"So we're digging straight down from here then?" Falkor asked as we both stopped in front of a fence of montains.

"It's where Nathan's map guided me too, but the real question is will you enter the school with me or stay here?" I said smirking at him jokingly.

"Well where else do I have to go?" Falkor said, knowing he had no home.

"Then come along with me," I held out a paw to him. He took it within his and smiled at me.

"So how are we doing this without shovels?" Falkor wondered as he took one long hum of thought.

"Well Nathan had to have had some kind of digging contraption in mind when he made this suit," I closed my eyes and pictured myself digging a hole, hoping the suit would respond promptly with expected results. The noise of whirling and whining drills filled my ears as I opened my eyes.

"Whoa," Falkor said in amazement, "how's that even possible?" he questioned as I stared at what used to be my paws. They were replaced with drill heads.

"I hope this isn't permanent," I said dryly. I almost fell over as Falkor patted me on the back.

"Remember, Nathan said to take it easy," he reminded me.

"I know," I inhaled deeply, "are you ready?" I asked, despite not feeling ready myself.

"Whenever you are," Falkor said confidently.

"Then grab on to my back, this is going to be a bumpy ride, and keep your eyes closed as well, and no matter what, don't let go," I warned him. Falkor did as he was told.

I positioned myself so entry underground would be smooth. I took another deep breath and counted down from three. At the end of the countdown I dived into the earth below and let the drills drag me into the ground.

"I hope these things have auto-pilot capabilities," I thought to myself as I failed to direct myself through the dirt below. It was right after I felt myself take sharp twists and turns, and if Falkor were to be pried off of me, he would already have his own grave, but I tried not to think about Falkor. Instead, I replaced the thoughts with Terrance, and then I found myself hoping and praying that he was still alive.

Eventually the ground began to give and I felt myself launch out into a dark room. The drills stopped themselves and as soon as I made hard contact with the wall across from me I ricocheted off of it and Falkor flew elsewhere. Lifting myself to a sitting position I could hear Falkor groaning in pain.

"Falkor?" I called into the darkness for my friend. Then I heard my helmet click and it wasn't so dark anymore as a faint light guided my path. I could only see slight outlines of what was in front of me.

"Falkor?" I shouted again, hoping he was still okay.

"I-I'm over here," he violently coughed out.

"Are you okay," I looked over in the direction I caught his voice.

"Just get me some help, I think both of my legs are broken," the fudgehog gagged and spit up something afterwards.

"Hold on, I'm trying to find you," I informed him as I took my steps carfully.

"Geez, you think Nathan could have put in a stronger light or something?" I cussed to myself, scolding Nathan in my head.

"I think I see you," I almost over looked Falkor, as he called and waved his arms out to catch my attention.

"Never mind, I found you," I rushed over to Falkor's side and checked him over. He had multiple patches of dirt entangled in his mache, he was bleeding from a few areas as well, most notably his head.

"What happened here?" I asked as his injuries nearly made me speechless.

"I was just following orders, I guess the underground just wasn't merciful to piñata's who are wearing god like armor like you," Falkor said enviously.

"I'm sorry I don't have a second suit for you Falkor, but I can try to help you recover the best I can, Nathan? Nathan are you there?" I yelled for Nathan hoping he was listening in to our converstation and would be able to help.

"Oh, what the hell do I do now? I have a injured fudgehog to deal with, and no cocoadile to help me along, this is just great,"

"Just go on without me," Falkor said when minutes past and Nathan still didn't show up.

"No! I'm not gonna leave any of my friends behind," I said trying not to cry as I heaved Falkor over my shoulder and began to search for a way out of this hell hole.

Eventually I happened upon some stairs, and without question, I began climbing them vigorously. I knew any place was better than here and I wanted to distance myself as fast as possible. It didn't take me long to reach the top, there was a red light nailed to the wall, it illuminated the area around it, I could easily spot out the door that rested beneath the light.

I pulled the door open just enough so I could peek through it without it drawing any attention; after all, this was sour territory. Gazing through, I spotted normal piñatas, not sours. But then I recalled Nathan's advice about shape-shifters. After giving it a minutes though, I decided to take my chances and head out there, there had to be someone who could help Falkor.

At first we didn't draw that much attention, but as I navigated the halls more piñatas began to notice my suit and Falkor's wounds. I could hear gossip such as: "What that soldier doing here?" "Doesn't he know that the captured piñatas start out on the higher floors for analysis?" and many others revolving around the same issue.

"Are you lost?" a tan Pieena confronted me with a question.

"I just want to know where I could get medical help for my friend, that's all,"

"Hmm, let's take this conversation in private, can't afford the other students hear about this," he motioned for me to follow him. I checked behind us occasionally to catch unwanted followers, of course each time I looked back, they acted like they were up to anything at all. But I knew they were following because it was the same group each time.

"Up here," he led up to an elevator, it parted open and we entered. I was glad to be rid of those nosy assholes. The doors closed and privacy was finally ours.

"Yes?" I asked.

"When did they let a female into the armed force?" the pieena mumbled, but the suit could pick the sound up easily.

"Armed force? I thought this was a school…"

"Where's the fudgehog's battle gear?" he asked while pointing at Falkor. I knew it was the time to start fibbing, the truth could land me in a place I didn't need to be. Plus if I told him the truth about Falkor alone, it could mean the end of him.

"He ended up losing it in battle, it was beyond repair. You see-" The pieena pressed one of the many buttons on the control panel near the door.

"No need to tell me more, I understand," The pieena's eyes wavered red for an instant, I think I wouldn't have been able to see it without the suit. And if that wasn't uncomfortable enough, it felt like I was being read from the inside.

"So you have a name solider?" he asked. I didn't think it'd be a bad idea to share my name with the pieena.

"Pranvera, you?"

"Nathainel, I take it you're a new recruit here, mixing up each level of the building isn't that hard, I remember… Ah, I shouldn't be talking your ear off, you have a job to do," I decided it was the perfect chance to rip into him.

"Damn right I do, I need to make it to the infirmary here before Falkor here passes on. You understand me,"

"Don't worry, I'm taking you straight there, 'mam," He said mam in a very dry tone.

Luckily it was silent the rest of the way up. Once the doors opened, I left Nathaniel in the dust, it was best I don't cross paths with him again. I was in such a rush to get away that I didn't notice I was already standing in the infirmary. I went up to the front counter and called the receptionist who was typing on her computer.

"Miss?" I perked her attention.

"Yes?" the fudgehog looked me over for a second and then set her sights on Falkor, her visage remained unchanged.

"My… assigned partner here took a nasty spill and he's in terrible condition," I didn't my best not to lie, but also not to give myself away.

"Let's get him in then, it doesn't look too bad," she said, sounding slightly annoyed. The fudgehog came around the desk and took him from my arms and placed him on a stretcher. As she wheeled him off, I tagged along to make sure they weren't going to slaughter him later.

I wasn't in the best moods when I was forced to watch behind the glass window.

"Shape-shifters or not, they're real assholes," I kept that thought to myself. The operation wasn't that bad, the worse was that they had to pump Falkor's stomach to rid most of the rocks he somehow took in during the ride down. I probably guessed that he tried to yell to get my attention and ended up receiving a mouthful. Realizing my mistake, I made a mental note to go through instructions with Falkor more thoroughly.

"How are you doing?" I asked Falkor as soon as I was granted access beyond the glass windows.

"I feel like… I had my insides raped, ugh," It sounded more like the drugs they put in him were talking more than him.

"Well you're fixed up now Falkor," I looked around for anyone standing near, "We'll probably be able to get back to work A-S-A-P," I still covered our act.

The same fudgehog came back pushing a wheelchair in, obviously for Falkor.

"Thanks," I said gratefully, but she walked back to her post without a word.

"What a bitch," I growled as I turned back to Falkor. Of course he started to mumble on about some nonsense. He continued as I picked him up and placed him in the chair.

"Where the hell do I go now?" I got worked up as I finally understood how big of a building this was. And what was I to do to find Terrance? Ask around? Suspicion would arise. I was going through scenario after scenario in my mind until my helmet monitor notified me of a list of it labeled, 'classes.'

"Oh yeah, I forgot, Nathan placed me within the system, I pretty much live here… That is until I find Terrance, then I'm out of here for good," I brought up the navigational system to see where it would take me next, the system identified the destination as 'Dorm Room.'

Expectedly, the system led me back to the elevator, and as it opened for me I found Nathaniel was standing there with his arms crossed.

"What the hell does he want now?" I brought the two of us into the elevator, Nathaniel greeted us as we entered, but that all changed as the doors fell close. Nathaniel violently took me by the shoulders and ran me against the wall of the elevator.

"Take the battle gear off, I checked the records, you're a student, not a soldier," he demanded pressing harder, but with the suits strength, I forced him off of me.

"I made this suit myself! I don't have to take of anything!" I lied, but it was it technically was mine, and I wasn't going to hand it over to some arrogant shape-shifter.

"But that still doesn't disprove the fact that you lied to me!" Nathaniel barked at me, probably contemplating weather or not to rush at me.

"I didn't lie about anything! Falkor here had a hit a hard tumble with the ground and I DO have a job to do y'know!" I snapped back.

"Then what job was that, hmm?" he sneered at me

"Getting Falkor some medical help, I see being an asshole is your job," I mouthed off to him.

"Fine, you win this one, but I have my eye on you. But once I find who you really are, consider yourself terminated," His words meant I was to act fast if I was going to find Terrance and get out of here in one piece. I pressed the elevator back to the original floor we had started on. As we had gone back down I could feel the emotional pain work its way back in, I hadn't had anyone talk to me like that before. And how he pushed me against the wall, I felt abused. I almost thought he was going to attack me if I hadn't spoken up.

I peeked over at Nathaniel. He had his eyes closed, most likely because he didn't want to look at me. Shifting my eyes away, I decided to check on Falkor. I rubbed his head a few times to calm him down from the argument that recently took place. The elevator didn't take much longer to reach back to the school floor. Falkor and I were out of there without a second notice, I didn't want to wait another second with that pieena.

Not being fully aware of my surroundings, I strictly followed the directions to the dorm. It didn't help that the gossip about me was still alive. I could catch dozens of glances at Falkor and myself from the student's eyes. Their gossip started to return, with the same remarks and reactions. I did my best to block out most of their voices, if only the helmet could fix it, take away the sound, give me earplugs, anything!

Through all the madness I eventually found the dorm the navigational system led me to. I noticed the doorknob had a lock on it, but I tried opening it anyways. Unexpectedly the door gave and I rolled Falkor inside, shutting the door close behind us.

"What are we supposed to do now?" I looked over to Falkor, who obviously was still overly medicated and was unable to respond correctly.

"Well talking to him isn't going to get me to Terrance any faster, there's gotta be something around here that can help me out," I searched the room for anything that could help my effort to find Terrance. The room seemed pretty bleak, with no special decoration or furnishing to liven it up.

"Maybe that will do," I said, spotting a window pouring the light over my bed. I climbed on to of the bed and reached to open it. Unfortunately, after a few seconds of tampering with it, the blasted thing fell off the wall and broke once it met the floor, I found out the hard way it was a fake.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, this damned place is built underground," I griped to no one as I got down on myself for forgetting that fact.

Falkor began to mumble sightly louder than before. I gone up to him and covered his mouth to silence him.

"Quiet, I don't need our cover being blown just yet, you got that?" I said rather a little stricter than I needed to be, but it made Falkor calm down successfully.

I returned to searching, and in not too much time, I happened upon what was label a laptop in my helmet's monitor. With curiosity brimming in my mind, I parted it open.

"The controls, what the hell is this?" I was about to give up on that and start searching outside, however the helmet monitor prompted me with instructions on how to use it. Usually Nathan would be here to help me with this kind of stuff, why hadn't he responded, why is he still not responding? Something had to happen down there, because Nathan is usually always supervising my progress, only to take minor brakes for his body's needs.

Clearing my thoughts of Nathan, I replaced them with Terrance and read the instruction manual. I sat myself down on the bed, tried of reading the first few paragraph, I didn't want to read stupid instructions, what I wanted answers, demonstrations, something that could show me not tell me. And as if like magic, the helmet responded and a video appeared on the helmet monitor and claimed half of it. I was going to spend the next few hours studying them after finding out there was a network system with in this place, something to do with a lot of links and information, as I learned from the introduction video. I knew somewhere in the network system, I would find something out about Terrance.