Something should always remain buried
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Archive; all characters belong to their original creators.
Chapter 2: An artifact from a time long forgotten.
A few days later.
As Takashi is sitting on a helicopter, he looks down on the desert of Abydos and scours his eyes until he spots the facility that was once owned by Kaiser. "I thought you guys would have done something about the facility and modified it?"
"The lab is located deep beneath the ground, Sensei, so it is unnecessary to modify anything on the outside," replied Yuuka as she sat opposite Takashi, "Besides, the GSC thought that leaving the facility intact would be more cost-efficient than just rebuilding it from scratch."
After a while, the helicopter finally landed, with Yuuka and Sensei stepping down from the vehicle. "Thank you, Ayane; you can join us in the facility now," said Sensei as he waved back at the pilot. "Okay, I'll be down there in a moment, Sensei," said Ayane as she unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped off from Water Cloud, Abydos' private helicopter.
The trio then starts walking towards the entrance as the memory of everyone working together to fight against Chroma flushes back to Takashi, "This is so nostalgic. It's like we were here yesterday, trying to save the world."
"It was definitely a hard time for everyone, but it was also the first time many schools across Kivotos worked together to prevent a catastrophe like that," Yuuka added.
"I can understand what you are trying to say, Sensei. When I was chosen to become one of the operators of the Utnapishtim, I was nervous beyond imagination, but everyone in Abydos kept cheering for me. Their support got me to focus on our mission then," Ayane agreed with a smile.
"Sensei is so proud of you guys; seeing your students getting along like that is the true dream of every Sensei in this world," Takashi smiled with a small tear in the corner of his right eye.
"Even though you are only 25 years old, you are talking like an old man there, Sensei," Yuuka chuckled as the trio came face to face with an elevator.
As they enter it and ride down to the lab's location, Takashi asks Yuuka: "So, how did the Engineering Club discover this lab? The last time we were here, I found nothing besides the Utnapishtim ship."
"If you can recall, we needed the Engineering Club during the invasion to figure out the inner workings of the ship, although it was soon realized that we couldn't understand anything about it with our current technology," replied Yuuka, "However, while Kotori was rummaging through the storage room of the ship, she discovered a tablet. Believing that the device would lead to more clues regarding the ship, she brought it to the attention of other club members. The most surprising thing about this was that the tablet was easy to figure out, almost too easy compared to the ship, as if the person who hid it wanted it to be found."
"Sorry, Sensei, the logical part of my brain kicked in, and I've gone off-topic," apologized Yuuka as she continued the story, "As I was saying, the Engineering Club was able to crack the tablet, but it was empty with no applications to be found besides a document called " ." As you can probably guess, the document was the path to the secret lab."
"That's quite the story there, Yuuka, but you don't have to apologize for going off-topic; I think it is very cute that you are so invested in this discovery," Takashi said nonchalantly, which caused both of his companions' faces to heat up rapidly.
"Se... Se... Sensei, you dummy (baka), I told you not to say something like that or else people would mistake it for something else," stammered Yuuka as she scolded Takashi.
"Yuuka-san is right, Sensei. You have to be more mindful of what you said, or else it might hurt someone, you know?" Ayane joins Yuuka in scolding her Sensei.
"I'm sorry to both of you; I guess I'm just too comfortable around my students these days," Takashi apologizes as he pats the head of his companions, "I'll be more careful next time."
"Mou, Sensei, you always say that," Yuuka blushes as she puts Takashi's hand off her head, "Ah, it seems we are almost at our destination."
As Takashi puts his hand off Ayane's head, a "Ting" rings out from the elevator as it reaches the final floor. On the other side, a beautiful, sickly, and genius girl awaits their arrival. "Hello, everyone; thank you for coming to this humble workshop of mine," Akeboshi Himari greeted the trio.
"Hello Himari, I guess it is expected for you to be here since you are the head of the Super Phenomenon Task Force," Takashi greeted back as he walked toward Himari with Ayane and Yuuka, "Is Eimi and Toki here with you?"
"Yes, they are currently working on a way to breach through the lab's door. You'll see them soon enough," replied Himari as she continued to lead the trio deeper into the facility, "Oh, and even Aris is here too, saying that she wanted to go on an adventure with us to find "the hidden treasure" after hearing about the lab."
"I guess that should also be expected, too, huh?" Takashi sighed satisfactorily, "Wait, how long have you been working on this?"
"Currently, it has been three days since we started to crack open the door," Himari sighed, "However, no matter what we threw at it, the door still wouldn't open up. It's just a normal electric door at first glance, so we tried hacking, but the system was so broken that it was impossible to restart the automatic function. After a while, we tried blowing through the door with various explosives. Aris' Sword of Light is the only weapon that could damage the door, but even then, only the door's outer layer is melted. We analyzed the melted metal, and it turned out the door was made from some kind of living metal with an unknown composition that can dispel heat, force, and fix itself at a molecular level."
"What a terrifying piece of technology it is," Takashi commented.
As they reach their final destination, Takashi spots a metal door with 3 people in front of it.
"Pan-paka-pan, Sensei, Yuuka, and Ayane-san have officially joined our party," Tendou Aris turns around and runs towards the quartet with a smile.
"Hello there, Aris. How is your adventure for the ultimate hidden treasure?" asked Takashi as he picked up his cute robot (daughter?).
"Sensei, Aris' party had to deal with an impenetrable obstacle a few days ago, which made Aris very sad, but we finally found a solution to the problem," Aris replied with a cheerful face.
"Oh, so the Engineering Club has finally found the perfect solution?" surprised Himari as she moved toward on her wheelchair. After hearing that, Takashi puts Aris down and follows Himari towards the door with Yuuka, Ayane, and Aris.
"Greetings, Sensei, Yuuka-san, and Ayane-san; it is a pleasure to meet you guys here," said Asuma Toki as she turned around.
"Hello, everyone," greeted Izumimoto Eimi, "Oh, and President Himari is back."
"Hello, Toki and Eimi. I heard you guys were hard at work here with Aris?" Takashi greets both of them back.
"Correct, Sensei; this door seems to be a bigger problem than we've thought, but we have finally found a way to breach it; we'll just have to wait for the Engineering Club to finish their project," replied Toki.
"I can finally understand why you guys knew it was a hidden lab," commented Takashi as he looked at the sign near the door, "ABS Project, Lab #11. What's a weird name!"
As Takashi finishes his sentence, the Engineering Club appears from his right with Toyomi Kotori shouting: "Everyone, our project has been comp... Ah, Sensei, why are you here?"
"Greetings Kotori, Hibiki, and Utaha. It's nice to see you guys are here. As your teacher and a member of SCHALE, of course I'm here to supervise you. So, can I see what this project is all about?" asked Takashi.
"Greetings, Sensei, I've heard that you'll be coming to visit us," replied Shiraishi Utaha, "and about the project, it is an energy cutter based on Aris' Sword of Light."
"Since the door has great heat absorption and self-healing properties, we theorized that if we focus energy on the spot with a beam, it will be able to punch through the door while preventing it from healing itself," added Nekozuka Hibiki.
"As you can see, Sensei, the reason for this is that mmmmmm," before Kotori could start her explanation, her mouth had already been covered by Utaha, "Let's leave the explanation for another day, Kotori."
"mmmmm, Okay, mmmmmm," mumbled Kotori as she was released from her restraint.
"Okay, everyone, let's start opening this door," said Takashi as he pumped his right hand up.
The Engineering club gets to work as Utaha wears protective gear with a mask and gloves, connects the laser cutter to an energy generator, and fires it. The laser hits the outer layer but doesn't affect it. However, the laser bore through the thick door as time passed until it reached the other side. "Everyone, I think this is it; the laser has completely punched through the door, but it's too dark to see what's behind there," said Utaha.
"Then, we'll continue to cut a circle out of the door until we can kick it open," replied Takashi.
"Roger, Sensei. Then I'll continue with my work," said Utaha as she began to fire the laser again, moving her hand to create a large circle. After 30 minutes of cutting, only a fourth of the circle has been completed, and Utaha is already tired, "This door is secured with many layers just as we expected; it seems like this will take a lot of time."
"Utaha, please stand back; I'll help you with this; you've done well enough with the cutter; no need to overwork yourself," Takashi offered.
"No, Sensei, I will be the one to do it; this work requires precision and high endurance to pull off; you won't last too long with how weak you are compared to us students," offered Toki as she stepped forward, "May I, Utaha-san?"
"If you insist, then I guess I have no objection," replied Utaha as she handed the protective gear and the laser cutter to Toki. Holding the cutter, Toki continues Utaha's work until a circle is formed around the door. After the circle is finished, Toki kicks the cut-out part of the door, revealing the entrance of the lab.
As everyone steps inside, with Sensei carrying Himari and Eimi carrying the wheelchair, the light suddenly turns on, and they are met with an empty hallway that divides into 3 different directions at the end. "Wow, this is like some of the horror movies that I have watched during my free time," commented Takashi as he put Himari down in her wheelchair.
"I guess the inner electrical system is still working to some extent. We should be careful around uncharted territories like this," commented Yuuka.
"Should we split up or move together, guys?" asked Takashi.
"This is unknown land here, Sensei, while splitting up will allow us to cover more ground, I think moving together is the best option we have right now," replied Toki.
"I concur. Although moving together is less efficient in exploring, it is more efficient in protecting Sensei and fighting against unknown threats," added Eimi.
"If 2 of our best fighters said it, then I cannot disagree. Okay, let's start with the right way first, everyone," concluded Takashi.
Every student begins to flank Takashi depending on how powerful they are in combat, with the weaker standing close to him while the stronger take up the rear. They move towards the right wing and go deeper until they encounter another metal door, just like the one at the gate. "I think it can be expected right now that we'll have to cut open every door we see here," commented Takashi as he looked at the sign next to the door, "Raising Chamber. That doesn't sound good."