<You shouldn't try to let things like that weigh on your mind,> BB said as we watched a couple of aliens take the plunge, scooping some chilli into their bowls. 

I didn't recognise either of their species. 

BB was probably right, though. I couldn't change what had already happened. Sure, there were beetles that could trap you in a segment of looping time, but to my knowledge there wasn't anything that could rewind time completely. Thinking about things like Pax and Akash being captured, and the results of those events, when I couldn't have even done anything to stop them in the first place was a road that my brain really didn't need to go down. 

I stood with a stretch, popping several sections of my spine in a satisfying crackle. 

"Yr'Arl, I'm going to go and take that shower, do you think you'll be ready to have that spar in a little while?" I asked. 

The cat-like alien merely raised its hand and gave me a thumbs-up sign. I decided to believe him, because although Yr'Arl currently seemed completely catatonic I wasn't one to believe that he would be completely taken out by a simple spoonful of spicy food. The alien would be up and about in no time, raring and ready to take me on in the spar I had been promised. 

I slipped through the gathering of aliens and made my way out into the corridor toward my room. 

That was the first time since arriving in this new world that I had felt like I had belonged. 

There had been no real digs about my humanity, save from one little jab by Akash and at this point I was going to count that as a win. Everyone had been having fun and enjoying themselves, trying out a meal that I had cooked for them. It almost made me want to reconsider the decision that I had come to when talking to Belana. 

But no. 

There was no way that I was going back to Belana to ask for my position as a member of his Squadron back again. That would mean that I wouldn't be able to take part in the tournament which would utterly ruin my plan for being bait for Lara's attack. 

I shut the door on the sounds of fun and feasting and let out a long breath to steady my thoughts. 

I was doing the right thing. 

<You're right, I agree with you, this is our only real course of action,> BB chimed in. 

It was rare for the AI to agree with me and not throw a snarky comment in for good measure, but even he knew just how serious things had become on the Lara front. 

I wasn't sure what had happened in the girl's past to drive her off the edge so badly, but the fact of the matter was she was now an intergalactic level threat. Prespian City was one of the safest places in the galaxy, and if she were to bring this core world down then there wouldn't be much else left to stand in her way. 

Not to mention that, other than this small Guard staging post that was mainly used for initiates hoping to break into a Squadron, and new Squadron members who were still being trained up to be the best that they could be, it was mainly normal every day civillians that lived on the city. Billions of them. 

If Lara got her way and managed to unleash that level of hell on the people of Prespian city, then it was likely that a vast majority of those people would die. I wasn't about to sit back and let that happen. 

<We'll stop her, Jacob,> BB intoned solemnly, <Well, we'll try and stop her anyway, she is still vastly more powerful than you in terms of how much manna she can utilize and how much experience she has under her belt.>

I figured it was too much to ask for BB to keep his new chill attitude up for too long. Even in the face of impending doom he managed to find away to be a smartass from time to time. 

I slipped out of the suit ensemble that identified people as a member of Belana's squadron and tossed it onto the ground before making my way into the bathroom where the shower was. 

It was probably a good thing that I was leaving Belana's team, and not just because of his obvious cowardice and stupidity. Forcing the people in his squad to wear something as formal as a suit in the heat of battle? It didn't matter if it had been enchanted with a battle mode, it was still a ridiculous stipulation. 

I flipped the shower on and stepped into the stream of manna as it washed down from above. 

The first time I'd been into the shower I had been too caught up in missing water and being terrified of the thing to enjoy it, but in all honesty, the cleaning manna stream might have been even nicer than the water of a shower back on Earth. I could feel the energy pass over my skin, scrubbing away each speck of dirt and sweat. It tingled, which was just as nice as the warmth of a nice morning shower. 

All that said, I did still miss my daily shower back on Earth. 

That was the second of my three daily tasks dealt with. I only had one more to do, an hour of magical training, and I was planning to do that by sparring against Yr'Arl. 

After that I'd have my full level of strength back, it was just a matter of surviving against the feline extraterrestrial long enough to make it happen. 

I opened my closet and was glad to see that the suits were gone, replaced once again by the standard initiate tracksuit set. I put one on, stretched, and made my way back out into the corridor. 

It was time to take Yr'Arl on for the third time, and I wasn't planning on losing.