I've been in this forest for 3 days. I'VE BEEN IN THIS GODDAMN FUCKING FOREST FOR 3 DAYS.
A2 threw her sword in anger against a nearby rock. The machines had finally subsided, but she was lost. She picked her sword back up, which was thankfully still intact. She'd given it quite the beating over the years, since she picked it off of the corpse of the first 2E unit sent to kill her. Their swords were special, in her mind. They rarely broke, and weren't hard to take care of. As long as she cleaned the oil off after each day's worth of massacring machines, the only thing to worry about were the few scratches it got over the years.
"I managed to get out of here last time, but now I don't even know half of what I'm seeing!"
Maybe A2 was wrong to let herself go on missions like this without any help. The pod would've helped her out, even if it was a dumbass. A2 was so lost that she hadn't seen an access point all since she left the castle. She continued onward, looking for any machines or androids that could possibly help her. The only thing she found were a few animals that barely noticed her presence.
"This is a load of bullshit!" A2 slashed at a nearby moose.
"That's not very nice, you know?" A woman with a sweet voice responded.
A2 turned over to see a black-haired woman with glasses standing by a nearby tree. She must've just gotten here, because A2 was pretty sure she'd passed that tree 5 times already.
"Who are you?"
"Accord, the observer. I was built to watch over the events of history." Accord's briefcase let out a loud ping. "Oh! And I also sell weapons."
"Well, do you know how to get the fuck out of this goddamn forest?"
The woman laughed. "Of course I do, silly! I know this entire world thrice over! Where are you headed?"
"The Resistance Camp..." A2's voice trailed off as she looked the woman over. Her sense of style was... odd to say the least, but her voice reminded her of Popola. Oh, how she already missed those two redheads. Maybe if 9S hadn't been so careless, they'd still be alive and she wouldn't be in this mess.
"How long have you been alive?"
"It's impolite to ask a woman her age! Well… if you must know, I'm as old as the Intoners from the Other World as your creators, the humans, called it. About… 11,000 years old? Maybe more?"
"How are you in such good condition?"
"I tend to stay away from fighting. I'm more like a Scanner type to you YoRHa units."
A2 was taken aback by the woman's knowledge.
"How do you know so much about us?"
"I record all of the information I can about the world. And all of the projects you androids devised throughout history. My role as an observer helped you androids to be devised in the first place."
"You're quite chatty for someone that records history. How do you do it all by yourself?"
"I'm one of about two hundred Accord models. We have quite the record on everything, but I'm trying to figure out more about the end of Project YoRHa and the whole Tower situation. Are you the only YoRHa unit left?"
"No."
"Well, I'd still like to hear your story."
"My story? Well, that's a sob fest you don't want to hear."
"I once had to observe an ancient songstress who killed all five of her sisters. Honestly, you remind me a bit of her..."
A2's eyes widened.
"I've observed most of this world's history from afar. I arrived here along with the Beast and Dragon that spread White Chlorination Syndrome when I was sent to observe a young man named Caim."
"That was over 10,000 years ago."
"Yes, and now it's time to start a new record for you. A2, correct?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I took a brain scan and found your YoRHa ID upon first encountering you."
"Like that weird Emil did… Stay out of my head."
"My apologies, ma'am."
"Don't be so damn formal with me! I'm a battle android, not a princess. Jeez, everyone's so uptight these days."
"I hate to say this, but you're the one being so uptight at the moment. Now, how did you survive the fall of YoRHa?"
"I left YoRHa 3 and a half years before it fell, survived multiple encounters with 9S and 2E, better known as 2B, and helped destroy the machine's Tower."
"Interesting. Are 9S and 2E still alive too?"
"Yeah. Those two, 4S, and me. Just don't call her 2E."
"Why not?"
"She doesn't like it. E stands for "Executioner", and she was forced to execute her partner 9S multiple times."
"Oof. How's he still alive?"
"Who knows. That idiot nearly got all 3 of us killed at one point."
"Sounds like quite the story. Why'd you leave YoRHa?"
"I was the only survivor of a squad of 16 during the assault on Mt. Ka'ala's server."
"Thank you for making this so easy... Now, could you take me to your comrades 9S and 2B?"
"Sure, just lead me out of this damn forest!"
"Got it!"
After a few hours of travelling through the dense forest, the sun was beginning to set. A2 saw the back gate of the Commercial Facility through the amber light.
"Good, I know the rest of the way from here. Be careful, there's a bunch of white shit EVERYWHERE!"
"Yes... Crystallized silicon and carbon that's about as white as your hair. It's a good thing you wear black, otherwise you might get lost."
"Yeah..." A2 rolled her eyes, knowing that even her black outfit didn't keep her from getting lost anywhere she went.
She led the woman through the City Ruins, being careful to avoid the remaining machine corpses littered about the ground.
"Wow, I barely recognize the city nowadays. I haven't visited in over a decade. The rebuilding efforts really were scrapped quite a bit once the 14th war started, weren't they?"
"Yeah. There's nothing modern here."
"Unlike Europe. That place is almost exactly as it used to be. Only exception is that all of its inhabitants are androids rather than humans. It's not the Europe I came from, but…"
"The Europe of the Other World?"
"Yeah. We called it Midgard, and all the various countries were united under one power. Six sorceresses soon came about using their power of song to enchant the public. Except one. Zero was an odd one, but she loved her dragon. The sisters never got along the greatest, but they stayed in peace for a while. Until Zero decided that the Intoners needed to end."
"She killed the others, didn't she?"
"Yeah. One of her sisters made a clone that ended up killing her. He formed a cult. A few hundred years later, their leader, Manah, ended up causing the Queen Beast to end up here. I can still remember the people's screams when they saw it arrive here. Now it looks nowhere near the same."
"It ended up in this City?"
"Yeah, Tokyo! Not much changed upon the portal opening, just the sudden appearance of that castle. Time has ruined this place, though. The desert grew and buried a lot in a thick layer of sand."
"No wonder this place looks like hell."
"Oh, it's not that bad. Just a few slight changes."
"I wonder if this place is doomed compared to the rest of the world."
"Well, at least this isn't the Americas! The machines completely took that place over years ago. Maybe now it's turned into a barren wasteland. I've noticed so many machines turning to pacifism. Except for the Forest Kingdom. They're as viscous as a pack of wolves."
"Like it matters now."
A2 walked across the wooden plank that the Resistance had recently set up to get over the sinkhole that had opened up. This area was mostly free of debris from the tower, so the holes hadn't been filled.
The streams throughout the City Ruins were slowly beginning to fill up with dead leaves. The scenery around the androids was changing from the vibrant greens of spring and summer to the dull reds and oranges of fall. A2 was slightly annoyed by the cold weather coming in, but had her cloak to keep her warm.
"I guess… Well, we're here, aren't we?" Accord asked once she saw the Resistance's insignia.
"How'd you know?"
"I've visited here before. I sell weapons to Gladius and other weapons dealers throughout the world."
"Nice."
"Alright, thank you A2! I hope to see you again."
"No, thank you. I think I would've died in that forest if it weren't for you."
"Well, you're welcome then."
A2 rested against the wall of a nearby building as the android walked into the Resistance Camp, and out of earshot.
"How the hell can she be 11,000 years old!?"
