.Chapter seven.

It has been an orbital-cycle since Bruno joined the team and he has settled in nicely. The All-stars are thoroughly enjoying having him in the training area and he's enjoying all of the attention and table scraps he keeps getting; I'm sure he gets fed more of the food I make for the All-stars than they do.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had just fed Bruno in his playpen and was now starting to sweep the corridor that led to the training area from the transport shuttle-docking bay (it was one of my chores). I had swept half of the corridor when I bumped into someone behind me.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going," I apologised, as I spun 'round with head down and my eyes closed; I didn't want to see an angry Triceraton, been there, done that, don't want to go back.

"It's okay; no harm done," said a charming young voice. I opened my eyes and looked up at who had just spoken to me. It was a young Triceraton; he was younger than Cloak and the All-stars. Surprisingly he looked younger than Zimmer and Zimmer was about twenty-two. He was about 6'1", orange in colouration, and he didn't have a single marking on him (the only way I can kinda tell Triceratons apart if they're not talking is by their markings and unfortunately there were a lot of Triceratons that didn't have distinguishable markings on them). His attire was different from the other Triceratons I've met; he was dressed in a blue uniform that was a bit dirty, particularly around his shins.

"What are you doing sweeping the corridor? That's my job," he said, as he noticed the broom in my hand.

"Your job?" I asked, a bit perplexed.

"Yeah, I was hired to do it yesterday."

"By who?"

"Burn, the manager of the All-stars; apparently the person who usually does it is a bit too busy with the team's new mascot."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"That was nice of him."

"I guess. So what are you doing sweeping my corridor?"

"It used to be my job."

"So you're the one taking care of that puppy."

"Yes."

"Right. So your name is?"

"Cal; and you?"

"Zap."

"Nice name."

"Thanks, your name ain't half bad either."

I just smiled at him.

"So what's it like working with the All-stars?" he asked, as he leaned against his broom.

"Pretty much the same as working with any other group of Triceratons."

"Right; I guess seeing them day in and day out does become a bit monotonous."

"Not really; they actually don't spend a lot of time in the training area."

"Oh, but surely they train in there."

"Yes, they do, but they spend more time training out in the arena. They'll occasionally spend the whole day in the training area, but that's usually only when they have a match coming up the next day or when they want to spend time with their new mascot."

"Right, so working with the All-stars is kinda neither here nor there."

"Most of the time yes, but now that we have Bruno it's a bit more interesting."

"Right. Well, I better get back to sweeping; Burn doesn't pay me to stand around and chat with his other employees."

"Right. Don't strain yourself sweeping this place, okay?" I turned to leave Zap to his work.

"Okay; will I see you 'round?"

"Perhaps."

He just smiled and went back to sweeping while I started to head back to the training area.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that day, after the guys and Burn had finished lunch, I decided to have a word with Burn about his hiring Zap.

"Uh, Burn," I said, as I walked up to him. He was busy watching three of the All-stars playing a game of three-way keep away with Bruno; they were throwing a yellow tennis ball like thing to each other and Bruno was trying to catch it before one of the All-stars did.

"Yeah," replied Burn, a bit disinterestedly.

Before I could say anything a small alarm sounded from Burn's watch.

"Sorry, Cal, but I've got to try to convince my All-stars that we need to go practise in the main arena without Bruno." Burn started to walk towards the All-stars who were playing with Bruno.

"Right." I was a bit miffed that I hadn't been able to talk to Burn about Zap.

"Uh, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure, what?"

"Find Monza; I need him to train with these guys too."

"Okay." With that I walked out of the training area to find Monza.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn't take me long to locate Monza, he was just down the corridor talking to Zap. I walked up to the two Triceratons.

"Oh, hey Cal," smiled Zap, as he saw me approaching him and Monza.

"Hi Zap," I smiled.
"So what brings you back here?"

"I've been asked to retrieve Monza."

"What for?" asked Monza.

"Burn wants you and the guys to practise in the arena."

"Right. Well, I'll see you 'round, Zap." Monza put a hand onto Zap's shoulder.

"You bet, Monza," replied Zap with a smile.

Monza nodded and walked off back to the training area.

"You doing anything now?" asked Zap before I could make a move to follow Monza. I looked around to make sure it was me he was talking to.

"Me?" I asked, a bit taken aback by his question.

"Yeah, are you busy at the moment or are you free for the rest of the evening?"

"I've still got a bit of work that needs to be done, but it shouldn't take long; why are you asking me if I'm free or not anyway, Zap?"

"I was just thinking that, if you weren't busy, we could spend some time together; you know get to know each other a bit better."

"Why?" I was starting to get a bit suspicious of Zap.

"Well, we'll be working together now and I kinda like to know a bit about my fellow employees."

"What do you mean 'we'll be working together now'?"

"Didn't the guys and Burn tell you?"

"No, what?"

"I've been hired to become an assistant to the All-stars. I'll be working along side you in the training area."

"Doing what?"

"Just helping out where I can and sweeping the corridor."

"Right, when did this happen?"

"While I was walking back to my house earlier. Burn stopped me and asked me if I would like to become an assistant to the All-stars; fortunately I knew what I was getting myself in for from what I had gathered from you."

"Right."

"You don't mind a roommate do you?"

"Say what?" My eyes went wide. Having him working alongside me was fine, but sharing a room with him, I don't think so; it goes against every moral fibre.

"Relax, I was just razzing you," he chortled.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll be staying nearby though; just in the next tribase," he said with a smile.

"Right; when do you start?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, so I'll see you early tomorrow morning."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

"Right."

Just then Burn called me from the training area.

"Coming!" I replied.

"I'm not looking forward to that," commented Zap.

"You get used to it," I smiled.

"Cal!" bellowed Burn again.

"Get going; I don't want you to get into trouble," said Zap, as he pushed me to walk.

"Right; see you later," I said, as I started to jog back to the training area.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once back in the training area, I found Burn with his arms folded and tapping his foot.

"Well?" he asked.

"I got held up," I replied.

"Right, now I wanted to inform you about…"

"About your new employee?"

"How did you?"

"Zap told me just a few minutes ago."
"Right."

I gave Burn a 'why didn't you tell me' look.

"I was going to tell you earlier, but I got side-tracked," said Burn.

"I think you need to get a memo pad or something like it," I replied.

"Yeah, anyway he's trained to be a soldier, but didn't make it into the ranks because of some reason or other."

"And this is important because?"

"Because he's going to be working with the All-stars a lot so you don't have to worry about him getting in your way."

"Right."

"He will be spending a bit of time here with you, but he'll be busy doing advanced maintenance on the equipment and training area in general."

"Okay."

"And you can relax about having your privacy invaded; he'll be staying on a tribase that is just next door to us."

"Thanks for the info."

"No problem; now we've got to get going and I think you still have work to do."

"Yes sir."

"Come on, All-stars, we've got practising to do. If you can make it through the next ten matches we're going to the Inter-Galactic Fighting Tournament on Shiniza 8." Burn walked out of the training area and started to walk towards the arena.

"We'll see you later for dinner," said Mixx, as he and the other All-stars started to follow their manager out of the training area.

"Okay; have a good practise session boys," I said, as they walked out of the training area.

"We will," replied four voices.

I just smiled and started to work on my last chores of the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had just finished giving Bruno his dinner when I heard someone knock at the training area door.

"Who is it?" I asked, as I walked towards the door.

"Zap. You busy still?" came Zap's voice from the other side.

"I'm just waiting for the All-stars dinner to cook. Why?"

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." I hadn't even finished saying 'sure' and Zap was in the door.

"Why didn't you just come in anyway?" I asked.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were finished working before I came in," he replied.

"Why?"

"I wanted to talk to you and some people have a bit of trouble talking when they're busy working."

"Very considerate of you, Zap, but I'm one of those people who can work and talk at the same time."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind."

Just then Bruno barked; he was excited to see a new face.

"That Bruno?" asked Zap.

"Yeah, the second newest member to the team," I replied, as I watched him walk over to Bruno.

"Right. He's quite the cute little thing."

"And he knows it."

"What do you mean?"

"If he gets in trouble with one of the guys, he just puts on the 'puppy dog pout' and they can't stay mad at him for long."

"Sounds typical of dogs."

"Tell me about it." I sat down on a nearby bench.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself." Zap walked over to me and sat down next to me.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you get to be on the home world?"

"I was kidnapped by Zanramon and Mozar to be their hostage."

"Right, and what happened after that?"

"I was sent to the prison compound."

"I heard that a fire started in it on Horn Sharpening Day; is that true?"

"Yes."

"Then you were in it during that time."

"Yes, a friend of mine evacuated the whole prison and transported us to the temporary prison compound."

"Right and what happened after that?"

"I was put into solitary back at the old prison compound and shortly after that I was hired by the All-stars to be their maid."

"Right; what was your friend's name?"

"The one who evacuated the prison?"

"Yes; why? Did you make more than one friend?"

"Yes, I made three friends in prison."

"Okay, what were your friends' names?"

"My first friend was Sleeg, he was my cellmate."

"You don't have a problem with sharing a room with Sleeg, but you have a problem with sharing a room with me?"

"I didn't have a choice and besides I don't know if I can trust you."

"But you trust a convict."

"He was a trusted convict; Ensign Garzu requested that I be put in with him."

"Right."

"How do you know Sleeg?"

"He was working for my dad not too long ago."

"Really?"
"Yeah, he was saving up money to head back to his home planet, which is where he is now."

"Good."

"He frequently talked to me about some girl he had met in prison."

"Sounds like Sleeg."

"He also told me about two Triceratons that she took a bit of a fancy to."
"Now hold on there; I didn't take a 'fancy' to anyone. Sleeg always thought that I had, but I hadn't."

"Okay, okay simmer down; I'm just telling you what he told me." Zap put his hands up in defence.

"Did he tell you their names?"

"Yeah, Cloak and Zimmer. The one was a fellow inmate and the other was a guard; I just can't remember which was which."

"Zimmer was the guard and Cloak was the fellow inmate."

"Right, so did you have a crush on either of them?"

"No." I had a bit on indignation in my voice.

"Okay, okay, chill; I was just double checking."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. So were you close to any of them?"

"Cloak and I were almost inseparable."

"And Sleeg and Zimmer?"

"I don't know what it was about them, but I never formed the same bond with them that I had formed with Cloak. Maybe it was the way they annoyed me at times."

"Maybe."

My mind went back to the days when Cloak and I were still together; I hadn't been thinking of him for quite a while now.

"You okay?" asked Zap, as he noticed my spaced out look.

"Huh?" I asked, snapping back to reality.

"You okay? You look a bit spaced."

"I'm fine, just thinking."

"Okay."

Just then the timer on the oven went off.

"I better get that before it burns," I said, as I got up and walked towards the kitchen.

"Right," said Zap, as he got up and followed me.

"Now that you know my story what's yours?" I asked, as I started to get the All-stars dinner out of the oven and into the warming drawer.

"Nothing spectacular," replied Zap.

"Come on just give me a brief description then."

"Okay; I'm the son of a merchant."

"A merchant of what?"

"He supplies the rations for the army and just sells food in general."

"Right. What else has happened in your life?"

"I was trained to be a soldier, but I didn't make the cut for various reasons."

"What reasons?" I leaned against the kitchen counter.

"I would rather not talk about them."

"Okay."

"And my first job was sweeping the streets down in the tribase I live in."

"Right. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, I'm an only child."

"Friends?"

"I have a few."

"Could you name them?" I started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Sure, there's Bruno…"

"I meant besides the dog, me and the All-stars."

"No really I've got a friend named Bruno; he's a huge soot black Triceraton."

"Oh, sorry I didn't realise…"

"It's okay."

"Thanks, so anyone else?"

"There's Turbo, Ac, Dc, Jet, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Zarak."

"Wow, you've got quite a posse."

Zap just shrugged.

Just then the All-stars came back in looking a bit worse for wear.

"What happened to you guys?" asked Zap.

"Burn," replied the All-stars and me in unison.

"O-kay, I better get going; mom will kill me if I'm late for dinner again."

"Okay, take care on your way home, Zap," I smiled.

"Will do." With that he took off out of the training area.

"What do you think of him?" asked Mixx, as he and the other All-stars sat down at their makeshift table.

"He's nice enough," I replied, as I fetched their dinner out of the warming drawer and started to dish it up onto their plates.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I walked up to them with their dinners on a tray I noticed that they all had that annoying teasing face on.

"Don't start with me, boys," I warned, as I placed their dinners in front of them.

"Why not?" asked Monza.

"I don't get crushes that easily."

"Right, but just so you know he is the same age as you?"

"He's eighteen?"

"Nineteen, but close enough."

"This change your perception of him?" asked Xiote.

"No, he's just a nice guy that I happen to be working with; just like you boys," I replied, as I walked off back to the kitchen.

The All-stars just smiled at me and went about eating their dinner.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the evening was business as usual, but I was secretly looking forward to tomorrow; having someone else in the training area to talk to, even if it was just for a few minutes, was going to hopefully be enjoyable.