C  H  A  P  T  E  R    17
- - - Paul and The Hellbertian - - -

  Paul was hiding at a corner, a new corner, that is. Louie was cheering mostly for Amelek, but not Paul. He wasn't his favourite. Louise wasn't cheering, but in her mind, she is rooting for both of them, thinking:
  "C'mon! You can kill them!"
  Paul releases the current clip of his laser pistol and put it down slowly, in case there's anyone nearby listening for footsteps. He took another clip from his armoured-with-kevlar chest's pocket. A clip comes out and inserts itself into Paul's laser pistol. The rounds were blank rounds too. Paul got up and ran a theory.
  "I'm in the corner of a wall. One could come from my left, but not from my right. So, I just aim at the left wall.."
  He did so, and a Hellbertian came strolling by and got shot. The poor guy got transported back to a spectator's seat. He smiled, not because he shot it successfully, but he had put a silencer in case anyone comes.
  But if Yulli were to observe the death, he would suspect there was someone hiding in a corner, a dark one.
  Yulli wasn't there, but Amelek was and he saw the transportation device from the game master's table a few levels above the field blinked white and red simultaneously and the victim got teleported back to a seat.
  Amelek was smart enough to know that the kevlar armour was the object. The weapons are the emitters for the transportation device. But if that were to be broken..
  "Aah-"
  A voice got cut off. Amelek jerked back to take cover of a wall. That shout was familiar and it was Paul. His bet was that Paul got shot. That's impossible unless it's..
  Amelek began to run away from the source of the voice. But his earpiece picked up a sound. And it wasn't Paul's.
  "If you want Paul back, meet us at Earth."
  Amelek's face has gone wrong. From scared to terrified. He had to do something.
  It took about a minute or two for Paul to set the radio channel to fit Paul's, but not Louie's or Louise's. Paul made a grave mistake and since Amelek suspected this could be a kidnap case, they would want the ransom. And it will take a huge load of money to cover that up.
  For Amelek, it took more than a song's time length to change it to Louie's channel. Luckily, there was no one around to shoot him with the laser toy.
  "Louie, Paul might have been kidnapped."
  Louie's eyes widened, seeing white around the iris. Louise looked at him and got worried immediately.
  "Amelek, didn't you cover for him?!" He shouted with a rather guilty tone.
  "I was near him, but I didn't see him. I think he was hiding behind a wall."
  "See, Amelek, you screwed up! We need Paul to negotiate with that hybrid, Yulli! Or.."
  Amelek frowned. Louise starts to shake Louie by the shoulder and forearm.
  "Louie, what happened?" She asks in an innocent tone.
  "Paul.. Paul's been kidnapped by the mutated, again," He says. Even the look on his face was scary enough that Louise decided not to look at it after her first glance.
  "Wait, how?"
  "The teleportation device! They're smarter than they look. And they're bringing him to Earth. No, they'll being him to Halbert."
  "But we're already in Halbert."
  "The giant ship part of Halbert, Louise. Earth could be destroyed. Our family could die. Grasp the situation, Louise!!"
  Louise sobbed, looking down from him, because he was too scary.
  But Louie, who became sane again, consoled her and apologized.
  "Soon.." He muttered.
  But even after that moody conversation, Gilbert was drooling in his slumber and Bill was drooling over nothing, because he didn't focus on anything.

Well, this is awkward.

Sorry for the double post. Didn't mean to spam, since my browser didn't see Chapter 17..

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    18
- - - Falcon's Plan Of Demise - - -

  Back at the hosts' room where hosts talk all day to their microphones to inform what is happening on the battlefield, Falcon lay on the comfy chair, relaxing at most, but sometimes wincing because of discomfort. He preferred his own chair back in Xernian which was ironically a very annoying chair to most Halbertians. But this would do for the time being.
  A pair of Hellbertians were taking an unconscious Paul at the shoulders.
  "Why do we have to do this?" one muttered.
  He was hoping his other partner didn't hear it, but he did.
  "Just kidnapping the smartest being in the Universe to take over the Universe ain't so bad, ya' know?" one talked.
  The complaining one registered an American English phrase.
  "Why are you speaking in that form of English?" He asked.
  "You noticed? These phrases are kinda cool-"
  "Now, you're calling it cool? Cool is for Earth, not Hellbertians. We call it.."
  The complaining one trails off as his pair of eyes caught sight of Folcan bursting off to another room.
  "Why is the vice president upset?" He asks dumbly.
  "You think I'm the one that knows minds?"
  He pushes the other one off as an irritation and a joke mixed together. But the push wasn't pleasant.
  It made Paul drop to the floor, causing an elbow to fracture. It made a cracking noise that the two heard.
  "What was that?" The American Hellbertian asked.
  "I-I think it was a bone fracture."
  "How do you know that?"
  The other one didn't look complaining anymore. He looked more like doomed. Contagious doomed. His face caused the American to also make the face.
  "President Falcon said not to harm him. What do we do?"
  "Just put him on the chair like nothing happened."
  "I hope so."

  The pair of musclemen carried the red smarty pants to the hosts' room and sat him on the same type of chair and tied him up with ropes. Falcon was looking at the field, focusing on Amelek. He couldn't find Gilbert. He was hoping Gilbert would also join his plan. But Paul is the top-most prioritized target of it.
  He had run a theory that Paul was be in the games to invite Yulli to join their force. If Paul hadn't been there, it would take another few years for them to prepare the crew. By that time, Paul would've figured the plan thoroughly and catch them red-handed. Paul's not the only one smart in this planet.
  Amelek was panicking, tuning something in his neck that Falcon couldn't notice, but could depict.
  "Going according to plan," There was his smile again. The cruel smile.
  His mind of theories broke up when the pair of musclemen slammed the door.
  He snapped his neck to his right.
  "Watch the door, you freaks!" He shouted.
  The shout made Paul wake up and look up suddenly. Then, Falcon turned his chair to his side of view and was surprised to see Paul's rigid eyes.
  "Where am I?!" Paul asked in a loud voice in Halbertian. But he knew a millisecond later.
  "This, Paul," He cleared his throat. "Is the hosts' room. Fancy, eh?" He spoke in English.
  The room is about 260 square feet, had the floor carpeted with blue and the room was blue as well. Behind Falcon was a set of machinery for announcements. There's a pair of microphones set in too. Paul registered every inch of the room in a few seconds.
  "I know I'm not good at Halbertian," He spoke in that language. "But at least I can speak decent."
  "Falcon," Paul said in English. "Nice to meet you."
  "How-"
  "Elementary, my dear Falcon. Research is all it takes."
  Already a few seconds of meeting has already gotten Falcon annoyed. Wait 'til Gilbert is here. He'll be madder than Folcan.
  "Paul. Unless you want to die, you will work for us. To operate the ship. You can have 250,000 men to work at it-"
  "Really, Falcon? Is that what you want? Taking over the Universe? I thought you were smarter than Yulli. Firstly, the ship needs at least 1 million for it to operate the movement. Secondly, you guys aren't as smart as me and you need me to help commandeer the ship. So, you can't kill me. I doubt you will be ever smarter than my future children or my future wife!"
  "Shut up! You will work for me or.."
  Paul raises his chin in mockery. A gesture that shows that Paul is smarter than Falcon.
  "Amelek dies," He concluded.
  "Well, then, I won't work for you," He smiled.
  "We'll kill him, then you'll work for us."
  "Oh, really? And how do you do that?" Paul prepares himself for the absorption of data. He was right to do it.
  "Since you're gonna be in my custody the whole time, why not tell you?"
  He released his tension on almost everything, basically by holding his breath.
  "We will send in a group of undercover Halbertians to cover Cred, especially the lab you always work in. We will get in snipers to pick off Amelek and whoever is in that building."
  "Hmph, is that going to work?" His right side of his lips raised by a centimetre. He has already thought of the solution to escape and warn them.
  "Say, the ropes here are really uncomfortable. If you won't, I won't work for you."
  Falcon was already stressed after his short speech. His mind went blur and decided to release him.
  "You promise you won't escape?"
  "I won't," He smiled. Of course, he bluffed. But there wasn't a hint of untruthfulness in that sentence.
  Falcon walked over and released his hands. Paul didn't move, but his hands did, tensing his fists and fingers.
  "I thank ye, ol' mate!"
  Paul smiled at the stressed Falcon. This was the first mistake the president made. Or rather, Paul's plan worked. His goal was to make Falcon unable to make decisions, since mutated aliens cannot think straight unless their minds are really focused. Paul had made this research when the mutated war broke out on Halbert. But the war only lasted for a few hours because of the advanced weapons and warheads. This has drastically reduced the population into a pulp.
  Falcon walked back to the chair, suddenly zombified, and fell asleep immediately.
  "Now, let's see what's in Falcon's pockets," Paul said mischievously. His talons were rattling against each other and his mouth in a wide and prideful arc.

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    19
- - - Louie's Plan Of Redemption - - -

  Louie's team was at a crisis. Their smartest being was held captive by the Hellbertians, which was bad because there were tons of ways what they could do to him. And it was just Louie's thoughts.
  Louise sat there, looking at Louie with pitiful eyes, almost sobbing when she encouraged herself.
  "Louie, what's going to happen now?" She asks in pity.
  "We go back to Earth. The mutated will be there."
  "We could die there," Louise suggested angrily, suddenly. "They are foolproof-"
  Louie cut her off by turning his head somewhere else, but not intentionally though. He noticed a small flying craft floating above the stadium. And it looked similar to the one they have-
  Louie quickly got up and left in a flash, followed by Louise.
  "Hey, what's happening?!"
  "Our ship's stolen. Hand me my Pair Of Blades."
  "But Louie, remember? All our weapons were stashed in Amelek and Paul's locker."
  "Locker-?!" He gagged. "Alright, another direction, then," announces Louie as he heads the other way.
  Louise jerked back to avoid the flailing of Louie's arms and followed his tail.
  After a few ten seconds, they've reached their lockers, which was at the entrance of the stadium, but opposite the way of the craft, which was bad. Louie took out a duplicate key card that Paul made himself for the locker. He stabbed it into the hole and lasers read the card. The locker door popped open without delay and Louie instantly snatches a Pair of Blades. He armed it and ran off, hoping Louise would catch up, which she did.
  "What about the rest?" asks Louise while trying to catch up with him.
  "I already came up with a plan."
  His smile was yet cruel.

  Amelek stood on the rubber floor, wielding a sniper rifle and a laser knife. He aimed the heavy contraption up in the air and shot. It made a noise that attracted every player in this stadium, including Yulli.
  According to Louie, Yulli is the furthest from Amelek, so Yulli wouldn't have time to reach Amelek before others did. The others were, of course, Hellbertians, but luckily, Paul searched each one of the players with thorough and full scrutiny.
  Four players were already out, excluding the ones who kidnapped Paul, which makes it seven if included. In this game, there are fifteen players, including Paul, Amelek and Yulli. Five others were Hellbertians and the investigation turned out to be fruitful. These five were very special troops called 'L337 Troopers', which was quite amusing to Earth, but not Hellbertians.
  The L337 Troopers were trained soldiers who can handle touch situations under tight circumstances, such as killing a Cred with bare fists and talons, which they had done before. One didn't even broke a sweat. In their record of marking or killing enemies, they were in the top 100 of soldiers, including other trillions of planets out there in the Universe.
  One very lucky detail of them were that they were best friends with Falcon, the president. So, holding them hostage and trading them for Paul would be clever. But this was the downside.
  Amelek is going to be up against 6 people, Yulli included. And the hybrid doesn't know if Amelek wants a truce or not. So..
  "Yulli, you and I, truce?!" He shouted.
  There was no response for the next few milliseconds, then a shout.
  "Sure, why not?!"
  Amelek was pleased with the results. This would mean two against five. But with Yulli's quick brain reaction and Amelek's accuracy, they wouldn't feel outnumbered at all. Instead, they feel like they can overpower them easily.
  Amelek reveals his Pair Of Blades. This was the golden part of the plan. The L337 Troopers were actually too naive to bring lethal weapons, even though Falcon told them of the plan.
  Yes, bringing lethal weapons into Lay Down tournaments was against the rules of this game and the law. But Louie figured out how to sidestep this rule. The fans.
  They wouldn't let one piece of the game masters' words stop the game, which defeats the purpose of the rules. But they don't care. Credits are on their way.
  Of course, the police here has the power to stop the game, but not the fans. Unless they had a way to harm the police, the fans couldn't be stopped.
  "The police wouldn't kill civilians now, would they?" Louie said once into the microphone that was sticking out in his throat.
  The only way the plan would fail if both Yulli and Amelek were eliminated from the game. Amelek, maybe, but Yulli, not in the slightest chance.
  Amelek ran over the plan and waited for the Hellbertians to arrive. Three arrived, bringing up their weapons at the second they saw his face. Amelek was already firing and shuffling to cover. Yulli came to view and fired a round to a Hellbertian and it disappeared. Yulli wasn't given information to the plan, so Yulli was an asset that could ruin the plan if Amelek wasn't fast enough.
  The laser shots whom Amelek fired headed for the kneecaps of both mutated aliens. They fainted from the shot.
  The fans were suddenly confused, but they cheered, according to Louie's last-minute plan.
  Yulli spotted an enemy and gave a shot to its torso and vanishes.
  "All enemies eliminated, though two fainted. But they won't be up so soon," reports Yulli.
  "Good, just don't shoot me just yet," Amelek requests. "Can we form an alliance?"
  "Alliance? Joining your team of geeks? I have heard of the rescue of Paul back on Earth."
  "It was famous?!" says Amelek, suddenly excited.
  "Just tell me what you want," His tone definitely told Amelek he was annoyed.
  "Alright, we need to recruit you because the aliens on Xernian-"
  "The Hellbertians. They cause a lot of trouble."
  "Yeah, I've heard. They have an enormous plan to destroy the Universe, starting with Earth."
  "Oh, I don't care about that stinkin' planet. But I do want Halbert to live. Sure, I'll join you."
  "Wow, that was easy," Amelek silently mutters.
  "On one condition."
  "Oh no, something really bad, I guess," Amelek says aloud.
  "Bill doesn't drool on me, Gilbert doesn't annoy me, Paul doesn't tall smart to me, Louie doesn't try to kill me, and you don't talk to me about Call Of Duty or any First-Person Shooting games, except Lay Down."
  "How do you know the names of our team?! And there's more than one condition here!"
  "Research, of course. You think I'm dumber than an animal? I always investigate my enemies beforehand. And you made two fainted for a reason. If you want to kill me with that piece of cr*p, think twice."
  "Uh, alright."
  "I hope this mission finally has some more action that Lay Down."
  Amelek and Yulli both laughed together.

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    20
- - - Introducing Falcon's Frienemy - - -

  Year 2005, May, five years ago.

  "You know, Xernian ain't so bad," said a voice from a Hellbertian. "Got mutated species, something even better than Halbertians. There are a lot of downsides, though."
  "But we are going to repair them," said Falcon. "I assure you, the population of Xernian will increase in time."
  Falcon sat on his favourite chair in his office. It was dark except his table, which illuminated only a little light from a small hot bulb. This bulb was from Earth, but taken away when Falcon was there and he robbed it off a lady that bought it almost 50 years ago.
  A face loomed in from the darkness. The look on his face was already starting to creep Falcon out.
  "Don't worry. I have a plan to stop the problems and the downsides."
  Falcon was piqued.
  "What kind of plan, exactly?" He leaned forward, almost pinning his stomach against the table.
  "We.." The face said like a wait-for-it moment. "Take over the Universe!"
  Falcon giggled at first, then when he thought more about it a second later, he went into laughing stage.
  Then, a fist appeared from the darkness and banged the table.
  "Shut up, Falcon!"
  "What? How are you planning to do that, huh?!"
   Then Falcon became serious.
  "You do not have power to shut me up. Get out before I cut your head off, spill your blood to feed to the mutated vampire alien, then your head to the wolves in the North Pole and your body to the pit of lava filled with lava crocodiles."
  "Just.." The face was nervous. "Hear me out."
  Falcon suddenly became calm.
  "Sure, what is the plan?"
  "We steal the biggest ship in Halbert and just dominate the Universe. We all know Halbert is the best planet."
  Falcon massaged his chin.
  "I'll think about it," He said calmly, yet again. It was clearly a very risky plan, but Falcon decided it ahead after a few days because he was a greedy alien.
  "Of course, you'll think about it. It's the best plan ever!"
  The face disappeared and the rustiness of the door made screechy 'creeks'.
  "Wait, what's your name?"
  "My name?"
  He chuckles. It was creeping Falcon more.
  "Just call me Kage. Remember, Kaa-Geh."
  The door was slammed shut behind him.
  "Man, I don't like him, but he's got a good plan, though. A risky one," Falcon commented.

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    21
- - - Kage, The Criminal Scum - - -

  Year 2012, May, three days before the Lay Down tournament.

  Kage, one of the top ten notorious villains with the power to outsmart, charm and threaten other people. He looks short with the height of 138 centimetres and weighs 34 kilograms. His face is usually demented, even with alcohol taking over him. Once, he destroyed a bulletproof window with just his fists and sharpened nails. But he was drunk that time.
  He was in his favourite bar, Gurgley Bar. It serves vodka, champagne, wine and even illegal alcohol. Hellbertians have immunities to certain poisons and toxins. Some even enjoy them, like the illegal alcohol.
  He spitted clumsily as he took his tenth sip off an illegal drink.
  "100 years old and still drinking!" He laughed. He cursed too, if you didn't know.
  Other people looked at him with faces of disgust and annoyance.
  One eventually came up to him. He looked like a bodyguard to someone very important, his body size reaching up to 180 centimetres and was broad with muscles.
  "At least spit that and your words somewhere else," said the huge Hellbertian.
  "What? You wanna start a bar fight?!" He spitted some more, but at the figure's head and obviously saying it blurrily.
  It quickly jerked away, dodging the alien saliva and drink. It reacted with anger and sent its massive fist to the now-retorted face. The fist was caught head on by Kage's palm.
  "Hey, take it easy. You don't wanna start a bar fight-"
  There was a slam to his right cheek and he fell off the chair. It was the figure's left fist instead.
  Kage felt blood mixed with saliva and he spitted once more to its direction. This time, red splatted on its face and its face flushed off from anger.
  It was about to send a kick when the door was opened wide with a bang.
  "Kage!" shouted a voice from the door.
  Kage was too drunk to see at that range, but it came closer and closer towards the couple of fighters.
  "Folcan, that's enough," Falcon says as he lays one hand on his left shoulder.
  "But he-"
  "Now, before I fire you."
  Folcan jerked his head forward as a threat to Kage, which he did not realize it was a threat. He moved his legs and walked out with a blabbering mouth.
  "Kage, Paul is going to be in the tournament, which I found out earlier. C'mon, we need to get you going."
  "To where?" Kage said with a slur, and it was by far the most annoying slur to Falcon. It made him twitch his right eye momentarily.
  "To my apartment, you drunk piece of-"
  Folcan kicked the door open.
  "We need to leave now," he said in a low but loud voice.
  Falcon nodded and pulled Kage easily. And they were off flying to Falcon's apartment, which also contained an armoury of weapons.

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    22
- - - We Meet Again, Young One - - -

  Paul was ransacking Falcon's pockets in the studio. Paul mentally noted not to damage anything at all, especially with his super-long talons.
  Footstep sounds enter Paul's ears and he immediately jumped.
  "People. Folcan?"
  Paul pulled the unconscious body to the direction of the hinges of the door. He set it as to so that the unknown intruder is unable to see his right because of the door blocking his view, which is wide. A mixture of stereoscopic and monocular vision in one Hellbertian's eyes. Once, Falcon was in Earth, stealing, robbing and carrying out criminal activities under the alias, Eagle. He was surprisingly able to hide his talons when it was long. When he needed to kill and had made sure no one was there except the victim, he will unsheathe those talons and stab him. Ruthlessly.
  The door opens wide, but not to at least a 130 degrees, which was lucky for Paul. He saw a champagne bottle at the edge of the door.
  "Falcon, are you in here?"
  Paul recognized the voice. Then memories flashed before him in a few picoseconds.
  "Kage." He whispered so softly, Kage wouldn't have heard it.
  Kage was Paul's apprentice in mind and body. Paul took him in because he had nothing to do, no things in his life to occupy. But that was about a few decades ago. Kage would meet Paul on Mars to do training on Mount Olympus. Kage had to carry a ton and 600 kilograms more of useless rocks on Mars in a very big bag and he had to make sure no one witnessed it, especially the occasional probes sent in by Earth. After that, his training would begin by doing small things, like breaking bulletproof glass, like what he easily did in his pastimes or calculating how big the Universe is by theories and jumping across the volcano pit thousands of times.
  When one day, Kage suddenly stopped meeting Paul on Mars. Paul waited for a few hours and had come to a conclusion that Kage hated Paul for the training. Which he did.
  "But why?" He said when he was on Olympus Mons.
  "He took it upon himself to be my apprentice and he stopped," Paul became sorrowful, but took over the sorrow a few seconds later.
  "I taught him good and good he will become," He mutters.
  But he was wrong. Kage became a criminal, the strongest he knew and the smartest he knew. But of course, Paul was much smarter than Kage, catching him red-handed more than 52 times. He counted. He even advised him on how he should do better in crime because he loved him so very much. This matter took over his life. Until he met Gilbert. Then everything changed. He stopped chasing after Kage. He followed Gilbert and found Cred. He outsmarted the Creddians and took Bill for the team and tried to stop the Hellbertians. Then a few decades later, Louie, Amelek and Louise entered their lives as Halbertian hybrids. He never saw Kage. Until now.
  "Falcon?" His words were slurred.
  "Kage. Is that you?" Paul said out loud without thinking, which was ironic for him.
  "What? Whozzat?!"
  Kage fell and splatted on the floor with his face slamming upon it. The door was closed by his pinky toe accidentally. He then turned his head right and saw Paul, his ex-master.
  "Paul?!"
  There was terror and fear in his voice and Paul noticed he became mutated when Kage wasn't in his supervision, including the times when he was capturing him.
  Even when drunk, he got up with ultimate speed, which was hard for slower brains to receive what they had seen. He moved to the opposite corner of Paul.
  "You! I thought you were with Gilbert, founding Cred or something."
  "Wow, now you're sober," Paul thought. Then, he cleared his crimson throat.
  "I was. I still am. And there is a big evil and sinister plan coming up and I am putting a stop to it."
  Then he quickly corrected, "We are."
  Kage started giggling, showing his red and carnivorous teeth.
  "Paul, I came-"
  "Up with the plan," Paul finished. "Why? Why go for the Universe? You would have to go through me to get the Universe, which is everyone."
  "No, I came up with the plan. Falcon supplied it, which means he wants it to go well," He giggled more. And laughed non-stop now.
  The features of Kage shocked Paul. He was so different than before. But the voice still didn't change, as all Halbertians and Hellbertians didn't when they hit puberty.
  His head was larger than before. The eyes were all black now and the body was smaller than usual. And alcohol. It made Paul furious and scared at the same time.
  "Kage, really?! Alcohol? It's illegal in here too."
  "Who cares? It's.."
  He went blank for a few seconds, chanting something unreadable even for Paul.
  "What happened? Kage?!"
  The big-headed figure was thrown into a fit and it fell unconscious.
  "Magic?"
  And that was when Amelek and Yulli laughed together.

I love the format you put your story into. It's bold and captures the reader's attention. As for the story, it's quite original.

Thanks, Salvidian! It's been a long time since someone actually commented on my story. Though, there must be some errors I have. We're all humans. Please, help me by criticizing constructively. Thanks again!
:)

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    23
- - - Kage's New (Forced) Master - - -

  Paul's jaw wasn't dropped from the shock. His pair of eyes twitched insanely instead. It was his kind of shock. Paul had trained himself not to drop his jaw in shock just for specific moments, but not this.
  He was from the opposite corner and he suddenly appeared by Kage's side, revealing his full speed.
  "Kage?!" He shook the dead-like body vigorously, like the power of a gorilla shaking a plastic mannequin. "You will not die in front of me, I tell you!"
  "Die in front of me," He thought and fumed.
  Why is he still fond of Kage, even after what he did, like murdering Creddians and Halbertians? Or even Earthlings. Paul forgave him for these doings today. Kage even explained his hate on Paul by cutting him up, especially part of his brains.

  Kage was on Mars, searching more probes to destroy, even though he hates that planet.
  "Gimme somova probezz!!" shouted Kage.
  He switched to drinking recently. It was probably because of a reason Paul was not sure of.
  Paul, who was at Cred, picked up vibrations from Mars, which seemed unusual because Mars was supposed to be deserted until maybe 2030. Even with his smarts, he couldn't detect human intentions.
  He immediately dashed to his scout craft and boarded it. Gilbert and Bill was asleep, but with comfier beds than today. With his strong memories, the beds were of feathers in a mattress on a metal bed holder, like those in prisons or the hospitals.
  He took his key card out and swiped it down at the air. The craft started immediately and it went off to Mars.
  "Alright, report number 25 of Mars. It has abnormal activities, with unusual vibrations detected on the planet. Paul out."
  Gilbert still slept like a Snorlax in Pokemon.

  The drunken Hellbertian swallowed the whole champagne drink, then threw it down like it was rubbish.
  Paul yet picked up another vibration. The craft came in closer in about a few minutes. It was close enough for Paul to identify any movements on Mars.
  "Of course there's someone there. How could I be wrong?" He shrugged off the embarrassment he made and took it upon himself, plus to take away the pressure in the ship that was overwhelming.
  He landed the ship on the red sands. The boosters folded themselves into the gaps and the ship didn't land against any uneven surface, which was good for Paul. He didn't want noise, let alone scratches on his beloved ship.
  He had already set the ship to stealth mode, so no being in the Universe could ever detect it. Especially with Earth's detectors too.
  When he slid the door open, he saw a probe looking at him.
  "EEEK!!" He squeaked, when the probe was suddenly smashed into pieces by glass shards.
  "That power. Either a Halbertian or Creddian did that," He theorized when Kage came up to the probe.
  "You ain't seein' anyzing tonaite, probezz!!!"
  Paul saw Kage in an instant and reacted.
  He whipped out his Pair Of Blades and started to fire. The Pair Of Blades was modified just for him. It was smaller than usual, which makes it easier to pick up, specifically like this scenario. The laser bullets are smaller, causing them to only sting the enemies. But Paul was confident he was faster and could fire more shots than the enemy could even bring his weapon out. The hand grip's shape is changed slightly to fit his talons inside and conveniently fit his five fingers in too. It has a double barrel, instead of one, making it shoot two bullets at one time, but it's bad because of the recoil. Paul's hands are strong. He was very sure his hands were much steadier than Gilbert's, as well as any enemies he may encounter.
  The first two shots hit the intruder, but the second pair of shots missed.
  "Incredible. How could someone-"
  Kage went inside without permission and started to extend his talons to Paul.
  "What?!"
  The talons impaled Paul and somewhere in the injuries, the heart was punctured too.
  Paul felt like he could die here, right now, where there would be no more sufferings.
  He was wrong.
  Kage started to cut his guts opens. And to add to the gore, he ridiculously chucked them out. By this time, Paul had already fainted, making it hard for Kage to torture him as much as possible.
  Then, Paul's tortured periods were over. Someone shot Kage at the head, causing him to faint due to concussion.
  Gilbert was in the battle ship with Bill. It was set on auto-pilot. Gilbert jumped down to Mars at a 100 metre height. The drop broke his bones, but healed instantly and tremendously. Of course, it was discomforting, but time was of the essence.
  Gilbert took out his Pair Of Blades, which was not modified, and fired away.
  The shots knocked Kage off Paul's guts and smashed into the metal chassis of the craft.
  Then, Gilbert combined the Pair Of Blades when he reached the craft and stabbed the now-twin laser cutter and twisted it to make an 'O' shape around Kage's heart.
  He fainted almost immediately. When Gilbert pulled the Pair Of Blades away from the heavily injured chest, the wounds healed slowly. He walked over to Paul, who had his guts laid all over the shuttle and blood pumping out of the wounds profusely.
  "Don't worry. 3 years and you'll be fine," Gilbert says with a smile.

  3 years was short time to Halbertians, unless humans are within the range of view or somewhere close to that.
  Gilbert was pulling Paul to the automatically landed ship. It was obviously not Bill that landed it. Kage was left behind first. Gilbert made a note to himself that he'll get Kage later.
  Paul's moaning, which resulted from the gut pulling, was starting to annoy Gilbert.
  "Oh, c'mon, Paul. Heal up. You've got a lot of work to do, idiot."
  Paul's life force started sucking up the blood and slowly, but not obviously, stitching the wound up. Though, life force cannot replace guts or any important organs but the skin.
  He was put on a cushioned chair that has served Gilbert for more than a few centuries.
  "Paul, don't soak 'em!"
  He went out with his Pair Of Blades, preparing for another fight.
  When he went in the ship, which was surprising because Kage would have stolen the ship and flew off and escape like a sissy.
  But no, Kage was standing, his right hand resting on the wound Gilbert had made, his left hand readying its talons for another strike.
  Gilbert first caught the sight of pressurized magical runes that surrounded Kage. It was as if it was made a second ago.
  "Or maybe it is," He thought, while shooting laser rounds at Kage, disabling his left hand.
  He shouted in agony and ran off like a sissy. But the speed he revealed was extremely fast even for a Hellbertian, who had increased physical conditions, but had weaker mental conditions.
  But Gilbert was too stupid to figure it out.

  A few ten seconds ago

  Kage's chest was heaving heavily. His talons of his right hand almost met with crimson skin. Dangerous to let himself get injured, let alone get injured at all.
  A shadow appeared in front of Kage.
  "Kage, do you value your life?" The shadow's voice came from nowhere actually, not from the shadow itself.
  "What? Who are you? And of course I value my life," He smiled widely.
  "What kind of question is that?!" He thought, but with no voices produced from his throat.
  "You must remember this: Louie." And then the shadow released its sharp tendrils and stabbed through Kage's throat and moved its tendrils in a weird fashion, inputting runes through pressurization.
  "Stay put. I am transferring some of my powers to you."
  Kage's eyes went blank for a few seconds; no pupil in sight. His neck became imprinted with runes in a few seconds. Then, it disappeared to let Kage see Gilbert. Black pupils returned immediately after the shadow disappeared.
  Surprisingly, no blood spilled from the neck, since there wasn't any injuries there, even from close inspection.

  Kage ran in a vampire-like speed to the Olympus Mons to see the ship off.
  "What was that?!" He spoke this soberly.
  Then he remembered what the shadow figure said after the tiring movements of two legs.
  "Louie."

C  H  A  P  T  E  R    24
- - - "Louise Is Hot" - - -

  Louie passed through a bunch of Halbertian passers-by in the lobby before he reached the exit, where the stolen craft was.
  "Louie!" Louise startled. "Don't shoot the driver!"
  Louie was startled. In fact, he was so startled, he almost shot the hard metal floor with his Pair Of Blades, which was armed.
  "What is it, Louise?" He turned with a calm and smiling face.
  "I said, don't shoot him. The craft will be destroyed."
  "I know. I called the police."
  Louise blinked her eyes so fast, it could be a blur, which of course was a side effect for being half-Halbertian.
  "You called," She started giggling. "The police?!"
  She was laughing hysterically, like Joker in Batman. Louie had never seen or heard her laugh like that before.
  "Well, maybe one time," Louie thought.

  2 years ago

  "Louie!" Louise shouted like a small girl while spamming at the doorbell. "Let me in!"
  She could hear some booming sounds and Louie opened the front door, which was opposite the front gate. Almost all houses here had gates. The only one without gates was a very small house. It is said that it was haunted, but Louie didn't care about it, since he wanted to reveal red aliens instead of ghosts, which weren't in the small house.
  "Yes, yes. Coming. Don't shout. It's still 7 A.M. here.."
  Louie was in his pajamas, covered with four-leaved clovers and the background colour blue. It was also squared. He was very tired, as he was suddenly awoken by his crush. He was in a dream where he was doing affectionate things with Louise.
  "Speak of the devil," Louie thought as he rubbed his red eyes with his two index fingers.
  "C'mon, Louie. You walk so slow!" She shouted once more, even waking up some neighbours. But, some people were actually grateful of her shouting, only one to be precise, and he was a hardcore gamer.
  Louie opened one side of the gate, letting the girl into his house.
  "What do you want, Louise..?" Louie asked, filled with exhaust and fatigue. He felt like sleeping on the floor already.
  "I need your help for homework, duh!" She said it like a I-told-you-so tone, which wasn't the right tone, though.
  "Okay, which?" He noticed her bag was a sling bag which suited her. It's small, but it's certainly filled with some things.
  "I need help with Science, Math and Geography."
  "Ugh, I hate Geography, but what the heck?"
  She took the sling bag off her shoulders when they were inside. She stuck her hand inside and took out three books. Louie assumed each books were to their subjects. They were.
  They were all workbooks, riddled with questions that Amelek himself can't solve.
  Louise kept on asking him on whether how she should do it. Louie halfheartedly told her methods to solve each problem, which she adapted to, quickly. Louie was actually staring at her beautiful and calm face. His focus would be off every few seconds, so Louise had to shake him up to ask him more questions.
  "Hey!" She said with a rather desperate but cute face. "Listen to me!"
  "Alright, sheesh.." He fumed. Even if he was in front of his crush, he wouldn't want a relationship, or that will cause both of them to be suspended from school. It's bad, trust me. And if they did get into a relationship, they would have to have it very secretively, spending only a few minutes holding hands or just spending time together.
  "Here, I need help on question 26. It's based on circles. Do you know the formulas?" She grinned.
  He leaned over, but something he didn't notice made Louise laugh. Crazily. With this level of craziness, she's eligible to be admitted to the mental institutions here in Malaysia.
  "What? What happened?!"
  He was forayed by Louise, who was still laughing.
  "Hey! Louise-" He gagged when Louise's forearm choked him.
  Then, she turned around, causing clothes to swirl together. Louie was uncomfortable the whole time. Now, Louise was facing the ceiling while Louie's face was in her hair.
  "Louise, what happened?!" He asked, despite the literal breathtaking and hairy situation.
  She kept on laughing, and looked up at the ceiling.
  "I wish we could do this someday."
  "Louise, you know today is just Sunday, not Monday, right?"
  Louise suddenly jerked sideways, causing Louie to roll.
  "It's not Monday?! Oh my goodness!!" She started laughing again, like the previous one.
  He slapped his forehead.
  "This couldn't get any worse.."

  Now

  "Louie, hello?!"
  Louise shook Louie like a person on a mad bull. He snapped out of the memories he had.
  "The craft is caught, by the way. I'm.. Sorry for laughing.."
  Louise looked apologetic and innocent. She looked even more beautiful than two years ago, and Louie just realized it; the muscular boy's jaw dropped in amazement and realization, or even guilt and frustration that he didn't notice it from the day she came until now.
  "Um, Louise. We need the craft," He leaned back by an inch, possibly because it was his habit to do so.
  "Oh, don't worry. The police will take 'em..."
  Louise flinched in horror. There was illegal equipment in that craft and she remembered some of them because she uses them consistently.
  "There's.. A bunch of stuff Paul set in. Those stuff are illegal in Halbert," She spoke with softness and with controlled temper. But even so, this made Louie angry, mad bull angry.
  "What?!" He boomed across the lobby. All the beings, including the Halbertians, turned to him as quickly as possible due to their instincts.
  They murmured as they turned away. Louie recognized the first two Halbertian words they let out.
  "Stupid fools."
  His robotic translator changed his English language to Halbertian language.
  "Hey, who do you think you are?!" The robotic translator boomed. "I am definitely smarter than you! I am-"
  He was held firm by Louise at the shoulders.
  "The craft, Louie?"
  He saw the desperation in her beautiful eyes and nodded. Then saw Louise ran off on her own towards the craft, moving faster than an extreme runner.
  "Louise is indeed hot," He says with widened eyes and ignoring the fellow Halbertians and other beings aside, chasing after Louise, whom Louie was obviously faster with more muscles.