Earth One

            “Attention Geo 4 team assemble in the Gate room, incoming mission.” The operator called over the intercom.

            “What’s up boss?” Johns asked when they arrive.

            “We’ve got confirmation of a phantom cat.” The Commander told them.

            “How much damage has it caused?” Jessica asked going over the report.

            “It seems to have caused no damage yet.”

            “What is a phantom cat?” Gleen asked curiously.

            “Demonic cats that can hide in human form until they are ready to attack.” The Commander explained.  “They cause noting but destruction.  It was in the files I gave you."

            “I haven’t reached that section yet.  Where do they come from?”

            “From a black cluster that appears in space above the planet, but is virtually undetectable.” The Commander said when one of the crewmen brought it up on the main monitor.

            “The shadow.” Gleen said not the least bit surprised.

            “You know what that is?” Jessica asked shocked now.

            “I’ve battled it a few times in the past, it must still be weak from our last battle where I lost all my powers.  Its sending down its minions while it regains its strength.”

            “You mean that’s a living thing?” Johns asked joining the shock.

            “A very powerful one.  These cats are new to me, it never used them before.”

            “Commander, I have the results from Gleen’s tests.” A doctor said when she entered the room and brought the results up on a side monitor.  “They are higher than anything I’ve ever seen before, almost right off the carts for a human.”

            “It’s weaker than my last body, the Triangle of Light did the best it could to make me a similar one with the remaining power.”

            “Hey Commander, there’s something about this mission bothering me.” Johns said confused getting their attention.  “Usually we find over a dozen, why is there only one?  This seems odd to me.”

            “Why don’t we find out?” Gleen asked stepping up to the gate.

            “Want to test your limits already?” Johns asked cheering up.

            “I want you to take it easy Gleen.” The Commander told him.  “This is your first mission, well as a human, and I don’t want you to overdo it.”

            “I have Johns to back me up.”

            “Open the gate.” The Commander ordered.

            “That was different, going through a vertical portal instead of jumping into a horizontal one.” Gleen said once on the other side.  “Usually I fell from the sky or got shot into the air.”

            “Let’s get to work.” Sarah said pulling a gun.

            “It’s nearby.” Gleen told them.

            “How can you tell, we haven’t even turned on the scanners.” Rachael told him.

            “I seem to still have the power to sense the shadow.  The shadow is gone, but something very similar is nearby.”

            In a nearby alley they found a naked girl no more than five, she had long pointed ears and a long tail made of blonde hair.  Sarah pulled her gun, but the girl ran off at inhuman speed with Gleen right behind her.  He thought he had her when she tripped, but she turned into a tan cat in mid-fall and continued to run.  They eventually cornered her on the roof of a skyscraper and she returned to her human form.

            She was so frighten she wasn’t paying attention as she fell over the edge and to the shock of the others Gleen dove after her.  Ranning to edge they saw the chain shot up and latched onto the edge, followed by Gleen landing behind them.  The girl was in his arms passed out and in a moment wrapped in his coat to cover her.  For a long moment he ignored the others as his interested was solely on the one he now held.

            “Let’s go.” Gleen said like nothing had happen.

            “Why did you save it?” Jessica demanded coming out of the shock.

            “I sensed something at the last minute when I probed deer into her just a moment ago proved it.  True she was created by the shadow, but I sense no darkness within her.  Its as if the shadow has abandoned this one.” Gleen told them.  “I’m taking her back to base to learn why.”

            Once back at base he had to argue with the Commander about bringing the girl to the base and then agreed to take responsibility for her.  After getting done with the Commander he literally had to beat the scientist and doctors of with a stick.  He managed to eventually get her back to his quarters and drew a bath to clean her up.  She remained asleep through the whole thing, even when he dressed her in one of his shirts after dying her off and laid her on his bed.

            Slowly she began to wake, sitting up she became very frightened not knowing where she was.  Confusion set in when she found herself clean and clothed, yet she still didn’t know where she was.  She soon became aware he was sitting in a chair nearby and tried to run, but there was no way out.  Turning into a cat she wiggled out of the shirt and tried to get away again with no further luck.

            “Are you hungry?” He asked laying a dish of tuna on the floor.

            Even slowly she approached the dish cautiously of what he might do appearing not to trust anyone lightly.  Yet soon after she found it was good she was eating it as if she hadn’t in weeks.  She finished it then climbed up onto his lap and began to lick his face, while doing so she turned back to her human form.  Curling up she took a nap resting her head against his chest and he remained there to let her rest.

            “She will not be a problem, she is completely human except for the ability to turn into the cat form.” Gleen told the Commander.  “The shadow has abandon her, leaving her with a human spirit for some reason.”

            “Has it ever done this before?”
            “There has been a similar case.  After it went crazy one of it’s creations named Water Crab begged me to kill the shadow to save it from the maddening agony it was in.  Water Crab gave me all his power to do so, but I still wasn’t strong enough.”

            “How are you coming with the girl?”

            “I named Lycina and she is an average five year old.”

            “Thank you for the report.”

            Returning to the team’s main room he found Lycina enjoying Kayleen’s food by the plateful.  Kayleen enjoyed cooking and her food was much better than anything the base issued by far.  When he had first tried it he was acting the same as he had praised her for making the best food he had ever tasted.  He had to laugh as Lycina was now doing the very same thing he had a few weeks ago.

            “Thanks for watching her.” Gleen said walking over to the table.

            “It’s no problem, she’s helping me try some new recipes.”

            “Lycina, I have a present for you.” He said holding up a thin black chocker.

            He fasten it around her neck, then after removing the shirt she was still wearing, he tapped the tiny blue gem on the front of the chocker.  Instantly she was wearing a wide topped short sleeved tan shirt, tight black shorts with a hole for her tail, and a pair of tan boots.  Tapping it again the outfit changed to a long sleaved dark blue dress with a pair of matching slip on shoes.  He had them designed it to deactivate when she took her cat form and reactivated when she returned to her human form.  Upon receiving the gift she hugged him around the neck as he picked her up.

            “So where is everyone?” Gleen asked looking around and not seeing anyone since they had gotten back.

            “The usual, Sam sleeping, while the others spend their check partying and I’m not sure what Rachael does.”

            “Toss me that dish towel and the scissors.” He said sitting Lycina in the chair.

            “What cha’ doing?” She asked when he wrapped the towel around Lycina.

            “Giving her a haircut.” Gleen said pulling a comb from his pocket.

            By the time he got the hair cut done the others that had gone to party had returned, helping each other along and dispersed to their separate rooms.  Moments later Rachael walked in, with no hint she had been drinking, and went to her own room.  Her actions were even odder then the others for not being drunk, yet her strong perfume was hiding something he would have to find out later.  Once the hair was cleaned up he helped Kayleen with the dishes, then Lycina jumped onto his back as they got ready to go to the library for her lessons.

            “Bye aunt Kayleen.” Lycina called as they left.

            The library was usually empty at this time of the day which made it a perfect time for Lycina’s studies.  She was quite good in all the subjects with the exception of spelling, it was the only one she had trouble with.  Yet today the lessons got cut short due to an incoming mission, causing them to run to the gate room.  They had located a large number of the phantom cats on a world and they weren’t even hiding at all causing open destruction.

            Running forward as fast as he could Gleen began slashing the cats left and right using the dark blade.  Johns was blasting away as he targeted all the ones in his area before they could even charging at him.  Explosions were heard in the distance as Sam was going wild, while Sarah just went ballistic blasting almost anything that moved.  As usual it didn’t take them long to round up and eliminate all the phantom cats on that world.

            “What’s the score?” Johns asked once they met up.  “I got fourteen.”

            “Six.” Sam announced.

            “Three.” Jessica told them.

            “Ten.” Sarah said putting away her gun.

            “Six.” Rachael told them.

            “Five.” Kayleen said reluctantly.

            “Twenty-six.” Gleen finally replied when they waited for his answer.

            “You win again.” Johns said shaking his head.

            “How come you win every time, even when it’s for real?” Jessica asked skeptical.

            “I’ve been at it for over a thousand years.” Gleen told her.  “I didn’t start off as a human, remember?”

            “What was your old body like?” Sarah asked once they got back.

            “It was much like this one, but with blonde hair, and I could move faster than the eye could keep up with.  My other physical abilities weren’t very far behind that.  There was also the ability of the Soul Blast where I gathered energy though my body and fired it in a ball form.”

            “Hey Gleen, why don’t you come out with us tonight?” Jessica asked handing in the forms.

            “I have Lycina’s lessons.”

            “I could take care of them tonight.” Kayleen offered.

            “I’m sure this once won’t hurt.” Johns said putting a hand on his shoulder.

            “Sure.” He said going to find Lycina.

            Later that night they were at the bar the three of them usually went to finding it was having a surprise special.  After a few drinks Johns and Jessica went out onto the dance floor while Sarah remained at the table with him.  She was wearing a dress that matched her hat, when he questioned why she always wore it she simply lifted it to reveal the gun inside.  They talked for a while then she eventually managed to get him on the dance floor and was happy to find he had learned how over the years.

            Gleen was unsure how he got back to the base, but when he woke up he was in Sarah’s room in a compromising position.  Getting out of the bed as not to wake her, he gathered his clothes and got dressed before walking out.  Returning to his own room he found Lycina still asleep in the bed and laid down next to her.  When she awoke she was anxious to hear about how his night had gone at the bar with the others.

            “How can you not have a hangover?” Sarah asked coming from her room finding them at the table.  “You drank nearly twice as much as the rest of us.”

            “Alcohol has little effect on me.” He said when she sat down.  “You’re up earlier than usual.”

            “The bed got cold.” She said which gave Lycina a confused look.

            “What does she mean?” Lycina asked him.

            “Geo 4, report to the gate room.” The operator called saving him from answering an awkward question.

            Getting up Gleen quickly covered Lycina’s eyes as Johns and Jessica each ran from their room only half dressed.  They gathered at the gate room expecting a mission, but instead got the report they had an intruder in the base.  It was very possible to be a sabotage operation by someone trying to take them out of the way as the spare gates devises had been just reported to have been replaced with fakes.  This shocked Gleen to learn other groups had a gate as well, making him question the safety of having multiple gates active.

            Most of the group was assignment to catch the intruder, while Gleen and Kayleen were to destroy the others gates if they couldn’t be reclaimed.  There were three other gates that they had acquired for backups if there was ever need for them.  The first one they found was on the black market, but it was destroyed before they could get it.  The other two were in the hands of a small group using them to send convicts and questionable people to other worlds for a price.  They managed to capture them all and were able to confiscate one of the gates as well as the lists of all the people they had sent to new worlds.

            Returning to the base they found it was a complete mess and the intruder had not yet been found.  Gleen soon took to the trail having Lycina use her cat form to follow the scent of anyone she didn’t recognize.  It turned out the intruder was a man from the group they captured who had been using invisibility cloaks to go around undetected.  The reward from the men was quite nice and in addition they got one of their gates back, making them the only ones with the dimension hole technology on that world.”

            “There they go.” Gleen told Kayleen watching the others leave once they got their checks.

            “What did she mean ‘the bed got cold’?” Lycina asked coming up next to him, leaving him unsure how to answer and wishing she had forgotten.

            “Gleen, report to the gate room.” The operator called out saving him again.

            “The gate is ready for the settings you requested.” The commander told him when he walked into the room.

            “What’s going on?” Johns asked running into the room followed by the others.  “We heard the call for Gleen only.”

            “I have to return to one of my previous worlds to take care of some unfinished business.”  Gleen told them.  “It shouldn’t take long.”

            “But we’ve always gone on missions as a team.” Johns said appearing almost hurt.

            “This was before I came to Geo 4, it’s just one of the things I have to do alone.” Gleen explained.  “I have kept every promise I have ever made.  Before leaving I promised to return if there was trouble again.  I will take care of it quickly then return.

            “Good luck.” Sarah told him as walked through the gate for the first time since he arrived here alone

                      *                                  *                                  *

            “Now this place is homey.” A voice said from the shadows causing the two men in the room to draw swords.

            “Who’s there?” A man that resembled a bear growled.

            “I’m insulted you don’t remember me.” The voice said before a chain lashed forward knocking the swords from their hands.

            “Gleen?” The one dressed in blue asked shocked.

            “I have returned.” He said stepping from the shadows.  “Once again in you hours of need.”