And I finally managed to update this one. Took me long enough, didn't it? Sorry about that, I was a bit blocked and really busy.
Anyway, let's get this underway, shall we? Thanks for being patient and not repeatedly ask when the next chapter would come out, I find that rather annoying and frustrating. Thanks to everyone that read, followed, favorited and or reviewed.
To the reviewers:
brave kid: I see no need to reply to the co-author here, or for him to review here. XD But I'm also glad we got it published, let's see where it leads.
kid dnya: Well, even if it took me long to write it, here it is. I hope you're still looking forward to it.
PEJP Bengtzone V2: Who knows? Maybe he will, maybe he won't. The Sentai style transformation will happen in the future, but there's a long way to go before we get to that.
fan cam robo: Here's more for you, enjoy it.
KH-Hardcorefan4483: Most, if not all, of the Animtriex will be heavily based on Megaman characters, which is why I used that image as cover. Blaze Falco is the main Animtriex, so to speak.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the cover image but I hope I have premission to use it.
Chapter 2: The Bladed Lion, Derf-Leo
To say Blaze Falco was frustrated would be like saying the sky was blue or the sun shiny. He'd woken up three days ago and he was already bored out of his mind and itching for a fight, but there was just no way of finding one. Adding to this was the fact that he had gotten partnered with a weakling, despite the strength the kid had shown at the last moment, and that weakling was bound by a Familiar contract of all things to a pink haired brat that had more similarities with a short fuse nuclear bomb than anything else he had found in the weapon database.
To top it all off, he had been busy trying to avoid the bald teacher who seemed way too inclined towards dissecting him and learning all he could about his inner workings, which was never a good idea, especially on a backwater planet without means of reparation if too much damage was incurred. And then, there was DiDi, who had not uttered a word ever since the day of their arrival.
So all in all, Falco was pissed and had no outlet for that rage since both the kid and the pinky had gone to town to get a weapon for Saito. It had been Blaze's suggestion that Saito got something to defend himself, he had not participated in any of the previous operations but, from what he knew, things always got nasty during the first year of Animtriex discovery so being prepared was a must.
The combat-type Animtriex sighed as he flew upwards and stood on top of the Central Tower, waiting for the return of his partner, and set his eyes on the road. Barely a minute had passed before he noticed the horses and supposed Wind Dragon coming towards the Academy and for some reason he felt there would be trouble.
As soon as he spotted Saito, Falco dived towards the ground at top speed and landed in front of the black haired boy, Iron Man style, leaving a small crater on the ground. Saito jumped back in surprise as did Louise and Kirche, Tabitha just looked curiously at the scene while Sylphid, her dragon, cooed.
"I've been waiting. So, what did you get?" Falco asked impatiently, looking at the sword that Saito now had strapped to his back, he noticed something off about it and activated the magic reading sensors he was equipped with. "Looking good, that sword on your back is quite the pick."
"It's just a rusty piece of junk." Louise muttered disheartened. Had Saito seen something she hadn't? "The rest were just way too expensive because, thanks to all the damage you caused when you burned down half of the Vestri Field, I barely had any money left to pay for it."
"If that rusty thing is so good, what can you say about this one?" Kirche said as she revealed a golden jeweled sword that looked like made by someone who had too many jewels in his hands. "It belonged to a famous Germanian general, so it should be far superior to what Vallière got."
"That… is only a giant piece of gold covered junk." Falco said after a quick look, not detecting anything especial in that blade, he took it from the stunned girl's hands and unsheathed it, scanning the edge. "It's not even sharpened. This is mere decoration, nothing more."
"What?" Kirche shouted, mouth hanging open while Louise sent her smirk, extremely pleased to see the Zerbst heir in such a state. "But it was forged by one of Germania's greatest alchemists and used by one of our most famous Generals."
"That sounds like a pretty cheap trick to sell something to me." Falco replied as he tossed her the sheathed blade, the girl caught it and fell on her butt. "By the way, when are you going to introduce yourself?"
"Oh, I wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer." A voice no one recognized said mockingly. The four teenagers looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Ok, who is that?" Saito asked nervously and gripped the sword in his hands.
"Hey, careful with those hands." The voice said again mockingly, and now everyone realized it was the sword that talked. Saito yelped in shock and let the weapon fall to the ground. "Ouch! Partner, be more careful from now on."
"A… A talking sword?" Louise was dumbfounded, as was Kirche. Tabitha just looked at the scene for a second before shrugging and going back to her book.
"Hey, I'm unique, I know that." The sword replied as Saito took him back in his hands with a smile. "Well, Partner, what's your name?"
"I'm Saito." The boy replied, examining the weapon as if it was the first time he saw it. "Do you have a name?"
"I'm Derflinger, nice to meet you." The sword replied cheerfully. "Well, Saito, from now on you're my Partner, let's get along."
The black haired teen nodded in reply, smiling, while the rest of the group looked on. It didn't take long for them to decide it was time to go back to the dorm and get some rest. Kirche did attempt to drag Saito into her room with some help of her Salamander, but let's just say a certain easily irritable Animtriex was not too keen on letting that happen. Poor fire lizard, it would never look at a bird the same way again, not after what happened.
The days kept going by, and Falco found that he could enjoy himself from time to time by taking Saito with him to train the kid. At first the boy was reluctant, but when the Animtriex told him that it would be useful to put people like Guiche in their place without having to ask some weird robot from outer space, as he put it himself, Saito jumped at the chance. And although he would regret the times he almost got literally burnt, he would admit that he was getting better on using that sword of his, which wouldn't stop giving him pointers and advice much to Falco's annoyance.
"Will you stop telling him how to move every step of the way?" The irascible firebird shouted at the blade. "He has to learn how to move by reflex! To hone his instinct!"
"And how is he supposed to do that if he doesn't even know how to react yet?" Derflinger countered as Saito and Louise looked on with a sweat drop on their heads while munching some rice balls they had found lying around.t was the fifth time already those two had had that sort of conversation, and it always ended the same way. "Look Falco, I have no idea how old you are but I am way over the thousands. I have more experience than you do in teaching people how to use me."
"If you only had a body I could kick around in a fight, I would take you on right now!" The firebird spat in rage. "Fine, do what you want. If he gets killed because of that it's your problem." The Animtriex then walked away towards Master and Familiar. "Now then, where's my food?"
"Uhh." Both Louise and Saito mouthed after gulping the last piece of what had been Falco's precious food.
"You idiots!" The Animtriex shouted. "How in the world am I going to recharge now?!"
"You could ask Marteau, he would surely help you." The black haired teen suggested with a nervous smile, hoping the being would take his advice.
"I better go do just that before I show you why my development name was Solar Furnace Project." And with that, he flew off towards the kitchen.
"Even if he does seem a bit harsh, he's not a bad fellow." Derflinger muttered as Saito went to get him back.
"I know that, but you can't really relax while being around people who blow you up without reason or try to set you on fire daily." Saito whispered back without being heard by Louise.
"Point for you, Partner, point for you." The sword replied. "By the way, I haven't seen that maid who always comes around while you're training. Did something happen to her?"
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Siesta-san either." Saito the turned around, looking at his Master. "Did you see her today, Louise-sama?"
"Why would I care about whether or not I saw some commoner girl?" The pinkette replied, huffing. "I have better things to do than look for that maid."
"Well, there goes that idea…" Derflinger sighed. "Should we ask around for her? Or..."
Poor Derflinger never finished that sentence as a red, black and silver blur landed in between them, wings fully extended to cushion the fall although the crater left on the ground was remarkably bigger than the one he had left a few days ago when they came back with the blade.
"Alright kid, move it." Falco commanded authoritatively. "We're leaving."
"Where are we going?" Saito asked as the Animtriex started dragging him towards the main gate, ignoring Louise's protests.
"That maid has been bought." The firebird replied with literal fire in his eyes. "By some guy named Mott, or whatever."
"Oh, no. Now I have to make sure you're not leaving!" Louise shouted as she ran after them. "You can't do anything about that, Nobles can buy commoners as long as they have permission from the Palace. The Headmaster wouldn't have allowed it if it wasn't the case."
"Alright, now give me a good reason for me not to go there and burn the guy to cinders." The flame creature turned around, letting go of her Familiar. If Falco had to pick one thing he hated above all else, slavery and human trading would take the spot, even if they were two things.
"That man is Royal Messenger of the Palace. He's a mage, far stronger than Guiche." She punctuated, knowing that Falco had beaten up the blond mage with hardly any effort. "He's a water mage of all things, do you really think you can beat him with fire?! And even if you could, that would be a crime. I could get disinherited for your actions!"
"But we have to help Siesta-san!" Saito intervened to Louise's chagrin.
"You shut up, dog!" The girl replied in anger and fear of the embarrassment she and her family would be put through if those two fools got away. "You two aren't going anywhere and that's final!"
"Oh, really?" Saito cringed in fear at the tone Falco was using, he knew something bad was going to happen, probably to him. "Just watch me."
And after that simple statement, the Animtriex moved faster than anyone could have predicted, grabbed the black haired teen and shot upwards like a bullet. Once in the air, he opened his wings and flew in the direction of Count Mott's mansion, dragging a crying Saito along with him as Derflinger shouted how fun it was. Louise could only gape at what had happened and run to the stables, hoping that a horse would actually be enough to catch up to the firebird's flight speed. Not that she held much hope on the matter, but not trying would surely end in a disaster.
"Do you even know where you're going?!" Saito shouted as he tried not to look down. "I don't want to stay here longer than I need to!"
"Shut up and let me concentrate, will you?" The Animtriex would never admit it, but he had made a pretty big mistake rushing like that and not even knowing where to go.
"Geez, I always have to help you get everything done." DiDi replied from the TDC. "Here, I'm sending you where you need to go."
"So that's what you were doing…" Falco replied as he changed course. "No wonder you were so quiet lately, you were running a full planet scan before everyone else woke up."
"Yup, and I know exactly where everything is on this planet, with the exception of the other Animtriex cores, since that would be cheating and could cause trouble." The A.I. explained. "Whenever you need to go somewhere, just ask. It's not that hard to do it nicely, by the way."
"Wait, what did you mean by cheating?" Saito asked, trying to get his mind off his current predicament.
"You see, the thing is there's bound to be a bad guy or two who get their hands on an Animtriex or a TDC, or both." DiDi started. "That's why, to prevent them from finding more cores, the TDC can't locate the others no matter what they do."
"Your method is sounding more and more ineffective with every new explanation." The teen replied, getting a chuckle from Falco.
"Blame the guys ruling Zeta-01 and their ideas, we're just the result of that." The firebird told him.
After a while of not being able to get his feet on the ground, Saito took a deep breath when they finally landed outside Mott's Mansion. The team of human and Animtriex looked over the building, taking in how richly designed it was, before moving out towards it on foot.
"Do you remember what you need to do?" Falco asked, he had made a fast plan on the fly, literally.
"You start blowing things up and catch their attention, then I get in there, find Siesta-san, and get the hell out of there." Saito recited, he had gone over it in his mind repeatedly as they traveled. "I think I can do that."
"If anyone gets in your way, remember I am here." Derflinger told him from his sheath. "I wouldn't want to be useless on Partner's first battle."
After the boy nodded in reply, Falco sped up, igniting himself on fire and charging right through the gate as if he were a missile, explosion included. The gat was blown to smithereens and the guards started sounding the alarm and shouting about monsters and weird fire golems, poor guys didn't know what hit them.
Meanwhile, Saito had run inside the mansion in the confusion. The hallways were in chaos as guard after guard ran outside to meet with the berserker firebird literally burning his way through the place, although Falco was making a point of leaving each and every one of them alive.
"Saito!" Siesta's voice caught the Japanese boy by surprise, especially when she jumped on him and got him into a hug. "What are you and Blaze Falco doing here?"
"We came to get you out of here." The boy replied, trying to ignore the scandalous maid outfit she had been forced to wear. "Come on, let's go." He took her hand and pulled, bringing her along as he ran.
"But if you do that, you'll be in trouble!" The maid told him, although she made no effort to make him let go. "Count Mott will not forgive that!"
"Like I care!" Saito shouted in reply. "What matters is getting you out of here and back to the Academy. Or are you going to tell me you want to stay?"
"No, I don't want to stay! That's the last thing want!" The maid cried as she told him that.
"Then I'm doing the right thing." The Japanese teen told himself only for their path to be blocked by a wall of water.
"I should have expected something like this, but to think the one thing you people want to take away would be my new toy." A fat man in a ridiculously elaborate outfit said as he came in from behind them. "Now, boy. Who are you?"
"No one you need to know about!" Saito replied, unsheathing Derflinger and walking in front of Siesta in a protective gesture.
"Oh, well." The noble waved his scepter, creating a huge number of ice spikes out of thin air. "I'll just as your body once I'm done with you."
As much training as Falco could have put him through would not have prepared Saito for that onslaught of projectiles, it was a miracle he was deflecting them as well as he was and he even allowed himself a moment of hope when the fat Count ran out of things to throw at him, but t was short lived. After mumbling for a few seconds, a massive hammer of water was created from the wall barring their path.
Saito moved instinctively and blocked the strike, for a moment it seemed like he was doing it right, but the sickening sound of metal being bent followed by the final breaking of his sword told them otherwise and the impact sent both boy and girl to the side. Derflinger didn't say a word, not that he could.
"And now, what do you intend to do?" Mott asked as he walked towards them.
"Stop, Count Mott!" Louise shouted as she arrived at the scene. "I'll take full responsibility for my Familiar's actions but…" She was interrupted by the man's sinister laugh.
"Oh, that is just perfect!" The Royal Messenger smiled. "Finally, an excuse to get the duke and duchess off my case. Thank you dear, you've been a great help."
"But that's not…"
"You know, in all my long life, the one thing I have always have were slimy politicians." Derflinger's voice echoed over the place. "And you know? I never could do anything to them because, well, a sword can't move on its own, unfortunately."
Blinding white light came out of the TDC on Saito's wrist, blinding everyone around him. In the meantime, a new body appeared out of nowhere. A golden body with a lion's face for chest, metallic limbs that resembled a combination of humanoid and feline ones. The legs were also bladed on the sides and there were three long claws on each forearm, ready to rip something apart.
"I'm pretty glad that has changed." Derflinger stated in his new body as he smiled, red eyes flashing and his mouth showing elongated canines.
"What can a creature like you do?" Mott asked, unleashing a simple spell at him, only for it to be absorbed by Derflinger's unlocked secret ability.
"My poor old form was weakened and couldn't access this power without Partner's help, but now I can take as much magic as you can throw at me." Derflinger explained confidently.
"Preposterous!" The Count tried again, over and over, but to no avail. Whatever magic he unleashed was absorbed by the metallic feline. "Very well, however…" He shot a spell at the now unprotected Saito and Siesta.
"Partner, catch me!" Derflinger shouted before shining brightly and literally flying towards Saito's hand.
The Japanese teen caught him and immediately felt himself powered while the Runes in his hand shone brightly. He swung his arm upwards, unleashing a golden half-moon of light the evaporated Mott's spell and missed the count by less than a hair.
"What is this?" Louise asked herself as the weapon in Saito's hand, an ample broadsword with a lion face decorating its hilt pulsed repeatedly with golden sparks.
"Sword of the Beast King mode." Derflinger explained, moving the lion mouth as he did. "This body is certainly a nice change, I can even be a sword again whenever I want!"
"You'll need a new name after that, Derflinger just doesn't cut it anymore." Blaze Falco stated as he walked towards them.
"That joke was awful." DiDi chastised, but the firebird waved her off.
"From now on I'm Derf-Leo, nice to meet you all." The sword stated happily. "Now, where were we?"
Everyone looked at Mott's… unconscious figure. The Count had passed out after Saito's attack, although the poor boy didn't look like he would last much longer, the move had taken a lot out of him.
"And how exactly are we going to explain this when Count Mott presses charges?!" Louise shouted enraged.
"That won't be necessary, actually." Falco replied, waving a paper in his hands. "Turns out this guy's as corrupt as they get. So with this bit of evidence I have gathered we can make sure no one will even think about listening to what he has to say."
"For an impulsive guy like you, that was pretty well thought out." DiDi complimented, earning a grunt from the firebird.
"Then we're leaving, right?" Saito muttered weakly. "Good, because…" He couldn't continue and fell forward, unconscious, and let go of the blade.
"I guess I'll fly him back, he still has a long way to go before he can be useful on a real battlefield but he'll get there." The fire Animtriex commented as he picked the Japanese teen from the ground. "Come on, Derf-Leo, we're leaving. Change back to something that can walk."
"Uhm… I still don't know how to do that." The sword replied in embarrassment, making everyone around him sweat drop.
"You people are much more trouble than you're worth." Falco sighed in annoyance as he picked up the sword and magnetized it to his back. "Anyone else wants to jump on the Falco Express?!"
"No, thanks." Both girls replied, shaking their heads before Falco gave Louise the information he had found.
"Alright then, when you get back go straight to your room pinky, the kid will be on the bed if he still hasn't woken up."
And with that, the firebird flew upwards, through the various floors and ceiling, and then set a course for the Academy. The two girls did not waste any more time and got to Louise's horse, the ride back to the Academy was going to be a long one but at least no problem would arise from this incident so long as the evidence reached the Palace before Mott did. And considering his current state, Louise had a bit of an advantage.
"This is the last time I let that featherhead order me around." The pinkette muttered as she directed the horse down the road. Unaware of the two black clad figures eyeing them from a distance.
And with that, the chapter's over. I seriously have no idea about when I'll have the next one ready, but I'll try to be a little faster next time. Hope you liked it and please review.
