As the troopers rappelled down, they started to fire away with their blasters, sending yellow energy charges crackling in Bekah's direction. Energy wasn't particularly lethal, except maybe when set to full power, but even the lowest setting would be enough to paralyze most creatures.

Charlie grabbed Bekah's arm and tugged in the direction of the thicker parts of the jungle, but she shook him off and stepped forward. These troopers had no idea who they were messing with. She put out a hand and reached for the air currents, calling to the wind as she'd done so often before.

Only this time, they didn't respond.

Bekah narrowed her eyes, focusing harder, but nothing happened. She could feel them calling back to her, but could barely do anything with them. The effects of cryosleep hadn't worn off yet.

"What the hell are you doing?" Charlie shouted, tugging insistently.

Bekah lowered her hand and spun back around, feeling slightly irritated and...worried?

"Trying to use my Elemental ability," she responded.

"Did it work?"

"No."

Bekah allowed herself to be towed into the jungle, and together, they scrambled over the thick, twisting tree limbs. Thankfully, energy blasts were easily stopped by just about any physical barrier, so as long as they kept moving, the thick jungle would do a good job of shielding them. The troopers behind them snarled and howled in guttural voices, making loud crashes as they tore through the undergrowth.

As Bekah ran, she could feel her survival instincts kick in, an old habit that had been drilled in through years of combat training. Her heartbeats felt like jackhammer blows, sounding in her ears as she dashed lightly over the treacherous forest floor, skipping over the roots and dodging brambles without a second thought. With each step, her thoughts became more and more mechanical, her mind racing as she tried thinking of a way out. She heard Charlie mutter under his breath, cursing the uneven floor, but she didn't slow down for him.

Branches and leaves whipped at her face, and she threw her arms up in front of her to shield herself. These trees weren't like anything she'd trained with before, twisting sideways as if to block her path. She found herself hurdling and ducking far more often than she would have liked and it made the going slow. Luckily, the troopers that chased them seemed to be having as difficult a time chasing as they were fleeing. The intergrown tree limbs were too tangled in most areas to run through and the humid air made her nose stuffy. Swarms of insects swirled everywhere, flashing by during their run so quickly that she didn't have time to see them before they were gone.

"Bekah!" Charlie called.

She spared a glance for him. Behind her, Charlie seemed to be flagging, the branches snagging his the edges of his navy windbreaker, a sure sign that they couldn't hold out like this forever. We need the high ground, Bekah thought. The troopers were only a dozen paces behind, the shadows of the forest obscuring their features.

"Come on!" she shouted, frantically waving to Charlie.

She grabbed the nearest tree limb and hoisted herself up, surprised by how heavy she turned out to be. Some of the best Air Elementals, such as herself, were able to make themselves as light as a feather, taking on the lightweight properties of the element they wielded. However, without her abilities, Bekah was about as heavy as a stone. Climbing this tree at her full weight was going to get exhausting real fast.

Underneath her, she heard Charlie start to climb too, but she was still much faster than he was and ended up a good meter or two higher than him. Without her powers, however, Bekah noticed herself wearing out quickly, unused to the extra weight her body typically ignored. Shooting a glance back down at Charlie, Bekah noticed he'd frozen up, staring at the ground with a familiar look: fear.

"What're you doing?" she growled. "Climb!"

"But-"

"Climb, you moron! If we go high enough, we can probably hide out in the canopy."

Bekah resumed her ascent, pulling herself up limb after limb. Below them, the troopers had stopped a distance from the tree and were now pelting the canopy with short blasts, trying to score a lucky hit. The air started to smell like metal filings and ozone, a smell often associated with energy weapons.

She whipped a hand out to the side mid-climb, testing out her aerokinesis again. This time, the air stirred in response, but it was only enough to rattle the nearby leaves. Great.

By now, they were quite a distance from the ground. At this point, she knew that if they fell, there would be no getting back on their feet, not unless her powers came back anytime soon. Around her, the jungle seemed alive with urgency, reflecting the anxiety in her that threatened to take over. Fat leaves and thin branches waved wildly back and forth, and she caught a glimpse of a small primate with gray fur leaping through the canopy, using its tail like an extra limb to quickly swing out of sight.

Suddenly, the rumbling of the ship grew louder, and Bekah could hear crackling as the thick canopy gave way to the ship's armored hull. Glancing around in alarm, she spotted the ship in the air, now facing their direction, moving steadily through the trees. It was flying low enough to skim the treetops now, and the plasma cannons on the ship suddenly swiveled in their direction. For a moment, she felt her muscles seizing up, freezing her in place as all her instincts failed her at once. Her powers weren't back yet; she was helpless as an Inert.

"Bekah!" Charlie shouted. "The ship!"

A boom shook the air, and suddenly, the trees were crackling, burning away as the ship blew a plasma round through the canopy. Time seemed to slow down and a dull roar rose in her ears as she released her grip on the branches, dropping below the path of the plasma bolt. Searing heat filled the air as the plasma round cut a path through the upper branches, close enough that she could almost reach out and touch it.

Bekah twisted smoothly in midair and tried snagging another branch, but it was then that she realized she made a mistake. This was a move she'd normally pulled with the help of her powers, when she was able to make herself light enough to float on the winds. Instead, when she reached out and took hold of another branch, her full weight tore the branch straight out of her grip and she continued to fall, letting out an involuntary shriek.

Her fall was broken temporarily when she crashed into Charlie, but then the branches gave away under their combined weight, sending both of them tumbling toward the ground far below. She screamed in panic and fear, crashing into several more branches, seemingly landing on every tree limb between them and the ground.

Moments before their brains were dashed, something struck her in the side, knocking all the air from her lungs and slamming her into the side of the tree. She fell to the ground with a cough, curling up as she gasped for air. Beside her, Charlie struck the ground and let out a similar groan.

Bekah slowly pushed herself up, rubbing her aching ribs. She must have hit her head; the sounds of the jungle came through slightly muted, and from the little she could see among the shadowy undergrowth, everything was fuzzy.

"Ow," she said, but even her own words sounded slurred. She sat up slowly, barely registering the energy blasts that crackled above her head.

Then, she saw the kid.

He looked to be about ten, standing around chest height, and he wore a knee-length sports jersey striped white and blue, most of it already smudged with dirt. Bekah only caught a flash of olive skin and a mess of dirty hair before he took off, leaving her at the base of the tree.

A couple dozen energy charges crackled nearby, snapping her back to reality. They were still under fire, and the troopers were still closing in. Who was that kid?

She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the dust that clung to her clothes. Taking cover behind a particularly gnarled tree, she peeked around the leaves, prepared to fight what was coming.

She didn't have to.

The kid was barreling through the trees, tearing out roots and limbs in his way without slowing down. The troopers concentrated their fire on him, but instead of dodging, he continued on a straight line, each step shaking the ground as if he weighed a thousand tons. Yellow energy charges crackled all around him, shrouding him in a bright yellow halo.

Then, the boy reached the troopers, hefting the first into the air with his bare hands. Bekah caught a flash of a massive tail, ripped muscles, and heavy weaponry, and then the trooper was flying into the canopy. Without skipping a beat, the boy threw himself at the second trooper, tackling him into a nearby tree with enough force to rip the tree trunk from the ground. Both kid and trooper disappeared into the underbrush, but she could still hear the thundering sounds of blows being exchanged.

Charlie groaned again and she whirled around. He was just starting to stand, leaning against a nearby tree for support. One of his hands went to his jacket pocket, patting it as if looking for something there.

"Are you alright?" Bekah asked, rushing to his side. The movement strained her a little, reminding her of her own injuries. She heard a heavy thud from the side, as if something massive had just crashed into the ground. "I think...I think someone's saving us."

"I'm alright," Charlie said shakily. "What's-"

Suddenly, there was a massive boom, and Bekah glanced up in time to see a plasma round burn through the trees above them.

"Get down!" she yelled, tackling Charlie to the side.

They hit the ground rolling, the rocks and roots digging into her skin. Burning branches rained all around where they were standing just a moment before. Without pausing, the ship fired again, sending another massive boom tearing through the jungle. Charlie disappeared, somehow falling out of her grasp, so Bekah rolled into a tight crack in the trees, ducking her head to shield herself from falling debris. As she took cover, she thought furiously. How were they supposed to take out a ship?

Suddenly, she became distinctly aware of the heavy thump of beating wings high in the sky, and she glanced up just in time to catch a glimpse of a monstrous creature through the thick canopy, bat-like wings flared wide and clawed feet latched onto the careening hovercraft above. She couldn't see too much, but she could tell that the creature was unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

"What the hell is that?" she wondered, leaning out of her hiding spot.

A massive roar shook the trees and she thought she could hear guttural screams coming from somewhere high above. Since the ship had stopped firing, Bekah rolled out from the crack in the trees and pushed herself to her feet, keeping an eye on the scene unfolding in the sky.

Charlie ducked out of a similar hole nearby, scrambling to his feet. He squinted up, raising a hand to shield his eyes.

"What the hell is that?" he echoed.

"Hey, there," a boy's voice said. "Don't mind that; Nessie won't bother us."

Charlie whipped around immediately, and she followed suit. In a flash, Charlie had his fists up between himself and the direction of the voice, but Bekah didn't hesitate, lunging at the kid standing in front of them. She had him on the ground in an instant, and although he struggled against her, she knew what she was doing. Before long, she had both the kid's arms pinned with her legs and a forearm pressed against his throat.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Start talking!"

"Hey!" the kid shouted indignantly. "I'm on your side!"

Bekah hesitated, looking down at the kid. He did seem rather ordinary.

"Bekah, get up," Charlie hissed. "He just said he was on our side."

She reluctantly eased up, moving a pace away and settling into a casual stance that kept her center of gravity low. The boy sat up, rubbing his elbows, and Bekah found herself facing a scruffy dark-haired boy, dressed in trousers and a casual button shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He looked to be around one or two years older than she was, and he seemed rather calm, except for the fact that his eyes were glowing a brilliant blue.

The boy leaned forward and coughed, shooting a glare at her. The glow faded from his eyes, revealing normal-looking hazel pupils.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his neck. "That was rude. By the way, you might want to take cover."

"Huh?" Charlie asked.

"Ship's about to crash."

Bekah glanced up sharply, just in time to see the shadow of the ship descending on the canopy. The upper branches exploded, sending little pieces of wood raining down around the jungle. All around them, the trees crackled and snapped as their thin trunks buckled under the weight of the ship. Smoke trailed from the nose of the craft, where the engine had been clawed apart. As it fell, it bounced off some of the nearby trees, spiraling in their direction as it continued to demolish the branches in its path.

"Move!"

Bekah instinctively kicked off the ground, soaring a good ten meters or so into the air and narrowly avoiding the ship as it tore past in a thundering crash, kicking up a plume of dirt and dust in its wake. She caught a vague glimpse of the new kid seizing Charlie by the collar and jerking him out of the way, and then she was sinking again, floating through the haze of dust and smoke that followed the ship.

"Finally," Bekah grumbled, landing gently amid a pile of torn branches and shredded metal. "About freaking time."

She swept a hand through the air just to test, and sure enough, the air currents responded to her, creating eddies that tugged at the dust and opening a pocket of clear air around her. Taking a deep breath, she thrust her hands outward, expanding her air pocket. From now on, those troopers and any others they encountered would be sorry they ever screwed with her.

"Bekah!"

That was Charlie's voice. They must have turned out okay. She felt a surge of relief, and she realized that she was more than a little scared of the prospect of being left alone here in this strange place.

Bekah focused, sweeping the dust away by summoning a gentle breeze that tugged at her loose clothing, clearing the dust like a hand parting water. It was weaker than she'd hoped, but at least some of her powers had returned. Slowly, the dust faded away, the thick smell of smoke disappearing with it, and the crash site became much clearer.

"Bekah!" Charlie called again. "Did you get clear? Bekah!"

"I'm alright," Bekah called back.

Charlie and the new kid emerged, covered in dirt but looking otherwise unharmed.

"And my powers are coming back a bit," she added. "How about you?"

"We're fine," the new kid said, brushing off his shirt. He stepped past a wide-eyed Charlie and started making his way over. They met halfway across the crash site, where the new boy held up a hand to stall them.

"We're short one friend at the moment," the boy said. "Seen him around?"

Bekah finished shifting the dust away and the jungle was once again clear. Now that she had a good look at everything, she could see the destruction the crash had wrought. Since the trees grew in an intertwined fashion, the trees torn out by the crash had also torn out neighboring ones, creating a very large area filled with debris.

"Wow," Charlie breathed. His hand went again to his jacket pocket. "Look at all that. We were pretty lucky."

"Yeah," Bekah muttered. Then, she remembered the other boy's words and frowned. "Wait, what friend?"

"Short guy, about this tall," the kid said, holding his hand out around waist height.

"I think I saw him," she muttered, remembering the kid who broke her fall. "He...saved us."

"Was he okay?" the kid said. "He's kinda young."

The trees at the very edge of the crash site rustled and a little child appeared, swinging nimbly from branch to branch until he reached the ground. The kid was surprisingly light on his feet, considering he was shaking the ground with his steps last time Bekah saw him. Once on the ground, the boy made his way over, picking his way through the crash site as if he had all the time in the world.

"Never mind," the older boy muttered, reaching out to ruffle the kid's hair when he arrived.

"Where did you guys come from?" Charlie demanded. "And who are you?"

"Me? I'm Tanvir. This little guy doesn't talk, so I named him Calvin. I only just met him about half an hour ago, so don't look at me for answers. Now what about you two?"

Bekah hesitated, her head still swirling from the recent events. What did he say his name was? Oh, right. Tanvir. How was he so calm?

"I'm Bekah," Bekah answered. "And this is Charlie."

"Charlie?" Tanvir asked. "What kind of name is that?"

Charlie shrugged, looking uncomfortable.

"My dad picked it," he said simply. "It's short for Charles."

Then, he cleared his throat, glancing down at the little boy. "Uh, you said something about naming the boy Calvin. Is his name Calvin, or are you just calling him Calvin?"

"The latter," Tanvir said. "But his jersey spells out Calvin and he responds to the name so...yeah."

"How'd you find us?" Charlie blurted. "Look, I'm not trying to be rude here, but your timing was a little too perfect."

"I don't know," Tanvir said slowly. "Why don't you tell me what you were doing here first?"

"How should we know?" Bekah demanded. "We don't know anything."

"Yeah," Charlie added. "I just woke up a few minutes ago. I probably know the least right now."

"Well, to be fair," Tanvir said, "you do look like the kind of guy who just woke up from a two week long cryosleep."

"Wait, what?" Bekah blurted.

"What?" Tanvir asked. "You've never heard of cryosleep?"

"Did you just say two week long cryosleep?"

"Yeah, I woke up in a sort of pod with a screen containing the current date."

"What date was it?" Bekah demanded.

"14.01.2723," Tanvir said. "Why? Were you captured at a different time?"

Bekah worked her mouth, but couldn't make the words come out properly. Two months? Two months since the gas attack on her school. A lot could have happened by then. Her grandparents must be worried sick.

"Oh," she managed. "We didn't see that when we examined our pods, but that sounds about right."

"Go figure," Tanvir said. "So why were the Krakoshans chasing you?"

"Krakoshans?" Charlie asked.

"The troopers," Tanvir said. "Lizard-like people with scaly skin, have a tail, and a really mean snarl. They're Krakoshans. Why were they chasing you?"

The kid's questions were starting to get on her nerves.

"We don't know," Bekah snapped. "Listen, if you're going to be asking us questions, how about letting us ask some back? How'd you find us? Where'd you come from?"

"It's really not that complicated," Tanvir said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Calvin and I were following the ship when we saw it attack you two. We intervened because it looked like you two might be fellow Kingsfielders in trouble, and to be honest, I was kind of relieved just to find you guys."

"Oh," Bekah muttered. Then, because it felt appropriate, she added, "Well, I guess you arrived just in time to save our butts. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Tanvir said, folding his arms. "Why didn't you guys fight back?"

"Our powers were blocked," Bekah explained, "and I could barely do anything."

"Right," Tanvir muttered. He turned and gestured at the crashed ship. "Anyone here know anything about Krakoshan ships?"

"I do," Charlie said, raising his hand. "Uh, just a little. I know a thing or two about ships."

Bekah glanced at him.

"Oh," she said. "Well, is that ship salvageable?"

They glanced at the ship. One entire wing and the bottom of the hull was completely shredded by the crash landing. Both rear turbines were smashed and the nose was caved in. It was a bit difficult to tell, but the lumps near the nose might have been the pilots, hanging out of the broken cockpit window.

"You think?" Charlie said dryly.

"What about supplies?" Tanvir suggested. "If the cockpit is still intact, I'll bet we can find some food and first aid."

"Food?" Charlie asked. "First aid? Who's hurt?"

Tanvir opened his mouth and turned, eyeing Charlie.

"Don't think too far ahead, do you?" he muttered. Then, louder, "Food, medicine, maybe a weapon. All handy stuff. C'mon."

The boys started walking in the direction of the ship, stepping carefully through the debris field as they went. Bekah followed, kicking off of a broken tree and calling on the currents to sweep her forward. However, instead of carrying herself through the air, she found herself barely able to lighten her own weight. Two months in cryosleep must have worn her out more than she realized. Right now, the strain on her abilities felt similar to a sore muscle, a deep and dull ache that prevented her from using too much at once. Still, even with her powers at less than half strength, she made herself light enough to outpace the others, bounding up to the crack in the ship's hull ahead of them.

"Wait!" Charlie shouted. "There could be more lizard men inside!"

"Then catch up!" she called back.

Glancing at the hull, Bekah found a large rift in the metal, just barely large enough to fit a person. Stepping back, she swung her leg high, kicking at the rift to widen it. The metal banged loudly, but still, it didn't budge.

"Allow me," Tanvir said, appearing beside her.

A shadowy tendril snaked out from the ground, forming around Tanvir's fist like a sword. He held his arm high, then swung downward, slicing through the metal hull with ease. The shadows from his hand then snapped forward, seizing the hull and tearing away the pieces Tanvir had just cut, allowing the filtered sunlight to stream into the ship.

"There...oh," Tanvir said, gagging.

He reached out, quickly blocking Calvin's face as the smaller boy tried to peek.

Bekah peered past the boy, looking into the ship to see what had Tanvir reeling. Inside, she noticed four more Krakoshans, all unconscious, or at least unmoving. Blue liquid was everywhere, splattering the seats and walls of the ship, even on the parts of the hull that Tanvir had cut away. It was blood, she realized. Krakoshan blood.

"Oh man," Charlie muttered. "They didn't make it."

"Yeah?" Tanvir said, still covering Calvin's eyes. "Their guns look alright. Feel free to take the first pick."

Charlie started forward, picking his way gingerly through the pooling blood until he reached the first Krakoshan. Bending down, he examined the dead trooper carefully. After a moment, he stood up again, tugging on the rifle clutched in the corpse's hands.

"Ah, never mind," he said. "It's kind of heavy."

Bekah glanced at the remaining bodies, noting their visible lack of gear. Only one other trooper carried an energy rifle. Another was wearing a headset. The fourth Krakoshan was barely visible, his upper half concealed behind the door of an open locker.

"Over there," she pointed. "Looks like a weapons locker."

Tanvir followed her finger, summoning another shadowy hand to seize the locker. Ripping it out of the ground, he brought it over to her and dropped it at her feet before taking Calvin by the hand, firmly leading him back outside the ship where he couldn't see the gore. Bekah reached for the door, then remembered the blood and kicked it open instead.

"Anything useful?" Charlie asked.

Bekah gulped, staring at the severed head of the last Krakoshan trooper. Its yellow eyes were widened in an expression of shock and panic, and its thin tongue hung out of its mouth, almost as if the creature was panting. Rolling the head out of the way gingerly with the tip of her foot, Bekah surveyed the remaining contents.

"Just a radio and ammo," she answered. "Nothing else."

"Can I see?" Charlie asked, leaning forward.

Bekah yelped, slamming the locker shut.

"Trust me, you don't want to," she said quickly.

Charlie glanced back inside at the dead Krakoshans, then at the locker.

"Good point," he muttered queasily.

"I found the pilot's survival kit!" Tanvir called from inside the cockpit. "Come look!"

Bekah stood up, wiping her hand on some nearby leaves. Charlie glanced at her hand, then at the locker and shuddered. Together, they made their way past the bodies and into the cockpit, where they found Tanvir waiting for them.

The cockpit was somewhat better lit than the back, since the shattered windows allowed plenty of sunlight to filter through. Most of the dashboards were smashed, and both the pilot and copilot hung out the window, but everything else was intact.

"Check this out," Tanvir said gleefully, holding up a box.

Inside, a small double barreled plasma pistol was secured in a holster, along with two clips of ammunition, three flares, a first aid kit, a multitool knife, an empty canteen, and ten silver packets of what looked like food.

"There might be another one under the copilot's seat," Tanvir nodded. "Someone else wanna check that out?"

Charlie bent down and pulled another, similar box out from under the co-pilot's seat.

"Where's Calvin?" he asked, prying the second box open.

"Left him outside," Tanvir said, shrugging.

Charlie pulled the pistol out eagerly, slipping the holster into his shorts pocket. The knife went into his other pocket, along with the extra ammunition and flares. Bekah watched him struggle to fit the remaining rations into his pockets and sighed.

"Charlie," she said. "Your bag?"

He slapped a hand to his back, feeling the backpack there, and grinned sheepishly.

"Oops, forgot," he said, unslinging it and dumping the rations in.

"Don't forget the first aid and other supplies," Tanvir warned, unscrewing the canteen's lid. "Where's the water in this kit?"

"No water," Charlie answered, still stuffing his pockets. "They put water purification tablets in the first aid kits. One per full canteen. Should be five tablets or so."

"Nerd," Bekah scoffed.

Charlie stood up, the copilot's box now empty. Bekah and Tanvir followed suit, removing the supplies from the survival kits.

Suddenly, Calvin leaped onto the ship's nose, pointing into the distance excitedly. Bekah exchanged a confused glance with Charlie, but he seemed just as clueless as she was.

"What's he doing now?" Bekah demanded.

Tanvir followed Calvin's pointed finger, then glanced down at the kid.

"What is it?" he asked.

Calvin patted the ship under his feet and pointed again.

"Oh," Tanvir muttered. "They came from over there."

Tanvir's eyes began to glow blue again, and the shadows outside the ship began to swirl into the air, rapidly rising into a thick pillar of darkness that stood nearly twenty times taller than Bekah. Then, the column retreated, shadows dying away just as fast as they had formed, leaving a massive creature in its place that stood nearly the height of the trees with bat-like wings folded along its sides. The entire body was covered in pale red scales, but while the torso was heavily muscled, its front legs were unnaturally thin, as if it were starved. As it emerged, its wings unfolded, spreading out as wide as a city block back home, and its three tails whipped the air wildly. It threw back its head and let out a long, piercing shriek in a multilayered voice. Bekah caught a glimpse of its eyes, burning bright blue. The same shade as Tanvir's eyes.

Now that Bekah could get a good look at it, she realized that this was the strange creature she'd seen in the sky, the one that had brought down the ship. It was a Netherbeast.

She stared. "What's that for?"

"Transportation," Tanvir said casually. "This ship is wrecked, and Calvin says there are more that way. Don't you want to get off this planet?"

"The Krakoshans are our ticket home," Charlie added. "If you have a better plan, feel free to speak up."

"Idiots," Bekah griped. "But if we get killed, I'm blaming you in the afterlife."

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