Chapter 48
Fire and Water.
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The morning three days later brings some unwelcome news to the two gamers. Dave happens to have woken up first, and Mindy is startled awake at his voice.
"What the heck is this?!"
Stirring a bit and blinking in annoyance, Mindy responds with an exasperated tone of her own.
"What? And did you have to go on about it here in bed?"
Dave looks at her, ceasing his muttering as he does so.
"Check your morning pop-ups. There is something beyond annoying going on here."
Hearing his tone more clearly now that she is awake, she sits up and taps the icon in her vision, curiosity sufficiently piqued.
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CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE TRAINED PAST THE ABILITY OF YOUR LEVEL TO SUSTAIN YOUR STATISTICS SPREAD. YOUR BASIC SIX STATS HAVE REACHED THE CAP TOTAL OF TWO HUNDRED, AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BE INCREASED AT THEIR BASE VALUE UNTIL YOU HAVE ACHIEVED A LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE WHICH WOULD ALLOW THAT. CURRENT MILESTONE REQUIRED: LEVEL 100. ACHIEVING THIS WILL ALLOW AN ADDITIONAL 100 POINTS TO BE DISTRIBUTED. ADVISORY: ADDITIONAL EFFORT TO INCREASE STATISTICS WILL CONVERT INTO EXPERIENCE POINTS AT A VERY LOW EXCHANGE RATE. SECONDARY ADVISORY: YOUR POOL OF AVAILABLE STAT POINTS CAN BE PLACED ON STATISTICS, BUT THE BENEFITS WILL NOT BE REALIZED UNTIL YOUR LEVEL ALLOWS THEM TO BE.
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Mindy finds herself scowling but then shrugs.
"Well, it's annoying. But it doesn't stop us from getting more skilled, so whatever I guess. I'm level twenty-nine right now, so it's looking like it is going to be a while."
Dave nods. "Yeah, me too. I'm mostly just irritated because if I'd known this was a thing I'd have spent the damn points."
She can't find any holes in his logic but isn't nearly as annoyed about it as he seems to be.
"So when we reach a hundred, we'll already have the points available if we haven't spent them on anything else already. Betting they can get spent on skills and abilities too. Today we'll need to get busy. Now that we own the place, it's worth it to put real effort into it."
Dave nods, thinking back to the farce that was the purchasing of this place, as well as getting the water and power turned back on. The entirety of the transport industry is so desperate to get out of here that they had let the whole place go for the cost of the back taxes and about twenty thousand in US dollars worth of yen. After that was all done, Kochou had done some quick messing about in the records for the utilities and fixed it so that the bills are paid automatically from her own MBI card. Then Mindy had set up a Fidelius charm with what they had thought would be himself as the secret keeper. Apparently, if you are hiding a secret in your soul and you share a soul... Yeah. But anyway, thanks to Kochou if any inspectors come out they'll get redirected to the warehouse across the street so they don't get too irritated when they can't find the place.
"We have a dozen offices here, and any one of them could probably sleep four pretty easily with a pair of bunk beds. I'll go ahead and set up six of them and get the break room straightened out into an actual kitchen today. We'll need a couple two or three refrigerators and a couple ovens, probably. Maybe a couple of microwaves and a deep freeze? We'll also need a whole slew of sheets, blankets, and pillows. Some tables and chairs, that kind of thing. Probably worth it to rent a truck today and just plan on dropping a ton of money, get this done as soon as possible.
Mindy nods, yawning and stretching.
"Sure. In like another hour or three. Gonna lay down again for a bit first."
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S.S.S.S.S.S
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When she finally staggers out of bed at eleven, Dave is nearly done. Six rooms kitted out as dorm rooms for four complete with dressers, the men's and women's bathrooms are now both labeled unisex and have each lost a pair of their toilets in their six stalls a piece in favor of four showers being installed, two per bathroom.
Finally, he had gotten together with Kochou and they had simply ordered online for delivery the appliances and mattresses, as well as bedding, that they will be needing. Most of the big stuff will be getting delivered by noon tomorrow to the empty warehouse across the street, and the few dribs and drabs that they will be waiting on are expected to come in within the week, again all delivered to the empty place across the street.
Apparently, local businesses that aren't MBI are downright desperate to make a good impression on people. Dave isn't sure if it's a survival response of the businesses themselves as they are finding themselves suddenly small fish in a pond with a Kraken, or if the Japanese are just that much better at getting things done because he never remembers getting stuff delivered this fast in the states.
He could be swimming in sewage and he still doubts he could get a plumber over this fast back home.
"Hey, lazybones. Welcome to the land of the living, was expecting you up hours ago."
She motions toward him absently as she digs around in the fridge trunk for any kind of leftovers.
"Sorry. Just tired. I was up until like three last night trying to get Kochou to throw a decent punch."
Dave takes pity on the poor alien, who is in the room and now blushing in extreme amounts of embarrassment.
"Let's be fair here, a normal combatant's version of a decent punch and your version aren't exactly similar most of the time. You lecture me on my form semi-regularly."
She rolls her eyes as she gulps down half a glass of milk, speaking again when she has set it to the side and wiped her face off with her forearm.
"That's because semi-regularly your form sucks balls, Dave. Just because you can do something the wrong way and have it not hurt you isn't a reason to keep doing it the wrong fuck 'n way. Especially when it always seems like we're taking on the role of combat instructors. You need to be able to do it the right way every damn time so you can teach people that don't have steel reinforcement on their bones how to do it without busting every knuckle in their hand the first time they hit a skull with it."
Dave smirks at Kochou, who takes in his look and realizes that he had spurred Mindy on to this tirade for the express purpose of making her feel a little better. She blushes again at the thought that these people were both going so far out of their way for her. And she once again has to hide her frustration. Either one or both of them, if their 'soul melding' was true, would make an absolutely fantastic Ashikabi. They care, they are more than happy to show affection, they are thoughtful and giving without expectation. But even if they were sure they could stay, which they claim they can't, she still runs face-first into the frustration that is the fact that they don't want a Sekirei. They don't want to be Ashikabi. They have made it clear, more than clear, that they are completely uninterested in dedicating themselves to anyone but each other.
She'd find it incredibly romantic if she wasn't falling hard for both of them. She looks up from her musing as Dave continues.
"So, anyway. We'll have places to put people tomorrow evening, but for tonight I was thinking maybe we get Kochou here kitted out some. This idea that she is going to be having to fight for her life against super-powered opponents while wearing a fetish librarian outfit and wielding what, a laptop? Is pretty much the worst idea I've ever heard of."
Mindy nods, she'd been thinking along the same lines, really.
"Any thoughts on that?"
Dave shrugs. "Well, for the armor I was thinking we should probably keep it light if we can. Everything about these Sekirei that I've heard so far leads me to think that by and large, they're a bunch of glass cannons. They hit hard, and they hit fast. But for defense they mostly just get out of the way because the power levels on some of them are so immense that it wouldn't matter what armor we gave her, getting hit would be a mistake. I was considering breaking out that trunk of Acromantula chitin that we saved for ourselves and see if it will take a repair rune. If it does, we can form that stuff for the hardpoints and use some of that dragon hide for the base layer. Make something a lot like ours except a bit less sturdy, quite a bit lighter, and hopefully self-repairing. And I was also thinking about working on that rune scheme for a flight harness."
He pauses, glancing speculatively at the girl in question, a smile dancing about his lips. He misses her response of blushing and looking down at the table.
Mindy doesn't, but she doesn't bring it up. Of course, the girl likes Dave. Dave's a great guy. She acts on that, then there is likely to be blood in the streets. But she is welcome to all the warm fuzzy feelings that she wants until she finds her own man.
Hell, maybe being around Dave for a while will teach her that there are better options than just the first person that pays attention to you.
"As for a weapon for her, I was considering a few options. But the obvious one is simple. How many of those Kodan energy pistols did we loot? Had to have been at least ninety of the suckers. It wouldn't take much to mount a couple of those on a platform with a basic setup for remote use. Something like your spearheads only set up for firing. Built-in camera for targeting. Plus, nothing says it has to be small. We set that up into a slab of metal that she can also use as a shield, make sure there are runes on it to shrink it down to something that'd fit in a pocket, and I see some potential for somebody that can remote access video feeds."
Kochou looks interested but unconvinced.
"You mean for me to use something like her rune-based telekinesis as a remote weapon? Are we sure I can even use runes?"
Mindy shrugs. "Check your status page. We know you have health and stamina, what else do you have for resource pools?"
After taking a closer look, the woman nods.
"In addition to health and stamina, I also have magic points and psychic energy. There is a listing for aura, but I don't seem to have anything there."
Dave smirks. "Well, isn't that just interesting? Sounds like we have a few new books for you to read. You'll be going wandless, so it's not likely that you'll be able to do much with it in combat anytime soon, but Arithmancy and runes? Yeah, I could see you being good with those. You have a very analytical way of looking at things that should serve you well."
Dave stands to get out the library trunk and the copier they put together. They bought spares in most of the magic books, but there isn't any good reason to have the new people eating them when they could just as easily make copies. In fact, once they have copies that aren't magically protected from copying charms, making new ones should be pretty easy.
Kochou is lost in her thoughts, her eyes unblinking as they take in the view of Dave leaned down over a trunk. She shakes her head and tries to center herself.
These two may be perfect for her, at least her body is firmly convinced of that. But again, they aren't interested. It's a fairly crushing realization, but it is one she has had a couple of days to get used to now.
Dave sets the printer on the table and starts pulling out reams of paper as well as a few dozen texts.
"So, we haven't told you how we learn the basics of stuff. Ever played an RPG? Bought a book to learn a skill and then once you've used the book, it disappears and instead of a book in your inventory, you have a new skill, or spell, or whatever? Same deal, but we don't want to throw away the originals like that, so we have this setup. First, we need digital copies of all of these, and the scanner/printer here should be useful for that. Then once we can print off the stuff, we'll have probably around a hundred books we'll need you to eat, probably more, between the random tech stuff and the magical texts." He pauses, then looks at the woman hopefully. "I don't suppose you'd like to spend a few hours a day for the next while getting stuff sorted out digitally? Sounds like it would be right up your alley." He stops and hands her the one non-magical book he had bothered to get out with a big smile on his face.
"Here, not that I expect to put you to work with a saw and hammer or anything, but this will give you an idea what I'm talking about." With that, he hands her a book on modern carpentry. "Open it up, and since you're in the group it should give you the option to just dump the knowledge in your brain."
She looks skeptical right up until the book is breaking apart into little motes of light and filling her skull with its contents. Then her beaming smile is focused on his back as he is making his way towards the sink. They always clean everything and put it back in their inventory before they move on to anything else for the day. They don't make a big deal about it, but it's obvious to her why. They don't have any faith that they'll be here tomorrow, and they don't want all their stuff to get left behind. So nothing is left out that isn't being used.
"Anyway, I am going to be spending some time working on the training area down below. Some wooden training dummies, a couple of sparring rings, that kind of thing." With that, Dave sets his few dishes in the drainboard and heads out of the room.
Mindy gives Kochou a look of curiosity spliced with a gentle warning, but she doesn't get too obnoxious.
"You okay with that? Know how to do it, that kind of thing? He wasn't really making any demands, he just figured you would want the knowledge enough to spend some time screwing around with it."
The alien shakes her head. "No, this is fine." She looks at Mindy with awe in her voice. "Do you really think I could learn magic?"
Mindy is heading to the sink with her own implements now.
"If you have Magical Energy in you, then I would guess that yeah. You can learn it. But it'll probably take you a while to get too good at it, wands are a tool used to help focus your intent, and without having one for you, you'll be going at it the hard way."
She sighs. "I suspect that Dave was right, you'll probably get the most use out of Arithmancy and Runes. But all of it is worth learning. You get started on that, and by dinner, we should have a better idea of when we can go prowling. We'd like to have this place set up for them before we start inviting more people back here. Betting tomorrow night."
She makes her way toward the doorway, though she softly calls out over her shoulder once she has verified that Dave isn't still up here somewhere.
"For what it might be worth to you? If our situation was different? Things with you might be different. But without the ability to take anyone with us, it isn't really worth the effort to even figure out how it might work. But even still, I'm sorry." Then she walks out the door, without even a look back.
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S.S.S.S.S.S
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Noon, two days later.
"Can I just say how weird it is that we are out here poking around, and she stayed back at the warehouse to screw around with runes?"
Mindy can't help the slight whine as the two make their way. They are both wearing their full armor setup, though they are seemingly unarmed at the moment. Dave snickers.
"Like you were any different when you first picked up runes. Let her have her fun, I'm getting the impression that she has been largely an afterthought most of her life. If she wants to spend some time learning something new that will let her stand out in the crowd a bit, I say let her."
Mindy nods, though she lowers her voice to the point it won't be heard outside of the helmet.
"You know she is crushing on you pretty hard, right?"
Dave nods, though his words aren't entirely in agreement.
"On us, I think. I can see it in her eyes when she touches you too. Must have something to do with our 'soul-bonded' status. But yeah, I know."
Mindy glances right and left as she makes her way across the street.
"Okay, just wanted to make sure you knew. Given what the one I saw in the anime looked like, I think her biology is being a bit irritable with her right now. So just be advised."
Dave peers interested down an alleyway.
"Irritable how? Do we need to turn her loose? I don't want to hurt her."
Mindy shakes her head. "No, well, I don't think so, anyway. Though it might be best if we start wearing armor for sparring. A moment of weakness on her part and she could put herself in a pretty shitty spot I think."
The two stop on a dime as they hear an unusual battle cry screamed out about a block away.
"WATER CELEBRATION!"
This is followed by a sound as though a dozen fire hydrants are suddenly turned loose on one another. The two immediately start sprinting in that direction, and they see a pair locked in combat. One is gray-haired, wearing largely black and with the lower half of their face covered. That one is wreathed in flames. The other appears to be wearing a very nice if fairly dated dress in a combination of white, black, some significant cleavage, and legs that are completely visible with only the garters and long stockings in the way of the view. This one, a taller blonde woman, is surrounded by streamers of water that seem to be forming out of the ether for her next attack.
Around them, the normal populace is stuck in fear for their lives, some running, others petrified and unable to flee. Finally, half-hidden under a bench is a third young woman. Drips constantly running off of her from what must have been one of the water user's attacks.
Mindy flings herself towards the one hiding under the bench, then turns and screams at the other two.
"Hey! Take this shit somewhere else, you're wrecking the place, hurting business, and hurting people! Keep it up, and we're gonna go a few rounds you inconsiderate fucking dumb-ass cunts!"
The one in black looks her way, and seeing the huddled form hiding under the bench the fire that surrounds them blinks out. A voice that is maybe trying a little too hard to be manly speaks out.
"Is she okay? It wasn't my intention to..."
The other one isn't having it.
"Homura! Lest thine eyes lose their way in this conflict, mayhaps thou shouldst consider thine foe!"
In response to that, something made of metal whizzes by her legs, tangles itself in the woman's cape that is part of her dress ensemble and then hauls her thirty feet in the air like so much dirty laundry while she screams in outrage and 'Homura' stands there looking largely confused.
Dave, having arrived, makes his way over to Mindy.
"Just making friends all over, are we?"
She rolls her eyes.
"These idiots were wrecking the damn market, what the hell was I supposed to do?" She turns to the girl hiding under the bench. "Hi there. I'm Mindy and this is Dave. Do you need any help?"
The sneeze from under the bench at least verifies that the girl is alive, even if she is likely to be coming down with something, soaked through in the cold as she is. Finally, after nearly a minute, there is a tentative voice from below.
"...Yes please."
Mindy hauls the girl out from under the bench and takes a look at her. She is soaked to the bone, but that much they had known was coming. The fact that her face has some redness to it that could likely be from a face full of steam tells the rest of the story. She is a smaller person in a skin-tight yellow jumpsuit that has black for the collar, arms, and legs below the knee.
"Wow, they got you pretty good. Stand still."
Waving her hand with a quick-drying charm and a spell to assist the woman in healing the scalding on her face, Mindy motions Dave over.
"Look, we have a kind of a halfway house we are setting up so that you people can get a bit more training and have a safe place to stay while you try to find your Ashikabi. If you're interested. If not, that's fine too. But do you have a name?"
The girl looks up at Mindy and Dave in awe. Even her own sisters hadn't ever shown this much concern for her well-being.
"Katsuragi. My... My name is Katsuragi. Thank you."
At this point, the screeching coming from the currently suspended Sekirei comes to a halt, as the spearhead that had been keeping her hoisted up into the air is violently ripped out of the mass of dress it was wound up in and the woman falls to the ground, her knees covered in the mud that she created.
Mindy waves a hand as she walks by and before the woman can turn her bile onto anybody else.
The woman's dress repairs itself, and the mud and water that covers her after her trip to the street removes itself as though somebody successfully took a squeegee to her somehow. She doesn't bother to turn back around as she leads Dave and their new friend by the hands.
"You two want to go at it, fine. I got no problem with people sparring or even getting more serious if they both really want to."
She does turn around at this point.
"But if you do this shit in the middle of a busy street again, get another third party involved in your squabble and do the kind of damage that you did here? We are going to have words, and you won't like where I shove the branding iron if it comes to that!"
The one in black is already backing away, head bowed and hands in front as though praying for forgiveness. Little miss wet spot doesn't seem convinced.
"How dare thou interfere in matters beyond your knowledge, filthy monkeys!"
And that is when Mindy stops moving forward. Dave pulls at her a bit, but he knows it's a waste. Instead, he keeps a hold of Katsuragi's hand and pulls her back a bit, whispering.
"We'd best let her get this out of her system. Little miss Leaky Bottoms just made a mistake."
The woman they had rescued from her rather compromised position between two elemental titans is looking at his with concern.
"That's Tsukiumi. She's number nine, and she's really strong. Are you sure..."
Dave laughs. "She'll be fine. She's pretty tough for being a lowly human like I am."
The knowledge that Mindy isn't even a Sekirei doesn't seem to fill the woman with hope, but she doesn't have the time to get too worked up over it. Mindy doesn't see fit to waste a lot of it.
"I'm sorry? Did I hear you right? Did the moron that decided to wear a prom dress purchased from 'Sluts 'R' Us' into motherfucking combat just decide to make fun of my heritage?"
The redness on the girl's face could likely cause drivers to stop in confusion as they mistook her for a traffic light.
"Thou shalt not mock me! Water Celebration!"
All of a sudden, all the water that she had been bringing together suddenly flies past her and hits... Nothing. It passes right through the spot that Mindy most recently was. Then Tsukiumi feels arms slither around her waist at the speed of a striking snake, then feels her entire body being picked up and slammed face-first into the ground.
She isn't sure how long she lay there, idly wondering at what must be the wreckage of her face, before she finally feels a hand in hers. Looking up, she can see her rival.
"Homura? Thou wouldst help me?"
Rolling their eyes, Homura nods. "I won't lie, Tsukiumi. This rivalry that you've decided you have with me is annoying as heck sometimes, but you're still my sister."
The girl, now standing, looks around highly annoyed.
"Where did that wench go? I've much to teach her."
Homura shakes their head. "I think she might be a bit out of your league, Tsukiumi. I'm not ashamed to say I think she's probably out of mine." At her look, the one in black shrugs. "In the time it took you to call your attack, she disappeared, reappeared behind you, and then power slammed you into the concrete. Frankly, she was in the right anyway. We really shouldn't have been squabbling here. There are people that try to make a living here, and they are all going to miss half a day's wages because of us. That's completely ignoring the damage that we did to the place or that we could have killed a little sister on accident, we were so distracted by each other."
Tsukiumi scoffs lightly but does reach up to her face, pulling away a hand painted red in blood. Yet, aside from some mild discomfort, it occurs to her that nothing hurts. She is just about to ask when Homura starts talking again.
"No idea. She pointed at you as she was walking away and your nose fixed itself. You still have a fair number of scratches and stuff, but nothing serious. I doubt any of it will even scar."
Tsukiumi is now tapping her foot while she wipes her face clean with a handkerchief.
"So the contemptible cur got in the middle of our noble conflict, only to then leave after attempting to make a fool of me? Who is this person?!"
Homura backs away, hands up. "She's somebody that saw one of our sisters being hurt by us and decided to step in. If you really can't see past our little rivalry well enough to see where we are in the wrong, then I have nothing for you."
With that, Homura leaps to a roof. Suddenly realizing that she is alone on the street and being glared at by the people who are hiding in the storefronts Tsukiumi offers a halfhearted wave by way of apology before she also leaps away.
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S.S.S.S.S.S
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They'd had to tell her the address so she could find her way into the place but then left Katsuragi with Kochou down on the warehouse floor where she can talk to a fellow Sekirei. Seeing a face that she recognizes, she reaches out with her hand.
"Katsuragi, number eighty-six. You're number twenty-two, I believe?"
Taking her hand, the gray-haired Sekirei raises an eyebrow at her new brown-haired roomie.
"Indeed I am, Kochou is my name. Eighty-six? Your adjusting must have been quick, I didn't think they were releasing anything past the fifties yet." She motions to the bench next to her, and at a loss for what else to do with herself, Katsuragi sits down.
"Yeah, mine was pretty fast. I don't have any unusual abilities, just stronger than most. I got trained mostly in kickboxing and then sent out." She looks down at the table. "I get the impression that the people in charge didn't think my odds were very good to make it through the game, so I am mostly looking for an Ashikabi that already has a few Sekirei. I feel like I just started living, not that interested in giving that up yet. You?"
"The same. I don't know if you are even aware of her, but my ability is very similar to Matsu's. She's number two, and neither of us has an ability that is all that useful in combat, generally speaking. I got the impression that they were expecting that if somehow one of us made it, it would be her. They had me out of the labs as soon as they could manage it."
Katsuragi nods at her. "Well, at least you found your Ashikabi here. Which one?"
Kochou's eyes drop to the table in sadness coupled with irritation.
"Neither. They both know what's going on, but neither wants to be an Ashikabi. I'll... I'll let them explain it to you. But yeah. They aren't interested, and if you get too close? Mindy is likely to make your pain linger. So I wouldn't think about either of them too hard."
Katsuragi looks at her in alarm.
"Are you being kept here against your will?"
Kochou looks at her confused.
"No, why in the world would you ask that?"
The new girl looks flummoxed. "But, I thought... Ashikabi? If you can't find one here, why are you staying?"
Kochou shakes her head. "There are billions of humans on this planet. Billions of them. What do you suppose the odds are that the best match for you is stuck in this city with us? No, I am happy to wait and see. I'm in no hurry."
"I wish I had your confidence. I could have gotten taken out today by accident. Six and Nine were having one of their little spats and I was stuck in the middle of it. Mindy just walked in like she owned the place and after getting me out, made Tsukiumi eat dirt when her mouth got too big for her rear end to pull her out of it."
She shakes her head, sighing a bit as she looks towards the stairs where the two had gone.
"What I need is an Ashikabi like them. They could see me through this stupid contest."
Kochou nods. "They might anyway. Their story is different, but I genuinely think they are good people. Just don't expect to get an Ashikabi out of it. Good friends, sure. But no Ashikabi here, unfortunately."
Katsuragi lays her arms on the table, placing her head on the crossed limbs as she looks up at number twenty-two with a half-smirk.
"When will you give up on them? You're the one that is telling me they don't want a Sekirei and you are so obviously crushing for them I could smell it on you when I walked in."
Kochou shakes her head. "My decisions are mine to make, and as for when? I'll give up on them when they are gone, not until then."
A few minutes later, the two Gamer's come back downstairs with a few platters of snack-lunch type options. Dave sets the platters out on the table while Mindy pulls a cooler out of nowhere and sets it on the table as well.
Katsuragi looks like she is about to say something when Dave beats her to it.
"Yeah, we'll get into that after a bit. First, we need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind. Feel free to eat while we're talking. You looked pretty hungry."
He pauses for long enough to make a cheese, meat, cracker combo himself.
"So, the first thing is, do you have an Ashikabi?"
At her hesitant head shake, Dave nods.
"No? That's cool. I mean, not that you are alone just that we were hoping not to invite any attached aliens back here. Our basic rules here are as follows. First, you can't bring anybody else back here. We know you can't tell anybody else where it is, but you absolutely can't be bringing anybody here. It'll just cause problems. Second, you are welcome to come and go as you please, but if you do find yourself an Ashikabi we'd appreciate it if you let us know and then spent the time with them. We're trying to build a place where unattached Sekirei can feel safe, get some further training, and be happy. You're welcome to stay as long as you are unattached, but once you've moved on we'd like to make the space available here for others."
Then he smirks. "And thirdly, press the button to accept."
Katsuragi almost falls off the bench seat in shock. "What in the world is this?!"
Mindy washes down a bit of cracker and salami with some water.
"We aren't extraterrestrial, but we probably still qualify as aliens. What you see there is part of what makes us just a tiny little bit special. Once you've pressed the accept button, you and I are going to go a few rounds while I decide what exactly I have to work with."
She looks confused at Kochou, who nods encouragingly.
"I've worked with them both. They are truly fantastic teachers. You will learn far more from a few hours working with them than you did in weeks working with the trainers that MBI hired."
Her curiosity now thoroughly aroused, the new girl finds herself pressing the button, and then being all but flung into the arena by Mindy. She is seriously concerned for a moment and then realizes as they go that Mindy is doing exactly what Kochou said she would. Stopping training to explain things. Going over stances, why they are important, and also why they are not the be-all-end-all of combat. Within twenty minutes, she is going over why it is a bad idea to over-commit and the ways in which one can launch a successful, powerful attack without having to do so. By an hour in, Katsuragi, whose name has been shortened to 'Kat' by Mindy, is not only having a wonderful time learning but is also finding herself rapidly falling into the same problem spot that Kochou is. Anytime Mindy grabs her to fling her across the mat, it's all she can do not to moan and pucker up.
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S.S.S.S.S.S
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Dave and Kochou watch the beat-down happen for a while, but eventually Kochou motions to the runes she has been messing around with.
"Is this what is on your own trunks? What gives them all the extra space?"
Dave looks it over a bit.
"That's the bare bones of it, yeah. The trunks have a lot more built into them, but the basic expansion charm? Yeah, that looks like it. You think you want to get yourself some expanded storage sorted out?"
She nods, glorying in the fact that one of her two new obsessions has scooted over next to her in order to see what she's been up to.
"Yes, actually. Whatever happens in my future, I can think of no good reason not to take advantage of this knowledge as soon as possible. I am hoping that I can design a few trunks like the ones that you use, only with my own needs in mind and the ability to shrink the trunks themselves to the point that I could keep them in a backpack or something similar."
Dave nods, considering. "If we throw a space expansion on one of the pockets on your backpack, we could theoretically put them all on labeled shelves that you can pull out and select from that way. Plus, it wouldn't take much to build a hydrogen power cell into a trunk, so you can have power anywhere you go. Maybe even just build that into another pocket on the backpack, actually. Plus if we make the backpack a hard shell type, we could use it as a place to put your combat computer for when we get the heads up display figured out. Have you put any more thought into the weapons options?"
She nods, hesitantly. "Yes... I like the idea of using these pistols you speak of on a mobile platform, and I do like the idea of making the platform large and strong enough to defend me as well as attack. But after having put a lot of thought into it, I've come to wonder if I might not actually be better off learning a melee weapon rather than carrying an additional pistol. My current plan is to build two of them into a mobile shield with a built-in optic system that feeds back to my computer. But it occurred to me that if I am up against something and two laser pistols in concert were not enough, then a third in my hands isn't likely to turn the tide."
Dave shrugs. Kochou finds herself reddening yet again imagining the power in the man's shoulders and what it would feel like if they were around her.
"Fair enough. I mostly bash things, I'm thinking that you will want something more precise. Chances are you'll be with Mindy for weapon training." Then he pauses for a moment. "You know, if you want a backpack that has all of this built into it, I should probably see about finishing your armor, then we wouldn't likely even need straps for your pack. We could have it just lock onto your back with a sticking charm or something, hell we could even add the runes to let you manipulate it so you can pluck it off and put it back without having to mess with clamps or anything. Besides, I could make the pack out of Acromantula chitin, that would keep it strong as heck while at the same time lighter than a standard clamshell, most likely. Let me see what I can do here..."
Then he pulls out a pad of scratch paper and starts roughing out some design options while Kochou can't help herself and leans her head on his shoulder while she watches him work. She won't betray their trust in her. She won't try to wing herself on a friend who doesn't want that.
But she can pretend, for a little while, that things were different.
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S.S.S.S.S.S
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Author's Note:
Not a whole lot happening yet. They made it this far without getting on the radars of any of the big players, but for those familiar with the storyline? Being seen out and about during a Sekirei match again will have gotten them on some people's lists, and particularly, showing off in front of Homura is a bad idea for anybody that is trying to stay undercover as that notable has contacts both within and without MBI.
Anyway, thanks for reading and reviews make the world go 'round!