Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 15
In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story. Events that aren't mentioned here take part in the other side of the story.
After I had called for back up, I ran towards the large Aragami. I couldn't let the beast get too close to the Branch and be a danger for the citizens or possibly just invoke panic in them. Therefore, I intend to drag the beast further away from the Branch. If I have to do that single handedly until my support arrives then I guess I'll just have to do that.
"Naoki, have you seen this beast before?" I manage to say through my exhausted pants as I run towards the monster.
"It's not appearing on the radar. Can you give me a description?" Ah, I get what he is trying to do. If he can't see it, I can act as his eyes to describe it and he'll be able to look it up on the NORN database.
"It's a huge Aragami with massive tentacles." That was the only way I could describe it. The monster was so huge that it was blocking out the little light that the moon was providing, meaning that there is no way for me to see its other features. The only thing that is clear is the tentacles and its size.
"It sounds like an Ouroboros. I'll update the message with the class of Aragami that it is." Naoki speaks before cutting the line. I continue running after the Aragami.
About 15 minutes of running later, I finally get to a decent distance near the monster. I stand about 100 metres away from the monster, but I am able to see more of its features. The night vision goggles definitely help. Now, I can see that the monster has numerous eyes. I feel myself shrink at the beast's size and, with multiple eyes, its eyesight.
"Naoki, how long until my support arrives?" I dare to ask. It took me 15 minutes to run to this point and I was already ready for battle. My support though, they probably aren;t ready for battle, neither are the pilots that will bring them here.
"Everybody is rushing around to get their things ready. A few of them are already ready and are just waiting for a pilot to be ready. This group will probably arrive in 15 minutes." Hearing that they are getting pilots ready is very helpful for me. It means that they won't need to run here and will be in a better condition than I am seeing as how I am.
With the news that my first support group will arrive in 15 minutes and with the Aragami quickly closing the distance, I decide that I will have to act now. The beast had already moved 25 metres as I had asked Naoki about my support. I can't wait any longer. I transform my Arc into its Gun Form and continue my sprint towards it. As I get closer to the Ouroboros, it notices me and halts its movements. I use the opportunity to fire a few Freeze bullets into its face, aiming for the eyes. If I could somehow destroy its eyes, it may be a lot easier to kill. As expected, the monster doesn't take too kindly to be shot in the face and takes what looks to be a defensive position. It plants its feet against the ground and rears its head back to towards its body. It must be trying to make sure that I don't hit its face again. I grin as I aim my Arc towards its face.
" I've found your weakspot " I sing to myself in excitement. I don't know what I was fearing about this monster. If anything, it seems more tame than other, smaller Aragami with it moving its head back in a cute attempt to make me not hit it. As soon as I finish singing this line, I fire two bullets into its face. This time though, I don't get the same reaction.
"What the -" I force myself to stop speaking as I jump to the ground to avoid a laser beam attack that would have hit me in the face. I cover my head with my hands in an attempt to protect it as I notice that the monster's laser beam is still in effect.
"Naoki, how long now?" I ask with a panicked voice. There is no way that I will be able to defeat this thing single-handedly. My only hope is for my back up to arrive very quickly.
"Still about 13 minutes." His response, although fast, was not what I wanted to hear. I had only been battling the monster for about two minutes and already I've had to avoid a killing blow. I look to my right to see that the Aragami has stopped its laser attack but it has started running towards me. I scramble to my feet and narrowly avoid being stomped on. This is going to be a very difficult battle.
"I've just noticed something about the first group." Naoki's lack of positivity alarms me to what I think is about to be bad news. "This group is incapable of helping you out in a melee situation. They're all gunners; Gina, Kota and Kanon." He informs me of the people in the first group that will be sent out. Unfortunately, their Arcs don't have a Melee Form so they will have to avoid getting too close to the Aragami.
"To make matters worse, there is only one functioning helicopter. Ground support has already been alerted. It should take them five minutes to get ready but another twenty before they reach you." That's great news! I think sarcastically. It appears that I won't get any melee help for another 25 minutes. Let's hope I haven't died by then.
With a heavy sigh, I run after the creature that has since came to a stop, looking around as if to try and see me. As I run towards it, I try to assess where the best place to hit it would be. The face is not an option for melee attacking. I am very close to its mouth that way. I can shoot at its face though but I don't have any Oracle Points at the moment. It's legs would seem to be a good starting point. Maybe if I assaulted its legs then it's movement would be restricted. Then again, I don't think I'm ready to attempt to avoid being trampled to death. It's back would seem to be a good option. There are plenty of places to grab hold of if the Aragami tries to buck me off. I think it may be my best option. With this in mind, I decide to run up its back. It notices an increase in weight and attempts to buck me off, like I predicted, but I manage to hold onto what I imagine to be the Aragami's shoulder support. The three pronged bone-like structure is large enough for me to hold onto whilst fighting off the few tentacles that stray too close to me.
"Jackal? What are you doing?" I hear the panic in Robin's voice but I can't help but wonder how she was able to contact me from the Den.
"Jackal? Are you all right?" Without the communication lines changing, Naoki speaks to me. I figure out that Naoki must have contacted me and Robin, whom must have seen the radar, rushed to speak with me. Naoki was panicking too. It wouldn't be good for them to panic.
"I'm fine, at the moment." After telling them my condition, I quickly add the last part with a whisper. "When will the Gunner squad arrive?" I ask while trying to keep a grip on the Aragami's back. I dare not tell them for their own sake. After all, it's not like they know that I am on the Aragami's back. My signal would be smaller than the Aragami's, which must have appeared on the radar now, so my signal would show on top of the Aragami's even if I was assaulting its legs.
"It should be there in a few minutes!" The rushed voice of Robin answers me. I wonder if Naoki and her have become acquainted. Hearing Robin's reply, I move my head from side to side to see any sign of the helicopter bringing them. At least I will have some backup when I arrive. The pilot will probably drop them off on a high ledge so that they have the vantage point over the Aragami. I still won't have any melee support though.
"How long until you're here, Robin?" I ask, moving backwards on the Aragami and closer to its face. I would feel safer if I knew that Robin was with me. She was the first person I had met after waking up from my amnesia and we've been friends ever since, despite our first encounter.
"I'm just waiting for the driver to get ready!" She rushes with her response again. She must be arriving via ground support then. "It should be about 20 minutes!" I try to hide my annoyed grunt but I'm not sure if I succeed.
"Please hurry." I say to her before dropping the line of conversation. It was getting harder to focus on defeating the Aragami whilst speaking. I'll just have to hope that the gunner squad arrives soon.
A few minutes later, I hear the helicopter bringing my support in the background.
"Jackal?! What are you doing on it's back?!" Kanon, in a fit of panic, asks me. They must be close enough so that I could hear them through my earpiece.
"There's no time to explain! Just help me kill it!" I shout, forgetting about the fact that they'd be able to hear me through their own earpieces.
"I didn't think you were so hardcore." Gina gives a snide remark. "I like it-"
"Gina! I honestly don't care what you like at the minute! Just get out of that helicopter and help me!" It may have sounded mean but there was no time to play around. By this time I had reached the upper part of its back, having almost direct access to the monster's horns. However, that also means that more tentacles have direct access to me. I deploy my shield to defend against the tentacles. After being attack like this for a while. I notice that they attack in patterns. Therefore, this allows me to read their next moves.
"You should get down from there, Jackal." Or at least it would have if Kota wasn't distracting me, meaning I have to move around now to avoid being hit by the tentacles. I was ready to attack! After the left tentacles had attacked, I would have moved over to the left side to slash at the arm that the tentacles transform into. Then, after the right tentacles attack and transform into an arm, I would move over to the right side to attack its arm whilst the other arm transforms into tentacles and tries to attack me. However, with Kota speaking, I have been unable to focus on the Aragami's attack patterns. "I understand that you climbed onto its back to avoid being injured, but now you have support."
"I'll be fine, Kota." I dismiss his worries and guard against the last left tentacles before running over to the left side.
"What the?!" I shout as my right foot missteps into a hole and ends up making me fall through the Aragami's thicket of a back.
"Jackal!" I guess the gunnner group must have seen me fall through it back and wind up painfully on the ground, narrowly avoiding being trampled by the Aragami's feet.
"Ah!" I had landed on my backside, and being dropped from a large height was very painful. Nevertheless, the key for God Eaters is to make use of what you are given. Now that I am back on the ground, I can attack the beast's legs.
"I'm fine." I speak to my team mates who I hope are now out of the helicopter. I can't seem to hear it, after all. Surely that means that the helicopter has gone back to the Den to pick up another squad.
"Naoki, how long until the next group arrive?" I ask again. Even with three other God Eaters, I don't think that we'll be able to defeat this Aragami.
"The ground support group containing the 1st Unit is on its way now. ETA is 15 minutes." Naoki informs me, the previous panic in his voice having left him. After a few more swipes against the Aragami's feet, I run out from under it. I don't think slashing its feet was very effective. I'll have to make sure that, if I am going to continue my melee attacks, that I continue them against the Aragami's already damaged arms.
After five more minutes of slashing against the arms as well as the gunner squad shooting the Aragami, it appears that it is finally feeling the effects of our attacks. It falls to the floor with its tentacles out in front of it, I continue my assault on them and finally break through the Aragami's skin.
"The Aragami's tentacles have been unbound! It is sure to react in a violent way!" I hear Hibari speaking through the earpiece.I wonder if she was told to wake up to help out Naoki. Nevertheless, I continue my onslaught on the beast that is quickly making its way back to its feet. The Aragami looks to, once again, rear its head into its body but a few seconds later, I realise that the Aragami is rising on its hind legs, making attacking its tentacles impossible. I run to its feet.
"Jackal, wait!" I the gunner group shout and stop in my tracks, only a metre or two away from its feet. "Fall back!" They shout but even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The Ouroboros smashes its tentacles into the ground and unleashes a blinding light. I couldn't shield my eyes quick enough and face the full brunt of it. My vision is white and I find myself panicking as I feel a sharp, powerful blow to my chest, knocking me back by what I think is several feet.
"Jackal, are you okay?!" The panicked voice of Kota and a sudden raise in my head's elevation returns my vision. Other than the fact that I notice that Kota is now holding my head and looking down at me with, a quickly changing, face from panic to happiness, I notice that the Aragami is now about 50 metres away. I look down to my chest and see fresh blood soaking my shirt.
"I'm fine." I stand up with a bit of a struggle before lifting my shirt up to see how deep the wound is. Surprisingly, it wasn't very deep.
"Naoki! My ground support! Where is it?!" I angrily shout. I had lost my patience. Had the gunner squad not have been here then it is possible that I would have been trampled to death.
"ETA is five minutes! Just try to hold on!" I cut off the connection and grunt angrily. I was pissed off! I've been out here for a long time now and it looks as though the Aragami can still go on for a while longer. Whereas, it would take a few hits before a person would die if facing one of the these beasts. I'm already nearing death. I probably won't be able to take another blow like that.
"Maybe you should stay back." Kota suggests in concern.
"We'll deal more damage if we have at least one person to attack via melee. Since nobody else can do that, I guess it will have to be me." I brush off his concern with logic before rushing back towards the Aragami.
After what feels like a minute of angrily attacking the Aragami, it, once again, falls to its front with its tentacles displayed in front of it. As I hack away at the exposed skin, Naoki gives me some information I didn't want to hear.
"Your ground support has encountered a smaller herd of Aragami. They have been instructed to destroy them before coming to help you."
"What?!" I wasn't happy at this news. "Who the hell instructed them to do that?!" I was definitely going to give that person a talking to. To delay my support is almost the same as letting me fight for me own life. I won't be able to defeat this thing by myself! Even if I do have gunners to support me, what are they going to do if it looks like I am going too be trampled? Come in and defend me with their gun since they don't have a shield? That's preposterous! As every thought crosses my mind, the strength in which I hit the Aragami increases.
"Ms. Amamiya commanded it." It sounds like I'll have to have a stern talk with Tsubaki then. "Don't worry though, it shouldn't take too long for them to arrive." Despite Naoki trying to reassure me, I knew that it would take a while to defeat the Aragami. I groan as the Aragami climbs back to its feet. I attempt to get in a few more slashes before it can narrowly avoid its arms swinging towards me.
"Whew. That was clo-!" I suddenly feel the Aragami's arm smash into my already damaged chest at such a high speed that I fly through the air for the second time of the day. I come to a stop after my back hits something hard. The last thing I hear before I black out is Kanon shouting,
"I'll get him!"
My vision returns almost as suddenly as it was taken from me. However, instead of a battleground, all I see are white walls. I lift my head up and see that the entire room was white. More alarming though, was the fact that it was empty. There was not even a speck of colour in the room apart from what I am wearing. In fact, the only way I know that this is a room is because of where the walls meet. Other than that, there is no indication to suggest I am in a room. There are no doors at all and there are no windows either. Why am I here and what are these rooms used for? These are the only questions that cross my mind.
"Jackal" I hear a feminine voice whisper to me. I can't identify the whisper though but I try to find the source. I fail to do so.
"Hello?" I speak up, hoping to get a response while walking to one of the white washed walls and moving my hand across it. I wasn't panicking which is what surprised me.
"Jackal!" I hear again, this time it was a shout at the other side of the room. I rush towards it.
"Hello?!" I shout to the wall but don't receive a response. I continue rubbing my hands across the walls, trying to feel for a door to escape from. That is until I feel myself being forced out of the room via the ceiling and I feel my blood boiling but not before hearing,
"He's talking to himself again." With these being the last words I hear, the white room fades from my sight.
I shoot up in surprise and find this to be a bad idea because of three reasons. One, because of the blood that rushes to my head. Two, because my head smacks into something. And three, the pained "ow" I hear coming from this something. Or should I now say, someone? I recoil as the pain in my head overcomes my thoughts. I look to see who I had bumped into and find Kanon sitting near me with bandages at her side. She also had a hand to her head.
"Sorry about that, Kanon." I apologise for bumping into her before looking down to my chest. I see that, despite the world slightly moving from my dizziness, my chest has been wrapped in a bandage; the bandages going over my clothes. I wonder if the wound had gotten deeper because of the blow that knocked me out.
"That's fine. Are you feeling okay? Can you continue?" I knew she was asking me if I could still fight and I confirm with a firm nod. Judging by the fact that Kanon was still healing me, I assume I haven't been out for long. It is strange though. The situation of me being in that white washed room felt so real. It couldn't just have been a dream.
"Great! Well, let's get back out there!" Kanon's enthusiastic voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I grab my Arc, which had fallen to the right of me, and head back into the fight; opting to attack via Gun Form for a while before resuming my melee attacks.
"Jackal!" As I slash at the downed Aragami's tentacles, I hear a voice calling my name. At first, the voice reminds me of the white washed room but I realise that the voice was more than likely a shout for my to avoid an attack. I look around my immediate vicinity to see where the Aragami is attacking from but don't see anything and thus, resume my slashing.
"Jackal!" I stop my angry onslaught of attacks and make sure to step away from the Aragami so that I am a reasonable distance away while I turn to check who shouted my name. I see that the 1st Unit has arrived with Robin leading the way to me.
"Thank God you're here." All the anger in my voice dissipates as Robin and the group consisting of Alisa, Soma and Lindow appear. The three of them look to be slightly bruised and out of breath. I wonder if they had to run all the way here from where they were taking care of a smaller group of Aragami.
"Looks like you've been doing pretty well, Rookie." I ignore Lindow calling rank as Robin takes my interest. Truthfully, I was speaking to her anyway. I see her eyeing up my injury. I lift my shirt up and say that the wound isn't very deep.
"Don't worry, it isn't deep but Kanon bandaged it up for me." I'm not sure if I had stopped her worrying, the fact that her eyes still linger on my chest means that I probably haven't subdued her worries, but we have bigger problems now.
"Let's leave the chit chat until later, right now, we have an Ouroboros to fry." I agree with Lindow on this, and prepare for a fight. Now that I have melee support, it should go down in minutes.
I was right. Only another five minutes after they arrive, the Aragami falls into an unmoving heap. I breathe a sigh of relief that the whole ordeal is over.
"Well, seeing as how Jackal dealt the most damage, I think he has the right to devour its core." Taking Lindow up on his offer, I aim my Arc and devour its core. The rest of the God Eaters had already began walking back. After my Arc had devoured its core, I started walking towards the group. I notice that Robin had waited a little bit further ahead and occasionally gives me a few glances. Probably just to make sure where I was. Truthfully, I wanted to walk with her anyway. I wanted to have a chat with her as well. I had to do something first though.
"Naoki, the monster has been defeated." I inform him, slowly closing the distance between Robin and I. "It put up a good fight but-"
"Are you sure it's dead?" His question confuses me.
"Yeah, I devoured its core. I'm sure it's dead." I tell him with confidence. There's no way that the Aragami could survive without its core.
"It's still on the radar-" Naoki's protest is interrupted by Robin suddenly shouting.
"Jackal!" I look to her to see panic on her face as she runs towards me with her God Arc ready. What could she possibly be doing? - Unless... I turn around to see the Ouroboros in a very much alive. The next few moments pass by in slow motion. Robin runs in front of me and deploys her shield. It is only after I see the tentacles heading straight for us that I realise what she is doing. Without being able to prepare my own shield, the Aragami launches its tentacles towards us. However, with Robin being in front of me by quite some distance, all of the tentacles head towards her. At that moment I realise that Robbin is in very big trouble. Her shield is too small to deflect all of the Aragami's tentacles which means only one thing. Robin will definitely be hit by them. Knowing this, a sinking feeling develops in my stomach. It feels as though my heart has moved to my abdomen with a sickening, chilling blow. My legs feel numb as the tentacles move towards her at an tauntingly slow pace. I try to move my legs in an attempt to get in front of her to protect her but my legs won't cooperate. They seem to be rooted to the spot. Upon realising that I can't move, I begin to feel fear as the tentacles reach Robin. She attempts to block the tentacles. However, her shield is too small to stop all of them so many of them hit the areas that her shield cannot protect, mainly her head and legs. Suddenly, the slow motion stops and the force from the tentacles smashing into her makes her fly by me. All I could think about was how Robin had saved me from meeting the same fate; possibly an even worse fate since I didn't know that the Aragami was still alive until she rushed to protect me. I sprint over to her as, thankfully, the God Eaters that were with us had already paid attention as to what was happening as soon as Robin had shouted my name and, within seconds, they are in front of us. I hold Robin's injured form as she bleeds profusely, making sure not to aggravate her injuries further.
"Robin?! Speak to me?!" I shout in a desperate attempt to keep her from blacking out, knowing that if she did so, there'd be a chance that she won't wake up.
"Take her back to the Far East!" Alisa instructs and I didn't wait a second longer to do just that. The numbness that I felt before, I could still feel now but that won't stop me in getting her the help she needs. I sprinted with her in my arms, making sure to be careful of her head wound that was pouring of blood. I stop running once I get a safe enough distance away to rip off the arms of my shirt and wrap them around her head like a bandage to try and stop the blood from pouring out. After doing so, I continue to sprint back. I trust the other God Eaters to take care of the Aragami. They've been doing this for longer than I have and it looks like they've ran into this situation before.
I run back some of the way before seeing the vehicle that is bringing the next group of God Eaters to the fight. After quickly explaining the situation, they get out of the car and I get in with Robin in my arms. I make sure to try to stop the bleeding of her wounds before explaining the situation to Naoki. He tells me that Alisa had already called ahead of me and explained the situation. He informs me that the medical team are already waiting to receive Robin. After ending the conversation, I clutched onto Robin's injured form and made sure to support her head as we travelled at a fast pace in the car,, knowing that any sort of trauma suffered by this could change her life forever.
By the time we arrive at the Far East, the medical team takes Robin from my arms. Unfortunately for me, or perhaps fortunately, a member of the medical team notices the cut on my chest and makes sure to drag me into the infirmary as well. This makes seeing Robin a lot easier and so, as one member of the medical team works on me, the others are working on her. I continue to look at Robin and see her pained expression. I hate to think it, but it seems even more painful for me since I don't know what to do or how I can help her. I feel so powerless. The last time I felt like this was after the Tsuchinoko attacked us for the first time and Robin was unconscious for many days. I seriously hope that won't happen again.
"We've only got one bag of blood left. It's not going to be enough!" I hear one of the members shout from Robin's position. They didn't have enough blood? What does that mean? Has she lost that much blood that she needed a blood transfusion? I feel like I'm about to throw up. My friend is in desperate need of medical treatment and I hear that there isn't enough blood for her. I look to her face as if hoping that this was some sort of cruel joke. Judging by the loss of colour in her cheeks, I know that it isn't. This just reinforces the feeling of sickness that threatens to overcome me.
"Dammit we need more blood or she won't make it!" The doctor only confirms my fears. There had to be a way for them to get more blood.
"Have you tried cross-referencing the blood types of other God Eaters?" I ask my question in a louder tone than what I'd usually speak in order to be heard.
"You should get some rest, Jackal." The nurse tending to my wounds speaks to me but I dismiss her words as my own had managed to gain the attention of the doctors and nurses working on Robin.
"There are still a few God Eaters in the Den, right? Cross-reference their blood types with Robin's and see if you get a match." I inform them but they don't seem to be doing anything in response. "Well get a move on! My friend's life is at stake!" I shout as I see them not bothering to move. Thankfully though, my shout gives the desired effect and a few of the nurses leave the infirmary.
A few minutes later, they return with what I hope to be some good news.
"Well?!" I asked in a rushed tone. It didn't seem as though these nurses would speak without being spoken to first.
"Only one God Eater is a match." One of them men stammer out.
"You, Jackal, are a match." At the woman's words, my eyes widen slightly. I never expected to have the same blood type as her but this only makes things much better.
"Well take some of my blood then." I speak and almost shout the same thing as they don't seem to be making a move.
"We think that you've already lost too much blood as well." What are they talking about? There was only a slight cut on my chest. How is that losing too much blood? "You haven't lost as much blood as your friend but you have still lost quite a bit."
"If I haven't lost as much Blood as Robin, it means I can still give her some of mine!" I shout in response to the news I was receiving. Did they not know how blood transfusions work?
"If we do that, you might end up having less blood in your system than Robin does now. Do you want to take that risk?" Risk? What sort of thing can too little blood in your veins do?
"If you don't have enough blood, your blood pressure falls drastically and your internal organs could fail." The remaining male nurse explains to me what a lack of blood can do. However, there is one thing that I am certain of,
"Robin risked her life for me. She is only in this condition because I wasn't aware of my surroundings. It is my fault that she is injured so she is my responsibility. Of course I want to take the risk!" I shout my answer. They hesitate at first but the confirmation from one of the doctors still working on Robin makes them set me up to harvest some of my blood. Mid-way into my donation, I begin to sweat heavily and soon find myself blacking out without even knowing if my blood has helped Robin or not.