Spoiler!
Spoiler!Pretty cute Mag you have there. :3 I still have mixed feelings about my decision to not mention Mags in my story. Mags are an important part of the PSO experience, but my chapters are long enough already without having to explain what everyone's Mags are doing. Aki's Mag died in my first story and I haven't mentioned Mags since then. You've done a good job of occasionally including Mag references in your story, though!
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
- Extra -Spoiler!
At twelve thirty one a campship crystalizes into existence. In the emptiness of space from a watery portal it firsts comes out like spikes instantly frozen in space and melts into a large gray ship zooming at full speed. From within this large ship, far outside the limits of a blue ocean planet, Yoshi watches as it gets slowly bigger through a wide window in wonder. She’s never been to another planet outside of Naberius before. While she does know of the planet she’s never been to the real Vorpal. How far different will it be from the simulations? How will it feel like getting there? Are the Oceanids just as violent? Especially since the Oceanids are not what she’s after. The tan newearl of teal hair looks over at the other newearl browsing floating screens and bulky CAST loading a launcher. Now that she thinks on it she’s never been in an official campship before either. Having only ridden in school vessels that jump rather close to the planet, she did now know it will be a while before they enter its atmosphere. It’s proven to be a rather boring experience thus far.
“We’re a bit far away from the planet aren’t we?” the tan newearl asks. She turns her body to face the others and points out the window.
On the other side of the ship Yvonna slaps away her screens and leans against the other window. “We’ve probably jumped to Naberius so many times the fleet probably feels very confident in how we approach. May know a lot of safe spots for students to boot, but that isn’t the case with everywhere else.” The newearl in black armor folds her arms into each other and shrugs. “Or in other words, we might be entering combat as soon as we get there. So why don’t you take the time to get used to it?” The black hair woman pats her own back and flicks a finger pointed at Yoshi upwards.
Yoshi eagerly nods in agreement. Just as Yoshi removes the bulky great sword from behind a voice outside the room radios in. “Oh no you don’t,” a woman shouts. “The campship is not a place for you to freely smack everything and scratch the windows.”
“Relax, everything is going to be fine. She doesn’t even know the arts for it.”
“That changes nothing. For all I know, she’s going to learn the most powerful ones in here.”
Stamato gestures Yoshi to walk to the center of the ship and does the same. “Do not worry yourself, ma’am, I have it under control. We would not endanger your life and value the ship more than we know.” Everyone waited for a reply but none came. Seeing as no one is telling them to stop now, Stamato slouches forward and gives a thumbs up. “Now then . . . where to start? Yoshi minor, aim your—”
Yoshi quickly raises a palm to stop the large man and shakes it around. “Just Yoshi, thank you,” the teal hair girl interrupts. Behind her, the blue robed mag bobs in agreement.
“Yoshi,” the CAST corrects himself and nods, “Let us begin by aiming your blade at me. This will prove very useful in the mists of combat. Make sure to aim the tip directly at me or you may end up hurting yourself.” Though confused at first Yoshi does as she is told and switches from an aggressive hunter’s stance to a more defensive one. She holds the blade near her head, perpendicular to her body.
“Good,” the CAST confirms. “Now pour your energy into the hilt and launch the spear at me. Seeing as this is all new to you, I will not blame you if—”
Without warning the spear within shoots out at the black CAST at blazing speeds. In the blink of an eye, the CAST effortlessly catches the weapon and tucks it under his shoulder. In between the two of them this whole time is a bright blue line that connects the spear to the sword.
“Very good,” says the CASTs and begins to caress the line. “Now see this line between us?”
Yoshi gives her sword a tug and nods. “Yeah.”
“This is what you use to hold on to the spear or warp to it. Let it be your guide. All you have to do it ride it. Now . . . try to warp to me.”
Yoshi scratches her head and stares at the CAST in great confusion. In a flat manner she responds, “I don’t know how to do that.”
“You have made an attempt to become a Force in the past, correct? Think of it as a mirage escape, only you are consuming the tether.”
Yvonna raises both her arms in the background and tilts her head in Yoshi’s direction. “I wouldn’t say it’s like that, but sure, why not? Don’t worry, buttercup. I’ve gone through this many times with my boy. You’re not going to die trying this out. Go nuts.”
“I too will keep anything from happening to you. I have made sure to set precautions as we spoke. Whenever you are ready, Yoshi.”
Since Yvonna didn’t give any advice, the mag begins to upload various tips from all sorts of people onto Yoshi’s glasses. Some of them being short animations, others being words of how they got through this themselves.
The young girl nervously looks to the line, then the sword, then at Stamato. She takes a deep breath and thinks back to what few days she can remember. The better days when it was just about learning and not being mocked as failure. Displace myself. Displace my image. For the first few attempts she got it to work. For a split second she would vanish from sight. Only instead of appearing by the armored CAST to do the coolest back attack she once saw in an image, she instead finds herself flying into the ceiling. Other times she drags into the floor, being pulled by the sword itself.
Over time she gets better and better. At the start she realizes she stops too quickly and flies off in a random direction depending on how she hops. Later she realizes she stops too late and crashes into Stamato red-orange shoulder plate. When riding the entire tether she didn’t ram into the spear end like she feared. Instead it seems if she consumes the tether all the way it just displaces her slightly upwards. When Yoshi thinks on this a little she wonders, maybe this is why people end up flying through the air when they do this. Now it is time to do farther jumps.
After fifteen minutes of blinking back and forth she finally manages to get it to work. On her last try she blinks through the air and flips onto Stamato’s shoulder, almost falling off shortly after. After thirty minutes of failed warping and small successes she became the happiest girl in the system to have finally nailed this.
In her great excitement Yoshi flails her sword in the air and screams, “Yeah, I did it.” So caught up the moment of her celebration she also chucks her sword to the floor and punches the air. Before the sword can come close to reaching the floor Stamato catches the weapon, replaces the spear and removes Yoshi from his shoulder.
“Now then, I believe it is time for lesson two.”
“Are you serious?” Yoshi whines. Instantly going from happy to grumpy she slumps forward and stomps around. “I barely just got lesson one out of the way— can’t we take a break?”
“Calm yourself, this one will be much easier. Here, take back your blade,” says Stamato as he offers back the large sword. The clearly unhappy Yoshi takes back her weapon as Yvonna laughs and returns to the ship’s center. “Now . . . look into the weapon, where the spear is or any crevasse. Tell me what you see.”
Yoshi lifts a brow but peers into the weapon anyways. “I don’t know, blue I guess? It’s the same color as the photon line.”
“Now drop everything onto the floor but keep one half of the blade on hand. Not only does it keep sand, dirt or grime out of your weapon but it is also for grabbing onto things. Such as its spear to put it back together. This is why you will find some people using it to climb.”
Yoshi splits the blade in two and drops the bottom end of the spear onto her foot. With one of the two sword halves in hand Yoshi urges the blade to grab onto the spear. In great amazement she watches as several glowing tendrils grab onto the pole and snap it towards the blade. With the spear in its slot again, Yoshi does the same with the second half to complete the weapon. Seeing as it is a very quick and easy to do process, Yoshi does it again but scatters the parts in greater distances.
“Alright, that’s cool, I guess. How come you didn’t teach me this first?”
“I needed a better grasp of what you can do before we could continue. What do you think of lesson two?”
Yoshi looks to the ceiling and gets one of the blade halves to cling to the ceiling. As she dangles and watches herself slowly descend to the ground, she looks up at Stamato and says, “It’s seems pretty useful but doesn’t seem very strong either. Having to keep myself up is pretty lame.”
There is a pause as the CAST ponders to himself for a moment. Judging by the vibes he could be giving off, Yoshi guesses he pretty impressed. Slowly the Stamato starts, “This is why climbing is not recommended. Their strength and length is affected by your photon output and efficiency. The more power behind it, the farther away you can warp or grab. The better you can manage your output, stronger your grip.”
“So how would you rate me?”
Before Stamato could answer, Yvonna taps the window and points a thumb in the direction of a yellow barrier guarding an empty warp pool. “As much as I would like to see the lessons continue we also jump in two minutes. Make sure your gear is prepped and get your snacks assorted . . . and I’m talking to you Stats.”
Stamato attaches a knife to his left shoulder and gives it a rough shake. “We may need a weapon for every occasion.”
“You don’t need seven of the same rifles, Stats,” scolds Yvonna.
Samato looks up and lifts a finger. “Seven heavily modified weapons,” the CAST corrects the armored newearl. “Also, Yoshi you confuse me greatly. By all accounts you should be equal to— if not greater— than your father. Why you are rated so low as a Force does not make any sense. Then again when looking into your mother. . .”
“Stop being a creeper, Stats. And then you wonder why the women are scared of you.”
“You didn’t have to go there, captain.”
“Whatever, our people don’t like others peering into our stuff. Deem outsider eyes as unworthy or something, I forget. Anyways if you want to see into our stuff, you have to be one of us. A Melchiorian.”
“Then if you would be so kind as to—”
“No,” Yvonna rudely interrupts. As she does the woman covers Yoshi’s ears and hisses harsh words over the girl’s head. “Even so,” Yoshi hears when unhanded. “I refuse to believe her mother is what’s holding her back. So I want to see an end to it right here, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“That’s right. Everyone to the warp pool and jump after me.” Yvonna grabs Yoshi’s shoulder and points to herself. “After me,” she repeats. “When I give the word, then you two jump down, got it? Alright you two, training mode is over.”
Two mags, one by the entrance floor and one by the entrance ceiling, fly to their master’s sides. Yoshi grabs the hilt on her back and rapidly nods. Afterwards she runs to the edge of the pool and kneels next to the giant CAST. As they do, Yvonna places a finger on her ear and says to herself, “I heard you laughing. I told you watching her crash around like that would be funny.”
Spoiler!That was a very informative lesson. Were those based on actual PAs from the game? I quite enjoyed the explanation of the "science" behind the arts. Since the game leaves most of it to our imaginations, sometimes we have to fill in the blanks for ourselves. I also liked seeing someone actually learn a PA, since the game merely teaches them to us using discs. How do you think that works, anyway? The PA disc includes instructions on how to perform the PA, teaching the player character how to do it? And higher level discs are more advanced forms? That would be my guess, anyway. In my story, I sometimes take cues from in-game PAs but I never went into a detailed analysis of them like you did there. P.S. Stats makes a pretty good teacher!
Also, I forgot that Yoshi hasn't actually been to Vopar/Vorpal before. Just like I've never actually shown Amduscia in my story--it's only been seen in a VR sim.
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
Spoiler!Nah, I've just spent a good while thinking about how it works since it's introduction with Henry. Though admittingly the warping part didn't come until I got to try some FFXV, and have never given it much action even when Henry squared up against Armon. Before that it was shot a harpoon to pull your opponent in or use the harpoon to zip line to its location. So it was a lot more physical to be in line with the thought of Hunter advance class. As far as PA disks go, I always thought them as 80's/90's style workout videos and notes you take on the field. Since you find them out and about and may have an epiphany or something while doing your thing. Since the game skips a lot of day to day life stuff (such as eating, restroom breaks, waking up, workout routines, paperwork), I figure that's why they're instant in game.
I would mention Yoshi being to Amduscia too, but she was only there for like less than 10mins before having to be pulled out. So I wouldn't really call it a visit.
- Extra -Spoiler!
Just as planned Yvonna jumps in first. In a solid, but unnecessarily flashy, front flip she jumps into the warp pool and instantly becomes one with it. The moment her legs touch the water crystal spikes jet out all around her. They reach a point where they are as tall as her body and Yvonna along with the spikes are quickly sucked in. In a blue glow everything returns to the water and settle as if nothing ever happened. Now Yoshi and Stamato kneel by the edge of the pool and watch as the now blue pulse meteors towards the ocean planet. Right by Yoshi’s head, her mag displays Yvonna’s altitude, speed and projected destination. The seabed.
“Hey Stats, if we’re going to the seabed, how come we aren’t using any special gear?”
“The planet’s seabed is very unlike anything we have seen before. You will see why when we get there.”
Did the water provide a lot of oxygen? Was the planet’s pressure far different from a normal planet’s ocean? On that note are the natives underwater as aggressive as the ones in her surface simulations? Yoshi has never been below the planet’s surface before. The only experience she has with this planet is its many beaches and sandbars. Whether they were or not are soon going to be answered. After a few seconds Yvonna lands and immediately opens a channel.
“Contact! Wait for the telepipe,” she shouts over nonstop loud banging noises.
Now the pool shows an image of the seabed. Seeing this image and hearing the gunfire made Yoshi want to jump into the action badly, but before she could get up Stamato reaches out and bars her from moving closer. One second later the CAST points at the wireframe pool with a target in it, lifts his arm and nods. The telepipe is set. In an explosion of energy Yoshi eagerly leaps into the pool with a hand on her sword hilt. After Yoshi crystalizes Stamato gets up, steps off the pool ledge and falls like a brick after her. The next thing they know the sound of creatures and gun fire fill the air and they find themselves behind the cover of ancient rainbow ruins.
“Stats, sweep the area. How many targets are there?”
“One moment, commander.” Stamato peers over the corner of their cylindrical cover and scans a cave like dead end using only a single eye. Though outside forces would update his map for him, he and his team needs more detail of the situation. In a second he comes back around to says, “Seven. Five ARCs, two appear to be summoners with two Signo Beats. All of them look to be civilians, however we should not let our guard down. I advise we engage before they contact anyone.”
Yvonna agrees and looks to Yoshi. “Alright kid, time to make mama proud. Get behind them and soften them up. We’ll provide suppressive fire.”
Yoshi attempts to get up but is held down by a hand.
“A word of advice,” says Stamato as he places a hand on Yoshi’s shoulder. With his other hand he shoots over the cover to keep their foes busy.
“Your sword is not like a Hunter’s. It is not solid and is only as strong as its user. Thus it is recommended you parry rather than block attacks. Good luck.”
Under the hail of bullets Yoshi peeks up and aims her sword over their column shield. Right as one of the Signo Beats, a humanoid robot with an energy blade on its arm, explodes Yoshi launches her spear and warps right behind the enemy. Lucky for her all of them save for one fail to notice her arrival. Before the one person could warn the others Yoshi uses the momentum of her warp to plow into the man and crush him into a wall. If the shaking of the wall isn’t enough, it’s enough noise to let them know she is there anyways. Just as two others look behind to see what is going on, Yoshi whirlwinds into them with enough speed to catch them several times with the sword and even lift off the ground. When the two bodies finally fly through the air Yoshi chops back down into the fourth man to complete her attack.
“This is great,” she cheers to the act of her photon art like move. “How did I do that?”
Yoshi didn’t get any time to reflect on it. Behind her she could hear the groans of her first victim and sees the panic face of her soon to be fifth. Since Yoshi didn’t feel like running back to him she chooses to launch half of the blade in his direction instead. In one silent but powerful ejection she watches the half blade crash into his face. It is a blow powerful enough to send the man reeling in pain, crying on the floor.
Now the panicked man gets up in an attempt to flee. Just as he does an object shoots into his back and electrocutes him to the floor. Yoshi looks over to her team she could see Yvonna doing the same to her other four opponents.
“Stats, did you hear any of them try to make contact?”
“No commander, it appears all sense has left them as soon as you arrived.”
“Good, it seems we’re still undetected. Let’s tag them and move on.”
“Right away, commander.”
Stamato reaches into one of his metal pouches and draws several black circular objects. With them in hand he kneels down by the closest person and plants one on their head before moving to the next. Yvonna does the same.
“Commander to Mother Hen, over,” Yvonna says with a finger over her ear.
“This is Mother Hen, go ahead, commander,” Yoshi could hear a woman’s voice respond.
“We’ve tagged five to beam up.”
“Acknowledged, bringing them in now.”
In a flash of white light Yoshi could see all the bodies vanish and slightly lift up into the air. Now a second voice responds, one similar to the voice that told them not to train in the camp ship.
“All five prisoners have successfully been sent to their cells. Keep up the good work, Zelatus, Mother Hen out.”
Yvonna begins to clap and Stamato hands Yoshi back her spear. “Nice work, Yoshi,” congratulates Yvonna. “I was worried you couldn’t hit another person.”
“I was not,” says Stamato. “She has a record of getting into fights in the academy.”
Yoshi cringes a little and rubs the back of her head. “Heh, dad says I got that from my mom’s side of the family.”
“I would not be so sure. Your father has a record of killing people before. It would not be surprising if you got that from him. Also we should get back to the mission.”
Yvonna punches Stamato on the shoulder and shoves him when she hurts her hand. “That’s not how people work, Stats,” she scolds. “They don’t inherit that sort of thing and don’t say that so casually. Don’t you have any tact? And you,” she points at Yoshi. “Stop getting into fights. Do you know how much of a headache you’re being for your father when you do?”
Yoshi puts her sword back together and walks away. “Yeah, yeah I know. Can we just get back to the mission already?”
The tan newearl wonders onward in deep thought. My father a murderer?, she thinks. No, that can’t be right. He’s just a teacher, he can’t harm anyone. What could he possibly do other than magic tricks? Without thinking Yoshi looks to the right and continues to think. An image of their house’s armory flashes in her mind. It causes her to stop in place. That’s just a collection. It’s all for the school . . . right? Mom wouldn’t let us stash that many weapons. Some of those are just her things for ARK missions . . . right? . . . Ouch.
Her pondering is interrupted by a small yellow pillar sticking out of the floor. In a way, judging by the green gem imbedded in it and the larger base it stuck out of, it kind of looks like a switch. Wondering what it could be for Yoshi dances around it. She looks to the random blue structures and their rainbow neon lines. Everything looks broken or not worth hiding anything in. So she looks to the blue ocean rocks, the cave like walls and ceiling of large holes. Beyond these holes a strange floating water surface could be seen waving above. It is like the ocean is upside down and the air is where the water should be.
Yoshi steps around some more and splashes her feet in shallow water.
Well, most of it anyways.
“Wow,” she gasps and accidently rests on the pillar. As the teal hair girls looks to the magical floating ocean above, the green gem begins to glow and the pillar sinks into the floor halfway. When it does, what little water could be seen by her feet vanishes from sight and reveals an underground pathway in a well-built foundation. A door slides into the floor and a staircase shimmers in the ocean light. “Oh, hey,” she shouts. “I found something.”
Having been watching her the whole time, Stamato and Yvonna join by her side to examine the ancient stair case. Though it is ancient in origin, it looks strange with the modern plating that was slapped over it. It was as if they planned to stay a while and tried to transform the area to their liking.
“I wonder where it leads?” Just as Yoshi says this, her mag zooms off inside ahead of them. “Hey,” Yoshi shouts while she reaches out. “Where are you going?”
“Same old, same old,” answers Yvonna. “They didn’t do this at first, but after a while it wasn’t uncommon to see your dad send his mag to scout ahead. Seems like old habits haven’t died with it. Don’t worry, it’ll be back.”
As predicted the mag did come back. Flying out of the tunnel, it halts at Yoshi’s face and produces a 3D layout of the entire tunnel and the rooms it connects to. It wasn’t a large location. Three small rooms and a rather large one at the end can be seen. Tunnels that appear natural to the environment connect these rooms to the main corridor. Seeing as these rooms are slightly fading and incomplete, it seems the mag did not bother to look into them.
“Yoshi, you guard the rear. I’ll take point,” says Yvonna and makes her way down the stair case. In a single file line Stamato follows behind and gestures Yoshi to stay silent.
The tan newearl opens up a tiny window and begins to type in it. Seeing as Stamato is a CAST, and that Yoshi has questions she wants to ask, she begins to ask through text chat.
[If my dad’s mag likes to scout, what do your guy’s mags do?]
>[Mine specializes in analyzation. It helps me determine the strength, angle and thickness of an object and the caliber I would need to penetrate it. It can also link with my vision to provide me three hundred sixty degrees of vision should I wish it. Yvonna’s is similar but focuses more on weak spots and pressure points. In CQC combat it would highlight the recommended points she should hit next. Or so I’m told.]
[Oh, that sounds awesome. Are the natives also as violent as they say they are?]
>[Since the Darker threat has lessen over the years, the natives have not been as aggressive as they used to be. However, something seems off.]
[How so?]
Suddenly Yvonna lifts her arm and stops the party. Faintly they could all hear distance footstep in a nearby tunnel. One of the tunnels Yoshi’s mag didn’t check.
>[It is not natural for them to flee at the very sight of us.]
The trio turns into the mysterious tunnel and could already see a light on the other side. Slowly, in an effort to make as little noise as possible, they slide against the moist rock wall and try to get as good of a look of what could possibly be inside. When their eyes adjust to the light, they can see a lone tan girl in a modernized room, just as tan as Yoshi, sit by herself. As the little girl stares at the ground and kicks her feet in boredom four men can be seen guarding her as if she were a prisoner.
Yvonna silently directs Stamato to take the other wall. With the aid of the tunnel’s darkness none saw a large robot dart from right to left across the natural corridor. On the count of three, the two take up their rifles and march on inside. The moment they enter the room they open fire and expertly take down the four guards.
This whole time Yoshi watches the little girl as the men fell. The moment the forth one hits the ground Yoshi see her gasp and cover her cheeks in shock. To this Yvonna and Stamato start to tend to the girl and she begins to sob, but something about the way she did it annoys Yoshi.
“Is she who we’re looking for?” Yoshi asks. The teal hair newearl regroups with everyone and folds her arms behind her head.
“No,” answers Yvonna, “But ARCs must be terrible if they’re kidnapping little girls. It’s okay, sweetie. We’re going to take you somewhere safe. Don’t cry.”
Stamato turns to Yoshi and gives her sword a shake. Stay focus. He scans the room and guides Yoshi’s shoulder to walk with him. “Without warning ARCs stole one of our cruisers and left a confusing mess behind them so they couldn’t be followed. You may have seen it on the news before when you were young. The little girl could also be one of the many unfortunate people aboard that vessel.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Yvonna says in a sweet voice behind them.
“No,” the little girl shouts.
“We have to move if you want to get home.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m safer right here,” she pouts and flails.
Yvonna takes out one of her makers and tries to pin it on the girl. “Then how about we teleport up together?”
The little girl slaps it away and shouts, “No.” Not giving up Yvonna tries it again only for the girl to grab it and throw it away. While they watch the second one fly away Yoshi thinks she could see the first one move a little, though she wasn’t sure if it did or if she is just seeing things. So she bends down to pick up, but before she could, the little girl claws it up and runs off.
“Hey get back here, you brat,” Yoshi shouts and chases after her. The rest follow. “Is it safe to beam her with two on her at the same time?”
“I am not sure,” answers Stamato. “I have never seen a report including a situation such as this.”
“We have to catch her before she runs into anyone . . . anyone . . .” Yvonna begins to slow down and catch her breath. For some reason Stamato seems to do the same, but in his case his joints stop bending all the way.
Yoshi silently gasps in fright. She didn’t understand why but she feels like a fist is squeezing down hard on her heart. Like the somehow, some way, she knew what was happening. “The girl,” she whispers and glare in her direction. An image of their insides and swift moving sand appears in her head. Blood oozes out and she imagines the hard breathing of her allies and their slow death. In one swift motion Yoshi twirls the sword off her back and launches it with all her rage at the girl. As soon as she warp to the little girl’s location she takes one of the blades, uses the tendrils to grab the girls face and rams it into her knee.
The little girl shouts and clutches her face. She falls to the floor screams in pain.
Yoshi goes in for a finishing blow but hesitates and screams instead, “You’re a Diga!”
The girl peeks through her fingers and glares. “You bitch,” she growls and floods the tunnel with sand. In an effort to keep the girl from escaping Yoshi blindly swings in the air and charges forward. When it finally begins to clear up the girl is gone, leaving only Yoshi standing, mixed in all sorts of feelings, alone with her team resting on the floor.
“Damn it,” Yoshi half yells. She cracks the plated wall with a violent punch that makes her remember where she is. “No,” she whispers to herself and looks to her friends. “No, no, now’s not the time.” With great fear for their lives she runs to her team. By the time she reaches them to cast Resta she’s already a sobbing mess. On her knees she shakes Yvonna and cries, “Are you guys alright? Please tell me you’re alright,” she pleas.
Yvonna grunts as if she ate something bad and just wanted to go to bed. She clutches her chest and lifts up just in time to see Yoshi’s wrist glow a bright light. Somewhere next to her several runes form, spin and grow larger until they flash and reveal an elegant newman girl of white hair. Levitating in the air at first the elegant newearl majestically lands on one foot and opens her eyes.
“Atia,” Yoshi cries and throws herself onto the surprised newmen. “Atia, you were right. You were right all along.”
Atia gently hugs Yoshi and brings the tan newearl back onto her feet. “It’s okay, I’m here now. What’s wrong?”
“You can’t trust a Diga, Atia. She tried to erode their organs and got away.”
“So that explains what was going on,” says Stamato. Thanks to Yoshi’s efforts he is able to move his limbs again and help Yvonna get back up. It wasn’t the Resta that helped them recover though. “Are you alright, commander?”
“Alright, hold on. And who are you?” Yvonna quickly asks. “Stats, double check how she got in here, now.”
Atia proudly pats at her chest. With great swagger she steps forward and answers, “I am Atia Guliano and have authorization to take leadership of this mission, which I will do now.”
Yvonna gives the new girl an annoyed stare that screams, Oh great, another one of these people. “No,” Yvonna rejects. “You are only related to someone who does. You have no right to be here. No position to lead any party. Now go back before you get hurt.”
“Atia, she’s right. You have to leave. It’s not safe here,” adds Yoshi.
“Yadira,” Atia says and gently smiles at Yoshi. “As long as I am here, no one will lay a finger on you.” Afterwards she coldly stares at Yvonna and continues, “I’m not going anywhere. On my honor we will take care of this threat together. I will not take no for an answer.”
Yoshi wipes her eye. “Are you sure you want to stay?”
Atia cups Yoshi’s chin and leans in closely. “For you I would drop the world,” she coos.
In an instant Yoshi goes from sad to confusion. She raises a brow, sniffles and blankly says, “Huh?” Afterwards she shakes her head to wake herself up and point behind her. “Whatever, we don’t have time for world dropping. By now she’s alerted the other, but with us four it should be no problem, right? So let’s go.”
“You shouldn’t be adding others without my permission, but sure. I guess we could use her help. You did bring a stunning weapon with you, right?” Atia whips out a pair of twin daggers and enters a stance. “Right, we have a mission to do. Stamato, you tagged the four men earlier right?”
“I did. Zelatus to Mother Hen.”
“This is Mother Hen, go ahead.”
Stamato hands Atia a rifle. “We have tagged four more to be transported.”
Atia removes the magazine, peers into it and hands them back. Afterwards she switches to a different set of twin daggers.
“Acknowledged, Zelatus you said four, confirm?”
“Confirm, there should be four.”
“My readings say there are six, two in a different location requesting to be sent back to your quarters.”
“This is Zelatus,” Yvonna says and takes over. “The situation has changed. There is a dangerous target running loose and are moving to pursue.” She starts to type into a small floating panel and her mag displays a map with several numbers listed on it. “Warp these four at these coordinates and we will update you on any further changes. Zelatus, out.”
Stamato reaches out and looks as though he wants to say something, but changes his mind. He returns his arm to his rifle and simply says, “Lead the way, commander.” Now the CAST guards the rear with Yoshi and Atia trailing in the middle. While they make their way up the corridor, Yoshi asks,
[You guys say ARKs as though they are different people. Would that mean they would be ARCs with a C?]
>[Correct, while I do not know much about them, I do know that they are a rebel faction who disagree with ARK’s purpose and utilize advance forms of summoning to combat us. They are also led by a person who goes by the name Red III.]
[What happened to the first two?]
>[It is said that Red II saw the error of their ways and was thought that the organization would fall apart after turning themselves in. Unfortunately this was not the case.]
Yoshi looks behind and can see a blushing Atia contacting her family. Vaguely from the other side of the transparent window she sees that an important assignment has demanded Atia’s attention and that she will be home later than usual.
>[This Diga you mention, what do you know of them?]
[Not much. Only that we have unique powers, a lot of them can be trouble makers and that the forgiven wear bands issued by ARKs. If that little girl is anything like me, those electric bullets may not be as effective on her. Are you sure you’re alright?]
>[Fortunately there we’re no signs of erosion. Only the locking of my joints and Yvonna being weighed down. Neither of us are harmed in any way. Whatever you did back there, I believe an apology is in order however.]
Great, Yoshi sighs in her mind. Now I’m the bad guy. How did I goof up this badly? The teal hair girl raps at her skull in frustration and stops when Atia places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Unsure what will happen now she sighs in her head again and looks forward. Strange, you would think something would pop out to fight us by now.
”It wasn’t uncommon to see your dad send his mag to scout ahead,” say an echoing Yvonna in her head.
Yoshi grabs hold of her mag and brings close to her mouth. “Hey maggy, scout ahead for enemies, please?” When Yoshi lets go the mag zooms on ahead and begins to update everyone’s map on the go. Before long a few red triangles begin to pop up and the mag returns.
“Nice thinking, Yoshi. That was brilliant,” whispers Atia.
“The first wave is coming up, stay focused,” whispers Yvonna.
Right on cue several apes and wolf looking creatures appear out of nowhere in an attempt to ambush the team. Since Zelatus knew they were coming however, all the summoned animals are dealt with quickly and left behind. Two minutes of jogging pass and wave two shows up. This time it’s people behind makeshift cover. It appears they did not care about the ruins and broke apart anything they could use to hide behind.
Since they were not going to be as easy to take out as the summoned creatures Stamato decides to make cover of his own. Launcher in hand he blasts a nearby column at its base. Easily it breaks apart and the column crashes into a cloud of sand giving the team the safety they need to hide.
“Stats,” Yvonna says in a demanding tone. She holds out a palm and continues, “Give me the sniper attachments.”
“Right away, commander,” Stamato responds and pat at his right arm. Yoshi and Atia gather close as the armor of his arm pops open. Inside they can see the scope and barrel replacement Stamato removes from it.
One by one Yvonna attaches them to her rifle and activates a visor. Stamato throws a smoke grenade. Despite the swarm of whizzing bullets above her head she calmly sets her rifle down and takes aim. Stamato does the same but with a different looking rifle. “On the third shot I want you to jump in, Yoshi. Atia, what are you going to do?”
Atia grabs onto Yoshi’s wrist and smiles. “Don’t worry about me. Wherever Yadira is, I will be there too.”
The jet black newearl looks into her scope and takes the first shot. Stamato does the same, specifically aiming at the CASTs on the other side. A bullet narrowly misses Yvonna and she takes her second shot. The cries of a man could be heard in the smoke. Stamato takes his second shot and a rifle can be seen soaring above the smoke. Taking this as her cue to get ready Yoshi sets her sword down on the column. Out of nowhere a Gulf, the wolf like creature from earlier, jumps out of the smoke. Yvonna didn’t flinch. She takes her third shot and Yoshi launches her spear into the smoke.
In a blink of an eye she warps to back lines and quickly dodges a knuckle user waiting for her. Just as the Fighter misses his punch Yoshi’s wrist glows and Atia comes out of nowhere to jab the Fighter in the back. When one of the riflemen turns to shoot at the two, a bullet from the smoke hits him from behind. It lodges into the back of his head and zaps him unconscious. Now it is their turn to distract the enemy while the Rangers rush out of the smoke.
“You know, it’s a good thing I trained to be a Bouncer and Fighter or fighting with two swords would be really difficult,” Yoshi struggles to say. She parries one Hunter’s attack and chops the woman in the neck.
Aita ducks under a Force’s rod and paralyzes them. “Why don’t you use it as one big sword?” she grunts back.
Yoshi steps on the fallen body and smacks the Ranger in front of her. “It’s draining to hold it together in combat. I’ll have to get used to it.”
“Sorry,” shouts Yvonna. “Your father gave you that too. It’s normally not supposed to do that.”
“Oh come on,” Yoshi cries as she puts down the last of their foes.
“Stats, tag them while I check the sword’s limiters. Alright Yoshi, let me see it. Atia keep an eye on that room. It’s the last one so expect people to rush out of it.” Yoshi hands Yvonna a whole sword. As promised Yvonna begins to pick at it until she finally decides to hand it back. “I lied. Alright, I took it off for you. Your sword is fine. Looks like the limiter was just breaking from the strain and activated sometime earlier. You’re father forgot to take it off so it’s still his fault, but this sword is using its normal power.”
When Yoshi takes back her sword she could feel a world of difference in how it communicated with her photon energy. Once again they were in harmony. With great ease Yoshi swings the giant blade around and smiles. It’s so light again. “This is load better. Thanks. Now let’s show those guys a real battle.”
“Easy there, tiger. We’re only here to capture them and a certain object they stole. There will be no killing, got it?”
Yoshi’s head sinks into her back a little and smiles. “I didn’t mean I was going to kill anybody.”
“Hmm,” hums a concerned Yvonna. She peers into Yoshi’s snake like eyes and calmly turns when their CAST ally greets her.
“Commander, they’ve been all successfully transported. We can move on now.”
“Good, let’s wrap up this mission and go home.”
Yoshi hops on ahead and spins around. “Want me to take point? I can put up a barrier if anything happens.”
“I appreciate the initiative,” Yvonna says with a smile. She points behind herself. “But no, you’re staying behind me.”
“Aw, why not?”
“Because my head is on the line if anything happens to you. Now follow your orders.”
Yoshi slumps forward and walks back to Atia. “Yes, sir.”
They trail along the wall with rifles at the ready. Yvonna moves in first to scan around. She shifts left, then right and finally stands up straight. Nothing is here.
She finds nothing and the entire party enters the final room a little disturbed. Cold air and empty space is all they see. No one is waiting for them. All lights are set to dim. All the machines are smashed. Not even a single summoned creature came out to attack them. In silence everyone follows Yvonna into the center of the room where a dead hi-tech console stood. It is a marble like rectangle with several gold lines running up into an intricate slot. They could see a smash glass where an object of importance should have been. Though nothing of value could be seen in the room they were not alone.
As if Yoshi gains some sort of sixth sense she twists around and deflects an arrow with the sword on her back. Angry she looks up to see who is attacking her. Everyone does the same. Up in a hole in the rock bed wall, near the open ceiling and under the under waves, a pale human archer could be seen along with the little girl form earlier resting by his legs. Her body waves and dances in unison with the water.
“So this is the Diga girl you told me about,” the man calmly says. “Judging by how she blocked my arrow she is either rather sensitive . . . or a Medusa, how rare.”
Yvonna and Stamato raise their rifles at the man. “Put your hands up, both of you. Nobody has to get hurt if you surrender yourselves now,” Yvonna commands.
“Twice you’ve foiled my plans, though the second was quite expected. That said there is no victory for you today, ARKs. The only reason we’ve stayed was so I could see this Diga girl for myself.”
“What would you know about Diga,” Yoshi rudely asks.
In a show of strength he makes a trail of harsh sand crawl all over his bow arm. “Far more than the innate girl standing before me,” the man coolly replies. He shifts his eyes suddenly to Atia and back. “I’m sorry, Pricilla, but this girl is too far gone. ARKs claws have dug themselves too deep into her eyes. There is no hope for her.”
He begins to draw his bow and the riflemen open fire. As they shoot they watch the bullet’s electricity go off, but he seems to shrug them off effortlessly. Seeing that their plan is not working the riflemen stop, Yvonna tells Yoshi to take cover and Stamato dashes in to shield Atia. While this all happens quickly for everyone, to Yoshi everything seems to move in slow motion. This seems very familiar, she thinks to herself.
Interested to see what she would do the archer takes his time. Yoshi glance up and casually uses a tether to sling a crystal she just made at the calm archer. Unlike the bullets, it seems to have dug in deeper than any of them. Just before he makes his shot, he glances down at his chest and chuckles. While he is distracted, Yoshi then takes out a gunslash and shoots it.
The bolt hits the crystal. “Ahhh!” the man cries out. It shatters into his skin and bleeds red.
Seeing this man in pain, it fills Yoshi with great joy. She is so happy is she in breaking his defense that she puts on a smug smile and pose with the gunslash over her shoulder. She also nearly taunts him were it not for Atia putting a hand over her mouth.
“We’ve seen enough, Pricilla.” Despite the obvious pain, the man still acts as though nothing is wrong while clutching his chest. In the same cool voice he adds, “We are leaving.”
Yvonna and Stamato aim their rifles again.
“And the rest of them?” asks the tan little girl, in reference to the people captured. In her hand she teasingly shakes a holographic video camera and winks at everyone.
“They are of no consequence.”
Yvonna fires a shot off. A rush of sand pours out from behind the two ARCs and steers the bullet of course. So strong is this sudden sandstorm that it force Yoshi to put up a wall to shield them from the violent erosion. By the time the sandstorm subsides and Yoshi breaks down the wall, the two strangers are gone.
Spoiler!That was a lot to take in for one chapter. I'm not just talking about its length, I mean you introduced a lot of characters and concepts so I had to stay focused to keep up.
I like the idea of the main characters fighting other people with similar abilities (as opposed to Darkers or native creatures), because an intelligent opponent is usually the most dangerous. Not sure about the name of the group, though. I mean, if you heard it without seeing it, it would sound exactly the same: ARKS vs. ARCS. Right?
I don't know who Atia is but Yvonna and Stamato accepted her presence rather quickly. I'd ask for more details, but I suppose that would spoil the mystery. I'll just have to wait and find out! The other new girl, Pricilla, was just as confusing. I didn't get what was happening with her at first until Yoshi explained it afterward. Strange of them to find a Diga user in such a place. Then again, in retrospect maybe Yvonna knew she was going to find the girl and that's why she brought Yoshi along in the first place. I do think it's slightly irresponsible to bring Yoshi on such a dangerous mission, though! I'm thinking the mystery man could be Red III, but maybe not. P.S. When I hear that name, I can't help but think of Red XIII from FF7.
I have more comments, but that would be spoilers for my own story, so I'll keep those to myself for now.
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
Spoiler!Yeb, I would have posted last Tuesday, but I felt it wasn't ready yet and gained an extra 2.5k words because of it.
It would have been ARKz, but then it would have been like "Oh, so original, you changed the S to a Z to make your rebel group look edgier." So its ARCs with the working title "Arbiters of Reconciliation". Red, ARCs and the focus on summoning creatures is all suppose to be homage to PSO Ep: III; Where ARKz is a rebel group lead by a mysterious person named Red.
Atia is first introduced in Extra XV, where she didn't get along with Yoshi's friends. Due to her relation to Dimitri and the line of work her entire family generally does, Stamato and Yvonna understood that Atia acts as Yoshi's warden in a sense. She shouldn't be with them on their mission, but she can if she wanted to because of it. As for the mission, Yvonna didn't expect two other Diga people to show up. It was suppose to be a quick and easy mission of them capturing overextended rebels and taking back an artifact they stole. Since both Yoshis are the only one she knows, she didn't really know what to expect from them either.
Spoiler!I only played PSO Ep I & II. Sadly I never played Ep III so I guess I missed that reference. I had no idea ARKz were mentioned way back then! That is pretty cool trivia, actually.
Extra XV? That chapter was posted over eight months ago! I went back and skimmed the Atia scene and I remember it now. Because it had been so long without any mention of her, I didn't make the connection by name alone.
So Yvonna didn't expect that much trouble, huh? Well that improves my opinion of her a bit. If she knowingly took Yoshi on such a dangerous mission, I would have called her irresponsible.
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
- Extra -Spoiler!
“I can’t believe we left, we could have had them.”
“I’m sorry Yoshi but it’s out of our hands now. Just be happy you’re safe and going home.”
Back and forth Yoshi walks throughout the campship. In her head she runs several simulations on how the battle could have happened. Like a master tactician she goes over several events and how they could have gone. What her opponents could have pulled off and how she could have single handedly bested them. A few seconds later she peers into space for anything unusual, in case something decides to attack. In a way she is in surprise that the window shutters weren’t down. Due to her simulation experiences she expects rebels to mindlessly come out and attack the campship. In her head she can hear the alarms going off, but in reality they don’t. Instead she sees nothing; only the endless blanket of stars and a few friendly allies jumping in by their position.
“How far could they have possibly gone?” Yoshi suddenly continues. Her face snaps leftward and she paces again. “We could have chased after them. I could have handled it.”
Just in front of where the warp pool gate would have been, Stamato warps into existence while talking to a panel right in front of him. Just as he reaches the pacing Yoshi and consulting Yvonna he finishes his call and puts his rifle behind his back. The hollow panel with a familiar face vanishes into blue triangle dust. All the data transmitting via Mag stops. As it does Stamato places a hand on the grumpy girl’s shoulder to stop her and looks to their leader.
“My apologies, they left nothing behind, commander. They also seem to have utilized an unfamiliar means of teleportation to get away.” The towering robot waves Yoshi’s body around and glances down at her. “Mother Hens states they will be looking into it. For now there is nothing we could have done. A Mr. Guliano has taken over the operation and instructs us to wait here for his arrival.”
Yvonna goes to pat Yoshi’s other shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll catch them,” she adds. She grins widely and playfully baps Yoshi’s ear. “One ship of rebels can’t run forever.”
Out of nowhere Atia pops out from behind the onyx CAST. “Which Guliano in particular, may I ask?”
“Dimitri Guliano. The commander and Yoshi’s father should be familiar with him. We have had several run ins with him in the past . . .”
Hearing this the elegant white themed newearl tip toes away. “You know, it has been a very long day and I’m tired. So if I may, I think this would be a good time for me to take my leave,” she says with great nervousness in her voice. When Yoshi peeks around she can see how scared she is to meet Dimitri again. Strong metallic fingers instantly latch onto the back of her collar however and she couldn’t get far.
“We have our orders.”
A flash happens at the entrance of the campship. It draws everyone attention. Dimitri has arrived sooner than anyone thought. Three more flashes follow after. Seen directly on the other side of the room are four newmens wearing ceremonial like uniforms as extravagant as Atia’s. A fifth flash occurs and a human in a plain coat and pencil skirt accompanies Dimitri by his side.
Yoshi can tell the woman is like her. A person that can utilize Earth based techniques. Dimitri freely lets a snake made of sand twirl around what looks to be a pencil and another scatter across the room, as if coating the ship for something. Since it explodes in the air to scatter for this Yoshi covers her eyes in case it gets past her glasses.
“Atia, oh Atia,” Yoshi can hear Dimitri say beyond her arm. “You really know how to rile up your family.”
There is a pause to give Atia a chance to defend herself. Instead the smaller white hair newearl remains silent. Yoshi lowers her arm. Still behind Stamato Atia stands there and watches in a proud manner.
So Dimitri addresses Yvonna instead. “It is unfortunate that the mission was not a resounding success. However we do not blame you as to why that is. Not many are ambushed by Diga and live to tell the tale. Normally I would keep you all here for questioning. However, since Atia was so kind enough to escort you all on your mission,” he pauses and gives Atia a mean glare. “You are all free to leave. You will take this campship and be on your way. I will take it from here.”
Yvonna folds an arm over her and bows. “Thank you, sir.”
“To think we would see one of our own,” one of the newmen chimes in. They rib one of their comrades and give the onyx armored newearl a smug smile. “And see her waltz around like a lowly commoner. I think I’ve seen her armor sold for children. I didn’t think they made it for bigger ones. Haha, oh how far you must have fallen.”
“Enough,” Dimitri barks. He looks back to Yvonna and in a pleasant manner he continues, “If you would so kind, before you leave I would like to take Atia off your hands.”
“She’s all yours.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” panics Atia. She rushes forward wiggling both hands. “You can’t take me. I need time to relax after what we saw. I also promised Yoshi we would go to the mall together. Isn’t that right, Yoshi?”
Without missing a beat Yoshi agrees. “Yeah, there’s a chair in the mall I really wanted to show her. They’re really comfy. You should try it out. I also wanted to buy some burgers together. So you’re alright if she comes with me right?”
“Yeah, can I please go with her, Uncle Dimitri? Please?”
Dimitri looks to them with a cold and unfazed expression. He leans forward and adjusts one of his gloves. Unconvinced by their story he slowly says, “I would imagine so. Atia when we learned that Diga were involved your parents made a lot of noise to get me, and several others, here to make sure their perfect little girl was still in one piece. Be glad it was just me . . . or you would have gotten in a lot of trouble . . . for the sneaky little stunts you have been pulling behind their backs.” Quietly Dimitri turns his head to look at Yoshi’s wrist and back at Atia. Atia does the same. The moment their eyes lock again he narrows them and straightens up.
“Then if Atia is staying let me come too.” Yoshi points a thumb to herself and wraps her other arm around Atia.
“No Yoshi,” denies Yvonna. “You’re staying with me.”
Everyone looks to Yoshi with confusion. Most of all by Dimitri’s female secretary who looks the most shocked out of everyone. Smoothly Dimitri returns to his calm state and turns towards the eager tan newearl.
“I’m sorry but you’re not ready for that.”
“Don’t worry I can handle it. Trust me, I got out fine,” Yoshi boasts.
“Think for a moment. Your team is being sent home and is being replaced by a more specialized group.”
“I’ll be alright. They won’t be able to hurt me.”
“Listen to me. There’s a reason our group exists solely to hunt Diga. Have you ever fought any of them before? Do you really believe they will fight like any normal soldier? No they will not.”
Dimitri fakes to draw his weapon to put Yoshi on her guard. The moment she prepares to counter attack, Dimitri shoves her into the window and protrudes a photon blade from his wrist. Yvonna moves in to stop them but is held back by the secretary. By the time it stops the blade nearly touches her eye. At the very tip several bits of transparent grain attempt to stop it but the blade already punches through.
“Your defensive abilities may be exceptional but there are reasons your blood is near extinction. They didn’t just vanish on their own and I would personally know myself. They will study you and slowly rip you apart for laughs, Yadira. You are not ready for this and just because your father is ready to stain his hands . . . does not mean you should as well.” The blade retracts and Dimitri sticks out his arm to keep his men from talking. Already he could hear them snickering in the back. “If you truly wish to see why you can’t come, why I am stopping you, ask your father to spar with you. A real sparring match. Not the ones he pretends to give you. Now will you go home like I ordered you to?”
Yoshi looks down and clenches both hands. She doesn’t agree with him but something tells her that she shouldn’t bite than she can chew. She’s never fought a fellow Diga before, and even though she wants to beat up Dimitri too right now she decides that isn’t the best thing to do. “Yes, sir.” She finally says, as reluctant as she is to say it.
“Good girl,” Dimitri smiles. “Atia, we leave. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
All of the newmens go into the warp pool and disappear. Dimitri mentions something about compensation for their earlier insult and lets his secretary handle the rest. Now only the secretary trails behind.
“Dimitri, you son of a bitch,” Yvonna grumbles. Still worried for Yoshi’s health she grabs the surprised girl by the cheeks and tosses her head around. “You alright, Yoshi? He didn’t anything else to you right? What the hell was he thinking pulling a stunt like that? Oh I’m so angry at him.”
“But not about your armor?”
“I don’t care about that posh baby man’s insults. What matters is Yoshi right now.”
Suddenly the secretary kneels down and smiles at Yoshi. “Think of this as a chance to get stronger.” She boops Yoshi on the nose with the object in her hand, twice with the sand snake hugging it. “Don’t worry, it caught your father off guard once too. But think about it like this, you live to tell the tale and know what to expect now. This is why you don’t show off your surprises so early.” After that she smiles again and walks away.
“You say it as though you expect her to combat Dimitri,” says Stamato.
The secretary stops and begins to overlook an entire roster in a holographic screen. “Dimitri can’t control everyone. I don’t expect her to work with us but someone has to keep the future generation in line. It also keeps me from having to get myself dirty,” she finishes by the warp pool with a bright smile.
The moment she vanishes is when the campship pulls away in the opposite direction. It flies past the other ships and into a portal opened by them earlier. Half an hour later they return to the fleet. Everyone walks to the large wide window and stares at the many cruisers surrounding the mothership. Another half hour later they finally dock with Ur and make their way to the lobby between the campship and the docking gateway. In there they see Yoshi’s father waiting for them, but for some reason Yoshi’s mother is missing.
“Bitol, hey,” Yvonna waves. “We made it back and are in once piece. I told I’m the greatest. So, where’s the wife?”
Yoshi’s father scrunches his eyebrows together and smirks. “She’s . . . being weird right now.” Taking this as a hint only Stamato looks up to see a woman in a dress clinging to the ceiling. Judging by the look on her face, she clearly wasn’t happy to see him. In text form he says to the husband, “You sure do like the strange ones, don’t you, Bitol.”
“You know it,” Yoshi’s father responds, using the power of sand fingers to type behind his back. Out loud he now says, “So, I take it the mission was a resounding success?”
In response Yvonna takes him by the chin and coos, “For you . . . I would drop the world.”
The tan man looks left, but there’s no window. He looks right, there’s also no window. So he looks left again and says, “Yvonna, we’re in space,” and armored woman begins to laugh hard. She clutches her sides and nearly knocks over Stamato. Then a heavy object drops on her head.
“Ow,” the onyx woman cries. “What the heck, Stats.”
It wasn’t him who dropped a sheathed katana on her though. Stamato looks up and quickly responds, “I can’t forgive you for making such a poor joke. I had to punish you for it.”
“Anyways, the mission didn’t go as planned, but we made it out okay. We even nabbed enough rebels for questioning. Most importantly,” Yvonna wraps an arm around Yoshi and pulls her in close. “I’m impressed with your little girl’s performance. You have a spot on our team whenever you graduate, okay?”
Yoshi awkwardly smiles to Yvonna and her father. In the back Stamato watches as Yoshi’s mother slides down a pole made of earth. Without asking for permission she plops Yoshi’s Zwihander off of her back and examines it. Yoshi’s father waves to her and everyone turns around.
“So you went ahead and gave it to her anyways.”
“I did. I figured since she’s used all sorts of weapons and didn’t really connect to them, she could try this out.”
“And you give her the weapon designed for kids who didn’t want to become CASTs.”
“I told you already. It has versions that don’t drain a lot of power.”
“Yes, custom variants modified by people who like take things apart just like you. You sure did a shoddy job with this one.”
“They not all custom models, and hey, the no-drain versions are expensive.”
“Bullshit, like money was ever an issue for you. You just wanted to see if you could make something better.”
There is a pause and the two look to each other. Yvonna and Stamato couldn't believe they're watching the supposedly prim and proper wife act the way she does now.
“So what do you think?” Yoshi’s parents ask at the same time.
Spoiler!Did Sia really have such a sterling reputation among Bitol's friends? I guess it didn't occur to me.
What did you mean, the kids who didn't want to become CASTs? Are you saying that because CASTs are stronger and faster than fleshies, it's a common childhood fantasy to want to be one? Like how a kid might dream of growing up to be a professional athlete?
I like Yoshi's stubbornly-determined attitude in this one. Even though she was in way over her head, she didn't like the idea of losing. Still, I think Dimitri's right on this one. Better to let the professionals handle the dirty work.
lol @ "that posh baby man."
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
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