ARC 3 – TITAN RAGE
Good news, by the time we finished our session, we already arrived on the next world, with our UFO landing neatly on whatever it landed. Didn't even take a day, so no awkwardness or similar to the new bed arrangements.
Well, good news was relative. For me it was good news.
Because it distracted me from the fact I got destroyed by both Fuuka
and Chrome.
Chrome!
I mean, come on!
She didn't even know the controls at the start before proceeding to play like a pro!
"Sid, are you still moping?"
I glanced up from my slumped position on the couch, empty eyes directed at Chrome, who blinked at me. Stoically. Innocently.
Smugly.
Narrowing my eyes, I nodded slowly.
Yeah, I know that little eye twitch. We haven't been friends for that long, but I knew you well enough to spot that.
At least she had the shame to look away and cover her mouth after an unladylike snort escaped her.
I let out a sigh and shook my head with a wry smile.
"Still processing I lost against
both of you, no offense," I replied dryly.
Fuuka, next to the younger girl, giggled in response and I covered my face, fully knowing that Chrome probably did the same in her head. Despite my own grin, I still felt embarrassed.
Sure, I wasn't the best at Smash. Casual at my most, sucker at my worst.
But Jesus Christ, Fuuka knew how to do some sick air combos with Zero Suit Samus, while Chrome was a pain in the ass with her ability to keep me at bay with Bowser Junior.
They were more busy fighting each other, since I got kicked out of the fight almost at the start of every match.
Did not help my barely existent pride. Not really.
"Beginner's luck?" The persona user asked.
I gave her a flat look and her smile grew a bit more smug.
Didn't know she had a competitive bone in her.
Also, that did not help my pride either.
But I was going to take what I could get.
"Sure, why not," I said after a deep breath and stood up, turning to the big screens. "Computer, give me some details of planet"
"Presenting now."
The three of us stared at the screens, eyes squinted, when the planet was shown on screen.
Or rather…
The blue ball.
Naturally, the three of us tilted our heads in confusion-
"Uhm...computer...Show something that isn't water," I asked with squinted eyes.
"Proceeding."
Ah, that's bet-
Our group collectively. blinked, but I let out a deep, suffering groan and covered my face.
Oh, you've gotta be kidding me.
I saw two gigantic beings. Well, more like one and a half.
The...whole one, so to say, was a moss covered, winged titan. The spots that were not covered, appeared to be either white or grey. The titan had a slim and almost sleek design, but also had many spots bulging out, like spikes or small hills. Its head appeared humanoid, in the sense of a man wearing a knight helmet, but that was about it.
Overall, a colossal being, considering it could keep an entire country or two on it.
The other had been its counter part.
Had been, because it was missing its entire upper half.
What was left were black, mechanical legs, with steel beams reaching out of its lower torso.
But, since I already played the game, I knew exactly what was missing.
A bulky giant, the equal to our white one (no racism intended) and the clockwork robot compared to our "biological" survivor.
Anyway, my reaction caused Fuuka to turn to me and point at the screen with awe.
"I assume you know what this place is?"
I let out a sigh, making her raise an eyebrow in confusion. Chrome on the other hand silently stared at the giants with quiet, sparkling eyes.
"It's Mechonis and Bionis," I muttered as a reply, before snorting in dry amusement, shaking my head. "Well, Bionis and what's left of Mechonis, to be exact."
"Meaning…?" My fellow illusionists asked, tearing her eyes away from the computer and tilting her head at me.
In response, I wiggled my hand at them, staring at the titans with a half open mouth, not very pleased about this.
"JRPG. Two titans fighting each other, until they killed each other. They became places, where other species live on it. Game was called Xenoblade Chronicles."
Narrowing my eyes, my attention shifted to the red dot on the screen and I let out a snort.
"And if I see this right, we are on Bionis' backhair. Also known as the
Makna Forest."
The two girls narrowed their eyes at me and Fuuka expressed her disgust by shaking her head.
"Couldn't you just say forest?"
I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Sorry, but it stuck out to me when I first played the game."
The older girl let out a deep sigh, while Chrome folded her hands and tilted her head before addressing me.
"What can we expect?"
I scratched my chin with a hum.
"Monsters, big and small, killer mechs, humans called Homs, humans with wings on their head called High Entia, small fluffballs called Nopon and...that should be it." My forehead wrinkled in thought as I stared at my stretched out fingers, before nodding. Lowering them, I put my hands on my hip and casually continued. "Considering the timeline, we have to deal with green thingies, inspired by different monsters, led by a god, instead of genocidal robots led by a genocidal king."
Silence filled the air, as we all blankly stared at each other in a triangle formation.
Eyes shifting, left to right, right to left, waiting for the other to say something.
Surprisingly to me, Chrome was the one to give up first and raised her fist.
"Hurray," she said in the most fake cheer and blandest tone a human being could possibly produce.
I did my best to mimic that accomplishment, raising my own fist, mirroring her stoic expression.
"Hurray."
Then, the two of us extended our arms.
Silent awkward fist bump.
Fuuka giggled at our antics, before clapping her hands with a smile.
"Well then. We just have to be careful."
With that, we prepared ourselves.
Well, more like dressed, but it's the same thing.
Nobody of us had the slightest idea what is acceptable as jungle clothing.
So the three of us decided to do our own thing. Or rather, I did my thing and Fuuka would help Chrome since the latter didn't give a crap.
I didn't dress all too fancy.
Colors were camouflage green patterns, like those from the military.
T-shirt, flexible pants, both a bit thicker than usual. Brown marching boots and to top it all off, a cloak around my shoulders with a hood.
Adjusting the black gloves around my hands, I nodded to myself with a smile.
Yup, looked like a low budget assassin in camouflage colors.
Hearing the door to...well, our bedroom shift, I turned around and raised an eyebrow while humming impressed.
Unlike me, they wore proper jackets with zippers. Dark brownish, long sleeves, no hood though for some reason.
But instead, they wore black shorts. Not fanservice shorts, but they barely reached below their knees.
Eh, to each their own.
Anywho, the proper adult in the room crossed her arms at me.
"Why a hood?"
"In case of rain," I replied to Fuuka and then threw my thumb at it as I turned my back. "Besides, hood be good."
Then I processed what I just said, turned around and bit my lip awkwardly.
"Yeah, okay, sounded better in my head."
The girls only nodded in agreement with blank expressions, making me blush a bit more.
I quickly moved over to the ramp, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.
"Wait." I glanced at Fuuka, who kept her eyes on the exit with some concern. "What if there are any diseases?"
I blinked.
Right, those were a thing. And I didn't know how much this world differed from ours in terms of eco...eno...nature stuff.
It could be a big issue…
"Computer, do you happen to have something against diseases?" I asked out loud, not expecting a lot as I scratched my chin in thought.
To my surprise, the computer responded.
"Activating immunity protocol."
A green light from the ceiling engulfed us and I shook my body in response to the tingling feeling I got. It only lasted for a second, before it was gone.
"Huh. Handy," I said after a small pause. Sharing a look with the two girls I opened in the ramp and immediately, hot, humid air soared against me. It startled me a bit, as I took a step back, clutching my head in discomfort, blinking furiously. Not because of the air, but because of something else.
My aura sense was basically always on to some degree. If I focused, it would be stronger, but overall I always had it. Most of the time I ignored the minor stuff, so I didn't mention it often unless it was important.
This time, the bare minimum was enough to fill my head with...everything.
Trees, plants, animals, Bionis itself made itself known in my head.
Jesus, was this how LSD worked? It shouldn't surprise me, considering everything, including the titan itself, was alive.
"Everything okay?" I asked with a groan and the girls affirmed their status with moans on their own.
"Yeah, yeah...Just...there is a lot..." Fuuka muttered as she shook her head.
"Hurts my head," Chrome concurred quietly and she massaged the sides of her head.
"And I can't make any sense of it." I let out a sigh and blinked again. When my vision was normal again, I turned to them with a frown. "It's like trying to look into a tornado. You?"
The two nodded to my metaphor. I nodded back. Good, I wasn't the only one.
"This is a lot more difficult than in cities," the persona user said, awe in her voice. "So much life...It will take me a while to adjust to this."
By all means, that told me we should wait.
But I was too curious, so I shrugged to her answer and made my way out.
"Welp, let's get going then," I said casually, trying to hide my small anxiety at the fact that the evil god of the game is awake here.
Let's hope the protagonists keep him distracted while I satisfy my stupid urges.
"Any specific path?" Fuuka asked, as she walked to my left, while Chrome was to my right, both looking at me with curiosity.
To my credit, I didn't pause or stop at the question.
But, from the fact that their expressions morphed to concern, I still made my lack of knowledge rather obvious.
I was not one of these people that memorized the maps of a game until it was as easy as breathing.
So no, I had no damn idea.
"Let's just walk around. Maybe something will jog my memory."
Chrome's mouth thinned even more and Fuuka shook her head in exasperation.
With that, we went on our way in the gigantic forest.
We landed near a giant waterhole, whose name I forgot, and it took a lot of convincing and clapping to make the girls move as well as stare at their surroundings with wide eyed excitement.
To be honest, it was hard for me as well to not simply stand around for ten minutes and enjoy the view.
The air had a fresh, but also thick smell of nature. It reflected the almost shining green all over the place.
Grass reaching up to my knees, exotic plants all over the place, not to mention the size.
Some trees are bigger than some skyscrapers I've seen.
And don't get me started on the wildlife, like those weird, light blue
horses or the giant yellow
birds with the long beaks.
Only thing that ruined it was the water color, which was a dirty brown.
But overall, breathtaking, ten outta ten.
To our luck, nothing started to hunt us down yet, as we wandered around, taking it slowly around the lake.
Of course, Murphy listened in and decided to correct me of that notion.
I should have noticed something was off when the animals started to disappear, more or less.
Then, the three of us felt it.
Our heads snapped to the sky, our bodies tensed.
"Something is coming!" Fuuka yelled, hands folded together as she bit her lip with worry.
As I took my fighting stance like Chrome, right hand extended, left hand close to body, I nodded to our navigator.
"Any ideas? I only feel powerful and that's not very specific."
The persona user took a deep breath and the next moment, Juno covered her body as her eyes were closed.
"Big, feathery and bloodthirsty...but so much pain..."
Hearing her muttering, my heart dropped and I gulped.
Please let me be wrong.
Naturally, I had to be right.
A big, three headed being flew above us. With shiny green skin and yellow light trails, that extended from its two tails and between its two front legs, it fluttered with its two skinny appendages on each side to fly.
As if to spite me, it was perched on one of the trees, staring at us intently with its non existent eyes.
Zanza, if you heard me…
The fuck, dude?
"Of course it's a damn
Telethia..." I muttered in a dark voice.
Transformed High Entia, caused by over exposure of Ether or something. The bird people became slaves in form of giant bird, dragon, whatever monsters, whose only purpose is to fuck people over and absorb Ether for Zanza.
And it stared directly at us.
Which was a bit bad for us.
