Soon the hallway opened into a huge room, so large that the light from the flashlights did not reach the ceiling and walls, and only the echo of footsteps could be heard. All around, the shadows of the rocks and flaws in the path were lengthened by the angle and the amount of light, making them think that something was lurking where there was nothing. The interior of the cave seemed frightening.

Before long they turned a corner, noticed lights and voices ahead. They quickly turned off their flashlights and approached. They encountered a band of several men, composed mostly of nonis, but also a few humans, sirivis, and a couple of slimy-skinned men. However, Erica stumbled and fell, crashing down on some rocks that rolled noisily and rolled towards the group. They turned and pointed their guns at them, tense. The children prepared to defend themselves, when suddenly more people appeared from behind, ready to shoot at them.

There was a long, tense silence between the two sides. It was enough for one person to lose their temper and start a fight. Then heavy footsteps alarmed them. They all looked to the front, where the footsteps were approaching with parsimony. Finally the bandits there made way for the owner of the heavy feet. The children found themselves face to face with a burly noni, with two large horns and a beard so long that it reached his navel. Captain Beard-Beard was frightening, though not as frightening as the boy had described him at the entrance. But his appearance was what mattered least.

—So much timitio to cover his entire ship— Erica recalled.

The captain looked haughtily at them, then at his subordinates.

—So?— he pleaded, in a deep, powerful voice— I'm called to deal with intruders, and you bring me before some children?

Beard—Beard's men hid their heads, somewhat embarrassed. The captain then gave the man next to him a slap in the face.

—How is it possible that I am surrounded by weak men?— he then approached the children— Hey, youngsters, don't play around these parts, it's dangerous. Go away before a territi finds you.

With those words, the three felt more relieved. His first reaction was not to kill them, but to treat them like kids. At least he was not hostile.

—Wait— asked Erica— we didn't come here to play. We want to get timitio out of this fountain.

This made him arch an eyebrow.

—A kid like you wants to draw timitio? Don't make me laugh! There's nothing you can get out.

—I know I can get some out— Erica pleaded— Look, we won't bother you. There should be enough for everyone, right? Just leave us on our own, please, old man.

Liliana and Arturo were surprised at the humility with which Erica spoke to the captain. However, that was the way she worked; someone so strong deserved respect. Beard—Beard pondered her words for a moment, studying Erica. At last he sighed, resigned.

—I can't say no to such conviction, you remind me of me when I was your age— he resigned himself, whereupon the children rejoiced— I'll allow you to go take out whatever timitio you want... on one condition.

Erica prepared to deny any stupidity like "give me all your money" or "serve me for ten years", but the captain demanded something different.

—You will face me— he said.

With this, his subordinates burst into shrieks and exclamations of excitement. The children swallowed their surprise, somewhat nervously.

—What?

—That's right, a test of your determination, little girl.

—It's not fair! I can't beat you at my level— said the brika.

—Nobody said you have to beat me— Beard—Beard pointed out— That would be ridiculous. No, just one hit is enough. Not a touch or a rub, a real blow, on the torso or on the face, but you will have to do it by yourself. You will have five minutes.

Erica tensed, then turned to her friends. They nodded to let her know they trusted her.

—You can do it, Erica— said Liliana.

—You've become strong, a simple blow should be possible— said Arturo.

The girl remembered Tur, the brutality of their fight, the helplessness she had felt. She wondered if something like that would happen again. The shouts and whistles of Beard-Beard's crew filled the cave with noise, but fell silent when the captain raised a hand to call for silence.

—Clear the area!— he commanded— We don't need any obstacles!

The men quickly moved away. The crew had arranged enough lanterns around, there was plenty of light to fight comfortably. Liliana and Arturo also moved away, somewhat worried. In less than a minute Erica and Beard-Beard were alone within ten meters of each other.

—Are you sure you want to go through with this, little girl? If you're afraid, this is your last chance to run away— the captain told her.

—I am sure!— roared the girl.

Beard-Beard smiled, excited.

—You know that I'm an experienced forteme, don't you?

—I know.

—Well, that's the way I like it. Come at me with everything you've got.

The captain pointed to one of his subordinates in the distance.

—You! Yes, you. Give the game away with your gun.

The bandit nodded, picked up his laser pistol and fired it into the sky. The noise was not as loud as a gun with metal bullets, but loud enough to be easily heard.

There was no turning back now, Erica had five minutes to go all out. Tense, she ran straight at the captain. It looked like she was going to attack head on, but she jumped to the side at the last second. She moved all around to try to throw him off the scent and circled back around to appear in front of him.

Then, with all her strength she punched him in the middle of his face. Her fist sank into his nose and sent him like a train into the wall a few feet away. He impacted with such force that he sank into the rock, then he dropped on the ground, unconscious and defeated.

There was a dense silence.

For a moment everyone was stunned. Erica looked at the man lying on the ground, the very man she had feared so much until a moment ago. Then her hand still clenched into a fist.

—Huh?

Above, soon a little black ball rose up from the noni's body. His timitio. The girl had to get closer to get a good look at it. She realized it was no bigger than a cherry.

—You're kidding me— she growled.

But the bandits burst into wails and screams of horror.

—She beat the captain!— they pointed out.

—She's a monster!

—How is this possible! No one can beat the captain!

Erica turned to the timitio, which was floating in front of her face. She thought about taking it, but gave up. It just wasn't worth it. In that moment, Beard-Beard raised an arm high in the air, reaching for the parasite that had escaped him.

—No, my timitio!— he cried, with a mouthful of blood— My precious timitio!

Erica put a hand to her head, uncomfortable with the whole situation. She couldn't believe she had wasted so much time with a guy like that.

—He can cover the whole ship with his timitio!— she repeated the boy's words in a squeaky little voice— Fucking hell! I should have known he was lying!

She soon returned and joined her friends, who seemed to feel the same way. Liliana covered half her face with one hand.

—I knew the boy was hiding something from us, but I never thought it was this— she admitted, embarrassed— I'm sorry.

—It doesn't matter— grunted Erica— let's just go.

Her friends agreed, but as they set off, they noticed several of the bandits taking to the air on flying motorcycles. One of them carried his captain onto the cargo seat.

—Let's hurry up, boys!— ordered the captain— This girl is a brika, I'm sure her friends are too! Let's grab some timitio before they dry up the fountain!

His subordinates replied with a joint exclamation of affirmation.

—Well, do what you want. There should be plenty anyway— grunted Erica to herself.

But then two more bandits appeared from the entrance, in a flying vehicle much larger than the motorcycles.

—Captain, we're ready with the tank!— said one of them— With this, we can extract all the timitio from the fountain!

—What?!— Erica yelled.

—Hahahaha!— laughed Beard—Beard heartily— Very good, guys! Now come on, let's take all the timitio for ourselves!

The bandits flew off at high speed through the cave.

—Oh no, I won't let you!— the brika shouted.

She quickly jumped towards Beard-Beard, but before she could reach him, a pile of his subordinates got in her way and collided with her. Motorcycles and men flew everywhere. The girl was not hurt, but that diversion gave Beard-Beard enough time to get out of sight with the rest of his men.

—Argh!— she exclaimed, and stomped on the ground so hard she broke it— Come back here, you fool!

—This is wrong— said Liliana.

—Of course it's wrong!— said Erica.

—No, it's because of them— explained Arturo— Beard-Beard and his men have no way of dealing with the territi. Erica, we have to help them.

—What? No, no way!— she protested— They've already wasted enough of our time!

With that, Liliana folded her arms.

—Then do what you want, we'll go save them— she said, and Arturo nodded on her side.

Erica gritted her teeth in irritation, but in the end she let it go.

—Fine. You two always keep me company no matter what I do. It would be unfair if I didn't do the same— she put her hands on her hips, she had already turned the page— All right! Let's go and save those fools, whether they want it or not!

Liliana and Arturo seemed much more satisfied with that proposal.

—Yes!— said Liliana.

—Let's go!— accepted Arturo.

They turned to Beard-Beard's men who had stayed behind to stop Erica. First of all, they made sure they were not dying. Then they broke into a run after the rest of the bandits.

The cave was sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, sometimes it seemed to have only one path, and sometimes it split into several. Nowhere was there complete silence, for even if one was alone, one could hear whispers in the distance. But the children had no such opportunity, for they were too busy chasing the pirates. Every time they caught up with them, another group of pirates would swoop down on the children and distract them from Beard-Beard. There seemed to be no end to the cave or the number of bandits.

At one point they climbed a slope and appeared in a large area. The children stopped at the sight of the bandits' lights, with their flying motorcycles parked. The rock road rose up and continued high, like a bridge. Below this bridge was a precipice so large that no bottom could be seen, only deep black. The children approached the miscreants, only to notice that they were terrified. For moments they wondered why, until they noticed, with some difficulty, movement in the shadows.

—Territi!— pointed one of the bandits— We are surrounded by territi!

—Don't be afraid, men— Beard-Beard told them, much calmer than his subordinates— I have something these monsters hate: a weapon specially designed to destroy them!

Then the noni took something out of his jacket and raised it high. It was an object that emitted a faint green light, it looked like a glove.

—It can't be!— cried Erica— A pulse weapon?!

—It looks a lot like the one the legendary hero had— observed the mage— Looks like these bandits aren't so dumb after all.

—With this we can drive the territi away without any trouble!— the captain assured them.

The men looked relieved. To put an end to all the commotion, Beard—Beard threw the glowing device towards the nearest territi. However, the glove only collided gently with his face and fell to the ground. The monster didn't even realize it had been attacked, it didn't care, for it only wanted the timitio inside Beard-Beard's body.

The children put a hand to their faces, dumbfounded by the captain's idiocy. The monsters ran towards the bandits, while another group ran towards them, attracted by Erica's timitio.

—Shit!

—Erica, the pulse weapon!— Arturo told her— Use it!

Erica ran towards the luminous glove while her friends blocked the territis' way. In one movement she grabbed it and put it on. The glove covered the back of her hand with metallic plates. The glow came from a device that emitted a triangle of green light that vibrated at a high frequency over her knuckles. As soon as she put it on, she turned around and defended herself from the monsters. She quickly dodged a claw, then gained distance, raised her shielded hand and punched the first one in the face.

The punch made contact with the glass plate of the territi. The device emitted several pulses in the instant of the impact, making the head of the monster vibrate. The thick glass shattered and broke into hundreds of tiny pieces. Erica's punch continued inward, crushing the monster's rotting brain. It killed it in an instant.

—It works!

There was finally something that allowed her to go all out against the territi. Erica was relieved, but there were too many monsters to rest yet. She immediately disposed of the other territi on her, then the ones surrounding her, the ones bothering Liliana and Arturo, and finally the ones harassing the helpless bandits. Erica dealt each blow as if she had to smash a concrete wall. Although she didn't have the help of her timitio, she killed enough territi to scare the rest away.

After several minutes of fighting, the children and the bandits managed to catch their breath. The territi were still there, stalking them from the shadows, but they would not dare attack for another good while.

—Excellent, Erica!— Liliana hugged her.

—You did it, you saved us all!— Arturo cheered.

She did not know what to say, so she simply smiled and nodded silently. Then they were surrounded by the bandits and Beard-Beard, who pointed their laser weapons at them. Tense, they turned to the captain.

—Yes, yes, very nice, but we had everything under control— he said— now give me back that pulse weapon, please. It took me a world to get it, and we'd like to start extracting the timitio as soon as possible.

The children looked in all directions, but saw no timitio. However, as they looked more closely into the black abyss, they realized that it was not a hole they saw, but a lagoon. It was so black and opaque that nothing reflected, so thick that it produced no vibrations. Then the three of them looked around; the timitio lagoon stretched out all around in the darkness ahead. They were on a peninsula, surrounded by the parasite. The immense amount of timitio was exorbitant.

—Is all this part of the fountain?— asked Erica— Do you want to take all this with you? It's a whole lake.

—Yes, well, I'll admit it's a lot more than we thought— Beard-Beard spat back— I guess now we can both take what we want.

Erica was about to nod, when a wicked idea occurred to her.

—Oh, you think so?— she asked mockingly— Too bad you can't get any drops out.

—What are you talking about?— argued the captain— With my machines, it's enough....

—No, no, Beard-Beard, I'm talking about the fact that you don't have permission— indicated the brika— Or did you think you could just come in and take whatever you want? You need permission... from me.

Beard-Beard was first surprised and then protested.

—Come on, girl! This is no time for games!

—I'll decide whether you can go on or not— Erica snapped— in fact, I'll test you. You and me, one punch.

Beard-Beard took a step back as he recognized the test.

—But that's impossible! You're a brika, you'll never let me get near you!

But Erica laughed at his surprise.

—No, Beard-Beard, you misunderstood— then she raised a firm fist next to her face— I mean that you will have to take one of my blows, standing up. If you succeed, I'll give you back this little toy and you can take all the timitio you want. If you don't... you'll go back home with nothing.

—It's not fair!— protested the captain.

It seemed to Liliana that Erica was humiliating the poor noni a little too much. She was about to ask her to stop, but Arturo stopped her with a gesture and shook his head, indicating that it was better not to act. Beard-Beard, for his part, fell on his knees. He did not even dare to attempt Erica's test.

—I accept my defeat— he mumbled.

—Well, you're not as dumb as I thought.