Chapter 1: Small Splashes Make Big Waves
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“No, I honestly don’t think you can become a Hero without a Quirk.”
“Y’know, if you actually want to be a Hero that badly, there may be another way.”
“It’s not bad to have a dream, young man. Just make sure your dreams are attainable.”
“Just pray you’ll be born with a Quirk in the next life. Then take a swan dive off the roof of the building.”
“Realistic. Understand?”
Izuku doesn’t know how long he’s been frozen in shock on the rooftop, All Might and Bakugo’s words playing on repeat in his mind. He can hear something vaguely like fireworks in the distance, but he’s not sure. It’s not until a raindrop hits his cheek that he breaks out of his trance. Having control of his body again, Izuku looks around and is perplexed when he sees that he’s leaning on the railing at the edge of the roof.
“When did I get here?” he wonders aloud before stepping back. The words have barely come out of his mouth before his phone starts ringing. He glances at the time and startles when he sees that it says 7:48 “Oh, shoot! I’ve been up here for hours! Mama has got to be super worried about me!”
He’s about to answer when he trips over his feet, causing the phone to fall out of his hand and slide across the roof, now slick with rain. Scrambling after the phone, Izuku is about to pick it up when he spots light glistening off of a strange crystal lying in a dark corner only a few feet away from the phone.
Phone now forgotten, he crawls over it towards the crystal and picks it up. It’s shaped like a rectangle, with two small protrusions on either side, close to one end. As soon as he picks it up, it starts glowing and pulsing with a golden-yellow color. Confused, Izuku stands up and starts inspecting it more closely. He looks up at the space elevator currently under construction in the distance, wondering if the strange crystal has anything to do with that. What was the project name again? Rhadamon? Rhudamin? Rhadamanthus! That's it! Such a weird name. Izuku thinks he remembers the project head being German, so that could have something to do with it.
Eh, it doesn’t matter right now. What does matter, however, is the crystal pulsing faster. A little nervous now, Izuku throws it towards the middle of the roof, where it stands on end, side with the protrusions at the top, and starts to grow larger. It continues to grow until it’s about a foot taller than Izuku, the pulsing now fast enough it’s imperceptible to the human eye and just appears as a constant glow.
Curiosity overcoming anxiety, Izuku slowly approaches it and hovers his hand just off of the surface of the now massive crystal. A weird tingling, almost like electricity, envelops his hand. Izuku is contemplating pulling his hand away when his phone rings again, startling him. In his momentary fright, his hand brushes against the crystal.
The moment his hand touches the crystal, there’s a blinding flash of light, then darkness. In the darkness, there is no crystal, no green haired teenager, only a ringing phone on a rain soaked roof.
“...And so, Pupunin wisely ran away for dear life.”
“Wise? Who wise now?” Bana questioned the Nopon in the video communicator while slamming his wings on the desk. “You useless idiot. Why can Pupunin not even die properly? What if they ask Bana to repay money, hmm?”
“Huh? Die? Repay who?” Pupunin questions, shocked.
“Meh! None of your business. Anyway. Tell me where Rex and Blade went.”
“Rex, Titan, and friends ran away! Went to south of Cyclus Sea. After that, Bana know as much as Pupunin!” The Nopon answers, “Storm was very thick, so Pupunin-”
“Pupunin lose them, yes?”
“Yes, but-”
“And then, run away like coward?”
“Yes, but-”
“Meh-meh-Meh-Meh-MEH!” Bana interrupts while slamming his wings on the desk again. “Bana not wanting feeble excuses of Pupunin! Just get back here! You got lot of work to do!”
Hanging up the call, Bana, the current Chairman of the Argentum Trade Guild, the most prestigious trade center in all of Alrest, sits back in his chair. “Meh-meh-meh… Even pricey insurance Bana take out on Maelstrom go to waste! Still, how interesting. Heading southward from Cyclus Sea…” he turns to look at a map on the wall. “In current season, that likely take them to Gormott.”
The map depicts the world of Alrest. It shows the various Titans that the people live on as they travel around on the Cloud Sea, an ocean that looks like a solid layer of clouds. In the center of the map is the World Tree, a massive tree sticking out of the Cloud Sea that all the Titans circle around. However, because the Titans are always on the move, the map is not entirely accurate, so it’s more of a decorative piece. Despite that, looking at it helps Bana estimate where a Titan would likely be at any given time.
‘Let see here, who Bana know in Gormott? They likely go to Torigoth, so…’ Turning his head to his right, he calls out to one of his servants, Harghal. “You, girl! Get Consul Dughall on the line immediately!”
“Yes, sir. One moment, please.” she says while bowing her head. After a moment, the call goes through and she steps back.
A weaselly looking man in pretentious clothing answers, “Why, if it isn’t Chairman Bana. What an unexpected pleasure. May I just say that I admire how you rebranded those broken Core Crystals. And selling them on to the dunderheads back in Mor Ardain, absolutely sublime!”
“Bana did not call to hear pointless flattery! And blabbering about Core Crystals on unsecured line?! Is Dughall some kind of idiot? What if Indol tap our communication?”
Dughall recoils, “O-oh, of course! I’m very sorry!”
“Meh, forget it. We got bigger fishies to fry.”
“Oh? What’s going on?”
“Listen up…”
The last 24 hours have been a lot for Pyra. She got freed from the stasis pod that was all she knew for the last 500 years, the person who freed her got stabbed through the back and killed, she brought the boy, Rex, back to life by giving him a portion of her Core Crystal, she fought her brother, and she escaped on the back of her old Titan friend, Azurda. That led to them crash landing on the considerably larger Titan, Melnath, though most know him by the name of Gormott. Due to wounds received in the crash, Azurda reverted to a state small enough he could be carried by any Human or Nopon that picked him up. She and Rex, her new Driver, then found the people that helped them escape, Nia, and her Blade, Dromarch, and helped them take down a monster that was giving them trouble.
They joined forces after that and made their way up onto Gormott’s back, stopping momentarily to admire the magnificent view of sprawling, grassy plains, before continuing on.
“Hey guys, I’m parched.” Nia, the Gormotti Driver, calls out. She’s wearing a baggy, yellow jumpsuit with gray and white knee-high boots. Cat-like ears poke out of her gray hair that goes down to maybe an inch above her shoulders. “There’s a pond up ahead we can stop at for a drink.”
“Excellent idea, my lady. I could go for a drink myself.” Dromarch, the white tiger Blade replies.
“Water? I’ve got my own bottle here.” Rex, the boy wearing a blue Scavenger suit replies, taking out his water bottle. After a quick shake, he frowns, “Rats. It’s empty.”
Nia starts laughing, “Scavenger boy’s out of water? What happened to ‘Be prepared for anything’?”
“My lady, you shouldn’t laugh at our friend’s misfortune. I’m sure he merely drank it all and has not yet had a chance to refill it.”
“Heh, got it in one, Dromarch. I’m not thirsty myself, at the moment, but I will fill my bottle anyways. Being prepared and all that.”
“Yeah, yeah. Say that all you want Rex, I'll believe it when I see it.”
“Gah! Nia! Wha-”
“And, we’re here.” Nia interrupts.
The pathway they’re on curves down to the left with a ledge overlooking the pond. Fences block the side to prevent anybody jumping in. With the way the trees dome in around them, it makes for a quaint little spot, perfect for a short rest.
“Oh! This is a very lovely pond. I think I’ll get a drink as well.” Pyra says.
It’s not long before all four of them are kneeling at the pond’s edge, drinking their fill. Pyra sits back when she feels something odd and strangely familiar. Looking around, she sees a shape forming in the air above them that looks oddly like her Core Crystal, but yellow instead of green. It’s a rectangle with two small protrusions towards the top on either side. Before she can call out its presence, a green haired boy, seemingly about Rex’s age, falls out of it as the shape disappears. The boy screams as he falls and lands on top of Nia, an undignified yelp coming from the girl, as they both tumble into the water.
Izuku is very confused right now. First this weird, glowing crystal shows up, grows from being able to fit in his hand to being taller than him. Then, he accidentally touches it and the next thing he knows he’s in the air with a red-headed girl staring at him, a strange look on her face. He barely registers that when he falls, landing on something that yelps before they both end up in the water.
‘Oh well. I was already drenched anyway, what’s a little more water on top of that?’
“Oi! What’s the big idea you lout? I was taking a drink when you came out of nowhere and pushed me in!” the gray haired girl with a cat mutation hisses at him.
Too stunned to say anything, the red haired girl with a green crystal in her chest speaks before anybody else can, “Nia, he fell out of the sky above you, I watched it happen.”
The gray haired girl, Nia apparently, turns to the redhead, “If you saw it happen, why didn’t you say anything? Damn it, I hate being wet.”
The white tiger walks up to Nia, “My lady. Are you ok? Is your head hurt?” he turns to Izuku, “And you, young man, are you ok? That was some fall you had.”
“Oh, sod off, Dromarch. I’m fine, just soaked and irritated.”
The brown haired boy in a strange looking blue dive suit wades through the water to Izuku and offers a hand. “Don’t worry about Nia there. She’s just surprised, is all. I’m Rex, this is Gramps.” A small white creature with small wings and a blue crystal in it’s chest pops out of the helmet on Rex’s back and waves.
Grabbing the hand, Izuku answers. “I-I’m I-Izuku, Izuku M-Midoriya. I’m so sorry about this. All I know is that I touched a crystal I found on a rooftop and then I’m falling through the air. I wonder what kind of Quirk created that. Could it be a villain? I don’t know a Hero with a Quirk like that. I’ve obviously been teleported somewhere, but where?”
An old sounding voice brings Izuku out of his muttering, “Oh ho ho, quite the chatterbox it seems. Well, it’s nice to meet you Izuku. While I don’t know what you mean by any of that Hero and villain stuff, I can answer where you are. You’re on Gormott.” Looking around, Izuku sees that the voice is coming from the creature known as “Gramps”.
“G-Gormott? I’m not familiar with that country. Is it somewhere near England?”
“Hmm, I can’t say I know of that Titan.”
“T-Titan? What do you mean, Titan?”
“Oh dear,” the tiger says, “I’m afraid we have much to talk about. First though, We need to get you two out of those wet clothes before either of you catches a cold.”
As if on cue, Izuku sneezes. “I’m afraid I don’t have any other clothes with me.”
“Not to worry,” the redhead walks up and lights a small fire in her hand. “I can light a fire and you can just sit near it. Your clothes should be dry in no time.”
“T-thank you…”
“Pyra.”
“Thank you, Pyra. T-that would be nice.”
Inko Midoriya is a woman with many regrets, chief among them being crushing her son’s dreams 11 years ago when he was diagnosed Quirkless. She would do anything if it meant she could do it over and be the support he desperately needed at the time. But, all she can do is be there for him now. Which would be a lot easier if he would just pick up his phone. Seriously, what is going on? He never takes this long to answer his phone.
She’s drawn out of her thoughts by a knock on the apartment door. Confused as to who it could be, she creeps towards the door, drawing one of the kitchen knives to her with her Quirk, Attraction of Small Objects. Knife in hand behind her back, she grabs the knob and pulls the door open just enough to peek outside and see who’s knocking. She sees a man with a rather plain face wearing a nice shirt with a tie, over which is a tan trench coat. He’s holding his tan fedora in his hand, so Inko assumes he has some kind of news to share with her. Behind him is a man that looks almost like a hobo with an extremely long gray scarf wrapped around his neck, his long, black hair resting on top of it. He seems to be on edge for some reason, one hand grasping an end of it.
Wanting to break the tense silence that has formed as Inko takes in what she can about the visitors, the man in the trench coat introduces himself.
“Good evening, I am Detective Tsukauchi with the Musutafu Police Department. Is this the Midoriya residence?”
Pausing with confusion, Inko answers, “Yes.”
“True. Am I correct in assuming that you are Mrs. Inko Midoriya then?”
“Yes… Why?” Inko bristles inside, she’s not usually this short with people. Her worry for Izuku must be affecting her more than she thought.
“I have some news regarding your son, Izuku. Would it be alright if my partner and I come inside?”
Inko freezes. They’re here about Izuku? What happened to her boy? What if she never gets to tell him how sorry she is about crushing his dreams all those years ago? Realizing she hasn’t answered yet, she quickly responds, opening the door, “Y-yes. Come on in. Would either of you like some tea? Coffee maybe?”
“Coffee, please. Eraser?”
The hobo looking man who hasn’t said a word the entire time asks, “Yeah, any coffee is welcome in my book. Ma’am, are you going to put that knife down?”
Looking down at her hand, Inko is surprised to find that she hadn’t put it down yet. She apologizes while walking to the kitchen to prepare the drinks and put the knife away. “I am terribly sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting anybody tonight other than Izuku, and he doesn’t knock. So, I grabbed a knife from the block in case I needed to defend myself.”
The men look at each other and nod before relaxing their postures. “That is a reasonable response, Mrs. Midoriya. I apologize for any concern we may have caused showing up unexpectedly like this.”
“Oh, no need to worry yourself over that, Detective. Now, you two go sit down in the living room, I’ll be in shortly with the coffee. Any cream or sugar for either of you?”
Sitting down on the couch, Tsukauchi replies, “No, thank you. We both drink it black.”
It’s about 10 minutes later when Inko arrives with a pot full of coffee and three mugs. She pours out the drinks and hands each man a mug before taking her own and sitting down. “Now, you said you had news regarding my son?”
“Yes, we do.” Tsukauchi takes a sip, “This is excellent coffee, ma’am.”
“Thank you”
“As I was saying, yes, we do have news about your son. Izuku Midoriya has disappeared.”
Notes:
And thus, the journey begins. We're starting with Chapter 2 of the game simply because I couldn't figure out how to fit Izuku in to the opening act of the game. The earliest I saw as good was the pool mentioned here. If y'all are confused at all about anything, don't worry, it will get explained in due time.
If you know anything about Xenoblade Chronicles 2, please do not spoil plot points for people who may not have played the game. Please keep the comments spoiler free. I absolutely welcome theories though, throw them at me. I have a feeling I may get a few, considering I threw a few twists of my own in while keeping the overarching story the same. So, go wild theorists! I look forward to reading all of the comments and theories.
Track Names:
1. Loneliness (Cover by TeraCMusic)
2. A Brewing Storm
3. Friendship
4. Gormotti Forest
5. A Portent Crawling OverEdit: Music Recommendations (Feb. 23, 2024)
Chapter 2: Titans? Quirks? Blades?
Summary:
The gang discusses their different worlds while Nia and Izuku's clothes dry
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It’s not terribly long after Nia and Izuku have been pulled out of the water that wood has been gathered and a fire started, courtesy of Pyra. Izuku, marveling at her flame, blurts out, “That is such an amazing Quirk you have, Pyra! I wonder what all you can do with it! Can you produce flame anywhere else? How hot can you get the flames? Is that crystal on your chest part of your Quirk? It doesn’t seem whole, is it broken?”
Pyra doesn’t know how to respond to the onslaught of questions, and is stunned into silence. Seeing her predicament, Rex responds instead.
“I’m sorry, Izuku, was it? What are you talking about? What’s a Quirk?”
“Y-you don’t k-know what a Q-quirk is? I- how? Everybody has one.” Izuku hesitates for a moment before looking down, “Well, almost everybody.”
“Master Izuku, I’m afraid none of us know what a ‘Quirk’ is.” Dromarch says, "Would you kindly mind enlightening us on the subject?”
“Um, sure. Quirks are… oh goodness, how do I explain this?” Izuku puts a hand to his chin in thought, “Quirks are a supernatural ability that 80 percent of the world’s population possess. They can be anything from making fire, like Pyra,” he waves a hand in the redhead’s direction, “to size manipulation. There are some that help with movement, some offer ways to heal the user or others, and some make you physically stronger while others make you smarter. Some that manipulate specific materials and some that create things. If you can imagine it, it could be a Quirk. The very first one was actually a newborn baby that just radiated light. ”
Nia pipes up, “Sounds neat. What’s your Quirk then? You’re obviously not like that glowing baby.”
“I… um…”
“Well? Go on then.”
“My lady! Please, do not push him! He is obviously uncomfortable answering that question. Please, Master Izuku, continue if you are willing.”
“T-thanks, Dromarch. Well… I don't… I-I don't have a Q-quirk.” Izuku pulls into himself, expecting a negative reaction from the group.
There’s a tense silence for a short time because of Izuku’s reaction. It’s the small, white, flying creature, Gramps, that breaks the silence. “I can’t imagine you were treated well where you come from. Humans can be quite rude at times, that seems to be a consistent fact both here and there. It took great courage to tell us that, despite your fear. I commend you for that, young man.”
“T-th-thank y-you?” Izuku uncurls slightly and is surprised when he sees no signs of animosity. “I-I’ve never had anybody n-not care that I’m Quirkless before.”
Pyra comes over and puts a hand on his arm, “I’m so sorry you haven’t had support before, Izuku. I…” She trails off, staring at his right shoulder. “Um, Izuku?”
“Y-yeah?”
“I apologize if this seems blunt, but when did your shoulder get burned?”
As a healer, Nia gets concerned for the green haired boy upon hearing this. “What? Let me see.”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Izuku tries to pull away, but is gently held in place by Pyra.
“Hold still, Izuku, we’re just concerned. Nia, it’s right here”
“Oi. Fleabag. Get over here.”
“Right away, my lady.”
“I swear I’m fine. I’ve had much worse from Kacchan.”
“Hold still, Greenie, let me patch you up. I’m gonna need you to take your shirt off, that seems like a nasty burn from what I’m seeing. And what the hell do you mean, ‘I’ve had worse’? This is brutal!”
“It’s fine, really. I wouldn’t want to use up any of your supplies anyways.”
Rex takes the opportunity to speak up, “It’s not a big deal, our next stop was Torigoth anyways. We can just resupply there. Easy peasy.”
“Anyways,” Nia starts, “It may just look worse because of your clothes. Get your shirt off and I’ll be able to get a better look at it.”
“A-alright then.” Izuku proceeds to unbutton his school gakuran, wincing as he moves his shoulder to do so. After he has it and his undershirt off he lets Nia get a proper look at his shoulder, watching her every move.
“Ok, it’s not quite as bad as I thought, but it’s still not good. Dromarch, hit ‘im.”
Confused and a little panicked, Izuku turns to Dromarch and sees him opening his mouth. Before he can say anything, a wave of green particles comes rushing out of the tiger’s mouth towards Izuku. Bracing for the impact, Izuku is surprised to feel the wave gently wash over him, greatly easing the pain in his shoulder. It also gives him an uneasy feeling, like there’s something trying to crawl up his throat.
“Alright, much better! Now, let’s ge- OI! Where are you running off to?!”
Izuku feels terrible for running from Nia, but he had to get to the edge of the campsite, now. That weird feeling was getting more intense rapidly, making him nauseous. He barely gets away from the group before he’s on his knees, throwing up.
The entire group is stunned by his reaction to the healing pulse, that shouldn’t have made him puke. So why is he? Nia and Dromarch shake themselves out of their stupor and rush to Izuku’s side.
When he finally stops, Izuku is surprised to see what he just puked up. On the ground between his hands is sludge residue that must have still been in his lungs from the villain attack earlier that day and that wave made it come out.
“S-sorry about that,” Izuku looks at Nia crouching beside him, “I got attacked earlier today and apparently the sludge didn’t all come out.”
Nodding, Nia leads him back to the fire. “By this Kacchan person?”
“N-no. Someone else. The guy had some kind of sludge Quirk. I didn’t get a good look because he was choking me from behind.”
“And Dromarch’s heal pulse must have expelled what was left. Ok, we’re good here. Now, since you ran off, the pulse wasn’t able to finish the job, so I’m going to cover up what’s left. Hold still.”
“Now,” Gramps begins, “while Nia is taking care of your shoulder, I believe we were discussing Quirks?”
“Oh. That was pretty much it. Well, there is one Quirk type I forgot, mutation type.”
“Mutation type?” Rex asks, “Aren’t Quirks themselves mutations?”
Izuku sighs, “Yeah, they are. I didn’t make the classifications, and I think they need to be rethought. Anyways, Quirks classified as mutations include anything that visibly changes a human body. Things like Nia’s cat ears or the crystal in your chest, Rex. Those would be considered quirk related mutations.”
“Oh, ok. What’s the craziest mutation you’ve seen?”
“That’s easy. Pro Hero Gang Orca, his quirk makes him look like an orca whale! It’s so cool. He gets a lot of hate because people think it makes him look scary, but I think it’s just cool!”
Seeing a pause, Pyra asks, “One moment, you said ‘Pro Hero’, what do you mean by that?”
“Yes, I found that curious as well.” Gramps adds
“I’m curious as well, Greenie, but you need to stop talking with your hand if I’m going to get your shoulder wrapped up.”
“S-sorry, Nia.” Izuku sheepishly replies.
“No worries, just hold still.”
“Anyways,” Rex interjects, “Pro Hero. What is that?”
“Well, since Quirks appeared about 200 years ago, some people started using theirs to commit crimes or just cause mayhem and wanton destruction. Pro Heroes are people who are employed by the public to keep the peace and protect the everyday person from these ‘Villains’ as they became known.”
“It sounds like quite the chaotic world you come from, Master Izuku.”
“It is.” Izuku looks up at Gramps, “So, I told you all about Quirks. What are these ‘Titans’ you talked about? And how do you explain the fire and healing just now if it’s not a Quirk?”
“Ah yes, I would be quite glad to inform you of those things. You see, in this world, Alrest, we call it, everybody lives on the backs of creatures known as Titans.”
“So, we’re on a Titan now?”
“Yes we are, the Gormotti Titan, in fact. Known for its plains, trees, and plentiful water. I myself am actually a Titan, though due to recent events and a process Rex won’t let me get all the way through,” “Hey!” “I have reverted to a larval state.”
“Wow… So cool!”
Gramps puts his little arms on his hips and puffs his chest out in pride while flying in place with his little wings, “Indeed it is. I’m glad someone can appreciate me. You know, Rex here used to live on my back.”
“Really? You were that big?! So cool!”
“Indeed,” Dromarch remarks, “we actually owe him our lives. If it wasn’t for his larger form, we surely would have perished. I once again give you my thanks.” Dromarch bows respectively, as much as a tiger can, that is, towards Gramps.
“Oh, my dear Blade, there is no need to thank me. It’s the least I could do for you and Nia getting my Rex out of his predicament first.”
Confused, Izuku interrupts, wincing while he does, “Hold on, Blade? What does a weapon have to do with things?”
“Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten an important detail.” Gramps sets himself down on Dromarch’s head, “You see, it seems the Titans are not the only major difference between our worlds. Here, we have the Blades, entities bound to humans, called Drivers, that come in various forms, the majority are human shaped, like Pyra. Others are beast shaped, mainly like large cats, such as Dromarch, but they can take a variety of forms. You can typically spot a Blade because they often have their Core Crystal embedded into their chests.”
Looking at Pyra and Dromarch, Izuku soaks in the information, identifying the Core Crystals in the Blade’s chests. He glances over at Rex, remembering the crystal in his chest. “Wait, if a crystal in the chest means you’re a Blade, is Rex a Blade as well?” Izuku notices in the corner of his eye how Nia tenses a little at that question, but decides to ignore it.
“No, Rex is human. He’s Pyra’s Driver in fact. As to how he has a Core Crystal, that is his story to tell.”
The entire group turns to look at Pyra and Rex, Rex rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well, you see… I, um… I got stabbed in the back by somebody I thought was an ally. It, um, it pierced my heart. I died instantly.”
To say Izuku is shocked is an understatement. Before he can will anything past his lips, Pyra speaks up. “I was able to bring him back, but I had to give up half of my Core Crystal to him. So, that’s why my Core has this section out of the middle and why that section is in Rex’s chest.”
“I still call bullsh*t on that,” Nia says, looking at the pair, ”I don’t care if Pyra’s this legendary “Aegis” character or not, that’s not natural.”
“As the Aegis,” Gramps starts, “the normal rules for Blades don’t apply to her. I don’t fully know how myself though, so that’s all I can tell you.”
“E-excuse me.” Izuku asks, “What’s the Aegis?”
“Apologies, Izuku, the Aegis is a legendary Blade said to come from the World Tree, the massive tree that all the Titans circle around. There was a war 500 years ago, called the Aegis War. Through events that even I’m not fully certain about, she sank 3 Titans below the Cloud Sea, effectively ending the war.”
Pyra hung her head, starting to tear up some, “I was horrified that I destroyed 3 Titans, so I hid myself away. Imprisoned myself in a ship, then sunk it so no one could find me, vowing to never use that power again. I was down there, in stasis, for 500 years before Rex came in and freed me.”
Noticing her tears, Izuku walks over to her, much to Nia's ire, and wraps her in a hug, making sure his right shoulder is still free so it doesn't get hurt more.
“Oi! Mop Head! What gives? I was almost done with that wrap!”
“S-sorry, Nia. I didn't even realize I moved until just now.”
“Well, when you're done you get your butt back here so I can actually wrap your shoulder.”
There's a tense silence following this. It's not until Izuku breaks off the hug, sits back down, and Nia finally finishes wrapping his shoulder that Gramps speaks up.
“Pyra, I apologize for bringing up bad memories. It was not my intention to make you cry.”
“Oh, Azurda, I don't blame you. It's just, you actually lived through the past 500 years. To me, it just happened last month. So, it's still a bit of a fresh wound.”
“That may be, but I still feel terrible for making you cry, old friend.”
Gramps flutters over to Pyra and goes in for a hug. This makes the group laugh, as when Pyra returns the hug it looks like she's squeezing a stuffed animal.”
Nia isn’t quite sure what to think of this green haired boy that fell into her earlier. At first, she was pissed. How dare this twerp push her into the water! She may like the water, but that doesn’t mean she likes being dunked in it unexpectedly. Then, after Dromarch, Pyra, and the Titan got everybody to sit down around a campfire so Nia and the boy could dry their clothes she started to calm down. As the boy talked about his world, she couldn’t help but start to sympathize with him. She went through so many difficulties of her own because of something she couldn’t control. So, she knows what it’s like to have just about the entire world against you.
Then, Pyra finds that burn on his shoulder. When she looked at it, she couldn’t understand how they were just now finding it. That has to be exceedingly painful! How is he barely flinching? What the hell is this kid made of? On top of that, he’s worried more by other people’s distress more than his own pain if him rushing to hug Pyra when she started tearing up says anything. This kid is frustratingly thoughtful, even to his own detriment.
After Nia and Izuku’s clothes have finished drying and a short lunch eaten, Nia speaks up. “So, Izuku. We’re about to head out to Torigoth. You coming with us?”
“I-I guess so. You guys are the only people I know here.”
“Well then,” Gramps says, “in that case, we will need to acquire another set of clothes for you. You can’t exactly go around with that hole burnt into your shoulder.”
“I-”
“And don’t you go arguing this, Mop Top, this is non-negotiable. Also, full black? That’s not a good idea for long with the climate here on Gormott. The sun’s not quite as intense here as on Mor Ardain, but it can still be rough.”
“Indeed,” Gramps interjects, “the Ardanian Titan is known for its arid climate and intense sun.”
“O-ok. I guess that’s fair.”
Rex clasps his helmet onto his suit, letting it hang upside down on his back, “Well, I guess we’d best head out then. Izuku, you don’t really have a way to defend yourself here, so if a monster attacks, just hang back.”
“And if we tell you to run, you run straight towards Torigoth as fast as you can, no heroics.” Nia adds, “There are a couple very strong monsters out there we need to be careful about. Well, one in particular, but he tends to leave you alone unless you get too close, so we likely won’t have to deal with him.”
“H-hang back in a fight. If you tell me to run, I r-run. Got it.”
“Very good,” Gramps says as he flies into Rex’s waiting helmet, “now, let’s go.”
Nia watches Rex lead the way out as she follows behind Izuku. She can’t help but chuckle as Izuku’s jaw drops when they leave the natural enclosure that blasted pond is in, to the open plains of Gormott. Her home has always been beautiful, and she finds it amusing to watch others' reactions to seeing it for the first time.
There is a massive green field in front of them with slight rolling hills. To the left, massive tree roots provide shade to a large, shallow pond. Looking ahead down the path is a large tree growing out of a rock outcropping. Looking up from there, one can see Gormott’s head looming in the distance, neck ridges shifting as it looks around in front of it. To the right from there is their destination, the town of Torigoth, capital city of the nation of Gormott. Another massive tree grows right next to the town and bends over, stretching out in such a way that its bows and leaves provide shade for Torigoth. The town’s windmill tower doesn’t even come close to touching the leaves with its fans. Looking even further to the right reveals an endless sea of white, fluffy clouds, the Cloud Sea. The flat horizon only broken by the occasional shifting clouds and the World Tree, obviously extremely far away, but still appearing to be very, very large.
And that’s not even counting the creatures that populate this vast land. There are flocks of Armu, four legged creatures with a wide, flat tail, a hard frill around their head and 2 horns sticking out of the top of the head, grazing peacefully on the grass. Feris and Volff, wolf-like creatures, are sunbathing on rock formations while their children roll around in the grass, locked in a play fight. There are a couple Rhoguls out stretching their wings, the large birds just gliding around aimlessly. Off in the distance past the tree growing out of the rock outcropping is a massive ape that Nia recognizes as the Gogol the townspeople have taken to calling “Territorial Rotbart”.
Snickering, Nia raises Izuku’s jaw back into place before walking down the path, turning back to look at the boy, “Looks like we found a place for you. You’d be able to hide real easy here with that hair of yours. Just crouch in a bush and nobody’ll see ya!” She turns around laughing, glad to hear him laughing as well.
Why does that laugh make her feel so good? Why does the fact she caused it make it feel even better?
Notes:
Into Gormott Field! Next time, the party arrives in Torigoth.
Apologies for all the exposition, there's a lot of it here in the game. I'm going to try and get through it as fast as possible when it comes up, but I still want to get all the information out there for people who may be reading this with no knowledge of the game.
Track Names:
1. A Place in the Sun
2. Gormott (Cover by gabocarina96)Edit: Music Recommendations (Feb. 23, 2024)
Chapter 3: Conflated Countenances
Summary:
After a "small", Bunnit shaped, delay, the party arrives in Torigoth and witness Driver Recruitment for the Empire of Mor Ardain
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku can’t believe his eyes. This place is beautiful! He’s never seen this much green in his entire life! Sure, he’s no stranger to green, what with the forests and parks he went to in Japan, but he spent most of his time in the city. So, nothing quite beats the intensity of the green here. And looking out at the Cloud Sea? The vast ocean of white is one of the most calming sights he’s ever seen, broken only by the occasional small, dark dot, which must be smaller Titans in the distance and the towering World Tree. It reaches up as far as he can see. So far, he wouldn’t be surprised if the upper branches are in the lower atmosphere.
It’s quite the experience walking through the plain towards Torigoth. They get attacked by the occasional Volff, which are about the size of a wolf back in Japan. It’s tough for him to stay back from the fight, especially as the Volff seem to recognize that he’s defenseless and try to go for him first. Nia is always right there to get them off of his back though, and she looks so cool while doing it. He can’t help but wish he had one of his notebooks with him, there are so many things he wishes he could write down.
When they’re approaching Torigoth, Izuku can’t help but notice a group of rabbit-like creatures over to the left. They look just like large rabbits from back in Japan, except with larger ears and a massive tail that looks like it could be used like a hand. Curious about them, he pokes Nia’s shoulder.
“Hey, Nia?”
“What’s up Greenie?”
“What are those creatures, they look kinda like the rabbits where I’m from.”
“Hmm? Oh. Those are Bunnits. They’re generally pretty peaceful. Won’t attack unless you attack them.”
“Cool.” Giving another look towards the group of Bunnits, he notices that one is significantly larger than the others. He once again wishes he had one of his notebooks so he could take notes on everything.
After studying the Bunnits for a moment longer, Izuku looks back at Rex and Nia, noticing that they kept walking, neither of them having realized that Izuku fell behind. Jogging to catch up, Izuku steals a final look back at the Bunnits, where he sees that the large one is hopping towards them, waving a- “Is that a log?!?”
Everybody turns around when they hear the shock in Izuku’s voice, looking past him to see a massive Bunnit carrying what looks like a chewed up, but still very solid log, likely swiped from the lumber yard just outside of Torigoth’s front gate, in its tail, hopping towards them.
“Oh dear,” Gramps says, “it appears to be upset for whatever reason.”
“It would be prudent then to get to the gate into town.” Dromarch states, voice laced with concern.
Seeing that Izuku is much closer to the Bunnit than them, Rex looks at Pyra before the pair run and position themselves just in front of Izuku.
“Izuku,” Rex starts, “keep going. Get into town, we’ll be right behind you.”
Izuku is hesitant to run, but that Bunnit is larger than him and is carrying a freaking log ! So, he books it. This was apparently the wrong thing to do though, as the moment he does so, the Bunnit starts running, well, taking massive hops, after him. The Bunnit jumps clean over Rex and Pyra, catching up to Izuku just before he gets to Nia and Dromarch.
“Master Izuku!” Dromarch calls out, dashing forwards, breathing out some kind of barrier of shining hexagons, catching the Bunnit’s log just before it can crash down onto Izuku.
“Are you ok?” Nia runs over, helping Izuku up as Dromarch drops the shield.
“I-I’m fine. I thought you said Bunnits weren’t aggressive!” Izuku says while watching the Bunnit turn on Rex, who just did a front flip, bringing his flaming sword down on its back.
Nia snorts, pulling a pair of rings about a foot in diameter off of her belt before spinning them in her hands. “I said that most of them aren't. This one here is a nasty one known as Moonlighting Elwyn.” A continuous, light blue blade sprouts from the outer edges of the rings, with the exception of the handles Nia is holding on to, extending to a few inches. “Don’t ask me how it got its name, I have no clue.”
Before he can say anything else, Nia and Dromarch join the battle right as Rex tosses his sword to Pyra, who spins it around her in a circle, causing massive amounts of fire to pour into Elwyn when it connects. Izuku once again wishes he had one of his notebooks with him. As soon as he’s able, he’s seeing if this world has notebooks or something similar he can write in and attempting to get one.
He’s pulled out of his thoughts by the Bunnit rushing over, swinging that log towards Izuku's feet. If he does nothing, it's going to take his feet out from under him, leaving the Bunnit open to do some major damage! There has to be something in his notebooks for something like this! Think, Izuku! Think!
That's it! Notebook 12, Page 22: Mirko.
Izuku is sitting on the living room couch next to his mother, notebook in hand, watching a live broadcast of Pro Hero Mirko fighting a rather large villain with some sort of strength enhancement quirk. The villain picks up a broken cement pillar and swings it at her, aiming at her legs. Izuku watches, fascinated, as Mirko jumps up slightly, and kicks down on the pillar while throwing her upper body back. She brings her knees up to her chest as she flips back and shoots them back out again, landing perfectly with both feet on the ground before throwing another kick at the villain’s face.
Shaking the memory out of his head, Izuku readies himself, leaning forward slightly, waiting for the oncoming log. When it arrives, he jumps up, kicking down on it while throwing his upper body back as hard as he can. He brings his knees into his chest and, wait, what was the next part again? Before he can remember, Izuku, still tucked into a ball, lands on his back and rolls. Thankfully though, he rolls away from the massive Bunnit. He goes about 7-8 feet before he unravels, landing in a sitting position against the surprisingly sturdy torch planted in the ground marking the beginning of the final bit of the path into Torigoth.
“Whoo! That was awesome, Izuku!” Rex calls out, “Now go! Get to town!” A wave of what looks almost like water rushes out of Dromarch’s mouth, seeming to heal Rex and Nia while also causing massive damage to Elwyn. This causes the Bunnit to be encased in a massive amount of very hot steam, if the withering grass underneath is any indication.
Izuku, hesitant to run and leave his new friends alone with this creature, takes in his surroundings looking for something, anything he can use. Looking down at the base of the torch he's sitting against, Izuku feels a grin sneak its way onto his face. Perfect.
This fight is not going well for Nia. This Architect damned Bunnit seems to have some semblance of a brain, as it keeps turning on her every time she uses a healing Art. And with the massive log it’s carrying in its tail, that can be quite the issue considering how easily it can just crush her with it. Normally, she’s not concerned about injuries as she can heal just about anything, but even she’s worried about that log. If the head or heart of a Human or the Core Crystal of a Blade are crushed, not even she can bring them back from that.
Speaking of logs, Nia is flat on her back right now, staring up at that sparking log that just stopped on its own, mere inches from her face. She had just tossed the rings to Dromarch to try and get a big attack in, but Elwyn and its surprisingly decent brain took that moment to knock Nia down and slam its log down on her. The question is, why did it stop?
Her question is answered by something falling onto her foot. Looking down, she sees a rock settling in the grass by her foot. Looking past her foot, Nia can’t believe what she sees. It's Izuku, arm outstretched like he just threw something, holding a bunch of rocks in his other hand. The snuffing idiot. She guesses she can't really hold it against him though, he did save her skin with that rock, however idiotic it may have been.
The log raises away from Nia's face as Elwyn slowly turns towards Izuku. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Dromarch bounding over to her. Before she knows it, she's been scooped up in his jaw like a kitten. Nia stops just before yelling at the Blade, seeing why he did that. Rex and Pyra jumping into the air, both of them holding their very much on fire sword. They land just in front of the Bunnit, causing a massive pillar of fire to erupt from the ground, reducing that snuffing log to ash.
Dromarch unexpectedly drops her onto her butt. She's about to complain when she sees why; he needs his mouth to put up his ether shield, the translucent hexagons protecting her from the debris flung by the explosion centered on the Bunnit. When the smoke clears, she can make out the ether particles rising from its limp body, signifying that it's dead and dissolving into ether.
Standing up and brushing the dirt off her jumpsuit, Nia slides a balled up hand into her pocket before going over to Izuku. He's standing up himself with a small cut on his cheek, presumably from debris. Frustrated with his actions, Nia goes up and punches him lightly, she's upset, not pissed, in the shoulder.
“That's for being an idiot.”
“Wha-?” Izuku is cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around him as Nia hugs him.
“That's for saving my life.”
Confused, Izuku awkwardly hugs her back, looking over her shoulder at Rex, Pyra, and Dromarch, who all look just as confused.
Breaking off the hug, Nia turns to everybody, saying, “What are you all standing around for? Let's go!” before turning around and heading up the path into Torigoth.
Baffled, Pyra and the boys follow her, Rex asking what they're all thinking, “What's gotten into her?”
“I'm afraid,” Dromarch starts, “that my lady is not the most adept at expressing her emotions.”
“Ah” Rex answers.
When they catch up to Nia, they find her staring at a notice board. Seeing them approach, she turns to them, an angry expression on her face.
“Look at this! Who the ‘ell do they think they are? That is not what I look like!”
Following her outstretched finger, Izuku can see three wanted posters. The first thing Izuku notices is that they're not written in Japanese. The second is that he can still read whatever this language is just as naturally as if it was Japanese. Each poster reads “Fugitive Warrant” above the picture, and “If you see this face, please contact your closest Ardanian Security Office.” No names on any of them, curious.
Izuku starts with the first one on the left. It depicts a man with light colored, if the lack of shading on the sketch was any indication, shoulder length hair, wearing a mask that covers all of his face with the exception of his mouth and eyes, two horns poking up through his hair.
The one in the middle depicts a man with dark hair spiking up towards the middle of his head and a scowl on his face.
The third is the one Nia was pointing at. It depicts a girl with cat ears and a vicious looking snarl on her tiger-like face.
“A remarkable likeness, to say the least.” Dromarch mutters from his place next to Nia.
“Oi! Did you say something?” Izuku watches as Nia turns and glares at the side of Dromarch’s head.
Apparently realizing she heard what he said, Dromarch quickly replies, “Ah, er, no. I fear they may have conflated our countenances, my lady.” His tail flicks as if to say he's happy with his save. “How very awful.”
Balling her hands into fists, Nia growls before hissing, tearing the poster into shreds with her claws.
Backing away from her fit of rage, Rex mutters under his breath, “Remind me to never get on her bad side.”
“Uh huh.” Izuku replies, just as shocked as everybody else. “You and me both, buddy.”
“Fie! Who has the courage to heed the Empire’s call?” They are drawn out of their shock by a loud voice from across the town square, “Your strong heart today will build a strong Mor Ardain tomorrow! Of course, you get more than a salary! Pension and benefits are included!”
Rex and Izuku look at each other, confused at the apparent recruiter before the party moves a little closer to the crowd gathered in the plaza. Izuku notices a glowing, blue crystal on a crate in front of the officer. He can’t quite make out the shape because of the distance and the crowd, but he thinks it’s fairly close to a cube.
“Distinguish yourself, and you could even join the nobility! For the glory of the Ardanian Empire and His Majesty, Emperor Niall! Come now! Who wants to be the hero of tomorrow?!” The officer opens his arms in a wave across the crowd.
Rex hums, “What’s the deal over there?”
“Driver recruitment.” Nia answers.
“Driver recruitment?” Izuku asks.
Turning to face the pair, Nia says, “Recently, they’ve been recruiting Drivers from all over.”
“The pool of potentials is ever shrinking.” Dromarch interjects. “They must have run out of candidates in the military.”
Rex reaches up, scratching the back of his head, “What do you mean by ‘potentials’? I’m not sure I follow.”
“Just see for yourself.” Nia gestures towards the crowd.
Izuku spots a group of three children with cat-like ears, Gormotti is what Nia said, trying to hold back a young man. “Don’t do it, bro, it’s too dangerous!”
“What will we do if something happens to you?” the second kid says. “Who’ll look after us?”
The third grabs onto his hand just as he tries to push past them, “P-please…”
Turning to look at his sister, the young man says, “I-I, I know it’s dangerous.” He looks towards the blue crystal, “But i-if I can b-become a Driver…”
“Outta the way, pipsqueak!” a larger Gormotti man pushes the siblings to the ground as he walks through them towards the recruiter. “All right, c’mon Blade boyo! Show me watcha got!” He lets out a grunt of exertion as he all but slams his hand down onto the crystal.
The crystal starts glowing a more intense blue as a yellow-white light starts emanating from the man. Something is wrong though, the man’s entire body is shaking and he’s letting out a scream of increasing pain.
“Yeah,” Nia huffs, crossing her arms, “he’s done for.”
“Indeed.” Gramps agrees.
After some more screaming, the man falls backwards, eyes rolled so far back in his head that his iris can’t be seen, blood streaming down the left side of his face. Pyra and Izuku both draw back in horror, covering their mouths.
“Oho,” the recruiter starts while his two comrades drag the unconscious man away, “all bark and no bite! What a shame!”
“Eurgh, what just happened?” Rex asks. “All that blood…”
“Couldn’t handle the Core Crystal’s power.” Nia says, nonchalantly.
“That’s what happens when someone unqualified touches a Core Crystal.” Dromarch says, watching the man be dragged into a healer’s tent.”Truly lamentable.”
“You need a qualification to awaken a Blade?” Rex asks, shocked.
“So that’s how somebody awakens a Blade” Izuku realizes, muttering under his breath, “they awaken them from those Core Crystals.”
“Perhaps ‘aptitude’ would be a better word.” Gramps corrects.
“Aptitude?” Rex asks.
“Now,” the recruiter starts again, “is there nobody else here ready to test their strength for the glory of the Empire?!” He looks across the gathered crowd before his eyes land on the young man from earlier. “Oh! How about you? What say you? Step forwards, sir, with bold heart!”
“Noo!” the young man’s sisters call out as he starts walking forward, eyes locked on the crystal.
“Don’t…” he turns back to look at his sisters. “Don’t worry. Your big bro’s gonna be a Driver, and then we’ll be set for life.” He gets to the crate, and reaches for the crystal.
“Don’t do it!” all three of the girls cry out right as he places his hand on the crystal.
The crystal starts glowing a more intense blue once again as a yellow-white light starts emanating from the now screaming young man. The scream however, does not appear to be one of pain, but of determination.
“There’s your ‘aptitude’.” Nia says.
The yellow-white light gets significantly more intense, to the point it’s almost blinding. The light gathers in his chest before shooting up and splitting in two. One part manifests into a lance with a glowing blue edge in front of him, which he grabs. The other part lands before him and takes the shape of a humanoid, crouched in a bow. The humanoid starts standing as the light fades from the feet up revealing what looks like a male in silver and dark blue full body armor with spikes coming out of his head where ears should be.
“I did it!” the young man yells, holding the lance victoriously in the air. His sisters rush towards him, embracing him in a hug.
“You did it!”
“I don’t believe it!”
“Wow!”
Rex and Izuku stare in disbelief while Pyra rushes forward and stands on the edge of the crowd, staring in wonder. “The Core Crystal turned into… a weapon?” Rex asks.
“That is how Blades are born, Rex.” Gramps says.
“What? But, when I touched Pyra’s…”
“She’s a special case.” Nia interjects, pointing a finger in his face. “Pyra is the Aegis, remember? So the usual rules don’t apply. Like I said before, that life force sharing business isn’t exactly normal.”
“If I remember,” Izuku says, “didn’t you say that she’s a legendary Blade? If that’s the case, wouldn’t she be easily recognizable?”
“She would be,” Gramps says, “we just have to hope that nobody does recognize her until we can get her a disguise.”
“Let’s go.” Nia starts, walking towards the shops on their left. “No point sticking around for the enrollment ceremony and all that boring stuff.”
Tapping Pyra on the shoulder, Rex gestures towards the retreating Nia and they follow.
Nia leads the gang down a back street, “Ok then. I’ll show you to the inn, then I’m out of here. I don’t want to stick around on the chance they actually got one of those posters right.”
“What?” Izuku questions, shocked. “You’re leaving?”
“I fell in with a bad crowd and I didn’t realize it until yesterday. Apparently, that crowd comes with big ol’ wanted posters. So, I can’t stick around in one place for too long.” Shaking her head, Nia mumbles under her breath, “Same ol’, same ol’ I guess.”
Breaking the awkward silence, Rex speaks up, “This whole thing with Core Crystals, touching them to create Blades… It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.”
“We Blades start out as formless,” Pyra says, “anchored to the world only by our Core Crystal. Only the touch of a potential can imbue us with form and being. And it is by those forms we come to be known.”
“So you see, my boy,” Gramps says, reclined in Rex’s helmet, “in some ways it is only the fated touch of a Driver that allows the Blades to exist at all.”
“Wow! Why does it happen that way, though?” Rex asks. Izuku is thoroughly intrigued, silently committing all this information to memory so he can write it down when he finally gets his hands on a notebook.
Gramps sighs, standing up and leaning out over Rex’s left shoulder. “Now that is something no one knows. It’s just how it’s always been.”
“We mentioned earlier how Blades come in all shapes and sizes. This is how.” Dromarch states.
“Some people say the shape depends on the kinda person the Driver is.” Nia says, crossing her arms.
“The resonance between Blade and Driver is a mysterious thing.” Pyra says.
Before anything else can be said, a new voice rings out in the empty street. “Halt! Nobody move!”
Notes:
Uh oh! What's that about? Find out next time on My Hero Chronicles: Future Dawning!
The other day, I had an idea for this fic. I know there are people who like listening to music while reading, especially if that music fits the vibe of the reading material. Would y'all be interested in me adding music recommendations for each section of all the chapters? It would be entirely from the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST with maybe one or two tracks from MHA thrown in as well where scene appropriate. They would be listed in the beginning notes so as to not interrupt the flow of the chapter. What do y'all think? Let me know in the comments.
Track Names:
1. Gormott (Cover by gabocarina96)
2. Monster Surprised You (Cover by gabocarina96)
3. Crossing Swords
4. Wanted Nia
5. The Past Revealed
6. Friendship (Played by The Intermission Orchestra at UC San Diego)Edit: Music Recommendations (2/24/2024)
Chapter 4: Emeralds Are Green, You Dunderhead!
Summary:
Izuku and Co. are accosted by the Ardanian Military! How will they get out of this one?
Notes:
So, I went through the last 3 chapters and added the music recommendations. I realized going through them that my original plan of links in the beginning notes just wouldn't work. So, I added the links in the middle of the chapter itself. If you see (Music) while you're reading, click that for the music I selected for the upcoming section. Also, for those curious about track names, I have added a track list in the end notes. Hope you enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Halt! Nobody move!”
Startling, the gang looks around, seeing six figures, all in black, full-body armor with spikes on the tops of their helmets, not unlike the armor the recruiter from earlier wore. One of them, the one that spoke, has a taller helmet, likely signifying a higher rank. On edge, the entire party drops into fighting stances, Izuku awkwardly so.
“Oh dear…” Gramps says, worried. “Looks like Imperial troops.”
“Great.” Nia says sarcastically.
“Hey,” Rex asks, “what’s going on?”
“W-who are you?” Izuku calls out.
“I am Captain Padraig of the Torigoth regiment of His Majesty’s Imperial Army!” The now named Captain Padraig points at Nia, “That fugitive in your company is an enemy of the state! A member of Torna!”
“Nia?” Rex asks, trying to defuse the situation by playing dumb, “A member of Torna?”
“It’s her all right. Gormotti Driver, white beast-form Blade.” Padraig says, “She looks exactly like the wanted poster!”
“What wanted poster?” Rex questions.
“See for yourself!” Padraig says as he pulls out a poster identical to the one Nia destroyed.
“Wow,” Rex starts, “it really does-”
“Oi, watch it!” Nia growls out.
“Ah, uh, I mean, no way!” Rex stammers out. This doesn’t look anything like… Wait! We’ve got no time for this. Who cares if it looks just like her?”
Rex recoils as Nia is suddenly in his face, hissing at him.
“Hmph. Now as for you…” Padraig crosses his arms, “You look like a Driver too. Registration number?”
“5… 3… 9…?”
“Knock it off, you fool. All new Drivers must register with Indol!” Padraig stares Rex down through his helmet’s goggles. “No number means you must be an illegal, unregistered Driver!”
“No, you don’t get it!”
“Enough! You’re coming with me! We’ll see what the Consul has to say about this!” Padraig turns to Izuku, “You, green haired boy, are you with them?”
“I- huh?”
“If you are, we’re taking you in too, otherwise, get out of here right now.”
“Rex, Izuku,” Nia starts, “Dromarch and I are gonna make our move. Get ready to run.”
“We’re not leaving without you.” Rex answers.
“Same here, Nia. You’re stuck with us.” Izuku echoes.
“This is our problem, not yours.” Nia argues.
“I’m pretty sure he wants to arrest all of us.” Rex shoots back, “So this is my problem too!”
“Sheesh, you’re a stubborn one, ain’t you?”
“Gramps says the same thing”
“Ok,” Nia concedes, “we go on three. We’ll go left, you go right. Izuku, either get out of here or help us fight, doesn’t matter to me.”
“I’m staying, Nia, like I said, you’re stuck with us.”
“Just give the word.” Pyra says, ready to erupt in flame at any moment.
“Ok, let’s do this!”
All the officers recoil, Padraig speaking up in disbelief. “Y-you’re going to resist? Seriously?”
“One-” Nia starts.
“Two-” Izuku continues.
“A-all right, men!” Padraig calls out. “We’ve got them outnumbered. Move in and take them down!”
“THREE!” Rex yells out as everyone pulls their weapons out.
Chaos breaks out as the soldiers fire their rifles, bullets bouncing off of the ether shields Dromarch and Pyra put up. Before they can fire again, the shields drop and Rex and Nia rush out to either side, Izuku following close behind Nia. With the soldiers focused on the Driver, Izuku is easily able to slip past them, grab a baton off of one of the soldier’s belts, hit the one he took it from upside the head, and knock him out before any of the others realize anything has happened.
Notebook 13, Page 6: Edgeshot.
“Sorry,” Izuku says, looking down at the unconscious man, “I’ll give it back when I’m done.”
Rex slashes through a soldier’s rifle while jumping up and delivering a kick to another’s head, effectively knocking him out. Spinning around, Rex’s sword is blocked by Padraig’s baton, the Captain’s fear evident even through the helmet.
Nia slashes through two more rifles before using the sides of her rings to catch those two soldier’s heads and slam them together, knocking the both of them out.
Izuku, remembering another page in his notebooks, ‘Notebook 10, Page 22: Ms. Joke’, slinks up behind another soldier and taps him on the shoulder with his borrowed baton, causing him to turn around. While Izuku is waving at the soldier, Nia takes the opportunity and signals to Dromarch, who pounces on the soldier, knocking him to the ground as Izuku calmly steps out of the way. Dromarch uses his front paws to pick up the man’s shoulders and slam him against the ground, knocking him out as well.
At this point, it’s just Padraig left standing with the other end of the path completely clear.
“They’re… so strong!” Padraig exclaims, terrified. “Such strength from a measly three fighters… One of them isn’t even a Driver!”
“Rex! Izuku!” Nia calls out, running down the clear path, “Now!”
“Got it!” The boys reply at the same time, running after Nia.
They don’t get very far before a wall of blue flame erupts, blocking their path.
“Wha-!” Rex exclaims. “A wall made of fire?”
“Such a commotion.” A new, feminine voice calls out, as if referring to a fly buzzing around a room. “Just when I thought I could enjoy a little peace and quiet.” The newcomer appears to be a Blade with purple hair wrapped up in two buns on either side of her head and the rest flowing down her back, the tips turning light blue and acting as if they are on fire. She’s wearing a purple dress that flares out behind her in ruffles as she walks and her gloves and boots both flare up into a flame like design as they gradually become the same light blue as the ends of her hair. She’s holding two swords out to either side, glowing blue lines separating each one into even segments going down the entire length of the blade.
“L-lady Brighid!” Padraig exclaims, fearfully.
“Brighid?” Rex asks. “Is she a Blade? Wh-where’s her Driver?”
“My Driver is otherwise engaged at present. I am here alone.”
“No Driver?” Izuku and Rex both mutter questioningly.
Padraig bursts out into laughter. “Lady Brighid is the ‘Jewel of Mor Ardain’! The strongest Blade in the Empire! Even alone, she’s more than a match for you!”
Turning towards the newcomer, who Izuku now sees has two more soldiers behind her, Padraig says, “Lady Brighid, these miscreants are terrorists working for Torna. Please lend me your power to bring them to justice!” He bows towards the Blade.
“Torna?” Brighid mutters, Izuku barely able to hear it over the sound of the fire wall behind him. He sees her scan over them with her… Wait a second. Are her eyes even open? How on earth can she see? That’s a question for later, if he ever gets a chance to ask it. He’s so lost in his questions that he almost doesn’t hear what Brighid says next.
“That emerald Core Crystal… Could it really be true?” Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku sees Pyra shift uncomfortably, bright green Core Crystal plain for all to see. “Well, well. Captain Padraig, you are not to kill them. Take these ones in alive.”
Brighid adjusts her stance to get ready for battle, while Padraig responds with a “Roger!” before turning to the two soldiers that came with her, saying, “Men, bring the you-know-what!”
“Sir!”
“Yessir!”
They both run off, leaving just Padraig and Brighid.
Both groups rush towards each other, Rex, Pyra, Nia, and Dromarch towards Brighid and Izuku towards Padraig. Izuku lunges forward with a right hook reminiscent of Kacchan and right when Padraig is about to block it, he spins around, grabbing the blocking arm, and hits the taller man in the gut with his left elbow. Reeling from the pain, Padraig has to lunge forward to avoid a high pressure water stream from Dromarch that Brighid just dodged. Izuku takes advantage of this by swinging his baton, only just missing the side of Padraig’s ridiculously tall helmet.
The Captain tries to get his balance back from his dodge only to feel a twinge in his side and collapse face first in the dirt. Turning back towards the other fight, Izuku can see Rex and Brighid, blades locked together, staring each other down. In a flash of orange and blue flame the pair separate, forcing Izuku to throw himself backwards to avoid being caught in it. He steps on something, Padraig’s dropped baton, and it slides out from under him on the packed dirt, sending Izuku crashing down onto Padraig, who had just started to prop himself up on his arms.
“You Architect damned kid!” Padraig exclaims, almost out of breath from the weight on his chest, “I swear, when I get up, you’re done!”
Not wanting to find out what the soldier means by that, Izuku just crosses his legs and settles himself on Padraig’s back, holding him down off to the side of the street.
With Padraig taken care of, for now at least, Izuku turns his attention to the other fight happening in the back street. He watches as Pyra catches her sword and throws it at Brighid. Once it hits her, it stops moving forward while still spinning, turning into a wheel of flame that continues to hit Brighid until she can bring up her swords to catch it. Rex flies in for a kick, propelled by his anchor shot, the standard issue Salvager grappling hook mounted to his wrist, embedded in the wall behind Brighid, grabbing the sword as he makes contact.
While the Blade is recovering from the winch powered kick, Nia jumps in from behind, tackling Brighid’s knees. Unfortunately, the Blade catches herself with her hands and flips backwards, away from Nia. She flicks her wrists and her swords do the coolest thing Izuku has ever seen! They separate into a fully controlled whip, sword segments connected by a thin, but presumably very strong and flexible material. Brighid takes her whip-swords and wraps one around Rex, who is charging in from behind her screaming like an idiot before throwing him around her into Nia, sending the pair crashing into Dromarch’s side.
“Oh my goodness,” Izuku facepalms, “why did he think screaming while launching a sneak attack was a good idea?”
Resigned to his fate as a cushion, Padraig answers, “You see a lot of that from Rookie Drivers.”
“Yeah?” Izuku says, watching Rex help Nia up.
“I see so many new recruits in training that get found out in a stealth exercise by doing exactly that. By the Architect, I wish I could just catch up on my sleep instead of teaching those hellions along with my guard work.”
“Oof, that sounds pretty rough. Oh! They’re gearing up for a big attack.”
Barely have the words left Izuku’s mouth that both Rex and Brighid lob an arc of fire at each other. The arcs collide in the air between them, causing a large explosion that sends Izuku flying off of Padraig from the force. Nia catches him and shoves a green bottle into his hands.
“Here, this’ll heal you up. Drink it now though, it won’t last much longer.”
He nods, downing the contents, as she’s standing up to face Brighid again. Nia and Dromarch jump up surprisingly high and propel themselves back down from a thick branch overhead towards the attacking Blade.
“Stop yammering!” Nia fusses at Rex and Pyra, who were just gawking at how strong Brighid is without her Driver. “Just get her!”
Before the duo can reach the fire Blade, two yellow objects shoot past Brighid, intercepting them mid-air.
“Gah!” Dromarch yells out as he’s wrapped up in a glowing, yellow net and falls to the ground.
“Dromarch!” Nia calls out, head turning to watch her Blade before the second net wraps around her, causing her to let out a surprisingly high pitched yelp as she too falls to the ground, completely bound by the same type of net as Dromarch.
“Nia!” Izuku cries out, already feeling the effects of the apparent healing potion she gave him, “Are you ok? What is that?”
“This…” Padraig begins, slowly picking himself off of the ground now that he doesn’t have a 15 year old sitting on him, “is an ether net.” He chuckles, “Let’s see you use your precious Arts when you can’t draw ether from the atmosphere.”
“Even Blades have weaknesses.” Brighid says, helping Padraig to his feet. “This is one such weakness. Without the flow of ether, Blades are quite useless.”
“Nia! Dromarch!” Rex calls out.
Get outta here, Rex, Izuku!” Nia cuts him off, “Save yourselves!”
“I’m not gonna do that!” Rex replies, helping Izuku up.
“We can’t just leave you here!” Izuku follows up.
“Rex, you’ve got your own mission! Just move it!”
“Yeah, but-”
“No buts! Go! You too, Izuku!”
“Rex,” Gramps says from his helmet perch, “we must withdraw for now! It’s our only chance!”
Realizing Gramps is right, Izuku grabs Rex’s hand and books it down the street away from Brighid. Or, well, he tries to, but another wall of blue flame sweeps in, blocking their path.
“You won’t escape.” Comes from behind them as Brighid returns her swords to a neutral position.
“sh*t.” Izuku mutters under his breath. He turns around, prepared to dodge whatever attack the Blade will launch next when something large and round flies above their heads, exploding into a pipe above Brighid’s head, dumping large amounts of water directly onto her.
“Ugh, water?!” She exclaims, watching the steam come off of her arms as the water hits it, instantly evaporating.
“Now!” Rex calls out to Pyra. They both grab the sword and launch a massive stream of fire towards Brighid, who manages to block it, but not without causing a massive amount of steam to obscure the street. Using the cover provided, Izuku, Pyra, and Rex run.
“Don’t let them escape!” Padraig commands his men, some recovering from the force of the attack while some are waking up from where they were knocked out earlier. “Get after them!”
“Oh yeah.” Izuku remembers. He tosses the baton he swiped over his shoulder calling out, “I said I’d return this!” The thrown baton collides with the head of a soldier, the one to whom it belongs in the first place, knocking him out again.
Padraig, not fully recovered yet from the fight, is unable to avoid tripping over the soldier. “That boy is a real problem child, I swear.” he groans.
“To pull that off despite all this water…” Brighid muses, staring at the puddle at her feet. “So, the legends of the Aegis were real.”
The trio of Rex, Pyra, and Izuku are running down the street when they hear a high-pitched voice call out to them, “Hey hey!”
Turning around, they see a section of the wall open up and a little, round, furry creature pokes his head out of the opening. “This way, friends, come this way! Tora help you escape!”
“Who are you?” Rex asks in surprise.
“Quick! No time for explain!” the creature, Tora, says, angrily flapping his wing-hand-things at them.
Nodding to each other, the trio runs to the opening and slide past Tora as he opens the door even more to allow them through. When they’re all through, he quickly and quietly closes the door behind them while turning around, using a wing to make a “shush” gesture. They hear the soldiers run right past the spot in the wall and wait a little bit before they all breathe out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks,” Rex begins, “you saved us. But I gotta ask… Why?”
“No reason…” Tora says in a flat voice.
“No reason?” Izuku questions, one eyebrow raised a little.
“Sorry, that not true.” he pauses, “Truth is, Tora not like those big bully soldiers. Was thinking to test out shiny new Boom Biter on big bullies. That when Tora see friends running from them. Boom Biter missed and hit water pipe, but results not so bad, hey?” Tora chuckles nervously.
“Oh, so you shot the pipe?” Rex realizes.
“That right.”
“And you’re Tora. I’m Rex, and this is Pyra.”
“It’s so lovely to meet you.” Pyra waves at the creature.
Waving, Izuku introduces himself, “I’m Izuku. Are you an inventor of some sort?”
“Good to meeting!” Tora replies, “Tora is inventor. Made Boom Biter by self.”
“Very cool!” Izuku exclaims.
“Ah… Actually, Tora have other reason for save you.”
“Which is?” Rex questions.
“Don’t worry.” Tora says quickly, “Explain everything when get to house of Tora! This way!”
As they start to follow, Gramps flies out of Rex’s helmet and lands on Izuku’s left shoulder. “Tora there is what is known as a Nopon. I could tell you were confused about what he was.”
“Ah, ok. We don’t have any Nopon where I’m from.” Izuku says.
“Oh hoh!” Gramps chuckles. “Well, you are in for a treat then.”
Captain Padraig has not had a pleasant day. First the mess with the Gormotti with no aptitude to be a Driver, then there was the whole incident with the Torna girl and her companions. Oh, that boy, he’s a surprisingly great fighter, his recruits could learn a thing or three from him, but by the Architect is he annoying!
“I still can't believe he took me out of that fight by sitting on me.” Padraig mutters as he approaches the Consul’s office to give the daily report. “Ugh, my gut still hurts. What the hell is that kid even made of?” Shaking his head, he knocks on the door to the Consul’s office.
“Enter.” comes a voice from inside. Following the instruction, Padraig enters the office and sees Consul Dughall standing beside his desk, back to the door, looking at a painting of Varnax’s Plunge, a large waterfall going into a massive lake near the pass through Melnath’s Spinal Mountains.
Following routine, Padraig stands at attention, giving the results of training for the day, the general state of Torigoth, and a report on the failed Blade awakening.
“What about that commotion on Obra Street? I heard complaints about a battle and a busted water pipe?” Dughall interrupts.
“Ah, yes, I was just getting to that.” Padraig begins. “One of the men at the recruiting tent spotted a white, Beast-Form Blade making its way through the crowd towards Obra Street. He informed me, and I took a platoon to capture them. We confirmed the presence of a Torna member and engaged just outside the back door to Coedwig Inn. They incapacitated 5 of my men before reinforcements arrived in the form of Lady Brighid.”
“L-Lady B-Br-Brighid?!?” Dughall interrupts, visibly shaking. Padraig can’t see the Consul’s face at the moment, but he can imagine he would be chewing on a lip right now.
“Yes sir.” Padraig continues without hesitation. Although, he can’t help but wonder why the Consul is so scared at the mere mention of the Special Inquisitor’s Blade. “She came with two more men, who she ordered to go retrieve the ether nets. Lady Brighid and I engaged the ruffians together and managed to keep them busy long enough for the men to return and apprehend the Torna girl and her Blade. We nearly captured their companions as well, but were interrupted by an unknown third party firing a bomb of some kind towards us. As we speak, my men ar-”
“Say,” Dughall interrupts again, and isn’t that something Padraig is starting to find annoying, “Padraig, do you remember what my orders were?
“Sir?” he responds, unsure what Dughall means.
“I told you to capture the Blade with the emerald Core Crystal, did I not?” The Consul turns to face Padraig, crossing his arms. “Do you recall me ever telling you to capture some little girl with barely a bounty on her head?”
“Sir, with all due respect, she’s a member of To-”
“I’ll say it slowly for you, just so we’re clear. Get. The Blade. With. The emerald-”
“Um, Consul Dughall, sir?”
“What?” the Consul replies, anger starting to show in his voice.
“I-I’m not exactly sure what color “emerald” is supposed to be…” Sue him, Padraig is colorblind. This is clearly marked in his file. It’s the only reason he’s not been promoted beyond Captain of the Gormott Division of the Capital Guard yet.
Dughall throws his arms above his head, yelling, “Give me strength! It’s green, you dunderhead!” He grabs a rather ugly looking beige vase off of his desk and starts waving it in Padraig’s face. “Emerald is green! Like this! Green! Get it, you clod?”
Completely done with the Consul, but not wanting to get demoted, Padraig decides to play along. “Ohhh, GREEN! I get it now. So emeralds are green…”
“You idiot! How many Blades do you see with green Core Crystals? It’s patently obvious! How do you mix THAT Blade up with some worthless cat monster?!”
“With respect, sir, I believe the officers have classified the Blade in question as a tiger.”
“Silence!” Dughall yells, throwing the vase still in his hands at Padraig’s head, knocking him to the floor. Ugh, the healers are going to have a field day, this is the third time today that he’s hit his head this hard. The last thing he hears before he passes out is another officer informing Dughall that Special Inquisitor Mòrag has just arrived.
At least he can finally catch up on his sleep.
Notes:
It's always been a little headcannon of mine that Padraig is color blind, so, I made it so that he can't see green. It's not his fault Dughall didn't read his file. It's clearly stated there!
Track Names:
1. Running
2. Incoming!
3. A Nopon's Life
4. Wanted Nia
Chapter 5: If Powers Not Fire, Why Look Like Flames?
Summary:
Rex, Pyra, and Izuku are shown around Tora's home. The Special Inquisitor arrives.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Mòrag Ladair, Special Inquisitor for the Empire of Mor Ardain, is tired. She just wants to sleep, but the battleship carrying her to Gormott arrived ahead of schedule, and if the stories she’s heard of the local Consul are even remotely accurate then he would all but force practically the entirety of the Torigoth Regiment to announce her arrival and parade her around town like she’s the Emperor himself if he was given enough time to prepare.
She would rather jump from the top of Hardhaigh Palace than be paraded around like that.
So, she’s walking off the ship just as it arrives shortly after sunset, when she would much rather be trying to sleep.
“Special Inquisitor Mòrag!” a way too cheery voice for the hour loudly calls out. “To what do we owe this extreme pleasure?” Ah, the Consul. Quite the bootlicker it seems. “Had we but heard of Your Grace’s visit, we could have prepared a suitable-”
“I don’t stand on ceremony, Consul.” Mòrag cuts him off. “I’d rather you just did your job.” By the Architect, this idiot would be the death of her.
“Y-y-your Grace?” the imbecile stutters out. “Someone of your standing deserves to be treated as such! You are His Majesty’s representative! Please permit us to lay on a meal befitting Your Grace.” Mòrag is really getting sick of this man, and it’s barely been a minute yet. “Until then,” he continues, “we would be honored if-”
“You made impressive time.” A purple haired Blade interrupts, and oh, is that vein popping a glorious sight. “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
Whirling around to face this new voice, Dughall pales. “L-l-lady Brighid!”
“If we have found the Aegis,” Mòrag starts, knowing that the sooner she gets business over with the sooner she can sleep, “then there is no time to waste. But I fear the passage has taken its toll on our engines.”
“The Aegis?” Dughall questions. “H-how do you-?!”
“Is there a problem, Dughall?” the Inquisitor sharply questions. Interesting, he already knows and didn’t want her to know.
“N-not at all, Your Grace.” he says with a nervous chuckle. Oh yeah, he definitely knows something.
“Good. Now, you’ve captured a Driver from Torna. I am going to speak with her.”
“Wha-? Why do you want-”
“Dughall.” Mòrag sharply interrupts, turning a warning glare on the Consul. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion.”
Frightened, the Consul agrees to take her to the captive right away.
Keeping her voice low so Dughall doesn’t hear them as they follow, Mòrag turns to Brighid, “How has the investigation gone so far?”
“It has been most fruitful.” The Blade starts, also talking quietly, “I was able to follow the local Captain when he gave his report for the day. The Consul berated the Captain for catching the Torna girl and her Blade instead of the Aegis. Dughall knocked him out in his rage before being informed you had arrived. My delay in arriving at the dock was due to me delivering the Captain to the healers.”
“This is troubling,” Mòrag says, “especially considering that communication we intercepted between him and the current Chairman of the Argentum Guild. There’s more at work here than we originally thought.”
“So it would seem.”
“Whenever I'm not with him, I want you to tail him for the duration of our stay. Unfortunately, he's going to be keeping an eye on me or I'd join you.”
“It shouldn't be a problem.”
“Good. Now, let's see what this Torna girl has to say.”
“This is your home?” Izuku asks, taking in the room Tora just led them into. It’s very quaint, made almost entirely of various forms of wood; planks for the floor, thin logs on their sides form the majority of the walls up to about six feet, boards snugly fit together form the remaining sections of wall. The ceiling is a mix of massive, tangled branches and pipes going back and forth.
To the left is a wall curving away as it goes up with little of interest other than a large, shallow bucket filled with water, a small school of fish swimming around it in circles. Directly across from the door lies the kitchen, cabinets above the sink and cooktop all up against the wall. To the right from there, in the center of the room, is a low, circular table with cushions around it to sit on and a recessed portion of the floor to allow for leg room. In the center of the table is a stone pit with a large pot hanging in it. It is held in place by a metal beam stretched between two of the four legs holding the chimney in place over the table.
“This just back door. Front entrance over there.” Tora says, pointing past the table.
Just past the table is another door, though Izuku can’t see much out of it other than more twisted branches. Just beside the right side of the door he’s standing in is the most beautiful wooden sculpture Izuku has ever seen of a deer-like creature with tall antlers, though the whole thing is shorter than him.
Walking into the house, Izuku can see a wide ladder leading up to a loft, which is presumably where Tora’s bed is. Behind the ladder is a curtained room that is better lit than the rest of the house, which is sparsely lit by lanterns while still feeling nice and cozy.
“Makes sense.” Izuku mutters, hand on his chin.
“Whoa!” Rex exclaims. “Is that the Cloud Sea down there? We’re so high up!”
Looking over his shoulder, Izuku spots Rex on just the other side of the door looking down at an opening in the wall right next to the floor. Sure enough, you can see the Cloud Sea through it, as well as the branches of a tree, presumably the one Tora’s house is built into.
“Nice view, eh?” the Nopon asks. “Tora likes to just sit and watch Cloud Sea sometimes.”
“You have a wonderful home.” Pyra says, holding her hands in front of her chest as she takes in her surroundings.
The Nopon lets out a short chuckle that reminds Izuku of a woodpecker from Pre-Quirk cartoons. “Anyway, um… Rex-Rex…”
“Rex-Rex?” Rex asks as he walks through the door.
“Rex-Rex.” Tora confirms, “Tora explain other reason I help you. You see… Tora always wanted to make Driver friends.”
“Ah. Interested in Drivers, are you?”
The Nopon starts waving his wings excitedly while bouncing on his feet, “Tora think it amazing how Driver and Blade join spirits together to make big power!” Izuku can’t help but wonder if that’s what he looks like when he’s talking to anybody about Heroes. “Tora really want to be sidekick of Rex-Rex!”
“Uh,” the Salvager starts, nervously rubbing the back of his head, “you know my name is just Rex, right? One Rex, not two.”
“What is point?” Tora asks, confused.
“Well, nothing, I guess. It just sounds a bit different from what I’m used to.”
The Nopon perks up a little, seeming to understand Rex’s confusion, at least a little bit. “Doublename just show Tora’s respect! Respect for great Driver! Rex-Rex should be proud!”
“I’m not sure I’ve earned all that yet…” Rex looks down in thought, “Oh, all right. You can call me Rex-Rex if it makes you happy. But, instead of all this sidekick stuff, can’t we just be friends?”
“Really?” Izuku swears stars just appeared in Tora’s eyes with how wide they just got. “Tora will be friend of Rex-Rex?! Hooray!” The Nopon starts running around in circles, jumping and spinning around as he does so in celebration.
“What a funny little guy.” Rex mutters, amused. After a moment, he speaks up again, “Hey, Tora!” Do you know much about this town?”
Tora stops his victory dance and looks at Rex in confusion.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where the army takes prisoners, would you?”
“Rex,” the red haired Blade starts, “you’re not planning to…”
The boy in question turns to his Blade, “Pyra, we have to save Nia and Dromarch.”
“I agree,” Izuku pipes up, “they got caught so we could get away. The least we could do is bust them out.”
“I thought you two might say that.” Gramps says, perched on top of Izuku’s head. When did he get there? Izuku didn’t even feel him land!
“Oh!” Tora exclaims, “You talk about Driver and Blade who were with Rex-Rex before Tora’s daring rescue?”
“Yeah.” Rex replies.
“Mehmeh… Tora would have to ask around town for info like that.” Humming, the Nopon jumps up, flapping his wings. “Before we do anything, time for food! All of today’s running around make Tora hungry. Need food to help Rex-Rex and Izuku-Izuku!”
“I’m a little peckish too.” Gramps says.
“H-hold on,” Izuku asks, hesitantly, “w-why do I have a Doublename?”
“Tora saw way you took out mean, bully leader. Was really amazing!” The Nopon mimes a punch with his wings, “Went down like rock in Cloud Sea! Izuku-Izuku may not be Driver, but certainly fight like Driver!”
Rex looks over at Izuku, nodding, “That really was amazing. Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
“I, uh, um, I…”
“Rex,” Pyra warns, “he obviously doesn’t want to say right now.”
“Sorry, Izuku. I didn’t mean anything by it, I’m just curious is all.”
“I-it’s ok.” Izuku says, a small shake present in his voice. “Um, Tora?”
“Yes?”
“Would it be alright if you just call me Izuku? I appreciate you giving me a Doublename, but it’s a bit much to say my name twice like that.”
“Tora understand. Tora’s Dadapon Tatazo not like Doublename either for same reason.”
Nodding his thanks, Izuku is interrupted by both his and Rex’s stomachs growling.
“I believe we were about to talk about food?” Pyra asks. “I’m sure I can whip something up for us.”
“I didn’t know you could cook.” Rex says, turning to his Blade.
Chuckling, Pyra responds, “Well, as long as fire is involved, I can do almost anything! Fry, steam, grill, you name it.”
“I can help,” Izuku pipes up, “I cook with my Mama all the time.”
“That would be lovely, Izuku.” the Blade responds. Turning to their host, she asks, “Tora, do you have any ingredients we can work with?”
“Just what in pantry there. Not really much. Tora sorry.” The Nopon rubs the back of his head with a wing. “All foods that can be eaten with no cooking. That how Tora usually eat.”
“Well,” Pyra starts, looking in the pantry, “not tonight. What do you think, Izuku, any ideas on what to make?”
Standing beside the Blade, he responds, “I have a few. We should easily be able to make something.”
“Oh man! This is delicious!” Rex says, barely getting the words out before taking another bite.
“Yum-yummy! So super very tasty!” Tora says, almost falling backwards off of his cushion because he leaned too far back.
“Simply exquisite!” Gramps agrees, somehow using his spoon with little difficulty with his short arms. “I haven’t eaten this well in 120 years!”
“Glad you liked it!” Pyra exclaims, looking at Izuku with a smile on her face. “I was worried I’d have gotten a little rusty over the years.”
“It didn’t look that way to me, Pyra. I almost couldn’t keep up with you in there.” Izuku says before taking another bite.
“Tora is curious,” the Nopon begins, having recovered from his near fall, “Pyra is fire-using Blade, yes?” After a nod, he continues. “When Tora broke that water pipe, Pyra could still make fire!”
“Come to think of it, you’re right.” Gramps nods, a slightly confused look on his face. “Brighid, the Imperial Blade, used fire abilities just like Pyra, but the water seemed to douse much of her strength.”
“So…” Rex asks, “what are you saying?”
“This world full of elemental energy called ether, yes?” Tora asks, like it’s a known fact. Izuku puts his spoon down and focuses on the Nopon, ready to take in whatever he’s about to say. “Ether come in forms like fire, water, and wind. While battling, Drivers and Blades both draw power from ether. But, fire not good with water. Other Blade woman got splooshy with water, so fire powers all damp.”
Baffled, Rex realizes, “But Pyra and I were able to use our powers with no problem.”
“Indeed.” Gramps agrees. “They were unaffected.”
“Why?” the Nopon questions.
Everybody at the table looks over at Pyra. Izuku immediately notices how tense she is and is about to speak up to tell the others not to press when he notices her looking at him with a small head shake, as if to say “No”.
“Um, well,” Pyra begins, “my powers don’t come from fire.”
“Mehmeh?” Tora asks, confused. “If powers not fire, why look like flames?”
“Th-that may be a little complicated to explain…”
“Go on then. Tora like complicated things a lot!”
“Ah, well, u-um, I, it…”
Izuku is about to say something, but Rex beats him to the punch. “Knock it off, Tora. Can’t you see you’re making her uncomfortable?”
“Meh…” Tora looks ashamed at himself.
“Everyone has things they’d rather not talk about. Right?” Rex says, looking at Pyra.
“I’m sorry.” Pyra looks up at Rex. “I’m sure I’ll be able to tell you about it soon enough.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Rex shakes his head. “Right now, we need to think about how to rescue Nia.”
“First,” Tora starts, “we go around town and find all information we can!”
“Sounds good to me, but we may have a problem with that.”
“What problem are you talking about, Izuku?”
“We're kind of recognizable.”
“Indeed,” Gramps agrees, “Pyra sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“I'm so sorry.” the Blade responds.
“As does Izuku, at least in those clothes, you do.”
The whole table turns to Izuku, looking at his completely black outfit with a white bandage visible through the burnt out hole in the shoulder.
“Yeah,” the green haired boy sheepishly rubs the back of his head, “I've been thinking about that. If we're going out for information anyways, we can stop by whatever stores may be around so I can get some new clothes.”
“Tora know just the place! It not too far away either!”
“As for Pyra,” Izuku mutters, “we need some way to cover her Core.”
Tora hears his mutter, and pipes up, “No needing to worry! Tora has idea!”
“Special Inquisitor! Lady Brighid!”
Mòrag turns around to find a soldier wearing a Captain’s helmet running up to her and her Blade. She’s about to ask who this is when Brighid calls out to him.
“Ah, Captain Padraig.” So that’s who this is. “Should you not be in bed? I watched the Consul knock you out.”
“I’ll be fine.” the Captain responds. “More importantly, I heard you’re about to interrogate the captured Torna Driver.” Turning to face Mòrag he adds, “Special Inquisitor, I would like to request to be allowed to sit in on the interrogation.”
Mòrag looks him over before turning around and waving for him to follow. “I will allow it, on the condition that you sit down for the entirety. Dughall has arranged for her to be interrogated in his office.” Feeling particularly spiteful in her tired state, she adds, “You can get the Consul’s chair. If he raises a fuss, I’ll intervene.”
“Yes ma’am!” Mòrag can practically hear the smirk in his voice.
She wipes her own smirk off her face before raising her hand to knock on the Consul’s office door. She’s barely touched the door before it flies open, Dughall on the other side.
“Ah! Your Grace! Come in!”
She walks into the rather large office, spotting a desk by a large window facing towards the town. The desk is facing into the room with a low table flanked by a pair of couches set in front of it. Curiously, the prisoner is nowhere to be seen.
“Consul, where is she?”
“She’s just in the other room waiting for you to arrive.
“Ah, well, in that case, have her brought in.”
“I-in here?”
“That was the arrangement, was it not, Brighid?”
“It was indeed, Mòrag.”
“I-I’ll go retrieve her, Your Grace.” The Consul says, bowing before he leaves the room through another door.
“Excellent,” Mòrag begins, “now, Captain, take your seat.”
“Yes ma’am.” Padraig walks behind Dughall’s desk and falls into the seat.
“Brighid.”
“Yes, Mòrag?”
“Do you have the poster?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Good, put it on the table here.” Mòrag says, sitting herself down on a couch to wait for the prisoner as her Blade does as asked.
It hasn’t even been a minute before Dughall marches, triumphantly, into the room, followed by a pair of soldiers walking in a Gormotti girl with gray hair wearing a yellow jumpsuit. The Special Inquisitor points at the prisoner, then the couch in front of her, signaling the soldiers to put her there.
Before Mòrag can say anything, a noise of protest comes from the Consul. “Oi! That’s my chair! Get out of my chair!”
It’s everything Mòrag can do to keep the smirk off her face as she turns to the Consul. “I told him to sit there. Are you telling the Captain to disobey my orders?”
“N-n-no! O-of c-course not, Y-your Grace!” Mòrag has to turn to the chuckling prisoner to keep Dughall from seeing the smirk she can’t keep down anymore.
“Anyways, to business.” Mòrag says, schooling her expression. “You must be the Torna ruffian. I must say you look a little… different… from your poster.”
“A LITTLE different?!” The girl snaps.” Whoever drew that should be the one in jail!”
“Yes, I would be angry too.” Mòrag chuckles. “For the record, what is your name?”
“Normally, I’d tell you to go jump into the Cloud Sea, but I like your style, so I’ll tell you. My name is Nia Echell.”
Dughall gasps, “Y-you don’t mean the old Lord of White Chair, Echell, from up on the head?”
“You!” Nia snaps, pointing at Dughall. “Don’t you go talking about my da! Not after you spat in his face when he came to you for help with his sick daughter! My sister died because you wouldn’t help us!” Hearing this, Mòrag turns to Brighid in surprise, seeing a look of shock on her face. Though White Chair was destroyed 50 years ago, the Echell House were allowed to rebuild their estate on the head even though the capital of Gormott was moved to Torigoth.
If her memory serves, the most recent Lord had two daughters; Mio, who was the elder, and Nia, the younger. Mio had gotten extremely sick somehow and Lord Echell traveled all over the Titan searching for cures, which led to the downfall of his house. By the time he had found something that could be used, Mio had already passed. Lord Echell then fell into despair and died himself shortly after, leaving Nia the only surviving member of the house. That all happened about 5 years ago, shortly after Dughall’s appointment as Ardanian Consul.
“Pardon the insensitive question, milady,” Captain Padraig speaks up, “but, how did you go from daughter of the most powerful family in Gormott to a terrorist organization like Torna?”
“You can drop the ‘milady’ thing, only my Blade calls me that.”
“Yes, of course.”
“After I buried da, a group of Indoline Monks came up to me. I thought they were just there to offer condolences, but before I know it, they’re shooting at me.” Nia grabs a pillow from beside her and starts hugging it. “I still don’t know why. Needless to say, I ran with my Blade. I’d go from place to place, always trying to stay hidden, but they would always find me. That lasted until a couple months ago when they got the drop on me and captured me and Dromarch while we were sleeping. Jin attacked the transport ship we were in and freed us. After he told me that Torna was trying to take down Indol I joined. My first mission wasn’t until a few days ago.”
“And how did that lead to you traveling with the Aegis instead of Torna?” Mòrag asks, seeing that Nia is willing to talk right now.
“Well, we hired a Leftherian Salvager through Chairman Bana of the Argentum Trade Guild to help haul up an ancient ship that Jin and Malos had found.”
“Jin and Malos?”
“They’re the leaders. Everybody follows what they say.”
Writing it down, Mòrag waves for her to continue.
“Well, we got the Salvager, Rex, and sailed out to the location. After we pulled up the ship, Jin, Malos, Rex, and I searched through it until we found a door with a crest of some kind on it. Malos called it “Addam’s Crest.”
“You don’t mean, the Hero Addam? From 500 years ago?” Brighid asks, dumbfounded.
“That’s the one. Apparently only a Leftherian could open it, which is why Jin insisted on hiring Rex. When we opened it, we found a girl, frozen on the wall with a sword sticking out of the ground in front of her. Rex accidentally touched the sword and Jin went and stabbed him through the heart before he and Malos grabbed the girl and took her up top where he told me to kill all the Guild Salvagers that came with us.”
Mòrag could see that Nia was still trying to come to terms with that order, so she prompts, “Did you?”
“No! What do you take me for?! Some kinda monster? No, I turned on Jin and started fighting him. A little bit into the fight, Malos throws the girl, the Aegis apparently, onto the ground and a massive pillar of fire comes from the bottom of the ship, melting a hole all the way through to the room we found her in. Before I know what’s happening, Rex flies out of the hole and is clashing blades with Malos. The Guild Salvagers were able to escape and I got away with Rex and the Aegis on the back of his Titan. We crashed this morning in the forests on the side.”
“I see.” Mòrag says, putting a hand on her chin in thought. “Well, under different circ*mstances, I would let you go right now. Unfortunately, I can’t risk letting the Aegis wander Alrest again. You do realize that the last time she was allowed to wander she sank 3 Continental Titans?”
Nia retorts, “Isn't that just a myth?” There is something in her expression that tells Mòrag she's trying to throw her off.
“No, it is quite factual. So, I will have to hold you to bait them in. I’m sorry, but I’m doing this for all of Alrest.”
Notes:
So, the interrogation kinda got away from me, lol. I originally meant for the recap of the beginning of the game to happen over supper at Tora's place, but it just felt right while writing for it to be during the interrogation. Also, yes, the name for Nia's sister was very much intentional.
Next time! The party goes shopping for clothes and information! Maybe even a notebook, who knows.
Track Titles:
1. Misgivings
2. Friendship
3. Jump Towards the Morning Sun (cover by gabocarina69)
4. Misgivings
5. The Past Revealed
Chapter 6: New Clothes
Summary:
The party hit the town to find information to help in their rescue of Nia and Dromarch! Izuku gets some new clothes as well.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku yawns as he sits up, pulling off the spare blanket Tora lent him for the night. Normally, Izuku can’t sleep on the floor to save his life, but the previous day was extremely rough on him. It was evening in Japan before he got sucked into that crystal and it popped him out around midday in Alrest, so he had been awake for about 22 hours. Needless to say, he was exhausted, especially after being attacked three times.
Seeing that nobody else is awake yet, Izuku goes to the pantry where he remembers seeing rice during the meal planning last night. What did Pyra call it again? Gromrice? Yeah, that was it. Finding a couple other ingredients, he gets something he’d only loosely call “breakfast” made, making sure there’s enough for everybody. He’s just sitting down at the table when Gramps flutters over from where Rex and Tora are asleep behind him.
“Hmm, something smells good.” the small Titan hums before letting out a small yawn.
“Oh!” Izuku doesn’t startle, definitely not.
“Terribly sorry about that, my boy,” Gramps apologizes. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“Y-you didn’t, G-Gramps.” Izuku stutters out.
“Oh, please,” the Titan starts, “call me Azurda. While I may be used to Rex introducing me as Gramps, it still feels a little strange for people other than him to call me that.”
“O-ok. Fair enough, A-Azurda.” Izuku jumps up, “Oh! Let me get you some food.”
“Yes, please.” Azurda hums, “It smells very good, what is it?”
“I’m not even fully sure myself, to be honest,” The green haired boy chuckles while dishing up a bowl. “I just found some stuff and put it together.”
“Well, that’s the mark of a great cook right there,” Azurda says, grabbing the spoon as the bowl is put in front of him, “the ability to take random items and combine them in a way that is pleasant to the tongue.”
“I-it’s not that great really. Mama taught me how to do that growing up. I’m just having difficulty adjusting to new ingredients.” Izuku sits back down at his own bowl. “Who knew our two worlds would have such similar yet different ingredients.”
“It is indeed something of wonder.” The Titan takes a bite, flapping his little wings excitedly. “Oh goodness! This is simply amazing, Izuku!”
“R-really?”
“It is!” The Titan reaffirms. “Why, I knew somebody quite a long time ago that could do the same thing. I must say,” he takes another bite and swallows before continuing, “you are quite as talented as she was.”
“As who was?” comes the groggy voice of Pyra as she climbs down the ladder from the loft. Because she was the only girl present, Tora had offered the use of his bed while he slept downstairs.
“Oh,” Azurda chuckles, “I was just talking to Izuku about someone we used to know back in the day.”
“Who was that?” She asks as she serves her own bowl and sits down.
“She could take almost any combination of ingredients and turn it into something delicious. Her name escapes me at the moment, unfortunately.”
“Oh!” Pyra shoots a glance over at Izuku. “I know who you’re talking about now! I can’t remember her name right now either.”
“Oh well,” Izuku chimes in, “I’m just glad you guys like my food.”
“It is quite lovely, Izuku.” Pyra says before taking another bite. Before long, Rex and Tora wake up and get their own food, joining in the conversation. When everybody is done, dishes are cleaned up, and Izuku's bandage removed, conversation turns to what the day has in store.
“Here,” Tora says, handing Pyra a brown, neatly folded, bundle, “take this. This idea of Tora. It hide Core Crystal of Pyra!”
Pyra takes the offered bundle and unfolds it to reveal a brown, belted poncho with a high collar and cat ears on the attached hood. She promptly throws it on over what she usually wears and does a little spin before turning to Rex.
“This looks like it could actually work!” All that can be seen of her normal outfit is her red thigh-high boots and fingerless gloves with a bit of her red hair poking out from under the hood.
“Good idea, Tora.” Rex says, turning to the Nopon currently bouncing on his feet in the doorway.
“Right!” Tora says, “Let’s look for friends of Rex-Rex and Izuku!” The Nopon turns around and leads the group out of his front door.
“And get new clothes for Izuku here.” Azurda says, perched on said boy’s shoulder.
“Yes yes! Tora nearly forget! To the stores!” The Nopon leads them through the streets towards the store. Well, less streets and more walkways stretched across a wide space between two massive tree roots. This seems to be a port, as Izuku can see numerous docks with what appear to be ships attached to massive living creatures just floating there, the Cloud Sea quite far below.
“Those,” Azurda pipes up, noticing Izuku’s gaze, “are what are known as Titan Ships. The structure of a ship varies depending upon where it was made, but they all follow the same basic principle. A man-made vessel is attached to a Titan, generally willingly, and they are then given direction on where to go.”
“Doesn’t it hurt them?” Izuku asks, turning to look at Azurda. ”The Titans, I mean.”
“Oh, no.” The diminutive Titan shakes his head, “There may be discomfort while it is being attached, but it is generally painless.”
“Cool.” Izuku mumbles out in awe. It’s not terribly long before Tora informs them that they have arrived. Izuku looks up to see a sign that reads “Neuromin Textiles”.
“The name’s Yul. How can I be helpin’ you folks?” a Gormotti man leans on a counter covered over with rolls of different types and colors of fabric. “Ah, Tora! What brings you back ‘round here?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just help friend get new clothes. He get roughed up pretty good by mean bullies and not get chance to get new clothes yet. So, Tora bring to you!”
“I see. Sounds like quite the travesty. Now, which one of your-” the man cuts himself off when he catches sight of Izuku, eyes zeroing in on the hole in his shoulder, bare skin clearly visible through it. “Oh dear. Let’s get you in the back and get you situated.”
“A-alright.” Izuku hesitantly steps forward, not completely sure what’s going on at the moment.
“Incoming!” Yul calls into the back room, “We have a kid who needs a whole new outfit!”
“I just woke up!” A whiny voice responds from the other side of the door. “Why do you have to be so loud?”
“Vale, he has a hole burnt into his shoulder. You and I both know we can’t let that stand.” Yul turns towards Tora again. “Don’t worry about the cost, this one's on the house. Y’all just sit out here and wait for us to finish with him. We’ll be out in a jiffy.”
It's getting close to lunch time before Izuku is finally let out of the tailor's back room. Vale, the tailor's Blade assistant, had taken one look at him and gotten right to work. She sat him down in front of her and asked probing questions about his likes, dislikes, and hobbies quoting “It’ll make it easier for me to figure out what outfit would work best for you.”
She then sat him down in front of a board filled with groups of three colors and told him to pick one. He almost picked the red, blue, and yellow one named “Prima Bassus”, but couldn’t bring himself to, All Might’s words ringing in his head.
“No, you can’t become a Hero without a Quirk.”
He picked the one next to it, the one labeled “Ancient Paragon”, which made Vale chuckle saying, “Interesting, we don’t see many pick that color set much anymore.”
After three hours of poking and prodding, Izuku walks outside to find Rex, Pyra, Tora, and Azurda sitting at a table, waiting on him. Getting closer, he sees that they’re talking to a kid who can't be older than 10.
“I heard one of the soldiers earlier talking about executing the prisoner in a few days. I wonder what they’ll do? I’ve never seen an execution before!”
“Thank you, young one.” Azurda says after a little bit when nobody else speaks up, “Run along now.”
“W-was t-that about what I think it w-was?” Izuku asks, scaring everybody at the table.
“I-Izuku!” Rex calls out, “Jeez! When did you get so quiet?”
“Huh?” Izuku is confused before remembering the new shoes Vale had gotten him as well. “Oh, it’s my new shoes, they make my feet quieter.” Said shoes are very similar to his old red, high-top sneakers. The new ones though, are built more like boots, keeping the red color, but with black accents on the sides.
Izuku pauses to give them time to take in his new outfit in its entirety. From his boots up to his gray cargo shorts, settling a few inches below his knees. Above that, he’s wearing a dark purple, light sweater with white sleeves. Worn over that is a white sleeveless hoodie with red side panels, the inside of which was the same dark purple as his sweater. On his hands he's also wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves. He didn't want them at first, but Vale had insisted on them, and he came to like them after he looked in a mirror.
“Friend Izuku look very cool!” Tora calls out, though his attention immediately returns to the plate of sausages in front of him.
Izuku notices Azurda and Pyra share a glance before both complimenting his outfit as well. What's that about?
“So,” Izuku starts, “was the prisoner that kid was talking about Nia?”
Rex’s face shifting into a grim frown is enough of an answer for Izuku.
There’s a tense silence following that as the group thanks Yul and Vale before following Tora to the town informant. They travel up until they reach the main level of town before heading across the main bridge over the harbor. They follow the path towards the main gate, soon crossing another bridge, albeit much smaller than the previous. Leaning against the railing, staring off at the World Tree is a Gormotti man. Rex strikes up a conversation with him, discovering his name, Moui.
“So,” Rex hesitantly asks the man, “have you heard anything about that girl the Ardanians captured?”
“Yeah, I have, actually.” Moui states. “Apparently, her name is Nia, and she’s a member of that terrorist group, Torna.”
Feigning shock, Rex replies, “Torna? Really? I didn’t think they came out this way.”
“I don’t know, I haven’t done much research on the group.” Moui raises a hand to his chin in thought. “The name is familiar though. Didn’t that old Lord Echell about a decade or so ago have a…” His voice drifts off as if considering a painful memory. “I don’t know, it’s not a happy thing to think about.”
Izuku ponders this as the man turns back to the railing, effectively ending the conversation. Seeing the end of the conversation, Tora leads them on until they come to the mouth of an alley just off of the plaza they watched the Core Crystal awakenings in the day before.
“Friends are here.” Tora says, turning around to face the rest of the group. “Informant is shiftypon, so Tora ask friends to stay here or go browse shops while Tora get information.”
“Why are you going in and not us?” Rex asks, more than a little confused.
“Like Tora say, Informant Turuni is shiftypon. Tora do business with Turuni before for secret project. Turuni know Tora, but not likely to give info with friends near.”
“Oh, I get it now.” Rex says, realization obvious in his voice. “Alright, we’ll go browse the shops then. Come get us when you’re done.
Rex leads Izuku and Pyra to the shops across the plaza and the trio start browsing, Rex telling them to come get him if they find something they want and he’ll see if he can buy it. Izuku finds himself browsing the selection at Margia’s Odds & Ends when he spots it. A handmade, leather bound, journal filled with completely blank paper. The front and back have an off-white design of rectangular tiles, all slanted in a way that causes them to have a corner jutting out into the brown leather. A red strap loops on the back cover, obviously meant to keep the journal closed when not in use.
This is absolutely perfect!
Looking at it some more, Izuku spots the price tag, 30G. He turns his head to find where Rex is, only to find him at the next stall over talking to Azurda about something.
“Rex?” Forget the normal nervousness from asking somebody for something, this is of vital importance to Izuku! He can’t go much longer without something to write his thoughts out in. “Could you come over here for a sec?”
Rex looks at Gramps and shrugs, walking over to Izuku. “What’s up?”
Izuku shows him the journal. “It’s 30G.”
“Oh yeah, that’s easy.” Rex digs a hand into the pouch he’s pulled out of his bag and pulls out the required money and another 5G. “You’ll want a pen as well.”
Izuku accepts the money with a nervous chuckle, “T-thanks. I always forget something to write with.”
Because he’s actually looking for one now, Izuku spots a pen right next to where the journal was. It has a gold colored casing around the tip that leads into a brown body with more of those off-white rectangles, except they are much longer, spiraling around the pen from the edge of the gold casing to about halfway down the remainder of the body. Luckily, the pen is exactly 5G, so Izuku hands over the money and walks away, now extremely happy.
He’s about to sit down against a nearby wall to start using his new journal, but Tora walks over to them and says that they need to get back to the house. Trusting the Nopon to have new information, the trio follow Tora back to his house.
The gang is sitting around Tora’s table once again, chowing down on the lunch that Pyra and Izuku had just made for them when Tora speaks up.
“Shiftypon extort Tora for information! Turuni wanted 3,000G for single sentence. Is completely ridiculous!” Tora throws his wings in the air in frustration. “Tora glad Tora not have to deal with shiftypon much longer if at all.”
“What was the sentence?” Rex asks, desperate to return the favor and rescue Nia this time.
“It was ‘Inside Titan battleship, Gormotti girl being held prisoner.’ That all Turuni give!” Tora looks longingly at the curtained area under the loft, softly muttering something that they don’t have the heart to try and understand right now.
There’s a tense silence following this, broken only by the occasional clink of utensils on dishes as everybody tries to eat, only really pushing it around in actuality.
Pyra is the one to break the silence with a mutter only audible because of the general lack of noise in the house. “Nia and Dromarch, executed…” She looks at her bowl before pushing it to the side. “It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“Getting aboard that warship will be no mean feat.” Azurda says, looking up at everybody. “We’re going to need an ironclad plan.”
“Army port,” Tora starts, “is under heavy guard…” He looks down at a drawn map of Torigoth. It’s not completely accurate, but is accurate enough for their purposes. Izuku looks over it from beside Tora. He can make out a written marker depicting where Tora’s house is in all of this. Just to the north of the fields east of town, Izuku can make out a poorly drawn water tower. The massive Titan battleship that docked the night before has been drawn on the map in its place in the dock at the Ardanian Military Base on the east side of those fields.
“I guess we’ll just have to mount a full on attack!
“No, Rex!” Pyra says, with a hint of sharpness in her voice, “We can’t put everyone in danger.”
“Right, sorry.”
“What about this?” Izuku says, pointing at the map. Specifically, a root of the tree providing shade to the entirety of Torigoth, the Grandarbor if he remembers correctly from Azurda’s little history lessons as they were walking to town. Said root, juts out and is directly underneath the outline of the battleship.
“That could work.” Pyra says, “but it would be quite a ways below the ship. We would need some way to get up to the ship from there.”
“I could help with that.” Rex says, showing his arm mounted grappling hook to everybody at the table. “We just need a door.”
“I believe,” Azurda says, “that there is a waste disposal chute there we can use. If I remember my Ardanian architecture correctly, that is.”
“That could work,” Rex responds, turning to the Titan, “if we sneak in from below nobody will spot us.”
“We’ll be less likely to be spotted, that is.” Izuku says, looking up, “If they act like any military in my world, then they’ll be patrolling all over the ship, especially because they have a prisoner with ties to a terrorist organization.”
“Izuku no have need to worry. Tora sneak aboard many battleships before. Not this one though, this one have much more importance than others Tora sneak on.”
“Putting aside the question of why you’ve snuck aboard Ardanian Military ships before, I think this is our best shot. We will very likely be spotted once we get on board, but at that point it’s a race to the brig to free Nia and Dromarch.”
“Indeed.” Azurda nods his head in agreement.
“How are we escaping though?”
Everybody pauses at Izuku’s question, obviously not having thought things through that much.
“How about back the way we came?” Pyra suggests.
“That could work, but is dependent on the tides of the Cloud Sea.” Azurda says, pointing at the braces for the Ardanian ship dock. “This dock is at the high tide line, which means the root is below that. If the tide comes in while we’re aboard the ship, we’ll have to fight our way through the base.”
“Ok,” Izuku concedes, “but that’s Plan B. Plan A is escaping back through the trash chute.”
“So, it’s a plan!” Rex says, excitedly.
Before anybody can say anything further, Tora lets out a dark chuckle. “Tora have something to show you.”
Notes:
I have drawn Izuku's new outfit. You can see it here. I'll also be making another work as a sequel to this one to put all of the art I make for it in.
Track Titles:
Friendship
Torigoth (Day)
A Portent Crawling Over
Chapter 7: Tora's Secret Project
Summary:
Tora reveals what's behind the curtain, and the gang rushes to help him finish it.
What do you mean you can read this, Izuku?
Notes:
I now have a section of my discord dedicated to my fanfiction work! Come take a peek.
https://discord.gg/Z8ZmxAYUUE
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“So, Tora,” Rex asks, puzzled, “what exactly is it you want to show us?”
“No needing to worry! Just behind curtain here!” The Nopon answers, excitedly grabbing the curtain for the oddly bright room underneath the loft before throwing it to the side.
“What is this?” Izuku asks, jaw hanging wide. On a stand in the back of the room is what looks to be a robotic girl slumped forward slightly. The first things Izuku notices about her is her gray, metallic body with orange lines glowing throughout, a red cape tied around her neck with a flower on her left side, and a white cap on top of metallic hair that he can’t decide is a very light blue or purple.
“Nobody ever see this before.” The Nopon says in a low voice, almost whispering. “Secret of Tora! An Artificial Blade!”
“An Artificial Blade?” Pyra and Izuku both say in shock, before looking at each other in shock.
Azurda pokes out from behind Rex’s head to look. “I can’t believe it.”
“Tora have always wanted to be Driver of Blade. But Tora…” Tora turns around, a dejected look on his face. “Tora has no potential to awaken Core Crystal.”
“How could you know that?” Rex asks, “Surely you just have to try and- Oh. You did, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Tora says sadly, “one year ago, Tora applied to Driver recruitment man.”
“Oh deary me.” Azurda says, realization in his voice.
“Oh Tora,” Pyra gasps, “you mean you…?
“It was bad,” the Nopon confirms. “Tora had nosebleed for three days!
“Just… a nosebleed?” Rex sounds unsure.
“What. You. Mean. ‘Just’?” Tora rounds on Rex. “People die from loss of blood, you know?!”
“Yeah, but from a nosebleed? Oof, hey! What was that for?” Rex turns to look at Azurda, who had just slapped him in the back of the head.
“Removing the foot from your mouth before it can go down your throat.” Azurda’s words make Pyra and Izuku chuckle.
“Anyway, moving on!” Tora says, turning back to the Artificial Blade. “When complete, even no-potential Tora can be a Driver!”
“This is incredible, Tora! Did you build her from scratch?” Izuku asks, looking at the dormant Blade in wonder.
The Nopon grunts before responding, “It was started by Grampypon and Dadapon. But Grampypon die, and Tora still not know where Dadapon go to…”
“Oh.”
“So Tora will finish Blade myself and become a Driver like always wanted! Then Dadapon hear about Tora’s success and come back home, yes? And for short term, Artificial Blade’s combat capabilities be huge help in mission to rescue friend!”
“By the by, Tora.” Azurda starts. “As far as I can see, she looks complete. What is there left to do?”
The Nopon starts laughing happily, “All Tora have left to do is buy missing parts! But Tora have no money at all!”
“How much do you need?” Izuku asks, a little put off by how cheery Tora’s last sentence was.
“Oh… no more than 60,000 Gold.”
“Sixty thousand?!” Rex recoils in shock. “D’you want a kidney as well?”
“Calm down, Rex.” Pyra says, turning to her Driver. “I think we owe Tora our help. If it’s just money he needs, I may be able to assist.”
“Assist?” Rex asks, “How?”
“Nothing illegal, I hope.” Azurda flies out into the air in front of Pyra only to be chopped in the head by Rex.
“Don’t even joke, Gramps!”
Pyra takes one of her glowing, green earrings off and shows it to Rex. “This is a natural crystal. It should fetch around 60,000.”
“No way!” Rex and Izuku both speak at the same time. “We can’t let you sell that!” Rex continues. “I’ll pay for the parts myself.”
“Meh meh!” Tora stares at Rex in awe. “Rex-Rex is too generous!”
“This Blade of yours had better be seriously useful though, Tora!”
“Leave that to Tora!”
“Well then, let’s go.” Rex goes to run off, but is stopped when Azurda calls out behind him.
“Waaait!” The Titan turns to Izuku. “It has just occurred to me that, while you may be resourceful in a fight, you don’t have a proper weapon to defend yourself with.”
“I-It’s ok t-though. R-really!” Izuku stutters out.
“None of that now.” Azurda chides, pulling a glowing blue Core Crystal out of nowhere, setting it on the nearby table. “By now, you know the risks of resonating with this Crystal. It is entirely up to you if you want to awaken the Blade inside, but be wary of the risks. You are very likely to get seriously hurt if you don’t have the aptitude and we will be ill equipped to heal you until after we rescue Nia and Dromarch.”
“Are you sure, Gramps?” Rex asks. “We saw what happened to that man yesterday. And Tora just told us what happened to him when he tried.”
“Rex my boy, I would not present Izuku with this choice if I wasn’t certain he has the aptitude.” The Titan turns back to Izuku, “The choice is, ultimately, up to you though, Izuku. Do you desire to awaken a Blade? If not, do not worry, we can find you your own weapon to fight with somehow.”
Stunned into silence by the choice suddenly presented to him, Izuku collapses into a sitting position in front of the Core Crystal, staring at it. Is this really happening? Will he be able to defend himself now? He’d still be Quirkless Izuku, but would he finally be useful? Would he be a Deku anymore? If he does this, he would be the reason another soul came into this world. Can he really do that?
But, if he does this and it works, they would have an extra hand to help rescue Nia and Dromarch. They would have more options when escaping after they get them. Would he have enough time between now and the rescue to get the hang of whatever weapon this Blade ends up having?
“Uh, Izuku?” Rex lightly puts a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. “You ok there, buddy?”
“Y-Yeah, I-I’m fine.”
“Ok. You were staring at the Crystal pretty hard and mumbling.”
Oh, now you’ve gone and done it, Izuku. They know you’re a creep that mumbles to himself.
“Mumbling does not mean you are a creep, Izuku.” Azurda says, setting himself down on the table in front of Izuku. “It just means that you have an active mind. It is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“O-Ok. I’ll do it.” Izuku says after taking a moment to settle down.
“Alright then.” Azurda says, stepping to the side so the green haired boy can grab the Core Crystal.
Izuku is laser focused on the Core Crystal now, so he can barely hear Tora ask Rex, “Where Gramps hide Core Crystal with such small body…?”
The moment Izuku touches the crystal, it starts glowing a golden color that slowly turns to a light green color as Izuku picks the crystal up and stands up, turning around to face everybody else.
The crystal shifts into a ball of light, most of it shooting off into the air, coming down into an open spot in the center of the group. It shifts and grows into a humanoid shape before the light recedes, revealing the Blade’s appearance.
The first thing Izuku notices is her green hair, much lighter in color than his. She’s wearing slightly off-white robes of sorts that appear to be made out of pages of a book. On her arms and shoulders is bronze colored armor. Most interesting about this is the chain that appears to be coming from the back of the connected pauldrons, the end of which is attached to the largest book Izuku has ever seen in his life. The next thing he notices, and it comes to him as a shock that he didn’t notice sooner, are the gaps. The robes and gray leggings that turn into boots at the bottom are both seemingly formed around an invisible body, evident by the gaps in her stomach all the way around to her lower back and both of her ankles in a spiral up to just below her knees.
The last bit of light jumps out of Izuku’s hands, splitting in two before forming into a pair of identical books, each with a hole in the center. Something in the back of his mind tells him that they go on his wrists. So, he sticks his hands through the floating books.
“Hello,” the Blade says cheerfully, “my name is Adenine. You must be my new Driver.”
“I-I’m Izuku, n-nice to meet you.”
“Well then, Izuku, I’m looking forward to learning with you on your travels.”
“So, what do you actually need to finish this Artificial Blade?” Rex is following Tora out of his front door, half paying attention to Izuku and his new Blade, Adenine, talking back and forth about various things, their notebooks open and both writing furiously.
“One Perfect Range Sensor and three Bion Connectors!” The Nopon responds, not even turning around or slowing in the slightest.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of either of those.” Pyra says from beside her Driver.
Tora seems more than happy to explain for the Blade as he dives right into an explanation. “Perfect Range Sensor supplements function of eyes in Artificial Blade. Quite pricey item, but very important.”
“And the Bion Connectors?” Gramps prompts.
“That have many uses, but mostly to prevent hat fall off.”
“Can’t you just use a simple piece of string?” Adenine suggests, having gotten to look at the Artificial Blade before they left.
Completely ignoring her, Tora keeps going, “We can get them at Margia’s Odds & Ends!”
“Isn’t that where I got my journal? Izuku asks, curiously.
“I think you’re right.” Rex says, turning to the other boy for a moment before turning back to the front. “And it looks like we’re almost there.” It’s not much longer before the group arrives and Tora runs up to the shopkeeper.
“Tora here to buy Perfect Range Sensor and Bion Connectors!” The Nopon is almost jumping out of giddy excitement.
“Ahhh,” the shopkeeper, Kassa, if Rex remembers correctly from this morning, answers, “you’re the young Nopon who was gazing longingly at those the other day.”
“Meh-meh?! You noticed?!”
“Well, considering you were staring for three hours straight…” Rex looks over and meets Izuku’s eyes momentarily before shrugging and returning to the conversation. “But I’m dreadfully sorry. We’re all out of Perfect Range Sensors right now. We still have plenty of Bion Connectors though. They’re 4,000G a piece.”
“Twelve thousand for three, huh? That really is pretty pricey.” Rex mumbles, under his breath.
“Rex-Rex promised to pay whole amount. No backsies!”
“I mean, I’m not about to go back on my word, but…”
“Excuse me,” Kassa interrupts, “but, you wouldn’t happen to be one of those Salvagers by chance, would you?”
“Yep.” Rex says, happy to talk about his profession. “I may not look it, but I’m a professional at it.”
“Then maybe you could get the Bion Connectors you need that way. Most of my stock comes from local Salvagers getting an abundance in recent weeks.”
“That could be worth a shot.” Gramps adds, floating next to Rex’s head.
“I think that’s what we’ll do then.” Rex says, hand on his chin. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Good luck with your salvaging!” Kassa calls out to the group as they turn around and walk away.
“That still leaves the Perfect Range Sensor.” Izuku says as they walk to the central plaza. “How are we going to get that?”
Everybody stills at that as they try to think of a way to get one.
“Um, pardon me,” a feminine voice calls out to them, “I couldn’t help but overhear that you all are looking for a Perfect Range Sensor?”
Looking up, Rex sees a Blade with ankle length blonde hair, wearing white robes and holding a basket filled with various produce in the crook of her arm. “Um, yes, we are.”
“Oh, wonderful!” The Blade says, clapping her hands together. “My name is Vess. My Driver and I happen to be in possession of a few that we collected in our traveling days that are just collecting dust. We would be willing to part with one.”
“Really truly?” Tora asks, giddy excitement showing in his face once again.
Vess chuckles, squatting down to look Tora straight in the face, “Really truly.” She stands up and addresses the whole party. “Now, I’m afraid I need some help with something first.”
“And what’s that?” Izuku asks curiously.
“Well, I go down to the flower patch just outside of town every few days to pick fresh flowers for the dining table. Unfortunately,” she pauses, adjusting the basket on her arm before continuing, “a group of Krabbles has taken up residence on the path to the flower patch. Several years ago, I would have taken care of them myself, but my Driver is getting weaker every day. I fear for how much longer he will last. Because my dear Mabon is getting so weak, I am unable to use ether like I used to.”
“Oh dear.” Pyra says, putting her hands over her mouth.
“So, we take care of those Krabble and you’ll let us get one of your Perfect Range Sensors. Am I understanding correctly?” Rex says, mulling it over.
“Yes.” Vess confirms. “Now, I must get going. I’m afraid Mabon may be sneaking some more of his chocl*t while I’m not around to stop him. We’re in the house just south of the fountain over there.” She points to a fountain across the plaza. “Farewell! And good luck with the Krabbles!”
After Vess leaves, Rex turns to Tora, “So, where’s the best spot for salvaging around here?”
“Rex has been down there for a while.” Izuku says, looking at the small, wooden dock that Rex jumped off of an hour ago. Tora had led them past the fountain to a spot next to a bridge under the shade of a small tree. Well, small for Gormott that is. When they arrived, Rex had done something to his suit, causing it to cover the entirety of his body, before putting his helmet on, attaching a cylinder to his back, and doing a running flip off of the dock, diving straight into the Cloud Sea.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Azurda replies from his shoulder, “he should be coming back up soon. You forget, he does this for a living.”
“So,” Adenine starts, ever curious, “Salvagers dive into the Cloud Sea to search for treasure and then sell it?”
“Indeed, Rex started when he was just a young boy, worrying his aunt and myself half to death in the process.” Azurda chuckles, “Oh, here he comes now. You may want to back up.”
No sooner had the words left the Titan’s mouth when a soaking wet crate comes flying up out of the white clouds, landing perfectly in the middle of the dock. Following shortly after is the Salvager himself, flipping in mid-air and landing with his feet together and arms extended, like a gymnast that just finished a particularly difficult jump. Rex pulls his helmet off and clips it on his back where the cylinder just was before looking back over the edge cautiously.
“Oh good.” He sighs in relief, turning back to everybody else. “I think I almost pulled a Crustip up.”
“You would have handled it like usual if you had, Rex.” Azurda says.
“What did you find?” Pyra asks, looking at the crate that had just been a missile.
“Let’s take a look.”
As Rex is prying open the crate, Izuku spots something puzzling. On the lid is something that looks oddly like kanji. Unfortunately, it appears to have been in the Cloud Sea for quite a long time as most of the writing has been weathered away. What little he can make out though says “Compo… for Zero Point… …pport Lab H”. Looking to his side, he sees Adenine studying the writing as intently as he is, the Blade copying what’s written in her massive book.
“I wonder what this says.” The Blade says, excitedly. “What do you think, Izuku?”
“Y-you can’t read this?” This seems to attract the attention of everybody there.
“You can read it?!” Adenine turns to Izuku even more excited than before. “What does it say?!”
“T-there aren’t many c-complete words, but it says something about a lab and zero points?”
“Um, Izuku?”
Izuku looks up and sees Rex looking at him, confusion evident on his face. “Yes?”
“How on Alrest can you read this? This is stuff from Morytha. Nobody has ever been able to make out what that language says.”
“I-I have no clue.”
“Ooh!” Rex yelps as he is unceremoniously shoved out of the way by a hyper-active ball of fur. “Tora found it! Three Bion Connectors! This absolutely perfect! Thank you, thank you, Rex-Rex!”
“You’re welcome, Tora. Just don’t shove me next time, alright?”
The Nopon continues staring at the trio of devices in his wing in glee, apparently not even hearing Rex’s words.
“Well then,” Pyra starts, “off to the flower patch?”
It’s just after dusk when the party gets back to the fountain in the plaza. They had found a group of five Krabble at the bottom of the ramp to the flower patch, just waiting for people to walk by so they could attack. It was a tough fight for the two new Drivers, Rex having it a bit easier as he had a bit more experience than Izuku. Still, the duo were able to beat the creatures with only minor cuts and scrapes that Adenine was able to heal.
Izuku mainly had trouble with that fight because he couldn’t wrap his head around how Drivers fought. He understood how it worked, sure, the Driver would use the Blade’s weapon to attack while the Blade stayed back and supplied ether and dashed in to block attacks the Driver couldn’t. But, it didn’t sit right with him. He barely registers telling Rex to go on ahead before sitting down on the edge of the fountain to think.
Why do Drivers fight like that? Passing a single weapon back and forth? That leaves numerous openings for a smart enemy to take advantage of to remove either of the pair from the fight. When the Driver has the weapon, an enemy could target the Blade and knock them out, effectively cutting off the ether supply to the Driver, which would then be a comparatively easy target. Sure it would still be tough, but a smart enemy could find a way.
If the Blade has the weapon though, it would be even easier. Just launch an attack at the Driver. Since Blade's essences are linked to their Driver, they are significantly weakened if their Driver is unconscious or weak. Take Vess for example, she could have easily taken out those Krabble if her Driver wasn’t so weak and sick, she said so herself. So while it would still be a fight if the Driver was knocked out, the Blade would then be at a disadvantage. It’s even worse if the enemy is willing to kill, because if the Driver dies, then the Blade returns to their Core Crystal, easily winning the fight for that person or creature.
The easiest solution Izuku can come up with is for the Driver to have their own weapon to use, but then they’re not fighting at full strength with their Blade. Maybe, the duo could still swap weapons back and forth?
Izuku is drawn out of his thoughts by somebody tapping his shoulder. “Mister? Are you ok?” Looking up, he sees a Gormotti girl, seemingly about age 8, standing in front of him with a sheepish expression. Fully back to his senses, Izuku can also hear a beautiful song being played. He follows the sound to find a small girl with long, white hair in a white dress playing an instrument almost as big as she is while sitting up against a massive polar bear.
“Oh! That’s Ursula! She’s my Blade, isn’t she amazing?” the girl says excitedly. “My name’s Kiara. What’s yours?”
“Izuku.”
“I saw you thinking really hard over here, so I came to see if you needed help. My mam always says to help people when they need it.”
This makes Izuku chuckle, remembering when his Mama would say the same to him. It’s part of why he wanted to be a Hero so much back home. “Thanks. I appreciate it a lot. I’m just thinking about a problem I just discovered.”
“Oh,” Kiara says as if Izuku just gave her the answer to life itself, “well, my da always says that,” she puts her hand on her hip and jokingly points at the ground as if being serious, “If you have a problem, ask for help. Another pursp- piercpe- perspec-” She pouts, “Somebody else can help you figure it out if you talk to them.”
“Your dad sounds like a wise man.” Izuku chuckles. “I think he’s proud that somebody as helpful as you is his daughter.” Looking up, Izuku spots Rex being dragged by a super excited Tora, Vess and an old man waving at them from the house in the distance, Pyra and Adenine each carrying a basket loaded over with something he can’t make out from where he is and laughing. “Thank you so much for your help, Kiara. I have to go now. Tell Ursula that her music is wonderful for me, would you?”
“Good luck solving your problem!” the girl calls out after him, waving.
Chuckling, Izuku jogs over to his friends with one thought on his mind, a quote from an old pre-quirk movie he watched with his Mama growing up. “Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.”
Notes:
Izuku finally got his own Blade!!! As soon as I considered Adenine for his first Blade, I knew that she was perfect. They both have green hair, she's a healer and he is obsessed with saving people, her weapon uses a punch based fighting style, books and journals are a major like for both, and her Blade Quest ties perfectly into future plans I have.
More Rare Blade appearances! This time it was Vess and Ursula. I'm thinking about trying to write in similar cameos for every Rare Blade not part of the Aegis's Troope as a certain guy with red glasses would call them. What do y'all think about that?
Track Titles:
Wanted Nia
Omens of Life
Awakened DNA (Summoned Blade)
Torigoth (Day)
The Past Revealed
Where We Used to Be/Elysium In The Blue Sky (cover by Harley Guio Guitar)
Chapter 8: I'm a Real Girl!
Summary:
The Artificial Blade is finished and the party heads off to rescue Nia and Dromarch.
What's this? What's Consul Dughall up to?
Notes:
Come check out the Discord!
https://discord.gg/Z8ZmxAYUUE
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku is immensely grateful for the hood Vale gave him, because the moment they got in sight of Tora’s house, the bottom dropped. The heaviest rainfall Izuku has ever seen, much less experienced, starts with a flash of light and a clap of thunder so loud that it makes him think of Kacchan and some of his larger explosions. His shoulder twinges slightly at the thought, but he shrugs it off and runs with everybody else inside.
The moment they get in the hallway outside Tora’s front door, Izuku looks around to see if everybody is alright. Adenine is closing her levitating book from where it was positioned as a makeshift umbrella, spine up, over herself, Pyra, and those two baskets of what appear to be rice balls. Yum! Rex had tried to cover his head with his arms, for what little good that does in the face of a torrential downpour. And then there’s Tora. The weird little guy had actually jumped for joy at the bone-rattling thunderclap and then proceeded to skip the entire way to the door, not even stopping to dry off before flinging it open and ushering everybody inside with the widest grin on his face.
“Put dumplings on table. Tora have to dry off before finish Artificial Blade!” The Nopon dashes up the ladder to the loft before anyone else can say anything.
“I’m sorry, dumplings?” Izuku is taken aback. Surely he doesn’t mean-? Pyra and Adenine set the baskets they were carrying on the table.
“Yes,” Adenine says, tossing one of them to her Driver, “they are really good! You should try one!”
Izuku catches the item and looks at it with suspicion. The item is clearly a rice ball, strip of nori included. “I wouldn’t call this a dumpling.” He takes a cautious bite and swallows it quickly, “but it is really good.”
Before long, Tora has returned, snatched the gathered parts, and is carefully but fervently attaching them to the robot girl while everybody else watches on. The Nopon removes one of the eyes, attaches the Perfect Range Sensor to the back, and puts it back in. He then gingerly picks up the white cap that was apparently just sitting on her head and turns it over onto his workbench, swiftly attaching the three Bion Connectors Rex just salvaged and some he already had laying around.
“Ok! All finished!” Tora exclaims the moment the last Bion Connector is secured to the head. “Just need to apply energy charge to activate!”
Izuku can feel his eyes widen in slight terror. Oh no. He thinks he just realized why Tora was so excited about the rain. It wasn’t the rain he was excited about, it was the lightning. “That crazy little ball of fur.” He mumbles under his breath, the only one hearing him being Adenine, who gives him a look of confusion before following his eyes to the thick, insulated wires attached to the Artificial Blade’s construction bay. The very same ones that run outside and up through one of the few gaps in the upper walls.
“Tora, our friends’ execution draws near.” Azurda says, urgently. “There’s no time to lose. Make haste!”
“I know, I know!” The Nopon grabs a rather large handle with his wing. Izuku unconsciously takes a step back, Adenine following suit. “Okay Artificial Blade, it’s wakey-wakey ti-”
“That won’t do, Tora!” Pyra interrupts before he can throw the switch.
Turning around, the Nopon asks, bewildered, “W-what Tora do wrong?”
“You can’t keep calling her ‘Artificial Blade’! As her creator, the least you can do is give her a proper name.”
“Oh, um, well…” Tora scratches his head with a wing, “Actually, friends, Tora did think of name for her. Very good name.”
“Nice! Then I guess there’s no problem.” Rex says happily.
“Well, why don’t you introduce us, Tora!” Azurda urges.
“Right away!”
“Um, guys?” Izuku quietly says to Rex and Pyra, “you might want to step back some.”
As they confusedly do so, Tora turns back to the switch, putting his wing back on it before saying, “Now… Wakey-wakey! Tora’s very own Blade! Poppi!” The moment Tora flips the switch, the entire house shakes as the lights flicker off momentarily. When they turn back on, a small burst of steam erupts from the Artificial Blade, dissipating ominously.
“P-Poppi?” Tora asks hopefully.
The Blade’s eyes shoot open and she does a small cutesy dance before posing while saying, “How may I be of service, Master?”
“W-w-w-wait a minute!” Tora exclaims, hopping in front of the still posing Blade, everybody staring at her with a blank expression. The Nopon quickly returns to the board and flips another switch, causing Poppi to go limp again. “Forget you see that! Tora must change the settings!”
“The settings?” Rex and Izuku both ask, sharing a quick look.
Tora ignores them, furiously pushing buttons on his console, ignoring the stares boring into his back as he works. “Th-this time should be ok… Second time go best! Powerrrr… on!” He flips the big switch again and the house shakes even more, the lights staying off for just a bit longer this time.
Another burst of steam, this one smaller, comes from the Artificial Blade before she straightens up, raises her head, and opens her eyes. “Greetings, Masterpon.”
“I… I did it!” The Nopon turns to face the group, wing pointing at his creation. “Tora’s masterpiece! World’s first Artificial Blade… Poppi!”
“Whoa!”
“Incredible!”
That is really quite something.”
“This is quite the achievement, Tora.”
“Tora did good, huh? You impressed? Tora is a very big success?!”
“Absolutely!” Rex answers the eager Nopon. “You’re amazing, Tora! Though I was pretty surprised before, when she was all… you know…”
Izuku notices Tora flinch at that, interesting. Adenine nudges his arm and points to the side of the room.
“Forget about it! That not Tora’s fault! Th-that was, um…” The Nopon lets out a nervous chuckle. “Grampypon! Grampypon Soosoo made settings! Yes, definitely Grampypon’s fault.”
“Are you sure, Tora?” Pyra leans forward, questioning him with an unamused expression on her face.
“Y-yes, Grampypon… yes…”
She glances over to the side and Tora follows her gaze to the wardrobe in the corner, door knocked open by the force of the lightning strike to power Poppi, various maid outfits hanging up or scattered on the ground inside.
The Nopon turns back to Pyra and is met by the most terrifying thing he has ever seen in his life. Just past Pyra, rendering her glare powerless, is Izuku, head tilted slightly to the side, a glare so harsh it’s impossible to imagine it was even possible for Izuku.
Tora is petrified from the fear this glare is giving him, and is sweating bullets. He is extremely thankful when Pyra, completely oblivious to the unbridled horror standing behind her, softens her own glare before speaking in a cheerful voice, causing Izuku to drop his glare as well. “Well, let’s not dwell on that. Rex! Let’s go rescue Nia and Dromarch!”
“That shrew thinks she owns the place, just because she curries favor with the Emperor…” Consul Dughall growls out, pacing in front of the desk in his otherwise empty office. “If only I’d got the Aegis myself.”
Brighid is hiding just outside the massive window into the Consul’s office, journal in hand. The procedure she’s developed with Mòrag for investigations like this is to tail the target with one of the many journals the Empire makes specifically for her, the journals that have a design reminiscent of her Core Crystal on the cover. She writes down whatever she can about their activities, and debriefs the Special Inquisitor when the target falls asleep, oftentimes waking her up. There were a few instances where Mòrag had nearly taken her head off with a wild, blind swing the moment she was roused, but those were instances where she had been unable to sleep the night before.
So, that leads to where she is now, hiding beside a window, listening to the corrupt politician monologue to himself in his office, almost an hour after sunset, during a thunderstorm. The Blade finds herself wishing the weather clears up soon, she doesn’t want the potential of fighting at a severe disadvantage like this.
“I could have returned home in triumph, or sold her to Bana for a tidy sum…”
Finally! They finally have a solid connection between Bana and Dughall! Mòrag will be extremely pleased by this. Out of the corner of her eye, Brighid watches lightning strike the center of the windmill that spans over the entire city. There’s a flash of electricity running down the side of the structure. Curious. The grounding mechanism for the lightning rod goes inside the tower.
“But it’s not over. I refuse to let this place be the end of me!” Brighid watches him stop pacing and turn to face the video communication device on his desk. “I will not be left to rot in this flea-bitten backwater! Captain Padraig!” He yells, turning on the device to show an image of the Captain at his desk.
“Yes sir?”
“Double the number of guardsmen! Round up whoever you can find!” Dughall orders, a tone of finality present in his voice. “We’re going to find that Aegis before Mòrag gets her paws on her.”
“Sir! As you wish, sir!” Brighid watches the communication end and is especially glad that they brought Padraig in on the investigation. If Padraig were actually going to be fulfilling that order, then the trap would be sprung too early. If that happens, the Aegis, her Driver, and that green-haired boy would either be able to escape or be prepared for a fight and fail to be caught off guard.
“Watch and learn, Mòrag Ladair.”
Brighid turns back away from the window in time to see a second bolt hit the tower, this one also running down the side before disappearing entirely. What on earth is happening over there? And why does she feel nervous all of a sudden?
“There is Titan warship!” Tora says from beside Izuku as they gaze out towards their target. The storm has eased up now, mainly just rain with the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance towards the back of the Gormotti Titan. So, under the cover of darkness, the gang decided it was time, and crossed over the central bridge to Torigoth’s Farm District, immediately catching sight of the hulking battleship, docked in the Torigoth Relay Base as Tora called it, just across the district.
“Quite the impressive Titan.” Azurda hums, “Another sign that Mor Ardain is readying once more for war with Uraya.”
“Look!” Rex says, urgently. “That root goes right to the ship, just like Pyra said.”
“Yes yes!” Tora excitedly agrees. “This way, friends! Tora knows the way!”
So, the Drivers and Blades follow the Nopon as he climbs down walls covered in surprisingly strong vines and walks across various bridges and roofs until they get to the root itself. Izuku can’t even believe this is a root to begin with! It’s thicker than any tree he’s ever seen in his life! Excluding the ones here, that is.
The root is rather long, so it takes them a bit to get to the end of it, but when they do, they look up in silence.
“Looks pretty high. Gimme a moment.” Rex raises his arm and points his grappling hook up at the target opening. He takes a moment to aim, then fires, hauling himself up shortly after.
“I figured it would be above the root,” Izuku mutters, “but I didn’t think it would be that high up.”
“Indeed,” Adenine nods her head, “I doubt we would be able to fully ascend without either Rex’s Anchor Shot or Poppi’s foot thrusters.”
“How you know about thrusters?” Tora questions curiously. “Tora never told anybody about those.”
The Blade looks at the Nopon with a small smile before turning to look back up at Rex. “You left her plans out for all to see. So, I read them. Your father’s notes on ether furnaces were quite remarkable, I must say.”
Their conversation is halted by a voice from above. “Alright then. Pyra, you first.” The hook for Rex’s grappling hook shoots down in front of them, stopping a few inches off the ground. “I’ll pull you up, so hold tight.”
The only thing Izuku can think while Pyra hesitantly grabs the offered line is ‘This is either going to pull him down or fail before he can even try.’ And sure enough, when Pyra steps on the hook, Rex nearly falls flat on his face, calling out “So… heavy!”
“Wh-what did you say?!” Pyra steps off in disbelief, causing Rex, who had just righted himself to compensate for the weight, to go flying onto his back, also sending Azurda flying out of his helmet, though the Titan recovered quickly.
Izuku can’t quite hear what the Titan is saying, but from the waving finger and the hand on his hip, he can imagine that Rex is getting lectured right now.
“Ooh, Rex-Rex a little tactless…” Tora says nonchalantly.
“Sorry about that,” Pyra says, covering her face with her hands, “I guess I was just surprised!”
“No no, it’s not your fault, I-”
“Ooh! She heavier than Tora for sure! But that just mean Pyra grown to impressive height!” While Tora is talking, Izuku hears something that sounds almost like a jet engine warming up. Looking over, he sees Poppi bending down slightly while smoke starts pouring out from under her feet. “It is good thing! Pyra should be proud!”
When Tora says “proud”, Poppi grabs Tora and launches herself into the air, the force of her rocket boots almost sending everybody near her flying. She lands and after setting Tora down, looks at Rex, still sitting where he had landed. “Poppi pull Pyra up. Please grab again.”
Ashe Alenko is on shift right now, guarding the main door of the Special Inquisitor’s flagship like Captain Padraig ordered him to when he hears something unusual off towards Torigoth. It sounds almost like an ether cannon shot, but that’s not right because it was sustained. Not for long, but it sounded for far longer than should be possible for an ether cannon.
“Williams, did you hear that?” Ashe turns to his partner for the shift. The lieutenant looks at him, confusion obvious even through her full helmet.
“No sir, are you sure it wasn’t just the wind?” Ashe could swear that he heard a grin in that question.
“Was that supposed to be a joke, Lieutenant Williams?” The way she looked away from him told him all he needed to know. Sighing, Ashe commands her, “Go get the Captain.”
“Yes sir.” She salutes before running off to find Captain Padraig.
While he waits for them to get here, he looks around for the source of the noise. He’s almost getting ready to apologize for wasting the Captain’s time when he spots something. He almost didn’t see it because of the railing of the bridge, but it appears to be a faint, green glow. Pulling out his binoculars, he sees what he can only guess to be a Blade with red hair and a green Core Crystal slowly rising while clutching on to something like her life depends on it. Looking below her, he sees two people standing on that root that sticks out at Low Tide, both with green hair, though one is obviously a Blade.
“Sergeant Alenko.” Ashe turns when he hears his name called and sees the Captain looking at him, waiting with his arms crossed.
“Captain Padraig.” Ashe salutes his superior before handing him his binoculars and pointing at the root. “I think we have company.”
The Captain takes the offered binoculars and looks through them before muttering something that Ashe can barely hear. “So, the problem child got himself a Blade, huh?” Huh? Problem child? What’s that about?
Padraig returns the binoculars with a sigh, “The Special Inquisitor isn’t going to like this. She expected them to storm the front gate. Good work. Thank you for letting me know, Alenko.”
“You’re welcome, sir.” Ashe puts the binoculars pack in his pouch before turning back to his superior. “Do you want us to raise the alarm?”
“Wait for the Special Inquisitor’s command before you do anything else.”
Rex watches as Adenine helps Izuku get up the rest of the way to the disposal chute and is immediately grateful that his arm isn’t going to be under any more of that kind of strain, at least for a while. Poppi certainly helped out, but he still felt the weight of everybody he pulled up.
He’s reeling in his Anchor Shot when Izuku comes up and puts a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he is met by the most terrifying thing he’s ever seen, even beating out Nopon that just got shorted on payments. Izuku is glaring at him with the most intense glare he’s ever seen, head tilted slightly to the side.
“Rex,” the sickeningly sweet tone Izuku is speaking in does not at all match his face, and it terrifies Rex even more, “I’ll give you a pass this time because I’m sure Azurda has already lectured you on it. But you never call a lady heavy. If you do so again while around me, I can assure you, you will learn to never do it again. Got it?”
“G-g-got i-it.”
Izuku takes his hand off of Rex’s shoulder and returns to his normal, cheery demeanor. “Good! Now, let’s go, we have some friends to rescue.”
Rex collapses to his knees in relief, heart pounding out of his chest. He can hear Gramps in the helmet behind him breathing heavily. Oh shoot, was he caught in that glare as well?
“Rex, my boy.” Gramps speaks between breaths, “It would behoove you to do as he says.” The Titan adds, almost too quietly for him to hear, “That glare was even worse than hers.”
Notes:
Oh man, the glares! I was looking forward to writing them so much! The one that Tora got was actually not scripted, though the one Rex got absolutely was. Inko would have drilled it into Izuku from a young age to not call ladies heavy for any reason, so he gets pretty upset when he sees other people do that. And, I mean, come on, Pyra glared at Tora for the wardrobe incident, so I figured Izuku would as well. He just dials it all the way to 100 from the start whenever he glares.
If you caught those names at the end, I salute you. While Ashe actually is a real character in the game, he's little more than an NPC you can talk to. As for Williams, I made her for this scene.
Track Titles:
Friendship (Cover by Gaming_Guitar_Guy)
A Nopon's Life (Cover by gabocarina96)
The Beginning of Darkness
Torigoth (Night) (Cover by TheToader)
Titan Battleship
Chapter 9: Here We Are Again
Summary:
The gang sneaks around the Ardainian TItan Battleship in an attempt to free their friends, Nia and Dromarch.
Notes:
Hey everybody! Life got really busy, so I wasn't able to finish this chapter last week. It's the shortest chapter so far, but I still quite enjoyed what I put out for y'all. I hope y'all enjoy it as well!
Come check out the Discord!
https://discord.gg/Z8ZmxAYUUE
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Ok, they’ve left.” Izuku waves everybody forward from where he’s crouched, peeking around the corner to look out for any patrolling soldiers. Apparently, Rex and Tora have absolutely no sense of subtlety or stealth. Rex nearly got spotted because he just ran around a corner and almost directly into the back of a soldier. Izuku had to grab the other boy by the back of his helmet and yank him back before the soldier turned around and spotted him.
This led to a hushed conversation, lecture would probably be more accurate, about how important it is to actually try to be sneaky while sneaking onto a ship. Surprisingly, no problems came from the girl made of metal, who was completely silent. It seems Tora’s father had thought about stealth situations and designed an entire stealth mode for Poppi that made her eerily quite. So, at least there’s not the incredibly obvious and loud sound of a metal creature stomping through the vents.
Rex nearly cancels that out though.
“By the Architect, how is he so loud?” Adenine wonders under her breath from right next to Izuku. “I’d be surprised if the entire ship doesn’t know we’re here.”
“I have no clue whatsoever.” Izuku helpfully responds.
The Blade turns to her Driver, head tilted slightly. “How do you know how to sneak around so well?”
“Well… Uh…”
________
“Damn nerd. Where’d you get to, Deku?! You think you’re better than me?! Still on that idiotic nonsense about being a Hero?!”
Izuku watches from his spot behind an alleyway dumpster as Kacchan scoffs and goes to look for him in the next alley calling out more threats and insults.
________
“I did a lot of hiding growing up.”
Before Adenine can really process his response, Poppi calls out from the head of the group. “Poppi found vent grate ahead. Scans indicate this is best way forward. Should Poppi do this quietly or quickly?”
“Friends need to rescue cat lady and Blade quickly, yes?” Tora turns to Rex and Izuku, head tilted slightly.
Wait a minute, Rex, don’t y-
“Quickly, we need to get out of here.”
-ou… Why does Izuku even try?
“Roger, Friend Rex.” Poppi pulls a fist back and punches the vent grate, sending it flying across the hall into a patrolling soldier.
Izuku not even concerned about how loud that was, runs over to the soldier with Adenine and pulls the deformed vent grate off of the man before looking him over. Breathing a sigh of relief while Adenine fixes the concussion he must have, which is apparently something she can do, he whips around and stares at Rex and Tora before calling out in a hushed yell. “Were you two trying to kill him? Thankfully he’s just unconscious, but that could have seriously hurt him!”
Rex at least has the sense to sheepishly rub the back of his head and stutter out an apology. Tora however?
“Soldier ok, right? Tora trust strength assessment of Poppi and know she not punch vent strong enough to injure him.”
“Ugh,” Izuku drags a hand down his face, “let’s just move on. Any idea where we are?”
“If I had to wager a guess,” Azurda pipes up, “I’d say we were near one of the cell blocks.”
“One of?!” Izuku turns to look at the diminutive Titan, “How many would a ship this size have?”
“Anywhere from two to six, depends on if it’s a royalty specific ship or not.”
Izuku feels dread at those words. That means that chances are strong Nia and Dromarch aren’t even in this block, and that’s only if they haven’t been separated. This just got a whole lot more complicated. On top of that, they seem to have arrived at a dead end. That is an awful lot of rather sturdy doors though. Could this be a cell block?
“Masterpon, Poppi can feel there is a Blade in the vicinity.”
The Nopon gasps, “But how can Poppi tell that?”
Izuku quietly bites his tongue to keep himself from saying the first thing that comes to mind, that being, ‘Didn’t you build her?’ He is surprised when he hears a small snort beside him. Turning, he sees Adenine trying to suppress a smile. What’s so funny?
“Unclear.” The Artificial Blade says, “Poppi feel other Blade like wave in air.”
“Huh.” Rex puts a hand on his chin, “I’m not sure I get it, but… maybe Dromarch is nearby!”
“Or,” Izuku suggests, “that’s another Blade they have locked up. Poppi, can you determine the size of the Blade you’re sensing?”
Poppi closes her eyes, and for a moment, Izuku thinks she’s not able to. Then, eyes still closed, she walks to one of the doors and puts her hand on it. “Poppi can not be 100% certain, but Blade behind door is not human-shaped.”
Rex cracks his knuckles, “Well, let’s give it a shot. Pyra?”
Dromarch is laying down, passing the time with memories of his time with the Lady Nia and their many travels. Oh, the memories. So lovely. He’s lost in thought when he hears a clatter and muffled voices outside the door. Confused, he gets up and walks to the door to try and listen in to what he can.
He’s not far from the door when the middle of it starts to glow. That’s odd, it’s a rather thick door. He continues to watch it, puzzled, as the glow gets more intense, seeming to warp the metal as it spreads. How curious.
Oh, now the center is turning white. Hold on, it’s being pushed from outside and glowing as if it’s under direct pressure and flame. Wasn’t one of their new friends a fire… Blade… Oh shoot…
Dromarch throws himself down on the ground as soon as he connects the dots. Just in time too, as the moment he drops, a massive pillar of flame blasts through the door, just barely avoiding singeing the top of his fur.
A head of red hair peers through the hole. “Um… I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”
“Everyone check your eyebrows!” Another person, this one with dark brown, almost black hair, says as they join the first.
“I’m sorry. It’s hard to judge the power sometimes…”
“It’s really good to see you, Dromarch.”
“Pyra! Rex! Izuku!” Dromarch is incredibly relieved to see the familiar faces of his new friends once again.
“Dromarch! It’s so good to see you alive.” Azurda chimes in from his perch on the back of Rex’s head.
“It very good!” A tan and cream colored Nopon pokes his head up in view of the hole.
“See, Masterpon? There was a Blade here.” A curious metal girl with blue hair and a white hat pops up right next to the Nopon.
“Ooh, I have yet to see a Beast Form Blade. This is a prime opportunity for notes.” A green haired Blade behind everybody pulls out a frankly ridiculously large book and starts writing in it.
“Master Titan and…” Dromarch pauses for a moment, “Forgive me, but who are they?”
“Oh,” Rex reaches through the hole to open the door before motioning towards the metal girl, “this is Poppi, the first ever Artificial Blade and the Nopon is her creator and Driver, Tora.”
“And she,” Izuku waves to the Blade behind him scribbling furiously in her notebook, “is Adenine, my Blade.”
“My goodness, how our party has grown.” Dromarch nods politely at the three newcomers, “It is wonderful to meet you.”
“Sorry to cut the introductions short,” Izuku quickly says, “but we’re running short on time. Do you know where Nia is?”
“But of course. We are in resonance after all. I feel her presence.”
“Then let’s go!” Izuku turns around and starts walking down the hallway they came from, eyes sharp and focused. “We can’t let her get executed.”
“Captain Padraig,” Mòrag’s voice has an upset edge to it, “what do you mean, ‘they’re on the ship already’?”
Padraig can barely resist the urge to gulp nervously. He knows that the Special Inquisitor would never harm any of her men if she could help it, but that does not at all mean she’s any less scary. “Apparently they got in through the trash chute. They took advantage of the low tide of the Cloud Sea and slipped in from the root sticking out underneath the ship.”
Composing herself, Mòrag turns around to face the Captain, “How did they get up from the root?”
“I saw the green haired child being lifted up by a metallic rope of some sort. My best guess is that is the Salvager used his grappling hook to get everybody up.” At the mention of the grappling hook, Brighid rubs her jaw.
“I will admit, that is certainly a powerful grappling hook. It is feasible to be used to sneak aboard.”
“What are your orders, Special Inquisitor?”
After a moment to think, Mòrag speaks, “As much as I would like to have your men here to assist, they are needed over at Lascham Island. We’ve received word of a base for those thieves you’ve been after.”
“Lascham… They’re that close?!”
Mòrag hands Padraig a file to look through detailing the report she’s sharing. “Indeed. Since that base is so close to Torigoth, we need to send as many troops as we can. I know you have some kind of beef with one of the infiltrators, so I’m giving you the option here: stay and help me capture the Aegis or go to Lascham to support your men.”
Padraig looks over the file for a little bit before closing it and tucking it under his arm. “If this report is accurate, my men need me. Anyways, if I let a personal issue get in the way of doing my job, I would be an awful Captain.”
“I agree, go prepare your men.”
Padraig salutes the Inquisitor and turns around to follow orders. He’s just gotten to the door when he hears Mòrag sigh in defeat, then say to Brighid, “Go get the Consul. It’s time to read him in on this plan.”
Nia is sitting in the cell Mòrag put her in, knees to her chest. How long has she been in here? She’s not hungry or thirsty, but she is bored out of her sparking mind right now. How is Dromarch doing? She hadn’t seen the white tiger Blade since they got captured.
Why did that Inquisitor do this to her, even knowing that she had been in an Indoline cell barely two months ago? What was it again? To draw in Rex and Pyra? Sure, Pyra’s the legendary Aegis and all that, but why does Mòrag even want her? To put her under Ardanian Military control? To imprison her? To destroy her?
Anyways, this cell only has a bed in it. Not that she’s using it, she’s sitting in the middle of the floor, staring at the door. Maybe if she stares at it long enough it’ll open? That’s about what happened last time, right?
Staring at the door, chin resting in her knees, Nia remembers the Indoline cell. It’s still a very vivid memory. She can even hear the sounds of battle outside the door, just as she remembers it. She can imagine the sounds dying out with a pair of thuds just before the handle starts to turn. She imagines the door slowly opening, revealing a tall man with shoulder-length white hair wearing a gray outfit with a matching horned mask.
“Jin?” Nia hesitantly asks, barely registering that the door has actually opened and someone is standing in it, holding out a hand to help her up. Just like Jin did.
Nia looks at the offered hand in front of her, realizing that this is real, and follows it up to see Jin’s masked face. Not believing her eyes, she rubs them and looks back up to see a bush of green hair with equally green eyes looking at her, hand outstretched.
“I-Izuku?”
“We’re here for you, Nia.” Izuku says, still holding his hand out for her to grab.
“You came for me?” Nia grabs the offered hand and stands up, seeing a crowd of people behind him.
“Of course we did. You saved us back there, so we decided to return the favor.” Izuku confirms as somebody else walks into the cell.
“My lady. Apologies for my late arrival.” Dromarch bows his head to her before looking back up at her.
Stunned, Nia just stands there, not even realizing she hasn’t taken her hand out of Izuku’s yet. After a moment, she speaks, “Don’t mention it. I didn’t think anyone was coming at all.”
“As if we’d leave you!” Rex retorts from his position leaning on the door frame. “’Always help those who help you.’ That’s the second rule of the Salvager’s Code!”
Nia snorts at the mumbled “The heck is the first rule?” from Izuku she only picks up because of her cat-like ears. She nearly starts laughing when she sees a look of confusion on his face paired with a mumbled “First Adenine, now Nia. What’s going on?” Nearly. She doesn’t quite feel like explaining why she’s laughing to them.
“Rex-Rex! Friend Izuku! Tora has found escape route!” A short ball of fur pokes his head around the corner. “Hurry hurry!”
“A Nopon?”
Dromarch chuckles, “He has been of some assistance.”
“We made a new friend!” Rex happily exclaims.
“Uh, nice to meet ya.” Nia directs at the Nopon.
“Well,” Nia hears Azurda speaking from just around the corner, “I think we’ve overstayed our welcome here. Time to get moving!” While the Titan is speaking, other people start poking their heads around the corner. First is Pyra, then directly above her head is a metallic girl with blue hair, then a Blade with very light green hair. Finally, Azurda pops up from behind the Blade’s head, striking a silly pose of some sort.
After introducing everybody to Nia, Izuku positions himself at the corner of the hallway. He looks around the corner to the barracks they passed right before finding Nia. There is a pair of soldiers leaning against either side of the door talking to each other. Izuku motions behind him to tell everybody to stay quiet while he listens.
“So what were the new orders again?”
“The Captain finally got news on those thieves. Apparently we’re being reassigned to take them in.” Blast it, Izuku can’t tell which one is talking, that’s not ideal.
“When are we leaving?”
“Anytime now.” Izuku feels Nia stop right behind him to listen in as well.
“What about the infiltrators?”
“No idea. Orders are orders though.”
“Oh spark, I was really looking forward to capturing them. They put Muir in the infirmary. Threw a sparking vent grate at him and scarpered.”
Feeling a tap on the shoulder, Izuku turns around and sees a look on Nia’s face that just screams “What the hell?”. He points at Tora and turns back around, feeling her leave to go ask the Nopon.
“They what?! Oh man, Muir’s a really chill guy. What did they have to do that for?”
“No clue.” The soldier, which Izuku is finally able to identify because he grunts as he pushes off of the door, walks inside the room and starts yelling. “Alright men, up and at ‘em. Captain Padraig has issued new orders directly from the Special Inquisitor. We are to assemble in the main plaza at 2300 for a march on the recently discovered base of operations for the Core Crystal thieves that have been plaguing our operations for the last two months. That gives us 30 minutes! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
Oh shoot, they’re about to be marching down the hall. HIDE!
Izuku turns around and frantically waves for everybody to get back and hide around another corner.
They have just managed to all get around the corner when the soldiers start marching down the hall. Izuku looks at the group and holds a finger to his mouth in a hushing gesture.
Right before the soldiers fully pass, Rex accidentally bumps his grappling hook against Poppi, creating a clank.
Everybody freezes in a panic, mentally getting ready to fight their way out of there.
Izuku doesn’t dare to peek around the corner, but he does hear a pair of boots slow down at the mouth to the hallway.
His heart goes into his throat when he hears the boots start slowly walking down their hallway. “Who’s there?”
“Woods! Get your rear back in formation.”
“Yes sir!” The boots stop and Izuku can barely hear what the soldier says next. “Must have been imagining it.”
They don’t move for another five minutes after the soldier leaves, not daring to after nearly being found.
Notes:
Hoo boy. That was a close one. Join us next time where the party attempts to leave the Battleship!
So... I learned while writing this chapter that I've been spelling "Ardainian" wrong this entire time... I've been writing it as "Ardanian", without the first "i". Oops. I'll try and keep to the correct spelling going forward.
Track Titles:
Titan Battleship
Wanted Nia
A Brewing Storm
Elysium in the Dream (Cover by TeraCMusic and gabocarina96)
Irritation
Chapter 10: Ardainian Technology
Summary:
After a quick breather, our heroes make their escape from the ship. Wait? Why do I hear boss music?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
When they finally work up the courage to leave the hallway, Rex leads them down the path the soldiers took. Before long, they find themselves in an armory with a window looking into the cargo hold.
“Looks like this is our way out.” Gramps says from Rex’s helmet.
“Meh-meh-meh…” Rex turns to see Tora and Poppi at the door into the cargo hold, also noticing that it’s closed with a red light shining over it. “Door is locked, no way to open!”
“Even Poppi probably not able to break through this…” Poppi hangs her head in defeat. “Not even by slamming face through door…”
“Wha-?!”
“But we’re so close!” Nia exclaims, cutting Izuku off. The Gormotti girl has to be itching to get off this ship.
“Rex.” Gramps grabs the sides of the salvager’s head and turns it to the left and up. “Take a look over there.”
Looking where Gramps directs him to, Rex can see a bundle of red pipes connected to a panel on the second floor catwalk that lead to a panel next to the door they’re trying to open. “Looks like we have to leave this room for now and find a way up there.”
“Hey, Adenine,” Izuku speaks up, pulling out his notebook, “I have some questions for you.”
“I welcome it.” Adenine turns to her Driver, “I will answer to the best of my abilities.”
“Uh, is this really the right time for this, Izuku?” Rex looks over at his green haired friend who doesn’t even appear to have heard him.
“Fantastic. How much can you lift with your book? How quickly can you move it? How far away from your body can you move it?” Izuku looks up at his Blade with an eager expression, pen at the ready.
“Uh… What do those questions have to do with our door problem?” Nia asks skeptically.
“Ooh! Wonderful questions!” Adenine pulls her massive book out in front of her. “Well, it can lift about 200 pounds with relative ease. It can move fairly quickly, but it gets unwieldy if I go too fast. Only as far as this chain goes. It’s enough for me to write in it, but not much farther.”
“Thank you so much, Adenine!”
“It’s not an issue to assist my Driver.”
“What does Friend Izuku even need with that info anyways?” Tora asks what everybody is thinking.
“Well…” Izuku sheepishly rubs the back of his head. “I have a little bit of a crazy idea.”
Izuku then turns to Adenine and says something too quietly for Rex to hear. The Blade chuckles into her hand before nodding at her Driver.
“Oh, this is going to be good.” Nia starts giggling like a mad woman.
“Titan’s foot! What is going on?” Rex asks the room. Nobody answers him.
Rex watches as Izuku and Adenine position themselves in the middle of the room, looking up at the panel on the wall of the second floor. To his utter shock and horror, Izuku uses one of the boxes in the room to climb up onto his Blade’s book, settling in a crouching position.
Gramps starts laughing from his helmet perch. “Oh my, this is going to be quite interesting.”
“Indeed.” Dromarch agrees.
“What Friend Izuku doing up there?” Tora scratches his head with a wing.
“Izuku, when you bust your face open, don’t expect me to say I didn’t tell you it would happen.” Nia is full on cackling now, laying on her stomach, somehow not in danger of falling off of Dromarch’s back.
“Poppi thinks Poppi understands. This should be interesting.”
“Will somebody clue me in?!” Rex doesn’t have to wait long to get his answer, because the moment he asks that, Adenine launches her book up and forwards, sending Izuku flying towards the panel. The boy ends up turning mid-air and slams his back into the wall before falling on his shoulder and collapsing into a heap on the catwalk.
“Ow.”
Izuku’s entire back is throbbing as he pulls himself to his feet and presses the big button on the panel. He turns and watches as the light above the door on the lower level turns green, signaling that it’s now unlocked.
Looking around, he spots a walkway leading along the wall, ending at a drop with no rail, with controls next to it. The walkway appears to be hinged, so Izuku walks over to it and presses the button he guesses will lower it. He guesses correctly, because when he presses the button, the walkway lowers into a ramp going to the lower level.
Izuku walks down the ramp and sits on a crate while Adenine comes over and waves a hand over him, green ether particles coming out of the hand and settling on him, greatly relieving his back pain.
“I will never get over how cool that is.” Izuku says as he watches the particles sink into his skin.
“Well,” Nia starts, “since you’re healing, this is as good a time as any for a breather. Especially because this whole thing was a trap for you, Pyra.”
“Me?” Pyra asks, shocked.
“Yeah, apparently this Special Inquisitor character doesn’t want to risk another catastrophe like the Aegis War happening again. I don’t know what she was planning on doing after she got you, but I imagine you wouldn’t like it.”
“So,” Izuku turns to Nia, “you weren’t about to be executed?”
Nia starts chuckling, “Is that the rumor she spread? Wow, Mòrag really pulled all the stops out, huh?”
“Well, it certainly had us fooled.” Azurda says, looking out from behind Rex’s head.
“I wonder,” Izuku starts, “was she hoping that we would storm the front gates?”
“Considering her Blade told her about our fight, I’d say so.” Nia confirms.
“Her Blade?” Rex asks, “You mean that blue fire Blade? I think her name was Brighid?”
“That’s the one.” Nia says.
“I can’t imagine the Special Inquisitor being too happy about us sneaking past her trap.” Azurda chuckles.
“So how did you guys get aboard anyways?” Nia asks. “You can’t have gone through the dock or you would have sprung the trap.”
“It was idea of Friend Izuku. He saw root sticking out underneath ship on map and suggested we go that way.” Tora answers.
“I remembered seeing waste disposal chutes on that area of an Ardainian Battleship in the past, so I suggested using that to actually board from the root.” Azurda says.
“Wow,” Nia starts, “The inside of an Ardainian Battleship is way different from the Monoceros, huh…”
“What is Monoceros?” Poppi looks at Nia with a slight tilt to her head.
“I don’t think you’ve mentioned that yet.” Izuku says.
“Rex, you saw it, right?” Nia turns to the salvager, “Moored at a pier back in Argentum? Jin and co.’s black boat.”
“Aah,” Rex nods as he remembers it, “that really impressive one! It runs without being hooked up to a Titan, right?”
“I’m no expert, but… yeah, looked like it.” Nia says.
“Sound awesome! Tora want to see too!”
“You won't get the chance,” Rex turns to the Nopon, “not unless we see those Torna guys again."
Izuku hums, “Those are the people that made you guys crash on Gormott to begin with, right?” Rex, Nia, and Pyra all nod in response.
Tora backs up, waving his wings in front of him. “Meh-meh-meh-meh?! Tora change mind. No need to see.”
“Masterpon change mind at drop of hat...” Poppi says while flapping her arms, much like Tora just did with his wings.
Rex crosses his arms and leans against a crate. “Well, the Monoceros was pretty sweet, but this is nothing to scoff at either!”
“For sure. It's full of things I've never seen before.” Nia pokes a crate full of what appears to be various wires and fittings.
“Ah!” Tora jumps with excitement, “That's because this vessel is result of latest breakthroughs in Ardainian tech! Regular folk never so much as set foot on board!”
“You say breakthroughs in technology, but what you mean is salvaged stuff, right?” Nia questions the Nopon.
Rex looks at the console, obviously undergoing repairs at the moment, underneath the window to the cargo hold. “Hmm, not exclusively. I see lots of homegrown improvements as well. Like this, see?” He points out a bundle of wires in an exposed section. “Whatever they've stuffed in here, it's been messed with so much, I can't tell what it was to start with.”
Tora looks at what Rex is pointing at. “That control panel. It transmit signal to Titan nerves. By running cables to different parts of Titan from here, can control signal flow much more better.”
“Whaaaat...? That's amazing.”
“And this cable itself have 2.4 time the speed and 12 time the capacity of previous iteration. In other words, it on whole other level to stuff other countries use!”
“Huh! So if they put this in a smaller Titan vessel, it would work even better!”
“Pin-pon! Correct!”
“They seem to be having fun,” Nia sighs, “but it's all gibberish to me... Poppi, Izuku, Adenine, what do you three think?”
Adenine looks up from her open book. “Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. I would like to though, the prospect of knowledge entices me.” She returns to her book and Izuku can see that she’s sketching and labeling the console.
“I’m curious,” Izuku says, “but I’m more concerned about our escape right now.”
Poppi turns to Tora with a head tilt. “Why Masterpon act so proud?”
“Ho-hoo! Tora very glad you ask! That because tech used in this Titan battleship is same as what Poppi's muscles and drivetrain use!”
“Poppi is surprised!”
“But however though! Ones that Poppi use are even more improved than these here!”
“Yet more surprise!”
“Tora…” Nia starts, “...are you saying you stole the tech from Mor Ardain?”
At Nia’s words, Izuku can’t help a mumbled “Ruh roh.”
“C'mon, Tora... Is that what you call sporting behavior?” Rex rubs the back of his head as he looks at the Nopon.
“Tora take calculated risk in service to cause of scientific advancement... As result, not even Ardainian scientists capable of reverse-engineer Poppi systems! So no worries there!”
The Artificial Blade dramatically hangs her head, “Upon learning secret of Poppi's birth, Poppi feel sense of unease...”
“E-everything fine! Probably. Now, Rex-Rex! No time for chit-chat. Let's get going!” Tora runs to the door and waves for everybody to go through.
Nia chuckles to herself as Tora nervously laughs when everybody walks through the door into the cargo hold.
“Not much further to exit!” Tora says, excitedly.
“Not so fast, my dear intruders.” Nia recognizes the voice of Consul Dughall just as the wretch himself walks through the doors they were hoping to exit through, a massive Blade behind him holding a hammer easily twice as tall as the Consul. “Letting a terrorist from Torna out of my grasp would make me look very bad indeed.” Dughall stops when he spots Pyra. “Ah, that emerald Core Crystal! You must be the Aegis! Much as it pains me to admit it, it seems Mòrag was right on the money.”
“You know who Pyra is?” Rex asks, “Are you trying to capture her too, you ratbag?”
“Now now, language. But of course.” Dughall smirks, “The most powerful Blade in all of history, with the power to rend Alrest asunder? Only a fool would know of that power and not seek to claim it! And I am no fool!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Izuku mutters, just loud enough for Nia to hear.
“Therefore, I will claim her as my own! You cannot argue with such logic!”
“Flaw detected in final step of logic.” Poppi pipes up from beside Tora.
“Sorry, pal,” Nia steps to the front of the group, “but you’ve done all the capturing you’re gonna do today.”
“Such impertinence for a dirty terrorist.” the Consul spits at the Gormotti Driver.
“Let’s go, Pyra!” Rex calls out as he draws the sword on his back.
“Dolmes, if you will.” Dughall speaks over his shoulder. The Blade standing behind him nods and activates his hammer.
“Got it.” the red haired Blade responds, supplying ether to her Driver as he runs forward, sword at the ready. Just before Rex can get close enough to hit Dughall, the Consul steps to the side as his Blade slams his massive hammer down just in front of Rex.
Nia shares a glance with Izuku and Tora before they pull their weapons and charge in to support their friend. She can’t help but find the image of a Nopon carrying a shield almost bigger than he is into battle funny.
Rex brings his sword down onto the shaft of Dolmes’ hammer while Tora almost rolls in to catch the hammer head with his shield. Nia and Izuku take the opportunity and run around either side of the hulking Blade to find Dughall pointing an ether rifle at Nia.
The Gormotti Driver ducks as the Consul fires, the round barely scraping the tip of her ear. She watches as Izuku comes in and brushes Dughall’s cheek with an ether enhanced punch the Consul barely avoids. The coward runs off past his Blade that has just swept Rex and Tora into empty crates that break on impact. Seeing that Dolmes is turning around for an attack, Nia grabs Izuku’s shirt and pulls him down beside her, the ether spikes on the Blade’s hammer barely clipping Izuku’s hair as he falls.
Izuku manages to throw his Blade weapons (Why are they shaped like books?) at his Blade, who grabs them and, after overcharging them with wind ether, launches them off her hands and hits Dolmes square in the head, knocking him off of the pair of Drivers.
“Are you alright, milady?” Dromarch bounds over and helps Nia up while Adenine is doing the same for Izuku.
“I’m fine, Dromarch. C’mon, we’re taking that arse down.” Nia hops onto Dromarch’s back and rides over to rejoin the fight.
“That coward…” Rex says right as Nia dodges a swing from Dolmes. “He’s just hiding behind his Blade!”
“What?” Dughall asks, sounding extremely condescending. "Does common sense elude you? A Blade can regenerate from any injury! Whereas if I die, my Blade will return to a useless Core!”
“So it’s ok to use them as living shields?” Izuku asks as he launches one of his book gauntlets at Dughall, who takes the hit in his rather pudgy abdomen with a groan. The weapon flies back towards Izuku after the hit, landing back on his still outstretched hand.
“You weasel.” Nia says, sending a healing wave over Rex and Tora. “Even if they can regenerate, that doesn’t mean Blades don’t feel pain!”
Dughall bends over laughing, promptly stopping due to the pain in his gut, “How cute. The fleabag thinks we should care about Blade’s feelings. I wonder if you can feel pain!” The Consul hides behind a crate as he says this, prompting his Blade to start spinning in circles, creating a wall of wind so strong it throws everybody but Dughall onto their backs.
Nia is standing up from where Dromarch managed to catch her when she hears Dughall yell “Pineapple!” What the heck does a pineapple have to do with anything? The Consul throws something over Dolmes towards Nia. Not knowing what it is, Dromarch throws up his ether barrier to intercept it. The moment it hits the shield, it explodes.
“What the bloody ‘ell was that?!” Nia yells in question. “Did you just throw a grenade at me?”
Instead of answering, the Consul comes out of his hiding spot and raises his ether rifle again, this time aiming for Tora. The Nopon sees the weapon and easily raises his shield in time for it to bounce off, nearly hitting Dughall in the foot.
Izuku looks over at his Blade and nods before running up to Dolmes and throws a series of punches, barely dodging a kick from the Blade as he tosses the weapons back to Adenine who comes in for her own series of punches and kicks. She throws them back at Izuku, who is jumping off of a crate. He catches the Knuckle Claws in midair and brings them down onto Dolmes, the wind ether sending the Blade careening into his Driver.
Before Dolmes has an opportunity to get up, Nia watches as Tora tosses his shield to Poppi, who catches it and flies into the air, extending the drill spike. She then activates some hidden thrusters in the shield and crashes down into the massive Blade, knocking him out.
“How…?” Dughall says, barely managing to stand up. “A mangy fleabag and a bunch of stinking kids… My triumphant return… to Mor Ardain… with the Aegis…”
Having had enough of the Consul in the last couple days to last a few lifetimes, Nia runs up and grabs him by the head. She leans in to beside his ear, whispering “This is for my family, you sack of sh*te.” She knees him in the crotch and tosses him into his Blade, out cold.
“Titan’s foot, Nia. What was that for?” Rex asks, eyes wide at what he just saw.
“It was personal. Let’s go, I’m sick of this place.”
Running out of the cargo bay, Izuku can’t help but notice how empty the base is. It is dark out, but there should be more soldiers outside. Does this have anything to do with those Core Crystal thieves those soldiers were talking about back on the ship? Hold on, they knew there were intruders, so why is it so empty out here? There’s the main gate. Why are there no guards posted in it? Oh shoot!
“It’s a trap!” No sooner had the words left his mouth than a wall of blue flames appears just inside the gate, spreading to completely encircle them.
“These flames again!” Pyra sounds surprised as she skitters to a halt.
“It’s her!” Rex says, “Brighid!”
Izuku watches the flames as he spots two figures walking through them, one he recognizes as the Blade that attacked them in the back street. In front of her is a figure with a long coat holding Brighid’s swords extended at her sides. “And that must be Mòrag, her Driver.”
“Indeed,” Dromarch says, “Special Inquisitor Mòrag of Mor Ardain. The most powerful Driver in the Empire, and wielder of Brighid, the most powerful Blade.”
“I don’t know why I expected Dughall to slow you down at all.” Mòrag says.
“So, I was going to be executed? That’s the rumor you went with?” Nia asks, hands on her hips.
“It was effective, was it not? It got your friends here.” It’s hard to see Mòrag’s face because of the wall of fire behind her, but is that a smirk?
“So Rex and Pyra are the real prize.” Nia says, scowling.
“Not quite.” Mòrag chuckles. “The emerald Core Crystal is the sign of the Aegis. If that Blade is indeed the Aegis…” Izuku sees the Special Inquisitor’s eyes close as she sighs, “then there’s something I must do.”
“What do you mean?” Nia asks, unsure.
Ignoring the Gormotti Driver, Mòrag turns to look at Pyra. “The power to sunder Alrest itself. I cannot allow that to happen again.”
“I’m onto you!” Rex says. “You want to use Pyra as some kinda weapon! We’re not gonna let you do that!” He walks over and positions himself between Pyra and Mòrag.
Izuku sees Mòrag’s eyes narrow, “That is exactly the kind of scenario that I mean to prevent.”
“And what if we resist?” Rex takes a step forward.
Mòrag flicks her wrists and the pair of swords she’s holding extend into flaming whips. “Then I will have to restrain you by force.”
“In that case, I’ll make this nice and clear. You. Will.” Rex puts his hands on the sword strapped to his back. “Never!” Everybody pulls out their weapons. “Take her!” All weapons are activated as everybody stares at the other side.
Mòrag chuckles, “Then let’s see if you have the strength to back up those words, boy!”
Notes:
Our very first Heart to Heart! Oh man, I was so looking forward to writing that.
So, I was watching Chuggaaconroy's Xenoblade 2 series while writing this episode and he called attention to Dughall calling out "Pineapple" before throwing a grenade. Apparently, that's a reference to American military grade grenades. The more you know I guess.
I also watched some of Enel's XC2 guides for quick vsual references for the Blade Specials I used in this chapter. Those being Adenine's Lv. 1 and Lv. 4 and Poppi's Lv. 3.
Come check out the Discord! I post snippets of upcoming chapters there on occasion.
https://discord.gg/Z8ZmxAYUUETrack Titles:
Wanted Nia
Titan Battleship
The Beginning of Darkness
Monster Surprised You (Cover by gabocarina96)
Irritation
Chapter 11: Aptitude
Summary:
Special Inquisitor Mòrag has ambushed the party! Time to fight.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“I’ll make this nice and clear.” The boy, Rex, says, putting his hands on the sword strapped to his back. “You. Will. Never!” All of his companions draw their weapons. “Take her!” The boy himself draws his weapon and they all activate.
The Special Inquisitor of Mor Ardain is not looking forward to this fight. There was only supposed to be one Driver-Blade pair and a random, surprisingly effective in combat, green-haired kid, apparently, they managed to get the random kid his own Blade and meet up with a Nopon Driver and Blade. Not only that, but they managed to sneak past the initial trap and free their friends. That leaves Mòrag and Brighid up against four Driver-Blade pairs. By themselves. And one of those Blades has the power to sink the continent they stand on. Architect help us all.
Mòrag adjusts the brim of her hat slightly before settling into a fighting position, whipswords extended beside her. She really doesn’t like fighting kids, because that’s what this group is, barring maybe the Nopon, kids.
Mòrag chuckles, “Then let’s see if you have the strength to back up those words, boy!”
The Salvager, Rex, charges, Aegis beside him, sword burning through the air behind him as he runs. Alright, he made the first move, she can work with this. Nodding to Brighid beside her, Mòrag pulls the whips back into swords and charges to meet the boy. Being considerably faster, she gains more ground before blades collide.
About to bat the sword out of the way to make a slash at her opponent, Mòrag almost doesn’t see the green-haired boy throw a punch at her with- Is that a book on his wrist? Oh spark, that’s a knuckle claw, duck! Great, they have two healers. Absolutely fantastic.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mòrag watches Nia hop onto her Blade and dash around behind her. Next thing she knows, she hears a grunt from Brighid and a momentary lapse in ether supply as the Blade gets tackled to the ground. The short loss of ether causes her focus to slip enough that Rex’s blade slides through her block and almost singe some of her hair.
To her left, she sees the Nopon holding a comically large shield, barreling towards her. An idea pops into her head and she swings one sword at the two boys, making them jump back, before using the Nopon’s shield as a launch pad to fling her towards Nia and her Blade to free Brighid, swinging with the other sword in a way that herds the Gormotti towards her companions.
Dodging a spherical projectile with… teeth? shot from the surprisingly quickly recovered Nopon, Mòrag helps Brighid stand before handing the Blade one sword and adjusting her hat, tapping the brim twice with two fingers. Standing back-to-back with her Blade, they flick out their swords into whip form, slamming them into the ground as they catch fire. She feels a smirk climb onto her face as she spots the four pairs rushing them. Perfect.
She and her Blade crack the whips together in front of them, creating a directional explosion of blue flames that sends everybody on the receiving end of the attack flying backwards.
Izuku flies backwards as the explosion goes off, crashing into Adenine as they go careening into a wall. Checking to make sure his Blade is alright, Izuku turns to check on his friends. Wow, just imagine if Kacchan knew he had people he could actually call friends now. He’d blow a freaking gasket. Now that’s a train wreck Izuku would love to see, but hate to be next to.
Wait. Friends. Tora and Poppi are the first ones he spots, and they’re sitting up, Poppi still holding her Nopon Driver from the explosion. Nia and Dromarch fared about as well as Izuku and Adenine. The tiger is pressed against a wall, cushioning Nia, who is pressed just as hard into her Blade.
He turns to Rex just in time to see him pull his sword out of the ground to barely block a hit from Mòrag. Because of the force of the blow, Rex and Pyra are blown back even further, the pair going opposite directions.
Izuku is barely able to stand before Rex engages Mòrag in a frankly impressive one on one, the pair matching each other blow for blow for a few seconds. Until, that is, Rex gets clipped in his wrist by blue flames. Izuku pulls his attention away from Rex for a moment as Pyra reacts in pain to something he can’t identify, holding her wrist.
“Stubborn child.” Mòrag calls, “Why don’t you just give it up?” The Special Inquisitor slashes across Rex’s abdomen, sending the boy to the ground. Curiously, Pyra reacts as if hurt in the exact same way Rex was. What?
Rex throws a small, almost glowing, green object into his mouth and stands up, exchanging a few more blows with Mòrag before sweeping at her feet, causing her to jump back. “You’ll never get Pyra!” Rex replies, staggering a little before walking backwards. “She’s more than just the ‘Aegis’ or some kinda weapon! She’s a living being!” Rex holds out his hand behind him to help Pyra up.
Hold on a second. Is Mòrag smiling? What the heck is that for? What does she-? Is she testing Rex?
“Pyra has somewhere she needs to go.” Rex continues, pointing his sword at Mòrag, “And I’m gonna help her. I’m not gonna let you stand in her way!” Izuku sees Pyra raise a hand to give ether to Rex as the Salvager points the sword to the sky, lighting the blade in an intense flame before slashing down and sending a massive stream of fire at the Inquisitor.
Holy smokes!!! That’s a lot of fire! Wait a minute, is she splitting the flames? Following the stream, Izuku can see it harmlessly dissipate against the stone walls of the building behind her.
“This is getting tiresome.” Izuku can barely hear Mòrag’s words over the roar of fire. “The power of the Aegis is formidable, but the Driver’s skill betray’s her.”
A wall of blue flame sprouts between Rex and Mòrag, dissipating the fire stream as Mòrag shakes her sword out. So that’s how she split it. Going to have to write that down later. Izuku can tell from his angle that Mòrag and Brighid are talking on the other side of that wall, but he can’t quite hear them. Instead, his attention is drawn to Rex.
“Is everyone… all right?”
“Hangin’ in there.” Nia says as Izuku and Adenine help her up.
“Not much better myself.” Izuku responds as he supports Nia for a moment before she nods and he lets her go.
“Those two very strong!” Tora says as he and Poppi join the rest of them.
“I know.” Rex is staring Mòrag down through the fire, “At this rate, we’ll never… There has to be a way… Some kinda…” he trails off before frantically looking around.
“What are you looking for?” Izuku comes up behind his friend.
“There!” Rex tightens his grip on his sword and turns to the group. “Guys! Are you ready to run?”
“Sure!” Nia hums while Izuku nods in confusion.
“Then follow me!” Rex starts running and the group follows.
Looking where Rex is running, Izuku sees that the fire has cleared from the main gate to the base. Fantastic! They have an escape route. Because there’s no way they’re beating Mòrag and Brighid. The only thing they can do is pray they can distract the duo long enough to escape.
Izuku looks over his shoulder as he’s passing through the gate and immediately regrets it. “Crap! She’s following us!”
Apparently ignoring Izuku, Rex turns to his Blade, “Pyra! Can you manage a full-powered blast?!”
“Yes! Maybe one or two!”
“That’ll do!” Rex plants his foot and pivots around to face their pursuer. What is he up to? Everybody else does the same, not wanting to abandon their friend or keep their back to the Special Inquisitor. Why is Rex charging another one of those fire blasts? She can just split it! And she doesn’t have stone buildings behind her this time, just garden plots and the water tower. Oh. Oh! Rex you mad genius!
“Take this!” Rex launches the fire stream, which Mòrag nonchalantly pulls out a sword to split.
“You’re getting predictable, boy!”
Using the cover of the attack, Rex books it up the hill he’s next to and turns around again, aiming high above Mòrag. “Look who’s talking!” He fires his grappling hook, which embeds itself perfectly into the side of the water tank. “Poppi! Now!”
The Blade activates her foot thrusters with a “Roger roger!” and lands in front of Rex, grabbing the wire and pulling.
Seeing this, Mòrag turns around and sees the water tower directly behind her. “The water tank? So that’s their plan!” She turns to her Blade and they rush towards Rex to get him to stop.
Pyra, Dromarch, Izuku, and Adenine all run to intercept the Special Inquisitor, attempting to get her to stay where she is. Pyra starts with lobbing a fireball at her, which is blocked by swords. She jumps up to allow Dromarch to release a stream of water ether from his mouth, which Brighid attempts to block. Unfortunately for her, the attack breaks through her shield, sending both Driver and Blade tumbling backwards. They are launched even further back by a book slamming into each of them, one returning to Izuku, the other to Adenine.
“PULL!” Rex yells as he and Poppi finally manage to pull the tower enough for it to fall on its own, drenching both Mòrag and Brighid.
Mòrag swears under her breath as Brighid is crouched, shivering and severely weakened by the water.
“Let me tell you again, Special Inquisitor Mòrag,” Rex yells as he jumps into the air with Pyra, both holding onto the sword which is charging yet another fire blast, “you will never take Pyra!” With that, the duo launch their attack.
Mòrag stands as she recovers from the explosion that occurred with the last attack, Rex, the Aegis, and their friends long gone by now. It wouldn’t surprise her if they’re already halfway across the Titan. She is thoroughly soaked from laying in the water from the tank as it slowly drains down into the lake just north of town.
“I feel slighted.” Mòrag says upon hearing Brighid stand up behind her, staring at the collapsed water tower.
“How so?” the Blade asks.
“They actually held back against me in battle.”
“You think that boy…?”
“Did you not see?” Mòrag turns to face Brighid. “He could have struck me with that blow, but he averted his aim.”
The Blade looks past Mòrag to the water tower, “He did have good instincts, too…”
“And I’m gonna help her. I’m not gonna let you stand in her way!”
Mòrag reflects on the words the boy spoke during the fight. Maybe, just maybe, she can give this boy, Rex, the chance to do what is right with the power he wields. Looking up at the towering World Tree in the distance, Mòrag hums. “The Aegis… If she is traveling with that boy, perhaps it is worth letting them roam free for a while.”
“You mean…?” The Blade’s confusion is evident in her voice.
“We’ll cross paths again. And when we do, we shall see.”
“I don’t think they’re following us.” Pyra says, turning around to look at Torigoth in the distance.
After pulling down the water tower, they all booked it out of town, running until they arrived at the edge of the Nocclia Woods, the forest on the upper level of the Gormotti Titan’s back. Looking over the group, Izuku sees that everybody is clearly very out of breath. All except Poppi, but she doesn’t breath, so that’s not worth thinking about further right now.
“Perhaps we’re safe for now.” Azurda pipes up.
“You’re right.” Rex agrees, “We should get some rest. I can’t go any further.”
“Tora is pooped as well…” The Nopon yawns before laying down in the grass.
“See you later.” Nia says, shocking everybody as she turns around to leave.
“We are grateful for all you’ve done. We wish you well on your travels. Farewell” Dromarch adds before turning to follow his Driver.
“I need to find my place in this world!” Izuku yells out, surprising everybody, including himself.
“What?” Nia stops in her tracks and turns around to face him.
“I-I was basically kidnapped by some weird glowing object and thrown here.” The green haired Driver looks down at the grass in front of him. “It’s just… I don’t know anything about this world other than what I’ve seen or been told by you guys. There’s no way I can survive here as I am. So, when Azurda and Rex told me about this mythical land at the top of the World Tree, I started to hope. That’s why I intend to help Rex and Pyra reach Elysium. If what they told me is true, then this is going to provide a new home for everybody in this world, even me.”
“But,” Nia starts, confused, “don’t you want to go home? I know you were mistreated for your lack of a Quirk, but don’t you have friends over there?”
“The only person that cared for me at all was Mama. I-it was really difficult on her, raising a Quirkless kid. She had trouble keeping a job and wouldn’t get paid enough because she had me.” Izuku sniffles as he’s holding back tears at the thought. “Yes, I am going to miss her, a lot. But even if I could go back right now, I wouldn’t want her to go through that again. Maybe now that I’m here, she can have a better chance.”
“Izuku… I didn’t realize.”
“That’s alright, Nia. My point is, if Elysium truly is real, then everybody would have a home, a second chance, myself included… We could really use a friend like you…” Izuku looks back up and into Nia’s eyes. “…if you wanted?”
“A ‘second chance’, huh?” Nia hums in thought “Sure, why not. This could be interesting.”
Inko doesn’t know how long she’s been standing in front of Izuku’s door. She barely registers the ache in her arm as she hovers her hand over the handle. Maybe if she waits long enough, Izuku will come barreling through the front door going on and on about this Hero fight he watched.
“I watched your son vanish, Mrs. Midoriya. I couldn’t get to him in time.” She remembers how the Hero, Eraserhead, had gripped his knees so hard his knuckles turned white. “I thought the kid would jump with how he was standing on that roof. Then, he turned around and started fumbling with something he found up there. It started growing and pulsing and just before I could get to him, both he and the object had vanished. I wasn’t fast enough, and for that, I am immensely sorry.”
Inko feels teardrops fall onto her feet as she finally works up the courage to open her son’s door. She slowly walks in, taking in the All Might merchandise covering the walls. His desk has a collection of figures of various Heroes on top of the shelf. The working area is completely clean with a laptop covered in Hero stickers pushed against the wall. The shelf itself is full of notebooks with a gap towards one end where one notebook is obviously supposed to go.
She shrugs his bright yellow backpack off of her shoulder onto the All Might themed blanket. Sitting down on the bed beside it, she starts rummaging through it, pulling out the missing notebook, Number 13. She almost drops it out of shock at what she sees. The notebook is mottled with a strange mixture of burns and water marks, which is odd because Izuku takes very good care of his things. Flipping through it, she sees his usual mixture of sketches and entries full of analysis on the Heroes he sketched. Halfway through, she sees a two-page autograph from All Might. Every page after that is blank.
Was All Might the last person he saw before being taken? How did he get up on that roof? Why was he even there to begin with?
“I promise I will do everything in my power to find your son. I swear on my integrity as a Hero that I will not stop until I do.” Remembering the last words Aizawa, as he said to call him, had said before leaving with his detective friend, Inko looks up through her freely flowing tears and pulls Izuku’s prized stuffed cat to her with her Quirk, clutching it to her chest.
The cat was one of Izuku’s most treasured possessions, having been the last birthday present he ever received from his father. It was a solid black cat, just like the family cat that passed away when he was eight. A couple years ago, after Izuku watched a fight through his bedroom window, he got her to sew a gray scarf around its neck and yellow goggles over its eyes. She later found out that the Hero he watched was Eraserhead, an Underground Hero that doesn’t care for the flashiness of Daytime Heroics. Izuku loved him so much because he was one of the only Heroes out there to fight Quirkless. How would Izuku react if he found out that his second favorite Hero was the one leading the investigation to find him? Inko broke down crying even more.
Eventually, she feels her tears dry. Setting the stuffed cat beside her on the bed, Inko gingerly picks up the battered notebook and walks across the room with it to put it on the shelf. She leans the other notebooks away to make space to put it in its spot, and is surprised when she can’t push it in all the way. Pulling the book back out, she uses her Quirk to pull the blocking object out. Overcome by curiosity, Inko puts the book in its place and sits back on the bed, looking at the strange object.
“What on Earth is this?”
“Ouch!” Rex winces as Pyra wraps a bandage around his right arm. After Nia decided to stay with them, they retreated a little further into the woods and found a nice clearing to make camp in. After a nice meal cooked by Izuku and Pyra, everybody decided to settle down for the night. Pyra got Rex to sit down to let her wrap his remaining injuries from the fight with Mòrag.
“Ah, I’m sorry.” Pyra apologizes. “Did I wrap it too tightly?”
“It’s fine! I’m fine! See?” Rex says, holding up the arm and waving it around. “I can swing it around like this and it doesn’t even- Ow! Agh!” He pulls the arm in close when pain shoots through it.
“I knew it.” Pyra smiles, finishing the wrap on the arm.
“Thanks! I feel much better now.”
“I’m sure that’s Nia’s poultice doing its job.” The Blade turns to Nia, who is sitting, leaned against Dromarch’s side, teaching Izuku how to use ether to heal. “Thanks.” The Gormotti looks over to Pyra and grins before returning to what she was doing.
Rex watches as Pyra takes the bandage roll and starts wrapping her own arm with it.
“Pyra, you’re hurt too?” Rex asks, worry clear in his voice. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.” She says dismissively.
“Hey, let me help.” Rex pulls the bandage roll out of Pyra’s hand and starts wrapping her right arm. They sit quietly while he does this, the only sounds being the woods around them, the soft mutters of conversation from the healers, the snores of a Nopon, and the crackles of the fire.
“Thank you, Rex.”
“No worries. Least I can do.” He ties off the end of the bandage, looks his work over, then lets go of her arm. “There, all done! How’s that?”
Rex watches Pyra hold her arm up to the sky as she inspects her wrapped forearm. “Looks good.” She looks at the ground for a moment before scooting closer to her Driver, “Um, Rex?” She holds her arm next to his, her white bandage a perfect mirror of his. “Look. They’re the same.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. I g-guess they are.” Rex says, barely even looking at the bandages as he is too focused on Pyra, her face lit up by the campfire. The Blade from the arms to the fire, chuckling.
Following her gaze, Rex looks at the fire as a log shifts, sending embers up into the air to get caught in the breeze, drifting along towards the World Tree in the distance.
“So beautiful.” Pyra says in awe.
“Yeah,” Rex replies, “it really is… I guess that’s probably because you made it, Pyra…”
“Huh?”
Oh Titan’s foot. Did he say that out loud? Crap. Fix this. Fix it now! “Um! No, what? I didn’t mean it like that? You’re just, erm, really good at making fires… That’s all.” Rex rubs the back of his head while looking down, wincing. Crap, that just made it worse, didn’t it.
“It’s what I do.” Pyra responds, summoning a small flame in her hand with a snap. The Salvager looks back at his Blade as she flattens her hand and blows the flame into the wind, separating it into embers to join the embers from the campfire. The pair lean into each other as they watch the embers, neither realizing what the other is doing.
Notes:
So, the original plan was for the fight to be an entire chapter, then start the next chapter with the water tower scene. I'm awful with fight scenes. so I couldn't figure out how to extend this fight to a full chapter. So, I decided to merge this and the next planned chapter.
Thus ends Part 1: Aptitude. This Part was based off of Chapter 2: Aptitude of the original game. Going forward, I won't have much deviation from the main story until after I'm done with Part 2, for reasons.
Come check out the Discord! I post snippets of upcoming chapters there on occasion.
https://discord.gg/Z8ZmxAYUUETrack Titles
Incoming (Cover by Beau Zachowski)
Counterattack (Cover by Vichede)
Where We Used To Be (Cover by gabocarina96)
A Brewing Storm
Friendship
Chapter 12: Burgeoning Curiosity
Summary:
The gang wakes up and starts towards their way off of Gormott.
Notes:
So, pushing out a chapter a week like I was for Part 1, as it turns out, isn't really sustainable for my motivation. So, going forward, I will not be pushing myself for weekly uploads. If I have a chapter ready by my upload date, then I'll post it, but I won't push myself to have one ready before then. Hopefully, this means that I can put out better chapters in the future.
That being said, y'all enjoy this one!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Every time Jin is on board the Monoceros, he can’t help but praise Mikhail’s work. The Monoceros has been Jin’s ship and pseudo-home since the end of the Aegis War. Maintenance and general upkeep on the mechanical ship had never been his strong suit, so it was a massive boon when he stumbled across Mikhail, shivering in an alley in White Chair, and the man started making repairs and even upgrades to the ship as both thanks and payment for a bed and food. Not that Jin would have made him pay anything for a room, Mikhail was one of the few remaining connections to Lora he had, he’d do anything to keep him safe.
The door in front of Jin opens, pulling him out of his thoughts as he walks down the boarding bridge onto the dock.
“Welcome home, Jin.”
Jin looks over to his side and spots the source of the voice, “Hey, Akhos.”
“I heard the Aegis awakened. Nasty shock for you? Or was it…?” The smug Driver pushes his glaringly red glasses up, “Of course, my script showed how everything would play out from the start.” Ugh, how does Jin keep forgetting how insufferable this guy is?
“Sure,” a feminine voice interjects, floating down from a balcony overlooking the ship, “you say that once it’s all over and done with. It’s easy to act smug when hindsight’s on your side!”
“Shut your mouth, Obrona!” Akhos huffs at his Blade.
“I’m shaking to my core,” the Blade retorts snidely as she leans over her Driver’s shoulder, only to be swatted away by an annoyed Akhos.
“Where are the other two?” Malos asks, walking off the ship with his Blade, Sever.
Akhos hums in thought, “Mikhail’s inspecting the Ardainian ‘factory’… and my beloved sister is out hunting, as always. I’m sure she’ll have found plenty of Drivers to chew up and spit out by now.”
“She likes to hunt alright…” Malos crosses his arms, slightly frustrated, “ Not sure we can use all of those Core Crystals though.”
“Do we know where the Aegis is right now?” Jin says sharply, almost snapping it out. He’s still frustrated about the Architect damned Titan flying in and making off with his target. It could have been his eyes deceiving him with all of the fire around, but he could have sworn that was Azurda. He needs to track them down yesterday to get his plans with Malos back on track.
“Have no fear, Jin!” Akhos says, placatingly, “Of course we know her whereabouts! Obrona?” Akhos looks over his shoulder at his Blade as she floats behind him.
“Yeah, yeah…” the Blade says, producing golden ether particles in her hand before flinging them into the air. The particles expand and multiply, showing glowing representations of three major Titans; Mor Ardain, Gormott, and Indol.
Akhos hums before pointing at the floating image of Gormott, specifically at a cluster of differently colored particles close to the Spinal Mountains. “It seems they’re currently traveling away from the urban area of Gormott.”
“Leaving the town?” Malos asks, dumbfounded. “But there’s nothing out that way…”
“Perhaps they’re on their way out of Gormott itself,” Akhos theorizes. “Oh, and…”
“What?” Jin looks over at Akhos.
“It seems a certain… shipment… has set out.” Akhos points out a large cluster of blue particles floating between Gormott and Indol.
“The Core Crystals heading to Indol for cleansing, huh? How pious of them…” Malos remarks sarcastically. “Shall we handle them?”
“I can deal with that myself,” Jin replies. “You concentrate on the Aegis.”
“Understood,” Akhos nods. “I am looking forward to clapping eyes on the Aegis. By the way… what of Nia?”
“You know where she is?”
“Yes, look.” Akhos points at the cluster of particles on Gormott from before. “This dot here. Without a doubt, this is Dromarch’s wavelength. It seems they’re traveling together with the Aegis.”
“With the Aegis?” Jin can’t believe it. He was sure she would have left that scavenger brat and the Aegis by now. Taking a moment to mull it over, he looks at Akhos to give him his orders, but sees the Driver staring at the cluster of particles in confusion. “Akhos? What is it?”
“Obrona? Come here.” Akhos says, appearing to have not even heard Jin speak. “What do you make of this?”
“Yeah yeah, so bossy,” the Blade floats over and looks at where Akhos is pointing to, a spot right next to the particle he identified as Dromarch. “Huh. That is weird. It’s reading as an ether-enhanced human, but I’m not seeing any indication of a Core Crystal or active Affinity Link.”
Curious, Jin steps up to Obrona’s ether map to look where Akhos is pointing and sees a dark green particle. That’s odd, there’s never been a dark green particle on this map.
Well, there was that one time… 500 years ago…
Obrona had a different Driver then, an Ardainian man that Jin worked with a few years after the end of the Aegis War. The Blade had made a map not unlike this one to track a specific Blade in the Leftherian Archipelago. On a whim, Jin had looked at one of the larger Island Titans, the one with a small village, and saw a similar dark green particle near the red and blue one he recognized as Minoth.
That couldn’t be her, could it? Or could it be another…?
“Right then,” Malos announces, interrupting Jin’s train of though. “We’re gonna take the Monoceros.”
“As you wish.” Jin hums as he’s walking off, shaking his thoughts away.
“Hey!” Malos calls out, prompting Jin to stop. “Don’t… do anything too reckless.”
Jin walks out of the room without another word.
Izuku groans as he slowly begins to wake up. Ugh, that fight yesterday really must have taken a lot out of him if his sore chest is any indication. Struggling to find the willpower to sit up or even open his eyes, there’s also the pesky matter of the sunbeam coming down and hitting his eyelids, Izuku instead opts to roll onto his side, except, he can’t. What? Wiggling around, he realizes that his chest isn’t sore from the fight, it’s sore because something is on top of him.
Groaning, the green-haired boy manages to pull an arm out from underneath the mass holding him down and lifts it over his head, feeling as the light is blocked from hitting his closed eyes. Cautiously, he opens an eye and looks at whatever the heck it is on top of him. Completely flabbergasted, the second eye flies open as he stares at the sleeping form of Nia, curled up and soaking in the perfect sunbeam that just happened to be aimed right where Izuku had gone to sleep. Huh, she looks cute like that. Wait, what? Where did that come from?
Frantically, Izuku looks around as best he can and finds that everybody else is still asleep. Oh, thank goodness, at least nobody is going to see him in this position. He lets his head fall back onto his hoodie/vest thing, he’s still not sure what he’s calling it, which is currently being used as a makeshift pillow and is confused when a shadow falls over his face. Looking up, Izuku stares right into the blue eyes of a white tiger.
“In a bit of a… predicament… are we, Master Izuku?” Dromarch chuckles amusedly.
Izuku groans and tries to roll onto his side again. Nope, Nia’s not moving an inch.
“I’m afraid my lady has a tendency to gravitate towards sunspots while asleep.” Dromarch says as he pads around to Izuku’s side and scoops his Driver off of the poor boy. “You merely had the misfortune of being in the closest one to her.”
“Wow, she really is like a cat. That’s incredible. I wonder if sh-” Izuku cuts himself off when he hears Dromarch chuckling. Turning, Izuku sees one of the funniest sights he’s ever seen before; Nia, out like a light, draped over Dromarch’s head as he’s trying not to laugh or drag her feet or hands on the ground.
“Master Izuku, I must insist for your health that you do not let my lady hear you call her that. Now, I am going to need to put her down before she wakes up or she will be unbearably snappy all day out of embarrassment. Unless you would like a repeat of this morning’s events, may I suggest you move from the sunbeam?”
Images of claws and shredded wanted posters flash through Izuku’s mind. Not wanting his face to be on the receiving end of that, he scrambles out of the way of the lumbering Blade as he sets his Driver down. Shortly after setting the slumbering Gormotti girl in the sunspot, Dromarch pads over and sits next to Izuku, who moved to sit on the grass, staring up at the World Tree.
“Do you think it’s real?” Izuku asks after sitting in silence for a while. “Elysium, that is.”
He hears the Blade hum in response, “I cannot say for certain if I do or not. I’ve heard the legends, yes, and I believe there must be some kind of truth behind them. However,” he pauses, “one cannot help but wonder if what is waiting up there for us is truly as good as the legends say.”
“Yeah,” Izuku sighs, “that’s how legends of places like that tend to go, especially in my world. More often than not it’s a speck of truth with a mountain of embellishment on top of it. Wouldn’t you agree, Adenine?”
“Wha-”
“How’d you know I was behind you, Izuku?” the green-haired Blade asks, confused and a little startled.
“Like I said back on the ship, I did a lot of hiding growing up.” Izuku is glad his Blade is behind him and can’t see the smirk he’s trying so hard to get off of his face.
“But, Master Izuku, that doesn’t quite explain how you knew she was there, does it?”
“Or,” Izuku starts, not even trying to keep the smirk down anymore, he turns around and faces his Blade, “you stepped on a twig while Dromarch was talking. I also heard the chains attached to your book.”
Adenine gasps as she hears this, then just starts laughing as she sits on the grass next to her Driver. “To answer your question, I would agree with that, there is always a slight hint of truth in any myth or legend.”
Before anybody can say anything else, Rex walks over and sits down, yawning. “What are you guys talking about over here?”
“Elysium,” Izuku looks at Rex. “I am curious, what sparked your interest in it?”
“Well, most people either don’t realize it or try to ignore it, but we’re facing a massive problem as a world: the Titans are dying out. Just a few days ago, Gramps and I watched one go down near the Argentum Guild. With the Titans dying out and new ones not being born or growing fast enough, we’re running out of land.”
“And with land going away, wars will happen…” Izuku realizes, eyes widening in dawning horror.
“That’s a big reason I’m aiming for Elysium, to prevent more wars over land… The other reason…” Rex looks behind him at the sleeping form of his Blade, “is because I promised Pyra I’d take her there.”
The four of them continue to talk for a while, laughing and poking fun at each other. Pyra woke up from the noise they were making, and she and Izuku prepare breakfast, the smell of which rouses everybody else. While they’re eating, Nia makes a comment about a strange dream she had where her pillow walked out from underneath her. Izuku glances over at Dromarch and finds the Blade struggling to keep a cheeky smile off of his face.
After breakfast has been finished and camp packed up, Rex pulls out a strange disc-like device from his bag and starts fiddling with it.
“Uh, what’s that?” Izuku asks, pointing at the device, pulling out his notebook.
“A Cloud Sea compass,” Rex responds. “A must-have for salvagers. It’s sort of a map of the Cloud Sea. Let’s see here…” Rex starts fiddling with the device, looking up after a little bit to ask “What’s the date today?”
“Amathatober 5th, 4058.” Pyra answers without hesitation. That’s odd, didn’t she just come out of a 500-something year long nap? Had she gotten a look at a calendar or something and Izuku just didn’t notice it? Hmm. Izuku makes a note of it off to the side for later.
“Ok!” Rex says. “So now we put the date in… See?”
“This is very clever.” Tora gasps, hopping happily.
“Looks like Gormott is the closest country to the World Tree right now.” Azurda notes from Rex’s shoulder.
“All we need now is a ship…” Rex hums, putting a hand on his chin.
“The army has every ship in town in its grip.” Dromarch says.
“We’re kinda stuck…” Nia sighs.
“Seems that way.” Pyra agrees.
“Sorry, I’m no use now…” Azurda says, noticing Rex looking at him.
“I know, I know,” Rex says, crossing his arms in thought. “But I’m all out of ideas.”
“Rex-Rex need ship? Tora have good idea!” the nopon says excitedly. “There is ship builder living at Gormott Titan’s bum-bum! Old friend of Tora’s Grampypon. He called Umon! Maybe he help if we tell him what’s what!”
“Could be worth a shot.” Adenine says, closing her massive book.
“Let’s get going!”
Izuku jumps up from the log he’s sitting on at Rex’s words, excited to go meet this Umon that Tora was talking about. He feels like he could go for hours!
If Izuku could reach back in time and smack himself upside the head, he would gladly do so. It’s barely been an hour and a half and his legs are almost screaming at him to stop. He can see a structure on the cliff at the bottom of the hill they’re on right now. That must be Umon’s workshop, that means they’re close! Just a little bit further, Izuku.
“Masterpon, Poppi have question.” Oh, apparently we’re talking now. Oh well, at least this means a break for sore legs.
“Pursuit of learning is good thing,” Tora responds to his Blade. “Ask anything and Tora will answer!”
“Cloud Sea clearly visible from here. Height of Cloud Sea is different at different times. Why height change?” Poppi tilts her head to the side like a confused puppy. Oh my goodness that is adorable.
Tora jumps back, frantically waving his wings around. “Meh-meh?! W-well, um... Tora let Rex-Rex answer that one!”
Poppi turns to the salvager, “Rex, why cloud height change?”
“Well, let's see now...” Rex hums. “Maybe it's easier if you compare it to the clouds in the sky. They come in all different shapes, right?”
Poppi looks up at the sky, “Some clouds very flat. Other clouds big and fluffy!”
"Yep, that's what I mean,” Rex confirms. “And the shape doesn't stay the same forever. The Cloud Sea is the same way. It's not always a flat surface, sometimes it gets...fluffed up. The height and shape of it isn't constant. It's always changing. Not suddenly, like the weather, but gradually.”
“It's more likely than not to change overnight.” Azurda chimes in.
“Yeah,” Rex agrees. “That sounds about right.”
“Very interesting.” Izuku can certainly agree with Poppi’s statement, the Cloud Sea just got way more fascinating to Izuku.
“Oh,” Rex rushes to add, “but it's only the Titans like this one and the Mor Ardain Titan that affect the Cloud Sea's height. Ones like the Argentum Titan, Goldmouth, just float on the surface, so they don't affect it.”
“That makes sense,” Izuku says. “Especially if the Titans that affect the Cloud Sea are walking through it.”
"Yep,” Rex nods. “I guess that's about the extent of what I know.”
“Very much thanks, Rex,” Poppi says happily. “Poppi learn a lot! Rex must know lots of things. Poppi have even more questions to ask!”
“Uh, r-really?” Rex blanches. “I don't know if I can answer everything...”
“Poppi, try ask Dromarch instead!” Tora interjects.
“That's a good idea,” Rex nods. “I reckon Dromarch is more knowledgeable than I am.”
“Oh, you flatter me,” Dromarch bows appreciatively. “Although, I'm no expert compared to our resident Titan.”
“Wha- Don't drag me into this!” Azurda starts waving his arms at Dromarch in a way that almost has Izuku laughing.
“I have no memories of the time before I bonded with my lady, after all,” the Blade explains.
“That's no reason to throw me into the cooking pot!” Azurda deadpans. “What am I supposed to say if Poppi asks ‘Where do babies come from?’ or something like that?!”
“Tell her they are delivered by a flying Tirkin,” Dromarch hums without hesitation. Izuku starts laughing, remembering Azurda’s description of the sentient birds.
“That kind of quick thinking is why you're a better man for the job,” the Titan crosses his arms with a satisfied expression.
“Ah, you overestimate me,” Dromarch says, looking at his Driver. “Still, if the mighty Titan is not willing, I suppose we will have to rely on my lady instead.”
“Hoooold it, Dromarch,” Nia says, holding her hands up defensively while she backs away. “I want no part in this mess!”
Izuku holds his stomach in laughter as Nia, Dromarch, and Azurda continue to bicker.
“Masterpon, Poppi think Poppi already learn something.”
“Learn what?” Tora asks, turning to face his Blade.
Poppi turns to face her Driver, serious expression on her face. “This what people mean when they talk about ‘passing the buck’!”
Izuku finds his face on the grass now. Not that he cares, he's laughing too hard.
Notes:
Come check out The Falcon Clan Discord Server for updates on the next chapter, the occasional snippet, or even updates the moment I release a new chapter.
Track Titles:
- A Portent Crawling Over
- Wanted Nia
- Friendship
- Gormott (Cover by gabocarina96)
