-Pete's POV-
The needle hurt, and it made my eyes all weird. I couldn't see straight, or see at all. My eyes wouldn't focus, so my vision was all blurry. I could see humans moving about the room, setting up beeping monitors and taping needles and wires to me. My beanie was tugged off, and so was my earpiece microphone. No one cared that I would move.
But the second I tried to tug a wire away, or pull out a pain-inducing needle, I was slapped clear across the face, and scolded verbally for it. My vision focused back into the normal laser-clarity. I swept across my surroundings, and only found monitors and a man-made metal-bar-tower-thing with a bag of clear liquid hanging from it. A wire came out of that and into my arm via needle. It seemed tedious, and it was very painful.
Finally, everyone left the room, but one human reentered. She sat across from me. "State your full name for the record." "What record?" "Just state your name." "Well, I have two names. Do you want me to say both?" "Yes."
"Pete or Brandon." "Full name." "Petezahhutt or Brandon Cody. Is that good?" "Yes." "Now what's this in my arm?" "An IV mixed with a calming drug. How are you so attentive?" "I don't know. I just am."
"Why do you care what happens to you? Or your friends? I've heard you ask about them before. Preston? And Jerome? Who are they?" "I care because they are my friends. And Preston is the lava creeper, Jerome is the bacca. Why are we here?" "Because you have no true place in this world." "How do you know, smarty pants?" "Because we have run every equation that says you do, and each comes back faulty." "We aren't mathematics. We are living creatures."
"With no purpose." "Again, how do you know?" "And how are you so attentive and careful? That drug should've screwed up your brain functions." "You were trying to brainwash me?!" "Of course. Send you into the real world and you will never know the difference." "But I'd be different. And I'd get hurt."
"Better than you living healthy in our world." "Okay. I hate using this, but to be entirely honest, I'm only 3 months old. Give me a well-deserved break." "If you're 3 months, how come my sources say you're 9 years?" "Preston and I, our maturity rate is 6 times slower than humans. Our speech improves and adapts, but we're not as old as your sources tell you. In human years, yes, I am 9. But in my own time, I'm only 3 months old."
"That's ridiculous." "Is it? Do you have a source on my species? Or Preston's? Because that will tell you what I'm telling you right now." "I do have a source. And it says nothing of the sort." "Is it a human-made source?" "Of course." "Then it wouldn't say. You humans are selfish, ignorant creatures who only care about yourselves."
"Harsh words coming from a baby." "And again. My speech will adapt and improve. And it will greatly adapt to my feelings. Same with Preston. So if you want nice words than I would advise that you lose the attitude and speak to me nicely in the first place."
"Well, Brandon Cody, you have broken a level of drugs, and cannot be taken under control with them. So we have been told to give you something stronger. A sedative with no mercy." "What is a sedative?" "Let's just say they aren't good when we have to use them." A needle was pressed into the back of my neck, and it stung like wildfire. I shook my head, and knocked the needle away.
Someone took out my earpiece, and I snatched it back angrily. I held it in my hand carefully to not break it. I also snatched off my beanie before they could take it from me too. A human grabbed my shoulder firmly, and pulled me out of the chair. I was thrown to the floor, and held there.
A heavy object was on my back, and I knew it was a human's shoe. Only because the weight pressing down on me was uneven, a sure sign of an off-balance human. Whatever a sedative was, didn't affect me. "Oh, and next time, think before you act."
And as I rolled sideways, the human lost all balance, and tumbled to the floor. I hopped to my feet, and watched the incredulous faces of the humans. The door opened, and I made a mad dash for it. I slipped past the human in the doorway, and into the loud, terrible mess of bodies and machinery.
I moved fluidly between objects and humans, careful to bump into no one. I found myself in front of Jerome's enclosure, with Jerome watching me desperately as I clicked every button on the enclosure's maintenance panel. And suddenly, the acrylic glass shot upward, into the ceiling above.
Jerome swung me easily into his back, and I held on for dear life as Jerome ran for the big metal freezer doors. He pried them open, and I saw Preston curled in a ball on the floor of his frosted box. There were tubes connected to the bottom of the box, and the tubes were filled with a blue, unidentifiable liquid. The tubes were blocked though, until before my eyes, a human pulled a lever, and the liquid poured into the box. Preston barely moved he was so cold.
No one noticed we were standing in the door until Jerome growled. They all looked at him, shocked and confused. Preston was officially engulfed and drowning in whatever the liquid was. I got off Jerome's back, and ran to the side of the box. Preston weakly lifted his head, and watched me silently.
His face dripped with whatever he was in, and the lava he was made of didn't glow. Which was bad, because it should always glow. With the frost on it, the box was weak. Jerome leaped at it full force, and it shattered. Jerome lifted Preston, and found a blanket randomly in the main room. Without stopping, Jerome wrapped Preston in the blanket.
He burst through a barred window, and we were outside, in nature. But it was not home. We were outside the pocket still, so this was not home just yet. But I could see home. Just before the horizon, was the forest. Home.
But we had to stop soon. Preston had stopped responding to us. A few miles away from that awful place, we set down Preston under a tree. He didn't respond when I waved my hand at him. Jerome tried to shake his shoulders, but he still didn't respond. I got worried, and told Jerome to keep Preston safe. I bounded to the castle.
Only an hour, and I reached the gate. I leaped clear over the ten foot tall gate, and landed directly in front of Seto, who gave a startled yelp. "Brandon! Where's Preston and Jerome?!" "Help! Now! Please!" He grabbed my hand and I told him the location.
He kneeled next to Preston, who was still unresponsive. He made a small purple orb the size of a golf ball, and dispersed it. A small galaxy formed from the dispersed orb. He plucked out two teeny tiny stars, and pressed both to Preston's head gently. His eyes fluttered open, and he flailed for open space.
Preston muttered a lot, and I caught one word- Rob. Someone he knows? Seto teleports us back to the castle, and a boy about Preston's age runs out. We'd been enchanted again, so we look human, and it doesn't hurt to be out of the pocket. He wears a dark blue sweatshirt, jeans, a wire headpiece with a pendant on the side, and a long cape. He has dark brown hair, cocoa brown eyes, and a very slightly accented voice.
"Preston!" He calls as he runs over. He pulls Preston into a hug, and Preston finally responds to stimulus. "Rob." He mutters. "I love you."
"I love you too, P." Rob takes off his cape and drapes it over Preston. He presses himself into Rob's side, and Rob doesn't care. But another few people come from the castle, and I recognize them. One is Mat, the other- Kara. Behind them is someone I don't recognize, but Jerome does.
"Benja!" "Biggums! What the hell?!" "I dunno! Not my choice!" "Well, go inside. You're gonna freeze. All of you. Now. Inside."
"But Miiiiiiiitch..." "Mat. Really?!" I asked. "It's freezing cold, and you're complaining about going inside?! If you weren't enchanted, your gears would freeze." "Oh. Yeah. Never mind." Inside, Seto made Mat back into himself. He wasn't a fantasy, just a fragile robot/ cyborg.
Mat's gears actually had frozen through the enchantment, and Kara and I had spent a good five minutes helping him break the ice. But during that five minutes, Mat's breath quickened, and he started to gasp for air. Seto noticed, and sent a warm burst of air. It melted the ice instantaneously, and Mat's suit adapted and fixed itself before healing Mat's damaged body again. It took a moment.
When that had fixed itself and healed Mat again, he and I ran into Sky, who was pacing in the dining hall. He froze when he saw me. "Pete?! How'd you get out?" "I don't know... Luck?" "I couldn't get there. I hate this damn weather!if you didn't know already, a damn blizzard blew through this week." "It did? But I didn't see anything." "Of course not. It was powder, and didn't last."
Seto called, "It was absolutely devastating. We all wanted to help, but couldn't get to you." Mitch took Jerome out of sight through a hallway, and reappeared with Jerome wrapped tightly in a shawl, and carrying a few more blankets and such. He gave Preston a blanket, who gave Rob his cape back. He handed me a blanket, and I pulled it around me. Mat took one, but Mat got a heated one, so his gears wouldn't freeze again and risk his life. That was dangerous. We couldn't risk losing Mat to the cold.

-Sky's POV-
Winter came with brutal snowstorms. No one went outside, so no one went to the pocket, which made everything boring and slow. There was an indoor arena on a lower floor, so that's where we normally found the teenage generation. Mitch, Jerome, Seto, Brice, Rob, Preston, and sometimes Vikk and Lachlan, but not often. Even though it was all inside, we always made sure Mat had a heated blanket close by. It was all very dangerous for the metal in his suit.
That freezes, and Mat could die. Mat didn't move much, but when he did, it was to pace for a few hours on end. Pete and Kara got twitchy, and so did Preston and Jerome. They were being confined to a castle for too long. They needed the pocket, but it was too dangerous with the constant storms around us. It was sad, having to watch them twitch and jump around, bored to death.
Rob and Preston got really good with weaponry, and Rob beat Mitch in a one versus one sword fight. Three year age difference, and the younger of the two won. He had less practice and training, but still beat Mitch, who had years of practice with me, nonetheless. Rob was out of breath, but happy. Preston and Vikk had a target practice together, and they tied. Both actually split one arrow with another arrow. It was impressive and scary at the same time. They're working too hard for no reason.
Let's challenge them.