“So today, I’m going to be you all tackle a challenge,” Dr. Diast said. “I’m not going to directly help yive you any hints or anything. I’m grading you on teamwork, problem solving skills, stuff like that.”

  “What is the challenge?” Lillia asked.

  "A challenge is like a difficult thing that you learn from aested by." Aira said.

  "I asked what this specific challenge is," Lillia sighed, burying her fa her hands. "Not what challenges are in general."

  “The six of you will have to work together to make it to the end of this dungeon here.” Diast said.

  Diast pointed behind us, auro see a grey storucture led in a mountainous pce. The ground sloped towards its main doors, and a gust of wind blew our way.

  “A dungeon?” I said. “That sounds dangerous.”

  “Yes Zeta, because dangerous things in the void have been so rare for us." Kalei said.

  “Quiet,” Diast said, cutting off my attempt at a eback, which I'm sure would've been a winner. “I'll be following you in there, because as I said I wanna observe what your skill levels are for a challenge area like this.”

  “Dr. Diast, are you saying if we’re immily going to die or something—" I started.

  “I’ll step in, yes.” Diast said. “But there’s nothing that dangerous in there.”

  “So you admit there’s danger in that scary pce over there!” I said.

  “Zeta, calm down,” Kalei said. “Even Laenie’s not freaking out as much as yht now.”

  Laenie hadn’t said a word since we dropped. She was staring forward with a far out look in her eyes.

  “Did the elevator thing break her?” I asked.

  “She might…need a few minutes,” Aira said, waving a hand in front of Laenie's face to no effect. “I’ve seen this before.”

  “ you give us a preview of what we expe here?” I asked as we marched down the snowy slope towards the dungeon. Kalei started smag her bloodsaber sheath, drumming along as we walked.

  “A test of your skills and abilities,” Dr. Diast said.

  “That doesn’t really tell me anything,” I said.

  “Because it’s supposed to be a surprise, girl,” Diast said.

  We all stopped at the doorway. It was covered in zig-zaggy etgs, and there was a cube at its ter that appeared to be the opening meism.

  “Oh, and you guys get to open the door,” Diast said, getting out a clipboard and a pen. “ure out how to open the door if it’s not opening. Your examination begins…now.”

  It took a few moments for one of us to actually step forward and opeone door. Lillia finally did and twisted the cube, which made the door e apart to the sides, shaking the ground as the dungeon opeo us.

  “It’s…really dark in there,” I said, turning to Dr. Diast. I scoffed when she didn’t give me an immediate answer. Oka got out her bloodsaber and ig, winking at me. “Oh!”

  I did the same along with the others as we ehe dungeon, our bloodsabers lighting the way.

  “That is so cool,” Kalei said, swooshing her bloodsaber around as she made ser sword noises.

  “You don’t o make the sound,” I said. “It already makes a sound when you move it around.”

  “Yeah but, ,” Kalei said. “You try.”

  I made ser sword oo as I swung my sword. “OK, fair. You win.”

  The first hallway ended, and we reached another door. There was more legible writiched into this, but it wasn’t in any nguage I knew (I only knew one nguage, but still).

  “What does it say?” I asked.

  “And what’s it written in?” Aira asked.

  “Some mythiguage that no one’s ever read before until us,” Oka said. “Wow.”

  “It says this is the first room,” Lillia said.

  “You read this nguage?” I asked. “What is it, some a nguage that no one’s read in like a thousand years before us?”

  “It’s…the nguage in Tyrant Rangers B-Alpha Deluxe Tri.” Lillia said sheepishly.

  “Dude, you read that nguage?” Kalei said. Lillia looked down, embarrassed, but Kalei quickly added, “That is so cool, I just looked up the decoder thing online when I ying it.”

  The door had the same meism as the front door. As soon as we were all ihe door closed behind us. The room behind it only had a table in it. On top of the table was an old book, a fork, and a pstic bowl with food in it. Kalei ran right up to it and picked up the bowl.

  “Oooh, it’s pasta,” Kalei said. She took the fork and poked around at the food. “It smells delicious.”

  “Kalei, don’t just eat from that bowl!” I said as Kalei took a huge bite.

  “Too te,” Oka said.

  “We don’t know what it is, it could be dangerous!” I said.

  “It’s delicious is what it is,” Kalei said, burping and chug the bowl across the room. “Hey, maybe it’s like a potion or something we o take to get to the room!”

  “Uh huh, so you ate it all,” I said.

  “Hey, maybe it’s like a potion or something only I o take,” Kalei said. “It was really good.”

  “What if it’s poison?” I asked.

  Suddenly, Kalei looked ed. Whiaturally super freaked me out.

  “What? What’s wrong?” I asked. “Was it poison? It’s poison, isn’t it?”

  “It’s really spicy,” Kalei said, her voice growing hoarse. “Does anyone have water?”

  "Oh!" I said. “Go out and grab the snow outside, maybe?”

  “But that’d be too cold!” Kalei said. “Ah, ah! It’s spicy!”

  “The door’s locked, anyways,” Oka said, cheg the door behind us.

  “Is Kalei gonna like explode? Would that be a thing we’d need Dr. Diast to step in on?” I asked.

  “Let’s treat this with the mi of teamwork and this being a void challenge,” Lillia said as Diast wrote something down on her clipboard. “Perhaps this itself is the challenge.”

  “What, Kalei eating the mystery pasta?” I said.

  “Potentially, or that part was a given," Lillia said. "What are we supposed to do when a teammate suffers an ailment?”

  “I don’t know, make them leave?” I asked. “Scold them for blowing it on step one?”

  Kalei said something, but her voice was so raspy now I couldn’t uand it.

  “I think that was a smug dig at you, Zeta.” Oka said.

  “Probably,” I said. “So what if I have also blown it on step one of plenty of things before, Kalei?”

  Kalei waved her hands around, filing into some attempt to fan her mouth. “Really…spicy.”

  “Zeta, isn’t yift weather?” Aira asked. “’t you just make a little rainstorm and fill that bowl with water?”

  “Hmmm,” I said. “That could work.”

  Kalei’s face was getting all sweaty so I figured I should probably act fast in case this was actually spicy poison pasta instead of just spicy pasta. Aira rao grab the bowl Kalei had thrown and held it up to me.

  “Just try not to get rain on me, please?” Aira asked. “htning?”

  "I'll do my best."

  I trated, and with my bloodsaber boosting my energy, I was able to gee a small stht over the bowl. Because of the cold temperature of the room, my little rainstorm was a small blizzard, which I’d never done before.

  “Whoa!” I said. Soon, the bowl was half filled with snow, that melted a bit by the time Aira ha off to Kalei.

  “Wait, wouldn’t there be spicy residue in…” Oka started as Kalei chugged the snow bowl. “There…”

  “Ahhh, much better,” Kalei said, then grabbed her mouth. “Ouch!”

  “Yep, spicy residue, I figured,” Oka said.

  “No, I burned my tongue really bad,” Kalei said. “I like feel the tastebuds being gone."

  A path in front of us opened, bringing more light into the room.

  “Yay, first challenge plete!” Aira said. “How are you feeling, Laenie?”

  Laenie murmured something about cold dungeon phobia, then hid behind Aira.

  “Shall we move on?” Lillia asked.

  A cold wind came from the opened path to the room, as if inviting us in. I had my mouth open just a bit, and the cold air chilled me right in my fangs.