Chapter 13: Muscles and Fluff
Beta-Reader: Ant0nius
The fleet had grown in size, and, at the same time, the costs behind its upkeep increased as well. What resources we had stored to last for a couple months now only gave us less time than that. It wasn’t too troublesome since the new additions didn’t come without their own share of food and other materials. We weren’t going to starve anytime soon, but it did cause some schedules to be shifted in order to accommodate the circumstance.
Not the best situation, but so far it was a decent one to work with. After his last stunt which resulted in a demand for a Round two before seeing him fall face first on the ground due to stress, I had left the guy to rest for a full day. He was knocked out cold, yet he was pretty cool when I got the chance to visit him the moment he was awake. The Hamster Prime wasn’t as annoying as I initially imagined him being at waking up after such an anticlimactic defeat. What would have gotten many to react poorly in frustration, actually seemed to bring a degree of eagerness out of the Ice Crest.
“I just want to become super-strong,” He said with a dazzling smile and genuine determination in his voice.
I didn’t question this explanation too much, finding his interest in becoming stronger to be fairly similar to Carmesi’s own ambitions in some ways. While the Fox Prime leaned more into the sheer brutality, intensity, and passion of a fight, Pulsar was the one that knew when to not give up after a defeat, no matter how upsetting it may feel. I was quick to take care of him, and that wasn’t something that tended to leave anyone without a bruised pride to nurse up and worry about. Now, that pride could have been unimportant or barely noticed during a normal occurrence, but I knew well enough from my own experiences that when such humiliation comes out of nowhere, nobody is entirely prepared to grin at getting ‘slapped’ in such a manner.
Which is why, despite the honest words of him not minding joining the group after that swift defeat, I had Pulsar monitored by Archie. The Nanozell Spirit had already taken precautions on his own, but doubled the effort of keeping me informed in case anything too crazy happened. And, while the Ice Crest had to take some time to be back in full health, I personally took the initiative of keeping watch over Carmesi.
With the Hamster Prime showing no interest in engaging in any fights with the Crests aboard, I could only accept the theory that Carmie’s had it worse considering how uncontrollable her absolute power was. While she had gained fair control over it, the influence of the Crest itself was incredibly frustrating if she was quick to anger and pursue the elimination of the cause behind her sudden irritation. The Fox Prime was fighting it back the best she could, but that wasn’t something easy to accomplish.
I figured that we had to consult Apogeo the next time she visited. I could only hope that she knew what could be done to avoid any further unplanned meltdowns between the two Crests- or even prevent other problems by the time we managed to find the Water Crest. It was a wait and see situation that would take a lot to solve, but that hopefully would spare us a couple of problems in the near future.
Adela was the one least troubled by this circumstance, mostly because she trusted me and Archie to do a good job in preventing any catastrophes and… because she had other matters to face at the moment. The new entry of so many individuals to the banner meant more paperwork and more exchanges of messages between the representatives. I helped as best as I could, but found some of the topics discussed beyond my competency as those addressed laws I wasn’t familiar with, and which only Addie was capable of addressing with her knowledge on the matter. Still, I realized that it was agreed that an actual council would have been established to address any lasting issues about the integration of the newcomers.
In the meantime, there was a lot to learn from them. Starting with the fact that the reason why they hadn’t actually felt much of a problem to leave their planet. The truth was that they weren’t exactly settled on that planet. At least, not for long. Every ten to twenty years, their group would migrate to the closest habitable planet and make sure that the Empire had no way to exactly pinpoint where they were. The Imperial Fleet was constantly searching for anything around this area, perhaps having caught on some signals a long time ago and spending the most time patrolling the area for absolute certainty about the insignificance of that quadrant.
But what the planet-hopping ended up achieving was the creation of an impressive amount of studies about geographic environments and plants-based biology. They had a group of experts that were actually going to help us a lot in finding a proper planet where to convene the planned reunion between the various groups in our growing fleet. Still, that will have to happen until we broke through the Imperial Blockade and avoided any possible pursuits by one of the bigger ships.
With plans having been styled and a lot of time left to kill, training felt like the best development out of this uneventful wait. Everyone was sparing as much effort as their bodies could afford, and I took the role of giving Grace a tougher schedule to work on. The effects were immediate as she realized that it wouldn’t be as easy as it had been before I offered her a list of exercises she needed to do at least twice in each session.
The Love Crest started to really love the breaks in between the training sessions because of how tough her new schedule actually was. And with that matter settled, I had the chance to deal with my greatest challenge at the time. Carmesi was… angry. Not at herself, and not at anyone in particular. With her own Crest leaving her in the most frustrated state of mind possible because of Pulsar being in the ship, her focus was quite aggressive and difficult to steer away when she needed to shift to another exercise.
My vicinity seemed to somewhat lessen the worst of it as she tended to grow calmer the moment I pulled her to stop and remind her where she was and what she was doing. Carmesi’s breathing was heavy and erratic at times, but she seemed to easily recover every time I was there to bring her back to reality. She also seemed to hint at a need for some hugging, which I provided much to her quiet relief.
Eventually the training session had to end and we all took turns in the showers. Two individuals at the times, meant that I was still going to stick by one of the girls. While that had been embarrassing at first, I had begun to grow less embarrassed about it. I would still blush if my gaze ended up wandering in particular spots, but I was now well-prepared to handle that entire predicament.
This time around I was stuck with Grace. Addie decided to ‘spare me’ from facing Carmesi in such a state of mind while I had it ‘easy’ with the Love Crest. Despite her unending curiosity, the Gazelle Prime didn’t tease me in those circumstances. Sure, some misunderstandings would still happen due to her naivety, but those were rare and isolated cases.
The only contact I had with her was when she asked me to wash her upper back and in return she washed mine. No other intimate moments were spared as we quickly cleaned up and got out for the others to take their turns in the showers. We didn’t waste time in reaching the living room, waiting for the rest of the group to come so we could spend some time together by playing a tabletop game or something of that sort. We didn’t have much to do since paperwork had already been discussed, so today was going to be a ‘light’ day.
Settling down on the lone couch of the massive room, I frowned as Grace asked me to do her a favor. Something regarding a pleasant way to sleep that she wanted to experience herself and that she wanted me to help her with.
The girl hummed, her eyes closed as she happily enjoyed the lap pillow I was offering her. Nothing too awkward, but I guess there was an early issue in the form of us both trying to not get her horns to stab my chest as she settled down in that kind of position. She ended up lying with her belly up, and the back of her head resting on my legs.
“So, is ‘master’ accepting this little pampering?” I asked teasingly.
Her smile twitched, the Crest recognizing the mirthfulness behind my words.
“Yep,” She replied happily and I sighed.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
…
“Theo?”
I blinked, glancing down to look at Grace as I found her stare at me with curious pink eyes.
“Yes, Gracie?”
…
“Do you think my parents would be proud of… what I’m doing here and now? To… help others like this?”
That had come out of nowhere. I was surprised that this thought had come from her mind. Sure, Grace had mentioned a little while ago that she would have been quite happy to learn more about her family- to know who they were, what they did, what kind of people they were known as…
This curiosity, nothing too intense or strong behind that set of queries. So, when she asked me this with such interest, I knew that something was indeed off about the timing being the inquiry.
“I… I don’t know,” I replied, still digesting the suddenness of the question. “I guess they would be happy, but also worried.”
She blinked. “Worried?”
“Well, all parents tend to be worried about their children,” I elaborated with a nod. “It doesn’t even need to be a rational sense of worry- no, their concerns are… the result of Love, I suppose. The love they have for their children.”
“But why is… love such a reason to be concerned about?”
I gave her a heavy smile, since we were approaching a topic I wasn’t sure I was really up and prepared to face so suddenly and without much mental preparation.
“If any of us here in the ship, for some reason- I’m just drawing a scenario that isn’t happening right now, gets hurt and the way to heal them is not reachable as quickly as other solutions are for any illnesses or injuries, how would you feel?”
Grace frowned, her gaze moving to the ceiling above us. “I would be… upset? I think I would also be angry but… why would I be that angry?”
She might have not experienced these kinds of situations just yet, but I could tell that her Crest was actually offering her some insight on the matter for her to ponder about.
“Maybe it’s because you would feel furious at yourself for not having a solution for it yourself. Or maybe you feel somewhat responsible to it despite having no attachment to the problem itself,” I listed out with a hum. “Nonetheless, you are still going to worry about it until you care for someone. The amount of worry then is dependent on how much you love a person. Which is why parents, that have been around to see your birth and form that unique born between father, mother, and child, would be deeply concerned if you are put in a situation when you can face danger. It doesn’t mean you are going to face it, or get hurt in the process, only that you are in a predicament where you could actually be harmed.”
Realization seemed to fill her as she spared me with a nod.
“I understand now. So it’s like something that isn’t really… easy to grasp until you are put in a role like that, right?”
“Either that or by being on the receiving end of it,” I added somberly. “Right now… I can tell they… miss me as much as I miss them.”
She didn’t need to ask who ‘they’ were, with her attention growing sadder as she saw my grimace over this reminder. As much as I wanted to stay, I knew my parents still deserved an explanation and an answer to that unpleasant question that was definitely going to hurt them if I left for good the past without giving them the truth.
Instead of saying anything about it, Grace leaned up and pulled me in a simple hug. She wasn’t too strong about it, and the embrace wasn’t that tight. The purpose behind this sudden move was to prove that, despite the unpleasant thought I had to live with, that I wasn’t alone about it. I wasn’t the only one spending a moment of my life thinking that I’m missing someone. Some of them didn’t even have the chance of remembering their parents’ faces. They don’t know their names, their deeds, their voices.
It felt so unnatural to say now that I wasn't genuinely interested in seeing them again.
...
“Uh… Boss? There is a situation in the gym.”
I blinked, pulling away from the hug and frowning at these words. The moment was ruined, but even the Love Crest knew that something big was happening from how nervous the Nanozell Spirit actually felt.
“What is it?”
“Pulsar left the infirmary ward and... is currently engaging against Carmesi by the hallway in front of the room.”
I tensed up. “What?! Why didn’t you-”
“A mistake on my part, boss. I had my scans tracking him by his heartbeat, but he managed to slow it down just enough that I thought he was naturally low and… he got away while I was looking elsewhere.”
I sighed, feeling particularly annoyed by this situation. “We really need to plan things out better than just what just happened.”
“Yep… are you mad that I-”
“A little, but not at you,” I interrupted curtly, swiftly glancing back at Grace. “I guess now we have to stop two morons from making a mess out of this situation.”
The Love Crest nodded and we both stood up and moved to quickly see what we could do to prevent any disaster from actually happening.
The sight we were bestowed with as we arrived to see what was going on proved to be fairly…
Odd.
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When Archie had said something about Pulsar ‘engaging against’ Carmesi, I thought the two would have taken this opportunity to meet each other to actually fight.
I was surprised when I found them having a contest of sorts in the middle of the corridor, with Adela looking visibly uncomfortable as she was set in between the two morons. Grace was walking beside me and she shared my own confused look as we both tried to understand what was going on.
Both Crests were lifting their respective shirts, both showing at the other their lower chest. Glares were spared while the young Queen was panicking over what to do in that absurd situation she had been put in.
Addie looked at me, hope shining through her eyes as she directed the two idiots at us. I felt nervous as I felt their irritated stares now locked onto my frame. They advanced, still holding their shirt in a way that everyone could see their stomach.
They paused, giving me a long look and… I decided to bite.
“What are you two doing?”
“Proving to this bastard that he is a complete fool,” Carmesi replied with a snappy tone. “He said that he trained harder than I ever could, and that my ‘inferior’ abs are proof of it. Of course, he is a fucking fraud!”
...How is Pulsar even alive? Why hasn’t Carmie just burned him alive for questioning her training schedule?!
This argument left me incredibly confused, and the sudden proximity of two sets of abs had me quite distracted. I had seen the Fire Crest’s a lot in the last few weeks, but adding this sight with Pulsar’s undeniably good set was kind of jamming my brain. Too much awkwardness slamming into my head at once.
“Well, I’ve been training since I was able to walk. Look at how toned I am!” Pulsar replied coolly. “Ladies fall to my feet at how enticing those are.”
“Shallow women don’t make for good judges,” Carmesi rebuked fiercely. “But I can tell you that many have tried to catch my attention and have failed all because they couldn’t shrug their eyes away from my muscles!”
“Okay, am I hearing you right? You are making a competition about… abs?”
They gave a shared nod.
“Yes.” “That’s the thing.”
...Oh well, now I have another thing to face while having these two around.
When I said these two were morons, I wasn’t exactly trying to say they were really dumb. Only that they were making a set of stupid decisions that they wouldn’t normally do. And yet, here and now, I couldn’t help but feel the adjective being spot on with the entire situation. Way too perfectly in my humble opinion.
“So you are fighting over this. Why?”
“Why not?” Pulsar pointed out. “She mentioned that she doesn’t expect me to last a single day of training, and refuse to recognize the fact that I’m at least good at fighting.”
“You were beaten in three hits,” Carmesi reminded me and I sighed.
“I could have beaten you with those three hits too if I had used that combo in a fight against you.”
…
“What?” The Fox Prime exploded in shock and annoyance. “I would never go down like that.”
“You seem to be forgetting what those strikes did on Pulsar,” I lamented quietly. “Sure, those strikes might have appeared weak, but the purpose was to induce a concussion. If your brain doesn’t work, then you stop being awake, aware, and capable of fighting back. If I had used that on you, you would have gone down just as easily as he did.”
“...” Carmesi decided against commenting on that, offering me the chance to resume my speech over the main topic.
“Nonetheless, this competition is stupid. Like, I understand you need to compete, but we can try simple things that make sense. Like arm-wrestling, or some tabletop games.”
The Ice Crest looked fascinated. “What are these ‘Tabletop games’?”
“Something you would probably lose at,” Carmie shot back curtly. “Still, we need a serious answer. Which of us has the better set of abs.”
…
“The answer doesn’t exist in my opinion. You are asking me to judge using two non-equal examples,” I started to explain with a serious tone. “Carmie, you have an accelerated metabolism which allows you to eat as much as you need to train as aggressively as you normally do. Your frame is also smaller than Pulsar, which makes the ‘estimation’ quite frustrating to figure out.”
I turned to look at Pulsar.
“And you have a bigger frame than her. I believe Archie also confirmed your metabolism is slower, so you will take longer to burn up the fats coming from the food you consume. I guess you can be happy that you will be put through harsher training compared to Carmie.”
…
“Yay?”
I shook my head, and he seemed to realize that it really wasn’t good news for him. Despite that, I still went on about the matter and began addressing the conclusion of it all.
“To briefly summarize it all: I can’t judge between you two because your bodies are different for many reasons, all biological in nature,” I said with a nod. “So that’s why I can’t give you an answer. Because there isn’t one that seriously calls for a winner.”
…
…
“I think there is an actual answer,” Grace spoke up quietly, her voice still drawing the attention of the rest of the crew. I was perplexed by this as I hadn’t expected for someone to rebuke my points, and yet the Love Crest seemed to mean it. But what could she be referring to?
Carmesi frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve seen those a couple of times and I think those are by far the best,” The Gazelle Prime replied slowly and, for the first time ever, I saw Gracie actually having some trouble looking at anyone, preferring to stare at the ground because of the topic. I could tell that the attention was fairly embarrassing, but she didn’t seem much deterred by it beyond this detail.
I expected her to say the name already and spare the lengthy wait that it was slowly turning into. My prayers were answered positively… just not the way I had expected for those to unfold, if I had to be honest. Grace reached for my shirt and pulled up. It took me a moment to realize what she was trying to say with that gesture, and I felt my jaws drop as the others actually looked at my stomach and my abs. Training had been rough and intense enough to allow for muscles to form. I wasn’t a body-builder, but I had the physique to be a decent athlete.
I hadn’t given much attention to my own body as in admiring it the way the other people all around were in that moment. I just didn’t see a reason to pride myself on my physics when I had been the brain guy for so long. Now things were balanced and-
“I second the vote,” Adela replied without hesitation, a little grin on her face suggesting some interest in my exposed stomach.
“You… Is the training you plan to put me through going to get me that?” He asked surprised, but before I could even say anything, I felt a hand press onto my belly. Carmesi’s attention was completely taken by the sight before her.
It didn’t take long for Grace to copy the move and press one of her own hands on my abs… and then it was Addie’s turn. Pulsar decided to make his own contribution by pressing his index finger on one of the available spots and poke at my stomach, as if testing if it was all real and no tricks.
I felt aggravated by the sudden interest over my abs and… I should have just pushed them back. But considering how tense the situation had been with Carmie, I decided to concede this craziness to unfold only this once. I was determined to not allow for this to happen ever again. I really did.
Eventually the touching stopped, and I was freed from the stares of these dummies. The rest of the day revolved around giving Pulsar a quick tour of the ship before leading him back to the hospital bay to rest. While he had been able to walk around for a while, he was a little off from being able to truly wander off and stay in his new room.
He was still excited by the prospect of having his own big room to fill up with his stuff, to join training with us and be part of something ‘bigger than just being a mere guard’. He was going to be a tough guy to train into being serious when the times needed it, but I knew he was going just fine with proper hard work and discipline.
With that entire situation solved, I proceeded to check on Archie and see how he was doing. I knew that he was possibly worried of having done a poor job in his surveillance, but the truth was that the tools we used were just too lenient and we hadn’t taken into account how good Pulsar was with his Ice-based powers.
The moment I entered the room, I was greeted with a scary sight. Archie was… slumping on his chair, eyes closed and seemingly fallen asleep without any indication. I rushed to his side to check on him and the sudden movement ended up waking him up.
“U-Uh, what?” He tensed up, his panic swelling only for a couple of seconds before he realized what happened. “Oh, boss… I didn’t expect you to come here.”
“Is everything alright?” I inquired quickly, worry dripping from my words and causing the Nanozell Spirit to frown. “You were sleeping.”
“I was just taking a break,” He replied slowly. “I’m sorry if I stopped and-”
“No, it’s not that. I was just… surprised that you were taking a break,” I pointed out. “I mean, you never mentioned taking breaks at this hour.”
“It’s… a new thing I’m trying out,” Archie admitted. “I know that it sounds suspicious, but I was only trying to see if I could switch sleep schedules so to keep up with my duties.”
…
“I mean it.”
“I never said you weren’t,” I remarked and he huffed.
“Well, you are giving me the very look that didn’t accept my reasoning and believes that there is more to it.”
I sighed. “Is there any problem you are having, Archie?”
…
“Maybe?”
“Archie-”
“It’s more complicated than that,” The spirit interrupted. “I know this sounds weird, but things are fine. I’m just a tiny ickle bit tired.”
…
“I don’t mind if you need some sleep-”
“But what if something bad happens?
Indeed, what were we supposed to do if he wasn’t quick enough to pull the ship away from danger the moment things went down?
…
I blinked, realizing just now that the situation was literally in the cockpit.
I silently walked up to one of the empty chairs in front of the command terminal and sat down. Archie stared at my moves, but he seemed incredibly confused when I gave a soft pat to my lap as I gestured to him to sit down there.
“Boss? What are you trying to say now?”
“The answer to your issue is quite simple,” I explained calmly. “I will stay there for as long as you need to sleep and recover for the next few hours.”
…
“What?”
“I think you heard me right,” I remarked. “You need some sleep, and, if I stay in this room while you are resting, I can speak with you directly and wake you up just in time to avoid any trouble while you are sleeping.”
“Yes, but...” Archie sighed. “Boss, I need two hours, fifteen minutes, and ten seconds to get charged up to take on my duties.”
I nodded. “Then you will have that much time to rest. I don’t think anyone will mind if I remained in here to get you to rest peacefully and calmly.”
It didn’t take long for the Nanozell Spirit to surrender to this very idea. Sitting on my lap and nuzzling his face on my chest, Archie fell asleep just moments after taking that comfy position. I had taken the blanket that he had used to cover himself while previously sleeping and put him around his body, stopping a little below his neck.
I stared down, relieved that he looked so peaceful. I felt a yawn coming, yet I managed to keep awake for the duration of my stay in the cockpit. I was tired once this was over, but considering how much Archie had done for us, I didn’t mind offering him some rest to be up and ready to face any new treats without feeling the pressure exerted by those around him to weaken his resolve and cause him to lose some of his quality.
I ended up going to bed earlier than usual… but I would soon receive visitors in the form of the girls all coming to sleepover. Truly a tiring day this one is...
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AN
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