The village of Altera had been as quiet as ever before now. All the Ponggos were now peacefully asleep in their miniature buildings, as were the team of fighters currently resting there. Elsword's snoring continues to echo throughout the house with no sign of stopping as he slowly tosses and turns while saliva gradually slips off his open mouth. Aisha and Rena were both as quiet as they could be in their neat beds on the opposite side of Elsword's room, the Mage's heavy breathing could just barely have been heard but the sound was drowned out by Elsword's snoring. Chung's bed, on the right side of the large bedroom, was empty. The Guardian had left before the team had decided to sleep to train during the night. Raven, on the left side of the room, grimaced angrily and whispered and muttered with fright during his sleep as the nightmares simply wouldn't leave him be. The Queen was lying normally on her bed in the other room with her eyes wide open, she wasn't about to sleep just yet. Not with that strange boy lurking silently in her room.
"You are disturbing me with your presence, please leave before I am forcing to take action." Eve states as she sits up in her bed and Moby and Remy awake to hover by her side. She holds Remy close to her chest and pats it softly to make it go back to sleep as a dark figure cackles and slowly steps out of the shadows in the Queen's room, he steps out of the darkness to the point where Eve could only see his face.
"Keh, my sincere apologizes, your highness. Did I wake you up?" Add laughs happily as he sits on his Nasod Dynamos and cocks his head slightly to give a smug and calm look to Eve, the Queen glares at the Tracer and makes no change to her facial expression.
"The way you have snuck into my designated bedroom and spied on me while I rest is quite disturbing. Explain yourself."
"Kuhu…I didn't mean to disturb you…I'm just too intrigued by your existence. That's all. Well, that and of course the codes you have locked away in there." Add speaks with a cheerful tone as he points effortlessly at Eve's core on her forehead. The Queen fails to flinch in the slightest even though the boy's words surprise her.
"You seem to know far more about my race and our codes than the others. Also, I detect that your contraption you are currently sitting on is made entirely out of Nasod technology. You have so far presented yourself as a major threat, who are you?"
"Me? Keheh…I'm just someone who despises your petty race. All you Nasods are useful for your interesting codes. Except from that you're all just a thing of the past!" Add giggles while tormenting Eve with his words, Eve shakes her head and stares determinedly at Add as she stands up and folds her arms.
"You are only right about one thing, you human. Our race seems to be 'a thing of the past' to many right now, however I shall soon change that. The Nasods are a proud, strong and wonderful race, we were as mighty as humans back when our race strived. We were an intelligent and sophisticated race, and as their Queen I shall-"
"…bring them back? Is that what you were going to say? Kahaha! You pathetic, misguided fool! You really think that your race can ever be brought back? You honestly believe you have the power to do that?!"
"…No, I'm not nearly as powerful as I once was. Back when I had my true power no living being would dare to question my authority, however I now realize that whatever power I had before I slept in my capsule is no longer with me. Still…that in no way means that I cannot regain that power back. I am the Queen of all Nasods…it is my duty to restore our race to its former glory, and that is exactly what I shall do. This group of fighters are worthy of guiding me through my journey, they will help me to gradually become stronger. I must be strong…I am the only true Nasod left."
Add shakes his head and grins at the Nasod's hilarious speech, his left eye glows as he stands up from the Dynamos and steps out further from the shadow in Eve's room. He walks ever so slightly closer to the Queen before shoving his hands into his pockets as his smile grows wider, he blows a small part of his white hair out of his eyes before speaking.
"Keh, the resurrection of the Nasods…you surely do seem to care a lot about that. That only makes me more curious…is it in your programming to have the undeniable desire to look at for other Nasods? Or perhaps there's some sort of simulation processing in your mainframe that tricks you into believing that you have emotions or that you can naturally want to do things like this? Keheh…it cannot be real feelings, you know. Nasods don't have that. None of that really matters though…unfortunately for you this team also trusts me, and as long as they do I can continue to analyze your behavior and eventually…" Add trails off quietly as his gaze finally rests on the blue core on Eve's forehead, his left eye glows even brighter. "…get my hands on the interesting codes that you have stored away in that core…"
Eve summons Moby and Remy to her sides as she quickly strides closer to Add until they're only inches apart from each other, the Queen immediately snaps her fingers and allows electrical sparks to dance around her body, transforming her. Her clothing quickly turns into a black battle suit and her hairstyle grows longer. [Code Exotic Attire]
"That shall not be happening." She hisses suddenly, surprising and startling Add. He watches as her pathetic Nasod followers by her side slowly hover closer and closer to him. He had no idea that the Queen had more than one code installed into her…and that she could quickly switch between them. He needed to complete his research on his Nasod Armour before he could face such a powerful Nasod, Add raises his eyebrow as he notices the similarity between both of their black-coloured attire before retreating back into the darkness and leaving the room. He silently walks through the bedroom of the sleeping fighters before reaching the door to the exit, a cold tap on his shoulder sends a shiver up his spine. He quickly turns around to see the stupid Knight called 'Elsword' with his eyes closed, he clumsily struggles to stay on his feet as he wobbles from side to side.
"I'm…the greatest…warrior…ever…" Elsword mutters as he drools while standing up, Add takes a slow step back and frowns angrily.
"Damn it! The idiot must be sleepwalking…but why now?! I need to get out of this place to start my research again!" Add whispers hatefully to himself, Elsword walks slightly closer to the Tracer like a zombie before throwing a flimsy punch.
"Take…this…foul…demons." He whispers and mutters in his sleep as Add dodges the weak punch, the Tracer shakes his head and senses himself being filled up with rage.
"Go back to sleep, you utter moron! Grahh!" He hisses quietly as he summons the Nasod Armour around his fist and punches the Knight in the face, throwing Elsword onto the ground. Add glares at the Knight as he lies on the floor expecting him to wake up and get angry…however he calms down when he sees the Knight simply continue to snore while lying in the middle of the bedroom. Add sighs and walks back over to the door and quietly opens it and steps slowly outside.
"Stupid heavy sleepers." He snaps as he gently closes the door behind him.
"This soup is absolutely delightful! Thank you for so much, Lento." Ara smiles calmly as she sits on a log of wood next to the campfire, Lento and Allegro both sit opposite her while enjoying the warmth of the fire that they had made. Lu kneels in closer to the warmth and holds out her hands, some nights in this camp were incredibly cold.
"No, there's no need to thank us. It was the least we could do for your service." Lento replies without emotion, Allegro quickly nods in agreement to his friend's statement. Lu grabs a marshmallow that had been resting just slightly above the fire, she turns to look at Ara as she gobbles down her first one.
"I didn't see much, but you must have some sort of special ability within you to have killed those creatures in a little amount of time." Lu raises her eyebrow with curiosity as she reaches out to take another marshmallow, Ara lowers her head slightly and blushes.
"W-well…I'm part of the Haan family, we specialize in fast-paced martial arts. All of my fighting skills were taught to me by my older brother, he was one of the best warriors in my homeland."
"Yeah but, there must have been a reason of some sort to make your family so skilled in martial arts? The Guardians from Hamel are pretty strong, from what I heard, because they protect the Guardian Stone."
"…We kind of protect something as well, our family's Moonstone and…"
"Me." A much softer yet more confident-sounding voice speaks to everyone as Ara's mouth closes, Lento and Allegro both widen their eyes as they both become startled by the new voice.
"W-w-who…said that?" Allegro stutters weakly, Ara opens her mouth again to explain to everyone but gets interrupted by Lu.
"Hehe, I could recognize that voice from anywhere! It's good to see you again, Eun." Lu giggles happily as she looks at Ara's hairpin, Lento along with Allegro also direct their vision to the hairpin. Eun lets out a tired sigh before speaking.
"Ah, Master Sourcream…it definitely has been a while since we've seen each other. I didn't really expect you to look like a little girl." Eun says seriously, Lu simply puts on a happy smile and shrugs.
"And I didn't expect you to be someone's pretty hairpin," She replies smugly, Eun sighs another sigh and grumbles.
"Touché."
"Eun…I've heard of that name before. That's the name given to the strange legends of a demonic fox, is it currently sealed away in that?" Lento speaks with slight surprise, Ara nods quickly and rubs the back of her head slowly.
"Yes. My family had sealed Eun in this hairpin for many, many years. It was our duty to make sure that she never hurt anyone with her immense power."
"Although, we've made a contract. I am now to assist her in her journey, I might not be free but I can still have a bit of fun when Ara decides to unleash me."
"Yeah…speaking of contracts…" Lu mutters quietly as she turns away from the campfire and stares at Ciel standing in the distance…and in the cold. Lu sighs and shakes her head in confusion of her servant's sudden and strange acts.
"This might not be the best time to ask…but have I offended your friend by any chance? He seems to be trying to keep his distance from me, I hope I haven't done anything wrong…" Ara whimpers worriedly, Lu simply shakes her head to the girl and stands up.
"No, he's just like that sometimes. He's an idiot but he means well. I'll go have a word with him." Lu replies quickly as she strides towards Ciel, she rubs her arms and breathes heavily as she gets further and further away from the fire just to be greeted by Ciel with his arms closed and staring off into the distant hills. Lu punches his right arm and frowns, Ciel turns his head slowly and looks at her.
"…Something bothering you?" Ciel questions quietly to his master as he unfolds his arms, Lu glares at him angrily.
"Seriously…what's gotten into you? Ever since that martial artist girl has come over you've been acting weirdly. Stop it."
Ciel ignores Lu's command and instead calmly searches his pockets and pulls out a nice-looking, white envelope and hands it to Lu.
"We've got a reply from Altera. They've apparently got a team of fighters passing by who have agreed to assist us."
"…We still don't need help…" Lu huffs irritatedly, Ciel stares at her for a few seconds and shakes his head.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Lu. We will be the ones to defeat Berthe, to show the demons your power, but it wouldn't hurt to have a team behind us just in case."
"Well, fine. Whatever. Just make they don't get in my way. Now…are you going to tell me what you're acting so weird about?"
Ciel simply shakes his head slowly and walks over with Lu to the fire.
"It's nothing."
Add curses and throws punches into the air with anger as the giant gears turn and click around him, he begins to punch his black Dynamos in frustration.
"How the hell did that Nasod do that? Graaaah!" He hisses madly as he starts to kick the Nasod Dynamos instead. A dark, shadowy figure appears behind the Tracer almost instantly. Add turns around quickly to see a cloaked, masked man slowly walk over to him.
"I see someone is having a bit of a tantrum…that's really quite embarrassing actually." The man speaks with a deep voice and random chuckles, Add's left eye begins to glow as he immediately recognizes the voice.
"…It's about time I found you. You promised me your help, remember?"
Indeed I did, and I haven't gone back on my word about it. I shall give you the power that you desire…the power to manipulate time and space."
"Then do it!" Add requests with annoyance, the masked figure shakes his head and his index finger to calm the Tracer down.
"Slow down there for a second…this isn't the kind of thing that I would hand out to just anyone…I want something in return."
"How do I even know you can give me the power I want? You could just be messing with me right now, and I hate it someone does that." Add hisses to the cloaked man as he takes a few threatening steps closer, the cloaked man shows absolutely no indication of fear however. He holds out his right hand in front of him and quickly snaps his fingers.
"Do you truly think I would waste my time with a weakling like you if I didn't mean to make a proper deal?" The cloaked man questions Add irritatedly as a rip in the fabric of time and space tears open behind him, he gives a short chuckle at the shocked expression of Add before snapping his fingers again and closing the portal. Add cackles with delight at what he had just witnessed, he glares at the cloaked man and grins.
"Fine, I believe you now, whoever the hell you are. So, what do you want me to do for it?"
"That's very simple actually. You see, I currently have an extremely boring job that I must carry through with no end in sight. It's not a job I asked for but it's the one I have to do now. For many, many years I've been living in absolute boredom…until I sensed your presence. Watching you so far has been very entertaining, it's the most fun I've had in a while. This deal is one you simply cannot deny because what I want isn't hard at all…I want you to continue to entertain me. Keep crushing the enemies that you come across, that's all."
"You…want to be entertained by me…? By fighting? What the hell do I look like to you, a circus monkey?!"
"That's a nice name for it."
"Shut up!"
"Kuhuhuhu…well, I've given my proposition for this deal…as long as you entertain me with your power for a while longer, just until I've had enough, you'll the power you want. At the end, I'll have something to do other than do my boring job and you get exactly what you desire. It's a win-win, wouldn't you agree?"
"Bah! Fine! I'll do this stupid deal!" Add snaps as he glares at his Nasod Dynamos behind him, the cloaked man gives another chuckle before materializing a yellow core into his right hand and chucking it at Add, the Tracer catches it and stares at the man.
"What the hell are you giving me?"
"A headstart, just to get you going. That's the Nasod King's core, have fun."
Add stares at the core in his hands in disbelief but recognizes its look and the Nasod Dynamos quickly confirms it with a scan, Add opens his mouth to try to say something to this incredibly powerful and strange being but gets cut off by the last words of the cloaked man as he opens up a blue portal and slowly steps through it.
"Oh, and Add. I'll be watching everything you do from this moment on. Don't disappoint." He commands the Tracer before stepping through the portal and returning to the blue abyss…the only home he has ever known.
His head suddenly feels hot and he senses himself becoming dizzy…almost to the point where he almost faints, he holds out his right hand while holding his head with the other as a blue, glowing chair materializes next to him, he immediately drops comfortably into the chair and holds his aching head with both of his hands as he closes his eyes behind the cold mask.
"I…I can't quite put my hand on that person. I can't remember who he is...it's frustrating...such lingering memories bother me, especially on a day like today...I woke up from a pleasant dream but I feel a sense of frustration because I just can't quite remember what the dream was about...strangely…even though we've never met before until now…I feel as though we've encountered before. We couldn't have possibly have crossed paths until but…I have such an odd feeling of déjà vu…who…
…who is he?" Glave asks to himself in confusion.