Book III: Stolen Valor
Chapter XXIV
Long ago, the Garfont Mercenaries, led by a former freelancer named Vandham, focused on helping others in times of desperate need. In this time five hundred years ago, people lived on the backs of giant titans, who were dying out. Wars broke out between nations just trying to survive, and others pillaged and stole as the world burned. This made many children orphans and many wives widows. The Garfont Mercenaries were a large group of capable drivers who went out and brought aid to these people, offering protection and a sanctuary for those who had lost. Vandham, despite his rough, burly outlook was deeply and widely known for his caring, "bleeding" heart. He would rescue these orphans and raise them up in Garfont, where they'd learn to cook, clean, sew, fight, basically anything they could ever use in their life. These children, upon reaching adulthood, would be granted a choice: if they proved to be capable of wielding a blade, they could join the Garfont Mercenaries and help other children in need, they could stay and help tend to the village, or they could be given a ticket to anywhere they wanted to go and they'd start their life away from this place. It wasn't always pretty, but it was what many people needed.
Soon after Rex became the driver of the Aegis, he ended up on Uraya and paired with Vandham. Vandham taught Rex anything and everything he knew before sacrificing himself to protect Rex and the Aegis. Vandham left the Garfont Mercenaries to Rex, who had wanted nothing to do with war originally, but soon accepted his role. After all was said and done and Waylon departed from this world, Rex went back to the Garfont Mercenaries with the Aegis. He renamed them, and dubbed them the Blade Assistance Program. He didn't want this group to be associated with the war it had grown from, he wanted it to be a driving force that helped people grow accustomed to this new world. One of dry land and water instead of giant beasts and clouds. Many years later, after Mythra had gone to sleep to wait for Waylon, Rex disappeared with the Aegis, and was never seen again. While many argue as to the cause of his disappearance, none can deny that the BAP is exactly what Vandham and Rex would've wanted.
The blades of the BAP used to all belong to members of Rex's party. However, thanks to the rise of the Blade Control Corp a few hundred years back, they were forced to distribute the blades, using a special item known as an Overdrive Protocol, among official BAP Mercenaries. This was done to ensure that the power of blades wasn't given to any one person. However, due to a blade's ability to heal almost any injury, so long as their core crystal remains unharmed, and the fair amount of power they have even without their drivers, it was decided that the drivers would stay in Garfont, managing the business side of things, while groups of blades, called squads, did the missions they received.
Blade squads were made up of three members, one would be a designated leader, and the three would carry out missions together. Based on the level of difficulty of the missions they completed and the success rate, blades would be ranked from one to ten. Rank ten blades handled minor issues, often simple disputes. Rank one blades would handle extremely dangerous missions that could potentially result in casualties, however blades at rank one were highly respected by all member of the BAP, and it was very rare for a blade group to ever reach that level.
While touring the city with Dromarch, a squad did approach us, very meekly, I might add.
One of them was a very small girl, with ridiculously large, frizzled, blond pigtails and a white blouse. I had begun to realize that blades always looked similar to the element that they had. KOS-MOS and Mythra we're dressed in white and we're light blades, Malos had black eyes, black hair, and a black outfit so was obviously a dark blade. I first assumed she was a light blade. She introduced herself as Electra in a very ecstatic tone, I then realized her element was lightning.
The second one, Nim, had hair that mixed blue and green in a style similar to a globe. Her face was human but her nose was that of a dog's or a bear's, and on her shoulders say two little fox-looking creatures, one with blue hair and one with red hair that resembled colored flames. She was an earth blade.
The last one was also an earth blade, with the same earth themed hair that Nim had. At first glance, I thought this blade was a girl, but he was definitely a he, and said so himself. His name was Floren, and we could tell he was the leader, as he was the brightest, perkiest, and most talkative. He was super polite and charming, despite initially weirding us out a bit.
"Hello! Can we get your autographs?!" Floren asked Mythra, Malos, Acacia, and I super enthusiastically.
The other two looked super excited, like kids about to get Christmas presents, but without saying anything.
"Now, now, I believe you all have work to be done!" Dromarch reminded them, they immediately seemed to be disappointed.
Mythra immediately jumped forward and grabbed the piece of paper Floren was holding. "Why we'd love to!"
They all lit up excitedly again as Acacia and I signed the paper as well, we looked at Malos, who rolled his eyes.
"That's ok! Three out of four isn't bad at all!" Floren said excitedly as he quickly took the paper and the three began pushing and shoving excitedly as they all tried looking at it.
They all put their hands excitedly on top of each other as they chanted, "The Merry Band of Misfits triumphs again!" They then began returning to their duties.
"You're such a killjoy Mally," Acacia teased.
"Mally?" Malos asked, sounding almost amused. "What am I, your dog?"
"Well you're definitely acting like a bit—" she went to respond before Gabriel cut her off.
"You should try it some time, probably the last chance you'll ever get to give an autograph!"
"Pfft, you're just jealous they didn't ask 'The Great Gabriel' for an autograph," Acacia pointed out.
"What? Me? Jealous never!" Gabriel said before immediately calling out to Floren and them as they walked away. "Would you lot care for an autograph from the one and only Great Gabriel?" he asked while striking a pose, Kasandra posing with him.
"No thanks!" Floren responded.
"Yeah we don't know who you are," Electra added.
"You can help us with a mission some time though!" Nim offered before all three of them left.
"Tough break Gabriel," Rafi added. "I'm sure you'll be as cool as Aegises some day, or... maybe not?"
Gabriel pulled his club. "You want to tussle runt?"
Rafi immediately began running away. "Meh meh! Poppi! Rafi need your shield!"
"'The Merry Band of Misfits'? What's up with that?" I asked Dromarch, who up until this point had waited silently for them to finish their little squabble.
Dromarch let out a sigh. "Those three have the strongest bond of any squad I have ever seen. But they constantly fail missions by simple... shall we say, mistakes. They couldn't find a group, so they ended up finding each other and they've stuck with each other ever since."
"Huh, that's pretty neat. So they're a rank ten squad?" Mythra asked.
"Unfortunately yes. A rank one squad just finished their last mission for the day and are heading in now, they're very interested in meeting you," Dromarch stated.
"I believe you're referring to us, eh?" a voice I hadn't heard before said.
Three more blades approached us, one was a very tall, skinny, dark figure. "Greetings, I am Perceval," he said in a dark, brooding, yet charming voice. To his side was a long, slender sword and he had the demeanor of a warrior.
"I am Agate," a female to the left of Perceval said. "Pleasure to make you acquaintance!" she said as she curtsied. She was wearing a bonnet and carried a very large axe. At first it was hard to make out, but her name was the same as a very popular gem often sold as jewelry, and so I assumed she was an earth blade. She had a very kind and pleasant attitude.
"And I'm Corvin," the blade front and center said. He looked like a young boy with green eyes and blonde hair and wielded two swords. "I'm the leader of the Helios Trinity, good to meetcha."
We all introduced ourselves before Dromarch continued. "These three our BAP's most skilled squad, only one squad has ever been more skilled than these here."
"Who?" Gabriel asked.
Dromarch sighed as he looked at KOS-MOS, who stared back at him blankly.
"I... will explain at a later time, you came here for a reason have you not?" Dromarch asked.
With all of the commotion and people, I had completely forgotten the real reason we'd come here.
"Right! We were here to be trained by someone named Mòrag!" I recalled.
"Well then I hope I'm not interrupting," a female voice said from behind us.
We turned around to see someone in a military-style uniform. Straight-legged pants, an official-looking coat, and a hat with a visor that covered most of her face, but with holes cut-out so that she could see through it. Her hair was black, and her eyes were an amber color. She was also missing her left arm.
Behind her was a tall blade, similar in stature to Perceval, but he looked more mechanical like most common blades. However, he clearly had much more power than your average blade.
"I am Mòrag Ladair Von Genbu, queen of Tantal, part of the Ardainian Empirical bloodline, and second-in-command to the BAP. My blade's name is Aegaeon. And you are?" she introduced sternly.
"Oh... I'm Silas, this is Mythra, Acacia, and Malos," I introduced.
"Hey ma," Gabriel waved as Kasandra ran up and hugged Mòrag, who hugged her back with her right arm.
"Staying our of trouble, I hope," Mòrag said as she smiled at Kasandra.
"Not really...," Kasandra said while blushing.
Mòrag let out a chuckle, "Well he is Zeke's son. And he's roaming around with two Aegises so I imagined so."
"Nothing we can't handle, eh?" Gabriel grinned.
Mòrag then glared at Acacia. "BCC with Malos as your blade?"
"I've denounced the BCC, I'm not with them anymore, ma'am," Acacia said respectfully.
Mòrag sighed and looked at KOS-MOS, who stared back blankly. "And where did you get your other blade?"
"Adonis... said KOS-MOS was a weapon of his own design."
Mòrag became increasingly irritated. "KOS-MOS was one member of the most advanced blade squad the BAP has ever known, it was also the only squad to ever have two members."
"Who was the second member?" Mythra asked.
"That's not important now, you two came to train, yes?"
Acacia and I nodded.
"Good, meet me here bright and early tomorrow and I will... assess your skill. If you don't come willing to learn, I'll break you down first, you've been warned."
And with that, her and Aegaeon walked away.
"Oh! Another mission popped up!" Corvin said, snapping our attention back to then, we'd forgotten they were even there.
"Helios Trinity, move. Our next target is in Mor Ardain, get suited and let's go!" he commanded.
"Of course," Agate curtsied to us before walking away.
Perceval smiled at us, "I move with haste." He then left with Agate.
"Pleasure meeting you all, hope to see you all around!" Corvin said as he went to prepare a titanless craft.
As they left, Rafi had run back, with Poppi behind him, but she looked nervous.
"Silas! Poppi have news she wish to share about Pyra!" Rafi said in an excited state.
"Poppi? What is it?" Mythra asked immediately.
"Do friends remember when Poppi confirmed that KOS-MOS was indeed a blade and not artificial?" Poppi asked.
"Yeah? What about it?" Acacia inquired.
"Poppi did that by comparing power output of KOS-MOS' core crystal with the power output of other blades in the area, Poppi knew that KOS-MOS wasn't artificial."
"Poppi, where is this going?" Gabriel asked.
"Poppi had some difficulty conducting similar experiment with Pyra, as her power output was very big!" she began looking sad. "But, when Poppi compared Pyra's and Mythra's outputs and the energy used, Poppi came to a conclusion."
"Poppi... does this mean what I think it means?" Mythra questioned.
"Yes," Poppi nodded. "Pyra's data is identical to Mythra's. Pyra is not artificial either, Pyra is real Aegis. Pyra much weaker than Mythra, but," she began tearing up. "B-But that real Pyra... That is Poppi's friend from long ago..."
Readability Level: College Student (wtf that's a new one)
Time Taken: 10 Hours