The Fall (Chapter 15, 12/22/2011)

[McLaughlin]

Well, I've been wanting to write something for a while, and finally had enough time to put the first chapter together. This is as much practice for me as it is a story for you all, so bear with me through my poor writing skills. The updates will likely be bi-monthly at best as I have a lot of schoolwork on my plate as well as a job, but I'll do my best to stick with it and complete this.

I think that's all I wanted to say at this point. Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated. I'm a little strapped for time at the moment but I'll try to utilize the tab tags in future updates to make it a little easier on the eyes. I guess it's on with the show?

Chapter 1: Out of the Frying Pan


“I can't believe they're making us train a recruit. This is ridiculous!”

“Complaining at this point is futile Eliza. Finish your preparations so we can depart. Being late will reflect poorly on both of us.” The voice responding to the protest is soft, with a feminine pitch, but the tone is synthetic, if only just.

“Yeah well, assigning both of us to one person is a waste of resources if you ask me. He better be a hottie. Hey, how does this jacket look?” the woman referred to as Eliza asks, while doing a quick pirouette in front of her mirror.

“Aesthetically acceptable, but it holds no defensive value whatsoever.”

“So perfect then.” Eliza flashes a grin at her companion as she pulls on the ends of her pale yellow flaxo jacket to smooth out the ruffles.

“Between that jacket and those pants I wonder why you bother to dress at all,” the caseal observes, referring to the flaxo pants Eliza is also wearing, and whose leg slits on the outside of each thigh leave little to the imagination. “You have more skin showing than cloth.”

“I've told you before, this stuff gives me more room to move around. I'm pretty useless if I'm rooted in place. Besides, that stupid shield over your shoulder is enough defense for the both of us. I'm ready, but are you sure you want to go out like that? You're gonna spook the kid Remi.”

“As opposed to looking like an escort?” she says flatly. “I think I will take my chances.”

“That chest piece hardly screams 'professional',” Eliza fires back, taking full stock of what Remi plans to spend the day in. Batrelle arms with that shield floating over the left shoulder, the Bacalone torso that, in her opinion, was just as suggestive as her own flaxo jacket, what with her current paint scheme having the fake flesh bits a cold gray color and the black metal sections cupping her breasts. She had never understood why those bits were black when the rest of her bulkier metal pieces were a rusty shade of red. She'd always thought it looked downright scandalous. It didn't help that she had a humanoid head with cream-colored skin, and blonde hair just like her own. Men like to think it's a naked woman underneath all the metal and circuits, and the lifelike head just furthers the fantasy. Her choice of leg parts were cause for a moment of consideration. They looked like standard Digiel legs, but the red and gray parts were inverted and the metal skirt was missing.

“Hey, where's the skirt? You always make fun of me for caring what I look like!”

“Its defensive value does not adequately mitigate its restrictive range of motion,” Remi states matter-of-factly.

If glares could kill, we'd have a death pretty early in the story, as Eliza fires daggers from her eyes.

“Additionally,” Remi continues, allowing the smallest of grins to creep onto her face, “it makes sitting quite difficult.”

And with that, they set off out the door. They board an elevator and ride it to the fourth floor of the Colony where they make the trek across the floor towards Parum's PPT gate.

==========

At the same time, across the sector a young man goes through his own morning rituals, though his involve significantly less banter. Having slept poorly the night before, he's already been awake a few hours. Nerves, he'd guessed. Currently he's cleaning the dishes he used to prepare and eat his breakfast. Once he's done that he walks across his modest apartment to the bathroom to splash some water on his face to make sure he's fully awake. Once's he done that, he takes a quick shower and brushes his teeth, checking his breath afterward and deciding mouth wash is a good idea.

Moving out of the bathroom and in to the bedroom, he considers carefully for several moments before settling on his clothing for the day. Pulling his white braves ST pants on one leg at a time, he hops on his left leg while struggling to get his right foot all the way through the leg as his toes catch the yellow rings at the bottom near the cuff. Once that ordeal is over, he buckles up the matching yellow belt. He grabs two things from his closet, leaving the hangers they were on to swing back and forth as their job for the day is done. His first attempt at putting on the long sleeved yellow shirt ends with his head trying to poke through one of the arm holes, but after a little repositioning he pops through the proper place and slides his arms through the sleeves before pulling the shirt down and straightening it out. Next he picks the nobles coat up off his bed slips himself in to it without incident. The yellow stripes on it match well with his pants and the rest of the fabric is a deep green, his favorite color. After giving it a firm tug to align it properly he walks back in to the bathroom where he takes a few minutes to get his hair under control.

It doesn't take him long. He kept it short for exactly that reason. All he has to do is get his sandy blonde bangs out of his eyes, which he does with a pomade by just flipping them upwards a bit, sweeping mostly to the right, but having a bit on the end pushed back towards the left so that the two sections come to meet cleanly near the right side of his head.

Once he's satisfied nothing is sticking up at a weird angle, he makes for his door. Grabbing his wallet card off the island in his kitchen, he sticks it in his back pocket. Once he reaches the door he retrieves his keys from the hook on the wall, slides his feet in to his solid yellow braves sneakers, and taps the console next to the door, signaling it to open. At this point he realizes he's forgotten something and walks purposefully back to his bedroom. Making his way around the side of his bed, he reaches for a small digital picture frame on his nightstand. He stares at it intently for nearly a minute before unzipping his coat and putting the frame in a pocket in the lining of the coat. Checking the clock on the opposite nightstand, he realizes he's going to be late. He does his coat back up as he walks quickly back towards his door, where he taps a few keys before leaving. He steps out, waits for the familiar hissing sound the door makes as it slides shut, confirms the light above it has changed from green to red signifying it's locked, and sets off at a brisk pace towards the space port.

==========

“So where is this kid?” Eliza asks as her eyes scan the crowd of people walking through East Holtes. “I thought you said we were going to be late.”

“You could use this time to familiarize your self with his scouting report. He has probably been held up at customs. You know how long the civilian processing lines are.” Remi has her gaze focused on the data sheet in front of her.

“Why should I bother? You've already read it and I can just get you to tell me the interesting bits. How old is he?”

“Nineteen,” Remi answers.

“Just a pup then!” Eliza shouts rather excitedly.

“He is human, Eliza. He may be a 'pup' in beast years but he is a nearly fully matured adult by human standards. Do not patronize him.”

Eliza sighs and returns to watching the passersby, sweeping her blonde bangs back behind her ear. Her hair is nearly as long as Remi's, reaching down almost to the small of her back, but where Remi ties her golden locks in a low ponytail with a red and white polka dot ribbon, she's perfectly happy to let her hair do as it pleases as long as it's out of her eyes. Sitting on the bench outside the Guardian's Branch as they are, if you only looked at them from the neck up they could pass for twins; same hair color and skin complexion, same yellow eyes, but the ears give them away. Eliza's puppy ears are well hidden beneath her hair, but there's no hiding the large black triangular antennas that stretch back from where Remi's ears would be. The short black prong sticking up from her forehead is a pretty good indicator as well.

“Well that's disappointing. I don't date humans,” Eliza says dejectedly.

“How fortunate for him them,” Remi responds slyly.

“Very funny. When did you develop a sense of humor?” Eliza mumbles, unable to think of anything witty to strike back with. “What else is in that report?”

“This is an intelligence report, not some matchmaking survey,” Remi says, launching a sideways glance at Eliza. “There are, however, some interesting details-”

“Like?” Eliza interrupts.

“...He scored well on the entrance exam, has 'excellent observation skills',” Remi reads off the data sheet, pausing for a moment to skip irrelevant information, “scored poorly on the strength tests but above average in the endurance challenge,” she finishes. Reading further down the page, something catches he attention, prompting her to continue, “He beat Benjamin's record on the agility course.”

That catches Eliza's attention. “What!?”

“By nearly fifteen seconds,” Remi adds. “That's... intriguing.”

“Ha!” Eliza laughs, “I like this kid already! I can't wait to shove him in Ben's face.”

“I believe that would be unwise. You know how competitive he is.”

“We just have to teach him a few things first then. Not like Ben can catch him anyway!” Eliza squeals.

Their conversation is interrupted by the young human cautiously approaching them. They both stand and walk to meet him.

“Hello, would you happen to be,” he says softly as he extends his hand, “Remi and-”

“Eli. Yep, that's us,” Eliza finishes for him. Remi turns to aim another glare her way. “What? I can't keep you from using my whole name but I can sure teach him the right way to address me,” she explains, adding, “if he likes where all his teeth are anyway.”

He nods quickly, “yes ma'-”

“Eli,” she corrects, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

“Eli,” he confirms nervously.

“Please forgive my partner, her mouth is often faster than her brain,” Remi says, shaking his hand as well, sans the death grip Eli had, which seems to relax him a bit. “You must be Roderick.”

“That's me,” he replies, casting a cursory look at Eli to see if she's preparing to dismantle her friend, “I'm sorry I'm so late. I got held up at the customs office and got a little turned around on my way here.”

“It's fine,” Eli assures him. She gives him the once over before looking back up to his piercing green eyes, and I do mean up, because Eli and Remi are both pushing 5'10 and Roderick towers at least three inches above either of them,“you're fine...”

It takes her a moment to figure out that Remi is staring yet more daggers at her and Roderick is blushing furiously because she spoke that last bit aloud. She just shrugs it off and adds “That name's a bit cumbersome though. I'll have to think of something.”

Remi offers him a warm smile and changes the subject, “I have read your file. I believe we are the perfect people to assist in your growth.”

“Well I wouldn't call him perfect...” Eli's voice trails off as she's thinking out loud again.

Remi redirects again, “Our mission today is to observe the forests in and around Rafflon Meadows, and report any SEED contamination to the AMF for purification.”

“Sounds good,” Roderick says, a little relieved he survived their first encounter.

“Then we should be off,” Remi says, gesturing towards the archway atop the slope they're standing at the base of, “the mission counter is this way.”

======

Well, a bit shorter than I had anticipated, but I think the bulk will come more easily as I get further into the narrative. Thoughts and opinions?

[Freeze]

I like it. You're off to a good start. You're length is a pretty good size for reading on a screen. I wouldn't make future chapters too much longer as they become a wall of text and can be difficult to get through. You have enough description to give the reader a proper mental image of the surroundings and your characters personalities come out as soon as we meet them. There are few minor spelling errors that can easily be corrected but overall good job. I will be keeping an eye on this story to see how you do.

[Broken_L_button]

Like Freeze said, it's long enough without being a strain on the eyes, and the descriptions...Ah, I'm a sucker for detailed descriptions. Being able to easily picture your characters and see how they act and think in my mind is a huge plus in favour of your story, in my opinion. Keep it up!

[McLaughlin]

Character descriptions are something I've always struggled with. I have difficulty being descriptive enough to create the proper image without feeling like I'm pausing the narrative to describe somebody new in one giant paragraph. I tried to detail them in a way that would "flow" a bit better instead of dropping a wall of text out of nowhere.

I'm glad you both enjoyed the first chapter. I've had more time off this week than I anticipated, so hopefully I can get another chapter finished for the weekend.

[McLaughlin]

Had a couple lectures cancelled yesterday because the prof was sick so I had time to finish this chapter. Hope everyone likes it.


Chapter 2: Into the Fire


“So what made you join the Guardians?”

“I just wanted to help,” Roderick responds as he steps carefully over an exposed tree root. Our intrepid trio is currently hoofing it through a thick part of the forest, and forward progress is slow.

“This isn't a test, you've already made it. Everyone has a personal reason for joining.” Eli presses.

“Some less noble than others,” Remi adds.

Roderick's gaze falls to the ground as he says, “I saw first hand what happened during the initial SEED outbreak and I couldn't do anything about it. I never wanted to feel that useless again.”

“Fair enough,” Eli says, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

They continue on in silence, with Remi leading and Eliza bringing up the rear, leaving Roderick sandwiched in between them. They travel on for several minutes before Remi stops abruptly.

“Roderick, does anything here strike you as odd?”

Surveying what's in front of him, nothing immediately jumps out as conspicuous. Upon closer scrutiny though, Roderick sees what he thinks Remi is getting at. “There's a patch just ahead that looks a lot less dense than what we've been walking through.”

“Good,” Remi compliments before posing another question, “why might that be?”

“Uh...” Roderick stalls as he tries to think, “The AMF might have already purified this area, there could be toxicity in the top soil preventing growth, it might just receive a lot of through traffic-”

“What would foot traffic indicate?” Remi interrupts.

“Well, given the general layout I'd say this would be a good place to ambush prey.”

“Good work, pup!” Eli says. Then she has an epiphany, “that's what I'll call you! Pup!”

Remi levels a stare at Eli, who responds with, “Relax would ya? When he proves he's a real Guardian I'll come up with something else.”

“It's fine, really,” the pup adds. “It's kind of like a progress report, right? When I stop hearing it I'll know I've done you both proud.”

“Exactly! See, he's fine with it,” Eli says while nodding enthusiastically. She then gets back on topic, “but you know, pup, you could have figured that out by looking at all the tracks left in the middle of the clearing.”

“You mean like the ones you're standing on?” Roderick asks, pointing to Eli's feet. As she looks down to see what he's talking about, Roderick shouts “Eli, watch out!” before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards him. Not a moment too soon either, as a giant claw shoots out from behind the brush and right through the space Eli had been occupying before embedding itself in the trunk of a tree.

“Nice save, pup,” Eli says, turning away from Roderick to hide the rose color her cheeks are turning.

The Varha attached to the claw interrupts with a loud cry as it struggles to free itself from the tree. As Eli spins to face it an orange projectile sails past her and straight through the Varha's skull. It immediately falls limp, but is held partially upright by the claw still jammed in the tree.

“I imagine it was used to trapping Koltova,” Remi says as she lowers her Rikauteri.

“Oh come on, why do you always have to ruin my fun?” Eli complains.

“Your 'fun' nearly ruined you.”

“Give me a break. Something that weak wouldn't have even registered on my line shield,” Eli boasts. She turns to Roderick to thank him anyway when she has another revelation, “hey, where the heck is your line shield?”

“Uh... I don't know how to equip it..” he says. Well, more like whispers.

“Get it out and I will show you,” Remi says softly, “it is the most important piece of equipment you will ever own.”

Roderick slides his left sleeve up to tap a small circular button on his wristband. Immediately, a tiny chip melts into his palm, which he then hands off to Remi. She takes his hand in hers and inserts the chip into the the side of the circle. Roderick turns to hide his blushing.

“It is that simple,” Remi says.

A few moments pass before she says, “odd. Perhaps it is defective.”

“Wouldn't be the first time the armory has handed out a dud,” Eli chimes in.

“Perhaps it would be wise to inspect the rest of your equipment while we have the time,” Remi says.

One by one, Roderick calls pieces of his gear out to test them, and one by one they fail to arm. Two sabers, a pistol, a spear and a sword all lay on the forest floor, all refusing to power on even for a second.

“Wow. That's some kind of luck you got there pup,” Eli says, surveying the damage.

“No kidding. That's got to be some kind of record, right?” Roderick taps the button on his wristband once more, which causes all the dead weapons to melt back into nothing.

“Well, this is as good a place as any,” Remi says, walking to the middle of the clearing, “you cannot borrow any of our equipment because you lack the proper permissions, so we must test your combat abilities immediately to assess the risks associated with continuing this mission.”

“All right, but how?” Roderick asks, following Remi out into the open. “I had this problem at my examination too, but they just brushed it off as faulty equipment and skipped my weapons proficiencies.”

“What weapon are you most comfortable wielding?” Remi asks, looking around for something specific.

“To be honest, I've always been really clumsy with everything. I'd like to just stick to knuckles if I can help it.”

“Awesome! I knew I'd like you,” Eli says.

“That is indeed convenient,” Remi agrees, giving up her search, “Eliza is one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Guardians. Sparring with her should be very helpful in determining your combat strengths and weaknesses.”

“Hang on,” Roderick panics, “you want me to fight Eli?”

“Precisely. The first one to land a clean blow will be declared the victor. At your ready, Eliza.”

“Don't worry pup. It's your first time, so I'll be gentle,” Eli says slyly, adding a wink for good measure.

Roderick is afforded no time to blush though, as Eli closes the distance between them quickly and launches herself into a flying roundhouse kick. Roderick manages to pull both his arms up to keep himself from being decapitated, but Eli quickly drops down and attempts a leg sweep. Not knowing what else to do, he leans backwards and jumps over Eli's leg, only to find her already moving for a rising roundhouse. He pulls his legs in tight and manages to just avoid the kick before stretching back out to slow his spin. He's able to land on both feet, but stumbles a backwards a few steps. Roderick panics as he tries to figure out where the next attack will come from, but it never does. Eli is standing a few feet away with a smirk on her face.

“Not bad pup! But I'm just warming up.”

This continues on for nearly three minutes, with Roderick mostly scrambling to avoid each attack Eli throws at him. After he blocks her scissor kick, Eli steps forward to throw a hard right. Roderick attempts to avoid it by performing a backwards hand spring, but as he lands he slips and stumbles backwards into a tree. He shuts his eyes in preparation for the knockout blow, but after a few seconds pass and he's still upright he cautiously opens one eye just in time to see Eli flick him in the forehead. He lets out a deep sigh and slides down the trunk of the tree. Eli also drops down to take a seat, and Remi walks over from where she was spectating to complete the scene.

“You're not half bad pup,” Eli says, trying hard stop her rapid breathing. “Not too many counterattacks though. We'll have to work on that.”

“Yeah well it's not like I had many opportunities,” Roderick responds with a smile between haggard breaths.

“It would seem there were no exaggerations in your scouting report,” Remi says, taking a seat between Eli and Roderick, forming a small triangle between the three of them, “you performed admirably.”

“Pfft, and you were worried about me rubbing him in Ben's face. I'd put my meseta on the pup if they were to go at it.”

“Thanks,” Roderick says sheepishly, bowing his head to stare at the floor again.

“You have exceeded our expectations Roderick. There is no need for you to be embarrassed.”

“Yeah, you've done good today pup. You won't win any ladies starin' at the floor,” Eli teases.

“Heh,” Roderick offers up another weak smile, “I guess that's something else I have to work on before you come up with a new nickname for me.”

“Damn straight,” Eli says as she pushes herself off the ground. “Now let's get out of here.”

“I agree,” Remi says as she too stands up, “I do not think we will find any signs of SEED contamination in this area.” She extends her hand and helps Roderick to his feet, which causes more blushing.

“Won't here any compl-” Roderick is interrupted by a deafening roar, which causes everyone to look skyward.

“De Ragan. Quickly, retreat to the brush,” Remi orders.

Moments after they take cover behind a rather large bush, the De Ragan touches down in the center of the clearing and begins meandering around. Thick red scales, white underbelly, long armored tail; it's your standard giant dragon.

“What do you recommend we do, Roderick?” Remi asks, keeping her eyes on the De Ragan.

“I don't think it knows we're here. There's not much point to fighting it if we don't have to... can we just ignore it?” Roderick asks. “I'm curious as to why it's this far out from the mountains but I doubt we'll find that out by asking it nicely.”

“Excellent suggestion, and excellent question, though we cannot answer it at present. We should leave while we are able,” Remi agrees.

==========

Back on the Colony, our heroes exit from Parum's PPT gate.

“Meet us at Headquarters on the fifth floor tomorrow at seven sharp,” Remi instructs Roderick.

“Understood. Sleep well guys,” Roderick waves as he turns to set off for his apartment. Remi and Eli leave in a different direction, heading down the grand staircase leading towards the Guardians residential complex.

“You appeared to be winded after your sparring match with Roderick. I think your conditioning has been lax,” Remi teases Eli, letting that slight grin creep back on to her face.

“The pup's good,” Eli shrugs, “I wasn't pulling any punches. A little flashy, sure, but if he hadn't lost his footing I dunno how long we woulda been there.”

“Yes, well, there are many interesting things about that young man,” Remi muses.

“Yeah, like his rotten luck with weapons? I don't think I've ever seen so many dead hilts at once before,” Eli says.

“I have difficulty attributing that purely to luck,” Remi responds as the door to their room hisses and slides open, “the odds of it happening are impossibly slim.”

As Eli's clothes return to her nanotransformer, she slips in to a yellow nightie before continuing, “Either way, we can't drag him around without a line shield like that again. Maybe we should buy him one? You know, as sort of a 'welcome to the team' kinda thing?”

“Perhaps,” Remi concedes. Her metal shell has melted away and been replaced by synthetic skin matching the complexion of her face, allowing her to put on a pale red set of pajama bottoms and a top of her own, “hopefully the solution is that simple. We must keep a close eye on him at all times.”

“Oh, so you fancy him do you?” Eli says, doing some teasing of her own.

“No, I simply meant for his own safety we should be wary-” Remi says quickly.

“Relax, I was kidding. Good night, Remi,” Eli says quietly, pulling her comforter up over her shoulders.

“Good night, Eliza,” Remi replies. Her bed time ritual involves one more step, as she pulls a slim cable from beneath her own bed. Plugging one end in to a jack in the wall, she inserts the smaller end of the cable in to a tiny docking bay on the bottom of her foot before laying down and pulling her covers up.

==========

On the other side of the sector, Roderick enters his apartment. He hangs his keys back on the hook next to the door and walks straight through to the bedroom, pausing only to set his wallet card back on the kitchen island. By the time he actually reaches the bedroom he's already taken the picture frame from his nobles jacket and sets back on the nightstand. Once he's sent all his clothes, save his boxers, to storage in his nanotransformer he grabs the pair of green and black plaid pajama pants hanging from the foot board of his bed and puts them on. After he ties up the draw string he slides in to his bed.

Before closing his eyes, he looks longingly at the photograph and whispers softly, “good night.”

[McLaughlin]

I understand that in general it's poor writing practice to gloss over descriptions, but I figure most everyone reading this knows what the common NPCs look like so I just gave a brief refresher on them to try and keep the length a little more manageable. If people prefer I can give more vivid descriptions in the future. Let me know.

Hopefully everyone reading likes it so far. Next chapter there's some combat, so bear with me. Anyway, here's chapter 3. Hope you all like it.

Edit: There has to be a better way to edit in the tab tags...

Chapter 3: Forging Bonds


“Will you look in to this for me, Maya?”

“You know how busy I am, Remi. I can't just drop my research to check every faulty piece of equipment the armory hands out,” the newman woman says. Tall, voluptuous, long blonde hair, short skirt; typical Maya.

Not one to take no for an answer, Remi insists, “you know how they function as well as I do. A line shield simply projects the wearer's photons outward to form a protective barrier. Even a defective unit should have some sort of output.”

“Fine,” Maya surrenders. She holds her hand out to take the small chip Remi offers up, “but I have some things I need to do before I get to this. I'll contact you when I have a chance. Is that him over there with Mina?”

“Thank you, Maya,” Remi says as she curtseys, “and yes, that would be him.”

“Well isn't he the little looker. Eli make any moves yet?”

“She does not date humans.”

“Oh,” Maya says, a little surprised, “well, do you have any plans for him or is he on the market?”

“What?” Remi says quickly, “Do not be ridiculous, Maya. That would be-”

“I'm just teasing!” Maya giggles. “You don't need to take everything so seriously you know.”

“Forgive me, we must get to our mission,” Remi says with a hint of embarrassment.

“I need to get back to work too. I'll call you when I find something.”

Maya walks off towards an elevator at the back end of the room, while Remi heads back to the reception desk.

“What was that about?” Eli asks.

“Nothing important. Maya sends her greetings, and welcomes you to the fold, Roderick. Are you both ready to depart?”

“Sort of. I took the pup down to the second floor to buy him a line shield, but all the ones they had were busted.”

“It's no big deal, really,” Roderick says, “I'll be super careful to stay out of trouble.”

“It is not that simple, Roderick. Without a line shield you are completely defenseless.”

“Not completely,” Eli disagrees, “and if he wants to continue, knowing the risks, who are we to stop him?”

Remi stays silent for for a few moments as she considers her options, so Eli steps up and says, “we need a tie-break. Mina, should we take the pup with us?”

The girl behind the circular counter looks confused as she confirms, “me?”

“Yeah, you. His fate's in your hands,” Eli nods towards Roderick.

“Uh... w-well...” Mina stammers, “I think... I think it's pretty brave for him to want to go even though he's unprotected. I... I say you should let him.” Roderick's face lights up, and he smiles as thanks to Mina, who quickly searches for something to do on her computer terminal.

“There we have it!” Eli grabs Roderick by the wrist and starts off towards the stairway. Remi sighs and follows.

“May the Holy Light guide you!” Mina shouts after them.

==========

As they reach the PPT gate junction, Eli pauses. “...where are we going again?”

Remi stares blankly for a moment before responding, “our mission today is in Tarcus.”

“Ugh. What are we doing in the capital city of Parum?” Eli asks the three of them begin walking towards the shuttle headed for Parum.

“This is a reconnaissance mission. President Dallgun believes G.R.M is somehow involved with a terrorist organization known as the Illuminus. He has asked us to infiltrate one of G.R.M's research facilities and conduct a search for evidence,” Remi turns to Roderick, “this is all classified information. Normally we would not be bringing a trainee on an assignment like this, but we are shorthanded, and the probability of combat is low. The president trusts you will not speak of this to anyone other than the two of us.”

“My lips are sealed,” Roderick nods.

“I hate Tarcus,” Eli says angrily as the group boards the shuttle.

“Why's that?” Roderick asks.

“The population of Tarus is nearly 100% Cast,” Remi answers. “As such, the Cast Supremacy movement is quite strong there.”

“The Casts in Tarcus are nothing like the ones on the Colony, pup,” Eli adds, “they look down on every other race. You'll see when we get there.”

==========

As they step off the shuttle, Roderick has a look at his surroundings. The city of Tarcus is the capital of Parum, and its Cast heritage shows in the architecture. Every structure looks as though it has a purpose. Giant skyscrapers reach up into the clouds, entire walls are made out of glass, smaller buildings are built side by side with no space between them, and the city looks almost monochromatic, nearly everything some shade of gray; there's barely any color, and no street lights anywhere. What Roderick finds most interesting though is the distinct metal smell the air has.

They set off in the direction of one of the larger visible buildings, with Remi leading, Eli in the middle and Roderick bringing up the rear. They walk for several minutes in silence, with Roderick, and especially Eli subject to hateful stares from empty eyes. It doesn't seem to bother Roderick, but he can see Eli's head slowly tilting towards the floor. Roderick quickens his pace to catch up to her.

“Hey, Eli?”

“Huh? What's up, pup?” Eli asks, picking her gaze up off the floor to look at him.

“I was, uh, just wondering if you'd maybe feel like helping me set up a training regiment for myself?” Roderick asks.

His plan seems to work. Eli's face instantly brightens as she says, “sure. We can set something up as soon as we're done here.”

“Awesome,” Roderick says, “I really appreciate the help.”

“No problem pup,” Eli says, now beaming, “I'll have you in tip-top shape before you know it. You'll have girls swar- oof!”

Eli is interrupted as she collides with a Cast, who stares her down with a look of contempt as he growls, “watch where you're going, mutt.”

Eli steps forward to say something but Roderick holds out his arm in front of her, moving towards the Cast himself, “I apologize. It my was my fault she ran in to you.”

The Cast takes a step forward as well, putting him only about a foot away from Roderick, so he can say, “ha, one sub species sticking up for another. How amusing.”

Now that they're within grabbing distance of each other, Roderick realizes he may have made a mistake in standing up to the Cast, who's easily a foot taller and looks more like a bipedal tank than anything else. Not wanting to back down though, he swallows the lump in his throat to say, “there's no need to make something out of nothing. I apologized, there was no damage done, let's just leave it at that.”

The Cast takes another step forward, leaving only inches between them and forcing Roderick to crane his neck to maintain eye contact. After a few tense moments of silence, the Cast scoffs and walks away.

“You didn't have to do that you know,” Eli says.

“I know,” Roderick replies, keeping his eyes fixed on the Cast for a few moments longer before turning to face Eli.

“...Thanks, pup,” Eli says, giving Roderick a hard pat on the back.

“What is keeping you both?”

Eli and Roderick quickly spin around to face Remi, and they both blurt out, “nothing!” in unison, as they walk over to meet her.

Remi stares at them skeptically, “I understand this is not a pleasant place for either of you. The sooner we complete out mission, the sooner we can leave.”

They all turn to set off again, but before they begin to move Roderick's hand shoots out from his side, prompting both ladies to look over their shoulders and Eli to yell out, “pup!?”

Roderick has an old looking Cast with a long gray beard and funky goggles for eyes by the wrist, whose hand is only an inch or so away from Eli's rear end. The Cast chuckles to himself before saying, “very good, Mr. O'Laughlin!”

At the sound of the Cast's voice, both Remi and Eli turn quickly as they shout, “Headmaster!”

“It's been a while since anyone's caught me. I see you're taking good care of your trainee,” he says as he pulls his hand away and tucks it behind his back, where it latches on to the other one.

“Roderick,” Remi says, “this is Headmaster Nav.”

“I... what?” Roderick says, shocked. “What's the headmaster doing running around trying to grope people?”

“He can gauge your fitness level with just a touch,” Eli whispers.

“What are you doing here, Headmaster?” Remi asks, changing the subject.

“Oh, nothing to worry yourselves about. I'm on my way back to the Colony already, actually. I haven't seen the two of you in ages, so I had to take this opportunity to say hello!” Nav says. “Now that I've done that, I really must get going,” he says as he begins to walk away. He looks over his shoulder to say “I'll be keeping my eye on you Mr. O'Laughlin. Make those two proud!”

As they start off again towards their destination, Eli gives Roderick another hard pat on the back, “I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually catch the headmaster before. Good thing you did too,” Eli says, “I've been pretty lazy lately. He never would have let me hear the end of it.”

“I still can't believe the headmaster is really an old closet pervert,” Roderick says.

“Do not let his appearance fool you,” Remi warns, “his skills are legendary.”

==========

“We are here.”

The trio is in an alley next to the huge building they'd been walking to. It's an alley by definition only though, as it's nearly as spotless as the streets out front.

“According to the schematic, this door should grant us access to the basement levels of the building,” Remi says, approaching the door she's apparently talking about.

“Looks like it's locked,” Eli says, pointing to the red light highlighting the door's control panel.

“I'm pretty handy with locks, if we need to get in,” Roderick says, moving to take a closer look at the door itself.

“That will not be necessary,” Remi says while tapping keys on the holographic interface. It only takes her a few seconds to get the light to switch from red to green. As the door slides open she boasts, “the encryption was weak.”

“Let's just get this over with,” Eli says, stepping into the elevator the door was concealing, “I hate going underground.”

[Broken_L_button]

Noooo...The descriptions are much shorter now... *cries*

...Joking. I like it. As with the other chapters, the characters show lots of personality, making each chapter an entertaining read. I'll confess, I would have wanted juicier descriptions, but seeing as those who are most likely to read this pretty much know what all the characters look like, I guess not making the chapter any longer with descriptions was a smart choice on your part.

The only real gripe I have with this chapter is the fact that it seemed a little long for a screen thanks to the dialog, but that's probably just me. I eagerly await more from you.

[McLaughlin]

I kind of wish I could do this as sort of a comic/manga style thing, because I think the visual aids would really be a boon me when my descriptions fall short, but my drawing abilities are comparable to blindfolding someone and asking them to finger paint.

I'll do my best to add a little more substance to the descriptions. I wasn't entirely happy with the way I did them in this chapter anyway, but the chapter was already looking a little lengthy so for the sake of brevity I left them the way they were.

Glad you're liking it, I really appreciate the comments.

[Freeze]

I have to say I liked it. Due to the reader base here it wasn't really necessary for long descriptions on characters most people know so don't get down on that. Save your talent for description when you introduce unknown characters or areas as this is where it will be needed. Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

[McLaughlin]

Hopefully this chapter has a bit more pace to it than the previous ones did. I forgot to write the tab tags into the word document and I wrote this chapter on my laptop from a hospital bed, so I'll have to remember to edit in the tabs when I get home, because doing it with a touch pad just ain't gonna happen.

Hope everyone enjoys it. Opinions welcome and appreciated as always.


Chapter 4: Surprise, Surprise


The area the elevator deposits the trio in looks much like you'd expect a secret underground laboratory would. They find themselves in a large, dimly lit room. Dozens of strange pieces of equipment line the walls, with work stations littering the room. A large surgical table sits in the middle of the room, underneath the brightest light, which is causing the green liquid on the floor below it to glisten.

“Well, there's our proof. Let's skedaddle,” Eli says. Before she can board the elevator, Remi grabs her arm.

“You know we need more than this, Eliza.”

As they converse, Roderick begins to walk around the room, taking a closer look at some of the devices in areas with poor lighting. In the far corner he comes across an odd looking apparatus. A large glass cylinder standing on its end with tubes hanging down from the ceiling.

“Like this?” he calls out, pointing at what he's found.

“Interesting,” Remi says, “it appears to be some sort of holding tank.”

“Then what was it holding, and where is it now?” Eli asks. It only takes a moment to figure out she set herself up, “we have to find out now don't we.”

“G.R.M. is a weapons manufacturer. The fact that they require a holding tank at all raises several questions and calls for further investigation,” Remi confirms.

Eli sighs, “I was afraid you were gonna say that.”

They walk back across the room to the only exit they see. It takes Remi a few seconds to crack the lock on the door, which lets out into a wide hallway with even less light. More tanks line the walls, all empty. They continue on for what feels like forever to Eli, room after similar room, finding equipment that has no business being there.

Finally, the group reaches something that gives them reason to pause. This room has a similar layout to the others, but glass covers the floor, blood is smeared all over the walls at odd angles, and the door to their left is jammed, creating an eerie sound as it periodically attempts to force itself shut.

“What the hell...” Eli's voice trails off as they enter. Walking over to one of the blood smears, she drags a finger across it and is visibly startled when it easily transfers onto her. “This happened recently.”

“The tanks in here are all busted up pretty bad,” Roderick notes.

“Be alert,” Remi says. She walks over to the damaged door and quickly finds the reason it can't shut, “this door has been forced open. Several large dents and gouges are preventing it from seating itself properly in the frame. The damage is inconsistent with any known G.R.M. weapon model.”

“What are you saying?” Eli asks, still trying to wipe the blood off her hand.

“It appears that G.R.M. has been experimenting on native creatures.”

“Doesn't look like it went too well, either,” Roderick adds.

“We must be more cautious from this point onward. Stay behind us, Roderick,” Remi says. She then rips the wiring out of the control panel next to the damaged door, cutting the power. After forcing it open, she waves the others ahead.

What they find beyond the next hallway is in stark contrast to their surroundings thus far. Instead of a poorly lit lab room, they find themselves in a large multi-tiered room with exits on every side. It stretches out much farther than any area they've been in previously, looking more like two individual rooms with a large chasm separating them. They're connected by a narrow bridge that spans the gap. A balcony wraps its way around most of the perimeter, providing more entrances to the area. Most of the floor is transparent, revealing the cabling running underneath, and the whole place has a much better lighting situation, illuminating the entire room. About the only thing this room has in common with the others is the dark gray color of the walls.

Remi and Eli proceed slowly with Roderick behind them. Once Roderick is clear of the door though, it shuts and locks itself. They all look at each other silently for a moment before turning their eyes to the multitude of entrances and exits, most of which remain are also locked.

“Roderick, stay close to us, and keep your eyes on the upper level,” Remi says quietly. Her Rikauteri melts into her hand silently, and she immediately draws the photon bowstring taut. The jagged photon cage running the length of the limbs glows pure white, looking almost like the end of an angel's wing.

“He'll be fine, Remi,” Eli whispers. She chooses to withdraw a Huge Cutter. Looking like a giant box cutter, the blade is barely half a centimeter thick, and perfectly flat. The cage shines a rich orange color, and the whole thing gives off a very low pitch humming sound as she moves it slowly into a ready position at her side, as if it were literally cutting the air.

Cautiously, they make their way across the room, all three sets of eyes darting around constantly. As they approach the bridge, they line up with Eli at the point, Roderick in the middle, and Remi at the rear. The bridge is a good fifty meters long, and as they reach the middle, Eli pauses.

“Keep moving Eliza, they are climbing up from behind us as well,” Remi says calmly.

She's referring to the dozens of small black blobs sliding their way up either side of the chasm. As they reach the top, they group together to create a strange creature. Standing on two legs, a large yellow-ish sphere held in place by what looks like little more than black tethers serves as the torso, with a tiny nub for a head, and strange neon blue blades encasing both arms.

“Delsabans,” Eli states, quickening her pace as more of the monsters form.

“What are SEED forms doing here?” Roderick asks.

“Excellent question,” Remi says, “whatever the reason, G.R.M. has a hand in it. We must report this to the president.”

Once they reach the other side of the bridge they quickly move to the center of the room. Remi takes aim back down the bridge and begins firing arrows at the delsabans. Eli moves up to the edge of the chasm and takes a low stance. As a group of monsters take shape she puts all her weight into swinging her sword, and uses the momentum it creates to lean back and spin on her heel, creating a whirlwind of photons and blowing dozens of delsabans off the the ledge and back into the pit, as well as sweeping away a good chunk of the bridge. The force of the wind is strong enough to make Roderick squint as it blows in his face.

After Eli stops spinning she gives her head a shake, “Tornado Break always makes me dizzy.”

“You always put far too much rotation in,” Remi says. She pulls her arm back to nock another arrow, but when she lets it fly it ends up being several times larger than normal, and it cleans out the entire length of the bridge.

At this point there's only one delsaban left, and Roderick, feeling pretty useless, moves to engage it. It takes a wide swing at him, which he ducks below. As it flies overhead, he stands and sweeps its right leg backwards with his foot, knocking it off balance and sending it falling forwards. He then grabs his right wrist with his left hand to put more power into the elbow he delivers to its back. The delsaban hits the ground hard and explodes back into the tiny black orbs that originally formed it, which then slowly fade away. They all take a look around, and once they're satisfied they're alone, they breathe a collective sigh of relief.

“See? The pup's got moves!” Eli says.

“Indeed. However, I wish you would cede combat to us unless absolutely necessary.”

“I understand,” Roderick says, “I just didn't want to be a burden.”

“I assure you, you are not.”

Remi takes another look around before turning her attention to the door closest to her, “we cannot leave the way we came. I will open the lock on this door, but it will take some time. I must interface with it, which will render me immobile. You both should rest.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eli says, taking a seat, “c'mere pup, we'll start planning your training regimen.”

They sit for several minutes while Remi works on the door. When they hear it slide open they turn around ready to leave. Seeing Remi still slaving away and apparently unaware of of the noise they heard, both immediately begin looking for the source. Roderick spots an unlocked door on the balcony above them and shouts “Eli, up there!”

Through the door walks a very large creature. Bipedal, it stands easily ten feet tall, with plated feet and rough, brown scaly skin everywhere else. Large forearms, a long neck with a jagged fin running all the way to the top of its fishy head, and two beady eyes round out the creature's features.

The jarba jumps down from the balcony and lands with a heavy thud as the floor beneath it struggles not to give way. It roars and then begins to walk slowly towards Roderick, who looks to Eli for orders. Remi is the first to speak though, “what is happening?”

“Just a jarba. Keep working on the door, we'll take care of it,” Eli says.

While it walks towards Roderick, Eli runs up behind it and jumps high into an aerial somersault with her Huge Cutter drawn, cutting a wide gash in the jarba's back as she comes down. This pulls its attention away from Roderick, and it turns just in time to see Eli take a huge vertical swing, cutting deep into a section of torso just under its arm. It cries out in what is generally assumed to be pain, and as Eli attempts to dislodge her weapon, Roderick hears another door slide open. He looks over his shoulder but finds that once again it's not Remi's door that he heard.

Looking back towards the balcony, he sees another jarba come through the same door the first one appeared from. It wastes no time jumping down to their level, and before Roderick can finish shouting, “behind you, Eli!” it takes a heavy swing, cutting her deep from her shoulder all the way down her back and off the opposite side of her waist. Eli tries to muffle her scream, but fails. Remi asks again, “what is happening?” but Roderick shouts at her, “just get the door open! There are probably more of these things on the way!”

The first jarba sees its opportunity for revenge and pulls back to start making strange movements with its hands. Roderick takes off running and dives to push Eli out of the way. He's fast enough to get her clear, but not fast enough to completely avoid the eruption of several ice stalagmites from the floor where Eli had been standing. One of them makes contact with his foot, and the ice begins to form around it. By the time he and Eli hit the ground everything below his knee is encased in a block of ice.

“Just a few more moments,” Remi says quickly.

Roderick looks up, confused that her voice sounded so close. His dive has taken them across most of the room. He then looks down at Eli, whose face is twisted up as she fights the urge to cry out in pain. She tries to stand, but Roderick forces her back down before turning his attention back to the jarbas.

“D-don't b-b-be stupid, p-pup. You c-can't beat those t-t-things without a w-weapon,” she stammers.

“I don't need to kill them,” Roderick says, keeping his eyes on the enemies, “I just have to stall them until Remi gets the door open.”

He moves to take a step forward, but loses his balance immediately as he's reminded why one of his legs is so cold. When trying to smash it off against the wall doesn't work, Roderick looks down at his leg, and then back up at the two jarbas. He then plants his frozen foot on the floor and pushes off with his good leg. Balancing on one of the edges of the ice block like a skate, he covers the distance to the jarbas in a flash, where he launches himself into the air with his good leg. He forces himself into a spinning kick, and his frozen leg connects with the previously injured jarba's head, sending it stumbling face first into the wall behind it. The force of the kick is also enough to shatter the ice on his leg, which allows him to hop backwards as he lands to avoid being cut in half by the remaining enemy. Hearing another door swoosh open, Roderick looks back to see that third time's the charm, and Remi has finally gotten the door unlocked. Wasting no time, he sprints back across the room, scoops Eli up in his arms, and books it through the door. Remi follows immediately, locking the door behind them.

They run through a dozen rooms until they reach a small intersection where Roderick pauses for instruction.

“We must tend to Eliza before we do anything else,” Remi says, “the room to the left appears to be a dead end. If it is vacant, it should be safe.”

They walk up the ramp and enter the room, which is indeed a dead end. It's a small rectangular room with no ways out besides the one they came in through. Aside from a few crates in the far corner, it's completely empty. Roderick drops to his knees to set Eli down on the floor as gently as he can. Remi pulls a wand out that looks very similar to a small hatchet. As she waves her Tesbra across the cut on Eli's back, a warm green light fills in the gash. It remains for a few seconds as the wound slowly tries to close itself, but the light fades from Eli's back before any real progress is made.

“I can only repair line shields. I lack the technical skill to close a wound like this,” Remi says as her Tesbra fades back into distorted space.

“What do we do then?” Roderick asks, doing his best to keep the panic out of his voice.

“I will administer a light anesthetic and stitch it by hand. It will have to suffice until we return to the Colony.”

“Uh, alright,” Roderick says, “what can I do to help?”

“I need you to stand watch outside this room,” Remi says while giving Eli a small shot of something in her thigh, “alert me if anything or anyone approaches.”

“Oh... that's no fun... Remi,” Eli says weakly, “you just don't... want him to see... me topless.”

Roderick turns eight shades of red and quickly makes for the hallway, but holds his hand in front of his eyes as he turns to walk back to the ladies. Shutting his eyes, he pulls off his nobles coat and sets it on the floor beside Eli.

“Your jacket is pretty much destroyed,” he explains. He then heads towards the hall again.

“Roderick,” Remi calls after him. Grinning ever so slightly, she says “no peeking.”

Roderick silently raises his hand in confirmation as he disappears back into the hallway.

==========

Roderick passes the time leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, thinking about nothing in particular. What he feels like an hour passes in silence as he keeps watch dutifully, until he hears footsteps. Looking around for the source, he sees two silhouettes approaching from the hallway opposite him. Roderick pushes himself off the wall and begins thinking up an excuse for why he's there. As the two figures come into view though, all thought processes freeze and his jaw drops in apparent shock.

“You... why are you here!?”

“Hello, Roderick. It's been a while.”

[Nicktendonick]

Interesting.
I like this story sofar. This trio of characters plays well off eachother, the action is well written, and it seems like we might find out more about the mysteries surrounding Roderick.

In short, I'm currently enjoying "Currently untitled" and I currently hope to see more.

[McLaughlin]

Sorry for the long delay between updates. I've been studying hard for midterms. They're almost all done though, so I finally had some time to write the next chapter. Hopefully everyone likes it. Comments are appreciated as always.


Chapter 5: Old Friends and New Enemies


Rewinding a bit, as Roderick waves and exits the room, Remi begins preparing to close the wound on Eli's back.

“Are you ready?”

“Just get it over with so we can get out of here.”

“This will take some time,” Remi says, piercing the skin on Eli's back for the first time to start the stitching, “if you begin to feel any discomfort, tell me and I can reapply the anesthetic.”

“Every freaking time they send us underground, something like this happens.”

“Given the precedent, perhaps you should be more aware of your surroundings.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Eli looks menacingly over her shoulder at Remi. As menacing as she can given the situation, anyway.

“The outbreak under the line station, you nearly electrocuted yourself when you jumped down onto the line to avoid some rubble. The last time we were deployed to Granigs Mines you almost froze to death when you used Anga Jabroga on the surface of a lake. When we-”

“Alright, I get it,” Eli interrupts, “how was this time my fault though?”

“You were too occupied with Roderick's safety.”

“What was I supposed to do, let the jarba cleave him in half?”

“We should not have brought him in the first place,” Remi says flatly.

“Is this about Kent? That wasn't our-”

“Yes, it was. We failed, and we nearly failed again today. Against my better judgment I allowed him to come, but clearly it was a mistake.”

“If it weren't for the pup, we might not even be having this conversation!” Eli shoots back angrily.

After a tense minute of silence, Eli says, “it's our job to train him so that doesn't happen again.”

Remi remains quiet, so Eli continues, “besides, he's not as defenseless as you think. You saw how he saved me.”

“And what if he is not so fortunate next time? With no line shield, one blow could be fatal. With no weapon, his combat ability is limited, regardless of his agility.”

“He didn't look too 'limited' when he caved that jarba's skull in,” Eli retorts.

“So how was he going to handle the second one?”

“Does it matter? He- ow!” Eli winces as the needle breaks through her skin.

“I will reapply the anesthetic. We can take a break until it takes effect again,” Remi says, setting her tools on the floor.

“Thanks,” Eli says, turning around to face her friend. “Look, all I'm saying is the best way to make sure he's safe is to keep him with us. If we leave him on the Colony all the time HQ will just send him out with other Guardians. Would you really feel better if he was under the watch of someone like Ben?”

“That would be less than ideal, to say the least,” Remi concedes.

“Exactly,” Eli says, apparently proud she's gotten her point across. “I understand how you feel you know. I'm pretty attached to him already too.”

“Losing arguments to you is not something I am accustomed to. Let us change the subject,” Remi replies, flashing a smirk at Eli.

“All this using my brain's made me pretty exhausted. I think I'm numb enough to continue, just wake me up when you're done.”

Eli lays out the remnants of her flaxo jacket as a makeshift blanket and then lays down on top of it. Once she's comfortable, she closes her eyes, and Remi resumes her work. Outside of Eli's breathing and the occasional white noise from the building itself, Remi is able to work in silence.

It takes her another half hour to finish closing the cut. When she finally finishes she calls Eli's name a few times, raising her voice each time she fails to wake her. After four or five attempts, she gently shakes her, which does the trick.

“Huhwha?” Eli mumbles, looking around to try and remember what was going on before she fell asleep.

“I am finished. Do not make any sudden movements, the stitches are barely holding as it is.”

“Uh huh,” Eli says, wiping some drool from the corner of her mouth, “not a problem. Let's just get out of here.”

“I believe you are forgetting something.”

“Hm?” Eli looks around confused.

“You can walk out topless if you wish, but Roderick was kind enough to leave his jacket for you to wear.”

Eli shrugs, “honestly, you'd probably be more embarrassed than me. You're right though, wouldn't wanna hurt the pup's feelings by ignoring his offer.”

“It seems he is quite modest as well. I imagine it would be difficult for him to finish this mission with one hand obscuring his vision the entire time.”

“Ha! If he's gonna hang out with us he better get over it quick. Help me put this thing on would ya?”

Remi holds up the nobles coat Roderick left behind while Eli gingerly slips her arms into the sleeves. After she's done she notices the coat feels heavy on the left side. Patting herself down reveals a pocket in the lining, which houses the source of the extra weight.

“What the heck is this?” Eli asks, pulling the object out.

“It appears to be a digital picture frame.”

“Why's he carrying this around with him?”

“It must be important to him.”

“Let's see what's on it,” Eli says, beginning a search to find the method of turning the frame on.

“I think that would be ill advised. If Roderick wanted us to know he would have shown us himself.”

“Come on. You said yourself he's a modest guy. He's probably too shy to talk about it.” Remi sighs, but gets drowned out as Eli triumphantly shouts “Aha!”

Pressing a button on the back of the picture frame powers it up and displays, what else, a picture. The image shows a family standing with their backs to a cliff, a raging waterfall behind them. The mother has sandy blonde, shoulder length hair, pale skin with soft features and sky blue eyes. The young girl standing in front of her looks almost identical, with longer hair and fewer wrinkles. The father is a little more tan than his wife, and almost a head taller. His light brown hair is short and messy, his face is well defined, and his eyes are a light shade of green. The boy looks like, well, Eli says it best, “is that the pup?”

“He looks a couple years younger, but the resemblance is striking.”

“The background looks familiar. Where do you think this was taken?”

“It appears to be the Foran Waterfalls,” Remi observes.

“They must have been on vacation then,” Eli says, “they all look really happy.”

“Indeed.”

“I wonder why he never told us about them.”

“I am sure he has his reasons. Put that back and let us get out of here, he has been standing outside for some time,” Remi says. Eli gives her the “do you know something I don't?” look, but complies anyway. She zips up the coat, grabs the shambles of her jacket, and together with Remi, they make for the door. After a few steps though, they stop when they hear the sound of metal hitting metal, and a large piece of said door bounces off the floor and blows past them.

“What the hell was that!?”

==========

“Hello, Roderick. It's been a while.”

“What's going on here, Able? I thought you-”

“Died?” the man interrupts, “how would you know? You ran away so quickly I'm surprised you think you know anything about that day. I forgive you though. Come with me and I'll explain.”

The man known as Able takes a step ahead of his female companion and extends a gloved hand towards Roderick. Roderick has a slight edge in height, but beyond that, he's almost the mirror image of Able. Where Roderick has bright colors though, Able is almost entirely draped in black, from his black nobles coat, down to his black braves ST pants, ending at his black braves sneakers. He maintains the same yellow highlights that Roderick has though, but his irises look lifeless and gray. Even his hair is an extremely dark shade of brown, his bangs hang down just below his eyebrows and the rest of it seems to flare out to the sides, with the back almost coming to a point.

Roderick ignores the advance and remains standing in front of the door, content to remain in a blinking contest. “I'm not going anywhere with you.”

“Why not?”

“We weren't exactly on the best of terms before you die-... disappeared.”

“Oh come on, you're still sore about that?”

“I've mov-” Roderick pauses to reconsider his wording, “I've made new friends, and I'm leaving this place with them.”

“Oh, that's rich!” Able laughs, “you don't know anything about those two.”

“I know they're the first people to even pretend to like me in a long time.”

“They must not know you too well either then. Look, we've got permission to use force to bring you back. It'll be easier on everybody if you just cooperate.”

“No,” Roderick says defiantly.

“Always the stubborn one,” Able sighs, calling out a wand similar to the one Roderick saw Remi use. “It looks like we're doing this the hard way, Helga.”

The photons inside the Tesbra's cage change from a rich purple to a bright red, and with one flick of the wrist, Able sends a sizable fireball hurtling towards Roderick. He scrambles out of the way as it sails by, singeing the air as it does, before impacting the door behind him and blowing part of it clean out of the frame. Being so occupied with the Foie he just avoided, Roderick fails to notice the woman approach from behind him, and when he turns back to face Able, she greets him with a fist to the stomach. She puts so much force into the blow that it lifts him off his feet and carries him through the hole in the door and back into the room Remi and Eli are in.

==========

“What the hell was that!?”

Before Remi can answer something else flies out of the hallway, landing hard on the floor and sliding a few feet further.

“Pup!”

Roderick coughs hard as he slowly rises to his feet. He wobbles for a second, but one he realizes where he is he immediate throws a hand over his eyes and shouts, “I'm not looking, I promise!”

[Broken_L_button]

Yay! A new chapter! And, once again, a lovely read. Keep it up!

[McLaughlin]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm still not too confident in my writing, but nobody's come out and said I suck yet so that's a good sign. Perhaps they're just afraid of posting and being spotted in Fan Works. :P

Tentatively, I should be able to get the next chapter up tonight or Friday.

[Sord]

This is... really not to bad at all. Your dialogue in particular is admittedly pretty damn good as far as what's actually said. But you are right about your descriptions when you said "I have difficulty being descriptive enough to create the proper image without feeling like I'm pausing the narrative to describe somebody new in one giant paragraph." At times in the first three posts, it felt like suddenly the narration left the story and we were merely being described the scene, and then the writing went back to the actual story. It was like reading a screenplay. It would probably be a great help to describe things directly from a character's perspective as opposed to the omnipotent narrative view that you typically took on in the first two.

You also had a heavy lack of transition between all the descriptions, making it feel like a police report. Furthermore, don't feel the need to describe everything in one big block of text, you can space things out, this especially goes for character descriptions. For example, if Roderick were to be introduced again, initially just stick to general but still important things about him. A good example would be his tall (and I'm assuming lean) stature, as agility is a primary focus of his. Then later, when he bumps into Remi and Eli, you would have them look at him, and describe additional details about him from their perspective. You can also do it when interacting with the environment. You actually did a great example of this when you brought up Eli's yellow flaxo jacket in the first chapter. You revealed it's existence, we know it's skimpy, yellow, and goes with her equally skimpy shorts (and the brand name is in there as well, though it does not help me personally since I haven't played PSU in ages.) And you described this while writing a fluid dialogue interaction that did a good job of revealing both Remi's and Eli's personalities as well as alluding to their fighting styles.

But then you get to Roderick dressing: it's a big block of mostly mundane text. His actions are narrated blandly even if precisely, and for all that text we learn Roderick has a basic morning routine like every one else (dull,) he has an apartment (dull,) cares enough about what he wears to match his clothes (not as dull, at least it could be a quirk, the clothes descriptions themselves are also fine but could have been described in detail elsewhere,) green is his favorite color (nice info but, doesn't really tell us anything about him personally,) hair color and style (good, but could be easily placed outside a wall of text, though now we do know he doesn't like to manage long hair,) he has a picture of something important (good,) and a rough idea of his apartment's layout (that's ok but... is the story really going to be in the apartment a lot in the first place?)

I would like to say there is one type of instance where that type of precise (even if somewhat routine or bland sounding) description really shines, and that's in fight scenes. Your latest couple bits being the prime example (though admittedly your descriptions flow considerably better in general in the last two, even if they might be shorter.) Fights are very fast things and outcomes are based on very specific movements. If the description isn't rigid it can be hard to tell just what is going on or we will only be left with a general idea (though sometimes that isn't a bad thing, "flurry of punches" could easily be viewed as a better description by some people rather than each and every jab or hook a character happens to throw in a row being intimately described.)

Oh, one other thing, environmental details, you seem to have a serious lack of those, focusing far more on dialogue. I would like to see more environmental description, preferably from a character's perspective. There's something I don't like about some of them, and I can't really pinpoint what it is exactly. The best I can do is compare what I would write vs what you would write. If you're interested here's a lil bit.

Here's yours:

As they step off the shuttle, Roderick has a look at his surroundings. The city of Tarcus is the capital of Parum, and its Cast heritage shows in the architecture. Every structure looks as though it has a purpose. Giant skyscrapers reach up into the clouds, entire walls are made out of glass, smaller buildings are built side by side with no space between them, and the city looks almost monochromatic, nearly everything some shade of gray; there's barely any color, and no street lights anywhere. What Roderick finds most interesting though is the distinct metal smell the air has.

If it were me, it would probably come out something like this:

Stepping off the shuttle at Tarcus, the capital of Parum, Roderick takes a moment to look around and absorb his surroundings. Each structure has a rigid intensity about it, a clear and concise purpose for it's existence. Giant skyscrapers reach for the clouds, their massive glass walls reflecting one another to create odd illusions. Smaller buildings are barren, side-by-side affairs with not even a crack to call an alley between them. The city is drained of almost all color, a stark grey covering everything with not even a street light to brighten the mood. On top of it all, Roderick can't help but notice the odd smell in the air. A distinct metallic odor, so strong he can almost taste it, something like sucking on a coin and industrial lubricant. It made Roderick uneasy, forcing the realization of just how organic he really was to the forefront of his mind.

Whether it's better or worse is questionable, I'm not going to comment on that. It could just be what I personally like. I'd also write it in the first person normally but that wouldn't flow well in your story since it's mostly 3rd person. At the very least I guess it's a different perspective. Regardless, you seem to be steadily improving with each chapter (pretty noticeably actually) so I would imagine you'll have quite a few things ironed out in the future.

[McLaughlin]

Really appreciate the insight. I'll definitely take your advice to heart.

I much prefer your description of Tarcus to mine as well. That's the kind of thing I struggle with.

[Sord]

Really appreciate the insight. I'll definitely take your advice to heart.

I much prefer your description of Tarcus to mine as well. That's the kind of thing I struggle with.

Heh, np. I wish I could do dialogue as well as you can. I'm pretty terrible at it, all the characters except the main one wind up sounding pretty much the same. I'm not that great at showing personality through it. I try to write every once in awhile, but it never really gets anywhere. I'm good at world building and creating scenes, but, when it comes to actually throwing a plot in there and some character interaction? Blah. I wind up hating it, then never get around to finishing it.

[Freeze]

Another interesting Chapter, good work but you really need to give this a proper title. It deserves one.

[McLaughlin]

I've been trying to think of something awesome but I'm drawing a blank thus far.

[McLaughlin]

A day late, my bad. Again, really appreciate the comments. Mucho gracias.

Edit: Forgot some italics.

Chapter 6: Stall Tactics


“I'm not looking, I promise!”

“Relax, pup, there's nothing to see,” Eli assures Roderick.

“Even still, you're very pretty and it'd be inappro-”

“First of all,” Eli cuts him off, “I meant I have your coat on, and second, what do you mean 'even still'? I've got plenty to look at!”

“Er, that's not what I-” Roderick starts, cautiously lowering his hand from his face. After a coughing fit he decides to start a new train of thought, “are you OK?”

Remi answers, “Eliza will be fine provided she avoids strenuous movement. What is going on outside?”

“Uh,” Roderick pauses while trying to think of the best way to explain, “there are two people out there who want to take me somewhere.”

“How did you end up in here?”

“Well,” he blushes, “I told them I was leaving with you and they didn't much care for that answer.”

“I see. We have what we came for, our first priority now is to escape,” Remi says.

“How are we gonna do that with two crazy people blocking the door?” Eli asks.

“I will deal with them. Roderick will escort you out.”

“Actually...” Roderick says, objecting to the proposed plan, “I think I should be the decoy.”

Remi answers bluntly, “absolutely not.”

“I don't know the way out,” he protests, “and they want me specifically.”

“I will direct you.”

“While fighting two people? There's something not right about them, ma'am.”

“All the more reason for you to take Eliza. Do not underestimate me, Roderick.”

“I think the pup's got a point,” Eli chimes in.

“You can lock the doors behind you on your way out to slow any pursuers down. I can't do that,” Roderick adds.

“How exactly do you plan to escape?”

“I can stall them until you're far enough away and then I'll make a run for it. You can guide me to an exit.”

“If the pup wants to do it I say we let him,” Eli says.

Remi lets out an audible sigh before surrendering, “Twice in one day. I must need recalibration.”

“All right,” Roderick says, moving back towards the door, “I'll draw them away so you can get going.”

“Hey!” Eli shouts as he leaves their view, “don't screw this up! If you die we'll kill you!”

“This is a poor decision.”

“Have a little faith, would ya?”

“Are you aware I am a Cast?”

==========

“I think that was a little excessive, Helga.”

“If that's all it takes to kill him he's not even worth bothering with,” the woman snarls.

“Just dial it back a bit. We need him alive.”

“Whatever. Stay out of the way.”

“You'll regret it if you underestimate him,” Able warns.

Their banter is put on hold when they both turn their attention to the top of the slope, as Roderick emerges from the shadows of the hallway. Stepping through what's left of the door, he stops just before the decline begins and looks down at Able.

“Decided to come quietly?”

Instead of replying, Roderick breaks out into a full sprint, blowing past Able and out of the room before he can react.

“I guess I should have seen that coming. Come on, Helga.”

“Don't tell me what to do,” she hisses.

Together, Able and Helga take off after Roderick, leaving the room completely vacant. A minute passes by before Remi and Eli enter, looking around to make sure they're alone.

“He was right, there's definitely something wrong with those two,” Eli observes.

“Indeed. Come, the longer we take the worse his chances get.”

==========

Big room, big room, Roderick thinks to himself as he continues to sprint through corridors and smaller rooms, Able loves those long range Technics, I need room to avoid them. He's been zig-zagging his way through the underground lab in an attempt to put distance between himself and his friends. Eventually he finds himself exactly what he's been looking for; a huge room. Well lit, and two stories like much of what he's seen in the lab. Without noticing though, he's made his way to an unfinished portion of the facility. Where previous rooms had transparent glass floors, in this area the glass has largely given way to bland sheet metal and steel grating. Whole sections of walls are incomplete, exposing rebar and electrical wiring, and all the doors on the ground floor save the one he came through are closed and apparently lacking power. After he soaks in his surroundings he takes a couple deep breaths to calm himself down and stifle the panting.

“You always were good at running away from your problems.”

“And you were never any good at keeping up,” Roderick fires back.

“So what's your plan now?” Able asks, holding his Tesbra at his side. The photons have again changed color, this time to a neon blue.

“It doesn't... matter,” the woman manages between gasps for air. Her light blue hair is damp with sweat, leaving her bangs plastered to her forehead even as she's doubled over, “let's knock him out... and get out of here.”

Two strange swords melt into Helga's hands as she's finally able to right herself. In her right hand, she holds a saber almost completely comprised of dark purple photons. The blade itself extends well beyond the hilt, even near where she grips it, where the guard curves back around in a sickle shape. In contrast, the saber in her left hand is old school; made completely out of some type of metal with a strange angular design and a thick oblong hand guard protecting the hilt.

Able makes the first move, waving his wand around to summon four huge ice stalagmites above Roderick. While he dances around to avoid being impaled, Helga rushes forward, her black jacket flapping wildly. She leads with the right saber, cutting clean through one of the stalagmites stuck in the floor, but narrowly misses Roderick's head. He uses the missed attempt to his advantage by kicking the ice disc into her chest, forcing her back a few feet.

Taking to the offensive, Roderick uses the shortened icicle as a stepping stone to launch himself up over the others, which have formed a makeshift barricade, and towards Able. Casting another Rabarta fails to impede him as he contorts himself in midair to keep out of harm's way. When he lands, Roderick closes the distance to Able in three strides, putting all his forward momentum into a punch that hits Able in the chest. Instead of recoiling, Able stands tall, and it's Roderick who immediately pulls his hand away in pain.

“I bet that hurt,” Able laughs.

While Roderick nurses his hand, Able changes the grip on his wand and swings it like an axe, intending to embed it in Roderick's shoulder. Roderick reaches up and grabs the shaft with his good hand, and braces himself with his other arm when he realizes he's being overpowered. Nearly instantly, the color drains away from the Tesbra's cage, leaving it completely empty.

“Woops,” Able shrugs, pulling away and taking a few steps back, “I guess this thing is junk now.”

Discarding his Tesbra, Able draws another weapon to replace it. A strange three-pronged rod with an awful aura surrounding it. At that moment, Roderick is sidetracked by a beeping sound in his ear.

Remi comes in over his comm unit, “Roderick, we are clear. From your position, exit through the door you are facing and continue straight. I will tell you when to turn.”

Able raises the psycho wand above his head, spinning it around several times while the prongs and a large portion of the shaft glow orange. Slamming the butt end into the floor causes the room to start shaking, and Roderick dives out of the way just as a colossal boulder erupts from the ground, dislodging dozens of pieces of the floor. Helga takes this opportunity to rejoin the battle, charging in with the metal half of her Tiga de Ragan. Having nothing to parry the blade with, Roderick digs his heel into the floor, flipping one of the steel plates up into the air. Wincing as he snatches it out of the air with both hands, he uses it as a shield to deflect the lunge, while sticking his foot out to trip up Helga. While she tumbles away, Able moves in in an attempt to use his rod like a spear. As he thrusts it forward, Roderick launches himself into the air in an aerial front flip. Easily clearing the reach of the psycho wand, he comes out of the maneuver above Able, whose head he uses as a springboard. Pushing off hard forces Able's face to meet the floor, and propels Roderick to his exit. As soon as his feet touch the ground, he bolts.

Able rises slowly to his feet, shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the cobwebs, “I told you not to take him lightly.”

“Shut up,” Helga barks.

“Ooh, testy.”

==========

“At the next intersection, turn right. From there the exit will be straight ahead.” Remi dictates.

Roderick slides into the turn to avoid losing all his speed before moving back into a full sprint. Seeing no door to use though, it dawns on him that Remi hasn't led him to a legitimate exit. Rather, a large plate glass window seems to be his way out. He lowers his shoulder, drops his head, and smashes through it in a spectacular display as bits of broken glass refract the sunlight in every direction. Unaware that he was charging out of the second story, Roderick is ill prepared for the fall and lands roughly, tumbling into a tuck and roll, coming to a stop right at the feet of his companions.

Eli is the first to speak, “Are you alright pup!?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Roderick says, slowly getting to his feet while checking himself over.

“Good,” Eli says, giving him a solid whack to the back of his head, “don't ever do anything that stupid again.”

“I concur,” Remi agrees. “In the future, please remember that we are here to help you.”

“It all worked out this time though, so good work, pup!”

Roderick rubs the back of his head, feeling for a bump, “then why'd you hit me?”

“Think of it as a warning of what's to come the next time you get any crazy ideas.”

“Come,” Remi beckons, “we must return to the Colony. Eliza requires medical attention and I must report our findings.”

“Hey, pup, gimme a lift.”

Roderick's face turns bright red at that suggestion, “I uh, uh, why?”

“Because I'm tired and sore. Come on, it's just a piggyback ride.”

And so together they walk back to the flyer base, Eli beaming the entire way from her perch atop Roderick's back, while he tries not to die of embarrassment. From the window he jumped out of, two figures, a man and a woman, watch them leave.

“This might be a little trickier than I first thought.”

[Sord]

“Have a little faith, would ya?”

“Are you aware I am a Cast?”


I chuckled



He's been zig-zagging his way through the underground lab in an attempt to between himself and his friends.

I believe you're missing the word "distance" here. There's a few other errors, I know there was a "to" ("too?") missing somewhere in there. A good proof read after taking a break from the writing will probably reveal most of the others.

[McLaughlin]

Yeah, I'm bad for that. I usually edit them out as I find them when I reread the chapter later. Thanks.

[Xaeris]

I actually saw this thread when it first went up, and meant to read and comment. ...Better late than never, right?

I enjoyed reading the six chapters. The three main characters are amusing, though I'm a sucker for scrapper beast girls. The banter between them, while stiff in a handful of places, makes for good dialogue just about everywhere else. The personality spread is a classic mix of the bewildered protagonist caught between two contrasting personalities, but it's a classic for a reason.

A criticism I have to make is the flow between segments. In a couple places, which I'll make examples of, it seemed like the events came to an abrupt end to raise the curtain on a new scene. I felt this particularly when they chose to flee from the De Ragan, and when they broke into the secret lab. I would have written more events between those scenes and the ones that followed them to carry the transition. The shuttle ride to Parum would have provided a good opportunity for interaction, for instance.

You have some good details in places, weapon deployment and use in particular (*ahem*). I really liked the opening of the first chapter where you described the girls' clothing by having them snipe at each other; description through action, as it were. This story represents a pretty good effort, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[McLaughlin]

Really appreciate the feedback. I wasn't sure how well I was doing the fights, since they're basically one long description, which I think is clearly not my strong suit. Still, I hope I can improve a little with each chapter. The next couple are a little slower paced, so at least I'll have the chance to practice. >_>

Sorry for the long delay. Lots of school work to do.


Chapter 7: First Impressions


“Roderick, the medical center is in Headquarters. Eliza can guide you there, I must run an errand,” Remi says, stepping through the turnbuckle outside the Parum PPT gate, “I will meet you there.”

“Mush!” Eli orders gleefully, pointing towards the top of the nearby staircase.

Roderick obliges and begins the climb to HQ, while Remi disappears into a crowd of people, heading in the general direction of the colony's elevators. The steep incline proves challenging, but after a few exaggerated balancing issues, to the chagrin of Eli, they both make it to the top in one piece.

“Sorry about the turbulence,” Roderick teases, tilting his head up to smile at Eli.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up.” She gives him a light whack on the head before giving him directions, “we're headed up the elevators in the back.” Eli points to the far end of the room for added clarity.

The area is deserted for the most part; a male beast and Mina are the only other people around. As such, a human giving a piggyback ride to a beast is easy to pick out, and Mina shouts, “Eli? How did your mission go!?”

Eli slaps her own face before replying, “you know. The usual.” Roderick gently bucks Eli to adjust his hold before setting off across the room.

“I don't know about that!” Mina continues to shout, “I've never seen you return like that before!”

This prompts the beast at the counter to turn around. Incidentally, he looks much more imposing now than he did from behind. His biceps look like they're about to rip the sleeves of his boaboa vest, and the black straps that criss-cross over his chest are straining to hold the whole thing in place. He scoffs and walks towards the pair, “You never cease to amaze me.”

“Shut up, Ben,” Eli snaps back.

“And who's this punk?” he asks, still closing the gap between them. Roderick passes him by without a word or even a glance, content to just keep on walking.

“Hey,” Ben snarls, grabbing him by the arm and forcing him to stop, “where do you think you're going?”

“I'm taking her to the medical center,” he replies calmly. “I don't think this conversation is more important than her well being. Do you?”

Ben stares at Roderick in silence through his messy brown bangs for a moment before loosening his grip, “what if I said I don't give a naval's ass about her?”

Roderick pulls his arm free and begins walking, “I'd say this conversation is over.”

He's able to make the rest of the short trip across the room in peace, offering a friendly smile to Mina as he passes by. Finally reaching the elevator, Eli picks a floor while Roderick shifts her weight again. Waiting for the doors to close, she comments, “I don't think I've ever seen my brother speechless before.”

Roderick looks up at Eli as the doors slide shut with mixture of shock and panic, “that was your brother?”

==========

Remi departs from her own elevator, which lets out directly into a lavish laboratory. Maya is seated in front of a complex-looking apparatus, with several pieces of what appear to be a saber hilt strewn across the table she's working at. At the sound of Remi's clunky footsteps, she looks up from her work and rushes over to greet her.

After a long hug, Maya steps back to say, “I already read your report. It's a wonder you all made it back in one piece!”

“You look tired, Maya,” Remi says, taking note of her unkempt hair and the deep bags under her eyes.

“I'm going home right after I tell you what I've found.”

“Which is?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“What?” Remi says in disbelief, “that is impossible.”

“There was absolutely nothing wrong with this line shield, Remi,” Maya repeats.

“Then-”

Maya cuts her off, “I don't want to give you my theory without any proof to back it up.” She hands the small chip back to Remi, “give him this. I've modified it to transmit biometric information back to my lab terminal. When I have the evidence I need, I'll let you know.”

“Thank you, Maya,” Remi bows before accepting the line shield from her.

“Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home and pass out. Hopefully in that order,” Maya grins.

Remi smiles back, and together they leave the lab.

==========

“Thanks, by the way,” Eli says quietly as she and Roderick wait for the elevator to reach their floor.

“It's no problem, really. You're actually pretty light.”

“I meant-... what do you mean 'actually'? You thought I was gonna be heavy!?”

“Er, no! I uh... you're in great shape!” Roderick stammers. His weak recovery earns him another smack to the noggin right as the elevator chimes to signal their departure.

“I was talking about standing up to my brother. And that Cast on Parum too.”

“Don't worry about it,” Roderick shrugs.

“But,” Eli continues, “you need to be careful. Especially around people like Ben. Remi and I like you a lot, although she probably wouldn't admit it to you. You're our friend now, and we don't want to see anything bad happen to you.”

“Sorry. I guess I wasn't really thinking.”

“There's nothing to be sorry about. Just remember that Remi and I can handle ourselves,” Eli says, giving Roderick a pat on the shoulder. She then gently turns his head to the left to steer him into a sterile looking room. A giant glass window occupies an entire wall and offers a stunning view of the system outside the colony. Roderick sets Eli down on a padded table in the center of the room as two newman women in white coats enter.

“Time for you to bail, pup,” Eli says.

“Oh? I thought I was supposed to stay.”

“I don't care if you stay, but you've made it pretty clear you don't want to know what I have going on under this jacket,” Eli teases. Roderick's face turns bright red almost instantly.

“I'll just wait in the hall then,” he says quickly before stepping outside. The two newmen trade looks of bewilderment before setting to work.

Roderick parks himself just outside, leaning back against a wall to support himself. Attempting to slide his hands into his pockets produces a dull pain in his left hand. He pulls his hand up to his face to inspect it, but sees nothing obviously wrong. Roderick takes a look around the empty hall until his gaze falls on some medical supplies resting on a tray in the room opposite him. After he verifies again that the corridor is empty, he sleuths his way over to the tray, where he snags a tensor bandage. He then Solid Snake's his way back to where he he started, where he reclaims his section of wall and begins wrapping his hand with the bandage.

A few minutes later, Roderick is at the end of the wrap, pinning it down and testing it by making a fist. He winces, but decides it's better now than it was before. The sound of footsteps echoing through the hall pulls Roderick's attention away from his hand and towards the short newman moseying towards him. It only takes a moment for the two to make eye contact, and once it happens the man quickens his pace considerably, the coattails of his red braves coat flapping behind him.

“Excuse me, are you lost?”

“No sir,” Roderick replies.

“I see,” the man says, sweeping his black bangs out of his eyes, “may I ask what you're back here for?”

“I'm waiting for my trainer,” Roderick answers nervously, “I didn't know this area was off limits. Is there some-”

“Oh!” the man interrupts, “you're the rookie! My name is Edgar,” he says, extending his left hand.

“I'm Roderick,” Roderick replies, shaking hands with the newman. Edgar's grip turns out to be much stronger than Roderick had guessed from his small frame, and he fights back the urge to grimace with moderate success. Still, Edgar notices.

“How did you injure your hand?” he asks, pulling it up to his face for closer examination.

“I'm not really sure,” Roderick lies, “I probably just sprained it on our last mission.”

“I can fix that right up for you, just wait here for a minute.”

“Oh, you don't have to do that. I heal fast,” Roderick insists, “It'll probably already be better in the morning.”

“Well... if you insist. At least let me fix that bandage. You've wrapped it far too tightly.”

“Er, thanks,” Roderick says, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

Edgar only takes a few moments to re-wrap the bandage, “well, that should do it. I have to be somewhere, but it was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Thanks,” Roderick says, making a fist to test his hand again, “it was nice meeting you too.”

Edgar begins to walk away, but turns back almost immediately, “A word of advice; I'd stay clear of Eli's brother, Benjamin. He's not terribly fond of humans.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

“Give Eli and Remi my best,” Edgar says with a wave.

As the newman disappears from view, more footsteps draw Roderick's attention back to the other end of the corridor, where Remi emerges from behind a corner. He waves as he waits for her to reach him.

“No issues?” Remi asks, looking through the window in the door.

“No ma'am,” Roderick says, making a conscious effort to stand up a little straighter.

“Good work.”

“Is Eli going to be all right?”

“An injury like the one she sustained is severe by Guardian standards, but not life threatening,” Remi explains, “the medical staff here are excellent at their jobs. She will be fully recovered once they are finished.”

“That's a relief.”

“So,” Remi says, turning to face Roderick, “what is your relation to the man from the laboratory?”

“Er-”

Remi cuts short his attempt to fib, “I have excellent hearing, Roderick. “

“Ah...”

“You are not in trouble,” she says, as sincerely as she can, “but we need to be prepared.”

Roderick finds something interesting on the floor to look at as he says, “I don't know the woman, but the man's name is Able. He's supposed to be dead.”

[McLaughlin]

Sorry this took so long. I've been swamped lately with exams and work. Updates should be more frequent from this point forward. This one's just a little longer than previous chapters, partly because I felt bad about the delay and party because I just couldn't think of a good way to end it faster.


Chapter 8: The Calm


“And that's the last I saw of him.”

“I am... sorry, Roderick.”

“It's not your fault. I shouldn't have kept it from you,” Roderick says, finally picking his head up.

“Speaking of keeping things,” Remi says, attempting to move the conversation in a lighter direction, “I have something for you.”

“What's this?” Roderick asks, taking the small microchip Remi offers him.

“It is a line shield,” Remi answers.

“Another one? I'll pay you guys back.”

“No need,” Remi reassures Roderick, “this one is complimentary.”

Roderick removes the chip from the nanotransformer on his wrist and inserts the one given to him. There's no visual change, however, and he blushes in embarrassment, muttering “I don't get it,” to himself under his breath.

“Keep it. Perhaps it will begin working later. Just remember that you are unshielded,” Remi warns.

“I'll be careful, I promise.”

“Yes, please do. While we are on the topic of caution, I understand you have met Eliza's brother.”

“If you can call him that,” Roderick says bitterly.

“They share blood and little else,” Remi explains. “Regardless, among the Guardians he is one of the elite. He has a very short temper and a strong contempt for all other races. You would be wise not to provoke him.”

“If he has something to say to me, he can come find me,” Roderick shrugs. “The way he treated Eli wasn't right, and I'm not going to pretend it was.”

“Roderick, if not for your sake...” Remi pauses, “do it for ours.”

Apparently she pressed the right button. Roderick bows his head in defeat before saying, “I'll do my best.”

“Sorry, am I interrupting a personal moment?” asks a voice from behind them. Roderick and Remi turn to see Eli leaning against the frame of the door, looking haggard but putting on a weak smile anyway.

“Eli? Are you all right?” Roderick asks, “you don't look so good.”

“I'll be fine.”

“Replacing a large number of photons at once is hard on the body,” Remi explains, “it takes time and energy for the body to assimilate the new photons. Stimulating rapid tissue regeneration only adds to the strain.”

“I'll be good by tomorrow,” Eli insists. “Some sleep is all I need.”

“If you say so,” Roderick says. He then kneels down with his back to Eli.

“What are you doing?”

“You're not leaning on the wall because you're lazy,” Roderick answers.

“Roderick, she can wa-”

“How thoughtful of you, pup,” Eli interrupts, shooting a death stare Remi's way and shaking her head vigorously. Remi sighs while Eli moves forward and collapses on top of Roderick, who nearly faceplants when the force of Eli's fall throws him off balance.

After managing to get her arms to dangle over his torso, Roderick adjusts his posture so Eli's head will rest on his shoulder. Once he's satisfied the now snoring Eli won't slide off his back, he turns to Remi to ask, “can you show me how to get her home?”

“Yes, this way,” Remi says, gesturing down the end of the corridor.

==========

Together, they make their way through the Colony. The streets are crowded by people from every race heading home from a hard day's work. Roderick occasionally looks down through the transparent floors to see that it's much of the same on every floor. Buildings reach from well below him to far above him, covered in vibrant store fronts, advertisements and neon lights at every level, which helps to break up the dull slate gray that would otherwise dominate the view. Eli snores quietly while they make their way to the central table.

“So... how did you two come to be partners?” Roderick asks, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Originally, we were paired together for our compatible combat styles. We compliment each other well, so we have been partners since graduation.”

“Have you guys trained a lot of Guardians?”

“Prior to you... just one,” Remi's voice trails off.

“Oh. What kind of person were they?”

“He was... nothing like you.”

Roderick laughs, “I'll take that as a compliment.”

“As you should,” Remi confirms. She stops abruptly at a door to type in a passcode before saying, “we are here.”

As the door retracts, Roderick is somewhat taken aback by the size of their living space. On one side, a modest kitchen and bar, complete with matching stools. Across the room lie two beds, pushed up against the edge of a counter-top that runs underneath a large glass window offering a view of the emptiness outside the Colony. The interior color scheme isn't what he expected either, surprised by the warm white and green walls and trimmings. Dotting the walls and counter-top are pictures of Remi and Eli. Beyond that area is a door that Roderick assumes leads to some sort of closet.

Roderick walks quietly across to the bedroom area of the space. Deciding which bed to set Eli down on isn't difficult; The shelves above hers are overloaded with plushies and stuffed animals of all kinds. After pulling her comforter and sheets back, he lays her down on the mattress as gently as he can before covering her back up.

“Roderick, your coat.”

“Not worth waking her up for it,” Roderick shrugs, heading back towards the door, “I have plenty of them, it's no big deal.”

“That is not what I meant,” Remi says, fishing around to extract a small black picture frame from inside the coat. Amazingly, she manages to get it without waking up Eli, who begins to snore even louder.

“Ah...”

“We found it in the laboratory. It must be of some importance for you to carry it with you.”

“It is,” Roderick says, taking the frame from Remi and looking at it intently for a few moments, “thank you.”

“We are off duty tomorrow,” Remi adds, “you are free to do as you wish.”

“Good night, Remi,” Roderick says, before the door slides shut behind him.

==========

“Eh? Hold on, I'm coming!”

Roderick scrambles to pull himself out of bed to meet whoever is ringing his doorbell like it's going out of style. When he finally reaches the door and opens it, he stares blankly for a few seconds while his brain attempts to catch up.

“Took you long enough.”

“Uh... Eli?” Roderick mumbles, still trying to figure out what's happening, “what are you doing here?”

“We're starting your workout,” Eli says, sounding almost confused, “did you forget you asked me for help in Tarcus?”

“Well, no...”

“You're good, pup, but you've got some work to do before you can back up that big mouth of yours.”

“Er, all right, hang on,” Roderick says, rubbing the last of the sleep out of his eyes, “let me get dressed.”

“Hey,” Eli calls after him. Roderick turns just in time to be blinded by the coat Eli throws at him, “you forgot this yesterday.”

“Thanks,” Roderick says, peeling the coat off his face. As he does, he notices the bandage still wrapped around his hand. No longer feeling the dull throbbing, he makes a mental note to remove the wrap while he gets dressed.

“So, where's Remi?” he shouts from his room.

“She does her maintenance on our off days. Why? Got robot on the brain?”

“Er, no,” Roderick continues to shout, “it's just, you guys seem really close. I never see one of you without the other.”

“We are close, that's how I know when to give her some space,” Eli says. She then continues to holler, “That reminds me. Bring a bathing suit with you. We're gonna cool off at the Paracabana Coast! If you're lucky, Remi'll show up.”

==========

“Well, she never was a fan of the beach...” Eli says to herself.

“Couldn't we have... worked out... on Colony?” Roderick gasps, catching up to Eli and doubling over. “It's so... hot...”

“Parum's gravitational pull is the strongest out of the three planets. The Colony's simulated gravity is an average between them. You get the most bang for your buck down here.”

“Oh...” Roderick says, sucking in some more wind before standing himself back up.

“Welp, might as well get changed and enjoy the rest of our day off. I think you could use a bit of a tan,” Eli teases, poking Roderick in the shoulder. “Meet me back here in like, five minutes.”

Five minutes later, Roderick and Eli reunite, more aptly dressed for a day at the beach. Roderick sports a pair of black and green boarder shorts and a bright red face, unable to keep himself from blushing while standing beside Eli, whose shorts are a similar style to his, but white and yellow, and whose yellow bikini top leaves little to the imagination. Both garner plenty of stares from other beach-goers for their well-toned bodies as they make their way to a vacant patch of sand to set up camp.

“So... what do we do now?” Roderick asks.

“We get tanned,” Eli says, unfurling her tower and setting it down, “and we gossip.”

“Er, gossip?” Roderick panics, “gossip about what?”

“You,” Eli says slyly.

“Me? There's nothing to say-”

Thankfully, Roderick gets some much needed help by way of several angry shouts coming from behind him. Eli looks past Roderick over his shoulder and shouts, “Noble!”

Roderick turns to see a huge Cast barreling towards him and Eli, and manages to snap back around in time to avoid being sprayed in the face with all the sand the Cast kicks up as he comes to a stop.

“Greetings, fleshbags,” the Cast says cheerfully, in a higher pitch than Roderick was expecting, given his size.

“Who are you calling fleshbags, nutsack?” Eli laughs, “what are you doing here?”

“Hardware upgrade. I was taking the shortcut back to Holtes when I spotted you. Where's this new recruit everyone's talking about?”

“You just about buried him,” Eli says, pointing to Roderick, peeking out from the mountain of sand Noble displaced.

“Woops,” Noble says sheepishly, grabbing Roderick's free arm and pulling him up out of the new sand dune, “sorry about that. I'm Noble.”

“No problem,” Roderick says, brushing himself off before shaking Noble's outstretched hand and looking him over. He stands half a head taller than Roderick, and although the black and white miyabi-kata he's wearing is fit loosely, Roderick can tell he's built like a brick house underneath. “I'm Roderick.”

“So this is the kid Ben was freaking out over, huh?” Noble says to himself, taking a step back to size Roderick up. From where they now stand, Roderick gets a better view of Noble's face, noting the soft features by Cast standards. Indeed, the only things that reaffirm Noble is indeed a cast outside of the cold blue skin tone are the large black triangles occupying the spaces where his ears ought to be. They remind Roderick of Remi's.

“Well,” Noble says, snapping Roderick out of his own little world, “anyone who gets on the wrong side of Ben is on the right side of me.”

“Come on, that's my brother,” Eli sighs.

“Not if you ask him. You should tell him to take some anger management classes. I heard he caused a lot of trouble on his mission yesterday.”

“Pfft, you do it. At least you're repairable.”

“That assumes there's enough of me left to rebuild,” Noble chuckles, running a hand through his short blonde hair.

“Yeah well, enough about him. What kind of trouble can the three of us get into?” Eli asks.

“Why are you looking for trouble?”

Eli, Noble, and Roderick all spin around at the sound of Remi's voice. Eli exclaims, “Remi!”, Noble waves enthusiastically, and Roderick is praying that the sensation of his jaw hitting the sand was an imaginary one. Remi stands before them clad not in metal parts, but in a simple red bikini, her hair tied in one long braid reaching down to the small of her back.

While Roderick powercycles his brain, Eli greets her friend, “I didn't think you were coming!”

“Maintenance took longer than I expected,” Remi says, before donning a skeptical look, “what is this talk of finding trouble about?”

“Nothing!” Eli says with a mischievous grin, “now that you're here we have even teams for...” she pauses for dramatic effect, “beach volleyball!” She then produces a volleyball from her nanotransformer and starts off towards a nearby vacant court. With nothing else to do, the others follow.

“How are we going to decide the teams?” Roderick asks.

“We should pair off with the Casts to keep it fair.”

“Who gets to pick then?”

“Remi and Noble can play rock paper scissors to decide it,” Eli answers.

Noble shrugs, “fine by me.” Remi nods in agreement, and so they move together to decide the fates of their fleshy companions.

After five stalemates, Remi finally pulls out a win with paper. After a moment of careful consideration, she announces her decision, “I choose Roderick.”

“Huh?”

“Fine, be that way,” Eli says in a mocking tone. She walks over to meet Noble with a high five.

“Why'd you pick me?” Roderick asks as he approaches Remi.

“I play to win. You are the only left hand-dominant person here. Together we can serve to the outside of the court,” Remi explains as they arrive on their side of the net.

“Since you picked your teammate, we get first serve!” Eli calls from her side of the net. All four of them take their positions, and Noble lines up to serve to Roderick. Standing several feet back from the base line, he tosses the volleyball high into the air and then runs after it. He launches himself into the air as the ball reaches the apex of its arc and fires a missile over the net with a thunderous smack towards Roderick, who is barely able to get his arms in front of him fast enough to receive the serve. Keeping the ball in play is about all Roderick can manage; the force of the impact actually staggers him. Remi crosses the court to reach the net, where she jumps and spikes the ball cross-court with just as much heat as Noble's serve. Eli dives in an attempt to keep the rally going, but comes up short.

“Excellent work, Roderick,” Remi says as everybody resets. She also holds up her hand, and it takes Roderick a moment to realize she's holding it there for a high-five. Not wanting to leave her hanging, he nervously slaps his palm against hers before setting up for a serve.

After many long lasting rallies and blistering serves, Roderick and Remi have a chance to put the game away. Roderick gets the rally started by firing the ball over the net with a jump serve of his own. Eli bumps the ball high towards the net for Noble to smash back towards Roderick, who fights to keep the ball in play. Remi moves towards the net, volleying the ball straight up and sky high. She then gets down on one knee and clasps her hands together. Roderick runs forward, stepping on Remi's hands so she can throw him high into the air. From this height, he's able to spike the ball almost straight down, and so he does. He crushes the volleyball with such authority and at such a steep angle that Noble is unable to move in time to avoid being hit right in the head, where the ball impales itself on the black antenna protruding from his forehead.

“78-76. We win,” Remi states matter-of-factly. She and Roderick share another high five as they walk around the net.

“There has to be a rule against that,” Eli sighs.

“Nope. They beat us good,” Noble says, peeling the deflated volleyball off his head and looking at it dejectedly, “I'm not paying for the ball though.”

“Ah, I'll cover that,” Roderick says sheepishly. After a moment spent looking at each other, everyone bursts into laughter. Even Remi chuckles.

“Today was a good day,” Eli says, looking out over the water where the sun is slowly setting.

“Yeah, I haven't had that much fun in a while,” Noble agrees, “you guys should send me a mail next time you're doing something. Ben's not really the type of partner who likes to hang out.”

“You are always welcome with us,” Remi assures him. “We should head back to the Colony. We have already been assigned a mission for tomorrow, and Eli still requires rest.”

As the group sets off, Roderick remains, fixated on the sun as it sinks below the horizon. Eli calls out to him, “pup? Something wrong?” which appears to snap him out of his daze, as he gives his head a shake and runs to catch up.

“Nah, nothing's wrong.”

[Sord]

Caught up on the reading. Last two posts seem to be lacking quite a bit in the descriptive department. Mostly all dialog with a paragraph every once in awhile explaining where they are in no great detail. Makes the reading feel more like a script: here's the setting, here's the lines. Should probably work on blending the two more.

I did internally smile at the use of the word "powercycling," though. You did use some good description, in places
as the ball reaches the apex of its arc and fires a missile over the net with a thunderous smack towards Roderick. There just didn't seem to be a good amount of it dispersed throughout.

Take this bit for example:
Together, they make their way through the Colony. The streets are crowded by people from every race heading home from a hard day's work. Roderick occasionally looks down through the transparent floors to see that it's much of the same on every floor. Buildings reach from well below him to far above him, covered in vibrant store fronts, advertisements and neon lights at every level, which helps to break up the dull slate gray that would otherwise dominate the view. Eli snores quietly while they make their way to the central table.
Some of this stuff, actually a large chunk, can be detailed via "description through action," as Xaeris put it. While Eli and Roderick are walking along conversing, describe things they see or do from their perspective rather than vaguely funneling it all in at once before the convo and making it feel separate. Even if it were a silly line like "Glancing up, Roderick had to wonder if the women wearing skirts remembered the fact the floors in the building were transparent or just didn't care." Heck, if you really wanted to, you can take an incident like that, have Roderick blush at an ill timed moment from seeing a lady a floor up wearing a skirt whilst talking to Eli, and then Eli misinterprets the blush for something else relevant to what they are talking about and teases Roderick for it which digs them into whatever topic they are talking about and would put Roderick in a position to basically cough up more of his background/personality so we learn more about him (but the in-story excuse for this would of course just be defending himself from Eli's teasing.)

[McLaughlin]

I really appreciate all the feedback, and I'm making a concerted effort to implement it. Hopefully it's reflected in the writing as the story continues. After all, half the reason I'm doing this in the first place is to improve my writing skillz.


Chapter 9: Separation Anxiety


“Attention all inhabitants of residential block F, evacuate to the central table! All Guardians are to report to HQ immediately!”

Roderick finds himself awoken by a loud female voice for the second time in one day. Squinting through blurry eyes at his clock, which reads 2:17 AM, only confuses him further.

“What the heck did that say?”

Almost as though some benevolent being wishes to spur him on, the message repeats, “attention all inhabitants of residential block F, evacuate to the central table! All Guardians are to report to HQ immediately!”

Jumping out of bed so fast he trips on his sheets, Roderick hurries to grab the nearest shirt and pair of pants before sprinting out the door.

==========

The scene at headquarters is a hectic one. Dozens of people are littered throughout the reception area, all just as clueless as Roderick. Not immediately recognizing anyone, he begins to wade through the crowd of Guardians, heading for the reception desk. Despite all the commotion, Mina still greets Roderick with a smile and a wave as he approaches.

“Roderick! I'm so glad you're safe!” she exclaims.

“Glad to see you're all right too, Mina. Any idea what's going on?”

Mina's enthusiasm quickly fades, “not really, I'm sorry. All I've been told is something about altered beasts getting loose. Oh, hello Noble!”

“Hey Mina, and Roderick too!” Noble says, weaving his way through a cluster of people to reach the counter. “Looks like we had the same idea.”

“Hi Noble. You wouldn't know where Remi and Eli are, would you? I haven't seen them anywhere,” Roderick asks, scanning the crowd for his companions.

“They'll turn up sooner or later. They're probably directing traffic somewhere.”

“But the alert said to come here?” Roderick says, confused.

“Oh, they never told you? Well, I guess they never really had a reason to. They're Marshals”

Noble's revelation does little to alleviate Roderick's confusion. “They're what?”

“Marshals,” Noble repeats, “they're hand-picked by president Dallgun. They outrank everyone except headmaster Nav and president himself, and they're the only ones allowed to take on S rank missions.”

“Oh... are there a lot of Marshals?”

“A few. You've already met most of them; Remi and Eli are your trainers, and Ben,” Noble pauses as he attempts to recall other names, “Edgar...” Roderick recalls the slight newman he met in the hallway, “Blake, and me. Oh, Anne and Anko too, but you'll probably never see them.”

“You're a Marshal?” Roderick asks, “then why are you here?”

“I was running errands, HQ was the closest meeting place. Remi and Eli stay in the Guardian compound, which is right by the central table. They probably just took over down there.”

Almost immediately after Noble finishes his sentence, the entire room falls eerily quiet. Doors at the back of the room hiss as the pneumatic pistons operating them release air, allowing them to slide open. From the elevator emerge four people: three Roderick immediately recognizes, and one he does not. Remi and Eli spot Roderick standing with Noble and move quickly to meet them. Ben scoffs and begins conversing with the other man as they disembark.

“That's president Dallgun,” Noble whispers.

“What were they all doing with the president?” Roderick whispers back.

“Looks like we're about to find out.”

Dallgun pulls sharply on the lapels of his black and blue blazer, straightening it out as he prepares to speak. Having already captivated everyone before even uttering a word, Roderick can tell that this man commands a great deal of respect.

“Approximately twenty minutes ago, there was a small explosion in one of the labs,” Dallgun states. His voice is deep, but raspy. Roderick knows the tone of exhaustion well. He clears his throat before continuing, “the explosion cut power to the lab, allowing someone to disengage the locks on all the containment cells. As a result, a flood of altered beasts has escaped into the linear line system.”

The crowd begins buzzing, but the sound of Dallgun drawing another breath is enough to silence them again. “Your job is to clear the linear line and assist in the evacuation of F block. We're unsure at this point if the explosion has compromised the Colony's integrity.” When murmurs begin to ripple out through the room again, the president sighs as he runs a hand through his short black hair. Black, except for the notable gray streak running from his forehead all the way to the back of his head down to the tip of his quasi-mullet. “When I know, you'll know. Until then, get to work, and stay safe.”

With his briefing done, Dallgun retreats back to the elevator, exhaling deeply and allowing his posture to slump as the doors slide shut. At the same time, Remi and Eli are finally able to reach Roderick and Noble, but both wear looks of concern.

“Roderick, we have little time to explain,” Remi says in a hushed voice, “the president believes this is an act of terrorism perpetrated by the Illuminus.”

“He thinks the Illuminus bought off one of the research assistants and had him set off the explosion,” Eli adds, “we're being sent to find him.”

“Where are we heading then?” Roderick asks.

“Roderick, you cannot accompany us on this assignment.” As Remi speaks, Eli casts a nervous glance at Ben on the opposite side of the room, and Roderick realizes why they look worried.

“Look pup, you're stuck with Ben for this one. Watch yourself.”

“Noble, let's go!” Ben shouts from the top of the stairs leading out of headquarters. “Ricky, you're with us.”

“Noble, if you let anything happen to him I'll dismantle you for parts to fix our coffeemaker,” Eli says sternly.

“What? You hope I come back in one piece? How thoughtful!” Noble says, doing a disturbingly accurate impression of Eli's voice. After a chuckle, his demeanor changes, “we'll be fine. You two be careful.”

As Roderick and Noble attempt to leave, Remi reaches out to put a hand on Roderick's shoulder. When he turns back, Remi moves in close to whisper, “Roderick, be vigilant.”

Roderick nods silently, which seems to put Remi at ease, as she lifts her hand from his shoulder. Roderick runs to catch up to Noble, while Eli steps forward to join Remi in watching the trio seemingly disappear below the floor.

“They'll be fine,” Eli says reassuringly, as much for Remi's sake as her own.

“We should go. The sooner we complete our mission, the sooner we can return.”

==========

The tension between the group of men is almost palpable, and grows every second as they trek towards the nearest entrance to the linear line. Beyond the cone of silence between them, the Colony is in a state of complete chaos. Dead are the bright lights and neon signs, replaced by pulsing red emergency lighting. The same platforms that were so full of life earlier in the day are deserted now, conversations between friends and coworkers replaced by wailing sirens. As Roderick absorbs his surroundings he begins to drift away from the situation, distantly aware of the numbness grabbing hold of his limbs.

“Pull your head out of your ass.”

Ben's gruff voice is enough to snap Roderick out of his trance just in time to keep him from walking right into Noble. Unable to immediately discern the reason they've stopped, he simply asks, “what's going on?”

“If you were paying any attention instead of worrying about those two whores, you'd have seen the blood trail we've been following,” Ben answers bluntly.

Indeed, while Roderick was daydreaming, they made their way to a section of the block not entirely familiar to him. Giant steel pillars supporting the floor above them dot the area, and while buildings line the streets, none appear to have an entrance, leading him to think they've walked to some side area of one of the lower floors. Looking behind him reveals the trail they've been following; small red droplets of blood that grow in size and frequency as he traces the trail back to his feet. Attempting to follow the trail ahead forces Roderick to take a step around Noble, where he finally spies the prime candidate for why they've stopped; a large pool of blood congealing under the dim glow of the emergency lighting.

Roderick blurts out, “what is that?” reflexively, and then mentally slaps himself for asking such a stupid question.

“What does it look like?” Ben walks over to the mess to kneel down and swipe his index finger through it. Touching his finger to his thumb is all it takes to cause the fluid to transfer, creating a string of blood bridging the gap between his fingers as he separates them.

“That looks pretty fresh...” Roderick says quietly, careful not to give Ben another reason to bark at him.

Ben chirps at him anyway. “Oh, so your brain does work after all.” Satisfied with the information he's gleaned, he stands back up and wipes his hand off on his shorts.

“This is a problem,” Noble states, pointing at the longitudinal smears of blood leading away from the pool and towards the linear line station.

“Yeah, I know,” Ben says with a dismissive wave of his hand, “if his brain only works part of the time he's a real liability.”

“Get serious, Ben,” Noble says, clearly frustrated. “There's too much blood here, and if anything has made it out of the line system the entire block could be compromised.” Noble pauses to take another look at the bloody drag markings before continuing, “we need to go back and report this.”

“Fine then, you go back. Ricky and I can handle the cleanup,” Ben shrugs.

One look at Roderick is all it takes Noble to convince himself that leaving him with Ben is a bad idea. “Why don't you go back? Roderick and I will look for the colonists and altered beasts.”

“No,” Ben refuses.

“Why are you being so obstinate?”

“Because if I let this runt out of my sight,” Ben gestures angrily towards Roderick, “and something happens, it's my ass on the line, and if I leave your clankity ass alone and something happens, guess what? It's my neck on the chopping block. If we all leave and something gets out of the linear line, I'm the one they're gonna fry, so we're going to walk into that lightdamned line station and clear it, like we were told to.”

Without waiting for Noble's rebuttal, Ben stomps off towards the pitch black of the nearby line station entrance, not caring that he's traipsing right through the pool of blood, causing his boots to make a disturbing squeak and leave a bloody footprint with each step.

As the protests of Ben's footwear become more and more distant, Roderick and Noble trade looks of apprehension. Apparently arriving at the same decision, they both turn to catch up with Ben before he completely disappears into the tunnel. As Roderick attempts to take a step, however, Noble pulls him back and nods downwards.

“Blood never really washes out completely.”

[McLaughlin]

Lots of views, few comments. Dunno if that's a good thing or not, but here's chapter 10!

Chapter 10: This Town Ain't Big Enough


“So how do you think they're doing?”

“Stay focused on the task at hand, Eliza.”

“Well soooorrry. I don't compartmentalize things as well you do,” Eli retorts, looking down to watch her footing as they traverse a very narrow bridge over a very deep canyon.

Remi sighs, deciding she needs to address the issue to keep Eli focused. “All three of them are capable of taking care of themselves. Besides,” she adds with a smirk, “of all the appliances you could have picked, Noble absolutely detests coffeemakers.”

“You're probably right. I still don't understand why Ben and Noble couldn't have come instead of us.”

“You know better than I that Benjamin's... blunt approach leaves much to be desired on a mission like this.”

==========

“What the hell were you doing in here?”

The newman woman Ben is barking at buries her face in her hands in embarrassment as Roderick and Noble work together to lift the large slab of rubble pinning her to the ground. Once they manage to free her, they understand why she's nearly in tears; the debris had been hiding her petite frame, and little else. The frilly black lingerie draped over her naughty bits leaves almost nothing to their imaginations.

“W-well, I, you see,” she stammers, twisting to try and hide as much of herself as she can, “My husband, he's one of the shuttle operators, and I was going to surprise him after his shift, but there was this shaking, and then-”

Ben has already begun walking away, shouting over his shoulder, “just leave!”

Not satisfied with how Ben has handled the situation, Roderick pulls a nobles coat out of thin air and offers it to the woman while covering his eyes with his free arm.

“Let's go!” Ben shouts, now almost completely hidden in the shadow of the tunnel.

Roderick ignores Ben for the moment to explain, “you're supposed to evacuate to the central table. Do you know the way from here?”

“Yes, thank you,” the woman answers, sheepishly grabbing Roderick's coat and covering herself with it like a towel.

After seeing the woman off, Roderick and Noble run to catch up with Ben, who stopped just beyond the veil of darkness covering the mouth of the tunnel.

“What the hell?” Ben snaps.

“What?” Roderick asks, bewildered.

Continuing down the tunnel, Ben elaborates, “we don't have time for that garbage.”

“What was I supposed to do, let her walk around naked? You didn't even tell her where to go!”

“While you're worrying about some whore's modesty, someone else in here could be suffocating to death under a pile of rocks, or being attacked by whatever those idiots were experimenting on. If they can move on their own, they don't need you. Move on and find someone who does.”

“Is it really that difficult for you to show some compassion?” Roderick asks, nearly tripping over a rock. What little light there is in the tunnel radiates dully from filaments spread much too far apart to be of any practical use, and it's a wonder he saw the obstruction at all.

“That's pretty rich, coming from-”

Their conversation is interrupted by a low rumbling beneath their feet. Ben cocks his head back in a “why me, God?” motion, while Roderick and Noble look around futilely for the source of the disturbance. They should be looking at where Ben is, as he spies a large section of the roof coming loose.

“Move!”

Completely oblivious to the supreme migraine accelerating in his direction, Ben is forced to shove Roderick to the side to keep him from being crushed. Unfortunately, the service corridor Roderick finds himself in as a result of that push is now completely closed off thanks to the collapse.

“Hey, Roderick! Are you all right!?” Noble's voice is muffled and quiet, but still audible.

“Yeah, I'm fine!” Roderick shouts back, brushing himself off and wiping some dust off his face. Unable to even see his own hand in front of his face, he feels around the collapsed doorway for any hints of loose debris. What he discovers is basically one giant slab of the roof completely overwhelming the exit.

“Look runt,” Ben cuts in, “this crap is too big to move and there's not enough room to nanoblast. We need to walk around to get to you.”

Noble offers a solution, “schematics show that service passage leading directly to another station. There's another passage approximately one kilometer ahead that we can take. Meet us at the station.”

“All right, I'm on my way,” Roderick says.

“And hey!” Noble shouts, “let's not mention this to Eli. I'd rather melt myself down for bottle caps than be used to fix a coffeemaker.”

With a smile on his face, Roderick begins to make his way towards the other end of the passage. Unable to see anything, he stumbles around tracing the wall with one hand, and holding his other arm out ahead to keep himself from walking into anything. In a tight corridor like the one he finds himself in, this arrangement makes it difficult to catch himself whenever he trips over something on the floor. By the time he can see the slit of light leaking through under the bottom of what he assumes to be a door, he's successfully ruined his braves pants, bloodied both his knees, and torn a sizable hole through the elbow of his yellow long sleeved tee.

None of that matter to Roderick though, because he's finally bumped into the metal door. After fumbling around for a minute trying to find the door handle, and grunts in frustration when it refuses to turn at all. When vigorously jiggling it produces no results, he looks skyward and sighs heavily, and then takes a few steps back.

“One... two...”

Roderick charges forward with his shoulder lowered, slamming into the door and breaking it open. Rubbing his shoulder gingerly, he squints as his eyes adjust to the light. Inspecting the door from the other side reveals why it was so difficult to force open; someone attempted to weld the door to its frame. Roderick thanks his lucky stars that whoever tried to seal off the passage did a shoddy job, and decides to walk backwards to meet Ben and Noble halfway.

“Where do you think you're going?”

Roderick turns slowly to find a short newman woman walking casually towards him from the other side of the station. He immediately recognizes her from Parum, and perhaps from somewhere else.

“You... were you the woman we helped earlier!?”

“Ew, no,” Helga answers, apparently disgusted by the comparison. “But I did get to watch you white knight it up. You are just so precious,” she says sarcastically.

“So the explosion, and the creatures getting loose, that was all your doing?” Roderick takes a step back to create some distance between himself and the woman.

“Would you believe me if I said I was an animal lover?”

“No.”

Helga lets out a heavy sigh.

“Look kid, I'm giving you one chance to come quietly. Don't make me regret it.”

“I'll give you one chance to surrender peacefully. I really don't like hitting women,” Roderick says defiantly.

“Don't say I didn't try. Able isn't here to save your ass this time.”

Content to let her actions finish the conversation for her, Helga holds an arm out to her side, allowing Roderick to watch as a saber melts into her hand. The same metallic saber from the research facility, with its aggressive angular design, looks somehow more menacing without its partner, which, for reasons unbeknownst to Roderick, Helga has decided not to wield.

Before he has a chance to figure out why though, Helga is on him like genital warts on a prostitute. Leaning back to avoid being decapitated causes Helga's first swing to miss by an uncomfortably close margin. When she attempts to cut back across the same arc, Roderick takes a step forward, where he's in position to bring his elbow down on top of Helga's before firing an open palm into her chin. Helga stumbles backwards, her arm now dislocated at the elbow and hanging limply at her side. Somehow she's managed to maintain possession of her weapon, so Roderick again backs up to give himself some breathing room.

“You're getting on my last nerve,” Helga growls, grabbing her damaged arm by the wrist with her free hand. Yanking downward produces a sickening crack as the bones realign themselves, but Helga is either adept at hiding the pain, or just doesn't feel it at all.

While Roderick suppresses his gag reflex, Helga lurches forward again, this time aiming to run him through. The speed at which she closes the distance between them catches Roderick by surprise, forcing him to parry the lunge with his bare left arm. Predictably, this turns out to be a very bad way to avoid the attack; the sword leaves a gaping wound that runs nearly the length of his forearm. Experiencing intense pain to the point of nausea, Roderick fights against the overwhelming urge to vomit to stay focused. By deflecting the attack to his left, Roderick creates an opportunity to step in, holding his right arm out to clothesline Helga as she passes by.

Helga was moving with such speed that the force of the impact crushes her throat, and nearly wraps her body around Roderick's outstretched arm. When gravity regains control of her, she falls to the ground in a motionless heap. Mildly frustrated with himself for incapacitating Helga so brutally, Roderick turns his attention to the gash on his arm, scrambling to tear off part of his sleeve for use as a tourniquet, then wrapping another tatter around the cut itself as a bandage.

“Attention all Guardians! Residential block F will be jettisoned from the colony in fifteen minutes! All Guardians are to evacuate immediately!”

Roderick looks at the speakers embedded in the roof as the announcement repeats, as if hoping to glean more information from the equipment if he just stares hard enough. When the searing pain in his arm reminds him he's got a major problem on (or slightly above) his hands, he decides to find Ben and Noble. Nursing his left arm, Roderick starts walking towards the end of the station that his superiors should be emerging from any moment, but pauses when he hears shuffling behind him.

Helga slowly rises from the ground, bones and joints complaining along the way. Fully upright, Roderick can see just how severely he damaged her; Helga's head is hanging somewhere behind her, below her shoulders. Adding to his horror, she begins to speak.

“You really don't know when to quit.” Her voice is deeper, somehow more... hollow, and not just because her neck is probably half a foot longer now than it was before.

Panic finally sets in when Roderick realizes that Helga is no ordinary newman. After setting her head firmly back on her shoulders and doing a few neck rotations to make sure everything is in working order, Helga surges forward again, ramming her skull into Roderick's chest like a, well, like a ram.

The headbutt sends Roderick skidding backwards, knocking the wind out of him. Clutching his chest and gasping for air, Roderick slides a full ten feet backwards, plummeting off the edge of the platform and onto the line shuttle tracks, but not before catching a glimpse of Helga racing after him. The height difference between the tracks and the platform is enough that Roderick completely disappears when he falls head over heels into the pit. He manages to land in a handstand, but nearly collapses when his left arm gives out on him. Planting his right forearm on the ground to bear most of his weight, and using his left arm for balance, Roderick waits. When Helga rockets into view looking to ground pound him, Roderick springs his trap, kicking her hard in the stomach with both feet, and sending her flying into the wall on the other side of the track.

Roderick struggles to catch his breath as he picks himself up off the floor, and groans audibly when he hears Helga do the same. Completely gassed, he's quickly running out of ways to fend this lunatic off. Adopting the best defensive stance he can manage, Roderick waits for Helga's next move, which comes in the form of another head on charge. When he brings his good arm up to brace himself, Helga leaps high into the air, where her right leg morphs into a disgusting, flesh-colored sickle.

Three crimson spheres of light soar over Roderick's shoulder, impacting Helga twice in the torso and once in the leg, setting her aflame. Before he can figure out what's happening, Roderick finds himself forced to the ground from behind as the silhouette of something massive passes over him. That something turns out to be Ben, who snatches Helga out of midair by her unmutated leg and swings her like a club face first into the wall, making a Helga-sized crater deep enough to keep her from falling to the ground. Noble fires a barrage of ice blue bullets into Helga's back, where they crystallize instantly, trapping her in a cocoon of ice.

“Roderick! What happened?” Noble hurries to pull Roderick up off the floor, but he declines Noble's assistance and stands up on his own. If you can call being doubled over leaning against a wall “standing”.

“I don't know, she came out of nowhere,” Roderick wheezes. He still hasn't quite managed to catch his breath, and stringing that many words together without stopping for more air causes a coughing fit.

“We need to get you out of here. They're detaching the entire block in thirteen minutes minutes.”

“What about the-” Roderick pauses for another fit of coughing. After spitting out some blood, he starts over, “what about the other survivors?”

“Don't be an idiot. You're in no shape to be worrying about other people,” Ben says sharply.

Roderick takes issue with Ben's statement and attempts to make a rebuttal, but decides instead to save his energy and take it up with him later.

Noble fires back for him. “Ben, would you just shut up? We need to go.” Casting a sideways glance at Helga, he asks, “what do we do with her?”

“Leave her,” Ben shrugs.

“Are you serious? She could have valuable information about the Illuminus, we can't just leave her here.”

“I don't think she'll play nice if she wakes up, and we aren't equipped to deal with her. I doubt that crazy shit stops below her knee.”

Reluctantly, Noble nods, and after helping Roderick climb back up onto the platform, the three of them exit the station, leaving Helga to her frosty beauty sleep.

==========

“And... done.”

“What?” Roderick asks. They've been walking for the better part of ten minutes in complete silence, save the announcement that the detachment of F block had been canceled. Evidently the air leak wasn't as bad as first thought.

“I just finished drafting my will,” Noble explains. “When Eli finds out what happened, well, let's just say I'll be grinding coffee beans before nightfall.”

“I don't think she really meant that.”

“Trust me when I say Remi and Eli take your safety very seriously. Their... last trainee...” Noble's voice trails off as he comes to a halt.

“Their last trainee what?” Roderick asks. He stops beside Noble and begins looking around for whatever stole his attention. Ben just keeps on walking.

It takes Roderick a moment to realize he needs to angle his gaze up, towards the archway above the entrance to Guardians HQ. When he does, and finally sees what froze Noble, he takes off running, stumbling twice on the way. Noble follows quickly behind, but Ben continues his casual stroll.

Reaching the crowd of people gathered under the arch, Roderick screams, “what are you doing!? Get them down!” When no one moves, he throws his arm up in disgust and begins scaling the structure himself.

Strung up to the arch are the limp bodies of Remi and Eli. Bloodied and bruised, with their heads hanging down almost as if they'd been staged as an act of penance, it's clear they've been beaten savagely. Roderick attempts to untie the ropes holding them in place, struggling to keep his left hand from shaking while he fights against his own body. When he finally frees Remi, the weight of her body nearly drags Roderick from his perch. Only after he's certain Noble will catch her does he let go and begin to work on freeing Eli.

With both women back at ground level, Roderick takes Eli from Ben, slinging her arms around his neck and looping his good arm under her knees to carry her. Noble takes charge of Remi, and as they prepare to leave, Roderick turns to the crowd, seething. “You people are unbelievable.”

“And you!” He shouts at Ben, who's reached the peak of the staircase, “she's your sister!”

Ben pauses to watch as Roderick storms up the stairs with Noble in tow, barely able to contain his anger.

“They were too weak,” Ben says coldly. “They're an embarrassment.”

“Weak?” Roderick hisses. “You're the weakest person I've ever met.”

[McLaughlin]

Sorry for the wait. This one's a little slower paced, but it'll pick up again, I promise.

Chapter 11: Aftermath


The morning proved to be very eventful for President Dallgun. After cancelling the order to detach an entire block, he left immediately to inspect the damage himself. Turns out the air leak he thought was threatening the safety of the entire colony was actually a cracked methane pipeline. As per station protocol, the room with the leak was sealed off, but not ventilated for fear of causing an explosion. This resulted in every single person sent to check on the situation passing out inside the air lock, creating an amusing, if unfortunate, pile of unconscious Guardians just beyond the door. It wasn't until a Cast was sent to investigate what had happened that the situation became clear.

When pressed for information by the media at his press conference later that morning, Dallgun answers, “the leak was not as serious as initially thought. It's been repaired, and the sector has been reopened. All Guardians involved in the accident are expected to make a full recovery.”

“Any relation between the air leak and the awful smell permeating through the Bluefull sector?” the reporter asks.

“I, erm,” Dallgun mumbles, holding a closed hand to his mouth as he clears his throat, “I wasn't aware of any smell. I'll send maintenance to have a look.” Beside him, Headmaster Nav smothers a chuckle. Scanning the crowd for any other questions, he spies a pale woman with striking purple hair. “Yes, Hal?”

The woman stands, her clothing more closely resembling that of a roller derby girl than a reporter, and taps away on the console attached to her wrist to prepare the camera pod next to her for recording.

“I've heard that the attack was perpetrated by a newman woman. Is there any truth to that?”

“You know I can't comment on an ongoing investigation, Hal. We're following several strong leads, that's the best I can give you.”

Apparently Hal suffers from a serious case of selective hearing disorder, as she presses Dallgun as though he hadn't answered her first question at all. “I heard that it took two marshals to apprehend this woman, but she escaped from their custody. Any truth to that?”

It was true. After hearing about the incident from Noble, Dallgun sent Headmaster Nav himself to retrieve Helga from the line station. When he arrived, however, all that remained was some flesh seared to the hole in the wall where she'd been trapped and water stains running down to the floor; remnants of the ice used to pin her there.

Dallgun sighs. “Your sources certainly have powerful imaginations. If you don't have any questions I can answer, I suppose we're done.”

“What happened to the two Guardians that were hung from the arch behind you earlier this morning? Is it related to the attack on the colony?”

==========

Roderick's morning was less about what had happened, and more about how to fix it. Not one to complain, he refused to mention the dizziness he was experiencing to anyone, choosing instead to let his wobbling become more and more prominent as he and Noble hurry through the maze of corridors that make up Guardian's Headquarters, searching for anyone even remotely resembling a medical professional.

When they finally find a pair of what appear to be nurses, they're instructed to lay their companions on nearby gurneys to be rushed into treatment. After the nurses disappear around a corner, Roderick collapses in a heap.

“Yeah,” Ben says to himself, scooping our hero up off the floor, “I'm as good as scrap metal.”

The next few hours are fairly uneventful, mostly occupied by various tests, scans, and recovery processes. Of the three, Roderick is in the best condition, and, to the surprise of the technic users assigned to heal him, is rejuvenated in a matter of minutes. After taking a few deep breaths to check for discomfort, and a moment of staring blankly at his now perfectly normal arm (well, normal save the blood stains), he leaps off the table and marches towards the door.

“Excuse me, sir!” one of the newman attendants protests, “you should really lay back down...”

Ignoring her advice, Roderick begins roaming the halls, checking every room he passes for his friends. Window after window, door after door, he comes up empty. So focused is he on his objective, he walks face first into a short newman as he rounds a corner. As the newman picks himself up off the floor, Roderick recognizes him and moves quickly to help him to his feet.

“Don't worry about it,” Edgar says, speaking to Roderick's panicked expression.

Roderick lets out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down. “Do you know where Remi and Eli are?”

“Absolutely,” Edgar assures him, “I tended to them myself. Would you like to see them?”

Roderick nods meekly, and together they begin walking back in the direction Edgar had come from. They travel in silence for the first minute or so, but Edgar decides to break the ice with a question.

“I heard from Noble you fought with a woman in the linear line?”

“That depends on how you define 'fought with',” Roderick says in a defeated tone, shaking his head as he recalls the battle. The physical scars may have disappeared, but the memory alone is enough to light up every pain receptor in his forearm.

“I wouldn't be so hard on yourself,” Edgar says, patting him on the back between his shoulder blades, “the way Noble tells it, she had a leg up on you from the start.”

Roderick looks at Edgar with an incredulous stare, to which Edgar shrugs with a smile. “Sorry, bad puns are my area of expertise.”

Roderick finally allows himself to relax a bit, chuckling quietly as they pass through a set of double-doors into another wing of the medical center. The glowing sign hanging from the ceiling reads “Intensive Care”, and even the hallways have a different feel than the previous area's, with cream-colored panels in place of the cold gray steel. The warmer color-scheme does much to put Roderick's mind at ease. If they're here, he promises himself, they'll be-

“Are you all right?”

Edgar's concern pulls Roderick away from his thoughts and back into the corridor. After blinking a few times, he answers, “yeah. Sorry.”

“Are you sure?” They continue on their way through the wider halls, passing lavish rooms, some full of people visiting loved ones, some completely empty. Absent from all of them is the sterile, clinical feeling of the ones he's been in recently. “I heard about what happened when you found them. Typically, people don't react like that over someone they've just met.”

Roderick takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, recalling the inspiration for his outburst earlier that morning. Closing his eyes as he relives the experience, it takes him a few moments to gather himself.

“My family-” Roderick's starts. Watching as agony slowly writes itself all over his face, Edgar immediately regrets saying anything. Roderick starts over, “my family was slaughtered by rogues the day before the SEED attacked.”

“They hung their bodies from the roof of our house,” he continues, despite his voice cracking in the middle of his sentence. “Just, left them there...”

At a loss for words, all Edgar can think to do is place a hand on Roderick's shoulder for comfort.

“When I saw Remi and Eli hanging there, it felt like I was losing my family all over again.” By the time he's finished, Roderick's voice is quivering uncontrollably, and he's fighting a losing battle trying to keep the tears in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks.

Edgar just wants to find the deepest, darkest hole he can and crawl into it. All he can think to say is, “I'm so sorry.”

The audio track for the rest of their short walk is provided by the idle chatter between people in the various rooms they pass, and from their own footsteps. The next exchange between them happens when Edgar stops abruptly in front of another generic door. “They're in here,” he says.

Roderick reaches for the steel doorknob, but pulls back before actually touching it. Only after Edgar nods reassuringly does he open the door and step inside. The room is similar enough to the dozens they've already seen, if perhaps slightly more spacious. Two large recliners sit empty under the window adjacent to the door, blinds drawn to block the view in and out of the room.

Across from the chairs are the centerpieces of the room. The color of the area rug beneath his feet or what channels the flat screen mounted to the wall gets couldn't be further from Roderick's mind once he sets his eyes on the pair of women, sound asleep in their beds. Well, Eli is sound asleep. Roderick isn't quite sure what casts do when they're not moving, but he's certainly glad to see Remi doing it.

Eli appears normal, for the most part. Her torn clothing has been replaced with a simple hospital gown, which Roderick can just see whenever the rise and fall of her chest displaces the blankets insulating her. Beside Eli, Remi, too, rests under a heavy comforter. Also in a hospital gown, Roderick considers how vulnerable she looks sans her metal shell, stripped away to reveal the synthetic skin beneath. He assumes the blinking light on the antenna jutting out from the edge of her forehead is the cast analog for signs of life while sleeping, and watching it blink sets his mind at ease, finally.

Roderick wipes a few tears from his eyes with the remaining sleeve of his shirt. “How long until they wake up?”

“Probably not until sometime tomorrow,” Edgar says, propping himself up against a wall. “Remi's power cell was completely drained, and it takes about a full day to recharge. Eli hadn't completely recovered from her last injury, and Resta abuse can really tire you out.”

“Would I be able... to stay?” Roderick asks timidly. He's still standing in the doorway, fixated on his trainers. His partners. His friends.

“I'll clear it. You can come and go as you please,” Edgar says, pushing himself off the wall. “Consider going home to clean up a bit though. If the first thing they see is your bloodstained self, I doubt Noble will see the end of the day.”

“Heh...” Roderick checks himself over and realizes he does indeed resemble a homeless zombie.

“Oh, I nearly forgot.” Edgar walks over to Roderick, grabbing his left arm and hoisting it into the air before tapping the nanotransformers on their wrists together. “You've got my partner card now. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to call.”

The small screen attached to the watch-looking device on Roderick's wrist flashes as it confirms the details to him. “Thanks,” he says.

With that, Edgar exits the room, leaving Roderick to himself and the sleeping beauties. Since it's unlikely a peck on the cheek will be enough to wake them, Roderick decides to take a seat in one of the chairs.

As he walks alongside the window, he catches a glimpse of his reflection in the glass. Before sitting down Roderick looks himself over one last time. Considering Edgar's advice, he takes his nose to his blood-encrusted sleeve. What he smells, however, is not the scent of blood, and one whiff of his armpit is all the confirmation he needs, and then some.

“Okay, maybe I do need a quick shower.”

==========

Roderick travels home to clean himself up. The trip and subsequent scrubbing down are routine, save for throwing his clothes in a garbage can instead of his clothing hamper. After showering and dressing himself in pretty much the same outfit, with the addition of his iconic nobles coat, he sets off back towards the medical center.

As he approaches the grand staircase leading to Guardian Headquarters, Roderick spies a woman waiting there for him. When she spots Roderick, she hurries to meet him, with a small, autonomous camera floating along behind her.

“Hal, channel 5 news. Any comment on the rumor that Moatoobian rogues were behind the public humiliation of two marshals early this morning?” The camera pod positions itself in front of Roderick as he climbs the stairs while Hal follows alongside him.

The question catches Roderick off guard. “Uh, you're asking the wrong person, miss. I don't know anything about that.”

Before Hal can ask any follow-ups, Roderick walks past the camera and into headquarters.

Given the last day and a half, it's no surprise that once he finds his way back to Remi and Eli, Roderick decides to spend the rest of the day sprawled across the two chairs in the room, unconscious and occasionally drooling.

So soundly is Roderick sleeping, that when Noble drops by, he does little more than shuffle deeper into his seat. It isn't until Noble actually grabs him by the shoulders that he awakens and becomes the center of a tornado of flailing limbs. Through all the commotion, Remi and Eli remain blissfully asleep.

“Do you even have a heartbeat when you sleep?”

“Do you understand how strong your grip is? I thought someone was trying to suffocate me.” Whether or not his heart was pumping blood before, Roderick now finds himself taking deep breaths in an attempt to keep it from beating right out of his chest.

“I tried everything short of setting a bomb off in your inner ear. I'm fairly confident you were clinically dead.” Nobles flashes a grin before turning his attention to the pretty, people-sized elephants in the room. “How are they?”

After a long yawn, Roderick answers, “Edgar said they'd both wake up sometime tomorrow.” After checking the clock on the wall, Roderick corrects himself, “er, later today.” That was the shortest fourteen hours of sleep he'd ever gotten.

“Well, if Edgar says they'll be fine, they'll be fine,” Noble says. “He's the best technic user we have.”

At that moment, the handle on the door jiggles as someone gently pushes it open. A lanky beast glides into the room almost silently, like some being from another plane, and floats halfway across the room, apparently oblivious to the presence of Roderick and Noble, before Noble says, “we don't need new pillows or sheets, thanks.”

Despite the cheery tone of Noble's voice, all the colour drains from the beast's face. He quietly takes a deep bow before leaving in a hurry.

“Well, that was odd,” Noble says. “But that reminds me, have you seen Ben at all?”

“No...” Roderick says distantly. “Can you watch them for a minute? I really need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure.”

Roderick quickly exits the room, arriving in the hallway just as a door slams at the far end of the corridor. Seeing no one in either direction, he decides to head for the the source of the noise.

One pillow, no sheets, and he was wearing those weird medical scrubs. That was definitely not an orderly.

Roderick stops just in front of the the suspect room to think. He then grabs the door handle and, in one smooth motion, twists the handle and throws the door wide open. His suspicions are confirmed when the door crashes into the beast standing behind it, sending him stumbling into the vacant room clutching his nose. While the imposter whimpers, Roderick quickly shuts the door and draws the blinds closed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” the beast shouts.

Roderick's reply comes in the form of a swift jab to the face, square on the already broken nose. This staggers the beast, allowing Roderick to overpower him and slam him into the wall, pinning one of his arms behind his back. With his forearm slowly pressing on the beast's throat, Roderick threatens, “you have ten seconds to tell me who sent you here and why.”

“Or what?”

“I place you in the custody of the Guardians and charge you with obstructing an investigation and resisting arrest.”

The beast half laughs as he tries to breath through his broken nose. “I'm not resisting, sir.” The laughter quickly mutates into muffled gurgling as Roderick continues to crush his windpipe.

Roderick leans in close and whispers, “we'll see how long that lasts.”

[Seth Astra]

Grah! A cliffhanger! Why must you torture me!?... Oh, right, as an author that's your job... Ahem... Carry on...

[Xaeris]

The press conference was a good idea. It's things like that that lend verisimilitude to the game's world. Nosy press will always be nosy, no matter when and where they are, after all.

[McLaughlin]

Okay, this took way longer than I meant it to. I got swamped with work and family shenanigans, and had barely any time to write. Really sorry about the wait.


Chapter 12: Man on Fire

“I was beginning to wonder if you'd fallen in.”

“Huh?”

Given that the last time Roderick saw Noble was only five minutes ago, when he asked him to stand guard over Remi and Eli, he shouldn't be surprised to see that Noble is still there when he returns.

“And why is it that every time you disappear from my sight you return bloodier than before?”

“Oh,” Roderick looks at his blood-caked sleeve while he thinks. “Nose bleed,” is what he decides on. It's close enough to the truth that he doesn't feel too bad about lying.

“Hey, can you hang out here for a bit?” Roderick asks. “I need to run a couple errands and I'd feel awful if they woke up alone.”

“I don't mind,” Noble shrugs. “If you see Ben though, tell him to send me a mail. I need to talk to him.”

“Will do. Thanks.”

==========

Susan's day had started ordinary enough. As was tradition in the Bentley household, she was roused at 4AM sharp by a peck on the forehead from her husband as he prepared to leave. He was a Guardian, and if you ever met her, that would be one of the first things she'd tell you. She was tremendously proud of that. Proud of her husband, really. It struck her as very romantic; fighting against who knows what, all in her name.

Susan was accustomed to the bizarre. She was a nurse on the Guardian's Colony. You'd be surprised by some of the... creative ways people injure themselves on a giant space station. She once admitted an elderly gentleman who had managed to get a torque wrench jammed- well, nevermind.

Today, Susan's daily dose of the absurd is delivered by a rather dashing young man as he passes through the reception area, although she doesn't yet know it. After all, “I heard some strange noises coming from room 404,” was hardly uncommon. It was a hospital full of ridiculous injuries and horny residents. Still, she took his concern to heart. She also made a mental note to mention her very single daughter, should she happen across him again.

At Susan's brisk pace, it only takes her a few minutes to reach the room in question. She had other things to do, and on the way she convinced herself that whatever that strapping young man heard was probably the sounds of some immoral pair getting their nookie on in a vacant room.

What she discovers, however, as she twists the handle and creeks the door open, is easily the strangest thing she had seen all week, perhaps even all month, and her apathy gives way to concern almost immediately.

In the center of the room is a solitary beast. Not standing, sitting, or otherwise connected to the floor in some way, but hanging from from a beam hidden above the ceiling tiles. Someone had bound his hands behind his back and strung him up by his ankles with bed sheets. Unconscious and swaying gently like a pendulum, he vaguely reminds Susan of an oversized piñata. His nose is quite spectacularly broken, and dripping blood down, or rather, up, his face and pooling on the carpet beneath him. While she searches frantically for something she can use to cut the ersatz rope, Susan spies a note taped to the midsection of the hapless beast. The handwriting is atrocious, but with some effort she's able to make out the message.

“To whoever stumbles across me; I kill Guardians for money. Just thought you should know. Do what you will.”

This revelation seriously sours Susan's mood. Her care meter plummets to zero in a matter of seconds, leaving her angry and slightly disgusted with herself for intending to help him at all. She pastes the note back on him and, before leaving and locking the door behind her, delivers a swift toe-kick to his face, starting the geyser of blood anew.

“Darn. No candy.”

==========

The shuttle ride to Moatoob was an unusual trip for Roderick. It was only the second time he'd taken a PPT shuttle by himself, but those two experiences were polar opposites. The first time, he found himself on an overcrowded flight full of refugees fleeing Parum to the supposed safety of the Guardians Colony. Now he finds himself on a deserted shuffle flying to what some would call the slums of Gurhal. The alone time affords him a chance to think through recent events, and ultimately convince himself that he has to follow through with his plan, as ridiculous as it is. He refused to make the same mistake twice. He also finds himself especially spurred on by the thought of Remi, laying helplessly in a hospital bed. That image pushes aside the inane babbling of the shuttle pilot as he details popular tourist stops and other significant landmarks, and occupies Roderick's attention for the duration of the flight.

Roderick knew a little about Moatoob. Mostly glimpses he'd catch on the news whenever something happened. Nearly all the rogue activity and piracy was based out of Moatoob. He'd seen pictures of the rocky mountain ranges and the barren deserts. He'd been told how the buildings stretched down towards the planet's core instead of reaching up to touch the sky, but nothing he'd ever seen or heard about Moatoob prepared him for the unholy heat.

Despite being able to see the last rays of sunlight sinking below the jagged horizon, and being only a few steps off the shuttle, Roderick has already sent his coat into storage and rolled up his sleeves. As he wipes beads of sweat from his forehead, Roderick begins scanning Il Cabo for his next destination. Spying no obvious hints, he sets off in the direction of a group of people nearby. As Roderick approaches, however, the crowd disperses, splintering off in all directions except towards him. This phenomenon repeats itself several times, with Roderick's level of confusion rising with each occurrence, until he spots an elderly gentleman struggling with two large paper bags.

“Need any help with those?” Roderick asks as he wraps his arm around one of the bags, lifting it gently by the bottom and relieving the beast of his burden.

The old man sighs. “I suppose I do.”

They walk together in silence, with Roderick a half-step behind. It's not a long walk from where they met to what Roderick assumed was the beast's house; a door and two windows were carved into the rock underneath an overhanging cliff. Roderick stands in the entryway and waits patiently as the beast disappears into his home. When he returns, Roderick smiles warmly as he hands off the bag and begins to leave.

“Hey,” the beast calls from behind him, “aren't you going to ask me for directions?”

“Hm?”

“I don't think you could look any more lost if you tried, son.”

“Ah,” Roderick says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “I'm looking for a bar called the Onyx.”

“You know what that place is?” the beast asks, looking over Roderick from head to toe, before finally settling on his eyes.

“Yes sir.”

They exchange steely gazes for a moment before the beast answers, “if you take a left back that way, it's the last building before the edge of the canyon.”

“Thanks.”

It didn't take long for Roderick to cross Il Cabo. Most of the city was built right into the Granigs mountain range, and what hadn't been dug into the rock was spread sparsely across the rest of the plateau. Every step Roderick took left a cloud of dust hanging in the air and a small piece of his confidence on the ground. As he came closer and closer to the lone building at the edge of the canyon, he grew less and less sure himself, again conflicted about whether or not what he was doing was right, or even sane. All that doubt finally overcomes him as he stands in front of the door to the shanty known as the Onyx.

Crudely built, the exterior of the bar looked as though it had been ignored for decades. The patio was decrepit and empty, the windows were too dirty to see through, and the occasional white paint chip flaking off the side paneling served as the only indication that the entire structure was ever any colour other than “deadwood gray.” It reminded Roderick of an old western saloon, minus the swinging door.

Roderick takes one look over the whole place before stepping backwards off the stoop, deciding that what he had planned was foolish, acting so brazenly on little more than a hunch. With every intention of leaving without a word, Roderick turns on his heel and prepares to head back to the G-flyer base. That is, until he overhears someone from inside the bar.

“I can't believe they actually gave up. The looks on those bitches' faces were priceless!”

Somewhere on the other side of Moatoob, a sand twister can be blamed on how quickly Roderick spins around and storms towards the door. With no pause for further consideration, he throws the door wide open and steps into a grimy room full of burly men.

“Which one of you did it?”

“Whoa there little buddy. What are you talking about?” one of the men in the back of the room asks.

“You have ten seconds to tell me which one of you did it and who hired you,” Roderick growls.

“Look kid, I think you've got the wrong place,” a second man says, this time to the right of Roderick, “maybe you should leave before this misunderstanding gets ugly.”

“Six, five...” Roderick counts under his breath.

“Nah, let him stay!” the first man laughs.

“Three, two...”

“Here!” he cackles drunkenly as he lobs a bottle at Roderick, “Have a beer. It's on me!”

Roderick snatches the bottle by the neck out of midair as he silently mouths “one,” and tomahawks it back at the beast, beaning him right off the forehead and knocking him backwards out of his chair.

“The hard way it is.”

==========

Initializing...

Unexpected shutdown, beginning diagnostic...

Diagnostic complete. Recalibrating...

Loading operating system...
Loading device drivers...
Loading operator profile...
…
Loading complete. Powering on...

Alert. HYPIST-02 unresponsive. Retry? Y/N...
N... Disable HYPIST-02? Y/N...
Y... HYPIST-02 disabled. Recommend immediate repair.

“Hey, you're finally awake.”

“Remi!”

As Remi rights herself in her bed, she feels the bear-like embrace of Eli. Noble is seated near the door to the room, staring off into nothing. “What are you reading?”

“I'm scanning every news outlet and security camera I can gain access to. Eli told me what happened. Are you all right?”

“The hydraulic piston simulating my left calf has malfunctioned. Estimated decrease in range of motion is 15%, estimated reduction in stability is 25%.”

“Every camera?” Eli asks, fishing around the rack beneath her bed for a shirt to replace the terribly unfashionable hospital gown she finds herself in. “Isn't that... hard for you?”

“I had to tap into the power grid to keep myself online,” Noble admits, pointing to the small cable connecting the back of his heel to a socket in the wall. He absolutely hated having to root himself in place like that. He always felt so immobile and useless. “But never mind that. You need to get that leg fixed, Remi.”

“I will take care of it, but I refuse to do anything else until I am properly equipped. Where are my parts?”

Noble chuckles nervously. “Eh heh.... About that... your outer shell was pretty mangled. It's being repaired now, but it probably won't be usable until tomorrow...”

The stare Remi levels at Noble pierces right through the holographic display covering his retinas and continues into the depths of his animatronic soul.

“So you'll be uncovered for a little while yet,” he bravely finishes. “It's probably for the best. All that extra weight would strain your leg.”

Knowing just how much Remi loathes being without her hardened exterior, Eli struggles mightily to keep from giggling. “We're almost the same size. I have some jeans and tops you can borrow,” she says.

Remi sighs dejectedly. “Where is Roderick?”

==========

Back at the Onyx, Roderick has managed to dispatch most of its occupants, leaving just three thugs to deal with. Soaked in sweat, he retreats between two rows of tables, forcing the gang to spread out in an attempt to corner him.

Through the course of the fight he'd heard several people refer to the beast now charging him as “Lyle”, and "boss", so Roderick planned to deliver a crushing blow to the kingpin and demoralize the underlings. That crushing blow was to come in the form of a vicious head kick. As the bottom of Roderick's shin connects with the side of Lyle's head it does indeed stop the charge, but that's all it manages to do. Roderick finds himself in the awkward position of having his right leg held in place atop his enemy's shoulder, by his enemy.

“That kinda tickled,” Lyle taunts.

As Roderick struggles to free his leg, the second thug moves in for his attack, in almost identical fashion to Lyle. Roderick attempts to stop him in a similar manner, with an elbow to the side of the head, but with only one leg to generate force with, it ends in much the same way, this time with his arm pinned to the beast's shoulder.

”Now we've got you!”

That yell comes as the final member of the Onyx gang rushes towards Roderick with the jagged end of a chair leg. Unable to break the hold on his arm or leg, Roderick uses the table behind him as a springboard, pushing off and spinning like meat on a rotisserie. His leg cuts an arc through the air and connects with the top of the beast's skull, driving his face hard into the floor. The force of the spin allows Roderick to rip his arm free, and right himself while simultaneously kicking the second beast in the face. Now standing on the aforementioned table, Roderick has the leverage he needs to hook his foot around Lyle's neck and whip him around into the wall.

“Tell me who hired you,” Roderick says, standing over the collapsed form of Lyle.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

Roderick looks up into the air and sighs as he shakes his head. With one hand, he grabs Lyle by the collar of his vest and begins walking out of the bar, past a dozen or so beasts too unconscious or crippled to offer any resistance. He drags Lyle all the way out to the precipice of the plateau, where he uses both arms to hold the beast over the edge of the canyon.

“You have five seconds,” Roderick says flatly.

“You wouldn't,” Lyle says indignantly.

Roderick loosens his grip on Lyle's vest ever so slightly while continuing to count down. “Four.”

Having never grasped the finer points of levitation, Lyle realizes, as he stares into Roderick's cold green eyes, that he's put himself in quite a precarious position. “I don't know!” he panics.

“Three.”

“I don't know his name!”

“Two.”

“I can't tell you!”

“One.”

“All right, all right!” Lyle weeps, “Just put me down. Please!”

==========

“Oh crap.”

“What have you found?” Remi asks, pausing her own search for information to turn in her bed and face Noble.

“Hang on, I'll display it on the flat screen.”

As the last syllable rolls off Noble's synthetic lips, the monitor mounted to the wall hums to life. Displayed upon it is an aerial view of a fairly rundown town. Of particular interest is the lone building surrounded by flashing yellow lights. A beast lays unconscious near the door, while a young human sits coolly on the patio as more beasts in matching blue uniforms close in all around him. The whole scene is lit primarily by the spotlight of the G-flyer capturing the footage, giving it a much more dramatic look than is really necessary.

“Is that... the pup?” Eli asks, squinting at the screen.

“He is on Moatoob, in Il Cabo,” Remi confirms.

Nobles refocuses his attention on his retinal display. “This article says he took on the Onyx in their own bar.”

“What? Why would he do that!?” Eli jumps from her bed and frantically begins to dress herself properly.

“He went crazy when he saw you both. He's probably out for vengeance,” Noble guesses. “The better question is, how did he figure out it was the Onyx who attacked you?”

“That's not what I meant,” Eli says, scrambling to pull her flaxo pants up around her waist, showing no concern for the view she's offering potential passersby, “why would he do it on Moatoob?”

Unsure of what he's missing, Noble takes a stab at the answer. “Because that's where they're based?”

“Moatoob considers it a capitol offense to attack its inhabitants, rogue or otherwise,” Remi explains. Showing some modesty, unlike Eli, she turns her back to the window looking into the hallway as she pulls a simple light red button-down shirt over her head. She then rolls the sleeves up to just below her elbows.

“And you know how they try criminals on Moatoob, don't you?” Eli adds, sighing as she holds a blanket up to make an impromptu curtain for Remi as she fits herself into a pair of black jeans.

“Oh crap,” Noble exclaims as he slaps his own forehead.

“Yeah. They're gonna make him fight the Gauntlet.”

[McLaughlin]

Okay, sorry this took so long. I'll try to be a bit faster with updates from here on.


Chapter 13: Come at me, bro.


“Where are you going?”

Eli looks at Noble as if he'd just asked her what color the sky was. “To save the pup!”

“You have been away from home too long, Eliza,” Remi says. “You forget that Moatoob does not have an extradition treaty with any foreign governing body. We cannot interfere with his trial.”

With the wind sufficiently sucked out of her sails, Eli's shoulders slump and her head bows. “Right.”

“However, if some outside force were to interfere, we would have cause to intervene,” Remi says.

“The coliseum is on the outskirts of Dagora right? There's an A-photon reactor hidden in the mines near there...” Noble muses.

“You want to create a SEED fall? Did you download a virus?”

“Hey, you're the one going crazy over this kid. I'm just trying to help.”

“Because after Kent, we swore we'd never lose another recruit, and I, at least, meant it,” Eli says before sighing heavily. “It's the only option we have, I guess. But it's a last resort.”

“It will not matter if we do not depart soon. His trial is being expedited, “Remi warns.

“Great,” Eli says sarcastically. “The first time I'll be home in years, and I look like hell.”

==========

“So you're the human, huh?”

For Roderick, the majority of the last few hours has been spent in a cave-like jail cell, with a dozen or so hooligans, miscreants and ne'er-do-wells, one of which is attempting to start a dialogue with him. Roderick ignores him, choosing instead to continue staring through the thin steel bars walling him in.

“I imagined you'd be bigger,” the beast says, obscuring Roderick's as he walks around to his other side.

When no response comes, the beast begins to get frustrated. “Hey, show some respect.”

“You better get talkative quick, kid, or you'll be leaving this cell in a bag,” the beast threatens, grabbing a handful of Roderick's shirt to pull him in close. At this point most of the other occupants of the jail cell have taken an interest in the scene playing out, and formed a fleshy semicircle surrounding Roderick and the nameless beast.

“His fate is not for you to decide, Chet. Not yet.” a voice booms from down the corridor. The group turns collectively as a behemoth of a man walks towards them, fumbling with a ring of keys.

“You know the drill,” he says, unlocking the cell and sliding part of the wall sideways, “any funny business and you get your sentence doubled.” He then points to Roderick, “the human comes first.”

The one referred to as Chet reluctantly releases his grip on Roderick's shirt, pushing him backwards as gently as possible. Unintimidated, Roderick, brushes shoulders with him as he walks by.

“I'll see you later, buddy!” Chet shouts excitedly.

Roderick follows the guard quietly as he's lead through a series of corridors. After a few minutes of silence pass, the beast attempts to make small talk.

“Are you familiar with the rules of the Gauntlet?” he asks, looking back over his shoulder at Roderick.

“I know enough.”

“Oh? It's not often you find a human versed in Moatoobian customs.”

“It isn't often you find such a patient beast,” Roderick retorts, with more snark than he had intended.

“Fair point,” the beast chuckles, evidently unfazed. They fall silent again for a time, until they exit the cavern and Roderick finds himself in the shadow of what he could only describe as a colossal wall, wrapping around behind itself, with a comparatively tiny opening just ahead of them.

“That's... larger than I thought it would be,” Roderick thinks aloud.

“A testament to Moatoobian engineering,” the beast agrees. “Head on through the gate.”

Before Roderick takes a step, the beast adds, “Chet never fights fair.”

“Why would you-”

“The Onyx killed my brother,” he interrupts. “We're not all barbarians.”

After trading nods of mutual respect, Roderick sets off for the coliseum.

The justice system on Moatoob was one derived from trial by combat, and given the origins of the planet's inhabitants, it comes as no surprise. The basic premise was a ladder-style tournament, with the last man or woman standing claiming claiming a pardon for their crime as their prize.

The whole spectacle was staged in a roman-style coliseum. A monstrously large, circular building with an open roof. Seats lined every inch of the outer ring, and filled to capacity on any given night, as it was on this particular evening.

The combat arena itself is huge, dotted with massive stalagmites and pillars of stone jutting up from the dirt floor. As Roderick emerges from the tunnel, he's blinded by spotlights illuminating the building. If he'd squinted in the right direction, he might have seen Remi and Eli sitting behind him, up in the stands.

Instead, he looks forward once his eyes adjust to the bright lights to size up his first opponent. Outside of a few hours ago in his cell, Roderick had never seen the man standing opposite him before. Like most beasts, he was built sturdy, and like most beasts on Moatoob, his default expression seemed to be a scowl. At the sound of some sort of horn, he wastes no time advancing on Roderick. Even at a full sprint, it takes nearly twenty seconds to close the distance between them.

“I will leave this communications channel open. The code word will be 'black rain'. If you hear that phrase, activate the A-photon reactor.”

“Roger that,” Noble's voice crackles over the comm, “don't do anything foolish.”

Eli sits silently, staring at Remi with a half-raised eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“You were so close to looking normal. You really couldn't do anything with your antennas?”

“I can no more obscure my antennas than you can your own ears,” Remi huffs.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Eli says with a dismissive wave, turning to watch the battle. “This is a good chance to see where he's at, at least. Can you record this for me?”

Down on the battleground, the unnamed beast is nearing Roderick. In the last ten feet or so, he launches himself into a flying kick. Once he's close enough, Roderick grabs him by the ankle, bends and twists beneath his airborne body, and throws him over his shoulder, using his own momentum against him. A disturbing crack accompanies his head-first impact with the ground, and blood begins to seep into the earth as he lays motionless. Shortly after, another horn blares, signifying the end of the match.

Eli is somewhat taken aback by the display of force. “That was unexpectedly... brutal.”

“By necessity,” Remi reminds her. “In any case, he is not dead; merely incapacitated.”

“I know. But still...”

Roderick's next two rounds proceed in much the same way as the first. Despite his opponents successively growing in size, their brains seemed to remain two sizes too small, and neither posed any real threat. With each victory, he wins over more of the massive crowd, until the entire coliseum roars as he's trotted out to face his next challenge.

“That guy looks familiar...” Eli says to herself.

The “guy” she's referring to is the one Roderick knows as Chet. The largest opponent yet, he completely eclipses Roderick as they meet in the middle of the arena.

“I told you I'd be seeing you soon. Let's see if you're still a tough little shit now!” he yells, charging across the fifteen or so metres between them.

Chet takes to the offensive first with a straight punch aimed at Roderick's head, looking to knock his block clean off. Roderick leans to his side to avoid it and throws a kick towards Chet's own cranium. Unfortunately, that kick never connects. Chet blocks it with his free arm, easily. Grabbing hold of his leg, Chet spins in a circle, whipping Roderick around before tossing him twenty feet away into a nearby stalagmite. Mid-flight, Roderick pulls himself into a ball to stabilize his spin, and then plants both feet on the rocky hazard, coiling against it like a compressed spring. He finishes his acrobatic display by pushing off into a dive roll, ending on his feet a few metres away from Chet.

“That's some koltova-shit,” Chet says, visibly annoyed.

“Ugh, he's way too passive,” Eli moans. “He can't evade people forever.”

Putting that theory to the test, Chet moves forward again. He tosses out a quick jab, which Roderick blocks, and follows it up immediately with a heavy left hook. Roderick leans backwards to avoid a certain knockout and retaliates with two quick punches to the ribs and an uppercut that connects flush with Chet's jaw. To Roderick's surprise, he recovers quickly enough to jam a knee into his stomach.

“I knew I recognized him from somewhere!” Eli exclaims while watching as Roderick sidesteps a kick from Chet. “He's one of the rogues in Ben's old gang.”

Remi pulls herself away from the battle below to ask Eli, “what?”

“Yeah, Chet... something. He was in the Iron Sand with Ben. When the Guardians recruited him, he asked Chet to join too, but Chet refused.”

“Black rain.”

Now it's Eli's turn to ask, “what?”

Down below, Roderick ducks beneath a looping right from Chet, popping back up to deliver a couple more body shots. As he begins rotating for a spinning kick, Roderick catches a glimmer of something out of the corner of his eye, and abandons his attack just in time to avoid being eviscerated by the unfriendly-looking knife Chet is now wielding.

Chet lurches forward, swinging wildly at Roderick with the jagged blade in his hand. Roderick bobs and weaves around each attack, until Chet lunges straight at him. In stead of moving away, Roderick adjusts his stance to brace himself and reaches out with his right hand, catching the blade between his index and middle fingers. He then clamps down on Chet's hand to keep him from pulling the knife free, and throws all his weight forward, palming Chet's face in his left hand and driving him head first into the dirt.

“Nnngh,” is all Chet manages to whimper while he writhes around on the floor clutching the back of his head. As two guards enter the arena to retrieve him, the sound of a horn echoes across the entire coliseum, and the crowd rises to its feet in applause, signifying Roderick's victory.

“All that flash is gonna backfire on him eventually,” Eli sighs, folding her arms across her chest.

“And now!” a voice booms over what Roderick assumes is some sort of PA ystem. “The man you've all been waiting to see!”

The applause from the crowd seems to double in volume as the announcer pauses for suspense, and again once they spy the silhouette of someone walking through the tunnel towards the arena. The crowd continues to roar as he steps out into the open.

“Well, this is incredibly convenient,” he says as he walks towards Roderick.

“The Champion of the Gauntlet, Benjamin Clarke!”

[Xaeris]

Ah, I was thinking you might have given up on this. Good, good, let the writing run through you.

[XTenguX]

Stayed up all night reading it. completely worth it,its very good. keep it up.

[McLaughlin]

Thanks for the comments, fellas. Wonder if anyone's a B.o.B fan.

Chapter 14: Beast Mode


“What the hell is he doing here!?”

Remi reaches out and grabs Eli by the arm to keep her from entering the fray. “We both know the answer to that question.”

“Let me go, Remi! He'll kill him!”

“Who was it who once told me to 'have some faith'?”

Down on the arena floor, Ben walks casually towards Roderick while the crowd settles in for what they hope will be a good show. When only a few meters separate them, Ben stops and pulls his weapon from storage space. The large axe he's now leaning on would be threatening regardless of who was wielding it, but in Ben's hands, Roderick can almost see the murderous aura it radiates. The shaft is simple, long, and black, but the semicircular head's jagged teeth looked like they could tear through anything.

“You picked the wrong day for your little adventure,” he says.

“Did I?”

Ben's face contorts itself into some sort of confused scowl. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Your being here all but confirms your hand in all of this.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You were working with the Illuminus to capture me,” Roderick says flatly.

Ben remains silent, but the look of shock on his face is the only confirmation Roderick needs.

“There was no way that Remi and Eli being humiliated that way was a coincidence. I don't know if Able did it on purpose, but either way, I knew he was connected somehow. The attack on the colony was orchestrated to steal me away, right?”

Ben continues to bite his tongue.

“Seems I'm on the right track, so just let me know if I go wrong anywhere. You convinced the president to send Remi and Eli to Moatoob, knowing it was a trap. But if I was able to best the Onyx on my own, how in Gurhal did they manage to beat Remi and Eli?” Roderick's glare intensifies, “trust me when I say I can recognize the pain of loss when I see it. They've already lost one trainee, and your thugs probably threatened them with my life if they didn't cooperate. They probably told them that whoever was with me on the Colony was a spy, and that whoever it was would kill me unless they surrendered.”

Roderick pauses for a moment to take a deep breath. “And when they did, you beat them. Savagely.”

Ben sighs. “They were supposed to kill them.”

“Yes, and trying to finish the job inside the hospital was both incredibly bold and incredibly stupid. Up until that point I didn't know if you were the spy, or Noble was. You both saved me from that woman, and to be honest, I couldn't really picture you working for a group like the Illuminus. From there, it was simple detective work to trace the gang back here.”

“All that stupid woman had to do was grab you and go,” Ben grumbles.

“Why would you work with a group focused on human supremacy?”

“What do I care as long as they hold up their end of the bargain? In exchange for my help, they give me Moatoob. I will secure the future of beasts by any means necessary.”

“By any means? You tried to have your own sister killed!”

“And?” Ben says nonchalantly.

“She's your sister!” Roderick shouts back angrily.

“So her life is more valuable than the lives of every other beast in Gurhal?”

“That's not what I-” Roderick starts.

“If a few lives can save hundreds of millions, that's a price we should all be willing to pay. But enough of this,” Ben says, picking his axe up off the ground, “you've just as valuable dead or alive.”

Ben surges forward, dragging the head of his Ank Zagza through the dirt and kicking up a trail of dust in his wake. As the axe comes sailing in from his left, Roderick manages to avoid its teeth and block the shaft with both forearms, but the force of the swing on its own is enough to slide him back several feet.

“You really think you can win using a fighting style pioneered by my people? And with no weapon?” Ben laughs. “Do you know how many times I've sparred against my sister? You aren't half as skilled as she is.”

“I never could tell when he was complimenting me,” Eli says. Remi stares blankly at her for a moment before refocusing her internal parabolic microphone on Roderick and Ben.

[tab]Ben advances again, taking another wide cut at Roderick. This time, Roderick ducks beneath the arc, popping back up to step into a punch, but it never connects. Not in the conventional sense, anyway. His best Captain Falcon impression comes to an abrupt stop nearly half a foot away from Ben's body before being repelled violently in a flash of green light. As Roderick climbs back to his feet, a cluster of translucent green hexagons can be seen fading away from the center of Ben's chest.

Ben looks down as the last of his hexes disappear from view, and then back at Roderick. “Good luck with that.”

[i]Of course he has a line shield[i]. Roderick scolds himself, trying to remember the crash course he'd taken in training. He's forced to think on his feet though, as the onslaught from Ben resumes.

This same pattern repeats itself over and over, with Ben attacking relentlessly and Roderick narrowly avoiding becoming the most difficult jigsaw puzzle ever, while every counterattack meets with the same repulsion, sending him flying backwards, until he knocks himself into a stalagmite.

Ben sees this as an opportunity and drops the head of his axe to the ground before beginning to spin like a top. Holding his weapon on a subtle slant, he begins moving forward, his ank zagza leaving a mangled trail of neon purple light behind it. The speed of anga grudda catches Roderick by surprise, and all he can do is brace himself as Ben crashes into him. Fortunately for him, Ben strikes the stalagmite first, obliterating it and ending his photon art in the process. Roderick makes use of the sea of dust Ben kicked up to disappear, leaving Ben alone to fume.

“So this is what you do, huh!?” he screams, looking in every direction for signs of movement, “you run away! No wonder your family- ugh!”

Ben's taunt is cut off by a large beam of searing green light that punches through the dust, heading straight toward him. He only just manages to get his axe in front of himself, using it to effectively cut the beam in half, splitting it off to either side of him. The force of the attack is enough to completely clear the veil of dust covering the field, revealing Roderick's location.

Despite only a handful of meters separating them, neither man looks ready to continue. Roderick is doubled over, sucking in wind while keeping himself upright by using his knees for support. Ben is holding himself up with his axe, which now has several large cracks crawling across the photon cage, and several of the hexes covering his chest are crumbling away and fading into nothingness.

“Was that what I think it was?” Eli asks.

“It was remarkably similar to a novice-level Bogga Zubba, yes,” Remi confirms.

“Well how the heck did he do that?”

“Maya has a theory, but it will have to wait. Prepare to intervene.”

Ben is the first to recover, no longer needing the help of his ank zagza to stand. After looking it over, he tosses his weapon away, and equips a pair of vicious-looking knuckles. Twin photon cages mirror each other as they protrude from the sides and extend out nearly a foot from Ben's fists, creating a two-pronged design for each hand. With his Gudda Hon in hand, Ben advances towards Roderick.

“I don't know... what that was,” he wheezes, “but I'm not giving you the chance to do it again.”

The coliseum is silent as Ben stalks towards Roderick. Silent, that is, until Ben is only a few feet away from his prey, when someone in the crowd shouts, “come on!” Ben turns to look into the crowd, and Roderick takes that opportunity to strike.

Roderick throws his shoulder into Ben, pushing him back and cracking more of the hexes that attempt to shield him. Ben swings wildly as he stumbles backwards, but Roderick avoids the flailing and delivers another combination to his midsection. This time, instead of being repelled, each punch is accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, as if someone were striking him with fluorescent bulbs. Every blow obliterates another cluster of hexes, and Roderick continues to press until, finally, a knee connects with Ben's stomach, and not his line shield.

Ben coughs as the air is forced from his lungs, but retaliates all the same. Roderick holds his hand up instinctively to catch the punch, forgetting that his assailant is not barehanded. When the two prongs of Ben's Gudda Hon come sailing in, humming maniacally as they slice through the air, and touch the skin on Roderick's hand, they do not run him through, or even break the skin. The moment the tip of the cage makes contact with his hand, it begins to disintegrate, as if the entire thing had been made of ash.

Ben watches with a mixture of bewilderment and rage as the remnants of his weapon float across the battlefield with the breeze, creating a mist of shimmering yellow specks of light. Ben tosses his remaining weapon away in disgust and glowers at Roderick while he catches his breath.

“This is wrong!” Roderick shouts between haggard breaths. “We should be working together!”

“So the other races can continue to oppress us? I don't think so,” Ben says.

“The only oppression I see here is self inflicted.”

“Are you blind?” Ben says bitterly, “You must see how the other races treat us!”

“And I've seen how beasts treat the other races too,” Roderick counters, watching as the remaining gudda hon that Ben tossed away fades back into storage space, “and how the other races treat humans, and how they treat newmans.”

“Exactly! If the other races won't help us, we'll protect ourselves!”

Roderick shakes his head. “At some point, someone needs to be the bigger person and break this vicious cycle.”

“You say that like it's no big deal,” Ben scoffs.

“It's not supposed to be easy, but morals only matter when they're difficult to stand by. You've chosen the coward's way out, with no guarantee the Illuminus will honor their end of the bargain.”

Ben snarls, and his face contorts itself in rage. “We'll see who the coward is.”

Ben's body begins to radiate light, indicating to Roderick that he should back up a few paces. Slowly, Ben's skin pigment begins to change from its normally tanned colour to a peculiar shade of red. His muscles begin to bulge; subtly at first, but in a matter of moments he's easily gained nearly three feet in height and most of his muscles appear to be trying not to rip themselves from his skeleton. Probably the smallest of all his physical changes, but the one that clues Roderick in, is the change in Ben's eyes. His normally circular pupils have morphed into feral-like vertical slits. Covered in crimson hair and leathery red skin, Ben towers over Roderick like a lion might dwarf a house cat.

At the same time as Ben's nanoblast is beginning, what Roderick would describe as black snow begins falling from the sky. Scattered flakes at first, but it quickly becomes a pitch black blizzard. As suddenly as it began, the storm dissipates, leaving a blanket of the strange substance covering the field. As the black photons begin converging in the middle of the coliseum, Roderick realizes what's actually happening. The same type of creature from the laboratory in Tarcus – albeit several times larger – now stands before him, blotting out what little ambient light the moon had been providing.

Faced with an enraged beast and a colossal monster, he sighs heavily. “Would it be asking too much for them to just attack each other?”

[McLaughlin]

Exams are done and my average doesn't suck. Huzzah!

Chapter 15: A Test of Wills

Where would the fun in that be?

The crowd howled collectively when Ben nanoblasted, but when the giant Seed-form reaches eye level with the outer ring of spectators, panic sets in. Roderick watches from below as people trample one another in an attempt to reach the single exit on the far side of the arena.

“Hey!” Roderick calls to Ben, “we need to stop that thing!”

Ben offers no verbal response. Instead, he lurches forward in a way that Roderick imagined a dump truck might lurch forward off the starting line in a drag race. Thankfully, his drastic increase in size was accompanied with a drastic reduction in agility. Relative to the dance of death Roderick had been doing moments prior, evading Ben's incoming swing was child's play.

Dodging the punch was is thing, but avoiding the aftermath is entirely another. While he manages to keep himself from becoming a flesh-colored paste by hopping backwards, the force of the swing creates a rush of air strong enough to catch Roderick in midair and toss him backwards several feet. Even after he touches the ground, Roderick slides another few feet, and then has to shield his face from the incoming sandstorm.

When the sting of the sand begins to fade, Roderick opens his eyes slowly and discovers that the battlefield is once again completely obscured by dust. With visibility near zero, Roderick attempts to listen for signs of Ben's position, but the pandemonium over the Seed-form prevents him from gleaning anything useful.

Not good, Roderick thinks to himself, looking around frantically, I bet he can track my scent through this mess.

Right on cue, Ben emerges from the fog like a spectre, leaping head first at him with his ridiculously large arms raised high in the air. Roderick retreats backwards and melds into the dust before Ben comes crashing down, cratering the ground his fists collide with. He immediately takes off, disappearing back behind the veil of sand. This game of cat and mouse continues for a few more rounds, until Roderick stumbles into the Seed-form.

This could work...

Up until that point, the giant delsaban had been content to stay where it had been spawned, looking around curiously as if bewildered by its own existence. When it felt something brush up against its leg, it paid it no mind, assuming whatever insignificant creature it had been was going about its daily business. When a red monster nearly the size of itself bursts through the strange brown air and clobbers it hard enough to lift it off its feet though, the delsaban takes exception.

The protest comes by way of a wail. How exactly that screech was produced, Roderick could never figure out, but it was loud enough to shake the debris laying on the ground, strong enough to instantly blow away the dust cloud for a second time, and shrill enough to stun every person within earshot. Once the delsaban is satisfied that everyone is aware that it is very annoyed, it raises a bladed appendage in front of itself. The space around the tip of the blade dims, creating a small translucent sphere of purple. Initially no larger than a ball bearing, it rapidly grows in size until it nearly eclipses its creator. With no warning, the giant megid is let loose, sailing straight towards Ben.

To Roderick's horror, Ben simply sidesteps the megid, choosing instead to take another run at him, and allowing the glowing purple ball of death to race right past him towards the overcrowded exit. Realizing only that this is an undesirable trajectory, Roderick sprints full speed right towards Ben. The instant before they meet, he drops down and slides right underneath the red hulk, popping up behind him and continuing to speed towards the megid. After catching up to it, he plants himself in front of the orb and does the only thing he can think of; he throws his arms up and tries to push the megid backwards.

It was a strange thing to watch; a person trying to stop death itself with his bare hands. Being so near something so, evil, made Roderick's skin crawl. It made his knees weak and his stomach sick, his arms heavy and his heart race. Knowing he was all that stood between certain doom for thousands of people, Roderick pushes with all the strength he can manage, stretching out and digging the balls of his feet into the dirt. Roderick's perseverance eventually pays off, and the megid slows to a crawl, finally coming to a complete stop some fifty meters from the coliseum exit.

The delsaban decides that it accomplished what it set out to do and returns to a relaxed stance, but Ben isn't finished. With all Roderick's attention focused on stopping the megid, a perfect opportunity presents itself. Working his way up to a full sprint, he charges forward with the intent of being the Mac Truck to Roderick's egg. In his peripheral vision, Roderick spots Ben rushing towards him. He shuts his eyes, winces in advance, and prepares for the worst.

But it never comes. A blast of frigid air rushes past Roderick, and when he opens his eyes, he's met with a forest of ice. In the distance he can see a gigantic formation dwarfing the rest of the area. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that crystal is Ben, completely frozen and trapped inside the ice.

“What the...?”

“Pup! Get away from that thing!” At the sound of “pup”, Roderick cranks his neck around to watch Eli and Remi race over to him.

“I can't,” Roderick says after they get close enough to speak without having to yell over the crowd.

“What do you mean 'you can't'? Do you even know what that thing is?”

“Not... exactly,” he admits. “Is it normal to feel ...sick, around a technic?”

“What?” Eli says incredulously. “You shouldn't even be touching it! How are you doing that anyway?”

“I... put my hands on it?”

“We can discuss this later,” Remi says sternly, keeping her eyes on the delsaban still wandering aimlessly around the field. “Roderick, stay close to us.”

After a moment of inflection, Roderick whispers, “I can't.”

“If you are injured, we will carry-”

Roderick shakes his head. “That's not what I meant. I won't be like Ben. I won't sacrifice all those people for my own sake. If that's how the Guardians do things, then I want no part of it.”

Remi and Eli look to one another, and Eli shrugs. “He's got a point.”

At that point, the sound of cracking ice pulls everyone's attention back to the beast-cicle known as Ben. From where they're standing, the cracks crawling across the entire formation are clear as day, and shortly after, Ben finally breaks free, surrounded by the same bright light that enveloped him when he nanoblasted. After it fades, Ben is left standing as if nothing had happened, fully clothed and wearing an expression that very clearly portrayed “raving mad.”

“I'll handle him,” Eli says, grabbing the sleeve of her flaxo jacket and sliding it up her arm. The tribal tattoo branded on her bicep glows dimly, but Remi quickly grabs her and yanks the sleeve back down.

“We have enough problems on our hands, we do not need to add another,” she says.

Eli sighs. “Fine, I'll take the delsaban.”

Before they set off to their respective battles, Remi turns her head to address Roderick. “If you intend to defy orders, it would be wise to ensure you succeed.” With that, she marches off towards Ben, and Eli marches towards the delsaban. Invigorated by the sight of them, Roderick redoubles his efforts to hold the megid at bay.

=====

As Eli stalks towards her target, she arms herself with her huge cutter, dragging it behind her the same way a toddler would pull a wagon. After deciding on her plan of attack, she stops a few dozen feet away, behind the monster and out of sight.

“Can't say I like the idea of you trying to kill our pup,” she says, gripping the hilt of her sword.

Eli lifts her weapon off the ground with as much effort as someone might put into plucking a feather up off the ground. She throws herself into a clockwise spin, completing a full rotation and firing a curved blast of photon energy at the delsaban. She then quickly reverses and immediately launches another blast. Finally, she reverses her spin one last time, completing three full rotations before unleashing the last part of her photon art. The first swing causes the delsaban to turn and face Eli, looking as if it had just been bitten by a mosquito. The second staggers it, forcing the creature a few steps backwards. The final shock wave creates a gale-force wind that slams into the monster, lifting it off its feet and throwing it across the arena like a rag doll, where it comes to rest firmly embedded in the opposite wall.

Eli sprints across the field towards her dazed enemy, letting her sword skip along the ground behind her. When she thinks she's close enough, Eli comes to an abrupt stop, putting all her momentum into side-arming her weapon, sending it spinning like a buzz-saw blade straight towards the delsaban. Colliding with the creature does nothing to slow the huge cutter's rotation, digging into its flesh and grinding away until it passes right through, separating the delsban at its waist. After the medium-sized explosion that follows when the sword connects with the wall, the delsaban also explodes, into a cloud of tiny black spheres that sink into the ground and disappear.

“Mental note,” Eli says to herself, walking over and inspecting the remains of her huge cutter, “only use Chikki with swords I don't like.”

Holding what's left of her sword, she looks thoughtfully towards the wall of ice that separates her from Remi. “It's probably better this way...”

=====

Ben decides to begin his battle by ignoring his opponent completely, making a bee-line for Roderick. Unfortunately for him, ignoring Remi does not make her any less real, and she intercepts him with another barta.

After he breaks his leg free from the centre of a particularly large icicle, he arms himself with a spear and turns to face Remi. Four ice blue prongs arranged symmetrically around the central point that dwarfs them give Ben's weapon a regal appearance, and standing it on its end, Ben almost looks like some sort of royal spearman. But Remi knows better.

“I will give you one opportunity to surrender peacefully. Do not waste it,” she says, replacing her tesbra with her rikauteri.

Ben replies by rushing forward, taking a long sweep at Remi with his mugunruk. Remi skips backwards and fires a salvo of crimson arrows at him while taking stock of his range. Ben avoids becoming a live pincushion by spinning his mugunruk like a wheel, or fast enough to create the illusion of one at least, to shield himself from harm. After the last of the arrows bounces harmlessly off the shaft, both Remi and Ben begin circling.

They pace around each other for a while. Every so often, Ben feints an attack, or Remi fires a warning shot in his direction. Eventually they wind up in the same positions they started in.

“Enough of this!” Ben screams. He moves to charge forward but is immediately intercepted by a formation of rocks that leap up from the earth to snap at him. Ben reflexively drops his mugunruk to defend himself from what bears striking resemblance to an exceptionally large cobra as the nosdiga attempts to swallow him whole. While he struggles, another nosdiga emerges from behind Ben and lunges towards him.

Acutely aware that he's about to become lunch for something with no stomach, Ben stomps down on the end of the shaft of his discarded mugunruk. The rubble it landed on serves as a fulcrum, and the head of the spear springs skyward, impaling the nosdiga approaching from behind. While his weapon cartwheels into the air, Ben grabs the remaining cobra by its jaws and literally rips it in half. As the technic crumbles away in his hands, Ben snatches his mugunruk out of midair and throws it like a javelin, causing the incoming foie to explode as it sails right through uninhibited. Remi prepares to bat the spear away, but it vanishes before reaching her, only to reappear in the hands of Ben as he flies through the smokescreen from above.

Having no time to avoid the incoming anga jabroga, Remi orders the small robotic kitten she'd hidden high above the battlefield to cast a gidiga beneath her feet. While the ground rumbles and cracks around her, she abandons her bow for a simple double saber. Two plain blades protrude from either end of the lengthy hilt, and altogether appear as though someone had simply welded two basic sabers together and called it a day. As Ben's mugunruk collides with Remi's crea doubles, the weakened ground cushions the impact, and Remi's double saber winds up jammed within the smaller prongs of Ben's spear.

“Clever girl,” Ben says, “but if you think you can beat me in melee combat...”

Sparks fly and the air crackles as they push their weapons against each other, but slowly, Remi loses ground to Ben. After several tense moments of Ben gaining the advantage, the sound of something cracking is accompanied by a devilish grin as Ben watches Remi fall to one knee, holding off his mugunruk with her double saber held over her head.

“Shame on you for postponing critical maintenance like that!” he cackles.

Remi knew what had happened, even before her left pant leg became drenched in hydraulic fluid. The piston in her calf gave out under the strain of Ben's attack. Internal alarms began blaring the moment his spear connected with her double saber, but even as Ben continues to press down, like a child squishing a toy in their father's vice grip, Remi refuses to yield.

Deciding that her first priority should be putting distance between herself and Ben, Remi calls her shato down from its perch. Many of the invisible hexes covering her chest begin to glow with a blinding white light, before detonating simultaneously. The explosion knocks them both in opposite directions, putting several dozen feet between them.

In the few moments it takes Remi to recover from regrants, Ben has already sprinted across a quarter of the distance between them. Her plan was to slow his advance with a string of ramegids and trap him in another pillar of ice, but before Remi can even re-equip her tesbra, Ben's neck snaps sideways, and the rest of his body promptly follows. Before he realizes what's happening, a barrage of bullets sail in from the left, each blue orb knocking him further off balance, and with no line shield to soften the blows, Ben quickly finds himself encased in ice, and in a very uncomfortable position. Noble marks the end of his assault by firing a solid beam of blue photons at Ben. The beam hits him dead on, shattering the layer of ice keeping him in place only to refreeze it all into an even thicker mass.

While Ben struggles to free himself, Noble saunters up to Remi. “Are you okay?” he asks, looking her over for any obvious injury.

“My left leg is nonfunctional. Estimated mobility, fifteen percent,” she answers nonchalantly.

“I told you to get that fixed.”

“Yes, well, hindsight is twenty twenty.” Noble watches the preceding three seconds over exactly fourteen times, looking for any verification at all that Remi had blushed. “How do we proceed in regards to Benjamin?”

“We arrest him and bring him back to the colony,” Noble says, walking off towards Ben.

“He will not come willingly, and we are ill equipped to restrain him,” Remi protests.

Noble ignores Remi's warning and marches angrily towards a frozen Ben, who's fighting useless to free himself from his chilly prison. Noble stares at Ben for a moment, and then, without warning, throws a punch that shatters the ice where it lands, striking Ben in the jaw. Immediately, Ben's body falls limp, and after confirming that he is indeed unconscious, Noble hoists him out of the ice by the waist and walks back to Remi, where he drops Ben in disgust.

“All right, where are Eli and Roderick. We need to get out of here.”

“I'm right here,” Eli says, tapping Noble on the should as she walks up behind him. With the same finger, she points, “the pup is over there. Hey... does that megid look smaller to you, Remi?”

Indeed, while the others were fighting, Roderick had been waging his own battle; a battle one could say he was winning, in that through all the commotion he managed not to give up any more ground to the house-sized megid. That same house-sized megid is now, as Eli points out, closer to the size of a large truck. Roderick himself is looking a little worse for wear, however; with his elbows locked and his arms extended, his head hangs down below his shoulders as he pants heavily.

“How did you manage to shrink it down like that?” Eli asks as the group approaches him.

“What do you... mean?” Roderick wheezes. “It doesn't feel... any smaller to me.”

“Its size has decreased by approximately fifty percent,” Remi says.

Before anyone else can speak, the megid begins to shudder. A second later, it simply pops, like a water balloon, leaving no trace it was ever there to begin with. With the object he was pushing on no longer there, Roderick falls forward, landing on his hands and knees and gasping for air.

The party runs up to meet him. Since Remi is dragging her bum leg and Noble is carrying Ben under one arm, Eli arrives first to ask, “are you okay?”

“I... think so,” Roderick says. It takes a few moments, but he rises to his feet on his own. After a few more deep breaths, he's able to ask “are you guys all right?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Noble assures him. “Are you sure you're fine? We should really get out of here.”

“'Fine' might be pushing it,” Roderick jokes. He joins the group and throws Remi's arm over his shoulder to help her. He offers a friendly “what happened to you?” look, which Remi responds to with a glare that very clearly says "don't ask." Two steps later, Roderick is face down in the dirt, out like a light.

Before Eli can freak out, Remi reassures her. “He is still breathing. He collapsed from exhaustion. Noble, if you would be so kind.”

“How did I get stuck with all the bodies?”

[Xaeris]

Chikki with swords is a good combination. A little surprised I never thought of it myself, actually. All around, good fight.

I'm having a little trouble with the idea of Ben as a villain. The Illuminus is agreeing to give him Moatoob in exchange for his cooperation. I get that. Though, maybe not now, I think you should devote a little story time to how he expected that to work, because a lawless planet like Moatoob is pretty big for one person to hold.