Of Sentience and Predator

C5: Moonstruck

Should the song I used exist at the time the story takes place? No. Did I use it anyways? Yes. Do I care? No. We can handwave it as aliens have music too. Btw, the song is the lyrical cover of "Star" done by Man on the Internet.

M dragged the wrapped Corrodium behind him, making a mark on the ground. He stopped when he heard a scoff and looked up to the noise. Perched on a rock was a Ciziah, looking down at him. The Ciziah wore a dirty white almost ritual-like outfit, but with bits torn off or purposely ripped off. "So, whatcha got there?" the Ciziah asked.

M looked at the Ciziah, glanced at the wrapped item, then looked back and said, "Corrodium."

The Ciziah whistled. "Damn. Expected you to lie or something. Cool. Name's Cich," the Ciziah said.

A beat of pure silence.

"M," he replied.

"Nice. Where you headed?" Cich asked.

Another bit of silence, M answered, "Myself and two of my partners are on this planet to find and revive our Ectonurite friend."

Cich hummed, nodding a bit. The Ciziah suddenly dropped down to him, a brown bag bouncing on his back. "Hm. Have fun," Cich commented. "Imma continue wandering or something, might go to that," he said a word in a language he didn't understand, "place, I dunno yet. Don't ask how I know an Earth language, it's better if you don't question it."

"I wish you luck on finding your settling place," M somewhat nodded.

Cich raised a brow slightly before muttering to himself, "Ah yes, introduce two completely different cultures to each other and see how they react." The Ciziah then began to walk off, leaving M. The Thep Khufan stared at Cich for a moment before returning to his task of dragging the Corrodium.

-()-

Zorya slammed into Rhinorush, barely pushing the Crabdozer back. Rhinorush quickly snapped his head down to the Pelarota, attempting to bite the pillbug-like. A bit of a struggle happened between them before Rhinorush threw Zorya back. The Pelarota crashed into one of the trees, snapping it in half. She left to the ground just as both devices began to beep. EightEight and Kevin came up to them as they detransformed.

As they regrouped, Ben asked, "Why didn't Rhinorush's hide crack when Zorya attacked me?"

"A Pelarota's shell becomes stronger with age. Due to being young, Zorya's shell isn't as strong as it could be yet," EightEight answered.

"Then why was Rhinorush's hide so strong?" Gwen followed up.

EightEight was silent for a moment before saying, "I suppose it's so strong to make sure they don't burn on Pyros, but I haven't done much with anything Pyros related other than keeping an eye on some Crabdozers because a wildlife reserve needed more hands to help move them." Gwen nodded a bit.

The sound of a bird and the breeze through the wind caused them to look up, seeing a few clouds move out of the way of a full moon. Some trees stood up tall in the sky, framing the moon. The sound of wings and a bird flying off, a loosened feather floating between the trees before disappearing into the woods.

"The moon's pretty," Kevin muttered.

Ben and Gwen both nodded and made a noise of agreement, causing EightEight to say, "Reminds me of myself and Dee's first day on Earth."

"Really?" Gwen asked, looking towards the disguised Sotoraggian. Kevin joined her, but Ben stayed staring up in the sky.

She nodded, adding, "It was difficult before Dee formed the Dragoon, but it was a first for both of us. Dee, cutting all connection with his family on his home planet and his cousin on Omnium-Pourri. Me, willfully disconnecting myself from my siblings."