User blog:Roinelll/Solace 2-17

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Rat Trap

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"Good work Sierra." Lindow patted my shoulder as the heli was bringing us back from the mountain area, where the small pack of Zygotes were exterminated by me alone. "Would you have ever guessed you'll become this strong in just twenty missions?"

Huh?

What has this to do with me?

"Of course, that was also due to the drills someone made you perform." Our leader bumped the shoulder of Soma, who grumbled something of leaving him alone. "Both of you did great."

'''With Soma it's always hell... especially the training sessions, they are more like torture sessions.'''

"So, I was thinking on having Soma train the three Rookies together." Lindow finished with a small laugh. Both me and  the dark skinned God Eater snapped our heads at him.

"No way!" Soma protested, this time even I did feel the same. Training together with Kota would be nice, but not with the russian primadonna. "I'm not a baby sitter."

"You're a born drill sergeant." Lindow laughed at that.

That's an understatement.

"That brat should be taught by Sakuya." Soma countered angrily. "I have enough problems with this Dead Weight already, I don't need two more hindrances!"

"Oh, so you don't mind training with her now?" Our leader smirked and chuckled as that realization made Soma flinch. "Those two will grow on you in no time."

'''Eh, that's... a weird one.'''

"I said no!" He pulled the hood down in his face and crossed his arms defiantly.

"Listen Soma." Sakuya said after stopping smiling. "Sierra needs more work that is inevitable, Kota learned the basics from me, but needs a strict teacher like you. On the other hand Alisa does excel in combat training, but she can't adapt well to the situations, nor perform in a team."

"Sakuya is right." Lindow added. "Putting the three together is highly beneficial, because they can become a true team and learn from each other the best. Kota excels in team work, Sierra can adapt to most situations and Alisa will polish their combat skills. Eventually they each will rub on the other and that will bring the most out of them."

"So instead of doing it yourself, you push that responsibility onto me?" He glared at them angrily.

Truth to be told, I'm also curious of the reason.

"I'm too old to be in charge for any longer, so I was considering stepping down in a few months." Lindow said, with a grin. "This would be your first chance to prove yourself capable of being a good leader."

"And..." Sakuya added, slightly flustered. "There's something for me too in a few months."

'''Oh, now I see... Nice.'''

"Fine! But I'm not going to tolerate whiny brats." Soma grumbled.

When we got back to the lobby finally, a strange sight greeted us. Well, strange as in C decided to leave out the hood she usually wore and let her light-blue hair exposed. The pale girl left the elevator in the moment we stepped in and decided to strut to Kota, take the magazine the red-head was reading from his hands and sat into his lap.

"H-huh?" Kota blurted as the girl put her arms around his neck and leaned in close to whisper something into his ear. The boy went red and stuttered another surprised sentence. "W-what?"

... OH great, she's trying to pull something again...

"I said, kiss me already!" C raised her voice, a playful smirk on her lips. Then she cocked her head sideways a bit. "You do know what that is, don't you?" Her laughter came playfully. "Kissing, do you?"

I looked around and saw that the attention of everyone present was on the scene in front of us. Beside me was Lindow and Sakuya, as Soma already grumbled something about 'annoying brat' and leaving. In the lobby there was also Shun, Alisa, Gen and a small girl wearing an oversized brown shirt.

"I..." The boy was speechless, caught off guard by the demand of the pale girl. "Yea."

"What are you up to now?" Lindow frowned, seeing how the pale girl was playing around with the young gunner.

"I want Kota to kiss me, how is that a bad thing? It's not like I want to bed him." Then she turned back to the stunned boy and whispered into his ears. "Or, would you like to?"

"H-HAAH?!" With that Kota became even more bright red and C erupted into laughter.

"Okay, jokes over. You had enough fun teasing him." Lindow walked over, grabbed the girl by the neck and pulled away from the stupefied God Eater.

"But, I wanted to get a kiss from him." C pouted, arms crossed and due to the help of Lindow holding her above ground a few feet, she looked like a defiant kid. "Then you give me one!" She demanded, spreading her arms open wide.

"Tell me something." The first Units leader ignored her demands. "Why did you pick Kota?"

"Karel is greedy, Shun is a brat, Tatsumi guns for Hibari, Soma is grumpy, Brendan is no fun. The obvious choice was Kota, right?" C explains, but Lindow shakes his head.

"You mean, the only one who you could tease was Kota?"

"It's not like he has any chance with the girls. Although he just goes after the First Unit ones, lucky for him that he didn't try anything with my Sierra." C said, which made the red-head flinch and finally recover himself. "I mean he has the hots for Sakuya, who is already taken and the russian clearly hates him." Saying that so bluntly made the gunner flinch again, then lower his head in shame.

"I know this guy was creepy, but this..." Alisa, who was nearby commented her own language, that my translator didn't find any problems in exchanging for me, before walking away.

"Alisa, wait!" Kota jumped up and ran after her. He didn't understand what she said, but it was clear from the tone that she was disgusted with the boy.

"Are you happy now?" Lindow sighed, looking at the smugly smirking girl.

"Happy?" C chuckled. "Sort of." Then she managed to free her from Lindow's hand and pull him down by the neck down to herself, whispering in his ears, before pecking on his lips a slight kiss. "Die for me, would you?"

'''C... just what are you after now?'''

"Lindow." Sakuya said, irritated and our leader flinched, straightening up immediately to look into her eyes. "We have to talk."

"Listen, C just wants confusion. Don't listen to anything she says." I could have sworn that our leader started to sweat profusely.

"Oh, I'm ignoring her blatant provocation." The medic said, and Lindow gave a relieved sigh. "I'm still made at you for swiping my beer. So, you're going to give me back those four."

"But, I've only drank one!" Lindow burst out, surprised. "That's not fair!"

"And you took 3 others, that's four by my count!" Sakuya countered, making him shrink back a bit. "But you're right, that is not fair."

"Y-yeah... I'll give them back. All right."

"You will give me back double."

"D-Double?!" Lindow was stupefied.

"That will teach you from taking any more of mines." The medic said defiantly.

"B-but!" Lindow stuttered, as Sakuya was pulling him towards the elevator in order to take what belonged to her. As it opened up, Dr. Sakaki walked out before the pair occupied it.

"Good, you're here too Sierra." The researcher noted as he noticed me. "Come with me to the laboratory, Kota and Alisa are already there." I nodded and walked to him and waited until the elevator came for us, then we entered it together. "We're going to continue the lesson on Aragami, after that I'll have to check you out as usual."

Great, more check-up....

By the time we got into the room, Kota was already fast asleep. Somehow, it didn't even start, yet it made him go drowsy. The russian girl was on the other hand sitting as much apart from him and even my place where I usually sat, that it made me feel uncomfortable as I took my seat.

"Aragami..." The professor started his speech, after taking note that we are in place, even if one of us doesn't actively takes part in the lecture. "Back when the Oracle Cells were first discovered, they still existed in amoeba form." The big screen beside him showed what the first Oracle Cells were like. Even in those pictures, in each cell there was a concentrated large part, which looked very much like a core in the Aragami, when they are exposed.

Wicked, I have to say.

"After that, Aragami in earthworm form were found." The picture shifted, into a worm-like creature, that sported a large orblike structure on the back. "6 months later, Aragami in beast form were sighted." The monitor changes the display, this time to an Ogretail and a decimated part of a city. "And by the time a year had passed, an entire continent had been thoroughly destroyed by the expanding Aragami."

'''Oh... we're in it then, big times...'''

"Even considering that they evolve by taking on the form of whatever they eat, wouldn't you say that's a blistering pace?" Sakaki started to walk around, a bit lost in his thoughts. "Right." He stopped short before Alisa and looked at her. "Now, strictly speaking, the Aragami don't actually evolve. The fact is... Oracle Cell's gene sequence hasn't changed at all from the originals. You hear me?" He glanced at us, the only two who were listening aptly. "Not one tiny bit."

"But wait a minute." Alisa interjected. "That's not possible! They're changing form, aren't they?"

'''Doesn't the core of an Aragami influence the form they take? Or at least I do recall something like that.'''

"They..." Sakaki stopped, catching himself short from continuing the sentence. "The Aragami, you see. They're just like you right now. For them, taking on the form of whatever they've eaten is the same as acquiring knowledge is for us." He started walking again, this time going for the slumbering Kota. "That's right..." He stopped before him, looking up continuing the lecture.

'''But, if they are constantly perfecting themselves, why aren't their diversity larger? I mean there are like ten or so different types out there...'''

"All they're doing is acquiring knowledge and getting smarter. What kind of bone structure would they need to move faster in our environment? What would they need to develop the ability to fly? They're busy absorbing tons of information like a sponge soaks up water." Then he turned to me to see if I follow him. "In a mere 20 years, they've reached a highly advanced level of development in terms of form and function."

'''They aren't that diverse with such a low number of diversion... Although, since the Oracle Cells themselves are never changing, it is possibly harder to acquire new forms...'''

"Too bad, the Aragami weren't as adverse to studying as young Kota here." He poked the head of the sleepy-head, who mumbled something and continued his hazardous journey through dream-land. "Yes, they're extremely dedicated and diligent students. I mean it really boggles the mind. I've even heard rumors of an Aragami that is actually capable of launching missiles." He stopped momentarily, letting that for us to sink in. "If that's really true, then that means they've even taken on the form of man made tools." At that, his brooding like voice, shifts into one of pure amazement. "Isn't that just intriguing?" The doctor turns to us with a smile on his face.

'''Oh, here comes the big one. I bet!'''

"If they can incorporate such complex information into their paradigm... Then perhaps one day, in the not-too-distant future, an Aragami in human form will appear." He finished it with a smile and I stared at the professor.

Human-like Aragami?!

Before it was dog-like, but now HUMAN-LIKE?

...

'''Oh, on the second though, the Aragami consumed countless human lives already, it wouldn't be that weird for them to take on a much more humanoid form. Albeit there are semi-humanoid ones around already.'''

"An Aragami in human form?" Alisa repeats the question herself, trying to comply with that. "It's true, that the Aragami have destroyed many human lives." Her voice wavered slightly. "But that's true for the countless other types of living creatures of Earth!"

"Now-now." The professor tried to calm the agitated russian. "What I said was hypothetical only."

Didn't really seem like that to me...

"Is the lesson over?" Soma spoke up behind us, and we turned towards him. "Good, wake the brat. We're going to train and bring your God Arcs."

"Training?" Alisa repeated. "Good, I wanted to get some."

'''Torture Session with Soma... AGAIN?!'''

'''Oh right, Lindow did speak of this back on the way... I forgot about it.'''

"There are no exceptions." Soma left with that and I grumbled silently. Alisa had left the room already and I went to wake up the sleeping boy. After a few minutes he finally looked up and saw me irritated.

"S-sorry. I fell asleep." He explained the obvious, but I've just rolled my eyes.

"Soma was here to inform the three of you will have a joint training session. You two should go already, Alisa must be impatient already." The doctor helped me out and that made Kota awake completely.

"R-right. I'll go." The red-head mumbled and left the room. I on the other hand went to the doctor, who already prepared the medical gizmos required for the check. It took a slight amount of time, but I was done fast. By the time I arrived at the training grounds, they all have been expecting me with various attitudes.

Alisa was irritated, clearly by Kota. The latter was depressed and sulked a bit of a distance away and our supervisor was glaring daggers at me. I held up my arm and showed to the point where the blood sample was taken, and he glared at me in response.

"I'm not going to ask anything of you that I am not able to perform." The dark skinned God Eater started, as he activated on a side panel a simulation. The area around us started to change into a wasteland. "This will be a simple gauntlet type of test." He said as he raised the God Arc to his shoulders and walked to the center of the area. "Each one of us will fight Aragami until it is either destroyed or you die. That will help me evaluate your standings and prepare accordingly how to handle your further training." In the distance an Ogretail formed, and roared after spotting Soma. "There are no second chances." The beast started running towards him, then when it got into range for a pounce, the God Eater stepped to the side and at the same time performed a brutal vertical slash, tearing the unfortunate Ogretail into two. "Kota, you're up next."

"Wooow." The red-head noted after the brutal display of strength. "Sure! Here I come!" He cheered and waited until the area reformed again into a broken city, while Soma withdraw into the background near to us. As soon as the Aragami spotted Kota, it let our a roar which made the gunner turn into the direction of the beast. "All right!! Chew on this!" Kota shouted, releasing a bullet, with spiraling smaller orbs around it.

"Preposterous!" Alisa noted annoyed, even Soma frowned at seeing that. The shot impacted on the Ogretail, momentarily stopping it, but not enough as it continued to trample towards the gunner. Who let out shot after shot, performing various war cries, which I think was the way to bolster his morale or something like that. That is when the Ogretail caught up to him and the gunner started to run to gain distance. "How could he survive for so long?" Alisa commented as the Ogretail was chasing him around, Kota let out a few more shots before his God Arc clicked loudly.

"Uh-oh! I'm out of bullets." He lowered the weapon and started running even more, while trying to pull out an O-Ampule from one of his pockets. "Oh, yeah! This is what I'm talking about!" He shouted after refilling his reserves and unloading on the Ogretail, which after a few more shots buckled then collapsed. The body started dissolving, albeit it wasn't much more than a bullet hole riddled pile of bloody chunks. "Aw yea! Awe to the some!"

"I never though I would have to apologize to you." Soma said turning to me. "From this point on the Dead Weight is going to be that brat. Now go out and show me what you can do, Dead Beat."

HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER?!!

I frowned and walked up to Kota, who was still giving a victory speech. I nodded with my head towards Soma, and the gunner smiled at me.

"You show them how it is done!" He cheered for me and left the area running as the training reformed once again, this time I found myself in a mountain area with lots of snow and some trees. I spotted the Ogretail first and decided to stay in it's blind spot. Running was almost noiseless, thanks for the snowy area and I was glad for that.

I managed to get to the back of the unsuspecting beast and raised my God Arc high. Then with a downward stab, I slammed it into the tail of the Aragami, which was pierced by my weapon and stuck to the ground. The Ogretail wanted to turn around but was incapable of, it tried to pull the tail out of the ground and it was starting to give away due to the strength displayed.

I stepped in, ripped my God Arc out of the ground and from the beasts tail and let if tumble and fell onto the ground, where I've raised my God Arc again and went straight for the core, shattering it in a blow and terminating the simulation. I've returned to my position and saw an excited Kota.

"Awesome!" He cheered, grabbing onto my shoulders. "How cool is that?! The way you've handled it was great, it didn't even spot you until it was too late!"

"I am finding it hard to accept that someone like you could become a God Eater, and survived this long." Alisa stated as she took her place in the center of the map. She had her weapon already raised by the time the area changed into a rundown warehouse. An Ogretail walked in leisurely from the open hangar doors and she opened fire on the Aragami.

A continuous stream of bullets rained down from her mini-gun styled God Arc, raining death onto it that finished the deal in barely a few seconds. She then raised the weapon to her shoulder and walked to the corpse. With a flick on her wrist, the weapon transformed first into blade form, then from there she called onto the predator form of the God Arc and devoured the remains.

"Albeit you just get simulated rewards only, it is good to see someone doing their job properly." Soma said casually and this time not adding any insults at all.

You didn't even bother to remove the core, even though you've probably smashed it to pieces with that blow of yours.

"Awesome!" Kota couldn't contain his excitement, he wanted to see how could she perform in a mission, but she never agreed to one even if he asked. So this was the second best option. "That's soo--" He started, but was interrupted fiercely.

"I would prefer for you to stop that frivolous attitude." The russian girl glared at him, which made the gunner go 'Huh?'. "You are way too carefree, that is unacceptable!" She pointed at me. "Even that girl is way more capable than you are!"

Thanks?

'''I... guess?'''

"This is why I didn't want to bother with this." Soma grumbled. "Next one will be Cocoon Maiden." He called and resumed the training.

We went through most known Aragami types. The Small ones: Ogretail, Cocoon Maiden, Zygotes. The Medium sized: Kongou, Chi-You, Gboro-Gboro. Then the Large came up with: Sariel, Quadriga, Borg Camlann and finally the Vajra.

Of course each of us had various successes. Soma naturally aced each one, although he did have a bit of a hard time versus the Sariel and Zygotes he took them down eventually when they got near enough. Kota... Well he had his fair share of troubles and starting from the Medium sized ones, he wasn't able to stand his ground on his own.

Alisa did actually great too, the versatility of her attacks combining blades, impulse edge and various bullets made it look too easy in comparison to our fights. That is until it came for the last Large type, the Vajra. There she froze completely, and the simulation ended when the over-sized thunder-kitty on steroids swiped at her with a paw thus terminating the simulation.

As for me... There was various success rates, I've been great versus Small, struggled a bit versus the Medium and had very low success on the Large ones alone. Still I could see myself having improved somewhat ever since Soma decided to train me. To that I actually felt thankful.

"Now then, there are two more simulations that we're going to go through." Soma said, with a low voice. "This time, it's going to be all of us together. No exceptions, understand?"

I don't like this.

"All of us fighting like a team?" Kota cheered, apparently not disheartened by the fails he had endured at all. "This is going to be EPIC!"

"I don't need help." Alisa said defiantly.

"No exceptions." Soma repeated, and I could have sword that the russian girl cursed in her own language. As the others didn't really notice it, but I heard her through the translator.

'''Oh, for... REALLY?!!'''

My jaw almost dropped when I saw what was being materialized in front of us. Kota was staring at it, just like Alisa did. Well, I shook my head and looked to the side of me, to see what was in mind of Soma when he decided to put the four of us versus a living mountain. Yea, like what could we do against an Ouroboros?

"Lindow took one down." He said lightly. "He was alone at that."

And how did he do that again?

"That is impossible." Kota surmised it and I had to agree to it.

"We're not going to stare at it all day, are we?" Alisa decided to run towards the colossal Aragami and firing her weapon mid motion.

"I doubt we can kill it, with this team." Soma agreed as he broke into a sprint himself, with me in his heels. "Maybe I could survive, but the rest would become casualty for granted."

Well, that's for your honest answer.

As the shots fired by the russian impacted on the large beast, it finally noticed first her, then us too. With a deafening roar, the Ouroboros raised it's tentacle arms into the sky before plunging them deep into the ground. We were still running when the earth started to shake underneath our feet and a forest of spikes erupted.

They went through me and Kota, meaning that we had just died in the simulation, however both Soma and Alisa blocked the attacks with their shields. Soma actually stopped to do so, while the russian jumped into the air and gained some momentum too when the spikes impacted her defense. Before even landing she let loose another pair of shots and resumed her sprint towards the giant.

By the time the tentacles were extracted from the ground and formed into limbs, both God Eaters came close enough to be able to predict such a movement and move into sufficient positions, should the beast try it again. However it chose something different, as the head of the Aragami raised high into the sky and I could see the gigantic compound eye glowing with a bright purple light.

Soon, a rain of destructive energy started to fall on the two still surviving God Eaters, who had to raise their shields if they didn't want to become shishkababed by the attack. Which meant they couldn't stop the follow-up of the spikes as they ripped through their bodies.

"Figures." Soma muttered as the simulation faded. Me and Kota were watching from the sidelines, Kota constantly cheering for them actually, which was becoming really annoying.

"An Ouroboros can't be just taken down with a team of four." Alisa said, albeit she tried her best, it was obvious she didn't expect any positive outcome.

"It is always good to be prepared, even for the most impossible situations." The dark skinned God Eater said, as he launched another simulation. "Just like versus a Deusphage."

'''Oh God... Is, this....'''

Does he do it because why I think he does it?

Then the training of true hell started.

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End of Chapter 2016,07,03

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