Chapter 9: A Love Story

The others made it upstairs to find the room labeled 'fuel' to already be opened, with someone inside. Everyone was still a bit weirded out about that whole 'kiss thing' that Liax did. Lasecil looked over at Rex. "W-what was that…?" She asked him.

"I… Well… It's apparent that he likes you." Rex answered. "That's all I can really tell. But, I mean, who can blame 'em, right? You ARE really pretty, after all."

She blushed, and couldn't help but to smile a bit.

They walked into the fuel room, and Liax was just standing there with his arms in the air, like he was praising someone, or something like that. "Lasecil?" He asked, not even turning around. "How much are we permitted to take?"

"As much as you need. Oh, uhm, you too." She said, directing that to Rex and Malix. Suddenly, Rex felt like an idiot. Not just some moron with a simple mistake, but a genuine idiot. He never introduced himself, OR his friends. He clawed his face a bit, leaving a few scratches behind, which he felt he deserved, even if they were a bit painful.

"I'm so sorry, Lasecil…" Rex said, and everyone looked at him, confused. Even Liax was turned around. "I never introduced myself. My name is Rex." He said. "This is Malix, Maria, and Liax."

"Rex…" She said, hovering over that name.

He bowed respectfully. "I'm so sorry that I completely forgot to tell you our names, even though you've been helping us this whole time."

Lasecil was a bit flustered. "I-it's fine…! Really!" She was blushing like crazy by now, and she could feel her face get warm, so she knew that she was blushing A LOT. Lasecil turned a way a bit, but she could only turn her head so far to one side. Her blushing was still very obvious, and very visible. Malix, Rex, and Liax went about to gather the necessary amount of coal they would need for a full tank of fuel. When they were satisfied, Malix turned to Lasecil.

"…Help …Malix?" He asked.

Now that Rex thought about it, Malix was right. This escape was going pretty smoothly. They have their stuff, and now they have fuel, so now all that's left is getting Malix back to being a Human and getting out of the city. …No… that word is still an understatement. But still, that wasn't that much left to do, provided they don't get in trouble along the way. Just as he was thinking this, however, the alarms went off, and red lights were flashing everywhere, along with someone on the speakers yelling out 'Intruders on floor 8, block 13' repeatedly. Luck, sometimes Rex's worst enemy, other times his best friend.

Lasecil could be heard out in the hallway, which is where the four headed out to. When they passed through the door, they saw a taller, male Apex pulling what Rex and the others assumed to be the alarm switch. His foot was lifted up and placed on Lasecil's face, who was trying to muscle the Apex away from the alarm system. He was obviously distracted with her attempts, so Liax looked at Rex, then motioned towards the male Apex. The Floran understood instantly, and began to run towards the Apex holding the alarm down, with Liax trailing slightly behind him. Rex bashed the ape on the side, before jumping out of the way and letting Liax get in another tackle, with caused the Apex to buckle over in pain and collapse to the ground. Lasecil then pulled the switch back up, stopping the alarm.

Footsteps could be heard, and Maria stood at the top of the stairs in fear, as she could see the mob of Apex guards ascending the stairway at a scary pace. Rex ran over and grabbed her arm, as he dragged her in the direction that their Apex navigator led them. As the five made it around a turn, gun shots could be heard, barely missing the Avian's talons, and striking a giant stack barrels, knocking them over. That seemed a bit late on purpose to Rex, but he soon figured out why. The Apex guards stopped at the barrel blockade, and began to shove them down the isle that the party was heading down. They were rolling as fast as a car's wheel, or, at least, Rex assumed they were, since cars from HIS Earth were all flying. Many flew over head, and others made a sort of maze that everyone had to navigate if they didn't want to get crushed.

After making it around another corner and through a small tunnel, Lasecil stopped to turn around and press some buttons on a control panel, closing a hatch behind them. Everyone stopped running, and most nearly collapsed to the floor. They didn't run very far, but they did run fast, and that required nearly every bit of energy in their legs. Lasecil began to fall over from exhaustion, but was caught by Liax before hitting the ground. He blushed at bit, as she was literally in his arms. He lifted the heavily-breathing Apex into his arms like a cradle, and carried her to some place he could set her down. Meanwhile, Maria was lying down on the floor, wide-eyed, and still conscience, with Rex standing next to her.

Malix was the only one who hasn't even broken a sweat. He was looking at everyone else, wondering why they stopped running. "Tired…?" He asked, looking around at all the breathing bodies.

"Ya know, just a LITTLE." Maria managed to say, breathing heavily between each word.

"…Weak." The Floran replied, earning a stone glare from everyone that wasn't the passed out Lasecil.

• • •

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you, the transformy-chamber thing." Lasecil said, anticlimactically. Despite her informal/formal mix of words, the room was breathtaking and brimming with technology. There were monitors and computers and tables and server modems and test tubes and vials and lab stations and microscopes everywhere. But what grabbed everyone's attention was the table in the very center of the room with a device hanging over it. The reason this table was so interesting was because there was a body on the table, and it was twitching and struggling and trying to get out. It was a fruitless effort, though.

No one appeared to be in the lab save the five, and the figure on the table. Rex approached it while the others split apart, looking around at all of the machinery. Liax was walking with Lasecil, his arm around the back of her neck. She didn't seem to mind, though. In fact, Rex spotted a smile across her face. Maria was walking with Malix, and then Rex realized something. The people with the same first letters of their names were hanging out together. Was that… coincidental?

As Rex got closer to the table, he could see that it was a Human female that was strapped to the table, trying to break free of the iron bonds that held her in place. She had red hair, and a simple white t-shirt on. She was wearing camouflage pants, but no kind of foot-ware, which Rex thought was a bit weird. Her skin was very light-tan and her eyes were a shade of blue, much lighter than the Floran observing her. It was hard to tell, but her hight seemed to match that of Malix. She was definitely taller than Rex. Surprising she didn't see Rex there, considering he was standing right next to the table that she was strapped to. After a period of feeling ignored, and remembering the fact that they needed that table to turn Malix back into a human, Rex said something. "Hey?" He said, casually.

The girl's eyes met his almost immediately. Her eyes were moving sorta spastically, so Rex assumed she was in a sort of shock. "H-h-hi…" She said, stammering more than anyone could ever imagine.

"Uhm, well, we kinda need that table, so if you could get out, that would be appreciated." Rex requested, hoping that maybe this would get her to tell him the location of some sort of 'release' switch.

"I-I would g-g-get out on my o-own if I c-c-could…!" She replied.

Rex sighed. "Well, do you know of any release switch? Malix needs to use th-"

"MALIX!?" She yelled, which made Rex sorta jump a little. He heard footsteps behind him, and turned around to see Malix approaching.

He finally stopped in front of her table, standing next to her head. Malix seemed to be in a sorta open-jaw awe-struck sorta position, as his expression matched both. "…Jane…?" He managed to say, which sounded very ghostly, and sent a chill down Rex's spine.

"Mally?" The girl, who's name is apparently Jane, replied. "Mally, is that you?"

A smile formed across 'Mally's' face, as he nodded.

"Well, I see you two know each other, so I'm just gonna go over there and look for a release switch while you two, er, catch up." Rex added before rapidly walking over to the different control panels in an attempt to find the one that would release Jane.

"Mally! H-h-how's i-it been!? L-look at you! You're a F-floran!" Jane yelled.

"…Yeah. Fix… and… be… Human… again…!" Malix replied, with his limited speech.

"Really? Does that m-mean we can g-get off this p-p-planet, and travel t-t-together again?"

"You know it, baby." This made Rex urk. The male language was disgusting. It also didn't help that those four words happened to be able to be said like a perfect sentence.

Jane smiled and blushed a bit. "Maybe you should help your friends find a release switch." She suggested.

Malix nodded and joined the others in their search for a release button. He seemed more driven to this objective than anyone else did. Liax and Lasecil had circled the room about 10 times by now, and hadn't found any labeled buttons anywhere. Rex wasn't having any luck either. Suddenly, time seemed to stop, and a familiar voice made it's way into his head.

…There…

As time seemingly went back to normal, Rex suddenly took notice of one button in particular. Without thinking, he pressed it, and the sound of something snapping open could be heard. He looked up to see Jane stand to her feet, before jumping quickly and sitting back on the chair, her feet dangling off of the ground. Right. Rex though. Bare feet. Must be cold to her. Malix ran over to her, embracing her in a hug that launched them both over the side of the table and onto the floor. Just as Rex averted his eyes, even more buttons seemed to stand out to him. "Malix." He called out. "Get on the table."

Malix let released Jane from the bear hug and did as he was told. As he lay on the table, Rex pressed the 'release' button, which strapped Malix's arms and legs to the platform. He then walked over to the other buttons that seemed to shine in particular, and he pressed them in a certain order, that caused the machine over Malix to brim to life, and aim down at that Floran. Rex then pressed a red button, firing a blue, glowing beam at the table. It was too blinding for Rex to stare at, so he averted his eyes. After a bit of whirring and pulses of light, the blue aura died down, and the machine retracted itself. Rex pressed the 'release' button again, and a figure stood up from where Malix the Floran once was. Now, it was Malix the Human.

Everyone stared at him in awe, except for Jane, who was already hugging him. Malix had dark skin, which made since from his Floran form, and black hair. His eyes were a lighter shade of brown, and he didn't have claws anymore. Other than that he was exactly the same, except for the fact that he was wearing shoes now. Simple, white, tennis shoes.

Everyone seemed pleased with this success, but just then the alarm went off again. Of course they did. Why wouldn't they? Everything was going to swimmingly anyways. They all began to run out of one of the doorways, when Rex fished into his bag and pulled out a bomb. He had one left, and he completely forgot it's existence. Before following the other out the door, he lit the bomb and threw it at the device that transformed his friend Malix in the first place. Rex couldn't turn around to see the device explode, but he DID hear the explosion, as well as the collapse of a bunch of metal. He couldn't help but smile.

• • •

After what seemed like hours of evading, weaving, and maneuvering, the six finally made it to the exit gate of the metropolis. The sun welcomed the six back to the surface warmly. However, the Apex did not. The streets were emptied of bystanders, and strictly consisted of guards with swords and spears. This time, there was no feeling of familiarity, so Rex and Malix drew their weapons as well. Jane had a glowing spear that looked like it was made out of energy, and got in a battle stance behind Malix. Liax pulled out his two curved pirate-looking blades, and Maria pulled out her iron bow. Lasecil actually had a weapon of her own, which took the shape of a large, green gun with yellow marks on it. Rex thought it looked pretty cool.

"You're gonna help fight?" Rex asked, slightly confused.

"I thought these guys were your family?" Malix added. First time Rex heard him without making long pauses, save the time back in the lab.

"Yeah." Maria said.

Liax looked at her directly. "Are you sure about this? I don't want anything bad to happen to you if you were to be affiliated with us as criminals."

Lasecil grabbed Liax's face and kissed him on the mouth, which surprised the Hylotl, making his face almost completely red. For a second, Rex couldn't see his eyes. "There's nothing left for me here, anyways." She said finally.

Liax nodded understandingly, and faced the crowd of Apex that were slowly closing in on the group. Everyone split off into different groups to take on different parts of the mob. Rex actually started out with his gun, which he began to fire. It took down multiple Apex before the masses got too close to him, and he switched to his melee weapon, the sword that Liax gave him, and hacked and slashed at the armored apes. Liax, Maria, and Lasecil were working together to take down a section of guards, with Liax using his swords to slash at the enemy, and Maria using her bow to take down the farther away targets. Lasecil was helping Liax with the closer enemies. Malix, using the sword and shield that he was given by Rex, and Jane, using her long spear, were literally skewering the Apex that were getting in their way, like they were butter.

Rex was the only one fighting alone, and as such, he had to constantly keep his eyes peeled to make sure no one was sneaking up on him from behind. Occasionally, Maria or Lasecil would shoot a few of the enemies around him, but other than that, Rex was completely solo. He was good with his sword, but it was heavy, his arms were getting tired, and there seemed to be an endless wave of the guards. Just before his arms gave out, a voice, one that Rex had not yet heard, came from seemingly nowhere.

I can lend you power temporarily, Rex.

Just then a light shone on Rex, and his spell book materialized in front of him. He looked at it, speechlessly, for a little bit, before willing it to flip pages, which it did. He willed the book to flip to a page with a certain spell, and placed his hand on that spell, before raising it above his head. A giant sphere of purple energy began to form in his hand, and when Rex was satisfied with it's size, he moved his had to in front of him, and a large, purple, electrified beam shot out of the orb, zapping any poor sap that got in the radius. The spell book disappeared, and the whole wave of Apex that Rex had just taken down with his magic, turned into the Pixel Currency. Rex walked around and picked up the money, as he assumed it's use would show up eventually.

Rex was curious as to the voice that entered his thoughts, but that wasn't his main mindset. He set off to help his other friends fend of the smaller waves. Wait…

Why was Rex stuck with the biggest wave, anyways? Especially since it was just him by his self.

• • •

Liax and Lasecil were sitting on the hill that overlooked the metropolis, holding hands. It was evening, and city life resumed as normal, with the streets being crowded with people. Malix and Jane were sitting in the shade of some trees, talking about their time away from each other, and their experiences. Maria and Rex were standing in between everyone. Apparently, Jane has their ship ready for travel, and Liax was talking about his space adventures, and how Lasecil should join them. Rex chuckled slightly and looked down at Maria.

"Well, I suppose you're going to be a third wheel now." Rex said.

"A third wheel? What's that suppose to mean?" Maria asked.

"Basically, when you're friends with a couple, and you aren't in a couple yourself, you're considered a third wheel. So like, their going to act all lovey-dovey and you're just going to be… there."

"Oh." Maria said, sounding kinda depressed.

"You'll get use to it, I suppose." Rex finally said, in an attempt to boost her mood.

"Well, I'll try." Maria replied, with the best smile she could manage.

Malix walked up to Rex, holding out two capsules. "Now that I've got the storage in my ship back, I won't need these anymore." He said, returning the borrowed sword and shield. "Ya know, I can't seem to thank you enough for what you've done. You're really something, Rex."

Rex bowed respectfully.

"Oh, here. And don't say you won't take it. It's 50,000 pixels. just keep it." Malix insisted. Rex just accepted the pouch of currency, seeing how it was apparent Malix wasn't going to take a no. "We're heading off now. Let us know if there's anything we could do for ya, alright Pal?" He wrapped his arm around Jane, and beamed up to his ship using a device of some sort.

"We're heading off too." Liax said from behind him. Rex turned around to see him and Lasecil holding hands, with Maria to the right of the Hylotl. "Lasecil's coming with us, so now we've got another adventurer to join us." Liax said, blushing.

Maria and Lasecil approached Rex, hugging him at the same time. He didn't need to breath anyways. "Bye." Lasecil said. "And thanks for everything. It may seem like I helped you, but really, you helped me." And she let go, to stand near Liax again.

"I'm gonna miss you, Rex!" Maria said. "Let's meet a little SOONER this time, alright?" And she let go as well, walking over to where Liax and Lasecil stood. The three waved good bye and Liax grabbed Lasecil in for another kiss, before a device was used that beamed the three up to their ship.

Rex walked over to the edge of the cliff where Liax and Lasecil had been sitting, overlooking the town under the beautiful evening sky. He was sitting where Liax was, but there was no Lasecil figure to sit beside him. A feeling Rex never thought he would care about mercilessly stabbed at his heart, which actually made him clench his chest in imaginary pain.

He was alone.