Three blue streams of light came to an end in a small forest clearing on Planet Naberius, and slowly faded away, leaving behind three ARKS soldiers on the surface. A campship hovered high above the clearing, awaiting their return and offering communications support.
“Everyone good?” shouted Aoto, the white-haired Hunter in a red Close Quarters, as he readied his Aristin.
“Ready to rock!” replied Sasha, the blonde Ranger in a pink Guard Wing, loading her Tigredor.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Cocona took a look around the small clearing to get her bearings, and began to lead the way into the dense forest. This drop point was the closest they could feasibly get to the known location of the Vayu spellstone, a large and mysterious green crystal set in the woods of a deep scar carved into the planet’s surface. Dense vegetation grew here and light was somewhat scarce, making it a breeding ground for Darkers and other such monstrosities, not to mention the attraction of the radiation given off by the spellstone concentration. A group of explorers said they saw a huge crystal in a large pond deep in these woods, and judging by the size of the river she was following, Cocona figured it would lead her right to it.
“Hey, you ever race way out here Cocona?” asked Aoto, trying to make conversation as the three trudged through the woods along the river.
“Nothing this dense…” replied Cocona. “There’s a couple courses up in the mountains, one along a river…so…”
Sasha cocked her head slightly. “You okay, Cocona? You haven’t really been yourself since we got on the campship.”
“I just…miss the way things were, I guess. Mr. Boo Hunter over there just HAD to remind me that I’m totally missing a race for this…”
“H-hey! I was just askin’! You must really feel the need to be out here to be missing all that…I mean, I’m out here for a promotion, and your career is racin’ away while you do some research? Heh, must’ve had one hell of a thing happen to you on Lillipa, seriously…”
“Are you done? Just…just don’t remind me, okay?! I just wanna find out what this Heart of Gaea thing is and get back to racing…”
Sasha giggled a bit. “Yep, you’ve got some drive alright. But hey, taking the cycle off isn’t going to end your career, and with us at your back? We’ll have this mystery all wrapped up in no time. I mean, your brother’s our boss, you’ve really got it made here!”
“I…guess, yeah.” Cocona cracked a slight smile. “Thanks, guys. I’ll do whatever I can to help you two advance as well.”
Aoto grinned his usual cocky grin. “Heh, better go ahead and tell your brother to make sure that general’s chair is niiiice and shiny by the time I take it from him!”
Cocona’s smile immediately faded, as she nonchalantly let go of a branch she was pushing away and made it smack Aoto in the chest as she rolled her eyes.
“Oww! Why you little—“
Sasha just shook her head and laughed, until she noticed something unusual up ahead, where the trees began to thin out a bit. Corpses of native creatures strewn about, with large erratic gashes throughout their bodies, full of some sort of red glow. It was the aftermath of a massacre. Aoto immediately took point.
“You ladies know what this means, yeah?”
Sasha nodded. “Darkers. Let’s be careful.”
Cocona stood behind them a ways, not yet readying her weapon. She had a great deal of respect for the native life on these planets, and it tore at her heart a little to see such careless devastation at the hands of an alien being…is this really what the ARKS are here to prevent? Or are the ARKS just as careless? Her thoughts were interrupted as Aoto pointed at the trees, a scurrying filling the air.
---END TRACK 11---
“Get ready!!” He brandished his sword, as some nine or ten Dagans suddenly came crawling out of the darkness, their front legs waving at the three ARKS aggressively.
Aoto immediately charged at the nearest Dagan, letting out a primal yell as he raised his sword in the air and crashed it down onto its back, before it could even react. Another Dagan rushed Sasha as she was loading up her rifle, but she was able to roll sideways and fired a few rounds at the Darker from the ground, doing enough damage for Aoto to easily run over and finish it off.
“Hey, you gonna help?!” yelled Aoto back at Cocona.
“Heh…” Cocona simply waved her hand and summoned her airboard, of all things, from her inventory. Pressing a button on her wrist next to the throttle controls, the board split in half in an “N” shape lengthwise, and Cocona grabbed two handles on the insides of both halves. The outsides of the board suddenly lit up light blue photon blades. Seems she made a few improvements to her airboard while in the shop—giving it the ability to split into an effective pair of Twin Daggers.
Rushing in to a group of Dagans, she leapt up and spun her body around, blades extended, crashing down on two Dagans and severing them immediately. Two more still tried to pounce her, but she was deadly quick with these blades—she rotated her body to block each swipe, kicking one Dagan away to charge at it and slash upward in a leaping motion at its face before backflipping over the other, distracting it long enough for Sasha to send a bullet right through its head. A little overconfident, a Dagan rushed Cocona from behind and tore into the back of her Heartbreaker a bit, but Aoto managed to kick it away and rend it with his blade before it could hurt Cocona any further.
The three turned to meet the rest of the Dagans, but before they could react, a greenish blur zipped through the treeline behind the Darkers. Two red blades from a Wired Lance that seemed to be a Hyperion suddenly swung into the battlefield, grabbing two Dagans and flinging them upwards into the trees, before immediately retracting and extending once more at another very confused Dagan, stabbing into its body. Suddenly the user of this Hyperion came into view, using her anchored blades to fling herself at the unsuspecting Dagan, smacking it in the head with her boot before stabbing it through the neck with the blade of her Wired Lance. The forest was silent once more.
---END TRACK 12---
“Whoa…wh-who’re you??” demanded Cocona.
A green-haired Newearl coldly kicked away the corpse of the Dagan she most recently killed. She turned her head toward Cocona, her long hair flowing past her shoulders underneath a wide-brimmed green hat. She had very long ears and dark purple eyes that carried a gaze as sharp as her blades. Her tight dark green Thousand Rim left little to the imagination, and she had the curves to go with it. She shut her eyes, let out a slight laugh, and slowly walked toward Cocona, who wasn’t lowering her blades.
“Been watchin’ you for a while, girlie, and I have to say…you’re more impressive than I thought you’d be,” said the Newearl.
“Watching me?! What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?” yelled Cocona. Aoto and Sasha stood beside her, not lowering their guards either, but were slightly less confrontational.
“We appreciate your assistance, miss,” said Sasha. “We’re on a recon mission for Darker research. My name is Sasha, this is Aoto, and our boisterous friend here is C—“
“Cocona, I know. Don’t mean to cause no trouble here, but my business is with the purple-haired one…so if you’ll kindly excuse me.”
Cocona somewhat dropped her guard, mildly disturbed that this person evidently knew a thing or two about her, nodding to Aoto and Sasha.
“…go on, go ahead. I’ll see what this is all about.”
“Ehhh?? We aren’t leavin’ you here with this busty chick!” replied Aoto defiantly.
“Just go, okay?! We don’t have time for all three of us to be tied up here! Scout ahead, see if you can figure out anything.”
Reluctantly, Aoto and Sasha went on ahead a little ways, but not far enough to be unaware of the situation between Cocona and the Newearl.
“Now then, that’s better…now why don’t ya start bein’ honest with me and tell me why yer really out here, hmm?” The Newearl was eye to eye with her now, looking almost seductively.
“What’s it to you? Look, I don’t know who the heck you are or how you know me or whatever, but I’ve got work to do. I appreciate your help, but I don’t answer to y—“
“Hmph. Fine. How ‘bout we have a little spar, and the winner gets their way? Been itching for a lil duel with you…”
Cocona’s eyes narrowed, her confusion and annoyance driving her decisions. “Fine, you want some?! I’ll just beat you up until you buzz off!” She readied her daggers as the Newearl gracefully backflipped into the distance, engaging her Wired Lances again.
---END TRACK 13---
“What the hell does this girl want…how does she know me?!” The questions were dwelling in Cocona’s mind, but nonetheless she readied her daggers and charged at the Newearl. Not a wise move against an opponent with range on their side, as the Newearl swung her Wired Lances towards Cocona and grabbed onto both halves of her airboard.
“Whuh?!” Cocona’s astonishment grew larger as the Newearl retracted her lances and stripped Cocona’s weapons from her, now readying an attack of her own. Cocona quickly grabbed her Stag Cutlery and activated its blades in the nick of time, holding the Double Saber out to block another assault of Wired Lance blades. This girl was incredibly agile, already sending out her Wired Lances once more but this time they landed in a tree behind Cocona, sending her swinging foot-first at the girl which she barely managed to duck.
“Hmmm…she’s trying to keep her distance with those, I can’t do much to her if I can’t get in close…unless…”
As the Newearl was lowering herself back to the surface, Cocona put her Double Saber away and took a pair of Twin Machineguns from her hip holsters, in an attempt to even the playing field. In the time it took to grab these, the Newearl was already winding up another attack and managed to graze Cocona in the cheek a bit, making her wince but nothing too serious. While her blades retracted, Cocona raised her guns and fired a quick volley at the Newearl, making her run radially around Cocona until she leaped backwards, blocking bullets with her now-retracted blades but wasn’t able to go on the offensive as well.
“Gotcha pinned down…now…”
Reloading her guns, Cocona ran at the Newearl at full speed, guns blazing, in an attempt to close the gap. The Newearl blocked most of the shots, but took a couple to her abdomen plating which stunned her briefly. Just long enough for Cocona to drop her guns and brandish her Stag Cutlery once more, swinging her Double Saber around her body and sending a blade crashing into the tip of the Newearl’s Wired Lance, which she raised just in time. The two parried eachother’s blows for a while, until the Newearl landed a swift kick into Cocona’s stomach, sending her staggering backwards long enough for the Newearl to jump backwards high into the air to gain some ground.
“Got you now…” The Newearl’s next attack completely caught Cocona by surprise, as she shot out a Wired Lance that wrapped around her Double Saber.
“Hehehe…yer finished.” She then sent a high-current electric charge through the cord attached to the blade of her Wired Lance, which immediately disabled the Stag Cutlery and arced through Cocona’s body as well…but much to the Newearl’s surprise, even though it wasn’t a fatal charge, it didn’t seem to affect her at all. In fact…she seemed to be absorbing it. She piled on more current, only to get the same result. Cocona didn’t move.
“What the…how the f—uh oh.”
---END TRACK 14---
Cocona simply raised her head and looked up at her, her eyes now glowing a bright yellow. Without a word, she grabbed the cord of the Wired Lance and yanked so hard it picked the Newearl up and flung her towards Cocona, who immediately landed a violent punch to her jaw and a swift kick to the hip, sending her staggering backwards.
“What…what the HELL are you?!” yelled the Newearl, completely stunned by…whatever was happening to Cocona. Did that charge…
Before she could collect her thoughts, Cocona was running towards her with her Double Saber re-engaged with huge bright yellow blades, arcing with bolts of electricity, screaming at the top of her lungs as she leapt up and raised her Double Saber above her head. The Newearl attempted to block her attack with the body of her Wired Lance, but it was no use—she slashed clean through it, twirling her hyperactive Double Saber around as she kicked the Newearl to the ground and immediately pointed the tip of her Double Saber right at her face...which had a completely stunned expression, to say the least.
“A…alright…you win…now can we just, calm down a b—“
As quickly as the episode began, it was over. Cocona’s eyes reverted to their normal color as her Double Saber deactivated, and she fell limp to the ground.
---END TRACK 15---
Originally Posted by Ce'Nedra
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