As Hubert, Asbel, and Alice caught up with the group the princess immediately hung to the captain's side without saying a word. He found this strange but as he had known the princess her entire life he knew when she wasn't in the mood for talking just by looking at her. The captain watched as Alice lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulder which was something she had never done to him before.
They continued down the various hallways that were strangely powered by batteries in coordinating rooms. But not matter what happened, no matter how many monsters they fought, something seemed to be affecting Alice so much that she would return right back to Malik's side once immediate danger was gone.
Eventually they came up to an elevator that would bring them up to the next floor. Although her counting could be off, Alice believed they were currently on the third floor. As everyone packed into the elevator Alice kept herself between Malik and Asbel while she avoided anyone's gaze. Once the elevator doors opened and they came out onto the floor they turned to stand in some kind of circle.
"The monsters in this lab really are strange…" Cheria pointed out. "I've never seen anything like them."
Malik nodded. "I agree; I've haven't seen anything like these monsters myself. However I did hear about something like Fendel conducting new experiments… Perhaps those experiments are being conducted in this laboratory?" The man suggested as he adjusted the coat up onto Alice's shoulders when one of the sleeves had slipped down her arm.
Suddenly there was a low growl and Alice turned to stand face to face with an enormous tiger-like monster. It bore its teeth at her as the saliva dripped down from its top two fangs and just as it went to bite the young princess Malik grabbed the back of the coat and pulled her back into him. "Stay sharp, princess."
The monster spread its wings wide as it let out a ferocious roar and lunged towards Asbel and Sophie who had prepared themselves for a fight. Sophie back stepped four or five time as she dodged each swipe of its claws before she was ready for a counterattack. When it had finished its onslaught of swiped Sophie jumped into the air and came down with a crushing blow to its back right between its two wings.
Asbel slashed across the back ankles of the beast and it growled in pain as it whipped around to be faced with the barrels of Hubert's guns. He fired off the guns and sent the bullets diving into the monster's chest. Alice readied her blade and darted forward while Cheria threw a cascade of knives that lodged themselves into the beast's flank.
The princess jumped onto the beast and pierced the creature's shoulder which caused it to collapse on one side while Malik was able to throw his bladering and cut it across the throat. The beast was finished as fast as it had come into the area and its body was now lying limply on the ground. There was then a slow, steady clicking of heels as a woman stepped out from the elevator at the opposite side of the room. "I'm surprised you managed to kill my darling veres."
As Alice turned to look at the woman she noticed how scary the resemblance between Pascal and this girl was. They had the same hair and eye color however there was a much more mature aura around this woman unlike Pascal who was childish and energetic. "Fourier!" Pascal exclaimed as she ran over to her older sister.
"Good heavens, Pascal!" Fourier began. "Thank goodness it's you. I thought someone was trying to steal my research!" She placed a hand on her hip but didn't give a hug to her younger sister or show any sign of sibling affection. Alice was deeply confused by this as they obviously hadn't seen each other in a long time. It had only been about a week since Alice last saw her brother and she was already tired of being away from him even if he wasn't exactly on their side right now.
Pascal looked surprised as she carried out her conversation with her older sister. "I can't believe you built that veres, sis! You're absolutely amazing!" She praised as she hopped between her feet in front of her sister. Malik was reminded of how Alice reacted to seeing her brother after he would leave on trips to other towns or countries.
The older Amarcian flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. "The veres might have been even more amazing if you and your little friends hadn't destroyed the thing so easily." She replied in a bit of a sour tone. "Anyways, Pascal, what are you doing here with such a large amount of company?" Fourier asked as she turned away from her sister.
"We wanted to ask you about Fendel's valkines cryas." Pascal answered. "We thought that since you were conducting research here that you would know at least where we could find it." She scratched the back of her head. "It's a little important."
Fourier raised an eyebrow. "You mean my research on Forbrannir?" She clarified as she turned back towards her younger sister. "I'll have you know that years of my time have been spent on that research being used in the experiments!" She placed both hands on her hips. "Your work may had been the basis but I worked to improve upon it so your input matters not; the results is the only thing that truly matters."
The other girl smiled. "It's alright, sis." Pascal began. "It's not like I came here to take the credit or fight you for it, sis. I know you've done a bunch of work on it; a lot me than me." She then crossed her arms. "But how smart you are doesn't matter right now; that research you've based yours upon is still flawed."
"And what is that supposed to mean, Pascal?!" Fourier growled as she grew defensive of her work.
Pascal fumbled for words at first but soon she sighed as she couldn't figure out how to explain the situation to her sister. "It would be much easier and faster if I could just show you." Pascal gazed around the ground through squinted eyes. "Does anyone have a small piece of cryas fragment; maybe the size of a little bean?"
Everyone began to carefully search the ground and eventually Sophie picked up a little fragment of a red cryas. "How about this one?" She asked as she handed the bit to Pascal who walked over to Sophie to take the cryas from the young girl.
Pascal took the sample after thanking Sophie and brought it over to a large machine at the front of the room. She placed the cryas fragment on a small panel that transported the bit into a tube behind it. As the cryas began to glow as eleth was being extracted from it, Fourier beamed with her proudness. "Isn't it impressive?" Fourier began happily. "No one before now has been able to properly extract the eleth from a fire cryas so efficiently."
With a sigh Pascal wandered over to a control panel of some sort as Alice watched along with the rest of the group. "Yeah but if you just adjust this the little bit and do this then…" She turned around to everyone. "You all might wanna take a few steps back." She warned them in all seriousness before turning back to the control panel.
Slowly the cryas in the tube began to glow brilliantly as everyone retreated to the back of the room. Asbel darted forward to retrieve Pascal just before the tube exploded and glass was scattered all over the floor. Fourier slowly inched towards the demolished test tube cautiously as Pascal and Asbel pushed themselves back up. "What happened…?"
"Now do you see what I meant by flawed?" Pascal began as she turned to look at her older sister. "The thing with fire cryas is that if too much pressure is added when extracting the eleth then it will start a chain reaction. When reactions begin everything starts to accelerate the swirling of eleth and then soon it goes... BOOM!" She paused for a moment. "With a handheld device you can easily control the amount of pressure and the reaction rates but with something as big as Forbrannir…"
Fourier looked down at the ground with a sigh. "So that's why the work was unfinished…" She muttered to herself quietly.
Pascal nodded. "Yep, I saw where the research was going to end up so I put a stop to it right then and there." She then grew tense. "That's why we need your help so that we can stop the experiments before the entire country is wiped off the map!" She exclaimed. Fourier shook her head and stated that she couldn't tell them. "I know it may be hard for you to tell them so why don't you just tell me where it is so we can tell them."
"Are you making a fool of me, Pascal?" Fourier growled in an ill-temper and Pascal seemed extremely confused. "You said that you saw the whole thing coming and you worked that all out right there in your head?!" She leaned forward. "Do you have any idea how long I spent working on those plans and you just told me that it's e for failure?! You're always trying to top me… Trying to prove yourself better than me. So effortlessly; you always leap right ahead of me with your quick thinking!" She shouted.
The younger sibling seemed extremely hurt by Fourier's explosion but Asbel quickly stepped in to diffuse the situation by switching topics. "Please, Fourier we need to know the location of Forbrannir…" He glanced back at Alice quickly who wasn't really focusing on the conversation but rather Pascal as she approached the Amarcian and attempted to comfort her. "And even without the experiment we're still in great danger. Forbrannir could potentially be drained of its eleth like Gloandi and Duplemar."
She turned her head to Asbel. "What do you mean 'like Gloandi and Duplemar'?" Fourier asked. "I've never heard of anything such as their eleth being drained from those valkines."
Asbel nodded. "Yes we must stop the experiments and the draining of the eleth before we're too late." When he looked to Alice again she was trying to avoid the conversation and hung by Pascal's side as she kept a hand on the other girl's elbow. "So please just tell us where the valkines cryas is." Alice lifted her head from Pascal as she heard the desperation in Asbel's voice and she slowly returned to Captain Malik's.
Everyone bowed to Fourier as she was now beginning to calm down and she sighed. "Alright, I don't know where the valkines is; I'm only helping out with the research itself." There was short pause while everyone's expressions faded into disappointment. "But I can at least point you in the direction of the man who does know where it is; the one calling the shots with the experiment." Asbel inquired as to the name of the man. "He's the chief science officer of Fendel; Kurt Bessel."
Alice looked up as Malik's muscles tensed in his arm. "Did you say Kurt Bessel?" He asked as he took a step forward. "Never thought we'd see each other after such a long time like this…" The captain muttered almost to himself. "Where is he?"
"You can find him at the Ministry of Science in Zavhert but whether or not he's actually there right now is beyond my knowledge." Fourier informed quietly. "But I hope I was still of some help to you…" Asbel thanked the older Amarcian with a short smile. "Do whatever you please; I care not…" She muttered as she stole a quick glance at her younger sister.
Alright everyone so I feel as though I need to find a way to describe Alice's relationships with the characters she doesn't interact with very much. Well with Asbel she sees him like an older brother as Richard is somewhat absent at the time and he's the most approachable of all of them. Malik of course is like a father figure and a source of security as he makes her feel as though no one can hurt her. ALice sees Pascal as an older sister and finds Hubert to be an older brother of some sorts. Then there's Cheria who is somewhat like a mother-figure as she is constantly looking out for everyone and taking care of them. And finally Sophie; although thre isn't much interaction at all I find that I've gotten used to having Alice treat Sophie like a younger sister. ANd so there you have it; all of her relationships with other characters~!