Hello again! Yeah, yeah; I know I said I was going to take a rest. But an important person had achieved the impossible and convinced me to come back.
Since I don't want the same thing from last time happening, I want to make a somewhat fresh start. That means that I'll be putting on hold all my previous works until I finish this one.
I'm sorry if you were excited about them, but I really need a break from that stuff.
So this fic is a totally new diferent concept: For starters, no Yuri. Yeah, I know, I guess It's still fine. Also, I'm trying out a different pairing. Not really my favourite but at least is not one I totally dislike haha.
Ok, that's enough of me. Let's get to it.
"POWER OFFLINE. EMERGENCY MODE ACTIVATED"
A recorded voice started shouting. The El Search Party stood in the devastated stage of their fight against the huge entity that reigned over the place, looking around without being able to identify the source. In the center of a ring shaped corridor, a huge room housed a Nasod almost as huge. It was the self-proclaimed king Nasod, who stood immobile on the center of the room. Booth his arms resting on the smashed ground beneath his fists. The intense yellow light now gone from his face.
It looked like a defeated knight, resting in peace inside his armor, when it was actually just a large machine who just got its power source removed. After the tremendous fight, Rena finally managed to sneak close enough to the glass cylinder where a large El fragment was contained, connected to the machine by a complex net of wires. The moment she managed to unplug the stone from the machine, the fight ended.
"Whew… that was something…" Elsword said, crawling out from beneath one of the fists "One more second and that thing would have turned me into a stamp."
Despite his careless attitude, Elsword could barely hide the pain he was feeling. There was blood flowing from cuts all over his face and forehead, caused by the flying debris the king's arms would send flying on each of its punches. He was also holding to his chest, where a broken bone was most likely waiting to be healed.
He wasn't the only one injured. Raven, who was still holding to his sword watching the metallic colossus as if it could came back to life at any moment; was also barely conscious. He took a direct hit from one of the King's swipes. The hit made him fly all across the room and crash on the opposite end. If it weren't for the wind magic that Rena used to slow his fall, the injuries could have been a lot worse.
Rena was the only one unscathed, her abilities allowed her to gracefully evade the big attacks. Seeing her agility, the King decided to focus on his other enemies, believing that the elf wouldn't dare to abandon them. Little he knew that was the plan. It was all a diversion to give Rena a chance to sneak near the El stone and snatch it. The original plan was to get the stone and run away, but the fact that the stone was working as the Nasod power supply was a pleasant surprise.
"ATTENTION, AUXILIARY POWER IS DEPLETED, CRYOGENIC PODS WILL BE DEACTIVATED, SANITARY PERSONNEL HEAD TO ESTASIS ROOMS IMMEDIATELY"
"What is that ominous voice talking about?" Chung asked, reuniting with the rest of the group. Since he was the new member of the team, they asked him to watch the entrance and keep any additional enemy from entering the room. It wasn't a decision that he liked, but there wasn't any time to protest, so he just had to put up with it. Seeing how his friends where now all beaten up, it may have been the right decision to leave fresh reinforcements waiting.
"Cryogenic… I think I heard that somewhere. It was about freezing living creatures in a estasis state. Used to help certain beings to hibernate and effectively live through thousands of years…" Aisha explained. Although she wasn't visibly injured, the toll the fight placed on her was obvious at first sight. With Rena busy with her sneaky plan, Aisha was the only one capable of protecting the team from the huge amount of guided missiles the King had in store for them. But what was more devastating for her, was the sudden energy ray the huge machine shot from its chest. Although she managed to evade it using her teleportation magic, she was forced to evade again when the missiles stopped targeting her friends to go after her. Although being incredibly useful, each consecutive cast of her teleportation spell puts additional stress on her body. Now, she wasn't even able to hold her wand.
"Does that mean that there could be people in that… estasis room they're talking about?" Raven asked, lifting the feeble mage off the ground in a princess carry. Aisha, surprised by the mercenary sudden act of compassion, slowly nodded.
"We can't risk leaving people behind… Chung, you and Elsword go investigate it, we'll make sure to make a clear path for you on our way out.
Finding the estasis room was easy thanks for the amount of navigational maps that covered the hallways. They weren't there on their way in, maybe it was something related to the so called emergency mode; it was located beneath the large room that housed the King Nasod.
It was a small room, poorly illuminated by electric lamps on the ceiling. Both sides of the room were filled with strange looking capsules with a glass cover in the front. Most of them had the glass broken. Vines and fungus grow over all of them, with the exception of a single one, located in the deepest end of the room. There was light inside it, and as they were about to arrive next to it, the glass cover moved and a thick white mist poured out of it. It moved out of the way, revealing the smoke filled interior of the pod. As they were staring at it in expectation, a hand suddenly came from beneath the smoke. A small, extremely pale hand that searched blindly something to grab onto. Elsword reacted by grabbing that hand and helping however was inside out the pod.
It turned out to be a girl… not exactly a human one. A blue gem was embedded on her forehead and instead of ears she had two metallic cones poking out of her head. She was dressed in clothes they never saw before. A white top piece with black parts in the chest decorated with golden circles that seemed like two extra pair of eyes. A small black cape that only covered her shoulders. Black shorts and knee-high white boots. Every end of her clothes had a pink stripe and all of it was decorated with gilded buttons and brooches.
"She's a Nasod!" Chung warned Elsword, pulling his friend away from the girl. Having her only support suddenly removed she wobbled until she managed to held onto the pod's edge. Now that the smoke had cleared they could see a comfy looking red mattress on its bottom and a fluffy red pillow on top of it.
"Dude! Calm down." Elsword protested, holding again his sides, the sudden movement brought back the pain. "She doesn't look dangerous, let's just talk with her…"
As he was speaking, the girl finally seemed to begin recovering from her sudden awakening. She moved her white hair out of her face and straightened up before speaking.
"What is going on? Explain human." She demanded. Her voice sounded a lot more human like than they could have expected although a metallic echo could still be hear.
"W-We came to help you. Don't worry, we destroyed the bad guy who was keeping you here. It's safe now." He said, tending his hand again for help. But what he received was a strong and firm slap to his face.
"You idiot! What have you done?! You've ruined it, everything, why did you come here in the first place?! Nobody asked for your help!"
As she was shouting at Elsword, who was now also holding to his face where a red hand-shaped mark was appearing; Chung just stood there, not really sure if he should say something or not.
It took a lot of time to make her calm down. Elsword tried his best at explaining the situation: How the nasods from the Island were attacking people and stealing minerals from Bethma, how they arrived searching for the El stone and found it powering the King, and how they fighted against she heard the whole story, common sense seemed to return to her.
"It doesn't make sense. I didn't give any orders for a military protocol to be executed…" She said. Both Elsword and Chung stared at each other not sure what to say now. The girl started to wander the room, lost in her thoughts.
"Moby, Remy," She called, and two small metallic balls emerged from the same pod as her. They flew to her side. Looking closely they seemed like tiny knights, with a spear on one of its sides and a shield on the other. One was black and moved in a very lively way near the girl, the other was white and positioned itself between the girl and the two boys, watching closely every one of their moves.
"It seems like the situation exceeds the scope of situational analysis. I'll need to gather information and came up with a restoration plan. Now if you'll excuse me… I need you two to leave so I can start." She finally said after wandering the room for a very long time.
"So you're going to investigate who created this… military protocol…?" Elsword asked, trying to recall her nodded as a response "That's great! Because we want to know it too… so, why don't you tag along with us? You're alone here right? Don't worry, I'll be your friend!"
Elsword tend his hand again, hoping to not be slapped again. Chung pulled from him, luckily he minded his broken bones this time.
"Elsword! We don't know a thing about her, you can't jus-"
"I accept," she suddenly said. Seeing how the two of them were staring at her in confusion she elaborated, "I accept your friendship proposal, human. I'll join your party until I find the answers I seek. For the sake of this partnership I shall aid you in the meantime. I'll be heading out now, meet with me at the exit. Oh, and from now on you'll refer to me as Eve."
Escaping the huge installations of the Nasods turned out to be a lot easier than going in. Apparently, as the King was defeated, every other Nasod in the whole place also stopped functioning. They all must have been powered by the El stone that they took. They questioned Eve about it, but the Nasod-girl wasn't interested in explaining anything of it to them.
Chung wasn't the only one feeling wary of her. On their way back, both Aisha and Rena walked behind her, carefully watching everyone of her movements and gestures. And Raven was walking even farther away behind them. The only one who didn't seemed to be cautious of the new girl was Elsword, who was walking right next to her, cheerfully telling her about the adventures they went through before and ignoring the intense glare the white flying metallic ball was giving him. The black one however seemed to be in a paradise, it was acting like a puppy when it gets to take a walk for the first time, going from one corner to another to see, smell and lick everything it sees, except that instead of licking, it analyzes it with a blue projected light..
Although it was peaceful, the way back to the Ponggo village was long. The rugged terrain of the floating isle didn't help either. Now that their lives weren't threatened by a horde of blood thirsty machines, they had some time to look around. This place must have been really pretty years ago, but now it was like a cemetery. Large piles of discarded or destroyer Nasods stocked on each corner. The skeletons of flying ships and other big machines they didn't knew what they were for decorated the many plains of the place. Even the ground was full of holes and craters where the Nasod had been excavating for years, replacing even chunks of terrain for metallic structures.
They finally arrived at their destination. An old and rusty elevator guarded by a group of Ponggo. Carrying any weapon they could salvage from the Nasods or the Crow bandits, the small creatures did what they could to protect the only access to their home. The Ponggo were a peaceful race that lived on that island since long ago. They coexisted along with the Nasod for a long time without having trouble until very recently. Before the incident it was really rare to see a Nasod functioning, and most of the ones they ever spotted were just surveillance spider-like ones. Until they suddenly started growing in number and mining for resources, causing the Ponggo's homeland to be in danger.
Once the old machine finally brought them to their destination, a group of Ponggo came rushing to welcome them. They surrounded the elevator exit and started cheering their heroes. Elsword walked proudly in the middle of the crowd, waving at the people with a smile. However he quickly realized how a big part of the crowd wasn't cheering. They were staring at the Nasod who was walking right next to him and murmuring to each other. Maybe they knew her, or they just realized she was a Nasod and were now confused. Soon, the murmurs stopped as Adel, the Ponggo's leader; stood in front of the group to speak.
"My friends," He said in his old and rusty voice "I have no words to express how thankful I feel for all you've done for us… But, I'm afraid that I need to ask you. Why are you walking next to one of the Nasod?"
"Oh, She?" Elsword answered, looking at his teammates trying to find some support, but they had already left the place, he only saw Chung buried beneath a group of kinds that wanted him to play with them "Don't worry Adel, she's with us. I assure you she won't do any harm."
After a short reflection, Adel finally nodded at him "Then, I'll leave her in your care. I trust in your word young man, but know that we won't tolerate her doing any harm to us."
Elsword bowed as a thanks. He looked at Eve to see if she was going to say something but she looked totally uninterested in the matter. He wondered if she even realized they were talking about her. The crowd finally dispersed, the kids climbing Chung were called by their parents and left the boy, who quickly ran to safety behind Elsword.
"What was Adel talking about? Is there any problem with keeping… her?" Chung asked, looking at the new teammate.
"Keeping? She's not a pet dude. And no, I told them she's with us so they don't have to worry. He said she'll be under our care so…"
Chung sighed, wishing that Elsword knew what he was getting himself into. Even if she looked that inofensive, Chung still remembers how one of those Nasod explorers almost got him. When he thought he destroyed it, the little thing went and exploded. If it weren't by his armor who knows what could have happen.
Now that there wasn't anyone else there to see them, they headed to their lodging. Although they usually camp in the forest or any other suitable place, the Ponggos allowed them to stay for free in the only place with spare rooms in the whole village. It was the same building where Adel imparts his class to the younger members of the tribbe. Despite being underground and have little natural light, the Ponggos' village was surprisingly cozy. Considering the chilling winds that blow on the island surface and the amount of blood seeking machines that lurk it, the idea of a warm refuge beneath the ground was a lot more interesting. The Ponggos lived in the island from centuries ago, and in that time they dug tunnels and entire domes on the island lower levels by themselves. They build their homes with the excess materials they get from the digging. Even if they were simplistic, their houses were pretty comfortable. It was surprising the fact that they can make furniture out of the roots they find.
However, the village was not as big as it used to by, since the awakening of the Nasod and their mining activities had caused whole parts of the village to collapse and bury entire houses. It was a good thing that it finally stopped.
"I know it doesn't look like it, but this is starting to hurt a lot… I hope Rena can treat it..." Elsword said once they arrived at the school, caressing the darkened skin on his side.
It was the tallest building of the whole village despite having only three floors. The exterior was made of white bricks and it only had a few windows per floor. The ceiling was made of dark brown roof tiles and it was almost as high as the dome ceiling. The insides were really similar to any other school back in the human villages: long corridors with classrooms on each side and two stairs in the hall that leaded to the higher floors. The second and third floor must have been made for students to stay, since most rooms on these floors were small and only had a bed and a table as furniture.
"I can help you with that. We just need a quiet place where you can rest," She said as they were walking upstairs. Elsword looked at her with shining eyes and increased his pace towards the room they were using. He opened the door and found the rest of the team already there. They had shut the blinds and were busy tending to their wounds. Aisha had an ice bag on her head, while Rena was bandagging the many injuries Raven got.
The room they had wasn't different from the others, with the difference that they just moved some more beds into the room, leaving almost no space to move. But it was ok since they didn't expend time in it except for sleeping. Eve asked Elsword to lie down and called for her two ball-pets. Elsword stared at them nervous as they projected their analyzing light over his body.
"It seems your bones aren't broken. Your body however sustained a substantial amount of damage. It's incredible that you managed to move from there to here without complaining." She said, reaching out with her hands. A holographic screen appeared in front of her. Lines and lines of words written in an unknown language for them danced in the hologram as she moved her hands all over it. Even Rena stopped her bandagging to look at what was the Nasod doing.
"Initializing Code: Recovery," She said. A blue light flew from her hands into her drones and they sprayed it as a pink shower. Elsword stared amazed at how the scrapes and cuts in his skin began disappearing. He tried to sit but felt again the pain in his side.
"Don't move. I used my energy to focus your body tissue regeneration, but deeper wounds will take longer to close. None of your remaining wounds are dangerous, which means that you just have to rest for a couple of days and you'll be back to normal."
The next day they decided to spend some time in the village resting, since the Ponggos offered to repair the crashed airship for them to return. All of them got ready to head out, each with a plan on their minds, but they all had the same concern. What would their new teammate do, especially considering what happened yesterday. They hoped she would stay in the bedroom, but she headed out on her own without speaking with anyone.
"It's a bit suspicious…" Aisha said, garnering Elsword's attention. He was still lying in his bed. Unlike the rest of the team, he decided to nap through the morning. After all it was what Eve recommended him.
"Don't be like that, maybe she just wants to take a stroll…" He said. But it didn't convinced them. Seeing their faces he added: "Why don't you go with her if you're so worried?"
"I'm going to visit Amos, the alchemist; and see if we can brew some healing potions. We wouldn't be in such a bad condition now if we did that beforehand…" Aisha said, already walking towards the door.
"And I'm going to train, I can't let something like this interrupt my routine…" Raven said, but Rena pulled from his shoulder.
"No, you're staying here with Elsword. I'll be taking care of both of you."
After everyone stating their business, Chung realized he would need an excuse or they would just leave watching the Nasod in his hands.
"And I need to do some maintenance on my weapons… So I can't either…" He said, hoping for them to not complain. It was true after all.
"See, there's no reason to worry, mister "Worry" much here is not even interested so…" Elsword said before turning around and pretending to be asleep.
Chung sighed. It seems the task was his now. He headed out and wondered where the Nasod girl must have wandered off to. It was easy to locate her since he spotted a group of kid Ponggos peeking on a corner at something. Joining them he discovered Eve walking down the street, looking at everything in sight. Her two flying balls accompanied her, floating near her shoulders. He followed her from afar, not letting his presence be noticed for a while. She didn't seem to be doing nothing more than… taking a stroll. She would stop to look at what the locals were doing, and they would stare back at her, unsure of what she wants. Some of them were afraid of her, while others decided to just go back inside their homes at her mere sight. All that she did though was merely watch and observe.
"I see that a lot of things had changed since I went into hibernation," She said, looking at Chung who was surprised she noticed him.
"I guess they did… huh…" He stopped speaking because she just got moving again. Rushing to follow her, he accompanied the Nasod girl on her stroll around the village.
"Are you following me for some reason?" She asked after a long silent walk.
"Oh, since you're new I decide to make sure you were doing fine," Chung said, omitting any mention to his mistrust towards the girl.
"I'm perfectly fine, you can go back now."
I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Rave for helping me proofreading it :3