Finally here to bring yet another chapter in this story after being on hiatus for so long!
By the way, any towns you read here that you don't recognize mention here that you know are not from the game, I made them up, and thanks to word hippo translate, it makes things a little easier coming up with interesting sounding fictional towns or character names for a fanfiction.
And two things to note, one there'll be another slight change to the original story but But most of it nonetheless will remain the same as it happened originally, you'll have to read for yourself to see where it changes.
There'll be a point of view change here, this time.
Please enjoy this chapter!
(Red's POV)
Tala and I waited patiently, although worriedly, for Chocolat to finish giving our mysterious guest a medical exam, since she had more experience then we did though we can do almost as well as her but she studied it longer than we had so she was the best option.
All we could do was sit down in the bridge looking ahead as we passed through the high skies, thankfully having the autopilot on so we had less to worry about, but nonetheless we would remember to turn off the autopilot and pilot the ship ourselves so that we could dock at Airedale without the risk of crashing.
After having woken up this morning, with only a little bit of sleep as all three of us could tell that after what happened last night we only just got a little bit of good sleep as there was just too much on our minds (The look in each other's eyes made it obvious that we each had our own respective nightmares about that monster we saw last night), we quickly had breakfast before getting dressed and allowed Cho to get to checking on our guest.
Last night...
That monster, whatever it was, whoever created it, or if it hadn't been man-made, whichever it was, definitely looks like something out of an old '90s horror film, staring at it in the eyes sent shivers down my spine, almost like it was looking directly at me even though that sounded silly.
There's just something.. ominous about it, more so than I should think there is. In fact, even thinking about it, just like last night, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on ends.
Why? I don't know beyond the obvious fact that this thing was dangerous and could very easily get someone killed if they were not careful If they somehow encountered this thing by chance.
The one thing is for sure, if that thing were to be unleashed on any of the islands nobody would stand a chance, there would be global pandemonium.
And those black things, we all think it might have come from that monster, it's the only explanation there, but they definitely look like something that crawled out of your worst nightmare.
I'm just grateful that we're still alive, not only having escaped those black monsters but that huge blue one as a whole, but also escaped the ship as it was in flames and ready to descend into the cloud sea never to be seen again, We would have been goners had we not escaped in time.
Even if we don't get the answers right now, eventually we'll learn more about what's going on someday. Just hope it'll be soon.
Just then Chocolate came through the door as we all turned to her.
"Thankfully it seems he's healing quite nicely from the injuries he received last night, right now he's still very much deeply asleep. When he'll wake up? I don't know, but I could definitely say that he is not in danger of his health getting worse." She assured us.
We all sighed in relief, thankful that he was okay.
Currently he was sleeping in my bed as I slept in a sleeping bag next to Tala last night.
Dahak, Who is speaking through one of the message pipes, then said, "That is a relief to hear, still that does boggle the question of why he was on the ship in the first place. Considering that the clothes he was wearing were nothing like the uniforms of our enemies, We can assume he is not with them."
Given that he was the other stow away according to the guards, it made sense.
"We still don't know what his name is, or if there's someone looking for him." Tala chimed in, "All we can do is wait until he wakes up, though we will tell Québec about what went on once we reach Airedale."
We all nodded to that. Maybe he might know something, If not then at the very least he can give us some advice going forward.
Unconsciously I gripped the medallion that was still around my neck, hoping we could at least get some insight soon on the situation at hand, not to mention hoping that the man would wake up soon so I could give this back to him If this truly did belong to him.
I really doubt that he's involved in any of this, although at this point if he was somehow then whether I'll be surprised or not is unknown.
"That does all sound pretty fur-raising. I'm just glad you girls didn't get killed on my behalf, the last thing I want is to be guilt ridden knowing my wards had died doing me a favor." Québec replied as he took off my cap and goggles in order to ruffle through my messy hair chuckling lightly.
His own of saying that he was worried but was otherwise relieved that we were okay.
As soon as we got into town I went straight to the tiger Man, while the girls stayed on the ship not only to keep an eye on our guest but to make sure that it was still in ship shape, and told him everything after having handed him the file that we managed to retrieve.
"Still fur-raising would be the correct term as the whole aftermath after finding that file was definitely frightening, Especially for the girls." I then said, retaking my cap and goggles and replacing them on my head, "The radio's already spreading the news about that monster, thankfully the police have already given a warning to every single pilot, Hunter or otherwise, to stay far away from it until further information could be revealed about it."
"Least that's one less thing for us to worry about, although it doesn't change the fact that it was easily able to destroy the ship you were on like it was made of paper mache, You and Dahak both could have died there." Québec said as he crossed his arms, concern was clear on his face as he then sighed and asked me, "How's everybody else doing?"
"The girls are shaken but otherwise all right, as for our guest thankfully he's in good health and he's healing well but he's still unconscious, hopefully we can help him get back home soon and get some information on his side of the story, If not about the monster then at the very least anything regarding the medallion and how he managed to sneak onto the ship in the first place." I told him as he nodded, relief flickered in his eyes as he smiled gently.
But then he frowned again as he then informed me, "While we're on the topic on news, I still haven't found any information about your folks or even your siblings yet, although I think I might have found a potential lead, at least I think so, I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing but I'm just letting ya to know ahead of time, I'm going to be meeting with an informant of mine who's helping on the case so maybe we'll get some information then."
I nodded.
It's already been months since the last time we saw our family, we're still hoping that they're all right, and most importantly that they're not dead, if we were able to survive that tornado and lightning storm then they must have too...
... At least we hope so...
Still we weren't giving up even if we were still wrought with anxiety.
All we can do is wait and continue doing our part.
As it turns out we were pretty low on fuel, and it was only a blessing that we didn't end up either stranded or something.
Before you ask, the ship like many others does have a backup generator that can keep the ship afloat in the middle of nowhere either for hours or days depending on the specific model in question. It was the same technology that was used on every single island to keep each ship afloat at the docks of every town but only if they stayed stationary there and it came in a form of a gravity field that was projected all throughout the outer edges of the islands, but in the middle of nowhere that was another story altogether and for the back up generator it wouldn't last forever as at that point it would either be just struggling long enough to reach land or we become sitting ducks waiting for help to arrive If we couldn't get the ship repaired if there was damage done in some manner or if nothing came then we would end up being in a flying coffin as it would eventually plummet into the sea of clouds.
It only makes me grateful that the gas tanks are not only big but the ship has a way of making sure that the ships can last a pretty long time before needing to be refueled.
And yes, Québec already taught us ways on how we can avoid that grim fate so in case anything goes wrong then we would all manage to get out in one piece.
Anywho, it wasn't just the fuel tank we need to worry about but apparently the events from last night have left some parts of the ship a little bit shaken enough that some minor repairs will need to be done, ones that while could be delayed for a while but nonetheless needed to be tended to so no incidences happened.
And even though I got paid, we still needed some more money not only to get the gas and repairs done, we also need to make sure that we would have enough to make ends meet by the end of the month.
Best to raise the money for that ahead of time then to wait until the last minute.
...That and our Hunter ranking was getting close to reaching the next level which would allow us to take on more quests that were a few stars higher than what we normally took on at the moment (our licenses were technically enhanced to record how well we did In our endeavors and in the quests we partake in and kept track on by The quest brokers who would be in charge of seeing how well we do and seeing whether or not we would advance to the next level or not, For some hunters they take it as a challenge to try and become the best of the best but for us we're just working to be the best we can absolutely be), More potential quest means not only more adventures and experience to earn but more money to earn to make sure we would stay afloat... and more hope that with more quests we might be able to stumble upon some kind of information regarding our family.
Not that we were greedy or pinching for cash, but it's best to make sure we don't end up bankrupt.
So I took the opportunity to take on a couple of quests from Flo.
The first quest just so happened to be a battle trial from a young woman named Suzette who works at the Parts shop who wants to test out her latest custom robo in a full-on battle.
This caught my interest, it wasn't every day we got to face somebody who wasn't an enemy against their robo in a test of either fun or good competitive strength.
Dahak was interested too.
It would be a nice change of pace for us after everything that happened yesterday and last night especially.
We accepted the quest and bid Flo farewell for now as she cheered us on like always.
The shop in question was one we've gone numerous times, usually for ship parts, While we can easily do the repairs with our tools, when it comes to specific things like needing ship parts or needing replacement tools or needing brand new tools and parts to help make the job easier, here's where we go.
While we're aware that there's more than one part shop in Shepherd, this one is one of the best ones we know.
Truth be told, while we are official hunters we're still rookies, so we're starting out small and taking care of business around this island and the other smaller ones nearby, we have yet to go to any other big cities beyond this one such as Spinon, Davren Islands (Even though technically it's not really a city but an archipelago of Islands That is most famous for its Robo Ariel Races, Even though our profile says that we're from there we've never technically been there, what an experience that will be when we eventually do), Vizsla, to name a few that we've heard of but have yet to visit.
Besides this town, the only other islands (albeit smaller) we've been to that are close by from here and a little further away are, in the following:
Polca Kokoro (Polka in Catalan and Heart in Japanese, respectfully), Glacia (Icy in Esperanto), and Awọ kekere (Dune land in Yoruba).
We may not be completely fluent in these specific languages however we do know enough to roughly translate what they mean in English.
Soon we'll go to the other big cities, but for now we're exploring the surroundings of our pseudo home and any islands nearby it. Exploring every island on the map will serve us well in the future.
Soon enough, Dahak and I arrived at the shop, But before I could mount off of my robo buddy the door burst open revealing a young Felineko Who had a huge smile on her face as she practically zoomed all around Dahak, muttering incoherent words I couldn't understand before she eventually stopped, her squinted eyes practically shining like starlight.
Which allowed me to get a good look at her, Even though I've been to the shop a number of times I know I've never met her, although I did recall one of the employees saying that one of their own was away on important business and wouldn't be back for months and the person in question was of the same species as her, so I have to assume that this is the employee they were talking about in question.
I'm pretty sure she was a Turkish Van and She had to be at least two or three years older than me, she had pastel orange fur, light Paris green hair that went down to above her waist with some bangs in front of her forehead and some on the sides of her head to frame her face And even a good bit of it in a big cowlick that kind of looked like a check mark That's been turned vertically, squinted eyes although I could tell that they were very much beaming was excitement, her ears and tail were both white with light pale gray at the tips of the both of them, She dressed in what seems to be a cross between sailor-fuku and mechanic wear, complete with a pack on her belt that undoubtedly had to be filled with tools, A strange pair of visor like goggles that remind me a lot of a character from the X-Men that had those specific glasses to keep himself from accidentally lasering something he has no intention of using it on that was on top of her head, She wore black fingerless gloves, dark gray slightly brown shorts that reach down to her knees, A strange yellow tag band that was on the forearm on the left side of her long sleeve, a really big wrench that was in a holster that was on her back that was about almost as big and long as her own arms entirely, and a pair of brown and dark brown boots.
"I take it you must be the one who answered my quest. If that's the case, then I'm all ready for you! I just finished getting everything set up so come with me in the back so we can get started!" She exclaimed with excitement, practically bouncing in place before she stopped herself and pointed at herself proudly, her grin wide with glee as she said, "Oh yeah sorry! I'm Suzette! The best robo mechanic and specialist in robo parts you'll ever know in this town!"
I thought so! I had a feeling that this was the one who sent the request.
Funny enough when I think of Suzette I can't help but think about crepe suzette, which If I remember right is a dessert... Note to self, swing by to Cafe later for a nice treat once the day is over.
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Red, and this is my buddy Dahak." I replied introducing me and him, remaining calm despite being a little overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Suzette." Dahak replied politely.
"WAH!!??!" The girl exclaimed as she was startled enough that she fell on her rear end, gaping in shock before immediately getting back on her feet as her excitement skyrocketed as I could practically see glimmering sparkles shining around her face.
"SO THE RUMORS ARE TRUE! YOU'RE THE ROBO THAT HAS A CONSCIOUSNESS! AN AI! THE ONE I'VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT FOR SOME TIME! I'VE BEEN DYING TO MEET YOU AND YOUR RIDER!!" She practically screeched as she took Dahak's right hand and shook it vigorously to the point that I was wondering how she was able to keep going despite how much heavier his own arm was and the fact that she just took it suddenly without warning... But then again due to the fact that she was an expert on machines and repairs and has most likely done a lot of heavy lifting It only makes sense that she was probably stronger than she looked, Even though from what I heard people her species don't normally get into this kind of occupation with only a few that were an exception, which undoubtedly must include her too, "IT'S A HUGE HONOR TO FINALLY MEET YOU BOTH! I'M JUST SORRY WE NEVER GOT TO MEET SOONER! HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR MY WORK TAKING ME AWAY FROM TOWN FOR A WHILE I WOULD HAVE MOST CERTAINLY HAVE COME RUNNING TO GREET YOU GUYS!"
Politely, having already covered my ears just so I wouldn't go deaf, I said, "I'm glad to see that you're excited but can you please calm down? You're drawing attention from everybody."
It was then that she snapped out of it and stopped shaking my buddy's hand like it where a maraca as she looked around before eventually blushing in embarrassment before she shouted to everybody who was staring that she was sorry and that there was nothing to see and to go about their day which after a few moments everybody did as the civilians continued about their day before this.
She turned back to us before she gave us a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of her head with her right arm and she then apologized, "Sorry about that, didn't mean to cause a big commotion. It's just that it's not every day you encounter a robo that has the capacity to have a mind of its own, able to think for itself and fight on their own too. Such a thing is unheard of, That was until you two came into the picture, I've been hearing stories about you guys, a new team of rookies with a sentient robo that's been traveling around helping people out, rumor still that they got separate from their family and has been trying to look for them. So as you can imagine I'm very passionate about my work, so to hear something like that was like a kid being told to get whatever he wanted from a candy store for free."
"No it's okay I completely understand, like take me for example, I'm passionate about becoming a great pilot, and I also love adventures and flying, so sometimes I can get a little carried away too, the same for my sisters." I told her reassuringly, having already unplugged my ears after she realized her own mistake.
"Really?" She asked, wonder clearly in her squinted eyes, lowering her arm in curiosity.
"Yup." I confirmed with a smile.
She sighed in relief before she nodded in return.
Soon enough All of us were in the warehouse that was in the back of the shop, which looked a lot more like a giant storage garage as it was pretty spacious, but then again due to her occupation it should only be reasonable that the place would be this big If they wanted to store projects and products and parts they need to do their work, no matter what their size or variant.
We stood across from the other by a good 30 feet as Suzette was in her robo, which was an electric crystal blue with its head kind of somewhat looking like that of a robotic fox but with a big mouth guard, big grey prong crayfish like claws, sturdy looking reinforced legs and carrying a big great metal box on its back that was being suspended by what seemed to be a forklift like mechanism on the back.
In the cockpit of the robo was Suzette herself, grinning as she made her introduction, "Here's my baby! My masterpiece! The Suzette custom 7!"
As we all got into battle position she then said, "As much as I really do not want to damage your buddy, You better get a long look at my latest beauty cuz it's going to wipe the floor with you two!"
"That's right! It's going to knock you two into next week!" Said a male Caninu coworker of Suzette's, whose species resembled that of a Charles spaniel wearing a green standard mechanic uniform with a green cap on his head and tall black boots, who came to be the referee for this battle, Who agreed with his fellow coworker.
"We'll see about that!" I exclaimed, practically vibrating with anticipation.
"Bring it on!" Dahak called out, easy to tell that he was pretty excited too, which was not something you would see everyday, Don't get me wrong he's not emotionless but it's just to see him in this kind of mood was rare yet exciting.
The co-worker then raised his green flag as he announced to us, "All right fighters, It's time for the match to begin! The battle is over when the robo is no longer able to move, in addition doing intentional bodily harm to the rider is completely prohibited, and doing so will lead to an automatic disqualification! Are you ready?"
"Yes!/Bring it on!/Ready is all ever beat!" We all called out at once.
The man nodded before he exclaimed, "Alright competitors, on my mark! ... Three... two... One! Go!"
(??? POV)
Acknowledging that I was still breathing and that I was in a warm comfy bed confirmed that I wasn't dead, I soon began to open my eyes, trying to rub the sleep out of them as I forced myself to sit up, despite some soreness I was all right.
'Strange, the last thing I remember I was on that ship trying to get back the medallion... But then everything went haywire and I ended up losing consciousness, the last thing I remember I heard something about something crashing into the ship and a fire had started inside that thing... shouldn't I be dead?... Or was I rescued?' I thought to myself as I got a good look in my surroundings.
I've definitely never been inside this kind of ship before, judging by the layout it was obvious that there were people living here. Which meant that I really was rescued before everything came crashing down.
And I've been patched up as I felt the bandages around me, looking around more I found my coat laying on the bed stand folded neatly and my boots were right by the bed along with my socks which were folded right beside them, both cleaned and free of any evidence of having received any damage.
There were too many questions in my head as I started to take off the bandages, checking and glad to see that they've already long since healed. Who were the people who rescued me? Were they friend or foe? What were they doing on that ship in the first place? Were they friendly or did they have malicious purposes?
And ... What happened after I lost consciousness? What happened to the medallion??!!?
Immediately I felt fear rising inside of me.
'If that medallion had sunken into the sea of clouds with everything else... or if it fell into the wrong hands... All hope is lost...'
(Red's POV)
With one last body slam, Dahak and I slammed The robo into the ground where it malfunctioned with some sparks flying before it finally shut down.
"And the winner of this match is Red Savarin and her robo Dahak!" The referee called out as Dahak and I gave each other a high five, smiling with triumph and at having a really good match with Suzette.
"Impossible! How can my Suzette custom lose?!" Suzette exclaimed in shock, already having snapped out of her brief daze after being slammed down one last time.
After having gotten out of the now offline robo, Suzette approached us as she then gave us a look of impressed interest as she then said, "Your buddy's really something else. Not just in performance but also in how well you two coordinated with the other, even at one point having split for a sec to paralyze me just enough so you two could get a good critical hit there. I quickly wondered if you two were crazy for a sec, but now looking back at it, it was pretty clever and daring."
"You weren't so bad yourself, you really surprised us by that first attack immediately after the referee said go, immediately rushing at us like that really startled me, if not for Dahak blocking at the last second I thought we would have been knocked down for sure." I told her in return as I smiled back at her while I climbed out of Dahak.
"You put up a pretty good fight Miss Suzette, the fluidity and flashy personality you really poured into your robo with your attack style almost made me believe that it too was sentient like me, sad it wasn't but it would be nice to have another one of my... species so to speak, to find common ground and talk with." Dahak said both in appreciation for the good fight she put up and equal parts sadness being reminded that he was the only one who has sentience.
That made me sad too, in fact the same went for the others, being the only robo that has sentience that has to be very lonely. Don't get me wrong we all love Dahak but it was sad that he himself didn't have anybody that was like him that he could talk to as well, outside of talking to people who are of flesh, fur and blood.
Just being reminded of that is sad.
"I can understand that." Suzette sympathized, giving Dahak a pat on his left shoulder with her right hand, "I'd be pretty lonely too if I had nobody of my species I could talk to. But maybe there might be a way to remedy it."
"If you mean what I think you are implying, if you believe it's possible, that would be cool." I said in agreement, but I frowned as I then told her, "But do you think you'll be able to do it? I mean I know Dahak like the back of my hand, I know how to repair him, get him up and running, I know of his inner workings, but even I do not understand the complex machinery behind him as he is, even the way his sentience works is an enigma to me and to my team."
"That and according to their guardian, there were no schematics of me when I was passed on to him by my previous holder, and any information about my previous holder is a mystery too, not even I know who created me, where I came from or what my purpose is besides that I was made to protect my mistress." Dahak explained next.
"Really? How long ago was that?" Suzette asked in an inquired tone.
"About 12 soon to eventually be 13 years ago." I explained, "It was around that time, I think, when the two of us got separated. We only reunited with each other some time ago. Our past is pretty hazy and sketchy as it is, so we don't know every detail of it."
"Huh," She said with a raised brow, "Are there certain details you do know?"
Before we knew it the two of us got to explaining to her about our past, hiding the fact that there was a parallel world to this one and what laid in it, but revealing that I've been orphaned for as long as I can remember, and that me and my buddy were like family but then one day we had gotten separated due to an incident that happened that was pretty hazy aside from remembering that it happened during the very bad storm, neither of us remember where we used to live, And apparently when I was found I even badly injured and the only things I could remember was my name,how old I was and my day of birth, and aside from a few other small things I could recall a big majority of my past before the age of five was an absolute blank, with the scars being on me being the only proof that I have been attacked before I was found by my adopted family, I even showed her all the scars that I had on me which stunned her. And also showed her the goggles and the pendant that I was found with and I've always kept with me, especially my pendant.
As soon as she saw the gem she was immediately in awe as she knew what type of gem I had, while sure it was an emerald but apparently mine was both artificially enhanced (via discovering that through some brief analyzing) and composed of extremely rare minerals that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, Not even on the most renowned mining islands in all of Shepherd.
In fact it was so incredibly rare that most people have only ever heard of such a thing from old rumors and story books, to actually see one in person was extremely rare, and only those who have studied minerals in its deepest and pure depths can tell which was of the same caliber as mine and which was a normal emerald.
They were first discovered over 300 something years ago, but since then it's been speculated and rumored that the crystals had extremely rare properties that when utilized in a right way could really change the world. How? Nobody knew, they're so rare in fact that they're often hunted down by those with malicious intent, any research that would have been done on the crystals lost to history time and time again as nobody's been able to keep at least a full page of data regarding the gem, As the value of the gem is more often paid attention to than any of it's important properties as they were more often than not discarded and abandoned and destroyed especially, either losing their properties all together and becoming about as common and not so priceless like cubic zirconium, the people after them being driven the madness by their own intent or they were destroyed due to maluse and mistreatment of them. And some have rumored that there were some folks who have done research often took those secrets with them to the grave for whatever reason, but even then those people were extremely rare.
Rumors and stories were just too ambiguous, two over the top, two exaggerated, too many and much to get any leg room to the point that nobody really knows the true history behind it beside the fact that it was discovered hundreds of years ago, that these gems were far rarer than normal emeralds and they were often sought after by people whether their intentions were good or not.
And these emeralds didn't just come in the classic green color but these specific emeralds also came in a magenta pink and crystal blue coloring. Still to this day no one can truly fully speculate where they can be cultivated or found as they were never always in the same place twice, sightings becoming so few and far in between that stories of the crystals were becoming more rumors than true fact these days.
She then became concerned that if anyone discovered what my pendant actually was then those with malicious intent would come after me, it may even put the lives of my loved ones in danger, both those were close to me now and those who we hadn't found yet. She urged me to keep my pendant hidden so to avoid that, to which I agreed as if what she said was true then it was best to keep it hidden, only showing it to anybody I trusted as I tucked my pendant underneath my shirt to keep it safe.
She couldn't figure out why the gem had been enhanced or how it had been enhanced, that was the only enigma that was baffling the three of us, but we decided to put that on the back burner until further notice as we were getting off track.
A case like mine would have been filed somewhere but we haven't found much about it so far, especially given the fact that this happened close to 13 years ago so it makes sense that it's going to take a while to unearth the past.
We told her of the pseudo place where my family and I lived until one day we had gotten caught in a very bad storm that came out of nowhere and My sister's and I got separated from our parents, older brother and little sister, and they're still missing to this day, The three of us had ended up in this town where we were found by our guardian who Not only took us in and gave us shelter but also trained us to help us to become hunters until he eventually gave us our own ship where we can live on and start our hunter adventures on it, which eventually lead us to find Dahak where I somehow regained my memories about his existence and how to patch him up as he had been shut down when we found him inside the the ship itself.
By the time we finished explaining everything, she had then declared on the spot that she would help us however she could, After having all this dumped on her there was no way she was going to turn her back when we clearly needed all to help we could get (at least in her eyes), Not only would she try to help on the side and see if she could get any leads about where our missing family was but also get to working on making a new buddy for Dahak so He wouldn't be the only sentient robo, And so she yourself could also have a companion like mine.
Though surprised, We appreciate it.
She soon went to make a completely new rough draft of schematics on Dahak so that she could start her own machinery investigation and inventing, which eventually led us to discover that Dahak did not have any custom parts to him.
That was a foreign concept to even me and Dahak until Suzette explained it to us.
Customization parts were special parts that can help power up a robo, there was a special compartment that would allow riders to customize and increase status and capabilities of their respective robo's, they can even have the option to switch out particular parts depending on the circumstances, like if you wanted to be more attack-based or defensive, whether you wanted mobily or strength, The possibilities were endless.
The parts came in various shapes and sizes even though shape-wise it was always squares although they could be made into different shapes like made into pluses or blocks of different calibers like the kind you would see in Tetris.
However there was a bit of a catch, due to the unique nature of the custom parts and The general structures of each and every single robo, there's a limit of how many parts you can put onto them, and even after you make some room using P crystals, which I only have to assume means power or personalize, to open up a new slot inside as there's a limit to how much you can put in before it would be too full for any more parts to be applied.
There's only 25 slots inside, there's no robo that can handle any more than 25 as doing more than that would cause the robo to either cease functioning, going to overdrive and eventually malfunction, or, in some worst case scenarios, explode altogether.
The technology to try and make robo's more capable enough to take on more parts has yet to be fruitful or discovered as endeavors to achieve such thing are still a far-reach for any researcher and inventor working on the subject. attempting to do so at this point until further notice was completely out of the question unless you wanted to meet an early grave.
There's also certain parts that can only be used once before they would disappear altogether, which means that if you want to use that part again you would have to buy another or keep a cache of them for later use, those parts were the revive custom parts that can only be used once in battle. To put simply if your robo ceased functioning then the revivor part will automatically restore your robo's condition and structural health both internally and otherwise, and immediately after that the part would disappear after having fulfilled its purpose. Basically that part gives you a second chance in battle.
And how much health is restored on your robo depends on the type of revive part that you buy, getting the one that'll heal at 100% was super expensive and like the others it too would fade away after one use, It was also risky because this part was so big that there would only be so much room for any other part to be used in that compartment until the big guy served its purpose. So strategizing and calculations ahead of time is always required when making such risks.
Any other part you had would not face the same fate as they could be used as long as you want, whenever you want without worry, it's only the revive parts that will vanish after being used once.
In total the parts in question were as listed: Attack, Defense, Hydraulics (Which in that case increases the ability to lift heavy objects more quickly, or In layman terms: strength), Mobility and Revive.
And how your robo performs all depends on whatever parts you use or whether you use parts or not as there were some people that were prideful that wanted to prove their caliber by not using custom parts although they would give you an advantage in battle and it was perfectly legal, and they were fine to use inside of specialized sponsored battle arenas, although they would have a strict rules on no using revival parts as in that case it would be cheating.
She told us that we weren't living up to our full potential like this so She insisted on teaching us so that we will know how things worked and we could help Dahak to achieve new horizons.
We were pretty surprised but we soon agreed as we both agreed that it would really give us an advantage in the long run in our adventures.
Due to being fast learners it only took roughly half an hour before we got all the basics done, and thankfully Dahak already had five open slots so it was easy for us to get started on some beginner parts.
Suzette even generously gave us a hydraulics (1) part along with our payment for the quest and for the great battle.
Which was pretty awesome of her.
"The next time we battle, I'll mop the floor with you both! Just wait and see, my latest creation is going to knock you both into next week!" Suzette declared with competitive enthusiasm.
We both chuckled at that before we gave her a thumbs up as I told her, "I'm looking forward to our next battle Suzette, and give it your all on your endeavors going forward!"
"You better believe I will!" She cheered.
We both agreed that we would be experimenting on parts later in the future as for now we would stick with the 1 part that Suzette gave us and see how things went, And also look up where we can find P crystals since according to Suzette they tend to pop up in different places and trying to find them was much like a scavenger hunt (so finding any kind of hints that may steer us in the right direction would do us good in the future), so after installing it inside of Dahak's CP compartment (CP meaning customization parts) we decided to check in on the girls.
Chocolat was busy grocery shopping while Tala was doing some exercise as She chose to go on a jog around town, they would be back in a while so it would just be us and our guest, who we decided to check on to make sure that he was still all right and see if he was awake yet or not.
The girls were able to tell that he was more asleep than unconscious so at least we know that he will wake up soon.
Here's to hoping he doesn't have amnesia.
(??? POV)
"The unidentified giant that appeared over Central Shepherd so far hasn't made a move since suddenly appearing last night. And although there haven't been any reports on anything unusual going on since then, we still advise all pilots that approach the area or are within the area to stay away from this giant behemoth for your own safety and for the safety of anybody that may be accompanying you. Although it's still unclear what the Shepherd Republic government plans do regarding this monster, They are advising everybody to remain calm until further notice. Whether this thing is some kind of super weapon of mass destruction or not remains to be seen, although according to historians they believe that this monster might have appeared many years ago, but the details are still sketchy as records, or at least rumors, of such a thing--."
I shut off the radio that was right by the bed as I pondered on the situation at hand, while thankfully no one has gotten killed, it doesn't change the fact that this situation was grim.
Which in all honesty is too weak a word to use.
Even though I'm glad once more that the news is already advising other pilots to stay away from the area, it doesn't change the fact that even in its immobile state it was still a danger to everybody.
The thought of it awakening completely was a nightmare I hope I'll never face.
And I still did not have any news about what had happened last night.
"You're awake! What a relief. How are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Came the voice of the unknown female as I turned to the small flight of stairs that led to the ground floor of the living area.
The moment I laid eyes on her, I felt my heart skip a beat.
A young Caninu, about a year younger than my physical age, clad in red, white, and blue with hints of green and brown.
Her eyes which shine like rare gems, long hair that looks thick yet soft to the touch, And her smile... No other word could describe it except breathtaking.
Even with the apparent scar on her face it didn't make her ugly, but rather gave off the impression of an adventurous individual with a love for flying.
She...-!
I shook my head furiously, snapping me out of my daze (furiously berating myself for letting my mind wander like that or even wander into a subject that was foreign to me) as I forced myself to reply, "I'm fine. Where am I?"
"You're on our ship, the Acquilina." She told me as she made her way up the stairs, soon stopping by the bed as she continued, "We're at Port in Airedale."
"And the Hindenburg... please, tell me what happened to that cargo ship." I asked, urging her to tell me the answer as my tone grew serious.
"To make that long story short, I was on there doing a mission for my guardian and then suddenly a giant monster came out of nowhere and the ship got wrecked, had me and my team not found you in time on our way out you would have went up with flames with the ship and sank into the sea of clouds." She narrated.
I felt my heart sank when she said that.
'No...'
"B-B-B-but... What about the medallion!?!?" I exclaimed in panic, feeling close to tears, gripping my chest as if my heart were being crushed.
Alarmed, She started waving her hands rapidly, urging me to calm down as she said, "Hey calm down, calm down! It's okay." Then pulled her shirt by the collar she reached in and pulled out--!
"The medallion!!" I exclaimed in relief.
"Yup." She nodded, Now a bit calmer, "We found this just before the ship got knocked around and we had to make an emergency evacuation." She soon got closer as she took the medallion off her neck and handed it to me, "As I previously noted, my team and I were on that mission on that ship that was ran by the Kurvaz, And just after retrieving an item they had stolen from our guardian, we came across this piece of jewelry in a lone container. There was even a clearly labeled note stating that it was stolen, so we decided to liberate it from their grasp and see if we can find the owner to it. That was when everything went downhill. But at least that explains why you were on the ship, you were trying to get your medallion back right?"
I nodded feverishly yet relieved as I quickly accepted it, practically snatching it out of her hands, and held it close to me, a wave of relief flooding through me knowing that it was safe, "That's right. Thank you so much, you have no idea how important this thing is to me, if I had lost it then it would be the end of everything."
She smiled as she replied, "You're welcome, I'm glad that you're all right and we were able to get it back to you."
I felt my heart skip a beat again from her smile alone but I quickly stomped down on this foreign feeling as I nodded in return.
As intended she didn't know the true meaning behind what I meant by that last part, nonetheless I was grateful for her assistance both in making sure that I survived and procuring that which was stolen from me.
Now that I got this back, I can now continue with my mission.
Taking a few deep breaths to relax, I was able to completely calm down as I look back at the medallion to make sure it hadn't been damaged during all that, after a moment I was glad to note that there wasn't a single scratch on it.
It even looks like it's been polished up, which must have been her doing, which I actually appreciate-!
Just then, at that moment, The Red Jewel in the center suddenly flashed for a moment before it stopped, startling me greatly, "What?! It's been activated?!"
"Activated? What do you mean?" The girl asked, frowning and clearly confused with her brows raised as I looked back up to her, I spoke with disbelief in my voice, "No... It can't be... You?"
She gave a look of being weirded out before she then explained, "Well it did start to flash as soon as I got my hands on it. I assume... That's not exactly normal for you?"
At that response I was completely floored, stricken with disbelief, "But that's impossible... without performing the ROF program...!"
"The what now?!" She asked, blatantly confused, "What do you mean? What are you talking about? Is something bad going to happen?"
"That's what we want to know." Came the voice of another female as the both of us turned to the source of the voice which came from a female Caninu in pink cladded in blue carrying a bag of groceries and right next to her was another female who was not only a Felineko but strangely enough looked a lot like me except she was younger than I am and she was clearly wearing feminine clothes.
"Could somebody please explain what's going on here?" The feline double of mine asked, quite baffled, "Please tell me there wasn't a fight here or something?"
A team consisting of three adopted sisters who are on their own mission to try and find the family that they've been separated from months ago, with a robo that apparently unlike any other has sentience, and I just so happened to have been rescued by the leader of the team who made the medallion start flashing before it was supposed to.
And I thought today couldn't get any more jarring.
"Here you go." Came the voice of the pink girl as She came in with a cup of tea, which I politely accepted, quietly telling her thank you before I blew on it before taking a sip.
Thankfully I was able to avoid answering certain questions that I didn't feel comfortable revealing, especially to those I only just met, They accepted that it was just something rather important to me and that it was very private, I was actually ready to retaliate verbally if they tried to protest or they were just way too curious for their own good, but to my surprise they accepted as they told me that if it was something of personal business of mine then they were willing to back off unless it was something disconcerting that they should know, but only if I felt ready to explain it.
Turning my gaze to the windows of the bridge, I was still very a bit rattled from what happened 20 minutes ago.
In all the years that I've had this medallion, and all the time I've used it, and all the time I've been protecting it, never once in any way, shape or form has the medallion ever, and I mean ever, flashed before it was supposed to, let alone to someone I only just met.
A complete stranger who could have chosen to leave as soon as they retrieved a stolen file that had been taken from their guardian, but instead she and her robo chose to lend a hand not only in taking back the medallion that was stolen from me but also rescued me as they were making their way out of the ship, even though finding me was by pure chance, I wouldn't be alive had they not got me out of there in time.
Still...
Turning back to the pinkette, I then asked, "Where has that girl gone?"
"You mean Red? She and Dahak went to work on a few more quests, we're getting really close to reaching the next level in our Hunter ranking so she's really gunning to reach it before we depart, meanwhile I'm going to get the ship worked on and prepped while Tala is busy getting the payments done and The gas tank filled up." She told me.
Red...
So that was her name... unless it was short for Radhalia or Redlina or something.
And that girl who could pass off as my twin, she's Tala.
On that note, I felt like face palming for forgetting to actually ask all their names earlier.
She seemed to have noticed that too as she quickly apologized before introducing herself, which was Chocolat.
I nodded before I told her, "My name is Elh Melizée. Just Elh, because my real name Elden sometimes makes me feel older than I feel."
Internally I chuckled inside, the humor being a double meaning of it given my status.
Not like I'll ever tell any of them.
(Red's POV)
We're pretty close to reaching the next ranking on our hunter license so I thought it would be best to take on a few quests so we can finally reach that next level.
Apparently for every new hunter reaching pass star rank 1 takes a long time, but eventually once you get to level two leveling up to the next ranking won't take nearly as long, In fact reaching past the first level was more like a test from the Hunters Guild to test to see if the rookies were really willing to work their tails off not only to reach the next level but in working hard taking on quests and being diligent in their endeavors as hunters.
A test of dedication, you could call it.
Thankfully Flo already had several new quests listed that we could do.
5 in total in fact.
Although I can only do four of them as the fifth one was at level 2, but if I could complete the other four quests not only will I be able to reach the second level but also be able to take on that fifth quest to kick start the beginning to the next level.
With that set in mind, we got to work.
The first two quests were pretty easy, The first one was simply doing a cargo inspection to make sure that nothing illegal was being shifted into town through the grocery store shipping service.
Thankfully there weren't any illegal items to be spotted, however I did manage to spot somebody hiding in a shipping crate.
It wasn't a crook thankfully but rather it was a teenager no older than 14, her name was Sugar and The reason why she stowed away on the ship wasn't for malicious purposes, but it was because she really wanted to see her grandparents as apparently their wedding anniversary was coming up and she really wanted to give them a gift, but her parents were way too busy today so none of them would be able to make the trip, but Sugar really wanted to go see her grandparents especially with the special gifts that she made for them and in an act of desperation she snuck on to the ship that was shipping food items to the grocery store here in town.
She had apologize for causing trouble, and to my surprise but otherwise gratitude, the men who were working on unloading the groceries understood how she felt, they simply just asked her to not do such a stunt again as next time it could be more dangerous and even worse somebody less understanding than them might give her the scolding of a lifetime that she certainly wasn't going to forget.
Although undoubtedly her parents were definitely going to do that scolding once she gets back home.
Upon agreeing to that and accepting being escorted back home as soon as she was finished visiting her grandparents to give them their gift, the quest was completed.
The second request was even easier as it was simply just a young man, Lotus Creme, asking For somebody to keep his grandmother company while he had to do some important business in the upper part of town and would be back in about an hour and a half.
The old woman, Rose Brulee, Was a very sweet old woman. Not only did she bake the best cookies I've ever tasted, but she also had a lot of interesting and thrilling stories to share as me and Dahak were both at the edge of our seats with each new story she told.
We even got to helping her around the house a bit from chores to helping her do some rearranging that needed to be done, which was not a problem whatsoever.
Her grandson returned a little later than intended, but nonetheless once he was back our quest was completed.
And as an added bonus with her grandson's payment, Ms. Brulee gave us an old history book and a few of her cookie recipes as her way of saying thank you for the lovely company we gave her and for all the help that we did for her, which we really appreciated as we thanked her for her generosity.
(Internally chuckling realizing that both of their first names Lotus and Rose were the names of flowers and both of their respective last names combined spelled out Creme Brulee, which was a type of dessert.)
The third quest we took on was a tad difficult but it was kinda manageable nonetheless. This quest was from a guy named Barry, a pink Felineko who wore a yodeler's outfit, had short dark brown hair, small beady eyes, and had a green cap on his head who was a photographer, who had his photos stolen by a gang of kittens.
We met him at View park as he gave us a description of the thieves. A bunch of 8 year olds who were all apparently octuplets, all boys, looked very identical to the other from physical appearance to even their clothes with the only difference being that their voices were different from the other.
Barry was desperate to get those photos back as he begged us to get them back for him, after a moment to help him calm down we went to work.
Weirdly enough, I've never encountered anybody who was from a pair of octuplets, both from here and the other world, And I most certainly have never heard of a family of them living here in this town, it would have been really hard to miss otherwise, so I only have to guess that they're not from Airedale.
We eventually found them as in appearance they all had tan colored fur, deep crystal blue eyes, short teal hair on the top of their heads, wearing orange vests on top of a white and brown sleeveless shirt, white gloves, brown shorts and little brown shoes.
They would have been cute if not for the fact that they were acting like spoiled toddlers.
Apparently they were from the Black Cat Gang, Which if I remember correctly they were a gang of Felineko's that were always going around causing trouble, Especially in Prarie, Which was the other half of this world as the two countries were native to the other yet they coexisted in peace.
It took a bit of chasing and catching as the little brats weren't going to stop without a fight, not even asking them politely didn't help as they blatantly disregarded our polite gesture and proceeded to run around as if they were having a sugar rush.
Too bad I didn't have any candy otherwise it would be a good way to lure them into a trap.
It felt like it took hours but really it's only been half an hour as, soon enough, we finally rounded up all the little troublemakers and got back all of Barry's photos, I was very close to giving them all one spanking they weren't going to forget but at the last second they all escaped.
After reporting this to the Airedale coast guard about what happened so that they could take care of the rest from there regarding the BCG as there was nothing more I could do from there, me and Dahak went back to Barry and gave him back the photos that the kittens had stolen.
He profusely thanked us before proceeding to give us our payment, and as an added bonus, he gave us a small bag of P crystals and gave us a complimentary photo that he took of us from a far earlier that day when he had spotted us taking on quests in town.
He insisted as he always made backups in case anything went wrong.
And I must say the photo was really good, in fact we even got to look at the other photos that we managed to recover from the kittens, he was very good at his work. If there was a competition on who the best photographer was, he'd definitely get our vote.
We were one quest away from reaching the second level, with that in mind we went back to Flo to take on the last of before level 1 quests.
It was more like an invitation than a quest as the title of it read "All Fighters Welcome!"
Upon reading further the quest had came from a man named Quentin who is a fight promoter who is always looking for new fighters to join in competing in the Dual Ship.
From what I could recall, The Dual Ship was a big competition that was hosted on a grand airship that resembles a fighting arena, kind of like that from ancient Rome except with a few bells and whistles to it, it was a competition where anyone with a robo can fight against each other for thrill, fun, competitive fighting (and for some fame), New challenges in testing ones skills and to earn big grand prizes.
They were always looking for new talent and new competitors to make each match unique and positively thrilling for the audience to watch, It also offers a good fighting experience for anyone who is still a rookie as they encourage good sportsmanship even if some of the fights could be either brutal or difficult depending on the opponent or specific conditions that were laid out for the matches, It was also a pretty good place for anyone to blow off steam and have some good competitive matches with other opponents, whether they were familiar with them or not.
It sounded pretty interesting, even Dahak was interested in entering it if we ever got the chance. And It seems like that chance was now, Especially as this would be killing two birds with one stone.
After accepting the quest, we went to the Port to meet up with the man, wondering what will await us both in this latest addition of our adventures.
And done!
This First chapter of the game is going to be broken up into three parts unlike the previous chapters, so please stay tuned for part two of "Contract with you".
I was also having a bit of trouble thinking of what new dialogue to add into this, but I'm glad it all turned out pretty good.
Until next time folks, TTFN!!!