I do not own anything...literally. Here is the list of what I DON'T own:

Tiki is a Xenomorph, which I DON'T own. No Xeno in this chapter belongs to me!

War of the Worlds (And it's aliens)is another thing I DON'T own.

And the Crystal Egg is another thing I DON'T own.

I disown everything!

Note: Previous chapter mysteriously disappeared and I can't replace it. So, I'll tell you. Zerxus was taken inside Machi's Tripod. There he reviews his life one memory at a time. He starts with his removal from the semi-cloning tank, where all Reginite Younglings are 'born'. He sees his kind for the first time and encountered a Martian. He was cleaned off and given a cape and then left alone. Before he could go off to explore he recieves a message of greeting.

Flashback

"I said hi." I turned in the opposite direction. There was a Martian. Except it was smaller, slightly bigger than me. It wasn't on one of those machine things. Instead it was walking with its tentacles. And it had a cape, just like me.

"Hi." I said. It approached, almost excited.

"I'm Machi. And the reason why I'm so small is because I'm a bud." it explained. I tilted my head.

"What?...a bud?" I questioned.

"That's a baby Martian."

I nodded. "Oh...I knew that."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Zerxus. Hey...what are you doing here anyways?" I asked. He paused thinking.

"Nothing in particular." he answered a few seconds later.

"Good. I need someone to play with." I said, hoping he'd get my playful message. I need a friend.

"That sounds good to me."

End of Flashback

We were best friends ever since. And our slightly different characters made us even closer. Machi was always the layed back one. I was more adventurous. He made the decisions, and I'd do the opposite. And, though it's now hard to believe, Machi was always comparibly peaceful, while I like to see things blow up. We were inseperable.

And I still laugh at one of our little antics that gave us a near death experience.

Flashback

It was a year after we met. We grew slightly bigger together. I was now 3 ft. tall and Machi was 4 and a half ft. tall. Since we met, Machi has always been bigger than me. His height only increased now that he rode one of those machines, although he can walk and run with his tentacles just fine.

We were going down the corridor, desperatly bored with nothing to do. Machi was reciting the long checklist of fun.

"Set fire to the amarenths outside?" he asked. I shook my head, playing with my secondary pair of hands.

"Done that yesterday." I told him. He paused.

Although I was fully capable of telepathy, I prefered vocalization. Machi has used telepathy all his life.

"Making the renehisses blow up?" he tried again. Renehisses are the Yacama equivilant of annoying flies. They're the size of a grapefruit. I shook my head again in a negative. Now it's my turn to try.

"How about we trap a zith in a cage with no food and watch it starve to death." I suggested. A zith are those 2 legged Mars things thet Machi and all the other Martians feed on.

"We did that already." Machi told me.

Dang! I loved doing that one. And to screw up the Zith even more, I eat a tasty treat slowly and dramatically right in front of its face, while it slowly and painfully starves. And Machi enjoyed sitting back and watching.

"Anything else?" I asked. Machi stopped in his tracks.

"No. We're doomed to die of boredom!" He purposly fell off his machine and just layed on the floor. I walked up to him and too fell to the ground.

"We're dead?" I asked.

"Yes we are. There's nothing to do. Nothing to destroy." he answered.

There was a pause.

"We can get on everyone's nerve." I again suggested.

"Been there, done that." he mumbled like it was the end of the planet Yacama.

We sighed deepily, staring at the ceiling. Desperate, we decided to do a universal retarded song.

"Clap your hands..." Machi began. I stomped the floor.

"Stomp your feet..." I followed. Machi clapped his tentacles.

"Retardation..." he continued.

"Can't be beat." I finished.

"The world is square!" we said at the same time.

Another pause.

"Well, let's not do that again. It's a life waster." Machi complained.

"Tell me about it. That's 8 seconds of my life that I'll never get back." I mumbled. Suddenly, a thought struck me. I looked at Machi.

"Hey remember that room the Martians have on the other side of the building?" I asked. Machi looked at me.

"You mean that highly restricted place?" he questioned, looking a little concerned. I nodded. He shook his head. "No we can't go. I'm not even allowed in there. Only adult Martians are."

I smiled. "That's what'll be so fun about it. Imagine the look they'll have onm their face."

"Not a very happy one. We'll be in so much trouble." he said.

"I know! That'll be so great!"

Machi didn't answer. He just stared. I knew convincing had to be done in order to get him to come with me.

"Come on. Wouldn't it be fun to see what they have in there?"

Machi didn't have to listen to the rest. He knew where this is going. He sighed and got back onto his machine.

"Alright. Let's get this done and over with before I change my mind." he said, giving up.

"There's the Martian I know and hate. Let's go!" I jumped onto the machine and we made our long journey to the other side of the building.

"Do you really hate me?" he asked on our way there.

"No, of course not. I was only playing." I explained.

After 20 minmutes, we arrived at our distination. There was a Martian sign on the door. I stared at it. I don't know how to read Martian yet.

"What does the sign mean Machi?"

"It sya: Come right on in Zerxus and go get yourself killed." he translated with a tone. I smiled.

"Okay! Come on Machi! Let's go get oursleves killed!" I said happily, about to kick the door open.

"I was being sarcastic." he said.

"I know. And the door's locked." I told him, kicking the door several times.

"You think? You're doing it wrong! Here, let a Martian open a Martian door." he said. I stepped back as he placed a tentacle on the door. It clicked and opened.

"How-?" I was about to ask.

"All Martians are identical. See...budding has some advantages." Machi said. I smiled and we entered the dark room.

"Whoa...This is great!" I said. The walls appeared to be covered in a kind of resin thing. It was also hot and dry.

"I'm having a bad feeling about this." Machi mumbled as I examined the resin.

"What kind of creature makes this kind of stuff?" I asked myself.

"I don't know. But maybe we shoul;d go." he started.

"We went this far already. We're not turning back yet."

We went further in the room.

"This place got death written all over it." Machi again mumbled.

"All the more reason to stay and explore." I said, moving ahead. Machi stopped.

"What's that?" Machi asked, satring at something on the wall. I walked back next to him. I stared at the wall too.

"I think it was a zith." I confirmed. And I was right. It was a zith. It was bound to the wall with resin. It was dead, with a gaping hole in it's chest.

"What happened to it?" Machi again asked. I grimaced.

"I have no idea." We had an answer in the form of a loud screech. We turned around, startled. Another zith was thrashing and yelling. Of course, it couldn't get free. The resin must be pretty hard to break. Suddenly, a yellowish thing emerged from it's chest. The zith died rather slowly and an explosion of purple blood splattered all over us. The yellow thing squealed, opening it's mouth to reveal sharp silvery teeth.

I coul've sworn it paused and looked at us. It would be easier to tell if it actually had eyes! It squealed again. We stared as it fell to the ground with a soft thump. It clicked several times. then we heard a bunch of high pitched hisses.

A whole group of giant black things came right at us. They had a long head and 4 pipe like things on their back. They also had a bony tail with a bladed end.

"Run!" I shouted, heading towards the exit as fast as I could. I was almost there when:

"Ulla!" I stopped. That was the Martian distress call. Machi! I turned around and saw my Martian friend being dragged off the machine by one of the monsters. I immediatly went to rescue him. I kicked the monster, which was knocked back to the ground. I took Machi by some tentacles and ran, dragging him with me.

"Zerxus! I'm just slowing you down!" he said. I knew immediatly what he was implying.

"No Machi! No you're not! We can get outta here alive AND together!" I told him.

"I'm sorry Zerxus. Best friends till the end...unfortunatly, my end will come sooner than even I expected." he continued, muttering small ullas.

"Machi! Don't you dare!" I warned.

"Too late!" The tentacles that I was holding snapped clean off. That was a Martian defense, just like a gecko's and a gerbil's tail. I slowed down, looking at the wiggling limbs. I dropped them and returned for Machi.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"If we die, we die together!" I exclaimed. He smiled. We hugged tightly in true friendship and closed our eyes, waiting for the end. But it never came. We opened our eyes to see that the monsters have stopped. We looked up to see a Martian standing over us.

The monsters turned submissive and retreated as if on command. We sighed in relief, but that was the least of our problems. We felt the angered glare from the Martian.

Me and machi looked at eachother and gulped.

End of Flashback

A bit longer by normal standards. But that's good right. Pleaz review and tell me what you think of their past friendship. And which were you most like when you were young? Zerxus the trouble maker or Machi who worked like the good tiny voice in your head telling you what's right.