Caveship

18 || Lessons of Reitune

After a lengthy ascension through multiple layers of tunneled rock, the ceiling opens, allowing the elevator platform out into the sunlight and onto the planet's surface. Not that the warmth of the light reaching them helps much, as the biting cold of the surface's icy, tundra-like terrain quickly takes over. There's nothing for miles as far as the eye can see, but plenty of crevices in the ice for any number of creatures to hide in.

"Brrr! It's freezing up here!" Ava complains, rubbing her arms together, though that doesn't last long. "Actually, what just happened? Either I'm getting numb or it's not that bad all of a sudden."

"Your Mowaii suits adapt to any hazardous environment. They have the ability to protect you from extreme temperatures for a short while. Long enough for you to get to safety, or whatever it is you need to do," Daeli explains, stepping out of the elevator platform and turning to look around. "Because we don't have much time for future training sessions, for this exercise, we'll be giving you a quick sparring scenario, to see how you handle several agile targets at once. There are feral Todea everywhere on the surface of Reitune that live only to hunt and prey on weaker organisms. Typically, this is why no-one lands on this planet. It deters even the nosiest of intergalactic explorers. No science or exploratory guilds will fund exploration of a planet like this if it means recruiting a small army. A perfect hiding spot for a Mowaii base of operations."

"So, we're fighting other Todea?" Sarah inquires, tensing up a bit. "Great. I'm still sore from the last fight."

"Don't worry. This will only be marginally more difficult than your fight with me," Daeli says, before releasing a shrill cry, forcing the teenagers to cover their ears. The cry echoes for miles. For a moment, nothing happens, but then the distant sounds of several wings flapping at once catch their ears. To Nicholas, it is very similar to a bee swarm. From one of the nearby crevices, several smaller Todea fly out and enter their area, quickly surrounding the teenagers. Unlike Daeli, these Todea only come up to their waists, and range from light green to that familiar brown. "Oh, hungry young ones. These will be yours to fight. We'll return below if you can defeat them before more show up."

"Wait, you're not going to help us?!" Ava shouts as she tenses up. "What if we can't beat all of them?"

"Then you are unworthy of the tools. " Daeli chitters and crosses her arms.

Nicholas spots one flying in without hesitation and he wills a shield from his omnitool, deflecting the insectoid's attack. The impact is enough to make him stumble back, but Sarah catches him before he can fall over. "This seems a bit intense, don't you think?"

"No more intense than the fight you just had. They are children, just like you. There's just more of them. I'm certain you can all handle it," Daeli clicks, stepping away to the edge of the arena to allow them to fight freely. "Don't feel like you have to hold back. If you can, incapacitate them."

The young Todea fly around, shifting quickly with coordinated aerial maneuvers, the less aggressive of the several visibly sizing up the teens. When the teens don't go on the offensive, all at once they spread their wings and launch forward. Not in perfect harmony, but clearly a team effort.

Sarah wastes no time in creating one of the sonic cannons from their last exercise, but her shot misses as the younger, more agile Todea she aims for easily avoids it while in the air. Another leaps atop her cannon and knocks her over with a kick to the chest.

"Alright. If we're going to do this, let's do it right. Keep things tight, so they can't separate us!" Nicholas calls out to the others, moving into a position where he can cover Sarah to help her back to a stand. Once back on her feet, she creates a shield like the rest of the group.