I.T. 28 (A Girls Job is Never Done)

Several hours later Sierra, Leisha, and Hunter emerged from their room. I could see the sly smile on his face as I looked at them, and he gave me a huge grin. I rolled my eyes. At least he was enjoying himself. The girls were in a rather good mood themselves. Leisha ran over to me, her eyes scanning my body before wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

"Are you ok? Do you know how worried I was?"

I smiled and returned the hug. "I am sorry to worry you. I am fine. I apologize for earlier. If I hadn't acted on my own maybe you wouldn't have had to take such a beating."

She backed up and looked at me strangely for a moment. "So, it's ok for you to be beaten almost to death, but you're worried when someone else does it?"

I met her eyes under her criticism. "You don't have any form of damage reduction. Every hit would have inflicted extreme amounts or pain on you. I can only imagine how had that was."

Her eyes softened and she gave me a smile as she heard that, she reached out and ruffled my hair. "We are a team; we all have to suffer sometimes."

I smiled back and I asked the question that had really been on my mind. "So, what skill did you get?"

She gave me a huge grin. "I got [Bestial Instinct] it gives me a warning of incoming threats. It comes as a vague feeling from whatever part of my body is about to be struck. With this skill you shouldn't have to worry about me taking such a beating again."

I let out a sigh of relief. I hated to see my teammates suffer and would much rather I be the only one who is put into the situation. I smiled and patted her shoulder. "Good, it would be much better if I took the beatings anyways."

She gave me another weird look, and behind me I could hear Hylia and Bailey snickering. It was Lucifer who responded though. His sudden speech causing Leisha to jump.

"It's because of her new skill [Masochism]. Basically, you could beat her up and she would enjoy it."

Sierra spoke next. "You can talk???"

Lucifer looked at her for a moment. "Yes, the skill I obtained was called [Ability Swap] It had an incredibly long cool down, as in several years, but I used it to switch out Yuri's innate ability [Gift of Tongues] in return she gained a couple of her old abilities that were attached to her core. Of course, they have been changed to fit her current lack of spell casting ability."

Sierra was quiet for a moment, staring at Lucifer. "You sound so mature, but you are only a baby???"

Lucifer glared at her for several moments. "I am far older than you can imagine half elf. It is only because my power backfired that I am stuck in this state." Lucifer then jumped into my arms and closed his eyes. "However, this situation is much preferable to any of my situations in the past. "

I tried not to laugh. It was true that Lucifer was thousands of years old, or rather he had once been. But they did not know that he was all bark. His mind and power had been reduced by a lot. The truth was he was a child, it is just that even a baby dragon was much more intelligent than a human adult.

"What ability did you get?" I asked her to change the subject.

She did not make eye contact with me and mumbled something. I looked at her for a moment and she blushed. But spoke louder, she still would not meet my eye.

"[Advanced Healing] The healing effects of my fire are strengthened. They do not just heal hp as before, but can also heal injuries much faster, such as broken bones, or the mess you made of your legs."

"So, your healing ability has gotten much stronger. That's awesome!"

She blushed "Yea... But I am not a healer! I am supposed to be the scion of fire. A damage dealing bad ass."

I disagreed with her statement. "Like that you would only be a regular scion of fire. But you carry the abilities of a Phoenix. The phoenix is one of the top 3 entities of fire, the only one who has healing abilities. If you continue to grow like this your strength will be much higher than that of a regular scion."

She nodded as she listened to my words, her confidence beginning to grow. I smiled at her. "Besides our team is quite unconventional. We have a fire mage as a healer, and a gunslinger as a tank." I chuckled as I spoke "We need all of the help we can get."

The girls behind me nodded. Even lucifer in my arms nodded. Finally, my eyes rested on our newest member. He stood there awkwardly, his one arm hanging limply at his side. I smiled.

"And how are you adjusting to our party? Are the girls treating you well?"

A sheepish smile crossed his face, Sierra and Leisha did not even blush as huge grins appeared on each of their faces. The answer was obvious, so instead he answered the question he knew I was going to ask.

"I did not really gain a new ability, rather I could keep the ability I had temporarily got from the mushroom. [Lightning Flash] Its a skill with levels. Each level gives me an additional ark of lightning. I can instantaneously move once by consuming an ark. It will regain an ark after an hour, but I can only hold a single ark at level 1."

"In addition to that I have gained experience with my [Elemental Weapon]. I can form that arm as I did under its influence, but the mana consumption is rather high. I will need to raise my intelligence and wisdom in the future."

I nodded; I had expected something like this to happen. The lightning skill he had used was not something he had learned, but rather something he had gained from his stay on the fourth floor. I had known at first glance that he had gained the ability. This is because his brown eyes had been replaced by the florescent purple that I had become familiar with it.

I could only assume that he had gained an affinity for lightning, at least of an equal level with his natural earth affinity. His next action confirmed my thoughts. He summoned with fist; the familiar earthen arm was covered in arcs of electricity. He smiled as I examined the arm.

"As you can see, the benefits I received are enough to rival the rest of you."

We spent the rest of the day exploring what the fifth floor had to offer. There was a small restaurant type place, but it completely lacked any sort of attendant. There was a menu on the line table and we merely had to select what we wanted by pushing a button and it appeared before us.

The food here was not limited to what was available on Kaos, and there were several types of exotic foods. My eyes went wide as I looked over the menu, and I finally selected one of my favorites from back on earth. A large pepperoni pizza appeared before me, and next to it a brand of beer that I had snuck from one of my mother's boyfriends. I had been beat when I was caught, but it was one of the few things I did not regret from that life.

I had stolen a six pack and drank it with my best friend from earth in the alleyway behind the house. It had been a hot day, and the cold beer had satisfied me in a way a soft drink just could not. We had spent two hours sitting there bullshitting as we drank. The happy occasion was ruined as my mother's boyfriend came around the corner.

He was filled with anger as he saw the empty beer cans next to us. Neither my friend nor I escaped his wrath, but that did not stop us from doing the same thing the next weekend.

I slowly swallowed the liquid in my mouth as I stared off into space. Around me I could see my squad was likewise in a state of blissful remembrance. The food around them seemed strange, but this did not stop me from stealing a piece of the fire roasted bird leg that Hylia had in front of her. Her fork came crashing down on my hand as I was in the middle of the process. Her eyes went wide at her actions, but I only smiled. The pain from the blow was not much and had sent a tingle of pleasure to an unspeakable place.

I looked at her seductively as I licked the blood from my hand. I laughed softly and turned my attention to the food in front of me.

The meal was rather pleasant, and everyone was in a great mood by the end of it. I shared the cheap beer with the members of my party. They did not understand the joy I got from it, but alcohol was always a welcome addition.

The night ended with all of us having drank too much and stumbling back to our rooms. The room was spinning as I laid down. Two bodies laid down next to me. I could see the lust in their eyes as they stared at me. A girl's job was never done.