- News article by Del Limension, 2045
Waking up was a kind of weird feeling. It wasn’t as if I was feeling restless, although I wouldn’t say I was well rested either. Mostly it felt weird because of my mental state. That was at least the closest description I could come up with.
Something had happened, I knew that. But I didn’t know what. I had this foreboding feeling, but I couldn’t place where it came from. Worst of all, though, I couldn’t remember falling asleep. In general, my memory seemed a bit hazy.
“You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, weren’t you?"
The voice was that of a woman, probably not much older than me, and one I could’ve sworn I’ve never heard before, yet somehow felt familiar. Turning, and blinking the remnants of tears out of my eyes, I found the owner of the voice sitting next to me.
From the lighting and everything I was pretty sure we were in the shelter, which was good. That meant that we’d been able to defend it. The issue was that I couldn’t remember how things had gone.
Before I was able to contemplate much more, the woman spoke up again. It made me realise that I hadn’t really fully internalised what she’d asked me earlier, and truth be told, I also wasn’t really sure what to reply to that.
“You went a bit berserk back there. What’s the last thing you can remember?”
I blinked, confused. “Berserk?” It didn’t really make much sense to me. “All I remember is going out there to defend the shelter. I think?”
With a sigh, I shook my head. “Hold on…” Everything felt a bit overwhelming. Especially this woman. She was a human, but she was also more than that. Obviously a Samurai of some variety, with fox ears placed on her head, surrounded by white hair. In a way she looked familiar, although for the life of me I couldn’t place it.
Not that I could place much at the moment anyway.
“Are the others safe? I can’t remember much, but I know something was about to go bad.”
All of the soldiers that have gone out with you are fine. Nobody got injured, apart from yourself.
“I got injured?” With a bit of horror I looked down at myself. I couldn’t find any injuries, but I did find some damage on my clothes.
“Don’t worry, I gave you a nano-regen. Also, this is not an endorsement to be reckless and hurt yourself again, but the injuries didn’t require a full dose of nanites, so there’s some left that will fix up whatever the next wound you have is."
“Thanks…” That was about all that I managed in reply. The idea was horrifying. Especially because I couldn’t remember anything. “You mentioned something about me having been a bit berserk? I don’t really understand what you mean by that.”
It appears that the situation you were in has triggered a Combat Stress Reaction of some variety. Your mental faculties were greatly influenced, if not entirely hindered. It left you nearly entirely unresponsive to outside stimuli. Without the help of Vanguard Foxfire the chance of your survival was less than half a percent.
That was even more horrible news. I had nearly died? Worse, I had gone completely off the rails! Did I hurt anyone?! Did I kill anyone?!
I was halfway down the road to hyperventilating, when the name Stryx had just dropped clicked with me.
“Wait, what?” I wasn’t entirely sure where I’d heard it, but I knew that she was one of the oldest Samurai still around. If I recalled correctly, anyway. “Foxfire?”
Suddenly her presence next to me made me feel rather small. Like, really small. Honestly, it almost made me feel bad to have inconvenienced her.
Her ears shifted to the side as she gave me a kind smile.
“That’s me. How are you holding up?” Her voice became more soft and soothing.
“I feel horrible, but at least I’m myself again. I hope I didn’t injure anyone?” I couldn’t quite suppress the note of horror in my voice at the thought.
“You didn’t. You were pretty reckless, but only against the aliens. The shelter was in a bad spot when you left, with nearly no ammunition remaining, but I’ve got that covered for now. Is today your first day fighting?”
I sighed in relief at the news, then nodded. “Yeah… My sister and I have just become Samurai. She… had a difficult past and knows how to fight, but I don’t. At all. And after that experience… I’m not sure if I want to either.”
Foxfire nodded in understanding. “Many are that way. Thrust into danger with no real idea on how to actually fight. And you’re not the only one to have a mental breakdown either. It’s rare, typically, but not unheard of. Many die that way, so consider yourself lucky. That said… I don’t think you should throw in the towel, just because of one bad experience. Lord knows we need every Vanguard we can get.” She smiled again. “Nobody is born perfect. But with some training and some better gear, I’d say you have a pretty promising career on your hands. While your style is nothing new, the way you implement it, from the little I’ve seen on the CCTV footage, is rather unique. And it can be damn useful.”
I blushed a bit at that, not entirely sure how to take that. It did feel good, though, I had to admit.
A sudden thought had me panicking for a moment. “Stryx, did you tell Yurei about what happened?”
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If she did, Yurei was likely to come running within moments. She was overprotective that way.
Not yet, for the precise reason you are thinking about. As she is currently engaged in combat activities, I decided it was for the best to wait with that until a moment where she is not occupied.
I nodded, with a sigh of relief. Yurei would’ve turned the world upside down if she heard.
Pushing the thought aside, and taking a moment to take stock of my condition, I turned my attention back to Foxfire. “So, uh… Any idea what to do now? We still have that convoy to deal with… And Yurei still has to find that woman’s husband. I don’t think I can deal with the convoy alone. You wouldn’t per chance be interested in helping with that?”
It felt weird to ask someone who’s been around this long for help, but I also didn’t want to let people die either. And I wasn’t exactly in the best state right then and there.
“I can help, yes, make sure that nothing goes utterly wrong, but, kid, you need training. I’m not going to do your job for you. What happens if tomorrow the same thing as today goes down, and you didn’t take care to prepare? You can’t always rely on other people to do your job. I don’t know about your sister, but you, at least, should be more than capable of dealing with this entire thing, if you sit down and think about it for a moment.”
There was a sternness to her voice that made me gulp. Not unfriendly, but the tone made it clear that she meant business. And I wasn’t about to argue with her either.
“Fair, I guess… Yurei’ll be fine. She’s… handled far, far worse before. I’m more worried that I’ll disappoint everyone… Earlier could’ve gone a lot worse, and that would be unforgivable.”
“Yes, but you can’t think that way. There’s always what-ifs and worse situations, and you should definitely do your best to try and avoid them. But so far, you don’t have time travel, so there’s no way to go back and do things differently. Learn from your mistakes, and strive to be better in the future. If you keep thinking about everything you did wrong all the time, you’ll get nowhere. Have some confidence in yourself.”
“Wait,” something in her reply had caught my attention, “There’s time travel?”
Foxfire burst out laughing. “Stick around long enough, and you might just find out, kid.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at that, before I finally tried to calm down and focus again. “Okay… What should I do from here? I guess, prepare for the time Yurei gets back, so we can help the convoy?”
It would likely be of more benefit if you make your way over to Yurei. With Vanguard Foxfire present, this shelter will be safe until such time in which the evacuation personnel can make their way here. The other shelter, however, is still in need of assistance.
“What your AI said. I already told the nice folks from the PMC to make their way over to the other shelter instead.”
“You can hear Stryx?” That one was new. Typically only the Samurai that the AI works with can hear them.
For ease of communication, and to ensure that all pertinent information outside of private matters can be exchanged easily and in a timely manner, I decided that it would be productive if I relay both sides of the conversation to Vanguard Foxfire. Apologies for making an executive decision, without consulting with you first.
“No, no, it’s alright. Just a bit surprised, that’s all. Anyway, what is the situation at the other shelter?”
I dearly hoped it wasn’t as messy as this. In all likelihood not, considering that Yurei was far more competent than I could ever be, but that didn’t stop me from worrying either. Unless something went seriously wrong, they should be all fine.
As of right now, the shelter is still secure. Yurei Neylan is fighting off a rather sizable force of adversaries, but so far she still has everything well in hand. There is one item, however, that might be worrisome in the long term. With the potential risk that I am relaying something I should not, I believe that Yurei would not mind and that you should know. For her sake.
That made me worried. What could potentially be so dangerous that Stryx would feel it necessary to potentially go against Yurei’s wishes to tell me? Dozens of thoughts shot through my mind, none of which good.
“Oh?” The single exclamation held both worry and a small hint of perhaps naive hope.
Yurei has deemed it necessary to obtain a pair of proper Kusarigama.
Oh… Yeah, that was definitely worrisome. Both because of short term dangers, since those weren’t weapons she’d just get for fun, and also the long term repercussions. Yurei had a long history with Kusarigama, and I wasn’t quite sure how this would pan out.
On the flip side, and because I didn’t want to think about negatives, this entire situation had already been far more negative than I ever wished for, it also meant that she felt comfortable enough to pick them up again.
“Alright… Keep me informed. For now, I think it’d be best if I focus on my own situation right now. My new armor is in a pretty bad state, and I think I want something that’d stop me from going off the deep end in the future. Just as an oh-shit-button for the future.”
The thought that I might lose it again, and this time perhaps attack my allies had me rather terrified.
“If you like, I do have something for emergencies. Nothing major, but it should keep you from getting killed.”
I perked up at that, giving her a glance full of admiration, surprise, and disbelief. “Really?”
She smiled, “Relax. It’s nothing world changing, just a small little gadget that would get you out of harm's way. Not repeatedly, mind you, the thing does need quite a bit of energy, but it is technically rechargeable.”
“What exactly is it?” I couldn’t believe someone like Foxfire, one of the oldest Samurai in Europe, would be willing to get me something! I was not a Samurai fangirl in the same way Leah was, but I’d be batshit insane to turn it down!
“Just a small little gizmo that’d teleport you to safety. As I said, it’s technically rechargeable, but it’ll need a long while to recharge. You can purchase replacement batteries, but those would be Class IV, so it will likely take a while for you to get them. If you do at all, really.”
That had my eyes nearly popping out of my sockets. “Class IV?! And you’d just give that to me? I can’t accept that! It’d be worth more than the house I live in! Ten times over!”
She laughed, “I told you, kid, relax. It’s just a small little thing that I still have laying around. I don’t need it, and I would feel a lot better knowing that you can get out of danger in emergencies. Not to mention that it sounds like your sister would try to kill me if I don’t. And while I’m not worried about her chances of success, I don’t really want to deal with such an annoyance.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Taking a moment, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Don’t hyperventilate, just accept the gift the nice, utterly amazing lady is offering you.
“Okay… Okay. If you truly mean that, I cannot thank you enough.”
She gave me another smile, before a portal opened next to her, and she pulled out a small little necklace-like thing. If I wouldn’t know just how insanely potent of an item it was, I would’ve thought it to be little more than a small piece of jewelry.
I took it, gingerly. This thing was worth more than everything in the possession of my entire family. And that was including all the Samurai gear Yurei and I had purchased so far!
“Truly, thank you.”
“No worries, kid. Now, I gotta make sure everything goes smoothly. If you need me, just call me, otherwise, I’d suggest you talk to your AI about stuff that might be useful.”
I nodded, and before I could say anything else, she vanished. I didn’t question it, accepting that she was far, far more advanced than I could even dream of, and turned my attention back to my AI.
“Okay, Stryx. Anything of interest available?”
Zuri, who are you talking to at the moment?
That had me giggle. “Fair enough. Lay it on me. And make it good. And fancy looking!”
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