"Architect, it feels like there's no end to these things." Rex muttered as he gingerly stepped around the unconscious form of a Gogol. They were a monster that the boy and his companions were quickly getting used to fighting.
He and Nia had departed Dornswell the moment the gates had opened. It had taken slightly longer than they had hoped, thanks to a tidal pool settling against the neckward gate, but by early afternoon the stubborn clouds had dissipated enough to not flood back into the town.
Neither of them had been particularly concerned with the delay. The Duskbranch trial was not particularly long, so unless they encountered another detour, they would be able to reach Torigoth by early evening.
They had been warned about the difficulties of the trail ahead of time, of course; there was a reason it was mostly used by couriers. It had once been a steep, spiraling path through a gap in the layers of the Gormott Titan's outer skin, connecting the Flava thicket to Coolley Lake. Certainly too steep for caravans, but perfectly fine for foot travel.
Until the Gogol the locals affectionately referred to as Gonzales, living up to his appellation as "immovable", had tested his strength against the Grandarbor overlooking the trail.
The Gogol won.
Introducing such a large obstruction to the trail had, surprisingly, not been the end of it. While removing the ruined tree was out of the question, being nearly as large a specimen as the Torigoth Grandarbor, the edges of the broken trunk had been gradually carved away to allow passage around it.
Had that been the only obstacle, common travel would have quickly resumed once the trail had been reopened. Unfortunately, the shattered tree that had caused so much trouble for the Gormotti population had also made it far easier for the Gogols of Gonzale's troop to traverse down from their territory to scavenge for trapped sea creatures whenever the tides retreated.
Fortunately for Rex and Nia, it was only juvenile Gogols that normally came this far down. While the ape monsters were certainly annoying to fight, having a tendency to drop down from the trunk of the Grandarbor without warning, they were also more solitary than their older counterparts.
"We should be getting out of their territory pretty soon." Nia replied, gazing up at the massive trunk above them.
They were no longer beneath the tree's shadow, a good indication of their progress. The foliage around them, which had been the sparse crimson of the Flava thicket for most of their trip, had slowly begun to give way to the lush green of the Nocclia woods.
"I suppose even the Gogols in Gormott don't prefer to wander far from their territory." Azurda commented.
"That is not entirely the case." Dromarch added, carefully watching above for more of the ape monsters. "There is… one example that possesses a predilection for wandering."
The old Titan chuckled. "There always is."
As she walked by it, Nia took a moment to make sure the ape was properly out of action. The thing was out cold for the moment, and she didn't think it necessary to finish the creature off, but she at least wanted to ensure that it wouldn't be coming back for revenge anytime soon.
She didn't have to worry; a quick inspection of the ape made it clear that it was down for the count. Clearly, the Gogol had not handled being on the receiving end of one of Rex's Sword Bashes to the head very well.
"Certainly did a number on this one, didn't we?" She muttered, inspecting an ether burn on the ape's chest.
"I'll say." Rex agreed. "Dunno why they won't just let us by." He rubbed his arm, trying to dispel the now-familiar tingling of ether burns. "I know Gogol's are territorial, but I thought we were still a good half a titanped down from their normal hangout!"
Nia shrugged. "Who can even tell?"
As the boy massaged his arm, Azurda poked his head out of Rex's diving helmet. "Think of it this way, my boy," the Titan said, indicating at the faint pink lines tracing across the boy's skin, "at least you're getting plenty of opportunities to improve your ether throughput."
"You know, I'm pretty sure I was doing that just as well with practice barriers." Rex replied, giving the Titan an unamused look.
"Probably more useful too." Nia added, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of the fallen Gogol. "For all the flash, those light blasts don't do a lot."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" The boy said defensively.
Nia pointed at the burns on the Gogol. "Have you actually been paying attention? Just look!"
Sure enough, there were a pair of ether injuries on the ape's chest. Yet, the difference between the two was like night and day. One, obviously Rex's, was a large, seared patch of skin. The flesh beneath was burned as if it had suffered the worst sunburn imaginable, but even in the centermost portion of the burn it was clearly only skin deep.
The other was Nia's. It was a deep gash, almost as if the Gogol had been raked by a great claw. Yet the irritated flesh of the wound, burned by the energy flux, was clearly the result of an ether attack.
"See? For all the flash, those light blasts just leave superficial wounds." She said. "And while they're certainly painful and definitely hard to heal, they don't actually do much to put an enemy down."
Rex frowned as he looked over the injuries. "You're right." He grumbled. "Why's it doing so little if I'm putting that much…" He trailed off.
"They're too unfocused." Azurda nodded. "Blasts like those would be serviceable enough with fire ether, but light needs to be concentrated."
"Too much diffusion." The boy muttered to himself absently, his vision distant. "Ether replicating the behavior of photons is subject to the same degree of atmospheric scattering as actual light…"
"Uhh, Rex?" Nia asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Not that I'm complaining about you listening to me, but what are you…?"
He blinked in confusion, shaking his head as if coming out of a daze. "I-I dunno." He muttered, a slightly disturbed look on his face. "I was thinking about what you said, and then all of a sudden…"
The boy waved a hand in the air. "It was like I just… knew exactly what I was doing wrong, like someone was whispering the answer in my ear!"
Rather than be perturbed as he was, Nia and Dromarch merely nodded in understanding. "Sounds about right." The girl confirmed. "I was wondering if you'd get any of the Blade mental traits."
"Master Rex, you will find that is a common occurrence for Blades." The Tiger added. "When we are born, we possess an instinctual knowledge of the workings of our element."
"Some more than others." Nia smirked. "Me and Dromarch are both masters with water ether, but that knowledge doesn't all come straight from the core." She cocked a hip as she looked at the boy. "So was it just an explanation on exactly what went wrong and nothing else, or was it a sudden understanding of the general workings of your element?"
Rex crossed his arms. "A bit of both? It was all related to the problem, but it felt like as much a lecture on why it went wrong as an instruction on how to fix it."
"Huh." Nia said, raising an eyebrow. "You might want to play around with your ether more, then. Sounds like might have a basis for an ether mastery skill."
"I would recommend trying some of your navigational exercises, too." Azurda added. "Mythra had an elemental mastery, but she also had a natural talent for mathematics. If you are beginning to acquire some of her Blade mental skills, it would be interesting to see if you've inherited that as well."
"You say that like I'm bad at math." Rex grumbled, turning his head away from the Titan.
"My boy," Azurda said, giving him an amused look, "I taught you your numbers. You are acceptable at math. You learned exactly what you needed for your salvaging work, and not a single equation more."
Rolling her eyes, Nia interjected into their argument. "This is funny and all," she said, "but we should probably start moving before big guy here wakes up."
She tapped the Gogol with her foot. The ape let out a pained groan in response and slowly shifted its weight.
"…I believe that would be most wise, my Lady." Dromarch agreed, carefully watching the creature.
They quickly departed, making sure to put as much space between them and the Gogol as possible. Fortunately, the trail was beginning to even out as they got closer to Gormott's back.
Even as they walked, however, Rex was still thinking over the issue. It felt strange to just be… handed insight like that, yet at the same time, it still didn't exactly solve his problem.
He knew why his light blasts were relatively ineffective and in theory, the direct solution. But at the same time, focusing the blasts to make them more effective would take more time to fire them, and the speed he could throw them out was one of the major benefits…
The boy raised a hand, and a small ball of light ether flashed into existence above it, the soft golden glow drawing the attention of the rest of the party.
"Still trying to work it out?" Azurda asked, giving the glowing ball of ether a glance.
"Yeah." The boy replied. He closed his fingers slightly as he focused on the ball, and it slowly began to compress, the light shining from it growing more intense all the while. "I get the basic idea, but…" He frowned. "Maybe I should just make a new Art?"
"That's what I would do." Nia chimed in, arms behind her head, as she trailed slightly behind the boy. "I'd definitely feel a bit better about heading out knowing you're not going to get flattened the moment you need to do more than hit something with your sword real hard."
Rex's face fell at the comment, the ball of light flickering slightly as his mood dimmed. Dromarch, ever the attentive one, noticed immediately.
"My Lady." The tiger rebuked, a look of obvious disapproval on his face.
"What?" The girl replied sharply, coming to a halt as she turned to look at her Blade.
He merely met her stare with an even gaze, but didn't say anything. For a moment, the two stood there, each staring at the other as if challenging them to speak, before Dromarch broke his gaze.
Turning to Rex and Azurda, he gave the pair a polite smile. "Would You be so kind as to allow my Lady and I a moment of privacy?" He asked.
"Of course." Azurda replied, giving his ward a little nudge. "I think I have an idea for Rex's potential ether Art, anyway."
"Uh… yeah, sure." Rex said, looking torn as he dismissed the ball of light. He was concerned about the sudden tension between Nia and Dromarch, but opted to follow the Tiger's request and give the Driver-Blade pair some space.
"Let's head a little down the trail." Azurda said from Rex's shoulder as the boy walked off a bit. "Now, before you start from scratch on a new Art, you might find it helpful to know that Mythra had an Art similar to your ether blasts…" The Titan explained, his voice fading as the two slowly left Nia's immediate hearing range.
The Gormotti Driver glared at her Blade as they walked away. "What's the big deal, anyway?" She huffed.
"As I have told you many a time before," the Tiger lectured, "you would be well served to learn some tact, my Lady."
"I'm not wrong, though." Nia defended. "Once we've left, Rex'll have to be able to handle himself. I'm just doing my part to make sure he's ready for that!"
Dromarch merely sighed in response. Looking over to Rex and Azurda, who he saw had come to a halt just before the next bend, close enough to jump in if he and his Driver were in need but far enough to not eavesdrop on them, he continued.
"My Lady… Why are you so eager for us to depart?"
A spike of agitation faintly pulsed through their passive affinity link at his comment, perfectly in time with Nia scowling at him.
"You know perfectly well why." The girl growled. "We're wanted! Us sticking around? It'll be nothing but trouble for them."
"You're awfully certain that a bounty has been placed on us, considering our negligible involvement in Torna's activities prior to the recovery operation." The Tiger countered. "Indeed, considering that our most overt action during the mission was to protect the salvagers from Malos' attempt on their lives, I would think it more likely we were perceived to be uninvolved with those miscreants."
"You know just as well as I do that Bana's aware we were members." Nia retorted. "Unless you had too much fur in your ears to hear, Malos out and told him when we met up for the job! You really think a self-serving Nopon like that won't spill that to save his skin?"
"I suppose that may be the case." Dromarch conceded. "Yet, I feel as if you are still missing the point, my Lady."
"And what, exactly, do you think 'the point' that I'm missing is?" Nia replied, her tone biting.
The Blade sat on his haunches, staring at his Driver for a moment. "Who exactly are you leaving for?" He asked calmly. "Is it for Rex, or yourself?"
"Dromarch." She snapped warningly, her ears flattened against her head. The agitated feeling from her pulsed ever stronger across their bond.
It wasn't the furthest the Tiger had prodded his Driver before, not nearly as badly as he had pushed it one time shortly before their capture by Indol. Still, there was no need to push any further at the moment; he was reasonably sure Nia would understand what he was trying to tell her.
"I will relent, my Lady." The Tiger said after a moment's pause. "But… you have run from so many things in the past, so many opportunities that…" He trailed off for a moment. "Before we depart, please, just... spare the time to decide what you truly wish to do."
He stood up, turning over to where Rex and Azurda were waiting. The boy was swinging the Aegis Sword into a forward point, while the Titan seemed to be giving him pointers.
"All I wish is for you to be happy, my Lady." He said, slowly sauntering towards the other members of their party. "Please, do not allow your apprehension to deny you that."
"…" Nia stared at the ground in frustration as her Blade walked off, but didn't reply. Deep down, she knew she didn't have one.
As Dusk began to fall on Coolley Lake for the second day he had been here, Tora glanced around warily at his surroundings. After how harrowing his first night had been, he was eager to finish up his 'job' and head back home.
Who knew that Flamii were so territorial? He was glad he had decided to bring along a full set of his JS weapon prototypes. If he hadn't decided to use this forced 'vacation' as an opportunity to get some additional practice with them, he would have been gobbled up by some monster like fresh Nopopomouli by now!
He turned back to his current task, repairing the damage to his Drill Shield prototype. The face of the shield had taken a full-force blow from a Brog earlier in the day, warping the frame and preventing the drill itself from retracting back into its storage position.
The final model didn't have that issue, both being constructed of a much more sturdy material and intended to be bolstered by ether from his future Blade. Alas, a prototype like this lacked the durability of the final model, the intended material being too heavy to use in a practical manner without the ether-based physical enhancement he would be receiving as a Driver.
In truth, fixing the shield wasn't entirely necessary; he already had all of the test data he needed for it, and this particular iteration of the prototype lacked any integrated mechabiter variants that would need the drill retracted in order to fire. But, it gave him something to do while he watched the trails from the lake up to Torigoth.
He had chosen a fairly good vantage point, if he did say so himself. He was camped out on a rickety wooden platform up a tree, situated on the tailward end of the lake. The platform had been built by some Tirkin hunters, but the owners had been more than willing to vacate their spot for a few days after some tense negotiations and a hefty bribe of most of his remaining tasty sausages.
With it, he had a perfect view of the trails around this end of the lake! Granted, he couldn't keep an eye on the other end, but what did Turuni expect? Tora was just a single Nopon, after all! If he wanted to make sure that Blade woman didn't slip by, he should have sent a second person!
Besides, even from here, he had seen plenty of activity. Granted, most of it was probably stuff the broker already knew, considering the noteworthy activity was the movement of Driver teams along the lake.
So far, he had seen three over the last two days. Two groups of two, one of three, none of whom had any Rare Blades. It was an odd feeling, seeing them move about. Normally, Tora was eager to watch Drivers and Blades, they were amazing after all! Yet, knowing that these ones were probably bully criminals working for Turuni put a damper on his mood.
…Perhaps he shouldn't be too judgmental. After all, HE was working for Turuni at the moment too. Maybe some of those Drivers were blackmailed as well?
He shook his head and got back to work on the shield. No use thinking about that now; he nearly had the mechanical interlocks for the drill's deployment motor reset. Just a little more pressure on the bolt, and…!
With a click, the bolt disengaged, freeing the base of the drill from its locked position. Tora eagerly pulled out a control dial and hooked it up to a small maintenance port on the back of the shield. Using it, he fed a small amount of current into the deployment motor, watching as it slowly pulled the drill back into the shield.
He didn't want to run it too fast; after all, the shield was still slightly warped. If he wasn't careful, the drill could get stuck halfway, and render it and the shield completely useless.
Fortunately, it seemed the Nopon had done a sufficient job repairing the prototype. The Drill head slowly nestled itself into its storage compartment, and the hinged shield boss that served as the cover for the Drill Shield's multifunction equipment port gently closed over it. Tora let out a sigh of relief at the success; he didn't have the tools on hand to completely dismantle the shield had it gotten stuck.
Looking at the sky, he figured it was probably time to do another sweep around the lake. The light was starting to fade as the setting sun lit the water with a beautiful range of yellow and red hues, and soon it would be too dark to see very far from him.
Reluctantly, he put down the shield and wandered over to where he had left his binoculars, their strap draped haphazardly over the handle of his mechabiter prototype.
After a few moments of fiddling with the spacing of the lenses, he took a look out over the lake. Unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to have changed. The nasty flock of Flamii that had given him so much trouble earlier were watering off the shore of Kuchik Island, at the far edge of his line of sight, a single Quadwing watching them cautiously from atop Zeno's Deadbole.
A lone Garaffa was taking a long drink from the spineward shore, eyes carefully locked on a patch of water that seemed empty to the Nopon. Considering the ecology of the lake, however, the creature was probably keeping an eye out for Piranhax.
Partway up the cliff above it, two people, one of Ardainian stock with a blue diving suit and the other a Gormotti in a yellow jumpsuit, were exiting a trail leading to the lower levels of the Titan, followed by a white animal Blade. A small pack of fliers were drifting their way towards the Arachno Caverns not too far beyond them, unaware of the danger that...
Wait a moment.
He turned back to the two people. They looked familiar! He put down his binoculars and hastily scrabbled around for the description of the targets Turuni was after, just to make sure he was right.
There! The target's traveling companions! A Leftherian boy in a blue diving suit and a Gormotti girl in a yellow jumpsuit, the girl a Driver with a white animal Blade!
Excitement filled him as he saw them. He didn't have to wait here any longer! Now he could report back to Turuni that he saw them, and then…
His heart dropped at the realization that reporting back meant that Turuni would almost certainly be sending bounty hunters after them. Tora still didn't know what the informant wanted with the blonde Blade woman, but he couldn't imagine it was very pleasant.
…Actually, where was the Blade girl? She was the main target, after all.
He pulled his binoculars back on and scanned around for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Was she hiding from sight? That would make sense if people were after her, but it didn't look like it. Maybe they split up to attract less attention?
Well, Turuni had told him that knowing the Blade girl was no longer with them was just as important as spotting her, so technically, his job was already done. Plus, if he reported back that they had split up, the broker may well tell the bounty hunters to ignore them!
A flicker of movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention. Looking down, he saw one of the pairs of Drivers from earlier a few hundred peds from his observation post, carefully concealing themselves in the underbrush. They were visible from his angle, but to someone on the ground, they would be hidden.
What were they…? Tora's eyes looked back to the target's traveling companions, who had made it down to the shore and were now following the trail toward the two drivers, blissfully unaware of their presence.
They must be laying a trap! They had seen the companions too, and were taking the opportunity to ambush them! Surely they saw that the Blade woman wasn't with them, right? Jumping them now wouldn't serve a purpose if they were no longer with the target!
Unless… they didn't care? Maybe they thought the companions would know where the Blade was? Or that Turuni wanted them too? He had heard the broker mention that the Driver had a bounty… but the wanted poster he assumed was supposed to be her had been suspiciously vague about what crime she had actually committed…
Something within Tora didn't sit right. He already wasn't on-board with whatever scheme Turuni had baked up, just sitting back and letting those two get jumped by those Drivers? No way. Tora was going to be a super cool Driver as soon as his project was finished, and cool Drivers don't just sit around when people are in trouble!
Bolstered by his impeccable teenage logic, Tora puffed his chest and began gathering his equipment. The offensive loadout he had brought along was the framework for the Blade weapon that he would soon be wielding.
This was a perfect opportunity to get some practice using it.
"We're not far now." Nia said, pointing over towards a Grandarbor in the distance. It was a little too far to tell with complete certainty, but Rex could almost make out the shape of buildings beneath it.
She hadn't spoken much since she and Dromarch had their private chat, instead spending most of the remaining trip staring at the ground, broken only by the occasional pensive glance at himself and Gramps.
Once they had reached Coolley Lake, she seemed to have pepped back up a bit. There was still an awkward distance between the Driver and her Blade, but Dromarch had at least returned to her side.
"And just in time, as well!" Azurda chimed in. "I was beginning to think that we wouldn't get there until after dark, what with all the Gogols!"
"You say that like you had to fight them, Gramps." Rex replied in a flat tone. "All you've done is lounge in my helmet the whole time."
The Titan responded by clasping his hands over his tiny Core Crystal. "You wound me, my 'Driver'!" He said in an overdramatic voice. "Accusing your trusty 'Blade' of being lazy!"
"Come off it, Gramps." The boy said, rolling his eyes. "It's not an accusation if it's the truth!"
"Oh, and just who was it that spent the entire afternoon helping you refine a new Art?" Azurda said, grinning at the boy. Rex merely groaned in response.
Before he had the chance to snipe back, Nia came to a sudden stop in front of them. She raised a hand, signaling to the others to stop as well, and closed her eyes. Her ears twitched, as if searching for a particular sound.
Beside her, Dromarch tilted his head up. "My Lady," he started, "what do you-"
"Quiet." She replied, looking off to the side of the trail about a dozen peds ahead of them.
Her hands slowly reached down to her Rings, brushing against the handles, but not quite closing on them. "Dromarch, do you smell someone?" She asked.
The Blade raised his head, sniffing the air for a moment before shaking his head. "I do not." The Blade admitted. "Regrettably, we are currently upwind of the trail."
Rex reached for his sword as well, giving the treeline a careful look. "You hear something?" He asked quietly.
"Up ahead." Nia replied. "Three people, maybe four. They're in the bushes just off the trail. They were talking quietly as we approached, but have gone silent now. I bet they've noticed we've picked up on them."
"Right." The boy nodded, slowly pulling the blade free from his back. He slowly kneeled down and picked up a small stone from the path. "Whereabouts are they?"
Nia pointed off into the distance. "See that bush there? They're about a half-ped behind it."
The boy stood up, bouncing the rock in his hand as he did so. He briefly contemplated his next move. "Think they'll come out if we ask?" He inquired.
"Probably not."
"Yeah," he sighed, "I figured that too. Still, might as well try, just in case they're hiding from us instead of waiting to jump us."
Nia shrugged. "Well, we don't exactly have the element of surprise here, so I guess it can't hurt."
Taking that as an agreement, he shouted out toward the bushes. "Hey! We know you're there. We're not gonna bite, so why don't you just come out and talk?"
A moment passed, then another, but nobody emerged from the underbrush. Rex frowned, tossing the rock in increasingly higher arcs as he waited.
"They're still there, right?" He asked, eyes still locked on the area Nia had pointed at.
"Not quite." The girl responded, ears flicking slightly. "They're moving closer." Her finger indicated at a patch of bushes about a ped closer to than previously.
Rex tossed the rock into the air once more, making sure he had the weight correct. As he judged the arc he would need to throw the stone, he was distantly aware of just how much more conscious he was of the trajectory calculations involved. His hand-eye coordination had always been exceptional, of course, but he had never been actively aware of his brain running the numbers.
It felt so natural, too. Maybe it was something that had always happened that he was only noticing because Gramps had put the idea in his head, but perhaps the old Titan was on to something about gaining some of Mythra's skills?
The moment the rock landed in his palm, his fingers closed around it. Rather than bounce it again, his arm pulled back, rotating around his shoulder as he pitched the stone right at the spot Nia had indicated. A minuscule amount of ether pulsed through his muscles as he threw it, adding to the strength of the pitch- certainly unnecessary given the distance, but guaranteed to leave an impression.
He was rewarded with a solid thunk and an indignant yelp of pain as the rock easily cut through the underbrush and struck one of the hiders within.
"Wanna try this again?" He called, leaning the inactive Aegis Sword on his shoulder.
A chuckle rang out from the foliage at his words before the bushes began to rustle with movement. The boy narrowed his eyes as four figures, two human accompanied by a pair of Blades, exited the underbrush and spread out across the trail in front on them.
One of them, a burly Ardainian man with dark hair and a Shield Hammer, continued to chuckle. "Well now, perceptive brats, aren't ya?" He said, leaning on his weapon as he leered at them.
"I told you to quiet down, Ang." The other man, a lanky Gormotti with green hair and an Ether Cannon, snorted at his companion. "The girl could've heard you all the way from White Chair with your yapping." His ears twitched in annoyance.
"Ah, go shove it, Gwyd." The Ardainian replied, not taking his eyes off them. His eyes flickered between the three visible members of the party with a frown.
"Now then, you lot." He addressed them. "You're gonna answer me and my mate some questions, yeah?" Not even bothering to wait for a reply, he continued. "Now, we're looking for Blade, yeah? Pretty thing, too. Blonde hair, with a very special Core Crystal."
Rex tensed his grip on the Aegis Sword. He had a very good idea exactly who they were looking for, and if these Drivers were stopping him and Nia…
Beside him, his Gormotti companion pulled her Twin Rings free of her belt. Like Rex, she hadn't activated them yet, but her stance was still guarded.
The Ardainian narrowed his eyes. "Now, we were told she'd be wandering around with a group like you, but here you lot are without her."
Behind him, a female common Blade with a pair of slender golden horns peaking out from her forehead, slinked into a rearguard position. Her actions were mirrored by a hulking male Blade behind the Gormotti man.
"So tell me, what happened to your friend? She's gotta be around here somewhere, yeah?"
"Oh, is that all you wanted?" Nia replied with a chuckle of her own. The girl placed a hand on her hip, the other arm gesturing one of her Rings off in a vague direction. "You're a bit late then. She split days ago, bolted the moment we landed in Gormott."
"Nia!" Rex hissed, turning to look at her. His surprise wasn't entirely faked; he had assumed they were going to play dumb, and it definitely helped sell the act.
"What?" The girl replied. Her tone was short, but he could see a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "It's not like it matters if we tell them or not; there's no way she didn't make it off the Titan before Consul Whosit closed the place up."
The Gormotti man groaned, scratching the back of his head. "Ah, hard luck, that." He muttered, looking over at his companion. "How do you wanna play this, Ang?"
"I say we take 'em." The Ardainian replied, lifting up his Hammer. "Girl's got a bounty, and the broker'll want a nice long chat with the boy." A lattice of ether crystals flashed into existence around the head of the Hammer as his Blade activated their active affinity link. "'Sides, you don't want to go back empty-handed either, yeah?"
Rex and Nia both fell into their combat stances, weapons activating as they did. Dromarch fell in to a rearguard position behind his Driver, while Azurda ducked into Rex's helmet.
"Good news, Nia." Rex said quietly, eyes focused on the Ardainian Driver. "You're not going to be causing me any extra trouble by sticking around."
"Really not the time." The girl shot back, water ether glittering across her Twin Rings as she gathered ether.
The Gormotti man pulled out his weapon as well, a crackle of earth ether running over the unfurling Canon. "Might as well, I suppose." He agreed. "We'll get paid one way or another."
"I'll take the gunner." Nia said, body tensing in preparation to sprint. "I'll have a better chance of dodging his shots."
Rex nodded, gathering ether for an Art of his own. "Got it."
"Alright brats," the Gormotti man said, "Let's dance!" Ether coalesced deep within the barrel of his Cannon as he took aim at the pair. "Liberation Bulle-!"
Before he could launch his attack, his Blade exploded.
The flow of ether to his weapon stopped as their affinity link broke. His Driver, immediately aware that something had gone terribly wrong, released the building Art and wheeled around in a panic. "Shiko!" He cried, watching his Blade slump to the floor, unconscious.
Seeing an opportunity, Rex brought his sword up in a single-handed point directed at the distracted Driver and released his brand new Art.
It wasn't the cleanest he had in his arsenal, but the principles were sound. Under Azurda's tutelage, he had hastily melded together his off-the-cuff ether blasts with a rough description he had been given of Mythra's Ray of Punishment Art to form a more-or-less serviceable attack he had tentatively given the rather uncreative name of Sword Blast.
The energy blade of the Aegis Sword pulsed as ether was channeled through it, gathering briefly at the tip of the blade before bursting out in a brilliant golden bolt. It crossed the distance in an instant, slamming into the Gormotti man's back.
He yelped in pain as he was thrown forward, his grip on the Ether Cannon lost, and landed atop his unconscious Blade. A groan of equal parts pain and humiliation echoed from the heap, a clear sign the man had survived.
"New plan!" Rex called, turning to face the Ardainian Driver. "Rush him!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Nia replied, darting forward. She kept her stance low, one arm leading, the other trailing, as she charged the enemy Driver.
He brought his Hammer into a guard, assuming a wide-legged stance in preparation to meet her charge, but the blow never landed. Just a moment before impact, the Gormotti girl dropped down, sliding under his weapon and between his splayed legs.
Nia slashed at his ankles as she slid, causing the man to falter, before springing forward to lunge at the Blade behind him. The female Blade squeaked in alarm at the sudden appearance of an angry catgirl in her face, already too close to project a barrier, and ducked.
Her Driver spun around to assist his Blade, murder in his eyes. "Oh, you're gonna pay for that you little brat!" He growled, raising his Hammer into the air. A gust of wind swirled around the head of the weapon as he charged an Art.
With his attention locked on Nia, he was taken entirely by surprise when he was tackled by the tiger Blade running to support his Driver.
Dromarch roared at the Ardainian, latching down on the shaft of the Shield Hammer with his jaws. The Driver struggled to gain control of the weapon, his ether-enhanced strength matched evenly by the animal Blade.
"Get off, you mangey little…!" The Driver spat, twisting the Hammer perpendicular to the Blade's grip. Dromarch clawed at his arms in an attempt to stop him, but without leverage, the razor-sharp claws lacked the power to bite into the Driver's reinforced flesh.
The Ardainian gave a final yell of exertion, torquing the Hammer out of Dromarch's jaws. He immediately pulled the weapon close to his chest, his elbows jabbed out to dissuade the Tiger from latching on again, and curled his legs in.
As Dromarch pressed forward to contest the Hammer again, the Driver caught the Tiger's shoulders with his feet. He braced against the Blade's weight, and tensed his muscles in preparation.
"Get… OFFA me!" The Ardainian yelled, shoving the Tiger back with the full force of his ether-enhanced strength. Dromarch, for his part, was pushed back a full ped, but managed to keep his footing. The Driver, on the other hand, rolled backward from the force and gracefully came to his feet in a low crouch.
"Anzu, stop playing around." The Driver yelled at his Blade, seeing her struggling to dodge around Nia. "Get over here and help me!"
Dromarch crouched down, coiling as if ready to pounce. "I do not believe that will be sufficient to help you." The Tiger replied, a sarcastic drawl evident in his voice.
"Oh yeah? And why is that?" The Driver sneered in response. He readied his hammer, the weapon held in a two handed defensive grip across his torso.
"Because you forgot about the third fighter." The Tiger replied, just moments before Rex struck the enemy Driver in the temple with a Sword Bash from behind.
Dromarch watched as the Ardainian crumpled to the ground. "Your penchant for dramatic timing is exquisite, Master Rex." The Tiger drawled. "Perchance, have you considered a career in theater?"
"Sorry," the boy replied, scratching the back of his head, "I couldn't figure out a way to safely jump in while you were on top of him."
"I had expected that to be the case." He replied, looking over to where his Driver was. True to form, she had her own battle well in hand.
Quite literally, in fact. At some point she had managed to knock the Blade over, and was now kneeling on the woman's back, using a solid grip on her horns to slam the Blade's head into the ground repeatedly.
"Should we…?" Rex asked, watching his companion's brutal takedown of the enemy Blade with more than a little concern.
The Tiger shook his head in response. "That should not be necessary. We have few safe means of incapacitating a Blade without murdering the Driver at present, and we Blades are incapable of sustaining permanent injury so long as our Core Crystals remain intact."
He paused as Nia continued, despite the fact that the Blade had already gone limp. "Although, perhaps it would be remiss of us not to intervene…" He said, rather less confidently than a moment prior.
"Oi, Nia!" Rex called. "You good there?"
The girl looked over to him with a confused look, before looking down at the limp Blade she was kneeling on. "Ah, yeah…" She muttered, releasing the woman's head with an embarrassed look on her face.
Standing up, the girl brushed off her jumpsuit and looked around. "Well, that was certainly a thing." She stated.
"Tell me about it." Rex replied, sheathing the Aegis Sword. He looked over at the Gormotti and his Blade, both still in an unconscious heap. "What do we do now?"
"Probably best to tie the Blades up." Nia responded. "They'll wake up faster than their Drivers will, and we'll want to put as much space between them and us as possible." The girl sighed, raising her Twin Rings. "And I guess I should probably heal the Drivers, too. I'd rather not be responsible for them dying if I can avoid it."
"Sounds like a plan." Rex smiled. He looked back down at the Brute Blade, the back of his head blackened from the explosion that had robbed him of his consciousness, and his face became slightly more contemplative.
"Any idea what happened to this one?" He asked. "Somehow, I doubt it's normal for a Blade to just explode like that."
"Oh, that Tora's handywork! Does friend like?" Rather than Nia, a different voice replied. It was young, but still clearly masculine, and the syntax made it clear exactly what species the speaker was.
The party turned in the direction the voice had come from, a patch of the underbrush about ten peds further down the path than their ambushers had been. The bushes rustled, and the speaker walked out onto the trail.
It was a… rather large nopon. Not nearly the same size as Bana, but he was also clearly younger. His fur was light brown and cream with darker stripes, a surprisingly striking combination considering how common his coloration was. Unusually for a nopon, he was almost fully clothed by human standards, wearing a set of denim engineering overalls that wouldn't have been out of place on Argentum's maintenance deck.
He also seemed to be rather well armed, considering how he was dressed. Most prominent was a shield, the frame slightly warped, that covered much of his back. Still held in his hands was a metallic tube, far too big to be a rifle, but from how he was holding it, it was definitely a firearm of some type.
"Tora was worried new Boom Biter ammunition not strong enough to knock out Blade, but it all work out in the end!" The nopon said, eyes gleaming with excitement. "And then wham! Driver friends take out meanie Driver like nothing!"
"It certainly would have been more difficult had you not intervened!" Azurda said, poking his head out from Rex's helmet. "You have my thanks, young man!"
"Agreed." Nia added.
"Yeah, thanks for the save there…" Rex scratched the back of his head. "I gotta ask, though… why'd you jump in like that?"
"No reason." The nopon claimed, looking slightly fidgety.
"Really, now?" Nia replied, eyes narrowing.
Chuckling awkwardly, Tora mirrored Rex's behavior. "Ok, that not quite true. Tora have good reason to help." Looking down at the unconscious fighters, the nopon added, "But, maybe friends should tie up meanie Blades first? Then Tora happy to explain."
"… So then Tora decide, 'new Boom Biter designed to take down Titan weapon! Meanie Blade not stand chance!' Friends know how rest of story go."
"Uh huh." Nia said, a skeptical look in her eyes. "And we're supposed to believe that?"
Once they had ensured the enemy party wouldn't be following them anytime soon, the group departed in the direction of Torigoth. With the light quickly fading, they were eager to reach the city before night fully fell.
As they traveled, Tora brought them up to speed on the current climate of the city, as well as the events that had led to his introduction. He hadn't seen fit to hide anything, including the fact that he was supposed to be watching for them. That piece of information had immediately put Nia on guard.
Tora tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Tora not understand. What part of story does Nia not believe?"
"Oh, I don't know… maybe the part where you decided to jump in and help the people you're supposed to be spying on?" She replied sarcastically.
"I will admit, that is a point of concern." Dromarch added. "I mean no offense when I say this, but it comes across as an attempt to ingratiate yourself into our company."
"T-Tora not do that!" The nopon yelled, aghast. "Tora just want to help! It bad enough Tora have to do dirty work for sketchypon Turuni, but sit aside and watch new friends hurt by bulky Drivers? Intolerable!"
Leaning over Rex's shoulder, Azurda gave the nopon a calculating stare. "It certainly is a great risk, Tora." He noted. "Are you not worried about getting in trouble with your employer."
"Sketchypon Turuni blackmailer, not employer." The nopon said, crossing his arms in a huff. "Besides," he gave the party a mischievous look, "Tora only told watch for friends and report back. Never told not to warn friends in meantime."
Rex laughed at his response. "Hah! I like his attitude!"
"Of course you do." Nia rolled her eyes. Looking over at Tora, she continued. "Assuming we believe you, what are you going to tell him?"
"Tora tell him exactly what friends told bully Drivers!" The nopon grinned. "Blade girl separate from friends when reached Gormott, and is probably gone. Turuni say discover if Blade not with friends important information, after all!"
"You really think he'll buy that?" She asked.
"Why not? It exactly what Turuni want. Who Tora be to deny?"
"It is certainly a bold plan." Dromarch commented. "Will you require any assistance in ensuring your safety, should this broker recognize your deception?"
The nopon shook his head. "Tora will be fine! Have ways of escape if need." He patted the brim of his shield. "Weapons not for show, Tora assure!"
Rex gave his loadout an appraising look. "Huh, I don't think I've ever seen a weapon quite like that. Is it custom?"
"Meh heh!" Tora puffed his chest out, pulling the shield off his back. "'Is shield custom?' This prototype Drill Shield, is super special custom design of Tora's own!" He twisted it slightly, trying to downplay the warped frame. "Not as strong as final model, but prototype still take hit from angry Gogol and not break!
"Impressive!" Azurda said. "How do you keep yourself grounded when you take such a hit?"
Tora pointed at the trio of pods affixed to the back of the shield. "That what boosters are for." He explained. "Fire right before blow, so Tora not thrown like skipping stone on pond." With a sigh, he added; "Prototype fuel limited, though. Used all up fighting nasty flock of Flamii yesterday."
Nia raised an eyebrow. "You took down a whole flock of Flamii? By yourself?"
"Of course not!" Tora scoffed. "Tora merely kept at bay until retreated from territory! Shield only able to protect from limited arc!"
"Why did you fight them, anyway?" Rex asked.
"Flamii decide they like Tora's original hiding spot, but not like Tora quite so much." He replied with a grimace. "And Tora thought Robart supposed to be territorial one." The nopon muttered.
As they got closer to the city, passing the empty lumber yards on the hill overlooking the lake, Tora indicated for them to stop.
"Tora must go now." The nopon said, looking around furtively. "Turuni not tell Tora to not talk to friends, but will be mad if know Tora did. Might not clear Tora's debt."
"Makes sense." Rex nodded in agreement, crossing his arms as he looked down at the nopon. "Seventh Rule of the Salvager's Code: Never leave a debt unpaid!"
Nia gave him a flat stare. "You're just making those up, aren't you?" She asked.
He merely turned his nose up at her. "I'll have you know the Salvager's Code is a well-documented tradition of the profession." He replied in a huff.
Azurda shook his head in exasperation. "Go on ahead, Tora." The Titan urged. "We'll wait here a few minutes so it doesn't look like we came as a group."
"Tiny Blade's understanding is appreciated!" Tora cried, before turning to run off. "Goodbye friends! If need help during stay, Tora's home in on bottom level of residential district, in closest corner to market!"
With that, the nopon departed, running as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. They watched as he turned the corner, headed for the ramp up to the main gates, before Nia spoke up.
"I still don't trust him," she said, crossing her arms as well, "but… I suppose I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."
"I would still advise caution when we enter the city, my Lady." Dromarch said, looking over at his Driver. "Even if Tora is not preparing an ambush, we still have a multitude of potential foes within."
Nia leaned her head back. "That goes without saying, though I can't figure out the best way to go for the life of me."
"What are our options?" Rex asked. "We'll be headed for an inn first, I suppose?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, "but just getting to one is gonna be a problem no matter which we choose." She waved a hand in the air. "Coedwig's the closest, just a couple blocks from the gates, but we'll have to pass right through the main plaza to reach it, which'll give bounty hunters or guards more of a chance to see us.
"The Crimson Anchortail's a cheaper alternative down by the docks, but it's pretty seedy, so there's a good chance that's where the bounty hunters will be staying. There's a few more over in the Ardainian sector as well, but those'll be well patrolled."
Rex mulled over the options. "Any others?" He asked.
"None far enough from the Consulate for me to be comfortable with."
"Right, right…" He remembered. "Sounds like Coedwig'll be the safest option if we can get to it." The boy briefly considered offering up disguises for them, but immediately dismissed the idea. Changing out of his diving suit might help him, but there was no way they could hide Dromarch, Nia's biggest tell.
"Are there any back routes we could take to it?" He offered instead.
"Mmmm…" Nia pondered, leaning her head back. "We could swing around Obra Street and see if the back door's open, but it can be pretty seedy, so there's a good chance we'd find some sort of trouble. Not to mention the guards'll probably be focusing on it considering the crime spree that's supposedly going on there. It's a big risk for a door that might not be open."
"I suspect we will be best served making the decision once we have been given the opportunity to assess the situation on our own." Dromarch noted.
"Speaking of which, do you think we've given Tora enough time?" Rex asked, leaning over to look just a little further towards the ramp.
"Oh, probably." Nia replied. "Let's get going then. The longer we wait, the smaller the crowds we'll have to blend in with"
With no disagreement to be found, the party proceeded towards the gates of the city. At this hour, the ramp was still fairly busy, filled with an influx of workers and citizens returning to Torigoth as the night fell.
It was the perfect time for them to enter. Their outfits, which normally stood out among the crowd, were far less noticeable here. Picking Rex's diving suit out of a crowd of salvagers returning from Lascham Island or Nia's jumpsuit from the surrounding mill workers was a much more daunting prospect than it would have been otherwise.
Either way, they didn't take chances. Rex stuck close to the other salvagers, particularly the taller ones, to blend in a little better, while Nia pulled up her hood and urged Dromarch to stay a few paces back.
Soon enough, the crowd spilled out through the gates to Torigoth, and Rex got his first view of the provincial capital.
"Certainly bigger than Dornswell…" He muttered, looking over the market square. Even as the last light faded, the stores were still filled with patrons. Along the sides of the square, food stalls were selling out the last of their stock, while deeper in, a crowd was gathering around some event too far out of sight for him to see.
"What did you expect?" Nia asked, eyebrow raised. "Dornswell's just a provincial town, while Torigoth is the largest city left on Gormott. Of course it's going to be bigger!"
"'Largest city left?'" He asked, curious about the phrasing.
"Well, White Chair was bigger, back before the war." Nia replied, giving the closest pair of Ardainian soldiers on guard a glare. "But it got burned to the ground at the end of it. They've rebuilt since then, but with the empire moving the capital to Torigoth…" She trailed off, her eyes narrowing at a nearby bounty board.
Abruptly, the girl stormed over to the board, her eyes locked on the second-to-last poster listed. Concerned by her behavior, Rex quickly followed her over to the board.
It was immediately obvious what had drawn the girl's ire; a wanted poster that contained what could only be described as a mashup between Nia herself and Dromarch. Compared to the posters of Jin and Malos right before it, the depiction was downright insulting.
He could see her face flush in rage at the sight, her jaw quivering as she struggled to articulate words of indignation. "W-what the…" She stuttered out, her voice filled with malice.
Before she could continue, Rex put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Nia," he hissed in concern, "not now! We don't want to draw attention!"
She looked at him, her eyes still burning, but quickly calmed as she saw his look of concern. "R-right." She muttered, her anger quickly replaced by embarrassment as she came back to her senses. "Probably… probably best not to throw a fit right here, eh?"
Azurda leaned out of Rex's helmet, giving the poster a good look. "You know, this is probably in your favor." He said, chuckling slightly at the rather offensive rendition of the girl's image.
"And how exactly do you figure that?" She replied, a dangerous note in her voice.
"Because the picture is so bad, it's basically worthless for identifying you." He noted, scratching his chin. "I dare say, it's almost beneficial for you in that regard."
Nia looked back over at the poster, glaring as if trying to set it on fire with her gaze, but didn't refute that. "I guess…" she conceded, "but I still don't like it."
"Maybe we'll get the chance to take a shot at whoever drew it." Rex joked, looking back at the crowd. "Now, how do we want to play this?"
Bringing her attention back to the matter at hand, Nia assessed the crowd as well. "That's not a good sign," she muttered, "they're gathered at the fountain just outside the inn!"
"Any idea why?" The boy asked.
She shook her head, ears slightly drooped. "Something about music, I think? There was a Torigonda playing over there a moment ago, but the crowd's too loud for me to tell for certain." The girl indicated around the edges of the crowd. "The big problem is how many soldiers there are."
"There does appear to be an excessive number of them." Dromach commented, rejoining the group after having spent several minutes keeping his distance. "I assume they are attempting to keep the peace for whatever performance is occurring there."
"That's no good." Rex grumbled, crossing his arms. "So what now? Try that side street?"
"I don't think we have another option." Nia agreed. "We should probably be quick, though. I'm a bit leery about sticking around there too long." She indicated down the main street of the market square. "This way. It's just a few blocks up."
They followed the girl, weaving their way through the crowd. Once they exited the center of the market, the crowd quickly diminished, leaving only a few passers by upon reaching the entrance to Obra Street.
It was clear why Nia had been uncomfortable with the idea of using it. The street was narrow and dark by the standards of Torigoth, wedged between the sides of two rows of buildings. Unlike the streets of the market, there were no streetlights here, the dim lighting provided instead shone out from the surrounding windows.
"Just back here." The girl waved the to follow, glancing cautiously from side to side. "If it's locked, we can swing around the residential zone, but I certainly hope it won't be necessary."
Rex gave a nervous glance of his own as he followed, a cold trickle of sweat running down the back of his neck. "Where are the soldiers…?" He asked, mostly to himself. "With the city on alert, you would think that they'd-"
As Nia entered a small intersection, where the street widened slightly, she came to an abrupt stop. Standing in the middle of the street ahead, bathed in shadows from an overhanging building, was a woman.
She was a Blade, from the look of it. Both her body and her rubbery clothing, even her eyepatch, were lit by the soft passive glow of her ether lines, emanating out from the chevron-shaped Core Crystal on her chest. The girl looked alarmingly childish, yet the Megalance she wielded and the cruel sneer on her face looked anything but.
All three of the active party members tensed, Rex and Nia reaching for their weapons, while Dromarch stood protectively at his Driver's side.
"Can we help you?" Rex asked, watching around for anyone else. The Blade appeared to be on her own… so where was her Driver?
The Blade smiled, taking a step forward. "Help me… why I believe you can!" She replied, twirling her Lance, before calling out a name. "Theory!"
A sudden flux of ether behind them drew Rex and Nia's attention. They turned their heads just in time to see a wall of ice engulf the street they had just come through. "Damn it!" Nia spat, following the trail of ice over to the side.
At the end was another Blade, of similar appearance to the first. She was smaller and looked even younger, yet gave off a more dangerous feeling. Her outfit was darker, in contrast to her companion, but was still lit by emissive decorations and glowing piping that followed her ether lines. She had an identical Core Crystal to the other, and a similar eyepatch, save for the large spike on it that was mirrored on her forehead and behind one ear.
She circled the party, one hand on the handle of her Chroma Katana, until she stood beside her companion. The other Blade seemed more energized at her presence, ether coursing along the head of her lance.
"How about you start by telling us… where we can find the Aegis."
Author's Notes
Praxis and Theory are a remarkably convenient choice for supplementary villains for the Gormott arc. How thoughtful of Monolith to have them first encountered in the exact same place as Brighid.
