Yea, whatever...



Chapter Eighteen: The Leaves That Are Green



...Mosshein.

"Wake up sleepy noggins!" Kaz shouted, as the sun rose over the side of some planet.

"Shut up!" Someone shouted, rather violently.

"*Ahem* we've arrived at our destination!" Kaz beamed.

Begrudginly they filed out of the two rooms, as a random droid served them coffee and tea. Soon they where all around the cockpit, Ducky(out of her reGrow armor, mind you) took the controls today.

"Kaz, where are we?" Seraph asked, sipping some steaming coffee.

"I don't know...there are no radio transmissions comming from the planet." Kaz stated planily.

"Life signs?"

"Tons..." Seraph slumped in the co-pilot seat, then swivled it to face her crew.

"We are here upon the assumption that the next piece of the map Tyio found his here, and ultimatley the complete map will lead us to Symballen's Artifact. However, I pose this to you...who would hide a piece of a map that would ultimatley lead to one of the greatest and most powerful devices in the universe...on a planet with no technology?"

"You're right...we've been sent on a wild goose chase..." Tymen thought, cursing the piece of map.

"Wrong, my foolish minded crewman...only a fool would place such a thing on a well populated planet, rather on a out of the way planet, so only people they wanted to find it could." Seraph chortled.

"Miss Ducky, take us down." She grinned ear to ear, known she was much closer to her prize.



As the small, now battle scarred Penultimate descended through the light cloud cover, it became apparent the depths of Kazooie's statement about the number of life signs. It was covered in large, evergreen forest, interrupted only at times by clear, babbling brooks. There were wheat bound plains, and low hills covered by short, tightly packed grass. There where a few large animals, but most of them where small...with no civilization to speak of.

"What a wonderous place..." BlackSheep remarked, about the time Juiso spotted something.

"Look, there! Some buildings!" He exclaimed, as small cottages with thatched roofs gave way to stone structures, and soon they where over a stone city...of sorts.

"Set us down there, maybe someone can tell us where to get the next piece of the map." Seraph ordered, and with a low humm, the ship set down in a clearing.

"Is the air good?" Seraph asked Kazooie, as they moved to the exit hatch.

"Maybe a little thin for you guys, but it should present no problem."

They then quickly exited the Penultimate, and as soon as they set foot on the lush, springy greenery, the lot of them where swamped by locals.

"Syyvrenok shurnatem...Syyvrenok varkokie!" The natives chanted, as the transalator beacon at the base of the Carrotian's skulls took hold on the language.

"They came from the sky! From the sky!" Thease short, brown creatures that permeated the town said.

Being swamped by escastic locals, the heros gave light smiles and moved deeper through the stone city.

"Welcome to Mosshein." One of them, taller than the rest and with a ornate headress, approached them.

"Thank you." Seraph bowed, and was quickly followed by the others.

"What brings you to our planet?" He asked.

"Where looking for something like this." Tymen blurted out, displaying the shard of the map they had found in Daroth.

"Ah, good, we have that, and are willing to give it to the winner." The taller Mosshienite said.

"Winner?" Juiso asked, confused.

"You see, someone else has come here, looking for the same item." From behind the Mosshienite, strode a tall, muscular figure, with long blonde hair, piercing yellow eyes, and a faceplate, with a escort of twenty Knn soldiers in full combat armor.

"The Demon!" Seraph snapped, recognizing the infamous Knn commander. She pulled for a blaster pistol but the Mosshein shouted to her,

"They'll be no violence today! If you want to compete for the shard...you must go into the Hyai'kalla."

"What's the Hyai'kalla..." Tyio asked, rather confused...Hyai'kalla was Gerenpfpssh for 'cold underwear.'

"It's a test...you must choose a Jechgan, and each of you're Jechgans will race a obstacle course...the winner will receive the shard of the map..." Tyio was dumbstruck, was this some cruel trick fate was playing on him? Jechgan was Gerenpfpssh for 'smelly monkey.'

"What...you're just going to give it to us, just like that?" Tymen asked.

"Well...yes...if one wants something, one should recieve it, if it is as nessecary as you say, that has always been the way of the Purrpurn Namash. Come, you must choose you're Jechgans for the Hyai'kalla." Tyio nearly fell over, Purrpurn Namash was Gerenpfpssh for 'stick your ear in a coffemug.' The lot of them, rather uneasily watching The Demon and his soldiers, passed to the Jechgan bins, being led by the taller Mossheinite.



The Jechgans were apparently water beings, at the pins were basically trowels filled with them. There 'heads were pink cylindars, with a pointed snout, and they had two, long, whiplike red protrusions for porpulsion.

"What about that one, that one is rather robust." Juiso noted, pointing to one of the larger ones.

"We want speed." Tymen scoffed, Juiso replying with a scowl.

"That one...it has longer whip thingies...and it's rather streamlined." BlackSheep stated, pointing to one swimming about in one of the corners. Seraph eyed it sternly, but then her expression then melted to a smile.

"Good call Sheep, hey, you, we want that one." Seraph called over one of the Mossheinites operating the bins.

"Good choice m'lady." Gently, the Mossheinite removed the Jechgan, then placed it in Seraph's hand.

For a moment, Seraph seemed rather daunted, but she spoke weakly after a minute.

"I can hear it's thoughts...it's intelligent, very much so, and it can go very fast, I can see it through it's eyes...yes, this is the one we want."

"Excellent," the taller Mossheinite stated from behind them,"the race will commence in one hour."



As preparations for the race continued, several of the crew members returned to the Penultimate for a bit of a nap, they had been rather rudely awoken upon arrival after all. It was a bizzare twist, them thinking it was early morning, while the sun was setting on the planet.

Although, Seraph decided to have a talk with the taller Mossheinite, named Kremkrokalla(sidenote: Kremkrokalla is a Gerenpfpssh contraction for 'Aliens in you're shorts.')

"So, where you're people ever spacefaring? You speak as if you know of the things beyond you're own world...yet this," Seraph made a sweeping motion over the simple town,"beliyes that..." Kremkrokalla chortled,

"How old are you?"

"Don't awnser a question with a question!" Seraph snapped.

"I said, how old are you?"

"*mumble* 23 *mumble*"

"I could tell, you are still a brash youth, and it is all on you're face, and in you're questions." Seraph's temper was falling,

"I am the cheif commander of twelve thousand soldiers, the largest single military force on my home planet!"

"Yet you abandon it all on some fool hearty mission with nothing but rumors and a hope that you might be able to possibly change the course of history?"

"I have good officers to take my place." Seraph stated, as they walked through a stone pathway. Seraph was in awe of the lush green trees, standing tall and serene above them, and the neat grass beneath them. The sweet smells of life in the air, of birds chirping. Seraph remembered one time, when she was two, just before the Knn attack, she remembered it all so vividly. Her mother crouched, cooing, 'Come little Seraphine, c'mon' and, on weak, wobbly legs she plodded through the lush grass to her, light cascading through the tall trees. But then the Knn came...her mother died, her father became a hardened warrior...and the leaves that were green, turned to brown.

"My ancestor had good officers, really good, at the first sign of danger they launched a warhead that wiped out ninety percent of our population and all our offworld operations. Such a terrible force will never be seen again, all knowledge was destroyed, and we turned to a simpler way of life, a better way, mind you!"

Seraph used every vestige of willpower she had to control her anger at Kremkrokalla.

"You have a good head...but listen, you, prehaps less than you're companions, take many risks, foolish risks on foolish notions...don't. And once you find this...time device of your's, be very careful with it."

"I know what I'm doing..." Seraph said, standing on the last shred of dignity she still held before this clearly wiser leader.

"You may, but you still must be cautious, ten billion years ago someone tried to change the course of history...but history will always repeat itself, always." Seraph had nothing to say, except,

"Er...I think the race is ready."



The two Jechgans swam in a tiny preperation vault, with the whole watery course layed out before them.

"Is everyone present?" Kremkrokalla asked, with the squadron of Knn soldiers in a tight formation, and The Demon standing before them, and Seraph and her crew awaiting a slow-moving Tymen, as he streched from his short nap.

"Yes." The Demon snapped, his course voice rumbling,

"Aye." Seraph stated.

"Then let the Hyai'Kalla begin!" The preperation vault lifted, and the Jechgans barreled down the first, straight part of the course. It was apparent from the start that The Demon's Jechgan was slightly faster than Seraph's. However, Seraph's was rather more agile, as they wove down the first set of loops and sharp turns.

After a breif straight, a series of very sharp turns was about to occur, but, before they did, The Demon's Jechgan ran up just behind Seraph's and, it with snout bit off a portion of the latters porpulsion whips. This

signifigantly cut Seraph's Jechgan's performance, as they bolted through the four 180 turns, then moved to a upward slope. The Jechgans cut through several more such pathways, but, when The Demon's Jechgan bit off a part of the other porpulsion whip, and the weight was once again symetrical, Seraph's took the lead, however slight of a one it was.

As they came to the final leg of the race, it was all up to sheer speed, as the hoop with the word 'Finish' written on it came into the tiny animal's view. The Demon's Jechgan rammed Seraph's, but this act of greed got the better of it, when one of it's whips got entangled by a nail in the crude wooden construction of the course. In no time flat, the Jechgan passed through the finish hoop, winning the race.

"We won! We won! One step closer to Symballen's Archon!" Seraph shouted, and the lot of them jumped up and down.

"Not if I can't bloody help it!" The Demon snapped, and his soldiers opened fire, and several fighters descended from the sky, firing down on them.

And the leaves that were green, turned to brown.



Up Next: Chapter Nineteen: Not Quite Paradise