A/N: Thanks to all of the reviews! Please keep 'em coming! Love you all.
To 'Guest': Good eye! I love readers like you who pay attention to details. There is a specific reason as to why I'm introducing the two different forms energy. It's a huge part of the story. Short answer - Lopez can use energy on Pierce's planet, yes, but it's a little complicated. You'll see in this chapter actually! Thanks for the question.
To the anons - thanks for your comments, mucho love!
To torituma: Wow, thank you! That's an extremely thoughtful compliment and I'm sending you good vibes through the internet right now. If you have any other users who you think will like this fic, please share! I've got an obsession with mermaids. But like my story, I'll leave it up to you to interpret what it means. On the other hand, 'flopping out' means I'm totally pooched out and ready to go into a sleep coma.
To asnowfalls: Thanks for the encouragement! I will do my best to follow through.
Lol to my bro - forgot to sign out of my account before commenting but I forgive you!
Chapter 3: Into The Wild
You've been living among the Predastar titans for over a week now, getting used to how their way of life works and trying to forget about the heartache of missing Narpollo.
For starters, you were given a tour of the titan headquarters and your new room. You then paid a visit to the warrior HQ, located on ground level near the edge of the metropolis. You were there because had to get your own set of supplies and warrior clothes for downtime, which consisted of the same uniform you saw Pierce in when you met her in your lovely bubble prison cell. It was more colourful than the black tee and tights you had to wear back home but you're still not really a fan of the whole earth army get up.
You weren't expecting it when you found an extremely scary and obnoxious blonde haired lady, who was apparently an endless racist against your naturally tanned skin tone yelling at you, shoving you your clothes, then yelling at you some more to get out. Sue Sylvester seemed like the perfect person for the role of Sergeant for the warrior company but boy are you glad you don't have her bossing you around.
As for titan HQ, everything seems to surpass expectations; well at least in comparison to Narpollo. Food here is loads better with Mercedes the medic as the part-time chief chef when off of her medic duties. The titans headquarters esthetics looks nicer in general, being newer, with sleeker designs, polished off with a cleaner and smoother finish. The biggest difference though is in the people... the people were surreal. Everyone actually seemed like a family, like they cared about each other. You weren't used to it so you did what you did best in uncertain environments - you closed yourself up and made snarky remarks to those who tried to get past your walls. Mostly it was directed to Berry but the others you were quite fond of.
In other words, life here has been grand so far. You haven't had to do much except for wander around and get to know the HQ.
Apparently, your boss goes by the name of Schuester. The only mention of him was in passing when Kitty had asked anyone if they had been in contact with him. A boss that's M.I.A is not something unfamiliar to you. Carl is always in his lab working on something you guys aren't allowed to see. Anyhow, youu haven't seen Schuester around, nor do you really care because in all seriousness, there's only one person's orders you'll follow. The one person who has ever beaten you in combat and the one stranger to ever immediately get your utmost respect; something few are priveleged to have.
Brittany Pierce has been popping in and out of your life here, occassionally checking in on you while keeping the titan headquarters running smoothly.
You find yourself replaying the moments where you interact with her over and over in your head at the end of the days and falling asleep to them. Even with simple interactions like 'good morning' or a 'hey' were enough for you to zone out on. From what you've gathered, she's pretty awesome. Everyone likes her, she's funny, and juset something about her keeps you wanting to get to know her some more. You've been talking to her and enjoying her company. From looking at her body language, you think she's been enjoying yours too.
You had found out from Evans that she's the head titan, appointed by a unanimous vote. When you asked Evans why everyone voted for her, he simply responded, "oh just you wait til combat training."
So, here you are, one week later from the day you met Sue Sylvester, in your tiny room, looking up and down at the reflection of yourself in the mirror, waiting for combat training to start.
Combat training was held bi-weekly so that the titans could stay on top of their skills and have time to improve on their past battles.
You couldn't wait to get into the rink and show them where you came from. You also missed powering up into your lattimus as there was a strict no-powering up rule in the HQ. Still, it's odd that you've got the pre-game butterflies floating around your stomach. You've got to impress her some how and you're nervous about it.
You do a subtle flex with your arms and nod contently at your toned body, trying to regain that confidence you're so famous for.
Suddenly, your room door makes that sound that sounds like air is being released and it slides open, and before you can pose like a normal person would in their own room, said blonde you were just thinking about is standing at your door. This would be one of those moments where she's checking in on you.
"Hi, superwoman, I didn't know body building was a way for prepping for combat?" chuckles Pierce. You internally slap yourself as you stand frozen in that position.
"Hey there, Goldilocks," you smile, trying to act non-chalant as you casually lower your arms back down. You scratch the back of your head with one hand while waving her to come into your room with the other.
Pierce is standing there, looking as perfect as ever in the same outfit you're sporting - the lovely military clothing from way back when (you're being sarcastic).
She walks over to you in your room and unexpectedly raises her hand to give your bicep a gentle squeeze.
"Sorry to interrupt you and your reflection but I'm here to take you to the combat zone.. You're not nervous are you?" she asks with concern on her face. "I mean I just meant that I know we've thrown you into the mix of things pretty quickly and youve been great at getting the hang of things but I don't want you to feel pressured or anything to join in on combat time, if you don't want to." You shuffle your feet a little, because that's exactly how you feel. Still, you keep your eyes locked on hers. Sometimes your pride is an uncontrollable monster.
"Nervous? Please, honey. I eat shards of glass in my sleep. I can take anyone, anytime, anywhere. Your combat training won't do squat on me," you say. You pull out your stoic face to show her you're serious. This is your new home. When you're new, you've got to make a presence, you know? Establish who you are among the team.
You're instantly missing the touch of her hand when she takes a step back and grins at you.
"Good," she smiles approvingly. "Well come on then, let's see what you've got," she says as she turns around and walks out of your room. "Time's a tickin'."
Somehow, with the 49 seconds she's been in your room, she's able to eradicate all evidence of nervousness you had in your stomach and transform it into excitement.
You're so excited that you nearly trip over your own feet as you scramble to follow her down the hall to the elevator to descend to the combat zone.
"Get ready for some ass whoopin' Pierce," you yell after her.
She looks back and winks at you. "Don't make me remind you of how last time went."
You don't think losing to her will ever be a problem though; after all, it got you here.
/
You've never been more sore in your life.
You wake up, groggy, letting your eyes slowly adjust to the sudden light being introduced to them. You're staring at the backside of Tina who's furiously sliding buttons across a holographic screen. You hear beeping and feel energy flowing around you. You must be in the medic clinic.
By combat training, the Predastar titans failed to mention that it was literally a fight til you drop dead. Well, not dead, but it basically was seeing as they fought til you couldn't fight anymore, and that meant a lot in titan terms. Back in Narpollo, combat training meant shooting your beams at moving targets. Compared to this, Narpollo's training was child's play.
The arena had been transformed by Artie into a real life simulation of an unknown terrain that was sampled from another planet, set at night time with large random jagged sharp black rocks sticking up from the sandy black ground, and dark purple fog hazing around.
All of the Predastar titans and yourself had been thrown at random parts of the arena with Artie overseeing everything in the control room. He must've had a hell of a time watching Pierce take down everyone one by one.
You think back to the combat training.
After the simulation countdown had went off, it wasn't long before white hot beams were shooting everywhere. You tried to take flight but you couldn't channel your energy anywhere or let alone feel it. Not panicking yet, you decided to see if there's anyone close to you for you to take out in hand combat. You ran towards the nearest rock to get a better vantage point to survey the area. What you didn't notice was the lack of energy flowing through you which you normally would be able to use as defense when in a vulnerable position like this. Unfortunately, You didn't have much time to think about your lack of energy because you spotted a light blue lattimus that was blasting straight towards you after having drop-kicked another lattimus halfway across the arena.
You still weren't sure who was who with the different coloured lattimuses flying around but it didn't matter because only one colour mattered.
It was clear that Pierce, the light blue lattimus, was ready to engage in some heavy hard hulk smashin' sessions with you.
You were about to fight against her but you found yourself on your ass and unable to move because of the hard blow you received without warning by a round house kick after she flew around you and then polished it off by sending a relentless energy beam to your head. That's the last thing you remember before you blacked out. You make a mental note to never attempt engaging in combat with from the ground against someone flying because they can move a lot faster than you. Or maybe just Pierce did.
You groan as this is most definitely a new personal best in getting knocked out of battle, and by miles, which is astonishing considering you're one of the best fighters back home, of course besides Quinn when she wanted to be. Then again, ever since you arrived, nothing has been like Narpollo yet, not with Pierce around.
The sound of gas being released in your vertical energy chamber brings you back to the present. The energy flowing around you was light blue, not the kind you're used to. It didn't feel right and you wanted to get out of there.
"Hey Tina," you say as she spins around. You look around the room and sure enough, you're in the medic room and in one of the vertical energy chambers that helped titans recover. It seems like you're the last one to wake up from your recovery as you two are the only ones in the room.
"Woo, great, glad you're up!" She's way too chipper for you. "You didn't wake up much long after everyone else, don't worry. It's always hardest on the body the first time around," says Tina. She returns her gaze to the holographic screen which is now displaying what you assume to be your vitals.
"Yeah, great. Listen, no offense, I love talking to you and all but I kind of feel extremely mortified right now and would like to wallow in deep, deep self-pity alone in my room. Preferably with some alcohol," you say.
Tina laughs at you, her eyes disappearing as she squints. She makes her way over to you and just smiles.
"You're a funny one," she chuckles. "No wonder Brittany likes you. You were the second titan she took down. Normally, she would've completely obliterated the weakest one first," she says.
You furrow your eyebrows at that comment, your Lima Heights side coming out of you.
"Um, what the hell Tina?!" you say offended. "You and I know that I'm the closest thing to Pierce here compared to the rest of these losers. Let me down from here and I can use you as a demonstration if you would like," you threaten.
Tina still stands there smiling at you while shaking her head. "Whoa, easy there tiger. I was only joking." You roll your eyes. "For your sassiness, you're going to have to say pretty please Tina, you divalicious spunky hot mess," she says in a super annoying voice.
You roll your eyes even more knowing that reducing yourself to a 12 year old valley girl is the only way to let Tina know she's won so you do it. At that, Tina jumps up and down clapping her hands and laughs hysterically at you.
"Will you let me down now you lunatic?" you say.
Still laughing, she swipes a button on the hologram and the straps unbuckle. You fall forward and out of the vertical chamber.
"For the record, something or someone was hijacking my powers because you lot have obviously got a fear of me and my skills; I couldn't use them in there," you say.
Tina waves you off. "Yeah, yeah. Blame it on that. I bet it was just your nerves."
"Please, the only nerves I've got are the ones that are telling me to obliterate you to Narpollo right now."
"No, as much fun as that sounds, I think your only nerves are actually when Britt walks anywhere within your eyesight but that's just my thoughts."
You immediately blush and look confused at that remark. She completely caught you off guard.
"Um I have no idea what you're talking about. I think I'm gonna go now. Swell life chats with you Changalang," you say trying to make your quick escape. Eloquent as always, Lopez.
"See ya wouldn't want to be ya," Tina calls after you.
/
It's probably been a couple of hours of you lying in your bed and the only reason why you've decided at attempting to move is because baby Valerie is calling for food and you know better than to ignore it. Hangry (hungry and thus, angry) Santana Lopez is a force not to be reckoned with.
Getting out of bed is probably the hardest thing for you to do without Quinn here to shovel you out of bed like she normally does. You think back to the Narpollo days when you would blame your sleepiness on how it takes forever to replenish your awesomeness you exude every day. You always got a slap in the back of your head for that by Quinn. Gosh you miss her.
You blast some tunes on your iPod surround sound system in your room. The sound is unreal, with the dome shape of the room making the music and notes seem alive and dancing around you. Youre a little more alert as you drag your body on over to your closet to grab your uniform.
It seems like a miracle but you're able to get dressed after an abnormally long time and you start to saunter past the other titan's rooms and down the long hallway leading to the lounge.
"Psst! Hey! Lopez!" you hear from one of the rooms in the hall. You look around the multiple closed doors that belong to your new titan team mates.
"Over here!"
You backtrack your steps as you follow the sound of the voice and enter Sam's room. You find him sitting on his bed holding a strange looking object in his hands.
You poke your head through the door. "Trouty, you're getting in the way of me and my food. This better be good," you say, sounding fake annoyed.
Sam smiles his goofy smile as he waves you to come closer. "Sorry but I need your help. Serious problem. I can't crack this fruit open."
You stare at him and burst out laughing. "Seriously Sam? Can't you just swallow the thing whole with that mouth of yours?"
"No Lopez, I've tried that," Sam laughs. "Besides, they taste much better with the outer layer off. I'm actually wanting to give it to someone but it's not tradition unless you take the outer layer off," he says.
"Okay, what in god's name are you talking about, Trouty?"
"Oh right, I guess you're still new around here. I keep forgetting that, it feels like I've known you forever," Sam admits.
You smile at that. You don't mind Sam. Sure he's a blabber mouth that talks way too much but he's been fun to hang around. His school boy honesty is something you admire.
"You're such a sissy, Evans," you smile. "So, what's with this fruit you want to crack open? How is that the first thing you're trying to do after that Pierce-slapping session we just encountered?" you say as you reach your hand out to receive the fruit from him. You examine it, taking note of it's dark brown colour, accompanied by a texture of a coconut. The fruit felt really hard, and was sort of shaped like a cartoon star. Definitely not from Narpollo.
"Meh. Been there, done that," Sam shrugs. "You get used to it, and it's fun to make bets with each other on who will last the longest in the arena each time. I normally last the longest but For some reason I couldn't perform well today," he brags.
"Oh boo hoo," you joke.
"Anyways, what I'm about to tell you is top notch voodoo magic of the ancient earth," he says excitedly. You make a what the hell face and he smiles. "Just joking. It's a Predastar thing. This is a starfruit. Legend says that if you share one with someone, you become soulmates for life. I want to share one with Mercedes," he finishes excitedly.
"As nerdy and girly as that sounds, that's actually really cute," you say, momentarily seeing a pair of blue eyes flash before your eyes.
Deciding that you do want to see Trouty and Arethra get together, you take the starfruit and slice it in half with your laser eye beam, startling Sam so much that he falls off of the bed.
"Holy Lopez, what the heck was that?!"
Your laser eyes have been something only you've been able to do at Narpollo. You guess the same goes for Predastar.
You don't know how to respond so you simply throw him a wink and a smirk as you toss the two halves of fruit back to him.
He frowns as he stares at it in his hands.
"What? You asked me to open it so I did!" you say confused.
"You're not supposed to murder it like that though! You're only supposed to crack it open so you can peel the top layer off," Sam whines. "You owe me a new one."
"Look pillow lips, I've got about zero time left in my extraordinarily jam packed day for you," you say. You start to head towards the door.
"Well if you're ever in a good mood and feel like helping a brother out after cock-blocking him, go to the wilderness and pick me some more that you haven't sliced in half please and thank you," yells Sam.
"Sorry, pillow screaming, shame, and self-slapping have booked appointments with me for the next couple of years," you yell back.
/
The few minutes you spent with Sam felt like hours for baby Valerie so you mind goes on auto-pilot with blinders on, determined to make it to the kitchen in the lounge without any more distractions.
You peek inside to make sure that little troll that manifests itself in the form of Rachel Berry is nowhere in sight because that is the last thing you need right now. You're pleased to see that the spotless kitchen and lounge area are completely deserted with the couch calling your name.
As you make your way to the fridge, you feel eyes on the back of your head.
You reach in the fridge to pull out some peanut butter and that's when you hear footsteps coming towards you. You catch a whiff of her perfume.
"That belongs to me," she says.
You've got no idea why you turn into an annoying 6 year old around her, but you have taken note that she turns into one too. You try your luck.
You smile and turn around to face her, playfully opening the lid then sticking your tongue into the jar and scooping up a delicious whopping of peanut butter into your mouth.
"Not anymore," you smile evilly.
Pierce makes a pondering face and continues to look at you.
"Quite good," you lick your lips. "I think this will be a prime candidate for my meal."
"A jar of peanut butter?" questions Pierce.
"Well, originally it was going to be a pizza a la fridge contents but now that I found the commander's peanut butter, well, I can't resist."
"Wise words said there Lopez," Pierce smiles. "I do have impeccable taste when it comes to the selection of nut butters. But unfortunately, I was only joking. That actually belongs to Berry. Only she eats that organic stuff that needs to be refrigerated after opening," she says. You watch her as she takes the jar out of your hand and uses her hand to scoop out some peanut butter to put into her mouth. She licks it off of her fingers and moves backwards towards the couch. "Let's finish it up," she says smirking.
You can't help but smile and accept the offer of invitation. "Why, I thought you'd never ask."
You plop down beside her as you guys take turns scooping peanut butter out of the jar with your fingers, enjoying it's glorious taste in silence for a few moments.
"So," Pierce says with her mouth full of peanut butter. "How're you feeling?" she asks, while she continues to scoop up peanut butter with her fingers.
Of course, she and all of her modesty is trying to ask if you weren't beat up too badly by her but without making you feel like a complete udder weakling in her eyes. How is she so awesome?
You're not sure whether you should be honest or not. Normally you would brave it out and put on the typical Lopez face of not giving two shits but you think something about the peanut butter makes you in a friendly mood.
"You know, aside from getting my ass whooped by you two times now, I think I am really enjoying it here," you admit.
"Cool, good stuff," she smiles at you. "I scooped up Tina and Mercedes for a reason. They do heck of a healing job. One time, when Sam and I were younger, we would always challenge each other at who could charge up the most power without losing control. Needless to say, that's how I met Tina and Mercedes-"
You find it so amusing to picture a reckless younger version of Pierce running around wreaking havoc.
She pauses mid sentence for a moment to offer you the peanut butter jar. You scoop some up with two fingers. "Do you like pomegranates?"
"What?" you ask confused.
Pierce shrugs. "I don't know, I mean, when I look at you, all I can think of is a pomegranate."
Your captain has A.D.D much?
"Oh, wow, you just know how to charm someone," you respond sarcastically. "Is that what you've been thinking about this whole time?" You're genuinely confused but curious at the same time.
Pierce looks down and finishes swallowing her peanut butter. "Sorry, sometimes I don't speak very well. I just think very fast and can't put it into words sometimes."
"No, no, it's okay," you put your hand on her shoulder. "I totally get it. No judgement here. People automatically think I'm mean, but I don't actually mean it. I just have a different sense of humour," you say. You're not sure why you're sharing but something about her makes you feel comfortable.
Pierce smiles at that and looks at you. "Thanks. Oh, but at the mention of that, you have to admit that you're just a little mean, some times, to Berry. Like that time you left her a bag of butt plugs and a note saying to shove them up her nose and throat so she would stop snoring. She would not stop going on and on about it," she says. You snort at that memory. Troll could be heard two doors down from you and you were about to blast her to the moon.
"She had that coming for her," you defend.
"Okay maybe. But try to be nicer, for me okay? I need to be fair to everyone as the leader and this is me putting my foot down." You reach over her crossed leg and snag the jar back for yourself.
"How is calling me a plain looking pomegranate being a leader?" She looks at you for a second, thinking.
"I dunno. Pomegranates are like... special. Sometimes, you have to find the beauty in plain things. You never know. Have you ever seen what's inside one?"
"Nope. But I'm living perfectly fine without it." You're not sure where this conversation is going but you're pretty sure you'd go anywhere with those blue eyes.
Pierce gets off of the couch and takes the peanut butter away from you and sets it on the table.
"Today's your lucky day Lopezo," Pierce smiles. "I will do you the duty of showing you the awesome species of the pomegranate." She gets up and runs out of the room leaving you sitting there confused at what just happened.
Not a minute later, she's back in the room holding the round red fruit. She stands in front of you. Normally, Pierce has a few inches on you when standing up but when you're sitting, she's towering over you.
"Now, remember this moment forever Santana," you shiver at the way she says your name. You stare at the fruit in front of you like your life depended on it. Is it possible to be drunk off of peanut butter? Or are you just drunk off of her?
"Listen. You are like this beautiful pomegranate. Tough exterior, and an amazing fighter that can do some damage-" she says as she hurls the fruit at your arm.
"Ow! I would like my death to be glorious, not by being impaled by flying fruit please," you say. "Was this a planned intervention or something? You planted a fruit outside the room to conveniently use?"
She leans forward to take the fruit from the couch and rips it open with her bare hands with ease to reveal the inside of the pomegranate with it's million little seeds and fleshy pink interior.
"No, I ran to the cold room. I have super speed," she states and continues on with her explanation. "But once you get through everything that blocks the world out, the inside is so beautiful and mysterious that you just want to get to know everything about it," Pierce smiles. She shoves on half of it into your hand while eating the other one in her other hand.
As absurd as it all sounded, you realize that she's got you outlined like a textbook. You're taken aback at how well someone could know you better than you know yourself. You can't help but stare at her and smile.
"Okay," you begin. "So compliments are being thrown, food is being offered, what's the catch here? Are you going to make me do push ups or something?" She tosses the pomegranate skin at you and you dodge it expertly.
Pierce shrugs. "Just trying to make you feel at home. I'm trying to prove to everyone that I am doing my best to be a leader. And as a leader, I want my team to be one cohesive unit, like how football fans all unite under one banner. How mercury blobs always gravitate towards each other to become a bigger blob. You don't have to feel like you need to put up walls here. I want you to feel like you're our family now. Hence, no more being mean to the Berry-monster."
You're taken aback by her elaborate persuasive tactic which utilized fruit, honesty and genuine thought, all to make you feel more comfortable and for the greater good of the team. You don't know what else to do but smile. "Thanks, Britt."
Her eyes go wide slightly at the mention of her first name. You immediately realize your mistake and are about to apologize when she cuts you off. "I'll let that slip one time, Lopez. Just cause we engaged in some TBO -"
"-TBO?"
"-Ticking Berry Off- doesn't mean I'm not your commander still," she says.
"Okay then, Lord Sergeant Queen Captain President Pierce, please accept my royal apology," you say while bowing in your slouched seated position.
"Apology accepted you royal ass," she laughs. "But you're not getting off that easily. As much as I wanted to have some peanut butter with you and provide life lessons using fruit, I actually came to find you to go for a little side mission with me."
"You know you really don't have to make up excuses to spend time with my amazing personality," you joke. Pierce swats your arm and shakes her head smiling.
"Wow, you exposed me, you're so smart," she deadpans. "Initially, I was going to give you a choice on the matter but for that mistake, you're going to have to owe me so you're coming along."
You groan. "What's with people here and owing things," you mutter.
"What?" she asks.
You wave it off. "Nothing. What do I owe to you, Capitano?" you say with a Spanish twist.
"You and I are going to go on a little hike. Meet me by the elevators in about ten minutes."
/
You're not sure why you were asked to meet down the hall in ten minutes since you don't really need any equipment to protect yourself or anything but a boss's order is a boss's order. You plop yourself down on the ground beside the elevator door and think about your team back on Narpollo.
You wonder what twinkletoes is doing, aka Blaine. He's probably still freaking out and is the only one who's trying to get you back on your own planet. He's got a heart too good for that team. In fact, he and this titan here named Kurt would probably get along really well if he ever made his way over somehow. Kurt seemed to be Blaine's counterpart except with slightly less gelled hair.
It felt good to know that Finn, Puck, Jake, and Karofsky all got their butts kicked too during the battle. But now that you're thinking about it, you think that perhaps God or Something with a capital S, laid a hand in picking you to be the one that was to be captured by these Predastar chums. You love your Narpollo guys, but let's be honest. They probably would've done something idiotic instead of giving into Britt like you did. Carl has us programmed to do his bidding but you know when you see something good, so you joined the Predastar titans regardless of that old fart's orders.
Finn was probably stuffing his face trying to devour everything in the fridge alongside Puck or playing sports video games on the play station ultra. You always mentioned to those two to get on playing dance dance revolution so they could get some movement in their lazy butts.
What was Jakey doing? That boy was Puck's younger brother or something of that sort. Jake was the newest titan but he had also had a good heart. You think him and Ryder would mesh well for sure. Both would be good sidekicks because they're both too shy to lead but carry out orders swimmingly.
Surprisingly, you realize how much you're actually wishing your crew was here with these titans. You guys would actually work really well together as one cohesive unit and who knows? You guys could be superheroes of the galaxy. Of course, Quinn would be a challenge to get people to like her because she was a handful. But even she would come around and enjoy Predastar.
You look down the illuminated hall and can sense someone approaching so you stand up and try to get into a casual-I'm-waiting-for-someone-but-trying-to-look-sophisticated-while-doing-so pose. You settle for crossing your arms and leaning your weight on one leg.
Pierce emerges from the corner with her hair tied up in a ponytail, holding a small black cylinder in her hands.
"Hey."
"Hi, what's in your hands?" you ask.
"Some of your Narpollo energy. Life lesson number two-" she looks down at your crossed arms. "- never, ever cross your arms. In my world, it means you're closed off and not open to the world."
You uncross your arms and roll your eyes.
"You're really trying to break down the sacred Lopez walls here aren't you, Captain?"
"Guilty," she smiles. "But there are two kinds of people in the world. Ones who are too scared to let anyone in, and ones who let everything in and learn from that. You take a guess at which one survives and are who I want on my titan team."
"Permission to agree and disagree with you Captain?" you ask.
Pierce laughs. You're going a little overboard on the formalities to make fun of them.
She rolls her eyes. "Permission granted."
"I agree with you that there are two kinds of people in the world, yes. My disagreement is that there are those who separate people into two categories, and those who don't," you say.
Pierce smiles widely at you for a second and steps onto the platform in the elevator tube. She looks back at you and smiles a smile you think is only reserved for you. After a second, she speaks. "You are more than meets the eye, Lopez. Come on, get on the elevator."
Your journey to the surface of the HQ did not take long even though you know HQ is close to the core of Predastar, thanks to technology via Artie. You're staring out into the metropolis before you know it. The ground level elevator entrance to your HQ is a small plain one that appears to be a door to a home hardware factory. The only way to recognize it's relation to the titans is the small titan emblem. You exit the elevator, which is in the middle of the city, and face the grand road leading to the metropolis entrance.
The city is truly grand. Amidst the dustry red land of this planet is a thriving city full of sounds, hovercrafts, skyscrapers, and people of every kind. The sun seemed to never go down here, with it's radiating beams making the buildings glow and seem all the more grand.
"So, am I allowed to know the mission, Captain?" you ask.
You look at Pierce as she nods straight ahead to the long stretch of straight land that leads to the metropolis gates.
"We're going out there. Power up."
Without another word, you see the oh so familiar light blue lattimus materialize around Pierce and you follow suit. You feel the energy flow through your body as your dark red metallic lattimus surrounds you. It's an amazing, powerful feeling that you'll never get used to. God, it rocks to be a superhero sometimes.
"Can you keep this with you?" Pierce asks, handing the small black cylinder over to you. You take it in one of your hands and nod.
"Okay, follow me."
Pierce rises in the air a few inches off of the ground, blasting straight towards the gates. You follow suit, trailing behind her.
You hear Pierce ask Artie to connect her to the warrior patrols at the gates. "Captain Pierce requesting access outside of the metropolis."
"Affirmative. Good luck Captain."
Large robotic guards at the gate which looked like a combination of a robot and a dragon holding a trident stepped aside to reveal the actual gated doors. You aren't sure if the gates will open up in time for you and your companion to go through. The gates slowly slide open and leave a gap large enough for only one lattimus to go through. Pierce zips through it and you follow behind her, with the gate closing shut right after you fly look behind you to see the dragon robots on the outside of the gate move back in front of the gates, holding their energy beam tridents up to defend their city.
It's so different to fly around a planet when you're not trying to destroy it. Feels good.
You're flying over a flat dusty land where the battle took place.
Pierce's voice comes through to your helmet. "This is called the dust bowl. To the right are the Cliffside canyons." You can see the giant orange red canyons rising and winding, creating a gigantic wall of protection. "We're going in there," Pierce says. She's pointing far ahead to the thick wall of trees that begin at the other side of the dust bowl.
You expect Pierce to land once reaching the trees but instead, she continues to fly in a skillful manner, avoiding trees and vines. You on the other hand, have absolutely zero experience in this foreign environment and continuously get smacked in the head with vines or branches.
After a couple of more twists and turns, Pierce lands by an area that looks like a swamp. You land on a fallen tree, looking down at Pierce, waiting for further orders,
"Okay, debrief time. I noticed that you kind of sucked in the combat training -"
"Gee, please keep the compliments coming." She ignores your comment.
"- but I know how you fight. You almost killed me if Sam didn't come, so I knew something was wrong with you in the arena. Either that, or you were letting me win, which I don't think your personality even considers-"
"-That is one thousand percent correct."
"-so when you were recovering, I went to talk to Artie and Kitty for a bit."
You watch her attentively as she seems to be thinking of how to word her next sentence.
"We've got a hypothesis.."
"A what?" you ask.
"An educated guess, as to why you couldn't use your powers in the arena." You think back to the arena and recall that you weren't able to fly like you were trying to.
"You're right, I tried to fly but I felt no energy, I was a sitting duck," you confirm.
"Yep, a pretty ugly duckling," You roll your eyes even though you know she can't see your face."And when I fought you, you definitely used energy," she says as you nod at that remark. "So I kind of did an experiment on you already. I was thinking back to when you fought me, to what was different between fighting then and fighting in the arena. Black cylinders full of your dark energy were around, but none were present at the combat zone. Then I recalled what happened at the couch when we played around with our energy forms and how I couldn't use your energy. So, in the arena, it was the opposite. You were able to power up, but you couldn't use energy otherwise because none of your energy was present. So, I brought a bit of the dark energy with me in that cylinder," she points at it in your hand, "and you were able to fly no problem."
It seemed so simple, but you didn't even realize that connection.
"Pierce, you're a genius!" You exclaim. "So you think that I can only use or respond to dark energy?" you ask. "How did I get healed though?" You think back to the light blue energy in your recovery chamber.
Pierce looks around for a moment before returning her attention to you. "We're not entirely sure about the recovery part, but it seems like a reasonable guess that there might be two forms of life-energy specific to the two planets. Which brings me to our side mission. You see, Kitty is working away at the scientific lab portion of this investigation to try things on both energy forms. What we need to do is find someone who is well versed in the spiritual side of the life-energy."
"Spiritual?" you ask. You never knew there was a spiritual side to life-energy.
"Yeah, there's actually a whole mythology around life-energy. No one really thinks much of it but I think we have solid reason to look into it some more," she says gesturing at you in general. "The experts live here in the wilderness and I happen to have bumped into one a couple of times so I generally know where to find him."
You're extremely interested in this because who knew that life-energy, meaning you and other titans, could be part of something bigger? We were possibly descendants of mythological space monsters? That would explain our super powers...
"Wow. So where do we find him?" you ask.
"We gotta go to my secret hiding place. Do you trust me?" she asks.
"Of course. Do you trust me though? With your secret place?" you ask.
"Nope. Which is why you've got to close your eyes and hold my hand," she says as she offers you her hand.
You hesitate but you take her hand in yours. You see her light blue lattimus turn away from you and start to walk towards the swamp. As you follow her, you slowly realize that you're going under the swamp. You've never been in water before and you're not entirely sure what to expect.
"You okay?" she asks.
"Yeah," you breathe out.
"Alright, I can't let you know where we're going and I trust you to keep your eyes closed. We're going under water."
"Mhm," you squeak out.
The hell with this, she can't see your face in the lattimus armour so you open your eyes as you feel your head submerge under water. The lattimus suits let you be in any condition with the exception of outer space so it felt no different than the surface world. Your movements were a little slower, met by the resistance of the water, but it gave you all the more time to marvel at the underwater world around you.
Both Pierce and you were treading on the swamp floor, surrounded by gigantic rocks and other worldly plants that you've never encountered before. Rays of sunlight broke through the surface here and there, creating a magical illumination in the space around you. It was beautiful. It takes a lot for you to not move your head and look around to observe all that the underworld has to offer.
"Almost there."
You tighten your grip on Pierce to let her know you heard her because your words are failing you right now. You take a turn around an orange reef and you see an opening to a cave. After passing through a beam of sunlight, the muddy floor turns into a solid dark grey stone.
"Okay, you can open your eyes. Just watch your step."
Your eyes have been open this whole time so you know that the surface is uneven in the cave. The trek continues in silence and even though you were given permission to open your eyes, neither of you let each other's hand go.
The rock floor starts to slant upwards as you two make your way up the cave. At first, it was dark, with the cave blocking out the light from the surface but as you're moving upwards, you start to see sunlight ahead of you. It's not long before your heads emerge from out of the water and you're still walking upwards towards a larger cave that has a giant hole in the ceiling.
This cave was not very big, and was circular in shape. A couple of trees grew from the middle of the cave and shot up through the hole in the roof. Sunlight poured through, revealing bits of floating dust in its rays. The air was cool, the floor lined with the classic Predastar red dust, along with a few rocks. The dark grey stone walls of the cave created a slight echo in your footsteps.
"What is this magical place?" you say.
Pierce powers down her helmet and spins in a circle, staring up at the ceiling, letting go of your hand and stretching her arms out.
"I like to call it... Canada," she smiles, still spinning.
You can't help but laugh. You power down your helmet as you laugh.
"What? As in the country of ancient earth?" you ask.
"Yeah, something about this place makes me think of the past and where we came from originally. All I can find in our history books is a page called Canada, the land of the strong and free. This is where I feel free of any duties, and from the world's problems. It's my free cave!" she shouts out to the sky.
Your planet knows a heck of a lot more about earth than Predastar does. You know that Canada was a place where creatures with fur and large teeth liked to chop down trees, and where people drank the blood of trees which apparently tasted sweet. You don't mention that tidbit to her though.
"It's so perfect," you say.
Pierce turns to face you and sits down against a tree trunk. "Yeppers. I love it. I've never brought anyone here before. So no sharing. Only you and me," she says.
"Cross my heart," you respond. "So, who is this spiritual guy we're to meet?"" you ask, taking a seat beside her.
"I've only met him a couple of times, so I'm not even sure if he'll come by but he's just a human who lives in the wilderness. He looks like a yucatan spider monkey to me"
"So we're supposed to just wait here?" you ask. As much as you like spending time with Pierce, you are also one-track minded, meaning you want to complete the mission to have some progress with your life-energy mysteries.
"Basically," Pierce admits. She looks up at the sky. "He'll come by some time I'm sure. Besides, that's why I brought you this time, so I won't be lonely."
"So wait, we're in the wilderness right now?" you ask.
"Yeah, we are. Anything with trees is considered the wilderness because it's just the metropolis, dust bowl, cliffside, and the rest of the planet is covered by the wilderness. Why do you ask?"
"You don't suppose any starfruit are around here by any chance, are there?"
"Oh, those soulmate fruits? Sure! They're everywhere on those trees. You want one?"
"No. I mean, yes, but not for me," you stutter. "I accidentally exploded the one Evans had so he asked me to get a new one for him. Might as well while we're here," you explain.
"We can get one on the way back," she smiles.
"Awesome," you smile back. "So what's this guy's name?" you ask.
"Joe Hart," she responds. You forward in your sitting position and put your hands to your mouth.
You get up and on your feet before bellowing, "JOE HART, I SUMMON YOU TO THIS CAVE WE CALL CANADA!"
"Oh my god what are you doing?!" Pierce asks surprised.
"JOE HAR-" you're interrupted by her tackling you to the ground, pinning you very similarly to how you pinned her down on the day she captured you at the battle. "How do we keep on ending up in this position?" you laugh.
"Stop that!" she laughs. "The North Americans don't appreciate loud obnoxious people in their land!"
"Well this isn't their land, and I'm bored of waiting. JOE HA-" Pierce puts her hand over your mouth and you end up shouting something muffled.
You blow a raspberry into her palm as she draw it back yelling "ew!"
"JOOSSSEEEPPPPPPHH HAAART!" you get up and yell running around the cave in circles.
Pierce finally tackles you to the ground and laughs.
"You'll wake all of the animals up!" she laughs.
"I think we're the only animals here."
"Hello?" You look past Pierce's shoulder and see a tanned male with lots of hair. His long pieces of hair are dangling from the hole above as he peers in to examine what all of the commotion is.
"Oh my god it worked," you say excitedly. "Get off of me Pierce, let's welcome this guy to our humble abode." Pierce looks shell shocked and rolls off of you, lying flat on her back. She looks up at Joe.
"You Joe Hart?" you yell. He nods at you.
"Awesome, we're looking for you."
"Well if I knew that was how to reach you then I should've done that the first time," she says.
"One of the many perks of the Lopez," you say smugly, giving yourself a self high-five.
"What do you titans need me for?" says Joe, who's still hanging his head over the hole.
Pierce stops grinning at you to look back up at Joe. "Good to see you Joe. We would like an intro to the spiritual side of life-energy please."
"Oh, about time! Let me come down," he says. And with spider monkey like agility, Joe jumps and clings onto the tree trunk and lowers himself down by sliding down the trunk.
"See? Spider monkey," Pierce whispers to you.
Joe sits himself down in front of you two on a rock and looks at you. You notice his myriad of tattoos on his bare chest, and his khaki shorts that go up to his knees. His feet are barefoot, but not without tattoos inscribed across the top of the skin.
"What do you want to know?"
You're excited and ready to get some answers.
Long chapter so I had to split it into two. The second part will be up shortly.