#Sonosuks

YOU DONT WORK.

Get a job.

http://www.google.com/imgres?client=safari&sa=X&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=rF-...

Cario and Malkalack stood before the grand elevators. These powerful pieces of machinery could lift or drop knights a great distance, rarely ever needing repairs. Cario allowed her mind to drift for a moment, wondering how or when the elevators were made.

She saw Malkalack turn away from her out of the corner of her eye. Cario turned to look with him as Astran Valderis pushed a proto knight out of the way in the small entrance. She did not see the knight's reaction as Astran had already reached Malkalack and herself.

There was something different about Astran. Everything about him seemed to give him an air of ferocity. Perhaps it was the weapons in his hands. In one hand he held a Valiance, perhaps the most common gun in the Spiral Order. The only thing different about this one is that it was battle-worn; and the blade seemed very sharp. Cario tried to imagine Astran in a dark room, sharpening his Valiance's blade. It wouldn't surprise her.

In his other hand, he was holding an Acheron. He had held the Valiance with such confidence, but he held the Acheron awkwardly, seeming to want to put it away. And he did so.

"What do you want?" Malkalack said stoically. Although he didn't reach for his blade this time, you could see the dislike in his eyes. And with those eyes, he looked Astran up and down, at least pleased that the blood stains were all gone.

For the first time, Cario took a deep look at Astran. She did admit that he was quite attractive by knight standards. But he was a scumbag.

Astran ignored Malkalack, like he seemed to do a lot. "I changed my mind. I want to help my friend. If only I had tried a little bit harder..." Astran seemed to sob for a moment. Malkalack rolled his eyes, obviously not believing it. After finishing, Astran looked into Cario's eyes, maybe trying to show that he was being genuine.

Cario knew she shouldn't have, but she couldn't do it. She looked away from Astran's cool blue eyes.

Although Cario had nothing to say, Malkalack had plenty. "No. You are not with us, Astran. Cario and I will be able to handle this perfectly fine."

Cario felt a pang of guilt. Why did she depend on Malkalack to speak for her? "Well..." she started, trying to not sound nervous. "An extra knight WOULD help, Malk. We would be able to find the missing knight a lot quicker, if Astran didn't lie when he said he saw where the knight fell."

Astran's eyes lit up at this. "Of course! I can help a lot! I know where he fell. He's probably too injured to move!" That last sentence seemed to make Astran extremely happy, although no one knew why.

"No!" Malkalack yelled, crossing his arms. "I am not letting some stranger risk our safety! We can NOT trust him, Cario!"

The arcade was quiet now. Although there weren't many knights in there to begin with, the place felt empty. Malkalack looked a little sheepish after he realized what a ruckus he was making, but he put on his poker face after looking at Astran again.

In a lower voice, Malkalack continued. "You left your friend behind. Fine. That's your choice. But after you saddle us with this ridiculous task, you do not GET to come along."
His voice rang with such authority, that Cario cringed. Astran looked curiously between the two.

"Screw you! I'm going!" Astran moved forward, less than two feet away from Cario. Her face flushed, and she could feel his heat against her.

"C'mon, Cario. There's nothing I want to do more than help my friend. Isn't that what's important? Isn't that part of what the Order stands for?"

Astran's words rung true, Cario realized that. But how could she trust someone like him? She knew what he was. Who he was.

A hand appeared on Astran's shoulder, and with a jolt, Malkalack twisted him around. He then proceeded to punch the side of Astran's face, leaving him to curve and fall to the ground. Astran's body convulsed and heaved a bit as he got onto his hands and legs. He had obviously been through a lot of pain. After a few seconds, Astran's body would not stop. He was in constant pain.

But Cario did not notice this. "Stop! Malk!" She cried, her eyes getting moist with forming tears. "Let him come! There's no harm in it! Please! Just let him come!" Astran's body stopped moving, aside from his panting chest. Malkalack had not noticed this either.

He let out a deep sigh. "Fine. Fine... Let's just go, Cario." He did not meet her eyes, but he knew how upset she was.

This was going to be a lot harder.

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If there was any way to wake up, this would be the way to do it.

At first all Cole could feel was his raging pulse and his pounding head. Every breath felt like he was inhaling tiny sharp shards of luminite. He groaned. What had happened? He tried thinking back as far as he could. He remembered his childhood. Good. He didn't seem to have problems remembering things that long ago.

He thought back to before this situation. He remembered Astran. He remembered the wolvers, and the charges. He remembered a terrifying fall. He had never been more afraid in his life. Was Astran alive? He sure hoped so. He was a great knight, one who would do a lot of damage on the battlefield.

Cole was tired. His muscles were sore. He had little energy to move. Nothing seemed more welcoming than the dream of sleep. Before he knew it, Cole started to doze off.

"AWAKEN."

For the first time since regaining consciousness, Cole felt something. He felt his legs. He felt his arms.

He felt the body laying across him. Horrified, Cole opened his eyes and looked at her. She was a dainty little thing; definitely smaller than him, at least. She was wearing an odd armor that he had never seen before. A white garment that covered her from shoulders to ankles, with various pockets. She also had a red sash on her white armor. Although usually the two things would look odd together, she somehow made it work.

Cole was awestruck by her presence. He looked at her up and down, gazing in certain areas longer than necessary. Cole grimaced, disgusted with himself. She wasn't breathing. The poor girl must've seen him before she died, and went to him. Did she try to wake him up? Did she need his help?

Upon closer inspection, he didn't see any weapons. At all. He didn't even see his own weapons, let alone this dead stranger's. He noticed that the bottom of her armor, near the ankles, was singed. Other than that, she didn't appear harmed in any way.

Now Cole's body was completely sore, and he could feel every fiber of pain. He lifted his upper body off of whatever he lay upon, and used his to arms as support. That's when he realized what was in his forearms.

Bite marks. Cole quickly checked the dead girl's arms, and found bites closer to the wrist. What the hell? What happened the two knights? He looked down. All he could see was the silhouette of the ground he was sitting on. Come to think about it... He looked from left to right. Everything was black. But where was the light coming from?

He looked above, and found his answer. Cracks of bright light shone through a cascade of leaves and branches. Upon closer inspection, he saw that these branches and sticks were tied together by a loose piece of rope, making them one. The leaves didn't fall off, but he hadn't touched it yet.

Slowly, as if not to wake the dead, Cole pushed up. First he felt the canopy rising- it was a hatch. A trapdoor. He didn't know what to call it. He pushed harder. The thing moved out of his reach as his force pushed it out of view. Now it was even brighter, ascending to the point where he had to cover his eyes.

He got a new view of his surroundings. Metal. The metal around him and the dead girl was curved, making a half-sphere. The hatch thing had been the lid. But what had stuffed the in there?

There was an urge to rest, and Cole didn't fight it off. But the things that had brought him here had to be coming back. If he had to guess, wolvers. Maybe they had killed the girl a long time ago. Maybe just yesterday, they found a presumably dead knight and decided to hide it for later.

Yes. It seemed plausible. With the looming threat of wolvers now in his head, Cole prepared to get up. His muscles screamed, yet he put more strength into it.

He did not get up. In his defense, he had just woken up after falling who knows how far. It took him a few curses to realize that the dead body was on top of him. He silently laughed at his stupidity, and pushed her aside. She made a noise that did not sound pleasant, when she hit the metal.

He was about to get up when he heard something.
"Sniff."
Oh no.
"Sniff sniff."

There was something out there. It had to be more wolvers. Chromalisks obviously didn't sniff like that. Cole silently fumbled around for a weapon. He checked the girl again. He check the metal beneath them. He checked his back when he felt his dread venom striker. Finally some good news. Pulling it out would be a dilemma.

If he pulled the weapon out, the wolver outside would hear him. He'd have no choice to attack. Normally, something like this would be easy. But he was injured. Could he really kill it if every part of him screamed in agony? He bit down as slivers of pain breached the wall in his head that he had fortified to keep it out. He decided that the weapon stayed. If the thing wanted a fight, he would be able to bring it out before it took a chomp out of his face.

Several minutes passed, and the sniffing has gone. He wondered what had just happened. Cole knew that he shouldn't waste his time on that, so he started to get up. His legs and body felt much better, the soreness reduced by a significant amount.

He lifted himself up and peeked over the edge. He realized that he was right. The marks on his arms and the girl's wrists were from wolvers. All around him, he could see only foliage. Trees, bushes, grass- the perfect wolver den. And indeed, he could hear scurrying and howls throughout the place. How could such a place have evaded the knight's grasp for so long?

Cole felt something move, and he looked down. He yelled in terror, and slipped on the slippery metal he was standing on. He quickly got back up to look again. What was before him both enthralled and scared him. He was standing on the top of a dead beast. The beast was greying, and covered with grass. Different kinds of parasites had latched itself to the deceased tortoise.

It's head was gone, or hiding. He couldn't tell where the front was. While his head was spinning with guesses of what this could be, he noticed that the part he was standing in was not natural at all.

He discovered that it was a bite mark.

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Ending notes: This is obviously my worst chapter yet, and I spent too much time on it. For that, I am sorry. I'm not sure what made it worse, but I promise the next one will be better.

Leave your thoughts down below!

I know I told everyone that I wasn't going to write on weekends, but... I feel like I wasted such a good opportunity with all the free time I had. ;-;

Anyways, tomorrow I'll get back to writing. Let's hope it'll be good!

What If my family is your family? :l

What if I told you...

Shoot, dodge, fall back, shoot.

This was the life Astran had known for the past twenty minutes. A deranged zombie leaped forward and onto someone else's sword. It's eyes dimmed, and it fell off to join the other corpses decorating the graveyard. Astran had been to many of these throughout his time on Cradle. This one was no different. Zombies and kats would rise to meet the trio of knights around every corner. Thankfully the Order had found a way to destroy the slimes, but these undead creatures seemed to never truly die. A monster family perhaps even more threatening than the wolvers.
As Astran shot a dust zombie point blank in the skull, he pondered what made them so stubborn to refuse death. It must of had something to do with the planet, or the clockworks. Even years after the crash, so many mysteries existed...
He could hear Cario and Malkalack yelling to each other, forming strategies, asking for cover or assistance. They had yelled for Astran's cooperation several times, but after he refused to acknowledge them they seemed to ignore him. He was doing fine on his own. Without Cole, things seemed to be out of place. But he no longer cared for the imbecile that had nearly killed him.
What he did care about, however, was that beautiful Dread Venom Striker he carried. Cole didn't deserve such a fine weapon, and he rarely used it. Astran imagined it tucked away on Cole's dead form. He wouldn't let it go to waste. It had bothered Astran that he didn't think of it earlier. Although, he did have a lot on his mind before he was drafted into helping.
Before he let his mind drift even more, Astran decided to forget the past and focus on the future. That's what his parents had told him, wasn't it? That's right. A day before he took the escape pod that he should've shared with them on the Skylark.
Oh well. Forget the past.
By the time the last zombie had fallen, Astran's continuous pattern had become natural. It would be put to use during the next confrontation.
"Alright." Cario panted. The whole time she had been running around and bombing, and she was very skilled. In a military dominated by swordsman, a bomber is a rare- and essential. "Can we rest for a bit?"
Astran groaned aloud. These two morons just loved their breaks. he watched as Malkalack downed a pill and regained his energy. Astran grinned at the thought of shoving a whole dozen of them down his throat, see if he likes that. Then he looked at Cario. Although he wasn't looking for a wife, he did admit that she was sort of cute. Not beautiful, like some of the girl knights he had seen, but cute. He liked her strength in battle, yet how she was so shy as to hide behind a hood and cloak. Although it didn't matter, as it was obvious she only held resentment and disgust with him.
A loud beep simultaneously sounded off in the three knight's visors, giving them a scare. They all brought their hands up to their temples, ready to receive the incoming video message.
"Respond! Party of three, respond! Intel agent Kano-Ka requesting communication!" Astran watched as a knight with a spiral sallet appeared on the top left of the paper-thin visor that was kept over up his face. The knight appeared to be in a room full of monitors, most showing static, or wolver dens. A gremlin compound and a devastated palace took a few of the screens.
"Responding. Lieutenant Malkalack and Commander Cario with civilian knight here. What do you need, agent?" Malkalack spoke with confidence and respect to the agent. Like medics, intel agents were less abundant than needed, often kept in Haven while inspecting the life supports of multiple parties of knights. Most intel agents that had been drafted hated their jobs.
Astran looked at Cario, who was looking down and twiddling her thumbs. She was likely embarrassed of having her Lieutenant respond for her. He looked around the graveyard, watching out for phantoms and zombies while they answered their messenger.
"Received. Commander Cario, you were not cleared for deployment. What the heck are you doing down there?" This guy stuck to his job. Maybe knights were finally accepting their positions now, sticking to the code of conduct. 'Kano-Ka' sure followed it.
"W-well..." Cario spoke up. "W-we're searching for a missing knight..." Cario did not have anything else to say. A sigh could be heard from the other end of the call.
"I'm going to have to request that you all return to Haven ASAP." Kano-Ka said neutrally. "It's too dangerous with just three people. You're practically begging to join the undead."
Speaking of undead, Astran thought he could hear a lonely moan in the distance. He sharpened his senses, and scanned the area. He didn't see anything, and when he looked to Malkalack and Cario, they gave no indication of hearing anything at all.
"No can do. We're finding that knight." Malkalack said sternly. He seemed to be investing a lot into this, trying to save a knight he didn't even know. He could lose his ranking if problems arose.
Astran heard another eery moan. It sounded much closer. Neither Cario or Malkalack reacted. A yelp of surprise could be heard from Kano-Ka. "There's a flux of paranormal energy in you area!" He said with a huge change of tone. "Phantoms! Get out of there! There are so many-"
Static erupted into the com links in their ears. Kano-Ka could no longer be heard, but something else could be. The sounds of moans, groans, and any other type of 'oans' that phantoms made. When Astran looked around, red specks began to creep into the edge of his vision. Sounds began to be muffled, but he did hear Cario scream. There was pure terror in her call.

"RUN!"

He ran. He saw a jostling body in front of him and followed it. All around him he heard yells, but they seemed to dim. Who knows how long he ran, but soon the red was gone, and the only thing you could hear was panting.
Was Cario...crying? He couldn't tell. She was so blurry. Everything was blurry. After looking around for minutes on end, only one fact rang throughout his head. One thing was all he could focus on before he shut down.

Malkalack was gone.

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Author's notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! I feel much better about this chapter. Leave comments below to show your support! Also, tell me what you think of the new layout for paragraphs. Better than the old one?

Where's Malkalack? What was with that Phantom flux? Will Kirsch EVER find the restroom? Find out next Tim on The Garfield Show!