Alpha and Omega - Jackal's Story
Chapter 18
In collaboration with Subzero Dragon. Visit their profile to see the other side of this story.
That night, I couldn't sleep. There was too much on my mind. The most recent thing that was plaguing my mind was Robin. She caught me in her room and, after a little misunderstanding, I told her of my intentions to give her her sketchpad and drawing utensils. After that though, she had informed me that she was on probation; meaning that she can't undergo solo missions and needs to have at least one other person to be on the team with her. Not only that, everyone included needs to produce a report about the mission and, most likely, include something about how Robin handled the mission. Failure to do so could see Robin being demoted. No longer would she be a God Eater and no longer be able to come with me for missions or I with her. Actually, thinking into it, do I really want Robin to stay on the front lines? She would be safe here and carrying out other tasks if she were to be demoted... I know she wouldn't want to be though. Maybe that's why I agreed to help her with reports. I'm not looking forward to that.
I roll around onto my bed and face the wall, arms underneath the pillow. The dark wall mirrors the peace that I feel in this moment. So why can't I sleep? I wonder if I am still too hung up about me possibly being connected to the Singapore branch. The director is planning on bringing a member of that branch here to confirm if I am originally from there. What happens if I am though? Will I be forced to return? Forced to leave Robin by herself? I don't want that to happen. The dark wall steadily grows darker and my eyelids fall; my last thought being about Robin.
As morning comes, I feel the morning sun warming my body but irritating my eyes at the same time. With much reluctance, I lift my upper body from the bed and notice a lot of wrinkles in my bed sheets. I must have tossed and turned quite a bit. Dismissing that fact for now, I look to my clock. It read as 08:00. There was still an hour before Robin and I arranged to meet up. There's no way I'd be able to go back to sleep now though. The sun is already quite bright and I have no way of blocking it out. At best, I could bathe in the sun, but I do need to get ready too. It won't take long. Ten minutes in the shower and about five minutes to dress myself, eat breakfast and brush my teeth. That would leave me with 45 minutes to spare. Well, I'll decide what to do when the time comes.
The shower was relaxing. Something which I needed after everything that's happened. I don't know whether to be happy or sad at everything in my life so far. Robin's situation means that if she is demoted she'd be safe from Aragami, making me happy, but she wouldn't like that and would be very depressed, depressing me as well. As for my situation, if it turns out that I am from the Singapore branch then I'll have a lead on my past, making me happy, but I will probably be sent back there and need to leave Robin, making me depressed. The shower eased me somewhat, and helped me push those thoughts further away. I wonder if I will meet the Singapore representative today.
After completing my morning routine, I headed back to my room. The clock read as 08:24. It had taken me a bit longer to complete my routine today but I still had plenty of time left. Lying with my back on my bed, I look up to the ceiling. I had forgotten before, but the director thinks that Robin may know something about my past. I'll have to bring that up with her at some point. Maybe not now though, I can wait until she's no longer on probation.
"Hey, Robin. Early as usual, I see?" I greet a surprised looking Robin as I catch her and Alisa together after leaving the lift. I walk over to them.
"Hi Jackal. Alisa and I were just having a chat." Robin greets me back whilst indirectly saying that I interrupted them. Well, whatever they were talking about probably doesn't regard me anyway. They can continue elsewhere. I give a nod and crack my knuckles.
"Cool. So, what's today's target. Chi-You? Vajra? Gboro-Gboro? All three at once?" I ask with a joking smile. Well, what I can make to be one anyway. I didn't realise how much these situations would weigh on me; the only way I can smile is through thinking about Robin being able to participate in missions again.
"Haha, I see Robin's not the only one raring to go." Captain Alisa speaks with a smile before her face contorts into a realisation not three seconds later. "Wait right here. I have an idea for you two, but I need to make a quick call." She briskly walks towards a terminal.
"What's gotten into the Captain all of a sudden?" I speak my question as I continue looking in the direction Alisa sped off in. I never received an answer, but I never expected one either. As quickly as she left, she returned, although now a satisfied smile marred her face.
"And that's settled. Soma has agreed to come with us. Now we have a full roster." Something tells me that Soma isn't going to like the paper work that comes with this mission. Why would he even want to come along anyway? Is it because the Captain asked him? "So, I've been looking at the targets today. I've found one that will be a good test for the both of you."
"And what's that?" I ask curiously. An Aragami that would be a good test for us? That's definitely intriguing.
"It's a Deusphage, a Prithvi Mata to be exact." Alisa looks between us as she explains. "Wanna do it?"
"You bet I do! Let's go!" I was genuinely excited now. Ever since the Ouroboros incident, I haven't had much of a challenge. I know to be very wary of my opponent now though. I don't want to see Robin in the infirmary again.
"Are you nervous?" I hear Alisa speaking and look towards her. The Captain's sudden words had taken me out of my thoughts of the Prithvi Mata. I've never battled against one, but I imagine that it would be easier than facing an Ouroboros. I know that Alisa wouldn't put us up against something like that, especially seeing as how this is Robin's first mission back. "It'll be fine, just you watch. Do what you always do. Remember when you killed that Susano'o? It was a Deusphage too. You'll do fine. You'll prove to everyone that you're capable of rejoining us, all you have to do is believe in yourself." I can only assume that Robin nodded, seeing as how she didn't verbally answer.
"And try not to go kamikaze this time," I can't help but nervously smile as Soma speaks in a brisk voice. It was my fault that Robin decided to, in Soma's words, 'kamikaze' and save me. "That was a giant pain in the ass. Don't inconvenience me again, got it?" He never got a response from her and it didn't seem like Alisa would be responding to him any time soon.
"Thinking about him again, Robin?" Alisa's words, once again, attracted my attention. Who is 'him'?
"I guess I haven't told you yet, have I? About Hinata." Robin speaks solemnly as she notices the confusion on my face. The confusion passes after being given the person's name. When we had resonated, I was given an insight into her past. Hinata was one of the people I had seen in her memories, but why had she told Alisa and not me? I must admit, I do feel a little bit hurt that she didn't think about telling me before the Captain.
"Sort of. You told me a little bit, like how your boyfriend gave his life to try and save you. Is that...?"
"Yeah. It's all I have left of him. Sometimes, I just hold this, especially when I'm scared. It makes me feel like he's watching over me." Robin speaks with her solemn voice. It brightens up slightly as she continues. "I don't want to talk about it right before a fight. I'll tell you the full story when we get back from this mission." It was at this point that I realised that we were descending. We had made it to our destination.
"Okay, it looks like the signal is coming from the chapel area. Please don't come back in the med-evac this time. I don't want to hear about another injury. Stay on guard, and don't let up until the Aragami is dead, okay?" Hibari takes a, not so subtle, jab at Robin for the events of the last mission she was on.
"I'll be careful. Let's go." Robin responds before we continue on our way to find the Prithvi Mata. Taking the far back position, I keep an eye out for the target from the back. I almost walk into Alisa, not realising that the group had all stopped moments before. I look to the person up front to see Soma with his hand up. At this point, I hear the scream of something from inside the ruins. I stealthily walk up to the wall and peek around. The sight reminded me of the cruelties that even Aragami can suffer at the hands of larger Aragami. An Ogretail screaming under the paw of, what I assume to be, the target. The sight was enough to make me flinch. The scream almost made me vomit. I can't recall ever hearing a scream like that before. I was beginning to develop a real distaste to this beast. Especially when seeing it torture the smaller Aragami, devouring pieces of it whilst it is still alive; I guess that even Aragami play with their food. In almost an instant, the Prithvi Mata turns towards us and snaps the Ogretail into two pieces. It charges towards us and I manage to evade it easily. I watch as Robin only just manages to perform a back-flip to avoid it. We aren't allowed a second more to breathe though, as the Deusphage scatters multiple ice shards in our direction. I deploy my shield as quick as I can but still feel the pain of the shards cutting into my arms as they pass by me. I grunt loudly and also hear the pained shouts of my team mates. They mustn't have been able to avoid it either. As quick as I could, ignoring the pain in my arms, I switch my Arc to Gun Form and launch a few Blaze bullets in its direction. I notice Robin rush in afterwards and switch to Melee Form to back her up. However, before I can even move a metre, a blur of gold and red smacks into the Prithvi Mata. Whatever it was looks to have caused a lot of damage. Wait...
"Fuck." I mutter under my breath as I identify the gold and red blur. It was a Garuda.
"What the hell?! Where did that thing come from?!" Soma shouts in surprise and anger.
"This is bad. Everyone, be ready to fight this thing!" Alisa commands, it looks like our target has changed. At least I am with the 1st Unit for support this time, as the last time I was against a Garuda, I was injured fairly badly, and was with members of the 3rd Unit.
"Negative, Alisa, very bad idea! That's a Garuda! It's immune to attacks! Retreat now! Get out of there!" Hibari screams to us. I wasn't equipped to fight a Garuda. I have no qualms with retreating now. Instantly, I turn tail and run.
"Fuck." I mutter again. The Garuda had caught us trying to escape and, no longer interested in the dead Deusphage, decided that we were its next targets. The avian rears its wings back before launching them towards us, unleashing a barrage of icicles similar to that of the Prithvi Mata. I deploy my shield but only manage to block some of the icicles. The rest cut through the skin of everywhere they touch, leaving me with bloodied arms and legs. There's no way that we could fight this thing in the condition we are in. I look towards our only escape.
My heart drops.
Our only escape was barricaded by the icicles that were sent in our direction. I hate to admit it but that was a smart move.
"It cut us off! We can't get out!" I shout to my team mates to inform them of the only choice we have. We need to fight our way through, but how will we manage with an injured team?
"We've got no other choice but to fight!" Captain Alisa speaks sternly and assumes a battle stance. Robin, Soma and I also take up a fighting stance.
"Do we actually stand any chance against it?!" I hated to say it, but I really want someone to tell me that it is possible. Hibari said that it was immune to attacks. So how in the hell will we hurt it? Let alone defeat it? I know that I was able to kill a Garuda, but this looks to be almost double the size of that one. There's no way that I could employ the same method to kill it. Then again, looking around, there is no chance of the Garuda being able to lift us up into the air because of the roof.
"Of course we can!" I look to Robin and see a comforting smile on her face. That's exactly what I needed and Robin knew that. I smile back at her, just knowing that she is confident gives me confidence. I need to keep her in my head though, or else one of us may end up in a similar situation to what she is in now; prohibited from going on solo missions and having to document reports on the undertaken missions.
"What's the plan?" I ask the Captain and see her mulling over her response. I continue to keep watch on the Garuda. It looked to be growing impatient as we haven't moved from the spot, neither has it. A few more seconds pass and its clear to see that the Garuda is getting tired of waiting. It stamps its feet rapidly and makes the ground beneath us unsteady.
"Hurry it up with the plan!" Soma shouts, clearly feeling the same way as the Garuda.
"Give her time to think-" Robin tries to defend Alisa but is sharply cut off by a death glare by Soma as well as direct words,
"We don't have time! Any second now, that beast is going to charge!"
"The Aragami is impatient, can't we use that against it?" I speak up in an attempt to speed up Alisa's thinking process but, like Robin, Soma cuts in.
"And how would we do that? Tell it to wait for a few minutes so we can think of a plan to destroy it? I'm sure that will go down well!" I don't think I'm ever going to get along very well with Soma, especially if he acts like this all of the time. I remember him being a lot nicer after Robin's and my plane crashed just before our first encounter with the Tsuchinoko. Seeing that I don't respond to Soma, he turns back to the beast before brandishing his Arc and charging at it.
"Wait, Soma!" Robin shouts and looks to be ready to charge in after her, but the raising of Alisa's hand stopped her. Alisa didn't seem too worried about Soma; I wonder if he often moved impulsively.
"You two will provide us with cover. Soma and I will attack with our blades." She commands
"But we can do more-" Robin speaks and I agree with her, but it appears that Alisa has made up her mind.
"You've only just been allowed back onto missions. I don't think you're ready to handle this." Alisa interrupts Robin before she can finish her protest.
"Don't worry though, Jackal will keep you company." Alisa adds with a smile before running towards the beast, quite the distance behind Soma. The Garuda easily dodges the few attacks from Soma by flying up to where his blade can't hit it. It lowers itself back down almost immediately after. The Garuda was playing with him, that much was plain to see. Upon hearing Robin shooting a few bullets at the Aragami, I switch my Arc into Gun Form and unload a barrage of Freeze bullets. I'd noticed that the Garuda has a few blue features, this means it current elemental attacks would be Freeze type. Thus, it is weak to Blaze, but for how long will it be. I know that Robin probably shot Blaze bullets, so I will have to adapt for when it absorbs those bullets and changes back to a Freeze type. I wonder how much time it will take for it to absorb and change its elemental type.
"I can't believe this. Returning back to action just to provide backup." Robin groans. Again though, I don't know whether to be happy that Alisa delegated that role for Robin, seeing as how it keeps her away from the monster, or sad because I know this hurts Robin.
"Cheer up, Robin. You'll get your chance sooner or later. In fact, if this mission goes well, you may even be off probation before you know it." I flash her a signature grin. "I doubt many of the other God Eaters can say they've killed a Garuda." Robin looks to think my words over as I keep looking towards her every now and then. She doesn't reply, but she doesn't need to. If she's thinking of something to say, then she isn't focused on defeating the Aragami. I should do the same and stop talking for the minute.
With the addition of another melee attacker, it becomes more difficult for the Garuda to dodge the attacks thrown its way. It also cannot play around as much anymore. Regardless of this though, it still doesn't look like its being challenged. While the bullets are hitting the beast, there looks to be a 1.5 second time period before it can absorb them and use their element. This allows for a short time span for when the bullets are actually effective. I realise that this is beast seems to take longer to absorb the bullets than the smaller one from a while ago. Maybe it has something to do with the size. Also, this Garuda doesn't need to spread its wings to absorb bullets. It seems that no matter where we hit it, it can absorb the bullets.
"We're not getting very far like this!" Robins shouts to us. "Your melee attacks don't even look like they're doing damage!" Alisa backs off from the beast after hearing Robin. Looking harder, Robin is right. Soma and Alisa don't even look to be making a mark.
"Is that even possible, though?! Veteran God Eaters that can't damage an Aragami?!" I shout my confusion so that the two melee attackers can hear.
"Sh-shut up!" Alisa shouts between breaths, "This is our first time against a Garuda!" I suppose she is right. She, like the rest of us, didn't expect a Garuda to show up. We're not prepared for this opponent. Maybe their God Arc's are just not equipped with the right element to defeat it. I suppose that would be difficult though, seeing as how it can change its element.
All of my thoughts halt as the Aragami rises into the air, far out of reach of the melee attackers, but constricted by the roof of the building. I know what's coming next.
"Robin! Melee Form!" I shout, despite knowing that I probably didn't need to, and follow my own instruction to deploy my shield. Just as I thought, the Garuda starts charging towards Robin and I, but we're prepared and it causes minimal damage - pushing past us and landing at the other side of the building. Robin and I quickly turn around and continue our onslaught of bullets as an energetic Soma and fatigued Alisa run by us.
"Maybe we should switch places?" I ask as I hear her run from behind me. It wasn't usual for Alisa to tired after only a few minutes of fighting. I wonder if something is on her mind. Maybe Robin noticed and wants Alisa to tell her. The only way that will happen though is if I can replace Alisa as a melee attacker.
"No, you keep providing support." She says as she wearily runs by me. I have a feeling that it won't be too long before her and I switch, or maybe even her and Robin.
A few more minutes of the same routine, Robin and I shoot different elemental bullets at the monster and Alisa and Soma continue with their melee onslaught.
"Is it possible that the Garuda is immune to melee?" I hear Robin mutter under her breath. It can't possibly be right, right? The other Garuda wasn't, why should this one be? I guess that would explain why it doesn't even look affected from the melee attacks.
"It seems possible. I never knew an Aragami could be immune to a specific form of attacks." I speak to Robin, who seems surprised by my outburst, as evidenced by the cute form of surprise on her face. Cute? Where did that come from?
"I remember that I researched into different types of Aragami back in the Valley. One of them was intangible making it impervious to melee attacks."
"In terms I can understand, please." I ask her, having no idea what she meant by her last sentence.
"It couldn't be affected by blade attacks. Only bullets work. I wonder if the same principle applies here." She informs me and the more I think about it, the more it seems to be right. However, I could not focus on that as the Garuda decides to launch an array of Blaze-cicles in our direction. There isn't enough time for me to switch to Melee Form so I decide to hide, as best I can, behind my gun. Unsurprisingly, it didn't protect me very well and I soon feel the blood dripping down my exposed legs. I guess that it could have been worse, it's not as if the blood is flowing out at an alarming rate. I turn my head to Robin, she had appeared to deploy her shield in time. She must have only just made it. Maybe I should try that next time.
"Jackal! Are you alright?!" I hear Robin shout in worry.
"Yeah, my wounds aren't deep." As if to emphasise the point, I stand without struggle which, seemingly, puts her mind at ease. The two of us continue shooting after an, "are you sure?" from Robin. It warms my heart to know that I'm the object of her concern but it also hurts me that I'm causing her to worry over me. Thankfully, many alarming beeps from my Arc bring me out of my thoughts.
"It sounds like you're out of OP again." Robin comments and I search for another OP capsule.
"Uh oh."
"What 'uh oh'?" Robin asks with a sense of confusion.
"I'm out of OP capsule."
"I'll give you one of mine, hold on." She stops her shooting and tries to find an OP capsule. The absence of bullets doesn't escape the attention of the melee attackers.
"What's the hold up?!" Soma shouts as he ducks under the Garuda's wing.
"I'm out of OP Capsules!" I shout my answer back. The only option I have left is to switch to melee.
"I can't find any!" Robin shouts, making our predicament known to Soma and Alisa. Robin continues searching herself, seemingly adamant on having not used them all.
"Jackal! Swap with me!" I grin at Alisa's command. She's a New-Type God Eater, unlike Soma, so she has access to a gun and, most likely, has stored a large amount of OP from her attacking the Aragami.
"Got it!" I sprint over to the Garuda whilst Alisa runs back to Robin, I make sure to switch my Arc to Melee Form.
Almost instantly upon arriving, my melee attacking has an affect. With a slash, a large cut-like gash forms on its wing.
"It's not immune to melee!" I shout to Robin, knowing that she was wondering that previously. However, as soon as I did so, I notice the tip of its wings change to a red colour - it switched attribute again! My scythe's Blaze attacks won't be very effective and, unlike bullets, I can't freely change its attribute. This is going to be difficult!
Five minutes into my melee attacking and it is clear to see where I've hit the beast, less so for Soma. His fury only grows as he realises it.
"I have an idea!" Robin shouts and, quite honestly, I'm glad that somebody does. It's exhausting work to continuously hit and evade when you know that your attacks aren't very effective but the Garuda's are all life threatening.
"Out with it then!" Even Soma appeared to be fed up with the current rate of progress.
"Everyone, group together over here!" For the slightest of seconds, I look to where her voice is coming from. I see her waving her arm around near the only exit to the building that had been closed off due to the beast's icicles.
"We need to regroup at the icicles." I inform Soma, unsure whether he looked over to where Robin was standing. I back off from the beast slightly, as does Soma, it is now that I throw a stun grenade to the ground. As soon as it goes off, the two of us run over to where Robin, and now Alisa, stand. I guess Alisa must have approved of Robin's plan.
Now that we are all standing near each other while the Aragami is stunned, Robin informs us of her plan.
"We make it charge at us, move away when it's about to hit us, and make it impale itself on its own icicles." Robin speaks with a smile that I rarely see on her. I think it may be a cocky smile.
"Aren't we relying on the Aragami being too impatient that way though." Soma makes a valid point.
"You saw how it was acting before the battle started. It will definitely get too impatient and charge at us." Alisa backs up Robin's plan.
"We'll try it. It may be our only help in this battle." I make sure to vocalise my point and it seems that the rest agree with me. A close roar from the Aragami suggests that it's moving towards us. Turning around, we get ready to play the waiting game - I wonder how Soma will cope.
Five minutes of silence pass by with not even one of us, God Eater or Aragami, making a move. In order for Robin's plan to work, we need to make sure that the Aragami is the first to move; meaning that we cannot move from our spots until it does. I keep looking towards Soma every so often, beside me. I can see that he is getting cold feet, he is visibly shaking to destroy this Aragami. After a few more minutes pass, it gets to the point where I have to extend an arm out to keep him from running at the Aragami. This was the right call, the beast grows enraged as I stopped Soma from charging ahead and, instead, it charges. All according to plan.
The four of us wait until the last second before evading the charge. I only just manage to evade it properly; my foot was almost caught on the Garuda's wing. Thankfully, it missed. I turn quickly as I hear loud crashes and smile at the sight. The Garuda had been pierced in several places, the best of which being in the engraved marks all over its body - the very thing that helps change attribute - has become disconnected. Other places include heavy damage to its wings and, remarkably, I can even see part of its core. My smile grows wider - the end is near.
After the beast had recovered, it turned towards us and it was clear to see that playtime was over. I look at the tips of its wings and see that they are blue - it is locked on the freeze attribute. It must have tried to absorb the first icicle that it was exposed to. Regardless, we were prepared to deal with a Freeze-type Aragami. This should be over in seconds.
It was. As soon as we were able to, we unleashed everything we had against the monster. Robin had joined Soma and I in melee attacking. She must feel great that it was her idea to impale the Garuda on its own icicles. That's definitely something to write about in the mission reports. Anyway, as soon as it was defeated. We each made sure to devour it. This was on my request. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that the Garuda had multiple cores. This was just to guarantee that it was dead.
"I wonder why our Arcs had no effect." Alisa speaks, her head directed at Soma.
"Maybe the rookies have an upgraded Arc. We should ask Licca about it. She might know." Soma responds in a way that I'm not very familiar with. He sounded intrigued. He definitely wasn't when fighting the beast.
"Shouldn't we tell Hibari about this?"
"Right you are, Robin. I'll call her now. Why don't the three of you start heading out?" At Alisa's request, the three of us do start heading out. It was beginning to feel constricted in there. I can't wait for some fresh air.
You can imagine my surprise that, when we get out there, we see a lone figure standing a few metres away from the entrance. We walk over to this figure. As we approach the person, their figure becomes more apparent. It was the figure of a girl but I couldn't figure out what she was wearing. However, any attempts to look over the tall girl's attire, she barrels into me, knocking me off of my feet as she shouts,
"Azrail!"