Alright, I'm back again after final exams. Let's take a look at the recent reviews:
OmegaShadow: Yeah, sorry about not updating. My computer had a blue screen so I spent most of my time trying to fix it in the last week and had no time to write, but it's fixed no so expect more frequent updates.
Ravenousdarkness: There's plenty of other ZX fics out there, so I'm sure that I didn't take EVERY good idea. Just keep trying and you'll think of something interesting to write about. Read some other fics for inspiration.
SpartanCommander: Yeah, it was getting late when I was writing the last chapter and I needed to study for finals.
Hasabusa: You'll see in this chapter…
Mocha: Don't worry, they will.
ZBoi: Of course I had to make them lose. It would be boring if the good guys always won, wouldn't it? Oh, and this has some of the ZeroxCiel fluff that you've been requesting, so hope it meets your standards.
NeoCopyMan: Well, can you tell me what's wrong with it? I would change it back if everyone else agreed with you, but point out what you liked better about the normal way. Anyways, I have a bit more third person perspective because of your review. As for the pregnant thing, I want that short fic to remain separate from this. Not everyone wants to read lemons, and I don't want the readers of this story to get confused.
Well, that's more reviews than the last chapter. Anyways, give some more opinions about the perspective that I'm writing the story in, and I might change it back if everyone agrees with NeoCopyman. Alright, let's start the story:
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Where am I? Am I dead? I try to open my eyes, but I can't see anything. My whole body can't move, but I don't feel any pain. I feel a huge weight pressing down on me, but I can't see what it is. I can barely breathe right now and some force is preventing me from opening my mouth.
I can't give up yet, Aile's still in trouble. There has to be someone nearby that will be able to help me. "Hel-" I immediately choke as something enters my mouth. I spit it out immediately in the small enclosed space. Wait, that taste is kind of familiar.
Now I remember! That's the taste of dirt. Wait, then that means… I use all my force to move my hands and then start digging my way out. Which direction am I moving in? Up or down?
There's no light here for me to see, but I keep on digging. I can't die yet, there are still things that I need to do! I my gloves are slowly being ripped apart by the pebbles and other hard substances, but I keep on clawing. I spit out some more dirt and continue to try and dig my way out.
My gloves are now completely torn and blood mixes with the dirt as I continue to claw one handful after another. It's getting brighter here. I managed to reach light! Once I get up there, I'm really going to give a piece of my mind to whoever buried me alive. Who buried me alive anyways? I bet Zero didn't bother to check me for a pulse and that's why I'm here.
Almost there… My hands shoot upward until they breach the surface. There's no more dirt. I'm finally free! I pull myself upward and let out a huge breath of air. That was way too exhausting. Maybe I should just lie down here and rest for a while. Wait, this isn't Guardian HQ…
Where exactly am I? Okay, calm down. Just look at your surroundings. Let's see, there are some plants, grass, vines, and a whole bunch of other colorful green things that I can't name. Am I in some kind of garden? This reminds me of the old fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, except I'm not a princess and she wasn't buried alive.
"I see that you woke up after all." This really is like Snow White and the… oh wait, that's not a dwarf. Wait, he looks strangely familiar. He has red armor, fire coming out of his armor… where have I seen him before? Oh, crap.
"Burnerman!?" I have to fight him off right now. Where's the damn biometals? I check my pockets but find nothing. They must've taken it from me before they buried me alive. I'm surrounded by a burning killing machine with no means to defend myself. Maybe I should have stayed in the dirt.
"I don't like fighting people who are defenseless, so I won't kill you just yet, yet being the key word in that sentence." Burnerman starts to walk away from me. I'm in the Robot Master Base without my biometals.
"If you didn't want to kill me, then why did you bury me alive? In fact, why is there a garden here at all?"
"This is Plantman's greenhouse. He basically lives here. You were buried alive so the ground will slowly decompose your body into fertilizer. Plantman says it helps his plants grow faster if his fertilizer struggles." That's just twisted. Wait, if Plantman lives here…
"Does that mean that you live in a volcano or something?"
"Don't even compare me to Plantman. I wish he was one of the Robot Masters that tried to betray us instead of Magnetman and Geminiman." Burnerman walks away from me toward an exit.
"Wait, what do you expect me to do now?"
"If you're smart, then you'd run home." I can't go back yet. They still have my biometals and I need more power in order to bring Aile back. Wait, the Robot Masters are a nuisance for Model W. If I get their help, then maybe I can rescue her, but I have to be careful. Alright, I've made my decision. I take in a breath before talking. From this point on, there will be no return.
"I need my biometals back, take me to Shademan."
-----------POV Shift: Normal-----------
"Are you sure that this is where the tracker we put on Vent's leads to?" Prairie looks around the area to try and search for any signs of him. Another female Guardian looks down at a device.
"It should be around here somewhere." The Guardian looks around and she finds something shiny in the grass. "Over there!" The two of them move forward and pick up Vent's broken communicator. Seeing this, Prairie begins to panic.
What if Vent's in trouble? That means all of this is my fault. I knew I shouldn't have sent him off like that. The other Guardian gestures to Prairie and Prairie moves to see what caught her attention. This is blood, but is this Vent's? He should be close by if that's the case. "Send a sample back to base for analysis."
"Yes, Commander." The Guardian carefully collects some of the blood on the ground in a small vial and puts it on a scanner. She then activated her communicator. "Operator, check the blood sample that I sent you and see if it matches anyone in our database."
Silence lingered in the air for about a minute as Prairie waited for the results. "We've finished scanning it. The blood sample matches Vent's."
"Got it. That's all I need to know for now." Prairie activates her heat sensor vision system in order to search for signs of Vent. "The grass has been disturbed in this area, but there isn't a single sign of him anywhere else."
"That means he had to either teleport out or lift off the ground, but he wasn't in any condition to use any biometals, not to mention that the closest trans-server is miles away." The Guardian sighs as she tries to think of what happened.
"There's nothing here that will help us find him. Let's go back." The Guardian nods and follows Prairie in the direction of the trans-server.
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Ciel and Prairie's Room
Come on, please work. Prairie starts typing rapidly on her computer. After pressing the enter button, she waits as a loading screen appears.
"Biometal signatures not detected." Prairie slams her palm onto the keyboard after hearing this.
"Is anything wrong?" Ciel enters the room to find a very frustrated Prairie pounding on the keyboard of their computer. Prairie stops after hearing Ciel and realizing that the computer can't sense pain and wouldn't change the results even if it can.
"You recovered already? That was quick."
"Well, today's medical technology works wonders on humans and reploids alike. Did I miss anything important?" Hearing this, Prairie bursts into tears and throws herself into Ciel's arms. Ciel, taken aback by the action, hesitantly wraps her arms around Prairie to try and stop her from crying. "Umm… it's alright?"
"Everything's all my sniffle fault. First sniffle Aile goes sniffle missing and then Vent, sniffle he-" Prairie stops talking to catch her breath and to calm down a bit and to slow down. "Vent followed her and now sniffle he's missing as well. I'm a horrible sniffle leader."
Prairie starts crying again and Ciel pats her back. "Wait, can you run that by me one more time?" Prairie stops crying after a few minutes and tells Ciel exactly what happened. Ciel lets go of Prairie after she regained her composure.
"Thanks, it feels a bit better to be able to let that all out. Everything's falling apart here. We're losing more and more people and we haven't accomplished anything despite their sacrifices. How were you able to accomplish so much when you lead the Resistance?" Ciel thinks about the question before coming up with an answer.
"I know that sometime it seems that all hope is lost. I've felt that way for a long time as well, but then we found Zero. Just don't give up, Prairie. I'm sure things will change for the better sooner or later. It's not your fault that Vent's missing. Would he have really listened to you if you told him to not go?"
"I shouldn't have showed him the co-ordinates of Aile's biometals in the first place. Then maybe he wouldn't have rushed off like that."
"Knowing his type, he'd probably have charged recklessly in whatever direction his intuition tells him to. You couldn't stop him no matter what you do or say. Besides, he might still be okay."
"Thanks, I guess you're right." Ciel sits down on the chair in front of the computer after Prairie stands up. She starts working and then there's a long beep sound before the computer freezes.
"Blue screen!?" Ciel turns to Prairie. "Have you been downloading images of plushies on our computer again?"
Prairie looks at the wall as if there's suddenly something very interesting that she hasn't noticed earlier. Ciel glares at her as she starts twiddling her fingers. "Well… umm… Hey, that reminds me, Zero was very worried about you. You should probably go and see him."
Ciel, realizing that Prairie has a point, decides to drop the subject of the infected computer for the moment. "Alright, but when I get back, the computer better be fixed. I swear, for such a serious commander, you can really act like a little kid sometimes."
-----------POV Shift: Zero-----------
On Top of Guardian HQ
Just who exactly am I, the God of Destruction or the Legendary Reploid Hero? It's true that I helped the world on different occasions, but the only thing that I'm good for is battle. If all I do is fight, does that really acc-
"There you are, Zero." Someone managed to find me here? I turn my head to see who it is, although I could have already told it was Ciel from the sound of her voice. Sure enough, I see her pink lab coat billowing in the wind from my angle lying down. I look up a bit higher to see her face.
"How did you manage to find me here?"
"I asked around and found out that you crawled out of the window. I noticed that you liked to spend your time on the roof of the Resistance Base a hundred years ago." She knows me a lot better than I thought. Some of the things she knows about me scares me sometimes. If I didn't know she was so busy a century ago, then I'd go as far to say as she was stalking me.
"Wait, that doesn't explain how you got here. Did you crawl through the window and climb up here as well?" Somehow I don't exactly see Ciel doing that.
"There's a ladder that leads up here in the hallway that serves as an emergency exit. Haven't you noticed that yet?" I sit up and follow the direction that her finger is pointing to an open hatch. Oh, well, that will be useful the next time I feel like coming up here. "Anyway, why do you like to go out so much?"
"I like to get some fresh air when I'm thinking."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing much in particular. I just let my mind wander. Too much thinking just gets me confused and my brain twitches." Ciel accepts my answer and I lie down to continue my train of thoughts and Ciel sits down beside me. Have I done anything in the past centuries that doesn't involve fighting in some way?
"This is a beautiful day isn't it?"
"Ungh." Even then, I still can't do my job properly. I failed to defeat Iris in time to protect Ciel. I know she's recovered now, but she might not be so lucky next time.
"The sky is so clear and the way the sun illuminates the clouds…"
"Uh-huh…" If I had killed Iris, then that doesn't make me any better than Weil and his minions. I couldn't have won either way. I just hope that I'll be able to bring Iris back to her senses the next time we meet.
"Do you think X is more attractive than me?"
"Sure…" Things aren't looking up for me right now. First there's the probl- "Wait, WHAT!?" After processing what Ciel's question was and realizing how I answered it. I have to say something fast. "T-That's not what I meant! I wasn't p-paying attention."
"I know. I asked you the question to see how deep in thought you were." Ciel sighs and looks at the sky before turning her head down to me. "What were you thinking about? It should have been pretty important to keep you occupied like that."
"I was just wondering if I was good for anything other than fighting." Ciel seems shocked to hear my answer. "I just don't think that all the battles that I fought have been able to get us closer to that dream of peace that you, me, and everyone else who believes in our cause share."
"Do you really believe that I love you because you can fight? You fight to protect people and you're an inspiration. A killing machine doesn't inspire reploids and humans to try and form a closer bond. Things between reploids and humans are a lot better than they were centuries back and I'm sure you'll see that once we defeat Weil and the Robot Masters." I guess she does have a point there. A hundred years ago, humans and reploids weren't often seen in the same room together, but things seem to be a bit on edge lately. "Also, you're a great person to talk to when you're paying attention."
"Thanks. When I'm in doubt, you always seem to be able to find a way to make me feel better." I look up at Ciel and she smiles. She's panting quite a bit, must be after that long monologue that she just gave. Still, she looks kind of sick. "Are you sure that you're okay? You seem to be having trouble breathing."
"I'm perfectly fine. It's just… it's getting harder to breathe… since we're so high up." I completely forgot about that!
"We better go back." I stand up from my position and grab Ciel's hand. I put my hand on her back to support her as she gradually gets up while panting. A gale of gust slams into the two of us and the whole airship tilts. Ciel loses her balance and drags me down with her, almost sending the two of us off the edge.
I dig the nails of my free hand onto the surface of the airship while grabbing onto Ciel with my other hand. The wind dies down and the airship's angle returns to normal. What a relief, I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on. Wait, I feel shaking. Is there an earthquake? Oh, right, we're in the air. That wouldn't affect us.
I look at my arms to find Ciel's head burrowed into them with her arms wrapped around my waist and is shaking with fear. I know that was a bit scary, my heart rate doubled for a second as well, but she shouldn't be that scared. "Ciel, what's wrong?"
"Well, it's kind of embarrassing." Ciel lifts hear head away for a moment. Now I feel kind of cold. "I have a fear of heights. I didn't mind until I looked down and saw how high up we are."
"Wait, if you are afraid of heights, then why did you come up here?"
"I wanted to see you." Ciel's terrified of heights and knows that she would have trouble breathing, but she ignored all of that just to see me? She's still shaking a bit. I need to try and calm her down.
"You have nothing to be afraid of, I won't let you fall." Ciel nods a bit and stops shaking, although her lips and hands are still trembling. I need to find a way to take her mind off of how high up we are. An idea enters my mind and without thinking twice, I completely annihilate the distance between my lips and Ciel's.
At first, she whimpers from surprise. I guess I was a bit too sudden. I hold her hands with my own and notice that they stopped trembling. I let go of her hands and wrap it behind her neck to try and pull her closer, but I feel something pushing against my chest. The next thing I knew, the two of us were broken apart.
"Let's continue this inside before I die from a lack of oxygen." That was why she pushed me away! That's a relief. I thought that I had bad breath or something. I walk towards the edge of the airship. "Wait, where are you going?"
"I'm going back the same way I came in."
"It's a lot safer to just come with me." She opens the hatch again. Well, I suppose I could, but where's the fun in that?
"I find it more entertaining to do things the unsafe way." Ciel just shakes her head knowingly at my comment and climb down while slide down the airship.
-----------POV Shift: Normal-----------
Cafeteria
"Anyways, I asked for pictures of the wounds of the injured soldiers and noticed something interesting." Harpuia opens an envelope and slams it down on the table, sending pictures scattering in every direction. "I want the two of you to look at these and tell me if you notice anything strange."
There are no sounds for two full minutes other than chewing before Fefnir breaks the silence. "Oh, sorry, were you talking to us?"
"You two are the only ones here." Fefnir and Leviathan continue eating while Harpuia talks, irritating the usually calm reploid. CAN YOU TWO STOP EATING AND LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!?"
"You don't have to be so snippy about it. I didn't get to eat breakfast yet, you know?" Leviathan puts aside her fork and takes a glance at the pictures. "Alright, I think I see it. Those pants don't match that jacket."
"I'm not talking about fashion. I'm talking about the injuries." The two other Guardians continue staring for about thirty seconds before what's left of Harpuia's patience snaps. "Alright, forget it, I'll just tell you. All the soldiers here have slash wounds, most likely from claws."
"Yeah, so what's your point? There are plenty of close-distance mechaniloids that are capable of producing scars like these." Fefnir continues stuffing meat down his mouth while talking, causing a bit of sauce to drip down his chin before he wipes it away with a napkin.
"Well, this wouldn't be so strange, but there are only claw wounds. No bullet wounds or any other type of wounds whatsoever."
"So what exactly are you trying to say?" Fefnir asks slowly while chewing his meat.
"Are you two trying to annoy me by trying to pretend to not notice the strangeness of this or do you two just not see what I'm seeing?" Harpuia's eyebrows almost twitch as he says this.
"I didn't really sleep well last night, so my processor hasn't been doing its job properly so far. As for Fefnir…" Leviathan takes a look at the red reploid stuffing his mouth with food. "Well, he's just Fefnir."
"Hey! What exactly are you trying to imply by saying that?"
"If you can't figure that out, then you've just proved my point."
"Look, you know what? I can obviously tell that you two aren't going to understand what I'm suspecting until I say it out loud."
"Then why don't you just say it instead of beating around the bush so much?" Leviathan interrupts Harpuia, causing his eyebrows to twitch rapidly.
"Alright, so anyways, here's everything we know. First, all the mechaniloids and Guardians were taken out by the time anyone got to the area. Secondly, these marks are found on both the mechaniloids and the Guardians that were involved in the battle. Lastly, the bodies of the Guardians and mechaniloids weren't close enough for melee combat."
"That means that there was a third party involved in the battle." Leviathan finished Harpuia's sentence for him.
"Now you finally get it. Well, I better talk to Prairie and Ciel about this. The two of you should just eat, rest and do whatever else the two of you need to do to recover your energy. Trying to start a conversation with the two of you right now is like teaching a pantheon how to cook."
"You tried to do that?" This catches Leviathan's attention.
"Yes, and I gave up after ten minutes. Just be glad I have more faith in the two of you than in pantheons." Harpuia stands up and sweep up all the photos on the table with his arms and put them back into the manila colored envelope. After accomplishing his task, he leaves Leviathan and Fefnir alone in the cafeteria.
"I don't see why he's so worried about that."
"Well, you see…" Leviathan looks at Fefnir picking at his food before deciding to give up explaining to the hotheaded reploid why Harpuia's worried. "Never mind, just pass me the pepper."
-----------POV Shift: Aile-----------
Aile's Cell
How long have I been trapped here? Hours? Days? Weeks? There's no way I can tell here. The walls completely sealed, cutting off all traces of sunlight. I'm losing track of when I'm conscious and when I'm unconscious. How much longer do I have to remain here and what do they have planned for me?
Pandora just told me Vent's not coming after me anymore, so does that mean he's dead? Vent's stubborn and he never gives up, so the only way for him to not be able to come after me is if he's been killed. I won't be able to answer all these questions as long as I'm stuck in here and I don't know if what I'm hearing from them is the truth or just lies.
This place is so cold and I feel so alone. I've run my hand through every inch of the wall that I can reach to look for a weak spot, anything that I might be able to use to escape, but nothing's worked out so far.
The longer I stay here, the more I can feel my sanity slowly getting stripped away. Is that what they want to achieve: to wait until I'm insane and then turn me to their side? I have to remain strong. If Vent still is alive somehow, then he'll no doubt try to come after me and put himself in danger.
I have to escape from here before he gets himself killed. I won't give up, because I know that's what he would do. No matter how dark things get, I can always remember you, Vent, to keep in touch with my sanity. This is one thing that I can't fail to do. If I lose now, then it could be the end for the both of us.
Things just seem so different without him around. Vent, you better be okay by the time that I escape from here or else I won't forgive you. Wait, I hear the sound of the doors creaking, Pandora's here!
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about her now. Apart of me hates her because of the fact that she's become my warden and of her affair with Vent which I seem to happen to have walked in on. Still, having her here is better than having no contact, and I sure don't want to have Prometheus, Phantom or Iris as my warden instead.
"What do you want?" I manage to mutter weakly. I haven't been able to stomach the food that she brought me because it tasted like crap, but the lack of nutrition is taking its toll on me. At least that's one way to figure out how long I've been here.
"The master wants to speak with you, follow me." Pandora opens the doors wider to invite me out of this prison. I gradually stand up, although my legs feel a bit weak from sitting here for so long.
Pandora beckons for me to follow her out and I comply, anything to get out of this prison. She isn't even looking in my direction as she starts leading me past the long hallway. She's completely defenseless if I try to attack right now, all I need is to knock her out in one shot, but I don't have my biometals with me. It's better not to risk it, they'll probably catch me if I try anything like that.
Wait! Why am I even thinking about such a dirty tactic like that? I look at my hands and notice that they're shaking from fear. Fear of what I'm slowly becoming. If I do that, then I'll be no better than any of them. I have to watch out for any thoughts like that. Pandora stops and I almost bump into her while lost in my thoughts.
I look ahead to see an old man sitting down on a chair surrounded by Phantom, a brown haired girl and Prometheus. I'm guessing that the old man is Model W or Weil as he was called in the past and the girl must be Iris, the person who stopped Vent.
"Aile, what would you say if I offered you a chance to get out of your prison?"
-----------POV Shift: Normal-----------
"We've managed to locate seven more hidden files that haven't been accessed in the last few centuries." Shadowman scans Model Z while Freezeman scans Model O. "Wily definitely left something in this huge chunk of data for us."
"What about the other hidden files that you found?"
"They turned out to be empty. I guess Wily didn't want anyone other than us or himself to be able to see these hidden data."
"Empty. Empty. Empty." Shadowman browses through the files with a growing lethargy, almost abandoning hope of finding anything of interest. "Wait! This one has a password encryption on it."
"Try typing in Robot Masters." Shademan suggests to Shadowman and the sound of clicking fills the room as they all wait.
There's a blaring sound from the computer. "Access Denied."
"What else could he have put? Try Albert Wily, Skull Castle, Thomas Light, and Wily Wars." Shadowman types in all the suggested passwords at a rapid pace, but none of them work.
"Ac-ac-ac-ac-access denied."
"Does Wily expect us to be a bunch of mind readers? I'll type the passwords myself. It will be faster that way." Shadowman moves away from the computer to let Shademan take over. He starts typing everything that comes to mind that is vaguely connected to Dr. Wily.
"Ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac-access denied."
"Wait! I think I remember a password that Wily always used for encrypted files like this! Try nofuture, without the space between the words." Shademan does that and this time, there's a successful pinging sound, the kind of pinging sound that a thief would want to hear while attempting to break into a bank.
"Access granted."
"Yes! We've finally found something." Shademan scans the data himself but is unable to read it. "The data here's fragmented, that means there must be another piece somewhere else. Wait, here's one message that isn't fragmented. Once the hardware and the software are put together, the following result is a complete robot. If Model Z contains the software of Zero and Model O contains the hardware…" Shademan turns his head to Freezeman. "Continue checking Model O."
"Right." Freezeman resumes his task after pausing it to see the others trying to open the encrypted file of Model Z. "I found another encrypted file!"
"Use the same password that unlocked the hidden file of Model Z." Freezeman obeys Shademan's command, and this time, the Robot Masters were relieved that it wasn't another access denied.
"Download the files onto our hard drive and piece it together." A downloading screen appears and slowly begins filling up. "At this rate, it will take an hour before it's done!" Shademan growls impatiently and sits back onto his throne.
The door opens and Burnerman enters the room. "Shademan, the kid's awake and requests an audience with you."
"What do you mean the kid's awake? What happened to my garden!? You brought him out just to ruin my garden, didn't you? I always knew that you were jealous." Plantman approaches Burnerman.
"There's nothing of your garden to be jealous of! If I had the chance, I'd burn it to the ground."
"That just furthermore proves the fact that you're jealous."
"ENOUGH! Bring in the kid and let's hear what he has to say." Burnerman exits the room and comes back in with Vent. "Alright, kid, this better be good. We're doing something important right now."
"I want you to tell me everything you know about Model W." Vent declares at the leader of the Robot Masters.
"And why would we want to do something like that?" Vent almost pauses a bit, realizing the flaws of his plan.
"Model W's a problem to all of you, right? If I go in to attack their base, I can at least slow them down and give you enough time to do whatever you're doing." Vent bites his lips as he makes this offer. I know that all I'm doing is helping one tyrant defeat another, but if that's what it takes to save her…
"That's a tempting offer, but you're overestimating yourself. We saw you get defeated by your own friend. You don't have the strength or the resolve it takes to fight them."
"Fine, then just give me back my biometals and I'll find them myself." Shademan almost chuckles at Vent's rashness.
"Tell me, where are you going to go? Are you just going to wander the world purposeless until by some miracle, you manage to locate a sign of them? If you go back to the Guardians, they're in no shape to send out a rescue party on a suicide mission."
"What do you suggest I do?" Vent snaps impatiently. "Wait until they show up? By that time it might already be too late to save Aile!"
"Alright, we'll help you." Shademan points to a table with the five remaining biometals. "I still need to hold on to the other two for now. If you aren't strong enough to be a threat, then we'll make you stronger. Freezeman, do you mind gauging his strength?"
"I haven't fought seriously in a long time. It would be a nice warm up for the next time I go to battle." Freezeman stands up and inspects Vent.
"Burnerman, lead him outside. Shadowman, increase the radius of our radar barrier by fifty meters. I don't want anyone to be able to detect them while they're fighting." Shadowman obeys Shademan's command and all the Robot Masters follow Burnerman and Vent.
"Alright, chosen one, we'll be seeing exactly what you can do."
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Weil's Base
"And what if I replied no?" Aile replies to Weil's offer. This has to be some sort of trap. It would be better to not play along with his mind games.
"There's no reason for not trusting me." Weil replies calmly.
"Everything I know and heard about you seems to be speaking against that." Aile balls her fingers into a fist and starts biting down on her bottom lip, a sign of nervousness.
"The rules are simple. If you defeat one of my subordinates in battle, then I'll allow you freedom to do whatever you want. If you want to escape, then by all means you can go ahead and try, I won't stop you."
"What do you gain out of all this?" Aile asks Weil suspiciously. "This offer seems to be a bit too generous."
"You'll see if you accept my offer." Weil looks at Aile with cold and calculating eyes. "This will be your chance to escape. Despite what you may believe, I do uphold my end of the bargain. This is just to test your usefulness. I don't bother keeping people who are useless to me."
"How does me winning prove that I'm useless to you?"
"I'm offering you a chance for freedom, not telling you how my mind works. What's there to be scared off in this offer?"
This might be my only chance at escape, but I have to be careful to get everything straight before I agree to this. Aile looks at Weil again. "What happens if I lose?"
"If you survive, then you'll be back in your cell and nothing will change." Weil answers patiently.
If I survive? What does he plan to gain from this anyways? Well, I suppose there's no other way and I would go insane if I stayed in that cell any longer. Aile sighs with defeat and looks at the old man sitting on his chair. "Alright, I accept your challenge. Who do I have to fight?"
"I'll be nice and let you choose anyone out of these four."
I get to choose? Well, fighting Phantom and Iris are out of the picture, since I've never fought them before. That only leaves Pandora and Prometheus. Aile looks from Pandora to Prometheus as she weighs her chances. I'm a bit familiar with Pandora's techniques since Vent's usually the one who takes care of Prometheus.
"Fine, I choose to fight her." Aile raises her fingers and points at Pandora.
"Very well, the battle will begin tomorrow twenty four hours from now. I'll give you a chance to prepare yourself."
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I've been doing a bit of thinking with my week of absence from fanficcing. Originally, I had planned to do a few more continuations after this story is over, but I find that my stories are lacking something. Instead, after this is finished, the series will be on hiatus while I write an AU fanfic that I have planned. I think that this seems to be one continuous battle after another, so that's why I'm losing some readers. The new fanfic will focus a bit more on storyline, but we'll get to that once this is done.
Remember to Read and Review!