Gathering

"This is just the beginning of the end. We have to be prepared."

Packing up God Arcs, the means with which to maintain them, and the materials used to keep them fed and happy when inactive was about the same as cutting the whole basement out of the Australian Branch of Fenrir, and clearing out an entire floor of a city-sized establishment was a long and difficult process. Thorold Strinley, head of the Australian branch, sighed and rubbed his temples to relieve the migraine that had set in last week. It followed him like the haunting ghosts of the dozens of God Eaters that had died in this jurisdiction over the last several months, but at least he was finally starting to see a light at the end of this god forsaken tunnel.

Still, they were so close to finishing their preparations for the role in the Ark Project that Von Schicksal had come up with. Thorold was ecstatic; nothing within their walls had really gone wrong despite having expected it to, aside from the loss of most the defense force and assault team slowly since they started working with the man. Because he couldn't afford any Aragami getting into the compound, he had manically filed and filed and filed for transfers, which he managed to get despite all the focus on the Far East Branch and their miracle New-Types. Several rookies from various branches unfortunately, but a trio of old-types that have had their head in the game for quite some time; the kinds of men and women their branch had lost recently weren't just ignored, thank goodness. Those ones were from the Russia Branch, who had been generously handing Eaters out lately, and just one came from the small Czech Branch that no one ever really heard about.

Their resident Techie, Raymond Dockert, threw a latch down on the gargantuan beast of a transport for this whole section of the branch to be taken carefully to the launch site, then another two before he was satisfied and let the driver do their job. The last two God Eaters on their assault force flanked either side of it, ensuring the package would be safely delivered to their own 'Aegis' site.

"That should do 'er. What the 'ell are we takin' God Arcs on this bitch fer, anywho? We're jumpin' ship like we is fer the sake a shakin' these feckin' Aragami, ah?" Ray's speech was a thick Irish that practically colored the air green with his breath, much to Thorold's dismay. Somehow their Eaters found it funny and in some cases endearing. Thorold shook his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched the armored truck start its slow roll.

"Do you know why Christianity was so powerful back in the day, Raymond? It was because the events they described had supposedly passed, and no evidence remained outside of sheer faith; and just about everyone had faith back then, with nowhere to put it. Oracle technology must be preserved in the new world; this is also the reason God Eaters are even being accepted into the project. If we just document these things as the reason we left earth, and keep no proof with us, somewhere down the line the human race will warp that history into hundreds of fragmented beliefs- it may even visit the terror of the Aragami upon us again, wherever we make our new home, some hundreds of years past. That would almost defeat the purpose of this desperate escape of ours."

"Aye. S'pose we got's ta look'it the long run, after all." Ray nodded a little too emphatically, rocking his whole body along with the motion. As Thorold went on, the docking bay gates shut behind the convoy and its escorts clung to small platforms and hand-rungs on the side. The Tech and Director of the Australian Branch headed to the elevator, shutting out the lights here for the last time and heading up; they needed their rest for the new arrivals tomorrow.

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It was the main lobby of every branch of Fenrir that looked almost exactly the same; dull brass walls, mesh plating for floors in places, those two flights of stairs just next to and behind the reception desk and banners, banners everywhere with the disgruntled dog-head logo of the Aragami defense business. It was like he never left the Czech Republic, really. The mission clerk here had black hair that she curled in a girly way that wasn't really meant for black hair, but she was good looking with a nice body at least. The merchant close by almost looked credible compared to most places, with a nice suit and a flashy smile like he was selling vacuums or something door-to-door before monsters started eating the planet.

There were a few others mulling about near the desk; an older man with a ring of heavy gray hair surrounding the shiny bald top of his dome, a nice white business shirt tucked into neatly belted dress pants and blindingly nice leather shoes. Judging by the Fenrir badges accessorizing every corner of the man, his clipboard, and outfit that screamed money, he was the head here.

In front of the guy were a handful of people; closest was a petite-framed redheaded girl with a mostly purple and red outfit, one that reminded him of the showy, exotic apparel gypsy girls wore in old movies as the tied cloth at the waist and shoulders seemed to only act as ornamentation. Her eyes were a dark green that looked like they had lost their brightness likely to some traumatic event, her hair cut nice and straight at the bangs but flicking out everywhere else. Whatever the case, she seemed wound up tight but also ready to spring, which meant she was probably okay with tackling a few Aragami and less hesitant than others might be.

To her right was a fairly tall fellow wearing a brown bandana with a multitude of pins, buttons and fabric patches stuck to it like a luggage bag that hit every corner of the map for the sake of being a sticker collection. His hair was hidden well under it, poking out at the back of his neck as a blonde color, and he wore some kind of gold pendant that he should've hawked for credits by now. He wore a lot of denim and black, but seemed skittish and maybe flighty, like he was ready to hop on a Harley and drive on out of any possible danger.

Another girl that wasn't quite so small as the first stood just behind Hell's Angel there, whose luscious blonde hair that came down to her backside and choice in thread made her look like she would rather skip girlishly to school than go monster hunting. A pretty white blouse and showy skirt with knee-high socks, dainty shoes, pink lips and ice-blue eyes, she was the spitting image of a stereotypical good girl. It hurt just to look at.

Lastly, we had a big guy. A big, big, dark-skinned man that looked like a God Arc would only hinder his ability to grab a thing and break every cell it had in its body. The guy had dreadlocks down to his jawline, a blue T-shirt with the coolest artistic shark on it he had ever seen, beige cargos that covered most of brown shit-kicker boots. The guy was probably about 6' 3", raw muscle.

The old man finally caught a glimpse of the one making these observations at the door, looking relieved. "Ah, Mr. Ilbrinte, I presume. Glad you could make it, and welcome to the Australian branch."

He turned to introduce Mr. Ilbrinte to the four he was speaking with, and in doing so brought to attention that the four of them, even the huge one, were all younger than he- and so fresh these armlets must have been clasped on to their wrists maybe yesterday. "Coarso here is one of the finest Gods Eaters the Czech branch had to offer; three years of good service and good survival in the field. He is just one of our new veterans that will be here to help you learn to wield your God Arcs to their full potential."

Coarso Ilbrinte finally stepped closer to the group, raven-dark hair in disarray and a pair of sunglasses on his face for no real reason. He was wearing an olive green, long-sleeved shirt that had patches on the elbows, some common harnessing for carrying his God Arc, black military-styled boots, fingerless gloves and a set of blue denim overalls. The straps of the overalls hung unused in favor of the separate belt and such specifically for his god arc, so they were tied and stabbed through in certain places to hold oracle needles and rations for easy access. If anyone ever asked him about that, he told them it was a stroke of genius, and nothing more.

"I'm sorry... Mr. Strinley, right? What happened to your own vets; Isn't this up to them? I mean, I know you're understaffed since you need all these transfers and all, but I'm just here to kill Aragami a few times a day." The branch Head seemed less than thrilled about that.

"I apologize for this Mr. Ilbrinte, I really do –but we lost the last two members of our assault squad on an escort mission last night. A type 1 deusphage crashed their operation, you see... The rookies were available in droves, but we need you and the other two I've got coming in tomorrow to make these four combat ready as soon as possible. My Defense squad already has their hands full with this recent deusphage problem you just heard about, and with them down a member we can't spare any of them for training purposes."

Coarso was clicking his tongue and averting his eyes, clearly agitated with the turn of events and in disregard to two people having died the night before. "Fine then. You can go do... whatever important paperwork you need to do, Director. I'll get the ball rolling with the green grass."

The Director made a face as Coarso reacted and responded as he did, but eventually turned away, deciding to let things run their course. He stopped a few steps away, however, "Don't forget your medical checkup. You did just get here, after all." The four newcomers all stood straight when Coarso turned his attention their way, lined up nicely.

"Alright, alright... I guess introductions are in order. You all heard about me just now; Coarso Ilbrinte, age nineteen, Old-Type long blader from Czech branch, though I started in the Canada branch I've been around. Let's take it from the top;"

He pointed at the Gypsy girl to start. Her voice was as underdeveloped as she was; despite the fabric skin-tight in the right places her bosom lacked the size to take advantage of that. She had a nice ass, though.

"Ariel Burroughs, age sixteen, Old-Type Assault gunner from England branch." Sixteen, what a shocker- and she didn't sound English, more American. Funny that his Esmeralda was in fact an Ariel- the red hair and the name shot her from Gypsy right into mermaid. Maybe she was a good swimmer.

Coarso stopped his thoughts from running off as the biker dude raised his voice to an unnecessary volume out of anxiety; "Clint Westwood-"

He only managed to say his name before Coarso was laughing, almost on the floor, and the black rookie was actually joining him in it. Clint sighed, holding his face in one hand, waiting for the humor to leave the moment.

"Clint Westwood. Age sixteen, Old-Type Blast gunner from American branch." Coarso mentally combed through Clint Eastwood quotes he may have to use in the future while their enormous friend took the torch passed along.

"Gerome Haitsézit. Age seventeen, Old-Type Assault gunner from India branch." That last name was a bit of a mouthful, and he almost wanted to codename the guy Tyrell and see what happened. Coarso looked over at the blonde girl now, wondering if she even knew what her equipment was called. If Clint was nervous, Mary Sue here was having a mental breakdown, stammering and fidgeting relentlessly.

"I-I'm Rika Nobugai, age s-sixteen. N-n-new-Type short-b-blade and sniper gunner from, ah... M-Mexico branch. Sir." Her nationality seemed to be lost somewhere between Mexico, Japan, America and perhaps Jupiter. Coarso took extra care in giving her chest a good, long look- she was pretty well endowed, whatever mystery continent her genetics came from.

He stepped back and took his eyes elsewhere before it became obvious he was sizing up the girls like game, choosing to move on with business. "Now, are the four of you just off the grill now, or is there any minor battle experience you have to offer? Anybody?"

Ariel raised her hand, garnering attention. "Before leaving England, I was brought along for a mission clearing out Zygotes."

The other three acted as if that was impressive. Coarso was about ready to cleave them all now and save the Aragami the trouble and snacks. He motioned for the four of them to wait a moment, walking over to the receptionist to see what hazards were available for a close-by excursion.

"He's pretty cute. I don't get the shades, though." Ariel commented in their new instructor's absence. Gerome snickered.

"He was looking at you and Rika like you were steaks he just cooked up. Not that I can blame the guy; I heard the Czech Republic branch was made up of just guys- all fourteen of 'em. The last girl to survive the tests there died early last year, I think it was." Clint was surprisingly well-informed.

Rika kept quiet as Coarso came back to them, jutting a thumb to the door. "Normally we don't let squads roam in numbers past four unless we're expecting a lot of trouble, but today's an exception since you all need to get your feet wet. We're going to go get rid of some Ogretails near the waste disposal, and a Kongou around those parts too. You can go nuts on the Ogretails so long as I'm around to bail you out if need be- but you spot the Kongou? Don't engage. That one's a watch-and-learn prop for today's course, you check-sum?"

The four of them gave him an over-enthusiastic "Yes, Sir!" followed by each moving toward the terminals to log their God Arcs as active before retrieving them. "And Ariel?"

The redhead stopped in her tracks; already something she was being singled out for?

"The shades are a personal preference. It's part of the image I like to keep."

She looked at him over her shoulder, and he was lowering the glasses in question to give her a wink and a knowing smirk. Her face turned about as red as her hair when she went to get her own equipment.

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The five Gods Eaters stood atop the elevated platform that acted as a drop point for this area, practically up against the outer walls. Their ride took off until notified that they had slain or run away from the Aragami their mission required. Ariel's gun resembled a Gatling gun of some kind, while Gerome's resembled an oversized glock and Clint had what seemed to be a big tube. Rika had a blocky-looking sniper gun, with a little rounded-off knife attached and the biggest two-toned plate possible for a shield. Coarso, on the other hand, had a black-and-gray blade that resembled the Borg Camlann variations of special long blades; thin and sleek, they were called katanas for a reason. His shield was a generic-looking kite shield, but looked reliable, useful universally for any situation. It bore a good handful of old scars where it had been repaired before; apparently the Czech branch had no way of polishing up the repairs so the equipment looked as good as new.

"Here we are, guys. Now I just want you to follow three orders right now." Coarso paused. "First of all, don't underestimate any Aragami. There were these little squirrel-sized suckers once that all swarmed up on my buddy when he ignored the first one or two he saw... Yeah. You get the picture there. Second; haul your ass out if you think things're going south for you. Hiding is a viable option too, just make sure they don't have a whiff of your scent. Take a shot if you think you've got the jump on 'em, just make sure your oracle reserves are high- you might need to shoot something a hell of a lot before it goes down. And finally, don't play tough guy and decide to take something all by your lonesome. You've got allies for a reason; use them. The hail of bullets you all make should keep any ogretail from getting close."

"Mr. Ilbrinte, that was four." Clint stated levelly.

"Yeah, I was just trying to imitate the lectures of somebody I once met back in the Far East branch. I don't teach much, but he does, so I figured his goofy tactics might ease you guys up a bit. On the other hand, I think by explaining I might've defeated the purpose of doing it that way." He slowly trailed off from the ramblings, and then finally jumped to the chase- literally.

He told the four of them to stay on guard, check their corners, pretty much all the basics that one could get from common sense. When seeing the smaller aragami for the first time –thick head armor and bristly manes, cruelly hooked and wide tails, two muscular legs with angry dewclaws, the recruits were nervous but worked together fairly well. He followed along to see how well they did when spotting and ambushing the ogretails, Arc resting on his shoulder, and only after they had eradicated what ogretails were reported to be there did he bring his blade into both hands. Taking the lead, he prowled along like a predator ready to pounce, and once the Kongou came into sight he knelt down by some heavily rusted remnants of piping.

It sat with its tail swinging idly, massive arms grasping at the meat of a fallen aragami –likely an ogretail as well –to tear it off the main source and bring it up to its fang-filled mouth. It looked like a big gorilla, stubby legs but massive upper body strength in general, with four strangely shaped, burgundy-colored attachments rising from its back that matched the plate of a mask over its face. The rest of it was a dark peach color, muscles swirling unnaturally to form an a pattern much like calligraphy over it.

"That fella look big to you?"

It had to be at least twice their height and width. Gerome shook his head. "They get a lot bigger than that, from what the director says."

"Very true. That thing, however, can slap you into a wall and break all your bones easy as the next guy. Though maybe not you, Gerome. Muscle on this guy makes me think he might bounce." He chuckled a little bit, and so did Gerome, but the other three remain attentive. He got to his feet, rolling his shoulder and walking out to approach the unsuspecting aragami while they watched him as ordered.

Coarso widened his stance, low to the ground, his long blade held as far back in preparation as he could. "Hey." A single word, drawing its attention from sitting and stuffing its face. It twisted its torso to look at the source of the sound, and in a flash of movement Coarso had leaped from the spot, flipping in midair and cutting through all four strange pipe-shaped organs attached to its back. The beast roared in surprise, craning to the side and falling on one ape-like arm, Coarso severing the aragami's tail upon landing. He swung thrice more getting clean cuts to the lower body, quickly having his Arc's maw form to snatch the severed tail off the ground. The CNS on it glowed softly, and the Kongou got its bearings at last.

It curled back an arm to attempt a punch, and when it got close Coarso intercepted at the wrist with his shield sprung, shoving the limb into the ground and crushing it there. Flipping the blade backwards and withdrawing the shield, Coarso stabbed behind him without even looking to impale the other arm incoming at the palm and slide through the flesh all the way up to the shoulder. With a hard jerk, he made it cut further and right through the masked face as the Kongou roared. He sprung his shield lightning quick to block a torrent of compressed air, thrown back a little but unharmed.

Ducking as the beast tried to engulf him in its own ample maw, Coarso darted nearly parallel to the ground with a horizontal slash through the Kongou's lower leg, and finished the fight with taking a huge, well-aimed bite out of the aragami's back. It writhed momentarily, but faltered and lay still. Coarso stabbed at it twice like a hunter harpooning a beached whale; getting no reaction, he was sure it was dead.

His audience of students gawked. Coarso grinned as he walked in front of the carcass, stabbing the tip of his arc into the ground and leaning on the pommel. "Step on up, boys and girls; showboating's over –it's quiz time."

They gathered before him, and Coarso started to see just how much potential these four had to living on the battlefield; a quick mind and gift for improvising were the best weapons he had found yet, and if any of them had such things it would need to be exploited as soon as possible.

"So what did I do first?" Like it hadn't been plain as day.

"Greeted the enemy." Ariel answered dryly.

Coarso smirked. "Do any of you think that's a tactic worth repeating yourselves?"

The four of them glanced at each other, and they all shook their heads. Coarso nodded. "Right; unless you're stupid confident like me, that's a no-go. So burying that little topic, what did you notice worth mentioning?"

"You moved like a formula racer and carved the damned thing like a turkey. It didn't stand a chance." Clint prodded the corpse with his gun barrel, uneasy as the Kongou's eye refused to shut in death. Coarso smirked again. "Well, what I mean is that you never stopped moving around it. Always through some opening or another, never letting it pin you anywhere."

Coarso snapped his fingers, nodding. "So keep moving, always keep moving, never be a sitting target. We're making good progress here... What else?"

"I-I've never heard of a Gods Eater attacking with their shield before." Rika only stumbled on her words once, looking a little less skittish now that they were sure the area was clear. Coarso again nodded that was something worth note.

"Right you are. I used what I had given the situation, even if that wasn't what it was for; what would you say that's an example of?"

"Improvising?" Ariel suggested, getting another finger snap. He gestured for the newbies to keep thinking about the short-lived battle, and Gerome finally said something.

"This wouldn't apply to us gunners, but you used your Arc to devour the tail you cut off. Usually Gods Eaters take a bite out of the enemy itself, not something they knocked off it before." Rika jumped like she was hit with lightning when he put it that way. Coarso withdrew his God Arc from the ground and rested it over his shoulder once more.

"Definitely something our blonde comrade should keep in the back of her mind, being non-confrontational as she is. Now, lastly, I'll give you my favorite tip that's saved me more times than I care to count, so listen up. This isn't something you learn watching someone else fight; this is what you catch on to yourself." The four of them started to follow Coarso as he headed to the LZ for their transportation, still talking.

"Aragami aren't like people. While we try to hide our intentions, they have tells for any given action they take, and like playing a bunch of amateurs in poker they're easy to spot when you look for 'em. Despite wrecking the pipe organs on that monkey it still used them on me, when I least expected it. Only way I could tell was from the way it tilted its head back; normally they raise up their arms first and bring them back down, but I trashed the arms so it could only look up and roar."

Coarso set up a signal flare, turning to face his flock. "Long story short, a human's best defense and greatest weapon is not the God Arc, but his or her intuition. We predicted weather to escape floods and tornadoes. We predicted criminal behaviour to prevent casualties. Now, we need to predict Aragami behaviour to stay alive out here. Would you say that's a tactic worth repeating yourselves?"

He got another enthusiastic, "Yes, Sir!" as their ride touched down. Maybe these kids would live to see a brighter future after all.