Chapter 8
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.
Name: Cedrick Esparza
Gender: Male
Hairstyle: Style 7 (Dark Brown)
"I sincerely hope we can do all that is expected of us." After we were all introduced, Ciel had suggested that the two of us have a meeting regarding the Blood Unit. At this suggestion, Doctor Rachel had allowed us access to her laboratory for the meeting and made it so that it was just the two of us by telling everyone else to leave. This is how Ciel started the meeting.
"If it's not improper, Vice Captain, I've a question I'd like to ask." Ciel says with the same stoic look in her face although her voice does not match it. Her voice seems to be saying that she values manners greatly and is therefore using a positive, yet curious tone. I stay silent and thus allow her to continue.
"How many combat operations have you participated in since joining the Blood Unit?" She enquires. It wasn't the type of question I was expecting so I was a little surprised but I answer truthfully,
"Honestly, not many. I've only been here for a few days." I say sheepishly as I scratch the back of my head.
"I see," My answer seems to have pleased her as minute small crosses her face, "so you don't have much first hand battle experience just yet. Neither do I... Thus, beginning in our next sortie, we will focus on advancing Blood's tactical cohesion. Do you have anything you would like to ask of me, Vice Captain?" Ciel asks if I have any questions for our meeting. I couldn't really think of many on the spot that didn't seem like a pick-up line. For instance, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Of course, I wouldn't say this to her. She has definitely accelerated my mind's growth in the opposite sex. Before she came along, I hadn't really thought about the opposite sex much. That's probably because when I was in Friar I had often seen much more males than females but, of course, I do know the differences between males and females. I'm taking too long thinking about this, I need to ask her a question.
"So... Er... What are you trained in?" I ask her as I remember her saying that she had military training during her introduction.
"Various martial arts, a broad selection of weapons, as well as sabotage, espionage, and assassination." My eyes widened upon hearing how well versed she is, especially when she mentioned assassination. Has she had to assassinate somebody before? I held a bit of fear for the girl now but my curiosity levels had sky-rocketed. "But all of that is nothing compared to the combat seen by those on the front lines." She finishes, maintaining her stoic voice.
"That's very impressive." I compliment her skills since I was genuinely impressed.
"R-Really? W-well, back to the matter in hand." She becomes flustered at my comment and even, cutely, looks away from me to hide her embarrassment but she soon regains her composure and looks back at me again. "Doctor Rachel shared with me the story of your awakening. She was awed by your skills in combat." Ciel's voice was now a blend of her usual stoical tone with an additions of positivity and wonder. She held a hand to her chest as she spoke. I couldn't help but look at her assets and noticed how developed she was. This was only for the briefest of moments and hopefully, Ciel never noticed where I was looking at. She moves her hand as she speaks,
"I may not have much combat experience, but I hope I can contribute my tactical knowledge to our team." She says with confidence before taking a shy tone again with her actions mirroring this. She looks away, nervously, and I feel the urge to cuddle the adorably cute, shy girl in front of me. I feel as though she would only allow herself to be this way in front of me and keep her usual stoic front on when talking to somebody else. "Erm, in this situation... Um... I;m sorry. How can I put this?" She looks back towards me as she finds the words she was looking for, no longer looking shy, much to my dismay.
"Our abilities may complement each other... If you understand my meaning. Perhaps I can amend some of your shortcomings and you can..." Maybe I spoke to soon about her reverting back to her usual stoic self. She has found the words she was looking for but is awfully shy when vocalising them. She trails off towards the end where I imagine that her nervousness about the situation had peaked.
"Ah! S-sorry," Her adorableness factor has gained a level, "that was rather rude. My apologies, I am not well versed in social conversation." All traces of her shyness had vanished from my mind as I heard that she wasn't used to speaking. Immediately, I want to know why this is the case but Ciel quickly progresses the topic to something else as she pulls out an electronic tablet from behind her back. I'm not sure where she was keeping it but that doesn't really matter.
"By the way, would you look over this document I've prepared?" She asks and presents me with the tablet.
"I have previously analysed everyone's combat data until this point and devised a training regimen." Taking the device from Ciel, I notice that everything is arranged into a sort of schedule. I swipe my finger across the screen to see thins that weren't previously on it.
"Every 24-hour period contains 8 hours for sleep, 2 for eating, and 4 for undertaking our operations." True to her words, the schedule does include this. She has even already scheduled two missions and she isn't quite finished.
"That leaves 4 hours for physical combat readiness training and thee final 6 for classroom study. Also, if you look here" She point to a specific column in the schedule, "I've designed individual training routines for each member. They may not be 100% accurate, but I believe using them will improve the team's combat capability." Ciel finishes and quite honestly, I disagree with her training regimen. There is no time for socialising with each other; it will be important to know each other better and without socialisation it will be significantly harder but I don't have the heart to disagree with her.
"I believe that's all for now. Thank you for your time, Vice Captain." She finishes our meeting with a bow before moving towards the door. She stops before leaving the room completely, instead opting to poke her head through the gap so that she can see me with her hand resting on the door.
"I would advise that you get your rest now. If you are not up and about 30 minutes before our mission is scheduled the I will be forced to wake you up myself." She leaves the laboratory and I take her up on the offer to rest. After all, I've not long ago just used my Blood Power. Speaking of which, am I able to use Blood Arts now?
The next morning, Ciel didn't need to wake me up because somebody else did.
"Vice Captain? Oh, come on. Get up, Cedrick!" Nana shouts and I find myself shooting up from my prone position which I came to regret as the world around me started spinning.
"Do you sleep in your clothes?" I hear her ask and, looking down, I notice that I am still wearing yesterday's clothes which is good news for her. I'd hate to know what she would think if i had wore my usual "attire" for sleep but why is she in here anyway.
"What are you doing in here?" I ask with a hand to my head, trying to stop the world from spinning.
"Have you seen the schedule that Ciel has prepared?! It's practically all training!" Nana shouted before coming towards me and lifting me up by my jacket.
"You need to sort this out!" She didn't exactly sound mad, more like annoyed.
"Yeah, I know. I still need to speak with Ciel about it." I tell her from my high position in the air. Nana didn't look strong but if she can lift her hammer of a God Arc up, there's no surprise that she can lift me up.
"Well, lucky for you, you can tell her when you, Gilbert and Ciel are on your half of the mission." She puts me down and her tone begins to return to the usual tone associated with Nana.
"My half of the - What are you talking about?" I ask her and am met with a sigh.
"You are hopeless. You, Gilbert and Ciel are going on a mission early today and then me, you, Romeo and Ciel are going on another mission. So everyone, apart from Julius and Gilbert, need to go on two missions today."
"Oh, yeah. I noticed that yesterday. Okay then, I'll bring this issue up with Ciel during the mission." I tell her and she seems to have returned to her normal self. She leaves with a "see ya later" and I proceed to get ready for the day.
50 minutes later and it is time for the mission. The three of us, Gilbert, Ciel and I, have already arrived at the Sunken Grid and are busy searching for an Aragami called "Yaksha".
"Blood Beta, a Yaksha is on the move, heading towards your location." I hear Fran's voice through the earpiece and echo the sentence to my friends. After turning a corner, we find the Yaksha as well as two oddly coloured Ogretails.
"I'll go and clear them out." Gilbert speaks up and begins running towards them. This prompts a sharp response from Ciel but it isn't quick enough as Gilbert starts slashing at the Ogretails, drawing their attention as well as the Yaksha's.
"Gil, hold! Our plan was to fall back when the Yaksha came too close. We can't defeat a monster like that." No matter what happens now, they will chase us.
"Our plan was to show up and kill Aragami." I have to say that I agree with Gilbert's response. I decided to help Gilbert out by assaulting the Yaksha; if I can take its attention away from Gilbert, it would be easier for him to kill the Ogretails.
"The stronger Aragami require more than just your tenacity to defeat. You must learn to strategise." Ciel retorts in her usual stoic voice before joining the fight against the Yaksha. While I'm attacking it with my short blade, Ciel is attacking from range.
"Yeah, well... Sometimes you gotta adapt that strategy." Again, I agree with Gilbert's statement.
"Both of you, calm yourselves. This is the Vice Captain's decision." Julius' voice comes through the earpiece and he isn't alone.
"Yeah, guys, let's all be friends, okay?" Nana speaks through her earpiece to make sure we hear her. It is rather difficult to fight and avoid Aragami attacks whilst listening to people talk in your ear.
"Ciel, keep back and provide support with your gun. Gilbert, keep doing what you are doing." I give them their orders and receive no complaints. I narrowly avoid a bullet shot by the Yaksha which was rather surprising but I soon get over it. In the next 3 minutes, the Ogretails have been defeated and Gil has joined me in melee attacking the Yaksha, allowing us to break three bonds before it finally drops dead.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I need you and Ciel over at the Valley of Ice as soon as possible. I've sent Nana and Romeo ahead so you should be able to meet with them when you get there." Julius' voice comes through my earpiece and I echo this information back to Ciel and Gilbert. Gilbert accepts this and begins a long walk back to Friar whist Ciel and I sprint towards the Valley of Ice.
"By the way, Ciel, we need to revise that schedule you showed me." I say in between breaths as we continue running to our destination.
"Is something wrong with it?" She says easily, I notice that she looks to be in great shape as proved by how she isn't breathless whilst I am.
"There's no time for... Socialising or time for ourselves. We don't need classroom study." I explain to her. I don't even know if there is a classroom on Friar.
"But how will we-"
"We'll figure it out later. Right now, Nana and Romeo are waiting for us." As I interrupt Ciel, we see the two I spoke of come into view and run past them with them following us.
"It's about time you two showed up." Romeo comments.
"Oh, shut up Romeo."
"Nana? What the heck? You were complaining more than me!"
"Our target today is called a Chi-You. The overdeveloped arms make it a deadly opponent in close quarters. We can face it hand to hand, but I would recommend taking a different tack and sniping from a distance." Ciel speaks up and I begin to wonder if she is an athlete. I am forced to stop due to lactic acid build up in my legs and try to regain my breath. The others stop too and luckily there are no other Aragami in the area yet.
"Sniping? Awww... I suck with guns. I wanted to help!" Nana complains about Ciel's suggested tactic. I feel a hand rubbing my back as I am hunched over regaining my breath. I rubs in circles. Once I regain my breath and stand up properly, the hand is removed and I see Romeo giving me a smile.
"Better now?"
"Yeah, thanks." Meanwhile, Ciel and Nana are still talking about sniping.
"Well, we can turn this into a teaching opportunity. We'll get you some good practice." Ciel responds in her stoic voice to which Nana groans.
"Okay, if you think so Ciel, I'll do my best. Here we go! I'm gonna snipe it and snipe it hard, just like Ciel does." Despite Nana's words, there is still a problem; something which Romeo also noticed.
"Uh, Nana? That's a shotgun. Range isn't exactly... It's forte."
"What? What do you mean? Ugh... All right. I guess I'm just gonna have to go old school Hammer style!" She shouts before running to the Chi-You that has just entered combat range.
It took 20 minutes to defeat the Chi-You with it being a foe that we hadn't encountered before. We all survived with a few scrapes although we were hit, more than once, with its gliding attack. Right now, the whole unit has congregated on the lower floor of Friar We've just finished a discussion of the missions which entailed how I performed as the Vice Captain when...
"There's an open-channel distress call coming in. Hold on, connecting now." Fran's voice interrupted our conversation with a sense of urgency.
"This is the 2nd Satellite Base. I think a psion just appeared on our radar, 30km North-North East!" A voice I am unfamiliar with spoke but the panic within it could not b misplaced. "It looks to be leading a group of other Aragami as well. Requesting immediate assistance!"
"Oh no, a psion!" Nana spoke with a tinge of fear in her voice.
"This is an emergency communique to all Blood members! We have a possible psion sighting. Location is consistent with the signal. This is an emergency mobilisation. Localise and destroy." Fran's voice, once again, came over the intercom.
"We gotta go help them! They can't take on a psion by themselves!" Romeo spoke and I'm sure that everyone agreed with him.
"Agreed" Julius confirms my thoughts, "We shall not abandon them. It's time to do as we do best. Blood, move out!"
