I finally come back with Part 2 of Contracted!
I thought of including a backdrop story of Chao-Xin's village life but I thought that would be a little too skippy on the Xenoblade inspired action scenes I promised last chapter.
Anyway, let's get it started!
Part 2: Kakusei Houkai
The slight ascend of flight.
Winged feathers.
Kicking hooves.
A neigh of desperate bravery.
This was how Chao-Xin felt like to ride on Tenma's back, Gingka unknown of his presence of directing the robotic winged horse around the city of Hua Luxe. Never did the Virgo blader witness many spectacular lights hovering below him, speculating in awe as if stars fell on earth at high tremendous speeds.
The air held out an odor of peace, the kind that will never reveal secrets despite how the city sounded in the first place.
Friendly, environmental, and relaxing to all of it's citizens and newly visiting tourists from other continents, only Chao-Xin and the rest of his team including the Galaxy royals knew of their blood curling secrets. The kind that an innocent citizen would prolong death over suffering if he/she was caught into the act of spreading truth about their cunning system.
Distractions.
Fire Emblem was not the only thing. Glad to have encountered Gingka's Pegasus, Chao-Xin was impressed at how smoothly he was riding atop of Tenma X. The winged horse dismissed it's robotic neighs as blue LED vision cleverly scanned the purple skyline of the horizon railing across the city.
True, riding on thin air was something to feel overjoyed until...
"Whoa!" Chao-Xin yanked the reigns, Tenma neighing in wild pursuit, metallic wings beating madly against the remaning wind current created by a mysterious speeding projectile that missed him an inch or two to his right. "What the hell?"
His cautious whisper of awareness caused his head to whip around at the sight of the same golden Dodge Journey that tried to take him down infront of Gamestop in the Mall's third floor.
Just before he could decipher the appearance of the culprit behind the wheel, a prodigious blast shook the Pegasus in distress agony, sparks and flames alight on it's metallic body.
With the activation chip automatically shut down, Chao-Xin faced his final death:
A plummeting figure with smoke trails, crashing upon the spiraling void of darkness...
"By the Manaketes of Naga!" Drenched in sweat and fear framing his trembling expression, Chao-Xin jolted awake, lucky enough that he was still alive today. Naga forbid, whoever must have the guts to hunt him down, he really had a keen sense of smell as if he was a dangerous predator trying to rap his prey apart.
Why, out of all of the Galaxy Royals who claimed themselves to be born of Hua blood but not part of the city's cruel system, was he chosen to be the 'criminal' of Hua Luxe?
Chao-Xin shivered slightly and wrapped himself with a Nintendo Switch blanket, the white logo polka-dotting the red fabric throw. Sometimes, he wished he could live life where everyone enjoyed their tranquility of peace.
But silence could be a dangerous threat to anyone if it was not spoken out loud.
Sipping lightly on his green tea infused with ginger, he wondered if he could continue with FE Warriors.
He purposely lied on the spot where Yu was deeply convinced by his announcement of going to bed after midnight.
In actual truth, he spent himself awake till 1!00 pm, completing the first 3 chapters through the World Map of Aytolis, one of them by recruiting Rowan or Lianna into the army.
The distractions were worth it after his weird encounters with the Galaxy royals. Timidly staring at the Marth amiibo on the glass table, Chao-Xin smiled and eagerly placed Chrom, Tiki, Alm, and Celica next to the blue haired figure.
The prince of Altea looked as if he's come alive on the spot and prick Chao-Xin's nose with his Falchion in disappointment of conjuring new friends.
"Friendship as a vigilant army is the strength of courage, determination and bravery." Chao-Xin cautiously tapped the bluehead's nose before whisking away to prepare breakfast.
A bowl of steaming udon noodles in savory miso soup. The kind that Wang Hu Zhong never resisted in 4000 years of hunger.
Tormented to the whole on the inside, Chao-Xin remembered the Galaxy Royals' strategic plan to overthrow Xue and his son but nevertheless was set forth to play.
Briefly eyeing a small note hidden under his Pioneer DJ turntable, he cautiously picked it up and unfolded it's complicated squares.
Come to the Bey pit store right after breakfast. A surprise is tended to your likeliness of our plans.
The Mechanic Advisor.
Whoever the mechanic advisor was, this had better not sound like a trick to him. Unaware of the blank space hovering underneath the printed words, Chao-Xin spotted the logo of the Galaxy Royals. One of them notifying him in regards of arriving there, fully prepared to see what was in store for him.
Chao-Xin fruitfully beamed at the letter and stuffed it down his shoulder bag. Grabbing his 3DS (with FE Warriors on it) and his I-Phone 5s, he immediately set out of the front door, whisking a goodbye wink to Marth before leaving the apartment quiet as a timid mouse.
The rain fell lightly as the windshield vipers facaded the drops now turned into a racing slush down the bottom of the vents.
Through the orange lit streets of Hua Luxe, Chao-Xin ignored the rain shower and whipped around in caution to raise his awareness on the golden Dodge Journey.
Thankfully, no beaming headlights behind him peered in return as he sighed in relaxing relief, taking his next step of continuing his way down Little China Avenue.
By sudden instinct, the Accord's tires screeched into a water puddle, efficiently drenching the sidewalk into a reflective dark hearted construction hole.
Parallel parking was by far the most annoying headaches to anyone driving in the city of Hua Luxe but Chao-Xin managed to swerve his Accord lining neatly between the two said cars, opening the door in a hurry to face the neon sign with a wisp of a shaky breath.
Bey Pit Mechanical Repairs reflected his vision in neon pink as Chao-Xin held tight onto his rain jacket and approached the front door, wet from the light shower.
The rusty hinges giving out an eerie squeak as the loose handle creaked slow in sync to the Virgo's blader cautious appreciation to how marvelous the room looked.
Similar to Gingka's lab hidden in the sediments of his Furniture store, Chao-Xin scoped into the steel items of all kinds with whispering awe.
How in Naga's name?
Endless creations made of metal, steel reflecting the lunar blue hue from the rusty windows. A giant ventilation fan hovered over the wall next to a prototype concept. Titanium angel wings, feathers sharpened to it's tip that even the slightest of pressure can cut through alloy in matter of minutes.
Gliding his fingers over a steel sword, the hilt shapened into the wings of a Pegasus while the guard emblazoned with a strange capital G, italicized to show victory will dominate over enemies forever.
Amazed at the sights of these new toys, Chao-Xin decided there was nothing for him to buy at the toystore besides the gravelous offer tempted by the only snarky Masamune.
The Virgo blader decided he should stay quiet (if the place was quiet for sure) and stay hidden from sight until he encountered himself with the 5th Galaxy Royal teammate.
Inspecting a mysterious gauntlet gun, Chao-Xin tilted his head in a puzzled manner, his heart beating in intriguing beats to discover his first weapon presuambly owned by someone else before he was introduced to this cruel world.
The dusty air filled with a hazy silence rose into distant footsteps, growing louder and nearer to his proximity.
"Wait!"
By startled instinct, Chao-Xin's hand seized away from the gauntlet as if he was bitten by a snake.
Blinking in a hesitant manner, he unleashed his killer smile while feeling nervously astonished on the inside.
By the Manaketes of Naga, she looked as if she could him way out of this with one single kiss!
Besides, she had the characteristics of Cordelia from FE Awakening!
With her short tufts of red hair barricaded by yellow aerial goggles hindering her vision, a strange letter 'B' in Lightning font blitzed across her white tee along with a pink jacket layered around it. Following her down from a blue silk skirt, she wore high knee blizzard socks accompanied by her bright pink sneakers.
"You must feel very curious about my inventions." she laid her finger to his mouth as if she automatically sensed danger around her surroundings. Tensing up to him, she glanced at her newcomer with wide blue eyes. "However, being your first time here is going to welcome us as a new addition into the Galaxy Royals."
Chao-Xin watched her inquisitively hop from the angel wings to a glorious shield with a black inferior weighing scale insignia onto the green circumference.
"Thanks for the introductions but I need to know who the Mechanic Advisor is." Chao-Xin dug into his shoulder bag and brought out the note that he found a few hours ago back in his apartment.
The girl inquisitively grabbed the note and smiled, placing her goggles above her head to reveal the sweetest sapphire blue eyes the Virgo blader had ever seen yet. "That happens to be me, young newcomer."
Thank Naga, there was another member of the Galaxy Royals who did not call him Peasant Blood yet.
"Awesome because I-" just before Chao-Xin could mention of the dazzling gauntlet, the girl shushed him in timid curiosity and pointed towards her invention, "My name's Madoka Amano. Manager of the B-Pit."
Chao-Xin felt glad to have met a woman in his life that seemed too kind for his type. Mostly screaming fangirls that attended the Virgo Night club kept on ranting in hypers of lust and attraction, glued to him on the back stage one time, attempting to get anything out of him in the dark.
Shivering at the thought of their wild hair, glittery lips, and white sugar daddy teeth, Chao-Xin made a mental note to kick them out before they turned 18.
But here was Madoka Amano, the girl that was about to change his life into something more subjective and ominous to protection than raving fangirls chasing after him.
"We Galaxy Royals specialize in Mechanical Weaponry." Chao-Xin followed her around the workshop, admiring tidbits of metal from tiny daggers to agile laser guns. "For example, Gingka's winged guns are called Tenma Shinsei for Pegasus Nova."
Chao-Xin blinked in awe at a pair of Pegasus wings dropped low, two cylinder barrels sticking upward from the winged hinges. He guessed it was used on Gingka's back and was perfectly compatible on the saddled back of Tenma X.
"Masamune's horned gloves are called Raitongu for Lightning."
Breathing in rapid awe, he carefully picked up black and gold metallic gloves, a streak of gold lightning sparking the mini unicorn horns in the center of the outer palm. Flipping on the inner side, a circle of green cyber data lines ran around the circumference, the middle pulsing in beats as if the weapon came alive.
Chao-Xin felt in attempting to try them on regarding his curiosity of what it can exactly do. But he respected Madoka's B-Pit, continuing to glamour silently over the remaining two weapons.
A set of lances held in an archer's bag, caught Chao-Xin's eyes, admiring the purple and white combination fused between the two. The screeching eagle heads on the top stared at the ceiling as if they were about to blast off into the sky from the bag.
"Ah, a balance type to suit our librarian. Tsubasa's Eagle Lances are called Fezaranzu. The best in all range attacks and defense, plus with a hybrid life of stamina and agility combined."
"It seems as if they wanna be free from this prison." Chao-Xin wearily joked as if Madoka cared less about his bland humor. But instead she lightly chuckled to the visible pun before her eyes and led him to the shield from earlier.
"Last but not least is from our annoying candy enthusiast. Yu's shield called Shirongu for...Shield."
Impressed by it's golden line art striking through the middle, Chao-Xin smiled with a shake of his head and came across his last but personal weapon.
"Ah, here we have it." Madoka unfurled the cloth hiding it's appearance from prying eyes.
Chao-Xin took in his cautious breath.
Modeled after the replica concept that he pampered to a few hours ago just before of Madoka's arrival, the cylinder barrell sharpened to titanium, protective enough from projectiles and weather damage. The rear of the gauntlet bore an 'M' insignia for the zodiac symbol for Virgo. Two rising wings in the shape of the Falchion from FE Awakening was set vertically side by side each other like jet fins.
To complete the weapon, it even had a special communications glove set next to it, a small screen infused on the outer palm to red chat emergency if there was danger around or if backup was needed.
"May I present you the Naga Agila, a very agile gauntlet that were inspired by the first legendary weapons of Naga, the divine dragon of Beylin. It was deemed powerful enough to cut through Dragon units like Heilong, the very continent we stand upon today. None of us realize we are walking on a sleeping god, much less as a static piece of rock."
"There's no way the earth can breathe. Unless bio luminescent lifeforms were the only source for it's food." Chao-Xin instinctively slipped the glove on, overwhelmed over it's blue screen lit up with a formal greeting of "Galaxy Royals"
This affirmed Madoka into question of her diverse opinion on the continent of Heilong. Walking up to the cylinder pod steaming in unknown hisses, she proceeded to click the capsule open, Chao-Xin inspecting his mechanical battle outfit for the very first time.
"Am I called for changing clothes right now?" the sudden feeling of agape crawling across his heart in awe, Chao-Xin fingered over the material. Hypo thermal nylon, insulated to enough to bear the harshest winters and blazing summers. Gray in color and tiny micro pores as texture, it was a perfect fashion choice for any hero to overcome crazy weather and grant fiber optic protection.
Madoka tapped his nose with a smile, "Actually, when we set out our plans and destinations. For now, I have to discuss about your new personal Beymaton that will aid you on your journey."
"Let me guess. A robot modeled after you?" Chao-Xin snorted in indigence, feeling that everything that came to his feminine hacked mind had to be ladies.
Madoka simply chuckled with a light smile to her dear heart, nodding in slight appreciation and embarrassment. She took a step forward to slide the doors to the Beymaton room, but held her hand back in thought of her mechanic, Benkei Hanawa coming in with his oily jovial surprise on the newcomer. "Actually, they are robotic lifepods modeled after Beyblades belonging to the Metal Fight era. They are compatible to wear the owner's weapon gear, legendary to Heilong."
Meekly pointing at the Chao-Xin's gauntlet, she added in a calm informing voice, "Your gear are personal weaponry of titanium infused with the power of Naga. Laser blue plasma shots to green sonic waves, it's unique in battle and serves the owner as a second helping hand."
Attempting to fit into the jumpsuit, Chao-Xin struggled to pop his head through the top. His muffled voice of confusion brought Madoka into a fit of laughter.
"What's funny?" he continued to writhe as heavy weight was added on top of his body.
"Nothing." Madoka calmed down seconds later to help him up. Dizzy from being squashed like an ant, Chao-Xin stood up with a staggering gaze, half relieved to get passed the 'head through the suit' part.
"Welcome to the B-pit my buddy!" an elephant sized hand slapped in joy against Chao-Xin's back, the force was strong enough to gust him back to the floor.
"Who in the world is that?" the Virgo blader coughed in through rising dust motes from the floor, efficiently smearing oil and odor of rust on his cheeks.
The makeover was totally worth it as Madoka rolled over in uncontrollable laughter.
"What's funny?" Chao-Xin wondered out of the blue as the elephant hand introduced him with a mirror.
"Holy Naga! Am I really turned into black tar!?"
With shock rising into his heart, Chao-Xin halted his scrambling backwards, a chubby muscular built figure towering over him. Stepping out of the shadows, the man had a biker's headband tarnished in oil, his purple hair visible just beyond his side neck. Covered by a blue mechanic outfit with squeaky shoes skittering across the dull ash painted floor, the figure crouched down and held out his elephant hand. "Benkei Hanawa. Nice to meet ya. Madoka's personal mechanic on the Beymatons and weapon gears."
Startled by his appearance, Chao-Xin gave it in and drowned his trembling feeling of disgust away.
Standing up with cautious balance, he sighed shortly before gladly returning the greeting. "Chao-Xin Mao. Little Leaf Royal about to be turned into a Galaxy Royal."
"Mind Benkei over here. He can be a little hyper over people that attend our workshop. Including you." Madoka waved a hand as if there was nothing to worry about.
Hand held over his heart in guilt, Chao-Xin felt like he was tormented by chubby 10 year olds back in his village.
The Beymechanic pulled out a map of Heilong, unfurling it's landscape for them to see. Labeled in traditional Chinese, Madoka explained her plan, "Our next mission is to guard Field Kaijou from the inhabitants of Gurlong led by Xue. All vegetation and life forms will eventually wither away if we don't set ourselves to action."
"Hold on." Chao-Xin interrupted with a hand held up. Madoka and Benkei stared at him as if he was the teacher of this new class. "If Field Kaijou is protected by Little Leaf village, then..."
Halting dead at the thought of a tarnishing threat razing through the village and field, Chao-Xin uttered out with a slow tear of realization, "I can't leave Little Leaf harmed by the Gurlong. Even if father tries his best to defend from their attacks of extinction, I wager thier survival in poverty would be gone forever."
"The impact on Little Leaf would leave nothing but a smoking desert wasteland for sure." Madoka sorted out her thoughts outloud as she stabbed the marker against the peach colored paper. "It's time that you have a friend as a helping hand."
Just like Gingka's lab, the door functioned the same pivotal process of pulsing swirls and beats, symbols blazing alive to reveal...
"Is this really what I've come for?" Chao-Xin swallowed his deepest moment in silent awe.
Standing before him was a lady Beymaton. Flowing blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, a monotone smile. Gray armor - from pauldrons to chest plates- guarded her body along with the wrists and lower legs. A silver shield framed in gold bearing the zodiac virgo symbol was stuck to her right forearm along with two golden (straight bladed) falchions held from her hands. To complete her look, a weaving silk scarf wrapped around her chest and lower torso, the ends glittering in non existent wind.
"Say hello to your partner." Madoka announced as Chao-Xin stepped forward with a stumbling hug to it's armoured leg. "The Virgo Z."
So that wraps up for chapter 2!
I was thinking of adding some villain scenes in between. You know, the business with Xue and Dashan- and not to mention the Gurlong's plans to take over Little Leaf village.
The Galaxy Royals' weapon gears are japanese for many things, if you know what I mean. xD
Plus, Chao-Xin's gauntlet and outfit is slightly modeled after Cross's appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
That's all I have to say.
Oh and I was wrong on this part. I'm including the Xenoblade action next chapter. Sorry to all of my newly acclaimed readers!
Anyway, Falco276 out! :)