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. 11: Boom
"I actually have seen those things before." Lelouch piped up a tad loudly in exclamation. The teen pulled out the PDA again and showed the data he got on the huge pink creatures. "They're floaters, but basically super big and super old versions of them. They're called ancient floaters. A regular floater is normally around the size of our heads, maybe smaller. Yet if you get a ton of them gathered together they can actually lift up masses of rocks and boulders and keep them in place."
"Wow. Very fascinating Lelouch." Suzaku deadpanned, but looked at the PDA entry with intrigue anyway.
"It actually is from a scientific, biological perspective." Lelouch's eye twitched lightly at Suzaku's tone of voice, but the raven haired teen dismissed it. His best friend was more about action and movement rather than the intricate details and scientific process of life. "Turns out these guys are parasitic scavengers, and they literally don't react to anything. Trust me, I actually poked one with my knife and nothing happened. They're just noninteractive."
"That's cool to know for future reference." Kallen nodded in light agreement. "In case we ever run into them again or something."
"Hey, that base is just up ahead." Suzaku interjected, and that brought the trio's focus back onto their surroundings rather than the previous conversation. The group continued advancing until they finally broke through the barrier of plant life to see the open space of the abandoned base.
. . .
"The way these structures are so horribly rusted and broken down there's no way these guys could have come from the Aurora. So were there people actually stranded here before the Aurora crashed? Before us?" Suzaku asked as the group began to carefully traverse around the area.
The sudden chirps and crickets of some alien lifeforms put the trio all on alert. Everyone taking a moment to arm themselves with their knives before continuing forward.
"Their voices don't match any of the people we listened to on the radio before either." Kallen added in agreement. "I can't tell where that accent comes from though… is it Scottish?"
"Possibly, most likely actually." Lelouch agreed as the group noticed how the abandoned base was halfway swallowed up by dirt and rubble. It certainly didn't look very good, or safe for that matter. "Could be Mongolian too, but I'd have to either meet the person or listen to more of their voice logs to know for sure."
"Well you just might get the chance if we find any more PDAs in here." Suzaku muttered half heartedly. The burnette going around and entering the base through the ajar bulkhead door.
When a flash of scaly orange, white, and blue hurled itself towards his face, Suzaku instinctively brought both of his arms up and defended himself. Stumbling back out of the base with a loud startled cry that instantly had Lelouch and Kallen rushing to help him.
"Suzaku!" Both Kallen and Lelouch yelled out in worry. In response to the loud noises and chittering chirps a bunch more of what looked like alien spiders jumped out of hiding in the foliage and abandoned base to attack.
The redhead and raven haired duo instantly shot into action. Showing their teamwork and experience fighting by going back to back to fend these new land creatures off. Slashing and stabbing with their knives, or slamming, tossing, and squeezing others that unfortunately got too close to Lelouch's cape extensions.
Yet, the Britannian soldier didn't need any help. The flash of translucent green from the blaze luminous flared up on his arms and protected him from any damage. While Suzaku quickly grabbed one of the thing's legs and smashed it into the ground. Acting quick and not wasting a second before taking his knife and stabbing into the creature multiple times until it bled yellow blood all over the ground and stopped moving, not even a twitch. Red ringed eyes watched it all with a dark determined look to survive.
Looking up to see two more rushing towards him on their four spindly legs. Suzaku wasted no time putting them out of their misery either.
By the end of it all, eleven small weird bodies lay scattered across the ground. Yellow blood splattered everywhere and on everyone through the carnage. The rest of the creatures wisely made a retreat as their chirping turned into high pitched squeaks as they fled swiftly into the surrounding plantlife.
They probably didn't run far. Sitting and hiding in wait for a possible opportunity to attack once again that would never come.
With loud huffs of breath coming from all three teens, all pairs of eyes looked to each other to see if anyone was injured. Nobody was thankfully, though it had been quite an unexpected spook.
"Damn." Kallen growled irritably, before kicking one of the dead corpses too close to her farther away in disgust. "Even up here on dry land we can't find any peace can we?!" She snapped angrily and yelled.
Stiff silence reigned with Lelouch as he merely walked up to one of the corpses and coldly stood over it. Slowly, almost rigidly, he pulled out the scan gun and scanned the creature for more information as to what they were. He wasn't disappointed.
Agile, territorial carrion-feeder. Cave crawlers are well-adapted to both land and sea.
Gas Exchange Membrane:
Absorbs essential gasses from the air or water for basic bodily regulation.
Mandibles:
This species seeks out corpses in packs, before defending its claim while the corpse is devoured.
Assessment: Necessary waste recycler - Avoid or incapacitate.
"Look at the pincers on these things." Suzaku spoke quietly. Everything else about these creatures screamed pathetic in comparison to the other things they had seen. Only its mandibles were a threat, otherwise it barely reached half way up anyone's shins thanks to its long, four weirdly spindly legs. "I bet that has to hurt if anyone gets bit by that."
"Well, let's try not to find out." Kallen said in a no nonsense tone.
"Come on, it seems they've stopped trying to fight us for now. Let's continue exploring the wreck and move on to the base at the top of the second mountain." Lelouch ordered sternly. The raven haired teen moving back to search through the half buried room with the help of a broken window on the other side. Kallen and Suzaku heading in to explore the bigger section and second level of the base that wasn't buried.
Kallen and Suzaku together found two more abandoned PDAs, an old but still usable medkit, and blueprints to some ultra glide fins. While the fins were a huge find, they'd need to build a modification station first before being able to even think of using it, which was a downside.
"Windows improve the aesthetics of your habitat, at the expense of structural integrity."
Lelouch, with some luck, got through the broken window without injury and found another abandoned PDA as well.
Of course, once he had entered the room, the PDA just needed to pipe up again. "It may be prudent to separate work and leisure spaces to maximize productivity. Treat this space as your home, but never forget that it is not."
"You never seem to shut up lately, do you?" Lelouch growled. He was really starting to get annoyed with this thing. It was like every passing second it had something sarcastic to say about every move he made.
As he searched, nothing of very great interest came up. There was a barely standing desk, the PDA, and that was about it. Everything else was too destroyed to be useful or buried under the dirt and mud. Unable to gain any access to.
However, he had also found something much more interesting, and unknown.
"What the hell…?" Lelouch muttered softly. Eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he stared down at the object he currently very carefully held in his hands.
It was weird to say the least. Strange, yet complex in its own way. What looked like aged stone felt like smoothed metal and had strange patterns and symbols etched all over it. Symbols Lelouch couldn't understand no matter how hard he tried. A beautiful purple glow constantly radiating from the device where a huge 'U' seemed to be placed right in the smack dab middle.
It was clear to Lelouch that whatever this was, it was advanced. Far more advanced than anything he had seen to date here, and that included the very impressive seamoth.
When scanning it to figure out answers or shed any light. Lelouch got more questions instead.
"This carbon-based device is lighter than it looks, and features a symbol which resembles a 'U', lit up in purple. Despite the onboard power still functioning, algae growth on the exterior indicates it was abandoned hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. While the technology is far beyond federation levels, and there is no obvious way to interface with it, it should nonetheless be possible to fabricate a precise physical copy of the device, if necessary."
"What… Great, more questions than answers." Lelouch gave a sour expression, yet his eyes couldn't look away from the device.
He didn't know why, but the longer and deeper he looked at this strange tablet, something crept up in the back of his mind. A strange feeling of… familiarity?
Has he seen something like this before? No, he doesn't remember seeing anything even closely related to this in his entire life.
Yet… why did looking at it bring about such emotions?
Very, very briefly, and very vaguely, Lelouch could see the faint outline of a… of something the deeper he stared into the tablet's purple glow. Squinting his eyes, Lelouch slowly leaned forward an inch to try and get a closer look and make that wavering, shadowy image become more defined.
It felt like static was ringing in his ears.
"What… are-"
The world began to grow farther away. Less important.
"Please…-"
"Fascinating… See if we can try to open the gate again. I want to know where he-"
"Did you find anything?"
"Ah- Shit!" Lelouch jerked back and dropped the strange tablet in his hands in startled shock. Thankfully, his cape extensions came in to save the day and caught the strange device before it could hit the floor and shatter. Lelouch looked around wildly, slightly disoriented and unable to remember where he was.
Dichromatic eyes snapped over towards the broken window to see Kallen and Suzaku having just turned the corner around the abandoned base. Then he remembered everything.
"Oh, ah, yeah. Right." The revolutionary spoke somewhat awkwardly which had both Kallen and Suzaku looking towards him in light amusement. Apparently realizing that they had startled him. "You could say that."
Lightly rubbing the back of his head and slightly pulling on his hair to help further ground himself back into reality, Lelouch showed the two what he had found. The sight of the tablet had both teens gasping in shock, stealing their breath away as they looked at it in confusion and awe.
"What is this thing?" Kallen asked, deftly taking it out of Lelouch's cape extensions as the raven haired teen focused on climbing back out the window.
"No idea."
"It's glowing." Suzaku stated, lightly tapping on the strange 'U' symbol with one finger. "It doesn't look like any of the technology we've seen from Alterra so far… Maybe it's alien tech?"
"Possibly. I'm certainly not doubting it." Lelouch agreed with a grunt of exertion as he pulled himself back out of the abandoned base so everyone could regroup. "I scanned it to see if the PDA knew anything, but I got nothing useful out of it. Besides that I only managed to find another abandoned PDA. Everything else is either buried in rubble or just not worth it."
"Bummer." Kallen hummed, before handing it back to Lelouch. "We should probably take it with us, just in case we need it or manage to learn something about it."
Looking down at the tablet being offered to him. Lelouch slightly furrowed his brow before deftly deflecting Kallen's outstretched hand and therefore the tablet over to Suzaku. "I don't think I should carry it. I don't want to possibly ruin it by saturating it with a bunch of flora extracts. Suzaku doesn't have much in his bag besides what we brought over, so he should take it for now."
At that, both Kallen and Suzaku quirked an eyebrow each at the sudden, somewhat strange behavior coming from their friend. As if he was a bit nervous to touch it.
"... Okay…" Suzaku drawled on finally, if a bit slowly, as if waiting for Lelouch to take back his decision. Seeing as his best friend wasn't budging, Suzaku merely decided to roll with it and put the tablet in his own bag before readjusting the straps back on his shoulders. "Well then, now that we've scavenged this spot let's get to that last base before deciding what to do next."
"Right." Both Lelouch and Kallen nodded, and everyone began to once more make the trek up another mountain. Something which got on Lelouch's nerves, but seeing as this was necessary and both of his companions were getting irritated about his complaining he eventually stopped voicing his tired thoughts out loud. Instead, the group ate food, drank water, and listened to the new PDA logs they found while heading up the mountain.
Lelouch didn't know if he hated hiking more, or swimming… Definitely swimming a thousand percent.
"Son, I said wait for the storm to pass. Your life's more valuable to me than a plant patch." Paul said worryingly. The sound of loud, angry thunder and roiling rain slamming against the habitat's roof echoed loudly throughout the seabase and through the PDA itself.
"You stopped being in charge when the ship you were captaning sunk!" Bart snapped back at his own father. Something which got an impressed nod from Lelouch at the boy sticking up for himself and their need to survive over his father's words.
"I'll stop being in charge when you take charge of yourself!" Paul retorted back just as quickly and angrily from hearing his son's tone.
"Say, Chief." Maida called out casually. Her voice nearly drowned out by the rain pattering constantly on the roof. "Chief!"
"What?!" Paul finally broke and yelled back at the woman.
"Do you know how to drain those grow beds of forty tons of storm water? Or how to conjure food from the air?" Maida asked rhetorically.
"I know how to prioritize." Paul answered easily.
"I'm just saying if that's so, what's your boy's life worth to you today, if tomorrow you're gonna be so hungry you start wondering what he tastes like?" A moment of silence passed between the three of them. "Let him go deal with the plants."
"... Son, go deal with the plants." Paul finally relented
"Bart Torgal has disembarked the habitat." The PDA spoke up normally for a moment as the sound of Bart leaving the sea base echoed out. The noises bouncing off of each other showing just how lonely and empty it was with only three people living in the base on such a rough planet.
"Interfere with my family again, and when rescue arrives I will leave you here. Do you understand me?" Paul spoke quietly, yet it didn't make his threat any less effective.
"No rescue coming Chief." Maida said simply. Letting Paul's threat wash over him like water off of a duck's back. Perhaps being a mercenary for hire out in space does that to people. Makes threats less effective than it would be to a normal person. "Not in time. And no stayin' here neither. This rain keeps falling. Sooner or later this place'll be buried. Only choice we got is whether to get buried with it."
"Why would anyone willingly decide to build a base and live underwater in this hellhole?" Kallen asked the big question finally after staying silent for so long.
"Who knows." Suzaku answered, just as lost as she was on the idea. "Obviously since it rains so much here they got flooded out."
"Can't grow any food in con- huff- conditions like that, and we saw how tough it was living up here." Lelouch added in with a huff of breath. All of the physical exertion finally catching up to him. "They- huff- they probably had no choice and- huff, oh man- got forced to live underwater."
"It seems nice up here right now though." Kallen stated, looking up towards the near clear blue skies. Looking towards the huge red planet everyone could still see in the day time hovering over them constantly.
"Yeah, for now." Suzaku said grimly.
"Yeah yeah-" Lelouch waved one hand in the air tiredly. "Hey- huff- how much further up the mountain until I can sit down? I'm exhausted."
"We're around a third of the way there." Suzaku couldn't help the light twitch of a smirk stretch across his face at hearing Lelouch's loud groan of agony a good ways behind him. Kallen and himself meanwhile were having no such troubles at all traversing the island and up the mountain.
"God, I think this may be it." Lelouch rasped triedly with a loud pant. Hands going on his knees as he bent forward to try and get more air in his lungs while his cape extensions drooped lifelessly behind him. "Not death by fish, or drowning, or anything of the sort. I'm about to keel over dead from hiking." A somewhat pale look grew over his face. "... That or I'm going to be sick."
Okay, clearly the fun and games were over with that statement. Suzaku decided to take pity on his friend and help him in the form of a piggy back ride while letting Kallen take the lead. While it was definitely embarrassing for Lelouch, he was too tired to say anything about it or object. Merely the look and huge sigh of relief at finally being able to relax and rest somewhat was enough of a thank you Suzaku would ever need for offering his assistance.
A few minutes later, Lelouch played the next voice log they had recently obtained.
Apparently it was the discovery of the purple tablet. This had everyone listening with perked ears.
"What is that thing?" Paul asked gruffly from off to the side. His voice light and in the background before it steadily got louder and clearer with his apparent approach.
"I don't know. I found it outside in the sand." Maida stated simply as the sound of chairs scraping sounded out. Everyone sitting around a desk or table of some sort possibly.
"Part of another ship?" Paul questioned lightly. Curiosity was clear in his tone of voice.
"None I've ever seen." Maida denied with just as much curiosity herself. The first time the two people were semi-pleasant to each other it seemed.
"It's not even scratched." Bart said, awe clear in his voice.
It was quiet for a moment after that, as if everyone was pondering their own theories. When the sound of Paul frantically chastising Bart came. "... Ah ah! Don't fool around with it. It might be worth something."
"Of course that's what someone should be thinking of. How much money it can make." Kallen snorted derisively at Paul's words and rolled her sapphire eyes.
"Stand down Chief, if it was going to crumble to dust it woulda done so when I picked it up." Maida said, clearly annoyed with Paul's attitude just like Kallen.
"It's glowing." Bart was certainly mesmerized with the artifact. Possibly more so than everyone else.
"We're not the first people to come to this planet." Paul spoke factually. Though at this point it seemed rather obvious.
"People? Maybe." Maida agreed somewhat reluctantly. "Could be aliens. Could be the damn seamonsters for all we know. One things for sure, we ain't gonna find out by stayin' here." The ending of her words clearly implying their need and intentions to head underwater. To go deeper down.
"You think we should go after these people?" Suzaku questioned with a light huff as he adjusted to Lelouch's added weight. "Maybe they can help us."
"Well, it's the only lead we have on finding a possible way back home, so I don't see what other choice we have." Lelouch said grimly after a moment of pondering.
"Let's listen to this last log real fast. We're almost there." Kallen said as she began to play the next voice log.
"Oh thank God." Lelouch said happily.
"Chief's log, five weeks since the crash. The only other survivors are my son, Bart, and Maida, the cut price mercenary I commissioned for the journey." Clearly, this PDA voice log was a diary. Just like the survivor's log in lifepod 17.
"After days drifting in the lifepod, rain hammering on the roof, the weather cleared and we washed up here. I had Maida salvage the Degasi wreck, set Bart to finding a stable source of food. His education is paying off sooner than I'd anticipated."
"So the Torgal family was a very rich family then, and Degasi isn't a person but a ship like the Aurora." Lelouch deduced under his breath.
"They must have been well known in that case, so their disappearance had to be noticed by now." Suzaku piped up with his own thoughts as they walked.
"Maybe that's why the Aurora came here then. To find them and rescue them." Kallen said quietly. The thought had everyone's minds turning like wheels in a gear.
"Our only problem is Maida. She says the weather's going to turn. I say she's finding excuses to risk our lives. I imagine she's not gone a week in her life without a physical altercation, and she's itching for a fight. In every judgment she makes things go from bad to worse.
If she had my experience she'd have more faith. Humans have spent millenia specializing in how to shackle nature to our will. This planet won't cause us any new problems.
My one task now is to keep us alive as comfortably as possible until the insurance company arranges rescue. In this part of space that could be months, or even years."
"It must have been a long time, seeing as I only see one shipwreck instead of two for both the Aurora and the Degasi. The sea must have swallowed the Degasi up by now." Suzaku said somberly.
"He said it's been five weeks since the crash, so obviously the Degasi crash landed on this planet as well after they detoured from their main pathway to see this planet." Dichromatic eyes looked over to the Aurora. A couple more small and medium explosions happening all over the ship's hull as its drive core got more and more unstable. "Just like the Aurora. Both ships crash landed here on 4546B."
"You think it's a coincidence?" Kallen asked, yet even she didn't believe her own words as they finally made it to the top of the mountain.
"I would like to hope so, but most likely not." Lelouch stated seriously as Suzaku let him down. Giving a single mute nod in show of thanks before looking back up at the last abandoned base from the Degasi crew. "Something must be shooting these ships out of the sky if they get too close."
"You mean ships like that-" Suzaku gestured widely towards the Aurora. "Of that enormous size are getting shot down? That's insane." The burnette paced lightly before taking his energy out by helping Kallen open the rusted shut bulkhead door. "A ship that huge getting taken down means that whatever is shooting it has to have such insane power behind it it could probably blow up a nearby moon or planet."
"Trust me, that's why I really hope I'm wrong." Lelouch said humorlessly. With one last huff of breath, dichromatic eyes looked up towards the sky. Its hue starting to turn into an array of beautiful colors from orange all the way to a deep navy blue as the sun finally started to set on this long eventful day. "Let's finish looking around here before heading back to the seamoth. I'm exhausted. It would probably be best to wait around the rendezvous point to keep away from those cave crawlers and in case anyone else miraculously decides to show up."
"Well, lucky for you then, because I've already found a very interesting discovery." Kallen said happily as she held up a strange futuristic, advanced shotgun looking contraption. Though it was clearly broken on one end it still looked like a weapon.
"You're right about that." Lelouch said quietly as he scanned the device. Once finished, blueprints for a stasis rifle appeared in the PDA. "Holy shit. It is a weapon." The revolutionary spoke in disbelief, as if the only weapon he would get would just be a knife throughout their journey.
"The stasis rifle uses patented technology to slow time around an entity to as near to a full stop as the laws of physics will permit, essentially anchoring the target in place without affecting its internal workings. It is designed to facilitate scientific and engineering operations by expanding the window of opportunity for action in time-sensitive scenarios.
The stasis rifle features an independent, replaceable power cell, and the trigger may be held down to increase the area of effect and duration.
Common applications include:
Slowing fast-moving mechanisms, such as fan belts, to facilitate maintenance operations.
Temporarily incapacitating organisms for research purposes.
Navigating perilous spaces by freezing potential threats.
NB May not function correctly on larger lifeforms.
'The Alterra Stasis Rifle. Life's fast. Why not put it on pause?'"
"Finally." Suzaku gave an exaggerated sigh of relief as he fiddled with the broken rifle after taking it from Kallen. "It's about time we got something new and better instead of a piece of sharp metal."
"Yeah, for a second it really looked like we'd only get to use a knife to defend ourselves." Kallen agreed wholeheartedly with Suzaku. "I'm going to keep looking around out here. See if you guys find anything inside."
"Okay, but be careful of those cave crawlers." Lelouch warned. "We don't need them ambushing you while you're alone."
"Got it." Kallen understood with a nod before she was carefully searching around the perimeter.
"Okay, let's see what we've got here." Lelouch muttered as his concentration turned to scavenging the base.
There wasn't much, another abandoned PDA alongside an observatory full of plant life the group had already passed by multiple times. There was a full, unopened bottle of distilled water however, which was a nice addition.
The PDA's comment however, was not.
"Preparing the day's water rations, ahead of time, will help ensure against dehydration, and eventual death."
"Well, we wouldn't want that now would we?" Suzaku asked rhetorically as he looked over to Lelouch. His expression silently asking what was up with the PDA lately.
"No we wouldn't." Lelouch agreed stiffly. "And don't ask me what's up with the PDA. I have absolutely no clue."
Overall, throughout their entire investigation the best finds were the stasis rifle blueprints and that strange purple tablet. The abandoned PDAs and consumable plant life was a close second however. Once everyone regrouped and talked about what they found, they played the last abandoned voice log entry they had just obtained.
"This is the first time I've seen sunlight in months." Bart Torgal spoke softly, weakly. His voice raspier than it was in the past couple of entries they had heard him speak. "After all that time in the deep I'd been dreaming of it. Now that I'm back here, I'm finding it hard to enjoy alone."
Alone? Suzaku mouthed that to both Lelouch and Kallen, but they merely shrugged. The hairs on the backs of everyone's necks rising as a feeling of dark foreboding washed over the trio suddenly.
"Father was right, we should never have left this place. We shouldn't have gone so deep." Bart's voice trembled in fear. "They do not want us down there.
This sounded super bad. Obviously something terrible had gone down beneath the ocean's surface. As to be expected from this watery hell of a planet.
"Despite my best efforts, ill-health is taking hold of me. The visions are getting worse.
Marguerit and father are now part of the ecosystem of this incredible planet. It's reassuring to know that when I go. I'll join them."
Whatever had happened down below the surface cost both Maida and Paul's life.
"Until then… well, there's always the view."
"...That's terrible." Suzaku whispered shakily. "So, then they're all-"
"Dead. Seems like it." Lelouch agreed coldly. "Bart himself confirmed that the other two are dead from whatever incident happened down under, and he most likely died of some space alien disease since he couldn't stop whatever infection was going on in his system."
"It's like nowhere is safe on this freaking planet." Kallen said roughly. Her one usable fist tightening and causing her suit's fabric to creak.
"You don't think we're sick too, do you?" Suzaku said nervously. The brunette looking down at himself as if checking to make sure he was fine and whole.
"I feel fine." The redhead spoke calmly. "Well, if you exclude the troubles with my arm that is. Then I'm fine."
"I don't feel sick either, so none of us should be sick. We've been fine all this time." Lelouch nodded alongside Kallen's observations. "But otherwise we've finished exploring all that's available here on this island, so let's return to the seamoth before it gets dark."
With nods of agreement all around, the group set themselves on the task of heading down the mountain. As the group was starting to descend, Suzaku's eyes caught onto the Aurora. Seeing how the metal reflected off of the setting sun was a gorgeous view from this spot, but the fires and small explosions made it less appealing to the eye, ruining the aesthetic.
A question formed within the Britannian soldier's mind. One he decided to voice to everyone else.
"You know, I thought the Aurora was supposed to explode hours ago." Suzaku said offhandedly as the trio made their careful track down. Loose rocks and dirt skidding off of the old man-made path and taking a head first dive off the mountain's steep edge as they went.
"Yeah, Suzaku's right. Whatever happened to that?" Kallen agreed with a furrowed eyebrow. Her sapphire eyes went straight towards Lelouch for answers.
Lelouch stopped walking to look back towards the Aurora himself with a confused gaze. "It was supposed to explode. The PDA said a quantum detonation would happen in two hours, but it's been way past that time limit." Dichromatic eyes looked up towards the few alien birds that idly gilded around the floating island. "... Maybe it was wrong."
Just then, a moderately bigger explosion than any of the other ones the group had seen from the Aurora boomed near the back of the ship. The sudden loud noise they could hear all the way from the island caused everyone to flinch and startle in their spots at the unexpected action.
The PDA spoke up, yet its speakers were chalk full of static and glitches. "E-E-e-Emergency: A quantum detonation- detonation has occurred in the Auror-r-ra's drive core."
Lelouch went from staring at the crashed ship towards Suzaku. "Well then. Just had to say something to make it happen I guess then huh?!" Even with his words however, the revolutionary slowly backed up to be beside his two companions just to be safe.
Seeing Kallen's and Lelouch's gaze suddenly on him, Suzaku gestured widely. "Why are you two looking at me?!"
"The reactor-reactor-or will reach a s-su-super critical state-state in T- - - -'' With every passing moment the PDA spoke, it's voice only got less and less eligible. The static and glitches getting worse and wrose.
"Cause you're the one who talked about the Aurora!" Kallen replied back easily. Albeit a bit frantic as her sapphire eyes went back to a chain reaction of small explosions that steadily got bigger across the top of the Aurora's hull. The amount of smoke, flames, and explosions was increasing at a very rapid pace now. As if the straw had finally broken the camel's back.
"It was going to explode anyway!" Suzaku rebutted. The teen having to yell his words to be heard as the sound of explosions, booms, and loud groaning metal overtook all other noise. The birds from above had been spooked badly, and had retreated down into the safety of the forest canopy to hide.
"T-ten, nine-" An explosion bigger than anyone has seen yet took up a good chunk of the top right of the back of the Aurora. The top right propulsion system in the back of the Aurora was consumed in smoke, flames, debris and a big ass explosion. A stiff breeze had everyone lifting an arm up to protect their eyes from stray dirt, dust, and rocks.
Meanwhile, dichromatic eyes looked unsteadily down the huge height they still had left to hike down. At the smooth, unstable dirt and rocks that fell behind them due to constant erosion from almost non-stop rain.
"Eight, seven, six-" Another explosion, this time further up the Aurora happened. This one only caused a light breeze in comparison to the one before.
"Guys!" Thankfully, when Lelouch shouted that, both Kallen and Suzaku stopped to look at Lelouch with confused concern. "We need to get down from here. We're too high up! The shockwave-" Another moderate explosion and greater gust of wind blocked off whatever Lelouch was going to say, and instead gave him a mouth full of dust.
Instinctively, Lelouch's eyes began to water as he crouched down low to the ground. Hands going up around his mouth and throat as the revolutionary's body was filled with non-stop coughing and gagging at the dust's intrusion.
"F-f-f-five-"
"The shockwave." Kallen said hoarsely as she went as stiff as a board. Realization hitting her in the face with a great dose of horror. "Oh my God, the shockwave." She started yelling at Suzaku even though he knew what was going to happen as well with his own dose of realization. "We're going to get knocked clean off this mountain!"
"Four- four- four, th-thr-three -ree -three-"
"Oh fuck." Suzaku said softly, yet everyone could read his lips. Lelouch's watery eyes finally opening up and his spasming coughs coming to a slow close. The teen looked up to see everyone still in fright.
A very big explosion took nearly the entire right side of the Aurora, causing both Suzaku and Kallen to stagger from the burst of wind knocking them back a few steps.
"T-t-t- w- - #- two- WF67- otw-o -to-%2 two- tw- tw& ero- two-U&*#&00)2" The PDA couldn't be heard anymore, but if the group could hear it all they would be able to hear would be static and garbled nonsense.
It was too late to go anywhere now. Too late to move.
For a moment, all of the explosions stopped. A literal second calm before the thunderous storm.
Thinking on his feet, Lelouch lunged up, wrapped his cape extensions around both Suzaku and Kallen to cover them, and kneeled down as low to the ground as physically possible.
The PDA never made it to one before all hell broke loose.
Instantly, all of the build up energy and chaos within the Aurora exploded simultaneously into one huge, monstrous eruption. Worse than any volcano could ever provide back on their Earth. The entire stern, the entire front of the Aurora was obliterated. The roof of the ship and other huge parts got ripped apart and flew off a great distance.
With the enormous explosion that was nearly as bright as a star going off, an instantaneous chain reaction occurred. A second, similar explosion happened at the Aurora's rear end while different explosions of varying sizes discharged from either side of the destroyed ship. Shrapnel, wreckage, and debris of differing sizes scattered everywhere at such great speeds they all looked more like fighter jets flying by.
A shockwave so great that the trio could see a rainbow of colors spill forth from it for a split second hit them all like a truck. Everyone's vision blackened at the edges, and no one could hear anything but the explosion and a fierce bout of staticed ringing in their ears.
With the shockwave, the group was pushed back violently, right off of their feet. Rolling back multiple times before they were suddenly off of the unsteady pathway and sliding down the edge and off of the mountain.
No one could hear each other, but it was clear everyone was screaming.
Tumbling down the mountain at a fast, uncontrollable pace, dirt and rocks started to join them and accumulated quickly. They hadn't reached a steep edge or sudden drop off yet thankfully, but it wouldn't be long before they reached the one below them.
The only good news was that the group was still together. Lelouch's cape extensions wrapping around both Suzaku's and Kallen's torsos so tightly it nearly bruised their ribs and caused them to suffocate. The group had just reached the ledge of the mountain. The distance from the water below them was so vast that if they fell they all would die from the impact. Nothing below to help soften or catch their fall.
This was it. Do or die.
Finally, after countless tumbles and failed fumbling to grab onto something, anything, Lelouch struck miraculous gold. A strong, sharp ragged edge of stone that peaked out of the easy shifting dirt. The sharp rock having to be a part of a boulder buried within the mountainside to remain stable.
Lelouch's entire upper body tried staying rooted onto the rock as the shockwave finally died down into nothing but a strong gust of wind and eventual breezes. For a moment, he managed to stop everyone's momentum. Yet, it didn't last for long, as the added weight of both Kallen and Suzaku dragged down both himself and stretched his cape extensions to their max abilities. The other two teens left dangling helplessly over the edge with nothing to grab ahold of, kicking wildly and in a terrified, panicked display of instinct to try and get away.
The only thing holding them up was Lelouch. Weak, physically unfit Lelouch. Whose cape extensions somehow managed to keep a tight hold onto them.
The constant movement and panic from below caused Lelouch's hold to slip a good precious couple of inches, which only served to make his own heart rate soar into his throat.
Through the numbing ringing and static, Lelouch could finally hear something.
"O-... g...d…. Oh my….."
"N…. … o…. …. don't…. lp…. pl...se….."
Then just like that, Lelouch's hearing came back all at once. Like a sharp slap to the face that stung worse than being physically hit. The disorientation caused him to lose another inch of precious ground. The sharp rocky ledge started to dig in painfully on his ribs and chest.
"Oh my God! Oh God! No! Oh my God!" Kallen was screaming at the top of her lungs, and the way she reacted made it sound like she was nearly crying.
Then again, what else can anyone do when they're being dangled over a who knows how far drop to their death. Rocks and dirt pelting them ceaselessly from above, obscuring their vision lightly and making it that much worse. Nothing beneath their feet and nothing to hold onto. All they could see was the drop before them and the endless crashing waves so far below.
"No no no no no! Lelouch! Oh Kami! Lelouch! Don't drop us. Please don't- don't drop us!" Suzaku was hollering too, and the way he was constantly shifting had Lelouch guessing he was trying to climb back up from what barely available ground he could grasp from the mountain's wall. Yet, all the burnette was able to get was dirt that crumbled feebly under his frantic touch.
"stop." Lelouch rasped weakly. The constant movement and panic from below once more caused him to lose two more inches of ground. The rocky edge poked at the bottom of his lungs and scratched painfully over his chest, face and hands.
The slight decline had Suzaku and Kallen even more panicked than before.
Burying his face into the rocky dirt, Lelouch groaned painfully. His face and body getting covered in sweat at this terrible exertion of strength. His arms and upper muscles trembling terribly in an attempt to keep strong and hold on while his lower half dangled helplessly, feebly. The sharp rock beneath him cutting up his face and deep into his hands, but Lelouch still held on.
If only because he knew what was going to happen if he let go.
The dust and dirt pelting him from above from the explosion finally began to lessen. His raven hair, so sleek and a beautiful shiny shade of black was covered in dirt, dust, and small pebbles. All tangled up, matted, and just a tad bit too long from having to stay in this never ending hell of a planet for so long.
"Stop." Lelouch groaned under his breath as his voice and ability to breath properly came back to him finally. Dichromatic eyes snapped open as his mind returned to full adrenaline filled capacity. "Stop moving or I'm going to fall over!"
That got Kallen and Suzaku stilling faster than you could say 'kazoo'. Their hearing must have returned as well for them to have heard Lelouch.
It was quiet for a moment, before Lelouch groaned again in clear exerted pain. His eyes squeezing shut as he tried to pull himself and everyone else back up over the terribly steep edge they were one. Face and forehead hitting the ground as if that would help muster up the strength he needed.
It was for naught, his muscles spasmed wildly, near uncontrollably, before his attempt to bring them all up cost another three inches of precious ground and time. Both Kallen and Suzaku couldn't help but yelp in fear as their weight suddenly dropped down a couple more inches with Lelouch's failure.
The two teens dangled there, helplessly, looking each other in the eye. Both could see the terror in each other's faces at their clear incoming demise as everything settled above them once more.
Two streaks of red lined the rocky ground from the hand holds Lelouch had lost a grip of. Fresh red blood seeping through and pooling on the new hand holds the revolutionary had found.
After a moment of stressful, tense silence, Lelouch's body sagged just a tad in a show of clear exhaustion. A long defeated sigh rushed out of his gasping, panting lips, which were moving like a dying fish's.
"...Lelouch." Suzaku finally spoke up. His voice was very shaky and unstable, but he managed to be loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Lelouch, you have to pull us up."
A few seconds of silence from the Lelouch in the form of pants and strained exertion. Both Kallen and Suzaku were unable to do anything else except look either up at Lelouch's dangling lower body barely keeping them all alive, or down below towards the depths of death that eagerly awaited them.
"...huff… huff… huff…I-" Lelouch finally choked out something in the form of words. "I can't."
"You have to." Kallen objected. Her grip tight around the cape extension holding her up as the rest of her body dangled. "You're the only one keeping us up-"
"If I try to move anymore I'm going to fall." Lelouch stated firmly. Knowing where his body's limits were and that he was currently surpassing them by a great margin. "I physically can't do anything else. I-" A slight wheeze escaped his lips before he coughed. The cough shaking his entire body and therefore Kallen and Suzaku as well, spooking them greatly. "I'm too tired to."
"The walls we can reach to try and scale up are too unstable for us." Suzaku objected as well. There literally wasn't any other option. "Besides, Kallen can't climb up with only one usable arm. It's all up to you."
Knowing his friends' lives were in his hands did zero wonders for Lelouch. In fact it only served to make him terrified. It was a miracle he was holding on and had held out for this long.
If they had just arrived on this planet and something like this had happened. They would all be dead already and sinking lifelessly in the water.
Then an idea slithered into his head. A crazy, absolutely insane idea, but it just might work. Lelouch may not be strong enough to do anything, but his cape extensions were.
"-O-okay, here's the plan-'' Lelouch got cut off as his grip slipped from all the blood on his hands, dragging himself and his friends further over the edge by a whopping four whole inches. The unexpectedness of it all caused Suzaku and Kallen to scream out loud once again before Lelouch scrambled frantically and just barely managed to regain ahold of himself. The strain and action causing Lelouch to yell out himself.
Once he managed to restabilize himself and everyone else temporarily, Lelouch spoke as quickly as his panting breath could allow. "I'm going to pull you up Suzaku by my cape extension. Once you make it to the ledge you should be able to find a steady hand hold and can climb up from there. Then you turn around and help Kallen up, then me. Got it?"
It was all Lelouch had.
Before giving Suzaku any time to respond, Lelouch was already going through with his plan. It caused Suzaku to twitch in panic for a moment before he settled. "Woah- Woah! Okay, okay.." The burnette took a deep breath as he was slowly being raised upwards. "Okay. Alright. Okay."
Everything was going well till Suzaku's head managed to reach Lelouch's shoulders. The unbalanced weight caused the raven haired teen to lose another inch. The sharp rocks digging into his upper chest around the tops of Lelouch's lungs that caused another strenuous wheeze and coughing fit.
While dichromatic eyes looked up towards the sky as if praying for strength. Sapphire blue and olive green were stuck looking down at the dark, choppy waters below them.
Kallen's light whimper of fear was barely heard from below them.
Suzaku could hear the mechanical whirring and buzzing of the strain the cape extensions had to go through right by his ears. Thankfully however, it was just enough for the soldier to get a good enough grip of his own on the wall, and finally climb back up.
"Okay, I'm up!" Suzaku cheered lightly with a huge breath of relief. It didn't serve to make the terror for his friend's lives go away though. "Bring Kallen up."
He'd rather it be him suffering right now than them. He had to save them no matter what.
Yet it was inevitable that Lelouch would lose his hold. His hands slick from blood making it difficult to grasp anything and hold on. Like trying to grab a wet bar of soap or a slippery fish, it was near impossible.
At that moment, Lelouch couldn't hold on anymore.
His hands slipped, losing his grip Lelouch scrambling frantically yet weakly to try and find another hold.
Nothing came.
"Lelouch! Kallen!" Suzaku screamed in terror. Holding out his hand out for Lelouch to take. The revolutionary's hand managed to grasp on once, twice, but each time he slipped out and away because of the blood ruining his grip.
"Fuck! Suzaku!" Lelouch hollered, and in a last ditch effort to try and reach Suzaku's outstretched hand he reached out and gripped a tight, near bone breaking hold with his freed cape extension.
Lelouch went over the edge, Kallen was screaming throughout it all.
Suzaku slipped and crashed onto the ground, hitting his head directly on the stone beneath him. In an act of pure blessing however, he didn't fall unconscious, nor did he fall over the edge with his other friends. Instead, the burnette lay on the ground for a moment, trying to catch and process everything that was happening at once to come up with a good solution.
Suzaku growled lowly in his throat to make up for the strain he was feeling on his arm. It felt like his entire limb right up from the shoulder was being slowly ripped off. "Hold on!" Olive green eyes narrowed as bright red rings appeared around their irises.
Getting his other hand beneath him, Suzaku slowly started to push up off of the ground. Yet, the soldier slipped on the blood that was left on the rocky ledge, and face planted right back into the ground. The constant jerking around got a scream from both Kallen and Lelouch this time. The redhead's from fear, and Lelouch's from excruciating pain. The loud whirring sound of his cape extensions buzzed through the air and reverberated throughout everyone's being.
A thought flickered through Suzaku's mind at that moment. Through the sound of Lelouch's screaming and cape extensions buzzing madly. Back to a conversation all three of them had in the past. To the words Lelouch had said hesitantly before. Seeing as these extensions are obvious cybernetic implants that leaves only two options. They're somehow connected to either my brain or to my spine. If they get damaged or broken, since it's connected to either two vital organs and structures in my body…
The fear Suzaku felt for his best friend in that moment was a strong one, yet the soldier's red ringed eyes narrowed in determination. "Come on Lelouch, you've got this! Just a little bit longer!"
"I know! Hurry up before I drop us both!" Lelouch screamed back through grit teeth.
It took a ton of effort from all parties. Suzaku decided it would be safer and easier if he pulled Lelouch up first and then Kallen who was at the very bottom. Once everyone made it to the ledge safely they all gripped the wall tightly, almost as if they were about to kiss it.
"Oh thank God. Thank you two so much." Kallen rapidly muttered words of gratitude to the two boys as she clutched the wall with her one arm for dear life.
"Don't-" Suzaku puffed out a breath in exhaustion. "Don't thank me. If it wasn't for you Lelouch we'd be-"
"Stop. Just-" Lelouch wheezed painfully. His trembling hands went up to rub first his back where his cape extensions connected, then to his chest. It felt like he was still being pulled and crushed from all sides. Dichromatic eyes squeezed shut tightly for a long moment, before they opened up to show just how tired the revolutionary was. "I- let's-... Let's just find a cave to stay in for the night. I'm exhausted. We can deal with the rest of this shit tomorrow."
No one argued on that statement.
Together, the trio very, very carefully climbed away from the ledge and eventually got back onto the path. It was pitch black by the time the group had made it to said pathway, and they needed to use their flashlights to properly see in the dark.
Eyes occasionally strayed to the demolished wreck of the Aurora, but no one dared to say anything. Everyone was just too tired and traumatized from recent events to speak much more than simple one syllable words.
They eventually found a huge cave half hidden by vines and mossy foliage that should have led to the seamoth. Entering in the dark, the group found that there were no cave crawlers within the cave. Instead, there was an almost eerie green glow coming from around the corner.
Unsteadily walking around it, the trio came to a stop.
They were on a higher level, but to their right there was a steady walkway down to the ground floor of the cave. On that ground floor was what could only be described as alien technology. Giant pillars hanging from the ceiling alongside loose moss while there were similar pillars on the ground sticking up. A bunch of alien columns with gibberish symbols carved into their metal were scattered around the cave's walls.
Well, they had found that mysterious energy source the PDA was talking about earlier it seems.
The group shakily walked further down until they reached the end of the walkway and stared up, gobsmacked.
The main star of the attraction was a huge arch of sorts. It towered over all three of them, almost obnoxiously so. Shaped in the form of a pentagon, bright green lights were all over this strange alien machine. The walkway up to said arch was smoothed out and made of metal equal to said arch.
Everyone blinked rapidly, as if what they were seeing was an illusion or mirage of some sort, before rubbing their eyes and pinching themselves just to be sure.
"... Yeah no." Lelouch grumbled irritatingly. A fierce glare that made the growing bags under his eyes more pronounced should have turned the strange thing to dust, but it still stood tall and proud. "No. Nope. No. No way, nope. I'm done."
As he spoke, Lelouch turned around on his heel and began to walk towards the farthest corner of the cave he could visibly see and reach.
"Lelouch, where are you-"
"To bed, Suzaku. I'm going to bed." Lelouch snapped at the burnette before he could even finish. "I'm done! Done with all this shit that has happened today, and I am going to bed. If I don't get the proper how many hours I feel like I deserve of constant sleep I am going to murder somebody. I'm not dealing with this Star Trek stargate bullshit until tomorrow." The revolutionary hissed darkly.
"You two are so dramatic." Kallen rolled her own eyes at her leader's antics before following alongside Suzaku. If they were going to sleep, might as well be safe and stay as a group.
"Dramatic?! It's real fucking alien technology!" Suzaku exclaimed as he threw his arms out. Only for them to weakly flop against his sides to show that he too was exhausted despite being the 'exercise nut' of the group. "I think we have a bit of credit for being somewhat dramatic."
"Don't care. Going to sleep. Goodnight." With those few words finished. Lelouch flopped down in the corner of the cave, turned off his flashlight, and was instantly out and off into dreamland.
"... God I hate this planet." Kallen sighed lowly as she dragged herself over and beside Lelouch. Her eyelids already drooping heavily and her adrenaline from before nonexistent. Soon enough she was out like a light and slumping down to rest her head on Lelouch's shoulder.
"Ugh…" Suzaku groaned heavily, his muscles sore and screaming from everything that had happened today. Laying down on the ground, careless about how it will bring a crick in his neck when he wakes up. "... Me too." The Britannian soldier agreed before the darkness of slumber took over. The soft green glow of the alien tech still managed to be barely visible even behind his eyelids.
Well then, I guess it's a good thing that Lelouch has been swimming around and doing so much. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't managed to gain as much muscle as he could since his stay on this planet. Yay development!
Anyways, 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.
Otherwise, I'll be seeing you guys in chapter 12! -MoonlightWright :D
