After a lengthy ascension through multiple layers of tunneled rock, the ceiling opens, allowing the elevator platform out into the sunlight and onto the planet's surface. Not that the warmth of the light reaching them helps much, as the biting cold of the surface's icy, tundra-like terrain quickly takes over. There's nothing for miles as far as the eye can see, but plenty of crevices in the ice for any number of creatures to hide in.

"Brrr! It's freezing up here!" Ava complains, rubbing her arms together, though that doesn't last long. "Actually, what just happened? Either I'm getting numb or it's not that bad all of a sudden."

"Your Mowaii suits adapt to any hazardous environment. They have the ability to protect you from extreme temperatures for a short while. Long enough for you to get to safety, or whatever it is you need to do," Daeli explains, stepping out of the elevator platform and turning to look around. "Because we don't have much time for future training sessions, for this exercise, we'll be giving you a quick sparring scenario, to see how you handle several agile targets at once. There are feral Todea everywhere on the surface of Reitune that live only to hunt and prey on weaker organisms. Typically, this is why no-one lands on this planet. It deters even the nosiest of intergalactic explorers. No science or exploratory guilds will fund exploration of a planet like this if it means recruiting a small army. A perfect hiding spot for a Mowaii base of operations."

"So, we're fighting other Todea?" Sarah inquires, tensing up a bit. "Great. I'm still sore from the last fight."

"Don't worry. This will only be marginally more difficult than your fight with me," Daeli says, before releasing a shrill cry, forcing the teenagers to cover their ears. The cry echoes for miles. For a moment, nothing happens, but then the distant sounds of several wings flapping at once catch their ears. To Nicholas, it is very similar to a bee swarm. From one of the nearby crevices, several smaller Todea fly out and enter their area, quickly surrounding the teenagers. Unlike Daeli, these Todea only come up to their waists, and range from light green to that familiar brown. "Oh, hungry young ones. These will be yours to fight. We'll return below if you can defeat them before more show up."

"Wait, you're not going to help us?!" Ava shouts as she tenses up. "What if we can't beat all of them?"

"Then you are unworthy of the tools. " Daeli chitters and crosses her arms.

Nicholas spots one flying in without hesitation and he wills a shield from his omnitool, deflecting the insectoid's attack. The impact is enough to make him stumble back, but Sarah catches him before he can fall over. "This seems a bit intense, don't you think?"

"No more intense than the fight you just had. They are children, just like you. There's just more of them. I'm certain you can all handle it," Daeli clicks, stepping away to the edge of the arena to allow them to fight freely. "Don't feel like you have to hold back. If you can, incapacitate them."

The young Todea fly around, shifting quickly with coordinated aerial maneuvers, the less aggressive of the several visibly sizing up the teens. When the teens don't go on the offensive, all at once they spread their wings and launch forward. Not in perfect harmony, but clearly a team effort.

Sarah wastes no time in creating one of the sonic cannons from their last exercise, but her shot misses as the younger, more agile Todea she aims for easily avoids it while in the air. Another leaps atop her cannon and knocks her over with a kick to the chest.

"Alright. If we're going to do this, let's do it right. Keep things tight, so they can't separate us!" Nicholas calls out to the others, moving into a position where he can cover Sarah to help her back to a stand. Once back on her feet, she creates a shield like the rest of the group.

The Todea shift tactics, aiming for the youngest and weakest of the group. Sophia lets out a cry as several of them quickly swarm her, and though Darius turns to knock several of them away, they easily sweep the younger girl off her feet and carry her away from the group.

"How do you expect to incapacitate them while on the defensive?" Daeli calls out to the teens, trying to get them to realize that their tactics aren't working.

Darius, however, takes the advice a bit too literally. In a panic, he rushes forward, creating a club from his omnitool to knock away the flying younglings that were attempting to drag Sophia into one of the nearby crevices. They don't seem particularly harmed by the brutal strike but are deterred enough for the moment to let Sophia go.

The Todea all take flight and come down toward them at the same time, attempting to force themselves into the middle of the group and force them to be separated. Lifting their shields, the group collectively grunt as the weight of several young Todea land on their shields all at once. "Push!" Ava shouts, the group throwing enough power into their push that it successfully sends the younglings scattering back.

"Alright, good! Now focus on one at a time!" Nicholas shouts, all five of them turning and charging into the nearest flyer, who is briefly stunned from the impact of an uncontrolled fall. It looks up in time to see them coming, but it's too late: three of their shields impact the youngling and send it flying, skidding away as it hits a patch of ice. The momentum is enough to make it fall over the edge of one of the nearby crevices.

"If you intend to attack, you must do it together, as a group. Remember, a single twig breaks, but a bundle of twigs is strong." Daeli chitters.

The group put their backs against each other and prepare to attack the next youngling. By that point, however, the other Todea have recovered from the previous attack and this time, they move in to grab Darius. It's clearly a strategy they'd planned out, because as they throw Darius away, they focus on Sophia, quickly separating the two from the group before they can recover from their counter attack. "Darius!" Nicholas calls out, moving to try to save him only to be tackled by another Todea from the side, sent skidding away into the ice.

"Don't worry about me, get Sophia!" Darius calls, knocking one of the Todea senseless with his shield.

Sarah and Ava move in tandem, catching up to the struggling girl in time to rescue her. By the time they turn around, they catch only a brief glimpse of Nicholas and Darius being carried into separate crevices. "Nick! Darius!" Sarah calls out. "Shit. What do we do?"

"Well, I know what we can't do." Sophia frowns, noticing that they are once again being surrounded.

"We just have to hope the boys can handle themselves," Ava narrows her eyes, clearly refusing to give up. She lifts her shield up, scanning over the young Todea again. There's fewer now, but still too many for the three of them to handle. "Here's my suggestion. We push through and head into the crevices. If we force them into a smaller area, we stand more of chance to—"

"Too late!" Sophia calls out, the Todea horde spreading their tiny wings and launching toward them once again. However, they all stop in mid-air thanks to another shrill call from Daeli, who deafens the teenagers with her loud shriek. As the group covers their ears, the young Todea each fold their wings, landing and sliding to a stop just inches from the girl's shields.

"Wait. What just happened?" says Sophia, looking around at the frozen enemies.

Daeli spreads her wings and walks towards the group. "Our time has grown short, and we need to prepare for your departure," she explains. "Young ones, please return the other two."

Chittering and chirping noisily, the young Todea head into the crevices and moments later return with Darius and Nicholas in tow, tossing them at the feet of the three girls. With the boys roughed up but alive, the young insects quickly retreat into the cracks in between the rocks and ice.

"My children will make fine teachers one day when I'm gone," Daeli chitters, antennae twitching, moving back toward the elevator platform, but not onto it. She turns to wait for the teenagers to step on. "Please, come."

Darius crosses his arms, mulling things over. "Wait a minute, you let us fight your kids?"

"So we weren't in any real danger?" Nicholas grunts. "Again?"

"Oh, no, if that had gone on much longer they surely would've tried to consume you two. My children are still learning how to control themselves. In a way, they're not much different from yourselves," Daeli responds ominously as she looks toward Nicholas and Darius, watching as the girls help them to their feet. "Come now. You'll be taking this platform back down. I'll be joining you shortly. Much as I have taught you all today, I must also convey the lessons to my young ones. Just remember that failure is a much greater teacher than success can dream to be. Learn from your mistakes and tighten your bond and familiarity with your omnitools. You have learned a lot today. Take it with you."

Once the five step onto the elevator platform, it begins to descend, leaving Daeli behind. For the moment the five of them are quiet, all the way down, until Sophia speaks up. "I'm really glad that's over."

The rest of the group chuckle and dust themselves off. "I find it interesting that they handed us off to a giant praying mantis. Like, wait, what?" says Sarah, the rest of them joining in with laughs. "You'd think they'd teach us themselves, right?" Darius says, looking between the other four. "I mean, the Mowaii seem fairly advanced."

"Judging by what T.K told us, they don't really seem like the fighting type. Also, I'm pretty sure they're busy with other things," Nicholas reasons, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm not going to lie though, that was one of the scariest moments of my life. I thought I wasn't going to make it out of that hole. It was dark and very cold in there."

Though they quiet as the platform begins to slow to a stop. There to greet them upon arrival is Tah-Kuell, alongside the same Mowaii as before, who motions for them to follow him as he turns to step down the hallway. "It seems your training has been fruitful. Daeli is one of our best trainers here. She's been training young Mowaii in utilizing omnitools for quite some time."

"Does she have an omnitool herself?" Sophia inquires as she steps off the platform with the rest of them.

"She does. As promised, we've refueled your ship and have prepared it for launch," the Mowaii's words echo through their minds. On approach to the pad they'd landed on, the Caveship appears from floors below, the platform gradually ascending and settling into place. The several of them walk toward it, the stairs protruding from the ship still visible. "The food and supplies we've stowed in your ship's storage area should be sufficient for the next handful of voyages. I would still suggest acquiring additional resources from whatever future worlds you arrive at."

"Thanks for everything," Nicholas stops, turning back to the Mowaii. He considers the most respectful gesture possible to show how thankful he is for their assistance, but the Mowaii raises a hand in a silent gesture to show that he's aware that the teenager is humbled by their generosity. "Please, do not feel this is a genuine concern for your well-being. We are not normally this benevolent toward outsiders; like the Makers, we only seek knowledge," the Mowaii explains. "The Makers would not have chosen you if you were not valuable to them. We have improved your odds of survival simply to see where you will end up in their plans."

Looking back at the others, Nicholas returns his attention to the Mowaii. "Can you elaborate more on that?"

The Mowaii leader shakes his head. "The end of your journey will take you to where the Makers have chosen for you to go, but it will not be easy to get to them. It will be a challenge. You must remain outside your comfort zone, try and do things you've never done before, learn from your mistakes and survive the perils of this galaxy." He waves a hand dismissively toward the group. "Your ship will not wait much longer. Board it and never return. We have nothing more to offer you here."

"Right. Got it." Nicholas clears his throat awkwardly, turning to return to the others. Out of the corner of his eye, a blur of light green catches his attention. Daeli, he assumes, has come to see them off. She lands gracefully from her flight, her wings disappearing. Nicholas grows a smirk. "What, you want to come with us?"

"I'm all for it, just for the record," Sophia smiles, looking between everyone else.

Daeli clicks her mandibles together, and though it would normally be a gesture that has no real meaning to them, it still feels to Nick as though it were a playful gesture. "As tempting an offer as that is, I must remain here, as I still have things to teach to the young ones. Perhaps, if I ever train another group like yours, I will leave with them. Or maybe, one day, we will cross paths again. I would very much like that. You are strong together and still full of potential. I wish you the best on your journey."

Nicholas nods and turns to the others. "Then we should head out." He moves to climb the stairs into the ship, Sarah and Ava following along. Darius remains outside to watch Sophia as she rushes over to Daeli to give her a hug.

"Hello there," Daeli chirps, swinging Sophia once before gently setting her down again. "Are young humans usually this affectionate?"

"Sophia has a unique way of saying hello and goodbye," Darius explains with a smile. "Take care of yourself, Daeli."

"I wish you all a safe journey." Daeli waves her arms in a slow, almost meditative gesture, and this continues until the crew climb back into the ship. She bows, then turns and vacates the platform along with the other Mowaii, turning around to observe the ship as it lifts a few feet off the platform before ascending rapidly beyond the clouds.

Once the Caveship leaves the planet's atmosphere, which only takes a handful of seconds, it tilts in the direction of its next destination and accelerates so quickly that the system's sun whips by like a shot, little more than a bright blur. There's a moment of quiet reflection, before Nicholas looks between the group and clears his throat. "So, I was thinking... Daeli was right. We're fledgling, but we have the tools to survive. We need to figure out a leadership structure, like who's best suited for certain tasks, certain things. And we need to keep training together to get better with our omnitools."

"I can't argue with that," Darius admits, settling into one of the chairs. "I'm good at some things, but not everything. We going to make this a democratic vote, then? Or are we just going by who's figured out the omnitools the best?"

"I think it should be Nick. Captain Nicholas! It sounds distinguished," Sophia grins, leaning against one of the ship's panels. "Maybe Darius as the co-captain. Vice Captain? Captain Junior?"

"They're referred to as Commanders, if we're going by Naval ranks," Sarah says, looking back toward Nicholas.

Ava smirks playfully toward the others. "So is that an official vote for Nick?"

"Huh?" Sarah blushes a little, looking down. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, majority rules. Nick's our Captain, and I think Sarah should be our Commander. That way we can balance the gender ratio in terms of power," Ava speaks again. "I doubt Darius is going to complain."

Darius shakes his head in response. "Yeah, that sort of responsibility isn't really my thing. I only do it when I'm forced to. Just tell me what to do, I'll do it."

"Yeah, that's why you were never football captain." Sophia teases Darius. "Actually, Darius was never even a very good chaperone."

"Mm. Yeah, that's probably true. I lost Sophia when I was forced to take her to a school dance one time. Had no idea where she was all night 'til the dance was almost over." Darius chuckles, earning a laugh from the rest of them.

"Seriously? I've never heard that story before. You're all keeping the good stuff from me. Am I going to discover more stories like that while we're on this trip?" Nicholas grins.

"Mmmmaaaayyyybe," Sophia chimes in, before she decides to change the topic of discussion. "So, where are we headed? Lieutenant Commander Tah-Kuell, what's the next place we're landing?"

Tah-Kuell blinks in surprise at the title he's given, but he nods. He types into the panel he's at, pulling up a hologram. The translucent three-dimensional image depicts a planet with a blue hue. "A planet called Igeon. A recent acquisition, actually."

"Why are there so many ships surrounding the planet?" Sarah asks, pointing toward the hologram. Several vessels can be seen in orbit.

"Uh, I couldn't say. The database has no information on it. Not that I'm surprised. It's trying to use ancient survey data. But I'm sure we'll discover why when we arrive," Tah-Kuell explains with a nod. "For now, I think you should all rest. You've all had a rough couple of hours, and we've got a while before we arrive. A five day while."