Mona was fuming and glaring at me while holding a spear to my face, seriously, this woman is too cute.
"Are you confident in striking faster than I can draw my gun and end you?"
"What nonsense are you on?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Am I not the only one here famous for their peerless speeds?"
She harrumphed and pressed the spear against my throat. "Then I guess I would have to kill you by only thrusting forward."
"I have a thick neck."
"Want me to check for you?"
"Depends on what test you will be do..." SWOOF! I BOOM! The spear cut through the air around me as she thrust. She was fast but was nowhere near fast enough to pose any threat to me.
"You talk too much for somebody said to be mute."
While moving out of the way I realized that she had bent her head. She was a warrior fighting against an empire so I am pretty sure that she knew to never take her eyes off of the enemy. I smiled, my second day out of that daycare centre was already looking bright.
"Hey, hey what are you guys doing in here? Mona, that's the new recruit don't antagonize him?" I heard Arnold say as he stumbled into the corridor.
"New recruit? Who said I was joining you?" I asked, I was actually being genuine. Nowhere in my quest did it state that I had to tag along with a group of young misfits trying to join an even bigger group of misfits. For my mission, I need to go straight to the empire and meet up with people that had any real information in this world.
"What do you mean you won't be joining us? I rescued you from one of the world's most guarded prisons."
"EVEN AFTER I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO!" Mona yelled at Irongrip. "I'M GLAD THAT HE WON'T BE JOINING BECAUSE THE ONLY THING WE NEED RIGHT NOW IS FOR YOU TO LEARN A LESSON!" She grabbed Neo's wrist and yanked her away, she stopped Arnold to glare at me and then proceeded.
Arnold stared at them for a few seconds before looking back at me. "I saved your life."
"I was not in need of your saving."
"From the most secure..."
"Stop lying, the empire knew that I could not be detained so they put me in a random prison. That allowed their prisons' reputation to grow and greatly reduced the cost it would have taken to actually keep me in a top tier facility."
"Then why didn't you escape sooner?"
"Did I have a reason?"
"Well now that you are free and you do not have anything better to do why not join us?"
"No. Something important came up while I was on your ship. I am going to gather some scrap and start moving out."
He growled and then sighed. "Fine, tell me your mission and I will assist you. It can't be a lifetime thing like ours."
"Are you looking down on my mission?"
"You are just a pirate, and I am trying to save billions of lives. I am saying that whatever treasure you are after, it can't compare."
"That is the same thing the empire says about you. I am very positive that you are regurgitating what you heard about me from them. And if that is the case, why would I join you. Somebody who talks like they have been a part of the boys in blue?"
He froze for a second and I felt a change in the atmosphere, for a fraction of a second the entire room was cold. He walked towards me and the look on his face was a calm one.
"I may have made a mistake of belittling you and your cause but don't you think that branding me with the mark of my enemy is going too far?"
"Are they really your enemy?"
"I don't like how he talks. He will definitely betray us when the time comes. Besides, I heard whispers, you are too loud."
"Sekai?" Arnold turned and looked at the man at the back. He was in a white apron and was wearing a head covering, he had the eyes of a man with a big beard but without a beard. He was also the biggest person I have seen since my arrival, whatever he had cooking in the kitchen could not be underestimated.
"Grim Shooter the solar pirate, you got that name after wiping out the entire Starios family from the planet Kadison. Ever since then I have been convinced that you are just another government pawn. Which is why they don't try so hard to pursue you and keep you caught."
Arnold turned to look at me and folded his fists. "Who are you?"
"I don't know, are you not the one who went to Streinhold and dragged me out here? You should know very well who I am." I said as a gun started to appear on my hand and pointed it straight onto Arnold's head.
"TEDDY!" A high pitched voice erupted from behind me and I felt a weight suddenly crush my back. I fell onto one knee and I saw a pair of hands hugging me. I recognized them, the voice, and the feeling of being hugged from behind by this person.
"Tsame? Are you acquainted with Grim?" Arnold asked still not lowering his fists.
"Grim? Who is Grim?" They asked.
"I think he means me. And since when were you called Tsame?"
"A lot has happened since you disappeared and left me stranded on Emporos," Tsame said as they stood up and walked in front of me.
"I didn't leave you stranded,"
"That's what you think."
They were still as pretty as I saw them in the memories. A bandit is what they are and in case you are confused, Tsame has a few personalities. One of them is an extremely violent man who is very good with any weapon they put their hands on. And the one that rules over all of them is this poisonous lady who I would like to assume is the one I am talking to because they were usually in control of everything.
Back then in the memories, she went by Sizana, and I think she called me...
"Most importantly who gave my Teddy a dirty name such a Grim, my Teddy would never harm even harm a fly."
It also seemed like a few things were hidden in this friendship.
"That's Teddy?" Arnold asked finally letting down his guard. "I expected another you whenever I heard you mention you had a childhood friend named Teddy."
Tsame smiled, took my hand and led me past Sekai and Arnold. They had the longest hair of anybody so far, they walked barefooted and had nothing on except for a huge t-shirt that if memory serves me right belonged to Teddy.
Tsame looked back and caught me staring, "if you are that worried about the t-shirt then you would be shocked if saw my closet."
'It seems like they've only been wearing my clothes.'