User blog:Yuka Ichinose/God Eater: Infinity Paradise, Chapter 13

"It's been quite a while since the second experiment exhibited failure, much like the first. Most of our helpers in the project faced a rather untimely death, in the hands of something no one really knows how to stop. But as what she had said, not all hope is lost."

She sighed.

"Twelfth of February, year 2054. So far, so good. If this keeps steady, surely, in a few years or so, mankind will obtain a permanent defense against these beasts. The same old starter, huh? That aside, Paylor had something interesting he shared to Johannes and I a while ago, the Devouring Apocalypse. He didn't get into much detail about this topic, but he did say a thing or two about this certain Aragami, as what we call them these days. According to Paylor, there is one amongst all that bears a special core, and he coined the term Singularity for it. Yes, Singularity. Scientifically speaking, it usually refers to something with infinite value, far from man's control. From what he had said, the Singularity's core, upon being absorbed by 'Nova', one that has the ability to devour anything and everything in this planet, will trigger the Devouring Apocalypse. Wouldn't that be scary, Yuka?"

Her blue eyes studied the speaker carefully, before sighing once more. She refused to give any kind of response to the question, and so, the other went on.

"An event that would wipe away every living organism in this planet... It really is something we wouldn't want to happen. That's why... as cruel as it may sound, we are passing the duty to you, the two of you, to take care of this world, and all of its inhabitants. Although you don't show much progress like Soma does, I'm certain this choice your mother put so much hope on will be beneficial in the near future."

Finally, her thumb pressed on the grey button having a small recessed square on it, and the recording came to an abrupt stop. The radio was then tossed aside, landing close to the edge of the bed, along with her arm. Devouring Apocalypse, she thought, eyeing the ceiling as her mind floated about. Is it real?

"Oi, aibou..." Soma stopped halfway past the door and stared, before walking out, the door closing behind him. Yuka quickly sat up on the bed, removing her headphones and running to catch up. "W-What is it?" She peeked from the doorway, and found him leaning on the wall with his head low and arms crossed. The male growled at her, much to her confusion. What is his problem now? Finally, he bothered to lift a hand and point an index finger at her.

"Put on something decent." Soma was close enough to do a gesture most would refer to as a facepalm. After all, what kind of lady in her right mind would leave her door unlocked, while wearing only an oversized shirt? Someone else could have walked in and an event worse than this might have happened. But taking things to consideration, Yuka is a child, not a lady, in a body unfit for the age of her brain. (And no, he didn't stare, mind you. He's not like a few people he knows.)

Her face flushed a bright pink, and she hurriedly retreated behind the door. "A-At least learn how to knock!" Yuka retorted, loud enough to be heard on the other side of the wall. "It's quite rude, you know. Plus, it's unusually hot here in the Far East."

"Tch," was the reply he made, which she translated to 'I don't need to listen to your reasons.' After putting on the last piece of clothing she needed, the blonde returned to his partner, seeming to not mind the incident earlier. As soon as she announced that she was ready, the other led her away from the veteran's quarters and to the elevator.

"What kind of mission are we off to today?" She asked. It wasn't very often that Soma comes in to pick her up for a conquest. In addition to that, it usually is Director Schicksal who summons them to his office. Huh, today is unusual. What date is it today, anyway? Checking her internal calendar, July 18, 2071. Is there anything special today? The elevator finally came to a stop, nearly knocking off her feet. The gears made a loud grinding noise before dropping off to complete silence. The doors slid open. "Sooner or later, this elevator would get some God Eaters stuck," she pointed out, briskly following Soma out of that confined metal box. "You haven't answered my question. Where are we going?"

"Who knows?"

Down the lounge.

"Afternoon, Hibari! Oi, Soma, where are we going, really?"

"Who knows?"

To the God Arc storage room.

"I've asked you thrice, and you haven't given me an answer at all!" Then why the hell is she following him around like a nail attracted to a moving magnet? The girl, cheeks puffed out, picked up her own weapon, before the other could leave her behind in the storage room. Asked thrice, but none of them had received an acceptable response. Yuka knew better than ask the fourth time. Soma was not a person to push to the edge. Being very short-tempered, he can easily snap at her without any hesitation. Edgy McEdgelord, she huffed to herself.

The last time she had tested the waters, they didn't talk for days. Well, it was more like she refused to talk to him for days. Soma honestly didn't give a single damn. In the end, Yuka wasn't able to contain the loneliness, and came running to him, which was only another source of his infuriation. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She whined at him, dragging the archetype Arc up the rocky path. He never mentioned hiking! They had been scouting this odd area for probably hours already! How many times do they need to take a round for Soma to realize that it was already empty? Speaking of this place, Yuka was certain she had never been in here, not even once. Surely, being a Director's pet, as how Lindow puts it, takes her to new locations.

"This isn't a date, is it?" She finally asked for the sake of pissing him off. "AH!" She then squeaked, ducking down to avoid the two-meter blade the other had swung to her direction. Blood splattered, as the Zygote's poor body was torn to pieces by the crushing attack. Yuka was bathing in its blood, almost knocked down if she hadn't shot at the other Zygote that was about to swoop down to her direction. The Aragami fell back, and the gears clicked, the God Arc changing form and mercilessly ripping apart the fallen monster. "Blast it," she cussed, forcing the core out of the mutilated corpse for her God Arc to devour.

That was probably the sixth time today. If not Zygotes, it would be Ogretails. Nothing big, thankfully. "What exactly are we here for?"

"For an Aragami..." He answered in his usual cold tone.

She frowned. "About ten Ogretails and Zygotes. Two Kongous and one Gboro-gboro. What kind of Aragami, exactly? The Singularity?" Alright, that's it. She had too much of her father's recordings for today.

Her partner's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, before he averted his gaze and clicked his tongue. In this kind of situation, it wasn't helping that she was growing irritated and Soma refused to give a care. It wasn't the usual them. Honestly, being the secretive type doesn't suit him at all.

"I get it," she pouted, crossing her arms. "You really are after the Singularity, aren't you?" His eyes gazed at her annoyed figure, but his lips remained pursed in a straight line. Yuka shrugged, "Speculations," and picked up the blade that had been stuck on the ground. "And the ability to detect Aragamis would be helpful in searching for that special one. Am I hitting the bulls-eye?" So, nothing more than a tool, huh?

She was indeed correct, Soma couldn't deny that. In fact, it was his father's idea to begin with. Instead of confirming her speculations, he took another look around. There was nothing. Turning to her, he found her shaking her head. "We might as well try a different place," she added.

"How did you know about the Singularity?" The curiousity in Soma's voice was thickly coated by coldness. He hadn't expected her to know about the Singularity, much less the Devouring Apocalypse. Although it wasn't really a secret to them, most of the God Eaters fighting for Fenrir aren't knowledgeable of that.

She trailed close by behind him. "I have most of Dad's journals and recordings, as well as a few research files," she answered with a sigh, like even mentioning her father seeped all of the energy inside her. "I've been... keeping them safe, you see."

The friendship of their fathers dates way back, even before the outbreak. Both of them weren't sure of how exactly it all began, but they both know too well that their fathers, along with their mothers and Dr. Sakaki, worked together to create what they are now -- a hybrid of human and Aragami.

"But..." Soma watched closely as she loaded bullets into the magazine of her God Arc. "No one knows what the Singularity looks like, or its capabities as an Aragami. Searching for something like that is like looking in utter darkness." In addition to that, her Detect Skill could determine an Aragami in the vicinity, but not what type of species that is. A wild goose-chase. "If we happen to engage in a fight with it, in case we do find it, there's no assurance in capturing it."

He tried to find something else to keep watch on, his eyes wandering over to a pile of rocks on his west. Why does she always have to be correct at things like those? Still, he -- they would have to go on with this mission. If the Nova, by any chance, devours the Singularity, it would cause a surprising apocalypse. Then again, they have very little clue about this "Nova" as well. Having the most important core under the care of Fenrir would give Earth an assurance that the apocalypse will have higher chances of never occuring.

"Unless..." She mumbled, a finger on her chin. Afterwards, she shrugged, dismissing the idea entirely. Whatever she had in mind, it will simply disintegrate into nothingness, similar to the corpse of the Ogretail lying before him. "Let's go back," she said, standing up and wasting one bullet on a lone Zygote that dared loom over them. "I want to eat ice cream today~"

Once a kid, always a kid.

***

They were ambushed.

Whatever was drawing these three Vajras into their place, she would have to praise it for a job well done. It was doing commendable work, which was, sadly, a bad news for them. Three at once is something that is impossible to be accomplished. Even as veterans, they would both get themselves killed. The only option they have as of now was to find a diversion and escape. The Aragamis growled low, slowly beginning to close in the distance between them and the God Eaters. Soma raised his Arc. "Sit still."

"W-Wha-?! Are you nuts?!" Yuka hissed at him, grabbing his arm. "Do you really want to die?"

Soma glared at her.

"I thought everything fine's after the Operation Meteorite with Lenka?" She added, flashing him an equal glare. If she lets go of that arm, he would go off and die. "Soma. You can't die. Not on me."

In defeat, the other clicked his tongue out of annoyance. He hates it when she's right.

The Vajras began to go offense. One summoned Lightning Torpedoes. Another pounced on them. They dodged both attacks, rolling sideways in opposite directions. "How many stun grenades are with you right now?" She asked. His response came through her earpiece, short and concise, "Eight."

More than enough. "Let's get out of here, liebling." Evading a Grand Lightning attack from one of them, she told him her plan. Yuka was thankful that this time, she was fully geared with Shadow Haze, a bullet that deals heavy Divine damage in which the Vajra is weak to. Though her blast gun would deal crush damage, which wasn't too effective lest shots are aimed on the head, spamming with bullets should keep the Aragamis down and give them room for escape. Before the three Vajras could paralyze them with Lightning Mauls, Soma threw in his first stun grenade, cancelling out the attack. And then he quickly dashed forward, his God Arc more than prepared, attacking the head with continuous heavy slashes. "Soma!" Yuka's voice was faint in his ears, too distant to influence him. "That's not- Soma! Come on!"

He refused to listen to a brat. He can destroy all three of these Aragamis alone. He can prove her wrong. He was born to rid the world of these monsters. Beacon of hope? Fine.

"Ficking hört auf mich!" The flat of her blade deflected the Vajra about to pounce on him. "Don't be so stubborn!" The Aragamis were beginning to recover from their stunned state, ruining the entire plan she had made in two seconds."Was würde ich tun, wenn sie sterben?!"

"Dann begrabt mich!"

She deployed her Tower Shield, keeping a firm stand as a Vajra unleashed a Grand Lightning straight towards her. "Fick dich, Soma! Fick. Dich!" Quickly, she threw in another stun grenade and made a grab for his hand. Tight. It was only then that he noticed the pouring rain, and how soaked both of them were already. Her golden locks were now in a tangled mess. Mud littered both of their footwear and his pants. Yuka threw in the third stun grenade as they ran away.

They must have ran a kilometer or two. It wasn't really easy to tell, but one thing the two of them were sure of: they were out of the line of sight. The pair came to a stop, both catching their breath. Soma collapsed to the ground, his hair dripping wet even if he had his hood on the entire time. His God Arc was sprawled on the ground, lying next to his partner's. The rain continued to fall, the clouds a shade of the darkest grey.

She said nothing, her chest going up and down in an attempt to catch her breath. Droplets of water dripped from the ends of her soaked blond hair, now deep golden in color. Still, no words slipped past her lips. She just knelt in front of him, breathing, silent, enclosing both his hands in hers.

"I'm not going to bury you..."

Her thumbs gently brushed against his hands, but Soma quickly pulled them back, and picked up his Sawblade. He rose from where he sat, having recovered from the recent exercise. "Let's go before we run into the three of them again."

It was... electrocuting.

***

"Ah, Yuka! Just in time!" Hibari happily called out to her, as the blonde God Eater set foot on the first step of the stairs. Hurriedly, she ran down to the other's counter, inspecting the mission details she was presented with. "Interesting," the blonde mumbled. "A Borg... Camlann..." The Aragami's name came out rather bitterly, as the pair of blue eyes kept a stern gaze on said monster's photograph. This certain species had terrorized her life twice. "With whom?"

"With me."

Yuka looked back to see the young Russian God Eater behind her, her purple eyes flashing eagerness to return to field. If she hadn't known the story, she would surely think Alisa hadn't been through anything the past days. A playful smirk crossed her lips and she gestured at Alisa, "Well, come on, Red Riding Hood." Before her third trip to the God Arc storage, Yuka turned back to Hibari, "By the way, Hibari..." She leaned onto the counter, lowering her voice. "... If Soma gets another mission today, tell him that he's not allowed to stray and go die on his own."

The operator smiled, like how she usually does. "I'll make sure your message gets to him."

"Thanks! Any message you want to pass on to Tatsumi?"

Hibari's smile dissipitated for a mere second, returning only when she had found a proper answer, "Please tell him to take care always." With a teasing smile, Yuka waved her favourite operator farewell.

About time she once again try that bit of a Lindow expression. "Well, Alisa," she began before they actually start the mission. "As you know, I have quite a bad experience with a Borg before. I have dealt with a few more before my transfer to Anagura, and as far as I remember, I never had any breakdown or stuff like that, so you're free to expect that I won't be shooting you from behind while thinking you're the Aragami."

Alisa raised a brow. "Are you thinking I might turn on you-?"

"No, no, I'm not implying anything, my dear," she quickly replied. "I just want to assure you that we're both good. We have each other's backs... Right?" From where the two of them stood, she looked over to their battleground. The large tail of the Aragami can be seen from behind a fallen building, unaware of the two God Eater's presence. "In comparison to Long Blades, Busters are much heavier, so assistance from you would really be appreciated. Most especially because we both want to finish early." Though, internally, she had prepared herself not to be surprised when her new companion suddenly breaks out of their little strategy and be stubborn, like how Soma did with the three Vajras. The memory made her sigh. "And don't die, okay?"

Alisa twirled some strands of silver hair in her index finger. "I've been through Hell and back. Things as simple as this wouldn't kill me."

"I'm glad."