Can't Be Wasted

TheRunawaySavior

Welcome one, welcome all, to the second chapter of Can't Be Wasted!

Man, it feels so good writing again after that short break. I truly feel like I'm writing to complete my goals, rather than just checking things off a list and hoping the writing isn't crappy. For all I know, my writing's still that, but I'm enjoying myself a lot more, so that's good!

I'm writing this right after posting the last chapter, so if anyone's liked this story or given me a good comment, I'll mention them either at the end of this chapter or the beginning of chapter 3.

Now, onto the story itself. Last time, a boy named Steven awakens from a Stasis Pod on an unbeknown planet, with no one to trust but a woman named Elma. After battling with a strange creature known as the Origin Blatta, the two agree to head to where the rest of humanity resides.

This time, our two main characters travel through the rest of Star-fall Basin, learn more about the world and its inhabitants, and make a daring escape when things get too rough!

I really hope you enjoy this next chapter, and if you do, please show your support by following this story or commenting about what you thought was good (or bad!). Until next time, stay fresh!

Arc 0: Prologue

Chapter 2: Star-fall Basin Escape

"Man, this is cool!" Looking into the opened storage unit, a found a slightly soggy vest that was just slightly bigger than my body size.

"I think that's a Prototype Bodywear." Elma commented as I put it on. "A lot of the equipment that was made before the journey to Mira fits all. Don't worry about the size." As I slipped on the dark vest, a mini vibration formed within it, and by the time I had it on, the vest had now fit me perfectly.

"Cool!" As I turned to face my surroundings, the realization that it was still raining really hit me hard. "Oh come on! Why is it still raining?!"

"Don't complain." Elma commented. "We're almost there."

As we began on the path again, the scenery opened to a much more expansive area. The first half, which we were walking through then, was a plain-like area, with small patches of leafless trees hanging to the left and right of the path. Hills curved around the sides as blue crystals levitated around the wildlife inhabiting the first half.

"What are those crystals?" I asked, confused as to their nature in the new world.

"When the White Whale fell down to Mira, many of the supplies fell along with it. During the descent, loose materials must have molded a shell of sorts from the extreme heat of the fall and the unique atmosphere of Mira. I can't guarantee that's the reason the crystals are there FOR SURE, as we have found unknown supplies in them, but we've certainly found our lost materials in the process."

She nodded her head in the direction of the side-areas, allowing me to take the lead. As we approached a patch of aging trees, though, Elma halted me in my tracks. "Look." She whispered as best she could over the rain, pointing to the tops of the trees. While it wasn't obvious from a first glance, probably due to the darkness clouded in the area, the shadows of winged beasts started to form as I gave the area a closer inspection.

"Be careful." She warned. "The Miniature Adsecula that roam these parts have a nasty sting if hit. You took out that Blatta earlier, but unlike these guys, the Blatta' has a bark worse than its bite."

"I'll be careful." I confidently said, before slowly diving into the center of the trees for a blue crystal. Once next to it, I quickly snatched it from the air before crushing the gem in my hand. As the shards fell, a normal-looking object landed in the center of my palm. "It's… it's a cylinder." I looked blankly at the slightly-heavy steel cylinder, about the length of my hand, as Elma came to me slowly for a closer inspection.

"That isn't just a cylinder." Elma told me, as she pointed to a bit of faded writing, made even harder to read by the rain. "This is an L-002 Fuel Tank! I know a guy who needs a couple of these! He might pay a good price for it, Steven..." She gave me a happy expression as I pondered another thought.

"So you have an economy in this city we're going to?"

"Of course. We use a simple form of digital cash called Credits. That fuel tank usually goes for about 100 credits, or ten dollars in what once was the United States, but they're dead-out of them in the main shops, so you could probably walk away with 300 Credits if you know how to haggle."

"How do you manage Credits?"

"Here, pull out your Credit Tablet." We both stood there in an awkward silence as she realized I knew nothing about the tablet I supposedly possessed.

"You know the thick belt you're wearing?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It's in the left slot." As I shifted to the left of my thick belt, sliding my thumb across the top of it, the indent of a button caught my senses' attention. Pushing on it, a small phone-sized tablet popped into my hand. Feeling sleek yet bendable, I turn it on to a colorful background and a single line of text.

'Credits: 0'

"Well, that answers my question, I guess."

"You use it like a debit card, Steven. As you gain Credits, they'll be stored on our servers, which can be accessed any time from that device." Noting the economy of the world I yet to see, I put the tablet back in its slot, before heading forward to the second half of the area, which was a small lake of sorts, with the pathway to continue forward stretching upwards on the other side. Moving forward for a few steps, I halted when I noticed the absence of Elma's presence.

"Steven!" I heard her call from behind me. The faint sound of buzzing coming towards me and the preparation of a gun really set the mood, as I slowly grabbed the handle of my Proto Knife. Closing my eyes, I felt the droplets of rain hitting my face as the buzzing grew closer and closer to me.

"I've got this!" Elma called to me.

"No! Hold back!" As the beast now lay a foot behind me in my mind, I extended my right arm in front of me, before pulling back and calling,

"You're not the only one that can do flashy attacks, Elma! I call this one, Slit Edge!" With all my might, I pivoted on my left foot before swinging the dagger in a horizontal line, knocking back what appeared to be a bee-like enemy a little bit back. With no time to waste, I dashed out of the area before screaming, "Now! Fire!"

Within a matter of moments, the sounds of a barrage of bullets piercing the beast filled my eardrums, as the beast staggered in its placed, becoming completely owned by the two of us. Realizing its weak stature, I waited until Elma's second round was done before dashing back into the action.

"I got this, Elma. Special Attack, Assault Hammer!" First giving it another horizontal strike, I then attacked with a powerful diagonal slash, knocking the beast to the ground.

"You got it toppled!" Elma called. "Get back!" She held up a small sphere, before motioning me to get back. "I can finish this thing!"

"Okay!" Getting back to my original hiding spot close to the second half of the area, Elma tossed the sphere, which slowly rolled until hitting the beast. After the beast tried to get back up, the sphere vibrated strongly for a second, before exploding in a big mass of fire. Once the strongest point in the fire had been reached, it slowly died down over the rain's water. Soon, there was nothing left but the dead body and a pile of ash.

"Jeez, that took me by surprise." I rubbed the top of my head in confusion as Elma looked at the dead animal.

"Good thing these guys barely care what's going on, or we'd have a whole swarm of them on our heels right about now. We should get going, Steven. The indigen in this area may be easy enough to handle with, but I can't be certain it'll stay that way."

"You're right." As we headed off towards the lake in the second half, a noticeable buzzing occurred from Elma. Looking to her, she gave me an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, my communicator's going off." Quickly, she reached for her right belt, where she pulled out a phone-like device. Not even needing to hold it up o her head, Elma spoke. "Elma here. You copy?"

"Yes." A female voice came from the other side. "I'm here to give you a special report. There seems to be signs of a fugitive running towards Star-fall Basin, with a highly over-powered indigen tagging along behind him."

The information hit Elma like a ton of bricks. "What crime did this man commit?" She spoke, with caution running throughout her voice.

"This man abandoned his crew while in a confrontation with the beast in question. Leaving them to die, he hopped off the grid and ran. Luckily, one of the other crew members was here to report the information. From the way it looks, it doesn't seem safe for you and whomever you're with."

"One way in, one way out." Elma told me. "What we're dealing with, I don't know, but we might have to hide if whatever coming for us it stronger than we realize."

"Relax, Elma." I told her calmly. The guy that we're gonna meet is probably just some newbie who got scared and ran. I mean, it can't be THAT dangerous, can it?"

Of course, my question was promptly followed by a ferocious roar in the distance.

"What are we gonna do?" I broke into a panic, now understanding the seriousness of the scenario. "I can't die now! If this is real life, I'm gonna be digested by a giant monster and killed! And if this is all a dream… At best I turn this into a plot for a mediocre novel."

"Be quiet!" Elma called to me, as we both listened intently to the sounds in the distance. For a while, all I heard was the rain. Slowly but surely, though, the growing sound of a man screaming caught the attention of the two of us.

"Someone! Someone help! Please!" Looking towards the top of the hill where the exit lay, a younger man came running down, not even wasting any time by jumping into the lake.

"Well, this looks promising." I noted, before the steadily approaching sound of a rumbling came from the direction of the exit.

"Steven, get out your Credit tablet. Now!" With my tablet out and Elma with her communicator out, she gave me a serious look. "Listen to me, Steven. I'm gonna need you to hold your breath under the water, and don't come out until it's safe or you think you're going to die from a lack of oxygen."

"On it!"

As the hysterical man came out from the lake, Elma pointed to where we came from.

"That way, sir, quickly! There's a safe haven up ahead where you can recover!" Without any hesitation, the man gave her a 'thank you' look before running off into the rain. "Now, Steven!"

With no time to spare, we dashed down the hill which we stood on, running past sleeping beasts that resembled boars. Barely taking any note of what was around me, though, we both jumped into the depths of the lake, deep breaths in our lunges.

Completely submerged, the vibration of the beast's footsteps amplified as I turned on the tablet, giving me a visual of Elma, who was somewhere to the left of me. Looking around, the only things that really were to make note of as the beast grew closer and closer were the sandy floors and the small fish.

Or at least, that's what I would've said if I didn't notice a glimmer of sand from my light.

'...BUM BUM BUM'

Running out of oxygen, I shine my light over to Elma, who seemed to be doing perfectly fine. Giving me a look of confusion, we both froze as the darkening of a great shadow quickly passed over the lake. Nodding against the idea of going up for air, I was running out of it. In a slow swimming motion, I rose my head above the water to reveal a creature of great power looking towards a set of trees near the area I was found in.

With the figure of a wolf, and the skin of some sort of beast, it's head was the most crucial point in my mind, at least. A mixture between a wolf's head and a BURNING wolf's head, the top half of the head was plated with a steel helmet meshed together with the skin. The beast's thighs meshed with its veins, creating a purple, vein-like muscle that could be seen from any of the four grotesque and hunching legs.

Plus, it looked bigger than a truck. It was probably bigger, but still.

Raising its hunched head high into the air, the beast released a howl so ferocious that I had to go back down under the water, in complete fear that the howl was a battle cry.

Once underneath the water once again, I looked and found Elma still holding her own underwater. Looking around once again, I noticed the object from earlier had become more visible. Now the shining reflection of a button could be seen from the light. Swimming down to the bottom of the lake, I shifted the sand in the area over as fast as I could, revealing an entire panel of buttons. It took a moment, but then I knew there was only one place I'd seen that panel before.

When getting out of my stasis pod earlier, I held onto the panel's buttons to support my body when my legs couldn't. The machine underneath the lake was a stasis pod.

"MM-ME!" With all my might, I called Elma over. Once she swam to my area, a look of shock came over her face as she lightly touched the buttons. After realizing what it was, Elma pointed upward, telling me to check on the beast.

Once above water, I looked around the land and air to see that it was gone. In the distance, I heard a savage cry from the man that ran earlier, probably being eaten alive. Forgetting about that, I swam back down, trying my best to say 'You got time, but not much' in hand gestures.

As soon as she understood, her hands flew across the keyboard, inputting a password of some sorts. Once done with that, she hit a confirm key, causing a large buzzing noise to echo through the vastness of the underwater. A large opening emerged to the left of the keyboard, with Elma diving into retrieve what was in there immediately. We knew the inside wasn't flooded as there were large quantities of water flowing into the room.

After a few seconds of patience, Elma dove out the pod with a body which I couldn't make out from a first glance. Quickly swimming up to help her, we got the body out of the water and threw it upon the land closest to the exit, in case we needed a quick escape.

Getting a closer look at the body, it looked to be a she, about 17-18, wearing similar clothes to mine, except sporting a green shirt instead of a yellow one. Her body itself was thin and pale, just like mine, and, in case you were wondering (which I wonder why…), but her 'things' were about the same size as Elma's.

Her face, while pale, still seemed more lively than the rest of her body, with rich brunette hair reaching down to her upper neck, full lips, a few freckles here and there near her simple nose and beautiful red eyes.

"She's alive."Elma mentioned after checking her pulse. "Problem is, all that time being under water must have messed with the stasis pod, as it looks like she won't wake up anytime soon."

"What does that mean for us?" The sound of a ferocious roar clouded the rainy skies as the gods of this new world saw it fit to answer my question.

"Grab her legs, Steven, and help me out. We're getting this girl out of here, and I know how." The sounds of the beast's great footsteps clapped like thunder over the rain as we lifted up the body and made our way up the hill, where a pathway carved from the canyon's life lay. As we made it through the exit, though, I gave the places behind me one last look, and in the distance, the great wolf-beast emerged from the first area of Star-fall Basin, blood staining the lower and more disgusting part of its face.

"Run!" I called to Elma, as we both stepped up the pace, leaving Star-fall Basin and everything It'll stand for me in this new world, gone amongst the light winds of this never-ending rain. Going up a slight incline and passing by some form of Blatta corpses among other dead creatures, the sound of the beast's footsteps getting closer and closer haunted the both of us until I saw it.

"There! Elma, I'm sure of it when I say that's the exit!" Looking forward, I saw clearly the canyon opening into some form of cliff side, with a pathway down to match out of my vision. Running as fast as we both could, the two of us reached the cliff side area, along with the scenic view that was impossible to see in the great rain.

"Put her down!" Elma called to me, as the beast turned the corner, making our distance only a good kilometer away. As the beast let out one more ferocious roar, forcing me to collapse on the ground in weakness, Elma stood, Flame Grenade in hand. "I hope this works… Flame Grenade!"

Tossing the sphere to the merging point of the canyon and the cliff side, it promptly blew off chunks of the right side of the canyon wall. While it took a second, soon, mounds and mounds of the rock that surrounded me and Elma now began to block the only way out of the place. Even rocks from the left side fell, creating a massive wall that was as tall as the exit was, about three stories or so.

"The Wild Grex cannot climb." Elma told me.

"What?"

"That beast, they call it the Wild Grex, part of the Grex family. Not many have accounted the beast's existence, but it is known within all of the Grex family that they can't climb steep inclines."

"The more you know. So, back to the important things, why the heck was there a girl at the bottom of the lake?!" We both looked to the girl, who still seemed to be unconscious.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, Steven, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, the crater that forms from the stasis pods either make large indents into the ground, or create craters. If the stasis pod was in created a large enough crater, then it would've held all the rainwater coming through the area. And in case you didn't get it yet, Steven, it rains a lot more here than anywhere else in Primordia, the continent we're on."

"In other words, we would have never known that the girl was in there if I hadn't seen her?"

"Exactly. Thanks, Steven." She patted me on the head, before looking back towards the girl. Placing her hand on the top of her chest, she slowly applied and released pressure. "If she could just wake up…" Muttering to herself, she applied pressure a couple more times before the body flinched. We both paused for a second, as the girl flinched again.

"She's almost awake." We both knew this, and Elma took quick action into applying pressure some more, before the girl finally opened her eyes.

"Yes! She's awake!" I cheered on, but Elma was quick to give me a dirty look.

"Quiet!" She lashed out at me, before I backed up to watch the girl awaken. Looking around, the girl slowly rose from her spot, fumbling along the way a little bit, before being able to stand up fully upright. With Elma's help, of course.

"Are you okay?" Elma questioned. "You went through some pretty rough things a little while back." The girl silently checked her limbs, making sure each one was working properly and unharmed. Soon enough though, all her limbs had been checked, and she gave a thumbs up to show she was fine.

"Good." Elma whispered, as the strength of the rain wore thinner than before. "My name's Elma, and this is Steven." I gave her an enthusiastic wave before her focus returned to Elma. "Do you mind sharing your name?"

Silenced followed as a look of grieving formed on her face. She couldn't' even remember her own name.

"You can't even remember your name!?" The words flew out of my mouth, with Elma giving me a look showing she wanted to say the same. Remaining calm, Elma gave the girl an apologetic look.

"Your memories will come, I'm sure of it." As she spoke, the rain finally cleared up, leaving nothing but fog to cover all the areas surrounding us. Slowly walking forward, I passed by the two girls to take a seat on the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing?" Elma questioned.

"I'm just waiting. Once the fog clears, I'm gonna take this whole world in. I wanna see it all."

"You won't be able to see the whole world from here, Steven. There are five continents that make up the land, and you'll only be able to see half of this place with the colony in the way."

"This colony must be big, for it's view on a cliff side to cover up half a continent." Shifting my focus slightly, I noticed the girl just standing there, feeling out of place. "Hey! Don't get sad on my watch, y'hear?" I gave her a serious look, as Elma quietly motioned for me to cut it out, afraid of what I was gonna say.

"I promise you, that even if you don't have any idea what's going on, I'll be there to help you. Understand?" Giving me a look of confusion, she soon noticed the seriousness hidden within my eyes. Making sure not to take my gave off her, I got up and walked over to her, extending my arm out when I stopped. "Understand?"

It took a while, filled with nothing but pure silence, but she came to understand I wasn't joking, and shook my hand, giving me a warm smile as a sign of our agreement.

"But seriously, though, you have a lot to catch up on. I mean…" As I continued to ramble on about my adventures to the girl, a thought struck her, forcing me to be silent. Patiently waiting, she lost herself in her mind for a moment before looking to me.

"My…" She tried to talk, but she had the same throat strain as me from when I first woke up. "My nAme… my naMe is…" She released her tension.

"Take your time." I told her. With one final breath, the girl put all her effort into calmly speaking the one line.

"My name is Cross. I can't really remember anything else, though."

"There we go!" I patted her on the back, before looking out into the distance. The fog had cleared up slightly, allowing us to see the shadows of great mountains in the distance, along with something else to the north. Something really, REALLY big.

"What's that, Elma?" I spoke as I pointed out into the distance. Giving it a close look, she almost-instantly knew what it was.

"Looks pretty big, doesn't it?" I nodded in agreement. "Well, inside that huge heap, is the city we're going to!" My mind literally blew up when the shadows resembling collections of MOUNTAINS was revealed to be the city. "Once this fog clears up, things will look up a bit better."

"Hopefully, Elma. Hopefully."

MAN did I have fun writing this one. I didn't even know I had it in me to write something else inside Star-fall Basin. Luckily, though, I was on a trip this weekend, and TONS of ideas came to me. Plus, I'm farther in the story, so I'll be trying my best to connect some things from later parts in the game, so…

SPOILERS!

While that may go without saying from this point on, I'm gonna try my best to thank everyone who reads this story. Make sure to have an awesome day, and I've already planned Ch.3, so all I need to do is write it. Take care.