Goodwill, Chapter 3:
The trip to Sylvalum only took a few hours via our Skells. When we arrived, landing in Hilal Meadow, it appeared to have also started snowing at Sylvalum, strange as it sounds. Sylvalum was pretty much a desert much like Oblivia, except with white sand. I wasn't as familiar with snow as most other BLADEs, but seeing it for myself on Mira was a sight to behold.
"I guess we can confirm that it's snowing in Sylvalum as well." Lin confirmed while in her Skell. "That is so cool!"
"Cross, where in Sylvalum does FrontierNav detect the two samples of phogrium?" Elma asked me.
"In a moment..." I said as I looked up FrontierNav. "One of them is in western Lake Ciel, while the other is in Anvil Sandplain."
"Interesting. How about we split into two teams?" Elma asked.
"Sounds good. What do you have planned, Elma?" Lin queried as Tatsu scratches his head.
"Hmm... Mia, would you like to accompany Cross?" Elma asked.
"Sure thing, Elma! Hear that, Chief? We get to work together again!" Mia reacted with excitement.
"Heh. You played a big part of the Lifehold Core battle, Mia. I would be honored to help you get stronger out there." I smiled.
"And I guess that means I accompany you this time, Elma?" Lin asked.
"That's right. Now, Rook, which sections should you and I take?" Elma asked me.
"Hmm..." I thought about it for a bit before cringing at the inside between the two choices. On one hand, Lake Ciel had that Filiavent, but on the other hand Anvil Sandplain was filled to the brim with nasty things like Xe-doms that were overall made the place just as dangerous as Lake Ciel, in my books at least. I had to choose what I felt were the lesser of the two dangerous places. "Elma, you and Lin will go to Anvil Sandplain. Mia and I will go to Lake Ciel."
"Are you sure with that, Chief? You know one of your biggest fears lives there, right?" Mia questioned my decision.
"I know, Mia." I cringed inwards, remembering my longtime phobia for Filiavents. Lake Ciel in particular had this Filiavent Tyrant BLADE HQ named Laurencio, the Fog Bow, where I had a bad run-in with a few weeks ago. But the source of my phobia was a giant Filiavent in Cauldros, known as Trueno, the Cataclysm, who was also the first monster that destroyed my Skell... I shook my head, steeling myself for what's to come. "I'll take my chances, though. We'll just have to not disturb it." I said with more confidence than what I was actually feeling, knowing exactly what Mia was referring to. I hated to admit it, but I was trembling inside, praying this would be over quickly enough.
"Alright then, I trust you. Best of luck, you two." Elma waved before she and Lin started flying towards Anvil Sandplain.
"You too, gals." Mia waved back.
Mia and I then flew downwards towards Lake Ciel, hoping to find the phogrium without disturbing the monster that lives on the western side of Lake Ciel. As we landed our Skells, something caught Mia's attention. And it wasn't the phogrium, nor any Ganglion stragglers. "Look, Chief. Over there."
I looked and saw the monster, the Filiavent known as Laurencio, the Fog Bow, looking like it's frozen solid. It appeared to be covered in frost.
Although Filiavents are the things I fear the most, fellow BLADEs seem to compare their appearances to sea anemones that disguise themselves as giant flowers, which seemed "cool" in a quite frankly baffling description. No matter their description, that won't fool me. The sight of a Filiavent really gets me irrationally scared, and I was already regretting not choosing the other phognium deposit. Regardless, that was then, this is the now. I decided to scan the monstrosity, and I saw that apparently, it's covering itself with frost in order to hibernate, and that if the frost is even slightly cracked, it'll wake up and attack whatever caused it in the first place.
"Hmm... If we can avoid cracking the frost surrounding Laurencio, we should be safe." I said as I put my comm device away.
"Yes, and I especially don't want you to get eaten, Chief." Mia responded in agreement. "I want you to be around for Mira's first Christmas living, not as Filivy food."
I rolled my eyes at that and readied my weapon in preparation for anything. "Anyways, it should be around the waters nearby. Let's start searching, Mia."
"Yes, Chief. I'm on it."
After a few minutes of searching, we found one that is a few meters away from the Filiavent tyrant, much to my relief. It was in northeast of west Lake Ciel.
"I see some mist over there. Is that phogrium?" Mia asked me.
"Yep. That's what we're searching for. Now, I'm gonna have to aim it right in front of us, away from Laurencio, the Fog Bow. I suggest you stand back, Mia." I ordered.
"Right away, Chief." Mia complied by walking a few feet away from me as I grabbed a handgun and aimed at the mist. Once I fired... the mist ended up turning into a solid crystal.
"Heh. Just how I remember Phog doing it." I chuckled.
"Tell me, honestly, Chief. Between you, Irina, Phog, or Frye, who came up with the name phogrium?" Mia asked me with curiosity.
"Frye, unsurprisingly." I smiled. But then, I felt that something was feeling off, to the point my smile turned into a suspicious frown.
"What's up, Chief?" Mia asked before I shushed her.
"Sshhh!" was how I sushed Mia to be quiet. I was looking around, wondering what got me feeling suspicious.
Just then... "Aw, c-come on! T-Two humans b-beat us to it?!" we heard a deep voice nearby.
"I t-told you w-we should've t-taken the s-shortcut!" said another deep voice.
"Uhh... Chief?" Mia asked with concern.
"Ugh... Ganglion stragglers. Marnucks in particular." I grumbled.
"What shall we do?" Mia asked.
"I'll distract them, you get the phogrium, then run back to the Skell. I'll follow you immediately as soon as you run past me." I suggested.
"Okay, then." Mia said.
"Hey! Ganglion stragglers! What are you doing out here in the cold winters of Sylvalum?!" I called out to them. As they had their attention on me, Mia was sneaking past me in order to grab the phogrium.
"W-What do y-you mean, w-what are w-we doing h-here, human?! T-The better q-question is... W-What are p-primates such a-as you d-doing here?!" the Marnuck shivered.
"It appears you shiver every few words. That suggests that lizards like you have no business being out here in the cold. The great advantage humans have is that we are capable of adapting to whatever situation we have." I said as I bought time for Mia.
As I was taunting the Marnucks, who are clearly shivering, Mia grabbed the phogrium crystal, then made a mad dash towards her Skell.
As Mia was making a run, dashing behind the Marnucks, then attempting to head back to her Skell... one of the Marnucks noticed Mia.
"G-Get back h-here!" the Marnuck shouted before firing a bullet.
I gasped, wondering how the Marnuck noticed Mia, before yelling, "Mia! Get out of the way!"
Mia turned and saw a bullet heading in her direction and was like, "Huh?! Whoa!" before dodging the bullet.
But then... the bullet ended up zipping past Mia's face, finally slamming on the frost covering Laurencio, the Fog Bow. Within seconds, the frost was cracking even more. And that's when I realised... the Filiavent was waking up from hibernation. I was so scared that one could see the look of pure terror in my eyes. Unbeknownst to me and the Marnucks, Mia was grabbing her comm device and typing something. I'll let Elma take over for a while and reveal what she and Lin discovered.
Thanks, Cross. This is Elma writing for a moment. During Cross and Mia's time at Lake Ciel, Lin and I arrived and found a dormant Xe-dom, a gigantic guardian-esque machine hijacked by the Ganglion, and one that's more powerful than the others, yet is surprisingly not a Tyrant. We also managed to fly our Skells low enough to avoid a Xern, a Ganglion airship, floating above in Sylvalum. Rumor has it that such a Xern belonged to Luxaar, the late leader of the Ganglion, who met his defeat at the Lifehold Core.
"Stay by my side, Lin. We don't want to wake up that Xe-dom." I nervously ordered.
"Yeah. I'll cover your back as we search for the phogrium." Lin said as she grabbed her shield, taking care not to swing it at the Xe-dom.
I grabbed my Dual Swords, then spread out my arms to my sides, while shouting "Shadowrunner!" As this happens, a dark aura gathers around me.
"I'll try not to swing my shield randomly. But I'll keep guard up." Lin whispered.
"Good. Leave the phogrium searching to me. And I'll make sure to aim away from the Xe-dom." I whispered in response.
After a few minutes of walking around the dormant Xe-dom, trying not to disturb it, Lin and I spotted an unusual sight.
"There's the phogrium. Thankfully it's away from the Xe-dom. Watch my back, Lin." I said as I pulled out my handgun.
As Lin was keeping an open eye behind my back, I aimed for the phogrium, and shot it. Just like what Cross said earlier, it turned the mist into a crystal.
"Well, that's that. Let's see how Cross and Mia are..." I said before my comm device was vibrating.
"What's up, Elma?" Lin asked.
"I'm going to take a look." I replied as I grabbed my comm device in order to see what it was about. When I got a look at it... "Uh-oh..."
"What is it?!" Lin asked.
"It's Cross and Mia. They're sending a distress signal from Lake Ciel. I think the Tyrant that lives there has awakened!" I stated with fear.
Lin gasped before saying, "We've got to rescue them!"
"Let's find a way around the Xe-dom and get to our Skells so we can save them!" I ordered as I picked up the phogrium. I'll hand the story back to Cross, now.
Thank you, Elma. Now, how to describe the situation Mia and I are in now? Well...
This was not good. Elma's fears, and mine, have come true. Laurencio, the Fog Bow, has awakened from hibernation, and my goodness, is it furious. I was still frozen in fear at the sight of it. As the Marnucks were figuring out what to do, angrily shouting each other for a plan, Mia yelled out, "Chief! Grab that nearby plant!" She was pointing at the flower.
Breaking out of my stupor, I proceeded to grab the flower, to which Mia grabbed a nearby one as well. At this point, I am just grateful it's not a Mortifole or Sacrifole camouflaged as a plant, otherwise I would have no chance and would not live to tell the tale..
As the Marnucks continued to argue about what was going on, Laurencio proceeded to unleash an inhale attack that was so powerful, it sent the both of them up in the sky, right above Laurencio's gaping maw. It grabbed each Marnuck using some of its tentacles, electrocuted them, then it flung them both one-by-one in the air, then as they were coming down, the Filiavent swallowed both of them whole!
"Mia! I don't want to be next on the creature's menu! I won't be able to celebrate Christmas, then! I... I don't want to be that indigen's Christmas dinner!" I screamed as I held on to the flower.
"Don't worry! I sent the SOS signal to Elma and Lin! They should be here at any moment!" Mia tried to reassure me.
"I must hold on until they arrive, then?!" I asked as loud as I can, to which Mia replied by nodding.
As hard as I tried, when the Filiavent unleashed the inhale attack yet again, this time it was more powerful than the last one. And it was so strong, I was starting to lose grip. "I... I can't... hold on... much longer!" I was screaming.
"CHIEF! HANG ON!" Mia yelled as she was hanging on, but I ended up losing my grip. Because I was now being sucked really high into the air, I was screaming bloody murder. "CHIEF! NOOOOO!" she screamed as she was watching me get sent flying. As I was screaming...
"Cross! Hang on!" a familiar voice came. Then, before I know it, I felt something metallic surrounding me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was being surrounded by red metallic fingers. And I realised... it was Elma's Skell, Red Leader.
"You alright, Cross?" Elma asked in such a worried tone.
I weakly nodded, just barely able to process how close to death I was. Meanwhile, the Filiavent stopped its inhale attack, and attempted to strike Elma with lightning, but she managed to avoid and maneuver around it. Noticing Mia as the last prey, it switched focus and attempted to suck Mia into the air with its inhale attack. Just like me, Mia was pulled away from the plant she was hanging on to, screaming in fear. But then the other Skell, called Color Girl, grabbed Mia, also saving her.
"I'm glad we came on time." Lin sighed in relief, with Tatsu wiping his forehead.
But Laurencio was maddened even more. It was beginning to spark powerful electricity around it.
"Let's get you two in your Skells, then fly out of Sylvalum immediately." Elma insisted.
"Yeah... I intend to take a breather once we lose it." I shook my head lightly, shaking the dizziness from my system until I realized why we were here in the first place. "Oh! Mia! Do you still have the phogrium?!"
"Of course, Chief!" Mia said as she shows it to me, much to my relief.
Once Red Leader and Color Girl landed, Mia and I landed afterwards on the ground.
"Hurry! It's trying to aim its lightning over here!" Elma ordered. And she wasn't kidding, for it didn't take its attention away from us. Luckily, Mia and I hopped in our Skells, respectively named Adventurer and Blue Cross, before flying off.
"Now let's get out of here!" I ordered. Just as we flew off, the lightning had struck where we were previously at a few seconds ago. As we were flying away from Lake Ciel, Laurencio let out a powerful guttural roar, obviously not pleased that more of its dinner slipped away.
Eventually, we fled Sylvalum altogether. All four BLADEs, alive and well.
I was panting, trying to catch my breath, due to barely escaping getting eaten alive by the tyrant, and just collapsed in my seat inside my Skell. "Did... Did we... lose it...?" I asked.
"Yes. We're out of Sylvalum alive." Elma nodded.
My panting came to an end with a sigh of relief. I won't lie, I was genuinely scared the moment Laurencio had awakened from hibernation, and I was relieved to have escaped from it.
"Think of this, Cross. Because we managed to stick together in the end, we managed to survive. And we'll let you rest when we get back." Lin suggested.
"Thanks. You girls are especially considerate of me." I smiled.
"Well, Christmas is coming, Chief. Looking out for each other in times like this is a genuine act of goodwill. Being there for each other is what Christmas is truly being about." Mia pointed out.
"Mia's right, Cross. We won't be able to celebrate Christmas without you." Elma smiled.
"Right, then. Thank you all. Now, then. Let's proceed back to New LA." I ordered.
Another couple of hours later, we brought the phogrim samples to Commander Vandham inside BLADE Tower.
"So you got the Phogrium samples, eh?" he asked as he noticed us with our spoils in hand.
"Yep. Elma and Mia will hand them to you." I replied as Elma and Mia did exactly that.
"Just leave 'em on this table. The Prospectors will take care of it from here. I also heard you had an encounter with some Ganglion stragglers that led to an encounter with Laurencio, the Fog Bow, huh?" Vandham queried.
"...Yes. I thought I was going to be that abomination's Christmas dinner." I replied with dismay.
Apparently, Vandham tried to suppress laughter, probably due to my choice of words. "Sorry, Cross. If I laughed loudly at your words, you would've scolded me for it." He nervously replied as he scratches his head.
"Meh! Mustache man very insensitive! Bad mustache man!" Tatsu angrily declared.
"Yep. That is very insensitive of me. My apologies. Anyways, I think you deserve a rest, Cross. The Christmas party won't be until tomorrow night. It'll be at the Commercial District." Vandham revealed. "I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world. After the Ganglion and all that bull, I think it's time for a cause of true celebration." He grinned as he crossed his arms.
"Wait... The whole Commercial District?" Elma asked.
"Of course. Director General Chausson, Secretary Nagi, and I all agreed that because so many BLADEs celebrate Christmas, they're free to have the whole Commercial District all to themselves. Of course, those who celebrate another holiday instead is still free to come by and buy something if they want." Vandham responded.
"That's very thoughtful of you guys." Lin praised Vandham for his, Chausson's and Nagi's decisions.
"Nah, don't mention it, Lin. Now, I suggest you spend some time in the Barracks." Vandham smiled.
"Alrighty, then. Thank you." Elma thanked Vandham with a wave before she lead us to the Barracks.
"Hey, Cross? Why don't I accompany you in your naps? That way you won't have any nightmares?" Lin suggested.
"Heh. Sure. Thank you, Lin, as always." I smiled, which made Lin smile in return.
"You're welcome." Lin nodded as she smiled.
"Wow, Elma. Those two sure are close." Mia smiled at how close Lin and I are.
"Of course. They view each other as surrogate sisters. Even when their friendship gets strained a few times, they stick together to the end. And I'm proud of them for it." Elma smiled.
"Wow. It's no wonder we both get along with them just as quickly. As long as all four of us stick together..." Mia said, while letting Elma finish the sentence.
Elma ended up saying, "...there's nothing that can stop us together. We just have to not be arrogant or overconfident about it."
Mia proceeded to nod in agreement.
