If I thought fighting for my life in the Pit was hard, I was a delusional idiot. The real challenge of Aethryx wasn't the monsters; it was trying to get a four-eyed alien, a bossy cat, and a sentient puddle of neon jelly to coexist in a ten-foot radius without causing a localized disaster.
We were back at Kael's workshop. The air smelled of burnt wiring and whatever "mystery stew" Kael was heating up on a radiator.
"I am not sitting on that," Vax hissed, his four eyes darting around the workshop with the intensity of a man looking for a bomb. He was pointing at a stool that had a light coating of dust. "The bacterial count in this sector is high enough to develop its own government and start taxing us. I have standards. I have a nervous system that enjoys not being infected by Lower District plague."
"Oh, quit your whining, purple-skin," Kuro yawned from his perch atop a stack of high-
voltage batteries. He was currently licking a paw with royal indifference. "You're a 'Gritty' now. Act like you've touched dirt before. Besides, your skin is the color of a bruised grape; a little dust might actually improve your complexion."
"I am a Tech-Shadow!" Vax corrected, his voice going up an octave. "I deal in data, precision, and the invisible threads of the city's mainframe! I do not deal in... whatever that is."
He pointed a long, shaking finger at Pod.
Pod was currently "syncing" with a broken toaster Kael had left on the workbench.
Bloop! The toaster suddenly sprouted four spindly metal legs and started scurrying around like a chrome spider.
"Pod, no! Put the toaster down! We talked about this!" I shouted, lunging for the appliance.
Pod let out a startled bloop, and the toaster-spider leaped off the table, using a slice of burnt sourdough as a projectile. It landed squarely on Vax's head. The alien froze, his four eyes crossing in a way that looked physically painful as he stared up at the toasted bread smoking on his scalp.
"Is this... part of the 'Abnormal' training?"
Vax asked, his voice trembling with a mix of rage and genuine confusion. "Does the cat command the bread? Is this how humans declare war?"
"Bloop!" Pod cheered, wagging a jelly-tentacle.
The Meal of Champions
"Alright, everyone, calm down!" I yelled, finally prying the toaster off Vax. "We're a team. We need to bond. Kael says the best way to bond is to share a meal."
I pulled out a can of 'Nutri-Paste' I'd bought with our last few credits. It looked like grey toothpaste and smelled like wet cardboard.
"I require premium synth-cream," Kuro announced, not even looking at the can.
"And it must be served in a shallow dish. Not a bowl. Bowls mess with my whiskers, and when my whiskers are unhappy, my tactical advice becomes... let's say, 'lethal' for the user."
"You drink milk from a bowl, you're a cat!" I snapped.
"I am a High-Tier Mentor currently inhabiting a feline vessel," Kuro countered, flicking my nose with a tail. "A king does not eat grey sludge, Fuen. Feed that to the slime. He'll eat anything."
Pod took this as an invitation and promptly ate the entire can. Not the paste—the can. He sat there, glowing a dull metallic grey, looking very proud of himself.
"Great," I muttered, rubbing my temples.
"My tank just ate our lunch, and my mentor is a food critic."
Kael walked over, wiping grease on her coveralls. She looked at us—a purple alien covered in breadcrumbs, a cat demanding cream, and a boy staring at a grey slime—and just shook her head.
"If you're done playing house," Kael sighed, "I found a job. It's a 'Public Works' contract.
The Trade Hub's main ventilation shaft is clogged. The merchant guild is offering 500 credits to anyone stupid enough to go in there."
Vax brightened, his eyes aligning.
"Ventilation? Ah, a task for a scholar! Fluid dynamics, airflow pressure... I shall recalibrate the system with a flick of my wrist."
"Actually," Kael smirked, "the 'clog' is a nest of Turbo-Leeches. They eat electricity and spit out acidic sludge. And they're fast.
Really fast."
The "Clean-up" Crew
Ten minutes later, we were standing in front of a giant, humming vent. Vax was wearing a makeshift hazmat suit he'd built out of old plastic tarps and duct tape. He looked like a giant, purple, crinkly trash bag.
"The plan is simple," I announced, holding my kinetic-baton. "Vax, use your scanners. Pod and I will—"
SPLAT.
A fat, glowing slug the size of a bowling ball dropped from the ceiling and landed directly on Vax's visor.
"SCANNING! I AM SCANNING THE INSIDE OF A STOMACH!" Vax screamed. He started doing a frantic, high-speed "alien-dance," flailing his long arms and legs while the crinkly plastic suit made a noise like a hundred bags of chips exploding.
Kuro sat safely on a nearby ledge, grooming his ear. "Ten points for the footwork, Vax.
Although your scream is a bit flat. Try for a higher C-sharp."
"HELP HIM, YOU OVERGROWN FUR-BALL!" I yelled, lunging for the leech.
Pod, seeing the chaos, decided to help. He launched himself at Vax's hand-held scanner. Bloop-Sync! The scanner didn't just beep anymore. It grew a mechanical mouth and started screaming directions in a high-pitched, robotic voice.
"LEECH DETECTED! TWELVE O'CLOCK! IT IS UGLY! JUST LIKE THE PURPLE ONE! TARGET ACQUIRED! TASTY STATIC DETECTED!"
"Pod! Stop making the equipment roast our teammates!" I shouted, chasing after a fleeing Vax, who was being pursued by three more leeches.
It was a nightmare. I was sliding through green slime, Vax was accidental-wrestling a trash bag, and Pod was having the time of his life eating the leeches like they were neon gummy bears. At one point, Vax tripped and fell into a maintenance chute, sliding down three floors while his scanner shouted, "WEEEEE! AERODYNAMICS ARE INEFFICIENT!"
The Small Win
An hour later, we sat in a circle back at the workshop. We were covered in green slime, smelling of burnt rubber and cheap plastic. Vax's "suit" was now just a few strips of tape stuck to his ankles.
I handed out the credits. 100 for Kael (rent), 100 for Kuro's 'premium' cream, and the rest for us.
"It's not a King's ransom," I said, looking at my disaster of a team. "But it's our first paycheck. We did it."
Vax looked at the credits, then at a lingering breadcrumb on his sleeve. He let out a long, weary sigh. "I hate humans. I hate cats. I hate plumbing. And I especially hate that the toaster called me 'inefficient'."
He tucked the credits into his flight suit and gave a tiny, almost invisible nod. "But... the credits are real. When do we go again?"
Kuro purred, curling up near the heater.
"Tomorrow, Ground-Level. Tomorrow we find a contract that doesn't involve trash bags."
I leaned back, watching Pod try to "sync" with my left boot. We were a total, literal disaster. But for the first time since I woke up in the scrap heap, I wasn't just surviving. I was laughing.
[ TEAM MORALE: INCREASED ]
[ HIDDEN STAT UNLOCKED: BONDING (LEVEL 1) ]
[ FUEN STATUS: GRITTY (12% ENERGY) ]