So, officially recruited as the Spectral Space Pirates, the roommates arrived at the Jark mansion for their first training. The three of them quickly stepped in a line when they saw Sheer facing forward in the hall. They were standing beside each other like soldiers.
Soon, Spectre walked into the hall, wearing a magenta gown and drinking from a cup of a Kai equivalent of coffee. He spitted his drink once he spotted the four of them. "What the sky are you doing here?!" He wiped his lips and beard with his handkerchief. "When I said you'll be here in the morning, I didn't mean this early."
"Apologies, boss," Sheer said, "I just wanted to be on time."
"Y-yeah!" the roommates agreed.
"...yeah, nice. Give me some time," Spectre told them before leaving.
"Yes, sir!" the pale Kai said and saluted.
The other three looked at her and then quickly did the same.
"Do you seriously think that just imitating me will help you stay?" Sheer asked the trio beside her with a smirk on her face, "just shows how insecure and hopeless you are; you'll always be two steps behind me. You can never reach my height."
Foolscap suddenly burst out in laughter. "Funny coming from someone whose top of the head is barely above Ream's shoulders!" Fools grinned, clearly entertained by his remark.
"Fools, please..." Ream mumbled disappointedly while Gavro was quietly giggling. "Not you too!" she snapped at him.
"Sorry..." the buff man murmured.
Ream peeked at Sheer. "I'm sorry about that, Miss Bla-I mean, Sheer."
The pale Kai ignored her, making her frown sadly.
The four of them stood there in silence after that until Goma spotted them and flew to them, joining the line. The pirate glanced at him surprisingly.
"Um... What are you doing, kid?" Foolscap asked him.
"I'm gramps' Space Pirate too," the boy chuckled, "the best one!"
"Wouldn't say that if I were you; teeny tiny over there is sensitive to people being better than her," the slim man joked.
Sheer glared at him, knowing that he's not worth the trouble.
Spectre soon came back and frowned at Goma. The boy grinned at him innocently. "Your most loyal pirate is ready to train!" he exclaimed and saluted.
"You will not join the training, Goma," his grandfather spoke up.
"Why not?"
"You're too young and you get easily into a mess."
"That's not true!" The boy pouted.
The green Kai sighed. "You are so much like your parent and their nickname wasn't Trouble for nothing. I don't want you to get into danger, even if this is just training." His red eyes shot a nasty glare at his grandson. "Not today, Goma."
The purple boy frowned angrily as he flew away after being rejected like that.
"As for the four of you." Spectre turned to his pirates. "I have prepared a little training for you. There are many things to improve. You might each have your own specialties, but those are not enough. Do you know why?"
At that question, Gavro blinks and then shakes his head while his best friend replies with a smirk on his face, "because some of us are incapable and useless."
He didn't realize what his words did to his sister, however.
Ream closed her eyes shut, sucked in a slow breath, and gripped onto her arm, however, fully aware that Foolscap didn't mean her.
"Yeah," Sheer agreed, "nice seeing that you aren't afraid to call yourself out."
The blue man chuckled proudly before figuring out what she meant and snapping at her. She didn't even flinch and instead answered Spectre's question. "We have no idea what we can encounter; there is no detailed information on life other than the one from our planet."
Ream opened her eyes and added to Sheer's statement. "That's right. We barely know anything about the planet Brontikins came from and theoretically speaking, if our planet and his planet managed to evolve to be habitable, there can be more places with countless unknown species."
"Exactly. Despite targeting random planets to gather their resources, we can face up against any type of living being we know nothing about. I would also appreciate it if you learned some teamwork. All these arguments can lead to your failure and I don't like failures." The green Kai then turned around. "The Gel Jarks will lead you to the dressing room where your training uniforms are, once dressed, you'll be led to my ship where your training starts. Understood?"
"Yes, boss," Sheer replied and the other three repeated shortly after her.
A lavender-pink blob walked over to the pirates; it was shaped as a Kai body missing a head, a neck, and wings; a black hexagonal eye was in the middle of the body's chest with pink light as a pupil and surrounded by hexagon-shaped metal plates. They've seen Gel Jarks before, but this one, in particular, was very short, even shorter than Sheer.
The Gel Jark headed away and the four followed them. The android made strange electronic noises on the way. Foolscap curiously poked them and his finger sunk inside of the gel—the Gel Jark didn't seem to notice or care. The slim man gasped and immediately pulled away, jumping back, his face cringing.
"What are you doing?" Gavro asked him.
"I just wanted to..." Fools frowned. "I dunno... I just wanted to try." He shrugged. "Feels like pudding."
The Gel Jark glared at him once he said that, making the blue man quickly hide behind Gavro.
Not long after, they arrived in the dressing room where each of them had their respective training uniforms as Spectre mentioned. The four pirates casually undressed. Ream heard metal hitting the floor, she turned to the source of the sound and caught a glimpse of Sheer's body—her face switched from bluish to red.
"Oh..."
It was more of the metal sounds that snapped Ream out; she realized that several sharp weapons fell from Sheer's dress.
A skilled assassin...
She seems prepared for anything involving violence.
The pale Kai shot a nasty glare at Ream which she quickly responded to by looking away. "...Woah..." she whispered and put the dark gray suit on.
While changing, Fools eyed the buff man next to him, realizing how thin his own arms are compared to his friend's and his face flushing, red running even to the tips of his ears.
Once dressed, they each pressed a button on the uniforms to adapt to their bodies to help them move faster while being comfortable. Sheer, in a red suit, immediately left the room.
Meanwhile, Foolscap was looking at himself and groaned. "He can't be serious. Green isn't my color."
"Yeah, you look horrendous," Ream joked, "just horrible. Gavro looks the best out of the three of us; there's something about that dark purple."
"Yeah..." Fools admitted.
"Hurry up, you three!" sounded from the outside.
The roommates exchanged annoyed looks and walked out of the room as Sheer ordered.
The Gel Jark then brought them to the backyard of the mansion, seeing a huge pen-shaped ship get uncamouflaged, and light quickly transported them onboard where Spectre with his hand folded behind his back was already waiting.
They were standing in a huge room with several obstacles placed randomly around the place; ramps, small walls to hide behind, randoms tall pillars.
"Oh, Foolscap, that shade of green isn't for you," the boss commented once he saw his pirates, "that color combination is disgusting."
"I know, right?! -wait, weren't you the one who picked these?"
"Honestly, I just found these laying around and I expected you to take the gray one."
"I wanted to." Fools glared at Ream. His sister smiled innocently back.
Spectre shook his head. "Anyways, I have prepared a little test for you to see your abilities. You'll fight 50 Gel Jarks at once with a weapon of your choice. You can use any dirty trick in the book to hit the enemies, however, so are they. Each hit will make the Gel Jark's wound color according to who hit it."
He stomped onto the floor and a panel on the ground slid open as a table with several different weapons; circle-shaped sharp boomerangs, a double-edged sword, a mini harpoon in a wristband, and what resembled an ax. Sheer, Ream, Foolscap, and Gavro picked each weapon respectively. The pale Kai chose immediately while the three roommates hesitated; Fools was the fastest one out of the three to decide on his weapon—the wristband fit him perfectly.
The table then disappeared under the floor and a smirk crossed Spectre's face. "Get ready," he said before spreading his wings and flew swiftly straight up, leaving through a hole in the ceiling that suddenly opened.
As soon as he was gone, 49 Gel Jarks dropped from the ceiling, joining the one Gel Jark that brought them there, surrounding the pirates.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention, you have two star-pieces to do this," sounded Spectre's voice from speakers near a glass window—two star-pieces are equal to ten minutes on Earth.
"We're on a time limit?!" the Cane siblings blurted out.
"Start!"
After a long beep, Sheer immediately flew up, tossing her weapon. It indeed acted as a boomerang, making its way around several Gel Jarks and coming back to her hand. The boomerang scratched five of them, their wounds coloring yellow.
"5 points for me," she said mockingly as she smirked, "I'm already in the lead."
Foolscap grinned widely. "Not for long, tiny." He reached his right hand in front of him. "Let's see how this works," he mumbled to himself, hitting the wristband. A golden harpoon shot right past the Gel Jark.
"WHA-?!"
"Way to aim, klutz," Sheer laughed at him and landed on one of the Gel Jarks, stomping on it harshly, which made its gel near the metal plates turn yellow.
"Shut up!" he snapped at her.
She jumped from one Gel Jark to another, kicking each of them.
"Still in the lead," she exclaimed.
Fools growled, his ears turning red.
"Maybe you picked a wrong weapon, Fools," Gavro told him, before swinging the ax. However, he held onto the handle too hard that he accidentally broke it. "Oh..."
"Are you kidding me, Gav?" Fools groaned.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"Then whose fault is it?! Not mine!"
"Now's not the time for you to argue," Ream yelled at the two.
The two men glared at each other as a Gel Jark towered over Ream, ready to grab her from behind. The two noticed and immediately attacked the Gel Jark. Foolscap shot the harpoon, stabbing the droid, and Gavro punched it, sending it flying away—its body turned blue and red where it got hit.
Gavro smirked. "Seems that I don't need a weapon."
Fools growled and pulled the harpoon back in the wristband.
"I'd hurry up if I were you," Spectre spoke up.
The roommates glanced at each other, grinning.
"Hey, Gav. Let's see if your fists are more useful than my speed," Foolscap teased his friend.
"Speed? Don't forget who always wins our races," Gavro reminded him.
"I'm still the Blue Flash, the fastest Kai around here."
"Could you two stop competing for five seconds?" Ream asked them angrily, before stabbing a Gel Jark's hand as it tried to reach her, the wound turning teal. She swiped the sword back to her, ripping the robot's hand apart. Its gel patched the wound as the Gel Jark backed away.
"We'll stop competing once I win this," Foolscap chuckled and launched himself up.
"What an idiot..." Ream sighed and attacked the Gel Jarks. Gavro stayed with her, guarding her back.
The blue Kai flew near the ceiling, shooting the harpoon at the targets, hitting only one Gel Jark while Sheer managed to get at least 5 at once. She had no problem striking with her new weapon or her own body. Her kicks knocked them down with ease.
Meanwhile, in the room where Spectre was watching from, Meraki walked in. "She's talented, isn't she?"
"She's incredible. No wonder that she asked for her," Spectre said.
"Do you think she can be trusted?" Meraki doubted, looking at his husband.
"I know what I'm doing."
"Love, I trust you, but I'm worried. We don't know what she wants; she's ordering you around without telling you what exactly she's planning."
"She requested that I recruit Sheer Blade and that's all I did," the green Kai explained.
"And what about the other three?"
"They...have some qualities," he said hesitantly, "no one else dares to audition for the positions. They are the only pirates I have." He turned to the pink Kai and smiled at him. "I still trust you more than anyone, Mer." He pecked his husband's lips.
Meraki chuckled, his cheeks turning red. "Shouldn't you be watching your employees as they train?"
"I'll spend a bunch of time with them to the point of being annoyed, let me enjoy time without them, my pink rose."
"Dummy..." Meraki snuggled into Spectre, covering himself by his husband's cape. "I love you..."
"I love you too, darling."
As the husbands were having a moment the pirates were in the middle of their training.
Foolscap dropped from the air at an incredible speed. As he was on the level with Gel Jarks, he shot his harpoon at one beside him, stabbing through it and several others. It was nearly a perfect move, however, he was too focused on the shot that he didn't stop himself from falling in time and hit the floor with a loud bang.
He swiftly sat up, holding his head, hearing a beating inside his skull. He groaned before getting up. The thin man was about to shoot at another Gel Jark, but it started changing its shape, transforming into Ream.
He froze in place, staring at his little sister who he just wanted to impale with the tiny harpoon.
"Shoot me," she told him.
Foolscap's eyes widened and his arm shook. He was fully aware that this wasn't his little sister, but he couldn't make himself actually shoot—it still looked exactly like her...
He wasn't even able to move, something got stuck in him. Before he could even think of anything, the fake Ream got hit with a strong punch, making her turn back into a Gel Jark whose gel colored red.
Fools' eyes shifted up, looking his savior in the face. "Gav...?"
"You okay?" his friend asked him.
He grinned at him. "Of course!" He noticed his little sister standing behind Gavro and sighed in relief. How could he be so easily stopped while knowing fully well that what he saw wasn't real?
Nearing the end of the time, something entered the room. A purple blur flew all over the room, trying to punch like Gavro and kick like Sheer; the Gel Jarks marked the hits just as they did with the pirates, but this time, they were purple.
"Is that...?" Fools murmured.
Sheer threw one of her boomerangs at the blur. A young boy's clothes got pinned to the wall by the boomerang. Goma grinned innocently at her. "Hi..."
"What are you doing here, brat?" Sheer growled, taking back her weapon, so Goma fell on the floor.
"I wanted to join in!"
Suddenly a long beep sounded through the room and all the Gel Jarks froze. "The training's over," Spectre said into a microphone.
Soon, the glass window opened, and Spectre and Meraki flew down to the pirates and their grandson.
"Goma, what did I tell you?" Spectre glared at his grandson.
"That I will not join the training..." Goma mumbled, "I know, but I wanted to prove that I'm better than you think I am!"
"You are too young for this."
"Wait, Spectre," Meraki spoke up, pressing buttons on his wristband, "he is right. The Gel Jark score says that Goma got the second biggest amount hits in such a short time-spam; he's better than three-fourths of your pirates."
"Wha-?!" Foolscap, Gavro, and Ream screamed in shock and their own disappointment.
Sheer smirked mockingly. "As expected. Even a 10-year-old child is better than the three of you."
"I'm 11 actually," Goma corrected her.
"Whatever. He perfectly copied my moves despite seeing them for a while and for the first time. It's incredible," Sheer admitted.
"I watched old recordings of grandpas and my parents when I was little. They're great at fighting and I've always wanted to be like them!"
"Maybe the kid can replace the stick siblings; the big one can stay, he actually did something," she suggested.
"Hey!" the Cane siblings snapped at her.
"She has a point," Spectre spoke up.
The siblings gulped, stepped back.
"Your performance was quite disappointing, but that is exactly why training is needed. I've seen your strengths and weaknesses; I know what you can improve and how you can improve. From now on, Foolscap, Gavro, you will train together regularly to work on your aim, strength, and speed. You can learn a lot from each other. Ream, you'll train with Sheer. Just like your brother, you aren't very skilled at combat. You and Gavro got each other's back which I appreciate, however, you need to learn how to defend yourself as well."
Ream nodded.
"The four of you can leave and you can keep the weapons; your training will now be up to you."
"Yes, sir."
Spectre turned to his husband. "Mer, could you walk them out?"
"On it!" Meraki nodded and led the pirates away. Goma tried to join in, however, Spectre grabbed his clothes, keeping him in place.
"You aren't free to go."
Goma frowned up at him as the others left.
"I told you not to get involved," his grandfather reminded him.
"I'm sorry. All of that just looked so fun and I wanted to prove that I'm actually good."
"I am impressed," he admitted, "but you are too young. I don't want to lose you just because you rush into a dangerous situation, thinking that you're awesome enough to be invincible."
"Sorry...I thought I could be helpful..."
—
Once outside of the ship, Meraki smiled at the four pirates. "I think you all did great and Spectre can see it too, even if he doesn't show that well."
"Are you sure?" Ream wondered.
The older man nodded. "I am. I've known him for the majority of my life, I know what he's up to; he just wants to make sure that you are strong enough to get out of danger by yourself."
"We'll make sure to show him what we're capable of!" Foolscap grinned.
"You're only capable of running for your life," Sheer mocked him.
"Shut up!"
The yell did even faze her. She spread her yellowish wings and started flying away, but Ream called out to her. "I'm looking forward to learning from you, Sheer!"
The pale Kai looked down at her and pulled something out of her sleeve, letting go of it. A tiny piece of paper was falling to the ground and Ream caught it.
"I have some stuff to do, so meet me at this address, at this time today," Sheer told her before leaving.
Ream smiled softly, looking at the paper. "She's so cool..." she whispered to herself.
"What was that?" Fools wondered.
"Nothing!" His sister flushed, holding the paper tightly.
"Ready to head home?" Gavro asked the siblings.
"Sure!" Foolscap nodded.
"Okay!" Gavro scooped Ream into his arms, making her face turn redder than it was before.
"Gav!"
A smile formed on the big Kai's face. "It'll be faster through the sky."
"You're right," Ream admitted as they took off, saying goodbye to Meraki.
The pink man watched them fly away and then sighed, looking up at the ship. "I hope you know what you're doing, Speccy..."
—
Spectre walked out on Goma, leaving his grandson alone as he received a message. The green Kai walked into his control room, meeting with a gray-skinned woman with short brown hair, dark eyes, and dark marks on her face who was towering over Spectre.
"She's perfect," she said.
"I can see why you wanted me to recruit Sheer."
"The other three are...problematic, but have their special quirks; strength, dedication, brain. I can make use of them."
Spectre nodded.
The woman grinned wickedly. "I'll get you to the places where no one was before; I can show you where to find the most powerful objects of the universe. You and your pirates just need to be ready."
"I'll make sure of that. No need to worry, Zepar."
—
She's here! What a twist!
Anyway, this took me longer than it should have. I'm very happy that I finally finished this.
I don't have much to say about this right now, so I just hope you liked the chapter.