Luca was on his way to his training mission. He found himself at the Campship gate. The gate was teeming with adventurers, doing everything from signing up to missions to negotiating with clients to lounging around and chatting with friends. Some were even dancing despite the (apparent) lack of music.
He wandered out of the elevator and into the crowd. Everyone else seemed to tower over him, even the Arks who were actually shorter than him. And they were as varied as they were numerous. Tall muscle men who could wrestle Rockbears with their bare hands, toned space-samurai who could fell any foe in a single stroke, confident young women ready to charge into battle clad in barely anything, adventurers unencumbered by bulky Rappy suits, enormous Casts with weapons capable of leveling buildings, tiny girls who could single-handedly lay waste to entire countries if they wanted to… Luca could swear that every single one of them was leagues beyond him in both power and bravery. Luca sighed, feeling the confidence drain right out of him.
Luca slowly meandered toward the counter…
“Greetings” the receptionist in a jarringly cheery tone. “You’re the new recruit, I presume?”
“Um… yes.”
“Your partner will be arriving shortly. And by shortly, I mean right now.”
The receptionist lightly directed her hand toward an armored woman with cold gray skin who approached the counter. Her armor was a cold mix of dark purple and black with eerie white glowing accents. She stood before Luca and loomed over him. Luca nervously gripped his arm and averted his gaze in response.
The receptionist then continued. “You will be traveling to the coastal area of the planet Vopar for this mission. We have had reports of a group of infected Aculpus in the area. Your mission is to find and subdue them.”
The receptionist turned to Irena. “Your partner is a new recruit, so you should help him get started in his first mission.”
The recommendation was met with nothing more than a “Hmph” from the metallic woman.
After a short bit of data entry, the receptionist was ready to grant Luca and the Cast woman clearance for their mission. “You are now ready to begin the mission. You Campship will be waiting in the hall to my left. Good luck!”
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During the grand spectacle of the Campship entering orbit in planet Vopar, Luca and his partner were silently standing still.
The silence was broken by a sudden slip of the tongue. “Recruit, what is your name?”
“I’m… I’m Luca… Luca Lovelace.”
Luca swore he could see Irena cringing a bit after hearing that name. “I am Irena Ironstar.” Irena extended a hand toward Luca. He weakly wrapped his fingers around it.
“So… Um… W-why is someone… someone like you… on this mission? Aren’t you, um, stronger?”
“Yes. I am an experienced Ranger. But I have temporarily switched classes to hone my skills as a Gunner. There are some missions that are poorly suited for a Ranger to handle alone.”
“Cool…” said Luca, not in amazement but in an attempt to carry along the conversation.
Irena noticed a slight shift in the ship. “The Campship has reached its destination” she droned. “Jump into the pool over there to begin Bursting. When we reach the ground, we can begin our hunt.” Irena boosted away on her thrusters and flipped into the pool.
“H-hey! Wait!” Luca gave chase and followed her to the pool.
Following a clumsy landing, Luca arrived to find Irena already poised and ready for battle. Luca summoned his standard-issue Rod and clutched it tightly. Irena silently motioned for him to follow her.
They searched the area for a while. No sightings of the target yet, or of any enemy. This part of the Coast seemed quite serene. There was even pretty pink flower on a patch of grass! The thorny stem did nothing to take away from its big, beautiful form.
“…I don’t think I’ve ever seen flowers that big” Luca murmured. He began to approach it…
The flower was suddenly struck by a small burst of bullets.
“Luca, That’s no flower.”
Luca flinched back as he noticed the flower moving slightly… and then a Blumegalla burst out of the sand!
Luca was backing away even faster, now with an expression of terror stuck on his face as the unexpectedly fearsome beast glared at him angrily. Just as he was about to turn back and flee…
“Stop. Now.” Irena’s voice was now much more forceful. She was clearly disappointed with Luca. “I am not going to put up with a coward. Turn around, charge your technique, and destroy it.”
“Y-yes, ma’am.” Luca nervously faced the thorny Oceanid and pointed his Rod at it. The air around him began to radiate with burning energy. He focused all the spiritual energy he could into the attack. He had to slay the beast before it could take him down!
Just as the Blumegalla prepared to lunge at its prey, it was struck by a blast of flame from Luca’s weapon. It flinched from the blast, but that didn’t stop it from leaping while Luca was charging another Foie.
“Aah!” Luca hastily sidestepped the attack to avoid the crushing blow. He began to charge up another Foie, his Rod trembling along with his body.
The Blumegalla turned toward a nasty surprise: a blazing fireball that blasted it out of commission.
Luca felt as though a burden was lifted from his shoulders. He had never expected to amount to anything on the battlefield. But here he was, standing victorious over his first enemy. If he could just keep this up, if he could just keep himself out of the enemy’s reach and annihilate them with his Techniques, then he would make it out okay.
“To make it in the Arks, you must have a will of iron” said Irena. “And you must also have focus. That goes double if you train as a Force.”
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After more exploration and taking down more enemies, the pair had reached the last spot they had not checked yet.
“They… They must be here… right?” Luca deduced.
“Correct. And here they are now.” Irena pointed at a trio of reddish pink wolf-like Oceanids with massive fins on their backs. Implanted in each of them were bulbous red infection cores. Luca shuddered at the sight of such deadly-looking beasts, but now he was ready. And he knew what had to be done. At least, he knew what he had to do to not disappoint Irena again.
“Take the one on the left. I will dispatch the other two” Irena ordered, immediately opening fire on two of the Aculpuses.
Luca attempted to draw the third Oceanid’s attention with his own attack, but the beast leaped out of the way of the fiery blast. Luca fired again, and again, and again, but it just wouldn’t get hit! He now found himself unable to charge any more Techniques. Luca was on the verge of another panic until he heard Irena shout:
“Shoot it with your Gunslash to recharge Photon Power! And make sure it’s in the right mode!” Irena was rolling her way around both of her enemies’ attacks at the time.
With that bit of advice, Luca promptly switched out his Rod for a basic Gunslash. He fumbled around for the switch and activated its gun function. He pointed the blade at the Aculpus and began pelting it with bullets. He could feel the energy returning! He switched back to his Rod, but this time he tried something different.
This time, the air turned cold around him. Shards of ice coalesced around him. The energy around him was focused into a stream of ice that chilled everything in its path, including the Aculpus. Luca readied one last Foie and struck down the beast with ease.
Meanwhile, Irena was already done. She put away her customized Rifle just as Luca finished off his foe. “Mission complete.”
“So… um… How did I do?” Luca shyly inquired.
“Your performance was… decent. Competent, at least. You seem to have little trouble grasping the basics of the Force class. But you are lacking in composure. Combat skill is very important, but being too scared to think and act effectively can be fatal.”
Despite being complimented for his combat prowess, Luca couldn’t help but hang his head in shame. “Sorry ...I’ll try my best next time.”
The pair returned to the Campship, which then ferried them back to Nauthiz. The ride there was silent and uneventful, culminating in the two unceremoniously parting ways.
This void of social interaction would set the standard for Luca’s future missions.
Chronicle of Camaraderie
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Originally Posted by yoshiblue
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