One Punch Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2/OPM)

[ReiZetsubou]

Somehow, someway, one punch. Spoilers for XC2!

EXE
​

I didn't know why a Serprond appeared so close to Fonsett village. But I knew one thing for sure, I will save that bully. No matter how annoying he was. Grabbing an obsidian shard lying on the ground, I threw myself over the cliff as the monster snapped his jaw over the bully. Digging the shard deep into its hide as blue blood dripped down and evaporated from the edges cutting into my own hand.

The Serprond thrashed around into the cloud sea, making it harder for me to keep my grip. Seeing its gills under my other hand, I suddenly have an idea. Grabbing its upper fins with my free hand, I loosened the shard and stabbed deep inside its gills. Searching for a weak spot as it tried to suddenly bash its back against the cliff.

My vision went white for a moment in pain as it roughly dragged its back against the rock wall. Cutting my back and leaving me with too much pain to think. So I used instinct instead and plunged my shard further into its innards. Finally getting a result as it collapsed and madly twitched until it evaporated back into its elements. Falling down on the beach, I roll onto my back and breathed heavily as my heart tried to leap from my chest. Looking to my right, I saw the scared bully hugging the cliff wall. Looking at me with so much awe that I actually believed that fight was worth it.

"Rex!" A familiar voice called out from the stairs to the village.

Looking at the stairs, I saw Lynnaeon, Phorgas and auntie Corinne rushing to me. Though the pain in my back has dulled a bit, I still can't manage to get myself up. So I closed my eyes instead and nodded off.

EXE

Time-Skip
​

It has been seven years since that incident. The moment when I realized I wanted to become something more. A hero that is. One that would equal to Addam. Of course, I knew becoming a hero will not be an easy task. So I resolved myself to train myself until even the strongest beast in Fonsett would lay defeated with a single blow of my fist.

Sighing in sadness, I thought about my younger self's aspirations and can't help but think about how right he was. Looking at Confiscator Jimmy trying to slash me into two, I punched him with no effort in my motion and watched as it disappeared into blue mist. Wiping the dust from my black shirt and white cargo pants. I flipped my cloak over my shoulders and walked back to Gramps napping about again near the titan island below. Jumping from the titan, I fell down six hundred peds onto the smaller island with a small thump.

"Ah, Rex. How was your fight?" Gramps asked in his usual nosy concern.

"Boring as always, I'm starting to think that we should move on to somewhere else. I already scoured the entire cloud sea floor here for salvage. I think its time we should head out to Argentum to sell the leftover salvage that we have and see if we can get any quests there" I told him while hopping onto his back.

"Rex, I know you have grown stronger. But I can't help but worry what you are looking for. Saving people and fighting monsters may have satisfied you a little, but I sense there is something missing in your heart" He tells me with his old people wise talk.

"Don't worry gramps, sooner or later It will come to me. Worrying about it now is only going to stress me out. Keep things simple, you know?" I responded to try to alleviate his worries.

"Hm, if you say so" He grumbled

"So, how long will it take to go around the cloud sea wall?" I asked him.

"Hm, no more than five days I reckon" He answered.

"Slowpoke" I jabbed at him in annoyance.

"I don't see you try to go around the thing in that time" He complained.

Looking at the cloud sea wall and humming in thought a bit, I nodded and stood back with my fist stretched back.

"Be ready to fly through the hole gramps!" I yelled at him.

"Hm? Which hole?" He asked while craning his neck to me.

"This one" I smugly told him before punching the air to the cloud sea wall.

As the shockwave hit the wall, I watched in satisfaction as a gigantic hole appeared, one titanped in diameter. Gramp's eyes widened for a moment before he took action and rose from the cloud sea to stretch his wings and fly through the slowly collapsing hole.

"Couldn't you have warned me a bit sooner Rex! I swear you cause more trouble than you solve!" He hastily said while rushing through cloud sea corridor.

"You're just slow gramps! You shouldn't have come with me if you can't handle something as small as this!" I told him while laughing in amusement and slight enjoyment.

"You know Corinne would have shouted my ears off if I didn't watch over you Rex!" He yelled in frustration.

"Less talking, more flying!" I ordered while watching the cloud come closer to us.

EXE​

"Ah, Rex! Long time no see. Its been two months I think since I last saw you" Hirkham called out to me as I disembarked.

"Hey Hirkham, good to see. I have loads of salvage as usual so you can unload it as soon as possible" I tell him with business in mind.

"For the legendary salvager himself, no problem. That will be sixty gold for mooring and unloading"

"Gotcha, here. I'll go see Melolo now" I replied while handing him the money.

"Don't be long Rex, I'm not gonna be amused when you leave me for three days again" Gramps complained.

"I heard ya, I heard ya. See you later gramps" I responded while waving his concerns away.

Walking into the docks, I saw a ship moored a few lanes away that caught my interest. No titan, sixty peds long I noted. Probably using an advanced grav-repulsion engine. Impressive, if rather bland in style.

Focusing back on the task at hand I move inside the ship and moved through the bazaar to the central exchange.

"Hey, Melolo! I got some salvage for ya!" I called out to her.

"Rex, the legendary salvager returns!" She cheerily replied to me.

"Hahaha. Well, I won't dispute that. Anyways, I have some dozens of..." I proceeded to give her the gist of things. With a full ledger of the salvage arriving after they unloaded everything.

"For all that, Melolo give you two million and five hundred gold. Methinks this a new record for Rex" She said in amazement of my awesome skills.

"I sure hope so, I scoured every inch of Fonsett waters to get all this stuff. Anyway, give me half the money now and send the rest to Fonsett village" I requested.

"Okaysie, here you go" She acknowledged while handing me the money.

"See ya later then Melolo, I'm sure to find something impressive near the cycler sea next time" I told her while leaving for the bazaar.

I perused the wares during my trek and didn't find anything of interest. It's not like I actually need food or water as I found out months ago, and armor might as well be air compared to my invulnerable skin. Even my latest sword I bought six months ago didn't survive a single swing before breaking into pieces. The only thing that managed to survive the stress of my strength is the special clothes I had to commission from the most advanced materials I could salvage. Which was some kind of flexible self-repairing metallic fiber.

"Hello, Rex!" A voice distracted from my musings.

Looking at the direction of the sound I found Pupunin walking to me with an ensemble.

"Pupunin! been a while" I cheerily responded.

"Rex looking high spirits! Ah, no, how say... Yes, peppy!" He replied.

"It's not like there is anything down to be about except my usual frustrations. You got something for me? It's not like you to suddenly talk to me directly. A job maybe?" I asked.

"Something like that. Ah, by the way. Rex come from Leftherian archipelago, yes?" He avoided my inquiry while asking me a question in turn.

"That's right. Why d'you ask?"

"You should go straight to the boardroom of chairman!" He recommended with some urgency.

"Whoa, easy there. What's the matter?" I told him.

"Chairman Bana ask for Rex by name!"

"That extravagant big cheese asking for me? You sure?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't leave him waiting, Rex" He tells me before walking off elsewhere.

Questioning whether I should trust the request from Bana, I shrugged and went to his office anyway. It's not like I had anything to do anyway besides finding my next opponent of the day.

Entering the office of Bana, I went up to his desk and called him out.

"So, what are you needing me for Bana?" I asked while expecting something weird to come up.

"Thank you for accepting summons Rex. As one of our more renowned salvagers, I have a job for you that is up your alley" He tells me with his sleazy voice.

"Yeah, yeah. How much gold?" I tell him while waving him off.

"Reward is one hundred thousand gold" He revealed. An impressive amount for one job.

"Seems acceptable" I mused.

"Actually, that just advance. Another hundred thousand provided upon completing job" He finished.

"That's more like it. One step closer to creating my own enterprise" I accepted while thinking about all the money I had to spare to come this far.

"That none of my business, you do as you wish. The clients will provide you the details. Bring them in!" He ordered one of his assistants.

Looking to my right, the girl opened the door and let a couple of unfamiliar faces pass through here. Drivers and Blades, I noted. The white-haired driver stepped up and looked right at me with those constipated eyes that he probably thought looked cool or something.

"So, there's something that we want to haul up. There were some current shifts. It showed up in an uncharted area. But it's a long way down" He says.

"Seems doable. Nothing's too deep for me" I tell him.

"Bana offered to assemble team of veterans for this job. It actually luck that you arrived here as you were, as they wanted Leftherians for the job. You being our most prominent one" He divulged.

"Well, you sure are lucky that I came at the right time. This job will be finished in no time" I boasted.

Then, of course, laughter interrupted the conversation. Looking at the source revealed it to be the Gormotti girl with the beast type blade.

"A child salvager? Jin, don't tell me we're gonna have to hire some babysitters for this outing too" She mocked.

"Run your mouth as much as you want to lady, I ain't no pushover" I jabbed back.

"Like that's believable" She returned.

"I implore you to excuse my lady's discourtesy" Her blade requested.

"Dromarch! What have I told you about speaking for me? Shut you-"

"Drop it, Nia. Though I do see your point... In any case. It should be easy enough to make sure" The black-haired driver drawled before drawing his sword and bring it in an overhead swing.

Clang!

Of course, the conclusion was obvious, technique and skill breaks down once it meets ultimate speed, strength, and durability. Skill only works if your opponent is limited by human limitations, which I have abandoned long ago. Gripping his blade with one hand, I softly pushed him back and observed as his back crashed into the wall.

"Gah!"

"What!?" The girl yelped in surprise.

"That power, how?" Blackie said while standing back up.

"I think you should have heard of me, I'm Tri-Rex the Indomitable. Hero for fun and salvager in trade. Nice to meet ya" I revealed while showing them my trademark grin.

"Wait! You are Tri-Rex! I expected someone older or something, now I how to replace all of my fan portra- No wait! You didn't hear that!" The girl stuttered.

"Hm, all the better then. Although I'm surprised that you aren't a driver"

"Meh, blades will just get in the way. And it's not like I didn't try before, core crystals just aren't up to snuff to my power" I tell them.

"I see... We will see you on starboard dock within six hours. Don't be late" He ordered before leaving with the rest following.

The girl tried to look me in the eye before averting her gaze and leaving with small glances back. Weird girl.

"Meh meh meh, friends are such rowdy bunch! Here is advance. Use to buy what gear you need then go to dock when ready. Bana has arranged excellent vessel for you there" He informed me.

"Got it" I tell him before leaving.

Seeing as gramps will need to be informed, I first go to him so that he won't chew my ears off again.

Coming to the docks I went up to him and notified him of everything that occurred since I entered the guild.

"That about sums it up gramps, I'll see you in a few days or so" I informed him.

"I see, then I will stay here for awhile. I know you can handle yourself, but be careful" He cautioned.

"Don't be such a worrywart gramps, anyway. I'll see ya later" I waved him off before leaving.

Giving Motata a quick visit I bought some dozen Double Fizz cans. Popping one off, I gulped half of it before arriving at the dock and moving to the Maelstrom's entrance. The canned drinks were particularly expensive, but I simply gave no ducks. The burn down my throat is worth the money.

"What's that?" A voice interrupted from my musings.

Turning to the source, I find the Gormotti girl and her blade walking up to me.

"This? Its Double Fizz, you like some?" I asked her.

"S-sure, gimme" She agreed while picking the one from my hand.

My eyebrows raised as she drank it all up in one go and in surprise of her daring move.

"I think they call this an indirect kiss, I think" I informed her while moving away from her front side.

Which was wise as she suddenly spewed the stuff out in shock and turned to me with a massive blush. Wich I suppose was expected.

"It's nothing like that!" She tried to explain. A great undertaking if I'm the judge.

"Rex, there is no one seeing you off right? You got night watch. Till then, rest up inside" The salvaging coordinator informed me as he came down from the bazaar.

EXE​

Sitting atop the watch tower, I can't but help feel that there's something off about this whole operation. For one, the black titanless ship was following us from a distance. I didn't need binoculars for that as my vision was near perfect at every distance as long as there is no obstacle. The rest of the clients was also not very forthcoming about this whole gig either. I just hoped that I wouldn't have to play the hero again. It is one thing saving people and another thing wishing for something to happen so I can play hero.

"Ugh, it's way too cold up here" The Gormotti girl voice came up from behind.

Turning to face her, I popped another Double Fiz in my hand and gulped down some as I leaned against the guardrail.

"Ah, it's you"

"I'll have you know I've got a name. It's Nia" She finally provided me her name.

"They started boozin' below decks. You should join 'em" She says with not much heart into it.

"Why aren't you there?" I asked.

"It's not that I hate it, I just really don't need a headache right now" She responded with a downcast look.

"Then here, have another Double Fizz. It'll fix you right up without the headache" I recommended while handing her my just opened can.

"You're too kind. Actually, are you really Tri-Rex?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's my title. Not sure where the name began though. My notoriety mostly comes from me helping people all around from monsters and so the source is hard to pinpoint" I mused.

"Tri-Rex. I think it came from T-Rex and your three main powers" She helpfully suggested

"If it were me I would have chosen something milder. Being flashy isn't exactly my thing" I tell her while leaning further back against the guardrail, looking into the star-filled sky.

"Hey, Tri-Rex..." She murmured.

"You know that's just my title right? Just call me Rex" I encouraged.

"Right, Rex then. Why did you start being a hero in the first place?" She questioned.

"Well, do I really need a reason? The wellbeing of the world affects all of us. And even if that were not true, it's in my nature to see to it that people prosper without conflict" I tell her.

"You know it's not as simple as that" She disputed.

"Yes, I know of the titans dying out and the dwindling resources. But that's the reason I'm a salvager in the first place. You know, I used to believe in Elysium. But I realized I have to take matters into my own hand. So I created a plan to raise money to create my own continent. A land that will not be as fleeting as the titans we stand on each day"

"And how exactly are you going to conjure an entire continent from nothing?" She inquired with some incredulity.

"That step is easy. I will dive into the cloud sea. To the land of Morytha. And then I will heap the land around it to create a mountain until it pierces the cloud surface and beyond. Then I will use the money I gathered to make the land fertile with soil and create the infrastructure needed to be independent of titans. A place where everyone can have peace and security" I told her of my plan that I hatched up years ago.

"Hahaha, are you serious!? While I believe you are strong, you can't seriously think that will actually work out? Lifting an entire continent? That's almost as bad as the idea of Elysium itself!" She mocked.

"Well, if that fails. I will climb the World Tree and see if there's anything there. And if that fails, I will bring the World Tree down and see if it will float or not. Giving up isn't my strong suit. Isn't that a dream worth aspiring to?" I replied with an irritated tone.

"Well, nobody can tell you what to believe, but... Hmm...'Everyone,' huh?"

"What?" I questioned.

"I always thought people were pretty selfish by nature. But you..." She murmured.

"Hm?"

"D'you have parents?" She asked.

"Nope. When I asked gramps, he told me they died when I was young" I answered.

"Gramps?" She questioned.

"Yeah, he's a titan that raised me for most of my childhood"

"It is rather strange, but this gramps of yours sounds all right"

"Huh?"

"And you're all right too, not at all what I expected from the great Tri-Rex. Not that different from me actually" She declared.

EXE
​

"We are in position. All personnel, report to stations. Salvage team, suit up and proceed to hatch" The PA speaker system ordered.

Attaching the anchor bolt system and luminous torch to my belt I went outside in my usual outfit. Salvager suits are usually useless to me as I can hold my breath as long as I want and the thing would only slow me down until I break it out of annoyance.

Walking down the stairs to report for duty I found many of the salvagers looking at me weirdly but they refrained from speaking up. Some of them I knew so they didn't look as surprised to see me without a suit.

"Your target is located inside a shipwreck four hundred fifty peds straight down. Searching the wreck while submerged is too high-risk for our tastes so... We'll be using flotation device and cranes to lift the hull first" He informed while pausing a second.

"Next, you'll split into teams and explore the interior. Once the target is found, retrieval can commence. If that's clear, let's begin with attaching the floats. get into position!" He finished.

"We're paying you lowlifes a lot, so don't screw it up!" Nia called out from above.

"Busines is business..." I murmured under my breath.

As we stepped onto the crane lift I looked at my sides and nodded to my team. Stepping forward, I dropped into the cloud sea as the tungsten weights on my belt did its work.

As I went deeper and deeper, the light started to wane. So I turned on my torch and suddenly see the partial hull of the shipwreck. Observing the ship with my more technical eyes. I saw that it used some unknown propulsion drive. Although it seemed eerily similar to the grav-repulsion drive on the black ship from before. The only place I ever saw such technology was when I was scouring the cloud sea floor and meeting some eccentric engineers.

The grabbers hooked onto the ship, so I moved to position with my flotation device. Attaching it to the hull of the ship and locking it into place, I gave a thumbs up to the team and swam on top of the ship so that I will be standing on it when it surfaces.

EXE
​

As the team unloaded equipment onto the ship. The clients went onboard and I popped another Double Fizz. Although how it survived the trip down, I don't know.

"Not bad, not bad at all" Nia praised. Although I had the feeling that is because of how she perceives me.

"I do this thousand of times, it ain't a big deal" I try to lower the pedestal she had me on.

"All teams, proceed inside when ready!" The coordinator ordered.

"Right then, let's get moving" Malos, I think it was, ordered his team.

Then Jin I think his name was, turned to me.

"You... With us..." He ordered.

"Is that really necessary?" Nia asked her teammate.

"I guess he thinks you need all the help you can get" Malos teased.

"Oi!" She called out in indignation. Which is cute, I noted.

As we walked up to the entrance of the ship, the gate crumpled from an inside force before suddenly ripping free of its hinges and a Lysaat appeared in front of us. The others mid-drawed their weapons but were a bit too late as I appeared behind the monster as it suddenly evaporated back into its elements.

"Come on, any slower than that and I will die from old age. Keep up" I told them before leaning against the ship.

I heard the two guys whisper something to each other but fortunately, super hearing was one of my powers.

"Is it wise, bringing the kid along?" Malos whispered.

"We will deal with it, once it comes to it" Jin whispered back.

My suspicion meter rose to never before seen heights but I refrained from reacting. It's better to see what their plan is before counteracting whatever they plan to do.

"That's Rex alright, he has to have monster genes in his blood to have such power" One salvager complimented my abilities, which was nice. Although rather insulting in a certain perspective.

"Wow Rex, You sure live up to the hype. I didn't even see you move until you appeared behind that Lysaat" Nia gawked at my awesome powers.

"It's nothing, six years wrestling Serpronds and oversized apes will do that to ya" I tell her with a laugh.

"Quiet the chit-chat! Let's move!" Malos yelled at us before moving ahead into the ship.

"Talk about self-important" Nia remarked.

"Gramps always taught me to respect elders..." I try to say to her.

"Elders..." She whispered

We looked at each and ended up exploding laughter at such a concept. Her hand threaded through mine and she pulled me into the ship. Although I don't think she really notices what she was doing.

EXE
​

We've gone through the ship without much fuss. A few monster here and there dead and some doors that needed punching. No need for overcomplicated mechanisms. We arrived at some door that they insisted was booby trapped so I refrained from punching it the next level of existence.

"Jin, check it out. There it is. Addam's crest"

So the ship was important somehow to Addam? I don't really get what they're up to, but I hoped I made the right decision to wait until they made a move.

"You. Open this door. It should open normally for one of your people" Jin ordered.

My people? That can mean a multitude of things but I went to the task at hand and walked up to the door. Seeing as the only thing that indicates being a switch is the crest, I pushed on the thing and watched as the door slide up and down in two. Walking further inside I went up to a second door and looked back to the clients. Nia tried to follow but was interrupted by Jin.

"Wait, there. Open that door too" He ordered again.

Seeing that they didn't have a problem with it, I went up to it and opened it too. Walking into the room, I saw a pedestal in front of a pillar inside. And within that pillar, a girl rested there. Somehow perfectly preserved even though this ship must have been millennia old. Looking down onto the pedestal, I see sword held in place there. The design intricate in its style, not at all what I expected from a practicable sword. And more something I'd used as a decorative piece. Of course, the core crystal revealed its true nature. It is a Blade that somehow managed to survive without its owner.

Motioning to grab the sword I changed my mind and rubbed on the core crystal instead. The guys behind me said something, but I was not paying attention. So it came as a shock to hear an all too familiar displacement of air behind me.

Turning around, I watched as time went on slow motion. Jin might have as well been standing still for all that it mattered. But this time, I didn't grab his sword as I did with Malos. It's time to let them on to the fact that they call me Tri-Rex the Indomitable for a reason.

Clang!

His sword pierced through my clothes to only be stopped by my impenetrable skin. As he looked on in surprise, he jumped back and stand beside his teammates. Malos also drew his sword and went to a stance.

"Jin! Why did you attack Rex!" Nia yelped in shock.

"Shut up Nia, and draw your weapon!" Malos commanded.

While it is obvious that Nia was against them attacking, I didn't want to draw this conflict for long. So I moved. One million taps to Jin and Malos send them flying through the bulkheads of the ship and crashing within the cargo area. Malos's blade, Sever tried to attack me on his own. So I also send him flying off to his driver. Walking through the hole I made, saw Nia hesitantly following me. Leaving her for later I focused on the three combatants.

"Stabbing a man in the back? That's not gonna fly with me. Now you are gonna tell what's up, or do I need to give some incentive?" I none to kindly questioned them.

"Nia! What are you waiting for! Attack him!" Malos growled at her.

"But, I can't do that! He didn't do anything wrong! Jin, why!" She yelled at him in confusion.

"Fine! We will deal with him ourselves!" He growled at her again and moved with surprising speed.

Getting a bit annoyed with his unwillingness to divulge their plans, I moved with more effort this time. One small punch to the gut, and a sweep of my feet made him fall backwards to the ground. He fell too slowly for my taste, so I kneed him in the back and watched him pierce the ceiling of the ship. Jin moved in with a parallel swing and I grabbed him by the front of his outfit to throw him with Malos on the deck above.

"Nia, tell me what's going on" I asked her.

"I don't know! Please, I need to talk to them!" She requested.

Nodding at her request. I grab her by the waist and Dromarch by his scruff to jump on top of the deck above.

"Malos, Jin! Stop this!" Nia tried to tell them but is interrupted by a blast of his sword.

"Stop this!? When he could become the driver of the Aegis! If you don't join us now we will destroy you too!" Malos proclaimed before throwing his sword to Sever and allowing him to slash at us with an ether slash.

Seeing as Nia is relatively innocent in all of this, I moved in front of the attack and blocked it with one arm. Dissipating it in harmless smoke.

"If you don't stop this, I will have no choice but to get serious" I declared with conviction behind my words.

"We will see" Jin finally spoke up before somehow transforming and moved at a speed that I could finally appreciate.

But the battle has gone too close to the salvagers for my comfort so went serious for once and grabbed his sword with equal speed.

"What?" He uttered before I broke his swords into shards and showed him true speed.

One punch to the face he dodged, but my blow behind his head struck true and he rolled and crashed into a crate with great force. I already appeared behind him before the light could catch up, so my invisible fist created an explosion of wood as he rolled back out again and slid upright before falling to the ground while spitting blood.

"That's impossible, gagh! I move at the speed of light in this form!" He coughed out.

"Well, then that just means that I move beyond the speed of light!" I lied.

His speed was just below the speed of light while my own is beyond that. If I were to truly go lightspeed, the universe would collapse from the infinite energy I would release. Though I dabbled a bit in creating so much force in my fist that I created gravitational effects to warp space to fix that issue. For once, I appreciated in my higher education than the rest of Alrest by the fact that I could go below the cloud sea and get information from the previous civilization.

"Cough! That is... Malos, we need to retreat! We can't beat him!" He told them before the black ship from before surfaced from the cloud sea.

They moved to retreat and I tried to stop them before suddenly missiles shot out from the ships to hit the Salvagers and the Maelstrom. I ran as fast as I could and intercepted to throw them away far from here, the shockwave created from them wouldn't do much to drivers and blades. But the normal humans wouldn't exactly survive such an ordeal.

As the missile barrage ended, they went under and disappeared from senses. Holding my fist back, I stopped and thought about the shockwave I would create if I punched the cloud sea away. Leaving them for now, I move to Nia and grab her arm. Pulling her with me into the ancient ship to see what the fuss is all about for the blade in there.

"You got a lot of explaining to do Nia"

EXE​

 

[Blueskadoo]

The concept is interesting so I will follow this.

 

[Dragonskyt]

Not going to say it's the best fic I've ever read.

But I'm in the mood for crack, so it will suffice.

 

[ReiZetsubou]

EXƎ
​

"So you really don't have an idea why they attacked? They really only told you that you were retrieving the Aegis?" I dissected her explanation once we reach back to the chamber in the ship.

"Yeah..." She despondently answered.

"Annoying" I sighed out.

"Rex, just now. Ye could hae killed them... Why didnae ye?" She questioned.

"Oh, I don't kill humans unless it's really necessary. Most of the time drivers give up once I beat them up for a few days" I casually answered.

"What" I catch her murmur beneath her breath.

Looking up to the pillar containing the blade, I jump up and gripped the metal on one side and removed the container from the wall to roughly land on the floor.

Jumping back down, I crouch to inspect what the fuss is all about with this Aegis stuff. As while I knew a little bit of the legends, the story was somewhat vague in its local sphere.

"The Aegis huh, why the hell is she so scarcely clad?" I muttered to myself.

"What ur ye doing?" Nia asked behind me.

"She doesn't seem to be waking up. Wait a second, I'm gonna have to analyze this" I responded.

Grabbing my Smartglass from my belt pack, I wrapped the watch around my wrist and booted up the Vector Industries Smart Transcalar Assistant. It was something I picked up from Morytha that contributed to my higher education. It was a device that connected wirelessly to a server in a bunker in Morytha beneath the cloud sea using something called the Sekai network. An experimental imaginary network that has zero latency at every conceivable distance without signal loss.

As the holographic display lit up, I switched to ease of use mode and chose voice input as the preferred operating system as that was far easier for me to use as the rest was more for advanced troubleshooting.

"Vista, scan the girl for me" I ordered the AI.

"Affirmative... Scanning... Experimental Quantum Net Processor Core detected"

Quantum? That subject was a few months away in my current curriculum Vista has imposed, so it must be really complex.

"Sync connection signal request received... Neural wavelength appropriated... Do you wish to simulate your psych matrix based on your profile to match up requirements?" It asked me.

"Sure, go for it" I gave it my permission.

"Acknowledged... Sync complete, subject's neural lace has begun responding to psych simulation" It relayed.

Seeing as the girl was beginning to wake up, I grabbed the side of the glass cover of the container and ripped it away to land on a wall nearby. The girl's eyes opened and she blinked as I looked into her eyes.

"Yo" I waved to her.

"Wha? You are... Rex... What did you do?" She questioned with a confused expression.

"I thought it be obvious, I woke you up. Vista already gave you my name but a proper greeting is always nice. Name's Rex" I greeted and pulled her up to a sitting position.

"Nia, nice tae meet yer too. I guess" Nia awkwardly greeted her.

"Pyra... Why did you wake me up?" She asked me with a curious tone.

"Dunno, seems kinda pointless letting you hang there. Might as well wake you up or let you stay here forever" I gave her my reasoning.

"I see... I sensed there was a battle here. What happened?" She continued with the questions.

"Some edgy guys were apparently looking for you. They suddenly attacked me so I had to drive them off. They were Jin and Malos, you recognize those names?" I replied.

"Jin and Malos? That's impo- Nevermind. I suppose you will be my driver from here on out" She sighed out.

"Well, not exactly. It's impossible for me to actually have a blade, so the only thing you're in resonance with is my Smartglass" I explained while showing her my watch.

She stood up on her own and observed my watch with great interest. But she switched her attention to me again and grabbed my hand.

"I see, that's why the connection is so scrambled. But I'm an Aegis, I should have no problem switching driver to..."

Her eyes widened for a moment and she let go of my hand.

"Wait, you are right. I really can't form a connection with you!" She exclaimed with a shocked look.

"According to Vista, I'm a veritable black hole to scanners and EM spectrum radiation. Even Overdrive Protocols really doesn't do much. It probably is a side effect of my invulnerability" I answered the unasked question.

"Invulnerability?" She inquisitively asked.

"Just something I got some time in the past. Not sure when it began but I'm not complaining. Anyways, we should get moving back to the Maelstrom. I reckon it will make a better place for further conversations" I told them before motioning to walk out of the chamber.

As we walked through the ship to land back on the upper deck, my brow started twitching once I realized what happened. What, you might ask? Well, the fact that the maelstrom has suddenly disappeared might play a big factor in my frustration. I didn't hear anything from inside the ship. But then, my hearing is only exceptional. Not supernatural. And it was of no surprise that within the confusion that the rest of the salvagers fled the scene.

"Um, didn't you say there was supposed to be a ship here?" Pyra asked once she finished scanning the area.

I just closed my eyes and tried not to groan. Opening my eyes again I scan the horizon and searched for the nearest titan to land on. Spotting something in the distance, I turned back to the girls.

"Ship aside, I think I can see a titan in the distance where we can land" I relayed to them.

"That's good and all, but how th' hell ur we gonna get there?" Nia spit out.

"Nia is correct, I think it would take days of swimming to reach the titan. And I don't think the ship we're standing is serviceable anymore" Pyra gave her own piece of her mind.

"I have an idea that might work. Dromarch, carry Nia and Pyra. I'm gonna pick you up and jump there" I tell them.

"Jump there?! 'Ow?! The titan mist be dozens o' titanpeds awa'!" Nia yelled in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm also having difficulty with your... proposition" Pyra gently expressed her own views.

"Oh, ye of little faith. Trust me, I'll make this work. Just get on" I hurried them.

"Ah, fine. Hae it yer wey!" Nia acquiesced.

Pyra also seemed to resolve herself and got on Dromarch. Nodding in acknowledgment, I move one arm under him and lift him up on my shoulder. Calculating the safest force I could exert, I ran to the edge of the ship and jumped horizontally at just below the speed of sound. Skidding through the clouds and using surface tension to keep my momentum.

EXƎ
​

"Aaaaah!"

Landing on solid ground with a heavy crash, I walked out of the crater and let go of Dromarch to let him land on the ground. Looking around I noticed we landed somewhere on the back of Gormott. I already had seen which Titan we would land on so that was no surprise.

"Oh, ground! Mah dear sweet, sweet ground!" Nia worshipped the ground on her hands and knees.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad. Was it?" I asked the trio.

"It was... Certainly, an unsettling experience to say the least" Dromarch conveyed in a weird voice.

"I have to agree with them on that, Rex. Let's please not do that again" Pyra calmly begged me.

"Ah, whatever. We seem to have landed somewhere on Gormott. I suggest we move to Torigoth before we do anything else" I recommended.

Seeing the opportunity to pull a practical joke on Nia, I walked up to her still sitting on her knees and held her waist under one arm and carried her towards Torigoth.

"Oi! th' hell urr ye doing! Lemme go Rex!" She yelled while hitting my leg with her arms.

"I thought for sure you would like a free ride to the city. Maybe this feels better?" I tell her before switching to a bridal carry.

"Wha-wha! No, this-this is..." She babbled incoherently for some reason.

Tilting my head in confusion I just shrugged at her behavior and continued my trek to the city with Dromarch and Pyra in tow.

"Master Rex, perhaps I should carry lady Nia?" Dromarch suddenly suggested.

"What are you talking about? This is a more efficient way of transportation. We wouldn't want you to tire yourself out" I replied to him with a wink.

"Idiot" Nia growled while refusing to look into my eyes.

"Rex. Maybe you shouldn't tease Nia this much" Pyra tried to reason with me.

"Oh, I see what it is. You want to be carried too, Pyra?" I deduced her intentions.

"No!" She cried out abruptly.

Seeing as it was a simple bridal carry, my confusion still persisted until a giant Gogol suddenly burst out from behind a tree root and howled in our direction. Nia seeing the danger, leaped from arms and drew her twin rings and went into a stance. Pyra also drew her own sword that I somehow forgot about in the ancient ship.

Of course. As usual, I crossed my arms and waited for the beast to do something first. It would regret attacking me, but until then. It's merely a wild beast.

"Damn! th' hell is wrong with this stupid ape!" Nia yelled from behind me.

​

As the Gogol mimed to punch us, I also drew my fist back and was interrupted by a giant blast of fire incinerating the beast in its entirety. Turning my head to the new arrival, I blink as a familiar face walked up to us.

"Sensei, it has been awhile" Genos greeted.

"Ah, Genos. Good to see you again. What are you doing here?" I asked him

"There were feral Gogol attacking travelers these parts. So I deemed it a good use of my time to defeat them before more people perish in their journeys" He explained.

The group behind me sheathed their weapons and joined me again.

"Rex, who is this?" Pyra asked.

"Ah, this is one of my- I mean one of Vista's blades" I informed them.

"Correct, though I don't really consider an inanimate object as my master. Sensei will always hold that position, even if I cannot accompany him on his travels" Genos sighed out.

"Rex. if ye hae a blade in the first place, why wouldn't you take him with ye?" Nia asked with an incredulous tone.

"Well, there is no reason to. I can't really use him and it would be far more efficient if he went to do his own thing. I can't be at two places at once so it was a pretty good idea to let him go" I tell them the reason.

"Yes, and with my weakness. I would only hold Sensei back if I went along with him" Genos matter of factly explained. Something I wished he would stop.

​

"Hello, Genos. I'm Pyra" Pyra introduced herself.

"Nia" Nia simply said.

Looking at Genos, I noticed he has changed his Arm Cannons to something more conservative instead of the usual gigantic cannons he carried with him.

"Genos, when did you change weapons?" I asked him.

He looked at his new sleeker arms and blinked at my question.

"Ah. Those cannons were rather unwieldy so I had a nopon in Torigoth help me create a new pair of arms. It certainly makes it easier to open doors" He nodded at his explanation.

Thinking about it for a moment, I decided to just let him join me. I never thought about Genos's feelings and I realized that I may have neglected him in my absence. It's also about that time that I finally climb the world tree, as while I didn't expect much from my efforts in doing so. It certainly won't hurt if we did to make sure.

"Genos, why won't you join us? I think it's about time we climbed the world tree anyways" I asked of him.

He suddenly brightened and I thought I saw a smidgen of a smile before he regained his composure.

"Understood! I will work hard to live up to expectations!" He acknowledged in his usual serious demeanor.

"Hmp. Anyways, shouldn't we get on wi' it? Torigoth is not much further" Nia tells us before moving.

Seeing as the conversation is stalled for now, I scratched my head in resigned acceptance and walked beside her to our destination.

EXƎ
​

"Fie! Who has the courage to heed the empire's call!" An overly enthusiastic ardainian recruiter called out from within a booth.

"Seems they're getting desperate" I tell the party once we arrived in the city.

"What for?" Pyra asked.

"Driver recruitment, nothing we should be worried. Let's go" I ordered.

As we passed through the marketplace, I bought some food and drinks along the way as I ran out when I traveled in the Maelstrom. I also bought the deeds for a girl's shop for some reason, nevermind that I'm a fifteen-year-old teen.

Moving through the back road of the city, we are interrupted by a couple of ardainian soldiers blocking our way.

'There! That's the girl on the wanted poster!" An ardainian captain called out.

Wanted poster? Looking at Nia, I realized that the group she was with may not have been entirely legit. Although their actions should have clued me on that fact.

"Look, I don't know about any wanted poster. But we aren't searching for any trouble" I try to reason with them.

"Shut it, pipsqueak! And you, you look like a driver. Registration number!" He demanded.

"What? That's so bullcrap. Why would I need to register!?" I incredulously asked them

"Enough with your dissonance, you're going with me! Let's see what the Consul has to say about this!" He angrily replied while drawing his gun.

Seeing as they aren't gonna comply and resolve this peacefully, I grabbed a Double Fizz and popped it open.

"Everybody" I called her out.

"What?" Nia called back.

"Duck" I told them before crushing the can and spinning in a circle.

"Normal aqua art number twenty-eight: Spinning Soda Geyser!" I called out. Creating a tornado geyser that pushed the soldiers into the walls of the alley.

"What th' hell is that ridiculous move!" Nia hissed once she stood back up.

"That's one of his normal arts. Arts that replicate blade abilities with his usual powers" Genos helpfully explained for me.

As the soldiers are knocked unconscious for now, I think its time to retreat as more are sure to come here.

"Let's run, the commotion is sure to attract somebody here" I informed them before running further through the road.

"Agreed" Genos acknowledged before following with the rest.

I heard more soldiers running after us, so I searched the area where we can escape or hide out. Suddenly a wall opened up in front of us and a nopon peeked his head from the hidden door.

"Friends! Come here! Hide in here!" He instructed us.

Seeing no reason to distrust him for now, I waved my hand for the party to follow inside. Once we are inside we heard the soldiers pass us with them none the wiser of our presence. Turning to the nopon, I ask the obvious question.

"Why did you help us?"

He closed his eyes and nodded at himself for some reason.

"No reason"

What?

"Actually, that not true. Tora not like big bully soldiers" He explained.

"Sensei. This was the nopon that gave me my new arms" Genos informed us.

"Ah, you Genos guy. Arms work good?" Tora asked.

"It is adequate"

"That good" He responded with a pause.

"Also have other reason for help you meh, follow Tora inside house" He instructs us before walking down the corridor.

Following him into a room, I looked around and found it to be extremely cozy. Although it looked rough around the edges, it was clear to see that it was lived in and optimized for a comfortable lifestyle.

"Nice gig" I complimented.

"Thanks. Anyways, reason Tora help you is because I want to be sidekick of Rex-rex" He explained. Although I questioned how he knew my name.

"How'd you know my name?" I asked him.

"Oh, Genos say much thing about Rex-rex. I recognize once you come here with Genos"

"Aaah. I see" I nodded at his answer.

"Rex-rex very great driver! Genos tell Tora you once lifted a titan with your bare hands to save trapped people!" He praised my accomplishments.

"Seriously! Rex did that?!" Nia yelled out in shock.

"It can't be..." Pyra gawked at Tora's revelation.

Feeling a bit in the spotlight, I just laughed and tried to wave the topic away.

"Hahaha, seriously. It's nothing"

"Like 'ell it's nothing!" Nia growled.

"Moving away from that topic. Tora, instead of becoming my sidekick. Won't you just be our friend?"

"Rex-rex really want become friend of Tora! Yay!" He excitedly yelled out while jumping in circles around me.

"What a funny guy" I told the party with a smile.

EXƎ

Low Orbit Station Rhadamanthus
​

"The Conduit is stirring. Who is this Rex and why does he have so much influence?"

Silence.

"It won't be long now Galea. But for now, I want to see the journey of this boy"

Silence.

​