Author's Note

Hello again! I haven't got much to say, except that I didn't expect this one to take so long and like last time hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2 - The Graduation

"Wake up. Wake up you are late," came a familiar robotic voice
"No I'm not shut up S.A.I.L.," responded Kaede, his voice muffled as his face was buried in a pillow.
S.A.I.L. (Ship-based Artificial Intelligence Lattice) announced important occasions, and one is assigned to each ship. Other than announcements it will also tell the user crucial information relating to their mission.
"You know for being an AI you're really bad at time keeping. That or I somehow messed your timer up." Kaede said, his voice still muffled, and only S.A.I.L. heard him as Rowan left a week before due to a death in the family and Jayden was nowhere to be found. Tepilih and Trix were still asleep as per usual.

"Wake up graduate. You will be late."
"Shhh in your artificial dreams I'm late!"
"Wake up. Wake up you are late. Wake up graduate. You will be late." repeated S.A.I.L.
After some muffled screams Kaede sat up. "Shut it will you?!"
After repeating it's message once again S.A.I.L. seemed to get louder
"I will look for you, I will find you, and I will put you on snooze."
After sometime of fumbling around looking for a way to quieten the AI, Kaede couldn't find a snooze button. Instead he chose to power off his alarm, which was where S.A.I.L.'s voice originated.
"Ahhh finally some relief!" said Kaede, somewhat exasperated.

After getting dressed, brushing his teeth and even taking a mint, as it was a special occasion, Kaede headed out of his dorm. Firstly he went down to the information room and asked the lady at the front when the graduation would start. "It starts in around 2 hours, love," she said with a cockney British accent. Before coming to Earth Kaede studied about the culture of Earth and about the different nationalities. He found that the Hylotl's culture was very similar to those of the Japanese, as they both were very technologically and culturally advanced. Also he found a type of cartoon, created mainly by the Japanese, called 'anime' and was curious to what it contained. Unfortunately for him, he never got the time.

Usually before class started Kaede and Rowan would go for a jog, but as Rowan was elsewhere Kaede had to find something to do. Today he chose to grab a book and sit on a bench beneath a tall, tree with pink leaves and soothing wind chimes. There was always another Hylotl sitting on the benches and a Glitch janitor, but he never remember or asked for their names, as they rarely spoke.

When approaching the tree however the janitor said "Happy. Finally graduating Kaede?"
"Yeah. I hope you get to do something more fun than sweeping petals, bud."
"Sad. Yes, I hope so too. Realisation. You called me bud, and I seem to recall that you have never used my name. So I am wondering do you know my name?"
"Uhhh of course I do... It's..." after searching his shirt for a name tag, realised he wasn't wearing one "It's Dave right?"
"Disappointed. No it's..." as the janitor looked down to grab something from his pocket Kaede ran for cover towards the trees as fast as he could. Seeing the Glitch look towards him Kaede yelled "I'M REALLY SORRY OKAY. I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU SOMEHOW BUD!"
"Weary. Well, back to sweeping petals."

Wow, that was awkward as hell. I wonder if I should get him a gift, ask for his name or both. Kaede sighed. Well that's one more thing to worry about after graduating. Crap, now I gotta find another spot to read. I could always go back to the dorm, but, Trix and Tepilih can be so noisy sometimes. Well time to find something else to do... As he got lost in his thoughts Kaede once again dozed off to sleep, listening to the soft music of the wind chimes.
"Wake up. Wake up you are late," announced S.A.I.L. with a particularly loud alarm. Kaede. who had slowly leaned towards the ground while sleeping, jolted upright. Whaa... Oh not again! Swear I'm gonna duct tape his digital body to a digital chair. But as Kaede checked the time, the ceremony had indeed started. Well a broken clock's right twice a day, on Earth anyways.

As he rushed from behind the tree, to the elevator and waiting a painstakingly slow 2 minutes for it to arrive and send him down to the room where the graduation was being held, he finally arrived. The big moment. As the Grand Protectorate spoke Kaede thought of how great, respectable and amazing he could be. He thought of defeating god-like monsters and discovering technology that could help anyone and do anything. But he also thought of how he could make the janitor feel better. As the ceremony began and his thoughts continued, but also waiting for his name to be called out. Suddenly the floor beneath started to shake. Then great tentacles burst from beneath the ground, all at once. One of them grabbing the Grand Protectorate, pulling her beneath the floorboards. As her Matter Manipulator dropped to the ground, pandemonium arose.

Humans were screaming. Hylotls were running to and fro. Avians praying to their god. Glitches attempting to cast spells and defend their code of honour. Novakids cursing. Apexes hoping that their leader would save them and Florans running towards the enemy. In the chaos Kaede ran towards the Matter Manipulator, grabbed it and ran to the nearest exit. Amongst the destruction however a more light-hearted or sadistic side to him thought, Man the apocalypse has just begun and I'm already looting!
S.A.I.L. for once was useful and told Kaede "It is not safe to remain here. You must proceed to the shuttle pad!"
Heading his advice Kaede rushed in the direction of a compass hologram, provided by S.A.I.L. Unluckily there was a mound of dirt and debris blocking his way. Using his newly acquired Matter Manipulator he tore through it.
"Oh god this isn't good. This is absolutely terrible, horrible, no good and very bad. If I survive this I'm sure as hell buying myself a whole chocolate caa-" Kaede said to no one in particular, but stopped as even more tentacles appeared from beneath the ground. As he continued running, a torn banner got caught on his neck, lightly choking him. But he soon managed to tear away from it, however some of it was still wrapped around him. Oh cool, a free cape!
When he got closer to the shuttle pad S.A.I.L. announced "The chest sitting on the conveyor belt should contain some kind of weapon. Please arm yourself!"
Following his advice for the second time Kaede looted the chest and found a broken broadsword, which was most likely once a great weapon. Still running towards an escape route, a small-ish tentacle burst from beneath the ground, in front of Kaede. Luckily for him, he maintained his swiftness, charged and impaled the tentacle. In a light shower of blood, he kept running.
"I have bypassed the preflight checks. Get aboard!" said S.A.I.L. indicating towards a broken Apex ship with vines and bones littered across it.
"Hey S.A.I.L. for once you're being useful! And also if we survive this I'll be getting you a digital chocolate cake okay?!" Kaede yelled above the noise of various other ships' engines.

As the hatch opened with a 'virr', Kaede got inside and looked through the window. Outside he saw Tentacles, copious amounts of them, some taller than the Terrene Protectorate HQ. But what horrified him was that he saw ships below being swatted out of the sky like flies, crashing down in a blaze of fire. Focusing on slightly more important matters Kaede scanned the ship, he saw a captain's chair, a S.A.I.L. console and a locker. Although as they went through the atmosphere everything went dark. Suddenly he heard a hiss coming from the locker. Thinking it was a snake he ran towards the cockpit. Kaede also thought that the ship was bigger than it actually was, and hit his head on the front window. Immediately his vision blurred and darkened further, his body slumped to the ground and everything went black.