Chapter 1

It was early morning as a small child rolled over in bed. A light buzzing noise was filling the air disturbing the quiet peacefulness that had previously filled the room. Her eyes fluttered slightly and then clenched hard, her mouth forming into a snarl as she finally opened her eyes and sat up. Moments later a pillow hurtled across the room and struck the offending alarm clock, knocking it to the floor with a crash. The buzzing stopped abruptly and the girl stuck her tongue out.

"Stupid buzzy alarm clock!" she complained lying back down in bed.

Just then there was a tapping on the door and a voice called to her.

"Lavender, hey girl are you up?"

"Uuuuuuuuuh!" complained the girl sitting up once more, "Yeah I'm up…"

"Good, get dressed and come on out ok."

"Fine…"

Lavender kicked back the covers and lay still for a moment. At the time she wore a pair of pyjamas which were of made of a soft pink material, most likely cotton. On the top was a printed picture of a rabbit, which was coloured in a light blue colour. In truth Lavender hated them but she didn't complain, it was better than not having any at all. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and looked around the room.

It was simple in design and rather small to boot. Her bed lay against one wall, a small porthole in the wall above it giving a nice view of the stars outside. If she stood on her tiptoes and looked out, Lavender could just see the curved blue form of the planet Ragol below them. The room also housed a small desk to one side and next to it a set of draws for her clothes and personal things. The draws were never full though, Lavender didn't have enough of her own stuff to barely fill two of the four draws in the unit.

On the desk was a small lamp and a pile of loose paper that was her school work. As much as she hated school she found something's very interesting such as cooking and gym. When it came to science and maths though, Lavender was completely lost. Her brain just wouldn't accept all the facts and formulas her teachers spouted and her test results weren't that great. Most of the time it was her friends whispering her the answers that got her through them. She knew they were taking a huge risk doing this but she was always sure to show how grateful she was, normally by baking them all a cake, something she was very good at.

Next to the pile of papers was a small set of cards. They were semi circular in design and red in colour, with a printed pattern on the front that looked like an eye. She had been told they were called Mahu but she just called them "her cardies". Her eyes finally tracked to the chair in front of the table, upon which sat her clothes, stacked neatly in a pile she had made the night before. Her clothes she loved and was one of the few things she treasured more than her foster parent.

Lavender quickly jumped out of bed, her earlier sleepiness forgotten for the moment, and crossed to the chair. She quickly slipped out of her pyjamas and into her underwear before pulling the main section of her clothes over her head. This main section was in fact a dress, purple and white being the main colours. The shoulders were white, the chest purple and the drape over the legs white with purple on either side. The arms were a mix of purple and white sections and the cuffs purposefully made overly large so they stuck out. There was also a small section that wrapped around her waist like a miniature shawl that was grey with purple trim. As was plainly obvious, Lavender liked the colour purple, if it had been left up to her everything would be purple in colour.

Once Lavender had slipped into her clothing she crossed the room and hit the light switch, finally illuminating the small room. In the new light it was clear to see what Lavender actually looked like. Her child like face was full of innocence made only clearer by her brilliant green eyes that could melt anyone's heart within a split second. Her hair was cut short, reaching only to her shoulders at best and was gelled up slightly at the back forming a small fan behind her. Its colour was a brilliant white with the occasional grey line through it, which at first everyone though was very odd. For a child of eight her hair colour would have made her look like an old woman if she had been taller and more serious in nature.

Lavender sat herself down at the desk and fished in one of the draws next to her before she finally pulled out a mirror and comb. She spent a minute making sure her slumber hadn't wrecked her hair and then put the items away. She finally turned to her side and lifted a small hat from a rack, which she placed on her head. The hat looked slightly like a jester's hat, the top separating into two small spikes from which hung two small tassels. The hat also had two strips of material that fell down over her ears, which she could tie under her chin to keep the hat on if needed.

Finally happy about the way she looked, Lavender bounded over to the door and opened it, passing into the room beyond. The room in question was the main room of the apartment her and her foster parent rented. It was a bright room, the ceiling being covered in spotlights and numerous other lights being scattered all over. The centre of the room housed a large fixed curved sofa and a small coffee table. Next to this sat a number of plants in pots and beyond, at the back of the room, was a small kitchen section and breakfast bar. The left side wall was in fact a large window that looked out over the residential zone here on Pioneer 2. The view looked down a gap between several tall blocks, ending in the dome that covered the entire "city" isolating it from space. Artificial lights were scattered all over outside, bringing light to the otherwise dark sky that continually filled their vision.

Lavender made her way across the room, heading over towards the breakfast bar at the back of the room. It was here that another person was working in the kitchen. He was an old man, or rather an old newman, a genetically altered human with enhanced abilities. Like all Newman's his ears stuck out sideways but otherwise he looked perfectly human. His expression was calm and focussed, his tone equally calm and focussed as he addressed the arriving girl.

"Morning Lavender, have a seat." he said as he carried on his task of making breakfast.

Lavender promptly sat down at the bar, pouring herself a glass of orange from a pitcher on the top. She silently watched the Newman work, taking note of his normal attire as he worked. He wore a dark blue jacket over a black shirt and tight black trousers although Lavender thought they looked more like tights than trousers. His blue hair was gelled straight up into a series of large spikes and held in place by a large headband that passed round his head above his ears. On his feet were a set of shoes that made Lavender giggle every time she saw them, she was convinced he had bought them in a ladies shoe shop due to the huge sole on them. The Newman also wore a small set of gold coloured shoulder pads, which had his hunter's ID badge set into it.

Lavender was also convinced that he had picked up the wrong ID from the colour of it, bright pink! Presently the Newman turned round and slipped a series of three pancakes onto a waiting plate and passed them to Lavender.

"Here you go." he said before turning round again.

"Thanks unky Links." replied Lavender before proceeding to smother the pancakes in syrup.

Links was Lavender's foster father, her original parents having died several years ago. Links had been a friend of the family and had decided to take in Lavender and care for her until she was ready to go out into the world herself. That had happened seven years ago, just before Pioneer 2 had left Coral, their home world, on it's way to this place, Ragol. Her parents had been involved in the construction of Pioneer 1 and had also been partially involved in the construction of Pioneer 2 and that is where they both lost their lives. An accident during the huge ships construction left both of them sucking on vacuum as a pressure hatch blew in the section they had been working on. In total seventeen people died in the accident which was the darkest moment of the Pioneer migration besides the recent events on Ragol.

By all rights, Pioneer 2 should have landed on Ragol over two months ago and yet they were still in orbit due to an unexplained explosion on the surface below. It had happened whilst communications were being established and at the moment it was being said that a problem had occurred in the power generators, causing a large explosions. That said numerous teams of hunters had descended to the world below over the previous two months and no signs of a physical explosion had been found. The Central Dome, the focal point of the evacuation, had not suffered any damage at all and neither had any of the surrounding structures or vegetation. It was almost as if the place was a ghost town, no one from Pioneer 1 had been found, and it made a few people uneasy. There was definitely some kind of problem on the surface, a few weeks ago access to the Central Dome had finally been gained by a small group of hunters but instead of finding living quarters and command centres they had found a huge dragon. The creature had been dealt with, the Central Dome now marked as clean on all reports, but it only served to increase tension onboard Pioneer 2.

Speaking of Pioneer 2, Lavender had grown up on this huge vessel. She had only been one year old when her parents had died and now at the end of Pioneer 2's seven year voyage she was nearing eight and a half. She was typical to her age too, overly noisy and excitable as one of her teachers had described her. Links knew Lavender didn't really enjoy school but in his mind it was a second priority to what he was teaching her, the routine of becoming a FO or magic user. Lavender's parents had both come from successive lines of hunters but had decided not to pursuit that line of work themselves, instead going for construction workers. Links however could see the potential in Lavender and had taken her too a testing centre as soon as she was old enough. This had been about a year ago, just after Lavender's seventh birthday, and the tests had gone to prove that she was indeed worthy of a hunter position and more exactly the position of a FO as Links had suspected. Links was a FO himself, a FOnewm to be exact, and had picked up on the magic abilities of Lavender much earlier than the tests had. Even so he had needed the tests confirmation in order to fill in Lavender's application. Lavender wouldn't be able to become a fully fledged hunter until she hit maturity at 16 but Links felt that until then she should start learning the ropes so that she doesn't get hurt when she takes on her first quest.

Lavender was a FOmarl, a human force as opposed to Links who was a Newman force, but he was still able to help her out in small ways. For a start he had given her a few low level technique disks. These disks contained a series of magical energies that when used enabled the user to use a spell simply by chanting a small series of words. Lavender's magical powers were only just starting to appear but even so she was able to use a few of the spells links had given her, namely Resta, a healing spell, and Foie, a simple fireball spell.

"Now Lavender," spoke Links, "you remember you have school today and I want you to do your best as always."

"Yes unky Links, I'll try."

"That's a good girl, you have everything ready?"

"Yeah, just need to pick the stuff up from my room."

"Good, now you've been doing well at school these last few days so I think this afternoon I'm going to book an appointment with Ragol for us."

Lavender looked up sharply, her face literally glowing with excitement.

"Really? Ragol! We're going down there again?" she squeaked.

"Yes we are, I want to give you a few more lessons." replied Links.

"Yeah yeah yeah!"

Lavender was always excited about going to Ragol. She had been down only a few times before, probably around five times since Pioneer 2 had entered orbit. Links had been involved in the Central Dome dragon incident and was a skilled hunter even for his age. To this end the Hunter Guild had granted him permission to take Lavender down to Ragol with him on occasions so long as they stuck to the forest area surrounding the Central Dome.

Links had also been down to Ragol a few times on his own or with a group of hunters, the latest development being the exploration of a cave network that had just been discovered near the Dome. A huge crustacean like worm had been found deep inside the caves a few days ago, although this time Links hadn't been there when it had been discovered. The worm had caused the encountering hunters some problems and two of the group had come back with pretty severe wounds although they were all going to make it. Links had commented on it by saying they should have had a FO in the party, probably referring to himself although Lavender had been unable to determine if it had been out of jealousy or not.

Presently Links looked up at the clock on the wall and gave a small nod to himself. He casually laid out a plate of pancakes for himself as he turned his head to look at Lavender.

"Well if you're finished there I suggest you get a move on or you'll miss the transport and have to walk." he instructed.

Lavender's expression quickly became serious, having to walk to school was not a fun job, Pioneer 2 being as large as it was and full of twists and turns and ups and downs. She quickly scarfed down the remaining traces of her pancakes and gave her plate a few quick licks to remove any left over syrup before darting back to her room. As she opened the door a small white floating object that looked remarkably like a fox rose from her bed and shot over to her, doing a quick circle around her head before settling next to her left ear. Lavender giggled slightly and brought a hand up to pet the floating critter, its large puffy tail wagging happily.

"Hello Sato!" smiled Lavender bringing round her other hand and giving the object a hug.

The object was Sato, her mag that Links had helped her raise from a baby. Lavender hadn't really known what she was doing as she'd raised it. To her all the green boxes she gave it looked exactly the same as the next one but she couldn't have wished for a better mag. Sato was a bright white in colour, nearly the same as her hair colour and had small pink coloured ears with black tips. Its eyes were a bright green like Lavender's and it had a small pink mark on its head between its ears. Lavender gave the mag another hug and then let go, allowing the mag to float out in front of her.

"I'm sorry Sato, you'll have to stay home again today." she said sadly.

The mag bobbed up and down slightly, moving closer and nudging against her shoulder. Lavender again brought her hand up to pet the floating critter.

"I know Sato, you want to come with me, but you can't today. I'm going to school and they don't allow mags there….not even cute ones like you."

Sato gave another bob and then turned away slightly, making it obvious that it wasn't happy with the situation. Lavender quickly smiled and took the mag into another hug.

"Don't worry Sato, Links just told me that after school we are going down to Ragol again so we can go out together then ok."

The mag seemed to perk, quickly nuzzling into Lavender's embracing arms and then pulling free and zooming round the room once before stopping again. Lavender gave a giggle and picked up her Mahu from the desk.

"Now you be a good boy and keep out of trouble today and Lavender will buy you a Star Atomiser when she gets out of school ok."

The mag bobbed quickly and gave Lavender one last nuzzle before making its way over to the bed and setting itself down in the folds of the covers. Lavender gave a last giggle and blew the mag a kiss as she grabbed her pack and left the room.