The Next Morning

“Alright, everyone, listen up! Oi, oi! Over here!”

“…What now?” Conrad muttered as he and everyone around him turned toward the source of the shouting: Davídrius. Morning light shone down on the WCU travel group as they gathered in a small field at the entrance to the Ilia Preservation Park, with Davídrius standing at the front of the large group and trying to get everyone’s attention.

“…A’ight, then!” Davídrius shouted once the crowd had quieted down. “As y’all should’ve learned yesterday, the whole point of preservation parks is to preserve nature. That means you don’t bother it! Now, today, this park here is open to just us, so hike around as you’d like — but don’t break shit, don’t touch shit, and just don’t make a mess of the place, or I will kick your asses! Y’all got that?”

“Yeah!” came the reply from the crowd.

“Good! Then get out there and have fun. And don’t get carried away, ‘cause I’m watchin’ y’all!”

“Alright!” Sky exclaimed, turning to look at the other Earthians in excitement. “Finally, a chance to look at some real nature!”

“Certainly is a nice place, huh,” Luke remarked as he swept his gaze across the horizon. From the ground, the park possessed a distinctly different appearance than when they had looked down upon it from the mountaintop during their arrival on-planet. The massive tree still stood in the distance against the backdrop of distant mountains, towering over all else, but its incredible network of branches that laid under its leaves was visible from the lower angle. Tall rock columns appeared throughout the park as well, and seemed even larger than before; one such column stood near to the travel group, and appeared to be nearly a dozen meters around while standing taller than a football field was long. Normal-sized trees — on the order of 10 to 15 meters tall — filled in the rest of the horizon, their density and softly serrated leaves disguising the rolling hills that laid under the forest and the rock pillars.

“It looks like that tree is the centerpiece of this park,” Mark commented, looking up at the massive tree in the distance. “And I mean that literally, it’s called the Centerpiece Tree. I heard it’s almost a kilometer tall, that’s pretty crazy.”

“And its branches extend over the ground for that distance all around,” Twy remarked. “It really evokes the feeling of that legend of the world tree, Yggdrasil. I’m starting to wish I brought my paints with me…”

“Think it’s related to those big trees we saw in Relédiaka?” Conrad questioned.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but there is one thing I do know,” Pierce declared as he threw Austin a glance and then looked up at the tree. “That thing is definitely the tallest thing around here.”

“Hmph,” Austin snorted. “You think you’re gonna stand at the top of that tree, huh? You won’t get as high as me, you just watch!”

“Ha! Good fucking luck, dweeb!” Pierce retorted, and then began walking off toward the massive tree in the distance. “Hey, Conrad, Kestrel! Let’s go!”

“…Man, why do we always get dragged into this shit?” Conrad complained, but a second later he sighed, shrugged, and began trudging off after Pierce anyways — with Kestrel falling into stride beside him.

“The hell is that about?” Spike questioned, watching Pierce leave before turning to Austin. “You bet somethin’ with Pierce?”

“Whoever takes a picture from the highest place today, wins,” Austin said, and then held up a small camera in his hands. “That’s why I have this.”

“I can’t believe you’re taking this seriously…” Twy muttered.

“Someone’s gotta put that asshole in his place,” Austin countered. “What better way to do that than to beat him at his own game? C’mon, y’all, let’s go!”

“Actually, I’m going to stick around here and make sure everyone’s lunch is all ready to go in a couple hours,” Mark said, turning toward the front gates to the park where several tourist buses were parked. “You all have fun!”

“And Spike and I have better things to do than indulge Pierce and his stupid whims,” Sky declared. “Right, Spike?”

“Uh…” Spike started, with a doubtful look on his face. Before he could get much further, Sky sidled up next to him and elbowed him in the side.

“Right, Spike?” she repeated under her breath, such that only Spike could hear her. “I’m sure Twy can keep Austin on the straight-and-narrow. By herself. Riiiight?”

Spike stared down at her in confusion, though a second later his eyes lit up in recognition. “…Oh! Yeah!” He then passed Austin a sheepish look. “Sorry, dude, but I, uh, made Sky a promise and everythin’. You know how it is.”

“Right…” Austin muttered, eyeing Spike and Sky suspiciously as the two turned away and began walking deeper into the park. With a sigh, he glanced back at Twy, and then at Luke. “…Y’all gonna leave me alone, too?”

“If I did that, you’d have no one to help you when you inevitably get into trouble,” Twy responded in resignation.

“I’ll tag along too, if you don’t mind,” Luke said. “It’s been a while since we had a moment like this, Austin.”

“I wonder why,” Austin deadpanned, but then turned toward the park interior himself and began marching forward. “Well, either way, let’s get goin’! We only got a day to get this pic!”

---

*

“Aaaaah, finally! I forgot how good hiking feels!”

“It has been a while since we last got the chance,” Spike remarked, carefully ducking under a low-hanging tree branch as he and Sky followed a vague and twisting path up a hill. He stopped for a moment to look through the tree cover to his right, through which he could see the Centerpiece Tree as well as several of the towering rock columns spaced out around the park. Off to the right of that view was the tall, gently sloped mountain that hosted the Interstellar Gate on its peak, and far beyond, faded blue with distance, were several more mountains. A soft breeze rustled the leaves all around, masking any sounds of nearby hikers; the brief moment of cool summer air and a beautiful sight brought a serene smile to Spike’s face. “Really is a great view though, huh?”

“Hell yeah, it is!” Sky exclaimed, backtracking a couple steps to stand next to Spike and join him in looking out over the park. “You’d never see something like this on Earth!”

Spike chuckled in response and reflexively reached out to ruffle Sky’s hair, only to catch himself mid-reach and pull back his hand — though not before Sky noticed.

“…Back to the no touching, huh?” she questioned flatly.

“Sorry…” Spike apologized with a sheepish smile. “I just… don’t feel like I’ve got the hang of this, yet.”

“You haven’t accidentally crushed anything else.”

“Yeah, but… with this kinda strength, all it takes is one accident. I can’t risk that with you.”

Sky glared at Spike for a second before sighing in resignation. “Well, I knew about that overprotective streak of yours since before we started dating, so I can’t really complain now. At least I got some headpats in yesterday.”

“Museum ain’t really the best place for that, though…”

“Sure, but it was the only place with a CENT field. Oooh, wait, Kaoné can just make stuff out of thin air, right? Maybe we should ask her to make us a CENT generator!”

“I’m sure she could, but given what she said yesterday, I don’t think she would…”

“…I guess. Well, anyways…” Sky then spun on her heel and began following the dirt path up the hill again. “C’mon, I’m sure the view will be better at the top of the hill!”

Spike watched her go, his eyes lingering on her for a couple moments before looking down at his right hand. As the wind briefly picked up around him, he stooped down to pick up a small rock, just large enough to fit into his open palm. He then slowly clenched his fist, with no more difficulty than if his palm had been empty, and opened his hand again a moment later. In the rock’s place was now a spattering of fine powder, powder that soon blew away on the wind itself. Spike’s gaze followed the dust, his shoulders slumping.

“Hey, Spike! C’mon, already! We don’t have all day, you know!”

“Yeah…” he muttered, his attention returning to Sky as he began to follow in her footsteps. “…Wait. We do got all day, don’t we?”

“Well, sure, but I wanna see more than just this trail,” Sky retorted. “According to Kaoné, this park is huge! I wanna see as much of it as we can!”

“We’d need a car for that. This place is bigger than Yellowstone.”

“All the more reason to get off our asses and keep moving! If you just stand around all day, you’ll get nowhere faster than Austin and sis’s relationship!”

“Pu ah ha ha!” Spike released a hearty guffaw at Sky’s comment. “Alright, alright, point taken.”

“Seriously, those two…” Sky shook her head with impatience as Spike caught up to her and they continued ascending the hill. “Sometimes I think we should just bash their heads together, maybe then they’d get the point.”

“Let’s not force it, now. Especially given current events. I’m sure Austin and Twy both are stressin’ about things a lot, so let ‘em sort through all that, first.”

“Ah, whatever… anyways, c’mon! Like I said, there’s lots of sights to see around here, so let’s get going!”

“I’m with ya,” Spike replied, the two climbing the trail even higher and farther into the park.

---

*

“C’mon, man, slow down…!”

“I’m already moving slow,” Pierce countered impatiently, stopping in his tracks to look behind himself at Conrad and Kestrel as they climbed the hill to reach him. “If not for you guys, I’d have reached the tree and been back already! And that’s not even using my superspeed!”

“Ugh…” Conrad groaned in response. A second later he reached the peak of the hill, at which point he flopped over onto his back to stare up at the sky above — or what would have been the sky, if not for the massive leaves and tree branches in the way. A couple hours had passed since the group set out from the park entrance, and now they found themselves standing under the massive canopy of the Centerpiece Tree, its cover extending out from the tree’s towering trunk like a low-hanging cloud.

“…Big,” Kestrel commented, staring blankly up at the tree and its trunk, which was now close enough that its massive trunk obscured a large percentage of the horizon.

Pierce passed her a glance before slowly surveying their surroundings. While the hill they stood on was fairly short, it was still just tall enough to see over most of the surrounding forest. In the distance behind them was the low skyline of Ilia, and the tall peak of the Gate-bearing Gateport Mountain. Pillars of stone littered the forest, though from Pierce’s current position, the pillars seemed to be poking out of a massive rolling sea of green, with the low hills throughout the forest looking alike to waves.

“…Well, I have to admit,” he eventually remarked, “this place looks a lot cooler than I expected. Open air and clear skies, so you can see for kilometers around… yeah, this is way better than Relédiaka was.”

“…Too closed in?” Kestrel questioned.

Pierce nodded. “That, and you couldn’t even see the fucking sky, because of all those trees. And it was so damn dark under the city. Here, though…” He whistled in awe as he moved his gaze back to the Centerpiece tree, swiveling his head from left to right just to be able to see the full width of its branches. “…Here, you get to see the cool, big-ass tree, but you still get sun, too! This is the best of both worlds.”

“Ah. Great,” Conrad deadpanned, still lying on the ground between Pierce and Kestrel. “Can we go back now?”

“Stop being so hella lazy and actually appreciate the scenery for once. I mean, we both know that a little hike like what we just did isn’t enough to actually wind you,” Pierce retorted, and then took a small camera out of a small satchel he was carrying. “Besides, there’s still something I need to do here.”

“…Oh, is this about that stupid ‘take a picture from the highest place’ thing?”

“It’s not stupid. Besides, even if I didn’t need to beat the hell out of the dweeb, I’d still want to snap a pic. I mean, c’mon, are you seeing this?” Pierce spread his arms out, gesturing at the scenic views all around. “Just imagine what this place looks like from the top of that tree!”

“And how are you gonna get up there?” Conrad challenged.

“Easy,” Pierce replied with a smirk. “I can jump. I’ve scaled taller buildings than this—“

“Oi! What’d I say about touchin’ the nature?!”

“Huh?!” Pierce spun around in surprise, only to scowl as he spotted Davídrius — followed closely by Mark — approaching from down the hill. “What? Where the hell did you come from?!”

“He’s been helping me hand out lunches,” Mark declared as he fished through a large bag slung over his shoulder. “It is lunchtime, so I wanted to make sure everyone got fed.”

“Lunch? Yes please,” Conrad remarked, readily sitting up to accept a brown bag from Mark.

“The hell? Hey!” Pierce scowled, watching Conrad grab a sandwich out of his bag and readily begin eating as Kestrel accepted another bag from Mark. “We don’t need your lunch, we brought our own. The hell do you think you are, our mom?”

“Maybe you need one, to keep a fuckin’ eye on you,” Davídrius retorted, his hands on his hips as he fixed Pierce with a level glare. “I heard that, about you tryin’ to jump up the tree. Well you ain’t doin’ it.”

“Why? I’ve scaled buildings taller than this, I’ll be fine!”

“It ain’t you I’m worried about. When I organized this trip, I promised the folks here on Sikalia that we wouldn’t touch a thing, that we’d leave the place in at least the same shape we left it in, if not better.”

“What, do you think I’m going to kill the fucking tree?”

“Not on purpose, no.”

“What?! That thing is so much bigger than any of us, how could we—“

“That ain’t it,” Davídrius interjected. “It’s also a matter of example. Can’t make exceptions for this kinda thing, it’s either I let everyone climb the tree, or no one. And I chose no one. So suck it up.”

“Hmph,” Pierce snorted in derision, glaring at Davídrius for a second before turning toward Mark, who was holding out a brown bag toward him. “I said, I brought my own lunch!”

“If you say so,” Mark commented with a shrug, placing the bag back in his larger bag.

“Look,” Davídrius started again, drawing Pierce’s attention back to him. “If you wanna get somewhere high, then you can check out the rock pillars. Those are fair game. But this big tree here, it’s… uh, what’s the word… in… in danger?”

“Endangered?” Kestrel suggested.

“Yeah, that.”

“That tree is an endangered species?” Conrad questioned incredulously. “But it looks like the ones in Relédiaka!”

“I don’t make the rules,” Davídrius retorted, “but that tree bein’ ‘endangered’ means it’s basically one-of-a-kind, so it’s off-limits. Don’t touch it. Or else.”

“…Alright, alright. I get it,” Pierce replied impatiently. “I won’t go up the fucking tree. That good enough for you?”

“That’s all I’m askin’,” Davídrius remarked. He gestured toward Mark, and then turned to Pierce to make one final comment. “An’ if I find out you went up there anyways, then I’ll kick your fuckin’ ass clear across Treséd when we get back, you got that?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pierce responded with a roll of his eyes. He then watched Mark climb onto Davídrius’s back; a second later, the two disappeared from sight, with Davídrius moving so fast that even Pierce quickly lost track of him.

“…Well, that’s that,” Conrad remarked around a mouthful of sandwich.

“Shut it, you,” Pierce retorted, and then began to survey the horizon once more, in search of the tallest of the rock pillars. “This is an annoying setback, but we can deal. It looks like the tallest of the rock columns aren’t too far from here… and, now that I think about it, a pic of the tree from the top of one of those rocks would be way better than one from the top of the tree!”

“I’m sure it would,” Conrad deadpanned. “But I’m not going anywhere until I’ve had lunch and a nap. The grass here is so soft, and the breeze just right — this is the best napping spot I’ve seen in a long time!”

“Fucking lazy asshole,” Pierce muttered, and then sighed in resignation as he began to take his own lunch out of his satchel. “Fine, we’ll rest for a bit. But after that, we’re heading out again, so don’t get too cozy!”

---

*

“Well? What do you think?”

“Huh… I guess it’s nice.”

“You ‘guess’?” Phoenix responded incredulously as she looked up at the massive rock column standing before her and Arn. A small strip of grassy land — devoid of tree cover — surrounded the rock column, enabling Phoenix to see the sky above, and the rock pillar that so majestically reached for it.

“I just… don’t really know what to make of all this, I guess,” Arn replied, staring up at the top of the column himself before looking around at the trees surrounding it. “Never seen anythin’ like this. It’s all so… green.”

“That’s nature, for you,” Phoenix remarked. “So you’re saying you lived in a desert for your entire life?”

“Well… yeah. That’s what Treséd is, a big desert wasteland.”

“True… there isn’t even all that much greenery around Tresnon, and that town is on the shore of a massive lake.” Phoenix sighed warily. “I don’t know how Treséd is so dry and dreary… but I’m glad you got a chance to come here, and see what the rest of the galaxy is really like!”

“The rest of the galaxy, huh…? Wonder if I’ll get to come back, some day.”

Phoenix glanced up at Arn, finding that his normally stoic expression had soured somewhat. “…Well, I won’t claim to know what it’s like to grow up in Treséd,” she eventually commented, drawing Arn’s attention and looking him straight in the eye. “But I do know that I’ve run into a Tresédian while on a different planet. He said that he went to WCU, just like you — just like us. So if he can manage to leave Treséd, then I’m sure you can, too!”

“Huh… yeah… I guess so, huh.” Arn nodded in understanding.

That said, it seems like his only way out is to join Nimalia’s military… Phoenix mused, her brow furrowing slightly. Which is pretty fucked up, when you think about it, and I’m not sure if I should be encouraging that… but Arn likes to fight, so for someone like him, the military might not be a terrible option…

“Somethin’ wrong?”

Phoenix glanced up at Arn, finding him looking down at her with a blank expression. “…Just thinking,” she eventually replied.

“Huh. I see.” Arn nodded once before looking left and right. “Well… anything else to see?”

“The park is huge, I’m sure there’s—…!”

“…Phoenix?”

“…It’s nothing,” Phoenix responded, forcing a smile while nonetheless focusing her attention on something else. A few dozen meters away, she could see three people approaching the rock column from a slightly different direction as her and Arn. A tall woman, with white hair tied back in a braid; a young man, with tanned skin and brown hair who walked in a slouch; and another man with dirty blond hair, confidently leading the other two as he stared up at the top of the rock column. …Pierce! With Conrad and Kestrel, too! A scowl briefly crossed Phoenix’s face. What’re they doing here—? she began to think, but cut herself off just as Pierce’s gaze slowly turned her way. Wait, this is perfect!

Pierce himself was still a dozen meters away from Phoenix, but she was still able to tell that he had noticed her. In that moment, she grabbed Arn’s hand and pulled him down to her level, at which point she offered him a quick kiss on the cheek. She then glanced back at Pierce and winked, only for the latter to turn away in a huff.

“…Huh…?” Arn stared down at Phoenix in confusion. “What was that?”

“What, the kiss?” Phoenix replied innocently.

“’Kiss’?” Arn echoed cluelessly, “what’s that?”

“Oh. Do Nimalians not kiss? Oops… well, uh, on Earth at least, that’s just how we show affection. Well, some Earthians, at least.”

“…Oh.” The confusion on Arn’s face was replaced by understanding, only to return a second later. “Why now?”

“Oh, I just… felt like it,” Phoenix replied, casually placing her hand on Arn’s shoulder to turn away from Pierce and begin walking back toward the trees. “Why, did you not like it?”

“Uh… huh. Don’t know. I’ve never seen someone do that, before.”

“Really? How do Nimalians show romantic affection, then?”

“Uh… huh. Aside from sex?”

“Yes, aside from sex. I’m talking about something more public.”

“…I don’t know, I guess.”

“…Right,” Phoenix deadpanned. She snuck a quick glance behind herself, noting that Pierce seemed to have disappeared, but Conrad and Kestrel remained. …Oh, this is probably that stupid challenge he had with Austin, or something, isn’t it? Go figure. “Well, anyways,” she commented, turning forward as she and Arn re-entered the tree cover and began again to follow one of the dirt paths through the park. “Let’s go see what else this park has to offer…”

---

*

“Alright, this is it! It has to be!”

“This…?” Twy echoed warily, looking up at the massive rock pillar that stood before her, Austin, and Luke. The golden-orange light of sunset shone upon the pillar and the forest surrounding it, casting long shadows that stretched to the horizon.

“Yeah,” Austin replied, quickly surveying his surroundings before looking up at the pillar again. “This has to be the tallest one. Right? That’s what Luke said.”

“Sure looked like it,” Luke remarked as he knocked on the massive column. “We’ve been around the whole park, it feels like, and this is the one you can see from anywhere. One of two, at least, and I’m pretty sure this one’s taller.”

“Because you brought out an altimeter when we scaled the last one,” Twy said incredulously. “I still think it’s weird you have that.”

“Hey, knowing the altitude on-demand can be useful for a marksman,” Luke replied with a shrug. “I may not have my rifle, but bringin’ my other tools with me is just a habit.”

“You still would’ve needed to re-calibrate it for a new planet, though…”

“Doesn’t take that long. Besides…” Luke shot Austin an amused glance. “I heard about this ‘height’ challenge last night, so I had time to prepare.”

“Should I be thankin’ you?” Austin retorted.

“Hey, do whatever you like. But you aren’t gonna get a picture from down here, now, are you?”

“Yeah, yeah… c’mon, Twy. Let’s go up!” Austin clapped his hands and then used his Imperator powers to take to the air, while Twy enveloped her and Luke’s legs in bubbles of water and lifted off after Austin. The trio quickly ascended to the top of the rock column, where they alighted and Twy quickly siphoned the excess water out of her and Luke’s clothing.

“Still haven’t gotten used to that,” Luke commented as he patted down his pants to ensure they were dry. “I heard most Chaotics have ways to fly, but most of the Eximius Vir don’t. Seeing y’all do it so easily is really somethin’.”

“Somethin’ I can do better than Mote, eh?” Austin replied with a bitter smirk as he held up his camera and began scanning the horizon. The Centerpiece Tree stood in the distance to the south, its long shadow stretching for kilometers over the forest below; from the same viewing angle, the peak of Gateport Mountain could be seen southwest of the Centerpiece Tree as it towered over all else around it.

“As stupid as this challenge might be,” Twy said, her gaze slowly sweeping across the sights bathed in sunset, “…the views we’re seeing today are beautiful.”

“Agreed,” Luke said. “I didn’t think this pillar would have such a good angle on the park. I bet you can even get part of the city skyline in your photo, Austin.”

“Already on it,” Austin remarked, still squinting through the camera’s viewport as he searched for the perfect shot. “The pic I’ll take here will blow Pierce’s outta the water, you just watch!”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure…” Twy responded with a roll of her eyes.

“Still…” Luke moved toward the edge of the pillar and sat down upon it, dangling his legs over the edge. “I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen anything like this. All the times I’ve been to other planets… well, I guess the sights weren’t really the focus those times, heh.” He then glanced back at Austin and Twy. “Y’all make sure to savor this. This is an opportunity most folks don’t get, even in SERRCom.”

“I guess this is pretty unique, huh?” Austin commented as he continued angling his camera. “I guess I can see why Davídrius wanted to bring people here. Ah—! Alright!” He paused for a second to actually take a photo before finally lowering the camera, a giant grin upon his face. “A pic like that is perfect! I got the tree, the mountain, part of the skyline — and all in cool sunset lighting, too! Pierce’ll never be able to match this!”

“…Why are you so concerned with Pierce?” Twy questioned. “He’s just an asshole. Don’t pay attention to him, it’s clear he thrives on it.”

“Maybe that would be the best solution,” Austin replied, “but he just… gets on nerves. He thinks he’s so much better than everyone, so if I get a chance to show him that he ain’t, then I’ll take it!”

Twy sighed and looked away. “Right…”

“I should probably talk to him, too…” Luke admitted. “Not sure he’d listen to me, though.”

“Exactly.” Austin nodded in agreement. “With a guy like him, showin’ him that he’s wrong is the only way to go.”

“What? But that opinion sounds an awful lot like…!” Twy began, only to trail off halfway through her thought.

Austin passed her a questioning glance. “A lot like what?”

Twy sighed again, closing her eyes for a brief moment before looking out over the horizon. “…Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Uh… you sure—?”

“We should get going. Everyone else is already heading back to the front gates.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Wait, how do you know that?” Luke questioned, glancing back at Twy before turning to scan the forest around them. From their height above the trees, it was impossible to see any signs of human activity. “…I can’t see anyone from here!”

“Right… I haven’t told anyone,” Twy replied quietly, and then looked at Austin and Luke. “Well… I think I have the ability to, uh… ‘sense’ the locations of everyone. That is, Austin, Spike, Sky… Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel.”

“Whoa. Really?” Luke questioned.

“That sounds neat,” Austin remarked. “Is that, like, some kind of Chaotic ability, or something?”

“I mean, it must be,” Twy responded. “I couldn’t sense anyone yesterday, when we were at the museum, with all those CENT fields… but it’s only the seven of you that I can detect.”

“Hmm…” Luke mused. “I guess this has to do with that ‘Key’ stuff then, maybe?”

Austin scowled. “The fuckin’ prophecies, again?”

“There isn’t really any other explanation,” Twy said. “I looked it up, and there doesn’t seem to be any Chaotic abilities that let you sense the locations of specific people like this, so…”

“She’s right,” Luke declared. “It doesn’t line up with any Chaotic ability I’ve heard of. But if you really do have another special ability due to being a ‘Key’, aside from being able to summon those weapons of yours… well, I wonder if everyone else has something like that, too?”

“I haven’t noticed anythin’…” Austin muttered dejectedly.

“It’s just another thing we need clarification on, really,” Twy said. “If we get a chance, we should try asking the Archoné for more details.”

“Culana? Yeah, he certainly did claim to know a lot,” Luke remarked. “I’ll see what I can do, but he is a national leader. A king of sorts, I think is what Archonés are. So it might not be easy to get an audience with him.”

“Well he owes us somethin’ after draggin’ us to Treséd,” Austin declared.

“Can’t really argue with that.”

“Either way… we should get going, for now,” Twy said, conjuring up bubbles of water around herself and Luke once more. “We don’t want the buses to leave without us.”

“Yeah, yeah… let’s go,” Austin replied, clapping and again taking to the air as the trio descended to the ground and began heading back to the park gates.

---

*

“Ahhh, what a refreshing day!”

“I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it,” Mark said with a warm smile as he watched Sky and Spike approach. He then turned to look over the rest of the group — Austin, Twy, Luke, Pierce, Conrad, and Kestrel — as they all stood near the crowd of WCU students just outside of the park gates. The skies above were dark with dusk, and only the lights of the travel buses illuminated the surrounding area. “…Well,” Mark continued, momentarily drawing the attention of the others, “it sounds like everyone had fun today?”

“It’s certainly a beautiful park,” Twy remarked.

“Yeah, but now my legs ache from walking around all damn day…” Conrad complained from his seat on the ground. “Not to mention that the days are longer than normal! Can I just sleep through tomorrow? I’m sure no one will miss me.”

“I wouldn’t really mind doin’ that, either…” Austin muttered, leaning down to massage his own legs.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Spike commented, “you never used to be able to handle a full day of hikin’, Austin. The fact that you aren’t winded and layin’ on your back right now shows how much your stamina has improved, recently.”

“…I guess… still doesn’t mean I like this, though.”

“Heh. Then I’m sure you and Conrad will be pleased to know that tomorrow should involve much less walkin’ around,” Luke said as he glanced between Austin and Conrad. “Tomorrow is the tour of the NSD garrison.”

“Aww…” Conrad groaned, leaning back to fully lay on the ground. “’Tour’ sure sounds like a lot of walking, to me…”

“Oh come on, you lazy asshole,” Pierce retorted as he kicked at Conrad’s side. “A little walking never killed anyone.”

“That’s categorically false.”

“I said a ‘little’, smart ass.”

“Define ‘little’…”

“How much hiking did y’all even do?” Sky questioned incredulously as she eyed Conrad and Pierce. “Spike and I hiked almost the whole day, but we’re fine!”

“Well, we are used to hikin’,” Spike pointed out. “We got the endurance for it already.”

“Exactly,” Conrad replied, pointing up at Spike while still laying on the ground. “I don’t hike.”

“You used to do track, though,” Pierce declared. “You really let yourself go these past couple years, huh? You’re doing worse than I expected.”

“Shut up, man,” Conrad retorted. “I still lasted ‘til the end, didn’t I? Now I just can’t wait for some sleep…”

“Had fun, today,” Kestrel commented.

“…Never said I didn’t. Just that I want a nap.”

“Sleeping for a whole day isn’t a nap,” Pierce countered.

“Yeah, well it’s gotta be better than listening to you hunting for the perfect photo spot all day long,” Conrad shot back.

“The photo—! Right!” Austin exclaimed, his attention immediately snapping to Pierce as he pulled out his own camera. “So, you ready to lose?”

“You’re saying that? C’mon, dweeb,” Pierce replied with a self-amused smirk, and then quickly whipped out his own camera. “I’ll have you know there’s no possible way you could match the finely crafted vista I captured on this camera. Literally impossible.”

“Here we go…” Twy muttered, rolling her eyes as she turned away.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that,” Austin declared, ignoring Twy’s comment as he brought up his photo on the camera display and held it out toward Pierce. “Check this out! A pic from the tallest rock column in the park, showin’ off the Centerpiece Tree, Gateport Mountain, and the forest — all in sunset lighting! And everyone knows that sunsets make photos better!”

“Better my ass,” Pierce retorted as he held his own camera display toward Austin. “I took a photo from the real tallest rock column in the park. I have the tree, the mountain, and the city, too, but with much better image composition than yours — look, I even followed the rule of thirds. And I took this mid-afternoon, with perfectly clear sun lighting!”

“Better composition? That’s not— hey, the most important part is that we got the tallest point, right? And that’s me!” Austin declared. “I even had Uncle Luke check with an altimeter!”

“Like I need a tool to tell me I won,” Pierce sneered. “Just look. No other part of the park is taller! Aside from the tree, but that’s off limits, of course.”

Wordlessly, Kestrel approached Austin and Pierce while they were verbally sparring and gently took their cameras. She looked at Austin’s photo for a second, noting the golden orange colors of sunset, and then looked at Pierce’s photo, taking in the clear mid-afternoon lighting and the fluffy clouds hanging in the sky. There remained something interesting about both photos, however, and after a few moments of deliberation, Kestrel pointed it out. “…Same place.”

“Huh?!” Austin and Pierce replied in tandem.

“…The fuck do you mean, ‘same place’?” Pierce questioned irately as he snatched the two cameras from Kestrel. “That’s…!”

Conrad finally pulled himself off of the ground to approach behind Pierce and look at the two photos himself. “…Huh. Kestrel’s right.”

“Let me see,” Twy interjected, momentarily taking the cameras from Pierce. “Yeah… that’s true. The angles are all the same. The tree and the mountain are in the same place…” She then looked up at Austin and Pierce. “It looks like you two really did take pictures from the same column.”

“What?! But…” Austin quickly took back his own camera, his brow furrowed in frustration. “But…! There weren’t any signs of Pierce when we were there!”

“It was sunset,” Luke pointed out. “And, to be fair, the rock column you took that photo from was pretty clearly the tallest one around. I only broke out my altimeter because it’s been a while since I last used it.”

“So the competition was flawed from the start? Ha!” Sky grinned. “Go figure!”

“That can’t be right…” Pierce glared at his own photo, a scowl crossing his face. “…Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Davídrius. Should’ve just gone up the fucking tree…”

“And I should’ve just flown up above it,” Austin retorted. “Man, the one time my powers could’ve actually done something for me…”

“Bullshit. I specifically said when I issued the challenge that you have to stand on solid ground,” Pierce countered.

“And what part of the top of a tree is ‘solid ground’, huh?” Austin shot back.

“Hey… c’mon, guys,” Conrad interjected. “At least you both took some cool photos, right?”

“Mine’s way better than that over-saturated piece of crap he has,” Pierce declared.

“Bullshit, everyone knows sunset colors makes thing better!” Austin argued.

“Alright, alright… let’s calm down, now,” Luke insisted, coming to stand in between Austin and Pierce as he held his hands out toward them. “Let’s just call it a draw.”

“A draw?!” Austin echoed incredulously.

“…Hmph,” Pierce snorted, crossing his arms and turning his nose up at Austin. “…I was held back by the terrain, and the rules. I’ll beat you next time, dweeb.”

“I’m sure you will,” Austin responded through clenched teeth, his tone oozing with sarcasm.

“C’mon, what are we getting all mad at each other for?” Sky interjected, “we’re on a field trip to an alien planet! And there’s gonna be a big party in two days! Now isn’t the time to get all mad at each other!”

“Mm.” Kestrel nodded in agreement.

“…Ah, whatever.” Pierce turned away from Austin and began to slink away toward the buses. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“For once, I agree with you…” Austin muttered under his breath, slowly putting away his camera and joining the rest of the group in returning to the buses, finally ready to bid farewell to another day.