly hope I managed to keep everyone into character. I made that story about "how the trees got their spots" up, because I seem to remember Sadie once said that Telarians tell a lot of stories on their planet. SO I HOPE IT'S OKAY I DID THAT ;; Otherwise I'll just edit it and you can throw fruit at my head.
I need to go now, but shall see you real soon! ;D
And of course, all characters are © to their AWESOME PANDA WAROARIOR <3
<3333333333333333 *squees, falls on the floor, gets up again and squees all over* Jas you are an amazing writer, truly! I could picture each scene in my head clearly, it was THAT good! You're THAT awesome!! *glomps* 
I wanna read it all over again, so I will! *scrolls back to the top* ^^
