Lala walked into the offices of the Monster Counter Commission, it was her 2nd day here! She knew she would have to start missing school but that didn’t bother her too much as she had other things on her mind, but when she walked in she was quickly greeted by the person at the desk. The woman at the desk looked bored at Lala as she nonchalantly said, “Identification please.” Lala showed her the ID and was quietly let past into the deep parts of the facility, where the actual work would begin.
As Lala exited the elevator that led to the underground part of HQ the area was completely different. High tech white walls extended everywhere with doors that opened automatically. As Lala walked through she was greeted by a taller adult woman who looked down on her, nodding her head as she sized up Lala. The woman was tall and wore a suit top, with short black hair and blue eyes. A black skirt and matching black boots she seemed serious about everything. “So you’re the new member right?” The woman asked with an authoritative tone. Lala could only quietly nod her head as she was motioned to follow.
As they walked the adult woman began to speak again, “I’m Allegra, a squad leader.” She said as she walked to a door, looking at it as it opened for her and Lala, “I’m also your squad leader now come in.” She said seriously as Lala went inside and looked to see who else was in there. The room seemed simple enough, some chairs and a board with a PC in place for research purposes. Inside there sat 2 other girls. The first was a girl with spiky red hair, a black headband on her head. Her shirt only had 1 sleeve with fingerless gloves on both her hands, she had tall black socks entering thigh high red boots, she gave Lala a glance and smiled with a friendly wave. The second girl sat arrogantly in a seat with her legs crossed, she had long purple hair with 2 bows in her hair one above the other, with the top one being striped with dark and light blue with the lower being a solid blue bow. She wore a choker with a golden cross on it and a dark purple shirt tucked into a gray skirt, long black tights underneath going into Mary Jane style shoes, she looked up at Lala and didn’t pay her any mind as she looked back down to her phone tapping something nonchalantly and uncaringly. Allegra backed out and left while saying to the others, “I have one thing to attend to you both get to know the new member.” She said as she departed back down the hall.
The fiery red girl was the first to speak, greeting Lala with a “Yo!” Her voice was full of energy and she spoke loudly and with confidence. “Hey there, name’s Eileen so you’re the new recruit huh?” She said with a friendly smile on her face. As Eileen finished her introduction the other girl got up and walked to the center of the room, she cleared her throat as Lala focused her attention there next.The purple haired girl looked at Lala and began to speak a tone of superiority and arrogance strong in her voice, “I’m Crystal, a member of the Abbot family,” was all she said as she sat back down.
“Umm I’m Lala!” Lala said with a twinge of nervousness that these girls were to be her team, she didn’t see how their clashing personalities would work well but she figured she had no choice. “I’m a new recruit I just joined a couple days ago…” she said as the small winged figure appeared in front of her again, “I can use an Eidolon of Light, it’s called Valkyrie.” she said as her small eidolon swung its lance. Eileen was the first to chime in and talk some more, “Wow an Eidolon of Light? That’s pretty cool.” she said as she waved her arm and a small figure appeared as well, burning with a fiery head and 2 mighty gauntlets it looked just as energetic as its user, “I got an Eidolon of Flame, ya can call it Eruptia.” She said as the eidolon swung its fist with Crystal seeming still unamused but with a sigh she waved her own hand dismissively, “Only an idiot would reveal their abilities to someone they just met.” As Lala shot her an annoyed scowl.
Allegra, the leader would walk in and take charge again, her booming voice making all the girls quiet.. “There’s no time for that, we have a mission don’t we?” She said crossing her arms, Lala wondered what it would be. She had hoped it would be related to the missing persons case especially since she was nervous at Cain’s involvement. Her eyes widened as a girl similar in age to her, Crystal and Eileen walked out. She was a nun, with short blue hair and round glasses on her face she didn’t say a word and stayed somewhat behind Allegra. “This is Leah, we’ve been given orders to watch over her.” Allegra said matter of factly.
Leah began to talk with a very soft voice, shaky as well. “I’m sorry… I don’t have my own eidolon.” she said. Lala looked over to Allegra tilting her head, “Is there a reason she’s under our protection?” She decided to ask, however Allegra responded with a loud sigh, “Don’t ask questions kid. You’re still a rookie you don’t ask for reasons you do what you’re told, got it?” She said as Lala shook a little and quickly nodded her head quickly realizing her place.
Crystal chimed in next, “So all we’re doing is watching her? Then why not just keep her at base?” Crystal said as Allegra seemed to respond to Crystal with much less aggression. “We don’t want to just keep her locked up do we? She’s not a criminal so we’re basically just watching over her, she’s gonna stay with us.” Lala didn’t understand fully this mission seemed odd to her but she had no choice but to simply smile and nod. Allegra got up and put a cigarette in her mouth, “That’s all for today Eileen, you keep the nun with you for today you’re all dismissed for now.” She said as she walked out of the room, Eileen smiled and welcomed Leah to come sit next to her. “So you’re gonna hop from house to house between the 4 of us huh? That sounds rough.” Leah quietly nodded her head, “That’s right I’m sorry for the trouble.” Crystal laughed hearing Leah’s apology, “Haha don’t sweat it, that annoying chief of ours probably forced this on you right?” Lala was intrigued by this as she asked. “What do you mean the chief forced it on her?” She asked.
Crystal leaned back in her seat and for once responded without sounding obnoxious, “You see our chief isn’t like other squad leaders. She tends to act on her own emotions way more than any others so she probably was told to keep her under protection but instead of storing her she wants her to live a normal life.” She said with a small smile, Leah would slowly nod her head. “I said it’d be easier for me to stay here but Ms. Allegra thought otherwise, she said kids should live their lives freely before they grow up.” Eileen would put a hand on Lala’s shoulder and laugh, “The chief’s pretty strict and she can be really mean but she has a good heart under it all. Don’t let her bad attitude mess with your perception, she's good at what she does.” Lala felt a little more comfortable, but quickly shook her head and remembered something. “Sorry girls, something's bugging me. I want to look into it a little more.” Lala said, Crystal tilted her head in confusion. “What kinda thing?” She asked. “There’s a lot of people going missing… I want to look into it.” Crystal would sigh annoyed and shake her hand dismissively again, “Do what you want missing people reports don’t lead to anything usually. Tricky monsters are smarter than that y’know.”
Lala’s heart sank a little but she nodded as she stepped out of the room, “I see well I’ll keep looking then haha.” She walked to the library of the commission and got on a PC, she didn’t want to try this with the others they’d probably comment too much. As she looked down the data she noted something, “So it’s not just people disappearing? Traces of shadow energy left with different signatures indicate monsters could be being taken too?” She said as she looked over the latest reports. Lala spent a few hours looking over data trying to find a connection when she noticed the time, “Ah it’s getting late!” She said getting up and stretching, “I should start heading home!”
Lala began her long walk home from the headquarters, yawning as it was past dark. “Geez I really spent all day in there I thought I’d at least make it to the last class of the day… Cain walked home on his own huh…” She mumbled to herself as she walked through the dark streets of the small town she lived in. As she walked a mysterious figure lurked in the shadows, Lala at first didn’t think anything until she heard it. A small snapping sound, she looked around and saw nothing. As she continued her walk now more on guard she was stopped as she looked behind her, now instead of a figure there laid a disembodied arm. Lala gasped in horror and stepped back and when she did she bumped into someone, as she slowly turned around the figure revealed itself. A human shape with flesh melting, one eye in place, the other was just an empty void and their skin was lifeless and gray. They spoke in a cold deep voice, as they finally opened their mouth, “You’ve looked far enough into this. Little Girl.” It spoke in a slow and twisted voice, distorted.
Lala quickly jumped back as Valkyrie appeared next to her, “A zombie? Talking and acting on its own?!” She said with surprise, as the zombie stepped forward, “Master has bestowed upon me great power, you will die here.” It said raising an arm, Lala stayed focused watching it. Suddenly with a shadowy swipe the area in front of the zombie was slashed, Lala tried to roll out of the way but was still hit as her side was gashed. “What?!” Lala said in shock, “Zombies are only supposed to be able to regenerate aren’t they…” She thought to herself as she stood up, “Who is this master of yours?” Lala asked, standing up holding her side. The Zombie simply laughed a sinister laugh before responding, “Why would I say, the dead don’t need to learn anything.”
Lala grit her teeth as she put her hand over her Eidolon. “Integrate.” As she spoke this word a light surrounded the two, the zombie seemed unphased by the transformation. From the light, Lala stepped holding a lance of light and a shield in her other hand. Her eyes glowed a radiant light as she stared the zombie down, the zombie now seemed more concerned. “A light eidolon… the natural counter.” It said as it turned, Lala wouldn’t let it get away with an incredible dash with the power of light she cut through the zombie as it fell to pieces.
“So we underestimated the newcomer… I need to relay this news to my master.” the voice said, as Lala looked around she noticed that amongst the zombie pieces the head was nowhere to be found furiously looking to find the pieces all glowed a shadowy purple before sinking into the floor. “It retreated… it could survive an Eidolon attack as a zombie… that master who is it… what is it…” Lala said as she looked down at the now empty floor.
“How could it know I was looking into them…” Lala also pondered; she looked down again at her wounded side as Valkyrie exited her body and dissipated in a small ball of light, it seemed the mysteries of these disappearances were more strange than she had thought before.
