Chapter 7: Poppi's Awakening

Tora leads his new friends to a room that's obscured by a curtain, when he removed said curtain everyone was shocked to see what he hidden. It looked to be a machine in the form of a little girl.

Serena: Wh-What is this?

Tora: Nobody has seen this before, Tora's big secret. An Artificial Blade!

Pyra: Artificial … Blade?

Haze: Hold on, Master Tora … were you creating your own Blade?!

Tora: Haze guess correctly.

Azurda: I can't believe it.

Tora: Tora always wanted to become Driver. But Tora…, Tora have no potential to awaken Core Crystal.

Serena: Aw come now don't say that. Surely you have to tr-...

Serena immediately cuts herself off when she realizes what Tora actually ment, her face switches from confusion to somber when she speaks again.

Serena: …Oh, you did try and failed, didn't you?

Tora: Ser-Ser guess correctly. Tora attempted Driver Recruitment one year ago.

Azurda: Oh dear.

Both Haze and Pyra look at each-other with the exact same look of concern on their faces. They know exactly what happens when someone fails to awaken a blade. With concern for Tora on their minds, Haze continues to listen and Pyra says…

Pyra: Oh Tora, you don't mean…

Tora: It was bad, Tora had nosebleed for 3 days.

It was at this point where everyone else shared a mutual thought of confusion. They were still concerned but hearing it was just a nosebleed definetely knocked the wind out of that discussion.

Serena: Um, is that all?

Tora: What you mean "Is that all?"?! People die from loss of blood you know?!

Serena: Yeah but, from a nosebleed?!

Tora: Anyway moving on…

Serena: For a "Near Death Experience" he's acting so casual about it. But whatever, not gonna make a pointless scene about that.

Tora: Anyway to Artificial Blade, when complete even no potential Tora can become a driver.

Haze: This is so amazing, the amount of work you put into this must have been tough. But this looks incredible Master Tora.

Azurda: I completely agree with you Haze, did you build this all by yourself Tora?

Tora: It was started by Dadapon and Grampypon. But Grampypon die, and Tora not know where Dadapon went. So Tora will finish blade and become driver like always wanted, Then Dadapon hear success and come back, yes?

Pyra: Oh Tora…

Serena: You definitely have the right attitude for this Tora.

Azurda: By the way Tora, as far as I can tell she looks complete. What is there left to do?

Serena: Wait what, are you serious?

Tora: Tora is serious.

Serena: As in Zero? Zilch? Nada?

Tora: Not even one gold.

Serena: *sigh* And now you're asking for a loan, aren't you?

Tora: Not loan, uhh… closer to… generous donation.

Azurda: Saw this coming, he really is a Nopon.

Serena: Are all Nopon just shrewd with gold or is that just a coincidence?

Tora: But but but, If Tora finishes Artificial Blade … Then Tora can be more useful on mission.

Serena: I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that, if she works like intended you could be right. How much money do you need anyway?

Tora: No more than ... 60,000 gold.

Serena: 60 WHAT?! *Groan* Tora that isn't cheap you know that? I mean I do have the money to help Tora, but that will pretty much take ⅔ of my pocket money.

Pyra: Calm down Serena, I think we owe Tora our help. If he just needs money, then I might be able to assist.

Everyone is visibly confused by Pyra's statement, considering literally no one could guess what the Aegis had on her mind.

Serena: Assist? How exactly?

Azurda: Don't tell me you're going to use your body?!

Serena slaps Gramps down to the floor.

Serena: If I hear you joke about that again Old Man I swear…

Pyra takes off both of her earrings and presents them to Serena with a smile on her face.

Pyra: Both of them are natural crystals. Each one should fetch for around 60,000 or more.

Serena: Put those back on! I'm not letting you sell those!

Pyra: But Serena …

Serena: No, that isn't right. Screw it, I'm paying for the parts myself! I have more than 60,000 anyway!

Azurda: That's very admirable of you Serena.

Tora: *Excited* Meh Meh, Ser-Ser is too generous.

Serena: *Sternly* But in return, this blade of your's better be worth it Tora!

Tora: Leave that to Tora

Serena: Well then let's go then Tora. Pyra, Haze, and Gramps you three can chill in here for now. Pyra I also want you to catch Haze up with our plans.

Pyra: Right, on it.

Haze: Understood, please be safe my lady.

Azurda: Don't do anything too reckless Serena.

And with that Serena, Tora and Azurda left the house while the two blades stayed back and relaxed for a bit. Pyra explained everything that happened so far in their journey including: how they met, their goal to reach Elysium, fighting Jin & Malos, and telling her more about Nia. About 25 minutes passed when Serena returned

Tora: We've returned Friends.

Pyra: Welcome back you three. How'd it go?

Serena: Very Well actually, I managed to get the 3 Bion Connectors on my First try. Tora looked at me like I was a Goddess when I did that.

Tora: Because that was Amazing! Ser-Ser's skill and luck were so good! Because of you, process of whole mission is going faster.

Haze: Even with that in mind, You two came back faster than we thought.

Serena: That's because I came back to get you Haze.

Haze: Me?

Serena: You see, we couldn't get the Perfect Range Sensor since it's not for sale and it's impossible to Salvage at the moment. However this guy named Cedwyn says he will give us one for free if we can defeat a Juppen Krabble at Lascham Island.

Haze: Ah, that sounds interesting. But why…

It takes Haze less than a moment to figure out why Serena chose her specifically.

Haze: Oh I see, you chose me specifically so you can practice with me.

Serena: Exactly, Pyra you don't mind do you?

Pyra: Of course I don't, this will be a good opportunity for the both of you.

Serena: Thanks Pyra, so then you ready Haze?

Haze gets up and walks to Driver with a face that looks both determined and excited.

Haze: Of course my lady, I will not let you down!

Serena: *Giggles* The feeling is mutual. Tora you can stay here too, Sorry to say but you'll be much safer here.

Tora: Tora understand, me not worth much without blade. But Tora hope Ser-Ser come back and beat that monster.

Serena gives Tora a thumbs up and the duo leave to take care of the Krabble. On their way there, Serena takes the time to both inspect Haze's weapon and to just talk with her.

Serena: So what did Pyra and Gramps tell you when I was gone?

Haze: She told me about how the two of you first met, and it was quite the tale. I can't imagine how much that must've hurt you my lady.

Serena was shocked that Haze brought that up, but not angry. However she does her best to quell her new blade's concern.

Serena: You don't have to worry about that Haze, trust me I get why you would be concerned but I'm alright. It was thanks to that day that I'm on this adventure now, and honestly I'm grateful for that. So let's forget about the past for now and look towards the future, alright?

Haze: *Excited* I understand. Let's go take down that monster!

With that Haze starts running, getting a laugh from Serena before she says…

Serena: Hey Wait for me! You're not gonna hog all the fun! At least help me create some decent arts for you.

With that the two girls head to Lascham Cove, when they get there they see their target. Serena is already holding Haze's weapon when they arrived.

Haze: There it is My lady, that has to be the Krabble Mr Cedwyn was talking about.

Serena: It sure looks like it, now then are you ready?

Haze: Ready when you are.

With that being said the two ladies grab the Krabble's attention and start a fight. It took a few minutes but the enemy finally went down and officially Haze & Serena defeated their first monster together. After that was done they reported back to Cedwyn and got their free Perfect Range Sensor as promised. As of right now, the two ladies are heading right back to Tora's house so the fur-ball can work on his artificial blade.

Haze: I think that overall went well, don't you think so.

Serena: I agree with you there, but I still feel like I need some more practice with you.

Haze: In that case, tomorrow we should do some more training. Especially with Lady Pyra so we can come up with very helpful combo attacks and strategies.

Serena: That sounds really fun, hopefully Tora will be done with his blade by then.

Hours pass and the group are now currently at Tora's house. Since it's still risky for the group to be outside they elected to stay and rest, it didn't help that a really bad storm was currently happening. Tora was hard at work with his artificial blade, he started working immediately after Serena gave him the Perfect Range Sensor and hasn't stopped since.

Serena: Tora is really passionate about this, good. I sure hope this gets results.

Haze and Azurda out of curiosity decided to watch Tora make his blade, while Serena and Pyra were sitting at the table just relaxing. Until Pyra noticed Serena doing something with her notebook. They were sitting across from each other so Pyra couldn't exactly tell what exactly Serena was doing.

Pyra: Hey Serena, what are you doing? Are you writing down notes again?

Serena: No actually, I plan on doing that later. Come see for yourself.

With that Pyra got up from her seat to sit next to Serena so she can see what she was doing. When Pyra did get to see, she was blown away. Serena was drawing a picture of Azurda, and it was really good.

Pyra: Oh wow, I didn't know you were an artist Serena.

Serena: It's my greatest passion. When Gramps crashed my house and all of my work were destroyed. So I'd figured I start drawing again, so I bought this book and these supplies specifically for that.

This caught Haze's attention and she walked back to her Driver to see as well, Azurda himself stayed back.

Haze: Oh my, that looks very lovely my Lady. You managed to capture Azurda's likeness extremely well.

Serena: Thank you, I try. Don't worry though, I'll get to you two eventually.

Pyra: Wait, does that mean you'll draw us too?

Serena: Yeah of course, I plan on doing one for everyone individually. I'm doing Gramps as practice, then I'll do Tora next for the same reason. After that then it's one of you two and Nia.

With this revelation both the blades looked not only happy but excited too.

Haze: I consider that an honor, I look forward to seeing more of your work too

Pyra: The feeling is mutual.

Tora: Tora heard everything and he agrees as well. Tora think being drawn by Ser-Ser is a great honor too.

Serena smiles and has a faint blush on her face from all the praise she's getting.

Serena: Well then, I look forward to blowing you all away then.

Another hour passed and Tora had made considerable progress since he took a little break, now all that was left was to activate the blade.

Tora: OK! All Finished!

Serena: You finally finished it?

Tora: Of course, just need to apply energy charge to activate!

Haze: Is that why you mentioned that you were happy that there was a thunderstorm today?

Tora: Haze guess correctly, Tora is going to use lightning as power source.

Haze: How Interesting.

Azurda: Tora, even though our plan starts tomorrow that's no excuse to waste time. If you can make haste.

Tora: I know, I know! Okay Artificial Blade, it's wakey-wakey time!

Pyra: That won't do, Tora!

Tora: Huh, did Tora do something wrong?

Pyra: You can't keep calling her "Artificial Blade". As her creator, they least you can do is give her a proper name.

Haze: That's a good point, I'll kinda feel bad if I have to keep calling her "Artificial Blade" as well.

Tora: Oh um well... Actually friends, Tora already thought of name for her. Very good name.

Serena: Alright, then I guess introducing her to us wouldn't be a problem then.

Azurda: I agree, whenever you're ready Tora.

Tora: Right away then!

The thunderstorm was getting worse now, meaning for Tora it was now or now considering never/later wasn't an option.

Tora: Now then, it's wakey-wakey time. Tora's very own Blade, Poppi!

With that Tora pulled the lever to activate Poppi. As soon as he did that a lightning bolt hit the roof of the building, causing energy to course through the house and surprising the girls + Azurda. When the smoke clear, Poppi started glowing in a similar way to a Blade's either lines. This caused all the girls to get serious and mentally get ready for Poppi's awakening.

Tora: Po-Poppi?!

Immediately after Tora said that, Poppi just sprung into life doing and in a cutesy way she exclaimed...

Poppi: How may I be of service, Master?

...And finished her little introduction with an equally cutesy pose. Suffice to say, this caught the group off guard. Haze, Pyra, Serena and Azurda's eyes just went blank out of sheer shock and confusion. Tora was shocked and embarrassed by this, but he had to react quickly so he can start on damage control, and his first action was turning Poppi off again.

Tora: W-w-w-wait a minute! Ooh, forget you see that! Tora must change the settings. *clears throat*

Serena: Hold on, the settings?!

Tora immediately went to work changing Poppi's settings and in the span of 20 seconds he finished.

Tora: Th-This time should be okay, Second time go best! Power on!

While the lighting crashing through the house went exactly the same, the looks on the rest of the team were not filled with Anticipation. Haze just sighed, Pyra put on a brave face, Serena looked very suspiciously at Tora while making sure to pay attention to Poppi, and Azurda had a face that clearly showed he wasn't impressed so far. But all those suspicions were benched for a few minutes when Poppi woke up.

Poppi: Greetings Masterpon.

Tora: *Gasp* I did it! Tora's Masterpiece! World's First Artificial Blade, Poppi!

Now everyone looked impressed again, as they all exclaimed their own words of amazement.

Tora: Tora did good, huh? You Impressed? Tora very big success?

Serena: Well, I am impressed Tora. I can tell how much effort you put into Poppi, but I got to ask ... what was with ... y'know ...

Haze: Ahem, I think what my lady was to say was, who made those settings Tora?

Serena: Thank you Haze.

Tora: Forget about it, That not Tora's fault! That was ... Grampypon! Yes, Grampypon SooSoo make settings.

Haze just scratches her head from Tora's response, however both Serena and Pyra look at each other and silently agree with each other. Once they finish that, they both look at Tora with narrowed faces and calmly ask...

Serena & Pyra: Are you sure, Tora?

This made Tora flinch and sweat a bit.

Tora: Y-Yes! Grampypon! *Coughs* ...Yes.

Pyra & Serena still looking unimpressed just shift their eyes to look at something else. When Tora looked to see what they girls were looking at, he jumped and complete fear settled in. The girls (including Haze this time) were looking at what was in Tora's dresser, it was nothing but frilly dresses that looked like they can fit properly. If Tora wasn't sweating before he sure is now, the jig was up, there was nothing he can do now except prepare for the worst. The Driver and Blade look at each other again, and they smile.

Pyra: Well let's dwell on that.

Serena: Agreed.

Serena looked at Tora again when she said that, to Tora it looked like Ser-Ser was saying...

Serena: I'm not going to forget this, for your sake I hope those are JUST outfits you have.

... Tora breathed a sigh of relief and chose not to say anything further than that.

Haze: I think we should all get some rest for now, we have a long day tomorrow.

Serena: Good Idea have, sleep sounds really good right now.

Right when she says that, Poppi moves out of the spot she was standing in and walks towards the girls.

Poppi: It's nice to meet all of you. My name Poppi, I look forward to working with you all.

Poppi bows as she says that, which make all 3 of the girls smile. Haze returns the bow, and Serena offers Poppi a handshake.

Serena: The feeling is mutual, My name is Serena, that's Haze, and that's Pyra. We're counting on you Poppi.

Poppi accepts the handshake and the girls get ready to go to bed. However, before Serena fully goes to sleep she has one final thought.

Serena: Hang in there for just a little longer Nia, I promise we'll get you out of there.