My first night on an alien planet was better than I thought it would be.

I had never been a real “outdoors guy” before. When I watched those survival television shows, they’d always mention staying warm for the night. However, here I was, with nothing but my Mickey Mouse PJs. The night hadn’t felt that much colder from the day. In fact, the temperature didn’t seem to change at all on this planet. Whether the sun was out or not.

Sadly the base temperature of the planet was cold. I tried to make a fire last night, but nothing would burn. This definitely wasn’t my preferred environment. Although, I guess my preferred environment was a bed. I remember that back on Earth, I couldn’t sleep if I didn’t have a blanket. Somehow, last night, I was able to sleep like a baby. I guess a near-death experience really lowers your comfort standards.

Being woken up by Stable was even worse than being woke up by Muhammud.

My crusty eyes jolted open as a felt a sharp sting on my left cheek. Stable had slapped me awake. It was weird letting the first thing you see be someone with half a body.

“Gambit, I let you loaf around for 5 hours. Around 3 hours more than needed for most species. Get up.”

With I groggy voice I defended myself.

I was one of those “love sleep” types of guys. I’d prefer to sleep a whole day if I could.

“You know, my species recommends at least 8 hours of rest. I won’t be able to run properly if you aliens keep waking me up early.”

Stable breezes past my comment.

“We need to get you geared up,” She said, “As you are now, you’re almost more of a liability than a benefit.”

This annoyed me a bit. Trying to hold back a glare I said, “Stable, why do you keep me around?”

Stable seemed quite amused by my query. She was holding back a giggle as she responded, “So now you want to ask the questions. If I recall correctly you didn’t want to know last night.”

I got a little bit flustered and fidgeted a bit.

“W-Well that was under different conditions.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Listen closely, Gambit”

I looked down at the buttons of my Mickey Mouse PJs. They were tattered and ripped all over the place. Covered with brown stains of blood, and bluish stains of whatever Stable leaked. The stains didn’t really matter, I shifted my eyes to the fly of my PJs.

Safe and buttoned. All is right in the world.

Once again, Stable cut off my stream of consciousness with her talking.

“And that’s why you are a useful asset.” She concluded.

Oh, right she was explaining something.

I had this habit of tuning out the rest of the world when I’m thinking of something. No matter how stupid the thoughts may be.

I tried to put on the nicest voice possible, “Um, sorry I wasn’t paying attention. Could you repeat that?”

My efforts to sound nice failed ultimately. Stable had a look of visible anger on her face.

“Gambit! I gave you a second chance at the Shanty!” Her tone of voice was seething with anger.

All I did was miss something she said. I didn’t see why or how she could be so angry. I tried speaking up again, this time is an even nicer, more helpful tone.

“I just missed what you said–”

She cut me off and replied.

“You don’t deliberately ignore someone who’s talking to you, Gambit!”

Oh, I saw the problem here.

“Stable, my species sometimes can’t help but zone out. Espe–”

“Gambit, I don’t want to hear your excuses.” She took out a device that looked like my lost communicator. “Let’s just continue with my plan.”

I decided to just let her be right. I did want to know the reason she was traveling with me, but it probably wasn’t worth making her any angrier with more prodding. There was some type of species cultural barrier between us. She was the dominant one in this partnership. It was my job to adapt to her culture; not vice-versa.

While Stable was setting up her device, I took some time just to stare at her. Really take in the scenario I was in. I had never really taken the time to really visually analyze Stable. Out of all the aliens I had seen so far she looked the most human. Her only defining factor being her unusual shade of hair. It was black, but looking at it made me feel like I was in a dark room. It was perfectly black. A dark jet black. The type of black you’d probably find in a black hole. Her physique; however, was similar to most other aliens. In short, she looked like an alpha human. She had firm muscles in her biceps, triceps– pretty much her whole upper half was toned. Her bottom half was missing, but I would assume it was probably just as ripped. Her facial features were average, I guess. She looked around 18ish, in human years. I’m not really a “beauty guy”. Add that to the list of things I’m not a “guy” of. I could at least tell her clothes looked off. Right now she had on a top with button-down pockets on almost every conceivable square inch. The flap to one of these pockets was laid open. Probably by the hand used to take out the communicator-like device she was currently toying with.

I pointed towards her device.

She looked at me disgusted. “You dare point around me?”

Oops, another cultural line crossed.

“ No I mean, you’re sponsor gave you a communicator as well?” I asked.

She sighed.

“I wish. Your sponsor can choose any 1 tool out of a wide array to lend you. My sponsor gave me a map. You were lucky to get a communicator. That means your sponsor is ready to respond to you at any moment.”

“I lost it on the first day”

She sighed and pressed a button on her “map’s” remote. Just like in the sci-fi flicks, a holographic projection of the landscape emerged out of the remote.

Stable continued talking, “We need to go somewhere to upgrade your gear. In case we meet someone else”

I looked at her confusedly. “Stable, we have a whole planet to hide from everyone else. I’ve been following your lead up to this point. But won’t wherever this “gear” can be found, be a popular spot for other contestants?”

She laughs at me condescendingly. “Gambit, you’d be insane to think we could remain hidden from all other 30 billion contestants. We’ve been lucky we haven’t run into anymore so far. The correct path is to get stronger for the inevitable battles ahead.”

30 billion!

It took me a moment to wrap my head around that number. That was more than 4 times the population of the Earth. And each contestant was from a different planet too! Each planet with possibly its own unique species. There were literally billions of opponents; each with their own evolutionary abilities.

It was me against the world.

Stable was right. With that many people, my only option was to get things to level the playing field. The alien bow staff had been enough to beat the metallic alien. Items were definitely the only way to even out the playing field.

“So, where do we go?” I asked.

“The store,” Stable replied nonchalantly.

I few seconds passed by. I needed to register what she just said.

“Stable, I think something was lost in translation. Did you say store?”

Stable nodded her head, “Yeah store. The place you buy things. Do they not have stores on your planet?”

My voice grew nervous. “Y-Yeah Stable, I know what a store is. But why is there one in a deathmatch? Why would we go to one in a deathmatch? Is this store self-automated or something?”

Again Stable responded in a nonchalant tone.

“No, there are clerks. In fact, there is a whole market bustling with contestants.”

My voice grew even more nervous. “Stable, I-I’m not sure if you understand what I’m getting at. Ther–”

She cuts me off.

“No, I understand. You’re worried we’ll be attacked there.” She gives me a smile. “That’s impossible. With so many people on this planet, an economy is bound to exist. Contestants set up marketplaces to trade and sell. Fighting at one of those would serve disadvantageous for a single contestant.”

I tried to erase all the uncertainty from my voice. “Whatever. You know more about this world than me, Stable. I trust you.”

A smug expression appears on her face. “As you should!”

I steady Stable onto my back and start following her directions to the marketplace. We moved in silence.

30 billion contestants.

The number rang throughout my head as I walked through the rough forest.

An alien could be hiding in any one of these trees.

Eventually, the forest cleared and we were in a plains landscape.

We’re right out in the open. Easy pickings.

My head ran, as these intrusive thoughts entered my head with every step I took.

An alien could be behind that rock.

Step

The sky! Why hadn’t I thought the sky. I saw an alien with wings on my first day. One could be watching me like a vulture right now!

Step

If there are sky aliens, who’s to say that there aren’t any underground. They could be right under me waiting for the perfect moment.

Step.

Step.

Step.

“Gambit, Stop!”

I snapped out of my thought stream. Stable’s voice pierced into my ears.

“Gambit, I was telling you to stop for quite a bit there.” the animosity grew in her voice, “We had a talk this morning about not ignoring people!”

I felt bad.

“Sorr–”

In true Stable fashion, she interrupted me.

“Listen, we’re here.”

I had been too focused on the possible ground-alien to look anywhere but at my feet. I looked up and saw a small town in the distance. We were in a desert-like biome, and the marketplace stuck out like a sore thumb. The buildings were fixed with cool blues and purples that drew a stark contrast from the warm reds and oranges of the desert.

I took a gulp. There were probably aliens in that village.

I had to trust Stable.

I inched slightly closer and closer to the town. I was still cautious. After a bit of nagging by Stable to “go faster”, we made it to the town.

Empty.

“That’s odd,” Stable said

Did she just say odd?

“Everything fine Stable?” I asked.

“Yes,” She replied, “Let’s just walk around a bit to find someone. It’s only been two days. Many must have not set up shop yet.”

I gulped.

“Ok, Stable. I trust you.”

I walked around a bit. There seemed to be no one. I noticed all around the town there was a symbol plastered on a corner of a lot of the buildings. To me, it looked like an upsidedown “A”.

“Stable, it’s a ghost town. Nobody’s here.”

She replied with a little aggravation, “I can see that”

I continued, “Also what do those symbols mean. Some kind of verification, like a vendor’s license?”

Stable sounded confused. “What symbol?”

I pointed at one of the upsidedown “A”s.

Silence.

Oh yeah, she doesn’t like pointing.

Stable’s voice became sharp and serious. “Gambit! We need to get out of here!”

It was my turn to be confused, “Come on, is pointing reall–”

I was cut off again, but not by Stable. I had felt a strong gust of air whiz past my left side. The building to my left was impacted by the huge gust. The building let out a loud “BOOM” as it completely collapsed as if the “big bad wolf” had blown it down.

I instantly understood Stable’s words. I pulled her arms which, laid over my shoulders further into my chest. As I fastened her I quickly ducked into the nearest alleyway. Earlier, with every step I took, I had been planning a new escape route. It sure paid off now.

I weaved my way through the alleys of the town. I was not going to…

Crap! A dead-end.

Stable was more flustered than she had ever been. Even against the hulking metallic alien, she had been calm. What threat were we up against? I could see tears streaming from her eyes. Seemingly another universal sign of emotion.

She tried her best to articulate her words through the tears.

“I’m sorry Gambit! The competition had only been going on for two days. It usually takes months for gangs to form, and even then, it takes even more months for them to gain enough power to take over a town. It had only been two days. I didn’t know. You said you trusted me! You said you trusted me and I–”

This time I cut her off. It was time for me to take her aspects. Calm, strong, and rational. We couldn’t have two blubbering crybabies in a situation like this. Just as she stayed calm during our fight against the metallic alien, I needed to stay calm during this.

I could feel my voice trying to shake, but I forced it to be stable and calm.

“Stable, we’re going to have to fight. As such, I’m going to ask you one question.”

Stable stared at me as if I had two heads. Although, having two heads wouldn’t be that weird at this point.

Her voice was shaking, “W-We can’t fight a gang member. Only seriously strong aliens can survive in a gan–”

“Stable, I’m going to ask a question. You’re always telling me to listen! Well now, you have my ears!”

I started hearing footsteps getting closer. They held a menacing aura to them. It sent a malicious tingle down my spine I was just human, my senses were worse. Stable must’ve been hearing this for a long while.

For the first time, Stable screamed, “Tell me your question already!!”

I cleared my throat and tried to get in a fighting stance.

“How does that bow staff work?”