"No, that won't work," Pearl muttered, grabbing the eraser from the side of her desk and rubbing out what she had just sketched onto the blueprint. "Maybe if I configure it like this..."

"What's that?" Pearl turned to see Resina standing at the door of her room, looking at Pearl's desk. "Sorry, the door was open, and I got a little curious. I can go away, if you want."

"No, uh, it's fine," Pearl said, putting her pencil down on the desk before pulling the blueprint off the table and showing it to Resina. "It's, uh, something I'm designing. For my father's project."

"Ah. Well, I can't say I understand all this technical stuff," Resina said, looking over the blueprint. "But I'm surprised someone as young as you is helping your dad out with his work. What's it for, exactly? If you're alright with telling me?"

"It's, uh... well, I'm not sure how much I can tell you about the project. After all, it's technically a Green Ocean project, and I think it might be kinda confidential," Pearl said, moving the blueprint back to her desk. "But what I'm designing, it's, uh - "

Suddenly, pain flared from Pearl's chest as she lurched forward, coughing loudly and uncontrollably. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Resina's face, which had been contorted into a concerned-looking frown.

"Are you okay?" Resina asked. "What's wrong? Is there something I can do?"

"Sorry, it's just... no, there's nothing you can really do. You shouldn't worry yourself about me," Pearl said, wiping up some saliva that had leaked onto her chin as the coughing fit ended. She sat back up and looked at Resina. "Though, thank you for worrying."

"Well, it's the least I can do while I'm staying with you. Really, I should be thanking you and your father for letting me stay here," Resina said. "By the way, is it just you and your father here? No other family or anything?"

"I, uh..." Pearl started to say, trailing off as she looked away. "Mother used to live with us, but..."

"Oh, uh, you don't have to tell me. I'm sorry I asked," Resina said. "I guess it must be lonely, being here by yourself while your dad goes to work."

"It's fine! It's hard for me to leave the house anyways due to my condition, but... it gives me a lot of time to design things for my father and Green Ocean. I'm even considered an employee! Though it is mostly just a remote part-time position, kind of like an internship," Pearl said with a smile. "They even pay for my online schooling. And sometimes, on days when I'm feeling stronger, my father takes me to the lab, and I help him with his work!"

"Wow, an employee of a tech company? At your age?" Resina asked. "I'm impressed! When I was your age, all I did was play around and help in the fields."

"Uh, thanks. Anyways, it's nice to have someone around the house to talk to again, since - " Pearl started to say before she lurched forward once again, going into another coughing fit.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Resina asked, leaning down towards Pearl. "That doesn't look, well..."

"I'm, uh... this is normal, really," Pearl said as the coughs subsided. "Don't worry about me."

"Look, it doesn't seem fine to me," Resina said, crossing her arms across her chest. "How about I whip up something for you? I made it all the time for my sister whenever she was sick and coughing herself into a coma."

"You don't really need to," Pearl said. "I told you, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Least I can do, since you and your dad are letting me stay here for now," Resina said. "It's sweet. A nice mix of tea, honey, and lemon. Always helped whenever my sister or I got a bad cough."

"I... sure, okay," Pearl said. "Thank you."

"No problem," Resina said with a smile, heading out the door of Pearl's room before stopping and looking back. "By the way, you don't mind if I use your kitchen?"

"That's fine," Pearl said. Resina flashed her a thumbs up before walking out the door and closing it behind herself.

Chapter 18: F is for

"Hey, you there?"

"Huh?" Pearl said, shaking herself out of a daze. "What? Do you need something?"

"What do you mean, 'do you need something'? You've been blanking out for the last five minutes or so," Mud said, waving her hand in front of Pearl's face. "Anything wrong?"

"Um... not at the moment, no," Pearl said, looking around. After a nice lunch at a local barbecue joint in Damstel, the two girls had left the town, heading up to whatever was next up along the road to the northern tip of Vale. They had already been walking a few hours, and Damstel had long since faded behind the hills and grasslands of the area. Over the course of the journey, Pearl had become thankful of her robotic body for multiple reasons, the most significant of which were its resistance to the slowly-decreasing temperatures of the area and its inability to get tired.

"Are you sure? Looked like you had one of your flashbacks again," Mud said, turning and continuing down the road. Though Mud obviously wasn't a robot, it seemed that she wasn't any more bothered by the chilly air than Pearl was, and she was able to keep pace in front of Pearl without complaint despite the amount of gear she had in her backpack and on her person. "Did you? Have a flashback, I mean?"

"I, uh... I think so," Pearl said, thinking back as she followed Mud. "It was about your sister and me. A conversation we had."

"Huh," Mud said. "What about?"

"She was curious about something I was designing. From what I can remember of my conversation, it seems as though I was working for Green Ocean," Pearl said, thinking for a moment. "Perhaps as part of their development team? It was for some sort of project, but I can't seem to recall..."

"Huh, you? Hired at a company like that at your age?" Mud asked, rubbing her chin. "Though I guess you are kinda smart. Especially since you supposedly helped make that body of yours."

"I suppose so," Pearl said. "I also seemed to be coughing quite a lot... and apparently, I was often too weak to leave the house."

"Damn. Guess you weren't off too well with your previous body," Mud said. "When I was sick with the cold or something, my sis would make me this weird tea mix to help keep down my cough. Tasted odd, but helped push back the coughs."

"You mean tea with honey and lemon?"

"Yeah! You mean you know it?"

"Actually, uh, Resina offered to make it for me. In that memory, I mean," Pearl said. "I don't remember how it tasted, though..."

"Like I said, probably tasted weird," Mud said, turning back towards Pearl. "Anyway, you remember why she went up to see your dad? That's still a big mystery to me."

"I... I'm not sure, sorry," Pearl said, looking down for a moment. "All I know is that she wanted something of my father or Green Ocean relating to the soul, and that she seemed to be staying with us at the time."

"Huh. Didn't know she was crashing in people's places so often," Mud muttered. "Guess I should thank you for letting her stay at your place."

"Um... you're welcome? If I can be honest, it was most likely my father's decision," Pearl said. "And what do you mean about her crashing in places often? Has she done this before?"

"Eh, kinda a bit of a story. Few weeks ago, I was out in the southern parts of Vale and came across some girl who wanted to be a Huntress," Mud said, pausing for a moment. "I gave her some training and teaching, some stuff happened, and she passed the Beacon exam and now she's going to Beacon. Point is, turns out my sister crashed with her family a few years back before heading up to Vale, and then to Atlas to meet with your dad."

"In that case, it seems you're following the trail she left years ago," Pearl said. "I wonder where it will take you, assuming you get some sort of lead from my father."

"Hopefully I do," Mud said. The two fell silent for a minute, continuing their walk down the road. Then, Mud spoke up again. "Speaking of training, you want any of it?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"You know, your arm thing," Mud said, pointing down at Pearl's right arm. "You said you didn't know how to fight before, right? Well, now that you've got some high-tech super-cannon hiding in your arm, ain't it a good time to learn how to use it?"

"I, uh..." Pearl started to say, trailing off as she looked away for a moment. "I'm not really sure... it's just that I don't really..."

"Look, if you're nervous about using it, we can work that out," Mud said. "Besides, if we do run into some sorta trouble, you'll be better off if you know how to use it, right? I dunno exactly how that cannon of yours works, but I bet the basics of wielding it ain't any different than firing a gun."

"Uh... okay," Pearl said. "But... when? Right now?"

"Sure, unless you got something better to do," Mud said, checking her scroll. "We got plenty of daylight left, and next town shouldn't be too far."

"Um... alright," Pearl said. She concentrated, shifting her arm into its cannon mode. "If it will help, then I don't think I will mind a bit of training..."

"Hey, not here. Put that away," Mud said, gesturing towards Pearl's cannon. "Let's find somewhere away from the road, where we won't be disturbed."

"Sorry," Pearl said, shifting her arm back to normal as she followed Mud into the fields surrounding the road.

"Alright, this place looks good," Mud said, stepping up onto the peak of the hill. She looked back down at Pearl, who was following several meters behind. "I think this'll be a nice spot to figure out what you can do."

"Um... alright," Pearl said, stepping up next to Mud and looking around. Around the two girls was an expanse of grass, sloping down gently towards the base of the hill on all sides. Other than a few large rocks, trees, and other hills, there wasn't really much to the area, besides the road they had been traveling on some ways down the hill. They were close enough that they wouldn't have too much trouble getting back down there quickly, but far away enough that they wouldn't disturb any travelers that might pass by. "So, uh... what should I do? Should I shift my arm into the cannon, or - "

"Yeah, why not?" Mud said, falling backwards and sitting down next to Pearl. After looking around for a moment before pointing downhill. Pearl followed where she was pointing and saw a boulder jutting out of the ground, about as tall as she was. "You see that rock down there? Blast the fuck outta it."

"Um... okay," Pearl said, shifting her arm into its cannon mode. As she felt heat begin to circulate through her body and into her arm, she raised her cannon, pointing it as well as she could at the boulder Mud had pointed out. "Here I go!"

BWAAAAAAAAAaaaam!

Like before, a few moments after she willed it, a beam of blinding light and searing heat burst forth from her arm, speeding outwards towards the rock. However, Pearl hadn't been able to see the impact, if there was any. Instead, the recoil of the blast threw her off of her feet and sent her tumbling backwards, her back hitting the dirt as she fell to the ground. Though it didn't hurt, Pearl still let out a small grunt, pausing for a moment before she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Uh... how was that?" Pearl asked, looking towards Mud.

"See for yourself," Mud said, pointing downhill again. Pearl followed her finger to see a trail of burnt grass running down from her firing position. Said trail missed the boulder entirely, instead veering off a few meters and leading up to a small tree that was further behind it - or rather, what was left of it. Most of the wood had been burned to cinders, and the surrounding grass was burnt and smoldering from the burst of heat that had radiated from the impact zone. "Could probably work on your aim, but fuck, that thing packs a punch."

"Oh, I missed..." Pearl muttered. She looked down at her arm cannon, which was currently cooling down. "I suppose I should have expected some recoil, considering what happened the first time."

"Don't sweat it. I was just as shit when I first started learning how to shoot," Mud said. "Learned fast, though. Had some good teachers."

"Really? Who taught you how to shoot a weapon?" Pearl asked, sitting down beside Mud. "Was it your sister?"

"Well, she kinda got me started. Gave me my first weapon, an old pistol we kept around the house. But it wasn't too long after that when, well..." Mud started to say before trailing off. "Anyways, did most of my training with a group of mercenaries. Called themselves the Gunmetals. Taught me a lot of what I know."

"Huh. I suppose that isn't too surprising, considering your current occupation," Pearl said. "They must be quite skilled, if they were able to teach you to your current state."

"Eh, they're good, but a lot of my shit is self-taught. Especially the stuff I learned after I left the group," Mud said, standing back up and looking down towards Pearl. "Alright, your boomstick's cooled down, right? How about we give that another try?"

"Um... okay, sure," Pearl said, standing up and raising her arm cannon towards the rock again. She felt heat circulating through her body once more as -

"Whoa, hold on there," Mud said, putting a hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"Huh?" Pearl asked, lowering her cannon. The heat pushing towards her arm dissipated through her body as she looked back towards Mud. "What is it? Am I doing something wrong?"

"Yup. You gotta have a proper stance when you shoot, especially when the weapon's as strong as whatever you got on your arm," Mud said, reaching down and pulling Pearl's legs into a more steady stance. "And make sure to brace yourself when you fire, cause that recoil's gonna send you flying if you ain't careful."

"Um, okay, I'll try," Pearl said, placing her left hand on her right arm to steady herself as she aimed towards the boulder. She widened her stance, trying to keep herself as firm as possible against the ground as she felt energy build up in her cannon. "Firing!"

BWAAAAAAAAAaaaam!

This time, instead of sending Pearl tumbling to the ground, the recoil from the blast merely caused her to stumble backwards. She managed to catch herself this time, preventing herself from falling to the ground once more. Then, she looked up to see another line burnt into the grassy plains, this time leading straight into the boulder, which was now smoldering and smoking-hot. A large chunk had been gouged out of the boulder, scattered into fragments of smoldering rock that now surrounded the impact zone.

"Yeah, that's a lot better! And damn, you got a lot of energy in that thing. Don't wanna ever get hit by that," Mud said, looking over Pearl's arm cannon as it started to cool down. "Speaking of, I should probably teach you how to handle that thing safely, shouldn't I?"

"Um... yes, that would probably be the smart thing to do," Pearl said. "To be honest, I think we probably should have gone over safety before we even started firing at targets."

"Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. Not too good with this whole 'teaching' thing yet. But we didn't get hurt though, so all's good," Mud said, sitting back down and gesturing for Pearl to do the same. Pearl sat down next to Mud, reverting her arm back to normal. "Anyways, first thing I learned in safety is that you gotta treat your weapon like it's always loaded. Don't wanna go accidentally firing a gun you thought didn't have anything in it."

"Um... I think my weapon is always loaded, or at least it's always capable of firing as long as I have energy," Pearl said. "And besides, if my shooting is accomplished mentally rather than through the use of a trigger, there should be no chance for me to accidentally fire when I didn't mean to, right?"

"I guess, uh, yeah, you're probably right," Mud said, scratching the back of your head. "Damn. Guess I gotta adapt all this safety shit to your arm cannon stuff, and I don't even know how it works."

"Sorry, I suppose it is somewhat difficult to adjust for something you don't know..."

"Nah, don't say sorry for that. I'm the one who's gotta adjust, not you," Mud said, thinking for a moment. "Anyways, second thing: your cannon's strong as fuck, so make sure that if you're pointing at something, you really wanna see it blown to bits. That includes anything behind and around it, cause if that thing can burn through a Nevermore, it's gonna burn straight through a wall or a bad guy."

"Yes, I guess it is quite strong," Pearl said. "I'm still somewhat nervous about handling it..."

"Yeah, you probably should be. Just be careful with it. Like I said, I don't wanna accidentally end up on the business end of that thing, and I don't think you want that either," Mud said. "Anyways, third thing..."

The two girls continued to discuss weapon safety for a few minutes, making sure Pearl didn't accidentally blow up anything she didn't want to blow up. After that, they spent some more time on target practice, blowing up more boulders and trees in the area before finally heading back down to the road and on towards the next town.

"Alright, your room is up the stairs, third door on the left," the innkeeper said, pausing to take a drink from the glass on the counter. He reached to the back counter and pulled it open before grabbing a key from it and tossing it over to Mud. "We serve breakfast starting at seven in the morning, and I expect you out of the room by ten."

"Thanks," Mud said, snatching the keys out of the air before turning towards Pearl. "Alright, let's head up. It's getting dark already."

"Um, alright," Pearl said, following Mud up the stairs to their room. About an hour prior, the two girls had arrived at the next settlement up the road to the northern tip of Vale, a small village by the name of Arbor. It was a quiet place, surrounded by hills and grasslands to the south and dense forest to the north. After finding the local inn, Pearl and Mud had a quick dinner before renting a room for the night.

"Let's see... third door on the left," Mud muttered, going to the appropriate door and fiddling with the keyhole for a few moments before pushing it open. Pearl peered into the room to see a fairly mundane room, with a small wooden table, two chairs, a pair of beds, a window on the far wall, and not much else. A small bathroom was tucked into the corner, though Pearl doubted she'd need it.

"It looks... fine, I suppose," Pearl said. She walked into the room, sitting down on the nearer of the two beds. "Though I'm unsure as to how much I'll be needing the room, considering..."

"Oh yeah, you can't really sleep, huh?" Mud asked, taking off her backpack and setting it on the table. "Huh. Well, I guess I can stay up with you a bit so you don't have to go wandering around again."

"Um... are you sure?" Pearl asked. "I mean, you still require sleep, don't you? You're not, well, a robot."

"Eh, I can survive with a little less sleep. Not like we gotta get up right at sunrise tomorrow or anything," Mud said, throwing herself onto the other bed. "And besides, it'll just be a few hours. Won't be spending the whole night awake like you."

"Alright, if that's fine with you," Pearl said, turning towards Mud. "Should we head outside, then? It would be more interesting to look around the village rather than staying here."

"Nah, it's getting pretty cold out. Plus, my legs are a bit sore from walking all day," Mud said. Pearl nodded; with her body, she had no problems with temperature nor fatigue, so it had slipped her mind that such things would still affect her companion. "Besides, small place like this? Probably ain't much to see. Everyone's at home resting up for whatever farming or woodcutting or fishing or whatever job they got, so won't be much more to do out there than in here."

"I suppose that's reasonable," Pearl said, looking around the room. "Now that I think about it, your need for rest is the only reason we need to stop every night, right? If you were like me, we could just keep traveling through the night..."

"Eh, not exactly. Ain't just sleep that keeps people holed up at night," Mud said. "Don't wanna go traveling after dark with the Grimm out and about. You ever try to spot a Beowolf at night? All you can see is the two red dots of its eyes, and that's only if they're facing your direction. Way too easy for them to catch you unaware like that."

"I guess that's true. It would be much harder to discern the creatures of Grimm in the dark," Pearl said. She remembered back to earlier in the morning, when she saw the Beowolves running across the grasslands to get to her while she was trying to fix the electric tower. It was day then, but had it been night, she likely would not have been able to even see them unless that targeting system she had used earlier against the Nevermore kicked in. "But there are other ways to detect them, aren't there? I have some sort of targeting system in my head that would likely be able to detect such enemies, and you... well, I suppose you could use your ears?"

"Look, my ears are good, but they ain't a substitute for my eyes. I can hear where stuff's coming from, but that only gives me a ballpark of which direction to shoot," Mud said, before pausing for a moment. "By the way, you said something about a targeting system? What's that about?"

"Oh, have I not mentioned it?" Pearl asked. "It's, uh... well, when I first activated my arm cannon against the Nevermore, it also activated a target designation system. The Nevermore was bright red in my vision, and it gave me much information about it, such as its size and weight. I haven't yet activated it since, though, and I'm unsure as to how to do so."

"Huh. Well, if I had to guess, now that you've figured out your weapons and stuff, it'll probably come up the next time you gotta fight something," Mud said. "Sounds useful, though something like that highlighting your enemies won't mean shit if you can't aim properly."

"Perhaps there's something inside me that could help with that?" Pearl suggested, looking down at her body. "It would be hard to imagine that whoever built my weapons system did not add some sort of aiming module."

"Can't say, but until you find whatever that is, you gotta learn to aim and shoot manually," Mud said. "And since you got all that firepower and all that cooldown between each shot, you gotta make every one count."

"Yes, I realize that," Pearl said, looking down. "Suddenly being able to fight and having to learn how to do so... it feels somewhat overwhelming. I never imagined I would be able to do things like this, especially considering what I remember of my old life was quite peaceful..."

"Yeah, well, can't be too careful when you're out traveling like we are. Better to prepare for a fight than stumble into one blindly," Mud said, sitting up. "You never know when something might -

CRASH!

Suddenly, something crashed through the window, interrupting Mud as it landed on the floor between Mud and Pearl. Pearl looked down to see a red, beeping canister at her feet.

"Get down!"

Before Pearl could react, Mud leaped across the room, tackling Pearl to the ground and pulling her behind the bed she had been sitting on. She opened her mouth to speak -

BOOM!

- but stopped as a sudden pain filled her head, pounding as if threatening to split her metal skull wide open. She saw everything burst into flames, with the bed and Mud being the only barrier between her and the fire that had suddenly engulfed the room. Smoke quickly started to fill the room as Pearl reached up and tried to push at the scorched wooden beam that had fallen and pinned her legs against the ground, only to hiss in pain and pull her arms back when the burning-hot wood burned her palms.

"Help!" Pearl cried out. She attempted to look around, but the smoke from the flames had already filled most of the room, blinding her to anything more than a few feet away. The fire had already spread across the room, and the heat was becoming unbearable. Pearl attempted to cry out once more, only to cough and choke when the thick smoke burned her lungs.

"Pearl!" Pearl heard her mother shout, though the raging flames seemed to drown out her voice. Pearl called out to her, only for the smoke to choke her lungs once more. Her eyes watered from the acrid smoke and ever-increasing heat. Suddenly, a leg came into view out of the thick veil of smoke. Though she could barely keep her eyes open, Pearl locked onto that leg, reaching out as far as she could with the wooden beam pinning her in place and grabbing its ankle.

"Pearl! There - " Pearl's mother started to say before she began coughing, likely from the thick smoke. She came closer, and Pearl was finally able to see her face as she scanned over Pearl's body, eventually falling on the wooden beam pinning her legs. "It's okay, dear, I'll get you out of here!"

With a grunt of effort, Pearl's mother began lifting the wooden beam, ignoring the burns that were forming on her palms and fingers. Pearl felt the weight of the beam come off her legs as she was finally able to pull herself free. She tried to stand up, only to cry out in pain and fall the moment she put any pressure on her legs. Looking back, she saw that her legs had been partially crushed by the beam, bent unnaturally where it had fallen on her.

"Don't worry dear, I've got you," Pearl's mother said, reaching down and picking Pearl up in her arms. She coughed again, taking a moment to recover and steady herself before pushing through the smoke and out the door of Pearl's room. Though Pearl could barely see through the smoke, she could tell that the rest of the house was already practically engulfed in flames, with fire lapping against the walls and furniture and thick smoke filling every open space. She felt Mud carry her down the stairs of the inn, watching as the other people who had been staying in the other rooms fled with them.

"Pearl?! Pearl!" Mud shouted. Pearl suddenly gasped, jumping out of Mud's arms and stumbling onto her own feet. "The hell happened with you?"

"Sorry, I..." Pearl started to say before another headache came over her, causing her to hunch over for a moment and clutch her head. She was having trouble comprehending whatever had happened in her mind. As she regained her bearings, she looked back to see thick smoke billowing out of the room they had been using. "What happened? Are we being attacked? I..."

"We are, so unless you wanna blank out on me again, get your arm thing ready! We probably got someone waiting outside to intercept us," Mud explained as the two girls hurried down the stairs. Pearl watched as Mud grabbed the innkeeper, holding him by the collar of his shirt. "Back exit. Do you have one?"

"Uh... that way," the innkeeper said, pointing towards a hallway further along the wall. Mud nodded, releasing him before gesturing for Pearl to follow. Though Pearl's head still felt like an ax was cutting it open, she obliged, following Mud down the hallway to an unmarked door. Mud raised her rifle, looking back to make sure that Pearl was behind her.

"Let's go," Mud said, kicking the door open. Pearl was about to follow Mud out of the door when she suddenly turned, diving back into the hall and pulling Pearl away from the open doorway. A barrage of bullets poured through the doorway barely a moment later, shattering the door and the wooden wall beyond it. "Damn, they're out there, too."

"Come on out here, ya fuckers!" a voice - an older female, by the sound of it - shouted from outside. "And bring that robot with ya, if you know what's good for ya!"

"Wait, is that..." Mud muttered, pausing for a moment. "Shit. This isn't good."

"Huh? Do you recognize her?" Pearl asked. "Who is it?"

"Stormy Gunmetal. Leader of the Gunmetal mercenaries," Mud said, looking down at Pearl's arm. "Get your cannon out and get ready to fire."

"Okay," Pearl said nervously as she shifted her arm into its cannon form. Her head had been pounding since the flashback she just had, and she didn't have the time nor the concentration to comprehend a lot of what was happening both inside and outside of her head. "I... I'll try."

"Also, take this. When I say your name, pull the pin, count to three, and chuck it out the door as hard as you can," Mud ordered, handing Pearl a brightly-colored grenade. Then, she stepped out into the partially-destroyed doorway. "The hell are you doing here, you bitch?"

"Damn, if it isn't Mud!" Pearl heard the other voice - Stormy Gunmetal - shout back. "Heard the robot was traveling with some sorta mercenary, but I didn't know it'd be you! You find your sister yet, or you still wandering around looking for her?"

"Not yet," Mud said. "So where's Gale and the rest of the crew? Or is this a solo job?"

"Oh, crew's a bit split up, but Gale's around," Stormy said. Though Pearl couldn't see Stormy, she could hear the revving of some sort of machine. "So, where's that robot? I know you've been traveling with it, so it ain't any use denying."

"The fuck you want with her?" Mud asked, glancing back at where Pearl was hiding for a moment. "What do you need with a robot anyways? Didn't think you were the tinkering type. Always stuck to the reliable stuff."

"It's for a job, kid," Stormy said. "Client's looking to retrieve some property, and they reached out for a bit of help. From us."

"Well, I ain't letting you have Pearl!" Mud shouted. Pearl nodded at the signal, pulling the pin on the grenade before counting to three. Then, she stepped into the doorway behind Mud, tossing it over her shoulder as hard as she could.

"Huh, so that's the robot, huh? Looks - "

BANG!

The grenade exploded into a flash of light and sound, cutting off Stormy's remark as Mud looked away and covered her ears. Though Pearl was looking near directly at the flashbang, her eyes were not bothered by the sudden flash of intense light, nor were her ears harmed by the loud sound that accompanied it. Past the explosion, Pearl saw a figure in heavy gray armor stumble back. Said figure had a full helmet covering their face and a large minigun in their hands; Pearl assumed it was Stormy.

"Good job, now let's go!" Mud shouted, grabbing Pearl's hand and pulling her out of the inn and down the street. Pearl looked back at Stormy, who was beginning to recover from the flashbang.

"Should we not fight?" Pearl asked. "We have two people, and she's only one - "

"No. We can't take her like this," Mud said, interrupting Pearl. "Besides, Gale might be - "

"RAAAAUUUGH!"

An ear-piercing scream - that is, if Pearl had regular ears - slammed into the two girls like a shockwave, sending both stumbling. Mud cried out in pain, clapping her hands over her ears as she crumpled to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Pearl asked, reaching down to pick Mud up off the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Her fucking... gah! Her semblance. She shouts really, really loud," Mud muttered, swearing under her breath as she pushed herself onto her feet and raised her rifle at Stormy. She started shooting as she backed away, with Pearl following along, but the bullets merely bounced off Stormy's armor, becoming little more than an annoyance. "Pearl, blast her!"

"Me? But..." Pearl started to say. "I'm not sure if I can..."

"Do it! She can take it!" Mud shouted, continuing to fire upon Stormy. Despite the barrage of bullets, Stormy brought up her minigun, and the barrel began to spin.

"Uh, I'll try," Pearl said. A red glow highlighted Stormy in her vision, much like the Nevermore earlier, and information started to pour into her head.

"Target designation module activated. Combat mode activated. Threat detected. Commencing elimination..."

However, instead of shakily raising her cannon and aiming manually like last time, her body moved on its own, quickly raising her cannon and aiming directly at Stormy almost without her command. Her feet shifted into a sturdier position as she braced her cannon with her other arm, as if on instinct. Heat coursed through her body, gathering at the end of her cannon.

BWAAAAAAAAAaaaam!

"Error. Excess power drain. Combat mode deactivated. Recharging..."

Suddenly, Pearl felt her stance falter as the force of the blast knocked her off her feet, making her fall back-first onto the ground. As she pushed herself up, her head started to scream in pain again and she clutched her skull, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth. When she opened them again, she saw that her cannon blast had landed dead-on against Stormy's chest, pushing her off her feet and through the outer wall of the house behind her while setting both on fire in the process. The now-flaming building began to collapse onto Stormy as scorched beams of wood began falling around them, narrowing their path through the house as the smoke constantly became thicker and thicker.

"Don't worry, Pearl, I'll - " Pearl's mother began to say before she was interrupted by another fit of coughing. Pearl tried to look around, but the thick black smoke had already filled the house, and she could barely see her mother's face, let alone anything else in the room.

"Mother... are we going to..." Pearl started to say, before she too was interrupted by a fit of coughing from the smoke. The heat in the room had reached unbearable levels, and despite being carried in her mother's arms, Pearl felt like she was on the verge of passing out, as if all the energy in her body had left her. She was burning on the inside and outside, with the heat of the growing flames lapping at her skin and her lungs pulling in hot smoke every time she tried to take a breath.

"I just need to find the door," Pearl's mother rasped, looking down at Pearl with a smile as she continued to stumble through the smoke-filled room. After a few long seconds, a doorway came into view, its door cracked slightly open.

"There. A little bit closer," Pearl's mother said, grabbing the door and pulling it open.

CRASH!

"Mother, watch out!" Pearl shouted as she saw the flaming debris fall down towards them. Pearl's mother gasped, and the next thing Pearl knew, she was flying through the air, no longer supported by her mother's arms. The next moment, she hit the ground, tumbling across the floor before quickly coming to a stop. She pushed herself up, looking around for her mother. "Mother? Mother, where are you?!"

"Here..."

"Mother!" Pearl shouted, only to cough on another lungful of smoke and cough. She pulled herself in the direction of the voice she had heard, and eventually, she was able to spot her mother lying down on the floor through the smoke. "Mother, I'm here! Get up, we have to escape!"

"I... I don't think I can..." Pearl's mother whispered in a raspy voice. Pearl looked up to see a large pile of wooden beams and debris heaped onto her mother's back, pinning her in place. Her mother pushed against the ground with her arms, attempting to lift the debris off herself, but wasn't able to budge the pile an inch before collapsing back to the ground. "But you..."

"No, mother!" Pearl shouted, reaching up and pushing at the pile of debris. However, even if her legs weren't broken, she still wouldn't have been able to push it off her mother. "I won't leave you - "

"Go!" Pearl's mother shouted, pushing Pearl away. "I... I'll be fine. You need to go, now!"

"I... I..." Pearl started to say before breathing in yet more smoke, causing her to cough and choke as she gasped for air. "I..."

"You can do it, dear," Pearl's mother said, before she too coughed and choked on the smoke filling the air. The heat was practically scorching Pearl's skin by now. "Go. I... I don't want you to die here."

"I'm sorry..." Pearl muttered as she began to crawl away, using her arms to pull herself along the floor. She had no idea where she was going; the smoke obscured her way forward, and it already hid her mother from sight behind her. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry..."

"The hell are you muttering?!" Mud shouted, snapping Pearl out of her stupor. "We need to get out of here before she can get up!"

"Wha... I..."

"Come on!" Mud shouted, grabbing Pearl's hand and pulling her down the road. A pair of headlights appeared up ahead as a pickup truck rolled into view, and Mud immediately ran in front of the truck, causing the driver, a balding middle-aged man, to stop.

"What are you - " Pearl began to say, only to watch as Mud ran up to the driver's side door, pulling it open and sticking her rifle in the driver's face.

"Out. Now," Mud ordered, pulling the driver out of the truck and throwing him onto the ground before he could respond. She then grabbed Pearl, practically shoving her into the passenger's seat before climbing in herself, closing the door, and hitting the gas.

"Why are we - augh!" Pearl cried out as a hail of bullets pierced through the back window, shattering it. Mud lowered her head and reached to the right, pulling Pearl's head down as well as they drove away. Though one bullet scraped by Pearl's shoulder, she was overall unharmed by the time the bullets had stopped. Looking back through the broken rear window, she saw the armored figure she had blasted standing in the middle of the street with her minigun, just before Mud turned a corner and put her out of sight.

"If Stormy's after you, we gotta get away from here," Mud muttered, looking back through the rearview mirror as they sped away from the inn. Pearl watched as the buildings and houses faded away to dense forest as the road became more and more rugged. "Maybe we can get to the next town up ahead, though I dunno how far that is. And she's definitely gonna follow us."

"Who... what..." Pearl started to say before another bout of pain slammed into her robotic skull. She cried out in pain as she clutched her head, curling up in her seat.

"The hell's going on? Are you okay?" Mud asked, reaching out and grabbing her shoulder. Pearl looked up at the fireman standing over her. Or, at least, she thought it was a fireman; with the heavy smoke and her waning consciousness, she could only see the person's boots as she grabbed onto their ankle.

"I found someone!" the person - a man - said, reaching down and picking Pearl up in his arms before immediately hurrying somewhere. "It's a girl, and she's hurt. I'm bringing her outside; we need medical attention ASAP."

"No... please... go back..." Pearl whispered in a raspy voice, too weak to raise her voice any further. She pointed back at where her mother was, but the fireman ignored her as he carried her through the burning house. Eventually, the smoke and heat began to lessen, eventually giving way to the open night sky as they made their way outside the house.

"Where's medical?!" the fireman shouted as Pearl tried to take a breath, only for her to cough and choke once more. Though the air was no longer filled with smoke, her lungs felt as if they were clogged with soot and burned to cinders. Whenever she tried to draw air into her lungs, she choked and gagged, her chest heaving on every attempt to breathe. "I need oxygen! Where's oxygen?!"

"Right here!" Pearl heard someone else shout as a breathing mask was thrust onto her face. As she tried to draw breath, her eyes fell upon her house behind her, where she had left her mother trapped in the rubble.

It was completely engulfed in flames.

"Stay with me, stay with me!" Pearl heard a voice say. Despite the voice's protests, she felt herself drifting away as she continued to try and draw breath, her entire body aching as her lungs burned inside her chest. Her eyelids started to flutter close as the image of the flaming house burned itself into her mind.

Then, Pearl blacked out.

A/N: And that's chapter 18! Pearl's learning to defend herself, an old mercenary from Mud's past is gunning after Pearl, and it looks like Pearl's new memories are quite a bit more traumatic than before. What'll happen next? Stay tuned!

Anyways, I've passed the first anniversary of when I started writing this story! While Journeys of a Mercenary was first published in June, I actually started writing it in January of 2020, and I only posted the first chapter once I had written up to the end of chapter 12. Here's to more years of this story!

As always, thanks as well to those who have read, followed, and favorited my story. And for those of you still reading, PLEASE don't hesitate to leave a review. I'd love to know what my readers are thinking, and any feedback, criticisms, and comments are appreciated, no matter how small. Anyways, have a nice day!