Chapter 19 - Base of operations, preparations

(first released on scribblehub by author Nanayamichan.

20th June 2021.)

(evolution part 2/2)

---Earlier the same day, from Yuna’s perspective.---

Nana teleported away with Emin. 

"I guess let's go Kiwi!" I said and smiled at her and got on the cart with Emilia. 

"Daeron, you not getting on?" I said to Daeron, he seemed to look at where Nana had been standing. 

"oh right, just. Had a bad feeling, is all. Coming." he said as he shook his head with his palm placed on his forehead. He walked over and sat down on the cart. 

"You can go now Kiwi" I said as I smiled and stroked it.. ..her.. Side.. It's still Kiwi..I shook my head. bit confusing having her as an object. 

"Think Nana will be okay?" Daeron said while gazing at the cargo. I looked at him.

"Yeah, don't worry, it's Nana." I said as I put my hand on his knee and smiled. 

"She always makes it! And he's just gonna teach her something right?" I said using an as happy voice as I could.

"Yeah, maybe I worry too much. But.. Yeah." Daeron said. He sighed and scratched his beard anxiously. 

Emilia seemed calm and collected though as we traveled. 

We flew forward towards the base fast, above ground level to get there quicker. 

Passing by travelers above their heads. Not really paying attention to the people at this moment. But something caught my eye. 

"Wait, is that a fairy?" I said and pointed. 

A small green, pink creature, not bigger than a cookie jar, flew past us, then noticed us and disappeared in sparkles. Like a smoke bomb but, like.. Sparkling magic dust? I guess probably some sort of magic. 

"Yea.. I believe it was.." Daeron said surprised, looking just as surprised as he sounded. 

"haven't seen many in my life to be honest, think that's the second one." He said, blinking and rubbed his eyes. Like he sort of didn’t believe what he had seen. Yeah it ain't a common sight. 

"Nana saw one yesterday too apparently, Herod reported yesterday evening. It just flew up to them then away." I said, a bit curious, stroking my chin softly. .

"hum.. Better report this too then, just to see if it happens again. Or, in case.. You never know." he said. I nodded in agreement. 

Fairies weren't evil creatures, but I'm not sure they're purely good just because of that. But I don't know..

Reportings of sightings throughout the town have come in at least once weekly since the founding of the city though. But the odds of the same group of people seeing one two days in a row are minimal. And I guess we’re a bit paranoid now with all the crazy cult action that just escalated. It is an even rarer sight outside of this country apparently. 

We closed in on the gate to the peacekeeper base. I waved at Stuart, he waved back and yelled 

"Morning Yuna and Daeron! Not got Nana with you?" cupping his hand by his mouth. I’m not sure that actually helps without magic. But what do I know. I could enchant a pair of gloves to enhance voice volume if they touch the vibration that is your voice… I took out a notepad and wrote it down. He shook his head at me diving into my notepad, which I of course missed as I had my head in my notepad. 

"She's off being trained in some magical thing by Emin at the academy, she'll be with us when she's done." I said with a happy voice as I scribbled down the idea. 

"Alright! Who's this then?" he gestured at Emilia. 

Gary was looking down on us, taking a picture as I quickly had gazed up. But I averted my gaze as soon as I saw he tried to take a picture. No need to capture my face, I'm sure he's just recording everyone entering and it's pretty obvious it's me anyway. 

"Ah, this is the girl we, I mean Nana and Herod saved yesterday in the cultist place!" Daeron said and pointed at her. I forgot to answer as I tried to avoid Gary's picture taking. 

"right right, I forgot, this is Emilia, Emilia this is Stuart!" I introduced them and Emilia waved and smiled at Stuart who smiled back and nodded. 

Stuart then waved at Gary, who opened the gate for us. And I had written the glove-idea down in my notepad of course. 

"I hope everything's good with you both, all I mean, they're preparing inside, we got a whole force being briefed who's been training.. Or preparing, all Morning." he looked inside as he explained, as if curious about what they did currently. 

"Head over to storage though and unload the stuff, everyone knows you and you got your badges I assume." Stuart said, then looked at us again, gesturing us to go ahead while smiling. Such a happy guy. 

We entered. And yes, there were at least 20 soldiers from the peacekeepers outside still training. Quite a sight, so many different races working together, training. There were about 9 different races at least as I took a quick look.

It was one of the elite troops of the peacekeepers. They were like a military squad that mostly trained for combat. I guess they brought in two elite troops for cleaning out that sanctum. We gotta locate it first though I suppose.. We got to the storage. Daeron jumped off and opened it. Kiwi soared in and put down the crates by just phasing through them and leaving them standing then morphing back to her usual self, back to wolf size and form. 

"good job Kiwi" I said, petting her while I hugged her. 

Daeron wandered outside, back and forth, slowly. Mumbling something. I got up and went out too, Kiwi followed me. A soldier came wandering, pointing at us. 

“Hey you, are you.. Oh, sorry, I didn't see the vests from the side. My bad!” she chuckled awkwardly.

“No worries, better safe right? Here’s our identifications.” I showed my badge and nudged Daeron in his side. “Right..” He showed his. Mine had the Logo, then Lead Researcher below it. Daeron had the P.K logo and then Head Alchemist written below it.
“Ah, fuck, my bad, sir, mam.” The soldier bowed. “I’m Ozu Swichamera of the Swira people, a soldier in squad 2. I got patrol duty for the next hour.” she kept bowing down.. “Stand up, it’s chill! Relax.” I said, poked her and smiled. She stood up and seemed to relax a bit.

-The Swira-

Ozu was a Swira. They looked humanoid in shape and all, but had crablooking shells covering their bodies. Except in places that would hinder movement like joints and such. That is the variant Ozu was. There's at least 3 other variants though but I'm not all that familiar with them. 

I don’t see them often, as their homeland is quite far away, not many make the journey, or survive for that matter. 

Though, the variant Ozu was is tough. Their shell is hard as steel and can be regrown rather quickly if detached. I read about them, it is apparently individual how fast it takes to regrow them. From what I've read it takes on average an hour or so. I'd always wanted to see one rip a piece off and throw, they're apparently commonly used as throwing weapons. 

Now I saw, her face was all red colored, very good looking. She looked like a beautiful human girl in shape. Her face looked human but with red skin. Also a few scales on the cheeks but. It looked cute in my opinion. Like a lizard’s scales more than a crab, tiny red squares with white borders at the edges. But maybe that’s how a crab looks? I haven’t seen one in ages now that I think about it. She had shoulder length red hair, it was very lusterless though, but it sort of fit her. On her arms the same looking scale thing stuck out above the wrists, but not that small pieces. It was 3 big pieces on each arm that I immediately thought would be perfect for a shield. Is this her own scale or did she build a shield worn as bracers? 

Ozu is 177cm tall, 60,5cm waist, 79cm chest below the boobs and 100cm chest with the boobs. About 94.6cm ass.

“Well, I'll be on my way if it wasn’t anything else you needed, mam?” She smiled a bit nervously. She carried a sword that looked quite well taken care of, but it wasn’t our ordinary swords. It was sort of slightly arched and long with a very thin edge, hanging on her side. Looked as if a similar blade was on her back. 

“What kinda blade are you carrying? Just curious. Don’t normally see those around here.” I smiled as I tried to see more of it. She drew her sword. “Oh, this is a Katana. My people make them and have been doing them for thousands of years. Well, they say at least.” She let out a giggle as she handed it over. It felt really good to hold, just lighter and more smooth in a way than our clumsier swords. And it looked good. 

“Huh, really good looking blade!” I played around, swinging it a bit then handed it back. “Damn, I’d want one of those! Never liked blades at all. But this one is just, prettier and smooth to hold. Take good care of it!” Her face brightened up with a wide smile as I handed it back. 

“Ah, thanks, this is actually my own, I made it. Your praise is flattering, mam!.” She curtsied and blushed up. I think… Her cheeks were turning a bit pink. So she turns a bit pink when she blushes? Huh. She sheathed her blade. 

“Well, damn, you’re one skilled crafter then!” I gave her a wink. She looked away, blushing up more. 

“Well, t-thanks. I gotta keep patrolling now or my.. officer will get mad..” She replied.

“It was nice meeting you two, Sir, Mam.” She bowed to each of us as she addressed us. Then hurried on away. I think its because her whole face was slowly turning pink… Damn, must be annoying if everyone can tell that easy when you’re flattered, turned on or well, blushing.. I smiled to myself a bit as I watched her hurry away.

Damnit, I missed my opportunity to ask about the scale. Ah well. I looked around. Wait, where is.. 

Emilia walked out of the storage as I looked around. 

"Ah, there you are! Follow us." I said and smiled. She smiled back and nodded. 

"Sorry, I guess I nodded off a bit as we traveled in." Emilia said and blushed, looking a bit embarrassed. 

"ah, don't sweat it." I replied quick and touched her with my fist lightly. 

The base was on full alert.

Not often we run into a crazy cult that uses darkness magic of course. I had been doing defensive armor versus darkness magic power all day yesterday, not sure how effective it is, first time I do it but hopefully it’s gonna be enough together with the poison resistance and all the potions Daeron made.
I stood and looked out on the base while thinking through those things, petting Kiwi on her head.

"Well, let's go over to the mission room." Daeron said. 

We started moving from the storage building, when we got to the front of the main buildings south side, where the mission room and research and development rooms are, we ran into Herod. He waved.

"Hey, Yuna, Daeron!" he yelled.

"Hey Herod" I said. Daeron just waved. Herod walked over and stopped beside us.

“Where you got Nana” he asked, a bit confused, then nodded at Emilia as he saw her. "oh and hope you're alright miss!" Emilia nodded at his question which made him smile. Then he looked back at me. 

“we’re getting ready to go out, Lilith asked for her” he said as he scratched his head.
“Well, Emin, her old teacher, showed up out of nowhere. He had something important to teach her he claimed” I said and put my hand on my back a bit anxiously. 

“So she went with him to the academy.” I said quietly.
“Oh no, c’mon, can't she report in before doing something like that” he exclaimed nervously. 

“Now lilith will yell at me for this” he said as he sat down and leaned towards the wall, looking a bit frightened.

“well, you know Nana, she’ll be back, don’t worry” Daeron said as he walked past us and into the mission room. 

"Oh, Emilia, head over to the dining hall there" I pointed at the entrance, it was next to the melee training dummies in the left corner of the yard. A big door in the wall it looked like. It had a sign though. She nodded, curtsied at Herod then walked off towards it. People had seen me point her there so no one bothered her.
I squatted and patted Herod on his head. 

“Yeah, don’t worry, I'll follow you back inside” I said and smiled. 

“Will you, talk to Lilith for me?” he asked.. 

I stared at him for a few seconds, let out a giggle for another few seconds before saying 

“Hell no!” with a big smile. 

I stood up and held out my hand. 

“But I can hold your hand while you do it” I said and giggled some more.

“Okay, better than nothing.” he said, sighed and got up a bit reluctant. He held my hand as we walked towards the mission room together.

She was a tiny but powerful woman, Lilith. 

Even big strong brutes like Herod are afraid of getting scolded by her. Well, he wasn't the biggest brute I guess but still, size-wise he was bigger than Lilith but for sure nowhere near her in strength. Can’t help but giggle at the image in my mind. She’s always nice towards me though, but I do what I'm told and don’t have much deadlines or set times to get in as long as I deliver something new now and then.

We opened the door, and were faced with a team of 18 soldiers standing, sitting, leaning and wandering around the room looking like they were waiting for something a bit annoyed and restless. And Lilith, who dropped down from the roof before us frightening the hell out of us both.
“Well?!” Lilith yelled. she walked up to us. I had yelled like a little girl as she'd dropped down and yelled. Herod too. 

“This is YUNA! not NANA!” she exclaimed. 

“They’re not that hard to tell apart, the only thing they got in common is being women, Herod!” she yelled. 

He cowered, yelling “Sorry, but Nana isn’t here”
I just stood stunned by the show at this point. Then everyone started laughing, Lilith patted him on his back 

“Chill Herod, i’m just messing with you” she said and smiled. 

“But seriously, where’s Nana then?” she asked and looked at me as she had begun to pet the slightly scarred Herod to calm him down.

“Well, she went with Emin, her old teacher. He had some important new skill to teach her, he said.. Then they just teleported off to the Academy I think” I said a bit stuttery as I nervously played with my hands. Even when she was calm she just emitted power. 

She was wearing an armored skirt and a bodyarmor today. Not sure she had anything underneath the body armor, but she was a catwoman so I guess fur makes it not so itchy or scratchy. Never worn one myself. Her black fur matched with the gray and light blue peacekeeper armor quite well.
Lilith sighed. got up. 

“Emin Jarlberg?” she said a bit annoyed.

“I think so.. I’ve never heard his family name, he always told us to call him Emin in school.. He taught me in enchanting, the guy you told me about when I started school!” As I answered I kept nervously playing with my hands. 

Lilith grabbed my hands. 

“Easy. Lets go to the academy, I don’t trust that rabbit... “ she said. 

“Oh, you got Kiwi with you?” she looked at kiwi wagging her tail beside me, let go of my hands and kneeled down and petted her.
“Can you take me on Kiwi perhaps?” she said and looked at me.
“Umh, I dont… I don’t know..” I stuttered. she kept gazing at me. 

“Well, we can try, but, I’ve never, told her what to do before but.. it might..” I stuttered out.

She kept gazing at me. I sighed deeply. 

“Okay, let's try,” I said. 

“Good!” Lilith yelled and patted me on my butt. 

“The rest of you, get what potions you need, ask Daeron here if you need anything specialised to optimize yourself for today, that’s why we got him here.” she yelled out. 

“We’ll be back as soon as possible.” everyone responded by yelling 

“Yes mam!” and saluting. 

Daeron sat ready by an alchemy table they’d set up apparently, already making something. Hadn’t noticed until now.
“Now, let's go then and try this” Lilith said as she stood up. I stared at her a bit. 

“well, go on then, you’re standing in the doorway” she said and sighed, scratching her head a bit as she waited.. 

“Right!” I exclaimed.

We walked outside. Kiwi looked a bit, on edge, like something was wrong. 

“Kiwi, what is it?” I bowed down and petted her. 

She looked, well, off. Nervous. 

“Can you grow and take me and Lilith to Nana please?” I asked gently. Kiwi shrank, ran under me, then grew to the size of a horse so I ended up on her back, I got a bit surprised so I let out a small wail, she then looked at Lilith. 

“Righto! Thanks Kiwi!” Lilith yelled, as she understood Kiwi’s gaze. 

She jumped up behind me with ease. 

“Let’s get-” as I was about to say going, Kiwi took off, flying over the wall. 

As we got over the wall heading towards the west, straight for the academy, something shot up through the dome covering the arena part of the academy, making it explode outwards as something ripped right through it, then it healed back up again. It looked like a firework going of when it shot through the barrier.

Kiwi stopped and looked up in the sky.
“What in the world..” Lilith exclaimed. 

“Was that?”.. I said and gazed into the sky a few seconds. 

“That’s where Nana’s supposed to be!” I yelled. 

“Well, hurry Kiwi, to the arena!” Lilith yelled.
Kiwi took off at an insane pace. it was kinda hard to hold on but Lilith held me in place, again showing no sign it was tough at all to either sit up on her back at this pace or to hold me in place while sitting up like nothing as Kiwi ran off, or flew, like a bolt of lightning.
“Don’t worry, I got you Yuna," she said calmly and follow up with yelling, 

"Keep going Kiwi!”