Aliens and Dragons
Another chapter. Thanks for the reviews. Or review so far but still thanks. Hopefully this time I'll get a few reviews.
Please don't ask about my other stories. I work them at my pace.
Sorry if there's any grammar mistake.
Chapter 3: Settling Down
It had been a few days since the Black Thursday and things were slowly going back into their original places. There were still a lot of things to do but of course nothing was ever easy to achieve in life.
The kryptonian Clark Kent or Kal-El sped back into the farm-house, his face amazingly red and not because of a blush. He looked ill, and considering that he was immune to all of Earth's diseases, that was saying something was going wrong. The kryptonian went to the barn, passing by the training Goku on the backyard, doing one-hand push ups bare-chested while flipping the Kent's red tractor on his feet. The Earth alien was used to see Goku doing those weird training methods so he didn't pay much of attention. Besides the truck was old and useless so letting the Saiyan wreck it was actually a good deed.
The kryptonian alien was now fixing an old ladder, putting the screws into the wood using just his super strength and bare hands. After all Clark never needed tools. It never injured him before, but this time it was getting draining. Like if he was getting tired. After the seventh screw nailed, the kryptonian stopped, feeling his skin a bit sweaty. Suddenly his nose tingled.
Less than a second later, a mass of hurricane-fast wind was shot forward, blasting the barn's door from its hinges, flying away in the horizon.
The palm-haired Saiyan stopped doing his one hand push ups and briefly turned his head, looking at the flying doors. He would like to say it was weird, but after what he had been through it was pretty much normal Friday. He kept training without paying heed.
The brunette woman called Lois Lane was jogging around, her music earphones making her oblivious to everything around her. That until a shadow covered her from the sky. Her eyes drifted up, suddenly widening in shock. Only her fast reflexes thanks to years of living in military bases allowed her to squat down and dodged the limb-severing object by the skin of her teeth. Whatever the thing was, it landed a few feet away from her with a ground-shaking impact. The brunette female got closer to see it was a barn door. She could only rub her head in confusion.
Like things weren't already creepy enough.
While the farm was in its usual alien life and her cousin was almost beheaded, the blonde reporter Chloe was typing her computer keyboard with an idea running in her brain. Working in the Daily Planet allowed her to be right in the center of all the gossips over Metropolis. And thanks to years of living with Lois, the blonde reporter knew how to recognize those that were bullshit ones from the ground-breaking ones.
And now it was time to prove that.
The farm alien from this Earth was now on the kitchen, making himself a tea while rubbing his temple. He wanted to say the situation wasn't normal at all. And it wasn't normal. He had never been ill in his life.
Lois walked into the kitchen, dressed in her jogging top and blue shorts.
"Hey Smallville, you are not going to believe this!" She instantly said without catching her breath, rumbling like always "I was jogging around, doing my business, when some kind of barn doors bursted out of nowhere and almost guillotine me" The brunette said all together and without pause, something Clark was very used to hear. The farm boy sniffed while attempting to not look suspicious.
"Oh, Clarky is sneazy?" The brunette said rhetorically, causing Clark to look at her with an 'are-you-serious' face. That only brought an evil smirk to Lois' face "Don't worry, I know the best home remedy for this. Some salt and cayenne pepper. You will sneeze for the next hours without stop but it will be gone before you realize what hit you" The Kryptonian was terrified, knowing he would literally become a living hurricane. Lois really needed to not talk so much.
The brunette woman walked towards the fridge, only to stare through the window to the back yard. Her eyes opened even wider. The daughter of the General would have paid attention to the barn doors that were mysteriously gone, but instead she had her sight fixed on a working-out man with weird locks of palm-tree hair.
"Hey Smallville, who's the guy playing Russian circus with your tractor?" The brunette asked aghast to Clark. The Kryptonian wanted to face-palm himself. From his secret now onto Goku's. Out of the flying pan into the fire, was the famous saying.
"No one. Just a friend" Clark said uncaring and trying to sound normal, taking a sip from the hot tea. Not that the heat could ever bother him.
"Friend?" The brunette asked rhetorically "So this friend of yours is trying to keep Paul Anderson's legacy or something like that?" The woman was now curious, and Clark could only pray to God because no one else could stop her from getting what she wanted.
"How do you even became friends with someone like him?" The daughter of the General asked. Clark's fast mind quickly invented a fake background.
"Well, my mum said that he and I played when we were children and now he doesn't have a place to stay so I'm just doing him a favor" The farm boy replied again, trying not to sound very important.
"Yeah, thanks for the childhood flashbacks, but still doesn't explain why he's flipping a truck on his feet like a sea dog with the tennis ball" the daughter of the General commented again, trying to come to terms with what was going on around the farm. She already knew Smallville was the right place for weird events, but everything always seemed to surround Clark. For some reason.
"Lois, seriously there's nothing important to see" The ill alien waved the problem away like a side-note. His nose tingled again but only a firm determination stop the tornado from blasting his dark-haired friend away into Kingdom come.
"Nothing to see? Smallville, do you realize how many weird friends do you have?" The daughter of the General said, taking a slip of water.
"You included?" Clark teased, knowing it was one of the best ways to take Lois away from a topic. Though obviously, something had to happen right at that particular moment.
"Hey Clark" Goku walked inside the house, bare-chested like he always did. Lois had to quickly swallow the water she had in her mouth before choking on it.
"Oh, hi. I'm Goku" He had learned a few things from Clark and Chloe and that was to be polite. The brunette answered the hand shake, feeling the strong but also subtle grip that the man had. She had seen many worked out men before, but never one that could actually back it up. The name Goku sounded a bit off-place but she didn't mind.
"Hi, Lois Lane" The brunette said, having an idea. Clark could lie to her, but maybe not this guy "So enlighten me Goku. Clark has said you were old friends, is that right?" The Saiyan's eyes drifted into Clark, who silently gave a brief nod, taking a sip from the tea.
"Yes. We met long ago" The bare-chested man replied with a small smile "One could say we crash-land into each other" Clark wanted to bang his head into the nearest wall after the comment. A fact Goku did notice. And apparently Lois just heard what she needed.
"Well, if you both excuse me, I have barn doors to find and a great mystery to solve since Big Foot" Lois commented, walking away into her own stubborn path of investigation. Now that she had the new piece of information, she could allow the world to see the true that was always hidden from the audience. Those secrets that made people wet themselves.
Like alien abductions. Those were the most obvious topics that were swat under the rag.
Both aliens looked at her leaving. Then Goku turned his head towards Clark.
"Did I just dodge a bullet?" The Saiyan asked a bit rhetorically.
"More like a freaking cannonball!" The farm alien replied, suddenly sneezing. Many cutlery and other kitchen stuffs were sent flying away like artillery. Goku opened his eyes in surprise.
"That was a blow" The palm-haired alien joked. The farm alien sent a deadly stare to his alien fellow.
"It's not funny Goku. If this keeps on I might blow the entire farm into the wind" The Earth-raised alien from this dimension replied seriously while rubbing his temple
"Clark I've got an idea!" Goku ran outside and Clark followed along. The Saiyan materialized a dummy test with his powers. The alien from this Earth looked confused.
"So you created a dummy test? What's your point?" Clark asked arms folded.
"Well, I think if you can move so much air when you sneeze means your lungs have a great capacity" The Saiyan explained. He himself had a good lung capacity and could hold his breath for at least hours. But Clark surely could push it further than him.
"So?" The ill alien asked, not knowing what to do.
"So blow!" Goku almost yelled.
"Come on, seriously?" Clark asked, trying to understand the point of the conversation. The Saiyan took a deep breath before responding.
"Clark, you told me that there a powers you don't fully understand. Maybe this is one of them" The palm-haired warrior commented, getting Clark's attention "You know, like a super breath or something like that" The Kryptonian pondered that on his mind. It was true there were abilities that still eluded him, flight specially.
The solar alien sighed and dropped his arms to his sides. Taking a very deep breath, the earth-raised alien unleashed his breath. The following and sudden tornado gusts of air lashed over the landscape, dust covering everything and even a few trees completely uprooted like nothing. The dummy was long gone into the far horizon.
Clark opened his eyes in amazement and even Goku was surprised by the result. But that only proved his first theory of secret ability.
"See?" The Saiyan asked a bit arrogant, arms folded over his naked chest. Clark opened his mouth but instead of answering, a sneeze sent Goku flying away for a mile by the concussive wind gust. The solar alien rubbed his head innocently. Goku flew back into the Kent farm, a few parts of his chest bruised.
"Unexpected but surely effective" Goku commented rubbing his injured body. If that display was a sign of anything, was that Clark was powerful. And that beckoned for the Saiyan to fight against a worthy opponent.
The bald Lex Luthor remained over the other side of the window, looking at his scientists experimenting on their alien man. But after days of never-ending tests and trials, they still had no response. And that was quite frustrating.
"Mr Luthor" An apparent security guard ran in a hurry, Luthor not even bothering in turning around.
"Speak quick" The bald businessman ordered, cutting to the chase.
"Security caught infiltrators trying to get into your facilities" The man said, getting a bit of the Luthor's attention "Two were on this base, another two on 33.1" The news were a bit surprising but not unexpected. It was obvious someone would be after the meteor and alien freaks. Many wanted power. But only Lex would wield it. It was his destiny to do so.
"I want them locked away, double security patrol every five minutes" The bald CEO ordered and the guard left with his mission assigned. The bald man took his cellphone out, making a quick call "They are on 33.1, get every information you can out of them, I don't care the method you use"
"Don't worry sir, that's for what you are paying me" A feminine voice replied from the other side, her face grinning like a fictional cat from a land of wonders. Lex hanged the conversation, waiting behind the window for any results. Luthors were bred for patience and Lex excelled in that. Even if it took months, he would get a visual result out of the alien guy, consequences and laws be damned.
After a nice day of rest, the farm alien Clark walked to the outside of his house in a nice clear morning again back into full health. In fact it was better than that because he now knew he had a super breath power. He stretched his arms, basking in the empowering yellow sunlight.
"Hey Clark, how about a spar?" Goku asked while smiling in happiness, stopping his warm up of one hand push-ups. The kryptonian looked to be back in full health, so what better way to test it?
"Thanks Goku, but I don't think that will a good idea" The farm alien replied, really not wanting to hit Goku. He was a friend, and though he trained, it didn't mean he couldn't get hurt. Specially if Clark was under-cautious and used more power than needed. However, Goku decided not to simply let it go.
"Oh come on. I survived my muscles been torn apart, a planet destruction and falling through the air like a meteor. Even your sneezes. You think you can hurt me more than that?" The palm-haired fighter asked a bit sarcastically. Clark had to admit it, for someone without school education, Goku knew perfectly where and how strong to hit the nail.
The kryptonian sighed, taking his jacket off, leaving him in nothing but blue jeans and red t-shirt.
"That's the spirit!" Goku said suddenly floating "Let's go to an empty place!" He took off away from the house, with Clark running on the ground following. Yet Clark was keeping at the same position, not letting Goku get ahead.
The Saiyan landed a few miles away from the farm in an open field and got into a fighting stance, his muscled chest at display. The farm alien was a bit lost in what to do. He had never received a training in fights before so even standing properly was an alien concept for him. The seasoned warrior saw right away that Clark was a rookie in proper mêlée fighting.
Goku shot forward with a fast punch into the face. Clark amazingly eluded it by raising his forearm in front of him, creating a little explosion at impact. Yet Goku's surprise easily banished, as he pushed forward with a knife-chop to the Kriptonian's neck. The attack hit like a blade, cutting the air supply for the farm alien. Clark backtracked, gasping his throat. That obvious advantage allowed the fast Saiyan to land his right roundhouse kick into the Kryptonian's face.
The farm alien was sent flying head over heels, Goku suddenly above him and landing a descendant kick to the midsection. Clark landed with a meteoric thud, the cracks in the ground extending for a few feet. Clark stood up again covered in dust and a bit drowsy. His senses barely found Goku when the Saiyan was already in front of him. The alien from another universe delivered a left elbow to the face, causing Clark to jerk his head left. The advantage was very obvious, Goku's free hand shinning with yellow energy and firing it right at point-blank, sending the farm alien careening backwards with the strength of tent fright trains put together.
Clark didn't know exactly what to do. He had always relied on his super strength and resistance in a fight. Normally that tactic didn't work against another Kryptonian because they were normally much stronger and had the power of flight, against which Clark had no defense against. But Goku was different. He didn't have Kryptonian powers, but his own Saiyan abilities were very unpredictable and just as tireless as his own. The energy blasts were stunning and his speed was almost equal to his. He was stronger and faster than Goku, he knew it. But only his super Kryptonian alien senses, which were in a level much higher than a Saiyan's and years of street brawler fighting kept the farm alien ahead of his more-experienced opponent.
But not for too long. Goku could see that Clark wasn't exactly defending himself. More like just standing there and waiting for him to run out of energy. But the Saiyan was impressed. The Kryptonian, after all, was receiving everything and not flinching. Sure a few face gestures of sudden stun but nothing really permanent. The most amazing thing, however, was that any damage Goku landed disappeared just as fast, Clark's powers going back to the previous level they were. Clark obviously had some kind of healing factor that worked faster than his own Saiyan one.
A punch to the forehead sent Clark back, caving a small trench with his feet that raised some dust. Yet he remained impassive and without injuries. Goku was still the same, ready to go up.
"Wow Clark, you are hiding more than you let on" The palm-haired alien complimented, folding his arms "But don't think you can simply remain in one place and not fight back. Because now I will show you some of my true powers!" The Saiyan yelled in strength, red energy flowing around him "Kaioken!" The technique blasted a few rocks nearby, wind gust moving the dust on the ground. Clark was impressed by the power, looking at the now a bit bulkier Goku.
The Saiyan shot forward with five times the speed of a bullet, driving a hard punch to the face. Clark received it dead on, the speed and strength of his enemy at least increased twice than before. The farm alien now could barely keep himself ahead of the blows, now all of them more stunning, almost painful. Scratch that, they were painful.
Goku's last attack came on a wrong angle, however, only hitting the Kryptonian in the shoulder and doing no significant damage. Clark took that lingering advantage, firing his right fist with explosive strength that sent Goku careening away, caving a small crater beneath them wide as three feet.
The Saiyan flipped back to his feet from the ground, his lips bleeding but nothing dead-serious. If anything, Goku had jsut finished warming up.
"So you can take a hit and fight back, eh?" The Saiyan smirked again, standing up like nothing had happened. Clark wasn't out of breath yet thanks to the constant solar power. But even he could be worn down eventually. Goku folded his arms again, knowing he at last could fight at full power without worrying about innocent bystanders or harming Clark "Kaioken times four!" The last time he had tried it, his body ended up torn apart. Yet Goku had healed stronger thanks to his special DNA, mixed along with the fact he had been training since he arrived into the new world.
The newly powered fighter was far too fast now, landing a sharp short upper cut to the farm alien's gut that bent over in sudden winded lungs. Goku sped away from behind, landing his edge-booted foot into the back head of Clark's, causing him to be sent away for a few meters. Goku went after him with a dash of flight, a red trace of light behind him. Clark tried to reestablish himself using his super breath into the ground to impulse himself into the air. He did it. His super breath sent him up in the air. But that was Goku's element. The Saiyan saw the farm alien falling and not flying. Any experienced fighter could see a very obvious advantage. The red-shinning Saiyan flew into Clark, grabbing his legs and spinning like a tornado. The Dragon Throw gained momentum and the palm-haired fighter released the Kryptonian into the soil, bouncing away, each bounce cleaning the area of grass and sending cracks over the place.
Clark knew it would not end up well. This fight was getting serious and he was getting beaten. He knew it was just a training, but the back of his mind was telling him to not take it that way. In real life, he would have died already by his inaction. Something he no longer wanted. He had to be more active and not let everyone step on him. For too long did evil beings hit him while he let them go away. But not anymore. If he was going to become a hero then some counter attack was needed.
The farm alien regained enough senses to stand up again and stopped his careening, now more bold active and suddenly performing his own dash of blurring speed forward. The attack, not only unexpected but also with a lot of strength and speed behind it took Goku by surprise, a bomb-strong fist hitting him in the cheekbone and now the Saiyan flying away, crashing into the forest at notch speed.
The Kryptonian looked at his hands, suddenly shocked. He didn't know he was that strong or fast. He had simply stopped holding back for a brief second. But his unrestrained powers looked now higher than before. He didn't use them against Luthor/Zod because he didn't want to hurt him, just trick him. But apparently he had been growing in powers ever since before that event.
"Wow Clark, you were suddenly stronger for a brief second" Goku walked again into the fight, his skin a bit dirty with mud but nothing serious in his health. For some reason Clark had gotten stronger. And the prospect of an equal fight was making the Saiyan to smile.
"Thanks. I'm just as surprised" Clark or Kal replied, looking at his hands.
"Now, let's go all out!" The Saiyan smirked, his aura shinning four times the normal power. Clark smiled, suddenly more confident of his own abilities. The Earth-raised alien shot forward with a brief sonic speed rush, caving a trench wherever his feet touched. Goku was barely able to elude a sloppy but still mighty fist by side-stepping left. The Kryptonian kept his momentum and Goku used that to fire a short upper-cut blow from Clark's over-extended limb. The farm alien, however, jerked his head backwards, dodging the aimed-to-face strike. The Kriptonian kept his body arching back, his right knee shooting up into his enemy. Goku was barely ahead of his enemies fast blows, stopping with both hands the strike, creating a shockwave by the clash. The palm-haired alien now quickly grabbed his enemy from the knee cap and spun around at notch velocity, whipping his enemy hard into the trees using the leg as a pole. The farm alien clashed through the woods, trees flung aside or breaking like toothpicks. But he regained his leverage, his eyes red. The heat blast went forward, hitting Goku right in the chest. The red-covered Saiyan felt the amazing heat burning his skin, along with concussive force of tons of dynamite pushing him back on his feet.
"Kaioken times five!" The Saiyan enchanted with power, the sudden burst stopping the eye heat blast from damaging him longer. He suddenly cupped his hands right, blue energy on his hands' palms, his legs squatting just a tad.
"Kame... Hame..." The Saiyan enchanted his trademark attack. Clark saw that the attack was many times stronger than anyone Goku had fired so far. The alien sped away beyond notch speed. Yet Goku's amplified senses detected his opponent trying to sneak from behind.
The Saiyan had already spun around one hundred eighty degrees just as the farm alien reappeared in scene, a blue light shinning bright in front of him coming from Goku's hands.
"HAAAA!" the palm-haired warrior shouted, firing his devastating blue blast. Clark never stood a chance of dodging, the attack pushing him backwards through miles, caving a trench of a few yards deep, the grass blasted and leaving only black-burnt soil.
Goku panted while smoke rose from his hands. His aura receded and he fell on his knees, tired and his muscles a bit strained. His body was a bit bruised but he would live.
Clark regained his senses after been hit by the most powerful attack he ever experienced. That energy was neither Kryptonite or magic, and yet it hurt worse than the two combined. It hit him with the devastating strength of an asteroid. His clothes were tattered but nothing considered indecent. The farm alien was a bit out of breath but thanks to the Sun of the sunset the Kryptonian recovered his energy.
"Sunset?" Clark thought, looking at the hiding Sun. It was amazing how fast time flew by. The farm alien got closer to his friend.
"Hey Goku, are you okay?" The Kryptonian asked looking at his hard-breathing opponent.
"Sure, just need something to eat" Goku replied with his usual smile, standing up on jelly legs.
"My God, what happened to you two?!" Chloe asked concerned, the two aliens walking back into the farm. Clark looked a bit like himself just a bit clothe-less and Goku was just plain beaten up.
"Just a warm up sparring" Goku replied with a confident Saiyan grin, sitting in a chair and resting his worked-out muscles.
"Oh good. Why don't you go for the Olympics ans show me what you can truly do?" The blonde said sarcastically, checking both of them.
"Chloë, Lois told you anything weird about yesterday?" Clark asked his girlfriend.
"About some kind of barn bazooka? Yes, she did" The reporter smiled with teasing "She even got to publish her flying-door story in the Inquisitor, quoting it was an aftershock of the 'Elvis effect' " The Kryptonian's eyebrow rose.
"Well, only Lois could publish such an obvious invented statement" Clark commented "I don't know whether this is something good for that matter" After all, Lois was always getting herself inside the eye of the storm. How she was still alive was something that puzzled the farm alien.
"Anything new at the Planet?" The farm alien asked his girlfriend, both sitting in the kitchen. The Saiyan was having a snack so he wasn't concentrated on the other two.
"If you mean, the usual crowd ruckus and never-ending gossip, then nothing new from that frontier" Chloe replied jokingly to Clark. Her face went serious though "Except for the fact I found something interesting about Black Thursday" That got her mate's attention.
"Which is?" Clark asked concerned.
"There was a working satellite on that day" The reporter said now "And I think it registered everything that happened on Smallville" Now Clark was worried. If he had been ill, he would have sweat to dehydration. That kind of information might attract the wrong kind of people.
"You think you can... you know, do what you do best?" The Kryptonian asked. Chloe gave a deep sigh before replying.
"Trust me Clark, I've tried all day long and nothing. And to be fair, a laptop is not exactly strong enough to break International Companies' firewalls" The blonde woman replied a bit crestfallen.
Clark wanted to curse his life. This wasn't Chloe's fault. Neither Goku. It was his. He should have done what was necessary when Lex was possessed. And now because of his foolish mistake, his girlfriend and friend might pay the price from whoever had that secret information.
Hopefully it wasn't a Luthor that had it.
Lex Luthor waited on his office, sitting behind his desk, again trying to come to term in how to use the burnt alien device he had found on Black Thursday. Plans for new technology went through his mind, yet non had the capability to do what was needed so to fully use the device's power.
A knock on his door took him out of his plans, a quick 'come in' said out of him. A beautiful black and long-haired woman with a few Asian traces on her face walked in, a tight green robe on her delicious body. Yet one should be careful with such a female. She was deadly at the full meaning of the word.
"Ms Nguyen, glad you could make it" The bald man said, standing up "What piece of information do you have?"
"The interesting one, sir" The woman for the time being replied, a wild grin on her face "Those intruders were working for Oliver Queen"
"Oliver Queen" The CEO whispered to himself. That pretty boy just had to make himself public again. Lex knew him. Believe him he did. Well, the pretty boy would only reach the tabloid's obituary, now that he had mess with a Luthor. No one would ever hear from him again.
"Did they say anything else?" The bald man asked again.
"The usual that everyone say when they see knives through their shoulders and want a quick death" The female assassin was grinning, something that even Luthor found disturbing. He paid her to obtain information, which she did, but the fact she was only getting bored by slowly torturing people was getting hard to avoid. But a job done was a job done, and Lex would not look the gift horse in the mouth.
"You are dismissed" The Luthor scion said and the woman left.
As soon as she was out of the perimeter, the Nguyen female took a cellphone out of her pocket and dialed a number.
"What happened Jade?" A feminine voice asked on the other side of the phone.
"Just as the great one said. They have one from the stars" Jade replied through the line.
"Luthor is a fool! Thinking he can hold one of the Travelers to his will" The female on the other side replied angry.
"Don't worry Talia, I can do something about that" The green-dressed deadly woman chimed in. There was a shook of head from the other side of the phone.
"No, don't do anything until my father knows about this" The female on the other side replied a bit tired. Jade sighed. If the Demon Head find out about the visitor then Hell might as well break loose already. Talia told her that her father was looking for new ways of prolonging his existence. Like if he hadn't lived long enough.
The conversation was over and the deadly woman slipped through the shadows of the night.
Vegeta smiled to himself, his face not showing any emotion whatsoever. The foolish doctors thought they could actually break him. How pitiful they were. He was a royal Saiyan. A super elite. He couldn't be broken by simple foolish attacks.
So far, everything was going as planned. His powers were slowly building up without the idiots even realizing they were improving him. But he still needed more. He wasn't even a tenth of Frieza's power. And that short lizard was obviously holding back. His true powers were something Vegeta never wanted to imagine, but at the same time, he knew he could surpass him. He just needed patience and do nothing to achieve that goal.
Of course, he knew Frieza wasn't here. This was obviously another universe. So without Frieza here, he had free path into rulership of the universe.
And while he waited, his brain concentrated into the energy of the scientists. Apparently Kakarot and his Earthling friends were able to feel the ki energy of the opponent so to not rely on scouter's power level like he and Nappa did.
So if the low-class Kakarot did it why not the Royal Prince?
Notes from Chapter 3:
Yes, the woman was Jade Nguyen (I hope you know who her boss truly is).
In this story, the normal Kaioken boosts the power by two, so there's no Kaioken x2.
In a way, Clark was unconsciously accessing more of his Kryptonian side, slowly obtaining his true strength (Remember he is still mentally repressed)
For those fans and haters of both Superman and Goku, I hope you have enjoyed the fight.
Vegeta is learning the ki sensing, like he did in cannon Manga after the fight with Goku.
The aliens on Earth are getting more acquainted. See next chapters for their future adventures.