Time for some shopping! More people are dragged into the mess by a machine Artoria and her friends hoped didn't make it from the exploding ship. Just what troubles are coming to the group?
Reviews are welcome.
..==..
SenkiZesshō Symphogear
Howling Song!
CH.2
Shopping and more guests.
"Speech" normal human/translation
"Speech" Symphogear activation or talking, private thoughts, telepathy, and communication
"Speech" Gear attacks, song titles
..==..
The next morning the calm quiet was broken an alarm clock that quickly died to Hibiki's hand slapping the snooze button. She groans looking at the time to see it read nine thirty in the morning. They at least got a full night's sleep as the God Killer sits up and yawns looking around the room. It took her a moment to remember they're in the hotel S.O.N.G. uses. Hibiki rubs her eyes with one hand as she gently shakes Miku awake with the other. Both are wearing large t-shirts since they didn't have much else.
"Morning." Scarlet yawns as she sits up and somehow hadn't damaged the futon while she slept. "Whoever made the alarm clock was an evil person. I was right in the middle of a great dream." She mutters reaching into her item box and pulling out a large bag. "Mind if I shower first?"
It took a moment for the magic Scarlet used to register in Miku's mind. Hibiki was trying to wake Artoria and Chris without laughing at them hugging each other in their sleep. It's a very cute sight and Scarlet giggles softly, which is what woke the wolf girl.
"Mm?" Artoria opens her eyes to find Chris still sleeping in her arms. The wolf girl smiles and gently kisses Chris on the forehead.
"This might not end well." Miku says looking at Scarlet. "And you already had clothes this whole time?"
"I kind of forgot in all the chaos these past few days, Miku. But we are still going to need more than one or two changes of clothes." Scarlet says looking a little sheepish. "We've got no idea when help is coming since the ship was launched at random."
"Oh." Miku didn't think about that since she was still waking up. Speaking of waking up it seems Chris is not mad about the odd wakeup she got. Even if Chris was blushing very brightly. "How are you two doing over there?" Miku asks with a giggle.
"I can think of worse ways to wake up." Artoria says still looking at Chris. "What about you, Chris? You sleep well?"
Chris just slides out of the bed in her own t-shirt and panties before going to grab her clothes. "B-best night's sleep I've had in years." She admits about to go to the bathroom to shower, but Scarlet gently stops her. "Yes?"
"Could I trouble you to help me with my shower? I could use a little help since it's not very big for my wings." Scarlet asks looking pretty shy for a five too tall red dragon girl.
Chris sighs having seen the shower, which is big enough to her, Hibiki, and Miku to use at the same time. Understands it's not really big enough to for someone with wings and a tail like Scarlet. "Sure, but only if you wash my back too."
"I'll even do you hair." The dragon girl giggles as the two head for the shower. "Watson might be by to check on your shoulder, Artoria. Don't be surprised if he…" Someone knocks at the door. "…wants to check us over as well. That timing of his is spot on."
"Why would he want to check all of us?" Hibiki asks as Chris looks through to peep hole to see it is Watson and opens the door for him.
"May I come in, ladies? I'm here to do a quick check since we kind of skipped vaccine shots last night." Watson says holding up his medical bag. "Though I'm not that worried with how much like home this planet is. Still I would like to at least check Artoria's shoulder."
"You're the doctor, so go ahead." Chris says with a shrug. "Scarlet and I were just about to hit the shower anyway." She feels like Watson is looking through her for a moment before he chuckles. "What?"
"Nothing." The old Kampfer says walking into the room closing the door. "I'm just surprised you want to help a dragon when you don't know the first thing about washing their scales is all." He says going to Artoria and pulling the bandage off her back and starts cutting the stitches to remove them.
Hibiki watches Watson work as Chris and Scarlet go shower. The dragoness explains to Chris what to do to help wash her tail and wings. Miku takes the moment to brush her teeth wondering how the day was going to go from there on. She did make note of how relaxed most everyone is around Watson, and she agrees with his idea of a quick medical check. They didn't really take any steps to keep from getting each other sick after all.
"So, how's her shoulder looking?" Hibiki asks amazed at the care Watson puts into removing the stitches. "There's not going to be another rebound like last night, is there?"
Watson chuckles softly, something Hibiki thought a machine couldn't do, as he gets the last piece of thread out of the wolf girl's shoulder. "There shouldn't be with how much I removed of both flesh and micro machines. I just wish it wasn't going to leave a scar. Sorry about that." He sighs rubbing a cream on Artoria's shoulder and back. "You're going to have to take the bra off, kid."
"It's okay about the scar." Artoria sighs taking her bra off so Watson can rub the cream on her back. She keeps her head low with her hair hiding her face. "Just be quick if you can, please."
Watson just rubs the cream on her back without another word, but Hibiki just looks at the wolf girl's back with unease. A bunch of scars cress-cross over most of Artoria's mid and lower back like she was whipped. It made Hibiki feel both worry and anger at the same time.
Artoria picks up on Hibiki's stare at her back and pats the bed next to her. "Trophies from battle are all it is, Hibiki. I wasn't always so good in a fight, and I made the mistake of leaving my back turned to an enemy." She explains as the orange haired girl sits on the bed next to the wolf girl. "I'm just not a big fan of the way this cream feels is all. It's so damn cold!" She shivers making Hibiki laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. You know you like it when it's hot out." Watson teases as he cleans his hands with a small towel. "Now it just needs a little bit to dry. Now if you don't mind Hibiki I'd like to check you while the others are busy." He jerks a thumb over his left shoulder to the sound of the shower.
"Do I have to take my shirt off?" Hibiki asks shyly as Watson takes out a grey box like item and opens it. "Is that a tricorder?" She asks a little shocked to see a sci-fi tool in person.
"It is, in fact, an improved model of the medical tricorders." Watson says as a pair of small hologram screens appear. "I do better with these than the Omni-Tools some others like to use. Also, I'll ask you to remove your shirt if needed." He says grabbing a bar scanner and slowly moving is around Hibiki's head and chest.
"This might take a bit since it's the first time getting you scanned." Artoria says trying not to scratch her back. "I swear this gets itchier ever time. How many more times do I need this before the scars are gone, Watson?"
"Another month if we keep it to once a day. I'm still not sure if it'll fully remove them like you want, my lady." Watson says holding the scanner over Hibiki's heart for a moment. "Well, that's interesting. I'm sure there's a hell of a story behind that scar at least." He says with a chuckle as he moves the scanner again over Hibiki. "Nothing looks to be wrong or any signs of being sick. Just a bad case of cute."
That got a giggle from Hibiki and Artoria like he wanted as he scans Artoria next. "I learned its summer here by the way. The girls have the week off from school for a break, so this might be a good time to relax as well, Artoria. It'll be enough time to fix the damage done last night too."
The wolf girl's ears twitch as her tails wags. "Really? Our fall break was just about over when all this happened. I hope your plans won't ruin because of use?" Artoria asks looking to Hibiki as Miku joins them.
"We haven't really thought of anything to do yet." Miku says patting her friend on the shoulder. "Go wash up a little, Hibiki. You know how Chris can get if she has to wait with breakfast on the line."
Hibiki goes to wash her face and brush her teeth as Miku takes her seat on the bed. "I'll check on Scarlet and Chris after I brush my teeth. It's been kind of quiet in there." Hibiki says going to brush her teeth. "Oh! The scanner felt a little weird but it's very safe." She says with a grin at Miku.
"I'm sure it is." Miku giggles as Hibiki walks away. "So, I just sit here and you wave that scanner over me?"
"That's the idea." Watson chuckles softly setting the two scanners down. "But first." He says gently patting Artoria's back. "Shouldn't be much longer and I'll put the other cream on soon." He says picking the tricorder and scanner up again.
"Lovely." The wolf girl mutters as her ears go flat. "If only a healing spell could help remove these scars faster." Artoria sighs rolling her shoulders.
Miku takes a look as Watson scans her much like he scanned Hibiki. He did go much slower on scanning her head for some reason as he thumbs the tricorder's buttons. She wanted to ask about the scars, but wasn't sure after seeing them. Some of them looked really jagged too like the one near her left shoulder blade. She got the feeling Artoria wasn't very truthful to Hibiki, but she wasn't mad about it. Some things you just can't ask after knowing someone for only a night.
"What are the schools like on Mythwind?" Miku asks hoping it might lighten the mood for the wolf girl. "You said it was fall break for you there?"
Artoria had to think for a moment before shrugging a little. "I can't say since I have no idea how schools here work. Do you have to wear a uniform?" She asks as Watson slowly moves the scanner over Miku's body again. "The school I go to with Fran, Sakura, Cathy, Silva, and Carol doesn't have uniforms. So we pretty much dressed like normal. There is a huge ship club that even has a few old ships for the students."
"Like yachts? Do there go out sailing in the ocean?" Miku asks as Watson sets the tricorder and scanner to the side again. He starts rubbing more cream on Artoria's back. "It sounds like hard work but fun."
"Maybe a few yachts but it mainly has older space ships the students learn on." Artoria says with a grin. "It goes toward getting a ship license later for those who take join the club. I've already got my own ship." She sighs softly as Watson wipes the cream off her back. "Ah. That's much better."
"I'm a little jealous off you four right now." Miku says with a grin and wonders what it would be like to have her own space ship. "It's not really hard to get a ship on your world is it?"
"If you don't mind putting in the effort to repair one you found? Then it really isn't." Artoria says with a grin pulling her hair out of her face. "It's how I got mine and it's a Krait-MKII with some high end upgrades."
Watson chuckles seeing Miku's confused look. "Capital grade hull armor and drone fighters. The young lady here even got three types of FTL put in too." He says gently patting Artoria's back just as a knock is heard from the door. "All done, and it would seem the others are ready as well."
Hibiki opens the door to find Shirabe holding a back pack. "Silva said this has Artoria's extra clothes. I thought I'd bring them over before Kirika was done with her shower." She says holding the pack out to Hibiki. "I need to get back to make sure Silva has time to finish drying off and out of the room. Kirika already tried twice to hug her tails."
Hibiki sighs understanding what Shirabe was getting at. As of last Kirika has been a bit of a fluff fiend for some reason and with both Silva, and Artoria having fluffy tails things might get bad. "I'll take this to her right away and warn her. Thanks, Shirabe."
Shirabe was about to walk back to her room warn she got a look at Artoria's back, when Watson reached into his bag on the floor. She near tripped seeing the scars on the wolf girl but caught herself before running into the room. The scars look a lot like the ones on Fran's back she just saw that morning.
"You too?" The raven haired girl asks as her pink eyes wonder over the scars. "Fran has scars too."
"Y-yeah. We…" Artoria started but Duel Fang cut her off.
"Artoria's grandmother did this to them. Enough said about it." Duel Fang stated flatly and clearly not wanting to drag the problem out more. "Are scars really that rare among you girls?"
Shirabe and Hibiki, who closed the door so no one saw Artoria topless, flinch a little. In Hibiki's case she still has her scar from the pieces of Gungnir that were in her chest. So, she gets where Duel Fang is coming from.
"No, I guess we're just shocked to see so many on someone was all." Hibiki says setting the pack next to Artoria. "We're sorry if it keeps bringing up bad memories." She says with a down bow.
Shirabe also bows. "I'm sorry." She says but is surprised when Artoria pats her on the head.
"It's fine. I can tell it's out of worry from you girls." The wolf girl says as Shirabe's eyes are drawn to the girl's chest and tilts her head. "No it's not a tattoo. That's a birthmark in the shape of a wolf's paw."
Shirabe blushes looking away. "Looks a little to prefect to be a birthmark."
"Yeah, it seems to be a normal thing for Morgana's daughters." Watson says with a laugh. "Each one of the twins has a birthmark that is very much like a tattoo. Artoria is the oldest of the four girls too."
"I'll explain it later to everyone, since it'll be easier." Artoria says with a giggle as Scarlet and Chris come out of the shower. "That was fast."
Chris just shrugs. "She had brushes in her bag that really helped speed it along. Also is it normal to use magic to dry off?" She was a little unsure if it was an abuse of magic, or not to use it like that. "I just don't know what to think is all."
"It's pretty normal if you don't have a blow drier handy and we've got full body dries." Scarlet says already half dressed in blue jeans, and her red bra. She pulls a black t-shirt on and zips the side close. "There. I'm ready for the day as soon as I put my shoes on."
Shirabe blinks in amazement at Scarlet's short. "Okay. That was both strange and interesting at the same time. I better get back to the others." She says before Watson holds his hand up to stop her. "Yes?"
"Just let them know I'll be checking on this as soon as I'm done here, please." The Kampfer says with a gentle voice. "It shouldn't be long since I need to scan Chris and Scarlet."
"I'll tell them." Shirabe says heading for the door and heads back to tell the others.
Artoria checks her bag and breathes a sigh of relief. "Even got a swimsuit and shoes in here. I'll get my shower and we can get breakfast." She says getting up and going to the shower.
Hibiki and Miku are quick to join her to get the day moving quickly. Artoria makes small talk about her school as they strip down and get in the shower. As that was happening Watson scans Scarlet as Chris gets dressed for the hot summer day. A pair of shorts and a white t-shirt is really all she feels like she'll before Watson waving her over for her scan.
"That was quick." Chris says as she watches the scanner wand go past her face a few times. "How do you think she's doing? Artoria was crying in sleep for a bit last night before I fell asleep." She says knowing all too well what it could mean.
Watson sighs shaking his head. "She's doing alright for the most part. It's been years since she cried in her sleep at all." He says sounding a little sad. "Just let me know if anything else comes up is all I can say for now. This whole mess might have opened some old wounds."
Scarlet just snorts. "It's been years, but even I'm still feeling it." She says. "And I wasn't even physically hurt. However, I still have nightmares of their screams." The dragoness mutters hugging herself as she shivers for a moment.
Chris looks very worried hearing all this and notes it's a lot like when she was getting over Fine'. "Uh, look I get it. I really do since I was put through a lot of crap. I'll keep an eye on Artoria to make sure she's okay." She offers to Scarlet and Watson. "Just tell me what to look for and I'll make sure she doesn't have any troubles."
"I'll tell you later, but for now the best thing is to just keep being there for her." Watson says putting his tricorder and scanner away. "Well, I better go check the other girls before they go to breakfast. As luck would have it you girl are in the clear. Just ask Artoria, Fran, Scarlet, or Silva about how to use magic later, Chris." He says getting up with his bag. "You seem to have the magus circuits for it, but haven't tapped into your power yet. Might even help the girls feel calmer about everything."
Chris blinks as Watson leaves the room with the dragon girl looking at her in surprise. "I guess that would explain the classic silver hair and purple eyes?" Scarlet says not really sure what else to do. "Damn it. He left us holding the bag on this."
"Maybe not tell the others just yet? I'm not sure I'm ready to believe I can use magic." Chris says feeling very lost about a great many things at the moment. "The hell was he thinking just dropping that on us?! Then again I wouldn't mind learning that spell you used to dry us off."
Scarlet chuckles as she sits next to Chris. "I guess we can start with the basics to see if you can access your magic. Best now before something triggers it later in the worst way." She says as she takes Chris's hand and starts explaining how to look in herself to find her magic core.
..==..
Shirabe sighs sitting on the bed as Fran brushes her hair and puts it up in her twin-tails. The rabbit-Viera girl is wearing jeans and a red t-shirt as Silva was still busy dealing with her shower. Tsubasa had gone in to help after Maria pulled Kirika out to let the fox girl shower in peace. The young blonde wasn't too happy about it as she sat on the other bed as Maria dries her hair.
"How long will Watson be before he can check on us?" Maria asks looking to Fran and Shirabe. She's wearing just a long skirt and her bra. "I get why he's doing this since we kind of didn't do anything last night that was medically related. Other than Artoria's shoulder being worked on, but nothing else."
A knock at the door answers her question as Shirabe goes over and opens the door to Watson standing in the hallway. "Come on in." She says stepping to the side for him.
"Thank you. How is everyone this morning?" Watson asks walking in as Shirabe closes the door behind him. He goes over to the far bed where Kirika and Maria are to set his bag down. "Besides the varying state of dress you girls seem to be in."
Kirika is still wrapped in a towel as she pouts still wanting to hug Silva's tails, or even Artoria's tail. She really wants the fluffy really bad. "I better get a chance to get a fluffy plushy for all this." She mutters as Watson starts his scans of the girls. "Uh, what's that?"
"Just a medical tricorder and scanner wand for checking you over is all." Watson says as he takes his time checking Kirika and finding nothing to worry about. "Hm? Well, that is interesting." He mutters thumbing his tricorder again like with Miku as if he was trying to understand something. "It looks like nothing for now. I'll want to keep an eye on you for a bit, Kirika. Other than that you can get dressed now." He says looking to Maria and notes her hair. "How do you keep the cat ears look with your hair?"
Maria reached up to touch her hair as Kirika started to get dress. "It just happens. You know I've never really thought about it a lot since it started when I was younger." She says as Watson scans her with a chuckle. "You find it funny?"
"A little bit. In truth you kind of remind me of a few cats and foxes back home." Watson says not needing to thumb the controls on his tricorder with Maria. "Did you know your relic is really a piece of an ancestor of yours? The DNA marks are there in the metal somehow. A transmutation of some kind maybe?"
"I wouldn't know, but is that why I've needed less Linker?" Maria asks tilting her head. "Then again Shem-Ha did say something about that in that battle a few months back. She did try to use that information to throw me off in the middle of battle." She mutters as she watches Kirika out of the corner of her eye. "What did you find in Kirika that you wanted to keep an eye on?" She whispers to Watson.
"It's nothing yet, but her need for anything fluffy might be from it." Watson whispers back changing the scanner settings for a moment. "I think she have a wolf or fox in her ancestry but I'm not sure yet. She might even be a shifter that can change between human and looking like Silva." He says as Kirika leaves saying she's going to get breakfast.
"Why Silva and not Artoria?" Fran asks leaning over the edge of the bed. "She puts out as much magic as Silva and me after all." She sits down to explain what she means holding up her right hand and holding a ball of water with light in it. "We generate magic and vent a small amount of it like our body heat. In the case of Kyubi, kitsune like Silva, vent more through their tails. That might be why Kirika wants to hug their tails so much."
"Right." Watson says shifting to scan Shirabe next. "Most fox and Kyubi vent a lot their magic from their tails." He stopped before sighing. "I just warned Duel Fang about Kirika and sent the full detail to Scarlet's Omni-tool as well. They're on their way to breakfast as well." Watson says with a chuckle. "I'll try to speed this up so you girls can get some food too."
Shirabe just stares at Watson like she's looking into his soul. "Stare." She says as he isn't bothered by her staring at all. "What about me?"
"You've got a case of being cute and tough. Just like Fran here." He says with a chuckle as a pillow hits him in the face. "See what I mean?" The girls just laugh as Fran blushes going full tomboy as Tsubasa and Silva join them.
..==..
Artoria stretches her arms above her head wearing black jeans, navy blue long sleeve shirt, and white sneakers. Hibiki is wearing white shorts, sandals, and an orange tank top with her white swimsuit under it. Miku is wearing black pants, black sneakers, and a white t-shirt as she holding Kirika by the shoulders at the moment. Scarlet explains what they do know as to calm Kirika down and assure her she'll be fine.
"The most likely thing is a fox of some kind in your family history many generations ago." Scarlet says as Artoria and Miku get breakfast in the food court of the mall area. "The problem is learning where they came from. I know there have been ships from home lost in space over the past few thousand years. But what are the odds of that being the reason?"
"What were the odds of you guys ending up here?" Hibiki ask as Chris nods her head. "I mean you guys kind of got lucky."
"Dummy has a good point, for once." Chris says making the orange haired girl pout. "Was that ship sent in a random direction, or was it meant to come here?" She asks as Artoria returns with Miku and their breakfast. "Pancakes?"
Artoria just smiles handing out the plates. "Fresh off the grill." She says handing a plate to Chris. "Let's leave the worries for later, ladies. Right now we've got enough to deal with."
Miku passes around drinks before sitting next to Hibiki. "Did Watson send anything about me to you, Scarlet? He was working through the controls of his tricorder a lot when scanning me." She says looking at Scarlet.
The dragoness checks her Omni-tool again and sends a message to Watson. "He didn't send me anything yet. So, I poked him with your question. I'm kind of wondering if Kirika and Chris aren't the only ones with something interesting going on."
"How so?" Hibiki asks and nearly falls out of her chair when Chris holds up a ball of light. "What?!"
"Yeah, I think my magic might have waked hers up." Artoria says embarrassed but also looks happy. "You really have that down already, Chris. I'm really proud of you." She says leaning over and hugging Chris, much to the silver haired girl embarrassment.
"That looks really cool." A young female voice says from behind Hibiki, Artoria, and Chris making them all turn. Who they see standing there is a girl about twelve years old with blue eyes, messy short black hair, cat ears, and wearing a type of black armor with a cloak. Both Artoria and Scarlet aren't surprised since they come from a world with even cat girls. It's the wolf that's standing next to her and the sword that's nearly as tall as her are what really surprise them. "Hello. I'm Fran the Black Cat."
"Uh, hi?" Miku says as Owaga joins them. "Owaga-san! Good morning."
"Morning. I see you've already have met Fran and Jet." Owaga says tapping the sword. "And their talking sword here."
"Sorry for scaring you last night again. I never meant to make you jump into the pool like that." A male voice says as Fran's sword floats off her back, still in its scabbard no less.
"Did that sword just talk?!" Hibiki and Miku ask in shock as Chris holds onto Artoria tightly.
Artoria chuckles softly patting Chris's back."Is that an intelligent weapon with a soul?" The wolf girl asks a little taken back by how the sword is talking. "And using telepathy to talk too?"
"It's alright, Teacher. I was more surprised when Jet jumped out of Fran's shadow after she appeared. I'm still not sure how she walked out of that wall." Owaga says with a chuckle. "I'll get your breakfast. Can you girls look out for Fran for me?"
"Uh, sure." Scarlet says as Owaga walks off to get Fran and Jet breakfast. "You walked right out of a wall?! The hell happened on your end of that rift, Fran?!" She asks leaning forward and gets licked in the face by the dire wolf Jet. "Ack!? Ha ha! You're a friendly one at least. Jet was it?" She giggles patting the wolf on the head and is rewarded with his tail wagging.
"There was this wall of white and purple light that moving down the road. It kind of followed us before appearing in front of me, and I couldn't jump back in time." Fran explains as the girls make room at the table for her and return to their breakfast. Scarlet rubs Jet's back with her tail to make sure he feels included. Not really needed but Jet is happy they are treating him like they are, as a part of the group.
Both dragon and wolf hum in thought as what Fran told them reminded them of something. It was Artoria that remembered first. "Shit! That sound like a rift generator on scan mode! Someone must have either found one, or its running on auto." Artoria growls looking very worried.
"It has to be close by if it used a wall of a building." Scarlet says thinking aloud. "It has to be in this building."
"I haven't picked up on anything like the RG unit. Unless it's from the ship we destroyed since the ones we did find had a scan proof case." Duel Fang says as Owaga bring over the food for Fran and Jet. "Owaga! Did anyone bring in a silver grey case about three feet long by ten inches diameter last night? That would be a small RG unit from the ship we trashed."
Owaga frowns setting a bowl down for Jet. "There was something brought in by the US team, but they wouldn't say what it was." He turns to walk away. "I'll go have a look. Before that!" Owaga turns back to look at Artoria and Scarlet. "Anything I should know before messing with it if it is there and active?"
"Hit the red and black buttons on the lower left at the same time on the main control pad. That should trigger the shut down for maintenance mode." Artoria says thinking for a moment. "If I remember right it'll have an FTL beacon we could use for mom to find us quicker too."
"If my uncle didn't have it rebuilt to be a bomb instead." Scarlet mutters looking really uneasy. "He's just twisted enough to do that." She groans finishing her breakfast. "If you find it, let us know right away! With Duel Fang's help we should be able to use it to even get Fran home."
..==..
Owaga's Side
I nod my head before quickly leaving the girls to their breakfast and to most of them I just teleport away. However, it would seem Fran, Artoria, and Scarlet could follow me till I was out of the food court. Somehow Chris seemed to also follow me with her eyes for a little bit. I'll have to see what they can do later in training. For now I need to see about this Rift Generator, or RG for short, before something or someone else shows up.
It didn't take me long to reach the underground storage bay that the US team was using, and what I found was a mess. Little green creatures were killing the team and guards. These green creatures are small, mean, and very twisted as they seem to enjoy killing the people. It wasn't that hard to kill them before getting to the RG and shutting it down. However, I didn't reach it in time as a group walked through a nearby wall and they looked ready for a fight.
"Where are we?" One of the two women asks dressed in white robe over blue grab and holding a golden Sounding Staff with blue gems. Her blue eyes and blonde hair are pretty but she can't be more than seventeen. "What is this place and who are you, sir?"
The armored man, a very tall lizard man, as person that could only be a dwarf, and a female elven archer are also with the priestess. I'm guessing she's a priestess by this point I'm sure they're an adventuring group of some kind. The Commander is going to love this and I'm sure Artoria and her friends aren't going to take it well either.
"I'm Owaga, and you're in the basement of the Seaside Mall and Hotel." I say with a slightly bow to the group. "You are in the country of Japan in a world that is also not your own. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to shut the machine here down before…" I jump back from the RG unit as it pulls in on itself. "Artoria and Scarlet are not going to be happy about this at all." I sigh rubbing the back of my neck.
..==..
Food Court
"It what?! You didn't get hurt did you?" Silva asks as she checks over Owaga. She's in a blue tank top, white shorts, and black sneakers. "Why even bring the RG up here when it would have been safer where you found it?!" The six tailed fox girl glares at the armored man as he tries to open the RG unit. "Hey! Leave that alone!"
"You said it can return us, right?" The man asks still trying to pull the armor case open. "Then we'll just fix it and go home. We have goblins to kill."
Artoria walks over and pulls him away from the unit. "Enough of that. You don't know the first thing about a RG unit like this." She says holding her pendent, Duel Fang, over the casing as she kneels next to the unit. "Duel, can you scan this thing now?"
"Wait one, please." Duel Fang says making the group gasps in surprise. The silver pendent glows blue as a wave of blue light runs over the three feet of damaged machine. "Good news is I can scan it, and I have better news too. The emergency beacon is still in one piece and has power. You'll have to gear up to cut the casing open to reach it though."
Artoria lets out a sigh as she standing up with a half smile. "Well, that's at least some good news we can even use." She sings the activating the relic and shows full power of her gear.
"Dueling Fang of the Howling Song."
It's much like what Chris, Miku, and Hibiki saw but with a headband that puts armor horns over her ears, and armor plate over her tail with five metal blade like whips coming off the end of her tail. "Give me a visor, Duel Fang. I'll need to see where to cut." A blue visor appears over her eyes as she kneels down again with a dagger in hand.
"What kind of magic is that?" The elf asks kneeling next to the wolf girl. However, Artoria is too busy to answer as she pulls out another dagger to help cut the casing. "Hello? You still there padfoot?"
Maria pulls the elf away from Artoria. "She's working on getting that open without anything else happening. As for her gear we call it Symphogear." Maria explains holding up her own red pendent. "She also has a name, Artoria Redmoon."
"Thanks, Maria." Artoria says getting a piece of the casing off. "I'm just glad this only imploded its core and nothing else." She mutters to herself aloud gently poking at parts inside the RG unit. "Oh boy, this is going to take some time. The beacon is under part of the black box, but I can get it. I'll take it outside and work on it by the pool." The wolf girl says as a dozen daggers appear from her armor and lift the RG unit in an energy field.
"Would you like some help, young lady? We dwarves know a great deal about the…" The dwarf starts to offer but stops as Artoria walks off.
"No. You all can wait here and explain yourselves to the others. I'll be on the comm if anything happens." The red wolf girl says waving over her left shoulder. "You guys need to know more about where you are before doing anything at all. This isn't your world after all."
Genjuro nods his head looking the Lizard Priest in the face, being about the same height helps. "She is right about this not being your world. So, please work with us to help you return home." He says looking over the group with a friendly grin. "I'm sure you all have a lot to tell us about your home, if you want."
"So, no goblins to kill then?" The armored man asks looking around. "We have nothing to talk about."
This got a sigh from Silva before she walks over and slaps the guy on the helm. "That is not healthy and you will use this time to take a break." She says nearly putting the guy on the floor.
"Slayer-san!" Priestess shouts but is more surprised Silva didn't hurt her hand. "Why did you do that to him, uh Kyubi-san?"
"My name is Silva Silvermist! Call me by my name!" Silva shouts looking royally pissed. "I'm not calling you Priestess am I?"
The group looks between each other a little taken back by Silva's anger. Then it sinks in since they really hadn't introduced themselves, or explained anything yet. It would seem they do have a lot to talk about with this group.
"I guess we better start with who we are before someone else losses their cool." The Dwarf Shaman says holding up his right hand. "As you might have guessed, we're a group of adventures that deal with the goblin problems back home. I'm Shaman, this Knife Ear is our Elf Archer, the Scaly here is a Lizard Priest, this is Priestess, and this guy is Beard Cutter. He's also known as Goblin Slayer to the common people." He says pointing to each person in the group before stepping forward. "Now we have people in our world like you we can 'Padfoot' since they have animal ears, tails, or are even part horse."
"Why not call them 'Beastman' like everyone else does?" Black Cat Fran asks not really understanding what Shaman was saying. "Also, what do mean half horse?"
"I think he means the Centaur, Fran." Shirabe says thinking it over. "Wait! Does mean they have fur on their bodies as well?"
"Some of them, yes." Elf Archer says with a chuckle. "As much as it bothers some of them with getting armor or cloths."
Fran Redmoon and Silva sigh getting it, but Fran speaks up. "Not a normal thing for us, but it is a rare thing to happen. Dragons, and a few sharks are really the only people that have to deal with that kind of problem." She says with a grin. "And maybe a few of the pure Viera as well, I guess."
"Putting that aside." Chris says before they get off track listing off the many odd things of their world and people. "All you've done is told us your class type and race. Don't you guys use your names at all?" She asks looking about as exasperated as Silva, Maria, and Miku about the whole thing.
"Since most adventures don't make it past their first few years, we rarely use are names." Lizard Priest says looking a bit sad. "At the same time we get use to it to the point we don't even worry about it." He says surprising everyone with how nice he is, even with how scary he might look at times.
Tsubasa sighs with her eyes closed and holding her head. "I think I get why everyone is just exasperated with the name thing. Also, can you take your helmet off already?" She points at Goblin Slayer as she walks toward him. "If you don't I think Silva is going to keep hitting you till it or your head falls off."
"I would like it if she didn't." Goblin Slayer says taking his helmet off to show his face. He has pale skin with grey short cut hair and red eyes with a few small scars on his face. "Goblins can still attack at any time."
Hibiki rolls her eyes and starts walking toward the outdoor pool. "I think Artoria had the right idea about leaving. I'm getting a headache from this as well. I'm going to get some air and see how our wolf girl is doing."
"I'll join you, Hibiki." Kirika says with Shirabe and Cat Fran right behind her. "The whole thing is just making my head spin." She mutters holding her hands over her ears. No one noticed that her ears have gotten a little higher and pointy. Kirika can feel the changes but didn't want to tell anyone just yet. She's hoping it's all in her mind.
Meanwhile Artoria is by the pool pulling the small black box out of the RG unit and setting it next to the beacon. The emergency beacon was half burnt but still in one piece, and holding power. She smiles as she takes out a battery pack before pulling a long crystal about eight inches long. Holding up to the sun she sighs seeing a flaw running the center length and hangs her head.
"Well, shit happens. It's one of the proto type units like I feared." Artoria says aloud as she lays on her back as her daggers place the unit to the side. "Worst of all I can't keep my word right away to get them home. Damn it."
She hears footsteps making her tilt her head back to see Hibiki, Shirabe, Cat Fran, Kirika, and Elf Archer walking toward her. "Hey, girls. I've got good news and bad news." Artoria says just laying there still in her armor. "Which do you want first?"
Teacher floats off Fran's back and over to the wolf girl as Jet hops out of Fran's shadow. "Give us the bad news first, please. It looks like it's kind of got you down as is." He says as he gently lifts her so she's sitting up. "Come on! It's not like it'll be that bad."
"Bad news it is then." Artoria sighs holding up the flawed crystal again. "This is the main power fuse crystal, and as you can see it's flawed." She says as Teacher takes the crystal with his Telekinesis to look over the crystal. "So the RG unit is fully and truly out of action. We can't send you guys home till rescue comes for us first."
Elf Archer kneels next to Artoria and pats her head. "We can live with that if it doesn't take too long. So what is the good news?" She asks trying to lift the wolf girl's spirits a little.
"The good news is in three parts." Artoria says pulling the end of the battery pack off and starts pulling a few wires out. "The emergency FTL beacon is intact with power and the black box for the RG unit is good too. All I have to do is trigger the beacon now to get help." She sighs hooking the battery up to the beacon. "It'll still take a few weeks before anyone from home gets here at most. So, it looks like we're going to be staying for a while."
"It might be for the best." Kirika sitting in front of Artoria and turns her head to show her ears. A pair of white wolf ears that have moved to the top of her head and a white tail that wraps as she hugs it. "I think I'm going to need a lot of help now."
Artoria sets the now active beacon to the side and pulls Kirika into a hug. "It'll be fine. With a bit of luck this will be easy for you to hide. But now you've got to deal with being a dress up doll like me. Silva and sis are going to love putting me through that hell again." She sighs knowing that both tomboyish girl love to dress up.
"You don't like dressing up?" Kirika asks with a giggle. "I would have thought you'd love to try on the really expansive silk dresses." She says with her tail wagging, which also got a cute yip out of her as well from surprise. "That's going to take a little while to get use too." Kirika says shyly as she hugs her tail again.
..==..
After a few hours, and many outfits, later in the clothing stores.
"Thanks goodness that's over." The red wolf girl sighs with a tired Kirika leaning on her left shoulder and Shirabe leaning on Kirika's. "Geez, why did it have to turn into a mess like that?"
The mess in question was Fran Redmoon and Silva trying to play dress up with Artoria like she feared. Only to drag Cat Fran, Elf Archer, and Priestess into it as will. They some even got Hibiki after all their measurements were taken. The up side was the two alien girls turned their eyes to the relic wielders, letting Artoria, Shirabe, and Kirika escape. They won't alone in escaping as Dwarf Shaman, and Lizard Priest waits with them outside the store in hopes of not being dragged in next.
"Are they normally like this?" Shaman asks Artoria as Miku bolts out of the store. "Over here, lass." He says waving to Miku.
"How do you put up with it, Artoria?" Miku asks as she sits on the bench next to Shirabe. "And how do they know so much about… Well? Everything fashion related to upper class?!"
The wolf girl sighs again louder this time. "Fine, but don't go treating us different because of this. We're from very old families with a lot of power and money. I hate being treated like a noble because of a lot of things." Artoria explains looking really sad about something. "Mom took us away from being raised like that because she wanted us to have a chance to choose our own life. Not be puppets for some of the family that wanted to gain more power."
"So, you are the kind of noble that likes to be among her people?" Shaman asks crossing his arm in thought. "You seemed the type and you wouldn't be the first we've meet. But I feel there is more to this and your family history then just money and power."
"We're three of the five families that helped bring our people together." Artoria says with a slight smile. "The Redmoon family, Blaze family, and Silvermist family took the first steps by coming together and driving the so called 'Gods' off our home planet."
That got both Shaman and Priest to look a little uneasy hearing the cold tone in Artoria's voice. However, Miku explains what the "Gods" of their worlds and history really were. Needless to say the Dwarf and Lizard Man felt a little less bad about driving a few gods away. More so that it was just people playing around with great power.
"That had to have been a rough thing for you, Miku." Lizard Priest says after her telling them about being Shen-Ha's vessel before Hibiki drove her out. "I think I get the reason and understand why it was needed now. It would seem the 'stress shopping' is over as well." He chuckles as the others finally exit the clothing store with a very sorry Fran R. and Silva.
"We are so sorry everyone." Fran R. says as Scarlet drags her tail on the floor. The poor dragoness didn't have the energy to keep her tail up like normal. "We shop if we're stressed out like this."
Hibiki falls on her back in front of Miku with B.C. Fran right next to her. "At least you could pay for all the clothes. I don't think I've ever seen someone use a platinum coin before." She says with a weak smile on her face.
"We keep a little cash handy that can be used by just about anyone." Silva says walking over to Artoria. "How's Kirika doing?" She asks kneeling in front of the sleeping blonde with white wolf ears and tail.
"Pretty good so far. She hasn't had any real trouble just yet and no magic flare ups either." Artoria says wrapping her tail around Kirika. "I think she'll return to normal after a while, but we'll still have to teach her the basics of magic. It'll be good for Chris as well to have someone to work with too."
Maria and Tsubasa sit next to Miku with a sigh. "So, what about that beacon you turned on?" Tsubasa asks leering at Artoria. "You sure that was a good idea to turn it on without telling us?"
"Yes, and we should have help here much sooner as well. Duel Fang used it to send a message out to my uncle." Artoria says with a grin. "I just hope he's not too busy with his job."
"You mean who I think you mean?" Silva and Fran R. ask at the same time with big grins as Scarlet chuckles.
"Well, he is the greatest pirate to ever live." Artoria chuckles making everyone else wonder what she means. Shirabe, Miku, and Hibiki pick up on the line Artoria said and gulp in worry.
..==..
Deep Space
A large black ship with grey accents is on the move to find Artoria, Fran, Silva, Scarlet, and Watson. The ship is a rebuilt intrepid-class starship with grappler arms and mobile suit launch bays (aft facing). The aft of the ship is as wide as the saucer section to have room for the MS bays and hanger. The name on the ship is written in silver white for all to see: The Black Pearl.
On the bridge of the Black Pearl one black wolf eared and tailed Captain Jack "Sparrow" Redmoon is pacing back and forth. His ship is among the first to race into the depths of space to find his niece Artoria. The fact they haven't found anything yet leaves him both worried and a growing pit in his stomach. Till the sensors pick up a sub space emergency beacon, the same one Artoria trigger from the RG unit.
"Captain! We've got a message in the beacon's signal with Duel Fang's ID number." Mr. Gibbs, an old grey fox and first mate says with a grin. "Shall I read it to you or would you like to have the honors?"
Jack lets out a sigh with a toothy grin. "Let's hear it, Mr. Gibbs. And send the coordinates to helm so we can get underway." He says dropping into the captain's seat.
"Aye, Sir." Mr. Gibbs says forwarding the coordinates to the helm. "The message is as follows: We've made it planet side with little trouble. Fran, Silva, Scarlet, and Watson are well and safe. We also have made friends with other relic wielders, they call them Symphogear. RG unit numbers that survived still unknown. Be careful." He looks up worried. "Captain, if they are any bigger units that did make it to the planet's surface the damage could be massive!"
"And to think old Adam "Scarface" Blaze used it all to as a trap for the girls." Jack growls rubbing his beard. "Helm, get us to my niece as fast as FTL can be pushed! Mr. Gibbs! Send the message to my sister's ship at once! I'll be damned if she doesn't get some good news after all that's happened."
"Already done, sir." Mr. Gibbs says with a grin. "I'm sure we be seeing the Silver Blood very soon."
The helm's man punches the nav points in before gripping the helm and spinning it hard to port. "Aye, captain! All speed to the planet Earth!" The black cat shouts as he pushes a button and they jump into sub space.
..==..