The Aegis Awakens

/Chapter Nine: Such a Cutie Pie/

"You really think the boy would actually win a fight against me?"

Mòrag's question was very understandable, considering the fact that most fifteen-year-old kids would not stand a chance against her. For one, she was a very skilled Driver. Secondly, despite the fact that Rex was a Driver now, he was still very inexperienced. Even being the Driver of the Aegis, Rex honestly had not had much time to even get used to being a Driver.

The Elf shook her head, "I never said he would win... He is stubborn, and I think he could actually hold his own against you for a while." Regan explained before she took a small sip from a flask of water. She really hoped that Rex would prove her right because if he managed to impress Mòrag, that would likely cause the Ardainian to lend them further aid in the future.

Mòrag and Regan had known each other for a little over five years now, mainly due to the alliance that Elvuen had with Mor Ardain. The Elf knew that many thought the continued alliance was proof that Elvuen was scared of Mor Ardain taking over the Elven Titan; however, that was in fact inaccurate. Raymond, the current king of Elvuen, had successfully maintained the alliance due to his sympathy for the people of Mor Ardain.

In particular, Raymond was fully aware that the Ardainian Titan was heating up very rapidly. The Elven Titan was also heating up as well but at a much slower rate. Her brother had actually gained a soft spot for the Ardainian emperor, which was likely due to the young age of said emperor. Regan herself had actually become quick friends with Mòrag, for they both had mutual respect for each other. The Ardainian had still been technically a teenager when they first met, but she had acted far more mature than that.

"That's true... I wonder if you would think the same if he was fighting you too." The suggestion was honestly surprising, but Regan wondered. Since she had first met him two years ago, he seemed to trust her after a few months of her helping him with his arts. He had actually only seen her fight a few times now, but she hoped that he would have realized just how she fought by now.

"I don't know...but I hope he does." Those words were all it took for Mòrag to know that Regan had agreed to what had just been indirectly requested.

•••••••

"Can't we just use strings to make sure her hat stays on? I mean, I'd rather not waste money on something that is only a little necessary." Rex asked as they walked out of Tora's house. Sixty thousand gold was definitely not a small amount. The only thing that was absolutely necessary in Rex's opinion was the Perfect Range Sensor. The Bion Connecters could honestly just be replaced by strings.

"That probably true... But Rex-Rex already made promise." The Nopon responded, which honestly annoyed Rex a little. Tora did have a point, but the boy found it difficult to justify paying sixty thousand gold for something that could easily be replaced by strings. When he did think about it, he was pretty sure that Bion Connectors could actually be found by salvaging.

"Fine... Let's go." Rex walked further into Torigoth and led the way to the market. The Nopon showed them to the merchant that had the Bion Connecters for sell. Part of Rex hoped that it would be out of stock and that he could salvage for the items instead. Then again, even if they were in stock, he could still attempt to look for the Bion Connecters.

"Ah, you're the Nopon that was staring at the Bion Connecters the other day." The Gormotti Merchant commented as they approached. They gave a strange look to Malos, since while the Aegis' Core Crystal and face were covered, he still definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Malos huffed a little underneath the helmet, but the merchant did not say anything about it.

Tora raised his prehensile wings in surprise, "O-oh...you noticed...?"

The Gormotti smiled, "Yeah, considerin' that you were starin' for three hours straight." Tora looked a bit embarrassed at that, and Rex sighed.

"Look, I'm not so sure about the price..." The merchant turned their attention to him.

"I don't usually do this; however, you can usually salvage Bion Connecters here in Gormott fairly easily compared to in other countries." The Gormotti said, which caused Rex to feel relieved. He thanked the merchant before he then asked where the nearest salvage point was.

Once the Gormotti merchant had pointed them in the right direction, they headed towards the salvage point. Once they reached the point, Rex pulled on the rest of his salvager suit and helmet. He hoped that it would not take too long to get the Bion Connecters.

Malos watched quietly as Rex jumped into the Cloud Sea, a little intrigued at the act of salvaging. Back during the Aegis War, he had only really seen salvagers in action a few times. He had heard about it, but Malos had never gotten a chance to actually salvage himself. The Blade was not even sure if ever even wanted to, but it was interesting to watch someone else do it.

"Hopefully, we don't end up with a repeat of the other day," Eva said, and Malos actually knew what she meant. While he had not seen all of Rex's memories, he had seen the ones from the last few days. It seemed that creatures coming up from the Cloud Sea with the items that were being salvaged was actually a quite common occurrence.

"Agreed," Azurda responded and there was then silence for a while until Rex finally came back up. When the fifteen-year-old jumped out of the cloud sea and hauled up two relatively small metal crates with him, Malos felt a bit of relief. He quickly shook off the feeling like one of concern for the boy's safety, deciding that he was just relieved that Rex had not taken too long.

Rex slipped his helmet off before he pried open one of the crates. He let out a satisfied sigh as he realized that he had lucked out and had gotten two Bion Connectors in just that chest alone. "Here you go, Tora! Just need one more." The boy handed the two Bion Connecters to Tora before he pried open the second crate. He knew that he was having great luck when he found another Bion Connector.

The fifteen-year-old handed the final Bion Connector to Tora before he sorted through the other salvage he had found. There was nothing too valuable on its own, but he knew that groups of certain items were worth more being sold as a set than just selling those items individually. "That's pretty good, considering I just used a normal cylinder."

"Rex-Rex pretty good at salvaging!" Tora cheered as they headed back to the merchant. Once they got there, they were informed that no Perfect Range Sensors were being sold. Somehow, that eventually led to an argument about how conspicuous they were being. Even though Malos had disguised both his core crystal and face, it was still not wise for them to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

"Surely, the Driver would be me," Azurda stated, and the argument was ended there as a Gormotti citizen walked up to them.

At first, the offer honestly seemed way too good to be true but Rex realized that it was their best shot. Killing a Krabble was definitely not too much to ask, and it would give him an opportunity to test out Kaevan as a Blade. This would also present them with the chance for Rex to learn how to efficiently swap Blades during battle.

Speaking of the dark-furred beast Blade, they were clearly more of an observer than a speaker. The Volff-like Blade had been quiet the entire time since they had walked back into town, and their constant silence freaked Rex out a little. He wished the Blade would speak up more, but he was not sure if forcing it was a good idea.

"Kaevan, you mind if I test out your weapons?" The boy asked as they headed out of town and towards the landmark known as 'Lascham Island', which they had passed by when they had first headed to Torigoth. To be honest, the Krabble did not appear to be much of a threat, but Rex decided that he should not be so quick in his judgment of the creature.

Kaevan bowed their head, "Go ahead. It would be good to learn how to use the twin boomerangs... It is a rather unique weapon." They answered, and they grabbed the boomerangs in their mouth and tossed them at Rex. The fifteen year old caught them, although he did almost drop them, and approached the Krabble.

The Krabble was a little more challenging than he was expecting, but the boomerangs were actually quite effective in dealing with it. To Rex's surprise, Kaevan was actually a Blade of the electric element. The boomerangs sparked with electricity each time he threw them, and the twin weapons came back to him every time like a normal boomerang. He swapped Kaevan for Malos a couple times in order to use Anchor Shot, then he would swap back to the beast Blade.

The bond he felt with Kaevan was different than with Malos, for the beast Blade allowed him to feel all of their emotions as they fought the Krabble. That did not mean that the ether bond he had with Malos was bad; rather, the Aegis was just more reserved Kaevan was when it came to sharing emotions through the affinity link. It was strange, considering neither of the two Blade seemed to speak much, at least not to him.

Part of him wondered how Regan's bond with Eva was. The two of them were very close, that much was obvious, but he was still curious about just how much they shared through their affinity link with each other. Obviously, at the moment, they were currently separated from each other. Speaking of, as worried as he was about her and Nia, he found it a bit strange that from the information they had gathered in town: Regan had been mentioned in none of it.

"Wow, your element's lightning! I expected it to earth or maybe even dark." Rex commented as he gave the boomerangs back to Kaevan. The Volff-like Blade nodded before they walked away from the Krabble and started to head back into town.

"Yes, I can't blame you for that." Kaevan answered before they noticed that Malos was watching the two of them. No matter how hard he tried, the Aegis seemed to refuse to actually have a decent conversation. So far, he seemed to insist on scolding Rex every chance he got. Malos had showered some semblance of kindness, but the Blade still was very reserved unless Rex did something wrong and the Blade felt the need to scold him for it.

"Rex-Rex and Kaevan fight amazing together! Tora hopes he'll bond with Artificial Blade just as well." Tora exclaimed excitedly as they made it back to Torigoth. The fifteen year old noted that Tora had yet to call the Artificial Blade by an actual name, but he refrained from commenting on it. Deciding that he just wanted to get on with it, he informed the helpful Gormotti that they had dealt with the Krabble. Afterwards, they quickly made their way back to the Nopon's house.

•••

"That won't do, Tora." Malos' voice almost scared the hell out of the Nopon, and Tora paused. Why the Blade had interrupted his attempt to awake to Artificial Blade was lost on him. The Aegis had hardly voiced any complaints towards Tora specifically, so the sudden interruption was definitely unexpected. The storm outside definitely did not help ease the Nopon's nerves.

"What is it? What Tora do wrong?" Malos had taken off the helmet again, allowing them to see his emotions. His expression was hard to read, so it was hard to tell just what the Blade was feeling about the whole thing.

"It doesn't seem right for you to just keep calling her 'Artificial Blade'. Since you're her creator, you should give her a name." The words were honestly strange, in the sense that it did not seem right that Malos was the one that had said them. The Blade's tone was also softer than expected, and he honestly seemed to be much nicer than his intimidating appearance would lead you to believe.

"Oh, that no problem... Tora already have perfect name picked out!" The Nopon exclaimed and was a little surprised to hear Malos chuckle in response.

"Well, let's get on with it then."

"Say hello to world's first Artificial Blade...Poppi!" Tora cheered as he pulled the lever, and the sound of lightning striking the house echoed only moments after he had done so. The power went out suddenly but quickly came back on as they watched Poppi for any movement. She did not move at first, which caused a worried expression to appear on Tora's face.

"Poppi...?"

There was silence for a couple seconds before Poppi moved quickly and posed in a particularly cute manner. "How can I be of service, Master?" A look of horror fell onto Tora's face as she said this, and he quickly glanced back at other people in his house.

Rex was wide eyed, almost looking to be visibly alarmed. Malos...he was just laughing, as somehow this was all very amusing to him. Eva had a 'I've seen and heard way worse' expression, and she did not look to be amused in the least. Kaevan's expression almost seemed to mirror Eva's exactly, and the two of them seemed to be thinking the same thing.

The Nopon hurriedly pulled the switch back, and Poppi's eyes shut as he started pressing buttons on the machine. Malos was still laughing, something that honestly felt a bit like it was mocking Tora now. "There, should work fine now." He stated before he pulled the lever once again.

Lightning struck the house again, and Poppi reactivated. Her eyes opened, and this time it was easier to recognize that she had orange eyes. Outside of the obvious robotic features, she definitely reassembled a young child. Poppi was cuter than expected, and her eyes were full of innocence. Perhaps it was the result of just being born, but Poppi's eyes made her seem human.

"Greetings, Masterpon." The Artificial Blade greeted, and Poppi's voice was somewhat mechanical sounding but definitely sounded less robotic than they had expected. Malos wondered just how it was possible to make her voice sound so lifelike. He was not about to ask Tora though, since he knew the Nopon would likely go on and on about it.

"I-I did it!" The Nopon cheered, and Rex walked closer to get a better look at Poppi.

"Wow, that's amazing Tora!" The boy exclaimed, as he realized just how much work had to have been put into making sure Poppi would function properly. He could feel the familiar presence of Eva hovering behind him as she gazed at the Artificial Blade in wonder. Malos had stopped laughing when Poppi had spoke the second time, and he was just standing there now.

Poppi looked around the room, her orange eyes looking at everything in curiosity. She also made sure to look at all the people in the room, and she stared at Malos for a moment. The Aegis almost thought she would be frightened, despite the fact that she technically was a robot. To his surprise, she just looked curious.

"But I was pretty surprised, y'know when she was-" Rex started, but he was swiftly cut off by Tora.

"Forget about that!" The Nopon loudly said before he spoke again, "That not Tora's fault...it Grampypon's. Grampypon Soosoo made settings. Yes, definitely Grampypon's fault." Tora said, and it seemed odd to Malos that he would blame his dead grandfather.

"You sure about that, Tora?"

The look Malos currently had honestly frightened the Nopon a little, and he was a bit worried when the Blade suddenly looked over at the wardrobe that had maid outfits spilling out of it. "U-uh, yes, of course Tora sure." The Aegis just watched him for a moment before Tora was finally relieved of the scary expression that Malos had.

"Okay then, let's get out of here."

Poppi looked at them, "Anyway, my name Poppi. Poppi try hard to make Masterpon proud." The Artificial Blade stated, and Malos then realized that her speech pattern definitely closely reassembled that of a Nopon's. Eva was mentally thinking about just how Poppi was, and the Blade wondered what her Driver would think of this.

•••

"Uh, Tora, I have a question." Rex said as he backed away from the machine. The game 'Tiger Tiger' honestly bothered him, since why should you have to play the game just to be able to get the items in the machine. To be honest, he was tempted to just ask Malos to break the stupid thing. The Blade probably would not object, since he honestly looked just as annoyed at the current situation.

"What is it?"

The fifteen year old sighed, "If all those parts we need for upgrading Poppi are in the machine...why don't we just break it? Y'know, rather than just wasting time playing the game." The look on Tora's face indicated that he had never really thought about it. Rex heard Malos let about an annoyed sigh before Tora finally answered.

"Because...because that cheating. You have to play game to earn parts."

Rex sighed, already knowing that his next move would likely upset Tora. The Leftherian looked up at Malos, "Hey, Malos, can you-" He started, but the Aegis had already prepared to break the machine. Malos ignored Tora's objections but stopped when Poppi suddenly spoke.

"Malos should not break machine. It would upset Masterpon greatly." He looked at her and then at Tora. The look on the Nopon's face let him know that the machine was sentimental to him. Malos had no problem with sentimentality; however, he wondered why Tora would be so nostalgic over something like that. Maybe it had been made by someone close to him, so he did not want it to be destroyed.

"Fine..." Malos stated as he pulled the extra piece of armor off of his chest armor, which exposed his Core Crystal. He tossed both the extra piece of armor and the helmet on the floor, and they both disappeared in a flash of dark ether.

Malos looked down at Rex, "Just don't waste too much time. We need to head out soon." He advised before he leaned against a wall while he waited.

•••••••

Uraya was a place of beauty, and there was no denying that. Even so, the Elf found himself missing Elvuen. It was where he had grew up, and he missed the forest and his home village. He was happy; however, he did still miss Almesta. It had been quite a few years since he had last visited, since he now spent most of his time as a mercenary. Of course he did have to travel to different Titans, but he had only been back to Elvuen a handful of times and none were to his village.

"Ethan?"

He turned his head to look behind him as he heard the familiar voice of Lucy. The Blade's crimson pink eyes met his, and he recognized the mutual feeling of worry shared between them. She looked exactly the same as she always did, outside of the lilac colored ribbons that she had tied around her horns. It was still obvious that she was Blade, but she definitely seemed more comfortable with her horns concealed.

"Yes, what is it?"

Lucy looked at the still visible wound on his cheek, and then she looked at his bandaged hand. He definitely preferred to allow things to heal naturally, although he still did use poultices. Healing by the use of ether was not to be overused and could even cause scarring if it is used to frequently. "You need to take a break...you're still injured."

He huffed at that, "Not that injured. Besides, it not like I'm doing anything too strenuous over here. Applying a Core Chip to a Blade weapon is not exactly a physically demanding task." She pushed his shoulder in response, looking slightly amused at his snarky remarks.

"Cut out the snarkiness. You know I hate it." She mumbled, and Ethan let out a light chuckle in response.

"Sure I will...when you admit that you are in love with me." Her eyes widened a bit a that, but when she realized he was just joking she simply looked down at the ground.

"Just...try not to strain yourself, okay?" She requested quietly.

"No promises."

•••••••

Bonus Scene*

The thought of how this could have possibly happened echoed through her mind as the little girl barely managed to duck away from the hand of the bandit that attempted to grab her. She managed to run for a couple feet, until she abruptly tripped on something. Having no idea what it was, she hesitantly glance back only to let out a yell in fright.

The girl had tripped over someone's arm; however, this person was not awake nor were they unconscious. She had only a dead body once before but she knew that this person had to be dead. The horror of the situation once again hit her as she realized that the body was that of her father, and she now knew why he had not warned her.

"Just a little Bunnit, aren't you?"

She trembled at that and tried to get off of the floor. The girl fell back on her rear as her left ankle protested in response to her trying to stand. It was clearly sprained, and she could not get up without causing strain to her ankle. Tears slipped down her face as she attempted to get up but was quickly shoved down by another bandit.

Sobbing was heard from another room, and a black haired woman was quickly dragged out of it. The woman's hands were bound, which made the little girl look down at her own rope restricted hands. The light blue eyes of the woman quickly fell onto the dead body of the girl's father and cry of agony echoed throughout the cabin. The little girl was not even listening even more, her eyes unfocused. "Mom... Dad..." She mumbled softly, unaware that the woman was now calling out to her.

The woman called out again before she was suddenly backhanded, and she fell over. The bandit that had grabbed the woman from the room grabbed her by her hair, "Try that again if you want to see your daughter's throat get slit." He stated, and the other bandit in the hallway pulled the little girl up and held the knife against her throat.

Cold metal against her skin caused the little girl to regain awareness. "M-Mom...!" She cried out as she looked at the dark haired woman on the ground. The woman was currently pleading with the bandits, not that it seemed to have any effect on them. They did not seem to care at all about her pleas; however, the sounds of fighting outside quickly drew the two bandits' attention.

"The hell was that?" One of them asked, which caused the other one to sigh and let go of the little girl. The girl fell to the ground, and the bandit looked out the window. His eyes widened as he stared out at the bodies of the others that they had brought with them.

"Shit, they're all dead!" He exclaimed before he cried out as the door was sliced open faster than humanly possible. There was a flash of light, and he fell to the floor as something faster than the human eye could see sliced his stomach and chest open. The other bandit watched in horror as the other one fell, and he pressed the knife into the woman's stomach as a masked man appeared in front of him.

"Unsurprising, that humans would so ruthlessly slaughter innocent people for their own gain..." The man said before he once again disappeared in a flash of light, and the bandit had no time to react as his limbs were repeatedly sliced and the sword then was swiftly stabbed through his heart. The bandit fell backwards, and the woman sobbed.

The masked man was silent now, his eyes looking around the hallway. He looked down at the sobbing woman on the floor, and the little girl could do nothing but watch as he knelt by her mother's side. She could tell her mother said something, and she watched in horror as he listened before he nodded his head and stabbed her in the heart with his sword.

"M-Mom...!" She cried out, sobs causing her small body to shake violently. Her words and sobs drew the man's attention, and he got up and turned to face her. She winced and tried to back up but she bumped into someone's legs. The girl looked up and saw a blonde haired woman standing there with her arms crossed.

"Going somewhere?" The blonde asked, almost tauntingly.

The distraction allowed for the man to get closer, and she looked back only to see him standing right there in front of her. His hair was in between a silver color and white, and his blue eyes looked down at her. The horned mask certainly did not help quell her fear of him.

"My name's Jin... What's yours...?"