32 A Relaxing Day Off

Jayce groaned as a bright light illuminated Micu's basement. He covered his eyes with his hand before seeing a bright blue light sweep over the room. "I'm over here Ionas." He called out softly. He was trying not to wake the sleeping Marrow's who had generously given him the couch for the night. The lights turned off and the blue glow of Ionas' eye roamed across the room towards Jayce.

"How are your ribs feeling Jayce?" His metallic voice whispered. Jayce took a deep breath in and began coughing painfully again. "I see." Ionas' thumbs pressed down on his chest lightly. Jayce felt a constant thumping in his chest as Ionas counted to thirty softly. Retracting his thumb Ionas leaned down close to Jayce's face. His eyes illuminated the rest of his face and Jayce could see he was smiling. "Well it's not going to feel great for a long time, but it's only bruising. So you should be fine to participate in the exam tomorrow." Jayce grinned, 'I can handle a little pain." Ionas nodded, "Obviously, otherwise you'd be dead."

His blue eyes turned from Jayce and he disappeared back up the stairs. Jayce had a confused look on his face watching him leave. "Otherwise I'd be dead?" Jayce fell back into a deep sleep still pondering Ionas' last words.

...

Sunlight streamed though Micu's basement windows and Jayce turned slowly over to face away from the light. Covering his head with a blanket Jayce made a content noise and returned to his sleep. Ralnas watched him with amusement. "So this is what it's like to have Jayce as a roommate?" He chuckled and then walked upstairs to join Micu in the kitchen. "Morning Micu! Did you make us pancakes today?" Ralnas said as soon as he was on the main floor. Micu laughed, "Have I ever in my entire life said I will be making you pancakes?"

Ralnas shrugged, "Well there's no harm in asking is there?" Micu made a face then went back to reading an article on his watch's projected screen. Ralnas rifled through his pantry. "I guess I will have to be the one making pancakes then!" He pulled out the instant pancake mix and read the back of the box. "Do you have eggs and milk?" Micu pointed at the refrigerator without looking up from reading. "Thanks." Ralnas enjoyed cooking, even though it was kind of a useless skill now that robots could do it. Only the fanciest of restaurants still had actual living beings cook in the kitchen. Ralnas was quite determined to eat at one with his first check from whatever team they joined.

18 minutes later a groggy Jenira climbed up the stairs. "Something smells good, are you cooking again Ral?" "Sure am!" An excited voice responded to her. Micu smiled but continued reading at the table. Jenira pulled out the chair next to him and rolled her shoulders. "I always forget how sore the recoil from shooting rifles makes me." Micu nodded. "Alright, I will bother you after you finish reading then." Micu nodded again. Jenira rolled her eyes.

She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. For the three teenagers, it felt like it was early in the morning but was well past ten at this point. Ralnas called out after cracking an egg, "Jen I think they have the complete highlights on one of the channels now. Might not be a human channel?" Jenira idly flipped through channels looking for their highlights from yesterday. "Found it!" One of the squid people was speaking about yesterdays competition.

"I think it's one of those Gemsboks from school!" Jenira watched its thin lips moving but couldn't make out a thing. She sighed, "thankfully we have the technology." She pressed a button on the remote and the screen paused for a moment before perfectly translated English started coming through the speakers.

"We have confirmed reports that team Pure has won the rights to host the competitors tomorrow. Team Pure has been steadily rising in the standings since their founding only a few decades ago. Last season they even managed to finish fourth! A record high for them. We suspect they will be paying special attention to the two teams who have won both of the first two competitions." The camera then cut to the Yuhru team again and replayed the highlights that they had seen of them from yesterday. Ralnas called from the stove, " I think they're ready!"

Micu finally closed the article and smiled at Ralnas, "If we don't get food poisoning from this I'll consider it a win." Ralnas scowled, "Then Jenira gets to eat her pancakes first." "Aw dang," Micu said sarcastically as he got forks and knives for everyone. Jenira quickly brought her plate to Ralnas, "Well I know you're cooking is usually decent." Ralnas wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult. "Uh, you're welcome Jen..."

Micu laughed and then set the table for them to eat. "Think Jayce is going to be joining us this morning?" Ralnas asked before looking at the small stack of pancakes he had made. "Nah, my dad says his body is exhausted and we should let him sleep as much as possible." Jenira and Ralnas nodded. "I bet it was scary yesterday seeing him get beat up by a ghost," Ralnas mumbled to Jenira. She nodded sincerely. "I've never seen anyone go from joy to blacked out in thirty seconds before. I'm just glad I was there to stop him from falling too hard."

"That's enough of that though!" Ralnas quickly changed the subject and redirected it back to his pancakes. "They're good right?" Micu was waiting for Jenira to take the first bite. But Jenira was searching his cabinets for syrup. "Micu where are the sweets in this house?" Micu grimaced, "We don't usually have any sweets..."

"Record scratch moment right there Micu. You don't have sweets in your house?" Ralnas looked shocked. Micu meekly nodded his head. Jenira ran to his front door and pulled her shoes on, "Guess I'm going to the store then. I'll be right back!" Ralnas called out after her, "With what money!" He heard the door closing and a faint reply of "yours!" Ralnas groaned.

Micu was more than a little confused by this exchange. "She has your credit chip?" Ralnas pressed a button on his watch and a thin line of text appeared. "Chip not found" blinked back at Micu. He burst out laughing. Ralnas frowned and started spreading butter on his pancakes. "How can you not notice when she does that?" Ralnas groaned even louder. "Please stop Micu." But he wasn't about to let this opportunity go so easily and continued to taunt Ralnas until Jenira showed back up.

"She's returned with your spent money!" Micu threw one last jab at Ralnas before Jenira joined them back the table. "How was the store?" Ralnas desperately tried to change the subject. Jenira guessed the kind of torture he had endured since she left and couldn't help from snickering at his broken spirit. "Awh Ral. It was great thanks for asking. I bought the most expensive syrup I could find." Micu spit out the milk he had been drinking and started laughing again.

Ralnas frowned even deeper and then extended an open palm towards Jenira. "Give it." Jenira cheekily tossed his credit chip back to him and smiled innocently. "I thought it was mine Ralnas I'm so so so sorry." He made an annoyed grunt and began applying the syrup to his lukewarm pancakes. "Wait this seems like it's happened before...?" Micu was surprised with how low-key Ralnas was being about the whole situation and became suspicious.

Ralnas shook his head quickly. "Nope! Never! I promise!" Micu started grinning. "How many times?" "Micu I'm telling you this is the first!" Micu shook his head, "I don't believe you for even a second." "Ral just tell him the truth, it's just Micu he won't care." Ralnas had a look of resignation on his face but battled bravely on. "Guys I promise. I swear! It's only the first time! Maybe second. But definitely not more than twice!"

Micu's grin turned evil, "Oh so it's two times now? I thought you said it was the first time ever?" Ralnas started sweating. "Look twice it's happened okay? I didn't want to admit it but I swear. I swear I swear I swear!" Jenira patted her brothers back, "Ral it's okay to admit you don't know how to count but you should stop swearing when you know you're lying." Ralnas shook her hand off, "I have no idea what you're talking about. It's only been twice." "Is that your final answer?" Jenira looked at him with a warning in her eyes. Ralnas decided to risk it. "That's my final answer." He nodded decisively.

"Okay don't say I didn't try to warn you." Jenira pulled open a tab in her watch and flung it towards the TV. It replaced the muted gemsbok reporter with a video obviously shot from her watch. Ralnas stood in her room at Chiron's with a furious look. "Jenira you have to stop stealing my credit chip!" Jenira was sitting at her desk and her chin was barely visible in the video. "Ral I never steal it, this is like the first time all year." She replied as innocently as she could. Ralnas stomped to within inches of her face. "This is the fourth time this year! Probably like the 15th time since we entered Chiron's. If you need money you just have to ask!" Jenira pouted, "but Ral you might say no if I ask for money." "That's the point!" Ralnas was fuming.

It looked like the video continued but Jenira cut the connection and the screen returned to the gemsbok still talking about the exam yesterday. "I tried to warn you..." Jenira said playfully. Ralnas turned to his sister with a red face. "When did you record that! And why have you kept it for so long!" He groaned again and then turned to his pancakes and started stuffing his face looking at the table. "Uh oh, Jen looks like you upset him." Micu taunted. Jenira made a mocking frown, "Ral I'm sorry I just hate liars..." He made a grunt of acknowledgment and continued to stuff his face.

Jenira and Micu laughed and then smiled at the fuming Ralnas. "We're sorry Ral, we promise not to tell Jayce if you'll forgive us." He seemed to consider this before nodding slowly. "Yay!" Micu and Jenira clapped their hands together and then started to eat their now cold pancakes. "You know Ralnas these would probably be better warm..." Jenira said mockingly. "Will you two please shut up!" A round of laughter followed his outburst and the three lounged around the kitchen continuing to watch the highlights from other teams.

Jayce finally climbed the stairs around four in the afternoon. He still felt weak but far better than he had most of yesterday. He opened the basement door to a chorus of shouts. "He's alive!" "Hooray for sleeping beauty!" "He can climb stairs all by himself!" Jayce blushed, "good morning guys..." "Jay it's almost dinner time," Micu said snarkily. Jayce ruffled his hair and laughed at himself. "Look your dad woke me up at 3 am, I needed to recover for lost sleep." The three rolled their eyes and invited him to join them on the couch.

"Have you three done anything today?" Jayce noticed the house looked dirtier than usual. Jenira was about to speak up when Ralnas shot out a hand and covered her mouth. "I made pancakes and they were delicious." Jayce raised an eyebrow and Jenira shrugged. He laughed, "Well bummer I missed that Ral. You'll have to make some for me sometime." Ralnas beamed, "No doubt. When we make it big and have our own kitchen with syrup I promise I will." Snickers from Jenira and Micu made Jayce feel like he had missed out on something.

"Sure buddy, sounds great." Jayce sat on the couch next to Ralnas and looked at the screen. "Anything important happen while I slept?" Micu nodded, "I know where we're going tomorrow." Jayce felt an excitement rising in him. "Who drew second round?" Micu pretended as though he had forgotten and was trying to remember who it was. Jayce felt his anticipation building. "Eternity? Wolf? Maybe even Lazer?"

"We're going to team Pure's base." Micu finally let his friend have the satisfaction of knowing. Jayce frowned, "but they're so weird."