What little time she had to explain the plan soon passed. Autum had described to the group that they would be splitting up at the station and who was in what group. She also advised Gotenoo that she would be sparring with Link later. Though normally, Autum would have picked Sakki, she didn't want Link to get too badly hurt. Seemed like in her gut she already knew who was going to win.
As for Eznik he scolded the two teens stressing how important it was that they put their differences aside. He informed them that everything was going to depend on teamwork which meant them being able to work together on the mission ahead. He emphasized that it was imperative. He didn't care if they fought after the mission once Brat and everyone else was safe, they could fight all they wanted.
They landed the large ship on a planet. They were going to trade it out for a smaller and faster one. It was getting closer and closer till time for them to put this suicide mission into action.
Link picked up Kei strapping it to his back. He glanced at his armor that still felt a bit weird wearing. He looked at Navi and smiled some. Part of him already knew the result of the fight ahead. He pushed it aside knowing that he was going to have to put his all in the match ahead. He prayed with his new abilities he hopefully will be able to hold his own.
"You two ready?" Autum queried as she stood at the bedroom door. She was dressed in her own set of armor. She had a black bag hoisted over her shoulder. She picked out what supplies she needed along with the device that Brat had made. She studied Link and chuckled some; by his face he didn't enjoy wearing the armor too much, though that armor would protect him more than he realized.
Link followed behind with Navi on his shoulder. He looked as Eznik jogged up to them. "I told the others to stay here and finish packing the supplies we will need." He notified Autum. His smile got bigger as he was so eager to meet her 'friend', though in the back of his mind he worried about what she said about him once being in the dimensional police.
Autum nodded, wondering a little about her brother's weird smile. She opened the exit. She walked out of the ship as a group of guards surrounded the exit.. Some were dressed in what looked liked dimensional police armor as others wore different types of armors. All with their guns pointed at her.
Link stepped out slowly and looked around at all of the guards. He gulped some hoping that Autum knew what she was doing. Eznik put his hand on Link's other shoulder as he stepped out. He was determined by the looks of the guards they were rebels against the government.
Eznik looked to the man who appeared to be in man had grey-brown hair that was unkempt and messy. He wore a set of goggles on his head. He walked out from the guards up to Autum. He didn't wear much armor, just some shoulder pads. He looked to be human. He studied her with his green eyes. He then sneered at her and punched her in the shoulder. As a response Autum punched him in the face and smirked. "Still punch like a girl, Girly Ja-rajal." a mocking nickname she liked to call her friend Jaraj.
Once her fist hit the man all the guards pointed their guns directly at Autum. Navi thought it looked as if Autum was she trying to get herself killed! What more was these guards all had guns. She knew how deadly they were and with that many pointing at her she doubted Autum could survive. She quivered as things were not looking good.
The man chuckled as he rubbed his face. "And you still punch like beast." He held up his hand as the guards lowered their weapons. "So… why are you here captain bitch?" He studied Autum and the group who was standing behind her. They didn't seem like the type of people that she would hang out with being an Elite.
Autum brushed back her bangs. "Don't call me captain... I haven't been your captain in years. As for why I'm here… well, I believe you owe me. So if we could talk more in private quarters. I'll explain what I want." she conveyed as she looked at him and then glanced at the guards around them.
"You all can go back to what you were doing!" Jaraj yelled out to the guards. They always have to be cautious of who came to the planet as they never know who was going to rat them out. "Come on.." he said as he glanced back at the others. "So you are going to introduce your friends to me?" he asked Autum as he led her through the small camp.
Autum smirked. "The annoying green haired one, that's my brother the 'famous' Doctor Eznik. She glanced back at her brother to see he had already wandered off chatting with some poor soul he found.
As for the other two, Link and Navi." She spoke as she walked under the tent with the man. She glanced back at Link who seemed to be looking at the ships and other species that seemed to be around, taking it all in. The two seemed to be trying to figure out their new environment.
Link noticed that a lot of the planet seemed to be dead. There was a small city nearby he could see from there that was broken down, by the looks of it by a war. There were some small to medium size trees trying to grow around the small camp like this area was once a forest but most of it was burnt and chopped down.
Jaraj looked at Link as he walked around the camp observing things. He glanced at the small faerie on his shoulder. A faerie was a rare sight this far out in these dimensions. Most stayed close to their own dimensions. Autum didn't have any rude remark to say about them, which Jaraj found a bit odd. Autum always had some nickname or rude way of introducing someone. "So why the unexpected visit, unless you come to finish what you didn't last time."
"Guess you don't watch the news.." Autum commented as she dropped the bag next to a chair by a small table and sat down. She directed her attention back to the man. "I'm wanted by the dimensional police.. also, by my other persona, Black Ash. But that's not what I'm here about.. I need help getting into a high secure space station. "
Jaraj sat down at a small table across from Autum. "Are you expecting me to give up some of my people to help you?" he asked as he looked at her. "A high secure spacestation? That is a suicide mission. I don't care how much of an immortal you think you are Autum or care about all the crazy shit you managed to get me and the other guys is a suicide mission. I'm not sacrificing my people for whatever you have planned. They haven't seen as much battle as us. They're in no way trained for such. You can kill me here and now if you want cause you can't have them. And that's final." He hit his fist on the table to finish making his point.
Autum smirked. "Ja-rajal.. You know me better than that.. You know I wouldn't send a group of people on a mission who wouldn't be able to handle themselves. Besides, I don't need people. I need equipment and I need your engineering and technical skills." She opened her bag and pulled out the device Brat had made. She set it onto the table and then tossed the blueprints with it. "If you make a virus for that thing you can reprogram it to shoot it out to their main systems. We can hit the government hard with it."
Jaraj picked up the blueprints looking through it. "Where the hell did you get this? I know you're not a tech person… well, unless you decided to read shit. I doubt that cause this requires an imagination." He looked at her, knowing that she couldn't have possibly made it. Autum explained "Brat Conway… I'm sure you've heard of her… I need help breaking her out." She decided it was better not to mention Celtic, because she'd rather not have to try and explain it. What more she was sure he would get a kick out of that, she rather not give him ammo for shenanigans.
Jaraj glanced at Autum and set the blueprints down. "You are nuts and always have been. Whoever the hell you got going with you they have to be as nuts as you or just plain stupid. You know, that station will be guarded with those Elites you worked with." he chuckled some as he got up and eyed Link who walked into the tent.
Link and Navi had been quietly listening to the two from outside. Link glanced away seeing Jaraj looking at him. They didn't mean to be eavesdropping on the two, but not knowing anyone they had come to the tent but didn't want to walk in on something they wished they hadn't.. so they listened first..
Jaraj walked over to file cabinet opening it. "I'll see what I can do for supplies. With money being a problem we can't give you too much. We have to be able to hold our own here. " He pulled out a file with their supply list.
Autum stood up. "I can pay for supplies and my brother will give any medical supplies he can to help pay for stuff." She looked at Juraj and then to Link. "Do you have a place to spar?" She glanced back at Jaraj. She needed to get what little time she had to train him.
Jarja looked at her, just got there and she was ready to spar. She probably had a lot on her mind; it was one of her ways for clearing her head, he thought. He felt a bit bad for the teen no doubt he'd been on the receiving end of her very educational spars. "Follow me.." He led the three out of the tent. He slowed down so he was next to Autum. "I know he's too young for your taste.. I was too young for your taste and I was a year younger than you… so what did he do to get on your good side, huh?"
Autum shook her head. "He's just an apprentice, nothing more." she answered in an annoyed tone. She didn't want to go into more detail than that. "Right." he chuckled. She looked around the small open field where the grass was dead, mostly dirt covered it from being used so much. It was surrounded by a small wooden fence, a bit old fashioned but didn't matter.
Autum climbed over the fence and waved for Link to follow. She knew they only had a short amount of time to do a couple of drills. Link looked at Navi. "You stay back, ok." Navi nodded and jumped off. She looked at Juraj who sat up on the fence to watch. She flew up next to him. "So what did the blonde do to win a part of her heart?" Juraj asked as he looked at Navi.
Navi sat down on one of the posts and looked at him. "He sacrificed something for her; I won't go into details…but it meant a lot to her. So how do you know Autum?" she asked, wanting to be in charge of the questions. She glanced over at Link and Autum who already began sparring.
Jaraj glanced at Navi. "We were in the same unit in the dimensional army. We both made it through the ranks I split off to engineering and she went to be a captain and so on." He kept it vague as he could as the small faerie seemed to do for him. Though he really wanted to know what the blonde did to earn Autum's respect. The whole sacrificing thing didn't seem to be enough, just not a good enough reason. They each had risked their lives for each other at one time or another in the army and nothing earned that woman's respect.
Eznik walked up behind the two. "Well, seems Autum already got back to training him." He leaned up against the fence as he glanced at Jaraj. "So why did you end up leaving the dimensional army?" he asked Jaraj, he was eavesdropping on Navi and him. It was something he was good at.
Jaraj watched Link and Autum's sword clash as he spoke. "Left because of what they did to this planet… my home world." He looked to Eznik. "It was said to be a Nehsal planet.. I didn't know what that meant till after they removed everyone. "
Navi looked at Jaraj. "What's a Nehsal Planet?" she asked him a bit curious on what that meant, though she was guessing something bad. Eznik looked at Navi as he explained "Means basically, a planet where the resources are worth more than the people on it, also a low tech planet that needs 'revision'. So they kill or remove everyone from there then rip the planet apart taking all its natural resources. "
Jaraj smirked some as he looked back at Autum and Link. It seemed Autum made friends with non-mergers, that made him want to know even more about these two and just how Autum ran into them. He didn't think she liked non-mergers. Naw, he knew she didn't.
Navi flinched as she heard the thud of Link hitting the ground. She looked at Link and jumped off the fence post and flew up to him. "Are you ok?!" She questioned him as he laid on his back. She glanced at Autum who was looking over at Jaraj.
Link nodded some to his small companion. His eyes trailed to Jaraj who now stood over him holding his hand out to the teen. As what Link could tell from Jaraj, he wasn't a jokester like the crew he had been hanging around. He grabbed the man's hand and was hoisted to his feet.
Jaraj looked at the teen. "There's food and water in that tent over there, you are welcome to any of it." He turned his attention on Autum. He walked up to her and shook his head. "So captain-bitchy-boobs, do I get to lecture you on your sparring for once?"
Autum looked at him. Oh, how she remembered that damned nickname that the squad came up for her. She glanced at Link who was walking off. It appeared he took the hint that Jaraj wanted to speak with her in private. Surprisingly, it seemed so did her brother along with Navi. She looked back at him. "Will this little lecture be anything useful? Or are you just wanting to waste my time? You never were one who knew much about fighting." She smirked at him.
"I might not know a lot. I might also suck at fighting…compared to you but I DO know you are going easy on that lad. Either that or your age has really caught up with you, which I doubt. There were moments when you were sparring with that boy and you hesitated. Times, you could have struck but you didn't. If it was back when you were captain you would have had him out cold on the ground or in a pile of pain. I think you have a soft spot for him. Don't understand such...can't hardly believe it myself for I didn't think you had any soft spots. I'm just saying you're not doing him any favors." Jaraj smirked at her. He winced as she hit him on the side of the head.
"I went easy on him, because he needs to be conscious when he spars later and not all beat up. He has to stand up to one of the others. If he can't, well then he isn't going." Autum explain to him, also trying to convince herself that she DIDN'T have a soft spot for the teen.
Jaraj rubbed his head where she had hit him. "I think you're not the bitch you used to be any more which makes you a crappy trainer. That or whatever he 'sacrificed' made you respect the teen a little too much. Cause you going easy on him isn't going to make him a better fighter. It's going to give him a false confidence that's going to get him bitch that you are is what we all respected for in your bitchy attitude you trained us to be our best, no excuses, no exceptions, no pandering... no soft spots."
"Jaraj, you're seeing something that's not there. It probably all seems so much easier now as you had already endured it all and remember those days as hell so it all just seems like posies to you now." "No, no. I see what I see.I think you don't even know that you have a soft spot for him. Cause I'm betting you didn't even know you had a soft spot in ya. I'm sure the person he has to fight is someone you picked and it's someone who you know won't fight too hard against him." He smirked at her as he finally had something over her.
Eznik walked into the tent with the two. It was empty for the most part except the cook. Eznik chuckled some. "I'm going to go check on the others. You two stay here and get something to eat. I'll be back with the others if they're done doing their chores. " Eznik patted Link on the back leaving the two alone.
Link's ears went low as he looked back at Eznik leaving the tent. He looked at the 'buffet' with the cook behind it cleaning some of the trays. He glanced at Navi who shrugged as she didn't have a clue as to what to do. Link walked up to the tables with the food and looked at the different choices, some of it didn't even look edible.
Navi jumped off of his shoulder and landed on the table sniffing some of it. She shook her head and held her nose. "Is this stuff even food?" she asked Link.
"Depends on what you call food." A man spoke behind Link. He turned to get a look at him. He had dark brown hair that was tied up into two hair ties both on the right side of his head. He had a couple long strands of hair hanging over his face with some beads in it. He had long elf-like ears a bit like Link's. "You must be the blonde that Miss Hitaru brought." He glanced at Link as he dropped his tray down next to Navi who yelped in the surprise of it.
"Hey! You could have hurt me!" Navi snapped at the man. She glared at him but he seemed to have his full attention on Link and didn't even notice her. She jumped up into the air and landed on Link's shoulder.
Link's blue eyes trailed to the man who was studying him. He had a mix of different types of armors on. Link backed up some as the man got right in his face still studying him. Link's ears went down as he wasn't too sure what the man was doing or just what he wanted.
The man looked at Link's blue eyes. He then turned his attention to the food. He snatched up a plate and scooped out some of the slush out of one of the pots onto it. "You know, someone's eyes can tell a lot about a person. Makes me wonder though why would she hang out with you and what more why is she training you. A young teen as yourself who eyes shows off your innocence yet shows how many battles you known as well. Doesn't seem like a person Miss Hitaru would be hanging with. What more the rumor already floating is that you and your faerie are non-mergers. She hated me very much for being a non-merger… she probably still hates me."
Link looked at the food. He glanced at the man, he was a non-merger? It seemed Autum changed a lot from when these people knew her or he really did earn her respect. He glanced at the man who took his tray and moved to the other side of Link. He grabbed a couple of what appeared to be fruits and set them on Link's tray.
"One of the natural foods that you don't have to learn to like like the rest of the food here." The man grabbed himself one. "I'm Soriqua-rehadua Hergagea-rehagua but you can just call me Sorha like everyone else does." He held out his hand to Link.
Link took his hand shaking it. "I'm Link and this is Navi." He nodded to Navi who still didn't like the man for almost hitting her with his tray."It's nice to meet both of you… though you're both a puzzle.. and I'm sure the others will bug you more about it." Sorha nodded and walked over to a table and sat down with the food he had.
Link looked at the fruits that he had set on his tray. He grabbed the tray as he sighed and walked over to Sorha. He sat down at the table with him. He glanced at the man "How do you know Autum?" Link asked as he wasn't sure how Autum knew these people. What more they all seemed to want to know why or at least wondered why Autum was acting so different to him.
Sorha glanced at him as he opened up the fruit and took a bite of its middle. "Miss Hitaru was in our squad when we all joined the Dimensional army. She eventually earned captain and all of us decided to stay a squad under her, though eventually she moved higher in the ranks than some of us. After that we never saw her anymore though she was a good captain to us and risked her life more than once for us. She had the nickname of Lady Bitch Luck. No matter what she ran into she ended up alive only the Solerious knows how she lived through it all."
Navi listened as she took a piece of the fruit from Link. "What's Solerious?" Navi tilted her head looking at him. There were so many terms she never heard of before even if she was from dimensions she doubted anyone could know everything.
"The Solerious are what my people believe are the watchers of our planet. They would be what people believe are gods or goddesses in other religions." Sorha articulated as he turned his attention to the tent as a new group of people ran in. Link looked at the familiar group, it was Brat's crew. Only two that weren't there were Atia and Gajra, which they seemed to be loners.
"Linky!" Deka yelled out as she walked up to the table. She sat down and looked at Sorha. "Well ello there handsome'' Deka grinned at the man. Her tail went to his back but he grabbed it. "You should learn some manners, Miss. Also you should look into cultures as well to see what would be accepted as a greeting." Sohra said in his husky voice as he looked at Deka, not too thrilled with her flirting. "Also I am married and have two children. So I would go find someone else to flirt with."
Deka shrugged some as she rubbed her tail once it was free. "Aren't yah a mood killa." She mocked as she looked to Link and Navi. "So how yah two holding up?" Link nodded some as he looked at the others who walked up taking their seats. His attention turned to Sohra who got up from the table. He tossed the rest of his food in the trash and left the tent. He only wanted to chat with the non-mergers.
"Jeesh what's his problem? You scare him off Deka?" Zigor jokingly asked as he sat on the table. His arm fixed up and the bruise around his eye was gone. Deka shook her head. "Nah, he had his eye on yah big time but was too nervous to ask yah out. So as you got close and yah know he left." She chuckled some. She ruffled Gotenoo's head who had grabbed a tray of food, despite that most of it didn't even look like food.
Eznik walked up to the group. "We are going to be staying here for a bit while we get supplies. If any of them need help loading or getting anything I expect all of you to help. They are helping us out and showing us hospitality so the least you can do is help if they need it."
The group nodded or gave their own little way of signaling ok. Eznik shook his head some as he sat down next to Link who was watching the others. "Are you up for the little sparring match?" he questioned the blonde.
Link nodded as he looked at Eznik. He didn't want to express his doubts to Eznik about how he didn't know if he could win or not. He looked at Gotenoo then to Sakki, could he really hold his own against them? Letting out a small sigh he was not too confident now about this whole spar thing.
"So are you going to tell me?" Jaraj questioned Autum as she finished up the supplies list of what she needed. She didn't look at him. "Does it really matter that much?" Autum questioned him as she leaned back looking at him as he was typing on a computer.
Jaraj smirked. "Course it does…. Someone to earn your respect and being a non-merger, that's a prize, me and the rest of the squad never seen. You know it was our goal when we were under you to try to earn some damn respect from you. It was a contest though nobody really won. Hell, only one ever scored, Miles. So yes, I want to know how the hell he managed to do it."
Autum smirked as she looked out of the tent. "How bout this.. if I make it out of that station alive, with the mission completed I'll tell you personally." she tendered. She figured this way she didn't have to explain that she had a husband, he would hopefully be wanting to know this over the other.
"Sounds fair.. if you back down.. well… you know what happens.." Jaraj chuckled at her as he typed up a few more things. He glanced at a woman who walked into the tent. She had blonde hair and blue skin. She had a set of horns on her head. She walked up and set a box on his desk. "Those are the parts you ask for Jaraj. You better have some good reason for those.. I had to disable one of the larger guns for these.."
Jaraj nodded as he took the box. "Thank you Beral. I promise these pieces will be used for something good." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and walked out. "I have one more question.." Jaraj spoke as he pulled the pieces out of the box. He glanced at Autum. "What's your reason for going on this mission? I can tell by how you're acting it isn't one of your suicide missions that you make trying to get yourself killed. You're frankly a selfish bitch so I doubt this is to get that little red head out of there. Now either you can tell me or I will ask your brother who seems to be a more social butterfly."
Autum sighed as she put her feet up on the desk. She knew that making up a lie wouldn't work too well especially when she came back with Celtic. "There's someone else on that station I'm hoping to get out of there." She looked at the ground knowing more questions were going to come because of how vague she was.
Jaraj raised an eyebrow, there was someone she was going for? Now that was something very interesting and they were being held in the same high security station as Brat? So that meant whoever the hell it was they did something to fuck the government badly. "Did you meet someone?" he asked her as he set the pieces down. If this was true well hell she had changed A LOT.
Autum sighed as she looked at him. "I guess you can say that… not really sure what to think of the bastard at this point. He sealed up my memories and is the only one who can unseal them all the way so I need that fucker, simple. So your whole idea of me dating someone is wrong.. he has something I need."
"Actually the dating phase is long over. She married him. It's her husband we're going after." Eznik offered as he walked into the tent with an innocent smile across his face. He knew that Autum wasn't going to be too happy, but she shouldn't be holding back. These people were helping them even if they owed her; it was generous of them and also dangerous for them.
Autum shot a death glare at her younger brother. She should have known that the bastard would have been nearby. She gritted her teeth. She so wanted to punch him out but she held herself back. She glanced at Jaraj who had a large grin across his face.
"You're married? By the fates you are a different woman… though he might just be a bastard like you.." Jaraj chuckled. "What type of person is he?" he questioned them, though the question was more directed to Autum's younger brother. He seemed to be the type to explain.
Eznik smiled as he walked up next to Autum. "When you meet him you will find out. Though I hate to ruin this little happy conversation we need to start getting everything into motion. The longer the government has him and Brat who knows what type of experiments they will be doing on the two. I rather not lose them to the bastards."
Jaraj nodded "I will have this finished in 20 minutes or so." he spoke up as he looked to Autum. "You can check in with Miles about your supplies and see when that will be ready. Miles should be around the blue tent." Grabbing the pieces as he started to figure out what he wanted to do first with this contraption she had given him to fix.
Autum grabbed her brother by the collar and dragged him out of the tent. "What? You want to spill my life to him?" she snapped at Eznik. Jaraj could easily hear through the tent despite him being a human.
Eznik took her hand off of his collar. "No point of holding back. They are helping us… you should think more of this as favor rather than he owes you. Plus, Aren't these people the allies you spoke of for the kids? They are rebels against the government and that will be the only groups of people who will accept us all after this little mission." He smiled as he started to walk to the tent where he left the others. He abruptly stopped and turned as he suggested "Also, I think it's time to see if Link is going to be able to hold his own or not. This way we can talk to your friend to see if he can stay here… if the worse happens." He glanced back at Autum as he then walked on..
Autum looked at Eznik. She didn't even think about the worst scenario. What if none of them come back and Link was stuck here alone. She looked back at Jaraj's tent. She was sure he heard it all. She sighed and followed after her brother.
The group laughed as Deka was trying not to barf up the food she just ate. "Winner!" Zigor declared as he held up his hands. They decided who could eat this 'food' the fastest would win. Though Gotenoo couldn't be part of it because of the fact she liked the stuff.
Deka started coughing as she got up. She grabbed a water bottle off the table, chugging it. "Yah know that's some butt nasty shit." she spat as she finally felt like she wasn't going to barf. She shook her head, when she was younger this stuff wouldn't have bothered her at all as it was probably better than the butt nasty stuff she had to eat back then but after eating normal food for so long stuff like this was now nasty and uneditable.
Link shook his head fearing he wasn't going to ever understand this group. He looked at Eznik and Autum as they walked up to the group. He glanced at Gotenoo who had got up and hugged her father. His guess it was time for him to spar. His heart started to race, was he really ready for this? Who knows what this girl could really do. All he knew she seemed to have incredible speed.
Navi looked up at Link and could tell he was nervous about this whole thing. "You just do your best, ok Link." She smiled at him as she hovered in front of him. She glanced at Autum who walked up behind Link.
Autum nodded to Link. "Come on, Link.. Gotenoo, let's get this over with." She smiled some at the teen as he got up. She headed outside and winced at Jaraj and a couple of her old squad members were waiting around the training area. "I thought you said 20 minutes or so to finish.." She quizzed as she walked up to the group.
Jaraj shrugged. "Hey I wanted to see your friend fight. Plus, if he might have to stay here I need to know what he can do. It's going to take 30 minutes to prep the ship and I doubt this fight will last 10 so I should have plenty of time."
Autum sighed as she looked to the others. She wondered if Jaraj had told them or not. She grunted as one of the men hit her in the shoulder. She looked at the man smirking at him.
"Nice Armor, I wish we had something that nice when we were in the ranks." A tall man spoke. He had red skin and blonde hair that was spiked up. He chuckled as he glanced back at the blonde who walked up next to Autum. "So that's your cupcake..uh, I mean 'apprentice?" he asked as he grinned at Link.
"Ferira don't.. leave the boy alone. Got it..Unless you want your arm broke." she snapped at him. "Come on Link.. I'll..I'll introduce you later…" Autum shoved Ferira out of the way. Autum jumped over the small wooden fence.
Autum looked at Link who followed. He was looking back at the squad. He could hear his name being tossed about, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what they were saying about him or not. He looked at Autum who was talking with Gotenoo.
Gotenoo nodded as she looked at Link. "Ok!" She agreed as she walked over and got into a fighter's stance. She grinned as she was allowed to fight how she wanted to. She waved to her father and giggled knowing that everyone was going to be watching. Her being just a child loved the attention.
Link looked around as more people started to gather around. His ears were low, it seemed word spreads fast around his attention to Autum as she walked up to him, he was getting a bit nervous about all of this. He wasn't used to a crowd and he had so much at stake he felt he didn't need the added distraction.
Autum put her hands on his shoulders. "Link, don't hold back against her. She may look like a little girl but she is a skilled fighter, she hits hard, but is slow to block. Don't worry about hurting her, got it. She knows the stakes, this is nothing new to her. And we have one of the best doctors on the sidelines and he won't let either of you die. The fight ends if one of you gives up or if one or the other is knocked out cold." Autum moved her hands off of him. She let out a small sigh.
"Don't worry about the crowd either, they matter not. All that matters now is this fight. So get your mind set on the fight and pretend they aren't there. Just do your best got it, Link. I believe in you." She shook her head and walked over to the fence near her old squad. She sat up on the fence. "Fighter stances!" Autum yelled out.
Link pulled out his sword and shield as he got into a stance. Looking at Gotenoo who got into a stance with no weapon, he gritted his teeth. She was unarmed! How could he fight her? Though he had to. He remembered what Autum said don't hold back. She must be something else he figured that she was picked for the fight that decided his fate. He let out a small sigh trying to calm his mind. His ears perked up as he heard Autum yell out fight.
Gotenoo grinned as she darted him. Autum told her not to go at full speed till he was warmed up, so he would have a chance. Gotenoo swung a punch at Link who blocked it with his shield; her fist dented the shield.
Link stared at her by the goddess it was clear this girl was A LOT stronger than she ever let on. He swung his blade at her. He watched her jump over him and he swung his shield at her as she landed, hitting her. She stumbled back as he swung his blade at her; part of him hoping he missed because he didn't want to see her get hurt.
Gotenoo looked at the blade and she jumped up high to avoid his attack. Smirking, as she landed a bit of a distance from him. "You missed me!" she laughed as she rubbed her shoulder where he had hit her with his shield.
Deka chuckled as she watched the two. "So yah think honey stands a chance?" She glanced at Zigor who shook his head. "Doubt it, she's just playing with him. If he fought Sakki well…" he glanced at the redhead who was on the other side of Deka. "I'm sure the fight would have already been over."
Navi looked at the two talking and looked at Eznik. "I-is that true? She's just playing?" she asked Eznik, for if it was true then Link really didn't stand a chance. This girl already dented in his shield and more than proved she could dodge his attacks and to find she's just playing? She was beside herself. Eznik didn't answer her question as his attention was on the fight taking place. She took his non-answer as the answer. She whimpered as her heart let out a small cry. She looked over at Link. All his hard work for nothing.
Gotenoo kicked him in the back. Gotenoo winced as Link spun, swinging his sword around in a 360. Gotenoo let out a cry as she was holding her arm backing up. She looked at her arm that was cut rather deep. She was a bit shocked by it for she wasn't expecting him to really be able to get a true hit in.
Link looked at her as he bit his lip. He had cut her, his ears drooped. He tightened up as she darted at him again. He wasn't expecting her to go back to fighting so quickly. He held up his shield blocking her kick. He held his ground against the kick even though it hurt a bit blocking it. He could pick apart what she could do, he could find a weakness, but his blade would hurt her or worse. Link glowered as she grabbed his shield.
Gotenoo was trying to pull his shield from him. She let go as he swung his sword at her. She smirked as she seemed to appear behind him. Her guess he was warmed up now as was she. She held her hands together and swung hard into his back.
Link's eyes widened from the hit and he stumbled forward as he let out a small yelp. He looked back at her. She was holding back against him. He looked at her as she held her injured arm. He had to take this opening; he had to take the risk and listen to Autum. He darted at her. He bashed her with his shield while swinging his sword as a follow up.
Gotenoo jumped back flipping as she landed on her feet. She had a cut on her face. She darted at him and seemed to vanish as she appeared to his left and kicked at his hand with his sword. She needed to remove his weapons; either that or go to another strategy.
Following her movements, his eyes kept up. It seemed his previous lives were experienced with this 'speed'. He moved up his forearm to block the kick to make sure she didn't disarm him.
Eznik looked at Navi as she watched the fight. "Yeah she has been.." he spoke quietly, finally answering her question knowing that Link was holding back just as much as she was. Gotenoo was doing it in fun where the teen was doing it over fear of hurting Gotenoo. He looked over at Atia and Gajra who were off by themselves watching. He wondered what they were thinking.
"Your little blonde isn't holding up too well Hitaru." A man with green hair spoke as he leaned on the fence next to Autum. He had two horns on top of his head that curled back. He had green markings on his skin and he was wearing sunglasses.
"Ryuk, didn't I tell you and Sohra not to call me by my last name?" Autum glanced at him avoiding his little statement about Link.
Ryuk chuckled. "You told Sohra more because he called you Juhrags-Hitaru which meant leader without husband also meant leader with breasts. Then later he finally started to call you Miss Hitaru after you yelled at him about that being if I remember right, you said it was really fucking rude and he is disgrace to his own kind." He glanced at Jaraj who squeezed in between the two, interrupting their conversation.
"Is that the group that you're taking?" Jaraj nodded over to the group that Eznik was with. He seemed a bit concerned about her choice.
Autum nodded and pointed at Atia and Gajra. "They are part of the group as well." She looked back to the fight, her hearts racing praying that the teen could win or at least keep fighting to prove he could stand up to Gotenoo once she started to throughout her attacks faster. She watched the teen wondering why wasn't he fighting with his whole heart in this fight? It was clear to everyone that he was hesitating, giving the girl the upper hand.
"Most of them are kids, Autum.. I thought you said you were bringing skilled fighters. Children aren't skilled fighters. Even if that girl out there fighting is doing ok, how is she going to stand up against the Elites?" he snapped at her."This is just another suicide mission for you, isn't it? Testing your bounds. Shame on you for bringing children into your nasty game."
Autum looked at him seeing how upset he was "Two of those 'kids' are A LOT older than you think. One of them is an astral being so only the fates know how old she even is and the pink haired one is a demon. You know how powerful they are child or not. The purple haired one is the only one I would be worried about as well as my brother. As for the rat she won the death dealer games before, so she is a skilled fighter. That red hair boy is a Raktvira and you know how they get when it comes to fighting even at his age. So I DID pick a group of fighters. Some of the strongest and most enduring."
Jaraj shook his head. "They're Brat's crew, aren't they? That's the only reason they'd be stupid enough to even try this. They might have once been bounty hunters but this is different. The government knows they're coming. Do they even know the odds of her getting out of there?"
Autum sighed as she looked at him. "I don't need this lecture. I had it with the astral being, though her argument seemed to have more backbone to it. So shut it. They all know what will probably happen yet they are going anyway. They might be stupid but at least they know what they stand for unlike the rest of us where it took us years of ruining people's lives before we figured it out." she snapped at him. She wasn't too thrilled with him lecturing her.
Autum frowned as she heard a small explosion. She looked back at Link as he ran from Gotenoo's attack. She was shooting energy out of her hands at him. She darted after him trying to wear him down by making him run. She smirked as she appeared in front of him and shot an energy ball in his face.
Link held up his shield gritting his teeth, he could feel his shield heat up from the blast. He had to go for it. He dropped his shield and punched at her face with his right arm. He flinched as it connected, but in return he was hit hard in the gut. Stumbling back he had to go more offensive with this, but his blade, he didn't want to hurt her. He stepped forward swinging his blade upwards in retaliation.
Gotenoo let out a cry as the blade hit her. Gotenoo stepped back, her hand shaking from the pain. She looked at her arm that was cut up from the blade. Looking back to Link who was staring at her. It was clear he dropped his guard from the wound that he just gave her. He looked a bit horrified from what he had just done to her.
Gotenoo gritted her teeth, she had to take this moment. She ran at him and swung her fist at him. She was hoping that his guard was down enough that she could seize the moment and end this fight. Letting out a small whine as she watched him side step her attack.
Link turned and kicked the back of her leg watching her hit the ground. Turning quickly, he pointed his blade at her face as she laid on the ground. He won. He did it, right? he wondered. He looked to the girl covered in cuts, from his blade. Somehow it didn't feel like a win. He tried to run it through his mind, she was ok but part of him hated it all.
Looking at the blade that was pointed at her, she was pissed. She couldn't lose, no, she still had something left., She grabbed a handful of the dry dirt she was laying in. She threw it at him. It might be cheapshot but this was a fight and all things go. He stepped back as he tried to wipe the dirt from his eyes as he did she closed her hand shooting a blast of energy at his face.
Link was rubbing his eyes as he tried to look at her to see where she was but all he saw was a bright light. He couldn't move out of the way in time. He knew what it did to his shield… but now he was going to take it head on.
Link hit the ground out cold. His face burnt, but he lasted a lot longer than what some of the crew thought he would. It seemed what Atia gave him, did aid him in his skills. He could have possibly held his own, but he did fear hurting Gotenoo. He could read her moves almost like a book, but he was hesitating with every swing. Even with what Autum had told him, to him she still was a young girl. Every time he wanted to take a swing his heart wouldn't let him, he feared for the girl, besides she was also a friend.
Autum ran up to the teen and bent down checking his pulse. She sighed as she looked at Gotenoo who was covered in cuts and some bruises. Autum smiled at her as she picked up the blonde. "Good job." Autum praised Gotenoo. Her attention went to Eznik who walked up to them.
"Let me get him to the medical wing, if I may." Eznik nodded to Link in her arms. Autum sighed as Eznik took the teen from her. "Miss Navi if you would." The three of them vanished in front of Gotenoo and Autum eyes.
The crowd had gave a small applaud for the fight though most of them had left as soon as it was over. Autum glanced at the crew who had made their way up to Autum. "He's not going. Go help Gotenoo clean up her wounds." Autum spoke as she headed over to Jaraj.
Deka looked at Autum. She was going to say the teen had done a damn good job against Gotenoo and that it was evident he was holding back. He about won the fight too! Deka ran after Autum and grabbed her arm and swung her around to face her as she spoke. "What? Yah know I think something's up, he held his own rather damn well and yah know it. Yah know as well as I, that he held back against her because she was yah know unarmed and just a child in his eyes. I believe he has yah know a honor code. Though that isn't why yah said he isn't coming, yah don't want to see him get hurt do you?" Deka questioned Autum motive.
Autum looked at Deka. "No, he won't stand a chance if he had to face Yoko or any of the others of the Elites. At least Zigor can get himself out of there while Link will be a hindrance to us, so he will stay here. I'm in charge of this whole little rescue mission so what I say goes." She snapped back, though the truth was she was protecting her own emotions. Seeing the teen hurt affected her more than she wanted it to. She didn't even trust Eznik watching over Link, she had become more of a mother watching over her child than she knew.
Jaraj watched Autum walk off towards the blue tent. He could tell something was bugging her. Though Miles was the only person who Autum would possibly say something to in the squad so it was better off not to follow.
"Is he ok?" Navi questions Eznik as she landed next to Link. She looked at his charred face and cringed some. She looked at Eznik who walked up to the bed.
"He will be fine Navi." Eznik smiled at her as he opened a small bottle and rubbed it on the burnt skin on his face and neck. "He..uhm..he.." Eznik looked at the small faerie. "He held back against Gotenoo and still he held his own, but I don't think he's going to be coming." He spoke his mind to the faerie but he could tell by the look Autum gave him he wasn't coming. She was more concerned about this teen than she ever would admit. She wouldn't risk him under her own brother's watch.
Navi shook her head. "W-what? But you all agreed if he could hold his own he could go! I mean we need all the fighters to help! He about won the fight!" she argued with Eznik. This wasn't fair how they can go back on their word like this!
Eznik hooked up a vial to a medical gun shooting it into Link's side. "It's because of Autum. If he goes she won't fight like she needs to. As selfish as that seems, well at least, she's put the safety of everyone else in line. She'd rather not risk messing up and getting her group killed. Leaving one fighter behind to keep the rest safe.. well.. that is a sacrifice that I believe we should take." Eznik contended as he looked at Navi, he didn't want to leave the teen behind but he'd rather not have any of the crew get hurt because his sister is too worried about Link.
Navi bit her lip as she listened to his argument, still it wasn't fair to Link. He worked so hard. She let out a sigh. She knew when Link woke up he would be ready to go. He probably knows that he held his own and as well held back. She wasn't sure how this was going to work out though Eznik would probably explain it to him.
"I'm going to let him sleep. He'll wake up after we're gone. This way we don't rile up Autum with him arguing with her. I know this isn't fair to him, Navi. We can't argue fairness when this is something about a mission where the goal is just to survive." Eznik spoke as he walked over to the counter setting down the empty vial. He pocketed his medical gun, he wasn't thrilled with what he was doing to Link since he had helped out so much, but he couldn't risk the safety of any of the crew.
Navi stared at Eznik; he was just going to leave him and not tell him anything? Isn't that rude? That was just so wrong, she thought. She looked at Link. "Shouldn't you wake him up and tell him!?" Navi spoke up as she appeared in Eznik's face. "I mean he deserves to know why he doesn't get to go! He deserves to know that he's being left behind. Shouldn't he be allowed to at least tell everyone goodbye or wish them luck or something of the sort? I know I want to say things to him." she yelled and cried at the same time, tears were rolling down her face..
Eznik sighed. "I'll tell Jaraj to explain everything to Link when he wakes up. Just.. we should let him rest for now. I hate doing this as much as you Navi, but time is not on our side and we can't hold back everything to make this alright. You can write him a note and leave it with Jaraj." He suggested as he headed over to the light switch. He switched it off. "Come on Navi we need to get going" he spoke quietly.