U4: The Space Wanderers

Chapter 3: This Isn't Normal

The three wanderers start trekking though the woods to get to their destination. Goddard just skips on forward without a care in the world, as Sighlan and Dirken walk a few feet behind him. Goddard then asked the two a question. "Hey guys, what's an 'Elastian'? I remember those two said they were elastian soldiers." 

Despite being hesitant to answer, Sighlan explained, "Yeah... you don't want to mess with those guys. The two of us dealt with a few of them a while back. They're an alien race with pale skin, silver hair, sharp teeth, and malformed bodies that can stretch, bend and shapeshift at will." Dirken interjected, "They'll mess you up if you're not careful. It's kinda weird though, the last time we saw some they were on a distant planet at least two lightyears away. I wonder how they even got here..."

"Oh... alright. Well, I hope we don't see anymore." Goddard then kept on skipping ahead, minding his own business. Dirken then leaned over to whisper something to Sighlan. "Hey Si, any chance the kid might be an Elastian?" Sighlan looked at Goddard, then turned back to Dirken. "He can't be, he looks nothing like one." "But he can stretch and stuff. You saw what he did with his fist, right?" Sighlan nodded at Dirken's answer. "True, but I'm pretty damn sure Elastians don't glow green." Dirken the looked at Goddard ahead of him. "Yeah... Yeah, what's up with that?" Sighlan shrugged. "I don't know, but let's try not to get on his bad side."

A few minutes later, Goddard sprung up with another question. "Do you guys know where this place is?" Sighlan nodded with a smile. "Oh, yeah. Should be pretty close by now." He then remembered what they were delivering. "So, what's the trophy for?" Dirken explained, "Grays tend to hold bi-annual tournaments to see who's the strongest around. Though, this forest seems more quiet than it used to be. Usually you'd see cars parked around every corner."

As they were getting closer to their destination, they began to hear a faint chattering in the distance. "Hmm, I think I hear someone," said Sighlan. The three then walk up to a run-down gym in the middle of the forest. "Yeesh, this has place has definitely seen better days." Dirken grimaced at the sight of the dilapidated building. After looking at the place, Goddard looked back at the two, saying, "Is... this the place?" Sighlan and Dirken nodded with an expression of disappointment.

They headed inside, seeing if anybody was around. "Anybody home!? We have the package for you!" Sighlan bellowed out, with he voice echoing through the building. Nothing but silence replied back. "Hmm... we should head back to the ship and camp for the night, we'll try again tomorrow." The three then turned around and got startled as someone was standing behind them. "AAGH, jeez, don't sneak up on us like that!" exclaimed Dirken.

Standing in front of them was a man in a suit, with gray skin, black eyes and dark green hair with streaks of silver. "Sorry about that. Also, I apologize for the sorry state that this place is currently in. Ever since the Elastians attacked, it's been hard to maintain anything around here without getting caught." Goddard looked in confusion. "Uhh... who are you?" "Oh, you guys got a new crewmate! Let me introduce myself, I'm Chief Vigorin, owner of the Great Grate Gym, aka the Triple-G."

Sighlan looked around, then back at Vigorin. "So, are you guys even doing anything? We haven't seen anybody around, and this place looks completely empty." Vigorin cleared his throat before answering. "Yeah, it's been kind of hard lately. Since most of the planet's population is kinda... imprisoned, there's nothing much we could do about it, but we are still going to go ahead with what we have. It's gonna be a smaller tournament as usual, and it's going to take place in the basement of the gym instead of up here, mostly so that no nearby Elastians hear any competition taking place. If you want, you guys could participate in the tournament, we do a few more people to fill out the bracket."

Dirken's eyes lighted up with glee. "OOH! We'd be honored to join the tournament, it's been so long..." Sighlan then squinted at Vigorin. "Hey chief, are you alright, you look a bit different." Vigorin then answered back. "Oh, yeah. I guess you've noticed the bits of white hair growing up there. It's been kind of stressful lately, but my committee and I are trying our best. Now, let's head downstairs so you can meet up with the other fighters!"

As they entered the basement, the Space Wanderers were greeted by a 4 strong-looking grays. Vigorin then started introducing them. "This guy over here with the red hair is Grill. He can control his body heat to create small bursts of fire through friction." Grill gave them a two-finger salute. "Over here is Grease! Don't let this chunky guy fool you, he can use his excessive sweat to slip and slide all over the place, isn't that right?" Grease then pat his belly with a nod and a hearty chuckle. "Now over here is last year's champion, Grit. He has quite the agility and speed on him, so be careful if you face him." Grit gave them a wink and a smile. "And lastly is Xanthon, this little guy is a newcomer, so I can't wait to see what he's all about."

Goddard walked up to Xanthon to give him a handshake. "Hey, you seem to be about my age, what's up?" The young gray slowly shoved Goddard's hand away. "Yeeeahh, I don't do handshakes." "Oh... what do you do?" Xanthon started wrapping sports bandages around his arms. "I fight. I fight to get stronger. To get stronger for their sake." Goddard was confused. "Xanthon, who are you talking about?"  He put a finger up to Goddard's face to quiet him. "Don't worry about it too much, just get ready for ready for later. I'm not going to hold back, so I hope you and your friends don't either."

As he was heading out to the tournament ring, Xanthon mentioned one more thing. "Also... call me Xanny."