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Edited by Etherdrone
Milla quickly took another look at her map. According to it, she was at the Lotus Forest, which is where Talia went missing a couple days ago.
The forest was appropriately named, it seemed. Easily, she noticed a large quantity of the world-infamous Lotus Berries; which were known to cause paralysis and if heavily ingested by someone, death.
Why would anybody let their children come here? Milla pondered as she begun to rush into the forest, worried for Talia's well being. The forest wasn't too dense, but she recognized the variety of dangerous shrubs and poisonous berries that ravaged the woods. Not only that, but there were small rocks throughout the ground which made walking around treacherous for Milla, since she had grown the habit of walking barefoot, slowing her down significantly as she walked with more care than usual.
The individual leaves shaking to the swirling wind gave an eerie ambiance to this forest that would send a deep chill into anyone. This was definitely not a playground; not for Milla, at least.
Fortunately, she was used to this. Before meeting Sash Lilac and Carol Tea, Milla lived in the woods throughout most of her childhood. The case being such as that she wasn't always totally alone, she learned to survive amidst the wilderness she called home for many years. In a strange way she felt nostalgic entering such a familiar setting.
As Milla's nostalgia danced in the deepest corners of her consciousness, her eyes notices a glint through the sunlight that managed to make its way through the leaves of the forest, coming from a carelessly thrown object in the leaves and mud of the forest. Carefully approaching it, she noticed it to be a small necklace, its silver chain being connected with a small adorned crystal.
Almost as if by complete instinct, Milla picks up the necklace and sniffed it, her nostrils absorbing the scent of the object in the most effective way she knew how. It didn't take long before she identified it: it definitely belonged to Talia. She's been this way, she thought sourly as she looked towards the north. Being a wild kid for most of her childhood she understood what that meant, her localization skills were sharp and accurate, as always.
"Talia!" Called Milla "Talia! Can you hear me? Talia!"
…But no one answered back.
Milla called and searched the remainder of the day to no avail, no one answered back. As her progress into the woods bore absolutely no fruit, the sun begun to set and nightfall was upon her. Realizing that she needed to rest for a while before searching further, she decided to settle down at a small, nearby clearing. After grabbing some firewood, a few rocks, and making a small campfire, she prepared herself for a lonely, quiet night in the woods, only accompanied by the apples she was about to eat for dinner. The wind continued to blow throughout the forest and not only did it make the familiar sound of leaves shaking with the wind, but a faint eerie whistle began to follow, making it easy for her to keep a calm demeanor and fall asleep.
…Milla's eyes sprung open after her ears captured movement in the vicinity.
The dark of the night fell heavy upon it. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the blackness that engulfed her like a shroud, surrounding the faint glow of the dying campfire like the belly of a dying hungry monster.
She rose herself from the ground slowly as her ears twitched to attention, listening to the mechanical sounds that ringed lonely like echoes in a cave. By complete reflex, Milla's right arm sparked with a jade glow, covering its entirety like a shield, hovering just a few centimeters away from making contact with her own self. Still walking very slowly through the forest, she got close enough to get a clear view of the hostile, and her eyes squinted slightly at the source of the noises: a lone, singular turretus patrolling its grounds like it's always done before.
Letting go a relieved sigh, Milla relaxed her posture. As long as I'm not in range, it's not attacking anytime soon, she nodded to herself, nearly turning her back on to the machine before stopping on her own feet, throwing a glance backwards as the turretus made a snapping sound, something it only did when it slotted a bullet into its chamber.
She responds mercilessly and immediately. Without even thinking twice, Milla's left arm points forward as it sparks furiously with a kinetic blast of psychic energy upon her command, the attack she fired blasted through the turretus' cannon and chassis like she fired a bullet of her own, punching the machine's hull inward like it melted upon the pressure of her attack, collapsing onto the ground in a pile of worthless scrap metal with a dull, dry sound.
It didn't even have enough time to fire at her. Its splintered hull smoked as a few random sparks escapes the punctured metal, but that wasn't anything new. Milla however, tilted her head in confusion as something that should have happened, didn't.
That's weird. Isn't a mutant supposed to come out of these things…?
Just before she could make heads or tails of whatever was it that she was thinking, however, Milla's ears perked up yet again as a sharp, but still faint yell echoing through the forest in extreme juxtaposition. "Help me!" the voice echoes, "Someone! Help me!"
It didn't even take a second before Milla was sprinting through the forest on all fours, her front hands sinking into the grass and leaves before her back feet kicked the ground, pushing her forward with the same velocity she'd usually display when trying to, indeed, go fast.
"Call me again!" Milla shouts, her eyes now managing to see in the dark much more effectively than when she was awoken. "I'm coming, so call me again!"
"I-I'm over here!" the voice beckons, clearly satisfied that someone self-aware heard her. "Please, quickly! I wanna go home!"
Once again, the speed in which Milla reached her destination was something to behold. Still running in all fours, the hound reached a large clearing, much bigger one than the one she was sleeping in. Much to her surprise, there was a single, solitary tree in the center, with a small panda girl trapped inside a hanging cage serving as its ornament.
She hardly knew where to start, but she figured she had to start somewhere. Milla stood up, her eyes locked on the girl as her mind tried to come up with questions to ask, one at a time instead of a thousand a second. "H-How did you get in there?" she asks.
"Me and my friends got lost in the forest when playing," the panda girl starts, her eyes tearing up in the process of her talking. "But I got lost! I didn't know where I was going, and I was hungry! I saw some food on the ground, but when I came here to pick it up, the trap got me! …I think I hit my head? I woke up just a few minutes ago!"
Milla takes a deep breath as Talia's scent, just as the one she felt from the necklace came to her. Smiling sweetly to herself, she stepped forward towards the hanging cage. "Talia? Don't worry, I'm here to save you. Stay calm for a while, OK?"
And just as she said that, Milla's ears pricked up at the sounds that echoed through the woods. Turning herself back, her adjusted eyes captured in the darkness silhouettes of many, many turretus and dragonflies, who slowly, but surely, swarmed the clearing.
The little Talia gasps and panics inside her own cage, but Milla figured she was safe. After all, she was the one that had now erected the psychic shield around her arm yet again, making its jade glow ripple through the air like a signal flare, collapsing their attention onto her with resounding success.
It didn't take long before the turretus' cannons opens fire on the hound, just as the dragonflies dive-bombs Milla from the other side, positively flanking her. With a quick movement from her legs, Milla positioned herself better, swinging her shield like a battering ram towards the shots of the turrets, making every single shot glue onto her shield like it was a magnet. Using her movement to her advantage, she used her momentum to swing her shield to her other side, getting her feet off the floor and slamming the psychic energy covered in turretus fire onto the dragonflies, releasing her grip on the shield and making each and every single one of them explode in a cadence of metal that ripped the fliers to shreds, the pieces of the now defeated flanking enemies adorning the ground like a carpet of scrap.
The snapping sounds of reloading turretus ringed through the woods as Milla's feet touched the ground once again. However, she was much faster than they were – before they had enough time to fire a second salvo of bullets towards her, she swung her own arm forward like she was pushing someone, and a small barrage of jade energy erupted from her palms like a shotgun, ripping through their hulls and causing them to explode onto each other, their own bullets tearing inside their chambers prematurely thanks to Milla's attack.
And just like that, it was over.
"…Some of them really aren't releasing mutants," Milla said to no one in particular. "What's going on?"
"Th-That..." a small voice came from behind her, much for Milla's shock.
Oh! That's right, Talia!
"Wh-who are you?" demanded Talia with a shocked voice. "That was AMAZING! You didn't even break a sweat!"
Milla scratched the back of her head as she hesitated for a second before reluctantly introducing herself. "…I'm Milla Basset."
Talia's face lit up with excitement. "No way! Milla Basset! Milla Basset is actually coming to save me! I'm SORRY for being so rude! I didn't know I was in front of a celebrity!"
"C-Celebrity? Me? I think you're mistaken."
"Why are you so modest? You and your friends are like my heroes! You saved Avalice! I wish I was as strong and cool as you all are…!"
Talia's gushing over Milla's presence was cut short, however. Almost as if it was picking on her, Milla's ears captured another source of noise that was soon also heard by the little panda girl, who became morbidly silent. The sound that approached quickly was loud, mechanical and heavy, something that made the hound position herself for combat.
And just like that, a mechanical spider emerged from the woods, its joints cracking and snapping the vines and pieces of wood that were entangled in it like twigs about the size of someone's torso. Milla's eyes opened wide like saucers at the mechaniloid, definitely caught by surprise at what she was seeing. Something that looked like a spider beamer, but at least four times her size, with eight sharp-looking legs and carrying two turrets in its back. Its weight was apparent by how its legs dug onto the dirt with the force of its movement, and the panda girl screamed in terror.
Milla snaps her tongue in irritation as that scream caught the giant spider's attention. With a swift movement from her arms, the hound figured she couldn't waste any time, and readied herself for combat yet again. The giant spider approached the cage as Milla focused on her own hands, a familiar square of energy forming in them about as quickly as it's always been done. Without missing a single beat, Milla raised her arms upwards and aimed carefully at the approaching spider, which rose one of its limbs towards the cage and the screaming, horrified panda inside – and with a single split second, the spider's leg was torn off by the psychic pulse that blasted it clean off with surgical precision.
The blast was loud and powerful, something that caught everyone sans Milla completely by surprise. The spider, now noticing the hound's presence, shook itself in response to her attack and backpedaled slightly, the smoldering stump that was one of its legs now hanging uselessly to the hull, connected to the spider by a bunch of broken machinery thanks to the impact of Milla's attack.
That didn't stop Talia from still screaming in terror, however, which seemed to make the spider stop its retreat, much for Milla's chagrin. She readies herself for another blast, but as soon as she started, her ears captures another sound that whizzed closely by – something sharp and violent, much like a gunshot. The sound distracts Milla enough for the spider to manage to swing one of its legs forward, striking the hound's shield with barbaric force, pushing her backwards and crashing against the tree, making it shake with enough verge to push the panda into hysteria once again.
Milla grunts in between gritted teeth as she pulled herself back from the attack, but it was already too late. One of the spider's good legs launched what was very obviously chains at the cage, and with a solid snapping sound, it removed the cage from the tree and it locked it onto the hull, making the panda girl shriek and cry in absolute horror. Milla jumped off of her landing spot and tried to take another shot at the spider, but the presence of the panda girl made her hesitate and take too long. The spider had the chance to attack her again.
This time, however, she was prepared for the hit. Her shield crashed against the swinging limb from the giant mechaniloid, pushing her once again towards the tree, almost resuming the fight from where it was a few moments back. She grunted, irritated, and threw a quick, sharp look at the scene before her, something that seemed to suddenly come to a complete halt as she pieced together her thoughts.
No, I can't attack, not like this! I might hit her…!
…So, if I can't attack… I might as well try something else!
Milla snaps her tongue once again as she used the tree as a jumping board. As soon as she landed on it yet again, she jumped forward, dismissing her shield and twirling once in the air, throwing a small but very precise jade bolt of energy towards the top of the spider's hull like a shuriken, making an ineffective clanking noise when it dug itself into the metal.
Her jumping pose was awkward, however. As soon as she landed, her right foot made contact with a jagged piece of rock, one of many that adorned the clearing, digging itself deep into her foot and tearing her skin like many of nature's sharp knives. Gasping in surprise as her eyes widen yet again, she fell on her knees and hands as she skid through the grass on her left shoulder, trying her hardest not to strike the ground with her head and succeeding.
"Milla!" screams the frightened Talia, trapped inside the cage as the spider quickly broke distance and fled from the hound, its disgustingly heavy seven legs tearing a path through the forest in its hastened retreat.
"Talia!" Milla yells back, forcing herself to spring back to stand. Her right foot only slightly touches the ground before she grunts in pain, her foot pulsing so hard she could feel it in her head. The slight moment of pain was enough for her to miss her opportunity, however, and before she could bring her eyes back up again, the spider was out of sight, hiding in the cover of the night, its sounds ringing back deeper and deeper into the woods.
The hound took pause for a while before sighing to herself. It's OK. This is far from being over, Milla confirmed with a deep breath, her link with the psychic energy she lodged onto the spider at the expense of her foot still holding strong. Hopefully, Talia will be fine until I put some bandages around my foot. …Ouch. Dumb Milla, this was bad of you.
She prepares herself to sit down, the sharp pain in her foot pulsing on her head like a terrible migraine. Carefully walking so as to not rest her weight on top of her wounded foot, she stopped as soon as another gunshot cracked on the tree in the middle of the clearing, forcing Milla to stop.
"So! Destroying my bots like you're having a party; what's the big idea?"
A clearly annoyed, yet still strangely enough monotonic voice came from the other end of the clearing, being carried from a boy, probably not much older than Milla herself was. Wearing some ill-cared for jeans, boots and a black jacket, probably salvaged from a biker that grew too old to wear it, he held a pistol up front, pointing it directly at Milla, who looks at him with a mixture of surprise and hostility.
"…What did you just say? Your machines?" Milla responds, still limping from her wounded foot as the boy's expression could not be read. She, however, wasn't very happy. "So you're the one who has been attacking me? The one who kidnapped Talia?"
"Kidnap… who?" the boy asks, raising a confused eyebrow at Milla, whose posture was half defensive and half aggressive. "In case you didn't notice, not all those machines have mutants in them. If they attacked you, that was probably 'cuz I programmed them specifically: protocol and patrol, right? Not my fault."
Milla had a hard time looping her head around what she just heard. "…So you programmed them, they attack people because of the programming, and the fault isn't yours? One of those robots kidnapped an innocent girl!"
"Hey, who was it that entered a dangerous forest again?" the boy says with a bored tone, clearly showing no sympathy for the words 'innocent' or 'kidnapped'. "You wrecked my bots, I'm not responsible for whatever's happened."
"W-What? This mostly happened because of you! Show some responsibility!"
"No."
The girl shook her head in exasperation. Without a whole lot else to say to him, she turns around and sat on one of the roots of the solitary tree, her foot bleeding from the wound.
"…Don't ignore me, you didn't answer my question!" he says, still holding the gun forward. "My bots! It took time to program them, you know!"
"Please stop talking, this will kind of hurt," Milla retorts with little patience, her hand glowing a fierce jade as she held and squeezed her foot with force, making her wince and groan with the pain, her eyes tearing up a little from the pressure, the headache bombing through her skull like there was a needle inside it. "URGH…!"
But it worked. As soon as she removes her hand from her foot, the bleeding had stopped completely. The wound was still there, but at least she wouldn't lose blood from it anymore. At least, as long as she was careful with it. The boy watches the scene with unblinking curiosity, the gun now pointing to the ground as he simply shrugged with curious indifference.
"Bandages would have done the job just the same, y'know."
"Why are you still here?" Milla asks, exasperated. "This was your fault! Your robots did this! You said you don't want to help, right?"
"Yeah, I did," he said once again, always managing to jab at Milla's patience with every word he spoke. "My bots didn't 'kidnap' anyone, so that's not my business. Why should I help you?"
And with that, Milla's eyes finally caught a glimpse of something about him. Tightly wrapped around his arm, slightly above the elbow so as to not disrupt the movement of his forearm, was a red scarf. She opened a small smile of her own, her mind finally coming full circle. He's a member of the Red Scarves!
"If you help me get Talia back," she says with a calm tone, still not managing to stand completely straight. "I'll split the reward with you."
His attention was had. Opening a smile of his own, he crossed his arms and pondered the idea for a quick second. "…How much for the reward?"
"Two thousand. Help me save her, and half is yours."
The boy's mouth was swung ajar for a couple seconds before shaking himself out of the stupor. "You can't be serious." Milla's serious expression was unfazed by his reaction, and a pop of sweat rolls down his face, clearly hit by the realization that he was wrong. "…You're serious."
She didn't feel the need to respond; she already had him. After giving the matter a little pause, the boy nods in agreement. "Fine. I'm in."
Milla smiled, her foot now finally not hurting as bad as it was before. "Alright!" she claims in triumph. "By the way, I'm Milla!"
"Hey, we're not friends, OK? I'm only helping you for the cash."
"No, really? And your name is?"
The boy let go a massive sigh as he finally holstered his pistol. "I'm Kai. Also, I know who you are, Milla Basset. Thanks for the unnecessary introduction."
Showing, once again, surprise at realizing someone else knew who she was, she looking a bit stunned at Kai for a brief moment. "How did you know?"
Letting go a smirk that seemed to successfully annoy Milla, Kai shrugged. "Besides the point that everyone under the Avalician sun might as well know who the saviors of our world are? I dunno, take a wild guess."