Carl speed walked towards the gate room, hyper-focused on reaching his goal when he was thrown into the wall. "Cheers for the warning Squidge..." Carl sighed. "...Gillian, what are you doing back and why are you here?"
"Your girl- sorry, your fiance messaged me and said you needed someone fluent in Lugarian. Also, I'm back because I need that realm gate physics paper and now your Mrs. is holding it hostage unless I help you." He laughed before helping Carl to his feet.
"Your concern for my well-being means a lot and I have a lot of questions, but you don't really care about them, so let's get going and we'll talk on the way." Carl grinned, happy to have the only one who was better at xeno-linguistics than him by his side. They both got top marks in every test, but Gillian knew upward of a hundred fluently where as Carl knew enough to get top-marks in class.
When they arrived on Lugaria, the questions came thick and fast, the answers making Gillian choke as he told him everything that had happened and what his skills could do.
"Dude, should you really be telling me this?"
"Of course, I want you to join my household Gillian." The words made Gillian freeze, his eyes turning a haunting purple colour.
"You're asking a half-lycan to follow you? You know what that means mate." Gillian said as claws grew out and his fists grew thick silvery fur. "No summons or pets, you and me. A lycan only follows an alpha." Gillian jumped back with inhuman agility, creating fair space between them.
"I do and that's why I waited til we got here, now... Come here boy." Carl said as he patted his knees. It wasn't simple mockery, it was a strategy. The angrier a lycan gets the more bestial they become and having a guy as smart as Gillian with all that beast power is no easy fight.
Gillian cleared the new distance in a split second, claws swiping for Carl's chest. In human form he had never beat Carl, but he knew if he ever went lycan mode Carl wouldn't stand a chance, at least the Carl he knew wouldn't. What he didn't realise was how much difference those five levels had made.
Carl stepped back and hooked his slashing arms elbow, then with a simple dash and that anchor point was behind Gillian in a second. His knee struck hard, connecting with the nerve cluster at the base of the spine, a weak point to lycans.
Gillian yelped and fell to his knees, but twisted and... the next thing he knew he was waking up with a throbbing head. "Sorry mate. Not used to the new strength yet. I wanted to make our final fated clash as rivals epic too." Carl laughed as he checked Gillian for signs of concussion or other lingering effects.
"Damn! Well I guess that's that. You know, you beat me in almost everything, I kinda figured I'd end up following you, that's why I thought I'd be a jerk and push you every chance I got. If I'm gonna follow someone, I wanted it to be someone who wasn't gonna buckle the first time things got tough, lot of packs die out cos of that." Gillian groaned, as he cracked his neck and rubbed his head.
When they were sure he was still fit for purpose, they continued on their way, the journey was draining. 'Hey, Dad.'
'What's up Squidge?'
'Why don't you guys just fly on my back?' Carl froze for a second before chuckling awkwardly.
"Hey Gillian, I know you're gonna hate me for this. Wanna fly on Squidge? I kinda forgot he can fly now."
Gillian chuckled, not for long, but long enough to feel the ache in his feet, the silcone sand in places he'd rather not think about, the burning in his throat and nostrils from the traces of sulphur in the air. "Hey boss."
"Err, why are you calling me boss? It's weird, don't."
"I'm gonna hit you now." That was exactly what he did, a sucker punch without any respect, but it was satisfying. "Sorry, but figured a hit to the head would be a good reason to forget something like that." Gillian laughed, Squidge was already growing in preparation.
'I only like him about as much as Mummy, but you deserved that.'
"Thanks you two, most compassionate peeps I have." Carl gave a thumbs up from where he laid in the sand, rubbing his head.
'Dad... Get up or catch up, your choice.' Squidge was not in a good mood, he was not a fan of environments like Lugaria unless he was in either lava, or molten iron form, but since his companions weren't exempt from the heat he gave off in those, he had to sacrifice his comfort for their lives.
When they got in the air it was clear that after Carl left them at the park, Squidge had done a good amount of experimenting and learned a new trick. Partial shifting of specific areas, most of his body was reptillian, which he said made flying the easiest, but he kept his back gelatinous to reduce weight, and increase both speed and passenger comfort.
"Squidge... You're the greatest..." Carl and Gillian said as they laid down and enjoyed the cool touch skills effects.
'If you two think you can use me as a ride and go to sleep, I'll roll and watch you both fall, Mummy won't mind.'
The trio arrived not long after and the chieftain came out to greet them. To avoid any mistranslations, Carl only greeted the chieftain, then simply dictated to Gillian what to say and ask.
"Uakta derin klow mecra nitu?" The chieftain spoke with an expression of concern looking at Carl.
"He asked "What happened to make the fires seem preferable?" Which is a pretty damn good question."
"Tell him the truth, that freedom isn't free everywhere and it was my family that paid the price to earn it."
"Kolulu tagar reko melo, waki coato fakula-may ater." Gillian said before taking a step back behind me.
"pologa erundja gammo reko Kolulu fakula-no coato!" The chieftain shouted angrily, then stepped forward to hug Carl.
"He said "You may enjoy the free freedom, bring your family to be safe. We protect." And with that boss, you just turned the Lugarians into your private security team... Good job and have fun telling Klaire and everyone at home." Gillian chuckled before saying they could build their home freely where they chose, with land for many "weird snake-birds".
The trio then gave a polite farewell before going to find some land to claim that would not disrupt anyone, or be too difficult to maintain. In the end they found a space not too far away.
It was on the edge of the semi-fertile lands and the desert, slightly up hill so lava couldn't start streaming towards them suddenly. The only reason the Lugarian hadn't built there is because they actualy use the lava for daily life, including cooking. They never learned how to create fire from nothing, because it was always present and as a result they became dependant on their biggest danger.
"Now Carl, how do we build a place out here with no tools or even knowledge of construction?"
"Speak for yourself, thanks to a certain jerk challenging me at everything, I studied a bit of architecture and construction. Even made a couple of small structures just to test it, half expecting you to challenge me to a "who can build the best settlement" contest after initial graduation."
Gillian had to bite his tongue, he was absolutely going to do that, being read like bathroom stall graffiti was embarrassing. "Well initial graduation is just the start of the two year option colonising course right? Now we're doing it together instead of me and the guys versus you two."
"Gillian, I want you to get Darren and Daniel on board too if you can. I know Darren is a jerk, but honestly his guts are world-class, the way he actually had the balls to face Squidge one-on-one that time? Seriously ballsy. Daniel, his family are like mine right? They were pretty hammered after the equality movement. I heard he might even be kicked out after school just to make room at the table."
"What you call ballsy, I call the reason we lost that one and yeah... Things aren't great for him and his... So sure, Darren needs a baby-sitter and Daniel needs a home, I'll speak to them and make sure they know its respect and empathy, not pity and superiority."
"Cheers Gil'. Now that's settled, let me show you why I didn't bring any tools..."
"Activate skill Neo Administra!" He declared loudly, raising his hands like a conductor getting ready to sculpt the land through sheer will...
[ SKILL ACTIVATION FAILED ]
[ SYSTEM NOTICE : SKILL REQUIRES LAND TO BE DESIGNATED... ]
[ PLEASE DESIGNATE LAND ]
"Hahaha!" Gillian fell backwards laughing, legs kicking the air.