A spoiler about Jin from chapter five in the game is revealed in the bonus scene.*

The Aegis Awakens

/Chapter Ten: Rescue/

Although he had initially known that something was off, Malos was now fully sure. The fact that Eva seemed very unconcerned about Regan's safety was one of two things that tipped him off. The second thing that let him know that this situation was sketchy, was the lack of any mention of Regan in the information they had gathered from people in Torigoth. Malos would have expected there to be something mentioned about her but there was nothing.

It was nice to see Brighid again, he had to admit, yet he could not help but wonder who her Driver was now. He had taken notice that her head had turned in the direction of Regan, with an expression of recognition, but it should be impossible for Brighid to recognize the Elf. Perhaps Regan knew Brighid's current Driver; however, he would have no way of knowing until they actually found her.

"Here we go." Rex's voice suddenly broke him out of his thoughts. The Aegis watched as Rex shot his anchor and managed to pull himself into the ship through the disposal chute of it. The fifteen-year-old was no doubt fairly light, so the anchor had no problem pulling his weight. Malos knew that would not be the case for himself, but he decided to humor Rex as the anchor was lowered down to his level.

"Malos, you first."

The boy seemed too confident that he would actually be able to pull Malos up, which was something that honestly just amused the Blade. Rex was definitely overconfident, which was a little annoying. Confidence was by no means a bad thing, but Rex seemed to have an overabundance of it. To be fair he had successfully resonated with Malos, but Rex clearly lacked the level of skill necessary in order to fully utilize the Aegis' power.

"Okay... Hang on, Malos." The Blade did what he was told, all the while still curious about how much Rex would be able to lift him. It only took a couple of seconds of Rex trying to pull Malos up before the boy suddenly cried out about how heavy the Aegis was. Malos could also hear the normally wise-sounding voice of Azurda. The Titan was evidently scolding Rex since the fifteen-year-old had clearly stated the obvious.

The Aegis stepped off the anchor, and he wondered if Rex would admit defeat. The boy fell backward as Malos moved off the anchor. Malos looked over at Poppi, who suddenly launched herself into the air. Her metallic feet actually turned out to have boosters, which allowed Poppi to be able to fly. He doubted she would be able to fly super far, but he had no idea of just what her limit would be.

"Poppi?" Rex asked as the Artificial landed next to him. She simply grabbed the line and lowered the anchor back down to Malos.

"Poppi can handle this. Please, grab again."

Malos did as she said and found himself being raised into the air as Poppi effortlessly pulled him up. "Wow...! That's amazing, Poppi!" Rex exclaimed as he took note of just how easily she was pulling this off. Then again, she was a robot, so the superstrength was to be expected.

"Poppi is Artificial Blade. This is, no problem." The Artificial Blade stated as she looked up at Rex.

"Now, it Masterpon's turn," Poppi stated after she had successfully gotten Malos up with them. All in all, it did not take long for Tora to join them as well. Eva, who was certainly the lightest out of all of them, could actually fly so the anchor did not need to lower down to her as well. Kaevan, since it would be difficult for them to actually be able to get on the anchor and be lifted up, was picked up by Poppi after she had flown down to get them. She then flew back up to the entrance and set Kaevan down.

That begged the question... Why did Poppi not just bring them all up thereto begin with?

"C'mon, let's head in," Eva stated as she lead the way, for she felt a familiar presence on the ship.

•••

The interior of the cell was awfully dull, but Dromarch was more concerned with the hope of Nia being okay. The two of them had been separated, which upset the beast Blade. The two of them had been bonded together, and he wished for nothing more than to be by her side again. She had been tormented enough, and Dromarch knew just how much she had suffered.

The truth about what she really was was something that she kept deeply hidden to herself, and he was the only one that knew that she trusted. Fully opening her heart to anyone but Dromarch was something that she was understandably reluctant to do. Her past was something that had nearly gotten her killed, despite the fact that she had no say in the matter.

Rex and Regan were both Drivers; however, Nia's hesitance to trust them was something that no one would blame her for if they knew the truth. The truth, while difficult to stomach for some, would be necessary for trust to be fully earned. It was far too early to judge if Nia could be fully open up to them about her past and about who she really was one day, and Dromarch could only hope that it would happen.

The beast Blade was drawn away from his thoughts as an odd sound came from outside his cell. Then, a hole started to slowly form in the cell door, and he quickly realized the cause. Dark ether, closely resembling a flame but with a darker color, was essentially burning a large opening in the door. Dromarch watched for a moment before realization suddenly hit him, and he ducked down just in time as a burst of purple ether flew right over his head.

"Sorry about that. Seems I overestimated the power a little." The apology seemed genuine enough, but it was clear that Malos was quite amused.

Rex, Azurda, and Eva popped their heads into the cell and it was clear that they were all relieved to see that Dromarch was okay. Malos seemed more neutral on the matter, despite his apparent amusement. The white-furred beast Blade was unable to even get out a single word before two new faces appeared in his field of vision.

One of them was very clearly a Nopon, while the other one appeared human at first glance, but she turned out to be mechanical in nature. There was another Blade there too, one that reassembled a Volff. "Good to see you're okay, Dromarch." Azurda stated, and Rex nodded in agreement. The mechanical girl and the Nopon said the same, with even the former of the two speaking just like most Nopon does.

"Rex, Malos, and Master Titan, I must say I am relieved to see you all... But pardon me, who are they?"

•••

"I see," Dromarch said after he had been given a quick introduction to all three newcomers. Afterward, all of them quickly headed in the direction that Dromarch sensed Nia in. They had to fight quite a few more soldiers before they headed up the stairs. Steam, definitely not non-lethal, blocked their path.

Six of them waited as Rex headed back down the stairs and towards a red wheel. The wheel had previously been guarded by some soldiers, but they were gone so Rex was easily able to turn the wheel. The sound of the steam stopping caused Rex to sigh in relief. That is when he noticed a gate off to his right. Rex approached said gate and to his surprise, the door slid open with little resistance.

Inside he found another wheel and decided to turn it. Internally, he wondered just what this wheel would do. The sound of steam stopping from somewhere above him- in the opposite direction of where the others currently were. Rex decided against calling out to the others as he went to check it out, not thinking that it would probably worry them since the steam that blocked them off in the first place had already been successfully stopped.

He entered another hallway and headed to his right and up some stairs. Spotting a ladder, he walked towards it and started climbing. Eventually, he found himself on a walkway with a chest at the end of it. After he had opened the chest, he had found some gold along with a couple of Core Crystals. The light blue glow coming from them made Rex extra careful when handling them as he slipped them into his bag.

Rex looked up as someone called out to him, and he quickly spotted the small form of a very familiar white-haired Blade. Despite the slight distance between them, the look of concern was still evident. "I'm okay, Eva. I just found some stuff." The boy called out before he walked back across the walkway and headed back down the ladder.

The fifteen-year-old swiftly headed back towards the others, and he immediately was greeted by Eva perching herself on his left shoulder. He smiled a bit at that, fully aware that was just Eva's way of showing affection. The fairy-like Blade mostly sat on Regan's shoulder; however, she did frequently also do the same thing to Rex. "So...what'd you find, Rexy?" You knew Eva cared about you if she gave you a nickname.

"Just gold and a couple of Core Crystals."

"You don't wanna awaken any more Blades right now, do you?" Eva asked, and the Leftherian nodded.

"Yeah... I'm good with just Malos and Kaevan for right now."

Eva smiled at that before she got off of his shoulder and started heading further up the stairs. He followed her and he passed Malos on his way up. The Aegis was silent and did not follow, and Rex paused and turned towards Malos. "Something wrong, Malos...?" The fifteen-year-old questioned, and Malos looked up.

"Just please don't wander off on your own again, okay?" Rex simply nodded, and he could not help but that that Malos had actually been worried. The Blade still appeared to have a neutral expression on his face; however, his eyes did appear to show some worry. It was strange to Rex: just how quickly Malos could go from scolding him for things that were not really that big of a deal to be concerned about him when he wandered off.

"Sorry." Rex apologized before he headed up the stairs and towards the others. He heard Malos follow after a moment of silence, but Rex did not look back at the Aegis.

•••

Being in a cell all by herself was definitely not on Nia's list of fun places to go. For one, it was not that comforting at all and she just felt cold and alone. Nia was not alone; since the occasional word exchange outside of her cell reminded her that she was far from being alone. Separated from Dromarch, she could barely feel their ether bond at all. Perhaps the cell had some influence on that.

A memory, one that she found difficult to forgot since this cell and ship reminded her so much of that time, entered her mind. The familiar sound of the guards being taken out echoed through her mind. She looked up as the cell door opened, almost believing that this scenario was happening again. There in the doorway stood Jin, and she watched him for a moment. When he held his hand out she hesitated for a moment before accepting it.

Still lost in the hard to forget a memory, Nia was barely aware of the sounds of a fight that was currently happening outside of her cell. Despite what had happened on the ship, Nia still found it difficult to completely abandon Torna. She knew that what they were doing was wrong; however, they had treated her fairly well until she had refused to do as she was told.

"Jin...?" She asked quietly as the cell door suddenly open. To her surprise, and somewhat relief, it was Rex.

"Nia, are you okay?" Rex quickly asked as he walked towards her. Nia had barely managed a nod in response before her Blade also approached and bowed his head towards her. Even morerelief filled her as she was reunited with Dromarch, and she barely resisted the urge to hug him.

"My lady, apologies for my late arrival." Nia could not help but smile at Dromarch before she answered.

"That's alright. I wasn't expecting anyone to come at all..." The Gormotti admitted, and she figured that Rex had most likely come to save Regan. After all, the two were clearly close and Rex had only known Nia for close to a day now.

"Of course we were going to rescue you, Nia. You're our friend." Rex told her as he held his hand out to help her up. She looked at his hand for a moment as she took in what he had said. The Gormotti wondered if he honestly meant it, or if he had just said it makes her feel better. Either way, she was grateful for the rescue. Accepting his help, she got off of the floor and looked towards the doorway.

Malos was standing outside the cell with Eva; however, Nia did not recognize the other three people. "A Nopon?" The Gormotti questioned as she looked over the newcomers. There was an unfamiliar Blade that resembled a Volff. A girl, who Nia quickly realized appeared to be mechanical, with light purple hair and orange eyes stood next to a Nopon clad in overalls. The Nopon was equipped with various tools, which included a large wrench.

"Rex-Rex, Tora found escape route!" The Nopon called out.

"We'll explain later, Nia. For now, we need to find Regan and get off out of this place." Malos was the one who spoke, but Nia was honestly still a little uncomfortable around him. He evidently had figured out the truth about her, and she was not going to deny she was worried that he would tell the others about her secret.

"Okay..." Nia responded before she looked over to Eva. "You sense your Driver anywhere nearby?" The Gormotti asked, and Eva nodded.

"Yeah... This way." Eva stated, and she led them back down the hallway.

•••

Not too long after, they found themselves in the armory of the battleship. They talked for a bit, trying to figure out what their next course of action should be. "Hey guys, I found something," Eva called out from the other side of the armory. The Blade flew back over and presented the item she had found to them. In her hand, she held a key.

"That's good... Malos, wasn't there a locked door near the mess hall?" Rex asked the Aegis as he took the key from Eva and examined it. The fifteen-year-old looked around the armory for a moment before he realized that that the Hangar division console was currently deactivated.

Malos nodded, "Yes. That'd be a good place to try it." He motioned towards the key that Rex was now holding onto. The fifteen-year-old smiled in response, and he headed over to the armory entrance to exit the room. The rest of them quickly followed and before long they found themselves at the door near the cafeteria. The Leftherian tried the key and sighed in relief as he heard a click, and he was then able to easily slide open the door.

In front of them, there was a staircase. They headed up to the next floor and made their way through the various different rooms. After knocking out more of the soldiers, they found themselves on a walkway. Finding another set of stairs, they headed down and found a switch on the wall. Rex flipped it, which resulted in a walkway being lowered down into the armory below them.

When confronted by a couple of soldiers in the Hangar, they quickly took care of them before Rex activated the panel that was connected to "There, that should do it." He said as he looked down into the armory. The Hangar division console lit up, which caused Rex to feel relieved. "Now, we need to find Regan." Rex stated but was stopped in his tracks as Tora started admiring the technology.

"Tora, now really isn't the time." Malos interrupted, as despite the fact that he doubted Regan was in any trouble, he still just wanted to find her. He would honestly love to leave the ship sooner rather than later, and he had definitely not appreciated the time Rex had spent playing 'Tiger! Tiger!'. The Artificial Blade had been the only reason Malos had not just broken the cursed machine, and he would reluctantly admit to himself that he had already started to warm up to both Poppi and Tora.

It seems that Tora felt the need to completely disregard what Malos suggested. Malos sighed in annoyance before he simply started to tune out the conversation. As interesting as it had the potential to be, Malos could not bring himself to care about it at the moment. In his opinion, they had already been on this ship for far too long.

"Seems that they're having fun... but this is all gibberish to me... Poppi, what do you think?" Malos heard Nia ask as he zoned back into reality.

Poppi considered the question for the moment before she turned towards Tora, "Why Masterpon act so proud?" She asked.

"Ho-hoo! Tora very glad you ask! That because tech used inTitan battleship is same as what Poppi's muscles and drivetrain use!" Tora explained excitedly, and that got Malos' attention.

"Poppi is surprised!"

"But however though! Ones that Poppi use are even more improved than these here!"

"Yet more surprise!"

"Are you saying that you stole the technology from Mor Ardain...?" Nia asked, and Tora did not say anything at first.

Rex sighed, "C'mon, Tora... Is that what you call sporting behavior?"

"Tora take calculated risk in service to cause of scientific advancement... As result, not even Ardainian scientists capable of reverse-engineer Poppi systems! So no worries there!" How the Nopon was so casual about it, Malos would never be able to figure it out. Poppi looked worried, although her expression was hard to distinguish.

"Upon learning the secret of Poppi's birth, Poppi feels a sense of unease..."

"E-everything fine! Probably... Now, Rex-Rex! No time for chit-chat. Let's get going!"

•••••••

Bonus Scene*

Initially, Jin had not been expecting to hear the scream of a child from within the cabin that Mythra and he were currently looking at. People were outside of the place, and he had no doubt that they were likely going to kill the child. Bandits seemed to savor the suffering of innocents, and Jin was utterly repulsed by that knowledge.

"What are you doing, Jin?" Mythra sharply asked as she noticed his change in posture.

"M-Mom...!" Hearing the child's cry, Jin's decision was solidified.

"What's necessary..." He answered before he grabbed his sword and in a flash of light, all the bandits outside the cabin were swiftly taken care of. They had not even had time to react before they had been mercilessly killed. Jin looked through the window and realized that not only was there a child, there also was a woman being held hostage by the two remaining bandits in the cabin.

"The hell was that?" One of the bandits asked.

"Shit, they're all dead!" The other bandit exclaimed after he had released the child and took a look through the window.

The bandit looking out the window was quickly alarmed as Jin sliced up the door. Jin easily took care of the bandit with a slice to the stomach and chest before he appeared in front of the remaining bandit and turned his attention to them "Unsurprising, that humans would so ruthlessly slaughter innocent people for their own gain..." Jin stated before he disappeared in another flash of light.

Having no time to react, the bandit was quickly defeated by several slices to his limbs before the final blow was made to his heart. The bandit fell back, and the woman he had been tormenting fell to the floor with blood coating her shirt. Jin then realized that that the bandit had managed to stab the woman because he had not acted quickly enough. Almost out of remorse, Jin found himself kneeling by the woman's side.

"I-I..." The woman started but paused as she heard the sobs of her child.

"M-my...m-my daughter... Please s-save-" the woman cut herself off as she pressed a hand against her wound. It was clear that she knew she would not surprise. After all, with where she had been stabbed, it was likely that she had internal bleeding. The only thing slowing the loss of blood was the fact he had not removed the knife. Leaving the knife in there would only serve to delay the inevitable, and she would still be in pain.

When Jin nodded in response, the woman looked relieved at that before she shut her eyes. He knew what she was asking for, and he swiftly put the poor woman out of misery. "M-Mom...!" He heard the girl start sobbing even louder, clearly not understanding just why he had done it. Jin stood up and turned to face the little girl.

Frightened, she hurriedly tried to back up but bumped into Mythra's legs. The blonde-haired woman was currently standing in the doorway and looked down at the little girl in a taunting manner. "Going somewhere?" The child looked up at Mythra, obviously fearful of the blonde. Jin took the opportunity to come closer, and the girl looked at him alarmed as he was now standing right in front of her. He was silent for a moment before his mouth opened, and the words that slipped out were eerily familiar.

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

The little girl's eyes widened even more, and he took note of the forest green color of them. She did not answer at first, and he knew Mythra was glaring at him at the moment. The blonde appeared to be angry until a flash came and her appearance changed. "She's frightened, Jin... Be gentle with her." Pyra said softly before she made a motion towards her face.

Quickly realizing what Pyra meant, Jin kneeled in front of the little girl before he suddenly slipped off his mask. He knew that it might make things worse, but with how scared she already was, he decided to change it. The removal of his mask caused the girl's sobs to pause, but she still hiccuped as she looked at his face. The glowing red crystal on his forehead seemed to be the focus of her gaze.

"I'm Pyra... You have a name, sweetie?" The redhead asked softly as she came into the child's line of sight.

"It... I-it's...A-Alana..." The girl finally managed to say, and it was surprising she spoke at all considering the traumatizing events that she had just been through. Her tear-filled eyes stare up at Jin as he held his hand out to her. She looked at it before she glanced towards Pyra, who gave her an encouraging look.

"You're safe now." Jin helped her off of the ground as she accepted his help. She stumbled a bit, and she flinched as she put weight on her left leg. Reaching out to steady Alana, Pyra gave Jin a knowing look.

"Mythra isn't happy about this..." Pyra informed him quietly, yet despite Mythra's obvious annoyance at the situation, the blonde was allowing it to happen.

Jin said nothing in response and simply nodded.

I decided to upload three chapters a day here until I get chapter 23 posted here.*