Chapter Two

All But One

Ellone smiled at the offer, although she was thinking alone, she could also listen to everything else that was happening - Noman seemed like a nice guy. She shook at the hand, and nodded, "Why not? I'll be fine with exploring," she had a feeling that she was going to be only person of her own gender, but why should she care? She was being herself like that - she never exactly had friends... Before this? She was unsure but now that there is a person that did not mind talking to her, she felt fine of it. She knew she is loyal enough to make friends and is able to bring out the friendship amongst people.

"First of all, if we were to not find anything... What are we going to do?" she asked with a confused face. She was curious, first of all. But she could not feel any hope - unless if they were sure where they were then she could find something to help along. "And what if there is something dangerous out there? We have no weapons," she said, it was just a guess - she could not be sure if there was going to be something dangerous outside the room they were in. She likes predicting before she does something - she just wanted to be safe and right. She will not be able to take the responsibility if one of them were hurt...

Suddenly, another guy appeared out of one of the pods, he was... Depressing and miserable. He just came out and landed on his knees, and then suddenly screamed; she felt the sound wave - it was not as soft as it could have been. She nodded at Noman's comment, he really was more sensitive to it than the rest of them. "Geez, you could have been calmer than you have been, boy," she said, walking over to the boy and smiled, she was actually; annoyed but she decided that she should let him be off the hook. "Hi, I'm Ellone, what is you name; shall I ask?" she held out a hand.

"He's unconscious. We should move him away, in case others get out, and unintentionally hurt him." He said to Ellone. "Here, take his other arm." Noman said, placing a hand under the boy's armpit, and another hand on his collarbone, getting ready to drag him towards the opposite wall.

Ikki was still a little aware of his surroundings and from the looks of things, he was being dragged...

"Let me go..." He wanted to say but he couldn't even open his eyes let alone his mouth. He was wasting all his energy on stopping the burning sensation from spreading.

The sensation seemed to incrase more and more until...he passed gas. It wasn't normal gas like you would expect, but this terrible, putrid gas that seemed to wither plants and kill small animals.

Noman was about to make an argument, when the boy loudly passed wind, letting off an incredibly foul stench that quickly wafted into Noman's nose. Noman, disgusted, jumped back several feet, instinctively, and pulled his coat up to cover his mouth.

"Now THAT is BAD! What did you have for dinner last night?" Noman asked, jokily, before grinning under his coat.

Ellone chuckled to herself, "Weakling..." she trailed off, she knew it was a mean word; but she could not help being honest, and she followed Noman's request as she took his other arm to wrap around her neck. She looked over to Atron, who never reacted; she squinted her eyes slowly, she felt rather strange about him - but she ignored it and held the new boy tight and strong to make sure he does not fall off in any way. "Where should we bring him then?" she asked as she turned to Noman. There was four of them that left their pods, one more to go. She then smiled, "I wonder if that was going to be a girl..." she trailed off, it sounded like a pregnant woman who cannot wait to know her child's gender. Ellone blushed at that, but luckily she was not saying the sentence really loud...

Suddenly she smelled the scent of a bad scent... It was something that came from the boy that she and Noman were carrying. "Oh, gosh!" she turned to him. She wanted to just let that boy go but she has sympathy inside of her that she could not bring away no matter what. "What kind of human are you, releasing such... Okay, I forfeit..." she let his arm fall off from her neck and she ran away to somewhere else; it was obvious that she could not bear the scent of the gas that he released, the farther she went the less the gas was like to her. Ellone sighed to herself and fell to her knees on the floor, "Oh dear..."

Noman, still holding his coat over his face, hopped over the new boy, and ran over into a large room, with a big computer on one side, a strange, beam-like device near it, and, in the centre, Ellone, on her knees. Noman crouched by her, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Ellone, are you alright?"

Ikki's body felt much cooler, it was as though the gas had been building up inside him for sometime and now that it had been released, he felt better.

"Huh..." His mouth formed the words and to his surprise, they came out. "I can talk!" He managed to speak again but this time, he had gotten up to his feet. "I can stand to!" He started to run and jump and then sing.

"I'm so pretty! Oh so pretty!" He was going to continue but stopped when he saw the last pod. Someone was inside, he just knew it.

"Wonder what he's like...oh! Where are the other two..."

Ellone sighed again when Noman came, "I'm fine, how about him?" she sounded a little dazed and when she looked up to see what was in front of her, she was shocked - it was a computer. "Good gracious, what is that for?" she shifted a little to the back; she was not so used to seeing such things and she could not think of anything else other than the thing in front of her. "Maybe this thing... Can help us find out what to do..." she was mesmerized but she was also, at the same time, a little frightened. She then turned to Noman, "Hey... That boy over there... I'm sorry I ran away..." she was a little embarrassed for being so insensitive and not helping at all.

She turned back to the computer and thought of it, "What does this thing keep inside its database? And why do I sound like I know so much of this kind of machine? Why is it here, near the place where I just woke up from a strange pod that held me inside while I slept? How long have I slept and look at my outfit; why is it so short?!" she was a little furious at this, but she kept quiet because she did not want to make too much fuss over her outfit. She also felt the need of finding out her past, but how can a computer keep all that? Why would someone actually be such a busy body to want to know her past - and the rest of the guys' past?

Atron paused, not sure on how to answer. He officially deemed the other boy with flames as safe. He was not dangerous to Atron-that was good. Atron looked down at his clothing; long silver cloak, black clothing underneath. It kept him warm, at least, from the coldness. Wyres-keep in mind. Be aware of Wyres.

Atron didn't react as he watched another person come from the pods-a girl. He turned his head slowly, taking in the girl with his eyes; she had a rather...blue-ish outlook. Blue. A color, his mind told him. His brain was finally starting to take charge and categorize everything he saw-Atron felt slightly relieved.

Again, he didn't flinch or move one bit as another person came out of the pod, screaming and writhing around. He swallowed once, glanced at the others, then went simply stayed where he was. Best not to move-then, suddenly, the new boy let it all out.

Grimacing, Atron pulled the collar of his cloak upward to cover the stench and then took a few steps forward. He wasn't very sure on what to do, but instead announced in a hoarse voice, "My name is Atron." He wasn't used to using his voice - he liked keeping silent. Atron took in the other two - the girl and the boy. They both seemed safe; nothing dangerous. No Wyres about them. Why was he so shy, though? Couldn't he be a bit more social? The others probably thought of him as...strange.

As Noman prepared to get up, he heard a noise. It was the sound of a harsh wind. There were no windows in the room, but Noman looked up, where the noise was coming from. When he turned around to go back to the pod chamber, a cloaked man was standing in front of him. He was wearing a full-body, tatty cloak, a white/grey mask, and had piercing yellow eyes.

"So you are the new arrivals?" The man had a voice devoid of emotion.
"Who the hell are you?" Noman asked, brandishing his fists.
"I am the raging fire, I am the freezing glacier. I am the cold, lifeless steel, I am the bolt which fuels you, I am the wind upon which I ride." The man said, cryptically. For some strange reason, to him, the first line - 'I am the raging fire' - left a huge, echoing impact in his mind.
"Give me a straight answer, dammit!" Noman said.

Atron felt the wind-his cloak fluttered about him for a moment. His body froze up for a moment-sensing something. Danger. Danger. Atron's eyes were suddenly sharp and clear-he followed Noman to the other room. Atron took a good look at this man-flashes of memories, all of them clearly dangerous, went across his mind as he looked at the man. His mind was screaming for him to run, but Atron was stubborn. Who was this man? Why did he cause so many of my memories to appear?

Atron shivered once; cold, lifeless steel. A metal alloy used to make weapons of all kinds. Noman retaliated to the man's remark with a quick command for a straight answer. Atron stepped forward so that he was standing next to the boy in flames. "You are dangerous," he stated in an emotionless voice, his piercing gray eyes glaring straight at this man with the ferocity of a fighting lion.