Anya POV:
"Why did you have to tell Kluke about... you know what?" Shu ended up asking me as we proceeded through the Lot Wilderness and came across some large craters and some ruined Mechat machines as well.
"I could sense that you liked her, so I simply told the truth... sadly, that is one of the few programming features that Nene gave me... that, and every time I address him, I cannot physically do so without calling him Master Nene. Other than those two things, I am completely myself, however," I said.
"That Nene... he said that he attacked our village with the Land Shark so that he could hear our screams! He killed mine and Shu's parents and many others over the years!" Kluke exclaimed, me stopping in place when she said that.
"Nene... he killed your parents with that machine?" I asked, my fists curling as I felt anger in my soul. He had never told me that his misdeeds ended up killing others.
"You never knew that?" Jiro asked me. I simply jumped into the air and slammed my fist down on a nearby rock so hard that, with my guardian class strength, shattered it to smithereens, the group in awe at it as I simply started to seethe with anger.
"Nene told me that he was simply antagonizing the different human settlements! He never told me that he was killing innocent people just for sick pleasure! If I find him again, I am going to punch right through his skull and reveal to him that you DO NOT mess with ANYA SINDA!" I exclaimed loudly, my voice echoing throughout the canyon and me not even caring. That is, until we heard some booming sounds that sounded like footsteps.
"Um... I think you just got the attention of the big guy," Shu said in fear.
"Do not be discouraged if it is larger than you. With magic, even the mightiest foe will kneel before you!" I exclaimed as I then saw the giant beast appear and it did look large, its neck alone being as big as two Kluke-sized people. "COME GET SOME!" I growled angrily as I then summoned forth my Shadow's true power, the mermaid emerging from my shadow and me looking at it with a smile, the others gobsmacked at what was happening. The mermaid and I then rushed forward with the force of a tidal wave and slammed our fists directly into the skull of the gigantic dragon, the blast being forceful enough to smash its skull the whole way through its brain and out the other end, the monster then falling to the ground with a thundering thud.
"That was AWESOME!" Shu exclaimed at me as the mermaid then bowed politely before once again returning to my shadow.
"How did you do that?" Kluke asked in amazement.
"Once you have mastered your shadow and how to truly utilize it, you will be able to call it forth as its own entity if you happen to have intense rage or frustration. In magic terms, it's actually called tension, but it can only happen after taking a few hits, dishing out a few, or, in other cases, when you get extremely furious, as I just did... normally I am quite formal and polite... but after hearing what Nene really does for kicks and giggles... it just makes me worried about what he possibly could've done to Noluta without me there to protect it," I sighed as I then grabbed a scale off of the back of the dragon and noticed that it was magical.
"This dragon scale could make for a good magical necklace. Anyone have some spare string on them?" I asked the group.
"I think I do," Kluke said as she pulled out some yarn, me smiling as I politely took it and began to fiddle with the dragon scale until I made the necklace complete.
"There we go. One Dragon Scale necklace. I don't really need one myself, but one of you might," I smiled at them.
"Well, who do you think should get it?" Shu asked.
"Hmm... let me see your Shadows real quick before I decide," I said, the group then nodding and letting out their shadows for me to assess. "Hmm... Jiro, your Guardian Minotaur is still a bit on the fragile side when it comes to defenses, so I'll give you the necklace," I said as I placed it over his head and the shadow looked to get a bit tougher from it.
"Whoa... I feel sturdier for some reason," Jiro gawked.
"Even the smallest accessory can give you magic if you have enough skills in the Generalist class. But the main 4 that can be used without a Generalist class are rings, earrings, wristbands, and necklaces. The necklace made from this dragon scale, from me sensing it, gives your shadow more health before it needs healing as well as a boost to defense and a resistance to earth-based spells," I explained.
"Can we make other necklaces from the dragon scales?" Kluke asked.
"Apologies, but from what I can sense, that scale was the only one imbued with any kind of magic. Magic can be in anything, but not everything of the item in question has magic. For instance, some stones have magic, but others do not. And almost every single gem has magical properties as well, but they are extremely hard to come by unless you live in Jibral," I explained.
"Okay, let's go then. We'll need to find that drill," Shu said as he led the way to the next area, me following suit along with Jiro and Kluke.
Shu POV:
When we happened upon the giant drill, we were impressed with the sheer size of it. It was as big as the tallest peak of Talta Village, which was where I usually lounged when the sky was clear. But Anya noticed something on the side of the drill that made her on edge.
"That's Nene's symbol on the side of the drill! The symbol of the Ancients!" she gawked, me looking at it in shock. It was a very weird insignia, having the shape of a red circle with three pointed parts divided into thirds in the top right, top left, and bottom of the circle. And in the middle was a space of white enveloping a black, shaded circle.
"Nene's symbol? Then who's in control of it?" Jiro asked.
"It must be one of his workers! Let's go in there, get to the helm, and take control of it for ourselves, using violence if need be," Anya said, Jiro placing his hand on her shoulder before she could rush off.
"It could just be that someone else has a shadow and found it, right? Let's ask the person inside about who they are before we attack, okay?" Jiro said, Anya calming down at that and sighing.
"You're right... thank you, Jiro... almost lost my cool again," Anya sighed as we then proceeded to the drill and looked at a ladder attached to it. It went very high and into a door at the top, all of us getting up the ladder with ease, despite the high drop. But the moment that Kluke got in last, the door suddenly slammed shut on all of us and we gasped as we heard the machine groan to life! We then looked out the window and I looked stupefied. We were tunneling underground and through tons of dirt and even rocks!
"I guess that the owner of the drill is trying to find a set of underground ruins... Nene once told me about an ancient underground hospital in this area that had long since been abandoned. It's filled with special medicine for all kinds of ailments... and he said once that there is a kind of elixir in that hospital that may be able to heal up some kind of disease he has... what kind of disease is beyond me, all I know is that this disease is the sole reason that he does all of these heinous acts," Anya said.
"Even still, if he's doing it because he thinks it will help his disease, killing innocent people isn't a cure! We need to find the owner of this drill and ask them what's going on," Jiro said.
"Agreed. Let's look around. If this is one of Nene's machines, then he's probably got different robots in here to defend it from intruders... I think I see one right now, right by what looks like a warp station," Anya stated, taking our group to the warp station in question and them all looking confused.
"Warp station? It looks like something back in Talta Village, but I never thought you could warp with them," Jiro admitted.
"Well, you'd need to have activated another Warp Device and have magical powers to use them... wait... I sense 23 magical artifacts on that robot! Maybe those are the keys!" Anya oohed as we then approached the robot and we saw that he looked a bit off.
"Do you have clearance to use this warp machine?" the robot asked. Anya simply answered by letting out her shadow and me smiling at how the mermaid formed water in her hand before slamming it directly into the robot's head, the robot exploding and all of the keys falling out in a small knapsack onto the ground.
"When it comes to robots, just don't trust them. Any kind of robot that isn't a servant robot is programmed by Nene. He told me that awhile back," Anya said as she picked out a key from the bag and inserted it into the device, the machine then humming to life with a purr and me smiling at that.
"Now we can use this warp station to warp to another place, right?" I smiled at her.
"That is correct. But before we use it, we'll need to search around for the cockpit and the owner of this drill... just so you know, if it does happen to be Nene, I am going to torture him for a minute for every single person he killed from your village. How many died at the hands of the Land Shark, as you call it?" Anya asked us.
"Including mine and Kluke's parents, there had to have been at least 30 people killed before today," I said, Anya growling at that, but holding her power in. I guess she had trouble with keeping a cool head at times, just like I did.
"Okay. Let's move out," she said as we proceeded to search around the interior of the giant drill machine.