Gene stood in a large green field of purple flowers that stretched into a valley in the distance as he searched for his companions. He didn't know how he had managed to get there; all he knew was that he needed to find a way out. He stood on a large flat rock in the middle of the field and shielded his eyes from the sun as he scanned the area for any signs of his friends. After failing to find them, gene took his communicator out of his belt and signaled for Jim. "Jim, are you there?" It was no use; there was no answer. "Where the heck am I? Where is everybody?" Gene asked quietly to himself as he walked into a near by forest and sat on a large tree stump. "I don't remember going anywhere like this; maybe I hit my head or something." Gene thought to himself as he prepared to set up a temporary camp. All of the sudden in the distance he heard a voice calling to him. It sounded haunting and distant as if the person who had said it was unbearably sad. Gene stood up quickly and faced the direction the voice had come from. "Who's there? Show yourself blast it, or I'll shoot you out!" Gene said as he grabbed his caster out of its holster and pointed it toward the direction the voice seemed to come from. A shadow figure came out of the thick trees of the forest and stopped a few feet away from gene, revealing it's face. "Melfina?" Gene Asked in surprise. Tears came down Melfina's face as she spotted Gene. "You have to leave! They are after you Gene! Hurry, run this way!" Gene stared at Melfina for a few minutes in confusion, and then crossed his arms over his chest. "What are you talking about, Melfina? Who is after me? Where am I going? I don't even know where I am!" Melfina stepped closer to gene and put her hand on his forehead. "Are you feeling all right Gene? Are you sick? How can you not know your own home? You know who's after you; the same people who have been after you since you came here. The same people who killed Jim, Aisha, and Suzuka." Melfina glanced around quickly, to see if anyone was following her and then she grabbed gene's hand and pulled him toward the forest. " Come on Gene; if you stay any longer, they will kill you too, so you have to come with me!" Gene let go of Melfina's hand and backed away from her slowly. "I'm not going anywhere! What do you mean, Jim and the others were killed? What happened to them? I'm not going anywhere until you explain what is going on!" Melfina looked at the ground sadly as tears came down her face. "They must have really hurt you this time for you not to know what is going on. I am so sorry gene. I should have never left you in the field by yourself." Melfina ran to gene and embraced him as tears continued to fall down her face. Gene stared at melfina in shock for a couple of minutes and then hugged her back. "It's going to be all right, Melfina. It's not your fault; I must have just hit my head, because I can't remember a thing. I don't know who is after us, but I'll protect you." Melfina let go of Gene and pulled him toward the forest again. "There is no way you can stand up to them; the only thing we can do is run! Please, Gene! Follow me! I know somewhere safe!" Gene stared at Melfina in silence for a few minutes as tears came down her face and then reluctantly took her hand. Melfina lead Gene through the forest until they came to large tree with a rock in front of it. She then led him around the tree to where there was an opening and gestured for him to go in. Gene crawled down the narrow hole of the tree followed closely by melfina until they reached a large chamber underneath. Gene was surprised to see a room that looked a lot like the main deck of the outlaw star. Melfina walked over to the kitchen area of the room and put a pot on a fireplace that was filled with exotic vegetables. After she was finished she walked back to gene and gestured toward a chair that resembled the center pilot seat of the outlaw Star. "You should sit down; you are not well. I'll make you some soup, and get you some medicine." Gene sat in the red chair and stared at melfina with a look of confusion as she ran off to get him some medicine in another near-by chamber. After a few minutes she returned with a glass of water and a white pill. Then she walked over to where Gene was sitting and gave him the items. Gene took the glass of water and the pill into his hands and observed as melfina took a seat next to him in the chair. He twirled the white pill around in his fingers for a few minutes before taking it with the water and then stared into melfina's eyes. "What is going on here, Melfina? I need to know what is wrong! How did the others die? Who is after us? Where are we?" Gene rubbed his head as a flash of pain came to it. "I don't remember a thing. What's happening? Melfina looked at the floor of the chamber in silence for a few minutes and then hugged Gene again. Gene felt Melfina shake in fear as she embraced him, and he reached out to touch her face. "It's all right melfina; I'm here. Whoever is out there looking for us will have to got through me before they hurt you." Melfina hugged Gene tighter as she looked toward the opening they came from in fear. "It all happened two years ago, when we crashed here in the Outlaw star on our way to Heifong. The ship was destroyed on impact, and there was no way to leave this planet unless we could get another ship, but at least we were all safe. Jim and Aisha had decided to go look for any settlements where we could find another ship, while we stayed behind and set up camp but they didn't come back for a long time, so after a while, we decided to go out to look for them. It was getting dark, so we gave up our search and headed back to the outlaw Star, deciding we would pick up our search the following day. The next day we searched, but we still had no luck in finding them. Four days passed, and then six, and there was still no sign of them. We all finally just faced the possibility that they would never come back, and went on, trying to find settlements ourselves, and attempt to fix the ship with the little supplies we had." Melfina paused for a moment and began to cry again as Gene reached out and whiped her tears away. "So, what happened to everyone? Did you ever find Jim and Aisha?" Melfina shook her head. "They never came back. We found out later that they had killed them." Gene looked at Melfina in question. "They? Who are they?" Melfina stared into eyes with terror and hugged him tighter. "The same creatures that came back to kill Suzuka. There is no way to describe them; all I can say is that they are like living nightmares. If they catch you, like they did the others, you are dead. We are the only ones left, and they are bound to come back soon." Gene stared at melfina in disbelief for a few minutes and then hugged her back. "Well, they are not getting us without a fight. Darn! this is all so weird! This doesn't seem real! Blast-it! There's got to be a way off this darn planet! I'm not just going to sit around and hide while those things are still out there, causing more damage to our ship! There's got to be a way out of this!" Gene let go of melfina and looked toward the hole where he had come from. "I'm finding the ship and getting us out of here!" Melfina sat up from the chair and grabbed Gene's arm. "You can't, Gene! They will destroy you too!" Gene smiled toward melfina and touched her face. "Don't worry mel. I'll be back soon. You stay here and I'll just be outside for a few minutes, all right?" Melfina reluctantly shook her head and let go of Gene's arm. "Be careful, Gene." Melfina looked toward the floor and folded her hands as gene crawled out of the chamber. When Gene got to the top, he heard a bush rustle in the distance. He grabbed his caster again and pointed toward the direction he thought he heard it. "What now? who's there? Blast-it! I'm tired of all this! Come out and face me, whatever you are!" Gene raised his blaster as he heard Melfina scream from inside the chamber. "Melfina! What's wrong?" Gene strained to hear melfina's response, but there was complete silence. "Melfina! Blast-it, I shouldn't have left her alone! Hold on, Mel; I'm coming!" Gene climbed back it to the hole as fast as he could, and when he finally reached the chamber he pointed his gun into the darkness. "All right, who's there? Show yourself, and let go of melfina!" There was no response. Gene moved forward, still holding his gun in front of him, and looked around the chamber for any sign of Melfina. "Melfina, can you hear me? Are you all right? What's wrong? Melfina." Gene continued to walk through the darkness until he came to a larger chamber than the one before. There was a mirror at the back of the room, and a bed made out of metal siding from the Outlaw Star against the wall on the right. The sheet of the bed lay carelessly over a large lump in the middle, and a hand stuck out on the side. Gene cautiously approached the bed, and pointed the caster toward the lump in the middle, as he quickly pulled off the sheet, revealing the person inside. Gene dropped his caster as he saw Melfina lying underneath, motionless. Gene shook his head and ran over to Melfina. "This can't be happening; I don't believe this! Mel, are you ok? You have to be okay, don't do this to me!" Gene touched Melfina's tear stained face gently and put his head by hers. "Come on melfina! wake up! Melfina!" Gene lifted his head and checked melfina's pulse. Gene backed away from her when he didn't get a reading. "No! Melfina!" Gene looked at Melfina as his eyes began to water. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't left her, she wouldn't be..." Gene stared at Melfina in silence, refusing to admit to himself that she could really be dead. After staring at her in shock for a couple minutes, Gene narrowed his eyes and hugged her lifeless body. "Whoever did this to you is going to pay. I love you, melfina. I never thought anything like this would happen to you." Gene continued to embrace melfina, refusing to let her go until he heard footsteps in the room. Gene let go of melfina quickly and grabbed his caster off the floor where he had dropped it. "Who's there? Come out and face me, blast-it! If you even thought of doing this to Melfina, you are dead! I said come out!" A black figure came forward and laughed at Gene as he pointed his caster toward its dark frame. "What do you think you can do to me? I already killed all your friends, and you will be dead very soon as well. If I were you, I would run, but that won't do you much good either. I'll just find you again, like I did melfina, and kill you." Gene frowned and shot a number seven bullet out of his caster toward the shadowy figure at the other side of the room. After the smoke cleared, he looked to the other side of the room to make sure the figure was dead, and was surprised to see it still standing there, unharmed. "Darn! who are you? Why do you want to kill us all? Melfina didn't do anything to you! she would never hurt anyone! Answer me; I've got a stronger caster bullet then that, and it's aimed at your head!" Gene put a number twenty-four bullet in his caster and pointed it toward the top of the black figure with a tight frown on his face. The black figure laughed again and walked toward gene, revealing its face. Gene stepped back a couple feet in surprise at what he saw, still keeping the caster level with the man's head. "Hazanko! it can't be! You were killed at the leyline!" Hazanko smiled evilly, as he took of his mask and threw it to the floor. "You thought you killed me, but I survived. I got sent into this horrible dimension after you escaped in your ship, and I was forced to stay here with no way to get out for two miserable years. I decided later on that I would repay the favor, and I used most of my magic to send you here, with your friends. I did away with you one, by, one, disguising myself as a horrible creature, so no one would know it was me, until I got to you. I wanted you to know that the person who destroyed you was I, Hazanko!" Hazanko lifted his hands and placed them on top of each other. Then he started to recite a spell. "Nian-na sunka abaha-mai pugawa-sufa gianta siar.." A huge energy beam shot out of Hazonko’s hands and headed toward Gene as he shot his caster toward Hazonko. The room filled with a brilliant light as the two powers meet and exploded around them, sending Hazanko falling to the floor of the room dead, and Gene tumbling across the floor. Darkness filled the room again as the light faded, and cast Hazanko's fallen body in the shadows. After a few minutes of catching his breath, Gene grabbed his hurt side and slowly got off the floor. "This doesn't make any sense; there was no way Hazanko could have survived! I don't remember any of this happening; this can't be real. Jim, Aisha, Suzuka; they can't be dead. And melfina." Gene walked back to the bed to see Melfina, and was shocked to see that she wasn't there. "What is this? I just saw her a moment ago. she was laying there!" Gene stared at the bed in question, and was startled by a voice behind him. He turned around to see melfina and the others, smiling. Gene looked at everyone in confusion, and tried to say something, but no words came to his mouth. Melfina walked up to him and hugged him. "You saved us all, Gene. If you hadn't killed Hazanko, we would have been trapped here forever. Now we can go home." Melfina smiled at Gene and kissed him as he stared at her in disbelief. "I can't believe this...Hazanko said that he killed you all. I saw you on the bed. you were and they..." Gene rubbed his head and fainted to the floor. He heard faint voices calling to him in the distance as he drifted off. All of the sudden he felt himself being shook awake. He slowly opened his eyes and groaned, revealing melfina above him. "Huh...what's going on?" Melfina touched his face and smiled. "Oh, I'm so glad you are awake! Are you ok, Gene? You were yelling for hours!" Gene rubbed his groggy head and looked toward melfina with question. "Am I on the ship? What happened to Hazanko? Is everyone all right?" Mefina looked at Gene quizatively and then patted his head with a wet rag. "Everyone is fine, Gene. We are headed toward Heifong like you said, because you are doing a job for that man who called a couple days ago. Today you caught an awful cold though, so I've been taking care of you. You started to yell, so I tried to wake you up, but I had no luck. Finally, Suzuka had to give me something to help." Melfina held up a bag of plants and then put them on the table by Gene's bed. Gene stared at melfina in confusion for a couple minutes, and then pulled her close to him, smiling. "I'm glad everyone is all right. I never want to loose any of you guys; especially you. I love you melfina." Gene pulled melfina closer and kissed her on her lips. After a while he pulled away and stared into melfinas eyes with a smile. Melfina blushed as she stared back into his and smiled back. " I love you to Gene. Don't worry, I'm here." Gene laughed and stood out of his bed. "Boy, am I glad to be back! Where is everyone, Melfina?" Melfina stood up from the floor and stopped gene as he sat up. "Gene! You shouldn't get out of bed you are not well! You should lay down!" Gene smiled warmly toward melfina. "Don't worry Melfina; I'm fine. We are all fine! I've got to find the others!" Gene laughed and ran out of the room. After going a couple feet he ran back, and picked melfina up in his arms. "I'm not making that mistake again! Let's go find the others melfina!" Gene ran down the ship with melfina in his arms until he came to the kitchen. He smiled as he saw all his friends around the table. "Jim, Aisha, Suzuka! You guys are all here!" Gene put down Melfina gently and ran toward Gilliam at the other side of the kitchen. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but boy am I glad to see you!" Gene picked up the pink Gilliam and tossed him in the air, barely catching him as he fell." My goodness Gene; what is all of this about? You should be more careful in the ship; especially when handling me!" Gilliam said, as Gene placed him at the end of the table and faced the others with a wide grin. "There's nothing wrong Gilliam; everyone is here! Don't ever leave guys; you're all great!" Suzuka and Jim exchanged shrugs and Aisha raised an eyebrow toward Gene. "I think you need to go back to bed, Gene! You sure are acting funny is this how all humans act when they are sick? Well I don't want to catch your cold! Go lay down!" Gene laughed and hugged Aisha as she fought to get away. "What do you think you're doing, Gene? Let me go, you lench!" Gene let go and smiled. "Aisha, you're still irritating!" Aisha frowned and waved her fists at gene. "Who are you calling irritating? You're lucky you are sick or I'd...ow!" Aisha cried out in pain as Jim pulled her tail and put his hands on his hips. "Give Gene a break, Aisha." Suzuka rolled her eyes and began to walk out of the kitchen. "You guys are all immature. I'm leaving before this gets any weirder." Suzuka prepared to walk out of the kitchen, as gene stood in her way. "And I can't forget you, Suzuka!" Gene hugged her and then ran down the hallway of the ship to the control room, shouting happily, as Suzuka blushed and the rest of the crew stared after him in confusion. Aisha scratched her head as she observed gene running down the hallway and shrugged her shoulders. "What do you think is wrong with him?" Jim rolled his eyes and sighed. "I don't know. He must be hallucinating or something. I'm not even asking." Everyone agreed and went back to eating their meal. Gene sat at the controls of the outlaw Star and smiled as he looked up toward the stars. He was at home on the Outlaw star, and he was never going to leave it again.