5) No need to go at it alone

Skye had his hand to the ground next to an old tree, one of the tallest he'd seen so far, connecting his nervous system to his. Eyes closed and focused. The early morning sun is just peeking around the bend of the world.

He could feel the wind pass through the leaves, the roots and their depths, and how they connected to so many others. This tree was strong, and so were its roots. His eyes were closed as he listened and explored. 

His other hand was closed, inside of it his roots were compacting and twisting together, taking the energy he was getting from the tree's and putting it inside the seed. He realised why his entangling roots were so weak, it was all about the energy used when creating them. When he told Dubs about this he just replied.

"Wow what a discovery, wouldn't it have been nice if that was written anywhere??"

So he decided not to share things with him again.

Once he thought it was enough, he placed it in his pouch along with the others he had created just in case. Thanks to the elder tree this was a lot easier and faster. He could also feel deeper into the forest, though it was spotty due to having to rely on roots being close enough to each other. 

He had been exploring for the better part of the day, and would have to return back to his camp soon. It was only his second day and he didn't want to die just yet.

His sense of direction wasn't great but he could at least feel where his minions were at and he could follow that home. 

Through the connected roots, at the edge of the forest to the north, he felt a large thud of vibration. Something heavy fell, either a small tree or something more alive. Skye opened his eyes and looked in that direction. It might be dangerous, but he has to know what he's going to be facing eventually.

He summoned Thorn and began making the journey towards the direction of the vibration. Walking through the forest was just as hard, but less scary now that he was armed and somewhat protected, he was also getting used to it. He was much faster than he was during his first day following Dubs. He travelled fast, and before long he reached the approximate location of where the vibrations would be coming from and began to slowly crawl through the bushes. 

He didn't know what he would find but he wanted to stumble upon it first, before it stumbled upon him. 

As he was moving he caught the glint of something reflecting the sun through the bushes. Making his way to the clearing he pushed open the leaves and studied his surroundings. 

Under a tree, almost propped against a large shield big enough to be used as a sled, laid the first human he had seen since arriving. He knew that people's were being brought close to each other, but he didn't expect to find his first person just a few hours walk from where he decided to settle. He didn't want to have to decide what to do this early on. 

Of course he had to make it into a team to finish this phase and move on to the next, but he didn't know how much importance would rely on who you choose. Would this be a lifetime commitment or something more casual? Skye wasn't ready to stop playing the field, he was just a young man you know!

Who clearly still suffered from that brain injury on the first day. 

I guess the first thing I should do is check if she's even alive?

"Don't screw this up, look at the size of that sword, she might think you're robbing her and slice you in half"

Skye didn't even notice the huge sword laying in the grass next to her. She was clearly more combat oriented than he was. She also had more armour already, a chest plate and helmet along with one metal knee pad on her right leg. Her brownish blonde hair fell from the helmet and covered her shoulders, and on a closer look her chest was rising up and down, meaning she was still alive. 

Alright I need to really think about this, how do i get her attention without too much risk

Looking around Skye found a rock near him, picked it up, and threw it at her. It missed her by a few good meters and bounced off the ground a couple times. She stayed heavily asleep.

"I swear to god Skye, was this the best thing you could think of after finding your first human… to throw rocks at it??" 

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas, and have you seen that sword? I'm going to need a head start if shes a psycho" 

Dubs had nothing to reply to that, he really had no better ideas, so he helped in looking for more rocks.

Eventually one landed and pinged off her head, startling her awake. She reached for her great sword but tried to get up too quickly and was pulled back down by the tower shield, rolling backwards like a turtle.

"Who's there, show yourself!" 

she yelled while unbuckling herself and rolling over to her side, which took a comically long time to do. She grabbed the sword, but without the counterbalance of her tower shield she had to transfer all the weight into ground underneath her, making it hard for her to actually swing it if need be.

Watching this all take place Skye stayed silent, mostly because he didn't want to fluster her more, but mainly because he didn't know what to make of the whole thing. Was he really going to try to make his first teammate out of this person?

In all honesty Skye hasn't fared much more gracefully in the things he's tried to do, so he has no room to speak.

"Hello! Please don't be alarmed. I'm over here in the bush, I didn't want to get too close to you in case you tried anything with that sword."

He slowly rose out of the bush with his hands up, but a seed pressed between his fingers just in case.

"I won't try anything unless you try anything, you could have just yelled over to me you didn't have to hit me!"

She made a point with her protest, he didn't even try to yell, he went straight to rock throwing.

"I'm sorry I tried, you didn't wake up, I had to think of something!"

Starting off a relationship with a lie wasn't what he wanted to do but it almost came out too naturally. She also believed him too easily due to how tired she was.

"Okay I'll let it slide, I'm going to put down my sword now, but just know if you make any funny moves I'll start swinging."

She lowered the point of her sword downard, letting the weight transfer from her legs back to the sword itself too fast, causing the sword to slip through her grip and tumble to the floor. Standing there with her hands still in the position they were when they were holding the sword, Skye looked to the side and coughed, lowering his hands as well, pretending it was all going to plan.

"I'm Skye, I'm from the Steel Dome of the South, I just got here yesterday. I think we're meant to be looking for teammates to get out of here and you're the first person I've seen"

Since he already told one lie he thought he'd make up for it by being the first to put it all out there. 

"I'm Claire, I got here yesterday too but I'm from the Fleet out East. I've been in the mountains for the last two days and I just got to the forest. My Guide told me I was meant to find teammates too"

Skye was taken back and blurted out.

"Guide? Do you have a guide? All I have is this orb that makes fun of me"

"Yes, she was made from a fragment of my soul, she's helped me a lot since I got here and showed me how to get to the forest. I've been traveling for the last two days without rest but I'd be dead without her."

Oh, so she has a Dubs too, but hers was actually helpful and not looking for any excuse to make fun of her.. Must be nice. Must. Be. Nice. 

Though it is just a reflection of him, since it's his soul isn't it?

No that can't be it, I'm never this rude to people, I'm actually a delight. If I got the chance to make friends back in the Dome they would have all said so.

The awkward silence lingered for a moment longer before Skye snapped back to it

"I know we just met, but if you're tired I've built a shelter, it's a few hour walk from here but if we hurry we can make it before nightfall. I think things become more dangerous at night around here."

Claire looked around a bit more nervously now, looking down at her sword and shield. 

"It's not that I think you're lying or trying to hurt me, it's just that, it might take me longer to travel due to my equipment, I have to walk slowly to be able to carry it all."

Skye looked it over, the shield was the size of her, maybe slightly raising off the ground when she wore it but only by half an inch if that. The sword looked like it took two men to carry it alone. He had to know.

"How do you even lift that to begin with?"

"It's my ability. I don't know if we're meant to be telling people outside our teams what they are, but if you tell me yours I'll tell you mine."

The deal felt quite childish, but also he could see the logic behind staying safe. If someone who knew your abilities wanted to hurt you, they could use that information to do so. While there is no reason to think that humans wanted to hurt humans here, it's what they've been doing since the beginning of time so it's better safe than sorry. 

"That makes sense, we don't have to share everything, we'll do one for one. I have the ability to extend my nervous system out in the form of roots"

As Skye said that he raised his hand and little roots appeared out of his fingertips and wiggled around before retracting into his body. Claire looked at this hand with a pan face expression and thought to herself

Wait, why was that kind of cute?? Like little dancing worms?? 

Pulling herself together she replied.

"Oh that seems very… useful. Okay, a deal's a deal, I can transfer the weight and density from one object to another. So that lets me carry these things. I just need to transfer their weight from one foot to another when I'm walking and I'm not very good at it yet, so I'm a bit slow. I can do it faster from my hands to my back, but the legs take longer."

Skye couldn't help but feel really jealous. He just showed her his dancing root fingers and she could make a great sword as light as a feather then suddenly as heavy as a house. And he showed her his dancing root fingers. Dancing root fingers.

I should have taken my own life at the start of this if this is how it's going to be.

Sucking it up he stepped out of the bush and towards her.

"If we're going to have a chance to make it before dark we'll have to start now then. For the time being, would you like to join up?"

As he said these words he reached out his hand to shake hers and stepped forward out of the bushes, which she took. The second they connected the world shifted slightly and above their heads they could see their name appearing above it. And in the corner of their vision, to the left, their name came into view as well under the title: 

[Teammates].