Fragment by Paul G Swanson (me reader .txt) 📕

Tio had just blocked a swing back was thrown back about four feet before he rolled to a stop.
"Probably. Seth knows what he's doing." He told her and then added "Sort of." They watched as Tio staggered to his feet and then in an unprecedented display charged at Seth this time instead of waiting for the attack to come to him. "See? He's fine."
Seth saw it coming and easily moved out of the way and smacked Tio on the back of the head with it. As if Tio didn't even feel it he spun around on one foot and swung back nearly getting Seth's left leg.
"Wow, he's actually getting pretty good."
"Come to think of it, yeah." He chuckled and then said, "But he's still no match for Seth. This is after all just practice for him. He's just trying to build the kids confidence."
"Yeah, I see that."
"He can tell, the kids body has matured, but if his mind doesn't, then it's just a waste. So he's trying to refine it. To awaken it if you will. Seth can't fight him seriously yet."
"But how can he help him when even I couldn't do it? I've known him for years after all."
"Sometimes knowing something for so long dulls the senses. I would know. And sometimes the only way to do it is to kick the guys ass. Beat some modesty into them. Like so." He pointed at Seth keeping Tio back by not giving him a second to attack, it was all blocking and running. He laughed at them until Tio tripped and Seth swung down. It barely missed him as he swung out of the way and counter attacked. "But the kid is just to talented for his own good."
"He is a born genius after all. He learns fast." She sighed, "Sometimes even after seeing something just once."
"Doesn't matter how smart he is, he can't beat Seth. If he can't move fast enough, he's not going to last." He was already showing signs of fatigue. His attempts to hit Seth were already becoming slower and slower. "You see?"
"You are really smart you know that?"
"Not really, I've just seen two different worlds and thousands of different people, some of them good, and some of them.not so much." His ears flattened with the emotion he was unable to suppress when he spoke these words. He briefly thought of his homeland. No matter how much he hated it, he missed the place.
"You care about him don't you?"
"A little yeah."
"Why?" She was genuinely curious about it. After all why shouldn't she be? They had no reason to care about him, their job was just to bring them back and forth between Earth and the colony.
"He reminds me a little of myself back then." Seth did a flip and came down on Tio hard enough to throw him off balance and knock the sword out of his hand. "Back when I was the ruler of a world."
"Say what?" Instead of answering her, he saw the way Tio was laying on the ground gasping for breath he stood up and clapped his hands. "Nice Tio! Very nice!" He called out. Grinning he waved when they turned and saw them.
"Somie?" He continued to ignore her.
"You're doing good kid!" Tio was still too dazed and worn out to even say anything so he just lifted his head and dropped it back down. Somie walked into the room and walked over to them. "You're not gonna take it easy on him any more are you? Ya ok, Tio?"
"Yeah.just fine." Tio surprised himself, he had never bothered to ever move so fast, so he now that had had actually done it, it amazed him. It was even easier than he thought it would be. He moved without even thinking it all just came to him. Still though, he was slow compared to Seth. A new urge desire rushed into him. He wanted to be, no, had to be better than Seth. This day was turning out to be fun. In just under an hour he had learned to control his body better than he had ever done. He could move faster and react with more strength than ever before.
He was grinning without even realizing it, at the new challenge that lay before him. Despite these thoughts he found the strength to say even through his gasps for air, "I'm going kick your ass before the day is up."
"Big words from someone that can't even stand up." Seth grabbed Tio's hand and forced him to his feet. "Now that you can use our body to its full extent," He shooed Somie back to the stairs, "We're doing the same thing as before, but this time I won't even use the sword. Just try to hit me now."
"Right.But I can barely stand up."
"I don't care. You won't get any stronger if I baby you, now will you? No resting until you can actually get me." He brushed the hair out his face and tucked it into the back of his shirt so that Tio could see the awful scaring of the past. "Like I said before, just give it your best shot, kid!"
"And like I told you before," He told him returning his words, "I'm just getting started!" He yelled and charged at him ready to swing at his legs. No matter how fast Seth might be able to move, Tio planned on getting him as fast as possible.
After watching the man jump around like a gymnast he saw a weakness in the legs. His left leg was always slow with whatever maneuver the guy planned. A few times in the last exercise he almost got him with that advantage. He would use it this time to take him down, and he planned to laugh with triumph when he succeeded.
Tio swung and Seth jumped backward and ran left. Tio followed and swung again, faster this time.

* * *

Psylix and Moumoru had walked back to the ship and looked around for Haschel. He didn't seem to be around. They didn't want him to know that they knew what he was doing. Who knew what might happen if he found out that Psylix over heard him.
"He must be out." Psylix's tail twitched with anxiety. "Probably meeting with that guy he was talking to."
"I hope not." Moumoru pointed to the rectangular box strapped to Psylix's side. "I sure hope you don't need to use that." The light grabbed its inlaid design and its reflection was sent flailing onto the walls.
"Same." A paranoid sensation came down upon him and the chills ran up his spine. "Lets find Tio, the other three are most likely with him." Tick-tock-tick-tock echoed in his head and he had no idea why.
"Right, I don't want to stay here anyway. Damn ship's always to quiet without company." The two quickly left the ship, not running, but too fast to be considered walking. Down the ramp and back into the colony they went. Their shadows bounded off the walls in ten different directions as the walked under a light.
Something about the whole ship when they had walked in seemed amiss. Now that they had left it and were on their way he turned back to look at it again. He was not able to put his finger on it until the moment he turned around. It was already to late. The silver ship split into two pieces as it exploded outward rocketing flames and debris far into the air. Psylix and Moumoru found themselves being knocked to the ground the very instant they felt the rush of the hot air and then the shockwave.
The air had been knocked out of him. Moumoru was completely unconscious and Psylix knew his ears were bleeding. A thin sheet of metal landed beside him with a clank. Without even bothering to stand up he saw the remains of his beautiful ship. His eyes had begun to loose focus and he knew he was about to pass out as well but he knew well enough that this was done by that bastard Haschel. Some more smaller metal pieces landed beside him and a few small pieces landed on Moumoru's back. For Psylix world became darkness to him.

Somie was having fun just watching Tio hack and slash empty swings, or at least he was until he heard the sound of bending metal followed by the loudest explosion he had ever heard. In fact they all heard it. Seth stopped running and Tio stopped in his tracks. Sarah stood up in surprise and turned instinctively toward the boom. Somie ignored everything else and just ran out to see what had happened. He assumed it was at the spacedocks because everyone else was running on the opposite direction. Pushing his way through the thinning crowds he eventually made it to the docks. What he saw shocked him down to his core.
"Psylix, Moumoru! Are you ok?" Somie cried out as he ran toward to ship and saw them laying on the ground near the smoldering ruins of the ship. "What the hell happened to the Farsight?" Observing the area around the ruins he saw a char mark burnt into the metal showed the size of the explosion. Must have been thirty feet minimum across. He could hear the emergency sirens had getting closer. "Where the hell was Haschel?" He scanned the surroundings looking for some other clue. Not wanting to get questioned by the authorities why injured people and explosions follow his foot heels he decided to hide from the emergency personal by headin back to the group, Psylix and Moumoru would be fine once the medics get here, he thought to himself as he high tailed it out of sight cursing silently.

* * *

Back on the colony Omega, John Cadalle, a biologist of such a caliber that he could have been his own boss, had just gotten an E-mail from his boss saying that one extremely large unidentified reptile was on its way to his lab. And that he had better get there before it did. That was ten minutes ago. He had just gotten there. His partner, Grendal, was already there.
Grendal was a large bald black man with a glass eye and a study frame. His eye constantly got stuck facing some awkward direction, and more than once the eye had not cooperated when he was checking out women. His parents had named him Grendal, not because they hoped that he would turn out to be a knee biting monster, but because they hoped he might in some way be close to the guy that might change how people thought of their lives. But he had yet to meet a guy going by the name of Beowulf, or anybody for that matter hoping to slay him like a