BM - Chapter 16 - Coming Together
Emersyn had a serious problem on her hands.
All five girls had both emotionally and physically recovered way faster than she had anticipated. She had sustained some of the worst injuries and still had to deal with boring old human regeneration. This meant that she was completely unable to manage them properly.
Kiara constantly wanted to train with Calliope, completely destroying any room they trained in. Gura was also experimenting with Primal without her supervision, undermining the entire reason she had been allowed into Hololive. And Ina and Amelia were staying up far too late studying that stupid purple book, trying to put together a timeline that they didn't have all the pieces for.
She was going to need a serious end of year bonus for all this.
"I know someone who would be happy to help." Calliope had picked up on Emersyn's grievances during one of their afternoon talks.
The two of them had been discussing a better way to go about the next expedition to the Hatchery. Apparently, a lot had been hidden from Emersyn preceding the first one, causing it to end in failure. Calliope understood this now and wanted to prevent that from happening again. Emersyn appreciated the Reaper's willingness to open up about her issues, even if she says that it is simply a necessity.
"Someone owes you something?" Emersyn probed. She wouldn't deny help at this point.
"You're actually very similar to her, just more serious and tightly-wound," Calliope responded, resting her head against her hand.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Calliope's face showed a rare smile before fading back to a neutral expression.
"Her designation is J-Chad, and she was my old manager before I reported straight to Death-sensei. We enjoyed working together, so I think she wouldn't mind coming here to help for a bit," Calliope explained. Emersyn thought for a moment, sighing deeply.
"Sure, why not. We already have plenty of supernatural beings here, so what's one more?" Emersyn played off her hesitation and stress. Calliope laughed curtly.
"You say that like you aren't supernatural in any way. Keeping up with Gura and surviving a building being dropped on you isn't an easy task." Calliope stared at her with a smirk. Emersyn rolled her eyes.
"Compared to teleportation, time travel, and being able to drop buildings on people, I would say I'm the most normal of you people," Emersyn rebutted.
"None of us are normal, save for maybe Amelia," Calliope still wasn't used to using the time traveler's first name, "So why are you, a seemingly normal human, able to do anything that comes close to us?"
"I don't think that is particularly relevant to what we are discussing. I'm surprised you of all people would ask at a time like this," Emersyn said, clearly avoiding the topic.
"I like to think of it as a break from the stressful thinking and planning." Calliope shrugged a shoulder.
"You said that we should focus on the Hatchery. I agree if you want to leave as soon as possible." Emersyn continued to dodge the question. Calliope opened her mouth to continue pushing, but she stopped short. Her experience with Amelia made her think twice. If someone didn't want to say anything, she couldn't make them. Also, to be fair, this topic was unnecessary.
"Do you hate your past?" She changed her question to one more open. Emersyn hesitated to answer.
"It isn't pretty. You all need to respect me as your manager, so I would prefer you look up to me and respect me," she replied after a moment. "Maybe you'll find out when all of this is done."
"I think that would be best," Calliope said, lending back onto her hands, "I'm surprised that none of the others have asked about it."
"Well, I've never sat down with them long enough to have it brought up." Emersyn finished her sentence before her eyes went wide with worry. Calliope sat back up straight and tilted her head at her manager.
"What's the matter?" she asked, not understanding the realization that Emersyn had come to.
"We're going to have to tell the others about everything…" Emersyn said slowly. Calliope felt so stupid for not realizing that sooner.
"Oh fu-"
Calliope paced back and forth in front of her bed. On her bed, Amelia sat patiently, watching the Reaper move back and forth across her vision.
Amelia's burns still itched slightly, but were much better than when she'd first woken up. Calliope's dark wraps helped a lot to soothe the pain.
"Calli, you'll be fine," Amelia said, attempting to calm her friend's worries.
"It's not about being fine, Watson," Calliope snapped back, reverting to using Amelia's surname, "It is about them going along with it. I need them to still respect me and be willing to fight for what I believe in." Amelia thought about the situation Calliope was in and tried her best to come up with a solution.
"I mean, you don't need to tell them everything," was the compromise she landed on. Calliope stopped pacing and stared at her.
"But won't that defeat the entire purpose? The whole reason that the last trip went awry was because of my hiding of the truth…" Calliope still deeply regretted how the last trip had gone. She had caused its failure and there was no one else to blame.
"If you think about this in the most logical sense, all they need to know is the tragedy at the Hatchery and your goal of gaining emotions. They already know about Kiara's memory loss and Emersyn is going to present the plan surrounding the defenses," Amelia explained her reasoning. Calliope thought about this idea, nodding to herself.
"It does make sense. The thing that would resonate with them the most would be my want for emotions. Figuring out what happened at the Hatchery through Kiara's memories would be a bonus," Calliope surmised. Forming her hand into a light fist, she embraced the plan Amelia had helped her draw.
With Calliope now mentally sound, Amelia took it upon herself to wrangle the other girls into a single room. Of course, that room was the lounge, in which Ina was studying her purple book. Amelia approached from behind the couch her friend was sitting on and stared down at the book's contents.
To say she didn't understand it would be an understatement. It was as if the shapes and symbols of the 'lettering' would change if her eye so much as twitched. It was no wonder that progress had been slow.
"Anything new?" Amelia asked the question anyway. She, of course, got a shake of the head from Ina.
"Nope," her friend replied, popping the 'P' noticeably, "I would've thought this would be easier than it is. I guess the language of the Ancient Ones really is a tough nut to crack." Ina didn't turn to face her, instead continuing to stare at the unknowable language in front of her. "The two of them are still talking, but nothing new on the integration just yet." Amelia sighed at her friend's unshakable focus.
During her first night back, Ina's Ancient One's spoke with the other timeline's Ancient Ones and came up with a plan. Some time in the future, they would combine into a singular set of Ancient Ones. This kept the other Ancient Ones 'alive' in a sense and cleansed the book.
The only problem was neither wanted to give up their consciousness to the other. Both wanted to be in control, not the one that was integrated. This had brought the plan to a stand still until they could come to an agreement or force one set to integrate into another.
"The meeting with Calli and Enma will be soon. I just need to grab the other two," she said, referring to Gura and Kiara. Ina nodded and hummed her agreements. Amelia trekked down the hall, searching for any sign of the other girls.
A resounding crash from the gym caught her attention. It confirmed her suspicions that the Phoenix and the Atlantean were training together. It had become commonplace for the group of Calliope, Kiara, and Gura to be seen training. All three of them seemed to be driven by a desire to win the next time they fought.
Amelia pushed on the door leading into the gym, but pulled her hand away quickly once the heat reached her. It was hot enough inside to make the door difficult to touch. She made the executive decision to Destabilize herself before entering. After bringing in the timeline where she wouldn't be burnt to a crisp, she pushed open the door.
Inside, Gura danced around using her new trident to deflect fire blasts from Kiara. The air around them was a mix of water and fire, fighting for control over one another. It was mesmerizing, almost causing Amelia to become lost in the sight of it.
Gura deflected one last blast before she stabbed through the next one. A bolt of water shot from the trident's three tips, merging into one powerful shot. It cut through any other fire blasts Kiara had on the way. The Phoenix dropped out of the air to avoid being hit. This let Gura take the fight to her.
Gura launched herself at the grounded Kiara to bring the fight into close quarters. She created a thin veil of water around herself to protect against the intense heat. Kiara used her shield to block a strike from the trident and side stepped Gura's claw slash. By using these attacks in such a short time, though, Gura had overextended herself. Kiara used her millennia of battle experience compared to the Atlantean and capitalized on this mistake.
The Phoenix placed her palm calmly on the water veil around Gura and superheated the water in an instant. This created a lot of steam very quickly which then expanded outwards in every direction. This is also known as an explosion, and Gura was at the center of it.
The relatively small amount of water prevented it from being too large of an explosion, but it was still enough to knock Gura on her back. Kiara pointed her sword at her from above, signaling that the fight was over.
"Damn it…" Gura wheezed on the ground. She was beyond frustrated at her inability to land a solid hit on Kiara.
"Don't beat yourself up too badly about it, Gura!" Kiara extended a hand to pick her friend up. Gura accepted, getting to her feet and dusting off her clothes. She looked down at the crack in the floor she had created by getting slammed into it.
"I still need to get stronger…" Kiara laughed, shaking her head at Gura's statement.
"I think you're mixing up 'getting stronger' with 'improving your technique'," she corrected, "You have a ton of raw power, but right now you can't possibly control it all. That trident should let you channel your magic and Primal more effectively. From there you can focus on creating a style of fighting that best suits you." Kiara boiled down Gura's misconception to a few sentences. It made Gura think for a moment about where she wanted to go from here.
"If you guys are done, I need you in the lounge to talk!" Amelia called out, interrupting Gura's train of thought.
"We're coming!" Kiara yelled back. Amelia turned and quickly exited the room, not wanting to risk her Destabilization dropping and getting burned. Her previous ones were almost healed.
She returned to the lounge and sat down on the couch once Ina made room for her. Calliope and Emersyn arrived soon after with Gura and Kiara just after them. The group all greeted each other and sat in their places.
Calliope and Emersyn stood in front of the couches facing the rest of the group who were sitting on them. It was an uneasy moment before Emersyn started talking.
"You all are authorized to continue to travel to the Hatchery for personal reasons. However, if anything were to happen again, such as injury or damage to property," Emersyn specifically eye'd Amelia's pocket where she knew the time watch was, "then you will be banned from traveling there." Everyone in the room became increasingly nervous as Emersyn spoke.
"This all sounds harsh because it has to be," Calliope spoke up, "Last time, myself, Amelia, and Kiara failed because I let my feelings get in the way of our goals. It was my fault that we failed…"
"I told you not to beat yourself up about it, Calli," Amelia said, trying to ease her friend's pain. She knew how badly regret hurt.
"This time however, I am prepared to give my all to what I believe in." Calliope straightened her back and stood taller than ever. Emersyn leaned against a nearby piece of furniture and let the Reaper speak her mind.
Calliope told the group about her goal of gaining emotions. She explained her lack of them made it impossible to reciprocate Kiara's feelings for her. Everyone felt a small pain in their chest when they heard about how Calliope pushed her best friend away for so long.
"I can kind of remember you coming back to me…" Kiara said shakily, "You were sad and I was even sadder. We worked through some stuff and rebuilt what we had. I know you never want to do that again, so let's get you some emotions!" Kiara then cheered. Gura joined in with Ina hesitantly following. The Priestess did support Calliope, she just didn't like sudden noises around her.
"And what will you all need to do in order to accomplish this?" Emersyn asked, already knowing the answer. Calliope waited for everyone to calm down before explaining her method.
"Inside the Hatchery is the Crystal of Time, a physical manifestation of our timeline left by a higher being."
"You mean Kronii?" Ina asked. Calliope nodded and opened her mouth to continue, but she stopped short.
"Wait, you know her?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Ina shrugged.
"I know that Sana is one of my apostles, not that we really talk. The Council is just something I know about," she explained. Emersyn rolled her eyes.
"Please, continue your explanation, Ms. Mori," she asked. There was only so much talk about gods and higher beings that she could take. She had gotten herself into a crazy world…
"My current form can not give me the emotions I desire, so I have made a mortal body down in the Underworld. The problem is that my soul will not be accepted into the body unless I can transfigure it properly. My goal is to use the Crystal to do this," Calliope then nodded towards Amelia.
"Time is an infinitely branching river. Each time you or anyone makes a decision, it splits and you travel down a specific path. Calli here can not cause this river to split with her decisions. When she chooses something, it is final, end of story." She tried her best to simplify the problem and use analogies. Once she was sure everyone was following her logic, she continued, "By using the Crystal, Calli should be able to make her soul able to split the river and follow a path. When she does this, she should be able to enter her mortal body and gain emotions!" Ina raised her hand slightly.
"But doesn't her whole job as a Reaper depend on her actions being absolute?" she asked. Calliope nodded, indicating that Ina was corrected in her assumption.
"That is true, but my soul would still not be fully mortal. Depending on if I am in this form or my mortal body, I should be able to change how I interact with time," she explained.
"I think I'm understanding this, but it sounds like a lot of should's and maybe's for something so complicated…" Gura expressed her own grievances.
"I have done centuries, if not millennia, worth of research on this topic. Technically, everything will work out perfectly. Practically, we will have to see…" she said, her gaze becoming slightly hollow.
"I'm sure it will all work out! I mean, Ame is the best time traveler I've ever met!" Kiara put an arm around Amelia and pulled her in.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm the only one you've ever met," Amelia fired back. Kiara pouted.
"Not true! I've met at least one other that I can remember." Amelia's eyes lit up.
"Really?! Who were they?!" she asked excitedly. Kiara scratched her head for a second.
"Can't remember!" she said with a conflictingly happy tone. Amelia's smile quickly turned to a sour frown.
"Hopefully you'll remember when you get your memories all back…" she mumbled.
"Well then," Gura said, getting up and stretching, "when are we leaving?" Ina also stood.
"I can teleport you all wherever you want," she said. Emersyn stood up and let everyone focus on her.
"You all will only split up into two groups, no more. If you become separated, you make sure to get back together as soon as possible. If an accident occurs, you will help your partner escape and go get the others. After that, you will contact me with one of the two satellite phones you've been given. There is a very high likelihood that the Hatchery's defenses are still functional and they will not hesitate to kill you. You may leave whenever you see fit. Good luck you guys." Emersyn gave one last rallying speech before she left the girl's alone.
"I don't think any of us really want to wait much longer, do we?" Amelia took the initiative. There weren't any objections, so she nodded to Ina to teleport them. She had made sure to show Ina where the Hatchery was located, so they could make a successful teleport.
"Let's make this quick!" Ina called out before engulfing the group in a purple mist.
Amelia, Calliope, and Kiara all felt the distinct softness of the Hatchery grass beneath their feet. Ina and Gura were thrown off by this sudden change, almost tripping over their own feet.
The group oriented themselves and followed Kiara towards the cloak surrounding the Hatchery. Gura noted how it felt distinctly different from the one surrounding Atlantis, almost feeling artificial. That didn't help settle anyones nerves about this place.
Once they were all inside, Kiara began to scan the horizon. She narrowed her eyes and poke Ina with her elbow.
"Barrier, now," she commanded. Ina did as instructed and put a barrier around the group. Around ten seconds later, a fireball hit the top of the barrier and burst around it, setting the surrounding area on fire.
"Jeez, you could tell us what was happening instead of giving us all a start, Kiara," Amelia complained, letting her heart recede back into her chest.
"You couldn't sense that? It wasn't exactly trying to be sneaky," Calliope asked.
"I'm still pretty new at this whole magic thing, but even I could feel something!" Gura said, sounding very proud of herself.
"I think you're the only one who didn't know that was coming. Better stay close to me for an emergency shield," Ina teased her friend. Amelia groaned, lamenting her lack of magic compared to her comrades.
The group continued to work their way towards the center of the Hatchery, ducking under Ina's barrier when a fireball was incoming. They became more and more frequent the closer they got.
"We might not be able to leave this thing soon," Gura commented, as another fireball struck the barrier.
"We're almost there," Calliope said. The cannons that were firing on them seemed to be hidden underground, but the buildings were definitely in sight now. It would only be a few more minutes at their current pace to reach it.
"Get down!" Kiara yelled, shoving Ina to the ground. A narrow bolt of fire then pierced through the shield and cut though the air where Ina had been standing. Calliope also dodged a shot. The barrier around them shattered, allowing Kiara and Gura to get a better look at their surroundings.
On top of a building a few dozen yards away, a ballista pointed towards them. Kiara leapt into the air, letting her wings unfurl themselves and swung her sword in front of her. The blade ignited with brilliant blue and orange fire, launching a slash towards the ballista. It was obliterated by the arc of fire.
Gura saw the second turret on another building in the opposite direction. She wound up and threw her trident at it. The three points left nothing in their wake before swiftly returning back to Gura.
Calliope was slightly miffed that she couldn't get in on the action.
"Good to know all those burnt up rooms weren't for nothing," Ina commented, creating another barrier to shield them from more fireballs. Kiara remained outside of it though.
"Alright, I'll be right back!" she called out to them before disappearing in a flash of blue fire. The rest of them couldn't really see or hear what happened next, but from what got through the barrier it seemed to be a lot of destruction.
Ina let the barrier drop and the group got to witness Kiara darting from one cannon to another, destroying them in the blink of an eye.
The group could only follow her path of destruction as she painted the world in front of them orange and blue. Soon, nothing was left to shoot at them. Kiara flew back and landed, brushing off her clothes.
"There we go. Thanks for getting me close enough to them, Ina!" Kiara skipped over to the group. Calliope put her head in her hand and shook it.
"Don't burn yourself out, Kusotori." Kiara laughed at her friend's disappointment.
"I was just reborn! I got magic to spare!"
"You say that every time and then wonder why you get tired after…" Calliope mumbled, getting one phone out from a nearby shadow. Kiara chose to ignore her and stood with the group again. "We've neutralized the defenses, Emersyn. We're proceeding into the main building," she reported back to HQ.
"Now that the defenses are taken care of, let's get that Crystal!" she cheered and pointed towards the main building. The group approached it with brisk steps.
It was now oddly peaceful, especially compared to when they were enduring constant bombardment. However, Amelia still felt like something was off…
"Hold on a minute," she asked, stopping a few dozen yards from the building. The rest of the girls all stopped, too.
"Is something wrong, Amelia?" Calliope asked. Amelia walked slowly towards the building, going a few more feet beyond where the group had stopped. She then stopped once she saw a slight shimmer and stray fragment of light.
Carefully, she reached her open hand out and touched a dome that shielded the main building. It was unbelievably cold and it felt jagged and rough.
"There's one more defense…" she replied carefully. If someone were to disturb this-
"I got it!" Kiara yelled, as she took her sword off her belt and swung it towards the building.
"Kusotori, wait!" Calliope tried to stop her, but the blast was already unleashed. Amelia, the closest, Destabilized herself to avoid what was coming next. Ina and Gura both dove to the ground and Calliope dragged Kiara down with her. The Priestess put a barrier up to deflect any incoming magic.
The orange fire collided with the barrier and disappeared into it. There was a moment of stillness and anticipation, before the whole dome illuminated orange as well.
Cracks began to run up and down, left and right, across the dome. It split into thousands, millions, billions, of pieces, looking like a shattered disco ball. The orange light grew in intensity until it was nearly impossible to see.
And then, thousands of fire blasts erupted in all directions.
Trees were snapped in half, nearby buildings were blown apart, and new craters were added to the dirt. Thankfully, all of the blasts either missed the group or glanced off the barrier Ina had created. When the dust settled, everyone got back to their feet.
"Sorry…" Kiara apologized to them all, sincerely. Her usual smile and carefree attitude disappeared behind her guilt. It was an emotion common with this place now.
"Just take it slowly next time, Kiara," Calliope strained herself to not explode at her friend. This kind of reckless attitude had ruined their last trip here. She wouldn't make that mistake again.
"What even happened?! That's not a normal barrier at all!" Ina exclaimed. Gura nodded, looking to Amelia for an answer. The time traveler thought for a few seconds before turning to the group.
"You guys can't sense this, right?" All four other girls nodded. They had no idea something that powerful was lurking just a few feet away. "This has to be something related to time then. The Crystal is protecting itself."
"So how do we get in?" Gura asked hesitantly.
"I know I can't Destabilize myself through it to turn it off from the inside. But I don't think the Phoenixes would let themselves get locked out either."
"Like a key under the front door mat?" Ina asked. No one besides Amelia got what she was referencing.
"Something like that, but I doubt it will be that simple. Let's split into groups and search this place. There's got to be a way in," Amelia said. Calliope raised her head, preparing to say something.
"Whatever this unlocking mechanism is, it is most likely only meant to be used by a Phoenix. Myself and Ina'nis will struggle to figure this out. You might have better luck, but I have my doubts," she said, bringing up some valid problems. "Therefore, I think it is best to make sure that one group has Kiara and the other has Gura. That way we can ensure that each group has access to light magic."
"Why would I be able to do anything that Kiara can? I can't use fire," Gura asked, very confused by Calliope's assertion of the situation.
"I can help guide you to use your water magic to emulate Kiara's fire magic. This place was meant to keep Reapers and the Ancient Ones out, not Atlanteans. There is a good chance that you can help with this." Gura wasn't entirely convinced by Calliope's reasoning, but she had no reason to not go along with it.
"Alright, me, Ina, and Kiara will explore these buildings, while you and Gura explore those," Amelia said, gesturing to each side of the main building in front of them. She wanted each group to investigate one half of the Hatchery.
Calliope was going to ask why Amelia wanted Ina to be with her, but she soon understood that they still had some talking to do. "Sounds good." She reported back to Emersyn through the phone and got the ok to proceed. "If you guys need anything, just call." Calliope tossed a phone to Ina, who caught it and nodded.
With the groups decided, the girls split and began to search for a way beyond the Hatchery's temporal barrier.
Author's Note: First off, I need to talk about Tsukumo Sana's recent graduation. It definitely wasn't easy to hear that a member of HoloEN was graduating this soon, but she will live on in our hearts. I have no plans to remover her character from this story or any future ones. Her role might not be the most important here, but I don't want to dishonor her and sweep her character under the rug like she's not even there. I hope you all understand.
Now, something a bit more light hearted. J-Chad has finally been name dropped this chapter. The main manager of EN will continue to be Enma, but J-Chad should add some interesting moments later on.
There is a lot of set up and preparation going on in this chapter. Getting to see Calliope interact with all the other members of Myth is definitely nice. New friendships are blossoming, as well. I might write a filler chapter that shows some shenanigans they got up to during the couple week time skip. It would be a different work entirely, though, since I don't want to mess with the pacing of this story.
Gura and Kiara training was originally going to be Calliope and Kiara training, but I wanted to show off knew friendships and give an update on how Gura was doing with everything she's learned recently. Her new trident, water magic, and Primal all need to come together for her to realize her true power. It certainly won't be easy, but she's up for the challenge.
The temporal shield was unexpected. Amelia might not have magic, but she still is special in her own way. Now they just need to find a way to disable it...
Next Chapter: Group A - Amelia, Kiara, and Ina
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!