Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 5! Yay. Hurrah for getting this far, but otherwise let the chapter begin! After the usual warnings and whatnot of course. :D
Warning! This story will have lots of swearing, violence, and blood/gore. If you don't like that, then this probably isn't for you and you shouldn't be reading this.
"Yes, I am Zero." = Regular speech
What is he up to? = Thoughts
"Where are you young one?" = Telepathic speech
"Hello, I am your PDA." = The PDA is speaking
I don't take any credit, nor do I own Code Geass or Subnautica. This story is purely for fun and my entertainment only.
Ch. 5: Getting the Basics
The entire bunch of seed clusters were torn free from the harsh pulling, but Lelouch didn't have enough time to process that as he just barely dodged the predator's attack. A snarl escaped the alien's lips as it's jaw clamped shut mere inches from his face. "I got it! Go back go back!" The raven haired teen didn't dare look back, and instead turned and began to swim away as fast as he could away from the alien creature with the creepvine seed clusters firmly in his hands. Kallen and Suzaku, who were at first swimming forward thinking the predator had gotten Lelouch, quickly back tracked and all three swam away towards the lifepod for all they were worth. None of them speaking or daring to stop to take a break until they were safely back inside of their haven.
The creature gave out one last roar that echoed out through the sea, before it decided to give up and move on to simpler prey to catch and eat.
. . .
"Ugh." The sound of metal shifting and someone struggling with what sounded like leaves made Suzaku open his groggy olive green eyes. "What? Lelouch, what are you doing still up?" The burnette turned his gaze away from his still awake friend towards the seed clusters he was struggling to pull in through the lifepod's bottom hatch. An eyebrow hitched up at the comical sight, but the Eleven soldier was just too tired to laugh or tease about it. "And what are you doing?"
"Couldn't sleep, and I'm trying to get these damn seed clusters into the pod so I can finally fabricate the shit we needed this stuff for in the first place." Lelouch's eyes rolled so back it was a miracle they didn't get stuck in his head. "Obviously, you can see that I'm struggling." A slightly evil grin formed on the raven haired teen's face. "Now that you're awake though come over here and help me."
Suzaku mimicked rolling his eyes like Lelouch, before begrudgingly getting up from the seat he was sleeping in with a tired groan. Dawn on the third day of their stay here was just finishing up. After everyone had returned from that near disaster in the creepvine kelp forest the trio had literally just climbed back into the lifepod and conked out. That was after they figured out the seed clusters that Lelouch took wouldn't fit into the pod and had to be secured to a limestone rock formation first. In some form of good news Lelouch managed to gather plenty of excess seed clusters in his panic, so they shouldn't need to return to that place for a while unless it held a new material they needed to collect. They had everything they needed to make the list Lelouch had spoken of yesterday.
Suzaku took over Lelouch's role and looked around the lifepod for a second in search of Kallen. The redhead not being in sight. "Where's Kallen?" He asked with a grunt. One swift tug on the seed clusters and they crashed to the lifepod floor with a pop.
Lelouch frowned as Suzaku managed to do what he could not in one try. "She's outside right now trying to catch some fish. Those nutrient blocks we were provided with in the storage bin are practically gone now between being shared with the three of us." Dichromatic eyes went towards the fabricator as he continued. "I was planning on fabricating the tools we needed so that we'd have everything ready before you woke up and she came back, but then this happened." The terrorist said grouchily, and gestured to the seed clusters dramatically.
A tiny grin twitched on Suzaku's face now that he was waking up to join the living. "You're still at least the weak little twig that I know who works endlessly under Milly's rule as the Student Council Vice President. Thank Kami that hasn't changed."
The words were out of Lelouch's mouth before he could stop himself. "Student Council lackey by day, Britannia's most wanted leading terrorist by night. The perfect disgust I must say, because no one would expect a full blooded Britannian schoolboy." The teasing atmosphere went right out of the top hatch at the reminder of who Lelouch was. The raven haired teen sucked in a breath at the realization. "Ah. It seems I've ruined the atmosphere with that. Sorry, perhaps it was a bit too soon."
"It's- I… well. Yeah." Suzaku wanted to say it was fine, but in reality it was anything but. What else can I say?! My best friend since childhood is a freaking masked terrorist against the country I'm serving. The guy I absolutely despised and hated.
Perhaps in the sign of some strange blessing, the tension was ruined in a rather comedic way. A twittering sound came up from the opened lifepod hatch up top, and all eyes slowly looked up to meet a strange alien bird abomination. With its wings opened fully the creature was probably about as big and their heads. Black feathers with an iridescent sheen were on its body, head, and feet while it had glowing white and baby blue feathers on its wings and legs. In the bird's beak was a bunch of the seed clusters.
"What the hell?!" Lelouch exclaimed. The thing turned its head to the side, before it quickly spread its wings and began to fly off with its ill gotten seed clusters. "Oh shit!"
Thinking quickly, Lelouch lunged and managed to just barely grab a hold of the seed clusters and stop the bird from making its escape. Yet, in a disturbingly shocking display of strength the bird merely squawked in anger and flapped its wings harder. The raven haired teen being lifted from the ground and slammed his head on the ceiling of the lifepod. Suzaku not being able to help the bark of incredulous laughter that escaped him at the sight.
"Ow! Son of a-" Dichromatic eyes glared towards Suzaku in anger. "What are you waiting for! An invitation? Get over here and help me!" That cut the burnette's laughter short, and it took the combined effort of Suzaku and Lelouch to get the bird to drop their seed clusters and go find a more easier target. The creature gave a loud pissed off screech before flying away.
"Phew. That was a close one." Suzaku wiped his forehead of any sea water and sweat before closing the top hatch. "Note to self, keep the top hatch closed from now on."
"Damn bird abominations." Lelouch growled angrily under his haggard breathing. The teen shoved the seed clusters safely by the fabricator and sheets of titanium scrap metal with a grunt of exertion. "Everything on this damn planet just wants to see us dead, doesn't it? I'm not losing these things I just fucking risked my life for."
A chuckle escaped Suzaku, causing Lelouch to glare up at his best friend off of the battlefield. "You have to admit though, that was pretty funny."
Lelouch rolled his eyes and dramatically wiped his own forehead. "Yeah right, for you maybe. It's just like that one time with that damn cat."
Now Suzaku was really laughing at the memories of that day. "Milly got the whole school going nuts over Arthur, yet we managed to catch him in the end." The burnette's bright expression turned to Lelouch's sour one. "Much to your relief I'm sure. Seeing as whatever he had was yours."
"That's right, because when we work together nothing can stop us." Lelouch's expression relaxed, but it still held a bit of bitterness. The raven haired teen was debating on telling Suzaku that the feline thief had actually stolen his mask, but he figured that memory should be left happy and leave it just the way it was.
"Yeah, that's true." Suzaku's voice softened the more he spoke, before the two teens were silently leaning against the lifepod's walls as they sat on the floor. The Eleven soldier didn't know how to feel right now, happy or upset. Happy because Lelouch was acting like the friend he knew and cherished, or upset because said friend had been lying to him this whole time and the fact that he was Zero. It was hard to push such an announcement off to the side to instead focus on survival.
This was his best ally and worst enemy wrapped up in one package. Even if they managed to make it back to Earth somehow Suzaku still had no idea what he was going to do with this information.
The bottom lifepod hatch opened up with a hiss, and Kallen climbed through with an angered huff of breath. Frustration coming off of the redhead in waves as she practically threw her helmet off to clatter on the floor and dripped saltwater everywhere. "Damn fish. Little pests are too quick to even swim towards for me to catch. Not to mention that the ones I've barely managed to get ahold of slip out of my hands a second later. Damn it pisses me off just thinking about it!" She ranted angrily.
Well, that answered Lelouch's unspoken question. "I could probably swim faster than those fish with my cape extensions, but then they'll probably escape from my hands as well. We'll have to kill them first before picking them up." With the mini break over since the alien bird incident had passed Lelouch stood up and stretched his arms behind his head. "Which means I need to get to work."
Kallen laid back on the floor with another huff of breath. This one much calmer as sapphire blue eyes watched Lelouch work, but her words were directed towards Suzaku. "How the hell did you manage to get those two bladderfish Suzaku? Because frankly I can't catch shit."
"Don't ask me, ask the bladderfish, because they decided to quite literally run into me." Suzaku deadpanned. An unamused expression on his face at the memory.
Kallen snorted as she turned to look up at the ceiling of the lifepod. "Yeah, well I can't speak alien fish, so I guess it'll remain a mystery."
"Okay, disregarding that conversation right now I've got the fabricator's options up on the PDA right now." Lelouch interjected. The terrorist's cape extensions had moved the sheets of scrap metal until they were laying on top of the fabricator's table. "So let's see how this thing changes this scrap into titanium ingots." He pressed a few more buttons before the fabricator finally went into action.
Two little slots opened up at the top of the fabricator and two spheres appeared in its place. Each sphere had two little pointers for what looked like lasers, and those pointers immediately directed themselves towards the scrap metal and shot a near blinding blue light at the metal. Bit by bit, the scrap metal was disassembled as if the light was working at the metal's molecules themselves. Once the scrap was completely gone, the light began to reconstruct the destroyed metal until there were twenty ingots worth of titanium left laying idly on the fabricator's table. With it's work done, the light vanished and those two spheres disappeared into their proper slots in preparation for more work.
Everyone was staring at the machine, gobsmacked.
Lelouch was the first to shake himself out of his stupor as he spoke, voice tinged in curious excitement. "I figured that this machine worked down at the molecular level, but to see it work so fast and accurately… This is simply amazing. Astounding." The raven haired teen tried to lift up one of the titanium ingots, and only just barely managed to lift it a few inches before he needed help in the form of his cape extensions. "I… Dear God I nearly have no words. I need to understand how this works!"
"Oh no, looks like someone is geeking out over this place's technology." Kallen teased sarcastically. "Better stop him now before he refuses to go back to Earth."
"You have to admit though." Suzaku said. "That was pretty cool." Though Kallen said nothing it was obvious she was in agreement to the burnette's words.
Lelouch glared down at the resting redhead, but said nothing to her previous comments and simply returned to looking the fabricator over in fascination. "Let's see, so we need three ingots of titanium to make a single standard O2 tank, so that means it takes nine to make three for all of us." He pressed a few more buttons as his extensions removed the titanium ingots that wouldn't be used from the table. "Oh, it even has a color option. Fantastic."
With that, three different colored O2 tanks matching the trio's colors were created and replaced the nine titanium ingots. The process only took mere minutes that still had Lelouch's fascination.
"New blueprint acquired." The PDA spoke up suddenly, surprisingly the lifepod's three occupants.
Lelouch took a moment to search for the new blueprint, and the sight of a high capacity O2 tank made the raven haired teen near giddy. "A high capacity O2 tank. Even just crafting basic items with the fabricator this PDA is still finding ways to make our gear better. Imagine what we could do if we managed to bring this technology back with us to Earth." Lelouch breathed. Though some of his enthusiasm dipped when he saw Suzaku's disapproving glare. "I'm not talking about using it for the war, Suzaku." Lelouch rolled his eyes even when the others couldn't see it. "Though it would be useful there as well."
"Can we just move on and make some of the other stuff we need, please?" Suzaku asked tightly. The burnette grabbed both his and Kallen's new O2 tanks, and handed the red and lilac colored one to the redhead. "Like, I don't know, can we finally get a weapon now?"
"I'd feel much safer with a knife as well." Kallen added in after thanking Suzaku for handing her her new O2 tank. The ace Black knight focusing mostly on strapping the new tank onto her back and discarding her old one to the side by the lifepod's seats.
"Fine, fine. I'm getting to it." Lelouch relented begrudgingly, and strapped his own new O2 tank onto his back and placed the old one down by Kallen's own. As he did that, Lelouch's extensions gathered the seed clusters and placed them down on the fabricator's table. "Oh? These seed clusters can make two things." Lelouch stated, looking down at the PDA as he spoke. "It can make silicone rubber or lubricant."
"What the hell- Lelouch what the fuck?!" Kallen yelled towards the raven haired teen that was her leader. Strangely, the redhead only reacted like that when Lelouch mentioned the latter item. A light pink dusting her cheeks as they steadily got redder and redder.
"What? It's just lubricant. You know, to help minimize friction in mechanical components and engines? It's mostly used for vehicles and such." Lelouch raised a confused eyebrow. "What else did you think I was meaning to say?"
To make matters worse and more awkward the PDA added in it's own words. "Lubricant is essential in construction of vehicles and power plants."
"See." If Kallen wasn't redder than a tomato before she was way past that mark on the color spectrum now. It actually looked like she might pass out. "Woah, Kallen are you alright? You're looking concerningly red around the face. Did you catch some alien disease?" Now Lelouch seemed concerned.
"Just, make the survival knives already Lelouch." Suzaku practically begged. Judging from the light dusting of pink on his cheeks the Eleven had understood what Lelouch did not.
Lelouch pursed his lips, but decided to follow Suzaku's pleas and continued working with the fabricator. "It's two silicone rubber rolls for one seed cluster, and one bottle of lubricant for one seed cluster. I'll make most of it silicone rubber and five bottles of lubricant." With that, the raven haired genius set to work on converting the space consuming seed clusters. Not noticing the way Suzaku was rubbing his face and how Kallen had hers buried in her hands. "A single survival knife needs a roll of silicone rubber and titanium, and there are some fins that can help increase our speed in the water that require just two rolls of silicone rubber that I'll make as well. Color coded of course."
"The fabricator draws from available data to provide environment appropriate equipment, using locally available materials. For your safety this setting cannot be overridden." The PDA stated as Lelouch began to fabricate their upgraded fins. Lelouch gave an intrigued hum at that tidbit of nice information.
"Great. Thanks Lelouch." Suzaku answered since Kallen seemed out of commission at the moment. The lifepod was quiet except for the fabricator buzzing as it worked to deconstruct the seed clusters and construct the excess silicone rubber, lubricant, color coded fins, and much needed survival knives. This time however, it wasn't silent from tension and anger that was about to brew into a fight, but just because no one had anything else to say with a hint of awkwardness.
That was, until the PDA decided to pipe up with a less than pleasant fact. "Weapons were removed from standard survival blueprints following the massacre on Obraxis Prime. The knife remains the only exception." Everyone looked down towards the PDA in shock, which was quickly turning into anger.
"Are you kidding me?!" Kallen hollered. "Against crocodile-shark abominations and weird demented manatees we only get a tiny little knife to fight back with! These knives are practically sticks in comparison!" Lelouch wordlessly handed the redhead one of the three knives that were fabricated and Kallen took in its details while speaking. The knife was serrated on one side and smooth and sharp on the other. Alterra's logo engraved into the middle of the blade. The handle was black on the right side and white on the other, and there was a hole in the middle just where the blade was wedged in so one could spin the knife if they wanted.
While Kallen was raging on the fact they were basically defenseless on this watery planet determined on killing them Suzaku decided to quickly move on with an important question. "What now? I mean, we got this stuff finally, so what's next?"
"I just want to know what happened on this Obraxis Prime that caused the knife to be our only weapon of survival." Lelouch growled darkly before deciding to address Suzaku's question. "Now that we've gotten our bearings we need to find a way to get the hell out of here and back to Earth." Lelouch stated, going to organize their storage bin and taking out other materials to fabricate like copper, acid mushrooms, and the bladderfish Suzaku caught. "For that, we need to search for clues and upgrade our current tech." The raven haired teen sighed, shoulders slumped for a second before they righted themselves. "Well, that's all I've got at the moment."
"What if we explored that huge ship out there?" Suzaku suggested. Not that anyone had forgotten about the obvious crash landed ship that stuck out like a thumb in the background. "That place is bound to have clues or at the very least new tech."
"Hell no." Lelouch shot the suggestion down immediately. "That thing is so far away, and who knows what the hell is out there. The ship is also completely unstable, but only God knows what attention that thing has gathered from the creatures of this place." Suzaku cringed at the reminder of the ship's demolished integrity. "I would at least wait until we've got this lifepod repaired. That radio has to have some messages on it we can listen to. See if there are any other survivors and whatnot."
"New blueprint acquired." Lelouch grinned as the fabricator finished making something to the teen's satisfaction. The new blueprint being for a power cell since the teen made a battery before taking it a step further.
"In the meantime though. I plan to try and understand this planet's ecosystem." With those words, the raven haired teen lifted a strange looking device up to show off to Kallen and Suzaku.
"What's that?" Kallen asked the inevitable question with a quirked eyebrow.
The PDA decided to answer before Lelouch could. "The scanner can be used to synthesize blueprints from salvage technology, and to record alien biological data."
Lelouch glared down at the PDA for stealing his words. "This was what I was talking about before we started scavenging for materials yesterday." The handle had a black grip, but otherwise it was completely white. One side of the machine glowered a bright cyan light. There was also an adjustable screen on the side that opened to show the scanning process in terms of percentage. "Thing took a battery and titanium, but otherwise I'd say it's completely worth it."
"The PDA said it can scan biological data too, right?" Kallen questioned, and Lelouch nodded in confirmation. "Why not give yourself a scan then? See if that wound you had has gotten infected with any weird forieng alien bacteria."
Lelouch's eyes widened at the idea. "I didn't even think about that, nice call Kallen. I probably should do that."
The redhead beamed in praise as Lelouch turned the scanner towards his hand and began scanning himself. The terrorist's entire body was covered by a pulsing blue light as the scanner was processing. "Performing self-scan. Vital signs normal. Detecting trace amounts of foregin bacteria. Continuing to monitor." A relieved sigh went through the entire room at the good news. The scanner's screen flashed a green 'Normal' before it powered down in preparation to be used once more.
"That's great. That trace foreign bacteria is probably just on my suit, so we're good in that department. At least something is going right for once." Dichromatic eyes scanned the PDA for a moment before Lelouch spoke again. "All that's left to make in terms of tools that we can make is the repair tool for the lifepod and flashlights, so that if we do decide to go into caves or swim when it's dark we can at least see."
"Egh." Kallen cringed at the idea of traversing caves, but gave a thumbs up in approval anyway. "Sure, I can see the logic in that."
Lelouch looked down towards the PDA again, but this time with a slightly sour look. "We'll need to go back out and look for more supplies though." The raven haired teen scrolled down the PDA's screen with one finger as he spoke. "We need a ton of quartz to make glass for the flashlight and high capacity O2 tanks, cave sulfur for the repair tool, and silver ore for the O2 tanks. On the bright side, our tanks can hold five hours of oxygen now compared to two."
"Great." Suzaku stretched as he put his scuba mask back on before grabbing his empty knapsack. "Then let's get out there and get this stuff before it gets dark."
"Here here." Kallen agreed. The redhead being the first to open the bottom lifepod hatch and dive out into the water once more followed by Lelouch and finally Suzaku. Once everyone was in the water and the bubbles had cleared Kallen spoke up again. "Cave sulfur is obviously going to be in some caves seeing as it has the word cave in its name. I saw some stones that looked like quartz in and around some cave entrances as well while I was trying to catch some damn fish."
"Great, then we'll start there. Lead the way towards those caves you were talking about." Lelouch gestured towards the open water of the shallows. Kallen rolled her eyes at his antics, but began to swim forward regardless.
"I thought about swimming closer and getting the quartz, but everytime I swam close to the cave entrances there would be this weird noise that would emit from the cave itself." Kallen put in as they swam. The group went over a huge giant coral tube, but it wasn't anywhere as big as that enormous one they caught peeks and glimpses at in the distant shallows. "It sounded like some animal giving out a warning and it got higher in pitch the closer I got to the caves, so I decided against getting the stuff and just moved on."
"So there's most likely some creature living in the caves protecting something." Lelouch deduced as they got closer to a cluster of multiple cave openings in the shallow's limestone walls. A ways into the cave an eerie purple glow came from the acid mushrooms and writhing weeds that manage to grow and prosper within the darkness. "So, who wants to be bait and go first?"
"Lelouch!" Both Kallen and Suzaku yelled at their ally at the same time in anger.
"What?" Lelouch shot back defensively. "It's obvious something is in there and it's probably dangerous!"
"But still, do you have to put it that way?" Suzaku groused as everyone's gaze went towards one of the cave entrances. The burnette pointed towards something reflecting light off in the cave. "There. There's some quartz right there."
Lelouch went forward to retrieve the quartz when Suzaku interjected. "Hey, I'll get it."
"Really?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow as Suzaku began to swim forwards.
"Yeah, I mean you got those seed clusters and Kallen tried fishing. It's about time I do something to help as well." Suzaku insisted as he still kept swimming forward. That progress faltered when a growl echoed out from the watery caves and was steadily rising in pitch as the burnette carefully continued forward. "Besides, I don't want you guys to get hurt."
"Be careful, Suzaku." Kallen put in softly.
"Trust me, I will be." Suzaku replied back. Once the brunette passed the threshold of the cave and entered that growling came to an alltime high pitch. The sound of fleshy flaps opening made everyone stop dead in their tracks and cringe before they all realized something.
That noise was growing louder and closer, and it was being directed right at Suzaku.
"Oh shit!" Suzaku hollered, and just barely managed to put both of his arms up in front of himself to protect his face before everything went nuts. An enormous eye with a huge pupil and golden iris was speeding toward the burnette. The creature's body was revealed to be spherical in shape and mainly red with a white underbelly, and just bigger than Suzaku's chest. Yellow spiky scales were situated over its entire body and tiny chubby tail, and just underneath its huge eye was a jaw lined with tiny sharp teeth.
That was all anyone managed to catch before the fish literally gave out a loud high pitched scream before exploding.
"Suzaku!" Both Lelouch and Kallen screamed the brunette's name loudly. Shifting sands and salt you couldn't see before waving in the water pushed outwards alongside huge bubbles of air that made a break for the surface. Suzaku was pushed back and sent head over heels at the sheer force of the explosion. A green light flickering over Suzaku's arms, chest, and legs before it died out completely.
Yet overall, he looked perfectly fine. At least from the glance Lelouch and Kallen took before they were right by the stunned Eleven's side.
Olive green eyes blinked open in confused bewilderment. "Did that fish just freaking explode on me?"
"Yes. It did." Lelouch deadpanned, dichromatic eyes wandering over his friend's frame for injuries with worry. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Suzaku pursed his lips, and quickly tapped his body with his arms to ensure all of his limbs were still attached. "No. I don't feel any pain nor am I seeing any blood. I'm fine."
"There's no way you can be just fine!" Kallen disagreed, sapphire blue eyes still wide in shock. "That thing was bigger than your chest and quite literally exploded in front of your face. For all intents and purposes you should be dead and without the upper half of your body!"
"Well, obviously that blast wasn't as strong as you think it is, because I'm still alive and unharmed." Suzaku grouched.
"Perhaps it was your suit." Lelouch theorized. The burnette blinking at the suggestion before Suzaku looked over his suit in curiosity. "While I have things… cybernetic implants, and Kallen has those blades on her arms your suit must have some defensive capability built within it." Dichromatic eyes narrowed. "Some form of shield over your body to help defend yourself against attacks."
"I did see a flash of green before that fish went kamikaze and blew up." Kallen admitted. "Reminds me of your Lancelot's blaze luminous shield on its arms and legs. Only it's on your dive suit at your arms, legs, and chest."
"I saw a flash of green too." Suzaku agreed after he finished investigating himself thoroughly. No injuries were sustained on his person. "Okay, so I have an extra means of defense. Though it didn't seem to last long. Probably only really works against small sudden attacks like that one."
"I think so as well." Lelouch hummed in clear interest, but the teen held off on investigating and instead swam towards the cave entrance. "There's no way what power your suit functions on can make the shields last long, so it's just a quick flash to help minimize initial damage. Enough pondering on that though, let's get the stuff we came here for and get back to the lifepod. Now that we know these fish can explode we're much more prepared to fight back." The teen's extensions flexed in preparation for a fight.
"Detecting sulfur deposits in the local cave systems." The PDA stated. It's voice echoing around the water and cave walls. "Sulfur is an essential component of the repair tool."
"Yeah. We know that." Lelouch grumbled to the machine darkly.
"What was that thing even protecting?" Suzaku asked as they carefully inched their way into the shallow's caves. Olive eyes looked everywhere for another kamikaze fish. "It had to be very important to it if it blew itself up over it."
"I think I can answer that. Look." Kallen spoke up uneasily, and gestured towards the sandy yet rocky seabed a few feet below them. There was a small red sphere idly laying on the ground half covered up in sand. It's outside looked very squishy and vulnerable and if you looked in it hard enough you could see a smaller nearly fully developed version of the fish that blew up on Suzaku. "I think it was protecting its egg."
"Great. Now I feel bad." Suzaku cringed as he thought back towards the fish that had nearly killed him. "I just got an unborn fish orphaned and most certainly killed."
Lelouch rolled his eyes, not even bothering to pause and look at the egg, and instead simply swiped the thing up from the seafloor with the help of his cape extensions. "Well if you feel sorry for it why not keep it? Because if you don't feel too sorry I plan on dissecting this thing when I get the chance. Or maybe I'll let it grow so I can scan it and find out what fish that thing was, then I'll dissect it." The raven haired teen shrugged and coldly tossed the egg into the back of his knapsack roughly and without a care for its integrity. "Either way works."
"Lelouch!" Suzaku cried out to his best friend in horror. "You are not dissecting that thing. Even if it wasn't an exploding fish that's just wrong and inhuman!"
"Ahmm. We can have this argument once we get back into the lifepod." Lelouch deflected callously. "Let's just get the quartz, find this cave sulfur, and maybe get some silver before it gets dark out or we run into more kamikaze fish."
"Already ahead of you." Kallen stated. The redhead closed her knapsack with some freshly picked quartz inside. Sapphire blue eyes looked around the cave for a moment with the help of the purple glow before they landed on something weird. "You think that was the kamikaze fish's home?"
The trio swam up to crowd the thing Kallen was talking about. It looked like an unassuming pile of rocks on the outside, but the inside was completely red with yellow outlines. Four big fleshy flaps were opened up, and in the very back of the strange pod-like monstrosity was a yellow gritty looking substance that was a darker shade than the sand around them.
"Most definitely." Lelouch confirmed with a nod. The teen's nose was scrunched up in disgust, but regardless he took out his scanner and scanned the strange plant pod thing.
"These plants appear to serve as nests for the explosive organisms which guard them. The outer petals are undamaged by the presence of the inhabiting creature, suggesting a complex co-development. The plant has evolved to feed on nutrients and minerals deposited within by the fish. Sulfuric deposits on the inner leaves provide an insight into the mechanism by which the creatures explode. Assessment: Sulfur has applications in construction of the repair tool." The PDA said helpfully, and a relieved breath escaped the raven haired teen.
"This thing has the cave sulfur we're looking for and it's why that kamikaze fish can explode." Lelouch opened his knapsack and scrapped the cave sulfur into it. "The thing had sulfur inside of itself that it lit up to make it go boom."
"Oh lord." Kallen groaned. "Please don't tell me we have to get anymore of that stuff, because frankly I don't want to lure exploding fish out of their homes just to get that dust." Annoyed sapphire eyes managed to catch a hold of another outcropping, and she swam up towards the ceiling to get it when she noticed something different about it. "Hey, is this thing a limestone outcrop? Cause it looks really different if that's the case."
"Hmm?" Dichromatic eyes looked up to what Kallen was looking at and went by her side with the scanner in hand to scan it. Suzaku was swimming further into the cave carefully gathering more quartz and breaking some limestone outcroppings.
"I've seen a few of those scattered around here too, but not nearly as much as the limestone outcroppings." Suzaku piped up from the otherside of the cave. The burnette just finished putting some copper ore away into his bag as he pointed to five other outcroppings like the one Kallen saw. "Kinda just thought it was a part of the cave."
"PDA says it's a sandstone outcropping." Lelouch stated. His cape extensions striking out at the outcropping to reveal a silvery ore underneath that Kallen caught. "They have a chance of either holding silver, gold, or lead." Dichromatic eyes went up towards Kallen as she stored the newfound ore away. "Apparently that one held silver in it, which is perfect because we need silver for those high capacity O2 tanks."
"Silver-based wiring kits are an essential component of many habitat modules." The PDA added in factually.
"How much quartz do we have so far?" Lelouch questioned.
Just as Suzaku was about to answer another high pitched growl suddenly bounced off of the cave. Everyone immediately tensed up and eyes frantically searched for the fish. The raven haired teen caught just a glimpse of bright red in the glowing purple darkness from the corner of his eye. Instinctively, Lelouch reeled his cape extensions back and striked out at the fish that was gunning towards Kallen who was just now seeing the kamikaze fish. The red ball of destruction was sent reeling back and striked the cave wall before exploding. The loud boom it gave off made everyone cringe and hold their heads in pain as the noise rebounded off of the cave walls.
After a few seconds of frightened silence, Kallen spoke shakily. "Holy shit. That was way too close." Sapphire blues turned to Lelouch in gratitude. "I was almost blown to bits, thanks."
Lelouch blinked, before he pursed his lips and turned towards the way the kamikaze fish came from. "It was nothing. I need my ace Black Knight and available hands to help us all survive after all. Now let's get that thing's cave sulfur, break these sandstone outcroppings, and get some more quartz before we all end up bloody pieces scattered across the cave floor."
They managed to find that cave sulfur, nearly an entire knapsack full of quartz, three silver, two lead, and even one gold ore before they had to surface the water and decided to return to the lifepod with their safely gotten goods and intact limbs. The trio climbing back into their safe haven with exhausted huffs of breath, the sun just now starting to set on the horizon. Painting the normal blue sky with various shades of reds, oranges, purples, and dark navy blues. The few alien birds still out flying in the sky returning to wherever the hell they came from with screechs and caws. The Aurora was still a flaming crackling ball of unstable hellfire smoking up in the distance.
It was almost peaceful, if it wasn't for the fact that this wasn't Earth.
"Dear lord." Kallen breathed out as she took off her scuba mask and O2 tank. "I can't believe we were travelling in those caves for so long. It didn't even feel like we were in there for hours!"
"At least we didn't get lost and got back up to the surface before our O2 ran out." Suzaku said optimistically. Though the big yawn he gave showed how tired he was from their adventure today as he slumped against his normal seat. The redhead preferred the floor while Lelouch took the seat that once held the corpse with morbid pride much to the other two's uncomfortable looks.
Though Lelouch seemed to be the most exhausted, and he even had those extensions to help him move around. The raven haired teen panted as he forced himself to move around and organize their supplies once more in the storage bin. The terrorist being a near obsessive neat freak. "I can agree with Suzaku on that statement. I'd rather not die in a darkened crowded cave that's underwater due to asphyxiation." Lelouch groaned, placing half of their recently obtained quartz on the table to convert into glass. The fabricator buzzed with life once more as it set off to work.
"Come on man, you don't need to do that stuff right now." Suzaku said gently. The burnette gestured to the second chair. "We can all do that stuff tomorrow. When we're all refreshed and energized."
"It should only take a few minutes. It won't be that long." Lelouch persisted stubbornly, and Suzaku groaned but didn't say anything else.
"Just get some sleep when you're done Lelouch." Kallen grumbled drowsily from her spot. Sleep already taking the teen's mind as she warned near incomprehensibly. "Or else."
Kallen fell asleep before she could see Lelouch roll his eyes at her threat. The raven haired genius just finished converting the quartz into glass, placed all but nine into the storage bin, and began to turn three of those glass chunks into three flashlights. The added ingredient of three batteries being required as well were picked up from the slowly filling up storage bin. "There, three flashlights. One for each."
The teen tried to wipe his eyes, but just now realized he never took off his scuba mask much less his heavy O2 tank.
"Lelouch, you're really out of it if you can't even remember you still have a scuba mask on your face." Suzaku interjected sternly. "If you keep going like this you're going to collapse from overworking yourself."
"Maybe that's what I want." Lelouch muttered lowly under his breath. Dichromatic eyes narrowed in tired determination with dark bags beginning to appear underneath. He quickly took his mask and O2 tank off before again rubbing his eyes. "Just a few more minutes." If Suzaku had cared anymore than he did now the burnette would have thought Lelouch was whining.
Yet, Suzaku put his foot down this time. "No, go to sleep, because I won't get any if you're up still and making noise." The burnette stood, took one step, and was able to grab ahold of Lelouch's recently healed arm. "This place is cramped enough and any noise you make bounces through this thing like a rubber ball, and I'm not dealing with it. So sit down and go to sleep before I decide to take drastic measures and knock you out."
Lelouch glared up at Suzaku when the burnette pushed him into his chosen seat. Stubborn and unshakable olive green eyes glared back darkly. Suzaku's own dark rings appeared under his eyes as he sat himself down in his own seat to sleep.
Finally, Lelouch gave a tired sigh of his own and looked to the side. "Fine. It can wait." A dark grin spread across the raven haired teen's face as he sneered towards Suzaku. "Apparently you steer towards violence much more easily when sleep deprived. A bit more murderous."
Suzaku gave his own tired irritated sneer back, but it just didn't have any energy behind it. "Yeah, whatever. Go to sleep Lelouch." Olive green eyes glared nastily one more time before they shut for good. "I'm serious."
The burnette fell asleep peacefully soon after the mini confrontation. Missing the way Lelouch huffed angrily, nearly pouted like a petulant child that had their candy taken away, and crossed his arms. Eventually though, Lelouch fell to the inescapable grasp of slumber as well, and fell to sleep with his chin tucked to his chest and arms still crossed with his body turned to the side so he didn't experience pain from his cybernetic implants. Cape extensions unintentionally coming up to wrap around the raven haired teen like a blanket as he slept.
Everything was quiet in the lifepod, chests rising and falling slowly, atmosphere peaceful, and everyone sleepingly dreamlessly when the PDA spoke.
"Detecting increased local radiation levels. Trend is consistent with damage to the Aurora's drive core sustained during planetfall."
No one heard it's important message.
Guys, this story is literally making itself. I've already got a skeleton planned for it of course, but the meat of it is just flowing like a damn once I think about where they are in their situation and how far they'll get in the next chapter and the next.
I have to make the O2 tanks have more oxygen than provided in game. Otherwise these bois would literally be dead if their tanks only had 75 seconds of oxygen.
Suzaku, Lelouch, and Kallen all also have unique perks to their suits. Kallen's is the blades on her arms as a means of extra offense, Suzaku has a version of the blaze luminous shield on his arms, legs, and chest that last only for a few seconds and only against small sudden attacks, and Lelouch has his cape extensions. Offense, defense, and speed/maneuverability respectively.
If you have enjoyed the story so far leave a REVIEW, Follow, and Favorite the story so you can keep track of when chapters pop up. Because FYI, I don't have a posting schedule and I just post whenever I feel like it.
I'll be seeing you guys in chapter 6! -MoonlightWright
