Greetings once more people! It seems like the start has been taken fairly well, meaning that we're ready to go full force! Work has had me pretty worried this week, so sorry if it doesn't seem like this is the best quality you can get, but there's the introduction of the second main blade at the end of this chapter! Shall we find out who it is? Anyway, let's go!
Super hero time!
Lilith: So you transform with the power of games? that sounds so fun, I wanna give it a try!
Ex-aid: I think it would be better for you to focus on trying to get as much assistance as you can for helping Nia first!
Lilith: The final battle with an evil last boss that holds all of your power... Ex-aid, it looks like you're reaching your true ending!
Ex-aid: Finally, we can clear this demented game with no continues!
L + E-a: Don't forget me! Game start!
"Oh man, this stuff's really delicious!"
"Yum-yummy! So super very tasty!"
"Simply exquisite! I haven't eaten this well in well over one hundred and twenty years!"
It was that last statement that stopped Lilith from adding her own thoughts in, the grey haired girl delicately placing down her utensil as she turned to Gramps. How the other guys could eat with their bare hands, she had no idea; it was either finger food or your followed the rules of social etiquette thank you very much! A thief had to hold whatever standards she could after all.
"Wait, did you say one hundred and twenty years? Something as small as you could really be that old?" Lilith questioned, Gramps giving a small huff as he finished chewing upon the morsel he hand in his hands.
"I'll have you know that I simply look very good for my age!" the draconic creature exclaimed in a joking tone before a cough had him settled down into his usual tone. "But to be honest, it's the only thing that could've happened after my regeneration. To heal myself required a large amount of energy and it can't be produced from nowhere. Using the excess matter left behind in the transition to a younger form, I could take the energy and make sure I was without a single scratch!"
"You know Gramps, it's a lot stranger hearing you be so wise when you look so small." Rex commented with a chuckle. "It's like a baby trying to sound like an adult!"
"Um, Tora was wondering, Pyra is fire using Blade, yes?" the nopon interrupted, Pyra's nod prompting further questioning. "When Rex-Rex burst that water pipe, Pyra still able to use fire!"
"Yeah, when I saw the fire wall go down, even Brigid had her powers dampened. I thought you were just going to run, but then you did that super team up move." Lilith added in, the scene replaying within her mind multiple times. They had been in perfect unison, the power of drivers and Blades working in perfect sync. It was exactly what she though a driver and Blade should have!
"I was led to believe that I would have to intervene, but you and Pyra seemed to have it down. I'm pretty good with the power of darkness, but you had it down!" Kasandra praised, only the slight sound of rattling being heard before the slight weakness in the table decided to throw the still rather full plate onto her Driver, a sharp squeal coming from Lilith as the black haired Blade was quick to dote over her. "Ah, Lilith!"
"Um… well… my power doesn't exactly come from fire." Pyra awkwardly explained through the praise, Tora leaning forward onto the table, though just a little bit cautious after the break on the other side.
"But if Pyra's power not come from fire, then why power look like flames?" he enquired, Pyra squirming under the expectant gaze. While Lilith and Kasandra were just a little bit occupied, Rex and Gramps had turned to the thought to be fire based blade and she was certainly not happy with the attention.
"Th-that might be a little complicated to explain…"
"Well go on then! Tora like complicated things a lot!"
"Ah, I… I, um… it…"
A sharp slap to the back of his head nearly had Tora slamming face first into his on meal, the Nopon turning to where Lilith folded her arms with a warning glint to her eyes.
"You can't be mean like that! Pyra doesn't look comfortable with this at all – don't push things too far." The girl warned, a depressed sound escaping Tora as he tidied himself up a bit. A quick glance had her return Pyra's relieved smile, dusting off the few small remains upon her clothes before seating herself down once more.
"I'm sorry I can't explain it really right now. I'll make sure to tell you about it soon enough, just not now." Pyra mumbled as her fork moved about the plate, Rex looking to his partner with more than just a little concern before his fist impacted the table.
"Don't worry about it, what we need to focus on now is making a plan in order to rescue Nia and Dromarch." The blue suited salvager announced, Kasandra finishing her final touches on a somewhat precarious repair to the table.
"Well, it makes sense that we should first ask around the town in order to find out what information we can." The black haired Blade explained, her head tilting in thought. "Well, maybe it will be a bit more difficult considering we're now wanted criminals, but I'm sure we can figure out something!"
"Um, I'm fairly certain I can do something about that." Lilith said with a held up hand, Rex stifling his laughter at the sight before a pointed glare had him sober up in seconds. "After all, my skills as a thief are next to no one! I could sneak about and get the information we need without even a single sighting of me."
"I suppose that is a better idea than all of us going out at once. Pyra and Kasandra do have rather distinct appearances." Gramps added, both Blades nodding. It was kind of hard to be discrete when you literally had glowing lines across your body. "But, would it truly be sufficient enough? Knowing what I do about Torigoth, there will likely be an increased patrol around the spots they usually miss. Sneaking about would be a lot harder if you don't hide in plain sight."
A raucous laughter escaping Lilith was her answer, even her own Blade looking at her strangely as she tried to keep herself under control.
"Sure, I wanted to be an Ardainian soldier, but not one stationed in Torigoth. Usually, they seem to just put the lower idiots here; they can't patrol to save their lives!" there was a strangely sadistic tone to the way Lilith exclaimed that line, a small shiver running down even Pyra's back at the creepier chuckle that passed the small grey haired girl's lips. "You could put someone like me in front of them and they still wouldn't be able to apprehend me. Trust me when I say, this will be a breeze."
"The girl they say is from Torna? Of course I heard about that! Some Ardainian dude was saying how they were going to 'execute the prisoner' within the next few days! Those Torna guys are pretty bad, right?" Lope recalled, Lilith nodding along. It had been rather easy to find her first target, for even the increased patrols after their escape resulted in no real change to the dispersion structure. Maybe Gramps was just being a little too cautious. The Gormotti boy had been casually staring out into the cloud sea, meaning he was ripe for 'casual conversation'. "I've heard they killed a whole bunch of drivers in order to take their core crystals. It's pretty amazing if the empire managed to capture one of them, right? The empire is so cool!"
'I would feel the same way, if they hadn't ended up taking someone who apparently doesn't deserve to be taken…' Lilith mentally mused as she made her usual idle small talk. Not that she didn't enjoy talking to people, quite the opposite in fact. She was just used to talking very little on her gathering trips and those she did end up talking to certainly had much more life experience than a kid who didn't even know what an execution was. 'So Nia's getting executed… but I need more than just that, I need to actually know where!'
Her next attempt proved to be rather useless in comparison to the first, Elis sharing little information save for the stuff everyone knew about, or at least the majority of what people could know. Uraya and Mor Ardain had been in an unsteady ceasefire for about a decade at this point, but that hadn't stopped the majority of the citizens on both sides from remaining cautious of one another. The fact that Torigoth had been successfully taken as a Mor Ardain territory didn't exactly help things either.
"Alright, so we've got good information and bad information, good being about the fate of Nia and the bad being just general useless background information… so where could I go next?" Lilith whispered to herself as she found the odd brick sticking out of the wall, pulling it at and watching as the others fell away in a disjointed mess. It was definitely one of her most secure passageways, but it was a killer when it came to patching the doorway back up. Luckily, many were coming to see it as a wall that was sometimes being repaired, only to end up being a pile of bricks days later. Fortunately, it was but a breeze to slip past the busy workers of the Saets lumber company, a quick trip to the Llysiau Greens grocery store giving her just the opportunity to slip through the gap between buildings to speak with a lovely little thing.
"Turuni know of recent arrest of course, but information usually come at high price." The brown Nopon explained as he bounced in place, Lilith taking a seat next to the informant upon the grass. "If not for good friendship, you would pay big coin!"
"But the fact that we are friends means you're willing to go down on it, right?" the girl prompted, leaning forward with as much of a menacing smile as she thought she could muster. Perhaps in her eyes it was relatively weak but to the Nopon on the receiving end of the glare, it was as if a goddess of darkness had descended upon him, Turuni near ruining his clothes as he rushed to make an answer.
"Of course! Information Lilith's for only five hundred G, is very good offer!" the informant declared, only letting loose the sigh of relief when the aura faded ad the money was within his hands. Sometimes, the brown Nopon wasn't exactly sure who was meant to be the one trading in a dangerous market. "Inside titan battleship, Gormotti girl being held prisoner. Turuni not yet receive intelligence specifying prisoner's name unfortunately, but rumour say big ship arrive only for sole purpose of holding one measly girl. People of Gormott getting along quite well with Empire nowadays, so trouble like this not welcome. That extent of Turuni's knowledge. Enough to satisfy Lilith?"
"I mean, it was only information that's either opinion or stuff that could be easily figured out, but I guess I can be happy with it." Lilith admitted as she dusted herself off as she stood, a quick movement having the beret corrected upon her head. "Thanks for the help Turuni. You did all you could."
"Turuni also know friend Lilith become driver now, yes?" a small sigh escaped the grey haired girl when she heard the statement come just a little too loud from the Nopon, several different ways flashing through her mind on how to dispose of him before they all melted away. She never had the heart to do something like that. "But only have single Blade. Awakening more Blades mean Lilith have more power! Power very important when being driver."
"I'll keep it in mind, but next time, don't yell it quitter so loudly, okay?" he final threat was done in such a chilling voice, Turuni was left covering his eyes with his wing as the somehow incredibly innocent yet demonic thief took her leave, melting back into the crowd as if she had never been separate. While on the surface, the job Turuni did was a perfectly legal and clear one, being an informant for people who just want to know random stuff, it was really the fun little snippets – soldier patrols, what treasures were being hauled where and the like – that really got his blood racing. It was what had introduced him to Lilith, but he could never have recognised the strange demeanour the girl had. It almost made the Nopon want to stop. Almost.
A small trek had her talking to Moui and boy did the Gormotti a have a strange statement for her. Just from the looks, there was no chance that the beret topped girl would ever have expected Nia to be in anyway related to nobility, yet here the man was backtracking from when he let the information slip.
"The Lord of Echell… I don't recognise the name and the man mentioned a decade ago. I wonder how much of a big deal he was." Lilith mused as she snuck her way back to Tora's house. It would have to be something she looked into later, but the way that the man handled the idea definitely meant it wasn't just something to be taken lightly. That meant up and asking Nia was out of the question.
"Nia and Dromarch… executed? It doesn't even bear thinking about." Pyra muttered as her eyes turned downward. Blades were existences born for the purpose of protecting people; when you add in that innate concept with her emotions, it was bound to make her far more depressed than usual.
"But getting on board that warship will be no mean feat." Gramps added, sitting primly upon the table top. "We're going to need an ironclad plan if we don't want to end up being executed as well."
"Hey, isn't that one of the Grandarbor's roots down there?" Kasandra realised, the Blade pointing to the rather rough map they had managed to acquire from the depths of Tora's home. The Titan that Torigoth was upon just so happened to have some rather aged roots coming off of it, meaning they were particularly large and highly unlikely to be moved anytime soon. "It seems to from the quay to the hull of the ship. Can we use this weird entrance thing to get on there?"
"If we're going to sneak on from below, then I doubt anyone would be able to spot us." Rex agreed, the different dots finally connecting in his head as Lilith gave a giggle. You could almost read each and every thought that passed through Rex's mind purely from the way that he held himself, it was great. "I can't see anyone other than maybe workers looking at the place."
"Security extremely light around that area. At night, not even workers stay here." Tora pitched in, the mechanic dressed Nopon clearly engrossed in the plan. Mehehe, is only option, but good option!"
"Um… why do you look so happy?" even though the Nopon tried to hide it, it was definitely not the plans that had him so intrigued, otherwise there wouldn't have been the brightest of grins on his face; it was a surprise just why it took Pyra so long to finally break.
"Actually, Tora have something to show you… just one tiny question. Lilith, can Tora have your hat?" it was barely a second before the hat was safely encased in the girl's arms, an almost hurt look appearing upon her visage as Tora wilted in his chair. "Okay, just come over here."
Turns out the big surprise was a strange automaton, great legs of steel connecting to a metal chest aglow with orange highlights. The arms too looked like nothing any of them had seen before, ball joints connecting to near tubes before hands came out on the other side, but it was the face… above the tattered cloak of red and the metallic lily placed upon her lapel and framed by a twin tailed head of lilac, there was a near perfectly human face looking as if it was locked deep in slumber. Sure, there was a bolt right in the centre of her front bang and what appeared to be metal spikes jutted out where her ears should've been, but it was a miracle of technology that had all present in awe.
"Nobody ever see this before. Is great secret of Tora!" Tora boasted with pride tinging his voice. "An artificial Blade! Tora have always wanted to be driver of Blade, but Tora… Tora have no potential to awaken core crystal. One year ago, Tora applied to driver recruitment man..."
A cringe escaped Kasandra and Lilith alike at the beginning. After all, the grey haired girl had been made familiar with the scene of a failed resonance during the multiple times where she stopped during one of the driver recruitments and for a second, Kasandra had been led to believe that her driver was going to die mere seconds after being called upon. From the look of things, Rex and Pyra were in a similar mind-set as Tora's head lowered.
"It was real bad… Tora have nosebleed for three days!"
"Three days? A nosebleed, is that it?" Rex asked incredulously before the flying furball of fury that was an angered Tora was suddenly in his face, the salvager doing all he could to stop himself from falling over.
"What you mean 'is that it!?' People die from loss of blood you know!"
"I mean, yeah, but a nosebleed?"
"Anyway, moving on…"
"You're awfully casual about this near death experience you know."
"ANYWAY, back to Tora's Blade," Kasandra couldn't help the laughter that threatened to bubble up at the seamless dialogue the two shared within only a small amount of time knowing each other and it didn't look like Lilith was any better; it was only the slight elbow from Pyra that had the pair share a knowing look and quieten down. "When complete, even no potential Tora can be a driver!"
"This is simply incredible, beyond words even. You truly built this Blade from scratch Tora?" Gramps questioned, his small stature allowing him little issue when it came to flying around the machine. Wired up as it was, cables stuck into various aspects of the inert artificial Blade, it was hard to see it doing battle upon the field, but if it was successful…
"Um, it was started by Grampypon and Dadapon, but Grampypon die and Tora still not know where Grampypon go to." Tora stated, the Nopon's uneasy delivery having the rest of the group shocked silent. His cheerful disposition didn't give many hints that would've led them to that. "So Tora will finish Blade and become a driver like always wanted! Then Dadapon hear about Tora's achievement and come back home, yes?"
"I guess that make sense…" Lilith admitted, her hands held behind so she could properly lean forward to marvel at the machine in front of her. "So what do you have to do in order to complete her? She looks pretty good to me."
"Mehehehe! All Tora have left to do is buy final parts!" Tora declared with unbridled excitement, excitement that lasted all of two seconds before one crushing thought had him rubbing the back of his head with a wing. "But Tora have no money at all!"
"Wait, really? You don't have anything at all you could use?" Rex enquired, nearly falling back at the Nopon's nod. "So what, are you asking for some sort of loan?"
"Not loan exactly… more along lines of… generous donation!" Tora clarified with a small chuckle, Gramps realising a sigh from the comfort of Rex's helmet.
"Said just like a Nopon. Always shrew whenever it comes to gold!" the regenerated titan mused, Tora left scrambling for an excuse. The costs of what he wanted were way too much for somebody like him to come up with after all!
"B-but if Tora completes Artificial Blade, combat capabilities will be big help on mission!"
"That's true; if it ends up working, then fighting would be a lot easier." Kasandra reasoned, the bandaged Blade flicking he hair back behind her shoulder as she knelt down to the Noon's eye level. "So how much are we talking about then? I'm sure if we all work together, then we can scrounge up enough."
"Oh… no more than sixty thousand gold…"
"Sixty thousand? Are you looking for a kidney as well or something!?"
"Calm down Rex. If it's just money he needs, then it's the least we could do. He did help us escape from the Ardainian soldiers." Pyra soothed with a held out hand upon the boy's chest. "Besides, I think I have a way I can assist?"
"Don't tell me… you're bo-!" but before Gramps could even think of completing that sentence, the salvager let loose with one of his strongest chops to the back of his guardian's head, Lilith turning away with a wince at the incredibly strong thump of flesh meeting floor. Though he may not look it at first glance, the brown haired boy was far stronger than he implied.
"Don't even think about it Gramps!" Rex warned, turning up to where Pyra was messing about with her ear. The action drew Lilith's attention to the glowing crystals that made up her ear pieces, no doubt being far more expensive alone than she could ever think of raising in her lifetime. "An earring?"
"It's a naturally occurring crystal you see. It should fetch somewhere near the sixty thousand we need if you sell it at the right place." The fire Blade explained, pushing the green gem towards her driver before a gloved hand firmly pushed it back.
"I can't take something like that off of you, let alone sell it! That's just absolutely unthinkable, I'm paying for the parts myself!" Rex declared, hands on hips as Tora watched in amazement. Knowing what she did about Nopon, Lilith could say she was pretty sure it wasn't the fact that Rex was taking responsibility that had him in awe, more likely the idea that he was so willing to part with his own money.
"Wow, Rex-Rex is real man for being so nice!" the Nopon praised, a chuckle escaping the salvager before he turned and stared Tora directly in the eye, a move so unexpected it had Tora leaping back a few centimetres.
"It's perfectly fine, but this Blade of yours had better be seriously useful though, got it? I guess we should be going then!" Rex exclaimed, a fist raised to the air that was quickly matched by that of Tora's. Watching the two males leap off to wherever they needed to go, Pyra couldn't help but clutch her hands together as the redhead turned to Lilith and Kasandra, Gramps floating lazily at the side.
"Do you really think they'll be okay like that?" Pyra asked in concern, Kasandra placing a hand upon her fellow Blade's shoulders as a bright grin overtook her face.
"I'm sure everything will be fine! Come on, we don't want to be left behind do we?"
"Come on Tora, you still need to explain it to me! If humans can wear a hat without trouble, why do you need these Bion connectors in order to prevent your Artificial Blade's hat falling off?" Lilith pestered once more, the journey to Margia's odds and ends in Torigoth market being filled by the grey haired girl's random questions. The Nopon was oddly defensive about the idea, uttering half excuses until he finally managed to break just minutes before they finally reached the store he wanted.
"Tora not have lots of gold for material, so had to make do with buying premade hat instead… but premade hat too big for Artificial Blade's head, meaning need special something in order to make it stay in place." Tora admitted almost as if he was in pain, not helped by the laughter that escaped Kasandra's driver.
"Hey, it's you! The young Nopon who was gazing longingly at my wares the other day!" Tora nearly jumped out of his skin when the shopkeeper cried out, Kassa if Lilith remembered correctly. "And Lilith! Got any more of your random things to sell today?"
"Actually, I'm here to do the buying instead! Well, Rex is at least. Happen to have any Bion connectors and a Perfect Range Sensor?" the small thief asked, a slight wince entering the shopkeeper's face.
"Actually, we don't have any Perfect Range Sensors in right now. We do have Bion connectors though, four thousand gold apiece." Kassa explained, a thumb casually thrown over her shoulder to where several strange devices sat gleaming. "It's rare you find anyone who uses them and doesn't just immediately give them in to Masnach Exchange, so they sit there gathering dust. Doesn't mean I can lower the price tag for them."
"So twelve thousand gold if we want to have the three we need." Rex despaired with a glance to his wallet. Sure, he had a fair bit remaining from his previous jobs, including the one that had led to him standing where he was, but it was still a sizeable chunk. "I guess I'll have to go salvaging a bit and see what I can bring up."
"Oh? So you're a salvager right?" Kassa interjected, a knowing nod coming at Rex's confirmation. "Then you're in luck; you can get a Bion connector that way, they're fishing them up all the time this season. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but the fact that you're with a trusted customer means I can cut a few losses."
"So you two know each other well then?" Pyra asked, Lilith nodding enthusiastically.
"Whenever I can't find stuff I can use pretty close to Torigoth, I try and go out a bit further to try and find what I can. Anything that's worth it, I sell to Kassa! She's been my main way of making actual money." The beret wearing girl explained, grabbing Kassa's hand. "Thanks a lot for this Kassa! I'll make sure to find some really cool stuff so you can make the money that way."
"So it's the perfect sensor that's the issue then. From what I know, you can't get them from salvaging unless the Titan and the Cloud Sea align in a specific way and even then it requires quite a bit of luck." Gramps explained, a tiny hand going to his chin. "I'm none too certain of any other way we could get access to a Perfect Range Sensor save for travelling to an entirely different Titan and buying one, complete with additional import costs."
Fortunately for the group, the notice board wasn't too far off from where they were walking, only a small bit of confusion coming from Kasandra before she dashed over, ripping a page off and taking it over to the other members of the group.
"Hey, this request offers a Perfect Range Sensor!" The dark based Blade remarked, crimson eyes flicking back and forth over the paper. "Apparently, a botanist wants a group to deal with some monsters on Lascham Island so he can continue on with his field work. Seems simply enough and gives us exactly what we need, how lucky!"
"Wait, really? It was just sitting there?" Lilith gasped, somewhat oblivious to the strange rattling noise that filled the air for an instant as her Blade nodded, a move that hid the strange vibrations on the back of Kasandra's head. They would not be prepared for when rot left to fester decided to suddenly give way, a hapless Driver left to try and explain why the notice board conveniently fell right next to him and his clearly dangerous weapon. "Wow, I guess you were lucky… but that reminds me, Rex, do you have another core crystal?"
"Um, no, why would you ask?" tucking her hand behind her back, Lilith let her second item shine in the sunlight.
"I was wondering if we could do another resonance together if we're going to go out and fight, but I guess I can do this by myself." Lilith explained with a grin, looking around. "But we probably shouldn't do it in view of an Ardainian soldier, especially one that might know about us. Can we find somewhere a bit more hidden so I can do it?"
Well, no one was going to turn down an extra hand when it came to combat, so it was first a quick trip to Yarvay Salvaging for a few cylinders, an apparently crucial aspect for salvaging by Rex's words, before a nice empty area of the residential district was found. Considering how little there was to do in the district save for a few shops, most of the people preferred to socialise in the Market and the surrounding area, meaning it was fairly easy to find a secret area.
Bringing the core close to her chest, Kasandra was left to fidget in place as she saw the first glow of resonance burst outward. It had barely been a day and yet here she was, standing aside in order for her driver to awaken another Blade. Sure, it was being done because her driver was relatively new to fighting and having anything that could help her out against the monsters would be a massive boon, but it didn't quell the slight nervousness that lived in Kasandra's chest. A second burst and Pyra was standing beside her, returning the comfort she had been given before.
"You were only recently awakened again, weren't you?" the redhead asked, no time left for the darker haired Blade to answer. "I remember seeing people who awakened Blades pretty quickly, their Blades weren't too happy either."
"Oh yeah, you weren't awoken by Rex, but you were awoken beforehand, right?" Kasandra realised, Pyra giving a small reluctant nod. Why she would bring it up and yet seem so scared by it, the dark Blade wasn't too sure.
"But my point is, Lilith looks like she already really likes you, even if you've only been together for a short while. I don't think another Blade is going to change that." The third burst of blue light came and Kasandra was pleased to note how much better Lilith seemed in comparison to how she originally started; at least whichever new blade would be awakened wouldn't have to deal with a driver on the blink of fainting. As the lights dissipated, the gathered group uncovered teir eyes, eagerly awaiting the big reveal as…
"A…polar bear?" the group's collective confusion was enough time for the creature to look around in questioning, the bear's nose sniffling as it tried to get acclimated to its new environment. With no sign of a core crystal upon its body, within the obvious area or elsewhere, there was little chance that it could be the Blade they were looking for, but there was no denying the fact that the polar bear had most certainly been an aspect of the resonance.
"Um… Ursula, pleasure." But then the littlest sky blue haired girl poked her head around the bear's side, a quick glance to the big group before she was hiding behind her furred guardian once more. Raising its hand, the Polar Bear did its best to coax out its partner, a collective gasp escaping when the first snowflakes fell. They proved far too irresistible to the child, Ursula twirling about in between each and every flake as her cowl flayed out to reveal the blue lining beneath. Her skin was remarkably pale, but Lilith was unable to draw her attention away from the branches entwined in her hair, the luminescent flower bulbs upon them glittering in the sunlight. Jumping with legs seemingly fading away, Ursula had captured the Polar Bear in a tight hug, turning to the group with the sparkling snowflakes collected in her hands. "We'll go shoulder to the wheel, right Beary?"
"Hello. I'll be your driver from now on, okay?" Lilith introduced with a small curtsey, Ursula standing with a slight blush as she tried her hardest to return it. The fact that the Blade was quit hesitant with her movements though made the attempt all the more cuter and it was hard for the child to prevent her blush from deepening at the light giggles. "Don't be shy. We'll all take good care of you, right?"
It was when each and every person there gave their affirmations that Ursula let a small smile break through onto her lips, a hand from Beary having the ice Blade lifted up onto his shoulder, towering above them. It was probably both the closeness of her partner and the fact she wasn't the lowest to the ground that helped her disposition, but Lilith didn't care at this moment; she made another friend.
"Okay then, Beary and I will definitely try our best! I'll admit… I'm not quite used to being around so many people…" Ursula answered, lightly shuffling upon her place on Beary's shoulder. "But I won't let that interfere with fighting!"
"I'm sure if you spend enough time with us, you'll learn just how lovable every single one of us is!" Kasandra declared, the bandaged Blade approaching with a bow, only to find that moving too quickly had her on the brink of falling, unable to stop herself from falling flat onto her face. Ursula responded with a tilt of her head. Then a chuckle. Then a bit more. Steadily growing, the light blue haired Blade's laughter filled the air, a sweet melodious tone that could easily entrance many a person. "Eheheh, can we pretend that didn't just happen?"
"Well, now that we have Ursula and… Beary here, then we can go and take on those monsters as Lascham Island!" Rex exclaimed, rolling his shoulder as a grin overtook his face, Pyra nodding resolutely at his side as Lilith turned to Ursula once more.
"I'm sorry to just drop this on you, but we actually already have a battle that we would like to deal with. Hopefully the fact that you've just awoken doesn't mean you aren't willing to help us with this, right?" the driver requested, Bear simply waving his paws intimidatingly as an answer. The grey haired girl was almost led to believe that she had been responsible for somehow angering the creature with her request if it weren't for Ursula's reassurances.
"Don't worry about Beary, this is just his way of showing how excited he is to do battle. You can trust on me!" the ice Blade explained, Rex rubbing the back of his head.
"What a fierce companion, I daresay he will be the utmost help in battle." Gramps praised, the polar bear in question gently approaching Gramps with a sniff before a quick snap had the salvager reeling backwards. "When he doesn't look like he's going to eat me!"
"I'm sorry about that, Beary just has to learn you aren't a monster or a food source." Ursula rapidly claimed as a constant stroke to the back of his head had Beary backing away, falling to the ground only somewhat reluctantly. "He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, it's just that Beary gets very protective. All we have to do is fight together and he'll come to see you as nothing dangerous."
A second snap however had Gramps flying away, though that didn't stop Beary from trying to pursue with great swings in the sky, Ursula struggling to stay upon her perch before a quick dash had Lilith just in time to try and catch the girl falling, both crashing to the ground with a thud too heavy for safety. Ducking and weaving with skills beyond his appearance, Gramps was trying his best to stay away from those deadly claws, a strange fervour overpowering Beary.
"Now Stay away, I will not become a chew toy any time soon! If it weren't for my regeneration, well, this would certainly be a reversed situation!"
"Beary! Come on Beary, you can't keep playing with the little creature!"
"Are you truly saying that this is his form of playing? He's acting as if he wants to crush me alive!"
Rex could only try and flounder in order to retrieve his guardian, Pyra trying her best to cheer him on with Tora. Lilith and Kasandra meanwhile simply stood alongside a trembling Ursula.
"Don't worry, I'm sure others have made worse first impressions."
And that's it for now! Tell me, what do you think of it so far? admittedly, the start is a little slow, but I'm just super happy because after hundreds of tries, I finally got Ursula for my team, great! now I just have to go through her hundreds of merc missions before I can actually use her in an end game manner... lovely. Next time, we get into some real combat, so I'll see you there!
Super hero time! See you next time!