"Wow! It's cold here!" Kipo exclaimed, slipping off the edge of the next rock. She caught her balance before jumping down to the next one, the steep ridge descending rapidly. Hugging herself against the coming night's chill, she continued down, moving in the general direction of the cluster of lights she'd seen earlier.

It was starting to get dark, she noted with a spike of anxiety. While she hadn't encountered any death ivy or giant scorpions, Kipo was relatively sure this world was just as dangerous as her own. There were alien things here. Just earlier, she'd hidden in a clump of bushes as something large and mechanical had driven low overhead. And back home, well, as home as the entire post-apocalyptic ruinscape had been, at least she'd had Wolf to show her what was dangerous and what wasn't.

Here, Kipo knew nothing.

Unconsciously, her fur emerged, and her eyes adjusted to the dimness. "Oh, hey! That works," she said as the fur began to insulate her. "Note to self- cold no longer a problem!" Then the sole of her shoe slipped off another rock, and with a yeep Kipo found herself falling. Her paw shot out, claws grabbing, but the nearest tree's bark only sheared off. "Ah! Too sharp! Too sharp!"

Then everything was wet. Gasping, Kipo rose, purple eyes glaring for the source of the shock. The small stream she'd fallen into burbled along regardless of her accusing stare, and Kipo stood up, water streaming from her soaked form. Her arm hadn't been hurt further, but the makeshift bandage was soaked. She didn't know if that was good or bad, and that worried her.

Then suddenly the cold returned in force, and her pointed teeth began to chatter. "Aw, fudgecicles." At least the food was in an extra set of bags. Wait. She'd put them back in, right?

"It-it's ok. It's ok! A-a little w-water never hurt anyone," she stammered to herself, and Kipo decided not to check the food. She set off again, jaws chattering and shoes squishing. "Er-er-herbs i-in?" She let her fur sink back into her skin, and water sloughed off her in waves, almost causing her to lose her balance again with how much weight was suddenly lost. Didn't help the cold, though. She shook her head, wringing out her shirt, continuing onward. Grumbling wouldn't get her anywhere.

Also, at this point Rule Number One of the Surface was probably in full effect.

Kipo found herself following the stream, and the ground became more even. To keep her mind off everything and also the coming darkness, Kipo went over what she learned about the new world. First thing first, this apocalypse was a LOT older than hers. She'd passed the bones of cars, rusted to their frames, and a small town so overgrown and destroyed she'd barely been able to recognize it as a place that had once known humanity. Secondly, there definitely were humans still around, she just didn't know where they were. "Maybe there are burrows here, too?" she wondered aloud.

The strangest thing, however, was the continued evidence that humanity wasn't alone. The graffiti, in no language she'd ever seen or heard of. The bleached skulls on spikes, with four eyes and needle-like teeth. The crashed craft, a large red ship with a boxlike symbol emblazoned on it. The bones of people, piled high, too organized to have been natural. She'd left the roads, just in case.

Hopefully there was someone in the city that could help her. Or, best, she could find the person that had built the one-eyed robots. Yes, she'd find them, then convince them to send her back. There was a plan!

She started running, her night-sharp eyes helping her see the traitorous rocks underfoot better. Moving would warm her up, right? She let the jaguar out further, extending its power to her legs, and started running, holding her hurt arm close to her. Soon the pain was forgotten, as adrenaline began setting in. In the last few days, Kipo had experimented with her powers a lot, and found that she liked going really really fast. It really wasn't helping the cold, though, the wind like icicles on her wet clothing.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of light through the trees.

She slowed down drastically, almost skidding on the needle-covered dirt. Kipo blinked. She stalked closer, drawn to the flickering yellow. Fire meant people. Or aliens, but still. Don't want to freak them out. Herbs in. She kept a small store of reserve strength in her legs. For running away.

Kipo also kept the eyes for a moment longer, scanning the darkness around her. There was nothing that she could see. Then a shadow flickered over the fire, movement. Kipo shrank back, letting her eyes return to normal, trying to see into the glare better. It was a human figure, with normal arms and legs. She took a breath as they sat. Nothing else for it.

She stood and walked closer, trying to make a calculated amount of noise. "Hello?" she called.

The figure stood in a heartbeat, and drew something from his side and pointed it at her. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"

Kipo eeped and raised her hands, wincing at the pain. The man's voice was rough, ready to fight. And he also had a gun. "I don't mean any harm! I'm just looking for a place to stay!"

"Come out where I can see you!" Curiously, he had hidden his face with an elbow, showing only… glowing yellow eyes. Kipo approached slowly, and the man muttered something she couldn't hear. Suddenly a small light blinked into existence. It floated over to her, single blue eye blinking. Another robot! Was it related to the first? She jumped as an array of blue lights scanned her.

"She seems to be in a state of hypothermic shock, and also-"

"Pork, you know what I want to know first," the man stated, frustration in his tone.

"She has no weapons, guardian," the robot announced.

The… guardian? Lowered his gun slowly, and Kipo waved with her uninjured arm and smiled, trying to keep her shivering to a minimum. "Hi! I'm Kipo, I just saw your fire and uh, wanted to see if it belonged to anyone."

"You're just a child." The statement was said with a definite amount of confusion, but there was more than a little suspicion as well. He hadn't uncovered his face.

"She is thirteen years old," the robot said helpfully. "And very strange. Perhaps she needs assistance?"

"Hey, thats not very…" Kipo trailed off, reconsidering. "Actually, I'll give you that one. I am strange."

"Are you alright? How did you survive the Cabal patrols?" The man asked, reaching for a helmet on the log. Kipo blinked. Wait. His skin was… rippling. No, that sounded too creepy. It looked like she was seeing him underwater, and the rippling of water above them were messing with the lights making reflections on his skin. Also he was blue. Then she remembered he had asked her a question.

"Oh, is that what they're called?" Kipo laughed nervously, the assorted stress and pains threatening to come to the surface. She hugged herself. "Yeah, I'm not… from around here." Apparently he was an alien too. She didn't know how to feel about that.

"What's that on your arm? Come closer." He holstered his weapon, and that let the smallest bit of weight off her chest.

Kipo approached slowly, breathing becoming harder to control. Wait. Did she have hypothermia? It wasn't even that cold! "Oh, I just… I think I got shot earlier?' Her mind was starting to spin, the cold and sorrow and pain seemingly pressing down on her, and she had to adjust her balance. She'd lost concentration on her powers some time ago, but hadn't noticed when. "It was kind of sudden."

"Wait wait wait. Stop right there." The man squinted at her, letting his arm fall, revealing a good-looking face, twisted in an expression of purest confusion."Kid," he began, "are you ok?"

Kipo sniffled, and she started blinking furiously. No! Stay strong. She was a tough apocalypse girl. She had a plan, she could find a way!

"No," she whispered, looking down. "I'm not. I was kidnapped by a robot, tossed through a portal, and shot by an alien." Her voice cracked pathetically, but now she didn't care. Tears welled in her eyes against her will. "I have no idea where I am, what's going on, or how far I am away from home." She was speaking louder now. Kipo shoved the tears away viciously, but they were coming too fast. "I don't even know if I can get home, my friends probably think I got myself killed, and I'm never going to see them or my family, ever again!" She was shouting now, but not at the man. At this world in general, at the complete and utter oddity, the crushing hopelessness of her entire situation. "And it's all my fault! It's all my fault, and now I'm going to lose everything I love, forever!"

The man stared at her, expression surprised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I just," Kipo began, trying to wipe both eyes with a single arm. Her voice faltered, and she tried to swallow back the knot. "It's, its, I just got everyone back..."

The man pointed at Kipo, and she stopped talking. "Stop. Sit. Get warm, or you'll get sick. Stay there. Pork, watch her."

"Yes, guardian." The robot turned to her as the man walked off. "Your body temperature is below normal parameters. Please follow my guardian's advice."

Kipo obeyed, almost tripping over the log, and sat. Her brain was spinning while her body tried to choose between fetal position and getting as close to the fire as possible. Where was the man going? What would he think about her being from another world? She'd said wayyy too much, probably overwhelmed the poor guy, and now he was going to leave the crazy girl behind. Kipo didn't blame him.

"Your name is Kipo, Miss Kipo?" the robot asked.

She turned to look at it? Him? "Yeah… yeah. Kipo Oak." She sighed. Talking. She could do talking. "Um, what's your name? I've never met a robot before."

"Oh, I'm not a robot. I'm a ghost!"

Kipo blinked. "Excuse me?"

"The guardians named me Pulled Pork." He spun his shell happily. "I don't know why."

She laughed weakly. "Oh, that's not too weird. I named a friend of mine after a dumpling, so…" She relaxed a little. "Nice to meet you, Pulled Pork."

"It is nice to meet you too! Can I examine your wound?"

"Oh, yes please." The ghost hovered around to her right. "Do I need to take the bandage off?"

"No need, Miss Kipo Oak. I was certified six hundred years ago by the healers of the Iron Temple." She processed that as another array of lights as he scanned her upper arm. "Oh. Oh."

"What?"

"You were grazed by an Eliksni wire rifle. But..." He scanned her again.

Eliksni. She tried out the word in her head. It was a pretty word. So that was the name of the race of aliens that she had met. "But…?"

"A strangely weak one. Some varieties of those rifles have been known to fully disintegrate a target, and while standard issue are indeed weaker and this is a graze instead of a full-impact wound, it just seems… rather odd." The ghost looked up at her. "You are rather odd, Miss Kipo Oak. I would expect your wound to be that of a half-healed guardian, not a thirteen year old human girl."

"Well, I am very strange, as you said," she admitted. Did she have regeneration powers? Kipo couldn't remember that ever coming up in her adventures, but then again, she'd never been badly enough hurt to notice. "Can you heal me?"

"Oh no, I am not your ghost. If my guardian were a warlock, he would be able to, but he is not."

"A… warlock? Like a wizard?"

"No, I said he was not that. He is a hunter, in fact."

Kipo nodded slowly, her mouth making the oh shape.

Then unprompted, Pork spoke again, hovering away to the other side of the fire. "You do not have to worry, Miss Kipo Oak. My guardian is a good person, even if he does not like people. He will help you."

"Oh. Thank you."

There was a second of silence, and Kipo further relaxed as heat finally began to spread through her. "Pork? What's a Ghost?"