Who We Become (Power Rangers Ninja Steel)

Chapter 26- New Sights

( June 1, 2010)

"-dy? Brody!"

Brody blinked, his attention snapping to Mick. Mick looked expectantly at Brody and he sheepishly realized he had no idea what Mick had said.

"Sorry, what?"

"You have been staring at that page for five minutes without answering any of the questions. I've been asking if you were stuck."

'Paper, what-?' Brody's gaze dropped to the worksheet on the table before him. 'Riiiiiiight.' A blank reading comprehension exercise stared back at him. "I, uh, was lost in thought."

Mick snorted. "So I noticed. However, we aren't supposed to enter Plebox's atmosphere for another hour. Plenty of time to finish before that happens."

Practically there would be little reason for Galvanax to bring Mick or Brody with him when he disembarked. Mick hoped that would be the case, especially here. He'd been to Plebox before. The planet boasted one of Galvanax's highest watching rates, as well as biggest popularity for the more. . . conquesting ideals that Galvanax also held. Mick's hand drifted to the watch on his wrist. The electronic leash had been a souvenir from the planet in Mick's earliest days on the Warrior Dome. All things considered it could have been a much worse visit, given that Plebox also housed one of the biggest intergalactic slave markets.

Unease bubbled in Mick's gut at that reminder. His skill set was still too valuable to the Warrior Dome to be considered for the slave market. With Brody however. . . The boy still served as a living trophy of Galvanax's 'conquest' over Dane for the Nexus Prism, but the warlord's cruelly ran deep. Brody might have some semblance of understanding for how life functioned on the spaceship, but anything planet side was new territory. Something he didn't exactly know how to explain to an eleven year old boy- even one that understood the universe's cruelty more than many others his age.

So instead he schooled his features and set about turning the upcoming landing into a social studies lesson for Brody. Very, very generalized when discussing Plebox's culture, but a lesson nonetheless. Brody soaked up the information. Despite the circumstances, galactic kidnapping and all, excitement curled within Brody at seeing an entirely different planet. Never would he have thought he'd be in a place where that would be a nonchalant discussion with another person- especially since said other person was also from a completely different planet.

Plebox had two major exports, lumber from their massive forests, and manual (read: slave) labor. They prided themselves in war games and many of their people appeared on Galaxy Warriors throughout the years. Notably Stalofur hailed from Plebox. Brody lost some of his excitement after hearing that.

"It'd probably be best to get that done soon. The kudabot's will probably be here soon with food."

To Mick's relief, Brody focused his attention back on the worksheet. Whether or not in the last year or so word had gotten to Galvanax about Mick's continuing Brody's school without official permission, he didn't want to risk a ban on further education by making it obvious. Mick had no way of guessing what Galvanax's reaction would be, seeing as he'd taken Mick for his smarts, not Brody. If anything, it would be a further degradation of Brody's station to keep him ignorant- good for nothing more than slaving to Galvanax's will for the indefinite future. Mick sighed but vowed, again, in his heart this wouldn't be Brody's existence forever.

It was Mick's turn to startle when a paper appeared in his face.

"Now who's not paying attention?" Brody grinned mischievously.

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Mick took the paper. Since his grasp of English wasn't much better than Brody's Karlec, though both improving significantly in the last few months, he ran it through the computer. The program Mick had developed didn't find any glaring errors so he called it quits for the day. Just in time as a shudder ran through the ship, followed quickly by a high pitched blast over the intercoms.