Alright, last chapter in the first arc! Finally, get to thicken the plot now. There will be another chapter that takes place in between Arc 1 and 2, so I'll hopefully get that out relatively quickly, even if it won't be as long as the more recent chapters I've been doing. I will be taking a small break afterward to try to regain inspiration and hopefully get a few chapters in Arc 2 done before I begin posting again. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!
Review Responses:
Connor the speling pro: No, I don't think you came off that negatively. Personally, I do have an issue with being too harsh when critiquing things myself. If I was being offended, I would've talked with you about it. Granted, criticism stings at first, but it only lasts a few minutes before I get over it. And I greatly appreciate your advice, and I'll try to improve upon it in the future.
Disclaimer: I do not own Earthbound...really, I've done this a bunch of times before. Do I really have to do it again?
Lucas watched as the last of the Pigmasks fell from Paula's lightning, sighing in relief once the skirmish was over. He hated having to harm others like in this war, but it was a necessary evil. Besides, their objective was right in front of them. The sooner they could take it; the sooner people will stop dying.
"The mainframe is past those doors," the head scientist announced (the obvious), pointing directly at the double doors ahead. "We just need some way to get in there, as well as not be killed by the guards," he muttered, scratching his chin.
"Allow me," Lucas said as he walked to the front, concentrating on the buildup of power in his hand. He leveled it right at the door, and fired off a barrage of hexagons, which caused the door to not only fly off its hinges but also halfway across the room behind it.
"Good job, but was that really necessary?" Paula asked before she dashed into the room, firing off bolts of electricity at her opponents. Lucas couldn't help a sheepish grin on his face, knowing that he used way more force than necessary. Maybe he just overestimated the door's durability, or underestimated how own power.
Regardless of his power, the battle did not stop for him to process his thoughts for very long. However, it was one-sided enough that Paula and Ana's support were able to wreak enough havoc that the Eagleland soldiers quickly overwhelmed the Pigmask guards, though the 2-to-1 ratio also helped. Needless to say, when the skirmish was resolved, all the Pigmasks were dead while very few Eagleland soldiers were either dead or injured. Those that were injured were being treated by Ana.
He saw Holland gesture to the captured scientists behind them, and they began to make their way across to the back of the room as a few soldiers covered them just in case something happened.
"The backup mainframe," the head scientist announced, gesturing to the control panel (which had remarkably escaped damage in the fight). "Fine piece of work if I do say so myself."
"If it's so 'fine', then go and shut it down before someone runs knives through hit," Holland snapped, evidently not in the mood for unnecessary chatter.
"It'll take some time to properly shut it off," the scientist replied as he began messing with it. "Please try to be patient so we can concentrate."
Lucas saw Holland's hands ball up into fists at his casual tone, and the teen himself couldn't help glaring at him. "Our soldiers are dying out there; Eagleland and Pigmasks thanks to your blasted system, so you better know that we can't wait for you and your assistants to dilly dally around like-"
"Pigmasks incoming!" the cry of a soldier cut Holland off as everyone turned to look at the entrance. Lasers flew at them as Pigmasks were barreling down the hall, no Eagleland soldier daring to try to block them lest they be riddled with holes. As it was, several had already fallen before they could get to cover.
"Out of the way!" Paula cried, Lucas watching as she fired a blast of fire down the hall. The Eagleland soldiers by the entrance made sure to scoot away even further as the flames rushed past them. Lucas joined in the attack as well, charging up a PK Love Beta, trying to ignore the cries of agony from the burning Pigmasks as he fired it. The barrage broke the first line and probably wreaked havoc on the rest of the formation given how they flew back.
They were disorganized. This was the time to strike, and everyone knew it.
Captain Holland didn't even need to order the charge; most of the Eagleland soldiers were already rushing in with battle cries, Paula and Ana among them. Lucas glanced one last time at the scientists to make sure they were doing their job before rushing into the fray himself, trying to cast shields over friendly combatants.
Clang. Crash. Clang.
WHAM!
Ninten swung his blade, not intending on showing any mercy to his adversary. Their confrontation already felt like hours to him, though he knew that not even a minute had gone by. It was probably only seconds that had passed.
He strafed to the side to evade one of his adversary's swings, trying to slash her in the process. Unfortunately for him, she managed to get out of the way and their old clash resumed as they tried (and failed) to score a solid hit.
Evidently, Kumatora had grown tired of it as she roared, swinging her hammer with enough force to knock Ninten's Giant Knife out of his hands, sending it flying several feet before it clattered to the ground right before it hit the wall. But the sheer power she put behind the swing left her vulnerable and Ninten was able to give her a knee right into the ribs before she could bring it back around. The veteran followed up by swinging one of his hands down into the hands that held her hammer, causing her to let go with a growl of pain.
His efforts to disarm her had left him open though, his opponent taking advantage of this by hurdling into him shoulder-first, sending both of them to the floor. Kumatora pinned Ninten onto the ground and attempted to punch him, but this was not his first time in a situation like this and he knew exactly what to do.
He was barely able to lean his head out of the way of the first punch and give her a sound headbutt, causing her to falter for long enough in order for him to knock her off of him. He quickly ran over to his Giant Knife and retrieved it, and also barely rolling out of the way of a blast of fire, though he could still feel the heat searing his skin.
"Looks like you still lack ranged skills," Kumatora chastised, picking up and twirling her hammer in her hands.
"I didn't need them against many of my opponents," Ninten replied, pointing his Giant Knife at her with confidence.
Kumatora didn't reply as their weapons met again, and again. Ninten knew that he couldn't meet her hammer head on due to its blunt force, instead either catching it on the handle or deflecting it by tilting his blade at an angle. Fortunately, his PSI infused blade was able to stand up to the punishment and even land a cut on her arm. Granted, she barely seemed to notice it and healed it the first chance she got, but it was something.
Ninten quickly realized her sole focus was on the clash, which gave him an idea. He charged his PSI, but not for a direct attack. He waved his hand, and sent his adversary's hammer flying out of her hands and into some random room next to them. He smirked in satisfaction as it worked, and she gave him a look, but not one of anger. She appeared more...impressed than anything.
"Not bad," she remarked with a grin. "Gave me enough time worrying about our clash that you were able to disarm me... Impressive, so allow me to see your...other skills." The veteran couldn't react fast enough to the blast of ice that flew at him, detonating right in front of where he stood. The shockwave from the blast knocked Ninten back and caused him to lose his grip on the blade, which went flying and clattered onto the ground next to him. But before Ninten could grab it, another blast of ice encased it in an icy slab where it would be impossible to retrieve. Ninten scowled as he stood up, watching his opponent carefully. Normally, the PSI user would use his telekinesis to get it free, but with Kumatora right there he was sure she wasn't gonna give him an opportunity to do so.
He rushed in, knowing that it was his only chance of landing some solid hits. His quick strikes caused his opponent to stumble into the room behind her. However, his adversary's hands began to sparkle, and Ninten managed to get out of the way of one of the bolts, but not the second. He growled and clenched his teeth, trying to shrug off the feeling of his skin being sizzled. Fortunately, the attack did not last for very long and quickly ended, the veteran simply using Lifeup to restore his energy. Besides, it was only Beta level; not too powerful.
Kumatora took the opportunity to rush in while he was distracted and pinned him against the wall. This wasn't the first time such a situation happened to Ninten, and he quickly broke free and slammed her against the wall, but before he could reverse the positions, the fiery tomboy whipped around and backhanded him across his cheek. It didn't hurt that much, but it did cause Ninten to back off.
Kumatora glanced around the room and smirked. "When we're finish, care to clean up my office?" Kumatora asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Trashing it is a better idea to me," Ninten retorted, PSI charging around his hands and held one out as a psychic blade formed in it.
Kumatora replied with a shrug, forming her own blade in her hands. They charged in, another round of clashing weapons underway.
The Pigmask counterattack was long since beaten back; now the Eagleland troops were still on the alert, but no Pigmasks were incoming. Many of the inexperienced ones (particularly the militiamen) were starting to relax while the veterans tried to maintain their vigilant watch.
"Are you done yet?" Lucas impatiently asked. "I'm starting to think that you are only doing this to stall us at this point."
"And you who know nothing about this system could do better?" one of the scientists countered.
"Touche," Lucas grumbled, fidgeting to try to alleviate his frustration at not being able to do anything.
"There; that should do it!" the head scientist declared. "We also gave the order for surrender as well...shouldn't be long before the battle ends."
"We just have to make sure that they all stop shooting and round them up," Holland said. Still, Lucas couldn't help a sigh of relief, glad that the battle was finally over.
"Wish my friend wasn't transferred," he overheard the head scientist say to one of his colleagues. "He and his sons would be relieved to be liberated from this."
"It won't be over until we take out their commander," Paula reminded Lucas, evidently noticing that he was relaxing.
Lucas smacked himself on the forehead for forgetting that Ninten was in the middle of his own battle.
"You three; go and help Fubiki take on the commander!" Holland ordered the PSI users. "Lieutenants, split into three groups. Two will secure the base and round up prisoners; kill any that don't surrender and I'll take the third down to meet up with the other force."
A chorus of affirmatives followed, the Eagleland soldiers breaking into three groups and rushing out of the door, splitting off down the hallways. Meanwhile Lucas looked at Paula, whom he considered to be the honorary leader whenever Ninten wasn't around.
"Never liked the Pigmasks anyway...good riddance they're surrendering," the head scientist grumbled as Eagleland soldiers around him kept a careful watch on him. "Had enough of being used like that."
"Alright; follow me down the hall," Paula ordered, Lucas getting on her flank with Ana on her other.
"Hey hold on a minute," Teddy butted in. "Don't think it's a good idea for you three kids to be without adult supervision."
"We managed fine without you," Lucas shot back, shaking his head in exasperation.
"Why the anger?" Teddy asked. "You can't deny that another fighter would be useful. At least it gives you better odds of making it out alive, right?
"Fine, but don't get in our way," Lucas conceded, tapping his foot to signal that he was ready to move on.
"Geez; what's with this guy?" he heard Teddy ask. The blonde teen didn't even bother with a response, casting a dark glare at the wall in front of him as he followed Paula out.
Ninten staggered back from a hit, but quickly slashed to prevent her from following up. He deployed a Shield Alpha over himself, renewing the other rapidly weakening shield. Kumatora simply fired off a blast of lightning, but Ninten managed to throw himself to the side, but didn't escape the full attack.
Nevertheless, he brought his blade around and tried to cut her, but to no avail. However, he was keenly aware that his PSI energy was dwindling, so between that and his lack of success he let the blade dissolve into thin air.
Kumatora on the other hand seemed to think that this was her chance and moved in, Ninten forced to duck and dodge her attacks. One of her attacks left her wide open, so he quickly performed a sweep kick, knocking his opponent off her feet, though she rolled away before he could bring his foot down on her.
"You certainly are tenacious, aren't you?" Kumatora observed. "For someone who lacks long-range capability, you certainly are giving me a run for my money."
"It's called 'close quarters training'," Ninten replied as he watched Kumatora dissolve her own blade. "You could probably use more experience there."
"But maybe you should be more focused on defense," Kumatora smirked, firing off a quick blast of lightning at him.
Ninten didn't react quickly enough, the bolts connecting with him. He growled in pain as he fell to one knee, weakened by the electric blast. His mind temporarily drifted back to the fight against Fassad in Tazmily, but unlike then, he had Lifeup back. He quickly used it to revitalize himself, though his PSI energy was running critically low. He'd have to start drawing on his reserves before long.
"I'm not surprised on how tough you've become, but you are still at the disadvantage," Kumatora remarked, more PSI energy surrounding her hands.
"And what makes you think total victory was my intention to begin with?" Ninten questioned.
"I thought so," the Pigmask commander grinned. "Buying time...but you need not have bothered."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sure you'll find out in a minute...and I'm also sure it has nothing to do with any sort of trap for your forces."
"And if you're lying?" Ninten growled, not happy about the possibility.
"Then you'd be on your own, so you better hope I'm not."
It was an ordinary day for the Pigmask second-in-command, though it always seemed quite dull due to the lack of action he'd been in recently. He didn't know why his subordinates were so incompetent as to be forced onto the defensive by those loathsome government pawns. The Pigmasks had more will to fight than the average Eagleland soldier, so why couldn't they beat off the enemy more often?
Well, at least the project was coming along on schedule. If anything, the army would buy them enough time to complete the project...though it worried him with how much Kumatora knew. Did she realize what exactly they were going to use the power for? It would be dangerous if she leaked this information to the enemy... He had no choice. He would have to get rid of her to ensure the secret's safety. It would not sit well with anyone outside the Supreme Command that they were chasing what most would consider a legend fabricated from thousands of years ago.
Fassad took a massive bite out of his banana, dropping the peel on the floor. For him, eating was always a reliable way to deal with stress, especially eating bananas. And with this war nearing a critical point, he needed to be relaxed if he was to continue being an effective commander. None of his subordinates could see the picture like he and his master could, which was why he knew that they needed time to win the war, and time was what the armies were buying. Granted, he expected them to be more successful, but he supposed that for rising from an unconventional background he could not hope for that much more on the open battlefield. If the terrain was more suitable, they would've relied more on guerrilla tactics, but that was impossible.
"Commander!" Fassad jerked as his train of thought was derailed by the shout and the banging on the door, and he nearly dropped the banana he just grabbed on the floor.
He scowled, but figured that he mind as well listen in case this was anything important. "Come in, and what is it?" Fassad growled, even though he tried to keep his voice civil.
Apparently the Pigmask on the other side was too panicked to notice, given that he just rushed into the room and gasped, "We just lost contact with our base on Mt. Itoi!"
"What?" Fassad yelled, his previous annoyance frightened replaced with fury at the loss of such a strategic location in such little time.
"Our sensors no longer work!" the Pigmask explained. "The last we know is that Commander Kumatora was fighting a PSI user aligned to the Confederation, and that the base was on the verge of falling when communications were cut."
"Great..." Fassad sighed, wondering if their greatest secrets were about to fall into the hands of the enemy. "You can leave now soldier, but if you breathe a word to anyone about this, I will have your head as well as everyone who knows about it! Clear?" he threatened.
The Pigmask squeaked as he hastily saluted and scuttled out of the room.
Fassad leaned back in his chair with a sigh, shutting his eyes as he pondered the situation. He would have to consider Mt. Itoi lost, which meant that the forces around Ellay would have no choice but to withdraw. And he didn't know what their commander would do in the meantime. Kumatora had always been a loose cannon in the Pigmask hierarchy, and it was unlikely that she wouldn't do something to only exacerbate how her fellow commanders viewed her. With communications with the mountain cut, someone would have to fly out there personally to check out the situation...though maybe she was responsible for disabling the surveillance system somehow.
Ninten didn't know how much longer they could last. He felt that he was on the last of the reserves of his PSI energy, and from what he could tell; Kumatora was likely suffering from a similar issue due to no longer using any PSI attacks. Both were breathing hard and it was clear that they were on their last legs.
Ninten growled as he began to himself forward, ready to enter another round of close quarters combat when a beeping sound went off, causing him to halt.
"What is it?" Kumatora asked as she pushed a button, though kept a watchful eye on her opponent.
"Commander! The mainframe has gone down!" a voice barked over the intercom.
"Order all troops to retreat!" Kumatora immediately ordered through her heavy breaths.
"But commander, Marshal Fassad's orders were to-"
"Those orders can rot in hell for all I care!" Kumatora snapped, cutting off the reply. "Get as many people as you can out! Understand?"
"Y-Yes commander," the Pigmask stuttered before cutting off the line.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "About time that happened," she muttered.
Ninten merely raised an eyebrow. "You're saying that the loss of this base is a good thing?" he questioned with a hint of incredulity to his tone.
"From my perspective, yes," Kumatora replied. "But that's enough of this. This battle is over; you've won."
"That's unlike you to give up so easily," Ninten muttered, raising an eyebrow at her. "Almost makes me think you've lured me into a trap...especially since you seem to be better off than me."
Sure enough, most of the injuries were sustained by Ninten, having been burned, electrocuted, and blasted with ice multiple times over the battle, though Kumatora had not escaped scot-free either, with multiple bruises and cuts on her.
"I did what I needed to do, so can you at least let me speak?" she asked.
"Okay then," Ninten answered after a moment of silence. The most she could do was either stall for reinforcements (which were unlikely given her order) or try to manipulate him. He wasn't going to fall for the latter, and he could escape the former if he had to.
"You remember what I said the last time we met?" Kumatora asked. "How the Pigmasks desire equality and a stronger government? Well, I'm sure you've seen the chimeras we fielded in recent battles...you know, the half-machine and other hideous fusions of animals?"
"Yeah? What about them?"
"The Pigmasks are violating their own promises by creating them," Kumatora growled, clenching her fists. "We were told that they were only being created to save the lives of animals that had been critically injured. Yet perfectly healthy ones are being converted."
"And you didn't find out about this until they began to be fielded?" Ninten questioned skeptically.
"Fassad's very good at keeping information from people...but not good enough," Kumatora smirked. "I was able to pull some strings to get into classified information...and not only did I find out some of their darkest secrets, I also figured out their main objective."
That got Ninten's curiosity, since if he could learn their plan, then they could use this knowledge against them and win the war. But there was still that chance Kumatora was lying, so he had to be careful.
"There are eight pockets of Pigmask forces scattered across Eagleland," Kumatora explained, beginning to pace back and forth across the room. "They could simply be behind your lines, out of the way locations, and just overall terrible place to form bases...except for one quality they all have in common.
"They each house one of the Eight Sanctuaries."
Ninten scoffed, finding it hard to believe Kumatora's claim. "Yeah right. The Eight Sanctuaries are only a myth; you know that as well as I do."
Kumatora neglected to reply as she walked across the room behind her desk, which was surprising to Ninten. From what he knew of her, she didn't tend to take such disrespect well. 'Maybe she matured a little, or she simply expected me to reply like that,' he mused as she pressed the button on the wall behind it. Two panels on the wall shuddered as they slid open, revealing the high-tech room on the other side.
"Well, aside from showing off your incredible tech, do you have a reason for this?" Ninten questioned, following her into the room.
"See this?" Kumatora asked, shoving a paper into Ninten's face.
"Maybe you haven't gotten over your anger issues after all," Ninten muttered to himself, reading it. His brow furrowed in concentration as he skimmed it, but he quickly grasped the point; it was proof of the Eight Sanctuaries' existence.
"And that's your hard proof right there," Kumatora said, a hint of smugness to her tone.
Ninten ignored that as he looked back up at her. "I take it there's more proof?" he asked.
Kumatora nodded. "You'd expect me to believe a legend with only one piece of paper to back it up?" she laughed. "I had to practically move the Earth itself to get all of this information," she claimed.
"So why did you go to such lengths to find out about this?"
"I wanted to find out what was up with those eight pockets of Pigmasks that weren't really doing anything," she explained. "They were at largest battalion sized units too; valuable in the front lines with how low our numbers are. And when I found out about them...well, I couldn't stop looking into them. If the power that they are said to possess is even remotely comparable to how powerful they really are, then no one can possess it...and certainly not a faction that has broken its promises in the past."
"What are you saying?" Ninten inquired, a small bit of hope surfacing within him at a suspicion that grew.
"Is it not obvious that I'm ditching them? Gosh!" Kumatora threw her hands up into the air in exasperation.
As much as Ninten wanted to smile at that, he forced his face to remain impassive as he said, "You should know me well enough that I would be skeptical by that." He set the paper down as he carefully pondered his next words. "How do I know you won't stab us in the back?"
"Guess I shouldn't expect anything less from you, old friend," Kumatora remarked. "But I will prove it to you; but don't expect me to fight for Eagleland. I don't want anything to do with that weak, inefficient, and corrupt government you call a Confederation."
"Fine; be that way. But you know well enough that I can't just let you walk away," he told her. "And that I will need to see a Sanctuary myself to believe your claims, even with the evidence."
"You can sense my feelings, can't you?" Kumatora grumbled.
"And if you're fooling me there?"
"Just as sharp as ever," the former commander mused. "Though, I have something that might interest you, aside from additional sensitive information."
"And what is it?"
"You'll find out." Ninten scowled, not liking not knowing, but he followed her into the next room anyway.
He had to admit, he was impressed by the sight of the massive reactor that not only blocked off the center of the room, but even sprawled out near the edges of the room. He had never seen anything like it in his entire life.
"This isn't one of the things, but it may interest you that we used to have a super-powerful synthetic PSI core in there," Kumatora elaborated. "The Pigmasks used that to power this base until we could generate electric power; it was shipped off to somewhere else where it was needed more."
"This gets more complicated by the second..." Ninten grumbled to himself. Science was never his strong suit, and it was a miracle that he even knew what 'synthetic' meant, which went to show how much he hated the subject in general.
Kumatora didn't react to his disdain however and walked over to a small compartment. She opened it and yanked out a cylinder, and she turned around and held it so Ninten couldn't miss the green ball of light within it. "Wait a minute, is this-"
"This container is not only protected by technology designed to resist PSI, but also block PSI senses, hence why you did not detect the fragment here," she said as she opened it, the energy shooting out and returning to its rightful owner. Ninten smirked as he felt more of his power returning, feeling as though he could be more of a match for Kumatora now. Speaking of which...
"Not trying to sound ungrateful, but why did Fassad give it to you?" he asked, curious on why it was here of all places.
"He said I should use it to increase my powers," Kumatora scoffed. "That was shortly after the opening attack, and as you can see...I didn't use it. It would be revolting for me to siphon another's power, especially that of a former friend. Not only that, it would also be unfair."
'That's one good thing your pride is for,' Ninten thought, deciding to hold it back given that she might take offense.
Still, there was one unanswered question. "How did the Pigmasks even get the fragments in the first place?" he asked.
"Whatever Fassad used to break your core was designed to absorb the fragments as well," Kumatora explained. "But that's not important right now. The other item...is this." She held out a blue stone that was in the perfect shape of a sphere. "This is what is used to harness the powers of the Sanctuaries; the Sound Stone," Kumatora continued.
"This certainly has turned out far more than I had bargained for," Ninten mused. "No wonder why Fassad wanted to keep this a secret." He coughed briefly before saying, "I'll go and explain what happened so you're not shot at."
"Finally believe I'm ditching them?"
"I'm still skeptical, but I have to admit you do seem genuine," Ninten explained. "But I still have a few questions, like why didn't you surrender in the first place if you were really going rogue to begin with."
"I will explain that later," Kumatora replied.
"Ninten!" Both of their heads whipped around to the entrance, seeing Lucas charge through first and Teddy right behind him.
"Get her!" Teddy barked as he charged at Kumatora, knives drawn and bearing down on her.
He wasn't fast enough, and Ninten quickly drew on the very last of his PSI reserves to form a blade, managing to block both of Teddy's knives and throw off his course.
"I could've handled that myself, Ninten," Kumatora grumbled as Paula and Ana entered the room.
"Save it," he growled in reply.
"W-What's going on?" Ana stuttered, glancing between the bickering duo, the recovering Teddy, and her two other friends.
"Stand down!" Ninten barked, stepping in front of Kumatora. "She's coming with us."
"You mean I'm not with the Pigmasks anymore," Kumatora corrected.
"You're still coming with us whether you are or not," Ninten said, the former commander rolling her eyes in reply.
"You sure about that?" Lucas replied, skepticism evident in his tone and face.
"She has valuable information that we need to see," Ninten explained.
"What kind of information?"
"The kind of information I would not trust our own commanders with," Ninten answered. "Least we can do is figure out as much as we can and decide from there."
"You'd sure she'd cooperate?" Lucas asked, throwing a distrustful glare in her direction.
"I'm only doing this because the Pigmasks have lost their senses," Kumatora growled, clenching her fists. "But don't expect me to pledge loyalty to your Confederation; once I'm finished here I'm not fighting for either side."
"Suit yourself," Ninten shrugged. Not like he cared as long as she didn't get herself in trouble or set herself against him.
"What do you mean by the information you wouldn't entrust the leaders with?" Paula questioned.
"Incredible power," Ninten vaguely replied, being careful not to give too much away now.
"Wouldn't keeping that secret hinder the war effort?" Teddy chastised, looking ready to draw his knives on Ninten. "You could be executed for treason for that."
Ninten was hardly intimidated by his threat, but it would be best to make sure he didn't tattle on anyone. "We should at least hear her out before we decide," Ninten compromised, trying to calm him down. "I would prefer not to keep secrets, but if word of this got out..."
"It would be catastrophic," Kumatora finished, crossing her arms. "PSI users all around Eagleland would go after it, and then history would repeat itself."
"What about the battle?" Ninten asked, finally sensing an opportunity to do so. "What happened?"
"We're just rounding up prisoners," Paula said. "We personally experienced little resistance...it's as good as done."
Ninten nodded, pleased with the results, at least right now. "Now, come along with us," he told Kumatora. "We have a lot to talk about and documents to retrieve."
"So if you want to keep this all a secret, why interrogate me right where all sorts of guards can overhear us?" Kumatora questioned, glancing around the room duly.
"To avoid suspicion," Ninten answered. "The army doesn't allow defectors to simply walk around freely at first, much less a rogue."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Kumatora sighed, shaking her head.
"Can we just start now?" Lucas groaned as he tapped his foot on the ground. "I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to."
Kumatora nodded, seemingly sympathizing with the blonde's sentiment. "Well, all of this will take some time to explain, so just have a seat and I'll tell you everything..."
Well, I hope it was a satisfactory close to Arc 1. Arc 2 will, not surprisingly, be centering around the Eight Sanctuaries and will be quite long. The army won't be featured anywhere near as much in that as in Arc 1 or Arc 3, but it will still get its moments...I hope. Arc 2 is frankly the part of the story I'm least confident in, just giving y'all a heads up, but I will do my best to maintain the quality of the story, dialogue, and stuff. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and have a great day!
PSI Encyclopedia
PSI Reserve: A last ditch reserve for PSI that can be built over time. It is stored in the deepest parts of the PSI Core, and how much power can be stored depends on the size of it and how experienced the PSI user is at storage. Typically though, outside the most experienced and powerful PSI users, the reserve is only good for one low level technique upwards to maybe one moderate level, if you're lucky. Still, it is required for all PSI users in the military to learn since one more PSI attack could mean one more life saved, or one more kill to the tally.
Eagleland Prisoner Policy: If enemy soldiers are captured in battle, they are herded into the rear where the reserves would look after them until they are sent to a prison camp. However, in the war against the Pigmasks preparations had to be made quickly, and since not everything could be covered, priority was given to getting troops and supplies up to the front as opposed to providing adequate facilities to hold people in. So Eagleland's current status in terms of prison camps is too few in which 'poor condition' is an understatement. Nevertheless, with the immediate threat countered, secondary priorities, such as prisoners, can now be worried about.
Eight Sanctuaries: Not much is known about them outside of mere legends. However, it is obvious that they give great power to those who manage to use the 'key' to reach all eight. Other than this, not even our best historians know for certain whether or not they even exist or were just some glorified legend.