Victor Steele, the founder to the massive Steele Tech company, known for their various innovations in technology. Steele was always praised for his contributions to not just human life, but universal life...but he's dead now. Died from some disease or something. I dunno. Not a lot of people could get near him during that time because he was so busy. Anyways, Victor's daughter, Maia Steele, was supposed to inherit his fortune, but she refused, instead going off to a Federation Academy to train to become a Protector. After all, she was always one to stand up for what she believed was right, and could never turn down someone in need.

Well, you're probably wondering what Maia looks like, right? Maia is a half-kaithrit, as her mother was a kaithrit, and her father a human. Kaithrits were a humanoid, cat-like race known for being beautiful, intelligent, and nimble. She has Victor's orange hair, her mother's orange eyes, and the Kaithrits' signature twin tails, both also orange. She also had her mother's pale skin. Her hair was also all over the place, never groomed at all.

She is usually seen wearing a white shirt with a dark blue jacket that had the Steele Tech logo on the left breast. She also wore blue jeans and a pair of black boots.

She was wearing this exact outfit when she slept in her bunk at the Federation Academy, snoring peacefully...that is until her friend, Rose, shook her awake.

Rose was, surprisingly, a Floran. Why do I say surprisingly? Because Florans are known for being quite savage and aggressive, so not a lot of Florans are seen attending the Federation Academy.

Rose wasn't really your typical Floran, however. Like Maia, she is technically half human. Well, more like 1/100. See, her father was human and her mother was a Floran, but female Florans can be parasitic. They can release pheromones to seduce someone of another species into being their mate, and it would lead to a nearly full Floran offspring. I say nearly because, well, you can't really stop genetics.

But luckily, Rose isn't that kind of person, thanks to her father. Rose's mother got arrested after picking a fight with a Glitch in a bar, meaning Rose's father had to raise her. Rose was raised to be kind and caring, almost motherly.

Rose kept shaking Maia, the rose flower in her lime green foliage bobbing. "Come on, Ms. Steele! Wake up!" Rose muttered.

Maia snorted a little as she woke up from her, as usual, pervy dream. "H-huh? Rose? Wha..." Maia mumbled in confusion. Why was Rose waking her up? And why was she already in her uniform?

Rose sighed. "Ms. Steele, have you forgotten what today is?" she asked. Oh shit.

Today was graduation day.

She was supposed to wake up early.

She looked at her alarm. It was 7:55 AM, Earth Time.

The ceremony was in five minutes.

"Oh shiiiiiiiit..." Maia said to herself as she stared at the clock.

Maia swiftly got out of bed, rushing to her locker. She instantly started taking her clothes off as she sprinted, not caring that students were seeing her in her underwear. She used her handprint to unlock her locker and grab her uniform from it, putting it on as fast as she could while sprinting towards the auditorium.

Her uniform was made of latex, so it was quite difficult to put on while running, but somehow, she accomplished it. The blue outfit was skintight. Well, actually the chest area and upper legs were blue, to be precise. The arms and lower legs were black, with the sleeves going down to gold cuffs at the wrist. The Federation logo was proudly displayed on the chest area of the outfit in the same gold color as the outfit's cuffs. The outfit also had a black belt at the hip with a silver magnetic buckle. To finish the outfit off was pretty much the only thing seperate from the actual clothing, which was a pair of glimmering, platinum boots.

Admittedly, Maia had always hated this uniform. It easily got hot, which would lead to her sweating, which would lead to her classmates thinking she never showered, which would lead to her classmates thinking she wasn't a decent being, which would lead to-okay you get the idea. But that wasn't the only factor. Maia was never the fancy or business type, which was another reason she turned down her father's fortune and company. But despite how much she hated this outfit, she had to wear it today for graduation. Otherwise, people watching the ceremony might look at her funny.

Maia checked her watch. 7:59. Just a bit more and she'll make it...aaaaaand...yes! Got there just in time! She was now beside the stage with all the other students graduating. She heard heavy breathing, and turned to see Rose coming up behind her. "W-wow...you're fast..." Rose said, panting like a dog.

Maia just shrugged. "One of the perks of being a Kaithrit, I guess."

Suddenly, the spotlights in the auditorium lit up.

It was time.

The headmaster of the academy walked onto the stage, beginning his usual drabble. On and on he went about how they're supposed to be defending the universe and upholding the law. Normally, Maia would've been inspired to have heard this stuff...if she hadn't already heard it three times.

Soon, the headmaster started calling the graduates' names, giving them each a matter manipulator and a certificate. Eventually, it was just Maia and Rose...then, Rose went up, accepted her stuff, and then, she was about to calmly walk to the other side of the stage, when suddenly, a rumbling occured.

Was it an earthquake? A tornado? Nobody knew. Well, until tentacles sprung out of the ground and started grabbing people, including Rose and the headmaster.

Maia stared up at the tentacles in horror. What was attacking? WHY was it attacking? She didn't know, and nobody else knew either. But Maia knew what she had to do.

She saw the headmaster's own matter manipulator fall from his belt when a tentacle grabbed him. If matter manipulators could supposedly break apart atoms and store them inside itself...couldn't it be used as a weapon? To destroy these monsters? It had to work. It had to!

Maia made a break for the matter manipulator. Ducking and diving, dodging tentacles that came her way, she grabbed the matter manipulator, and used it on the tentacles holding Rose.

The tentacle dropped Rose, and writhed in agony as it's atoms were ripped apart. The other tentacles had no idea what had happened to their brethren, but they knew it wasn't good, and they were clearly scared. The tentacles let go of the headmaster and all of the students.

It was chaos. Everybody was panicking and screaming. Even the headmaster was curled up in a corner and crying, fearful for his life. Maia was about to leave, when she remembered. Rose. She couldn't just leave Rose behind, there's no way she'd be able to get through all this bullshit! She turned around to see a Rose paralyzed in fear, grabbed her hand, and ran off.

Rose was snapped out of her trance of fear when Maia grabbed her hand and started running. "Wh-where are we going?!" She asked. "To the docking bay. I know where it is. We just need to hurry!" Maia answered.

Suddenly, Maia stopped. A wall of dirt was in their way. Shit...wait. They had matter manipulators, two in fact! Both Maia and Rose concentrated their matter manipulators on the wall of dirt, carving a tunnel through it. They then continued their escape, running as fast as they could.

Maia opened the door to the aquarium on the duo's way to the docking bay, and Maia was faced with a horrible sight...for her anyway.

Water flooded out through the door, nearly washing the two away.

Maia panicked. She never learned how to swim. She had always hated water as a child, and she STILL hated it with a passion. It just felt...weird to be wet...eugh. Maia would've drowned if it wasn't for Rose. Rose swiftly grabbed her hand with almost lightning fast speed. Her arm even seemed to stretch a little.

That's right. Maia remembered. Since Florans were a plant-based species, they were a force to be reckoned with when enhanced by nutrients from water. However, too much water was still bad for Florans, and by the time Rose had gotten Maia out of the water, she collapsed, too weakened to go on. Rose was quite shriveled, like a fleshy being would after being in a hot tub for hours. "Th-thank you..." Maia whispered into Rose's ear as Maia picked her up, carrying her over her shoulder. Maia winced from the pain of carrying another humanoid, but she had to do this. She was not leaving without Rose.

Maia continued onward, only another wall of dirt on the bridge impeding her progress slightly, as well as more tentacles coming after her, which a little help from a sword she found could easily fix.

Maia soon found herself at the docking bay. She sighed, relieved, and smiled. "Finally..." she mumbled. She went on board the nearest ship. She set Rose down by the teleporter to rest. Maia then immediately ran to the cockpit, strapped herself in, and started up the engines.

However, all of a sudden, Maia started hearing something. At first it sounded like Rose was groaning, but then...Maia heard it. Something slithering.

The tentacle monster had gotten to them.

Maia ran back to the teleporter room, and, sure enough, a tentacle had grabbed Rose.

The ship started to lift itself up off the ground.

Maia ran towards Rose.

The ship's thrusters powered up.

Maia got out the sword she had found.

The ship took off, and the tentacle dragged Rose off the ship.

Maia cried out. She had to think quickly. How could she get Rose back? Think...think! Then, she got an idea. It pained her to do this, but...she got out the matter manipulator, and pointed it at Rose. "I'm sorry Rose...this is going to hurt a bit," Maia said. She knew Rose couldn't hear her, but she didn't care. Maia concentrated the matter manipulator's fire on Rose.

Rose screamed, feeling like she was being split in half...which kind of was happening. Being torn apart atom by atom, and being digitized, as well. It was painful. VERY painful. But soon enough, the matter manipulator was fired once again, and Rose appeared out of it.

"Ms. Steele?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't make me go through that ever again. I beg of you."