"Tens of thousands of years ago, on a relatively normal looking planet, rare chemicals from the atmosphere fell, and created strange clouds of gas that sunk into the earth. They interacted with the core fragments they touched, thus creating a new type of jewel. The Flamestrom Jewels. The 51 core fragments that were affected were given magnificent, blazing power. Legend says, after dozens of years, the first, and last spacefarer arrived at the planet. Most experts suggest they were only looking for more common ore, like most explorers. But, the spacefarer got much more then they were expecting. After digging deep into the earth, they found a strange looking core fragment. After having scanned it, they had found it was not an ordinary core fragment. Their scanner showed it was very sturdy, and would make a good combat tool. So, they had the bright idea to slice it, and create a dagger. But, when the explorer first made a dent into the jewel, it glowed with an extremely bright, orange light that then burst into a blast twice as large as a supernova. The world was obliterated within less than a second, but the jewels, being completely resistant to explosions, were blasted off in all directions throughout the universe. Some landed nearby, on planets within 100 star-systems. While others are said to still be flying throughout the universe to this very day." The female Floran ended her tale, while the rest of the crew looked at each other. "Well. That was something. But how do you know it's even true?" A male Apex asked, breaking the silence. "Of course the Miniknog would keep stories of power other than themselves from the civilians." The female Floran replied. "I may have escaped just recently, but that sounds like something I would have heard of by now." The Apex replied. "Exactly. That's why you're hearing it now." The Floran said with a mischievous chuckle. The crew was in the topmost room reserved for crew meetings. It was an Eagle Class Glitch ship, with eight crew members. Though their Captain, Platinumblade, was always looking to recruit new members. Sadly, because of his piratesque reputation, most people didn't want to meet him to join his crew. Tales of Platinumblade told of him being ruthless, and unmerciful. In reality, he was always just at the wrong place at the wrong time. He has made a lot of enemies because of his bad luck. The crew, after spending time with their Captain, have also found out he isn't a pirate. The crew heard their Captain beaming up. They all went down to meet him like good crew members should. When they arrived, Platinumblade had news for them... INITIALIZING... >CREW >SWEETSTAB Name: Sweetstab Race: Floran Gender: Female Job: Green Chemist Rank: New Apprentice Additional Information: Managed to stop making the long "Ssss" sound made by Florans when sometimes pronouncing "S". Is somewhat of a kleptomaniac when introduced to expensive things belonging to someone she doubts she will see again. Knows she's clever, and likes to show it. >TALIVAN Name: Talivan Race: Apex Gender: Male Job: Outlaw Rank: Trained Sharpshooter Additional Information: Hates those who are prideful, which is somewhat hypocritical because while he is not exactly prideful, he is not humble either. Feels a need to stay on-target, whether it be not getting distracted on missions, or people trying to change the subject of a conversation. >NEPTURE Name: Nepture Race: Avian Gender: Male Job: Blue Chemist Rank: Experienced Physicist Additional Information: Doesn't talk too much, though will always chime in if he thinks his opinion will matter. Is an expert in chemistry, and can even make different colored stim packs, though he's most efficient at making blue. Named after the planet Neptune. Is Sweetstab's mentor, as well as Mercan's brother. >MERCAN Name: Mercan Race: Avian Gender: Male Job: Soldier Rank: Exiled Corporal Additional Information: Like his rank suggests, he used to be a Corporal in the army of his home planet, Vedinti Nebula II-a, before he started complaining to the higher-ups about the very poor training and condition of the base he was stationed in. He was exiled, and became the first crew member to Platinumblade. He was enraged by being exiled for such a small thing, and since then has despised armies. He is alike to Talivan in many ways, except Mercan doesn't have as short a temper. Is named after the planet Mercury. Is Nepture's brother. >KAMIE Name: Kamie Race: Human Gender: Female Job: Medic Rank: Recently Licensed Doctor Additional Information: Loves animals, and even if one was going to kill her, she would never hurt it, knowing that it's just killing to eat and survive. Loves adventure, and finding new animals. Doesn't like to stay in one place for too long. >STABIVY Name: Stabivy Race: Floran Gender: Male Job: Mechanic Rank: Advanced Technological Genius Additional Information: Is an amazing mechanic, and can build advanced machines with minimal resources. Loves to eat. Has a crush on Sweetstab, and everybody knows it. Usually once a day he tries to win the love of Sweetstab, though always fails miserably. The crew calls it the "Show of the Day", and everyone secretly gathers around when they see Stabivy approaching Sweetstab. Best friend to Blake. >BLAKE Name: Blake (Nickname: Gasbag) Race: Novakid Gender: Male Job: Engineer Rank: Oldschool Inventor Additional Information: Loves to create new inventions. Best friend to Stabivy. Is really good at following orders, but not very good at giving them. Loves to watch and take part in anything involving action. Likes to brag, which always upsets Talivan. >MIMIR Name: Mimir Race: Hylotl Gender: Female Job: Engineer Rank: Common Engineer Additional Information: Whenever she can, she stays away from Stabivy and Sweetstab. But, because both her and Stabivy work in the same area, she has considered leaving several times. She is very nice to everyone, even (hesitantly), to the Florans she works with. Is pretty shy. "Exited. Alright, gather around, everyone!" Platinumblade yells to his crew, then continues: "When I was on Pergentimonia Strand IV, the head of the Pergentimonia Strand IV International Government, or, P.S.G.I. as everyone calls them, is holding a massive competition- one bigger than ever done before. Using the camera I installed in my eye, I recorded his speech. Watch:" Platinumblade says before uploading said video to a big TV on the wall. "Ahem... Thank you, thank you. As you all know, I have sent signals all throughout the universe, so that many competitors can have the chance to take place in this. You may be asking yourselves 'Well what is this competition about?' Well... This may sound crazy, but I do not care. The old story of the 50 Flamestrom Jewels... My scientists and paleontologists have discovered undeniable proof that the story is true. A few years back, we had discovered rocks that contain the exact same minerals as those said to have been in the earth of the planet that created the Flamestrom Jewels. While this may sound like a longshot just from that- and, well, it is -we have found one of the Flamestrom Jewels themselves." As the Apex leader said this, many shocked gasps and much chatter could be heard. "Please, please, calm down, everyone. Now, we have scanned this jewel atleast 40 times now with many different scanners. All say it is made of the exact same minerals and chemicals as a Flamestrom Jewel. Not to mention, they look identical to what the old tale describes it looks like." He paused, then continued: "Now that the tale as been confirmed to be true, we, the P.S.G.I., are holding a challenge for anyone who will accept it. The challenge is to find and bring back as many Flamestrom Jewels as you possibly can. Teams up to 15 people are allowed. For each jewel brought back, they will be rewarded 5 million pixels. So, if one team brought back, say, 3 jewels, they will be rewarded 15 million pixels. But, do be aware that even finding a single jewel would be extremely lucky, so one person or team finding 3 is practically impossible." He stopped talking, and looked up towards the stars. "They are scattered throughout the universe. They may be on the surface of a planet, they may be buried deep within a planet where no one would think to look, they may be floating deep on just an ordinary looking ocean planet, or they may be still flying through the vastness of space." He looked back down towards the audience. "Good luck to you all." Immediately after the video was over, Blake turned towards Platinumblade and asked: "So I'mma guessin' we're gonna go after these shiny new jewels?" "Normal. Yes." The Captain replied. "Didn't you hear that guy? They are all throughout the universe. I bet we won't find a single one." Talivan said to everyone. "Wait... We have 3 tech-geeks. Don't you think if they all work together they might be able to make something that would help us find the jewels?" Kamie suggested to Platinumblade. "Interested. Yes, that might just work! Serious. Blake, Stabivy, Mimir; do you think you could create such a device?" "Sssounds like it could work. But we would need a sssmall amount of all of the chemicalsss to make it work." Stabivy replied. "Alright. It sounds like that's going to be our first mission: Finding the same chemicals that created the Flamestrom Jewels." Sweetstab said. "Wait a minute... Sweetstab, what are the chances of you telling us a story about something just minutes before we go on a mission to find said something?" Mercan asked. "Oh... I kind of hacked the Captain's camera to see what he was doing, and I heard the story before, so I figured I'd tell it to you guys, because I knew that the Captain would send us on this quest, and I didn't want you guys to not know what we were looking for." Sweetstab said, quickly rushing through her words, knowing she had to explain a lot. "Angry. Three questions: Why would you hack my camera? How did you know I had a camera in my eye? When and how did you learn to hack?" "That would take a while to explain... So, why don't we forget about this, and instead focus on our actual mission?" "Serious. Yes, I think that would be best. Dramatic. Alright, Blake, fire up the engine. We're going on an adventure." The ship blasts off, in search of these rare chemicals... "How do we even know which chemicals created the jewels?" Talivan asked, while sounding annoyed at the lack of logic. "I bet the story doesn't describe it in detail, so it doesn't make sense!" He continued. "I think this is how." Mimir said, pointing to her computer. A new page had been added by the P.S.G.I., which gave information on the Flamestrom Jewels that would help with their finding. "Oh. So apparently they were able to scan it and put the list of chemicals on their site..." Talivan said, still reading the page. "Wait a minute! Since core fragments are so common, couldn't we mine a few, and after we find the chemicals, just sprinkle them onto the core fragments to make more Flamestrom Jewels?" "It doesn't work like that. The chemicals must be in gaseous form, and interact with the fragments for a very long period of time. The minerals in the earth of the planet might have had some effect, as well." Nepture said, while everyone was slightly surprised he actually said something since he doesn't talk much. "Do we atleast know where to find the chemicals?" Talivan asked. "Well they may be rare, but there are billions of planets, so I bet some of the planets have the chemicals we need!" Kamie replied to Talivan. "Yes, but that doesn't answer my question." "Well, there is this thing called "Google". It used to be this thing millions of people would use every day. You ask it a question, and it tells you the answer! It has still been updated since it's prime time, so it should still work." Kamie said, while opening a new tab on the computer and going to Google. "Let's see... What's the name of the chemical we want to look for first?" "Normal. Let's try Liotix Byligombiate." Platinumblade suggested. "Alright." Kamie said, searching 'Where to find Liotix Byligombiate'. "Alright, apparently you can find plant-like things made of the stuff on Jurmer Stand I-b." Without another word, Platinumblade fired up the engines, and jumped to the coordinates of Jurmer Stand I-b... (Author Notes) Sorry for such a short, boring chapter; I don't have time to make a nice long one. I'll probably make chapter three later today, though! Thanks for reading! "Dang. It's freezing out here, and we haven't found any of the plants yet." Talivan complained. "Be quiet, we'll find it soon enough." Mercan replied. Mercan, Talivan, and Blake were sent down to Jurmer Stand I-b to find the plant-like things that grow on said planet. Jurmer Stand was a frozen star, and it is said that a pirate captain named Jurmer once took control of the entire system, and turned it into a haven for pirates. While pirates do more often come to this system than most other systems, the haven was destroyed long ago, by a group called The Armada. About an hour later, the group came across a forest of the plant-like things, or "Plantish" as the crew called it. "There! I see some over there!" Talivan cried to his crew members. They rushed over to the forest, only to find a group of monsters eating the plantish. The monsters were mainly blue, with large turquoise horns. They were large quadrupeds, with turquoise plantish-grass growing on their back. Their legs were well built for running, which paired with their horns makes a dangerous combination. Each of their tails had a sharp, arrowhead-shaped end to it which looked like it would be good for stabbing. Apparently the crew had disturbed the monster's eating, which caused the monster to charge! The crew was barely able to jump out of the way in time, but after Talivan had rolled out of the way, he was able to pull out his assault-rifle and start shooting at the monsters. Mercan had pulled out his scanner, and scanned the monsters to see if they had been discovered before, with found weaknesses. Luckily, they were. They were named "Icebergettes", and the discoverer had left a note saying: "When I first encountered these things, they overpowered me, but after I escaped and properly equipped myself, I was able to find their weakness. First of all, they absolutely HATE heat, so if you have weapons that set fire to those hit, it'll definitely cause them to run away. If you want to keep the same one gone permanently, explosives seem to work well." During the time Mercan was listening to this, he was also dodging the charges and spear-like tails of the Icebergettes. "Talivan, Blake, do either of you have explosives or fire-generating weapons?" Mercan asked his crew members, who were now standing next to him. "Yeah, I gon' and invented some new lil' grenades! They're tiny lil' buggers that'll blow up when they hit real' hard on somethin', like when it touches somethin' after you've thrown 'em!" Blake said, while handing the new grenades to Talivan and Mercan. As the 4 Icebergettes charged towards them, they all, on the count of three, each threw a grenade at the monsters. There was a loud bang, with Icebergette chunks flying through the air. The crew had won! Well, atleast until they felt a rumbling beneath them. "Guys, you know how in movies, after rumbling, a giant monster appears?" Mercan asked, while the others nodded their heads. "Well, I think that's going to happen now. Quick! Go grab some of the plantish!" But before they were able to get back to the forest, a giant worm burst out of the ground, and destroyed the tiny forest. The crew wasn't even that afraid of the worm despite it's size, because it wasn't special in any other way. It was just a giant earthworm. "Great. Now we have to find more plantish." Talivan said. "Well, seein' as we obviously need a break, how 'bout we beat on this here earthworm?" Blake said, holding his hand out toward the earthworm, who was squirming around slightly. "Sure. Why not?" Mercan replied. Talivan pulled out his gun, and fire several shots, before yet another rumbling happened. "What now?" Talivan rhetorically asked. Then, all of a sudden... MORE EARTHWORMS! They surrounded everything; hundreds of earthworms! "Crap." All three crew members said in unison. They then beamed up to the ship, bringing the crew the bad news. "So, we found this little forest with the chemical-plants, but then we were attacked, a giant earthworm happened, and we were surrounded. We'll have to try again." Talivan told the crew. "Disappointed. That's too bad. Do you atleast have any information that may help the next time you're down there?" Platinumblade asked. "Well, we should be more careful with our weapons, because that seems to cause giants worms to appear. Also, we need more cold protection. Blake, Stabivy, Mimir, could you maybe upgrade our Heating EPP's to produce more heat?" Mercan asked the mechanics and engineers (Blake, Stabivy, and Mimir), who all nodded. For 4 days, everyone rested up. The mechanics and engineers finished upgrading the EPP's, and Talivan, Mercan, and Blake were ready to head out again. But before they were about to head down to the planet, Platinumblade asked Blake to stay on the ship and help fix a fuel leak. Mercan and Talivan once again beamed down to the planet, to try and find the chemical-plants... "Well. This is strange." Talivan said, looking around at the massive holes sounding them for what looked like miles. "Watch your step. There isn't very much ground to actually walk on, not to mention the ice you can slip on..." Mercan told Talivan. All of the massive earthworms had burrowed back into the cold, hard ground, which left massive holes everywhere. The duo slowly got back to the previously small forest, even though now all they could do is grab a few remains. Once they got there, they were able to take several samples. "This stuff is strange. It's almost like semi-hardened salt, in the way that when you touch it too hard it crumbles." Mercan said to himself, with Talivan overhearing. "Well, atleast now that we have it we can get back to the ship and try to find the other chemicals." He continued, before he tried to beam up. "That's strange... It isn't working..." "I can't beam up either. What's going on??" Talivan replied, right before he heard Mercan gasp. "It might have been the plantish! The crumbled pieces must have gotten into our suits somehow!" Mercan said. "What?? But what if it blocks our oxygen flow!" Talivan replied. "We need to find a way to clean it out of our suits. Talivan, does this planet have natural oxygen?" "Uh, I think so." "Well our suits have built-in oxygen tanks, right?" Mercan asked, even though he knew the answer. "Yes, but that's probably blocked off." "Well then instead of making it trying to give us oxygen, why don't we reverse it? The blast of oxygen might blow out all of the pieces of plantish." "That's a really good idea!... ...But how do we do that?" "Uh. I honestly don't know. Do our suits have a manual or something?" "Actually, yes. Mine came with one, and I've been too lazy to take it out." Talivan said, as he unzipped one of the pockets of his spacesuit, and pulled out the manual. "I'm really glad all of our spacesuits are the same. That means this manual should work for both of us." He continued. After a few minutes of reading, Talivan finally found what he was looking for. "Aha! Here it is! 'To reverse the airflow of the built-in EPP, hold down the blue button on the back for 10 seconds. Warning: Release of oxygen may cause trouble breathing, asphyxiation, and death. Note: If these side-affects do not occur, the feeling of zero-gravity may be felt.'. Hm. I really hope there's oxygen on this planet." Talivan said. "OK, so I guess I can hold down your button while you hold down mine?" Mercan asked. "That sounded wrong." Talivan replied. "Ugh. Come on, let's just do this so we can get back to the ship." Mercan said, while pressing the blue button on the back of Talivan's EPP. Several awkward seconds pass of them just standing there. Doing nothing except holding the buttons. About 6 seconds in... "Ahem... Uh... You like jazz?" Talivan said, before a large gust of air was blown from the EPP's, making them both float while the air was being let out. The two found this floating very fun, and started to figure out how to direct it, but it didn't last long, for it stopped after only about 35 seconds. After reaching the ground, the two beamed up to the ship, but a surprise waiting for them...
