Yugi and the others walked back into Klyndeneya, now confident in their new knowledge. As soon as they arrived, the bartender who had rebuked them earlier greeted Yugi with a wave of a six-fingered hand. "Yugi! You've grown since I last saw you, but not much."
Yugi turned as red as he could get in his Loramyshan form. "All Loramysha are short, Terzen!" he yelled back indignantly. "You know that!"
Terzen laughed a deep, rumbling chuckle. "You know I like to give you snowflakes a hard time. Sit down, I got a slate shake all set up for you."
Yugi shook his head. "Maybe later, Terzen. I heard that you were giving my friends a hard time earlier." He indicated the others, who were standing near the entryway and watching this interaction.
Terzen scratched a fur-covered head. "Those blokes are your mates? They strolled in here with no clue 'bout the races or anything!"
"That was my fault," Yugi explained. "Don't blame them. They learn fast and they're accustomed to the otherworldly."
Terzen gestured for the gang to take a seat. "Well, I'll have to apologize for giving you all a hard time."
"Don't worry about it… Terzen, right?" Tea asked.
Terzen laughed again. "That's correct. And who's this lovely lass?"
Tea blushed under the compliment. "I'm Tea. You're very kind."
"It's part of the business, my dear. It makes return customers. Besides, I don't get many human ladies coming in here and not staring at me like I'm a bloody albino Plains Lizard." Terzen said, winking a yellow eye. He turned to Yugi. "You all want to start a Union, I'm going to have to ask your weapon preferences and get your preliminary payments."
Yugi pulled a card out of his coat pocket and slid it like a Visa through a discreet slot in the counter. A monitor came out of the counter and displayed, "Current Balance: Seventy-Five Rasta".
"Rasta?" Atem asked.
"An interterrestrial unit of currency. Equivalent to about five dollars." Yugi explained, pressing the button for "Union formation".
"Ten rasta for collateral, plus five rasta for each member…" he muttered as he entered the figures into the computer.
"Can I get you all anything?" Terzen asked the gang. "We take human currency."
"Uh… what do you have?" Tristan asked. From the specialties that he had seen in the flyer, he didn't think he'd be too interested in snacking here.
"For humans of your ages, we have root beer, pretzels, and some beef jerky," he said. He looked eager to hook some more customers.
Joey's face lightened at the mention of the jerky, but Tea politely shook her head. "Sorry, Terzen, nothing today." She knew that she would end up paying for everything.
Terzen frowned and returned to cleaning up the counter, and the gang decided to see how Yugi was doing.
The screen now read, "Weapon preference", with five empty slots for each of them. Yugi selected "Earth longbow" for one and "Astalan Getya sword" for another. He turned to the others. "Weapon preference?" he asked, echoing the computer.
"Broadsword. Earth, I presume." Atem said. He had some experience with other weapons as well, but the broadsword was always his favorite. Yugi entered it quickly.
Joey thought on it for a while. "I don't know, Yug'!" he admitted finally. "I've always fought with my fists and feet." Yugi shrugged and selected "Earth iron knuckles".
Joey leaned forward and checked out his choice. "Iron knuckles… nice."
"Not me, man. I've always preferred a good rebar." Tristan said, thinking back to the days when he used to make these kinds of decisions. At this, Yugi selected "Earth spear".
"Now for the test!" he exclaimed, frowning slightly as he saw the new balance of forty rasta in his account.
"Who's the bow for?" Joey asked, as Yugi selected "next" on the screen.
Tea raised her hand. "I've practiced archery since I was little," she explained. "I've never actually hit a moving target, but I guess that will come with practice."
"I never knew that, Tea," Atem said. "Why didn't you tell me that when we were talking earlier?"
Tea shrugged. "A part of me was just angry because you didn't think I could take care of myself. But another part just wanted to stay back with Yugi, I suppose. It would have only made things worse for him if he was the only one who didn't get to come."
Yugi smiled. In a way, Tea and Atem reminded him of his parents. Tea was strong-willed and independent, while Atem was slightly antiquated and very protective. It was a strange pairing, but oddly enough it seemed to be successful.
The first question popped up on the screen. "In Kryos, what two offenses are worthy of capital punishment?"
Yugi scribbled "murder and adultery" on the screen with an electronic pen and pressed "accept".
"Sheesh," said Joey. "Guess dey have a strict policy on dat sort of thing."
The second question: "What is the highest peak in Astala?" Yugi grinned at the easy question and entered "Mt. Eurta".
The third question: "In winter, what is the average temperature of Desterfeld?" Yugi entered "One hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit".
A brief flash of a green "3/3!" appeared on the monitor and Yugi smiled happily at his success. "A short test," Atem commented. The details of their Union were displayed. Each of their names with their races and weapons were listed, along with the number of assignments they had taken. At this point, the number was none.
"Do you guys want to search for an assignment now, or wait until later?" Yugi asked them.
Joey grinned mischievously. "Of course now! There could be Lilitu attacking innocent citizens! Let's go!"
Yugi smiled at his enthusiasm and selected "available assignments". About fifty new missions were displayed.
"There seem to be lots of Lilitum sightings out there," Atem said correctly.
Yugi nodded. "This is for every world and every Union out there, so it would make sense there'd be a lot."
"How about dat one?" Joey said, excited to try out his iron knuckles. He pointed to an assignment to hunt a Wraith Lilitum in Raidne, Senmar.
Yugi grimaced and shook his head vigorously. "Wraiths are serious business. They can be solid or incorporeal whenever they want. Maybe we should start out with something easier."
"Okay, how about this one?" Tea suggested, pointing to an assignment to hunt a Yeti Lilitum in Demapharia, Astala.
Again, Yugi shook his head. "It's winter in Demapharia. Humans aren't allowed."
Tea frowned at her bad suggestion. Atem leaned forward and decided to pick one. "Would this be alright, Yugi?" he asked. He had selected a Snake Lilitum in Rosterfeld, Kryos. It had become known as the Midgard Serpent because of its enormous belly. According to the description, it had swallowed the treasures of a number of ancient Kryllian tombs.
Yugi thought about it for a while. Rosterfeld wasn't nearly as hot as Desterfeld, but it was still hot, and even in their human form half-Loramysha did not take well to excessively high temperatures. Actually, any temperature over eighty was near torture to them. But Yugi decided to get over his aversion to heat and give the Serpent a go. "Sure, Atem. That sounds like a good assignment." He pressed the accept button and the mission disappeared from the list.
"So, what exactly is Rosterfeld like?" Atem asked. "I want to be prepared."
"Well, you did grow up in Egypt, but I still suggest you wear light clothing." Yugi said, getting a tad uneasy about his trek through Rosterfeld. "It's a desert, you see. We'll have to take food for you guys, and water. And we should rent a drederstein, so it will be faster…" Yugi didn't like the effect this would have on his account. The food and water he could get at home, but they would have to get at least three dredersteins, which cost 8 rasta each for two days.
"Why only food for us? What about you?" Tea asked. Yugi wasn't crazy enough to starve himself to save money, she knew that.
"Don't worry about me. There's plenty of food out there for me to eat," he said plainly. The others stared at him, not understanding. He sighed. "Because of the climate in Astala, Loramysha don't have to ingest organic things to survive. We eat rocks, instead."
"Rocks?" Joey asked incredulously. "Well, dat explains da 'slate shake' thing…"
Yugi lit up. "I know, slate is my favorite!" He got more depressed. "But there's a whole bunch of sandstone out in Rosterfeld. It'll be easy to get some."
The gang nodded. They all knew that Yugi had strange tastes, especially after they found out that he liked Atem's cooking.
"So the Serpent is just wandering out in the desert somewhere?" Tea asked. "How are we supposed to find him?"
"Since it likes to eat treasure, it's probably gorging itself in the Tomb of Grend. He was a famous Kryllian king that saved the Federation by protected Kryos from invasion by the Poya in the first age," Yugi said. "He has loads of treasure stocked up in his resting place down in Rosterfeld."
"Alright, then!" Joey said, pumping his fist enthusiastically. "Let's get this party started!"