Cocona wiped sweat off her brow, having completed another round of upgrades to her airboard, specifically for its battle configuration. Life had been pretty rough for the past week or two, getting pulled into all kinds of ARKS missions as she was essentially a mercenary-for-hire, one of which spanned quite a late night that she’s still trying to shake off. She attempted to detox via working in Gengai’s shop since she really didn’t have time for the Grand Prix anymore, but nothing could shake what was really on her mind. Kasera’s offer burned a hole in her brain every day and today she was going to suck it up and get the advice of someone she trusted perhaps more than anyone.
Gengai was working on his own airboard when Cocona walked up, her dirty Oil Brink indicative of her busy day. “Hey Master, you got a minute?”
He lifted his welding mask and turned to Cocona, smiling. “Hey Coco! Always got time for ya! Was about to take the ol’ airboard on a lil joyride through the city, wanna join?”
“Sure, Master. I’ll meet up with ya out back.”
Gengai and Cocona maintained a casual, low altitude over the suburbian districts of Ur next to eachother on their airboards, taking in the freedom of the open air. This wasn’t something Cocona got to experience much of lately, so she took full advantage.
“So what’s been on your mind lately, huh? Can’t help but notice you’re lookin’ tired and somethin’s got ya down, it ain’t like you! I know your suspension’s got ya bummed out, but…”
“I just…haven’t slept well, really.” She sighed. “But there’s…something else. Someone outside the ARKS organization offered me a way to…get around that restriction. And I’m just not sure if it’s ‘right’.”
Cocona told Gengai about her encounter with Kasera in Naberius, and the offer she received to join the Rappy Syndicate.
“Rappy Syndicate, huh…hah, funny name! What do they fly around in, a giant inflatable Rappy or someth—“
“Ugh, this ISN’T funny, Master…”
Gengai laughed. “Haha, sorry, just couldn’t get the image out of my head! Well, can’t say I’ve ever heard of them…but they’re not the first I’ve heard question the actions of the Darker Research division.”
“Really?! What have you heard? Nothing involving Cro, I hope…”
“Heh, no way, your brother and Luphan are the two best things to happen to the ARKS! But I’ve heard some shop chatter…seems they’ve got some new scientists and researchers lately that just seem real cold-blooded. Won’t speak to you on the streets, won’t talk to the media, think they’re better than everyone else. Not sure how Luphan let those guys in, but the division’s so massive now that even he can’t see everything.”
“So there just might be some merit to their claims…but…I don’t wanna get involved in this and end up hurting Cro’s reputation, or Aoto’s, or Sasha’s…yet it’s killing me not finding answers to mysteries that might be endangering all three of them, and not being able to study the Heart of Gaea…Master, what do I do?”
Gengai stopped his board next to hers, hovering by her, and looked her in the eye. “Coco…I did some things in the ARKS military I wasn’t always proud of. Did stuff I probably shouldn’t have. But lookin’ back, I wouldn’t change a damn thing. Sometimes you just gotta follow your gut on things and trust they’re gonna work out in the end. Ain’t sayin’ things won’t be rocky along the way, but you’re a tough girl. I know you can handle it. Do what you gotta do and trust those instincts. And don’t think I won’t have your back if you need some cover!”
Cocona smiled, probably looking more relieved than she had in weeks. “Thanks, Master…I think that’s all I really needed to hear. I know what I’ve gotta do now.”
“Hahaha! That’s more like the Cocona I know! Race ya back to the shop?”
“Dream on, old man…not much of a race if I’m flying circles around you!”
- - - - -
Kasera was standing by the hanger to Rappy Syndicate’s ship when Cocona finally found her again.
“Been waitin’ for ya. So?”
“…let’s do this. I have to further my mission and if there really is someone trying to sabotage the Darker Research division, I’m not about to let them lay a hand on my brother. One condition, though.”
“Name it.”
“I haven’t joined your team yet. You told me that you’d send a couple people from your team with me to Lillipa, right? We’ll locate the Prithvi spellstone and I’ll judge from there. I’m not obligated to take part in this at all until I say so.”
Kasera nodded. “Fair enough. You got intel on this spellstone?”
“All I have is a last-known location, but it happens to be in a relatively clear valley in the northwestern hemisphere’s dune sea. Unfortunately it’s not terribly far from some ongoing military ops, and you know how busy the ARKS have been on Lillipa lately. Think we can sneak in?”
“Heh. Leave that to Dr. No. Him and Layrinn have…’borrowed’ some of the latest and greatest radar-jamming and cloaking technology they could acquire and thanks to their reverse-engineering, we’ve gotten pretty darn good at using it. You can count on us. In the meantime I’ve got some…’plans’ to devise, so I’ll be around. Astra and Layrinn’ll have yer back, so I’m sure you’ll come home in one piece.”
“And our cover?”
“Yer a mining team. Nobody’s gonna question you if you say yer lookin’ for Lillipan resources.”
Cocona nodded and boarded Rappy Syndicate’s ship.
---END TRACK 22---
- - - - -
Dr. No transported Cocona, Astra, and Layrinn down to the sandy surface of Lillipa, undetected by ARKS military forces. As far as the eye could see was an ocean of endless sand dunes, but the spellstone couldn’t be far. Looking for any sort of trail they could, they set off deeper into the valley.
Astra peered into the distance as far as she could. “So this is the last KNOWN location of the large spellstone?”
“Yeah, struck me as odd too, unless surveillance was obscured by sandstorms or something.” Cocona sighed. “U-unless some giant beast is hoarding it somewhere…”
“Nothin’ we can’t handle,” said Layrinn as she twirled her Vita Double Gladius confidently. “By the way…heard you built that airboard of yours all by yourself?”
“Ehehehe, w-well, a lot of it was with Master Gengai’s help, but—“
“What kind of alloy is it made out of? What’s the power output and compression ratio?? Is the air intake supercooled?! D-does the onboard control module have the latest calibration that lets the exhaust sensor adjust the rate of air to the throttle valve so—“
Astra facepalmed. “Great, you’ve piqued her interest…sorry Coco, probably not gonna be able to get rid of her now.”
“Heh, I know how she feels, I don’t get a lot of people outside of the guys in the shop that wanna talk about this stuff. Layrinn’s SO gotta show me around the inner workings of your ship later, I heard she designed a lot of the surveillance equip—“
Cocona stopped, sensing something wasn’t right.
“Eh? What’s up?” asked Astra, hefting her Gramascient rod just in case. Layrinn likewise readied herself, though didn’t see anything.
“…I feel something coming. Several of them. Humanoid mechs, armed, almost like they were waiting for us…” Cocona slowly drew her twin machineguns, while Astra turned to her.
“What are you talking about?! There’s nothing he—huh?!”
A Signo Beat leapt up from within the sand dunes, its laser blade drawn…but just before it could slash at Astra, Cocona turned and fired a bullet at its head, dropping the construct motionless to the ground before Astra’s feet.
Layrinn looked over, shocked. “How…how did you do that?! Do you have some kind of radar…?”
Cocona’s eyes went wide, looking down at her gun. “I…I don’t know! I just, felt—shit, there’s more!”
Suddenly, several Signo Beats leapt up from the sands in front of the trio. The lead mech immediately created two images of itself, drew its blade, and prepared to stike. Layrinn readied her double saber and Astra began to charge a Zonde blast, but Cocona stood still.
“Left of center. Positive voltage to its left leg thrusters, engaging gyros to pivot off its foot and make a sharp turn at 60 degrees, drawing max voltage to its blade arm to strike at full power…now!”
The Signo image she called out began moving exactly as planned, and she filled it with photon bullet holes as it briefly stopped to make its turn…just as she predicted. The other two images vanished.
“How is she doing this…? Kasera was right, she’s…amazing…” thought Astra, discharging her spell and preparing a more widespread attack.
Time seemed to freeze for Cocona. “I don’t understand…I can feel their movements, I can tell exactly what they’re going to do…almost like I can read their processors…and…wait…that’s it! The way I figured out how to send that distress signal, how I figured out those Spardans, how I made the modifications to my airboard…I…”
Astra blasted away three Signo Beats with a massive Rafoie blast while Layrinn was holding her ground against two more that dashed toward her. Cocona gripped her guns, and ran head-first into the remaining group.
“…I’ve got this.”
Time seemed like it slowed again. Cocona leapt up in the air, spinning her body and outstretching her guns toward the robots and let loose with a barrage of fire, not missing her mark even when the mechs tried to dodge. She flipped forwards, blasting another Signo when upside down before landing on her feet again, dropping one of her guns to take out her Stag Cutlery as the remaining two Signos rushed her at blinding speeds. But with robot-like timing, she ducked, spun around as the Signos’ blades swung just above her head, and slashed through the chests of both mechs. They dropped to the ground, lifeless and sparking, cleaved cleanly in two.
Astra put her rod away and ran up to Cocona, who was picking up her gun. “What the hell was that?! How were you reading their every move?? We should have been dead meat…”
“…The Heart of Gaea. It has to be. It was like I could read their central processing commands like they were plain language. It’s…not the first time it’s happened. I’ve always been a pretty good machinist, but, ever since I found the Heart it’s like I can…read machines, I guess is the best way to put it. Not to mention converting electrical energy…”
Layrinn put her finger to her chin. “That’s fascinating…to think such ancient technology existed. I don’t have a doubt that you’re gonna start attracting the attention of the ARKS though, and personally I’m all for keeping you safe ‘till we figure this out.”
Astra nodded. “Yeah, me too. I’m certain that’s what Kasera wants.”
“I…wow guys, I really appreciate that. If you can’t tell, I’m not exactly the most fond of the ARKS, even though they’ve done so much for my brother…I’m sure they’d tried to use me as a weapon or some other boo purpose…”
“You were right, Master…”
“Not gonna happen, long as we’re around.” Layrinn put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll prove ourselves to you and you’ll find you’ve got a home with us. We’ll keep your bro safe too.”
“Rinn’s right…but for now, we need to keep moving. Looks like some of the dust storm up ahead cleared up, and it looks like there’s a wrecked transport down the valley…it’s as good a destination as any. Cocona?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
As they got closer they noticed this wasn’t just any ship—it was a personal transport vessel usually reserved for those with Captain rank and above. The smoke coming from the hull was a dead giveaway as to what it was doing way out here.
Astra radioed Dr. No using her comm device. “Need an ID on an ARKS transport vessel out here.”
Cocona looked over at Astra. “ARKS or not, they look stranded…they could use our help.”
“We can’t take those kind of chances around here. Lillipa’s been the site of a massive military movement lately and there’s no telling how many scouts are crawling around here. We can’t be caught out here, even with a backup cover.”
Cocona sighed, but kept running. She knew in her head that Astra was right, but it certainly didn’t sit well with her heart. But it may win out regardless, as three Breeahda came flying in rapidly in the direction of the stranded ship.
“Great, Darkers…” muttered Astra. “I don’t suppose you can read their thoughts too?”
“Very funny, Astra…we can’t let them get to that ship, we need a diversion!”
“Damn…I didn’t want to get involved, but I can’t just let somebody die, either.” Astra stopped, brandished her rod and had no choice but to ignore her comm, and fired a blast of Zan blades towards the Breeahda swarm. Fortunately they stopped and made a beeline for the trio, who stopped and armed themselves. Cocona shifted her airboard into battle mode, a slight grin on her face as she finally had a good chance to show off her latest modification.
The three Breeahdas all fired several El Dagan eggs out of their bulbous backsides before angrily approaching the trio, who stood ready. Layrinn was already launching herself at the nearest El Dagan egg, slicing it up as she spun her body forward like a tornado. Astra nailed one Breeahda with a face full of Foie, rendering it mostly unable to see, while Cocona sprinted toward the center Darker.
---END TRACK 23---
“You ready for this…?”
Cocona hit the throttle controls for her airboard and held her daggers parallel to her body. Suddenly, her airboard thrusters fired out of the backs of her daggers and she dashed toward her enemy with the speed of her airboard, kicking up a wake of sand behind her.
Layrinn stood in awe at Cocona’s little innovation. “Whoa…!”
Aiming her daggers at her enemy, Cocona kept her thrusters firing and flew herself up at the central Breeahda, landing a few slices on its face before firing again, letting herself get above its vulnerable backside before hitting it with a diving slash as she thrusted downward, causing it to buzz around in a frenzy.
Astra turned her attention to the hatching El Dagans, charging another massive Foie blast. “You really are as impressive as Kasera said, Cocona!”
“Thank me later!” yelled Cocona. “I got the big guys, you two handle the creepy-crawlies!” She engaged her rocket-daggers once again, flying straight at the previous Breeahda’s weak point and nailing it with a quick upward swipe of her blade, causing it to emit a high-pitched screech as it fell to the sand below. Cocona landed in front of it and gave it a few more slices to the face, eventually finishing it off. The other two Breeahdas didn’t take too kindly to this and began to surround her, but that just made Cocona grin.
“Catch me if you can, uglies!”
Both Darkers shot a glob of red substance toward Cocona, but she swiftly dodged them by dashing forward with her thrusters. The situation wasn’t looking good for her teammates, however, with Layrinn trying to fend off four El Dagans aggressively trying to stab through her with their legs, and Astra destroying several of them with a strong Rafoie blast but promptly getting knocked out by a leg swipe from another Darker.
“Oh boo…” Cocona rocket-dashed toward the El Dagan swarm, trying to keep enemy numbers under control. “Seriously, Astra? You took out like half of these guys and a simple whacking takes you out? Glass cannon if I’ve ever seen one…” Astra’s fragility aside, she dashed herself behind an El Dagan approaching Astra’s prone body and sliced off two of its legs as she rocketed by, skidding to a stop in the sand before taking out a machinegun and shooting it to death. She prepared to dash over to Layrinn and help her, who was beginning to get fairly overwhelmed despite her artistic skill with a double saber, but didn’t realize both remaining Breeahdas had been following her. She screamed as one of them nailed her with another red blob-like emission, sending a searing pain into every part of her it touched.
“Augh!! D-dammit…” She shook off as much of the substance as she could, but could see they were quickly being outnumbered.
“Shit…I can’t hold them ba—nnghh!!” Layrinn cringed as an El Dagan swiped her in the forearm.
Cocona prepped her daggers again, just in time to see a Breeahda preparing to dive-bomb her with its massive body…but was suddenly struck by what seemed to be gunfire. It thrashed around wildly until its body suddenly exploded in what seemed to be the blast of a rocket.
“What the…”
---END TRACK 24---
Solid pacing, It feels like every part was written at the right length. It honestly does read like a professionally written sci-fi story. I don't know if you're improving or I'm just enjoying the details more!
Originally Posted by stukasa
Spoiler!Spoiler!
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