EPISODE 10: TUSK'S RESOLVE
Summary: Tusk, one of the surviving Ancient Humans from the first Libertus, but living away from the Haven, met an unexpected…stubborn person.
Disclaimer: I don't own Cross Ange or any of its characters and original plot, excluding the original characters I created for this story. This is a spin-off series of the main 'Cross Ange: Living Hell' story. So please read that before here.
Cross Ange and all its rights belong to King Records (Japan), Sentai Filmworks (USA), and Sunrise/ Bandai Namco Entertainment (Japan). This fanfiction is meant for entertainment only and not for profit. This story contains heavy language, blood and violence, and mild sexual themes not for audiences under 16-18 years old.
Every day is the same thing, wake up, hunt or fish anything that he can use to cook and eat on the islands, occasionally find some damaged Para-mail parts washed ashore at the beach, and repeat it for years. Tusk would feel bored, and even a bit regretful of what happened that made him want to live on his island rather than the humans' world and the restricted populated island bigger than this, but there's nothing he can do. For thirteen years ever since he last saw them, he has been a coward to run away from the battle unlike his parents and some of their people who died fighting this cruel world and the False God who dared make it all happen. Tusk can imagine how sad and disappointed his parents would be if they could see him now, even when he refused the Haven's numerous invitations to stay with them and avenge the surviving Ancient Humans. 'I'm sorry, Mother, Father.' Tusk sadly sighed, managing to reel his fishing rod and catch one of the mullets he dropped into the bucket bearing four more mullets slowly losing the air from their restricted movement.
Also, what happened after that painful memory, Tusk would often get visits from the Haven people, either his friends like Kiyoshi's group or Rush himself, for the side job they gave him of getting food or living equipment delivery in exchange for the Para-mail parts and hanging out to know what has happened in the outside world. At least they have the free time to kindly visit him and help him not go crazy from loneliness. But his cowardice stops him from accepting their wishes to be with them out of fear for the survivors and Jill's possible disdain for his choice.
But Tusk wasn't expecting today to change from his normal day…
As he returned to his cave, about to cook his lunch he placed the bucket beside the campfire, he heard a screech of a beast ringing the sky's air farther but loud enough that Tusk realized in shock that it came from the beach. "Was that a DRAGON?" Tusk dreads and quickly runs to the path leading them to the beach. Once in a while, Tusk would sometimes witness a singularity appearing from the sky and closer to the islands, high enough to not spot Tusk secretly witnessing DRAGONs being slain by Arzenal's Norma pilots. Sometimes, broken Para-mail pieces and debris would be collected by Tusk who would fix and give them to any Haven visitor in exchange for the items he needs to survive if hunting is not in mind. But when Tusk arrived at the beach, he froze in fright for not expecting to see what he saw.
"…Vilkiss." Tusk couldn't believe it. It's been years since he last saw this unit but he didn't think that he would see it again in all its glory, just like when the previous pilot even when it somehow crashed here. But who could be piloting it? First checking in relief that the DRAGON who must've attacked it was nowhere to be found, Tusk hurriedly dashed closer and climbed onto the broken canopy where he spotted who could be the pilot who was both unconscious and wet…but Tusk felt his cheeks flushing red in awe from seeing her beautiful face and golden hair even in deep sleep.
'Vilkiss's new pilot…' Tusk wanted to think more but decided to postpone his thoughts when he quickly grabbed and held the pilot's body in his arms in a bridal pose before he sprinted back to the cave. He will check on Vilkiss's damage stats tomorrow once he waits for the pilot to wake up and ask her questions about her sudden arrival. But one question immediately scratched the back of his brain regarding this.
'If this Norma was piloting Vilkiss…does this mean there's a chance for Alektra and Rush…'
... "Hey, kid?" Tusk heard a boy's voice calling in his direction from behind, snapping him out of mindlessly looking at the colossal lake and thinking about his mind with a short scream in shock, hastily whirled around to see the same, bronze-haired kid a few years older than him with bandages slightly around his limbs and hide his left eye and right hand walking towards him from the Haven Resort. Tusk felt his entire system jolting in fear of seeing him again when he remembered what he did that almost tried to kill everyone in this vast and beautiful nation, that no one but its people knows especially when this Haven nation saved him and the surviving Ancient Humans from their deaths and caught by the Mana-humans. But that memory will plague Tusk in despair, for what happened to his parents who couldn't make it will never get out of his mind.
"I kept seeing you not joining with your people, even when they tried to comfort you, and you've been looking down in the dumps. Are you okay?" The older boy who called himself the Human Killer, which Tusk now believes due to his stunt, asked with a scarily stoic frown no kid as young as the killer child beside him. But instead of giving in to the urge to run away from him, Tusk somehow felt himself too sad and gave his answer, looking back to the lake with tears.
"…N-No. My Mama and Papa…they're gone. And I was too scared to save them…" Tusk wiped the tears from his closed eyes with his fists, not noticing the soft but still angry scowl on the other boy's face also looking at the lake.
"…Do you love your parents?" Tusk was startled by the 'Human Killer's' immediate question, surprised to be asked about his love for his parents but a look at the older boys alarmed him in, not fear, but confusion for his slightly sad frown.
"Y-Yes? I love them so much, and they love me too!" When Tusk answers the best he can, making sure not to be more afraid of the younger, bandaged gunner than he was when he first saw him, he wasn't expecting to hear his response.
"…You're so lucky…"
'Rush…' Tusk almost shed a tear from his eyes in his sleep, remembering his first conversation with Rush thirteen years ago. Back then, he didn't know that parents can also be cruel enough to torture their children instead of loving them until he met Rush who told him about his past sometime after deciding to leave the Haven and live on his island, whenever Rush kindly visited him more than the others from his free time. Tusk tiredly blinks his eyes open and sees the girl he saved an hour ago, whom he had to tie her wrists over her head at the bedframe and strip her pilot suit to keep her body warm from catching a cold, looking back at him with shocked, pink or red eyes before her bare body almost showing from the sheets covering them...releasing a terrified scream of her predicament.
"Are you alright?" Tusk asked the girl in surprise at her reaction, hovering above her but realising in surprise by seeing her blushing cheeks with stammering noises, hurriedly climbing off the bed to walk and get some water for both himself and the girl. "S-Sorry! I had to tie you up just to be safe." Tusk reassured. "Tell me, how did you get…" But before he reached the bed, he stepped on the bottle that rolled him forward, dropping his mugs with a gasp and landed on the bed with his face accidentally planted between the girl's legs she accidentally spread them from the landing to both their disbelief.
"Hold on, I didn't mean to…" Tusk wasn't able to finish his apology when the girl screamed her fear and instantly kicked his cheek with her knee, stunning him to end up being thrown over and behind the bed, breaking the bedframe that restrained the girl. By the time he managed to recollect himself, Tusk spotted the girl running out of the cave and into the forest with her plug suit hiding her body from view. 'Sheesh. I thought normal Norma girls are strong but she's so aggressive.' Tusk winced in pain when he sluggishly climbed on his feet with his hand already grabbing his green shirt and hurriedly putting it on once he chased after her.
"Damn you…You bitch!" Luckily, by the time he arrived at the beach where Vilkiss remains perched on the sands and waves, he spotted its pilot angrily stomping something she was holding. Maybe whatever she was must've been the one that jammed Vilkiss in its circuits causing the malfunction.
"Well, that must be extreme." Tusk wondered once he stepped closer from hiding and walked towards her, getting her attention to sneer at him in anger. "That was mean. I saved your life…" Unfortunately, a few warning shots almost hit his feet when Tusk backed away with a gasp from the pilot now aiming her gun at him.
"Take one more step and I'll shoot you." Vilkiss's pilot threatened. Now that's scary.
"No, wait a minute! I mean you no harm, I swear! Besides, you already shot me!" Tusk pleaded and raised his arms for surrender.
"So it's harmless to tie me up and sleep on your bed, naked?" The pilot reminded, her face blushed in anger. Okay, Tusk could nervously admit that accident may be fair. "That was too close. I bet you're planning to do something more indecent."
"What do you mean, more indecent?" Tusk wondered aloud in surprise, closing his eyes with a tired sigh. "You think I'll do something like that? Grabbing an unconscious girl's perfectly round breasts, have my way with her smooth, defenceless flesh, and experience with a female's body? You think I'm that kind of guy?"
"You sure as hell sound like one!" The pilot yelled, blushing more than earlier when she walked a bit closer and ready to fire if he made a move. "I'll kill you, you pervert."
"No, please don't! I promise that I was trying to help you…" When Tusk stepped back and was about to beg the scary pilot to not fire, he unknowingly stood beside a tiny crab who pinched his pinky toe. With a startled scream, Tusk accidentally ended up falling forward and again hit his head against the other's waist, hearing her gasp again before both fell with the pilot's back on the sand and Tusk, to his horror, again landed his face between her legs just as he lifts his head and sees the pilot's red beet face with her angry eyes welling little tears for their second accident…filling the island's air with Tusk screaming and a few bullet shots during the chase between him running away from the furious pilot until he was unfortunately caught.
"And stay there, you sick freak!" Tusk was left dangling off the ground by the vines hanging him from a tree by the pilot walking away after tying him up for his accident. "Hey, come back! Don't leave me here! I didn't mean to!"
'Rush, how can you easily handle women as mad as this?' Tusk wondered, recalling one of the first memories he had of staying there years ago, after slowly getting along with Rush.
"Hey!" The sudden woman's voice calling in their direction attracted not just Tusk and Rush, but also Alektra, Commander Jasmine, and Maggie when the group looked up from their first lunch together in the Haven Resort restaurant, with Alektra eating her food using her only left arm and hand waiting for her new prosthetic. All were confused but immediately expressed discomfort to see one of the female Ancient Human survivors scowling at Rush's emotionless sneer for a twelve-year-old. From behind her and outside the restaurant, and peeking at Alektra's group scowling their distaste, Tusk noticed three other female members sneaking glimpses of dreamy but bad-looking grins directed at Rush being interrogated by a woman who possibly had ill intentions to ignore Tusk and the others.
From what the women knew and hated about her, this Ancient Human was one of the two Destruction-clan Ancient Humans alive besides Tusk, but more aggressive than the others before their deaths earlier. "You may have almost killed some of us just to make us believe that the humans in the Haven care for both Norma and the Ancient Humans. But don't think you can fool me just because you're a cute human boy."
"Eww. Fuck no. I just want to kill people who piss me off." Rush stoically shook his head and finished his last fork of omelette, trying to ignore the woman's presence almost making Maggie snort a snigger from seeing the Destruction-clan woman briefly shooting her a furious glower for her reaction before turning back to Rush.
"Hmph. You think you're better for trying to destroy this stupid world than us, brat? Even if you have your so-called Light of Mana, you're nothing but a weak and pathetic fake human just like your kind! Made by that damned false God of yours!" The mention of a false God alarmed Tusk, Maggie, Jasmine holding her puppy Vulcan barking at her, and Alektra who strangely snarled her teeth yet everyone noticed Rush's only eye faintly show amusement and interest through his gloomy but dangerously cruel glower.
"False God? Oh yeah, Gramps and I were told about him by one of your captains. I guess I'll have the major fucker as the main of my bucket list."
"Don't you dare!" The Destructive woman angrily yelled and swiftly grabbed Rush off his chair and into the air with her hand gripping the collar of his shirt, alarming not just Tusk and Alektra's group but also the other human traitors, Norma, and Ancient Humans witnessing it from inside and outside the restaurant. "WE Ancient Humans are the ones who were supposed to kill that asshole and we shall, not you! Your promise means nothing to our objective!" To the woman's increasing fury, Rush doesn't seem intimidated that she thinks he is looking down on her with his empty sneer.
"Put Rush down!" Commander Jasmine ordered.
"Stay out of this, Commander! Those weak cowards of the Preservation clan follow you just to save their asses, but it's their fault that they lived instead of the Destruction clan." The woman snarked, her irritated glower then twitched into a jealous grin towards Alektra and her missing right arm as if she bore victorious with her words. "Well, at least there is something good from that failed ambush, now that Miss Highness cannot pilot Vilkiss."
"What are you…" Alektra hissed in anger.
"You don't have your ring, and even better your arm, so you failed to even fly Vilkiss in the first place. I knew we shouldn't trust some royal bitch to pilot what was supposed to be OURS. That brings me to replace you because I'm stronger and more beautiful than you. I can also have this spoiled brat as mine…" Right when she was about to finish while pulling the angry boy's adorably cute face with the bandages around his left eye closer to her, reaching her other hand to feel his delicate-looking body, the woman's seductive smirk intending to forcefully kiss the brat immediately changed for everyone to watch, in aghast, of Rush's bandaged right fist swiftly shooting straight into a punch that knocked the woman off her footing with an anguished scream and release Rush off her hand.
Once he landed on his feet, he wasted no time punching the same, blood-stained bandaged fist at his 'captor' by the stomach, making her wheeze another groan before she fell back on the floor with Rush immediately and roughly sat on her stomach. Without stopping, Rush repeatedly slam his bandaged fist at her face and body for more blood and gripping her throat with his other hand so tightly, that her eyes bulged wide and coughing both blood and drool out of her mouth.
"Rush!" Alektra, Jasmine, and Maggie cried with the former running towards Rush and wrapping her only arm around Rush's waist from behind and pulling him up, with Maggie holding Tusk in her arms and helping him avoid watching and hearing the brutal scene by shielding both his eyes and ears with their hands, making Tusk both afraid and worry for Rush than normal.
"H-hey, calm down, kid!" One of the Ancient Human women tried to reassure Rush furiously struggling to escape from Alektra's arm, wanting to pulverise the attempted rapist by his maniacally angry glower for a child, with the other three checking on the almost dead woman to feel her heart beating harder and her drooling mouth gasping for breath, confirming that she will make it out. "She didn't mean to do that to you! She's just upset…"
"…I don't care." Everyone froze in shock at hearing Rush curtly reprimanded, seeing his eye now flaring such rage compared to when everyone first saw him. "The fucking bitches who were once my parents happily tortured me and others, which killed my best friend for stupid reasons! Can't I kill anyone like what I did with those assholes, for doing the same as them?" By his words, everyone felt two different reactions but was visibly horrified; wanting to choke or puke themselves. They guessed he was abused by looking at his bandaged form, but to think his parents are so heinous that their son heartlessly killed them in cold blood and he doesn't care.
"…M…More…." Everyone heard a coarse voice coming from the woman Rush almost killed violently vibrating her head and seemingly looking at Rush. But instead of the maniacally angry glower everyone was expecting from her, her face blushed red in a dreamily pleasured smile….
"P…Please….give me more! I want…you…I want you to punish me more!" The second she immediately yelled her desire that came right after almost getting killed by Rush, almost everyone who heard her inside and outside the Haven restaurant but Tusk could only glare at the harshly and loudly panting woman in such disgust, that they couldn't believe this is the same Destruction Ancient Human who 'claimed she can kill the enemy'….
"Wait, never mind. Rush would kill any woman who tries to get him." Tusk's smile twitched in sadness, concern, and apprehension for both his current situation and recalling that memory. It was last year when he nervously asked Rush about the same Destruction Ancient Human woman to find out something horrifying; the year he moved to his island, she became mentally worse from Rush almost killing her the first time that she tried to assault Rush only to brutally kill her.
Unfortunately, to both Rush and Tusk, who support and wish the former the best for his love preference, that story still doesn't stop any woman, Ancient and Mana-humans and Norma included, to force themselves and plan on making Rush the lucky woman's husband. And from seeing Rush complaining about these attempts on him for years even when he doesn't, Tusk can sadly sense that Rush will soon break down to the point of unhesitatingly killing any woman who will do so, acting like a true Human Killer. 'Rush.' Tusk wondered in sadness for his best friend.
A droplet of water prickling on his head attracted Tusk to look up and see the sky had started to darken with clouds ready for the rain to come which quickly did. A light rain that might go on for a few hours it seems. 'I hope she's okay.' Tusk prayed, slowly snipped the vines behind him with his knife just when he could've sworn he saw a tall glimpse of blue limply walking in his direction and fell onto the muddy ground on her back, seemingly looking at the rainy sky for almost a minute before she sluggishly yet shakily push herself up. "Hey, are you okay?" When Tusk asked, he could tell from how she weakly looked back at him that something must be wrong.
"Please…help…me…" The pilot whispered but fell unconscious back on the ground. 'Shit!' Tusk worried and hurriedly sliced the vines until he released himself and ran to her body, checking her vibrating madly and gasping for breath just when he spot the tiny pair of holes, recognizing from a viper's fangs, seeping blood out of her left exposed thigh. As quickly as he can, Tusk stripped his shirt off as a pillow for her head and start sucking and spitting the poison out of her leg as she released weak gasps of pain for seconds until he spat what could be the final amount. Holding her in his arms with his shirt as a sheet for her body, Tusk dashed back to the cave before they could end up soaked by the rain.
Tusk placed and stripped her on the bed, leaving the ring on her left ring finger, to both apply the antibiotic cream he made on her wound before wrapping it with bandages and wiping and cleaning the dirt off her skin. When he finished, he glanced at the jewelled ring which collected his sadness. The first he remembers just from looking at the ring was a memory he cannot forget for years.
One of the many, but the only one youngest, survivors of his people kneeling and crying for his dead parents, who have strangely merged their blood-stained and limbless bodies through the broken ground and away from the fiery ring around themselves. Frantically looking around for help, he could see both the machine that caused everything into hell and a lone black-haired woman wearing a black and purple flight suit walking towards him from Vilkiss, clutching what was left of her missing right arm with his now only left hand.
'Vilkiss…' Tusk whispered, carefully putting one of his white shirts onto her body and placing the sheets on her to give her a good sleep. At least he still has some sea snake he fished to make soup for two. He hoped that, despite earlier, she could calm down instead of trying to beat and shoot him up.
So without waiting, while occasionally watching over her sleeping body on the bed, Tusk started preparing to make sea snake soup by cutting them and anodyne mushrooms into bite-sized shapes before swiping them and the edible plants as vegetables into the pot of water, stewing them long to soften the meat parts. He was almost done and scooped the first batch into the bowl when he heard low groans coming from the bed and saw her sluggishly trying to get up and sit.
"Don't strain yourself. I sucked out the poison but you're probably still numb." Tusk warned and filled the bowl for the girl's dinner, noticing her sitting up and shooting him a cruel, suspicious glare when he walked closer and sat on the chair closer to the bed. "Don't go there. I'm not the guy who makes a move in a paralyzed person. You would've died from the poison if I waited a bit longer. That was stupid. You should've worn more clothes in the rainforest."
"Don't patronize me." The girl grumbled in irritation.
"Here, it's food." Tusk offered a spoonful for her, who glanced back in surprise. "When was the last time you ate?"
"I don't want any of your food! I don't know what's in that stuff…" Her cold rejection, however, was betrayed by her stomach grumbling which made her blush in surprise.
"Don't worry. I won't poison you. Here…" Tusk calmly offered with no hard feelings as he watched her reluctantly look away but open her mouth to give her the first spoonful, watching her dissecting the first bite with a swallow, seemingly surprised but retaining her pride. "It's gross." Tusk chuckled and warmly gave her the second spoon when she opened her mouth again.
"Not sure how you might like the sea snake soup." Tusk wondered aloud, almost ignoring her surprise when she swallowed her surprise for the main ingredient with a slightly disgusted groan. "Are you starting to trust me a little bit now? Cause I would appreciate it if you could stop hitting, shooting or tying me up pretty soon."
"I'll think about it." She pouted and received another spoonful of sea snake soup although Tusk was curious of her sudden surprise when she looked at her bandaged leg where he plastered the medicine in her thigh. "Wait; you said you sucked the poison out of my leg, right…with your mouth?" Her slowly angry blush at realizing his method to cure her alarmed Tusk with a nervous gasp for creating another misunderstanding. "Seriously?"
"Um…sort off? But it was to save you." Tusk tried to explain in his defence but what he received was not a thanks but an angry bite on the cheek. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"You didn't say I could bite you!"
Even if he could forget it, Tusk sadly chuckled from his smile in pain for receiving that aggressive bite. At least, although trying not to show it due to her pride, Tusk may be glad that she has calmed down and hopefully not beat him up as yesterday. Since he was forced to sleep outside and gave her his bed, Tusk can easily walk out and leave her be to start his attempts to fix Vilkiss. Just as he suspected from looking through the inside, its output circuitry has been fried. Maybe if he can replace and tweak a bit to replace those burnt parts, she can use the radio to call Arzenal. He was to pull the first part out when he heard the sand crunching towards him and turned to see his guest walking closer with a curious scowl. "You sure you're okay to walk?"
"You think you can fix it?"
"I hope so. Once in a while, I find Para-mail wreckages washed up on the beach. It took some time but now I know what makes them tick. Could you hand me the hex wrench over there?" Tusk exclaimed, stepping out a bit away from Vilkiss to get the requested tool she helpfully gave him from the sheet laid on the sand for the toolbox. He was about to resume when he heard the first few questions that stopped him, tensing his shoulders with a soft frown by that and her suspicions in her voice.
"How come I don't see you use your Mana? How do you know Para-mail? Who are you?"
"…Tusk. My real name is Tusk." Tusk responded, not planning on answering more when he smiled and showed her the burnt pieces he grabbed on his hands. "Anyway. I found out the problem. If I fix the circuitry, I could get the radio working so that you can call your squadron in no time." But to Tusk's surprise, he sees sadness and depression on her face when she walks to sit on the sheet-placed sand.
"Don't even bother. I can call them but they won't come. Nobody cares whether I'm alive or dead." Her sad confession made Tusk frown his sadness for him. He knew from the Haven that Norma in Arzenal tends to be rough even to themselves, to the point of occasional roughhousing to each other. Rush also told him from his last visit about his and his team's inspection visit to Arzenal where he almost killed the royal Norma Princess Angelise of Misurugi, or Ange as her new name for short. He doesn't need to be a genius to know that the Norma Princess is also the one who crashed Vilkiss in here and talking with him right now, staring sadly into the waves. But what made him sad for her was, from Rush's reports which came from Jill, Ange's initial refusal of being a Norma cost her the lives of three squad members including the late captain of the elite squadron of Arzenal's pilots. Who knows how her other squad members feel about her for what has happened? Do they hate or forgive her? Tusk could sadly believe the former if Ange was this dejected for saying her acceptance.
…Come to think of it, even if they don't show it…Tusk does see some similarities between her and Rush.
"That's rough," Tusk whispered, hoping what he just thought off when he stepped away from Vilkiss and nervously suggested with a shy smile. "You know if you want to; you can stay with me for a little while. I promise I won't do anything weird." Looking away to hide his blush from Ange, Tusk's smile grew a bit brighter from hearing a soft answer and both looked at the water.
"Maybe."
So ever since then, Tusk and Ange spent their few days both working on fixing Vilkiss and living together in that little cave, although Tusk understood some accidents for staying with a woman even as rough as her. Tusk realized his mistake of sleeping on the same bed brought Ange to beat and tie him up in a tree behind the campfire just for accidentally touching the wrong spot, resulting in Ange making a makeshift curtain with a signboard written 'Ange's Area' with a threat to beat him up if he steps inside, and even the terrifying stunt he did to pull Ange away from her cooking what he initially thought of her stew as a purple, witch brew that blew up from the stove and pot… which resulted in his face again landing on her crotch on accident and almost shot into holes by a mad, blushing gunner.
But despite those setbacks, Tusk can see that Ange can smile and be safe around him when they fish together, bathing away from each other out of privacy, and Ange stays close to him whenever he fixes Vilkiss's controls and engine. Hopefully, even if he will try not to do things that render him a pervert, Ange will see him as a kind boy willing to help a Norma like her.
"The stars are so bright tonight," Ange remarked in happiness as the two sat close to the river with a waterfall beside them one night, no sign of rain to show the beautiful starry night above their heads. "You never seen them?" Tusk asked once he joined her side and smiled at her looking up in satisfaction.
"I haven't looked up in the night sky in a long time." Ange peacefully sighed when a shooting star flew into their sights before disappearing into the stars. "Pretty." Not stopping himself, knowing she will never strike him unless angered, Tusk softly rests his hand on hers, attracting her surprise.
"They're not as pretty as you…" Tusk blushed with a smile, not noticing Ange blushing as well but smiled even when both slowly leaned their heads closer to each other. However, Tusk heard something above them in surprise and suspicion that alarmed him to swiftly and gently push themselves against the ground with Ange quietly gasping her surprise. "Quiet," Tusk whispered. Keeping their heads down, Tusk spotted glimpses of light moving past them until it was safe for both to sit back hurriedly and saw several Mana military planes flying and surrounding a colossal block of ice containing what Ange recognised inside by its shape and tint of colour as the Galleon DRAGON she and First Squad fought before Vilkiss crashed.
"That's a DRAGON. But why and where are they taking it?" Ange wondered aloud as both looked at each other in confusion about her question, but a screech filled the air alarmed to look up and spot a crippled and injured-looking Schooner DRAGON flying from the forests and pursuing the Mana planes. Curious and surprised, Ange and Tusk watch the Schooner flying around and dodging every bullet that comes towards it from the planes until it stops when the Schooner shrieks again and flies away…only for every plane to start firing at each other and accidentally blow themselves up, plummeting them and the frozen DRAGON carcass and blew a different part of the forest, farther from Tusk and Ange's location, into a geyser and ball of fire.
"We need to get outta here!" Tusk hurriedly grabbed Ange's hand as she was initially distracted by the nearby explosion and ran down the path when something crash-landed in front of them, shocked to see the same Schooner in front of them when it screech in animalistic rage, forcing Ange to shoot the bullets out of her handgun at the chest, unaffected despite the bloody holes. "That's not enough to kill it!" Tusk reminded.
"I'm sorry! I'm not going to let it eat us!" Ange sarcastically argued although both hurriedly dashed away from the Schooner charging towards them but fell again onto the ground, showing its stunned daze and angry growls. "Wait, Vilkiss! If you can fix it, we can stop it!" Ange suddenly got an idea with Tusk looking at her in surprise by her bold defiance but hurriedly thought of it. Vilkiss's panels and system are still 80% fixed but if he can quickly get it running while she can hold the DRAGON off, knowing she can, they still have a chance.
"Gotcha!" Tusk nodded and both ran away from the DRAGON sluggishly getting on its feet and chasing after them towards the beach. First seeing no sign of the DRAGON behind them when they arrived, Tusk quickly jumped onto Vilkiss's seat while Ange stood on her guard with only her knife at the DRAGON again dashing out and falling onto the sand, recklessly climbing on its feet to stand in front of Ange readily swung her knife at it but moved and dodged whenever the Schooner's jaws almost grab her before it's right, crippled wing threw at her send Ange flying and landing her back on the sand with a painful scream. "Use this!" Tusk threw Vilkiss's rifle at Ange after witnessing her rough flight.
"Hurry up!" Ange shouted and slid to dodge the Schooner throwing its neck and jaws forward, alarming Tusk to frantically connect the two cables he had in hand and start working as fast as he could, not watching but hearing gunshots, the DRAGON screeching, and Ange grunting as she leapt, dodged and strike more of her now defenceless weapon at the DRAGON. But he was almost distracted when he heard Ange screaming again and the DRAGON roaring twice but unable to look up and see Ange lying on the sand again, closer to her knife, and the DRAGON ready to lunge towards her from above just as Ange's jewelled ring surprisingly glowed a bright glow from the diamond both she and Tusk didn't notice.
Yet he could've sworn of feeling Vilkiss's engine vibrating life again with its sensors temporarily lighting up just as he looked to his right and watched Vilkiss's right arm with the giant sniper rifle gripped in its hands surprisingly move on its own, coming to life, and fire multiple rounds straight to the DRAGON's heart and chest, bursting a fountain of blood that spews onto Ange now drenched in its blood.
Seeing the DRAGON oozing blood and sluggishly walking back and away from her, about to fall backwards, Ange hurriedly grabbed her knife from the sand and swiftly dashed towards the Schooner and leapt with a furious yell as it landed onto the DRAGON's neck, stabbing her weapon through between its neck and chin. "Damn you! Die! Die! Die! Die! Go to hell!" Ange violently jabbed her knife at the same spot as many times as she wanted for the finishing blows, not caring that she was being stained with crimson that almost covered her just as she felt a hand gently grabbing hers and the knife over her head.
"It's dead now, alright." Tusk sadly spoke in concern for Ange harshly panting her anger from the now-dead DRAGON she murdered. To Tusk, he immediately sees Ange killing the DRAGON as a brief memory of Rush beating up his first attempted rapist those years ago before killing her. Stepping aside, Tusk watched Ange sluggishly step out of the large corpse, her body trembling after dropping the knife off her hand that reached to her body with her other, crying and panting mixed emotions that worried Tusk. He can still remember what reminded him of seeing Ange's sadness and fear; the same, one-armed woman walking from the fire with her hand clutching her missing limb, her violet-purple eyes steeled in anger and defiance that lost her innocence.
As the morning sun soon rose over the mountains, after a quick wash to remove the blood off her, Ange and Tusk watched the DRAGON corpse washing away from the beach and into the unknown, vast sea. "He was trying to save his friend because he was lonely…just like you, isn't it?" Tusk sadly wondered, looking behind to see the fire still brewing in the forest before Ange staring at where was last of the DRAGON in sadness. Maybe he can cheer her up from her sadistic but bold victory.
"We can't stay here… want to come with me? I mean you're a little scary, but also very pretty… no beautiful. I did kind of see you naked and accidentally did things to you, in a way…" Realising that his offer went off track when he spoke the truth of his feelings, feeling his face blush with a smile, Tusk received not a response but both heard Vilkiss's radio starting up on its own and a girl's voice happily buzzed from the intercom.
"Hey, Ange, come in! You're not dead, are you? If you are, then at least tell me okay!"
"It's working." Tusk mused in astonishment and relief, watching Ange running back to Vilkiss with a smile. "Ange, responding. I'm alive and in need of a rescue."
"Get out! Ange! You're not a ghost, are you!?" The voice gasped in surprise and amazement, making Tusk smile at seeing Ange cheering herself up. "Sure, you got it!" The voice laughed her final words before Ange ended the call, returning to his side.
"I guess this is goodbye." Ange sadly smiled at Tusk's surprise but immediately understood when she continued. "I have to go back to the only place I have to return. With some unfinished business in mind." 'Yeah…and the same will go for me.' Tusk mentally agreed, thinking of the one place that still wanted him all these years. Suddenly, he felt a hand grabbing his shirt and slightly pulling him closer to Ange who instantly frowns with her cheeks blushing in anger. "And look, nothing happened between us, got it? You didn't see, touch, and suck anything, you understand!? Forget everything, got it!"
"Y-Y-Yes, ma'am!" Tusk timidly understood, afraid of receiving another punishment from Ange but she slowly removed her hand from his shirt with a chuckle from her smile, losing her anger.
"Thank you, Tusk. If not for you, I would be dead. Promise not to forget me?" Ange's offer quickly delighted Tusk who nodded his happiness and waved her goodbye when he ran to the other side of the beach, heading back to his cave that he knew luckily survived the fire. "Sure, Ange. I'll see you later!"
'Rush…I hope you don't mind me now moving in the Haven!' Tusk decided, feeling the heavy feelings of guilt, sorrow, depression, and cowardice immediately fade from his heart now going lighter and replaced with the positive adrenaline of anything he can make the impossible possible…and he has Ange to thank.
Once he hides and watches Arzenal's rescue plane take off with Ange and Vilkiss away without spotting him, wearing a bulletproof vest over his shirt and standing at the edge of the cliff over the waves and holding seven rifles sticking up from the ground with a helmet each held over its butts and laying with yellow flowers at the base, the graves of his last teammates that were with him before their passings. With multiple bags in hand and shoulders, Tusk walked away through the forest towards the shed closer to his cave, inside being boxes he emptied for his move and a dust-shrouded tarp hiding his father's Glider he will now use after removing the sheet off it.
First glancing at the picture of him and his parents when he was five on its console, being the last thing he had of them before their deaths, Tusk put on his goggles and mounted them on his Glider he then operated, rising off the ground and speedily flew off the forest and waves heading to the one place he now decided to be, leaving what was once his home for 12 years.
"…bzzzt….ome in…come in…" The Haven's watch tower operators, both being post-Libertus, pure Ancient Human men, heard one of their radios and scanners suddenly switching up on its own for a voice to buzz through its intercom, surprising them in confusion shifting for suspicion when one checked the frequency from the call to be heading closer to their base from outside but said nothing when they hear the voice going clearer. "…Come in…this is Tusk…over. This is Tusk, over!"
"Tusk!?" One of the men gasped, recognizing the name of Istvan's boy but his and his friend's shock shifted into happiness and relief when the other reached his walkie-talkie for the Haven's gate-keeping security. "Quick, get Tusk in and call Commander Rush! Our boy's come home!" Just as he finished with the call, the operating room's door behind the two men immediately burst open and loudly slammed to the other wall from outside.
"What the hell!?" Both men screamed their horror, their spines shivered skyrocketing at the unexpected intrusion that broke the door, only to find out and immediately hug themselves with terrified screams that the person who surprisingly kicked his foot out looked at them with such a terrifying expression, making him more intimidating than normal…
'…Okay…not expecting this to happen.' Tusk mentally gasped his bewilderment in his smile. Right when he arrived at the Haven harbours, he was greeted by some of the Haven-Human citizens who were told about him by his surviving people, surprisingly positive when he received kind pats on the back and handshakes just when Tusk was shocked to see someone riding a giant rhinoceros who helped give him a terrifyingly fast ride that almost makes Tusk scream his fear of falling off the animal to his death when they took him to the Haven Resort. So Rush wasn't kidding that the Haven communicated and kept every kind of animal as their companions for two years, something he was told to NEVER call them pet and not get mauled alive by them. But seeing the growing Ancient Humans of the Preservation clan, Norma, and their kind Mana-humans family and friends co-existing together, Tusk smiled his happiness that the idea of humans and Norma being together is and always will be a reality to the Haven.
Although, Tusk noticed when he arrived at the Haven's swimming pools and lakes taking him to the rainforests and mountains, he couldn't find his best friends Kiyoshi, Siren, Raven, Robin, and Trigger anyway. "Did something happen to them?" Tusk wondered aloud.
"Tusk!" Tusk heard his name being called and looked up to see an unfamiliar group of people walking towards him, initially shocked at seeing the giant young man with the long, blue ponytail in the group before the brunette woman, Tusk recognized her as Cynical greeted with a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to finally see you again."
"H-Hey, Cynical, Miss Hyacinth, Red Death. Good to see you again." Tusk nodded with happiness, trying not to look down and shudder at seeing Miss Hyacinth's slightly opened robes baring a glimpse of her chest, doing it for Ange, and her terrifying chainsaw.
"So you're the Tusk guy everyone told me and Moon about, huh?" The spiky, green-haired boy Tusk knows he never knew him and his, surprisingly, snake-taming friend noted with a faintly confident grin. "I'm Ammo, and this is Moon and his two snakes, Ular and Hebi. Rush and the Haven rescued us from Misurugi two years ago and we heard a lot about you from Rush."
"O-Oh, yeah. Nice to meet you guys, too." Tusk nervously replied with a smile, being brave for Moon also looking shy when they shook hands although Tusk almost squealed from receiving a shake from the phyton called Ular's tail. "Moon, right? Sorry for suddenly asking you this; but are you a Destruction-clan Ancient Human? Rush told me sometime two years ago when he visited me."
"A-Ah! Um…yes, I guess so." Moon gasped and blushed his embarrassment. "I-I didn't know anything about my parents other than Ular told me a gist of their deaths when I was a baby seventeen years ago. From being rescued and told them about my history; they instantly recognized me as the last of the Destruction-clan Ancient Humans who DIDN'T get killed in Libertus thirteen years ago."
"You're the same age as me?" Tusk softly asked in sadness, but hurriedly smiled his reassurance. At least Moon's a nice Destruction Ancient Human than Rush's kill. "Don't worry. At least that we're both the only Destruction-clan members alive. And we'll help Rush and the Haven do everything we can for our upcoming battles together. I hope we can be friends." Moon softly gasped his surprise at the proposition but the idea of being friends slowly made him happy to smile, making Tusk and Rush's team happier for him…
"WHERE IS HE!?" Everyone froze and heavily jolted their fear of the sudden enraged scream filling the air coming from outside the Haven Resort's lobby to show, what horrified Tusk to scream and flail his arms in fear, Rush running out of the automatic doors alongside a cheetah with the former's only eye glaring at him in rage fitting for a human murderer. "Sic' 'im, girl!" Rush commanded his cheetah who swiftly sprinted away and headed towards Tusk with an angry growl.
"Aa-aaaahhhh! R-Rush, wait! Don't kill me!" Afraid of being killed by a cheetah, even if it's by his best friend, Tusk ran away from Rush's team with everyone including the other citizens and animals watching their disbelief of Rush's cheetah chasing Tusk trying to get away from the fast animal, even when he almost falls over the crocodile and alligator-filled lake. "Woah, not here!" As he managed to get away and ducked under the cheetah bounding over him to land on one of the bridges, he wasn't expecting Rush to swiftly jump and grab him into his arms before both were flown off the ground and crashed into the massive pool.
"Rush/ Commander Rush! Tusk!" Everyone shouted in horror at witnessing both their leader and friends dive into the pool with Sheetah hurriedly, almost getting in when a drenched Rush swam up with his arms holding onto a violently squirming Tusk losing control in fear for his life. "Ahhhh! Rush, please don't kill me! Whatever I did, I'm so sorry!" Tusk cried.
"About time you fucking got in!" Rush laughed his amusement, climbing and walking out of the pool with a few of the citizens holding onto them if they accidentally fell back in the pool before Rush slowly put Tusk down but all watched the terrified, soaked boy furiously start swiping his arms and moves as if he is fighting an invisible opponent with his eyes closed from the water until he manages to stop himself, blushing his surprise and embarrassment of seeing every human and animal's dumbfounded reaction. "After all these years, NOW you want to stay with us in the Haven?" Rush chuckled once Tusk got the fear of his almost death by Rush out of his system.
"A-ah, yeah, yeah!" Tusk sheepishly collected himself with a small smile. "I had…some setbacks, but after what recently happened to me and my island; I decided that I don't want to run away and be a coward any longer. I want to help fight and protect every Norma with the Haven, Rush." Everyone mused their curiosity for Tusk's setback but Rush smiled his slightly cruel pleasure for his proposition, stroking his fingerless, gloved hand on the back of his cheetah's head.
"Great! I knew that there was something that could help me to get you to stay with us! Why don't you tell me more of your reason when we have the time?" Tusk smiled his appreciation for Rush's patience in letting him rest unless something intrigues or irritates him further to press further, seeing Rush never changed when they were younger, but he was surprised by Rush's next words with his grin growing wider in a maniacally happy amazement, like something dangerous than him caught his mania.
"Because I got some fucking fun I can do with my target, and you're more than welcome to give everyone and everything in this world hell!"
Tusk's surprise and curiosity at Rush's proclamation, guessing who he was talking about to scowl his concern for his best friend, grew from noticing every human including Rush's team looking at their leader in mixed worry and apprehension for his new elation with some sneering their anger for thinking about the target. But to Tusk, he noticed that Rush is surprisingly, and sincerely, more motivated than when he remembers which further shocks him.
What did HE do that excites Rush more than before all this happened?