A gust of cold wind entered the chamber as the VTOL's doors opened. As it's occupants exited the hold, they took in the view of the white mountains surrounding them. As far away from civilization as possible, yet they were on one of the most advanced research facilities in the world. The chosen pandoras, accompanied by their limiters, endured the bitter cold as they hurried into the warm interior of the facilities a few meters away. Thomas too was not an exception as he followed the others inside. Armed with only winter coats, the group sighed in sweet relief upon acquiring the much needed warmth.
As they entered, staff moved in to remove the luggage brought along. With the exception of Thomas refusing to part with his gear, the group, now relieved of their baggage was directed to a large room. Inside was a rather extravagant assortment of food and among the room's occupants, many pandora from around the world were gathered. It was no mistake that they were the best of the best. And since the best were called to assist in the project, Thomas would have to be extra careful in gathering information. There was no telling what could go wrong.
After the lavish buffet and a speech by Dr. Oohara, the leading researcher of the facility and head of the Evolution pandora or E-pandora project, the pandoras were brought to the living quarters. Thomas chose one where he would hopefully reside in alone but that wish was futile.
Several minutes after settling into his dorm. There was a knock on the door. Answering it, Thomas was surprised to see Kazuya with his luggage.
"What happened? did you get kicked out of your room or something?" asked the former.
"nah, I wanted both Lana and Stella-sempai to spend some quality time together." replied the latter. :do you mind me sharing? There are no other rooms allocated.
"It's fine, I suppose you can but let me tidy up first.
For Thomas, Kazuya was easier to talk to than the rest. Apart from being Aoi Gengo's grandson, the boy himself had an aura that somehow made Thomas seem to trust him. At least, more than the other people he had met. After letting Kazuya inside, Thomas began to clear out the second bed.
Although he received a double bed dorm much as a standard for the pandora limiter pairs, he was not expecting a roommate and haphazardly piled his equipment on the bed rather than on the desk. Unlike his meticulous packing where everything seemed to fit into one suitcase, the cramped contents tended to look like double of the luggage's capacity when unpacked. Thinking it easier to sort out and arrange for the duration of their stay, Thomas had unceremoniously dumped the contents onto the second bed. As he finished clearing out the contents and transferring them either onto his bed or the desk, Kazuya managed to get his baggage inside as well. With the arrangements "settled", the two continued to sort out their belongings as well as chat.
The next day...
The pandora were gathered into the training arena where the mock battles between them and the E-pandoras were to be held. although it was surmised that the E-pandoras were inferior, the battle was to gauge their current abilities and what could be done to improve it. At least, that was what was said by Dr. Oohara earlier that day.
*breathe* 'I have to win..." thought the woman. Of the three battles to be held, two have already expired, scoring the pandoras two straight wins. The data produced showed that the e-pandoras were definitely inferior, but they refused to give up. The third battle, the E-pandora Amelia Evans versus West Genetics' Elizabeth Mably. Amelia was considered the best among the e-pandoras but her opponent was the rank 2 of west Genetics. To those who personally knew Elizabeth, the mock battle was definitely unbalanced yet unflinching against the pressure, Amelia had time to exchange insulting banter with Elizabeth before the two took their respective places and drew their weapons.
Thomas walked back to his room alone. After the battle the pandoras were dismissed while the e-pandoras sent off a much battered Amelia. The battle, needless to say, was one sided. Elizabeth attacked her with a barrage of blows, yet the other refused to give up. n the end, Amelia lost consciousness standing. Although one could question why such methods were used, the oddity that remained on Thomas's mind was the reactions of the researchers during the final match. No-one objected to seeing the pride of the project being beaten to a pulp. Dr. Oohara had even forced Elizabeth to continue fighting until she or Amelia were unconscious. The lack of care for the test subjects was disturbing.
As he reached the room he opened the laptop terminal. Stored inside was his AI Revealer as well as some basic files and know-how that most MALVIONE members had access as well as some files that not so many had access to. All of this was important but it would be worth nothing here unless he got a hold of this wolds database. One that he would be hard-pressed to acquire. Sighing, he reclined his chair for what seemed to be minutes then he got up, seeing the futility of getting so worked up about the issue. After all, he only said that he would try to dig for information- one that was proving difficult to locate. Figuring that the time was just not right, Thomas closed his laptop and turned in for the night. Hopefully tomorrow would prove to be more successful...
meanwhile
The e-pandoras were gathered inside their locker room alongside an injured but otherwise okay Amelia Evans who had recovered enough to sit up and speak.
"I couldn't believe they were stronger than us..." said Jiina.
As they continued to compare themselves to the original pandoras, one of them, a dark-skinned woman was eating bread. wordlessly she continued to feast on it that she only took noticed Jiina talking to her when she called her out.
"And you Rattle, Say something about this!" "The very existance of the E-pandoras are on the line here!" she shouted
"stop it Jiina." said Amelia. "we all know that Rattle became an E-pandora to avoid starving to death so let her eat as much as she wants."
"But... It's so frustrating! Not only are their ability, but they all come from well off families. They're different from us completely..." said Jiina dejectedly "Why are we so different! Look at Rattle, she was beaten up so badly but is satisfied with just a single a piece of bread!" she added, on the verge of tears
"Let's just stop this." said Amelia, placing her hands on Jiina's shoulders. We all come from different places. One to avoid starving to death, another because her parents sold her off and another to repent for her sins." directing her words to Rattle, Jiina and another e-pandora respectively. "But it's because we came here that we met each other and we have friends we can turn to." she added "Let's accept our loss for now and work harder."
With the group inspired by Amelia's speech, they went to bed with high morale. The next day. Elizabeth Mably, along with her limiter Andre, joined them at their table during breakfast. Although the e-pandora were cautious at first, a chat involving Elizabeth's lip gloss loosened tensions a bit but after the meal, whatever good will that was gained through Amelia's pep talk and the breakfast chat were shattered.
"Good morning, I hope you enjoyed breakfast." began Dr. Oohara. "starting today, we will begin a new project to strengthen the e-pandoras dubbed mission Synchro." Behind her were several factors and charts of the pandoras stigmata rates compared to the e-pandoras'. As she continued to speak about the project's paticulars, Thomas tried to capture as much information being shown. Surprisingly, several terms and descriptions reminded him of the spartan II and III programs back in his world. What caught his attention though was...
"...However, the e-pandoras cannot protect against the overflow that incompatible stigmata produce, therefore a new medicine known as the Mark IV will be administered to them as a precaution." said Dr. Oohara to the crowd, seemingly not noticing the shocked looks of the e-pandoras.
Suddenly Thomas wished he hadn't hoped for a more successful day.
It's done it's Done! finally after a month of hard work This chapter can finally be rolled out XD. As to how it is, feel free to post reviews.
A/N: i tend to post my replies to reviews on the chapter itself
kyon: nope hes not me. I based Thomas off one of my friends
dudewith4ama1: i have no summer this year T_T ill post monthly at the latest. but hopefully ill stick to my biweekly updates
Mizuki: Thanks! and yes its that arc and TBA means to be announced
Ive lost fans but (hopefully) gained new ones. Its an experience every writer faces...
well, this is me signing off for now. Ciao
TL: I DONT OWN FREEZING OR HALO
