A Million Miles Apart
A/N: Hello! I am back! And before I say anything else, I wanna take a moment to say that this story, Tuesday August 2nd, officially turns a year old. That's right, today is the One Year Anniversary for A Million Miles Apart! And I wanna thank each and everyone of you who reads this story and has stayed with it for a year. And I wanna give a special thank you to my beta reader, ThisVioletofMine, who has been helping me and has proof-read my chapters since Day 1.
Thank you all! I love you for favoriting, following and reviewing my story! You are amazing and I love you!
I had hoped that I could write more and update more often, but of course, surprise surprise, writer's block strikes. Well that, and I've been at my cousin's place for a week. But I hope I'll be able update more, now that I don't have to spend time with my cousins! ...Okay, that came out a bit wrong, but whatever. I am also excited, since I've started working at this residential home for a few weeks. My first real job! So excited!
Uh, I got a bit sidetracked there... Uh, anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 34, Landing on Filione
A painful slam to my forehead made me jerk awake and sit up straight, looking around the room. The ship had stopped shaking and we were finally going at a more normal pace again. I rubbed my aching forehead and looked down at the keyboard in front of me. I must have fallen forward when the ship slowed down and slammed my head on the metal in front of me. I sat up properly and took stock of my surroundings. It seemed like everyone else had passed out, too, since Jhanna, Starlee and Mona Lisa were slumped in their seats and Traximus wasn't moving at all- though it was harder to tell with him, since he was too big for the pod and didn't sit properly in it.
I looked over at Jhanna, who was leaning against the backrest, her cheek resting against her right shoulder. I guess she had been lucky enough to not slam her head on solid metal. Hmph, typical. I placed my hand on her shoulder and shook her gently.
"Jhanna? Hey, Jhanna, wake up!" She groaned and sat up, rubbing her hands over her face. She blinked a few times, pushed her hair out of her face and then turned to look at me with a partially nauseous and partially annoyed expression.
"Ugh, wormholes. Not for me." Her voice was dry and rough as sandpaper and she still looked dizzy from all the shaking. Not that I could blame her- I still felt ready to throw up and my head was still spinning in circles after everything I had seen and been put through while going through that hole. So I nodded at her and rubbed my head to try and soothe my headache and quell the growing dizziness.
"Yeah, that felt like being... disassembled into atoms and then put back together again." She nodded and grimaced in painful agreement.
"Yeah, or being pressed through a keyhole." I couldn't help but snicker at her dry comment, but it was a rather humorless laugh. Then groaning was heard from the other pod and when Jhanna and I looked, both Starlee and Mona Lisa were coming to again. Jhanna stood and climbed out of the pod, albeit on shaky legs since she was still dizzy and hadn't regained her sense of balance just yet. But nevertheless, she stumbled over to the pod and to Starlee. She sat down on the edge of the armrest and placed her arm around her sister.
"You okay, Star?" Starlee rubbed her head and nodded, though she looked about as sick and dizzy as the rest of us. The goggles she usually had pushed up on her forehead had slipped down and were now hanging loosely around her neck, most of her hair had fallen out of her usual tidy and high ponytail, and her eyes were tired as opposed to the usual excited and happy spark that always seemed to shine in them.
"Yeah, I think so. Just a little banged up, that's all." Jhanna pulled the band out of Starlee's hair and re-tied her ponytail while combing through the thick, slightly curly hair with her fingers.
"So... you still think going through wormholes is exciting and fun?" Starlee just glared up at her sister and stuck her tongue out at her, at which Jhanna smirked and gently pulled the goggles up onto her sister's forehead again, even though Starlee protested and said she could do it herself.
"Yeah, I know you can. But I'm your big sister, which means I have an obligation to look out for you. Especially now that Moriah and Dad aren't here to do it." Starlee just rolled her eyes, but I couldn't help but smile at the scene. Jhanna and Starlee were as different as night and day, but they still acted like actual sisters. They disagreed on things, had small arguments, but could do it with tongue in cheek. Like siblings do. Like when Raph would tease or poke fun at us in his usual Raph-way, but we'd always know he didn't mean to hurt our feelings or do any harm, just poke fun at us. It was just Raph being Raph. In fact, we all had moments when we teased each other like that.
A small pang of homesickness hit me again, but before the seed could root itself in my brain, I turned to look over at Mona Lisa, who was also retying her ponytail with that pink ribbon she always carried on her, either by tying her hair with it or knotting it around her wrist. I slowly got out of the pod, rested against it to fully regain my balance, and then went to the others.
"Is everybody okay?" Starlee nodded at me and smiled, but Mona looked up at me with a raised eyebrow as though she thought I'd asked a question to which the answer should be obvious.
"If you, by 'okay', mean that I've been shaken around like a rag doll and almost threw up more than once but couldn't due the fact that I couldn't move a muscle, let alone speak," She finished tying the bow in her hair, only to have it loosen up and fall down in her lap. She groaned and picked it up again, "then yes, I'm totally okay." I rolled my eyes at her and tried to grab her ribbon to help her.
"Here, let me help you." When she saw me almost touch her ribbon, she yanked it away and glared up at me, looking like a hungry Mikey protecting his pizza.
"NO! You can't touch this! Not ever!" She kept glaring at me as she gathered up her hair and tied a tidy little knot to keep it tied up, this time succeeding in keeping the band together. I held up my hands in a defensive motion and backed away from her. I only gave her a tiny frown, to show I wasn't going to take her snapping at me like that.
"Okay! Sorry that I tried to be nice." I turned and went to Traximus, but in the corner of my eye I saw how Mona's face seemed to sink in slight regret for blowing her top, but I didn't pay her much attention and instead looked over the Triceraton, who was now struggling to get out of his pod without losing his balance. He recovered much quicker than the rest of us, though (I was still feeling a little woozy, honestly), and stood up without problems after just a few seconds.
"Heh, that was quite a ride, huh?" I chuckled and he smiled back at me.
"Mm, yes. But it's not the first time I have gone through a wormhole. When I was a warrior in the Triceratons' army, we often took these holes as shortcuts- to catch the enemy off-guard. You get used to all the shaking after a while." I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. Just the thought of going through so many of these wormholes that you got used to it was impossible for me. I looked over at the control panels, where the Fugitoid stood and regained his own balance. Then he looked up and smiled his usual smile.
"Whoa... Hehe, a couple of near few seconds away from getting crushed by the gravitational acceleration of a wormhole won't deter us! Am I right or am I right?" He sounded as cheery and optimistic as he always did and spun his head around a couple of times, as if the ride hadn't bothered him at all. Mona Lisa glared up at him, clearly not as thrilled as he was.
"Are you crazy?! We were almost splattered all over the walls, here!" I had heard Mona sound disinterested, sarcastic and angry before, but now she sounded pretty close to enraged. But the Professor didn't seem to hear the tone in her voice, and kept talking like an excited child.
"That's right! Almost. Almost is such a beautiful phenomenon, is it not?" Starlee looked at him with a hint of uncertainty in her eyes, and Jhanna placed her hands on her sister's shoulders and pulled her close, as if to protect her. I looked between Mona and the Professor up at the control panels and rolled my eyes at the small banter between the two.
"Yeah, well all I know is that I never wanna go through that kind of 'phenomenon', ever again. Are we there yet, or what?" The Professor just pointed out the window and smiled his robot smile.
"Well, why don't you come and see for yourself?" Mona immediately perked up and literally jumped out of the pod, starting to run towards the big windows, falling to her knees almost immediately but quickly getting up on her feet again and half-running/half-stumbling to the Professor's side to look out the big windows. I felt my own curiosity grow and started to jog over to the window to see for myself, watching the others get up and walk over to the window from my periphery. When I walked up the small stairs to the window, I felt like I had been punched right in the gut.
"Oh, dear God above, why do you insist on torturing me?"
What I saw was a relatively small planet, but as we got closer it started to get bigger, and it was a generally green planet. A green planet with big blue waters and so close to being almost identical to Earth. Only a little bit smaller, or at least so I assumed. I had read about the Earth's mass and how big it was, and judging by how this planet looked it seemed a bit smaller. And, as opposed to Earth, it seemed to have a kind of heavenly aura around it. Almost like a glow that made it seem more, for lack of a better word, alive than Earth. But still, it felt like slap in the face. Although I had to admit, it was a beautiful sight. And even though I got a little bit teary-eyed I could honestly say that it wasn't just because I was feeling homesick and missed my own planet.
Mona Lisa looked out the window in awe and I could see that she was crying, openly and unashamed. And who could really blame her? She had been away from home for almost ten years. Of course she'd have a strong reaction to see her home again. Jhanna and Starlee walked up to us and Starlee's eyes immediately widened and she smiled at the sight.
"Wow... it's so beautiful." Mona looked over to the younger girl and smiled lightly. I couldn't look away from the planet, and without thinking at all, the words managed to slip out of my mouth.
"It looks like Earth. Only more, I dunno, alive, I guess." Mona looked at me, nodded and looked back out again.
"Yes. My people have taken care of the planet for thousands of years-and without any sort of technology whatsoever. That's what makes the planet's health all the more real, without the artificial help from cold, dead metal and computers. It's been our philosophy that technology poisons the mind, and the world if used too much. Which is why the only technology we have on our planets are the spaceships and nothing else. Everything else is taken care of in our own way. The Salamandarian way." Jhanna, who had also looked out the window with awe, raised her eyebrow at Mona.
"The Salamandarian way? What's that?" Mona looked back at Jhanna and eyed her, questioning and confused. Then she shrugged and looked back out the window, drying her eyes with her arm.
"Well, we've always taken care of our planet. The forests, the rivers and seas, the animals. And we do it without any tech or anything like that. We take care of everything with love and caring, taking our time to fully let it grow and live. It's practically in our DNA. It's in our culture, in our blood. We grow fruit, vegetables and different plants that can only grow on our planet, that we sell to different planets. Or we use the plants and fruits to make medical ointments and potions. Other than that, we just mind our own business and don't really have any contact with other aliens." Her smile faded and she looked down to the floor.
"That is, until the Triceratons attacked our planet and killed over half of our population. Since then they've kept an iron fist over us and made us follow them, or else. And we are not warriors, so we had no choice but to do as they told us. Fortunately they didn't pay too much attention to us, and only took some of our produce. Other than that, they usually leave us alone. But one day, some Salamandarians stood up to them and told them that we were not their slaves and tried to fight back. Then, instead taking our produce, they took half the youngest on the planet. To scare the others into not fighting back against them." My eyes widened and I realized that this girl had grown up in a world where the Triceratons had ruled over their people, and had been taught that she couldn't do anything to fight back. Suddenly her attitude started to make sense. She caught my look and shrugged it off.
"Eh, it's no big deal. I don't ever remember the Triceratons caring too much about Filione. They just kinda did it to make sure we didn't get the idea to ally ourselves with any other aliens to try and defeat them." Traximus sighed as we walked up behind us.
"Mm, yes. The Triceratons have done that to several other planets for many, many years. They arrive on different planets and frighten them into obeying them and making sure they don't try to fight back. Some planets refused and drew war over themselves. Others obeyed without second thoughts. And the others that were left alone were left scared of what the Triceratons might do, should they land on their planets. Leaving many aliens scared and confused." He growled in disgust.
"Zanramon feeds on the fear of his victims and the planets he terrorizes. And he also enjoys the fear and pain he causes." He looked over at Mona with sympathy. "I'm sorry for how my people affected your world, Mona Lisa." Mona just nodded and rubbed her arm bashfully.
"Thanks." She muttered and then turned to the Professor. "How soon can we land?" The Professor walked away from the computers and up to us.
"Well, as soon as everyone has their gear on. We'll take the stealth ship. That way we can land without drawing too much attention to ourselves. The Salamandarians may not be too thrilled about having a big unknown ship land on their planet without warning." I nodded. Yeah, people on Earth would most likely not like it if a strange alien ship landed on their planet without warning. I mean, they hadn't exactly appreciated that first alien invasion.
Jhanna was already dressed in her spacesuit and most of her space gear, so while the rest of us gathered up our own gear, she picked out a helmet and gathered up her sword and small laser gun. My own purple spacesuit had been left pretty much untouched since that first day onboard, so it felt a little weird to put it on now. I didn't really understand why I needed it. Mona Lisa didn't have one, and she had done fine when we escaped the Triceraton Prison. So I decided against putting it on, and just go au naturel. Though in the room with all those spacesuits I managed to find a collar that worked like that breathing apparatus Jhanna and I had gotten from the Triceratons and decided to put that on, just in case Filione's air wouldn't agree with Earthlings. Though I seriously doubted it. Jhanna helped Starlee put on a breathing-collar and some minor protective gear that could help her if we were attacked. But she refused to put on a spacesuit and take off her Federation uniform.
"Why should I wear anything different? I am Federation and I'm proud of that. I am who I am, and I shouldn't have to look or act any different." I had expected Jhanna to roll her eyes and say that being part of the Federation was nothing to be proud of and that they were responsible for hundreds and thousands of aliens' deaths, or at least force her to wear one for her own protection from the cold in space, but she just threw her up her hands and left her alone.
"Whatever. That's your call." Traximus already had on his black spacesuit, a helmet and a laser gun in his belt. But only in case we were attacked, he said. Mona Lisa didn't put anything on, had no weapons and she basically just sat around in the control room, waiting for the rest of us, looking very restless and impatient. So when we were all done, the Professor led us out of the control room and to the lower region of the ship.
The stealth ship was a smaller part of the ship, with seats for six people, so we all sat down. Except the Professor, who manned the controls and steered the ship. Jhanna looked over at me and eyed the collar around my neck and my body.
"You're not gonna wear your suit? Or a helmet? You realize you're in space, right? Not every planet is gonna be so close to your planet's atmosphere and temperature." I shrugged and fingered the strap over my chest.
"Yeah, I know. But I don't think I'll need it. I mean, I have the collar and I'm sure there's some technology onboard that could help me with the cold or heat on any different planet, should the need rise. I'll survive." Jhanna crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, yeah, yeah. Tell yourself that, if that makes you feel better. But it doesn't make it true." I glanced over at her and for a second; considered her words. Then I felt the stealth ship drop out of the ship and start flying through space and towards the planet in front of us, and quickly rejected her warning.
As we flew through the planet's atmosphere, I gazed down over the landscape under us. And it was a breathtaking sight. I had never been out of New York in my life, let alone seen a real forest before, but this planet's nature was beautiful. The green trees and grass, the blue waters and the colors of the flowers and nature itself were so vibrant. Nothing had ever looked so green like those trees, or as blue as those lakes and rivers. And as we got closer to the ground, I could see creatures, too. Some looked very similar too Mona Lisa, Salamandarian-like creatures that all looked up at us as we flew over their world. And some looked more like animals. But not like anything I had seen in books, on the internet or on TV back on Earth. There were some that reminded me of deer, only they had antlers and fangs sticking out of their mouths. I saw huge, wormlike things, with spider legs sticking out from their sides and spider-like faces with big eyes and huge teeth. And some looked like small dragons, also in very vibrant colors. There was so much more to see, but my brain didn't have time to register all of it, and we were also flying lower, going in for landing in a small glen.
Mona Lisa looked out over all of this, and when I turned to look at her I could see she was crying. But they were tears of joy and she had a big smile on her face. "Home. Heh, it feels so good to see home again." She said it to herself, but as she sat next to me, I still heard it and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She looked at me, dried her eyes and laughed softly. And for once she didn't answer with any sarcasm or by rolling her eyes at me. She looked at me with genuine happiness.
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just..." She took a breath and some more tears formed in her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "I- I had forgotten how sunlight looked, and how wonderful and warm it felt." She sniffed, wiped her eye. "I had almost stopped hoping I would ever see this planet, my home, ever again." I couldn't help but smile at her, and even though I didn't consider her a friend of mine, since she had never really given me reason to consider her a friend, I still felt happy for her. 'Cause she clearly treasured this planet.
The ship landed on the soft grass and a small gangway precipitated for us as the doors opened. The Professor was the first one out, to check if the coast was clear, before he signaled with a small wave that we could come out. Mona practically ran down the gangway and looked around with undisguised glee on her face.
"Filione! Oh, how I've missed you!" She twirled around in a few circles with her arms wide open. She tilted her face up to the clear blue sky and the large trees and smiled at the big yellow sun. Starlee, Jhanna and I were not so far after her, Starlee hurrying down the ramp as well and looking around at everything with big eyes and a big smile, almost identical to Mona's. Which was understandable- the curious look in her eyes I recognized as the same curiosity I had when the Professor and I were headed for Peblak. She had never seen anything but D'hoonib her entire life, and even then she hadn't really been let out of the house that much, if at all. And now, she was finally off her homeworld and was seeing something entirely new. And she took it all in with an open mind and with a sort of wide-eyed innocence.
"Wow... Look at all of this. The trees, the grass, the sky. It all seems so... alive. So real." She knelt down in the grass and leaned her face down, letting the grass stroke her face, all with a smile on her face. She then lied down in the grass and looked up at the sky and enjoyed the sunlight on her face. I couldn't help but laugh at her and for a moment I saw Mikey and how he reacted to New York when we were first allowed topside. Taking it all in amazement and with a childlike wonder in the eyes. Jhanna nodded, and while she didn't look quite as amazed as her sister, she also took it in with wide eyes and a smile.
"Yeah. Most of the nature on D'hoonib is dying, or is already dead. It's so colorless there. I have to admit, this is beautiful." I took in a deep breath through my nose. The air was so clean and even the atmosphere seemed so alive in some way. It all had a scent of life to it, and it felt so great to breathe fresh air again, after weeks of being on planets with dirty air or no oxygen. And the oxygen on the ship felt like breathing in an entirely secluded room without windows or doors. Warm and kinda hard to breathe after a while. I slowly removed the collar around my neck, put in my belt and took another deep breath, mostly just because I could.
"This air, it's so clear. So fresh. I love it." Mona looked away from the sky and the forest around us and turned back to us. She smiled. For the first time since I met her, it seemed. And now, seeing her in bright sunlight, the green forest around her, and breathing in the Filione air with the soft breeze flowing through her tied hair, she seemed much livelier now than she had on the ship.
"Well, like I said; no technology has been allowed here for thousands of years, except for our ships. And even they are run on fuel we make out of what grows on this planet and with our knowledge of plant life and chemistry. That leads to a clean and healthy atmosphere." Well, she did make good point. Though she did sound a bit like those Green Peace activists that sometimes were on TV, talking about the Arctic melting or how we shouldn't chop down the Amazon. They had good points, but could get a bit preachy.
Traximus limped down the ramp, due to his still slightly wounded leg, and looked around with a smile on his face. Well, what little I could see of it, with that helmet he had over his face. I turned to him as Starlee took off her own breathing collar and put it away in her pocket, and Jhanna removed her helmet and walked back up the ramp to leave it in the ship. I walked up to him and gently tapped him on the arm.
"Aren't you gonna take off your helmet? The air is clean- I don't think you'll need it." Traximus looked down at me, and at first he looked as though he thought I was crazy. Then he just chuckled and patted me on the shoulder, though with his huge hand, he ended patting my back too, and almost sent me to the ground because of his strength.
"Heh, I somehow doubt that that would be a good idea. I'll just keep this helmet on for now." I rubbed my shoulder and looked up at him with confusion, then saw Jhanna walk up beside me with a small smirk, raised eyebrow and her arms folded over her chest.
"Triceratons breathe a heavy combination of nitrogen and sulfur. Oxygen is to them like sulfur most likely would be for you if you tried to inhale it. That, or he would most likely suffocate after a while." I bit my lip and looked down at the grass. Stupid. I hadn't for second considered that Traximus might breathe something other than oxygen. The others didn't seem to have any problems with it, so I hadn't thought of Traximus to be any different. Now, in retrospect, it made sense why Traximus had taken my breathing apparatus after we had escaped from prison.
"Oh. Well, I feel stupid." Jhanna sniggered a little at my dry comment and shook her head at me. Then suddenly I started to feel a prickling on the back of my neck, and turned around to look behind me with my hand resting on the staff in the holster on my shell. The glen we had landed in was small, so there wasn't much to see around us. Spotting somebody would've been easy, if not for the huge trees, the bushes and the all-around densely grown vegetation. I couldn't see anything, but I could sense somebody's eyes on us.
Jhanna took a step back when she saw me suddenly get into a defensive stance and her arms dropped to her sides. She looked over at the others, and then back at me. "What is it?" I didn't answer her at first. My eyes were narrowed and my highly-trained senses were practically screaming at me that somebody was watching us.
"We're not alone." I whispered, loud enough for the others to hear, and looked around the glen, trying as hard as I could to spot anyone in the thick bushes or up in the leafy trees. I couldn't see anything, but Jhanna clearly got that something was up and her hand immediately gravitated towards the gun on her belt. Starlee, who had no weapons, took a few steps towards her sister, but she didn't exactly look scared. She seemed to be more confused and just did what she did to be on the safe side. Mona looked around the glen, looking a bit surprised that I sensed a threat, and didn't make any attempts to defend herself. Traximus grabbed the Professor by the arm and pulled him close, slightly behind him.
A few minutes passed and nothing happened. But I still felt that prickling on my neck and the instincts that Master Splinter had trained in me since I was a kid were on edge, yelling at me that something was up. But Jhanna was pulling her hand away from the gun and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I can't see any- oof!" She didn't get to finish that sentence as she was suddenly tackled to the ground and the air seemed to leave her lungs. Traximus yelled out, "Ambush!" and I quickly grabbed my staff and got into fighting stance, just in time for a relatively big, green Salamandarian to jump down from a massive tree and land in front of me with a spear in his hand. He looked somewhat like Mona, only taller and more muscular in build; his skin was more forest green than hers and his eyes were amber-colored instead of turquoise. But that was all I had time to note before the lizard swung his spear at me with a yell. I quickly blocked it and tried to kick him back, but out of nowhere his tail shot out and wrapped itself around my ankle. He yanked at my leg, making me fall to the ground and almost lose grip on my staff.
I looked up and saw that Starlee was also being attacked by a lizard, and she had picked up a thick branch to defend herself with. But that didn't help her very much, and I'm pretty sure I heard the words 'Federation scum' being yelled at her amongst the chaotic cacophony of various fights breaking out. Traximus had his battle-axe with him, but he didn't use it- he used his body to protect the Professor. Jhanna was tumbling around on the ground with the Salamandarian that had tackled her. And, from the looks of it, Jhanna seemed to be at a slight disadvantage as the Salamandarian on top of her was yanking at her hair and had his tail wrapped around her chest. But before I could try to get up at help her, the one who attacked me placed the tip of his spear at my throat.
"What are you doing here? What do you want?" I pulled my face away from the spear and raised my legs to kick him away from me. When I got back on my feet, I quickly snatched his spear away from him and threw it as far away as I could.
"We don't mean any harm! We're not your enemy!" He growled at me and raised his legs to kick me in the face.
"Oh, right! That's why you land with a Triceraton and Federation scum with you! We're not that stupid!" I dropped my own staff and went down on my knee. The guy in front of me picked the staff and raised it to hit me-
"STOP! Please, Samu, stop! They're not the enemy!" The Salamandarian, apparently named Samu, turned to look at Mona. His eyes widened and he eyed here from head to toe and then stared into her eyes. He gasped softly, dropped my staff and reached up to touch Mona's face.
"Mona Lisa? I-is that you?" She nodded and small tears formed in her eyes. The other Salamandarians around us looked up from their fights and seemed to forget about us. Samu also had tears forming in his eyes and he pulled Mona into his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest and burying his fingers in her hair. She dug her face into his torso and I could hear that she was trying to fight back tears. I picked up my staff and put it back in the holster on my shell, my eyes never leaving the scene in front of me. The other Salamandarians flocked around the two as though to verify that she was who they thought she was.
After a few minutes Samu and Mona pulled away from each other and dried their tears. Samu kept his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her and she easily returned the gesture. But then another Salamandarian placed her hand on Mona's back.
"B-but how? How is it possible?" Mona turned to look at the rest of the lizard people and smiled at all of them before gesturing to us.
"These guys saved me." She walked up to me and Jhanna. "Donatello and Jhanna here arrived in the Triceraton prison few weeks ago and they, along with the Professor," she pointed to the Fugitoid, "managed to break us out of there. They're not our enemies, I promise." Samu and the female lizard looked at each other with expressions that told us all that they were not convinced. The unnamed female looked at Starlee and Traximus.
"Then why did you bring those two here? Triceratons cannot be trusted, Mona. You know this. And she," she pointed to Starlee, who took a few steps closer to Jhanna and hid herself behind her sister, "is part of the Federation! She wears their symbol on her clothing- and it's on their uniforms! How can you bring such scum here?" Jhanna immediately placed her arm around Starlee and glared at the lizardess in front of her.
"Hey! Don't you dare talk about her that way! Starlee wouldn't harm a fly! And she's not scum!" Mona placed her arm on Jhanna's and shushed her, then turned back to her people.
"Starlee was the one who flew the ship to the Triceraton prison and got us out of there when we fled. She's a very kind and sweet girl." She turned to Traximus. "And Traximus has been imprisoned longer than I have. He committed treason against his own people. He won't harm any of us." The woman didn't seem convinced and looked at Traximus suspiciously.
"That might be what he wants you to believe, Mona. Triceratons are ruthless and vicious- they care nothing for anyone but themselves! And Federation loyalists are no better!" Starlee looked down at the ground with confusion and a little hurt in her eyes. Traximus didn't say anything, but I had to clench my hands and bite my lip so I wouldn't say or do anything stupid. Mona just rolled her eyes at the woman.
"Oh, knock it off, Mew." Samu walked up to me, inspecting me carefully.
"And what kind of reptile is he? I've never seen anything like him before." Before Mona could answer, I quickly took a step back from his probing eyes and tried to smile, despite how terribly our first few minutes on Filione had gone so far.
"I am a turtle. I come from a small planet far from here. My, uh, species is kinda endangered, so to speak." The Salamandarians looked at each other and then up at us, and then back to Mona Lisa.
"We're going to have to take them to see the Chief. Just to be safe. Only he can decide what should be done next." Mona nodded and bowed her head in respect.
"Of course. Let's go." Samu gestured at us to follow them and they started to walk out of the glen, picking up their weapons as they went. Mona started to walk after them, but Jhanna grabbed her arm and hissed at her.
"I thought you said they were peaceful! You said that Salamandarians were not a warrior people!" Mona grimaced nervously at us.
"They are! At least," she looked at her old friends and the weapons in their hands, "they weren't." She then walked after the others and we looked at each other, sharing the same cautious and nervous glances before we started to follow her. Jhanna and I glanced at each other and I could tell that she was thinking the same thing that I was.
So far our visit to Filione was a complete disaster.
A/N: Boy, looks like we are getting off to a bad start. Hopefully it'll get better by next chapter! And I just wanna say now that Samu nor any one of the Salamandarians we meet in the next following chapters will play a huge or significant role after we leave Filione. I have no intention of cramming even more characters into this story.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!