Author: So we meeting him. You nervous?

Insignis: Who?

Author: Your new buddy.

Insignis: You mean the PSP guy?

Author: Uh huh

Insignis: Nope, what's the worst thing that could happen?

Fighting over girls?

Author: I heard he's a lousy shot.

Insignis: Damn I hate friendly fire.

Chapter 3 Ash Shikigami?

Waking up early this morning, I had heard from Kota last night that Licca, the engineer who manages our God Arcs was not taking Tom and Eric's death so well. Planningto visit her after breakfast, I went down to the cafeteria to find it was nothing short of a ghost town, minus the tumbleweeds.

I guess nobody here gets up to eat at 07:42.

"What the hell man, just what time do these jackasses get up?"

"Which jackasses?" a girl's voice said behind me. Spinning around, I saw Licca walking out of the lift, already in her work clothes, taking her tray and other eating utensilsfrom the rack. Dam, she looks just as hot with or without the grease smudges.

Quickly looking away before she noticed I was staring, I quickly tried to strike a conversation, "Licca, you're up already?"

"Yeah I had to finish the work on Tom and Eric's God Arc."

"Huh? Who's Eric?"

"You don't know? He and Tom were killed yesterday... It's really tragic having two God Earers die on the same day..."

You mean someone aside from Tom died yesterday? Talk about unlucky.

"I-I'm sorry to hear that... It must be hard, taking care of a God Arc of somebody recently deceased..."

"There wasn't that much to do, their God Arcs were relatively unscathed, almost no damage and no sign of wear and tear. The silver lining is that they can just be used asis... But still... I'm sorry I don't feel so good..." she said, setting her tray down on an empty table.

"It's ok, don't dwell on it." I said, sitting opposite to her.

"What about you?"

"Huh? What do you mean..."

"Don't play dumb with me, I know you were with Tom. He died right in front of you. Aren't you scared?"

"Of what? God Eaters die everyday. Personally I think the hardest part was carrying him back."

"How can you be so cavalier about it? Someone just DIED in front of you! Aren't you in the least bit scared?"

"I... I'm used to having people die around me."

"How?"

"My parents died in front of me. I lived on the edge of the outer ghetto near the Anti-Aragami Armored Wall. And trust me, it's not as safe as you think."

"... You're lying."

I'm starting to get a little scared, this chick can read minds.

"What?" "Stop lying to me, and to yourself. If you're so used to it, why can't you sleep? Why are you up so early like me?"

"I had to prepare for my mission. I leave after breakfast."

"Yeah, in like 2-3 hours. Why don't you tell me what's really on your mind?"

"Well I was planning to meet you after breakfast..."

"Well here I am.

" "Talk to you about Tom's death..."

"We are..." "I dunno, I guess I like having an early breakfast."

"Without your two mission partners?"

"Huh? Two? I thought it was just Kota?"

"Ash too." Licca answered, taking a sip of soda.

"Who's Ash?"

"I don't know, I only handle God Arcs. And judging by the wear and tear, he came in about the same time as you."

Man it's totally cliche to have someone steal my thunder.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered, you handle bullet chips right?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Do you mind looking into this bullet configuration I wrote up last night?" I asked, handing Licca a notepad with my bullet configuration in the form of a bullet pointed list.

"Hmmm. Shots 3 and 4 will clash but if you alter those shot directions by say a few degrees left or right it should work perfectly." said Licca, pulling out a pen and around her own added notes to the pad.

"Thanks a lot Licca! I owe you one!"

"Well if you don't mind waiting for me to finish, how do you feel about owing me one more?" she said with a sweet smile.

"What do you mean?" Finishing off her toast, Licca took me to the God Arc storage area.

"Quick, get your God Arc." Grabbing my God Arc once it had disengaged from the storage holding area, Licca led me through a door from the God Arc area that I've never seen before that led into a really dark room. Just what is she planning to do now that she has me with her in a dark room... With my God Arc?

Flicking a switch, I was temporarily blinded as lights on both sides lit up one by one to reveal that we were in a large hangar like room.

"Welcome to the bullet testing area." Licca said proudly.

"Wow... So people test their bullets in here?"

"Yep, come over here, and pass me your notepad." Handing it to her, she quickly flipped to the page of the bullet I was trying to make and started pulling chips out of drawers on a large nearby wall before heading back to the table.

"Do you want your bullet to be Blaze, Spark or Divine?"

"Spark. It's for a Kongou."

Carefully selecting the yellow coloured chips, I watched in awe as Licca assembled the bullet, fixing in each tip with a flourish and before I knew it, she was done.

"All right, load this and try firing it at that target over there." Licca said, pointing at a target down the range, "the damage your shot does will be recorded by that target upon impact."

Well, here goes nothing. Pulling the trigger, my God Arc fired out a shot with 3 tails spiraling around the initial shot as they all hit the target at the same time.

"Nice shot! That was beautiful!"

"All thanks to you."

"You already had the basic concept down. You just needed to perfect it. Good job rookie."

"Thanks, oh hey, I gotta run! My mission starts soon! See you around?"

"Sure." Feeling totally elated, I rushed to return my God Arc and met Kota in the lobby, but Ash was no where to be found!

"Uhhh, where's Ash?" I asked, looking around for the last member of the squad.

"If you're looking for a guy with a bandana with questionable sanity, he's passed out on the couch." A female God Eater said as she entered the lift.

Heading to the gathering area down the stairs, I noticed the guy in question taking a nap on the couch. The guy being the God Eater that freaked out over the dead body I was carrying yesterday.

Nudging him on the shoulder, "Hey, wake up, it's time to go already."

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD WHERE'S MY PIZZA?" he screams, slamming his head into mine as he shot up.

Is this guy's head screwed on straight?

"Ow dammit, there's no pizza!" I yelled back, rubbing my nose.

Finally, after a long period of silence that was spent staring at each other, Ash looked at Kota who was happily watching the action unfold, "Who's this guy?" he asks, pointing at my face.

"It's Ragner, and stop pointing at my face." I reply, pushing his hand out of my face.

Honestly, how rude can this guy get?

"Well whatever you are, Ragna the not Bloodedge, Ash Shikigami at your not so widely used disposal."

This guy has insane or high written all over him.

"What Ragna the not Bloodedge? Have you been smoking something?"

"If you count eating monsters with a sword with a black mouth, while we get uber charged and get steroid reflexes smoking? Then yeah I've been smoking a shit load bro."

Don't tell me this douche actually takes devouring as smoking, maybe the steroids shrunk his brain... Along with his testicles.

"Do you have any pot on you, or maybe a little weed?"

"Weed? Wuzzat?"

I am going to shoot this guy. Through the head preferably.

"Drugs." You low grade moron.

Then again, this guy's probably nuts, he can't be on drugs if he doesn't even know what they are.

"Drugs, pots, WEED? Dude I'm a perfectly normal, sane to the core guy. Why would I need any if that?" he asked incredulously.

"It would definitely explain the behaviour."

Finally getting off the couch, Ash l, Kota and I walked to the den entrance until Kota stopped, "Hope we all survive this one huh?"

"That's a given, what's gotten into you?" I reply, looking at him.

"Well, I dunno what my mom and sister would do if something happened to me, so I gotta watch out."

"An image of a chick with huge boobs?" Ash said, in response to my question.

"Dude are boobs all you think about?" I asked, looking at Ash with disdain.

"Legs, boobs, hips, face. Come on! You're a guy aren't you?"

"They're not the main point of attraction for me, more like icing on the cake."

"Hey guys guys, you know Sakuya don't you?" Kota said gesturing to us with his hands, desperate to win back the attention.

"My woman man, I already told you before." Ash said, pointing at himself with a cheeky grin.

"What about her?" I asked, totally not seeing the point in the question or in Ash's answer.

"Is either one of you close? She's really pretty don't you think? Good looking, friendly, strong... Like an Amazon warrior! How hot is that?"

"As I said, she's my woma..." Ash started.

"Get to the point Kota." I muttered, losing interest in this conversation already.

"I'm getting all pumped up here! Let's see who can take out the most enemies in this mission!" Kota yelled, punching the air.

Thank God nobody's around to see this, especially Sakuya.

"That's it? I know who's gonna win already." Ash said, his grin still on.

"Dudes there's only like 4 Aragami. Nice competition." I said, pulling out my Ipod and plugging in the earphones.

"Oh come on! Don't be a stiff! If you don't watch it, I'll just take them all." Ash said, looking at me with a pouty face.

"Please, it'll make my job a lot easier."

"Well if you wanna be that way then whatever. Come on, men!"

Heading out to grab our God Arcs, just before I left, I could not resist giving Licca a friendly wave as I left earning a smile and a giggle as she waved back.

I think this is the start of something beautiful.

Area: Tranquil Temple

Standing on the ledge of one of the broken buildings, as it was just Kota and Ash and no senior from the 1st unit, I figured I might as well give then the briefing on this mission.

"Alright, here's the deal. Our mission is to take out a Kongou and 3 Ogretails. The Kongou is isn't anywhere in sight so let's wipe the Ogretails first before..."

"Wait who made you boss around here?" Ash interrupted, staring in my direction. I had half the mind to shoot him back with the exact same statement.

"Well seeing as Lindow, Sakuya and Soma aren't here, I thought I'd do the briefing."

"Well gee, someone loves attention."

Ohhhh the irony.

"Why don't you do the briefing then?"

"A bit late for that, "Captain"." Ash sneers as he rolls his eyes.

"Whatever." I sneer back, switching out my earphones for a single earpiece handset unit.

"Fine. Then... GENTLEMEN! Let's rape some Aragami ass!" Ash yelled, leaping off the ledge.

Thank you, for bringing every dam Aragami to us with that yell.

"Let's do this." I muttered in agreement, letting myself off the ledge using one hand.

Running to the left, I was slightly horrified as Ash started running off to the right alone.

Ah well, it's to be expected.

Heading out with Kota, it wasn't long before we heard a pair of Ogretails hopping about in a nearby alleyway. Holding my finger in front of my mouth in a classic "hush" motion, Kota and I slowly approached the two Ogretails, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

We didn't have to wait long as the Ogretails bent down to bite on what I could guess was a particularly attractive pile of snow.

Signalling for Kota to take the left while I took the right, we leaped out of our hiding spots, ambushing the Ogretails.

Sending my God Arc into Predator mode immediately, I felt the familiar rush of power as my blade started to glow, "Restrictions released! God Arc unleashed!"

Hacking and slashing the Ogretails with my sword in its default dagger grip, the Ogretail was quickly staggering from the hailstorm of cuts and slashes my God Arc inflicted on it.

"Hey hey hey! Bad Ogretail!" I heard Kota say behind me, as his Ogretail started to give chase to Kota after he only managed to get off a few shots.

Settling for a final stab in the face, I prioritised Kota's Ogretail first, taking my God Arc in both hands and quickly took it down.

Shooting a shot that just whizzed past my ear, I turned to Kota, "Hey! That was close!"

Looking in the direction he was pointing, I realised that the Ogretail I had left alone to go help Kota, was trying to sneak up on me until Kota shot it right in the face.

"Oh! Ummm, thanks man."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

Hearing a roar in the distance, I started heading for it when I heard a shout, "Holy crap, Gorilla!"

That idiot.

"Drop a flare!" I yell into my mic, trying to find the fastest way possible to our lone wolf teammate.

Seeing a flare shoot up into the sky, sending red sparks over what used to be the temple monk's quarters, I ran down the stairs just in time to find Ash facing up against a Kongou!

"Ash!" I yell, advanced stepping towards the figure with a shortsword.

"Watch out!" Kota yells.

Looking up at the Aragami that I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of, I watched in slow motion as the Kongou raised its arm and swung it right at me!

"Oh SHIT!"

Raising my buckler in time, the force of the blow still sends me crashing through a nearby wall, into what I assumed used to be someone's room.

"Man... I was hoping I didn't have to use this..."

Taking out a pill wrapped in bright yellow foil, I swallowed it down. The first thing that hit me, was that the pill had no taste, before I could feel grateful for that, a sudden rush of pain hit me as the Oracle Cells in my body activated in response to the pill, sending me straight into an artificially induced Burst Mode.

"Restrictions released. GOD ARC UNLEASHED!" I roared, shooting out of the hole in the wall, ready to take another crack at the Kongou.

Flying through the air over the Kongou's head, I wasn't one for missing opportunities and took a chunk out of the Kongou as I passed, causing it to roar in pain while Ash devoured its torso.

"I'M ON FIRE..."

Shooting an ice mortar at the newly on fire Ash, the response was immediate.

"Ow! What was that for!"

"I thought you were on fire."

"Bitch."

Before the argument could continue, the Kongou roared, earning a new pair of death glares from two pissed off rookies.

"Shut up!" Ash and I yelled simultaneously, stabbing the Kongou in the face.

Pulling out my blade with a sickening squelching noise, I roll backwards, flipping the trigger and changing my God Arc into its Gun Mode.

"Chew on this!"

Letting loose my new bullet, I shoot the Kongou's face while Ash had already stabbed the Kongou's shoulder and flipped behind it having a fun time with its tail.

Emptying my bullets into the Aragami until I was out of Oracle Points, I watched as the Kongou stagger backwards dangerously towards Ash!

Before I could shout out a warning, Ash had already leaped into the air and dived down, stabbing the Kongou in the process.

Maybe this guy had SOME skills on him.

Firing a few more of his fancy shots, Kota managed to scare the Kongou away while Ash and I recovered our stamina.

Tracking to the Kongou to a nearby dead end, I had an idea, "Alright here's the plan. I'm going to set up a snare trap at the corner, Ash and I rush in and devour the Kongou when it's not looking and we run back and let it run into the snare trap."

"Wow, the dude DOES know his plans and routes." Ash mumbled

"I can hear you you know."

Setting the snare trap right at the edge of the corner, Ash and I both rush in and devour the Kongou from opposing sides!

"I'm ON FIRE BABY!"

"Restrictions released. God Arc unleashed!"

Running back around the corner, Ash and I quickly took our places as the Kongou ran right into the Snare Trap and was held down by it!

Yes! Score one for awesome tactics!

Switching to gun mode, all three of us took aim and fired at the Kongou, downing it with our array of bullets.

Devouring the core with our God Arcs, all of us took a leisurely walk back to the Den.

"Oh guys, we're due in Paylor's lab for a lecture on Arcology."

"A lecture? Shit no! You woke me up from my sleep, shot me in the ass and now a freaking LECTURE? I'm so out of this!"

Running off before either of this could stop him, Ash shouted over his shoulder, "Oh, and tell the next woman you see I said hi!"

That guy is totally unbelievable.

Walking to Paylor's laboratory, as soon as Kota and I were seated, Paylor took a look around, "Where's Ash Shikigami? Shouldn't he be with you?"

"Uhhh, I don't think he's coming, it's better if you just started the lecture." I said with a shrug.

"Have you ever heard the term, "Arcology"?" Paylor asked, getting right into his lecture, pointing at a screen with a drawing of a cartoon version of himself and an Aragami.

Please, lose the diagram, it looks like its made for 10 year old kids. Then again, those watching this lecture aren't that much older.

"Arcology means "a building completely self-contained and self-sufficient in production and consumption."

Yeah, consumption is easy, it's the production bit that gets tricky.

Changing the slide to a picture of the Den from the outside, Paylor continued, "Yep... That's right... This Fenrir branch, with the Den at its center, can be thought of as a type of arcology. To put it in extreme terms, with the exception of a certain branch, should the entire Fenrir Corp collapse, this one remaining branch will be able to live on exactly as it did before, by taking full care of production and consumption on its own."

Yeah, when the Fenrir Corp does collapse, we shouldn't worry about production. More like worry about getting consumed.

Kota yawned at this point, maybe he didn't find it very interesting. The lack of explanatory diagrams must be taking its toll on him. Something tells me he'd stay more awake for flashy pictures and colourful diagrams.

"The Den has a fully equipped plant below for producing food, God Arc, and various other materials."

Ah yes! Pictures! When the slide changed to 5 pictures of the lobby, underground cafeteria, power plant, God Arc storage areas and food production plant, I saw Kota sit up a little more. Keep it up doctor, you just might make Kota last the entire lesson this time.

"And it boasts a solid defensive capacity, with an Anti-Aragami Armored Wall along its perimeter, not to mention you top-notch God Eaters, among other things."

Pardon me doctor, but the top-notch God Eater beside me is falling asleep again.

"That's the Fenrir branch in a nutshell, IT's a highly advanced arcology project optimized to protect humankind."

Not to be picky, but do you mind optimizing the food as well?

"But there's still one issue that plagues us... it can only house a limited number of people at any given time. As I'm sure you all know, there has been, for some time, a vast Outer Ghetto surrounding the Far East Branch. But the fact is, we still don't have the space available to house them all here."

Yeah I know about the Outer Ghetto, I stayed there and prayed I didn't get eaten.

"I'm afraid the best we can do at this time, is to surround the Outer Ghetoo with an Anti-Aragami Armored Wall."

That wall isn't as eifficient as you think doc.

"But do you think that's enough? I hear the armor has been compromised a lot lately." Kota said, finally awake enough to ask a question.

"Well, that's why we have the God Eater Defense Unit posted there... Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that your family lives in the Outer Ghetto. Forgive me for sounding so flippant. Actaully, there was a plan to expand the Den downard, and build another Inner Residential Section..."

"But, the Aegis Project improved on that paln and made it even safer, right?"

Aegis Project... The project on Aegis Island designed to keep humankind safe forever, a utopia so to speak. Kota's must be really into it, if he would interrupt his naptime just to talk about it.

"Yes, at this time, most of the resources from the Far East Branch's underground plant are being allocated to Aegis Construction. Why don't we talk about that another time?"

Dismissal already? Oh well, the few things I learned could be applied somewhere. I hope.

End of Chapter 3

And that's another Chapter done! Don't forget to check out God Eater Burst Ash's Tale for his take on what happened! READ AND REVIEW