Ch 14- Shameless

Mac took the Nova elders back to Tala's house. Upon arriving the elders went into the guest room to discuss their experiences and thoughts of these past few days.

Meanwhile, Tala also called Mac into the study to talk with him privately. "How are the construction of the communication tower and satellite going?". Tala got straight to the point; Mac avoided his gaze feeling a tad guilty. In all reality, the project should have just been wrapping up and ready for testing about now.

"The communication tower has been repaired and I made some modifications that should make it able to send signals further. However, making the satellite is going to take a while longer. Keep in mind we also still need to find a way to safely send it out of the atmosphere of this planet".

Tala stroked his beard "I've already found a solution to that issue, why is it taking so long? Didn't you say you were confident that you could have it done in a month?". Mac lowered his head "with Casey's condition it's been a bit delayed to focus on his well-being".

"Ahhh, good good. Building a good relationship with the dragon while it's here is most important. Just keep doing what you should do and let me know when you're ready to send the satellite. Now, what do you think of his new teacher, is he a threat?".

Mac pondered and thought of Ryien's threatening face and recalled how he treated Casey, his gaze turned cold. "It's hard to say whether he'll be a threat to us or not, but he's definitely going after Casey's attention. He seems to be an unbearable fellow".

Tala sighed hearing Mac's words "just don't let him get ahead of you, try your best to keep Casey on our side". Mac nodded in understanding and stood up to head home.

After walking outside Mac leaned against a nearby tree and tried to calm his unsettled emotions. He almost wanted to scrap this plan and just keep Casey in their tribe until he can leave on his own. He heaved a heavy sigh before slowly making his way home.

When he opened the door he saw Casey helping Ryien organize his room, hearing the noise Casey turned his head and spotted Mac. "You're back!" Casey flew into Mac's arms and nuzzled against him. This scene fell into the eyes of Ryien, who then "accidentally" crushed the class mug that was in his hand.

"Ah! Rye are you okay?! Did you get hurt?". Seeing the dragon's concern for himself Ryien was in a much better mood and smiled at Casey who had already moved to hold his hand. "It's a small injury, it's not too bad". Casey however didn't think so; he ran out of the room to grab the first aid kit.

Ryien and Mac watched as Casey darted out and Ryiens face changed to a sly smirk. Mac was pissed at the audacity of this guy. Hearing Casey's footsteps coming back Ryien put on a good face and said aloud "Mac, Casey and I had some thoughts we would like to discuss with you".

Looking at Ryien's face and hearing this sentence Mac could already feel a headache coming on. "Speak" he said dully.

Ryien glanced at Casey "it's like this; I heard this room was Casey's and because there was nowhere else to stay he moved in with you. I think he should move back into this room with me. This was his room anyway and I can also keep a better check on his spiritual situation at night; which would be safer for him."

Mac was frustrated hearing Ryiens words, but they made a lot of sense and it was hard to refute because he would look bad. Mac sat blankly trying to think of an appropriate answer however he couldn't find one that wouldn't make him look bad. he recalled Ryiens shameless previous act and gritted his teeth before deciding to take a gamble.

Mac lowered his head and eyes gently and spoke softly "No". Casey looked at Mac and waited. "What you said is accurate and has good points. However if I recall the elders said as long as you were in the same building it would be fine for watching his spiritual power".

Mac gently looked at Casey and spoke while looking directly into his eyes. "Also I'll be jealous if you two stay together. You'll already be training together all day, if you stay together too when would Casey ever have time for me?". Mac lowered his head after finishing the words and Casey stared at him stunned.

Then a faint blush slowly crept on the silver face. It was really out of character for Mac to speak so directly about such a thing, his ears were a bit red out of embarrassment. But he can't lose to this new opponent and threw his pride to the side for Casey.

"Rye I'll stay with Mac, it should be fine this way". Casey shyly lowered his head and flew back over to Mac and gently hugged him. Mac stared at Ryien and smirked at him; mouthing "mine" silently. As the two stared at each other sparks were flying in the air, at this moment the two decided they were meant to be enemies.

Casey didn't seem to notice the tense atmosphere in the house while the three had dinner together. Although Mac and Ryien didn't like each other they silently swallowed their dissatisfaction in front of Casey's cheerful disposition.

"You must be tired from traveling Rye, go to bed and rest early tonight, okay?".

Rye wanted to talk with Casey longer but as he stared into the red eyes filled with worry he held back his words and nodded. "Goodnight Casey". He gently touched the small head and went to his room.

Mac smiled watching this exchange and walked over to Casey and picked him up. Casey raised his head and looked at him inquisitively. "Do you want to go on a walk with me? There's a place I think you'll like". Hearing Mac's words Casey looked like he'd been injected with chicken blood, and nodded his head enthusiastically.

Mac held Casey the whole way; after half an hour he stopped in front of very tall cattails; Mac gently pushed them aside and Casey's eyes widened in surprise. Before them was a pond, which glowed with a bright purple iridescent light. Casey could see some sort of bugs flying low to the water, it looked like they were dancing beautifully across the water. Casey's eyes were shining, he looked over to Mac and was about to speak when suddenly his words got stuck. Mac looked like he was surrounded by silver light and he was looking gently at Casey. Casey felt his heart thumping and he quickly looked away and chuckled awkwardly. "This place is really romantic, you should bring your partner here in the future. I'm sure she'd like it very much".

Mac was shocked and stared at Casey "kids shouldn't be thinking such things; until you grow up and leave I probably won't look for a partner".

"Ah? But why? Isn't it good to fall in love and have a bigger family?". Casey stared at Mac with innocent and curious eyes, Mac didn't know why but he felt a bit uncomfortable talking about this with Casey. "As I said this isn't a conversation for kids, don't worry about it silly".

Casey was mad at being called a kid twice in a row and he puffed his cheeks, while he may be young in his body his mind is almost that of an adult. So he just pouted and stayed in silent protest as he stared at the beautiful scenery.

After watching in silence for a while Mac sighed and said "let's go back". Casey was a bit dazed but nodded in response. The silence continued until they were both lying in bed ready to sleep. Mac as usual pulled Casey into his arms and said goodnight.

After a moment he heard Casey whisper. "Mac, you don't need to hold back on finding potential happiness because of me okay? I want you to live a fulfilling and happy life, we're family now and I want to support you. So don't hold back because of me".

Mac was surprised, he didn't realize Casey felt this way. "I'm not holding back, it's just I haven't been interested in romance and haven't thought that far ahead yet. When it happens it happens, and I'll make sure to report it to you first okay?". Casey rubbed against him in understanding and said goodnight and turned to sleep.

After breakfast the next day Ryien swept Casey outside to start his spiritual training. For the next week, Casey was constantly beaten down by Ryien. What Neal said before about attacking to train Casey's spiritual awareness was really the best method for him.

By the end of his first week of training, although he'd been beaten black and blue by Ryien's merciless training routine, he could now use spiritual power to protect himself. Ryien was a strict teacher, but as soon as training finished he always gently treated and held Casey and he would praise him for his progress.

In this way, the relationship between the two also improved and Casey started to rely on Ryien. Mac was very dissatisfied with this but at the same time, Casey started to cling more to Mac after training so he begrudgingly put up with it.

Now that Casey had learned to mobilize a small amount of his spiritual power Ryien decided to switch the training style. So on this day rather than a fight, he sat Casey down then sat in front of him and started explaining what his next training plan was.

"Now that you can bring out your spiritual power let's conduct a testing to see what your innate powers and abilities are". Casey didn't quite understand what exactly Ryien meant, so he asked directly. Hearing his question Ryien started trying to explain.

"Well, everyone has their unique powers and talents that are influenced by their spiritual power. If we were on a normal planet there are devices that can test your spiritual power and also directly list your potential powers. For example, look at my hand". Casey looked down and saw Ryien's hand turn gray, he touched it and felt a cold metallic feel. Casey's eyes widened and he looked up to meet Ryiens grin "one of my abilities is controlling my body to turn into metal as armor".

Casey had a sudden thought hearing this explanation and he suddenly turned and blew out a fireball. "Like this?" Casey asked hesitantly.

"Hahaha, yea just like that. It seems you already know your powers, but we should still conduct this test to see if there are others you aren't aware of". Casey nodded, sat down, and focused on Ryiens instructions.

Although Casey could control small amounts of his spiritual power he, unfortunately, didn't have enough control to do this test. Casey bowed his head in frustration, Ryien quickly rushed to coax the small dragon.

"It's okay, you at least know about your fire-power. We can start training that first; which will also help your control over spiritual power. After your control is better we can try again". Casey still felt a bit depressed but he believed in Ryiens words and felt that training his fire breathing would be pretty fun so he put his full focus on it

While Casey had been out of the house training this past week Mac had dedicated himself back to working on the satellite. It's started to take shape and today Mac decided to move it to Tala's house, as it was starting to take up a bit too much space in his small study. After Mac moved everything over Tala came to see his work and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's coming together very well it seems, keep up the good work and we'll be free from this planet before we know it". Mac listened and solemnly agreed before getting back to work, once again putting aside his feelings of reluctance and discomfort.