God Eater 3 – Starling's Start
Chapter 6 – Faith and Lulu
Name: Aurick Bird
Codename: Starling
Hairstyle: Type 2
Hair Colour: Dark purple
Face: Type 4
Eyes: Type 4
Eye Colour: Fox Brown
Accessories: Frizz 2 (Dark Purple)
Voice: 8
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE.
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Despite experiencing the comfort of a bed that I was deprived of back at Port Pennywort, I still find it incredibly difficult to stay asleep. Judging by the soft sounds of snoring of those around me, it's safe to assume that it must only be really early in the morning. So early in fact that I can barely make out my surroundings in the room due to the sheer lack of light. I turn over to face the wall and try to get back to sleep. After a few minutes though, the constant irregular pattern of snoring from everyone else in the room distracts me enough that I can't get back to sleep. With a heavy sigh, I roll out of my bed and clamber to my feet, trying to make as little noise as possible. Although, from my experience, I know that it would take a lot of noise to wake up those from Port Pennywort.
*COUGH* A sudden cough causes my head to spin around quickly to locate its origin. As soon as I do, I realise that I shouldn't have been surprised about the cough. From what I can make of it, Sho's face is lightly scrunched in what I assume must be pain. I would feel bad for him if I wasn't already aware of the fact that he had only coughed once. Usually, he would have entered a coughing fit which would probably have woken him up, but he still appears to be asleep. A small smile works its way onto my face as I realise he is slowly but surely recovering. I've seen people not recover from things like that and it always hurt to say goodbye to a person that would never awake again. I'm glad that I won't have to do that with Sho though.
*COUGH COUGH* Another couple of coughs from Sho shows that he is still in pain despite my happiness that he is recovering. The smile fades from my face as I realise that standing around in a dark room is not exactly the best use of my time. Maybe I'll check out one of the many terminals located outside of the sleeping quarters so that I don't wake anyone else up. Maybe I can brush up on my knowledge of the NORN database. I can't always rely on receiving the information from Hugo, after all. With that, I start slowly navigating my way around the room until I reach the door, careful not to accidentally trip over anything since the room is incredibly dark. Once I reach the door, I feel around for the handle. As soon as I locate it, I twist the handle and open the door while feeling slightly surprised at the light that shines into the room. I quickly try and block the lights from getting any further in by standing in its way, causing a long shadow to cast itself behind me and onto the sleeping residents of the room. Being careful not to let any more light get passed me, I slip through the small gap of the door and silently close it.
Finding myself in the corridor I let out a little sigh of relief. A sigh that I don't really need to be quiet for. Still, I wonder why the Chrysanthemum's lights are on in the corridor. Does Hilda not care about wasting the electricity? I guess I shouldn't complain though. I can now properly see my surroundings, after all. I don't let myself wait around in the corridor for long as I head straight towards the lift. Once inside I extend my hand towards the buttons. Before I can press any of them though, my eyes are suddenly met with an orange wave. It happens to fast for me to react to it, but by the time I recollect myself, I notice that the lift is moving. I must have pressed a button while my eyes were assaulted with that orange wave, but what was it? I felt something similar when I first met Claire. Was it another wave of resonance?
"There must be something behind that door." I mumble aloud to myself as the lift comes to a stop. The doors open and reveal an unexpected sight. Instead of arriving at the Bridge, I instead find myself welcoming the sight of the Laboratory Block. That resonance wave must have distracted me enough to press the wrong button in the lift. I try to extend my hand again to press the button for the Bridge, but another orange resonance wave assaults my eyes. This time though, my vision is overcome with images not in my immediate surrounding as it feels like my vision penetrates through the door directly opposite me and leading to the Storage area. Without even thinking, I feel myself wanting to get closer to the source. Surely there's something in that cargo hold that's causing these resonances to happen. My body feels weightless as I listlessly stroll towards the cargo hold. Again, my vision settles upon an almost human form behind the door, but I can't see any details. I can only see the vague outline of a person. Is it possible that this Ash Crawler is carrying human cargo for Gleipnir? Not matter how hard I try and focus, I can't see anything other than the outline. There's an incredibly blinding light coming from behind the figure which only allows for me to see the figure as a shadow and nothing more.
"I didn't expect to meet someone so interesting here." A feminine voice I have never heard before is enough to dispel the resonance trance I found myself in. As the resonance fades and my normal vision returns, I suddenly see the face of a woman I do not know right in front of me. Her eyes staring directly into mine. It's almost enough to make me backstep as I see an intrigued smile on her face. "Aw, your eyes aren't glowing anymore." She grumbles with a bit of disappointment, and she takes her face away from mine. I backstep to gain a little more distance and to allow me to fully take in her appearance. The first thing I notice is a pink and light pink, horizontally striped, hooded cape that has cat ears on the hood. The hood covers a lot of her long ginger hair whose fringe completely covers her forehead. Looking down, I see that her cleavage is on full display as her shirt has a diamond shape in the middle to accentuate it. Her arms are bare except for a pair of black gloves that matches her black shirt. I notice a lack of an armlet as I continue inspecting the lady in front of me. Her shorts stop in the middle of her thighs but her long black socks cover her knees. She completes her outfit with pink shoes and a big red bag that hangs off of her side. I have to admit, she's a rather attractive woman. "Hey, do it again." She commands something of me, her face entering my personal space and forcing me to back up.
"Do what again?" I ask her, unsure exactly as to what she wants me to do.
"Make your eyes glow yellow again." She adds more detail to her command, but it still doesn't make sense to me.
"You must be crazy. People's eyes don't just glow yellow like that."
"That's why it's so intriguing because yours did!" She voice takes an annoyed tone but I continue to look at her critically.
"You're probably just seeing things." After all, it is impossible for a person's eyes to glow yellow. After that resonance episode, I'm aware that it's possible for me to do things without realising it, such as walking out of the lift, but changing your eye colour is complete nonsense. "Have you had enough sleep?" I ask the woman in front of me. It's possible that she was also unable to sleep for very long and now she's having delusions due to sleep deprivation.
"Your eyes were definitely yellow!" She tells me again but I really don't believe her. "Anyway, why are you here? This place is off-limits you know."
"So, why are you here then?" I respond instantly. If it is off-limits then there is no reason for them to be here either.
"Who are you anyway?" She ignores my question and seems to drop that subject entirely. She mustn't be allowed to be here either. I am only here because that resonance episode forced me to be here.
"Aurick Pennywort." I introduce myself using the name of my former port, assuming she gets the idea. "And you?"
"Oh, so the Chrysanthemum must have rescued you." Her words seem to suggest that she isn't part of the crew here. "You'd better be grateful. You'd have been killed without them." She informs me with a snide smile on her face. I get the impression that she isn't very well liked as a person.
"Who are you?" I repeat my previous words with an indifferent expression. At this point, I don't really care who she is. She isn't someone I intend to spend a lot of time with, and judging by the fact that she does not have an armlet, I don't really need to consider her as a teammate.
"Hmph," She gives a cocky smirk, "I'm a merchant by the name of Faith." Her introduction means nothing to me, really. I wasn't even aware there was a merchant on board the Chrysanthemum. "I have plenty of things to meet your AGE needs." She taps her bag a couple of times as she speaks.
"Do Ash Crawlers often have their own merchants?"
"We merchants are only available for a limited time before we move onto other caravans." She informs me, her smile seemingly more kind than her previous snide smile. "So, if you need something, make sure you get it now."
"No thanks, I don't really need anything."
"Are you sure?" Faith tries to tempt me. "You haven't even seen what I've got."
"I'm sure. I should probably be heading back to sleep anyway." I try to dismiss her, even turning around to walk back to the lift.
"Why were you even here anyway?" She ask, accompanying me as I enter the lift and press the button to return to the residential quarters.
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to wander around the Ash Crawler." I decide that it wouldn't be the best idea to tell her I was drawn here due to resonance. That would only open up more questions. I just want to be finished with this conversation and get back to bed where I'll attempt to get back to sleep.
"Couldn't sleep?" Faith asks and begins rummaging around her bag as soon as I nod my head in confirmation. "Ah, here we go." By the time she finds what she was looking for, the lift has stopped and we both get off of it. Before I can head towards the male sleeping quarters, Faith grabs my hand and places something in it. Looking at my hand, I see she has just given me two white pills.
"What are these?" I ask in confusion.
"They're sleeping pills. They should help you to get to sleep." She responds happily, and I just raise an eyebrow at her.
"Oh, thanks." I look at the pills again before deciding to trust her and throwing them into my mouth. Being careful to not choke on them as they work their way down. "Well, goodnight." I try to dismiss her as I walk towards the male sleeping quarters.
"1000 Fenrir Credits please." She stops me and holds a handout as if expecting some money. I really shouldn't have trusted her. I had thought she had given those pills to me for free. At my silence, she further stresses that she is expecting money by holding her hand out again but with more force. She's really extortionate. I should have known that I could never trust her. I'll never buy anything from her ever again. 1000 Fenrir Credits is almost all that I have. I'll be lucky to keep up my backstock of Restore Pills at this rate. Reluctantly I give her the credits, leaving me with a measly 115 left. Being an Adaptive God Eater really doesn't pay much, but it's not like I can work in some other business. Unless…
"You're a merchant, right?" I ask Faith to reconfirm.
"Yes I am." She announces proudly, probably really happy that she was able to con me.
"In that case, let me show you some things you'll be interested in. I'll sell them to you at a good price." I can't help the sly smile that works its way onto my face.
"uh…" She utters in fear for her money. "I'm pretty sure those sleeping pills are fast acting. You'll probably want to get to bed before you fall asleep in the middle of the corridor." Faith's voice begins nervously but gains more confidence as she speaks.
"Don't worry, I'm still wide awake." Continue smiling at her, "We'll just need to make sure to sell everything quickly. Wait here, I'll withdraw everything from the terminal." I don't leave time for her to reply as I enter the male sleeping quarters and load up the terminal, trying to use my body to block the light it emits.
To my relief, no one had woke up due to my exploits with the terminal, and I was able to sell mostly everything that I had stored up over the past few missions. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make all of my money back by selling those items, but at least I made more than half of it back. I got 650FC back, meaning that I only really spent about 350FC on those sleeping pills that Faith had cunningly sold to me. However, as I slowly crawl back into bed, I find it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. Eventually, consciousness evades me, and my vision turns black.
A beam of light shining on my face slowly rouses me from my blissful sleep. I try to turn over and regain my sleeping status, but I hear the voices of those around me which makes it significantly harder to go back to sleep. Giving a reluctant sigh, I roll out from under my bed as I realise sleep will evade me until tonight. However, as I climb back to my feet, I realise I feel a lot more rested than I thought was otherwise possible.
"Seems like those sleeping pills did the trick." I mumble to myself before turning around to look across the room.
"Sleeping pills?" It seems my voice wasn't as quiet as I had thought as Hugo picks up on my words. I walk closer towards him and sit opposite him before I respond.
"Yeah, I woke up last night and met a merchant who gave me sleeping pills."
"Dude, you okay?" I hear Zeke speak up. Turning towards him, I notice that he is still lying on his bed. "It sounds like you had a crazy dream."
"Meeting someone that gave you sleeping pills does sound a bit farfetched." Hugo immediately chips in. "But I've known you long enough to realise you wouldn't lie about these kind of things."
"What did the merchant look like?" Zeke begins to interrogate me, curiosity spread across his face. "Any noticeable features?"
"She was pretty busty." I can't stop myself from saying and choose to ignore the fact that Zeke's eyes open wide in surprise. "But she has an awful personality. Not my type of woman." I give a simple reply, but judging by the looks on my friends faces, they must think that my response was anything but normal.
"A busty woman, eh?" Zeke repeats my words with a calculating look on his face. There's no doubt in my mind that he's trying to match that description to all the women on the Chrysanthemum.
"Are busty women not your type?" Hugo's asks me in an indifferent tone. His calmness of the topic is actually rather scary.
"That's not important right now." I try to dismiss his line of thinking. "She gave me those sleeping pills and forced me to pay her for them."
"You sure you weren't just swindled?" Hugo asks again, seeming to get the hint that I don't really want to expand on the topic of women so early in the morning. I shake my head in response. "Well, that explains why you were sleeping so soundly."
"Gah, that's too vague." Zeke grumbles as he kicks himself off of his bed and walks towards me, placing a hand on my shoulder as soon as he reaches me. "Give me some more details. There are too many women here that busty can apply to." I shrug his hand off of my shoulder before I respond.
"She had some sort stripy pink cape with cat ears on the hood." I give him another bit of information and intend to leave the room afterwards, but after I see the blank stare that Zeke gives me I decide to wait to hear what he has to say.
"Definitely a dream." Zeke dismisses the thought that a woman with a cat-eared cape could exist. In all honesty, this conversation is beginning to annoy me. So, as I walk towards the door, I speak up.
"It wasn't a dream, Zeke." With that I leave the room and head towards the lift.
"Of course it wasn't!" Zeke shouts sarcastically and I hear two pairs of footsteps behind me. I wait for Zeke and Hugo to get onto the lift before pressing the button to take us to the Bridge where we'll no doubt receive a mission.
As I had expected, we didn't need to wait too long before we had to conduct a mission.
Area Sweep: 2
Old City: Downtown Ruins
Objective: Establish a route to Chrysanthemum
Continue to secure the route through the Old City. Existing information on local Aragami distribution is virtually useless due to the Ash Storm, and radar has already picked up a number of new signals. Probability of encountering unknown Aragami is 67%.
As soon as we were told of the mission's details, Zeke, Hugo, Claire and I immediately set out towards
"67% chance of an unknown Aragami, huh?" Zeke speaks aloud from one of the back seats of the car. "And there's no way of knowing what it is until we find it?"
"It's an unknown Aragami for a reason, Zeke." Hugo spares a comment at Zeke's expense from his seat beside Zeke in the back of the armoured vehicle. I look towards Claire as she drives us to our destination.
"Is it safe for a regular God Eater to be driving into the Ashlands?" I can't help but question Hugo's decision to allow Claire to drive. Looking at Claire closely, I see a few beads of sweat forming on her forehead which only worries me more.
"I have fought in the Ashlands before. It would only make sense that a less demanding task like driving would require much less effort." Claire responds robotically, as if she had said something similar before.
"I mean," I speak up again. I know there's no roads or specific paths to follow. It's just barren land as far as the eye can see, but surely that means there'd be some effect on her. "If you're already using up your energy just to drive then –"
"This is only the first mission of the day. If I was unable to complete my first mission then I would not be cut out to be a God Eater." Claire responds sharply, the tone of her voice suggests that I should drop the conversation.
"Yeah, you are pretty good for a regular God Eater. Not as good as us AGEs, but still pretty good. Ow!" Zeke starts praising Claire but quickly becomes prideful which earns him a slap on the head courtesy of Hugo.
"Are you trying to upset her?" Hugo comments along with the slap.
"I'm not upset." Claire simply responds with no change of tone in her voice. "Shouldn't you all be preparing for the battle? Like, exchanging tactics."
"We don't usually do that." Zeke responds quickly.
"Not until we see what we're working with." Hugo just as quickly adds onto Zeke's comment. "Think about it, how do we make plans for an Aragami we don't know about?"
"You could at least be talking about who is on the frontlines and who provides support." At Claire's comment, I choose to zone out as they begin conversing about how to effectively make use of their time. However, as silence comes over us a few minutes later.
"Claire, I've got a question for you." Zeke speaks up again.
"What is it?" Her voice sounds intrigued. To be fair, I am also intrigued as to why Zeke didn't just straight up ask the question.
"Well, Aurick dreamt about a big breasted woman last night." At Zeke's words, my heart drops as I realise exactly what is happening.
"B-Big breasted woman?" Claire turns towards me and her face seems to suggest that she is surprised and disgusted at me.
"It's not what you think, Claire." I try to dismiss the thought she is having. While I do admit that Claire is also a big breasted woman, it is not her that I dreamt about. Wait, I didn't even dream about a big breasted woman.
"I just wanted to know if you knew who he was talking about." Zeke continues.
"Claire, don't misunderstand. Zeke's trying to make this into something bigger when it's not." Again, I try and quell her thoughts.
"They're not big?" Claire repeats in surprise and I can hear the snickering of both Hugo and Zeke.
"There was a woman with a stripy pink cape with cat ears on the top that made me buy some sleeping pills." I give her a very quick explanation. "I was trying to tell Zeke and Hugo about it and I had to give a description."
"And you started it by saying that she had big breasts?" Claire asks me, her voice has a tone of incredulousness, but her face remains the same as usual. Actually, there might be a slight tint of pink on her cheeks.
"So, do you know who he was talking about?" Zeke raises the question again.
"Judging from the striped hood with cat ears, I assume you're talking about Faith." She looks at me and I breathe a sigh of relief.
"See, told you I wasn't dreaming." After that, Zeke and Hugo ask a few more questions about Faith to Claire, but I choose to tune that conversation out as well.
It takes another 20 minutes before we reach our destination, and as soon as we do, we grab our Arcs and immediately head for high ground. It's important to have an overview of the area before we conduct our mission. After a quick look, we notice a couple of Dreadpikes but nothing else.
"So much for any new Aragami." Zeke comments as our mission briefing had specified that a new Aragami signal had been detected in the area.
"Stay alert. It could be waiting in ambush." Hugo takes command and jumps off the high ground. I follow him as we skulk towards the location we spotted the Dreadpikes in. We reach their location in no time at all and, after looking around the area and noticing nothing out of place we charge in to fight the Dreadpikes. Seeing as how they are incredibly weak Aragami, we rush in without a plan. Zeke storms ahead of me to fight the one that is farthest away. Hugo takes the closer one while Claire and I provide occasional backup. Truth be told, as I see Zeke and Hugo hack, slash and dodge the Dreadpikes, I think to myself that there is no point in even providing backup.
"We'd be better off paying attention to our surroundings." I comment to Claire, turning my attention away from Hugo, Zeke and the two smaller Aragami.
"It is not wise to turn your back to your enemies." Claire comments while still providing backup for Hugo and Zeke.
"I trust they can take care of two small Aragami without any support from me." My words are followed by silence as I continue looking around the area. Doing this in silence means I can focus more attention on identifying any possible threat in my eyesight.
"Are you a bad person, Aurick?" Claire asks in a concerned voice which draws my attention to her.
"Of course not. I'm the opposite. I have that much trust in my teammates that I'm instead trying to look for any sign of the other signal that the radar identified."
"But shouldn't you be providing their support?" Claire asks, still a little concerned as to my attitude.
"If they need my support they will call for me." I try to dismiss her dark thoughts that I am a bad person. "I've been on enough missions with my friends to know what their strengths and weaknesses are." I spare a glance towards Hugo and Zeke. "Besides, by looking for any other signs of danger, I can alert them before—" I don't get to finish my sentence as I hear a loud shriek from behind us. I turn around and notice that a strange looking Aragami is speeding towards us with a large spike leading the way. I am only just able to deploy my shield to avoid any damage as its spike hits the shield, but the momentum sends me backwards several metres. The Aragami seems to take a couple of seconds to regain its breath which Claire uses to gain some distance on the Aragami. "See what I was talking about, Claire? You must always be alert." As the monster recovers, it regains its posture. It's a pretty tall Aragami. It looks to be a bird covered in armour. Judging by its speed, it must be pretty agile as well. I charge towards the Aragami only to end up deploying my shield again as it tries jabbing at me several times which forces me to travel in a circle due to its momentum before it comes to a stop. As soon as it stops attacking, I land a few slashes against its legs, hoping to damage them so much that its agility will be decreased significantly. I back off as the Aragami screeches again. I notice that Zeke and Hugo have joined in with the battle, having already defeated the Dreadpikes, as a few bullets are shot at the spikes on its hands. The monster screeches once again before it extends one of its spikes, its head lowering and its sight locked onto either Zeke or Hugo in the distance. Sensing my opportunity, I slash a couple of times at its legs before it charges towards Hugo who already has his shield deployed. I charge right after the beast, only to meet it head on as it turns incredibly quickly and charges back at me. With not enough time to deploy my shield, I have to parry its large sword away with my God Arc. Unexpectedly, as soon as I have parried it, it quickly charges towards Claire who, with her Arc in Gun Form, is unable to deploy her shield. She is thankfully able to roll away to safety as the Aragami comes to a stop. I change my Arc to its Gun Form and fire several bullets towards it. Only two of them hit. Claire starts slashing as soon as my bullets stop and, as the Aragami turns back around to face us, it stumbles slightly and uses one of its swords to stop it from completely falling.
"Now's our chance!" Hugo shouts, but unfortunately, the chance arose from the Aragami having stumbled and not because it is fatigued or almost defeated. We do manage to land a few hits before the monster gets back to its feet. As soon as it does, it screams and a red shockwave generates from it. I'd be lying if I said being hit by it didn't hurt as I'm sent backwards several metres, but I'd rather be hit be that shockwave that the piercing tools it has on its hands. I deploy my shield as I see the beast crossing its blades across its chest moments before it charges forwards and narrowly misses Zeke. While its agility is its strong point, it doesn't seem able to manage its stamina well as a few more seconds pass by before the beast is able to attack again. While it is recovering, I launch a devour attack at it to enter Burst status and deploy my Burst Arts, continuously slashing at its legs before I hear a ping sound as the orange flesh of its legs reveal that the beast's leg armour has been destroyed.
"Zeke! I'm activating Engage!" I shout to him as I realise that we can stay on top of the fight as long as we are able to manage our stamina better than our enemy.
"No problem!" He shouts in response, I see a smile spread across his face as a yellow line of energy connects the two of us and I begin relentlessly slashing at the stumbled Aragami's legs. I don't get as long as I would have liked to attack the monster though as it climbs back to its feet, a lot slower than last time, but immediately jumps about 20 metres into the air before landing back on the ground about 30 metres away from us.
"Aragami moving away!" I hear the sweet voice of Amy through my earpiece and wonder if she has been speaking the entire time or whether she had only just provided us with the information to help us fight it. "It's heading towards the feeding grounds!"
"If it's running away," Claire speaks up as well all run and follow the beast. "then it shouldn't take too long before it is defeated."
"Right!" Is all I respond with as we run after the Aragami.
We manage to catch the Aragami, but not before its already basked in the green glow being emitted in the corner of the feeding ground. We all manage to land a few bullets at the beast before we charge right back into the battle. With the Aragami already severely injured, and now having to endure the four of us melee attacking it, the monster didn't stand a chance and it falls to the ground soon after we arrive. We devour its core and its body for materials.
"See?" I turn to Claire as she speaks and find her looking back at me. "No injuries and still full of energy. With my name on the line, I have proven that I am capable of fighting in the Ashlands." Her words confuse me for a second before I realise that she is referring to our conversation that we had while we were travelling to get here.
"I never doubted your combat abilities, Claire." I doubted your ability to manage your energy. I think the last sentence to myself to avoid any unnecessary conflict.
"Yeah, you proved Aurick wrong." Zeke ushers a snide comment in my direction.
"You all did a good job. Especially against an Aragami we haven't fought before and yet we've escaped with barely any injuries. I'd call that a successful mission." Hugo delivers a small congratulatory speech as our mission comes to an end.
"Yes." Claire sounds a lot happier now that the mission is completed. "We should head back." At her words, we decide to head back to the vehicle and enjoy the trip back to the Chrysanthemum.
"It feels like you've waited forever, but once things start moving, it all goes pretty quick." Hugo speaks up as soon as Zeke and Claire have split up from us as we arrive back at the Chrysanthemum. He turns towards me as he continues speaking. "I mean, just look at where we are now. You remember what I was saying earlier?"
"Earlier?" I repeat. I don't think he's said anything like that today. Maybe it was yesterday?
"After all that time locked up, we're finally outside. And now our first problem rears its ugly head. What do we do with ourselves now that we're here?" He pauses as he waits for my answer.
"We can't get anywhere without money." I state after a few seconds pass. We already have a massive disadvantage that we're AGEs. In the world of business, having a disadvantage means you have a very big hurdle to climb.
"Yeah, in a nutshell." He gives a smile while he answers, happy that I'm thinking along the same lines as him. "I made up my mind a long time ago. From this point forwards, we're living in a world driven by action. We'll have to buy back out freedom by fighting."
"It would be clearer if we had a goal to work towards."
"Absolutely." He answers me immediately, showing how strongly he agrees with my words. "After that, we'll build a Port of our own. It'll be a place here people can help each other and work toward their dreams. But… I'm gonna need a lot of help from you. Are you on board for this?"
"Of course." I try to give the most honest smile I can to accompany my words. "We're in this together. You be the brains, I'll be the brawn."
"Heh, heh! Thanks. Seriously, this means a lot." Despite growing up together, there are times where I feel that Hugo has been too appreciative of me. We're childhood friends, we should be able to talk about anything and probably agree with each other a lot of the time. But, sometimes, when he talks to me, it feels like he's talking to someone that he's only recently got to know. It's depressing really. He should be expecting more from his friends. He should know I'm with him every step of the way to make our dream come true. So, why does he always ask me if it is okay for him to use me? "Well, let's go give the kids the good news… They have nothing to be afraid of anymore. It might be a lie now, but it'll be okay if we make it the truth someday." He turns back towards me. "Remember, you're my accomplice in all this. Let's make sure we see it through, eh?" I give a nod in response and the two of us start on our new mission; to tell the kids that one day we'll have our own Port. I'm sure they're already aware of our plans, but they might not believe it. It will be our job to convince them that our dream will come true.
A short while after we've given the news to everyone and received their positive vibes and feedback, such as building a large lab right in the middle of the Port, an announcement blares over the intercoms.
"Emergency! Emergency! A distress signal has been picked up from an unknown caravan nearby! All AGEs to report to the mission desk!" Amy's calming yet commanding tone rings through the intercom. Hugo and I rush towards her desk. Luckily, we had been on the Bridge so it only takes a few seconds to get there. Once there, we only need to wait a few more seconds before Zeke joins us followed closely by Claire. Although she is not an AGE, she's proven that she's capable of fighting in the Ashlands for short periods of time. "As you will have heard," Amy begins giving us the details, "we have received a distress signal from a caravan nearby."
"A signal in this region probably means Baran…" Hilda gives a sigh. "I'd prefer to avoid contact with that Port. On the surface, they're well off and supported by wealth and technology. But their treatment of AGEs is the most inhumane of any Port." Hilda's words surprise me. If they are true, then perhaps Port Pennywort wasn't the worst of Ports to work for.
"Worse than our cells and not feeding us?" Zeke seems to be thinking a similar thing to me as we recall our time in Port Pennywort.
"I've heard rumours that they force them to eat each other to give them a taste for blood." Hilda replies with disdain in her voice. The very thought of having to eat my friends just to continue living has never crossed my mind, and I had hoped it never would. Thanks Hilda, now I won't be able to look at my friends the same way again.
"That's just a rumour, right?" Claire asks in uncertainty.
"Even so, we can't ignore a distress signal, no matter who it comes from." It seems that Hilda deflects Claire's question. I think about focusing our attention on that rumour again but decide to gloss it over as I see a few heads peek at us from the top of the Bridge. The kids must be listening. "Please, be very careful." The concern in Hilda's voice is so great it reminds me just how perilous the situation is. "Just about anything could be waiting for you."
"With ash levels this high, even an AGE won't last very long." Amy's voice brings my attention back to her and I see her operating the keyboard in front of her. "We're counting on you!" Amy looks up, and it feels as though she looks directly into my eyes as she speaks. I feel my chest jump slightly as I realise how much she needs me. I briskly walk towards the navigator's chair and just before I can pour my resonance into it, a new piece of information surfaces.
"The distress call has faded!" Amy shares. "You will need to head to its last location. Search area: 1km radius around the mines. Stay safe!" With Amy's final words, I pour my resonance into the system before preparing for the mission.
It does not take long at all for the Chrysanthemum to reach the Vallyer: Lower Reaches. So much so that the Chrysanthemum waits not too far away from the location. Hugo, Claire, Zeke and I storm out of the Chrysanthemum and immediately begin our search. It was confirmed while we were travelling here that splitting up would not be an option due to the dangers this mission possesses. Not even 100 metres from the Ash Crawler, a herd of Cocoon Maidens can be seen.
"It will be safer to clear out the area before trying to merge with the origin of the distress signal." Amy's voice comes through my earpiece. It seems that she'll be playing more of a tactical role in this mission than the earlier one.
"Right, we'll make defeating the Aragami here the top priority." Hugo confirms her tactics are probably the best we have at the momeny. "Amy, keep trying to identify exactly where the signal is coming from."
"I will." Amy replies simply which suggests that is the end of the conversation and it is time to start hunting Aragami. The herd of Cocoon Maidens won't be much of a problem. All you need to know is when to back away, and you'll be able to defeat them easily. I charge towards the nearest Cocoon Maiden who immediately shoots an orb in my direction. A simple sidestep is all I need to avoid it and deliver a quick slash to its side. As it turns to face me again, I keep moving so that I'm always either behind it or to the side of it. I land another slash on it before it begins to move upwards. Already knowing what to do, I deploy my shield and put as much of my body behind it as possible to avoid being pierced by its spikes. I wait for them to disappear before landing a couple more slashes.
"Orb!" I hear Claire shout and instinctively sidestep. A couple of seconds later, an orb impacts the ground of where I was once standing. Claire had warned me about one of the other Cocoon Maidens having launched an orb while being attacked by the others.
"Thanks Claire!" I shout my gratitude as I charge up a devour attack on my target. It successfully lands and I land an attack using my Burst Art before the Aragami becomes motionless. I deliver a quick devour to harvest its core and materials before turning my attention towards the other two Cocoon Maidens. To my surprise, it seems like Zeke is the person providing the support for a change as Claire and Hugo each battle a Coccon Maiden. I join Zeke in support and keep watch over Claire. Amy had mentioned that this level of Ash density would be dangerous even to AGEs. I don't currently feel the effects of the Ash density, but I probably will do some time in the future. Judging by the fact that Hugo is taking an abnormally long time to defeat a Cocoon Maiden, it's possible that he's already feeling the effects of it. Claire, on the other hand, is not an AGE; she's just a regular God Eater. The effects must be a lot more potent for her. I can see her chest rising up and down a lot quicker than it should be.
"Drop back, Claire!" I shout and head towards her as she backs off from the Cocoon Maiden slightly. I change my Arc to Gun Form and fire a few bullets at the Cocoon Maiden. I'm surprised when I see it doesn't immediately die from them so I slash at it a couple of times before it stops moving. At the same time, I hear a roar from the other Cocoon Maiden and see it stop moving as well. Turning my attention back to Claire, I see her chest still heaving slightly quicker than normal, but she still doesn't look very well.
"Three more signals have appeared!" Amy's voice suddenly stops me from trying to speak. "They appear to be Axe Raiders." I hear a roar to my left and realise that one of the Aragami has already spotted us. Its roar alerts the other two Axe Raiders and we quickly find ourself in another battle. I charge towards the closest Axe Raider. As I do so, I feel as though I'm not running as fast as I had previously. Even swinging my God Arc doesn't seem as fast as it once had been. It's still fast enough to harm the small Aragami in front of me. I'm also still able to get out of the way of its charging attack before it reaches me. If I had to put it into numbers, I'd probably say that I've taken 10% damage to my stats: I can't run as fast, I don't have all of my stamina or power. The Ash here is really starting to get thick.
After a few more slashes and bullets at the Axe Raider I targeted, I quickly turn my attention to the other two. This time, Claire provides the support as Hugo and Zeke battle. Since Zeke didn't take such an active role against the Cocoon Maidens, it seems like he has a bit more energy to spare than Hugo who is struggling to adapt to his weakened states. I decide to fire a few healing bullets to both Hugo and Zeke and decide to play support again. At the same time, I work my way around to where Claire is standing.
"Activating Engage!" Zeke shouts as a yellow beam forms between him and Hugo. Knowing that Zeke's Engage ability allows for 6% less consumption of stamina, his ability may actually be the best one to use in this environment.
"Got it!" Hugo responds. At the same time, I manage to stand next to Claire and with not much straining, can hear her breathing. If I've taken a 10% stat decrease, it must be even greater for Claire. It probably wouldn't be that farfetched to assume she's only about half as powerful as she otherwise would be. Just to be safe, I turn my gun to Claire and fire a couple of healing bullets as well before injecting my Arc with an O-Ampule.
"Thanks." She mumbles her appreciation with a smile on her face. Her voice sounds fairly fatigued. It only takes a few more minutes before Zeke and Hugo defeat their targets and devour them. To be safe, I fire a healing bullet at them each.
"Are you all doing okay?" Amy's concerned voice comes over our earpieces.
"We're managing." Zeke responds, slightly out of breath. I have to admit, I've noticed that my breathing has become irregular now as well. Have I taken another stat reduction due to the ash? Am I getting weaker that quickly?
"Any word on the distress signal?" Hugo gets straight to business. Now that the Aragami have been defeated and the area is safe, we can now focus our attention on finding the source of the distress signal.
"It's not far from your location." Amy answers immediately, knowing that time is of the essence. "At the next fork in the road, turn right and continue walking. The signal came from somewhere in that area."
"Right." A one-word response is all Hugo can muster as we begin walking towards the destination that Amy has set.
We slowly and carefully trek into the area that Amy had located as the origin of the distress signal. As far as I can tell, nothing appears to be out of place. There a multiple walls of various rocks stretching as far as I can see. Some of them reach such incredible heights that I think it would be easy to mistake them as trees at first glance.
"Is this the place?" Hugo seems to wonder as he tries to get into contact with Amy.
"Yes." Amy confirms instantly. "Any visual?"
"There!" Claire shouts and I bring my attention forwards. About 20 metres into the distance is a woman lying on the floor. The woman appears to have purple and blue hair along with a red top that doesn't cover her hips. Her trousers are a murky grey and she appears to have some kind of purple leg armour on. To complete her ensemble, she wears a pair of red high heels. Claire rushes over to the downed woman.
"Claire, wait!" Zeke shouts as we immediately notice that the downed woman has tensed up. Just as Claire comes to a stop, the woman springs off of the ground reaching about 5 metres into the air. It's obvious that this distress signal was a trap, so I sprint towards Claire and the woman. Claire gasps in shock and isn't able to react quick enough as the woman runs directly towards her with her Biting Edge God Arc – one blade in each hand. I forcefully place a hand on Claire's shoulder as I catch up and throw her behind me. I get there just in time to save Claire as the woman tries to attack me with her God Arc. Not having enough time to deploy my shield, I move my Heavy Moon God Arc into the way so that her weapon collides with the edge of mine.
"An AGE is on it, and an experienced one at that…" I hear Hugo speak from a fair distance behind me. I can only anticipate that Claire had tried to help me in the battle and Hugo stopped her from doing so. Considering the Ashlands must have had a really negative effect on her, Hugo's judgement is spot on. Plus, hearing his words makes me feel a little happy knowing that he trusts me enough to not get myself or anyone else injured. "Just stay back and provide support." The woman, seeing that her attack did not faze me, retreats a few metres which gives me the space to swing my Arc in her direction again. I'm not trying to kill her, I'm just trying to disarm her. A God Eater, AGE or not, is useless without their God Arc, after all. Meaning that the sooner I can disarm her the sooner the fight will end. She avoids my attack by backstepping before immediately rushing towards me where our God Arcs meet in the air and sparks fly from them.
"Hya!" The woman yells as our God Arcs meet again and nothing other than a few more sparks happens.
"Dyaaah!" Zeke yells as he manages to get behind the woman and tries to swing his own God Arc down onto hers. She is able to turn around and block it, however, which just makes me think that we might really be in for a tough fight. She seems to be good in combat as she is able to take on both me and Zeke. With her back facing me, I run and try to knock the God Arc out of her hand. She is able to react very quickly to dodge me with another backstep though, but I had anticipated that and try another forward slash before trying to let gravity help me by bringing my Arc into the air and forcing it down at her. She dodges my attacks with relative ease and even avoids Zeke's attack with a front flip. Then she avoids another of his attacks with a backflip. "Is this some damned circus?" Zeke vents his frustration at being unable to hit the woman. I join him in trying to disarm the woman, giving a few slashes with my God Arc. Her combat prowess makes me believe that she is an AGE like us but given that she's been out here for a lot longer than we have, she should be considerably weaker than us. It really doesn't feel like that though. I only now just notice that my breathing is oddly calm while I'm fighting her which could be for a multitude of reasons. Either she set this trap in an area with lower Ash density knowing that we'd have been weakened after our battle in the higher Ash density area. Or she is just a better AGE than all three of us put together. To save my pride, I choose to believe that she has really orchestrated a very elaborate trap.
"Gotcha!" Hugo shouts as he gets behind the woman and jumps towards her.
"Activate." The woman speaks to herself, and a red glow surrounds her Armlets which then spreads to her God Arc. With a lot more speed than before, she meets Hugo head on and is even able to twirl in the air to try and hit Hugo. He manages to block it with his own Arc and avoids any injury, although he is sent backwards several metres due to the momentum.
"Ngh… What's with this weirdo?!" Zeke vents in frustration again and I can't help but feel the same way. As Zeke charges towards the other AGE she combines her God Arcs together and is able to easily fend off Zeke's attack. However, around her God Arc some sort of static appears. Her face seems to suggest that, despite Zeke using his best effort to try and hit the woman, she is having no trouble at all in defending herself. In fact, she has so little trouble that she's able to push Zeke's God Arc away and she swings her own Arc at him.
"Hey, whoa! Time out!" Zeke shouts in surprise and in fear of his life as the woman definitely seems to want to chop his head off. Luckily, Zeke is able to duck and weave under her God Arc. That is until she decides to punch him in the face and he shoots backwards about ten metres. I notice that her breathing has become heavier and charge in her direction, also choosing to take her attention away from my weaker teammates and instead to focus on me. If there's any way we're getting out of this, it'll be from my power. I swing my God Arc at her after leaping into the air but quickly find myself having to block a barrage off attacks as soon as I've done so.
"Haah!" She grunts as she sends the barrage my way and tries to slash at me again but Hugo charges at her from the side and she is forced to block his attack. She successfully does so, and Hugo tries to attack again.
"Son of a -!" Hugo utters as he is kicked in the stomach with so much momentum that he is sprung backwards about 20 metres. Taking over from him, Zeke launches himself into the air before trying to land an attack on the woman. To my surprise though, she knocks the God Arc out of his hands. Finding himself defenceless, the woman then flips into the air several times before landing directly behind him. She immediately raises her Arc to his neck and pants heavily before announcing,
"Throw down your God Arcs. Now!"
"Crap!" Zeke shouts in anger as he realises that he's just become a hostage. I give a look to Hugo who has since managed to get back to his feet. There's nothing we can do in this situation. The woman, by herself, was too much for us to handle, but now that she has a hostage the situation has become a lot more perilous. Hugo nods his head and I know now that there really is nothing we can do. Why did it come to this? Why did my strength fail me? I was trusted to get us out of this situation, and I've failed terribly. Hugo and Zeke never managed to land a hit on the woman, neither did I! And I'm supposed to be the strongest one of us! How is she that much more powerful than me?! I hear Hugo's and Claire's God Arcs hit the ground and, with a lot of reluctance, I drop mine as well.
"Hugo, do you read me?! Why are you in combat? Hugo?" I hear Amy's concerned voice through my earpiece.
"What do you want?" Hugo asks of the woman that is keeping Zeke hostage. She should know that if he is harmed in anyway, I am prepared to pick up my God Arc and start fighting again. By the look of it, she hadn't really intended to kill any of us during the fight, just to injure us.
"Let me speak with your commander." She tightens her grip on Zeke as if to say that refusing her is not an option.
"Ma'am, this is a video of their battle." Amy brings her tablet to the woman in charge of the Chrysanthemum.
"An acceleration tirgger…" Hilda speaks up after a few seconds of watching what is on the tablet. "They've already got a practical model…" She hands the tablet back to her operator, Amy.
"Establishing a communications link with Hugo." Amy informs the commander who raises a hand to her ear.
"Hilda, I'm putting our attacker on. She wants to talk." Hugo instructs Hilda as to his next actions while maintaining a commanding tone which shows his leadership qualities.
"Go ahead." Hilda responds quickly, already aware of the situation – Zeke being held as a hostage.
"I am a Baran AGE. Code name, Lulu." The woman introduces herself. "I was left stranded here by my vessel during a mission, and I am requesting transport back to Baran."
"You gave us a rather rough greeting, don't you think?" Hilda enquires as to why Lulu had decided to attack the AGEs she is currently responsible for. If anything, what Lulu's apparent request was more of a demand.
"I understand. I apologise for the incident. However, I intend you no harm." Lulu responds carefully.
"I'm not gonna take th-! Ungh!" Zeke's voice becomes muffled as Lulu must have put a hand over his mouth to prevent him from speaking any longer.
"You should know, I held myself back. It's the only method we're taught." Lulu speaks up again as she tries to defend her actions.
"First, I'll make contact with Baran to confirm your identity. It may take a little time to do that; I assume you can wait while I do?" Hilda informs Lulu of her plan.
"That's fine." Lulu responds and Hilda looks towards Amy who gets the message and immediately begins to press things on her tablet.
It only takes a few minutes but,
"We have a response from Baran." Amy announces. "According to their message… they say they have no record of an AGE named 'Lulu' on their files." The concern on Amy's face suggests how she feels after receiving the news. "So… who is she then?"
"Amy, what's the ash density in this area?" Hilda speaks up after a few sharp breaths.
"Checking." Amy announces before looking at her tablet. "Um… 0.008 ppm."
"That'll give us about 10 minutes." Hilda confirms. "Open the hatch. I'll talk with her directly."
Understood. Opening the…" Amy only now realises the words that Hilda had spoke as the concern returns to her face as well as her voice. "hatch? Wait, what?!"
To my surprise, after a while of waiting around for Hilda to complete her task of contacting Baran, I see her walking towards us in the Ashlands.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Hugo's concern is clear. The Ashlands are significantly more dangerous to Hilda than they are to us. Even a regular God Eater like Claire was rendered powerless out here, so why is Hilda here? It appears that Hilda's presence even shocks Lulu as the woman's eyes widen at the presence of our commander.
"He is a member of my crew. Could you do me a favour and let him go for me?" Hilda gets straight to business.
"I-I already told you, you're taking me to Baran." Lulu responds as she tightens her grip on Zeke. He must only have been held hostage for about five minutes now, but it still must be pretty scary not knowing if the woman who has your life in her hands is able to be reasoned with.
"There doesn't seem to be an AGE named Lulu." Hilda states simply which surprises me again. Did this woman give a fake name?
"Huh?" Judging by the woman's surprise, I don't think it was a fake name.
"I've searched every record we have and contacted Baran as well. But everywhere I check, I get the same result… No person named Lulu exists." Hilda drops the bombshell again which makes the woman's eyes widen in surprise once more.
"That… No, that can't be right… I-I mean, I was just on a mission…" The woman tries to reason as to why there are no records of her in existence.
"I'm sorry, but you're…"
"I see…" the woman cuts Hilda off, already knowing what this means. She drops her God Arc to the floor where Zeke immediately rushes away from her; no longer her hostage. I pick my God Arc back up just in case.
"So… what the heck's going on?" The anger on Zeke's face is clear, but it seems he is confused about the situation occurring before him.
"I… I've been… cast aside." Lulu falls to her knees as she answers, realising that she now no longer belongs to a Port and will most likely die in the Ashlands.
"For the time being," Hilda speaks up, her breathing slightly heavier than before, "I can offer you residence inside my Ash Crawler."
"What?" Zeke and I question at the same time. This woman has just been fighting against us and even took Zeke hostage. Now Hilda wants to let our attacker live with us just because she no longer has a place to go.
"It must be painful to be left all alone out in the Ashlands." Claire seems to share her thoughts on the matter, but by the sounds of it they don't agree with mine.
"Residence?" Lulu repeats.
"Just until you've decided what you want to do." Hilda speaks up, turning around and walking back to the Chrysanthemum. "If you want to continue the conversation then let's do it back on the Ash Crawler. It won't be safe here for much longer." Hilda doesn't stop as she speaks.
"You're free now." Hugo speaks up with a smile on his face. "You no longer have to work for a Port. Do you know how long it took for us to be free? A very long time. But now we're doing something with our lives." Hugo looks at me before he turns towards Zeke. Judging from his words, it's clear that he forgives the woman in front of us if he is speaking so positively about this situation. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You now have the power to decide what you want to do." Hugo's speech is infectious. It is honestly making me think about forgiving the woman that decided to attack us while we were trying to help her. Actually, now that I think about the situation again, I don't think I will forgive her. She did hit my friends, after all.
"Can we do as the commander said and take this discussion inside?" Claire's breathing is significantly heavier now. The Ashlands are continuously having a grave effect on her.
"I suppose I don't want you to die…" Zeke speaks his thoughts aloud. I feel like asking why he doesn't want her to die. After all, she means nothing to us. I decide not to ask though. Instead, I begin walking back to the Chrysanthemum and hear only one set of footsteps behind me. I have a quick glance over my shoulder to see that it is Claire that is following me which does give me a little surprise. Although, it doesn't take too much longer before Zeke, Hugo and even Lulu start walking back to the Chrysanthemum. I keep an eye on Lulu as we walk. Despite looking clearly depressed, I wouldn't be surprised if she were to suddenly raise her God Arcs to the people trying to help her once again.
Once we return to the Chrysanthemum, Lulu is immediately ushered into the medical bay. Claire and Zeke accompany her where they can both get themselves checked out as well. Apparently, Keith had wanted to talk to Hugo about something as soon as we had returned. That left just me waiting in the Bridge for further instructions. I wait there for a good hour or so before I hear someone speaking to me.
"Lulu Baran… I'm impressed that anyone could hold their own against you." Hugo speaks up, announcing his presence.
"She did more than hold her own. If it was a battle of attrition, I might have won, but as soon as she said 'activate' she just seemed to suddenly get stronger." I reply in earnest. I'm pretty sure that was a battle I would have lost if she hadn't decided to instead take Zeke as a hostage.
"Yeah, she had a trick up her sleeve. She's got something really crazy in that God Arc of hers. If things don't go right in could destroy the body of its owner." Hugo informs me.
"Is that what Keith wanted to talk to you about?" It must have been. That information wouldn't have been known to us if we didn't have our resident God Arc expert to tell us about it.
"He got permission to analyse Lulu's God Arc. Apparently, the trick Lulu used is called 'acceleration trigger'." Hugo continues relaying the information he got from Keith. The name itself doesn't mean much to me though. I'd rather know about the effects. If I was able to battle while using an acceleration trigger, I'm sure that situations like the one that occurred today would never happen again. I would be able to immediately knock someone's God Arc out of their hands and prevent them from taking any of my friends hostage. "Everyone treats AGEs like disposable objects." Hugo's voice has taken on a more disdainful tone. "I won't stand for that… I'll put an end to it. Keith said that device was almost like it was designed to destroy AGEs. Port Baran must be the worst one imaginable.
"I suppose all we can do now is wait and see what will happen with her." I reply, trying to move the conversation along.
"Our first priority is returning to the Chrysanthemum. We'll work out what we do from there." After Hugo's words, we wait around in the Chrysanthemum for a few more hours. However, the only thing that happens during that time is that the sun disappears from the sky and is instead replaced by the moon indicating that we can no longer go on any missions. With that said, I head back to my room and prepare to turn in for the night. I'm sure that tomorrow will be less eventful than today. I mean, when I woke up earlier, I hadn't anticipated that my friend would be held hostage. With that last thought, I close my eyes and allow the darkness to overcome me slowly but surely.