Little Wing It!

by Ryuumaru Chunchunmaru

A snarky teenage beastman, a lazy genius girl, a naive tribesboy, and a redhead with growth issues. When an ancient civilization plots to hijack the Gurhal system's population, it's up to this group of youths to stop it. What could possibly go wrong?

31. V5 Ch2: Yut's Starting Line

This was a doozy.

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Little Wing It

Volume 5

The Rising Of The Switch Beast

Chapter 2

Yut's Starting Line

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I

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With the five of us on the case, things were going relatively smoothly. Well, I say five but in reality, it was just Yut, Red, Kraz, and I that were actually fighting and looking around. Emilia was still glued to her gadget thingy.

It wasn't any problem, though. While the local wildlife were hostile, they didn't pose enough of a threat that we needed Emilia's help. And I'm sure she'd much rather focus on what she was doing, anyway.

Whether it was because those calculations of hers required intense concentration or for another reason entirely, I don't really know.

Truth be told, I was much more concerned about Yut. The possibility of another scuffle with Shizuru in this very mission fanned the flames of his recklessness and stubbornness that we, and especially Emilia, worked so hard to get under control.

Kraz managed to confuse him enough with his non-answers that he took out his frustrations on our assailants instead, but he had that dangerous look in his eyes all the while.

"Well. This looks like a good place for an ambush."

Kraz noted as we came across a rather narrow path, nestled between the foots of two rocky outcrops. It would have been a pretty normal, albeit tight pathway...

Were it not for the columns of black flames jutting out from the ground and covering most of the space we could step on.

"Yeah, this doesn't look like an Emilia-safe environment. Wait here, Emilia."

"Don't treat me like I haven't been through these things before... but fine, I'll wait."

This setup reminds me of the traps the Kasch set in Crodog a little bit. Makes one wonder why there would be similar traps here, considering this was a forbidden district.

Emilia positioned herself in an inconspicuous spot as we prepared to traverse the flame-covered path. But before we could do so...

"What are we waiting for?! Let's just run past!"

"What the- Yut!"

Yut ran past the trapped path on his own, carelessly dashing past and narrowly avoiding the lashing tongues of fire.

Well, here we go. I guess it was only a matter of time!

We quickly followed as best as we could, but halfway through, two tentacled creatures came sliding down the rock walls' slope and blocked us.

Kraz was right, this was a good ambush spot. In spite of that though, they weren't too hard to take care of. In fact, maneuvering around the black flames probably made up most of the difficulty in fighting them.

"Yo, Emilia, it's all clear!"

"Right, right, I'm coming..."

I called Emilia over as soon as the wiggly things were disposed of. She seemed dissatisfied with the the way we're handling things currently, but if she can't focus on that thing she's working on and fight at the same time she'll have to make do.

As Emilia made her way through the fire-covered path, I looked over to Red who seemed to be inspecting a bunch of rocks at the end of the small valley.

"What's up?"

"It's these stones... look, notice anything strange?"

"Huh, you're right. Almost like a button or switch of some kind..."

"Let's push it!"

"What? No, wait!"

Faster than I could stop her, Red pushed the center of the pile of rocks and it made a greatly worrying clicking noise.

"Huh? Hey, guys, the flames are gone. What'd you do?"

Emilia asked as she finished her approach towards us. True enough, the pillars of black fire were no longer covering the ground.

Looks like we lucked out then. It wouldn't have been pretty if that switch, say, summoned more flames or activated another trap.

Still...

"Just couldn't help yourself, could ya?"

"Hey, it all worked out, didn't it? I don't see the problem."

The problem is, the last time she pushed a suspicious button with no reservations whatsoever, a giant electric shredder came after us and quite nearly tore us to bits.

Without any hint of an apology at all, Red continued on her merry way. And so did we, but not without a sigh on my part.

"Hey! Weren't we looking for these?"

An impatient-looking Yut pointed to a pile of rubble beside him, along with quite a fair bit of dead creatures that no doubt attacked him. Or perhaps it was safe to say that he attacked them.

But nevermind that. He did find something we were indeed on the lookout for. On closer inspection, there seemed to be some pieces of machinery and lights under all the scrap metal and debris.

Emilia rushed over to the rubble and went about on inspecting it. As for Yut...

"What'd I tell you about running away, Yut?"

"I didn't! I waited for you!"

"Oh yeah? What if you didn't spot this then?"

"I-I still would have waited!"

"Right..."

I didn't believe him one bit.

In any case, it is true that he didn't ditch us like he previously did with Emilia and the others in the VR tests. Still, I'd rather he just stick close. The AMF did disappear right around this area.

As I gave Yut my best scolding look, Emilia stood up from where she was crouching, having finished taking a look at the piled up debris.

"This must be part of the subspace generator. It's broken, though, the creatures here must've destroyed it. There may be more terminals around."

"We better keep our eyes open then. No stone unturned, y'all hear?"

Kraz ordered, and we continued on our trek through the mushroom infested forest.

Not long after, we spotted another pile of rubble that looked similar to the one we found earlier. Emilia took her cue, examining whatever she could dig out of the debris, but after a while, she shook her head.

"Whatever happened to it, it's not a generator."

"This is an AMF camp. Must be theirs."

Kraz guessed. Well, if the AMF's already been through here, then I guess there's no point in lingering any longer. At least we found proof that the AMf went his way.

We soon found ourselves in a tunnel cave of sorts. It wasn't exactly a pleasant place to be, with puddles of water and mud all over the mossy ground, but at least there didn't seem to be any hostile creatures.

With the sudden lull in our journey, Yut took the opportunity to try and make sense of what Kraz told him earlier.

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Kraz. You saw me fight just now! I'm strong!"

"Don't get me wrong. You got skills."

Kraz answered, scratching his scruffy beard as Yut nodded at the compliment. But the wild kid soon became even more dissatisfied when Kraz shook his head at him.

"But that isn't strength. You ain't strong, kid, not compared to this lot. Not as long as you go around saying things like 'I'm not afraid to die'."

"Okay, now I'm really confused! What're you talking about?!"

Kraz pointed to us, particularly me, as he explained his answer to the increasingly agitated Yut. As expected, he rounded on me after receiving no more answers from the boss.

"Hey, Kara! You understand what Kraz is mumbling about?"

"Well, I think. What about you, Red?"

"Same here, probably."

"Hey now, if you do understand, you know we can't go tellin' him the answers just yet, right?"

Kraz said, confirming my earlier guess of him wanting Yut to come up with the answer himself. That didn't seem to be any time soon though, as Yut glared at him in return, obviously not happy about the continuous non-answers he's been getting.

"Kraz, you're playing a joke on me, aren't you?"

The man in question only sighed, perhaps a little disappointed that Yut's single-minded pursuit of strength was preventing him from learning a valuable lesson.

After a while, Kraz seemed to give in and eased up a little, looking Yut straight in the eye.

"I'll give ya a hint. A man who's stronger for having 'touched death' is the same as a man who didn't die."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?! Why isn't anyone making sense?!"

"Just cool down and think about it a bit, eh? You got plenty of time."

"No, I don't! I have to get the Land-Mother back from the man in black!"

Yut retorted, his voice raising due to irritation. Looks like he really isn't anywhere near figuring out the answer he was looking for. I got the urge to tell him straight up, just to get a bit of peace in our midst but I doubt that would go over well with Kraz.

Speaking of Kraz though, according to him, a man who's stronger for having touched death is the same as a man who didn't die.

Well, I did die before, so what does that make me? I suppose it technically counts but I do wonder.

"Will you guys be quiet?! I'm calculating over here! If you have to fight, go fight someplace else!"

Emilia suddenly interrupted, clearly having been distracted by the ruckus Yut was raising. Red and Kraz snickered at her annoyed expression, while Yut seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Well, now we've gone and upset Little Miss Mainframe. Looks like we'll have to talk another time, kiddo."

With not a small amount of reluctance and dissatisfaction, Yut agreed to table the discussion for now and continued on without a word.

But it didn't seem like the question has left his thoughts entirely.

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II

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"This could be part of the subspace project. It's hard to be sure until I've seen some others."

Emilia noted after examining another piece of machinery we uncovered from rubble. It was in a neat little corner inside the cave we were traversing, so it was lucky of us to stumble upon it.

But as Emilia said, it's tricky to be certain if what we were looking at was indeed something that could give us ideas as to what Inhelt was trying to accomplish in this place.

After a few moments of data gathering, we were off again. It didn't take much longer for us to find our way out of the tunnel.

"Ah, fresh air! It was really hard computing with all that dripping and plopping..."

"Look at that, the great genius, distracted by a few water droplets."

"Excuse you! You couldn't make this formula work even without any distracting sounds!"

"Careful, guys, we've got a case of a growing head over here."

As Red further demonstrated her insatiable urge to push buttons, both people's and mechanisms', I managed to spot yet another ruined terminal. This one seemed to be in a much worse state than the first ones, though.

In any case, we wouldn't be able to make any sense of this without Emilia, so I called her over. Once she arrived, it didn't take any longer than a few seconds for her to deem the thing useless.

"There's hardly anything left of this..."

"And there are more than just animal tracks here!"

Yut said, inspecting the ground around the ruined terminal. It brought me a wave of relief to see him still focusing on the mission rather than just running off like I feared he would.

I guess Kraz's words got to him after all, if slightly. He still looked rather discontent, but if he's helping us search around for things, then I guess I can't complain.

"Looks like there's been a fight, and this device was a casualty."

"Next time, I hope they spare the device."

Emilia commented in response to Kraz's observation as we prepared to move yet again, a little bit of fatigue and annoyance leaking through her voice.

We've been poking around the place for probably almost an hour now, and even though we have found a few of these terminals here and there, we still haven't found any sign of the AMF besides that one camp we came across. Not to mention any proof of subspace shenanigans.

Kraz and Yut took the front, with Emilia following close behind while typing away on her gadget. But Red fell back a bit and crossed her arms, a curious look on her pondering face.

"Meseta for your thoughts?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing much, really. It's just a little weird seeing bolthead like this."

"You mean, like, all calculate and compute and stuff?"

"Yeah. When Glasses said she was a bonafide genius, it didn't really sink in then, but seeing that now..."

"Little hard to believe she's the same bumbling girl, isn't it?"

"I thought something was odd back when she found that hologram wall back in Mt. Elbars but... it's just strange."

The moment Red was referring to was the mission on Moatoob to rescue the missing Little Wings and Guardians. Emilia found a wall that was actually a holographic projection. Something about the shift in the color pattern being too regular to be natural.

And even before that, Emilia's hidden genius manifested itself a handful of times.

"But that doesn't matter, does it? She may be a genius, but she's still our idiot."

"Our idiot, you say? Heh."

Red snickered at the thought, but I could tell that she agreed with what I said.

Emilia may be, in Kraz's words, Little Miss Mainframe right now but I bet that once this mission's over with, she'll be back snacking and snoozing in my room.

"So, about jungle boy then. What's his deal?"

Red asked, looking over at the overly alert Yut.

"What do you mean?"

"That whole 'touching death' thing."

Ah, I get it now. Come to think of it, we've been going on missions together for a while now, but we haven't really told Red much about Yut, have we?

Well, I guess I can fix that now. With no hostile creatures on sight anyway, now should be as good a time as any.

So I started telling Red about Yut. About how we met the wild kid. How he got placed in our team, how he developed that obsession with touching death, how he made me his teacher of sorts.

Now that I think about it, I haven't taught Yut much, have I? I know we got caught up in things a lot, but I did agree to train him, reluctantly on my part as it may be.

"So that's what he meant. Bolthead skimmed over it back in VR, but this is the first time I'm hearing it in detail. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. He's a handful, but he has grown on me a little so I want him to figure this out."

"Well, look at you, Mr. Leader."

I thought I told you, I'm no good as a leader. All I'm doing is just trying to keep you three troublemakers in line.

Now that we were on the topic of Yut though, I seem to remember something curious Red said just a few minutes earlier.

"What about you then? You said earlier that you knew what Kraz was talking about."

"Hmmm. Well, I haven't died before, unlike you. But I did have an extremely close brush before."

"So you say. Mind telling me about it?"

"This really isn't the place for it. Some other time, 'kay?"

An extremely close brush... I wonder if this has anything to do with that person she was searching for. What was his name again? Ah, right, Hikaru Shiroryu.

Well, with Red not willing to elaborate on that particular matter, I suppose I should put it to rest for the time being. She may have been comfortable enough with me to tell me her real name, but I guess there are still some things she'd rather keep to herself for now.

It's strange. I don't think I was being particularly nosey, but I still can't help but be a bit curious. Before, I probably wouldn't have cared that much.

We caught up to the others, still without any attackers popping up. Emilia was still busy on her maths, something I was still trying to get used to. Kraz seemed to be both on guard and at ease simultaneously, while keeping an eye on a deep in thought Yut.

"Kid's really workin' on this one, ain't he? Looks like we'll finally get some peace n' quiet 'round here."

Kraz suddenly asked as I got within hearing distance, a grin on his face as he indicated Yut.

"I'll say. It'll do him some good, thinking about stuff."

"Certainly good for the young to worry a bit. Makes 'em tough."

I couldn't argue with that. Sometimes you just gotta sit back a little and think about what you're doing and what you want to do, which is what I think Yut's going through right now.

He's always believed that pushing your limits is what makes you strong, and while he's not completely wrong, Kraz just introduced to him a different meaning to being strong, something he couldn't wrap his head around just yet.

It's good that he's seriously thinking about it, although it does seem like the answer continues to elude him still.

While I was in my own thoughts, Kraz suddenly sighed. He scratched his head while looking at Yut, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe I did dig into him a little too much. I might've been a bit irritated by his question, myself. I really shouldn't be letting a kid get to me, at my age."

Now that he mentioned it, Kraz didn't look that old, but her certainly didn't look young. It might just be the unkempt hair and the wild beard, but he should probably be old enough to be Emilia's father. Not that he already isn't, mind. That whole legal guardian thing's all just a bunch of baloney.

But that aside, irritated? I get that Yut isn't exactly polite when he gets worked up, but I didn't think Kraz was a stickler for manners. At all.

Thankfully, I didn't need to inquire, as Kraz smirked upon seeing the question written all over my face. He took a deep breath, and started telling the reason to his annoyance at Yut's demands.

"There was a detective I knew once. Headstrong, one-track mind... just like Yut."

"A detective?"

"Yep. Never looking back, never wondering about anything for very long. Just did what he thought was right. A real idiot. Used to say he'd die for the right cause. A real numbskull, am I right? Forgot what's important."

What's important. If you asked the me from back then, I probably would have said 'survival'.

In fact, what Kraz said had some parts that would have described me before I joined Little Wing. Never looking back, never wondering about anything for very long. It was always the next job, what can I do to survive the next few days?

However, the similarities ended there. Mercenaries do what they're told. As long as I got paid, I didn't need to think too much. And I certainly didn't want to die for any cause.

Don't be a hero, basically.

And yet here I am, on a quest to save the entire System. Because I found what's important.

"Of course, by the time he realized what was important, it was too late."

"... I see."

"Anyhow, that kid's walking the same path he did. It's a path I don't care to send anyone else down. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah. Better hope he pieces it together soon, huh?"

Kraz grinned at me before picking up the pace a little, signifying the end of that conversation.

I know I shouldn't be surprised that Kraz lost someone before, what with the nature of our job, but it was still a bit of a slap to the face.

I've known Kraz for some time now, but I still knew almost nothing about him. Thanks to Chelsea, I probably know more about Ursula than him, and he's our boss. Kraz is normally carefree and leisurely, but he's got this vibe about him that's difficult to explain. Like the feeling of someone who's been through things.

It's a different kind of feeling from say, Emilia, who I knew had a rough life. But Kraz, if I didn't already know for a fact that he treasures Emilia, and probably the rest of Little Wing by extension, I'd even go as far as saying he gives off the air of a man who has nothing to lose.

But he does have something to lose. In fact, we all do. And that was what he was trying to get Yut to realize. He's already seen someone close to him realize that too late, and he doesn't want it to happen a second time.

Heh. I know I haven't given Kraz much credit before, but seeing him now, so different from the Kraz that couldn't give a damn about much of anything...

It's honestly a little gladdening to witness two people change so much in front of my very eyes. Three, if you count me. And four, if we manage to get Yut to come around.

Well, that's enough of that. I shook those thoughts off, but I couldn't help the smirk from sneaking into my face.

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III

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It didn't take long for us to once again stumble upon a cave. Unlike the earlier tunnel though, this seemed like a much bigger one. Overgrown too, with vines and moss making traversing it harden that it had to be.

Doesn't seem to be anywhere else we could go though, so cave adventure it is.

"Ugh, not another cave. I'm claustrophobic!"

Emilia complained, for what felt like the longest period of time yet where she went without doing so. She's been unusually quiet since we got here, it was getting weird. Those calculations must really be that intensive.

That being said though, this is the first time I'm hearing of her supposed claustrophobia. Sounds like an excuse to me, and we don't tolerate excuses in this group.

"Alright then, you can stay here while we check out if we can find something."

"Are you kidding?! This place gives me the creeps! Take me with you!"

What is it then? Make up your mind already!

Emilia followed us in entering the cave with a defiant yet creeped out look. Guess she wasn't lying about this place giving her the ol' shiveroos. On a closer look, I can sorta see why she thinks that. The cave was illuminated by glowing pods from the plants that were growing everywhere, but it was still pretty dark.

Well, I wasn't actually serious when I said she could stay behind. Keep in mind, Shizuru was after her. Leaving her to wait outside would definitely be ill-advised. Not to mention, we didn't even know how to start working those terminals.

"Yo, fellas, found one over here."

Red called out from a corner, pointing towards an out-of-place device on a dark, wet, gloomy cavern.

Unlike the first couple of terminals we found earlier though, this one seemed to be in relatively good shape. There wasn't that much debris surrounding it, and the interface of the system seemed to be up and running too.

Emilia approached the device, and her eyes instantly lit up upon seeing the functioning terminal.

"Oh, it's intact! Nice find, Red, we can surely get some data outta this!"

"Heh. Am I amazing or what?"

What, definitely.

I get compliments, but we don't need that girl's head to get any bigger.

As Emilia excitedly fiddled with the terminal, a slightly dubious Kraz leaned in for a closer look.

"You sure the scraps you can pull outta this mess gonna be enough?"

"Plenty. That's what the Turing algorithms are for!"

I'm not even gonna pretend I understand what she meant by that.

Luckily for us, nothing attacked us during the time Emilia was copying the data from the device. It was getting a bit strange how we've encountered little resistance on our travels, but I wasn't about to complain.

Soon enough, Emilia finished the data transfer and we were back on our way. According to her, the data's gonna need some time to be processed so we should try and find some more terminals in the meantime.

We did find another one not far away, but it wasn't exactly as healthy-looking.

"There're feathers all over the place... Rappies, I'd wager."

"Sigh... Well, they're cute so I can forgive them, I guess... I do wonder if there's any way to salvage the data, though?"

Well, that's just unaccountable. The feathered Rappies were indeed cute little critters, but they can be just as hostile as the other creatures.

But I guess she does have a point. There's not much we can do with this particular terminal if it's thoroughly thrashed. Best just move on and try to find yet another one.

As we scoured every nook and cranny of the humid cave, I couldn't stop myself from sneaking a peak at how Yut was doing every now and then.

The stubborn tribesboy still seemed to be heavily in thought, but it doesn't take a genius to see that he's almost fed up with trying, and failing, to come up with the answer to his concerns.

His brows furrowed inwards, clearly frustrated because of that. Whether that was at himself, at us, both, or neither, I didn't know. All I can attest to is that what he thought was his core beliefs have been challenged, and that's left him shaken as a result.

We didn't spot another terminal before we found the cave's exit. Emilia was only too happy to step out of that dark place, and to be honest, so was I. It was hard eyeing anything in there, even with flashlights.

If we missed something, it was probably really well-hidden, or it was destroyed beyond recognition. Either way, we've already found a working terminal in there so we should be good.

After a while since leaving the mossy cavern, Emilia perked up suddenly, her face brightening as she pointed to something glowing nestled between some rocks.

"Look, a terminal! And it looks like it's running!"

"Huh? Hey, where're you goin'?!"

Kraz called out as Emilia rushed past us, making her way excitedly over to the pristine device. Didn't know she was this enthusiastic about data.

In no time at all, Emilia reached the terminal and started working her magic on it.

"Jackpot! Now let's see... uh-oh."

Emilia seemed to be booting up the transfer, but all of a sudden, laser fences activated from the rock enclosure and blocked her from us, along with the terminal.

Predictably, Kraz didn't like this.

"Quit foolin' around! What'd you do this time?!"

"I didn't do anything!"

Seems like Kraz was too accustomed to Emilia messing things up that he immediately thought it had happened again.

Luckily for my partner though, it doesn't look like this was any fault of hers. Now we just have to figure out a way to turn off these lasers. They're too high to leap over so there must be a switch somewhere...

"Hey, guys, you might wanna take a look over there!"

Red called out, and for a second, I thought she had found the way to deactivate the trap.

But when we trained our sights towards where she was indicating, we quickly realized that that wasn't the case.

Over from the far side of the clearing, multiple electrified shredder-like machines were slowly but surely making their way towards where Emilia was stuck. They reminded me of the giant death trap that almost did us I'm back in Inhelt, only smaller.

And to top it all off, the noise the trap and the machines made alerted several of the creatures in the area, and they didn't seem happy about the sudden cacophony. That's not taking into account their already frenzied state due to the subspace experiments.

"Um... oops?"

I'd say 'oops' is just about right, Emilia.

Without missing a beat, Kraz summoned his twin handguns and took up position in front of us.

"Keep at it, Emilia. We'll handle this!"

"Okay, I'll try!"

"Alright, you lot, it's up to us! If those things get through, Emilia's toast!"

Emilia scurried over to the terminal to continue on her data transfer, while the three of us followed Kraz's lead and formed a barricade against the death traps and monsters.

As if on cue, the creatures started charging at us, consisting of mainly the bipedal Boomas and Gohmons, along with the quadruped Sageetas. Not terribly threatening, but they do have numbers on their side.

Kraz started things off by firing a rapid stream of bullets at the nearest approaching shredder, not slowing it down in the slightest but his attacks were at least visibly damaging it.

That left the three of us to fend against the monsters.

With a wordless war cry, Yut summoned his trusty spear and charged one group of monsters, piercing one of them immediately and using its body as a makeshift hammerhead to slam against the remaining ones.

"Woah, that dude seriously needs a chill pill."

"Tell me about it. Alright, back to work."

In response, Red summoned her double saber and made a dash for the stampeding Sageetas, picking them off one by one. As for me, I summoned my rifle for what felt like the first time in ages.

Due to our combined assault, the creatures' numbers rapidly began thinning out, punctuated by the shredder Kraz was attacking bursting into flames and subsequently exploding into a pile of scrap.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only one. There were still about two that were quickly nearing us, and quite a few could be spotted in the distance.

"One of you give me hand! These things're sturdier than they look!"

"I'm on it!"

Yut answered Kraz's call for backup immediately, getting in position to charge up his Mirage Blast.

Kraz open fired at the one Yut wasn't targeting, a drop of sweat falling from his brow. Those guns of him seemed powerful enough, but it looked like the shredders could indeed take a bit of a beating before breaking down.

With his charging complete, Yut threw his arms forward and the now familiar red glyphs began spinning in place in front of him.

"[Fiery Roar]!"

Yut unleashed the stronger version of Flaming Roar, the intense wave of flames instantly decimating one of the shredders, along with a good chunk of the creatures who were unfortunate enough to be near the blast radius.

Once the embers cleared, Yut looked back to Kraz with a sharp look, almost as if to prove a point. Kraz only grinned in return, impressed but it was clear that that wasn't what he was talking about.

Yut grit his teeth in frustration and went for another mob of enemies, despite having just consumed a significant amount of photon energy.

"Bah. If that's all it takes to be strong, we'd have less problems in this system."

Kraz commented as he finished off wrecking another shredder.

Well, I guess he has a point. Yut's definitely gotten a lot more powerful compared to, say, the first time we met him. That second stage Mirage Blast didn't seem to be something you can just pull off on a whim.

But that still isn't the 'strength' Kraz wanted him to learn about. Like he said, if anyone who can make things blow up or dispatch an opponent in the blink of an eye is what is deemed strong, then perhaps we wouldn't have to be here rescuing AMF soldiers.

"Hey, boltmeister! How're things over there?"

"I'm about a quarter of the way finished! Hang on a bit more, guys!"

"Not even halfway done?!"

"Hey, I'm working as fast as I can here!"

A quarter? The other ones didn't take nearly as long as this one... I guess with the terminal in one piece, there's a lot more she can dig up.

But the seemingly never-ending stream of hostile wildlife definitely isn't helping any. Not to mention the remaining shredders getting closer and closer. At this rate, we might need another Mirage Blast or two!

"Hey, Red! No Mirage Blasts today?"

"No can do! Still hasn't cooled down from the last time I used it!"

Still?! That was several days ago!

I guess she wasn't lying when she said she wasn't that proficient in photon energy control. Unlike Yut, who can repeatedly use his Fire-type Blast every now and then, Red's seem better reserved as a last resort.

On the flip side though, the Dark-type Blast seemed much more versatile, but I suppose it makes sense that it has an extreme drain on the photon reservoir. Coupled with her self-admittedly low spiritual aptitude, that was probably why she didn't use it until we absolutely needed it.

"Heads up! Giant Rappy incoming!"

Well then, no time like the present...!

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IV

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"Thanks, guys! I'm done here!"

About damn time.

I sat down, or should I say, slumped down to the ground, to catch my breath as the last of the creatures were taken down.

Emilia cheered, wiping some sweat off her forehead. I've no doubt that what she did wasn't easy, but in this moment, right after we've fought off an entire army of hostiles, I was appalled that she had the gall to be tired.

The entire clearing was filled with scorch marks and pieces of the shredders we blew up to oblivion. There were also numerous corpses littering the area, bringing to image just how many we had to deal with.

"Need a hand?"

Emilia approached me, a cheerful look painted on her face, and she held out her hand towards me to help me stand.

"... yeah, thanks."

Heh. I guess I just can't stay mad at this girl anymore. I can't believe it, I've gone soft.

"Sure, show some favoritism, won't you? Don't mind us."

"Ah, can it, you. Kara was the closest one!"

"Right, that was the only reason, I'm sure."

As Emilia helped me up while giving Red a sour look, Kraz and Yut regrouped with us.

The Kasch boy still looked cross, but I suppose it's a win for us that he isn't immediately running off to find more things to take down.

Kraz on the other hand, wasted no time, already asking for the results from Emilia's data finagling.

"Well? What'd you find?"

"I'm still collating with the earlier data. But the AMF definitely headed further in."

"Then so do we. Up and at 'em, they're counting on us."

Kraz motioned, already making his way through the countless bodies and debris on the swampy floor. We were pretty winded, but we can just catch our breath as we go. With nothing else to do in this area, and with probably most of the things that could attack us already disposed of, we might as well get a move on.

Heading further in the mushroom forest, we didn't find any more terminals after that last one. It looked like we had enough data collected though, so it didn't become a big issue.

Kraz still looked concerned about something, though. In particular, the lack of AMF personnel we were encountering.

"Welp. We've made plenty of progress without a thing to show for it. No missing soldiers, and no Inhelt activity. How're things going on your end, Emilia?"

"Well, for one, it's pretty clear they were using a subspace generator here."

Emilia answered, and then returned her attention back to the pad she was using, bringing up some numbers and things that frankly, made no sense to me.

Thankfully, I didn't have to try. Emilia squinted her eyes as she looked over the data displayed on the pad, and she translated it for us a moment later.

"I'm seeing a lot of the same numbers I saw on Rykros, too... There might be a pocket of subspace around here somewhere."

Rykros? Will it make a repeat appearance? I don't think I quite like the thought of that. From how Emilia worded it, it sounds like it's definitely possible that we encounter spatial distortions like before, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to be ready for anything.

But it didn't seem like all of us were fans of the numbers game though, as Yut suddenly groaned loudly. Judging by the look on his face, he doesn't quite grasp anything of what Emilia was saying.

"Enough with the calculations! We need to find the enemy, beat him, and get the Land-Mother! That's all!"

"Believe me, if it were that easy, I'd be all for it."

Emilia answered with a slightly irked tone. If only it were always that easy, after all. We were here on official business, and while stopping Shizuru's definitely important, our job here was to find the missing AMF soldiers and potentially get something incriminating towards Inhelt along the way.

With a quick reminder to keep our eyes sharp, Kraz motioned for us to continue on. However, as we arrived at a much larger clearing than the one we just left, Emilia's pad flared out a warning signal, along with a quite loud beeping sound.

"Hm? Uh-oh, I don't like these energy readings one bit. Yeah, my predicted results for what's going to happen next aren't looking good at all!"

"Why predict when we can just go and find out for ourselves?!"

"Wha- no, Yut! Wait!"

No doubt irritated by being stopped by something he doesn't understand in any way, Yut took off, running towards the center of the clearing. And after I thought Kraz's words would have gotten him to control his impulses a little better too. I guess it was too much to hope for!

We started chasing after Yut, but the ground suddenly started shaking, forcing us to stop and try to remain standing.

"W-woah!"

Yut exclaimed in surprise as a giant green hand erupted from the ground, which he avoided by leaping backwards. Another hand rose up parallel to the first one, no doubt the other sided hand of whatever it was that was emerging from down under.

With a shower of rocks and sand serving as its grand entrance, a giant, green, one-eyed ogre easily thrice the size of Yut burst out of the now-heavily cracked forest floor. Standing at its full height, it almost reached the tips of the just as massive mushroom trees.

"Yut, watch out!"

"Don't worry, I got this under contro- What the-?!"

Yut summoned his spear in defiance to the giant ogre, but he didn't manage to do anything with it as another massive hand scooped him up from the ground and into a bone-crushing grip.

The second ogre, which was brown, emerged behind Yut just as the first one started rising up, allowing it to, in a sense, sneak up on him. Due to the massive cloud of smoke that appeared, we weren't able to spot it quick enough to warn Yut.

With a roar of triumph, the brown ogre doubled down on the crush with its other hand, squeezing out an anguished cry of pain from the struggling Yut, who was visibly fighting with all the strength he could muster.

"Wauughh!"

"Another one?!"

"Two working in a pair! One of 'em was a decoy! Clever fiends!"

As I uncontrollably winced from Yut's screams, I couldn't help agreeing with Kraz's assessments. But we can compliment them later after they're dead and we've saved Yut!

Emilia shared my sentiments, rounding on Kraz with a desperate look.

"Boss, we gotta help him!"

"Thanks, Captain Obvious! But I don't think this decoy's going to let us pass all that easy!"

"I'd like to see them try!"

Red defiantly challenged, summoning her double saber and leaping towards the pair of ogres. True enough, the green one stepped up in front of the brown one which was holding Yut, blocking Red's attack by jumping in the way.

I summoned my rifle, and Emilia her rod, as Red maneuvered around the attack. Using the ogre's leg as leverage, Red kicked off and went straight for the other one.

But the ogre was faster than it looked, jumping back and blocking off Red once more. The brown one leapt back as well, putting some distance between itself and Red, forcing us to give chase.

"Nnghhh!"

"Yut! Get your hands off him! [Rafoie]!"

"Wait, you might hit Yut!"

"Gh! What can we do?!"

"Good question!"

Red continued to be fended off by the green ogre, despite my attempts to provide cover fire with my rifle. All the while, the sounds Yut was making started turning sickening.

Paraphrasing Emilia, what can we do? We couldn't just blast the ogres, lest they instantly decide to crush Yut to a pulp in retaliation. But we couldn't get close to the one holding him either, as the green one was proving to be a huge nuisance.

"Bah! Hey, kid! Don't go dying on me yet!"

Kraz shouted out in frustration as he summoned his twin guns, unloading a round of bullets at the green ogre. The bulletstorm managed to stagger it enough for Red to land some hits in, but it remained firm, avoiding getting hit in the eye as much as fiendishly possible. Even under heavy assault, it continued harassing us, preventing us from coming to Yut's aid.

And Emilia looked just about ready to cry, nothing in her arsenal allowing her to help. As previously said, Technics can just as easily injure Yut along with the ogres, and her Mirage Blast was definitely out of the question.

Think! Think! Think! We can't just allow Yut to die in front of our eyes!

"Don't you dare die, Yut!"

I shouted out in an amalgamation of desperation and frustration. Yut's been silent for a while now, that I almost began fearing for the worst.

Until suddenly...

Die...? I'm going to... die?

"What was- Yut?!"

Yut's voice sounded so clear, that I instinctively looked around. But he was still there in the grip of the brown ogre, which meant that this was the work of...

"I can hear Yut! It's Mika!"

Emilia said, confirming my guess as to how we were hearing Yut. And that was probably how he heard us as well. I'd imagine he can't hear anything through his ears under all that physical pressure.

That aside though, if Mika's giving us the chance to talk to Yut then we're gladly taking it!

"Hang in there, Yut! Keep fighting!"

"No more pudding if you give in!"

Kara...? Emilia? I...

"Yummy, right? This place serves the best pudding."

"All of these food... I've never eaten so much in my life!"

"Glad you like it! So eat up as much as you like! It's the least we can do for you."

"You mean it? Thanks, Emilia!"

Are these... Yut's memories?

I can't believe this. On the verge of death, and what hooks him back to the land of the living? Pudding. Incredible.

"Ow! What's the big idea?!"

"You can't go running off on your own like that! And definitely not taking on strong enemies without us! And if I tell you to listen, you listen! Got that?!"

This must be... back at the VR tests! I guess Emilia really took charge there, huh? Seems like out of all of us, Emilia was the one to make the biggest impact on Yut.

Well, if it'll let him live through this, then I'm all for it!

"What was that?! Mika...? No... I don't want to die! I'm not ready to die!"

With a renewed burst of strength, Yut fought back against the ogre's death grip. The ogre's single eye widened a bit in surprise, bewildered by Yut's sudden second wind.

Having heard Yut's declaration, Kraz grinned mightily.

"That's right! Anyone can say they're ready, or they don't care if they die! But those're just words, boyo! The strong ones are the ones that come back from the edge! The ones that don't let go!"

"What that means is, don't let go, Yut!"

Red finished for Kraz, calling Yut by name for what I was sure was the first time.

A man who is stronger for having touched death is the same as a man who didn't die. Someone who had something to live for. Seems like Yut was finally starting to get it.

"I... I won't die! I'm gonna live!"

Yut shouted out, and in the blink of an eye, he was covered by a blinding white aura. Photon energy coalesced around him, as if charging a Mirage Blast, and in a quick burst, the gathering energy flashed burningly bright, scathing the brown ogre's eye from sheer intensity. The green ogre managed to shield its eye, but it flinched and stumbled back a few paces.

The brown ogre fell down on its back with a booming thud, releasing Yut from its grip in the process. The spiraling white energy then transformed into a cascade of white glyphs, summoning a glowing winged creature that floated above the clearing with a powerful radiance.

As Yut landed on the ground looking absolutely fine despite previously being squeezed like a bug, the white being he summoned transformed into a bright sphere of energy, which then split into beams of light that, contrary to how normal Mirage Blasts behaved, flew directly into each of us.

And instantly, I felt a wave of rushing energy envelop my entire body, erasing all of my previous fatigue and making me feel light as a feather.

"Whoa! Is anyone else feeling this?! So much power... what did you do, Yut?!"

Instead of answering Emilia's amazed but confused question, Yut picked up his spear from where it fell and looked back at us, gesturing towards the temporarily incapacitated ogres.

"Guys! Now's our chance!"

ooo000ooo

V

ooo000ooo

Nobody needed to be told twice as soon as Yut called for our assistance. He's gonna get a hell of a talking to for that stunt he pulled but that can wait after we've dealt retribution on these crafty ogres.

The first one to jump into action was Kraz, who grinned while inspecting the faint white aura that enveloped him, obviously delighted about the energy boost.

"Well, well, well! I haven't felt this spry in years! Now lemme show you kids a thing or two!"

Kraz gathered photon energy around him and reared back, his body glowing bright blue and rapidly expanding. His face lengthened into a snout and his arms grew bladed appendages from the wrist. To complete the beastial look, Kraz also grew a tail and some spiky fur.

With a feral howl, Kraz's Nanoblast was complete, having transformed himself into a black fox-like form with crimson lines trailing his body. This was the advanced Nanoblast, Gavri Val, complete with an aura of black flames.

"[Night Embrace]!"

Not to be left out, Red activated her own power-up, becoming enveloped in a warm, purple flame.

"Wait, I thought you couldn't use it yet?"

"Whatever Sparkles over there did, it filled me up to the brim with energy, and then some. Alright, showtime!"

Sparkles? This girl never ceases to come up with such creative nicknames.

In a pair of blurs, the lupine Kraz and the fiery Red dashed towards the staggered green ogre, quickly overwhelming it with a flashy assault of blindingly fast attacks.

"We can't let them have all the fun! Let's go, Kara! [Razonde]!"

Emilia ran forward into range and blasted the ogre with several lightning bolts, further piling on the hapless monster.

I moved to join in, but I felt a tugging sensation in me, as if telling me to wait.

Kara.

"Mika? What is it?"

Yut's technique filled you with a substantial amount of energy, but without a Blast of your own to channel it to, I'm afraid it's currently going to waste.

"Ah, right. Well, it's not like I can do anything about that now so..."

Not quite. With your permission, I can channel that energy to trigger the enhanced state our link enabled you to temporarily use in the past.

"Enhanced state? You mean... the glowing eyes thing? That was you?"

Correct. I am sorry for not telling you sooner, but...

"Don't mind it, Mika. We can go over the details later. For now, I can really use that power-up!"

Mika didn't answer verbally after that. Instead, she harnessed the energy that swirled around me using our link as a medium, and with it came the feeling of amazing power welling up within me.

I've come to briefly experience this a few times before, but this was the first time that I was expecting it. And yet that didn't diminish one bit the almost unreal sensation of raw energy bursting out of my body.

"Leave some for me!"

I summoned my twin sabers, the weapon which I felt best suited the increased speed and power the 'transformation' gave me.

The green ogre leapt back to avoid Red's assault, which turned out to be a considerable distance due to its massive size. It once again jumped out of range of another attack, this time from Kraz.

It could not, however, jump a third time in quick succession, catching a fast cross slash from yours truly. I almost lost control from the sheer speed the power-up allowed me to achieve, but thankfully, momentum was on my side, the force of the attack causing the ogre to fall down roughly.

"Hey, red eyes! I thought you couldn't use that on purpose!"

"So did I! Like you said, Yut filled us up pretty good, so here we are!"

Red and I shared grins as Kraz didn't let up on the fallen ogre, piercing its eye with his blade-arms. The eye exploded in a gory shower of blood, the ogre pathetically squealing in agony before twitching violently and going limp.

I get that they had to die, but did Kraz had to be so brutal? I get the feeling that it wasn't just because of him Nanoblasting.

As for the other ogre, which was finally done nursing its burned-by-light eye, it stood up shakily, but all that welcomed it was the lifeless, eyeless body of its twin.

It stood there in shock before falling down on its knees, slamming its fist in despair on the thoroughly abused ground repeatedly.

Due to its size though, the shockwaves caused by the impacts forced us to keep our distance.

"Think we'll have to do something? It looks pretty defeated to me..."

Kraz roared in response to Emilia's question, clearly indicating that we should finish the job.

That proved to be a good idea a moment later, as the brown ogre stood up angrily, its eye burning red. It looked like it wanted revenge.

Well, so did we.

Kraz, Red, and I made a dash for the outraged ogre, confusing it with our speed. The other two were still faster than me, especially Red, but Mika's power allowed me to just about keep up.

Failing to choose which of us to attack, the ogre reared back, and to our surprise, spewed out a thick stream of flames at us.

"Whoa!"

Red cried out it in surprise as she dived out of the way of the massive fireball. I quite shared the same sentiments as I narrowly avoided the inferno.

Kraz, however, in a display of Nanoblast-enhanced flexibility, ducked under the fireball and continued his approach, making his way over to the ogre and slashing at its knees.

The ogre roared in pain as one of its legs spouted a fountain of blood, but before it could fall, Red was on it. It managed to cover its vulnerable eye with its arm but at the cost of rendering said limb virtually useless, cut and sheared into a bloody mess.

Despite all the punishment we dished out, it still held on, starting to push itself up from the ground again... but I don't think I can allow that. As I rolled out of the way of the fireball, I switched to my rifle as fast as I could and charged up a power shot.

The moment Red's assault opened up a straight unobstructed line to the ogre's eye, I let loose the charged shot, hitting it square in the eye and causing it to rear back in what I presume to be extreme pain.

Amazingly, despite basically being blinded, the ogre didn't appear to be giving in just yet, building up another orb of fire to launch at us.

"I don't think so! [Lightning Flash]!"

It didn't get to do so, however, as the avian spirit of lightning, Canna, directed numerous jagged bolts of electricity at the ogre, cancelling its fireball buildup and stunning it in place in a brilliant shower of dancing sparks.

With their Blasts being damaging techniques instead of temporary buffs, Emilia and Yut had to wait for an opportunity to strike, and they accomplished this in spectacular fashion.

Emilia's second stage Mirage Blast rendered the ogre immobile long enough for Yut to deliver the finishing blow, leaping at the ogre and piercing it in the centre of its chest. Unlike it's deceased twin, the ogre didn't thrash about, skipping straight to twitching and crashing down to the floor lifelessly.

Yut remained on the ogre's corpse as it crashed down, using his lodged spear as support to avoid being thrown off. Once the smoke cleared, he plucked his spear out of the ogre's chest and breathed out in relief.

"Hah... I did it!"

"You crazy kid!"

"K-Kara?!"

I was already on his case, much to the surprise of Emilia. The boost from Mika's power has already dissipated, but I could still move fast enough to speak my mind on Yut's reckless actions.

To his credit though, he didn't defend himself or anything similar, just bowing his head and graciously accepting my rightful irritation at him.

"I... I'm sorry... I was outta control, I know. I shouldn't have let my emotions run wild."

"Hmph. As long as you understand. You alright?"

"I've felt better... but I think I'll be okay!"

Yut slightly cheered up after I asked him how he was doing. I may have been royally pissed off, but like I said to Red earlier, the kid's grown on me. He'll get the scolding after I'm sure he's alright.

Dismissing his spear back into his palette, Yut jumped to get off the dead ogre, but once he landed beside me, he winced in pain.

"O-ouch... I've definitely felt better..."

"Here, let me take care of that! [Resta]!"

The soothing energy from Emilia's staff swirled around Yut's body, restoring some of his vitality and healing the little nicks and bruises on him.

Yut straightened back up with a rejuvenated face, Emilia's Resta having nursed him back to passable healthiness. He probably would need to get those bones and ribs of his looked at once we return to Clad 6, especially after getting squeezed like that for an extended period of time, but for now, he should be good to go as long as he's careful.

Finishing her treatment on Yut, Emilia wiped some sweat off her forehead as she unsummoned her rod and came closer to us. Red and Kraz followed behind her, with Kraz back to his normal form.

"Whew! I really thought you were going to bite it back there."

"You damn near scared us to death, that's for sure."

"You oughta shape up, Sparkles."

"S-sorry!"

Yut hastily bowed in apology to us. Looks like he really meant it this time. He apologized for going wild before, but I got the sense from those that he wasn't being fully sincere. This time however, the remorse was all over his face.

After the apology, Yut raised his head and looked at us with a smile, the earlier frustration and confusion gone without a trace.

"I... I finally figured it out. I understand what my brother was trying to tell me."

"Hn? And what's that?"

"Being close to death didn't make me strong. But when I thought I didn't want to die, that I wanted to live, I found my strength."

The will to live. That was what strength through 'touching death' meant. That was what Yut's brother wanted him to understand. Like Kraz said, anyone can say they're ready to die for the right cause, but they're just words.

When it really comes down to it, losing your life isn't the scariest part about dying. It's leaving all the people you care about behind. This is just my opinion on the matter, but I'm sure everyone would at least understand where I'm coming from.

"It's that wanting to live when death is so close. That's the strength my brother was talking about."

"Well, sounds like ya finally caught up with him, then."

"Yeah. Thanks, Kraz."

Yut nodded, his face adorned with the brightest of smiles. With the dilemma that's plagued him ever since his brother passed on those words to him now having been resolved, he looked liberated, like a great weight has been lifted off his chest.

This was now the first day of the rest of his life. His true starting line.

I didn't fight off the proud smile that crawled to my lips. Look at me, acting like a teacher despite not having taught him basically anything meaningful. Well, if I can't be a proud teacher, then I guess I can be a proud friend.

Hmmm... Friend. I wonder, when did I start considering him as a friend rather than a trainee and teammate? Well, that doesn't matter. He's still a tactless, troublesome, wild kid to me whatever happens.

"Something the matter, Kara?"

"Huh? Oh, not really, it's just... I guess you're stronger now, huh? Don't think this means we're done training."

"Of course not! I know I have a long way to go still! But I'll get there, just you wait and see!"

I guess he must've caught me smiling at him. Oops. Can't let that happen too much now. I successfully managed to steer his attention away but I can't bank on that working forever.

"Right! All done gabbin'? Good. Time for action. Let's move it!"

"Yessir!"

"Back to work!"

Kraz called out and lead the way forward, with Yut and Emilia giving their affirmatives and following behind. Despite the hiccup we experienced, the mission was still underway.

I turned to follow suit as well, but as soon as I took a step, Red spoke up.

"Don't think I didn't see that big brother moment you had there."

Big brother? That's something I wouldn't have expected to be called in relation to Yut.

I'd get mentor or role model or something, even though I definitely wasn't the best choice for those, but big brother? I doubt Yut would project his beloved late brother onto me, of all people.

I dismissed that notion with a wave of my hand, but in response, Red only raised an eyebrow while smirking.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Come on, they're leaving us behind."

"Whatever you say~."

Delusional.