“Mother,” All my children greeted me. There was a general unease amongst them. They are so cute when they try to hide their Reform side.

“Mother, may I ask why you have gathered us now?” Ifle asked me. I held back a smile at the question. Of all my children, Ifle was the least likely to speak up before the rest. The lack of reaction or scent from the rest of the Stolon let me know that they expected her to say something. Had they planned to use the little cutie to sway me? Then again, they were probably getting impatient since I never said exactly when we would leave. Or did I? It doesn’t particularly matter.

“Today is a very special day,” I responded. All the gathered Stolon seemed to be leaning forward ever so slightly. I should just tell them we are leaving today, but they make it so easy to tease them. “Today is Nadian’s birthday!” I said excitedly. I even swayed my Spore so that it sounded like a cheer. My children are such bores! They aren’t even clapping. They are just looking at Nadian.

“Mother,” the man of the hour said, “did you gather us for my birthday?” The sincerity in his words matched with the aroma of joy made me so warm. It almost made me feel bad for teasing all of them. Almost.

“No my sweet, your birthday is tomorrow. Today we set out for the elevator.” The look on his face was worth confusing all of them. They are so silly sometimes. Perhaps the decision to leave has had more of a positive effect on me than I realized. I have been far more playful as of late. I wonder when they will find out I was the one leading beasts into their territory. Hm, it could also be watching over Isencia and Yuclaus that cheered me up. They do remind me of Isaac and myself when we were their age. Speaking of which, I wonder how old Yuclaus is? Little Sen is still a sprout at fifty-three or so. I wish I could hear that conversation.

“B-but,” Nadian stumbled over his words before he finally collected himself. “I thought we were leaving after two months. The moon has waxed and waned only a single time and a half. Why are we accelerating our plans?” Did I never teach them proper Reformed? Who taught them “moons” and all that. Yes, we are Environs, but we don’t need to include plant and nature idioms in every sentence. If I didn’t know it before, now I truly know they need their mom back.

“We were originally going to leave with proper preparations,” I paused for proper dramatic timing. “However, I have decided we should leave today. Think of it as an early birthday present.”

“Why?” Nadian seemed drained. I should make him something sweet to drink later. That will perk him up. No! It doesn’t count as an idiom does it? You can perk up a person by giving them something to eat or drink. I didn’t mean it as in watering a wilted plant. I should be safe.

“Call it a feeling. If we leave, it will be very helpful to your siblings who left ahead of us.” It would be more accurate to call it a mother’s intuition. Or maybe a doting mother who has been watching over her children and Yuclaus the whole time. Who knows?

“Never?” Justine interjected before Meagan could.

“Nope. I can’t remember a time where I saw an ‘old city’ as you describe it. I saw some rocky crags, a lot of forest, and unique areas, but never a city,” Yuclaus reiterated. He considered for a moment more, reaffirming his previous answer. He then spoke further, “Why do you ask?”

“As you know, we are searching for it. We can’t really tell you why though, it's super top secret. Sorry!” Meagan answered. Justine seemed to look straight into Yuclaus’ eyes as if she could ascertain if he was speaking the truth. In fact, that was exactly what she was doing: using a skill to test if what he was saying was the truth. When she got the affirmation that it was, she drifted to the front of the party as they continued their walk through the rain-free clearing.

The group slowly separated back into its individual divisions. Meagan and Justine walked at the fore, Jenny and Khalil inbetwixt, while Darryn and Yuclaus were at the rear. Yuclaus had wanted to press on the subject of systems, perhaps a little more about the Reform system, but was unsure how to transition from “Sorry I can’t help you” to “Hey, tell me about this common knowledge that I should know”. He mentally slapped himself for letting the topic slip him by. Rather than ask what the faction members —what Justine and Meagan had identified themselves as— he should have asked more about systems.

There was one redeeming hope, however. Yuclaus looked to his side, at his salvation, a savior who was staring at the sky while throwing crumbs of bread on the road. A man who was marked with scars, wore full plate armor, and may have been about to dig for gold.

“Hey Darryn,” Yuclaus said to his companion. “Would you mind telling me a little more about the Reformed, their systems, racial abilities, and so on? Sadly, my Reform father passed away before he could explain too much to me.” Yuclaus shamelessly used his alibi, and Isencia’s true backstory to gather more information.

“Hm,” the large man paused in his bread crumb throwing spree to regard the question. “The Reform system is called the RNG system right?”

“Oh, um, I believe it is RPG right? Wouldn’t RNG be ‘random number generator’?” Yuclaus was not surprised at the man’s confused knowledge. He was starting to get used to it.

“Wouldn’t a true random number generator be called something random? Why don’t we call it a generator random number?” Darryn was asking the real questions. Well, questions that may be pondered by people who… ah, I won’t finish that statement, for posterity’s sake.

“No, I believe if RNG was somehow called by numbers, then it could make sense to randomize, but since it is spelled with letters it wouldn’t make sense.”

“I see but what about…” And so the two got distracted from Yuclaus’ original goal to gather information. Instead, the two went on an hour-long tangent about RNG, before Darryn said something that sparked a new topic of controversy.

“What if instead of RNG, we called it NRG? Wouldn’t that be closer to numbers?” The question was purely nonsensical, but was somehow understood by the two. However, that was until Yuclaus went over the question in his mind. NRG. En-are-gee. En-er-gee. En-er-gy. Energy. Drinks. I never thought I would ever want one of those artificial heart-attack bombs, but I would really like something familiar.

“I think it’s mildly amusing that NRG sounds like energy. It reminded me of energy drinks,” Yuclaus attempted to explain his thought process to Darryn. A hopeless task as the man was currently contemplating how long it would take for a sky-eel to eat the bait he was leaving in the form of breadcrumbs. He knew the sky-eels were out there.

“Hm. Sky-eel,” He murmured in response. Yuclaus, not quite hearing the man, faked a laugh before continuing.

“You guys don’t have any energy drinks in… uh… wherever we are going. What is the name of the city by the way? Something Colon?”

“Fart Colon,” Darryn answered without missing a beat.

“Fart… Colon… That’s the name of the city we are travelling to? I feel like I would have remembered if it was called that.”

“Fart Colon.”

“Alright well, are there energy drinks in Fart Colon?”

“Sorry, I am not interested in nightlife.”

“Nightlife? What does nightlife have to do with energy drinks?” Yuclaus asked the large man, struggling to keep up with his thought process. Once more, a hopeless task. As if summoned by the inevitable direction the conversation was going, a new voice joined.

“I can tell you all about nightlife and energy if you want, Yu. Though, you don’t need to go searching for it when I’m right here,” Jenny said, having somehow joined them without Yuclaus noticing. Darryn noticed, but he was focused on his breadcrumb trail.

“Ah well, there may perhaps be a misunderstanding,” Yuclaus attempted to clarify his desire, but the slowly tightening vine foretold his doom. “I just want an energy drink.” Ah, Yuclaus saying he wants an energy drink. You don’t understand how proud this makes me.

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so earlier! So I take it you want to join us in our tent tonight then,” Jenny got a large grin on her face. Finally, all her pickup lines had paid off! All of that effort, of throwing herself at Yuclaus had paid off. It was time to reap the reward.

“Why would me wanting an energy drink lead to staying in your tent?” Cause inquired.

“Well, isn’t it because you want performance energy?” Meagan was starting to get confused as well, perhaps a little flustered. Cause, meanwhile, thought back to the store long ago in another life where he bought six drinks total with his EXTREMELY attractive friend. He recollected that on some of the labeling of the drinks —the amino acid one his friend preferred— had “performance” on them. So, he answered like you would expect.

“Well, yes I guess I would be ok with performance energy, but really I like the organic stuff.” Yuclaus wanted to at least remain health— he realized then that he didn’t need to stay healthy, his body in this dream, world, or whatever wasn’t affected by it. Hence, he amended his statement. “Actually, yeah I would be fine with performance.”

By this point, the group had been slowly merging, the rest of the party intrigued by the conversation between the three. It would be better to say the conversation between the two that Darryn was a background character for.

“Wait, aren't like all performance drinks organic?” Meagan contributed. The way she said her sentence finally made it all click for Yuclaus. He finally understood why the vine was threatening to cut off his left arm.

“NO I DON’T WANT AN APHRODISIAC!” He exclaimed. He just wanted to remember his home, not get to home base. That was when Cause considered something many men would check first when they appear in a world occupying a foreign body: do I even have a pen—

“Then what did you want?” Justine asked, looking relieved for some reason. The idea of a man who looked like her brother asking for… that… was less than appealing. The rest of the group looked likewise relieved with a hint of confusion —all except for Jenny who was now sulking at her first outright refusal.

“You know, caffeine. The sweet ambro… amber… the nectar of the gods!” I returned to being embarrassed of Yuclaus. I taught you better than that! Coffee is the nectar of the gods, not caffeine! Yuclaus also acutely felt his missing vernacular once more. Ambrosia had fled his mind alongside a few other tidbits.

“You mean coffee?” Justine came in for the save, taking her rightful place as my favorite of the two siblings.

“Yes! Just imagine it in juice form.” Yuclaus tried his best to explain, “I’m guessing you guys don’t have a phone, but we can look it up when we get to Fart Colon.” Meagan burst out laughing at the city name, while Justine shook her head in disappointment. I feel you Justine, I feel you.

“You mean,” Meagans laughter interrupted Justine’s attempt at correction, “Fort Colon?” Yuclaus’ skin, for the first time since he arrived in Start, flushed pink for the right reason. He was embarrassed. Until, an unlikely saviour appeared.

“I said Fart Colon. Do not laugh at Yuclaus’ mistake,” Darryn said in Cause’s defense. At that moment, the budding friendship that had been growing between the two blossomed. Darryn came in clutch. Now that the matter of Fort Colon had been settled, Justinia could focus on the second thing Cause said.

“What would we look up? We can see the Cloud Continent fine here,” Justinia said. Yulcaus instinctively looked up, almost staring at the unreal sight once more. Fortunately for me, I did not have to describe upside-down civilization in vivid detail over the span of a few paragraphs. Cause-a-boy —never saying that again— decided to focus on the real problem.

“You know, WiFi. We can just look up energy drinks so you can see what I mean.” When Yuclaus saw the blank stares, he came to an incorrect conclusion, “Oh, I see. You weren’t able to recreate wireless networks on Start were you? Did you lose the information somehow?” Yuclaus was unsure of the specifics of Start, so he made an educated guess based on Isencia’s explanation. The vine was not squeezing, but pulsing in three burst intervals.

“What are you actually talking about?” Justine said, before going on a little tangent, “You are making absolutely no sense. Here I am, just trying to get to Fort Colon, and you keep saying crazy things. I swear, I will never get paid enough for this.” Meagan held back on commenting that Justinia technically didn’t get paid.

“I could have sworn my father said Reforms used computers to store information,” Cause continued, not being discouraged by Justine.

“What is a computer—” Khalil was cut off from his attempt at mediation, by a rumbling sound. The sound had been ever present, but all had processed it as background noise. A constant soft thunder in the continental cloud. The rumble could no longer be ignored. The party switched their center of attention to straight ahead, in their path.

A large light blue beam streaked from the city that was now directly above them. The tall tower that spawned the light was but a fragment of the distance between sky and earth below. The width of the beam could be compared to Gourami in its prime. The light was close enough now that Yuclaus could see chunks of soil being wrenched from the road ahead. The suspended dirt, rock, mulch, and tall grass would slowly ascend, the representation of an alien kidnapping.

“Hey, uh, guys,” Yuclaus tried to call out over the sound of earth tearing free from its gravitational limitations. It was interesting to note the beam itself emitted no sound.

“Oh, my apologies. I was asking about this ‘computer’, right?” Khalil continued, losing interest in the death ray that would soon intersect with them. Yuclaus was aghast at the nonchalance of which the olive skinned man spoke. He looked for support amongst the party, and found himself disappointed. They were going to get abducted, and no one cared. Unless…

Yuclaus turned to his one last hope. His friend had not failed him like the rest, instead he was… running towards it.

“Wait guys! We are literally headed straight for a beam of mysterious light, AND DARRYN IS RUNNING TOWARDS IT!” Yuclaus shouted at the group. He was met with confusion and blank stares, before they all remembered his isolation from the world. Then, their stares turned into ones of cruel joy.

“It’s fine,” Khalil put his hand on Cause’s shoulder, bringing them to a halt. He shook his head sadly, “It was Darryn’s time to go.” Yuclaus tried to pull away, he needed to get away from these mad adventuring faction wackos. He found Meagan was already holding him by his opposite shoulder.

“Truly, it is sad. Soon, we shall totally join him too. You know, this reminds me of that time I almost died due to a sky-eel.” And so, Yuclaus was captive to Meagan’s painful stories. His heart broke at the inevitability of his situation. The beam was right in front of them, and the last thing he would hear is an excruciating story of a sky-eel.

The light was a stone's throw away. Yuclaus looked to the sides of the small trail they had been walking on, he recognized that even if he was somehow freed, the beam would reach him before he could escape. He would have closed his eyes, but Yuclaus wanted to see it. He watched as the light touched his shoe, and slowly enveloped him. He let out a yell full of his rebellion. He would not surrender in the face of certain death.

A soft sensation flowed around Yuclaus. Almost as if tiny feathers were flowing around him. He lurched slightly down, before looking at his arms. All around himself, specks of dirt, stone, and plants swirled. They skimmed him ever so slightly, before flowing around and into the sky. Rather than rise with them, as the earth was sheared, Cause dropped ever so slightly. Just like it had come, the beam passed. Only the ground was taken, the group and their belongings were untouched. A moment of silence elapsed.

“HAHAHA THE LOOK ON HIS FACE,” Khalil bursted out laughing.

“DID YOU HEAR HIS YELL?! HE THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DIE,” Meagan soon joined him.

“THAT WAS PRICELESS,” Jenny was laughing so hard, she forgot to make an innuendo. Even Justine had a smile ever so slightly tugging at the corner of her lips. Yuclaus just stood there, smarted by the situation. That was until a sharp whistle came from the sky, and an explosion went off a few feet in front of the group.

Coughing and waving away the dust in the air, the group looked at the impact to see an armored man standing in a crater. That was when Cause also noticed the road had now significantly expanded. The once thin muddy path was now a dry, compact dirt freeway. It stretched over the rolling hills and into the distance, where it would soon get muddied once more by the end of the rain-clearing.

“Where did you just come from?” Yuclaus was the first to speak in the group.

“Sky.”

“Yes but, why?”

“Sky-eel.”

“Did you get it?”

“No, gravity started to wobble, so I jumped.”

“Ah, I see, how did you get up there?”

“What’s a computer?”