Xenoblade Rush

by lolrus555

Chai was admittedly expecting a lot when he signed up for Project Armstrong, but he'd also readily admit that getting 'musical robot powers,' having the entire tech company trying to KILL HIM as a result, and ending up bonded to a girl that could command flames were NOT among those initial expectations. Needless to say, both Chai and the Aegis have a long road ahead of them...

4. Track 2: Power up (part 1 of?)

Uhhh… hey there. So GOD. Where to even start?

Several months back, this AN was initially going to feature a freaking page-long eulogy I wrote up while still reeling from Tango's abrupt closure when the sky legit felt like the limit for them and the Hi-Fi Rush IP. THEN, in a surprise turn, when I had more or less come to terms with Tango's sudden end, I'm left blindsided when I hear the freaking PUBG guys acquired Tango, the Hi-Fi Rush IP, and got as many of the original staff as they could back on-board. With how frequently we've all been burned by corporations and the like in recent years, ESPECIALLY in regards to the games industry, it's hard not to instinctively wait for the other shoe to drop about this miraculous turn of events, especially after the Callisto Protocol and how I've vaguely heard iffy stuff about Krafton, but MAN. After months of reeling from the idea that we'd never see Chai on another fun adventure after his amazing first showing… it feels GOOD to have hope for the future again… :) (Also, if Krafton owns the rights to the Callisto Protocol IP, they should 100% get Tango and all the devs that worked on The Evil Within 1 and 2 to take a crack at a follow-up of some kind. That'd be great.)

Anyway, full disclosure is that there isn't much in the way of action or eventful stuff going on this chapter. It's mostly just down-time covering developments and interactions in the Hideout… which makes the overall page count of this chapter and the several fucking months it took to get out even more of a gut punch in my book ._.

XENOBLADE RUSH

Track 3: Power Up, (Part 1 of 2)

"RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRU-!"

BOOOOM!

"RU- AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

www . /watch?v=CPGcpIXeA-4 _channel=SoundEffectsFactory

youtu . be/QRTNm6GLJYI?si=32mg9NWNdAXBOgHg

"Yup, that's me; Chai. Looking especially good and inspiring with my new pal Pyra as we nonchalantly walk away from an explosion, like cool people do. Noooow, an outsider looking in at this image might have some questions about what me and my new fire-launching buddy are doing here, and how we ended up in this situation. Wellll, that's all pretty standard. Sooooo…! "

"I got a state-of-the-art robotic arm and then had one of those 'old music players falling into my Power Unit so everything I do is synced up to the beat' type of thing happened so now everyone thinks I'm a defect so I might as well fight back!... To the music~."

Upon finishing his excitable rambling that… more or less qualified as an explanation and recap of events, both Pyra and Peppermint (With 808 resting on her owner/creator's lap) could only look at the energetic brunet while initially unsure what to say, Pyra's neutral and slightly befuddled expression complimented by a few beads of sweat running down her face as she adjusted her seat in the swivel chair Peppermint brought out for her in storage. By comparison, Peppermint's expression was considerably more deadpan and unamused, leaning back into her own chair while taking in Chai's excited, expectant expression before finally deciding on what to say. "...So you're saying you have 'musical robot powers?'"

"Ch'yeah!"

(Hi-Fi Rush OST: The Hideout)

www . youtube watch?v=-UMvh5olyXE _channel=CaseTech279

"...That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The tan-skinned hacker groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to stave off an increasingly familiar sense of exasperation she felt in response to Chai's dumb remarks so far.

"Hey, you can say it's all as dumb as you think it is, you're entitled to your opinion and all, but you've seen enough firsthand to know I'm not exactly talking out my ass here." Was Chai's immediate retort, tone defensive upon hearing Peppermint's immediate dismissal of his awesome, rhythm-based powers. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one here with powers, or did you forget about Ms. Firestarter next to you?"

"...I feel like you're referencing something I'm not aware of when you call me that." Was all the redhead could think to say upon being suddenly brought into the conversation like this.

"Another band or song if I had to take a wild guess. Anyway, I mean at face-value? Yeah, kind of. Making the entire world move to the beat of the music player in your chest is a bit more… out of left field than pyrokinesis in my book. I also at least have something resembling an explanation on what Pyra's whole deal is. I didn't exactly get anything about Armstrong applicants getting superpowers like yours in the data my contact leaked to me." As Peppermint spoke, she turned in her seat to address Pyra properly, who, as one would expect, perked up considerably at the hacker's claims of having an explanation for her presence here. "Speaking of which…"

"Yes, could you please provide some more clarity on that, Peppermint? I… think I've got an idea of what's going on here, but it's all a lot to take in, and some confirmation would be greatly appreciated." At Pyra's request and expectant expression, Peppermint merely gave a nod before turning in her seat towards her computer screen and bringing up the data leaked to her regarding 'Project Driver.' While most of the data consisted of a bunch of science babble Chai couldn't make sense of, what particularly caught his eye along with Pyra's were the various images of multiple, bizarre-looking humanoids of varying shapes and sizes. At a passing glance and to an outside observer, one could be forgiven for assuming these odd-looking figures were simply designs for more life-like robots Vandelay -or other robotics manufacturers like the Negabot Corporation for instance - had planned down the line, though a quick glance Pyra's way and a good look at the wide-eyed expression of recognition on her face confirmed to Chai that likely wasn't the case.

"So, like I told you and Chai earlier back when we met, my whole… operation here has been all about being smart and using sabotage to bring Vandelay down, and helping with this is the fact that I've got a contact on the inside working in the company leaking me info." Peppermint continued to explain, all while both Chai and Pyra continued to take in the images of the bizarre, robot-looking creatures on the monitor. Of note, Pyra's gaze at the moment was focused on the one that looked to be in the shape of a lion, or an animal of similar shape and size. "Not gonna lie, the first time I was reading through all this, I had some trouble believing it, even with all the details right here. I really only came to Vandelay Island and set up shop down here because I was looking to get more info about the other project that was leaked to me in all this data. Still, seeing you and your powers in action firsthand got rid of any doubts I had; I don't know how they actually managed to pull something like this off, but as crazy as it sounds, Vandelay's R department somehow managed to pull you and a whole bunch of your kind, along with those 'Ether' particles that power you from your world into ours."

"I thought so… If nothing else, it's nice to finally know beyond a doubt the circumstances that brought me here. I had my suspicions that this was the case, but ultimately couldn't tell if I really did come from another world or if I'd simply been sleeping for so long that Alrest was just completely… unrecognizable from how I last saw it. Although… Now all this makes me wonder just why these people went through all the effort of doing this." Pyra mused, wondering why exactly she and a bunch of other Blades were brought to this strange world now that she got confirmation of what exactly happened that landed them here.

"Would've thought that part was obvious with the whole recent crash-course you and Chai both had about what kind of company this is; they're looking to exploit and profit off you… well, that's at least their plan now that you're here and they know what your kind can do. As for what spurred them into doing a ton of quantum physics-based experiments that pulled you here via a wormhole all of a sudden, best answer I can give you right now is that Vandelay's head of R is an insane weirdo that runs whatever sort of tests and experiments he thinks is cool at the moment." The tan-skinned hacker explained, giving a nonchalant shrug as she did so. She also took notice of the word 'Alrest' Pyra used to refer to what was most certainly her world of origin, and decided to make a mental note of it for later.

" That's the ultimate motivation behind me ending up in this world…!?" Pyra asked, her face blanching a bit at the prospect. So it was entirely possible that the only reason Pyra woke up to all this insanity was due to a mere happenstance? Because some random person she didn't even know had an ill-thought out idea they wanted to try? Well… that certainly fits when considering everything else she'd experienced upon waking up here, she supposed. Same with the idea that these Vandelay people had every intention to exploit and profit off her power and the miraculous abilities Blades were capable of.

Pyra certainly had more that she wanted to discuss with Peppermint regarding this topic, but before she could get another word in, she was cut off by Chai, who like her, was having some difficulties processing all the information presented so far… albeit for considerably different reasons. "W-Wait wait wait! Hold the phone for a sec. I kinda already gathered that whatever your deal is, you weren't exactly local to these parts, but… 'you were pulled in from another world…!?'" The brunet repeated incredulously, his wide-eyed expression matching his tone as his gaze shifted between Pyra, Peppermint, and the data the latter displayed on the monitor before settling on the now-befuddled redhead. It then took only a second before Chai then blurted out the first theory that came to mind in wake of all this info. " Are you like an alien or something!?"

Oh dear God, was that gem in his chest gonna be like a freaking chest-burster from Alien!?

"I… I uh…" As one would expect, Pyra initially found herself at a loss for words in response to Chai's exclamation, or how to respond to his assertion that she qualified as an alien from beyond the stars. (Would she be considered as such? Technically, none of that claim was wrong, per say, and Pyra wasn't a human after all, but… on second thought, Pyra opted to abandon this train of thought when she felt another headache coming on.) "...Don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that."

Thankfully, the redheaded Aegis didn't need to muster up any more of an answer or response as Peppermint beat her to the punch, her expression a blatant combination of annoyance and exasperation. "Okay, were you even listening earlier when I mentioned how Pyra ending up here was because of Vandelay's R department performing experiments based in quantum physics and pulling in objects from other dimensions… or when I was talking about it just now, for that matter?"

"Um...Not really, no." Chai admitted after a moment's pause, his energy from not even a minute ago completely forgotten. "I also don't even know what half that stuff means beyond it being vague, Sci-Fi jargon." He followed up bluntly.

"Oh my God, look, she's not an alien and Vandelay didn't find her in some wrecked UFO." Peppermint groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as she began another explanation that hopefully even Chai would understand. "It's more like… the company pulled her and the rest of her kind in from another dimension through wormholes. Does that clear things up or do I need to give you a run-down on what another dimension and wormholes are supposed to be, too?"

"I mean, you could've just opened with that and kept things simple for everyone, but yeah, sure." Chai felt the need to point that out, which only caused Peppermint to give a roll of her eyes. The brunet's expression soon changed to one of curiosity though as he then turned towards Pyra, who blinked upon noticing the sudden focus on her. "Pretty crazy either way though, even after everything else that happened today. Well, that definitely provides a quick and easy explanation for all your crazy fire powers." As Chai mulled over the fact that his new, fire-using redhead pal was from another world, his expression suddenly lit up as a far more important question occurred to him. "Oh! Hey! Now I gotta know; what kinda music does your world have, and as the world-hopping traveler here, what are you thinkin' of our worlds' tunes so far by comparison?"

"...Somehow I'm not surprised that's the first question you think to ask someone that's from a completely different world." Peppermint noted dryly while Pyra blinked in surprise at the question, unsure how to answer. Well, at least the brunet had been consistent in the hour or so that she'd known him. "Anyway, there's definitely some stuff I wanna ask Pyra about her world too, but there's still a few more important things we gotta go over, so let's save any questions like that for later."

"Right! So, 808 said that YOU said you were gonna help me get outta here." Chai noted, remembering the main reason he and Pyra opted to accept the hacker's help in the first place.

"I am. Riiiiiight after YOU help ME look into SPECTRA, and this whole project Vandelay has planned with these Blades while we're at it."

"SPECTRA…?" Pyra repeated, the confused expression on her face upon hearing that name mirroring Chai's.

"I don't even know what that first thing is." The brunet was quick to admit, expression once again deadpan as he said this.

"Wouldn't expect you to. This is 'whistleblower' level." Peppermint elaborated, feeling no need to include Pyra in that as she spoke. With what was just established about her origins, the hacker would be more surprised if she did know anything about Kale's pet project.

"I'm sorry, I… don't know what that means." The Aegis couldn't help but interject again. Hearing all these different slangs and terminologies native to this world and having no idea what any of them meant was certainly becoming an annoying issue.

"Yeaaah, that sounds bad, but to be clear, it means…?"

"*Sigh…* really confidential and shady information the company does NOT want getting out." Peppermint elaborated after another exasperated sigh, rubbing her forehead as she said this. "I don't have all the details yet, but I know for a fact that whatever Vandelay's planning with this can't be anything good. Same with whatever they're planning to do now that they've brought you and a bunch of your kind over into our world. Right now, I'm working with a team to expose them. We're small, but-"

"'Small' meaning… just you and your cat? Dude, I'm bigger than this!" Chai quickly cut off before Peppermint could elaborate further, making no effort to hide his utter disinterest in the hacker's agenda against Vandelay.

"...Chai, is having a blatant ego and acting dismissive like that really necessary? There's no need to mouth off to one of the few people here so far that hasn't tried to kill us." Predictably, Chai's flippant and dismissive response impressed neither Peppermint nor Pyra, the latter of whom was quick to admonish and try to curb her Driver's attitude. Again, the brunet wasn't exactly wrong when making that boast , per say -he was now the Driver of the Aegis with all of the cataclysmic power that came with that title- but that was neither here nor there in this case and topped off by her Driver blatantly acting arrogant for the sake of it. This wasn't even going into his blatant disinterest in using her sword or getting more details regarding how their connection as Driver and Blade worked.

"Yeah, it's especially rich coming from 'rockstar' here, too." Peppermint added, the wry grin that crept onto her face a stark contrast to Pyra's deadpanned, unamused expression. "Do you even know how to play guitar?"

And like that, the winds were subsequently knocked out of Chai's sails at Peppermint's uncomfortable question. "I-I…! I uh… Well…" Was all the brunet could manage, his previously dismissive and arrogant demeanor having completely left him.

"Figures. All talk." The tan-skinned girl scoffed, wry look still plastered onto her face.

"Uh… Ugh…" Despite the annoyance Chai felt at Peppermint's teasing and provocations, he was begrudgingly aware that saying anything else to the two of them at this point would just end with him putting his foot in his mouth, so he opted to keep silent for once.

"Chai, I think with how sprawling this place looks to be, along with how the people in charge here seem to have eyes everywhere and are dead-set on finding us, we should really try and avoid any further blind running around this… campus if we can help it." Pyra argued, in no rush to do any further wandering around with no plan with how messy it had been so far.

"Yeah, you've both probably seen enough of it firsthand to know, but this entire campus is a maze of hallways, lifts, and dead ends all filled with security. Doesn't matter how much firepower either of you have, with the company actively gunning for you both, I don't see either of you getting out of here, much less off this island, without my help. All that said, you both help me with my own mission here, then I promise I'll arrange a route off this island for you both." Peppermint followed the Aegis's words up with a summation of the offer she had for the duo, hoping her sum-up managed to get through Chai's stubborn skull.

"Alright, I'll gladly help you, Peppermint. I definitely can't just walk away from whatever these people are planning to do with Core Crystals…" Pyra agreed to the offer quickly, all around seeing no reason to refuse before turning expectantly towards Chai, hoping Peppermint's words just now better swayed him. Unfortunately, the brunet's posture and expression currently wasn't one of someone reconsidering what they just said.

"Wellll, you can do that, but I think I'm good. So far, I'd say I've done pretty… uhh… hm." Chai began confidently, only to peter off as he recalled his and Pyra's… explosive and not-so-graceful escape from Production, as well as several other painful stumbles he'd been dealt with on their way to this place.

" Horribly? Who even knows how things would've gone against that inspection robot if Pyra didn't have your back." The tan-skinned girl pointed out bluntly, and the Aegis in question could only nod her head in agreement at her words. "Look, if you help me, I'll make sure you get off Vandelay Island."

Thankfully, it seemed like Peppermint's words finally managed to get through to the slacking brunet, who finally conceded, albeit begrudgingly. "Fine. whatever, I guess. Coulda' taken that thing on my own though. That is a hill I will die on… losing my guitar at the end notwithstanding." Peppermint could only scoff at that while Pyra could only let out a soft sigh, both in relief at the fact that he ultimately accepted the hacker's help and in growing exasperation at his continued prideful behavior, another bead of sweat running down her face.

"Right, I'm sure you could've. Anyway, welcome aboard! Both of you." With that said, Peppermint's wry grin changed into a more welcoming smile as she leaned back into her seat. With introductions and agreements now settled, both Chai and Pyra then began to take a better look at their apparent newfound base of operations.

"So THIS is your Hideout? You really are a small operation. Well, won't deny it's a pretty fancy setup for an uh… abandoned room in some old maintenance tunnels." For his part, Chai didn't sound very impressed as he took the Hideout in… even though he didn't even have a place to call his own unless one counted his old college dorm or his family home. As he said this, Pyra continued with her own appraisal of the Hideout with a curious look on her face.

"Well, now we're plus two. You can rest on that sofa." Peppermint offered before addressing Pyra. "And on that note, I actually think there's a reclining arm chair back in storage if you wanna bring that out." The hacker offered. The idea occurred to her with how the chair in question was a light red that would compliment the Aegis's hair color and clothes nicely.

"Really bringing out the five-star accommodations, huh?" Chai observed with a dry tone of voice.

"Honestly, with the lights on like this, I find it quite homely and comfy," Was Pyra's take on the look of the Hideout, smiling slightly as she enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere it gave off. However, the redhead jumped slightly when she noticed Peppermint's expectant gaze was still on her, apparently still waiting for a response regarding the chair offer. "O-Oh! And thank you, Peppermint, but I'm fine for now. I'll find somewhere else to make myself comfortable for the time being."

"Alright. Well, let me know whenever you want to bring it out." With that said, Peppermint turned in her seat and went back to reading through various files displayed on her computer screen while Pyra's attention was drawn to a mirror in the corner of the room.

Well, looks like we got a bit of down-time before we start doing anything. Guess I can finally get these two to clear up any questions I got, but man! Where to even start… and who to even start with, for that matter?' Chai mused, leaning back against the couch's armrest as he realized that he had no shortage of questions to ask either the hacker or redheaded Blade. After another moment of contemplation, Chai eventually decided that he might have an easier time getting any answers/further clarification from the person that was actually from his world, as well as appeared to know a decent amount about whatever Vandelay was doing here… even if a good chunk of it admittedly flew over his head.

"Sooo… '808,' huh?" Chai began as he walked forward and got Peppermint's attention, initially unsure of which subject exactly he wanted to talk about with the tan-skinned hacker till his gaze settled on the robotic feline in question, who was currently lounging on one of the pillows on the couch while also taking the time to lick at her crotch. "You made her yourself?"

"Yeah. Normally, you'd just make a spy drone, but I thought, hey, no one suspects a cat." Peppermint elaborated, the smile on her face both prideful and full of fondness as she watched 808 languidly leap off from her spot on the couch and once again settle herself on her master's lap, curling up comfortably.

"Actually, a robot cat here is even more suspicious than a drone." Chai couldn't help but point out dryly, recalling how Vandelay had several, drone-like robots amidst their line-up.

"Ugh… whatever…" Peppermint groaned, her expression slightly annoyed at hearing that little point-out before it soon turned notably downtrodden, gently running her hand down 808's back as she continued. "On the plus side, there's some companionship…"

"It does seem like it can get pretty lonely down here…" Chai observed, wincing as he gave the Hideout another look over and realized just how isolating it must be spending God knows how long hunkered down here, with your only consistent source of company being a robotic cat, one that spent most of the day elsewhere acting as reconnaissance, mind you.

"I'm used to it..." And at that vague, illusive statement, Chai couldn't stop the sarcasm that was creeping into his voice with what he said next.

" 'Loner hacker girl with a mysterious past looking to bring down the big megacorporation.' Not cliche at all." That dry statement merely got an eye roll from Peppermint before she shot back in an equally dry tone.

"Really rich coming from the 'music-loving, wannabe rockstar slacker who's finally getting his time to shine,' all with the literal power of rock," As Peppermint said this, she gestured with her head towards an oblivious Pyra, who was currently standing in front of the mirror at the opposite end of the room, taking in her appearance with a curious, appraising expression on her face. "And do I even need to go into the bigger cliche of you meeting and ending up connected to a mysterious, drop-dead gorgeous girl with powers literally out of this world?"

" 'Drop-dead gor...?" Chai trailed off with a raised brow, giving Peppermint a questioning look at her particular choice of words. "Okay, between THAT and how weird I've seen you act around Pyra a few times now, is there something you need to get off your chest... maybe to her specifically?" The brunet might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but even he could pick up when someone is acting funny because of something, or in this case someone.

"Okay, alright, that's enough of that!" Peppermint interrupted forcefully, an embarrassed flush coming over her wide-eyed face as she tried to keep her voice from becoming too loud. To her relief, it seemed like the voluptuous Blade still hadn't taken notice of their conversation, or at least hadn't heard the turn that the last part took. "Anything else you wanted to ask me!? Or just… any other topic for that matter…!?" She asked in an insistent tone, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"...Well, now that you mention it, I was noticing that it's kinda sparse around here," Chai kept his questioning gaze on the flustered Peppermint for another moment before opting to focus on the Hideout's decorations, or lack thereof in this case. "Not a big fan of decorating, I take it?"

"I like to focus on the basics. What we need." The hacker answered simply, regaining her composure. With how she set things up down here with the express intent of bringing down Kale and other Vandelay executives, cosmetics and decorations for her base of operations weren't very high on her priority list.

"Come on, you could have some posters here, a stereo there, a drum kit to go along with it… you could have a kickass pad here!" Chai, however, made it no secret that he had opposite thoughts on such a matter, already picturing several more decorations that would make this underground Hideaway the envy of any college-aged person that had a love for music.

"This is supposed to be a base of operations, not a hangout. Home decorating wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I set up shop down here." Peppermint pointed out irritably.

"Doesn't mean it can't be both!" Regardless of whether he was oblivious to or just ignored the annoyance in Peppermint's tone, Chai's continued persistence on the matter made the hacker realize it'd be easier to just go along with whatever he had in mind rather than trying to make him drop the matter.

"Tell you what then, I'll leave the feng shui up to you." The tan-skinned girl sighed, once again leaning back into her chair as she looked at Chai. "Anything else you wanted to ask me?"

At that prompting, Chai then opted to ask Peppermint why she specifically sought the both of them out when everything she said so far indicated a vested interest in the redheaded outworlder. "Yeah, so I get why you were interested in getting Pyra's attention and everything, but I'm actually kinda surprised you were asking for me too. Why?"

"You mean beyond the fact that 808 lost track of her for a bit and only found her when she met up with you? Well, she caught sight of you picking a fight with security and I won't pretend what you could pull off wasn't impressive." Peppermint elaborated, recognizing the utility of Chai's combat capabilities, especially now that she had context for how they worked. "Plus, with how you two are clearly connected in a few ways, you both kind of came off as a package deal." She continued, tapping where Chai's Power Core Unit would be beneath his shirt as she said this.

"'A connection,' huh? Guess that's a good word for it, especially with how I don't see myself getting that uh… 'Core Crystal' thingy or my MP3 out of my chest without sitting through another round of surgery." Not that he'd want his MP3 out of his chest, mind you. With the discoveries Chai made today, he could confidently say he was happy with where it was now. "So the bottom line is; you thought you could use me!"

"I-I mean uh…! I wouldn't really put it like that-"

"I would."

"Look, it's a bit complicated-"

"Hey, hey! I don't care. As long as you get me off this island, we're square." Whatever Peppermint was planning to say, Chai was quick to cut her off with an easy-going tone of voice. If the hacker really could arrange a safe way off the island for him, then he had no issues about playing along. Though as he said this, another question quickly popped into the brunet's head. "…Since you mentioned it though, you got any more details on all that 'Project Driver' stuff? The specifics kinda flew over my head."

"With what I've seen of you so far, that's not surprising…" Peppermint noted dryly, though in fairness, she wouldn't give Chai much flak in this case given the unreal and (literal) otherworldly nature of the subject in question. "Don't really have much more to tell you than what I already explained to you and Pyra. What else did you even wanna know?"

"Well, I mean uh… pffft… off the top of my head…" The slacker began in an uncertain tone, wracking his brain as he tried to settle on what he should first ask about. A task that was much easier said than done with how complex and daunting this whole matter came off as. After another moment's thought, however, Chai snapped his metallic fingers upon deciding on what he wanted to ask. "Oh! I know. How does all this 'connection' stuff even work to begin with? Earlier Pyra called me 'her Driver' and from the looks of things, she wasn't talking about me knowing how to drive a car, soooo… yeah, what does that all mean exactly?" Chai asked, the lingering question of what the redhead meant when she kept calling him her 'Driver' still gnawing at him.
"Well… According to the info I got, a Driver is a person that's able to resonate with a Core Crystal and awaken the Blade within it." Peppermint explained in the simplest way possible.
"Blade? You mean like Pyra's cool anime sword?" The brunet asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Hmmm… Well, yes and no." The tan-skinned hacker replied after a few seconds of pondering the question.
"Huh?" Chai titled his head in confusion, clearly not understanding what his new acquaintance meant. Fortunately, she planned to provide some clarification on the matter.
"See, 'Blade' is the name of Pyra's species. They're artificial lifeforms that manifest a physical form when a compatible person resonates with their Core Crystal. I get it, it's a little strange and confusing that an entire race is literally named after a type of weapon, more so given that, from what I gathered, not all of them use swords like Pyra apparently. But to be honest, as insensible as it might sound, it is kind of fitting considering that Blades, as their name would suggest, are basically living weapons." Peppermint further elaborated, making sure to not raise her voice at that last part as to not call Pyra's attention, not wanting to come off as rude or disrespectful towards her or her kind.
"W-wait wait. So Pyra is a… weapon?" Chai asked in surprise, briefly turning his gaze at Pyra, who was still checking herself up in the mirror, before looking back at the hacker. The brunet supposed that explained all the intense flames the redhead was capable of producing and the adeptness she displayed with that sword, but it was still a shocking thing to hear either way with Pyra's gentle and polite disposition in mind.
"Pretty much, yeah." Peppermint nodded. "Now do you see why Vandelay is so intent on getting their hands on her? Not only are Blades powerful beings by themselves, but they can also lend their strength to their Drivers, something Pyra's shown off plenty of times already." She further explained, all the info she received on this otherworldly species having been corroborated by her witnessing Pyra's prowess though 808 as well as the energy reading her robotic pet got on the fire Blade.
"Right right… That makes sense I guess. As messed up as it sounds, it's way better than the alternative." Chai nodded in understanding as he crossed his arms. The tech savvy girl opted to ignore that last part and would have carried on with her explanation were it not for Pyra approaching them.
"Excuse me, but were you both talking about Blades just now?" The redheaded asked with great interest, having overhead bits of the conversation.
"Yep. I was just telling Chai what I know about your kind." Peppermint nodded.
Pyra perked up at hearing this. "Oh! Well, if you guys have any questions, then you can ask me." She said with a pleasant smile, feeling like this was as good a time as any to inform her new friends on what they would want to know about her and her kind.
"Well… Peppermint just told me a bit about that whole 'Driver' thingy and it got me wondering… How does this whole 'resonance' stuff between Driver and Blade even happen? Feels kinda relevant for uh… obvious reasons." Chai asked his redheaded buddy, knocking on his chest for emphasis.
"Oh, that's quite simple actually. When a compatible person comes in contact with a Core Crystal, the resonance occurs, allowing the Blade within it to awaken and take form, thus the bond between Driver and Blade is established, becoming one in body and soul." She was quick to explain.
"That easy, huh?" Chai commented, before blinking as the last part of her explanation sunk in for me.. "Wait… 'One in body and soul'? What does that mean?" He asked, tiling his head in confusion. Peppermint also arched an eyebrow at this.
"Well, it's a way of saying that you and I are connected now. In a way, we're part of each other." Pyra elaborated. "Although… normally not this literally in your case." She added, pointing at his chest where the Core Crystal from her Blade weapon was.
"Really? So it's not normal for any other Driver guys to have a Core Crystal in them or something?" Chai asked as he put his hand on his Power Core Unit.
Pyra shook her head in denial. "As I said, someone compatible with a Core Crystal just needs to touch it to awaken the Blade within it. I've never seen something like this happen to other Drivers before." Perhaps something similar could happen if Pyra, for whatever reason, was in a situation where she had to transfer some of her Core to someone else if they were fatally wounded, but as things were now with her recently acquired Driver, she didn't see such a scenario happening any time soon, if at all.
"I can confirm. That's what the data I got says about the Blade Awakening process." Peppermint added. Nothing in that data seemed to indicate that Kale, Zanzo, or anyone on R had the idea to try mixing the Project Armstrong surgical procedure with awakening a Blade, at least so far…

"Huh…" It was all that Chai said until another question sprung in his mind. "And um… What exactly happens if someone incompatible tries to wake up a Blade?" He asked with some trepidation, having a feeling that he might not like the answer.
"Oh uh… W-well, you see… um…" Pyra stuttered as she tried to come up with a pleasant way to answer that question with the morbid subject matter it entailed…
"From the data I got, apparently if someone incompatible touches a Core Crystal, they get rejected by it, which leads to the person in question getting hit with a severe negative reaction. Namely profuse hemorrhaging." Peppermint said without any qualms. Pyra flinched at this.
"P-profuse hemorrhaging…?" Chai repeated in a creeped out tone, his face blanching at the unpleasant, bloody mental image that made itself at home in his head.

"Yep. Either nasal hemorrhage or even blood literally exploding out of the body." The hacker further clarified, her tone blunt. Pyra flinched again at this.
" Exploding?! You mean that could have happened to me?!" Chai exclaimed, a wide-eyed look of distress and horror on his face. So when that gem landed on his chest, there was basically a coinflip's chance that all it would've done was explode all the blood out of his body while unconscious during his surgery!? That… that was such a chilling and terrifying way to go out that it even trumped the brunet's arachnophobia.
"No, of course not! You clearly were compatible with my Core Crystal." Pyra was quick to assuage him, putting a comforting hand on his back.
"Thankfully." Peppermint added nonchalantly.
"You're being a little too blunt now, don't you think?" Pyra then shot an annoyed glare the female hacker's way, not appreciating how tactless she was being right now. Chai's similarly unamused expression indicated that he shared his Blade's sentiments.
Peppermint just shrugged her shoulders at this.
"Ahem! In any case, was there anything else you both wanted to ask me?" Pyra decided to change the topic to lighten up the mood.
"I got one. Can you tell us more about what exactly these 'Ether' particles are? I know that they're the source behind you and your kind's powers and abilities, and that they're harmless to other organic lifeforms, but that's about it." Peppermint asked, wanting to know about these mysterious alien particles that appeared right after Pyra and the other Core Crystals were pulled into this world. She would have liked to research more on these particles herself, but not only did she lack the time and proper equipment to do so, but particle physics and such other similar branches of science weren't exactly her forte. As such, this was a good opportunity to learn as much as she could from someone very well familiarized with Ether such as a Blade like Pyra.

The redheaded Blade nodded in understanding before replying. "Of course. While I'm afraid I don't know the exact science of Ether or what it truly is, I can at least give you both an idea of its role in the world I'm native to, Alrest." She began, briefly wondering what to cover regarding Ether with how she didn't know the technicalities behind its existence before settling on covering its most important roles in her homeworld. "To put it simply, Ether is a very important substance in my world, to the point that…it really wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it 'the building block of life…' Not only does every Blade use it to fuel their powers, but the same thing applies for the Titans. Pure liquid Ether flows through their bodies like blood. Ether, by its very nature, is an essential and ever-present part of the world I come from and all those that live in it."

"Uh -huh…" Chai nodded slowly as he took all this in. Peppermint, for her part, was quick to take in this information and commit it to memory. So from the sound of it and with how it was apparently the fuel for Blade powers, Ether was sounding like a pretty important and fundamental resource in this 'Alrest' world the redhead hailed from. In particular, Pyra's mention of something called 'Titans' and how they lived off these particles like blood piqued the young man's interest. "And when you say 'Titans,' I'm guessing you're talking about something really friggin' big, right? Probably plays an important role in your world too?"

"Considering nearly every living person in Alrest has to live their lives on their backs, it's certainly an accurate description." Pyra elaborated, which only furthered both Chai and Peppermint's interest. With each sentence that passed, the descriptions of this 'Alrest' only sounded more and more surreal. "As you might imagine from the name, Titans are colossal beasts with Ether running through their veins that spend their lives roaming the Cloud Sea of my world. They vary considerably in size depending on their age and form, with smaller ones being used as ships to navigate the Cloud Sea, while the largest ones act as landmasses that a majority of Alrest's civilizations make their homes on… leading back to what I said about Ether essentially acting as a 'building block of life' for my world. Without Ether, and without the Titans that survive off it, then as far as I'm aware, there wouldn't be any viable place for the people of my world to live on…"

Again, all these facts made the ramifications of her battle with Malos even more of an unbearable truth she had to live with than it already was…

"Sheesh, from the sound of it, does this crazy fantasy cloud world you come from have ANY actual land to walk on?" At that inquiry from Chai, Pyra merely shook her head in response before providing a verbal answer.

"Again, as far as I'm aware, no."

"Man, with the way you're describing it, sounds like getting around in a world like that is way more of a giant pain there than it is here." Chai couldn't help but take note, quickly getting the feeling that going from point A to point B in Pyra's world wasn't easy if you didn't have the money or connections. As much of a giant pain in the ass as it was for Chai having to hitch-hike all the way down here, at least that was an actual option available to the brunet. From what he was hearing from Pyra, it didn't seem like people in this 'Alrest' world had the luxury of being able to just rely on the kindness of strangers to hitch rides and get somewhere if need be, and that wasn't even going into what seemed like a lot of other day-to-day problems for this world. Certainly gave the phrase 'first world problems' a whole new meaning. "No offense, of course. Like, your world sounds cool as hell, like some place straight out of a JRPG, especially the part about people living on top of huge ass Titans that fly about though the clouds, it's just uh… from the way you're describing it, it also sounds like there's lots of problems that come with that." He was quick to add on, not wanting to not come off as rude or disrespectful of Pyra's homeworld, and he meant it.

Just from what they briefly gleaned so far, Alrest really did sound like an otherworldly, awe-inspiring place, and also like something out of a cool JRPG that he'd love to see and explore with his own eyes, but even he understood that a world like that would have a lot of issues for the common everyday people living in it, issues that this world wouldn't have by nature.

Pyra nodded in response. "Mm. Alrest is, at least from what I remember, quite a beautiful world. But it is an undeniable fact that living in such a world comes with many difficulties for day-to-day life. Difficulties that the people of this world, from what little I've seen so far, wouldn't have to deal with."
"Difficulties, I imagine, like the constantly looming threat of dwindling inhabitable space for the people to live on and resources they need to survive. Since these Titans are living beings, they would eventually die off, even if I'd imagine the ones people make whole nations on have pretty big lifespans, reducing the amount of space and resources that people need, which would naturally lead to conflicts amongst each other over the remaining Titans and their resources, right?" Peppermint assessed with the information she was provided with.
Pyra looked at her in surprise over how spot-on she was. "Y-Yes… that's right." She nodded, still taken aback over how accurate the tan-skinned hacker was with her assessment. "Such an event would eventually happen, and for all I know, it might already have…" She added, her demeanor turning slightly crestfallen as she thought about the fact that Titans can die, something that she knows for a fact, and she couldn't help but feel a certain familiar feeling of guilt and regret surfacing for a moment before forcing it back down. Thankfully, her new friends didn't seem to notice this.
" Yikes… seriously?" Chai asked as he looked at his redheaded buddy, who nodded in response. "Man… how'd you figure all that out, Peppermint?" He asked the tech-savvy girl as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Simple logic. All living beings die off eventually, no matter how long-living they are. And in a world where people live on the backs of Titans, it means that livable spaces and resources would be limited. And that means that, out of necessity, people would inevitably fight each other just to be able to live." Peppermint explained casually with a nonchalant shrug.
" Huh… Yeah, that makes sense, I guess." Replied the wannabe Rockstar as he crossed his arms. The unpleasant realities of living in a world like Alrest were already sinking in for Chai, and Peppermint's deduction just now only reinforced that view for him.

"And that's not all." The Aegis interjected. "On top of what I already mentioned, there's also the fact that both the Cloud Sea and Titan bodies have various monsters indigenous to them, many of them being very dangerous. Thankfully though, the nations' militaries are there to protect civilians from such threats, as well as independent mercenaries that hunt down monsters for the right price." Pyra continued to elaborate on her homeworld, eliciting a look of surprise from Peppermint in particular at her casual mention of monsters in her homeworld.
"Wait, wait. So let me get this straight… In your world, there are monsters, like actual monsters?" Peppermint asked in a somewhat incredulous tone. Was it difficult to believe that Pyra's homeworld, with all the fantasy elements it was established to have, would also be home to various species of monsters? No, not really. And yet, it was difficult for someone so grounded in factual science like her to believe the idea of monsters like those from fiction being actually real.
"Oh c'mon, Peppermint! We're talking about a fantasy JRPG type of world, of course there'd be monsters there!" Chai, on the other hand, accepted this particular tid-bit without a second thought, finding it par for the course, especially after what they'd heard about Alrest already.
"I'm not really surprised that you'd just take that at face value." The tan-skinned hacker deadpanned at him.
"Kinda surprised you didn't with the crash-course Pyra just gave us on those Titans and Blades just now. Monsters don't seem like that much of a stretch by comparison" Chai was quick to shoot back, a snippy tone in his voice.
"I suppose this confirms that there are no monsters in this world. Unless you count the robots roaming around on this island, that is." The fire Blade quickly opted to interject before things could potentially escalate, though it helped that it was also an actual observation she was curious about. She already suspected as much, but it'd be nice to get some proper confirmation.

"No, not really." Peppermint shook her head in denial.
"Yeah, nothing but the mundane sort of animal life in this world. Though I gotta say, having a bunch of badass warriors or hunters, or whatever you'd wanna call them, decked out with all sorts of cool Driver and Blade powers fighting monsters sounds like it'd be pretty sick." Chai couldn't help but point out, an excited grin on his face at the thought of such a thing. With the taste he'd acquired for combat today combined with all the fantastical elements he'd learned about Pyra's world so far, he personally found the mental image of people with Driver and Blade powers getting to make a career out of fighting monsters straight out of fiction, with all of the backdrop of otherworldly, fantastical settings that comes it, quite appealing! However, the slacker flinched when noticing that his female companions were giving him a deadpan, unamused glare, even Pyra surprisingly. "What? It'd make for a more cool and fun career than what's normally available these days!" He exclaimed defensively.
"I mean… perhaps there are many other people here that would share that sentiment, but I can guarantee you that most people from my own world would gladly be rid of monsters with the constant, varying problems they pose. " The redheaded Blade explained clearly, hoping to get this point across to Chai. " Especially those that can't become Drivers."
"Same here. Maybe try looking at something like this practically than from the POV of a twelve-year-old." Peppermint was quick to agree with her, keeping her deadpan stare trained on Chai.
"Okay, alright. I got the picture. Pros outweigh the cons. Sheesh…" The brunet muttered out in annoyance.
"In any case, as you see now, my homeworld is one filled with strife and danger. It's not an easy existence for many people in my world -and it certainly has no shortage of looming issues either- but... the people living there persevere nonetheless, not just surviving, but thriving in spite of such a world." Pyra continued, getting back on topic. "To be honest, I always found it amazing how humans in Alrest are able to do that even in a world such as ours." She added with a smile.
"Well, if humans over there are anything like the ones here, then it's not really surprising. If there's one thing humans have always been good at, it's adapting to their environment. That's what makes us as a species so resilient even in the harshest of conditions." Said Peppermint with a smile of her own.
"Mm." Pyra nodded in response. She always admired how humans were capable of enduring even the worst of calamities and moving forward from that. That fact gave her the comfort that even after the horrors and tragedies from the Aegis War, the people would be able to pick themselves back up and thrive once again, now more than ever with her being gone from Alrest…
"Say, Pyra. I have a question. How advanced is the technology in Alrest? I've been curious about that for a while now, especially with your reactions to all the technology and robotics on this island so far in mind." Asked the tan-skinned hacker, being very interested in knowing what sort of technology exists in the fire Blade's world and how it compares to Earthly tech.
"Oh yeah! I remember her saying something like that earlier." Chai commented, being reminded of that short chat he had with his Blade companion a while back while on the rooftops while observing all the active machinery around them. The music-lover wouldn't deny he was curious about this as well and also wanted to know more, even if the topic wasn't exactly his forte.
"Well, I'm not exactly an expert on the matter, and frankly, I really doubt that any sort of science or technology on Alrest could compare to what's available on your world with everything I've seen so far, but that doesn't mean we're without advancements of our own. Like I said before, all of Alrest's nations opt to take smaller-sized Titans and modify them to act as ships to cross the Cloud Sea, most Drivers and their Blades can end up helping people in a variety of ways with their abilities, and going off from that, my world's inhabitants also learned how refine and compress Ether into chips, we call them Core Chips, which can be attached to Blade weapons to increase their strength and other attributes. Not to mention that we used Ether as a source of energy for pretty much everything, that's another reason why Ether is so important in my world." The redheaded Blade explained as best as she could.
"Hmm, interesting info. That's for sure..." Peppermint replied in a thoughtful tone, finding that particular bit of information interesting. She made a mental note of writing all of this new information down later. Right now, she had a few more questions on this particular topic. "Tell me, since Ether is basically the lifeblood of Titans, does over extraction and overuse of it have some sort of negative impact on the environment?" She asked, quickly seeing some parallels between Ether and oil and already guessing that extracting it isn't doing any favors to the Titans people on Alrest live on.

"Yes, it does." The Aegis nodded in response. "Overharvesting Ether can be harmful for the Titans and it can lead to their ecosystem being negatively impacted, such as, for example, the local flora withering and dying." She explained, the image of the arid wastelands on Mor Ardain coming to mind when she gave that example.

"Right. I figured as much." The tech-savvy girl wasn't surprised at having her suspicions confirmed. "I'm also guessing that overharvesting also has a negative impact on a Titan's lifespan, right?"
"...Yes, that's right." Pyra said with a tinge of sadness in her voice, the image of the Ardainian Titan coming to mind again with how clearly the overindustralazation of the Empire was taking a toll on it. It was already getting bad back during the days of the Aegis War, the redheaded Blade couldn't imagine how much worse it might have gotten now. All things considered, it probably doesn't have a lot of time left… "Is there anything else?" She asked, wanting to move on to another topic.
"Yes. You mentioned that smaller-sized Titans are used as vehicles to go around between the bigger Titans, but is that all that they're used for?" Peppermint asked, rapt curiosity clear on her face.
"Well… several nations have decided to turn smaller Titans into weapons for warfare." The fire Blade replied with some discomfort in her demeanor and tone, something her new friends took notice of, but opted to not comment on. Knowing what they do about the redhead, it was more than obvious that she doesn't like needless violence and destruction, so talking about warfare and such would naturally make her uncomfortable.
"Right, cause you can't have a proper military with just soldiers, you also need the proper weaponry, means of transportation, and equipment for it to be effective. And considering the circumstances of your world, it's not surprising that different armies would opt to repurpose smaller Titans as weapons." Said the tech-savvy girl in response, already having suspected that at least some of Alrest's nations would be using smaller Titans as weaponry for their armies, most likely these being their version of tanks and other similar combat vehicles.
The Aegis nodded in response. Chai, for his part, only stood there silently while rubbing the back of his head, unsure of what to say or add onto the conversation, at least until a question came to mind.
"Say, with this Titan stuff and all being the topic at-hand, I'm kinda wondering… How big exactly are these things, anyway? The uh, huge ones most people live on, I mean." The music-loving slacker asked.
"That's… actually a good question, Chai." Peppermint commented, sounding rather surprised that the wannabe Rockstar would ask such a good question.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Was the brunet's immediate response, a pleased, easy-going tone in his voice.
The tan-skinned hacker rolled her eyes at that before turning back to Pyra. "You said they were big enough for whole nations to be built in, but that doesn't really say much about their sizes, cause here in our world nations vary from one another in terms of scale. Some are absolutely gigantic and others are very small. So, saying that the biggest Titans are nation-size doesn't really give us much in terms of a sense of scale here." She told the redheaded Blade.
"Y-yeah, what she said." Chai said in agreement with her. In all honesty, he hadn't really been thinking too deeply about details like this when he asked this question, but he wasn't about to say that out loud.
"Really? Is that so?" Pyra asked back, surprised to hear about that fact about this world's nations in contrast to Alrest's, which are relative to each other in terms of size. Peppermint nodded in affirmation. "Wow, that's very interesting." The fire Blade said, intrigue clear in her tone. "Back in Alrest, all of the Great Titans are more or less about the same size. But, I wouldn't be able to tell you their exact measurements." The Aegis never had the need to learn such a thing, thus why she doesn't know.
"Hmmm…" The tan-skinned hacker cupped her chin thoughtfully, until something came to her mind. "I have an idea." She declared as she turned around in her seat back at her computer.
The Driver and Blade duo looked on with curiosity as the tech-savvy girl quickly typed on her keyboard. After a few seconds, the screen displayed a full picture of a world map, which greatly intrigued the redhead and confused the brunet. Fortunately for the latter, their tan-skinned acquaintance was quick to provide an explanation.
"This is a complete map of our world, Earth. You can use this to give us a point of comparison to give us an idea of the Great Titans' size on average." Peppermint told the fire Blade with a smile on her face.
"Ooooh! I get it, now! Good idea, Peppermint." Chai complimented her, giving her a thumbs up.
The tech-savvy girl simply smirked at him self-assuredly in response, though it soon faded when both she and Chai noticed Pyra's lack of response. They looked at her and saw her standing there silently, seemingly transfixed with the map on the screen.
"Uhhh… Pyra? You okay there, buddy?" The wannabe Rockstar called out, waving his right hand a few inches away from his fire-wielding partner's face to get her attention.
"Huh?" The redhead Blade reacted, coming out of her stupor before glancing at her Driver and hacker friend. "Oh, sorry… What were you saying?" She asked, feeling embarrassed with herself.
"Just that you can use this map to give us an idea of how big the Great Titans are." Peppermint replied calmly.
"Oh, I see! That's a good idea, Peppermint." The redheaded Blade smiled at her.

"Eheheh… It's nothing." Replied the tech-savvy girl with a sheepish smile as she rubbed her cheek with her index finger, a small blush coloring her face. "God, she's precious…" She couldn't help but think to herself upon seeing Pyra's adorable smile.
"You, uh… kinda zoned out for a minute there. Everything okay, pal?" Chai asked his Blade companion, tilting his head slightly as he made that inquiry.
"Yes, I am. Sorry about that, it's just…" She trailed off as she looked back to the map on the screen. "It's so… unreal. All of these immense, fixed landmasses amidst this vast sea of blue…" Pyra said with very clear wonder and fascination in her tone, bringing her hand up to the screen and tracing her fingers slowly through one of the great landmasses on display. "It's so… amazing." She finished as a smile slowly made its way onto her pretty face.
It was one thing seeing a fixed landmass and the blue sea from up close, and it was an entirely different thing seeing the sheer scale and magnitude of this world in its entirety. She wondered at first if there was a World Tree in this world, but it would appear that wasn't the case. In hindsight, she should have figured as much, but at the time she thought it could have been just too far away to be seen.
Peppermint smiled at this, finding Pyra's amazement with their world quite endearing. "It is, isn't it? From the way you've described it, you wouldn't have seen anything like this back in your world, that's for sure." She commented, prompting the fire Blade to back at her, smile still clear on her face. "We called these huge land masses 'continents'. See all of these lines spread throughout each continent? Those are the limits that mark the territory of each country within them." She explained, giving their otherworldly new friend a small lesson on Earthly geography.
"Wow…" The Aegis muttered in awe, mind practically twirling as she dwelled on how fundamentally different life was in this world would be with stark differences like this. "There's so many of them."
"Yep. 195 countries, to be exact." The tan-skinned hacker clarified.
"Amazing." Pyra breathed out, astonished at the thought of such a thing. "There must be a countless number of people living in this world, far more than those in Alrest." She commented as looked back at the map. It didn't take a genius to know that in a world with such abundant space for people to live in, the population would be much higher than that of Alrest's, especially on the account of the fact that they wouldn't have to be afraid of monster attacks or their countries suddenly sinking into the sea.
"If you're looking for a specific number, there's actually about 8.2 billion people living in this world right now." Said Peppermint nonchalantly.
"8.2 BILLION!?" The redheaded Blade exclaimed in utter shock. "That… t-that is a STAGGERING number of people!" Her mind was reeling at the fact that such an unreal, almost unfathomable number of people (From her point of view) were currently existing and going about their lives right now. "Back in Alrest, the most a nation could house was around 11 million people in total." She explained to her friends, still having trouble processing the shocking bit of information she just heard. " And… as far as I'm aware of, there were at least 6 Great Titans in Alrest." She continued as her expression turned slightly painful as the memories of the three great Titans that fell during the Aegis War flooded her mind:
The nation of Coeia was the first to fall and the event that sparked the Aegis War, swiftly destroyed overnight by Malos, with millions of people having perished and the Titan sinking beneath the Cloud Sea. The tragedy was quickly covered up by the Indoline Praetorium to make it appear as if they did it along with the Empire of Mor Ardain to avoid mass panic and outrage from the rest of Alrest.
The Titan Temperentia, home to the ancient nation of Judicium, was the second to fall after many clashes between her and Malos that left the Titan permanently scarred, leaving it scorched, black and barren, and the kingdom built on top of it wiped out. The Titan perished soon after and its remains were left floating on the Cloud Sea.
And lastly… the Kingdom of Torna, the last one to fall at the climax of the war and where Malos' mad reign of terror and destruction was finally brought to an end… but at a very severe cost. Not only was Torna's capital city of Auresco destroyed by Malos during their final battle, wiping out thousands of innocent people, the massive widespread collateral damage ended up killing the Tornan Titan, which soon after sank to the bottom of the Cloud Sea in the aftermath of Malos' defeat…

Pyra forcefully shut down her train of thought as she didn't want to remember all that she lost at the end of the war… All that she destroyed… Reflecting on those memories has always been too painful for her. No matter how much time passes, it still aches as if it was just yesterday…

As she focused back on the topic at hand, she realized that she doesn't know exactly how many Great Titans remained after the Aegis War, hence why she said that she believes there were 6 left. She… didn't want to find out, as the trauma was still fresh in her mind and she didn't want to make it worse. For all she knew, there might have been more Titans out there that she wasn't aware of at the time.
The Titans she knew for sure remained were: Mor Ardain, Gormott, Uraya, Indol, Genbu and Spessia.
The former four were thankfully spared from being targeted by Malos during the Aegis War, although Gormott had suffered frequent skirmishes between the Ardainians, their political allies, and Coeian terrorists, who took refuge in Gormott after the fall of their Titan. She hoped that, with the end of the war, the Ardainians were able to focus on their efforts in apprehending the terrorists and restore peace to Gormott.
Genbu was site to several battles between her and Malos took place in, leaving the land within permanently scarred, though nowhere near as bad as Temperentia. It was fortunate, however, that the Titan was mostly barren of human life so there were no innocents caught in the crossfire. Although there were almost no humans living within the Great Titan, there were a lot of ancient ruins scattered around the region. Researchers theorized that at some point in the past there was a nation that existed within the Titan, but for one reason or another it fell into ruin, and as far as she knew, there was no solid explanation as to why, only that it must have happened at least several hundreds of years ago. The land was still inhabitable and with no ownership by any of other nations so hopefully the Tornans decided to settle there and restarted their lives after the loss of their home…
Spessia was where half of the Tornan refugees led by Addam's militia evacuated after the fall of their Titan, while the other, being led by Addam's rivals, namely his uncle, High Prince Zettar, fled to Indol. Before parting with Lora, Jin, Haze and Mikhail, Addam instructed them to head to Spessia in his stead and request his militia to relocate to the Leftheria Archipelago, where both the Hero and the Aegis traveled to seal the third Aegis Sword within the Royal Spirit Crucible Elpys before sealing the Aegis herself away within an Ancient Tornan Ship that sank deep below the Cloud Sea. She wondered what happened to Lora's group and Addam's militia as she was put to sleep before any news about them could reach Addam, she hoped that they received Addam's message and relocated to Leftheria.
Speaking of the Archipelago, the redheaded Blade wasn't counting it among the surviving Great Titans as, for one, it was composed of many smaller Titans that act as islands so it really doesn't count as a Great Titan. Adding onto this, there aren't a lot of places in there to form a viable settlement there besides the island where the entrance to the Crucible resides, and on top of that, the region was crawling with dangerous monsters. That being said, Pyra did recall how Addam talked about making Leftheria his people's new home once his militia relocated and after that establish several settlements in the Archipelago, with a village in particular being founded in the aforementioned area and settling down there with his wife and unborn child, who were with his militia in Spessia, to live the simple farmer life he always wanted. Sadly, she didn't get to see any of this as she was sealed away shortly after sealing the third sword, but she hoped that it all went as planned and that by now, Leftheria is home to thriving settlements where the surviving Tornans and their descendants got to live in peace and prosperity. In particular, she hoped that Addam, his family, Lora, Jin, Haze and Mikhail got to live happy and peaceful lives, and that the aforementioned Tornan Driver and her Blades did get to establish that orphanage just as they said they would before the final battle against Malos.
Pyra felt a deep sense of nostalgia as she thought about her original Driver and her friends, and what became of them after she went to sleep. …She missed them, even though she didn't get the chance to know them as much as she would have wanted to. However, they were all better off without her and all she could do is pray that they all got to live the rest of their lives without any more conflict and tragedy… They deserved as much after all the horror and heartbreak they went through during the Aegis War.
The fire Blade focused back on her current situation, what felt like minutes of contemplation to her were in fact only a few seconds in real time.
Peppermint cupped her chin as her expression turned pensive, but there was also a noticeable amount of concern in her face. "Hmm… so going off those facts, it would mean that at the very least the total world population in Alrest would be about 66 million people." She noted an analytical tone in her voice as a picture began to form in her head, and it wasn't a pretty one for the long-term of the redhead's homeworld. The fire Blade nodded in confirmation. "By comparison, our world's population is around 125 times greater than Alrest's. To give you an idea, that's about the same amount of people that live in France." She further elaborated as she turned back to her computer, quickly typing on the keyboard to highlight the aforementioned country to help illustrate her example to her new companions
" Yikes! I'm not a math wizard or anything, but that's a lot less people." Chai commented, rubbing the back of his head with a concerned look on his face. Numbers weren't his forte, like at all, but even he understood the massive gap between the populations of Earth and Alrest.
Pyra, for her part, covered her mouth, being very much taken aback by this fact. She figured that a lot of this world's nations could easily house the entirety of Alrest's populace and with plenty room to spare, but seeing that they all could fit neatly in a relatively small to medium-sized country was still quite surprising, to say the least.
"Yeah. Though it's not really surprising that the population in Alrest would be so small, given the living conditions over there." Peppermint said to him. "Having an ever dwindling amount of livable space and resources after factors that can severely cripple population growth, doubly so with the threat of literal monsters lurking about the place." She added, feeling like she had to remind the slacker the key issues plaguing Alrest.
"Yeah… Guess so." Replied the music-loving brunet as he was starting to really get a grasp of how precarious the living situation is in Pyra's homeworld. He glanced at his Blade friend and saw that her expression turned noticeably crestfallen, reflecting how the mood got a little heavy so the wannabe Rockstar figured he should try to lighten things up a little. "But hey, it's not like everything's doom and gloom. You said that folks over in your world were doing just fine even if things over there are pretty rough, right?" He said to the redhead with a cheerful smile, elbowing her in a friendly manner.
"Mm." Pyra nodded in response as a small smile appeared on her face.
"See? So don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll be okay." The brunet grinned at her, happy to see that his fiery buddy was starting to feel better again.
"Same here." Peppermint commented, smiling in appreciation of Chai cheering Pyra up in a surprisingly sensible manner (And for once not doing so through making an awful pun, thank God).
"Yeah… yeah, you're right. Thank you, Chai." The redheaded Blade smiled back at her Driver in gratitude, feeling herself back in good spirits. Worrying about Alrest right now won't do her any good, especially since she has no idea of how much the world would have changed after all this time, so the best she can do is to have faith that things were just fine over there.
"Anytime, pal." Replied the wannabe Rockstar, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Oh right! I almost forgot, I still haven't told you how big the Great Titans are in relation to this world's continents." It was then that Pyra remembered what they were talking about a short while ago, and couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed for getting very distracted.
"Oh yeah. Heh, guess we got a little off topic there, huh?" Said Peppermint with a good-humored smile, having also briefly lost track of the current topic. "Alright, go ahead. Take as much time as you need." She gestured at her computer screen.
"Thank you." Pyra nodded in gratitude before looking at the map on the screen. A minute passed as she studied the map, but unfortunately finding a good point comparison from the many countries displayed on the map proved to be more difficult than she initially thought. "Hmmmm… Say… Peppermint? Do you, by any chance, have a variation of this map that has units of length available? As amazing as it was taking the whole scale of your world in, I'm now realizing that I don't have a way to properly gauge the sizes of these continents and the countries within them, especially in comparison to the Great Titans." Pyra asked after another moment scrutinizing the world map, realizing that she'd need a version of this map up that properly displayed units of length if she was going to properly gauge and compare sizes. Most people would likely need much more than that to properly figure something like that out -such as a map of the entirety of Alrest, not just the region where the six Great Titans she knew of were- but being what she was, the redheaded Aegis would be able to handily calculate the size of this world's continents and compare them to the Great Titans once she had some proper units of length to work with.

"Oh, yeah. Sure thing, just let me… there!" Peppermint began, and barely a moment later, the layout of the world map changed to the type that would more easily allow measurements. "Uhm… to be clear, you guys have inches, feet, and miles for units of length back on your world, right?" She had to ask because for all she knew, the people in Alrest would use a whole different measurement system.

"We certainly do! Now then, by my estimate, most of Alrest's Great Titans would be around the size of… these land masses right here." Pyra finally decided, pointing specifically towards the Caribbean Island Countries of both Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

"Hm… Cuba and the D.R., huh? They also have around the same amount of people you mentioned that live in the Great Titan's nations on average, too." The tan-skinned hacker noted, an analytical tone in her voice as she observed the data on the map of those two aforementioned Island Countries and committed it to memory, with the same applying for the rest of the information Pyra just gave her. Now she had a good point of reference to give her a solid approximation of the average length and width of a Great Titan.
"Sooo… you're saying that the Great Titans are more or less the size of those islands?" Chai asked his Blade companion for further clarification, getting a nod from the redhead in response. " Geez… That's… kinda really small." He commented. He might have not been very good at geography, but he knows enough that the Caribbean Island Countries are some of the smallest countries on the planet and if the Great Titans are roughly comparable to these, then the Great Titans might as well be specks of living, moving land to the rest of Earth. "Uh, no offense." He added quickly, not wanting to bring back the dreary mood when they'd just finished banishing it.
"None taken." Pyra replied nonchalantly.
"Say, Pyra. Earlier you said that you think there were at least six Great Titans alive and active in your world. Does that mean there could be more?" Peppermint asked, curious about that particular detail the Aegis mentioned.

"It is possible, yes. I… didn't keep track of all the Great Titans in the immediate region I was awoken in." She admitted, a hint of embarrassment in her tone. "No to mention there could be more Great Titans outside of that region, but that's uncharted territory, so I can't say anything for certain…" She added. It was a well known fact that Cloud Sea extended far beyond the known radius around the World Tree that the Great Titans circle around all year long. But, as far as she was aware, no one dared to venture beyond the region with most people believing that there was nothing out there except more Cloud Sea that extended into the horizon endlessly. The idea that there could be Great Titans that exist out there certainly wasn't impossible, but no one has tried to see if it was true or not… and if anyone did, they certainly never returned alive to tell the tale.

"I see…" Said Peppermint in a calm manner, her expression turning neutral. The bleak mental picture of Alrest she envisioned earlier came back to mind. It was more than evident that a lack of space to live on and resources in Alrest is a problem that would keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Whether it would take decades, centuries or even millenia, the Great Titans would eventually die off. While it might not be a problem she'd ever have to deal with, being the native of an entirely different world, it was nonetheless disconcerting to hear how the people of Pyra's world were essentially living on borrowed time. The fact that there didn't appear to be any clear solutions to such a problem, at least with what was currently known, didn't help matters. Not even the prospect of those smaller Titans eventually becoming Great Titans, which by logic should be the case, wasn't a real solution as it most certainly would take too long for them to grow into that form and by the time they do, who knows how many Great Titans and their respective civilizations would have died off. Even the energy crisis Roxanne Vandelay resolved many years ago came off as a paltry issue by comparison.
The tan-skinned hacker decided to keep these thoughts to herself as she didn't want to upset Pyra again, it was clear that the topic was a sensitive one for her and for good reason.

"Welp, for all that it's worth, aside from the prowling monsters and lack of reliable land masses, your world sounds like it could make for a pretty scenic vacation spot!" Said Chai after a brief moment of silence and mentally going over everything Pyra told them once again. Just from descriptions alone, and setting aside all the big problems it had, this Alrest place sounded like it had some pretty fantastical and beautiful sights, fitting for a fantasy world straight out of a JRPG, the kind that would look good on a postcard, or an Indie album cover. In all honesty, part of him kinda wanted to see the place firsthand right now.

"No denying that. A world entirely in the clouds sounds beautiful and like something you'd only see in fiction, at least around here, anyway. Though, with everything else explained, I can't deny those 'Core Chips' you mentioned piqued my interest too. Got any more details about that?" Peppermint added, her interest particularly grabbed by Pyra's earlier mention of 'Core Chips.'

"It's nothing too complicated, Peppermint. Just that at some point, the inhabitants of my world found a way to imbue Ether into these chips. Most, if not all Blades are compatible with these chips and can be fused to a Blade's weapon to bolster their strength as well as adding other perks." The redhead quickly summarized, which only increased Peppermint's interest.
"Hmm… that's… certainly interesting to hear." Was all Peppermint could initially say in response to all that, making it clear she was more so thinking out loud than anything as she briefly glanced at Chai's robotic right arm. In all honesty, watching the brunet deal with security so effectively earlier gave the hacker a few ideas about implementing some potential upgrades for his right-arm, and with how the most prominent idea she had involved upgrade computer chips, it had the hacker wondering what she could do if she opted to be a bit more creative with this new discovery…

"Huh… that sounds like stat modifiers you'd get from items or gear in any RPG." Chai pointed out as he crossed his arms, finding the similarities between these 'Core Chips' and your average stat modifier item or equipment from the videogames or tabletop games.
"Hm?" Pyra looked at him confused. "'Stat modifier'?"

"Oh that's just RPG jargon. To sum it up, just think that if you consumed something like potions, or went out of your way to equip certain pieces of gear, be it weapons or armor, you'd get an increase in your attributes and a bunch of cool extra perks to go along with it. For example, uh… I don't know, say you found yourself a cool new tiara to replace the one you're wearing right now and the second you put it on, it'd suddenly increase your speed and strength as long as you keep it on, maybe even make your luck better too. Something like that." Chai explained in a quick, but clear and concise manner as if it was the easiest thing in the world. He may struggle to memorize a lot of boring school topics, but when it comes to geek and gaming stuff, he knows these topics like the back of his left hand.
"Oh, I see!" Replied Pyra with clear understanding in her eyes. "Well, under that definition I suppose Core Chips count as 'stat modifiers'" She added with a smile.
"Now you're getting it!" The brunet smiled back at her enthusiastically.
"...Also, what does 'RPG' mean?" The redheaded Blade innocently.
Flinching up in surprise at that question, Chai's knee-jerk reaction in response was to incredulously ask the redhead if her world even had video games… Before recalling everything Pyra had told them both earlier about Alrest and subsequently realized a world like that probably didn't have proper video game development anywhere on its list of priorities. "Ohhhh, right… as painful as it is hearing you ask something like that, a fantasy world like yours probably doesn't have anything like video games available, huh? Much less with all the problems you mentioned, like land availability and everything…" Chai followed his fair share of game development and was well-aware that developing and shipping out a good video game could be an ungodly experience even in the best of circumstances. He couldn't even begin how nightmarish it would be trying to do something similar on Pyra's world, with the constant threat of monsters and lack of livable space people had to deal with on a daily basis there.
"N…no, I don't think so." The redhead shook her head in denial.
"Yeah, that makes sense, I guess." The brunet replied in an understanding, yet disappointed tone. However, his expression quickly perked back up a few seconds after. "Well, in that case I'll just have to teach you all about the wonderful world of gaming when we get a moment!" He declared with giddy enthusiasm as he brought his redheaded pal close to him via a side hug with his left arm and down and grand sweep with his right arm. Pyra, for her part, was left mildly flustered from the sudden closeness. " Video gaming, to be exact." Chai further clarified as he pointed at his Blade partner. "Man, we'll have A LOT stuff to go over before putting you up to speed, but don't worry it'll be worth it in the end." His high energy suddenly went down quite a bit as he almost dreaded the monumental task ahead of him, but just as it easily went down his energy went back up at the end. "When I'm done with you, you'll be a bonafide hardcore gamer girl! And we'll start with one of the absolutely greatest gaming icons of all time: Sonic the Hedgehog!" As he went on with his excited tirade, he brought Pyra's face closer to his, causing her checks to turn significantly red, though her Driver didn't appear to notice as after another second he pulled away, looking ahead as he finally finished his rambling with an impassioned smile and a certain glint in his eyes as he mentioned one of his favorite fictional characters of all time.
The Aegis was left stunned for a few seconds before finally finding her voice again. "Um, Chai? I, uh… don't really understand a lot of what you're saying right now." She said, expressing her confusion and slight discomfort at this very moment.
"Don't worry, buddy! It'll all make sense soon." Chai replied reassuringly as he patted her shoulder with his left hand. "Trust me, you're gonna love it!"
"Uhm, O…kay?" Was the only thing Pyra could say in response to all that. Her Driver's enthusiasm for this whole 'video game' thing was a little too intense for her liking, but at the same time it was endearing in its own way, and after sharing a lot about her world with him and their hacker friend, it's only fair that she would be willing to learn about this world, more so if it's an aspect of it that her Driver this much enthusiastic about. So it can't hurt to humor him… right?

"Awesome~!" The music lover cheered excitedly as he let go of her. "Hey, Peppermint! Seeing as how you're clearly tech and computer savvy, you gotta have some experience with gaming and stuff too, right? You want in on this? I'm already building up a good list of games we can go through!" He turned to look at the tan-skinned hacker, who had been quiet since asking her question about the Core Chips. However, she just sat there in silence, looking downwards as she cupped her chin, looking deep in thought and clearly not paying attention to what's around her.
The Driver and Blade duo looked at each other in confusion before the latter tried to call their friend's attention.

"Peppermint?" Again, no response.

"Yo, you still with us here?" Chai tried again, and thankfully this time their hacker companion was snapped out of her stupor.

"Hm? Oh uh… yeah, just thought of something, that's all." Upon blinking back to reality and that she had both Chai and Pyra giving her confused, questioning looks, Peppermint was quick to dismiss how she suddenly got caught up in her thoughts like that. After dwelling on it, she'd opt to hold off on saying anything till she had something of substance to show off. "Back on topic, just from what you've told us, your homeworld sounds like a pretty amazing place, Pyra. Between those Titans, the Blades , and how it's all covered by a sea of clouds… I don't know how else to describe your homeworld other than as awe-inspiring… Probably really dangerous too with all the monsters you mentioned prowling around, but awe-inspiring all the same." She said to the redhead, focusing on the fantastical, borderline surreal aspects of Pyra's homeworld.

"Totally." Chai nodded in agreement. "Your world sounds like a place with some pretty killer views no matter where you look!" He added in, similarly impressed like Peppermint with the otherworldly description of Alrest the Aegis had provided to them so far.

"Thank you." She replied in appreciation with a soft, but sincere giggle. "I could certainly say the same about your and Chai's world. It's still so much to take in, being surrounded by so much vibrant and active machinery I've never seen before, all topped off by this island, and all of the continents that make up this world , being surrounded by a sea of water." For her part, Pyra just made it clear that from her own point of view, her new friends' world and the astonishing sights Vandelay Island had on display left her feeling a similar sense of amazement. Sadly though, it's hard to truly appreciate everything about this massive world when my mind keeps drifting back to the circumstances that brought so many Blades into this world along with myself. After everything we've learned so far about the people that brought me here, I can't shake this looming sense of… concern." As she said this, a troubled frown crept onto the Aegis's face as she was once again reminded of the troubling circumstances that left her in this world.

Upon hearing all this, Chai felt the need, even with all the chaotic danger he experienced previously today in mind, to posit the theory/possibility that the tech megacompany might not actually have anything malicious planned here. "Well, I mean… hey! We don't know that Vandelay has anything messed-up or bad in mind for you or the rest of your kind. For all we know, maybe they just brought a bunch of those Core Crystals over into this world so they can just sell them to any buyers. Not exactly sure how people in your world view the whole 'Driver and Blade' arrangement, but I know for a fact a lot of people here would be super down to get themselves a partner that hooks them up with sick, anime-looking powers and weapons." As the brunet continued, his fiery friend perked up at that last part, her cheeks reddening a little. "Like, I'm not ignoring any of what Vandelay tried to pull with us today -and I'm definitely not saying that it's cool or alright or anything- just that it's not exactly a big surprise that a big company like this is looking to make a profit off something they discovered like this."

Chai certainly wasn't glossing over how Vandelay had their security try and kill him little under an hour ago, just that from an objective and unbiased POV, he could see what they were trying to do. One of your guys apparently stumbled his way into opening a portal from another world, leading to a hefty supply of otherworldly crystals that could provide powers literally out of this world? The brunet was by no means a business savvy person, but he could easily see a scenario like that was equivalent to stumbling across a loaded gold mine… or crystal mine, in this case, he supposed.

"I… suppose that's one way of looking at this whole situation, Chai." Pyra managed once the red tint in her cheeks faded. "That being said, regardless of their methods and exact intentions, I don't have any real faith in the people running this company to be benevolent and responsible with whatever sort of Core Crystal distribution they have in mind. There was only one organization back on Alrest that handled the regulation and tracking of Blades, and I frankly have my own share of reservations regarding them..." It was hard not to be considering Pyra's history with a certain Indoline in the organization…

" Exactly. Understandable or not, Vandelay having their hands on these Core Crystals and a way to access Pyra's world is a cause for concern no matter what." Peppermint added bluntly, her tone making it very clear she didn't buy the notion of Vandelay having nothing planned for the Core Crystals beyond just selling them as they are. "From what I gathered from the records I received, Vandalay managed to pull a lot of Core Crystals over from Pyra's world, including her of course, enough to fill up at least several shipping containers but there could be a lot more for all we know. And if all the Blades within those Crystals are even at least half as strong as Pyra is, then we are in very serious trouble." Peppermint elaborated, emphasizing just how many Core Crystals Vandelay apparently had to get the gravity of the situation across for the two.
"Several shipping containers, you said?" The nod of affirmation she got from Peppermint caused a troubled frown to creep onto Pyra's face, bringing a hand up to her chin as she contemplated the situation on this island. "You're right. If they have that many, then they're bound to have gotten at least a handful of powerful Rare Blades…"

"Okay, well uh… when you both put it like that and in such grave tones of voice, I can maybe see how that would be pretty bad." Chai admitted with a scratch of his head, feeling the wind get taken out of his sales at both Pyra and Peppermint's rebuttals.

"It is bad, Chai. Very bad." Peppermint confirmed with a blunt tone of voice. "Still, with any luck, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone before long. I'm working out a plan for us to get some more information on SPECTRA with minimum hassle, and odds are the computer we'll be extracting that info from will also have files regarding whatever Vandelay has planned with the Blades and where they're keeping them."

"Wonderful to hear. The sooner we get to the truth of this matter, the better." Pyra said, eyeing the tan hacker with interest. "What exactly does this plan entail?"

"Like I said, I'm still working out the details and should be ready by tomorrow. In the meantime, you two just take a breather and make yourselves at home. I'll let either of you know if I have any more questions to ask." And with that closing statement, Peppermint once again turned in her seat and returned to reading through whatever she brought up on her computer screens.

With his conversation with the hacker now concluded, Chai briefly considered following up and asking Pyra for some more details about all this 'otherworldly' business, but instead opted to take a much-deserved lie down on that couch, which was looking particularly comfy in his eyes right now.

'Phoo! Oh yeah, that's a nice load off, especially after all the crap I had to deal with today.' Chai thought, letting out a satisfied exhale as he threw himself onto the couch and lazed across it. 'Man though… getting 'music robot powers,' having Vandelay's security trying to kill me, and meeting a girl straight-up from another world with fire powers? What have I gotten myself into?' Even with everything that had been explained so far, the brunet was still having some trouble wrapping his head around all the crazy, rapid-fire events that happened to him today, not the least of which was the fact that the redhead he'd acquainted himself with wasn't actually from this world and wasn't even an actual human being despite everything about her appearance suggesting otherwise.

However, as Chai continued to mull over the complicated circumstances he now found himself right in the middle of, he ultimately shrugged the troubling thoughts about his situation off before settling on one particular silver lining about it all. 'Well, should make for a pretty cool story to tell five years from now…'

As Chai was having these thoughts, he noticed out of the corner of his eye 808 lazily leaping up onto the couch before settling herself on a pillow at the opposite end of the brunet. "Hm…" He hummed out, gaze now fixed on the robotic feline lazing across from him. Another few moments passed with Chai's gaze remaining on 808 before his eyes shifted over to the vivid-red color of his scarf and an idea occurred to him.

With a smile beginning to creep onto his face, Chai couldn't help but grab onto his scarf and flick the end of it over to where 808 was laying, hoping he'd evoke a reaction. The smile on his face only grew more prominent when the scarf-flicking immediately caught 808's attention like it would a regular cat, with her eyeing it intently and looking ready to pounce it at any moment. Anticipating this, the brunet then quickly yanked the end of his scarf back by a foot, prompting 808 to try and pounce on it. He continued with this course of action several more times, with it culminating in the robotic cat happily jumping onto his lap and licking at his face.

"Well… you definitely look like you're enjoying this." Chai laughed slightly, enjoying just how pleased and receptive 808 was being towards his playing with her. "Hey tell me… who do you prefer: Me, Pyra or Peppermint? Be honest." He asked the robotic pet, making sure his voice wasn't above a whisper so the girls wouldn't overhear him. 808 just licked his face again in response. "I'll take that as your answer. Don't worry, we'll keep this between us." Said the brunet happily, winking at the robotic feline as he petted her.

*Pap…* Blinking upon feeling the couch's weight shift slightly on one end, Chai ceased the petting he'd been in the middle of and looked up to see Pyra taking a seat on the side of the couch where 808 had been just a moment ago. Funny. There was another, perfectly fine couch Pyra could've called dibs on in another corner of the hideout. The slacker figured that the Aegis would opt to make herself comfortable there once she finished taking in her appearance in the mirror.

"Oh, I'm sorry ...You don't mind if I sit down here?" Pyra asked with a tentative smile, having noticed her Driver's look of slight surprise.

"Nah, that's uh… fine, I guess. Go on ahead." Chai managed to get out once his momentary surprise wore down.

"Lovely, thank you." The Aegis's smile relaxed upon hearing that confirmation, letting out a pleased and relieved sigh as she sat back on the couch and enjoyed its soft cushions. "Ahh… it feels very nice to just sit down and take a breath after everything that happened today."

"Definitely know that feeling." He was still aching all over from all those falls and sudden launches that kept happening. 808 then moved from on top of Chai's chest to Pyra's lap and unsurprisingly the redheaded Blade didn't miss the chance to pet the adorable robot cat. The brunet chuckled at this. After a minute of Pyra petting their robotic companion, 808 leapt off her lap and came to rest on the same pillow she was on a short while ago, which was now on the ground.
From there, a rather awkward silence ensued between both Chai and Pyra. Even with everything they discussed and established with Peppermint, it went without saying that the two still had much they'd likely have to talk about down the line given the nature of their newfound bond, but at the moment, neither the brunet nor the Aegis were sure what exactly to say or where to start. On Pyra's end, this was mainly to her soft-spoken nature as well as how the brunet mostly displayed indifference at the prospect of being her Driver, which left her unsure where to even start.

Meanwhile, Chai was just wracking his brain for a good subject to ask the Blade about, and he soon came to a decision when his gaze settled on the emerald glow of Pyra's 'Core Crystal.' The brunet's gaze lingered there for another moment, mentally noting how at a passing glance, he'd likely just assumed the gem was an accessory for the redhead's outfit, and not actually embedded into her chest, before finally speaking up. "Not to sound like a broken record, but it's still seriously crazy to me that you're from another world, and not even human either. Definitely wouldn't have been able to tell that little tid-bit just from a passing glance." He pointed out that particular detail, remembering that picture Peppermint showed them earlier, which now understanding the context, he figured those were other Blades like Pyra, except that didn't look anywhere near as human-like as she does.

"That's not surprising, some Blades can certainly pass as a human much more easily than others. I know that as long as I conceal my Core Crystal, I could likely pass as human with no problem, whereas certain other Blades you certainly would be able to tell aren't human just from a quick glance at them." Pyra explained, well aware that compared to the rest of her kind, she could easily pass as a human with the right preparations, especially in this world where Blades didn't exist and her Core Crystal would likely just be written off as an accessory.

"That wording is both vague and makes me wanna know more. Do elaborate." Chai said, rubbing his chin with his metallic hand in thought as he tried to picture what Pyra meant when she said that.

Pyra couldn't stop herself from letting out a few, amused chuckles at the tone of Chai's voice as he said this, her smile still matching her mood. "Alright. Well, a Blade passing for a human ultimately depends on what type of form the awakened Blade takes, and it varies considerably from Blade to Blade, particularly if they're a Rare type as well. You already saw what common Blades look like in that file Peppermint showed us, and during my travels back on my own world, my old… companions and I met a good deal of different Rare Blades. Some of them were like me, virtually indistinguishable from a normal human aside from their Core Crystal," Pyra elaborated, gesturing towards her own as she said this. "Whereas others don't even look human in the slightest. It's also not just one end of the spectrum or another. I recall meeting Rare Blade that had the traits of a particular animal, with many others also having note-worthy quirks to their bodies or replacements for normal limbs."

"Definitely sounds like something I'd need a full picture catalog for to really wrap my head around." Chai noted, raising a brow at Pyra's description of other Rare Blades and the traits they'd have that would distinguish them at a passing glance from the average human. He understood the whole 'animal traits' thing -he'd taken in enough modern media and anime to know the Aegis was likely talking about something akin to a cat girl or something in that general category- but all that stuff about 'note-worthy quirks' and… stuff in place of regular limbs/body parts sounded like something the brunet needed to see firsthand to properly understand.

"Well, perhaps if we encounter any Rare Blades down the line, they'll have the traits I was referring to." Pyra theorized. If what Peppermint said was true and this corporation brought several shipping containers worth of Core Crystals here from Alrest, then she wouldn't be surprised if they planned to awaken several of them into Blades and use them against her and her Driver, especially if she was correct in her assumption about these Vandelay people acquiring several Rare Blades from Alrest.

"Hmm… so, between the way you've been taking everything in and what you already told us, I'm guessing your world doesn't exactly have robots or sweet, free robotic prosthetics on hand?" The brunet asked after another moment of thought, recalling how shocked Pyra looked when she saw her Core Crystal in his robot arm's Power Core Unit. It was definitely hard to guess where the Aegis's world was in terms of technological development just going off what she told him and Peppermint. Everything he'd heard so far -topped off by the look of Pyra's sword and outfit, which both very much had a 'fantasy sci-fi' vibe to them- painted a very unclear picture.

"Well… from what I understand, there are mechanical prosthetics in Alrest similar to yours and Peppermint's, but those are uncommon. Most likely because those would be difficult to produce and as such very expensive to pay." She replied, recalling how during the Aegis war, her group encountered a shady mercenary that was after Lora, who had a mechanical right arm… That is until Jin sliced it off… along with his remaining arm.
" Huh… I guess that tracks." Chai noted, having figured that Pyra's world wouldn't have prosthetics as advanced as the ones Vandelay had available. With how the descriptions of Alrest they'd gotten so far indicated the world was lagging behind compared to Earth in terms of technological advancements, he wasn't surprised, even with its various fantastical elements in mind.
Pyra nodded. "Yes. Although from what little I've seen of prosthetics back on Alrest, those were quite crude in comparison to the ones you have here." Pyra could tell just from what she gleaned of Vandelay island and its campus that this world had technology that was leagues beyond whatever state-of-the-art technology Alrest's Kingdoms and militaries had available. The only thing Pyra could think of that came even remotely close to the insane robotics of this world were Torna's weapons and various warships… and with what happened during her cataclysmic battle with Malos…

Pyra hated thinking about that any more than she already did, but she just knew that the fallout of that battle had sent Alrest's technological developments -and several other facets of its civilization- back by several generations, the awful weight in her gut told her as much… She mentally shook herself off those dark thoughts and focused back on the topic.

"Huh… well nice to hear this world has at least one cool going for it over yours." Was Chai's takeaway from all that, prompting a silent eye roll from Peppermint as she continued to work at her desk. "Speaking of, still wanna hear; what's music in your world like, aaaaand what are your impressions of the samples you've gotten here so far?"

"Oh! Now that's… honestly quite the interesting question to consider… though I'm afraid I might not be able to provide the most reliable answer. Like I said before, the… life I lived up to my ending up here didn't exactly give me many, if any, opportunities to really sit down and listen to some music, let alone try and see any performances done by musicians." The redhead began, blinking in surprise at the sudden change in topic, her previously growing angst and grief having been forgotten. While there certainly was music, musical instruments, and people who played them on Alrest, there unfortunately wasn't any time to enjoy those sorts of luxuries with how the brunt of her time spent since her awakening was spent trying to track down Malos and put an end to his rampage. "I can say this much for a certainty, though; what music I did hear back on Alrest was nothing like the kind of music I'd been hearing from your music player." Pyra continued to explain, recalling how she could barely discern what each instrument was supposed to be in the songs she'd heard from Chai's playlist so far. "I can honestly only wonder what sort of instruments this world has to produce music so… loud and intense."

"You're forgetting 'catchy,' but I think I see what you're saying. Sounds to me like your world has music, but not much in the way of musical genres. So I take it that along with no rock and roll, your world doesn't exactly have genres like rap, jazz, nu metal, or glam rock, huh?" Chai continued to ask, his interest piqued at the prospect of getting more details on the music culture of a whole different dimension.

"Seeing as how this is the first time I've heard any of those names before… I'd… have to assume so, yes." Pyra answered after a moment's hesitation. Like with Chai and his confusion regarding her description of the more unique forms of Blades, she couldn't say for certain whether those types of music existed in Alrest or not given her lack of experience with the matter, but like she said, with how she'd never even heard any of those music types mentioned, it didn't seem likely.

"Oof! Hearing that hurt me on a spiritual level, even more than the lack of videogames your world has." Chai grimaced, the thought of a world that was so limited in terms of musical variety hurting his soul. "Tell you what, after we're all done with all this, along with some awesome videogames, I'll also show you a playlist of some of the best bits of music I've heard. Not just rock either, I'm talking the whole nine yards with different genres and their best songs!"

"O-Oh, really? Well… alright then, thank you! With how passionate you clearly are about music, I'm sure that'll be a delight and the songs you want to share will be even better." Pyra answered honestly and with a smile. While the redheaded Aegis still couldn't make much sense of what 'videogaming' was, she did know and appreciate the beauty of music, and as strange and (literally) otherworldly as the music produced from her Driver's MP3 was, she could nonetheless appreciate and enjoy what she'd heard so far, even with the hectic circumstances she'd been thrown into in mind. As a result, she didn't doubt that Chai had some memorable bits of music in mind to show her later on.

It'd also be nice getting to properly take in this world's music without having to simultaneously fight for her Driver's life, all while in time to a beat.

"No prob! Couldn't just sit back and do nothing now that I know you clearly haven't lived life properly. In faaaact, if you're planning on trying to go back to your world after all this, I'll see if I can't set you up with a mix tape with some seriously kickass songs in them! You'll have something to seriously wow the people in your world with that way! …On top of all your crazy fire powers, of course." Chai laid back against the couch's armrest and kept his gaze on the concrete ceiling of the hideout as he happily made this offer, oblivious to the way Pyra flinched up slightly and winced at the mention of returning to Alrest.

On her own end, Peppermint, who'd been offhandedly listening to the two talk while working, could only raise a brow at Chai's enthusiastic mention of making the Aegis a mixtape with how that brought to mind a Walkman. Between that and how the brunet was a proud owner of a freaking ancient MP3 player, it seemed to her that Chai had a preference for more retro forms of music players.

" Wait… talking about this is making me realize…" However, about a moment after readjusting on the couch, a realization seemed to occur to Chai that made him lift up his shirt once again to re-examine his arm's Power Core Unit and more specifically, his stuck music player. As he suspected, while the lodged MP3 seemed to know exactly what sort of song to play in Chai's playlist that fit his current mood and circumstances, there didn't seem to be any actual way to properly interact with it now, or more specifically plug it into somewhere to get some more songs uploaded into it, "if my music player's stuck in my chest now, does this mean I can't upload any more songs to it?"

In response, Pyra leaned forward a bit in her seat as she once again took in the robotic prosthetic's Power Core Unit and the two objects of interest floating around within. As far as the Aegis could tell, there didn't appear to be any way to manually interact with it, much less get it out from Chai's chest without any long-term problems. "As far as I can tell, I don't see any way for you to fiddle with it while it's in there, so yes. I'm afraid so, it seems like. Though I'll admit I'm not the expert here."

"Yeah, no, there's no getting that out or uploading new songs to it without another round of surgery." Peppermint added in, still situated and working at her desk as she said this.

"Oh maaaaan!" Chai was quick to let out a discouraged groan upon hearing that confirmation, slumping further back into the couch as he did so. As all this happened, Pyra wasn't quite sure what to say in response to Driver's grief, merely looking at him with a bemused expression on her face.

"Okay, if the thing you're stuck on is just that and not about how you got stuff lodged in your chest, then what's stopping you from just buying another one after all this is done with? MP3s are probably dirt-cheap in this day and age." Peppermint couldn't help but ask, a questioning look on her face as she addressed Chai.

"Yeah, and I'm kinda dirt-broke at the moment!" Chai shot back irritably, letting out another discouraged groan before collapsing back into the couch, making a point to even cover his eyes with his scarf to really hammer home his newfound dreary mood. At the sight of this, the Aegis could once again only muffle her slightly amused chuckles, a bead of sweat still running down the side of her face before she tentatively reached over to give her Driver a reassuring pat on the head.

*Grumbleeee…*

Before Pyra's dainty hand could ruffle up Chai's brown locks, however, she was stopped when the sound of grumbling began to emanate from the brunet's waist. Perking up at that and flicking his scarf out of his face, Chai just placed his robotic hand over his now-empty stomach before returning Pyra's gaze. "...I take it you're hungry?"

"Yeah, my meals were kinda scarce when I was making my way over here. Didn't exactly have the chance to try and get breakfast today, either." Chai admitted, his previous dreary attitude and irritation were forgotten in wake of his hunger pangs. In any case, he thought as he then turned towards Peppermint, this would at least allow him to see what this place had going for it in the 'snacks' department. "So, Peppermint, since we're apparently gonna be hunkering down here while we help you with that 'Spectrum' stuff, you got anything good to eat? All that running around and fighting made me pretty hungry for sure."

"Yeah, I got some stuff you guys can eat." Peppermint affirmed, both Chai and Pyra watching curiously as she got up from her chair before walking towards the door of what looked to be a pantry. "I didn't know how long I was gonna be here for when I was setting things up, so I just made sure to get the essentials. Stuff that'll last a while. Here, catch." Upon finishing that statement, Peppermint then suddenly tossed several objects -two plastic bottles and two small, cardboard boxes- towards the couch, with both him and the Aegis stumbling to catch them. Both the bottle and box Peppermint threw towards Chai hit him square in the face before tumbling onto his stomach, causing him to groan and rub his now-tender forehead, while Pyra's own attempt to catch them had her fumbling with the box before dropping it, with her only barely managing to keep her hands on the bottle. Blinking and holding the bottle away from herself, the Aegis then saw that the hacker tossed her a plastic bottle of water.

"Hmm… and what are these?" Pyra couldn't help but ask, only to get her answer when she picked the box up and got a better look at it; as it turned out, Peppermint tossed both her and Chai some boxes of snack bars with fruit filling and whole grains.

"What, seriously!? Is water and fruit bars really all you got down here?" As one might expect, Chai was quick to complain when he put two and two together and realized that breakfast bars and water were all Peppermint had down here when it came to sustenance, personally having more of a preference for pizza or a nice, juicy burger, to say nothing of his preference for energy drinks.

"I was kind of inclined to stock up on these with how they take a while to expire and how I have no clue how long I'll even be down here for. It might not be the fanciest kind of meal available, but hey, no going hungry or thirsty." Was the hacker's immediate retort, tone predictably dry and unamused in response to Chai's complaints.

"...Back again to living off breakfast bars and water. Cool. Awesome. And here I thought I left the college dorm life behind." Chai groaned out with an unamused expression, taking a moment to look between the box of the breakfast snacks he had in one hand and the bottle of water he had in the other before shooting a question over to Pyra, who had already unwrapped a strawberry bar and currently chewing on a bite of it with an appraising expression. "Now I'm wondering; do you think if we ordered delivery, they'd come all the way down here?"

"Discounting the fact that you said you were broke a few minutes ago, we're not gonna be testing that theory out with how it'd completely compromise the security of this place." An irritable Peppermint pointed out. "Again, since you're having trouble comprehending it, this is a hideout, not a hangout, so don't go and do anything that would lead security right to us."

"Personally, I'm still a little stuck on that 'delivery' remark you mentioned, Chai. You mean have someone delivering food here? Who? And how would that work? How would we even contact them?" Pyra asked curiously after swallowing, fairly certain that her Driver was referring to some mundane luxury his world had on hand, but unsure of the specifics beyond that.

"...Your world is sounding sadder and sadder with every detail I keep hearing about it, Pyra." Was all the Driver in question could think to say in response to the notion of a world that not just lacked the various commonplace music genres here, not just lacked awesome video games to play, but also didn't even have the luxury of pizza delivery.

The rest of the afternoon and evening in the Hideout continued mostly like this, with both Chai and Pyra idling about and conversing while Peppermint worked out the final details in her imminent plan to acquire more information on what exactly SPECTRA was.

*O*

Hi-Fi Rush OST: Boss (Vandelay theme) https/watch?v=m8rJc3rLbdI "Well Kale, we're all here… well, everyone except Korsica, that is." Mimosa began, making no effort to hide the naked disdain she had for the company's Head of Security as she spoke. "Are you finally going to stop keeping us all in suspense and show us this grand reveal we all had to be in-person for?"

True to the Head of Marketing's word, every single one of Vandelay Technology's Top Brass was present in Kale's lab when he gave them all the go-ahead to come up, the only executive absent being the tech company's redheaded Head of Security. Both she and Roquefort mostly looked bored at the proceedings beyond mild intrigue at whatever Kale had under wraps, whereas Rekka was standing nearby with her arms crossed and impatient scowl on her face and Zanzo had a rather gormless look of wide-eyed anticipation on his face as he waited to see what breakthrough in science their boss planned to present to them.

The CEO in question didn't answer initially, instead taking another moment to scan the terminal connected to his latest invention for any possible errors. Satisfied with the lack of issues that came up from the scan, Kale finally turned to address his subordinates, the look on his face neutral. "...For starters, you can all consider what I've put together here to be a… precaution in the event that defect and the Blade he's bonded to make it past security." Kale then paused for a moment, considering the wording of his explanation, before he went into the specifics of what he had in mind. "If there's at least one good thing that's come out of this damn defect issue, it's that the footage of that loser's surgery showed me how to properly bond these Core Crystals to a person and draw out their power. Didn't even take much work once I knew what I had to do, I just had to repurpose one of the Armstrong implant machines to work with those Crystals. Now that we have a reliable means to do so, I've arranged it so that each of you will have one of those Core Crystals placed into your implants that best suits your respective personalities and enhancements' capabilities." This clarification garnered varying looks of intrigue from both Roquefort and Mimosa, an expression (and pose) of exaggerated fascination and surprise from Zanzo… and thoroughly incensed Rekka.

"WHAT!? That's why you made Rekka come all the way over here!? Rekka don't need a damn partner to crush that defect punk and that little bimbo followin' him around! You forgettin' who the Big Boss was before you brought her on to handle Production, Kale!?" The Head of Production was referring to her past career as a professional wrestling champion with an undefeated streak. Rekka's career had been so successful and her undefeated streak had gone on for so long without any sort of proper challenge that she'd eventually grown bored and discontent with things till Kale came around. All the tan-skinned CEO had needed to do was assure Rekka that her talents would be put to much better, stimulating use as his company's Head of Production and that her salary would make her current income as a Professional Wrestling Champion look like chump change. (The latter of which was an easy promise to make when you were head of the largest and most successful tech company in the world.)

"Huh, for once, I can actually see where she's coming from this time amid all the screaming." Roquefort pointed out dryly, ignoring the incensed glare Rekka sent him as he addressed his boss. "Considering how much more powerful our cybernetics and enhancements are compared to the commercial junk we're giving out to the Armstrong subjects, I have my doubts that this punk and his girlfriend would be a problem if they actually did make it past all our security. At worst, we all know I'd be able to handle them without issue with this body you gave me." The Head of Finance continued, an impassive look on his face as he waited for his boss's (likely irritable) response.

"Yes Roquefort, I'm not blind to this fact seeing as how I was the one who personally designed and approved your enhancements…! But that's beside the point." Kale shot back irritably, having to make a point to regain control of his temper and recompose himself before continuing. "While I normally wouldn't consider a defect running around with a waste disposal arm to be high on my list of concerns, the fact that he's also bonded to what's easily the most unique and powerful specimen we dragged over from that other world complicates matters. Add onto that all those music powers of his and what happened to our primary Quality Assurance unit, and I'd frankly rather err on the side of caution. Furthermore Rekka, I categorically do not care if you don't feel like you need the assistance of the Blade I selected for you. If you want to keep your position as Head of Production, then you will be undergoing this procedure with minimal complaints." As he said that in particular, Kale made a point to send a sharp glare Rekka's way to better hammer home that this was not a negotiation. The brawny woman's scowled worsened for a moment before her arms eventually fell to her side and she silently nodded in understanding. Satisfied with his unruly subordinate's response, Kale then turned his sharp gaze to the rest of the executives present. "This applies for the rest of you as well. I'm not taking any chances here when I'm on the cusp of achieving great things with this company."

"So long as whoever you selected for me understands that I'm the queen of spin and that the spotlight is mine alone to enjoy, then fine. I shouldn't have any issues with this." Mimosa merely shrugged in response, in no rush to argue with her boss about this like Rekka boorishly tends to do and seeing no issue with it as long as this didn't interfere with her dailies.

"Indeed! I shall happily participate in this experiment regardless of which Blade you have selected for me, sir, though I at least hope whichever one you selected can even hope to keep up with my magnificent intellect!"

"With how much of a grandstanding dullard you actually are, then it shouldn't be too hard a task if that's all you want from it." Roquefort couldn't help but interject, a sarcastic tone in his voice as gave the overly eccentric and money-burning R head the stink eye, one the green haired man didn't hesitate to return.

"Don't you dare belittle my intelligence, you penny-pinching mutt!"

"Call me that again you scatter-brained moron! See what happens!"

"Both of you save your snarling and hissing for after we're done here. You both know I don't like having my time wasted." Kale barked out before things could escalate any further. When both Roquefort and Zanzo immediately settled down in response -albeit with the both of them giving one another mutual looks of contempt- Kale then returned his focus to the terminal connected to his repurposed invention and then brought up the profiles for the four Rare Blades Kale had deemed the best matches for his subordinates. "Now then, like I already said, I took the time to go over the particularly rare specimens we brought over from that other world, gauging their abilities and personalities. In terms of both personalities and powers, the ones I selected should only compliment your own abilities and roles here."

Upon finishing that explanation, Kale then turned and leaned slightly back against the terminal as he addressed the other executives, a slight smirk on his face as he asked the big question. "So. Are we going to have any volunteers for who goes first?"

"Fine! Let's just get this shitshow done with, already!" And if Roquefort, Mimosa, and Zanzo had anything in response to say, then they were immediately beaten to the punch by Rekka, who was already striding towards Kale and his 'Blade Awakening surgery machine' with an annoyed scowl on her face.

"...I'd say this is a surprise with how vehemently you opposed this a second ago, but I'm also well-aware this sort of attitude is in-character for you, Rekka." Kale couldn't help but point out, raising a brow slightly as he addressed Rekka.

Rekka could only scoff in annoyance at that observation before squinting towards the computer screen. "So, which one are you setting Rekka up with, Boss?" Kale said nothing in response to that question, instead merely pointing towards the profile picture of the Blade he selected for Rekka.

Looking to where Kale was pointing, the first thing the brawny woman noticed about the humanoid figure selected for her (beyond her odd, greenish gray skin) was just how utterly scrawny she looked, at least in comparison to her!

"...You're kidding. You're SERIOUSLY telling Rekka you're gonna lump her up with that scrawny little thing!?" Rekka exclaimed in outrage, only to get an unamused stare from Kale before he tapped on the upper end of the screen where the girl was displayed… specifically towards the set of massive and muscular gloved hands holding an equally massive sheathed katana.

"And here I thought the colossal set of extra arms that could snap someone in two like a twig would've been the first things that caught your interest." Kale observed dryly, watching as Rekka took in the Blade girl's colossal 2nd set of arms with a slightly wide-eyed look on her face.

"Oohh… Okay, you've finally got Rekka's attention now, Boss." Was all the ex-wrestler had to say after another moment's silence, the surprisingly level and calm tone in her voice a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.

And upon seeing that he now properly had Rekka's attention, a pleased and smug smirk crept onto Kale's face.

*O*

Back at the Hideout where our unlikely group of heroes had taken residence, several hours had passed since the arrival of the Driver and Blade duo, with the sun currently beginning to slowly peek up from beyond the horizon. Given that the Hideout was underneath the streets of Vandelay Campus, neither Chai, 808, nor Pyra were aware of this fact, each of them still soundly sleeping away at their respective couches, with 808 in particular having curled up and hunkered down right on the sleeping slacker's only person present who was both awake and aware of the current hour was Peppermint, and she was still putting the finishing touches on her plan for today's infiltration into the main Production office.

"Okay, aaaaaaaand… done!" Peppermint thought aloud, a satisfied expression creeping onto her face, which was currently illuminated by the light-blue glow of her computer screen, which was the only thing currently lighting the Hideout up since Chai and Pyra called it in for the night.

With a satisfied smile plastered onto her face, the tan-skinned hacker then spun around in her chair before clapping her hands together twice, abruptly illuminating the Hideout in light as a result. As one would imagine, the sudden flood of bright light into the room did a good job of rousing its sleeping occupants back to consciousness, with Pyra slowly opening her eyes and letting out a muted yawn while her Driver dealt with the wake-up call in his own groggy manner.

"Uuuuurgh, God. That is the worst wake-up call imaginable…" Chai groaned out, running both hands through his face and hair in an attempt to wake himself up. "Well, as far as couches I've crashed on goes, that one was actually pretty comfy. Brr! Coulda' used a blanket though…"

"Well, next time ask for one, or check around the storage room for something. Anyway, both of you have something to eat and drink if you're thirsty, use the bathroom if you gotta, and when you're ready, we can go over today's mission." Was Peppermint's unsympathetic response, eliciting an annoyed roll of the eyes from the brunet.

"Understood. I'll try not to be too long." Pyra spoke before getting up from her own couch and making her way to the bathroom. For his part, Chai just took this time to have another fruit bar, quickly scarfing the grainy breakfast snack into his mouth before opting to down it with the rest of the bottle of energy drink he'd been happy to stumble across in the Hideout's storage room last night.

Feeling a burst of energy from the green colored drink, Chai then proceeded to unruffle and dust off his clothes with an extra spring in his step. Upon making sure his scarf was properly on right and looked good, the excitable slacker then made use of his phone's camera feature to make sure he looked presentable… and all while making sure to dutifully ignore all the unanswered calls and unread texts that his parents left him since embarking on this whole odyssey to Vandelay Island. 'Yeah I don't even know where to begin trying to explain this to them, and y'know what? That's a problem for 'far in the future' Chai.'

"OK!" It was as Chai finished that exclamation that he noticed Pyra stepping out of the bathroom and looking ready for the day as well, prompting him to hop up from his seat and back onto his feet with a clap of his hands. "Ready when you and Pyra are, Peppermint. What's the grand plan?"

"Alright! Both of you check this out!" Peppermint began, her tone notably enthusiastic before she laid today's plans out on the table for both Chai and Pyra to see… literally too, in this case.

MISSION REPORT!

So, this SPECTRA program is, like I said, top secret, and only the Top Brass of the company have info on it

-Why are you so worried? 'SPECTRA' could be anything.

-Given our past interactions with this company just yesterday, I'm not exactly inclined to believe they're hiding anything benign, Chai…

Yeah, and if Pyra pointing out the obvious isn't enough to convince you, then I can also tell you I got a source on the inside compounding this theory.

-Sure, whatever.

Anyway, what we're gonna be doing is going back up to the Production Facility. Using my skills, Pyra's fire, (and your powers), we break into the Production Head's office. To be clear, that'd be Rekka -That lady who wouldn't stop screaming murder at the both of you- and with any luck, she'll be too busy cleaning the mess you both left at QA to be up in her office. We access her computer, steal the files on SPECTRA, and get out.

-Cool, cool… I wasn't listening, but it sounds quick and easy.

-I'll… make sure to walk you through any particulars you end up forgetting, Chai.

Probably for the best… actually, no, definitely for the best. Now, while you're both away, I can sync 808 up with Chai's Armstrong tech. Still working out a few more kinks, but I should be able to figure out a few extra tricks for you once I get things down.

-Wait, you're not coming along with us?

Nah, I'm not stupid or durable enough to go on a mission like this. I'll leave that up to you two.

-Sheesh, rude. The hell did Pyra do to earn being called dumb, Peppermint?

-Chai, I… don't exactly think she was talking about me just then…" Pyra couldn't help but point out, feeling both slightly exasperated and a bead of sweat run down her face as she addressed her oblivious Driver. Peppermint had clearly been referring to Pyra when she mentioned not being 'durable' enough, leaving both girls perplexed and with varying levels of exasperation. "Well, in the brief time I've known him, he has shown himself to be surprisingly resilient. I suppose it's a fair assumption to think Peppermint meant him when she said that…" Though even as she rationalized that, the redhead knew deep down this was just another example of her Driver being concerningly oblivious and airheaded.

"No, I wasn't." Peppermint interjected dryly. "Any questions now?"

"...Well, now that you mentioned it, I just gotta ask; Did you spend all last night drawing all this up?" Chai made a point to give Peppermint a very unamused look at her implicitly calling him stupid before asking a question that had been on his mind since Peppermint proudly brought out what looked to be a homemade comic-book detailing their plans for Production. "Was all THIS the 'details' you mentioned working on yesterday?"

"I had… other things to work out too, not just that, alright?" Peppermint said after a moment's hesitation, her tone both defensive and slightly embarrassed.

"Hey, I'm not knocking it. Honestly impressive in my book that you drew all this up while we were sleeping." Chai remarked, an impressed smile on his face as he took a moment to skim through all the pages of the 'plan' (read: homemade comic book). Judging by the surprising quality of the panels and how Peppermint apparently put all this together in a single night, all while Pyra herself leaned in a bit closer to get a curious look at the illustrations of herself and her three newfound friends, intrigue clear on her face, it was clear to both the wannabe rocker and his Blade companion that tech and hacking weren't Peppermint's only talents. "Anyway, on a more relevant note, how are we gonna get over to Production? With how you've kept going on about 'secrecy' and stuff, I'm guessing you don't exactly want us walking on the streets, right?"

At that question, Peppermint perked up considerably, a confident smile on her face as she began to speak. "Now that, I'm glad you asked. Between the sewers, maintenance tunnels, and the underground magma cavern lab," She began to explain, apparently not noticing the looks of shock on both Chai and Pyra's faces at that last thing she mentioned. "The tunnels underneath the island lead to manholes and exit points all over Vandelay Campus. The one I'm planning to guide you guys to will put you both right at the Production Facility's doorstep."

"Alright. Well then, if that's everything -and well, assuming you don't want to explain that 'underground magma cavern lab'- then let's not waste anymore time." As Pyra said this, a small smile made its way onto her face when she noticed 808 floating into arm's length in her ball-form, prompting the Aegis to pet her behind the ears. "I take it you'll be guiding us with 808 like you did yesterday, Peppermint?"

"You know it. I'll make sure to keep you guys in the right direction on the way," Peppermint explained before shooting a dry look at Chai. "Try to stay on track this time instead of wandering off again, alright?"

"Wasn't exactly planning on sight-seeing through dark, damp tunnels that all look the same, sooo…" At the slacker's flippant response, Peppermint merely rolled her eyes before silently taking her 'mission report' off the table and returning to her desk. When it was clear there was nothing more to say, both Chai and Pyra began to walk towards the Hideout's main exit. Though as they reached the door, the brunet turned towards the Aegis with an important question on his mind. "Hey so, on our way, I think it's important that we go over our entrances into the scene."

"Entrances…?" Pyra asked in curiosity, giving a slight tilt of her head as she waited for Chai to elaborate.

" Yeah!" Chai exclaimed as they both walked out the Hideout's exit, 808's LED lights illuminating the tunnels more brightly than yesterday, which combined with Pyra's own glowing, meant for a much less dark and uneasy trip through these tunnels. "Doesn't matter if it's a band venue, start of a secret mission, or what, a cool, flashy entrance is always a necessity if we have time to plan it out. Doubly so if you have super powers that lets you jump around like we do. On our way over, we should definitely decide on pulling some cool, flashy ways of arriving on the scene!"

"Well, I… don't think that's necessary, but I also suppose there's no harm in it. Did you have anything specific in mind?" Pyra admitted after a moment's thought, her curious gaze continuing to bore into Chai.

"Very glad you asked!"

*O*

*Ruuuuumble…*

Above ground, back on the campus proper, the lingering remnants of dusk finally cleared away as the sun gradually rose up beyond its spot on the horizon. Naturally, this resulted in the early-morning atmosphere Vandelay Island had been host to quickly fading away, all while signaling that the day had officially begun. (Not that one would know this from a passing examination of their surroundings, mind you. With how obsessed VandelayTechnologies was with making maximum profits at a minimum cost, it naturally meant that Worker Droids were almost always manning the campuses many different facilities and putting in that crunch nearly every hour of the day, seven days a week.)

The bright, sunny day and rays of sun beaming down onto the campus also better illuminated one of the manhole covers on one of the paths leading up to Rekka's main Production Facility, and in particular, how it suddenly began to rapidly vibrate and rumble.

*BASH!*

And no sooner than a second or two after this rumbling began, the cover for the manhole suddenly burst out from the ground and into the sky, followed quickly by the energetic forms of both Chai and 808, both of whom made a point to stylishly pose mid-air upon reaching the apex of their launch into the sky.

*Twhip!*

"I'm here, baby…" The brunet boasted with a confident smirk, making a point to touch off his entrance with an appropriate 'superhero landing pose' upon landing (With 808 landing on top of his back in a similar manner), all culminating in an entrance that Chai was positive would make a certain movie loving Henshin Hero proud if he bore witness to it…

*...Who are you talking to?* Of course, the high Chai felt at his stylish entrance quickly wore off when Peppermint bluntly asked him that question via 808 not even a moment later. Upon seeing the airheaded brunet give his surroundings a confused look over in response to his question, seeing for himself that he was basically talking to himself just a moment ago, the hacker merely rolled her eyes before continuing. *Forget it, just… head to Rekka's office. You can see it up there* She said, gesturing through 808 upwards at a particularly colorful tower with side decorations identical to Rekka's crosshawk up ahead.
"Pretty high up…" Chai remarked as he looked at his current objective.

*Ruuuumble…*

It was then, however, that he was reminded of how he wasn't the only humanoid going on this mission when he heard the manhole rumbling again behind him. "Hoo, sweet! This oughta be cool to watch from the outside." Well aware that this signified Pyra's imminent arrival as well as the fact that she was also planning a stylish entrance, Chai merely stood a few feet away from the manhole lid, an expectant smile on his face. Peppermint meanwhile, just had 808 silently roll her eyes on her behalf, still bemused that he managed to convince the redheaded Blade to follow his lead about making a flashy entrance.

*BURST!* *FWOOM!*

As he figured, Pyra's own take on a flashy and stylish entrance out the manhole had considerably more flare (Ha! Another one for the books) than Chai's own, with vivid flames bursting out from the manhole's edges and momentarily flaring out at all ends, prompting the brunet to shield his face with his left arm. Thankfully, he still had a good view of the Aegis flying out of the hole much like he did, flames trailing behind her like she was a rocket. At the peak of her launch, rather than go for a pose like he and 808 did, Pyra instead opted to cap things off with a mighty swing of her sword, briefly leaving an extravagant trail of fire behind her as she did so.

"Woo! Badass!" The brunet exclaimed with impression, enjoying the spectacle of Pyra's fiery entrance with a broad smile. Immediately after this, the Aegis descended to the ground and touched down with a crouch.

"A-Alright, I think that went well. Certainly funny trying to show off at someone's encouragement…" Pyra remarked as she began to rise up from her crouching position and look up from the ground. With how she, or at least… her previous self, made a point to flaunt her abilities, power, and alleged superiority as the Aegis, and with how in retrospect, she saw how Addam attempted to curb those traits in her, it was a rather funny contrast having her new Driver encourage her to show off and flaunt her abilities during her entrance. Still, Pyra wouldn't deny that in the… heat (Ha, she was beginning to understand Chai's love of lame puns more and more) of the moment, getting to show off like she did just now was much more fun and exhilarating than she expected. It also helped that sealed and restrained as they were, her powers weren't nearly as destructive as they were previously… "How was that, Chai? Would you say that was a 'stylish' enough entraaa CHAI! YOUR SCARF!"

"Huh? what about my scaaaoooo OOOH CRAP!"

…Only for that good feeling to get kinda nullified when she was then greeted with Chai's scarf and his yellow jacket having caught fire on the end and on several places, respectively.

From there, the next few moments consisted mainly of the voluptuous redhead and her airheaded companion panicking and flailing about as they both tried to put out the various bits of Chai's body that were on fire.

Additionally, as one might imagine, Peppermint merely had 808 silently watch on with a deadpan expression, sighing through her robotic pet as she had her facepalm.

"I-I am SO sorry! I-I was just trying to-! I-I mean…!" Pyra began hastily, stumbling over her words with how infectious her Driver's panic was. Upon seeing Chai calm down a bit after finally snuffing out his on-fire scarf and other bits of his clothes that caught fire, the Aegis felt some of her own composure return to her, allowing the next words out of her mouth to sound considerably more put-together. "I… I didn't burn you, did I…?"

"W-Wha? Pfffft! No, I'm fine, just uh… a little crispy in some spots. Cool entrance by the way! The pyrotechnics were a nice touch… singed clothes notwithstanding, anyway…" Chai was quick to hastily wave off Pyra's concerns, personally more concerned with recomposing himself now that the fires on his clothes were out and he wasn't smoking anywhere.

"O-Oh, well… I suppose I'm glad that little accident didn't detract from your opinion of my entrance, then." Was all Pyra could say, blinking in surprise at the sudden compliment. It really was a funny thing, seeing the brunet keep bouncing back from constant physical misfortune while barely skipping a beat.

"Hell yeah, it was awesome! Viewtiful, even!" Chai nodded enthusiastically.

"View tiful?* Both Pyra and Peppermint repeated at the same time, only for Chai to shrug off their questioning looks.

"Eh, forget what I said." Said Chai, thinking better of what he just said.
Peppermint just rolled her eyes through 808 before saying. *Anyway, you two will have to head through the main Production but I'll be your guide. Try to keep a low profile. And Pyra, please try to make sure he keeps a low profile.* She finished, sounding a bit exasperated. "Understood" Pyra nodded in acknowledgement.
"Alright, alright! Buzzkill." Chai grumbled out in annoyance as he brought out his Scrap Guitar. 808 then leapt to his shoulder before jumping off of it, turning into her ball form. "Welp! We're burning daylight, so let's bust a move and get going!" He declared confidently as he then leapt over and down the nearby railing behind them and began to trek towards the towering building that was Rekka's office, with 808 retaking control not even a moment after this and began to float after the brunet. On her own end, Pyra could only let out a light sigh before re-sheathing her sword and quickly following Chai down the stairs.

"You ready to have some fun, 808?" Chai asked his feline companion with a smile, and that smile only got more prominent when she gave him an enthusiastic nod in response. "Oh yeah, I think she's ready~."

"Hmhm~. I've never seen an animal act so similar in personality to another person, and you're not even her owner." Pyra couldn't help but note with a light giggle. Between this exchange and their playing with one another back at the Hideout, it was becoming quickly apparent that her Driver and their feline friend operated on the same wavelength, and the Aegis couldn't help but be amused by their antics so far.

"Well, guess that just means she has an awesome personality." Chai responded, eyes closed and a confident smile on his face. "So what about you? You pumped and ready that we're about to embark on our first big adventure?"

"Well, I mean… wouldn't yesterday count as our 'first big adventure?'" Pyra couldn't help but ask in confusion, figuring with how yesterday culminated in them fighting and defeating a murderous, giant Artifice-sized robot, that it would count as their first proper adventure instead.

"Yeaaah, but that was moreso us STUMBLING into adventure. Today, we're deliberately going out to kick ass and take names! Big difference in my book." Chai answered easily, and Pyra once again found herself letting out several muted chuckles while Peppermint was in the middle of rubbing her head in exasperation back at the Hideout.

"If nothing else, I'm certainly expecting a memorable day ahead of us, Chai."

To be continued…

Alrighty, and that's that. Again, I'm very sorry for how long this took to get out. It's generally been a rough couple of months for me and the fact that I spent the brunt of those months reeling from Tango's closure didn't help my mood or writing motivation. I know I said something like this last time, but I really am hoping to more consistently get more chapters to this story out going forward. Just hope no more goddamn cosmic anvils end up landing…

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed… and I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure the next chapter won't be nearly 50 pages and take several friggin' months to complete ._.

Oh, also! Cookie to whoever notices the reference I left to the other corporate-styled spectacle fighter featuring a protagonist with timing-based combos and a robotics megacorporation setting.