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<02/10/1972 – 14:00 | Lennith City, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>
"Haya!" Jane threw her arms in a flying upward arc, aiming her daggers at edge to slice open the empty air in front of her. Struggling to keep her balance and coordination correct at the time, she finished her move with a slight kick off the ground, twirling her body a full rotation. Upon landing the spin, Jane had let loose a magical attack through the ends of her daggers, causing them to glow blue for less than a millisecond before magical spheres shot from each dagger tip. The spheres were incredibly quick projectiles, the quickest spell Jane has ever used before any other ability.
She had been training here all day long, shoes first in the thin grass of Claudia's backyard while Danny and Taylor used their breaks to watch her. Jane nearly mastered her new skill, which technically isn't even a real ability according to the spell book. Claudia wanted Jane to improve on her charge attack, making her learn to combine more abilities into a simple blitz of quick-use abilities with the effects of the Dualcasting skill built in. Technically, Dualcasting isn't needed to quickly spam abilities one after the other; it only speeds up the invocation time of magical spells. Therefore, if you combine physical or non-magical attacks in combinations with magical skills, the effects are much more efficient than using Dualcasting, which is why Claudia considered that a severely outdated ability. Jane was expending much of her stamina, barely recovering long enough to keep it together, but she worked so hard today that it was unbelievable to the untrained eye. This was the final moments of training. Jane was simply showing off and refining all of the skills she learned and picked up from Claudia.
It has been twelve days since Jane set the action in motion to train harder, which means she had been training in particular for ten days. The first was rough, as her capped MP capacity due to real time damage was holding her back. In all of that time, Jane's health and MP stats on the energy scope were still not full to 100% just yet, but they were close; health was up to a maximum of 90% while her magical capacity was up to a maximum of 88%. It was showing lower right now because of Jane's intense training, and Claudia wasn't allowed to attack her for the same reasons.
Jane has constantly been in and out of the medical facility, draining her credits while getting additional treatments of the Starlov Boosters designed to completely heal real time damage. On the side, Danny and Taylor were able to raise a little money by battling others. It wasn't much, for most of their time was also consumed by Claudia's intense training. Jane did not actually know yet what her friends have learned as far as battling skills were concerned, but she figured it wasn't useless. Claudia is an excellent instructor, possibly compatible with an elite student. At the same time, it wouldn't be possible for Danny and Taylor to know all about what Jane had been learning. Since Jane was only allowed to be outside the facility for six hours at most, she was always on a timer each day.
One moment in particular she was waiting for has already transpired this morning, the discharge papers. Jane finally received a clean bill of health by doctor Ashly, allowing Jane the freedom to travel anywhere in the world except for Alpha Zero. The investigation never really caught hold of any illegal activities conducted in Lennith academy, which Jane found rather lucky, and the guards by each gate out of town were gone as well, other than the north one.
Tonight is the night. Technically, it is only two in the afternoon with the sun hung high, but for Jane it was already a long day of practice. She was indeed ready to leave Lennith today, hopefully to make it to Eldora before the next light fades.
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Chapter Theme Shift: Rolling Stone Gathers Dirt ~ Radioactive Sandwitch
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Jane stood still, other than her entire body bobbing to her intense breaths of exhaustion and fatigue. She slowly put her daggers away, holding them back into the pockets of her new battle suit. It was a Lennith training edition, the same suit she carried and damaged in the dark zone. Claudia was happy to give her one more for the road since her last one was trashed.
"That's a rap for now Jane." Claudia could tell that Jane was wiped after that. It seemed a little unusual to watch her stamina deplete so quickly, but maybe Jane did in fact use a lot of MP during the training session. It was time to let her recover for now. "Everyone take five!" she called out.
Jane didn't protest. Holding her knees for a few moments, Jane decided to sit down in the grass, giving herself the break she needed, and it quickly reminded Jane how lucky she was to be allowed one. Back in the dark zone, it was keep marching or die. The symbol in her hand was doing a lot for her, but eventually she had to accept that her hard work was still being put into her training. Learning abilities quickly isn't the same as learning them easily. Jane has acquired so many new skills over the past week, and her friends only knew just a couple of them from watching her train firsthand. Learning them was incredibly difficult for Jane, requiring total unparalleled focus. While Jane collected her breath, she studied the new spells in her mind one by one.
Mako Strike: After Jane analyzed the reasons for her Mako Beam attack dealing minimal damage, she found a way with Claudia's knowledge to discover a new method utilizing the same energy. The power level had increased to six, while the MP consumption remained unchanged. Though Danny and Taylor would argue that it is only a knockoff attack of Magical Blitz. Even so, Jane's Mako Strike deals the same amount of damage for such a small magical price.
Voltage: Nobody around Jane has knowledge yet of this particular ability. After realizing that she could easily invoke the powerful spell without additional training, it became clear that second opinions were not needed. Even with a power level unknown to Jane, it was obvious that the ability which is supposed to imitate a lightning bolt attack was much more powerful in this form. The only difference? Red electricity!
Ozcom's Razor: A new skill Jane had learned from Claudia, a spell that creates a gigantic blade in the shape of a sword high in the air. It's a powerful phased blade with very high damage dealing potential in the form of non-elemental magical slashing damage. Jane already mastered the skill today, but couldn't wait to try it out on some of the enemies on Route 787. Like many other new skills, Jane had not shown them off yet to Danny or Taylor, in hopes to surprise them during those future battles.
Volley: A rather simple ability with a low power level of four, considering the slightly higher MP usage. Dealing only piercing damage in an unstylistic last resort formation, the skill is mostly for use during moments of severe inaccuracy.
Spirit Arrow: Jane has never known before what effects spirit elemental magical damage can do to people. Even to this day, she didn't really have a clear idea from experiencing the result, but according to Claudia, spirit elemental magic was only meant to be lethal to creatures capable of magic which are not human, creatures such as summons or dark magical entities. On use of ordinary people however, the damage will be minimal with the tradeoff of potentially disorienting the opponent. That's all Jane could understand from that mess too. How does it disorient anyone? It could be anybody's guess. After learning the skill itself, it was relatively simple, much like Taylor's Bow Charge skill. All she does is create the bow and arrow with the type of magic infused in that arrow-tip. In this case, the magical element is spiritual damage, something known as ethereal auric energy.
Splice: Another powerful skill that took much time for Jane to learn. Leaning on a power level of eight and a very high MP energy consumption, Splice creates a new level of physics, allowing the slice of a bladed weapon to travel through the air while picking up tons of Leray energy. With its drilling effects, it can produce a pain high enough to remind Jane of the horrible hits she took from those turrets in the dark zone that used an action called Laser Swipe. After Jane invoked the spell and accidentally hit Claudia, it was obvious that Laser Swipe and Splice are about one and the same for the pain levels, but Splice was also designed for single-handed weapons. Because Jane uses two daggers, she can use the same energy amount for two flying drilling magical slashes instead of just one, doubling the damage.
Prism: One of the most powerful and successful abilities derived from sixty refinements of your usual elemental bolt attack. Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, and Thunderbolt are all weak on their own. Prism combines them all while keeping them separate, unleashing a hell barrage of multi-elemental attacks against the target with an overall power level of nine. Although the MP consumption is averaged at 40%, the visual effects of the glyphring used are unique and beautiful.
Blaze Storm: A power-level-nine ability that basically steals the attack type of most light screen based spells such as Mega-Flare or Ultima, and uses pure thermal energy instead of a light screen. Blaze Storm razes the entire field and air with an ultra-high temperature, burning heat around at about 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately for Jane, she nearly suffered another accident by trying to make it work under a dome shield. One of the problems with Blaze Storm is that it can affect the user of the spell too, if not trained enough to block out the effects on that user.
Blitz: The very namesake of the skill Jane had performed last, side stepping with a Mako Strike to end the sequence. Blitz is difficult to perform or induce, since in involves a built-in Dualcasting mechanism while combining Charge Attack with other particular skills. Blitz is not technically an attack skill, and thus it does not have a designated skill used each time. It's a free-form attack sequence, one that forces the user into making multiple decisions and judgments in the blink of an eye with the assistance of a support aura. It's essentially Charge Attack combined with Dualcasting, thus a more intense version of Charge Attack. It also makes use of an aura that is highly unique in that it splits initial energy from the start of the aura from that of normal capacity, and gives that capacity split back to the aura, limiting the user on how much magic they can use at a time. The details are similar, but confusing to the less knowledgeable.
Deep Strike: After watching an amazing performance from Claudia that nearly took all of the energy she had in one go, Jane was begging to learn the ability with only one success. It can be a confusing spell, one that involves the use of a special glyphring with a very unique attack pattern. Combining powerful explosions together with multiple Shadow Waves all in the same sequence, it's a costly skill that is also quite lethal to the opponent.
Energy Cycle: A non-official skill that Claudia had thought of regarding Jane's important energy levels created a great idea for a new aura ability. What was more amazing was that the skill was made from scratch, something formed out of thin air instead of being refined from any other ability. Because of Claudia's ingenuity, it would go down in the history books for an amazing new skill that can be used by others as well. Jane wasn't the only one capable of learning in this case. By utilizing a special aura, invoking Energy Cycle can temporarily regenerate the user's MP levels more quickly, which normally occurs very slowly. At the same time, the user's aura automatically converts some of the damage taken on them into instant MP energy, making the regeneration process all the more important. On the downside, you can't attack in that mode, less you break the aura and end the sequence early. When you do end the sequence, there is a small delay between that moment, and the time you are allowed to recalibrate your magical circuits. So it can't just be used on and off for the advantage.
Lunar Rain: Nobody taught Jane the skill, perhaps acquired by one of the scariest and craziest dreams of them all. Jane could feel it happening even now. The amazing effect, pull, and beaming light of the full moon tonight. The spell creates a burst of energy rays so powerful that it literally rains down segments of light, segments of lunar energy. Jane could feel the lights splashing down on her skin, on her face. The feeling is indescribable, absolutely incredible! At the same time, none of it was physical. Jane managed to think out in her head how it would be possible to invoke a skill that would simulate such an environment. But even if she could, what would it do for her?
With her thoughts on the full moon again, Jane was clearly distracted like many weeks before. She could not remember at what point her obsession with the moon began, though it wasn't bothersome enough to resist its enticement into her usual trance.
"Well? What do ya think?" Taylor stood hovering above Jane, but her question was directed to Jane's teacher. Even she seemed a little wiped from the hard work she did over the days.
"A lot of improvement as I expected," Claudia confirmed.
Danny folded his arms next to Taylor, and made the same conclusion from what Jane told him long before. "So her crest really does speed up her learning process?"
"And it conserves her MP energy in the process of practicing Leray skills, which is one of the reasons she can learn so quickly."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"I'm ready!" she announced. Jane saw all three heads turn towards her from her peripheral vision, and elaborated on her excitement while jumping up to her feet in a stance. "I'm ready to challenge the League of Elites."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Jane—"
Cutting Claudia off, Jane was quick to affirm her excuses with the evident recovery of herself. "I'm already fully healed with a clean bill of health, and I'll have Danny and Taylor to help guide me should anything bad happen. I trust you've been training them well?"
She could already tell that talking Jane out of leaving today would be a difficult task. "Of course I have, but you still have yet to learn the entire potential of the next list of spells I've picked out. I can't technically teach most of them, but I do understand how they work."
Jane held out her hand, offering to accept the piece of paper Claudia has been concealing from her. "I'll learn that list on the road then. I won't technically need that extra set of spells until the final fights."
"What you need is to relax," her teacher argued. Claudia still handed Jane the folded paper of skills and their general descriptions written down inside, but she didn't let Jane forget about the important rules of battling. "Not all battles are won by a strategic selection of spells or skill levels. You also have to stay sharp and focus, but also stay relaxed while enjoying the fight."
"Claudia's right," Taylor agreed while placing a hand on Jane's worried shoulder. "No need to stress out about it. You love battling for the fun of it, remember?"
Jane did not forgot those days, and she wanted to accept that somewhere deep down, those emotions were still hiding inside of her. She could only feel excited right now about testing out her new skills in a real battle, but it would be a waste of time to hold a test run in Lennith. Better she take that to the road as well. "I didn't forget," Jane replied. "But we are on a time table before it will be too dangerous near Lennith City. I don't want to wait that long, so I'll take it slow so long as I can depart today. I'll be getting ready to head out on the road. We leave in an hour."
Jane had so much technical Leray things on her mind right now that she felt best being alone. She had lots to think about still left unresolved. Was bringing Danny and Taylor along really a good idea? What happens after defeating the champion? Will he listen to the reason she has been protecting for so long?
As Danny and Taylor watched Jane eagerly leave to prepare herself for the open road, they realized that they needed to do the same for themselves. "We'll catch up soon," Danny waved.
"Sure! See ya!" That girl still lacks patience. When will Jane learn that she doesn't need to always be so damn serious? Claudia looked around the back yard of her house, realizing that all of the training left a few scars behind in the dirt of the property. She would have to tend to her lawn and make it beautiful all over again. Jane would find herself lucky that she for one enjoys gardening every once in a while.
"This is it?" Taylor shouldn't have asked the obvious question. Though she was currently expecting a bridge of some sort. Route 787 begins just a few paces further, but it appeared to look no more than another gravel road. At least this one had premium fences on each side to prevent people from getting lost on their way. Jane brought Taylor and Danny to the route shortly after packing their supply spheres with enough food and water to last for weeks.
"Route 787," Jane identified. The road wasn't going to look like a bridge until they get ready to cross part of the ocean. Jane knew of the layout to this part of the land, but only by studying a primitive map. She had never been to Junon before after all, but she still felt as though Danny and Taylor would find the trip to be five times as exciting as she was expecting it to be. Jane however did not have her mood down in the dumps, for she has much to consider before preparing herself for leave today.
Being back on the road reminded Jane about two particular opponents she faced on Route 96, people who were nowhere near in the wrong to challenge others. The correct way to ask for a battle isn't to force it upon those just to strike out their license cards, but instead to face each other one on one and to have unwavering fun. Teresha and Clayton; two acquaintances of each other on route 96 who work together while rivaling each other's skill levels. Jane had to face them both, after being convinced by Teresha that she needed to show off her amazing skills. Even with the thought on her head, having the symbol wasn't bothering her as much as before. Perhaps it was because she knew she was using the symbol for good, and because it was going to be a great requirement to survive Alpha Zero a second time. At the very least, she was inspiring other people to do better and try harder to become Leray masters. It wouldn't be fun becoming one without strong competition. Then there is Belzer, who was the Gradyent on Route 96. Though he was quite rude in the beginning of a conversation, Jane didn't forget that battle either, one of the most heated and intense battles of all time. That much was expected, considering only Elite fighters can become Gradyents for specific routes. Jane had her head in the clouds about this for far too long, forgetting how fun and important it is to keep developing new skills and training despite being marked. Belzer and the dark zone were perfect reminders of that on opposite sides of the coin. Now Jane could use this chance to show Danny and Taylor just how awesome Leray magic can be once its potential is maximized.
"I can hardly believe we're doing this." Danny didn't mean to express any concern, but the tone in his voice threw out the conception as such. Taylor and Jane both began looking at him as a reply, forcing him to clarify what he meant. "Before Tilsit, I would have thought that Jane would be leading us to more places and more classes on her journey to become a Leray master. But I don't think I saw this one coming."
Taylor held Danny's relaxed arm, attempting to try and comfort his potential worry. "It's better this way."
Danny paid more attention to Taylor, and the fact that she was holding his arm. Why not put a hand on his shoulder? Or why not hold his hand instead? Wait a second! Taylor doesn't think that I'm afraid, right?
She continued from what Danny tried to express earlier. "I don't think Jane has any more surprise secrets. And at least now we know exactly what she is doing."
That's not what I meant! Danny wanted to correct Taylor's misconception desperately, but now didn't feel like the proper time. They were going to be closing in on Junon's airport any day now. With Jane, everything will be a smooth ride, but what happens once we reach Eldora?
"I trust you've accumulated a lot more credits than I hoped?"
Taylor let go of Danny's arm, realizing that it was more awkward than comforting. Now she was faced with the reminder of how crazy Jane can get with her expectations. How much money was she expecting for them to raise? Danny and Taylor both had to pay money just to get to Lennith City with regards to food and water, and that also included the days spent in Lennith's hotel for a place to live in the meantime. Taylor however remembered the exact amount she still had on her card, which has not changed since yesterday's battle. Clearing her throat first, she replied, "Forty-five hundred."
Danny watched as Jane turned to face him, using that alone as her satisfied acknowledgement to figure out the rest. "Uh, thirty-three hundred I think." Danny remembered losing the last battle against someone slightly younger than himself. He hadn't told Taylor or Jane about it. It would only bring out pointless ridicule, but at least he was improving nonetheless.
Jane tallied up the numbers in her head. "All together that means we have..." 5100 plus 4500 is like... and carry over with the 3300... Jane shared her answer's total aloud, "Twelve thousand nine hundred."
"Wait, what is all of that for?" Danny requested.
Jane didn't answer him directly, since he was already told once the reason for accumulating more money. "It's still short a whole lot," Jane exhaled. Danny and Taylor were going to need incredible armor protection for the dark zone should they be needed there. Jane was relatively safe with her elastic mercenary suit. It's the same black and blue design requisitioned for the Lennith training academy, though the suit offers incredible mobility and freedom to move about, making it her absolute favorite material in battle situations. For Jane, agility was a great bonus, since her best defense is actually a shield that utilizes her own magical capacity. With the thought of actual battling on her mind again, Jane quickly became eager to embark on the road already. "We can use the battles on the road to increase the amount we have. Don't go losing too many battles now."
"Hey, relax Jane." Taylor sounded so calm and excited at the same time that Jane quickly became confused with her emotions. But Taylor was quick to try and calm Jane down as well. "You're taking this trip too seriously."
"Trip?" Jane repeated? Does Taylor understand how important this trip is? We're not on a freaking festive vacation here!
"I'm new to Sprawn Valley, remember? I want to see this bridge up close. I bet it looks awesome from all sides! And I'll get to be standing over the Hollifax Ocean! Plus, there will be plenty of battles on the way there. This will be the best field trip I've ever had!"
Jane opened her mouth, but didn't know how to respond to Taylor's excitement. How could she be seeing this as a field trip? Leray fights can be dangerous... Then again, that's only a rule that applies to the dark zone and dark magic users, something Route 787 is not about in any form.
"With us, this'll be a blast."
Taylor's confidence forced Jane to smile. She began imagining how the trip will go all over again. Only this time, Taylor and Danny would be there for support and company. Without having to suffer the fate of being alone anymore, Jane failed to see exactly how this plan could be a bad thing. For the first time since leaving Gulop, Jane felt happy again. There was more than one feeling than what Jane could explain to herself, but this continued to feel like a good idea moreover. Having Danny and Taylor back has to be one of the best things that has happened to her in weeks!
"Glad to see that you waited!" Claudia called out from a distance, walking towards Jane's group while holding on to a set of handle bars.
It took but a second to make out what was going on with Claudia as she and Alyssa were both walking up towards them. Claudia was pushing a bicycle with her using the handles, and Alyssa was doing the same with two separate bicycles too. The surprise already sank in deep. Where did they get the bikes from?
Alyssa waited before getting closer in order to avoid raising her voice. "Look what we decided to get you."
Taylor winced, "You did not!" She immediately took hold of one of the bikes Alyssa was holding, feeling just how real and legitimate this thing was. She had forgotten up until now that bikes are an incredible source of transportation here in Sprawn Valley, since there are no cars and very few horses. Bikes however are not a cheap commodity.
"Alyssa?" Jane couldn't believe this. Free bikes! "But why? This had to have cost a fortune!"
Claudia wanted to give Jane the short version of what she considered to be great news. "Our staff at Lennith academy got paid a high bonus this year, so we were able to give these to you. It's for the road in front of you. Don't forget that it is like eleven or twelve miles long, which is slightly longer than Route 96 is."
"But these will get you to Eldora before night fall," Alyssa added.
"Th— thank you!" Jane was nearly at a loss for words, but after considering what Claudia just said, she found her focus on some other concern. "Claudi? What do you mean you got paid a bonus? That doesn't sound all good."
Claudia blinked for a long time, confirming for Jane that something was up after all. "I guess nothing escapes your sharp nose. It seems you were right about the evacuation all along. It won't happen overnight, but within a two month period, the General Army wants to temporarily shut down Lennith City's facilities and evacuate the population."
"What?" "Seriously?" Danny and Taylor cross spoke at the same time. After hearing the madness of Jane's incredible accusations about how a group she was never part of reacting according to her predictions, it was as if everything Jane planned for was justified in every way. Taylor and Danny were ready to back Jane up anyway, but it was amazing to see how easily the army would just decide to do nothing about a large threat.
Jane turned towards her friends again after passively accepting the bikes into their possession. "They would sacrifice this prosperous and expensive city just to buy themselves extra time to do what could technically be done today. I refused to believe it at first, but the commander doesn't know what he is doing. That is the real purpose of fighting the champion. All I really hope to do is to talk sense into the man, or take over myself if I cannot reason with him."
"Well I believe in you Jane." Alyssa found it partially amusing that she could hate Jane one day, only to learn from her the next "I can't believe that all of our hopes of making our home survive this is set through one person."
Jane nodded and corrected her newest friend. "It's three people Alyssa. I couldn't do this alone if I wanted to. Which brings me to ask what the hell is going on with the facilities."
Claudia expanded on the origin of her earlier announcement. "They are indeed shutting down the Lennith academy as well. Only places like the hotel and a few shops will be open until the end. We've got exactly two months before Alpha Zero is on this place like a wildfire, according to the estimations of the growth rate."
"Wrong again," Jane dreadfully denied. "I think the growth rate is accelerating with the power in Alpha Zero, which would give us about one month if we're lucky enough."
"How can you possibly know that?" Claudia folded her arms, waiting to judge Jane's excuse for a rather illogical assumption.
"If you hear reports of monsters in the dark zone becoming more powerful, which I doubt you will due to the lack of recent scouting, then my thesis on the acceleration is correct. I think the Alpha Zero is growing in magical potential, which means the growth rate will too, eventually. It's exponential now, not linear."
Alyssa and the others looked at Jane with much confusion. It was a mystery to how Jane could suddenly understand so much about the dark zone just from walking into the place, but Claudia seemed to understand what she meant immediately.
"I understand. If you're not back in two weeks, I'll have to figure out some way of evacuating the town early. Just don't do anything that mentions Lennith Academy. What I don't need right now is another investigation."
"Regarding what?" Jane demanded.
"I'm not entirely certain." Claudia wasn't able to pinpoint exactly what was going on, but Commissioner Adon hasn't left the city yet. Instead, he's brought in a lot more Leray detectives and agents. "They've got our academy in their scopes though. Some think that our facility might have something to do with the dark zone, and there are rumors flying around that our crystal shards kept inside of the vault have become a possible target by a group of unknown criminals."
"You can see why she wants me to stay here."
Jane noticed just now how smug Alyssa sounded. Alyssa must feel really important right now if she was willing to stay behind and help Claudia out, but perhaps that reason was well founded. Alyssa has a thing for learning about other people before going to talk to them. Jane personally found that annoying, but at least the investigation against her was over with. "Just don't let them find out anything that could get you two into trouble."
"Oh we won't," Claudia promised. "It's only three after noon right now, but you best be on your way should you expect to make it to Eldora before nightfall."
Jane examined the bikes again, noticing how well-built they are. Bulky in size and in weight, these are official mountain bikes designed for off road travel too! Hopefully Danny and Taylor knew how to ride them. Jane barely remembered how to do this herself as a kid, before her own device was destroyed in a small magical fire, but it can't be too hard. Was this already the time to leave?
Alyssa needed to warn them real quick about the lack of storage compatibility. "The bikes are too big of objects to fit inside of supply spheres, so take good care of them."
So that's what they meant by storage limits. Danny couldn't possibly understand how the device works even to this day, but accepted the information nonetheless. "Will do," Danny passed.
Jane turned around briefly, holding onto the handles of her bicycle in preparation to ride out of here. "We'll be back. And when you see me again, I'll bring a ton of support troops with me, as well as a plan of action."
Claudia waved at Jane, unable to say anything back from how surprising those words sounded. It was almost hilariously ridiculous sounding from a girl as young as Jane. Then again, she wasn't joking about this at all. Jane is acting like a responsible adult suited above her own age. That is a gift Claudia will take from the end of her career. Even with her hopes on Jane, she couldn't see much of a way from escaping the fate of the schools shutting down in the area.
"Bye!" Alyssa hollered.
"See you later!" Taylor hopped onto the seat of the bike, placing her feet on the petals while trying to get her body comfortable with the position and size of the device. She too had trouble just balancing on the mobile structure, more so than Jane did. Danny simply decided to drag the bike until going in further. They were already doing what Jane planned to earlier, riding down Route 787, said to be full of powerful and smart Leray fighters.
Alyssa saw them off, but realized that Claudia was still standing there, waiting for something. She came to realize that Claudia was just trying to think about what to do next. "What do we do now?" At the very least, she tried to guess whether Claudia's thoughts were on the same level as her own.
Claudia exhaled a sigh of stress, holding it all in to think about reorganizing her home to become ready for the worst. Alyssa wanted to know specifically what to do right now, but the answer is already obvious and simple. "Damage control."