Recalibrating
Louise gave a yelp as she fell yet again on the cold ground surface. It had been a week since she had the revelation that her arms and legs were no longer human. While she retained her human torso all of her limbs were replaced with metal counterparts for them. Since her arms and legs were new she's been told by the one named Alban to help her recalibrate her body to get used to the new weight that was her metallic limbs.
Initially she asked – when she had come to terms with it – Alban why they would take her limbs away, she answered with an explanation that she understood little, "While, flesh-skins have the ability to become resistant to nuclear fever there is a low chance of it happening – with the constant bombardment air particles that have bits and tiny pieces of nuclear wastes produced by the bombs that were dropped in the old world five or so hundred years ago, the chances of you getting resistant is at an all time low. So, the best next solution we did would be filtering out that nuclear energy that's mixed in your blood by installing some purifiers in your body and those purifiers just so happen to be your arms and legs,"
Louise was yet again carried by Alban this time using the spider like arms that were sprouting behind her back, while the arms carried her back to the observation bed Alban was typing away at a holographic keyboard, recording Louise's time standing up.
"impressive, thirty minutes before you body gave in," Alban complimented.
"Why is… this task… so tiring?" Louise complained.
"Well, it's to be expected, since you are so used to lifting up you flesh arms the brain knows how much energy it needs to put in to be able to lift your arm in various direction. Now that you have different arm, with different weight and composition. The brain will try to register it at you arm but at the same time the amount of energy required to lift your new arm up is a far cry to when you would lift your flesh arm up, same goes for your legs, if you became a cyborg when you were still an infant – which most mothers would do – then you wouldn't even be experiencing any sort of fatigue since you brain is already used to the weight,"
Louise gave tired 'oh' before going back to breathing heavily. Eventually the breathing subsided and Louise chose this moment to sit up from the bed, at the same time the doors to the workshop opened allowing a visitor in.
"Bench! Where are you?!" the voice of a female called out.
"Who's that?" Louise asked while tilting her body, trying to peek at the new individual.
When there was no answer given to her Louise asked again only to be cut off when she saw Alban's back arms freeze up, looking at her she noticed that it wasn't just the arms that froze up but her too. The entire workshop was quiet the only sound was the impatient tapping of a metallic foot on the floor.
"He must be outside," the visitor said to herself.
The footsteps slowly lowered in volume, the door to the workshop opened and closed. Alban gave a sigh of relief. Louise tilted her head in confusion, "Why are you so tense?"
"Let's just say for now that the person looking for Bench is the last person you would want to meet in this lovely group of misfits,"
Louise gave long 'okay'. She asked for elaboration but her request was ignored when Alban turned around and gave her a smile, "Lets proceed with the test, with you picking up some items that I have here,"
The entire day was spent with Louise lifting up objects that she didn't recognize with Alban recording all of it.
After a night's rest the sisters went back to the workshop to see Louise standing next to the stand while Bench circled her – shooting blue beams of light in specific places. Hearing the doors to the workshop open Louise looked up and locked eyes with her sisters.
"Cattleya! Eleonore!" Louise said with surprise in her voice.
The two big sisters tried to approach her but were suddenly blocked by none other then Bench, "while this whole reunion is nice and all I'd like some evaluations before you do what you want to do alright?"
Eleonore frowned but receded and backed off meanwhile Cattleya smiled and followed suit. Bench told Louise to do some stretches and tell him if there were some discomforts on her body. Louise complied and started with a simple split.
"Are there any discomforts?" he asked.
"There aren't any at the legs I think,"
"Alright, raise your entire left leg to the point where your foot is within eye level," Bench said.
She went back to standing up then she followed his instruction, again he asked the same question and her response was still the same similarly with the right leg. Louise then fell backward with her back arcing upward while her feet and hands were on the ground.
"Back discomforts?" He asked.
Louise closed her eyes and tried to focus in on any discomfort but nothing came to mind, telling the same answer to Bench. Louise moved on to the next position while she was doing this Cattleya spoke.
"What are you doing Louise?"
"I'm doing some exercises and trying to find if there is something uncomfortable to that Bench could fix it immediately," she said while spreading her body and making her right arm touch her left foot.
This entire series of questions continued meanwhile the sisters looked with slight confusion and interest, "Why do you have to do these tests?" Eleonore asked. "Shouldn't you know if there are any discomforts immediately?"
"While she may have full control of her body you need to remind yourself that since Louise isn't a flesh-skin anymore she wouldn't have some of the receptors that a flesh-skin like you would have. For instance, you would know if there is some discomfort immediately when you sit in an irregular way, for Louise or for any cyborgs' cases these discomforts wouldn't matter to them since the discomfort isn't really that prominent. The only time they would feel uncomfortable is when they put their bodies under a lot of stress and they have this feeling that's preventing them from reaching the required stress," Bench explained.
"I'm sorry for asking but what are 'cyborgs'?" Cattleya asked.
"You're looking at one right now," Louise said garnering their gaze. When they gave her looks of elaboration Louise explained, "Cyborgs are people who have physical abilities that are superior to normal humans like super strength, speed, reflexes and many more with the use of special devices planted inside the body,"
"You mean to tell us that there is something in your body that makes you stronger, faster and wittier than the knights of Tristain?" Eleonore asked with scepticism.
"To put it bluntly then yeah… pretty much,"
"Somehow I doubt that," Eleonore said while crossing her arms.
"Um… hello, didn't you see the result of Louise and the Ravager duking it out?" Bench said with mild irritation.
"Oh please, it's a golem, a simple dumb magical construct that only follows what its master tells it to do, anyone with combat experience can easily dispose of a golem," She said while waving her hand in the air uncaringly.
"Don't say that," Louise suddenly said her voice dropping several degrees cold.
"What did you say?" Eleonore said with a raise eyebrow.
"Eleonore while I respect you as a sister I have to say that the comparison you said between a golem and a Ravager is the stupidest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth!" she declared.
Eleonore flinched at the sudden hostility, Cattleya showed her surprise by placing a hand on her mouth. Finally recovering after Louise's sudden outburst Eleonore glowered at her, "don't take that tone with me Louise. I am still your big sister!"
"And I acknowledge that but please refrain yourself from saying such words," Louise said still frowning.
"It's just a measly golem that can destroy things, any golem can do that given enough willpower,"
"Did you also forget that Louise lost both of her arms and legs after the fight?" Bench said while giving some low beeps that sounded aggressive.
"Didn't Osmund also said that she also singlehandedly defeated it? If someone like her, who's aptitude in magic is next to zero then it should be without a doubt that someone like me can defeat it easily," Eleonore countered.
"I don't have time for this, Louise still has some more tests before I can officially call that she can safely move around," Bench said while floating away, Louise followed suit.
"Louise, you come here this instant. We're going to talk about that tone you have with me,"
"I'm sorry Eleonore but the Louise you knew years ago is no longer here, you can shove that ego of yours down your throat for I have lost some respect for you," Louise said while turning around and followed Bench.
To say the least, Eleonore was shocked whatever happened to Louise changed her, she shook in anger while Cattleya – who was sitting on one of the chairs in the workshop watched the entire argument with concern filled eyes, while she agreed with Eleonore that golems can be quite destructive if given the right amount of willpower she had to take account that Louise had lost a limb and two legs in the fight between her and the Ravager if she chose to believe Osmund's story. Being the middle sister, she decided to play her role of being the mediator. Standing up from her seat she approached her elder sister and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Eleonore snapped her head to her but she didn't flinch, "I think you should go outside for now, I'll take care of things with Louise,"
Eleonore stared at her for a moment before closing her eyes and tried to calm down while repeating the mantra 'Rule of Steel'. She gave a curt nod to her sister and went outside of the workshop looking for some ways to cool herself down. Cattleya took a deep breath before covering her mouth with a white cloth while coughing quietly. Following the direction where Louise and Bench went she saw Louise standing in front of Bench with one of her arms raised up, she watched with interest when her arm suddenly shifted to a blade that glowed hot, Louise looked at the blade with rapt attention similar to that of a child when inside a candy shop. Cattleya gave a light cough that caught the attention of both Louise and Bench, she gave a small smile to which Louise responded in kind.
"I hope you can understand you sister," Cattleya said.
"I do understand what she's trying to say but she has to understand that a Ravager isn't some golem that you can dismiss. A single Ravager unleashed in this world could already be considered the end of the world," Louise said while her facial expression darkened.
"But from what Osmund said you have defeated it – singlehandedly,"
"At the cost of an arm and two legs, normally taking on a Ravager is considered suicidal. Their ability to adapt is terrifying, one moment the attacks that your using would damage it but then later on you find out that the same attacks you used earlier is no longer effective and that's not even the limits of their abilities, they're cannibals; they tear off the body parts of their latest prey and assimilate them into their core – this would repair all of the damage it took after the fight rendering the efforts of the defeated useless. The reason I had managed to defeat that Ravager is because it was still newly built from the remains of the Savages. If that Ravager was older then without a doubt I would have died," she said gravely.
Cattleya was about to give her opinion when Louise had cut her, "and just because I can't use magic doesn't mean I'm useless, I defeated that Ravager through experience and skill alone, magic had nothing to do about it,"
After her long rant she looked at her sister with slight embarrassment, "sorry you had to see me like this,"
Cattleya smiled, "it's alright, after all no matter what you are, cyborg or human you still have feelings and some of them still need some venting out,"
"Alright, all observational tests are done!" Bench said while backing up "Any comments?"
Louise rolled her shoulders then proceeded to punch and kick the air with various fighting styles in rapid succession leaving Cattleya slightly surprised. "Nothing to complain about, in fact I feel lighter!"
"That's what the nanomachines are making you think, in truth you're actually three time heavier than before, coming in at a weight of 3.43 tonnes," Bench said.
Louise and Cattleya's eyes widened, "T-t-three tonnes!?"
Bench gave a few beeps before shooting a blue beam to which Louise and Cattleya's eyes followed. The trail of beam ended at the floor and Louise could only blush in embarrassment for on the cobblestone that made up the floor of the workshop were embedded footprints that traced all the way to where Louise was standing with her feet currently embedded on the floor. "Those nanomachines that make up your body compressed themselves in such high pressure that your weight increased by a great margin," Bench explained.
"Anyways, lets get one the part that you like," Bench said.
Her face immediately changed from embarrassed to excited, "I can't wait!"
When Cattleya asked why she's excited Louise simply responded with, "I'm going to prove Eleonore wrong!"
The group walked outside and then made their way towards the courtyard where the fight between Louise and the Ravager began. Bench went on ahead and stopped just in front of the sisters, "Ms. Cattleya, I'd advise you to back off for this,"
Not questioning the pod-bot Cattleya stepped back a few meters before Bench told her to back up more, after a hundred meters of backing off Bench finally considered the distance to be safe. Bench beeped then deployed three metal sticks that embedded itself on the ground, after that a small drill replaced the propulsor that was making him float. The drill spun and started to dig a hole, once Bench was settled to the point that the only thing poking out of the ground was his dome he gave off a prolonged beep, a blue beam of light was launched upward and spread downwards forming a dome with the radius of a hundred meters, of course seeing a blue dome out of nowhere was a definite oddity so it was to be expected that some students and teachers gathered around and observed it with rapt attention, Louise looked around the gathered crowd and grinned in her mind as she could see Eleonore just beside Cattleya.
"Louise, focus," Bench called out.
Louise walked closer to Bench and only stopping once she was twenty meters away from him. Bench asked her if she was ready to which she scoffed and gave the answer. "Is that even a question?"
"Very well, hopefully Savages would suffice for this test," Bench said.
Suddenly holographic images of Savages appeared out of nowhere, once there were about a dozen Bench finally stopped spawning the Savages. Louise lowered her body and brought her arms up in a particular angles.
Bench scoffed, "You're still using that fighting style?"
"Hey, you don't see me in the workshop asking for repairs too often, right? That means that this fighting style works,"
"I still stand to my point, Panzer Kunst is nothing but a fictional fighting style, that came from a fictional world,"
"Whatever you say,"
Changing her expression from joking around to serious Louise waited for the Savages to attack. The first one who moved went for a punch that was easily dodged by the pink haired girl, she was about to counter when another Savage had interrupted her forcing to block the punch with her right arm, just past her peripheral vision she could already see another Savage charging at her with a blade at the ready, she twisted her right arm and used it to grab the Savage, she backed up avoiding another attack from the first Savage, she brought up her left arm and performed a lariat to the Savage that she was grabbing, once the it was down she leaned sideways to avoid the upward slash of the Savage that was on her peripheral vision earlier. Now that the bladed Savage had overextended itself Louise moved in for the first kill, she unleashed her blades and used it to completely remove the Savage's upper body from its torso.
One down, eleven to go
The Savage that Louise had performed a lariat on was standing up only to reel backwards as Louise used the elbow propulsions to perform a bone crunching uppercut, the force of the attack was too much that the head of the Savage detached itself from its body. Two down. Louise jumped and angled herself horizontally to avoid two bladed attacks that were aimed at her legs and her head courtesy of two new Savages, while in mid-air Louise unleashed her right arm blade and a new blade that came out of the sole of her left feet, at the same time she planted her left hand on the ground. The left arm spun clockwise while Louise was still in her horizontal position, the left feet blade decapitated the Savage that was aiming for her head while the right arm blade sliced the other Savage in half. Four down.
Controlling the A.I. of the simulation Bench ordered all of the Savages to attack Louise. Louise for her part took the attack in stride, dodging beautifully while countering whenever the opportunity presented itself. Another few seconds of dodging another Savage overextended itself, Louise was quick on the take, she grabbed the leg and spun around hitting all of the Savages, once she had more breathing room she threw the makeshift weapon making it collide with another Savage that had just finished standing up. While the others stood up Louise unleashed both of her blades and activated her overdrive. Pink lines started to appear all over Louise – for every breath she took steam would come out.
She moved
'Too fast!' Bench thought.
True to his word after Louise activated her overdrive Louise became nothing more than a blur that was too fast for even Bench to track down and he was a machine! Before she donned the Ravager nanomachines Bench could track her down with ease and still have some space to give some witty comment but this time it was different. One after another Louise fell another Savage and the only resistance she had encountered was the air. Her overdrive finally stopped and what remained were the bodies of the Savages already turning back into data, looking around her she noticed that there was a train of singed grass courtesy of her rampage after she activated her overdrive.
"How did I do Bench?" she asked.
The dome disappeared and Bench was back to floating again, "Do you really want me to answer that?" he asked sarcastically.
Louise gave a nod to which Bench responded with a slight chuckle, "Alright, you passed the test, you can go and move around again,"
Louise gave a loud 'yes!' while doing a fist pump she stood up only to see the gathered crowd had increased, students were looking at her with various expression but the most obvious expression was of shock. Who wouldn't? After all Louise was just a young girl who can't even cast a levitation spell even if her life depended on it, after seeing her performance they knew it then and there that they would have to find another person to pick on lest they want to end up as the Savages. Louise looked around and locked eyes with Eleonore who was so shell shocked. She approached her while the crowd that was blocking her way parted. Eleonore backed up a little when Louise was toe to toe with her.
"What you saw there was nothing compared to a Ravager," she said while giving her a very serious look before walking back towards the workshop with Bench in tow.
Eleonore stood still on her spot, still trying to comprehend what had happened right in front of her eyes. Cattleya for her part had already recovered from her shock and looked at her elder sister's shocked face.
Cattleya gave a quiet chuckle.
Things are about to get really interesting real soon.
A/N: How's that! I just had to make Louise flex on her big sister right now its 1:07 AM here and I'm still not tired! Just kidding I'm fucking exhausted. I surely hope that the flow of this chapter didn't looked too forced. Give me your opinions and even some constructive criticism as I always want to improve. And with that I bid you all adieu.
Peace~