The ship hovered gracefully above the trees. Tenuk didn’t want to land the ship, since he was worried that a stray Banikan might mistake it for food or a threat. He’d heard stories before of that happening, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
“So, the plan is simple!” a voice exclaimed from behind him. “We go down there, we destroy the shield generators, we beat the shit out of the Deiton scumbag behind this insane plot, then we get the fuck out of here as fast as possible before the Banikans think we might be connected to the Deiton scumbag.” Elksia beamed, feeling very proud of herself.
“Is that it?” Psiksi, the newest member of the Dessaron, asked. “Sounds rather… simple…”
“Sometimes things are simple!” Elksia was still beaming as she threw on her rather brightly coloured armour. “Simple things are good!”
“Or alternatively we will have to constantly change our plans and improvise because things are never simple…” Retvik grunted. He was already changed and ready to fight, holding that infamous golden gun staff of his.
Psiksi had decided to put his armour on before they got on the ship, so he had little to do right now apart from toy with the rifle in his hands. It was a standard Skyan rifle, but it had a sight and a larger grip on it, designed for someone with slightly larger hands than Psiksi had. The trip had mostly been silent, with Elksia muttering to herself, Tenuk dealing with Dessi, the ship’s AI and Retvik reading a book about how to approach Banikans. They all knew how dangerous Banikans were, so the idea of them requesting help was somewhat worrying.
Tenuk set up the ship’s cloaking device then put his armour on, grabbing his strange, staff-like spear as he did so. “Oh don’t be so pessimistic, Retvik! It might all go fine?”
“It is not pessimism!” Retvik tutted. “It is pragmatism. How many adventures have we been on where things were simple?”
Tenuk attempted to come up with a number but quickly realised that Retvik was right. “Eh… You know what? We should get going.”
A flat platform gently lowered the four Dessaron to the ground. In front of them was the first of seven shield generators, which were keeping a tribe of Banikans trapped inside. Retvik calmly raised his gun staff and fired a bolt of energy at the generator, causing it to explode in a series of pretty sparkles.
“One down, six to go-” Tenuk paused. The shield had already evaporated.
“Clearly whoever designed these shield systems did not consider the strength of a single Rethan with a pointy magic stick!” Elksia grinned as she bounced closer, peering through a set of bushes just past the generator’s remains. As she did so, a strange being teleported in the middle of the Dessaron.
The creature was small, smaller than Psiksi. Not even a metre tall. Its tail though was easily two or three meters long.
“HOW DARE YOU BREAK MY GENERATORS!” the angry Kronospast shouted as it turned itself into a dragon. “HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY EXPERIMENT!”
With a roar, the Kronospast-turned-dragon slammed its tail into the ground, then used it to fling Psiksi into the nearest tree. Retvik retaliated by smashing the dragon over the head with his gun staff.
“Is he alright?”
Tenuk rushed over to his fallen friend. “Yep. Just unconscious. Otherwise he’s dandy.”
“Good.” Retvik smashed the dragon over the head again, then kicked it in the groin. That was enough to knock the Kronospast out.
Elksia gave the dragon one last kick for good measure, then went back to whatever it was she was looking at. She seemed happy at first, but her mood swiftly changed.
“We gotta go.”
“Why?” Tenuk asked as he picked Psiksi up and threw him over his shoulder.
The ground started to shake. The sound of generators blowing up and general Banikan stampeding filled the air.
“Oh. Yeah. We should go…”
The Dessaron leaped back onto the platform, which lifted them back up into the ship, just as a pack of Banikans started tearing through the trees. The horde of terrifying, horned monsters looked up at the ship, then down at the unconscious Kronospast, then back up at the ship. With a horrific roar, they tore the Kronospast apart, before disappearing back into the bushes.
Psiksi rubbed his head as Tenuk sat him down in a seat and strapped him in.
“What the…”
“Don’t worry kid. Pretty sure that happened to Arkay once as well…” Tenuk smiled.
“How long was I out?” Psiksi suddenly asked.
“About a minute.”
“Oh… I completely fucked that up… Wait, what?” Psiksi rubbed his head again, wondering if he had brain damage again. “We won already? It was all that easy?”
“Yep.”
Psiksi blinked, then watched as everyone else strapped themselves in. “Oh, okay. We going home now?”
Tenuk smiled. “Yep. We’re going to stop for ice cream first though. Been a good mission for us.”
Elksia and Retvik nodded in agreement. Tenuk set course for the nearest ice cream shop, then started the engines.
“So, what flavour ice cream do you like, kiddos?” Tenuk grinned as the ship took off. “It’s on me.”