"I mean, if you wanted to kill me, little one, you could have just asked me to die in a ditch."
The Kraken said, actually sounding concerned as its curiosity was more than satisfied after nearly dying in the blast just now, "There is no way in hell I am swallowing it."
"Well, it looks like it's settling down." Wu said, pointing to the golden-red Rock, "Usually, it's constantly giving off beams of the Wave. But I think after that surge just now, most of its externally stored up energy should have been released."
"No means no!" The Kraken protested, "Just say something like if I die you also die or something! Come on! "
Ver chuckled and relayed the message to Wu. It is highly unusual that the Kraken who prides itself being a legendary monster is scared of anything, but that explosion that took out a good portion of the woods was enough to literally rock it to its core.
"Right then, how about this!" Wu said, pointing a finger, "We also know that the Fuel Rocks are inactive in water!"
Ver looked at Wu briefly before she nodded in agreement.
Then, for the next twenty minutes, Ver stood right on the edge of the crater with her stomach exposed and the biggest Whirlpool Red she's ever conjured forming over her skin. A massive column of water continuously poured out from it, and from a distance, it looked like Ver's graciously peeing into the crater while standing up.
The Kraken's not convinced just by Wu and Ver's words, so they decided to do an impromptu experiment of bathing the Fuel Rock Prime in water.
As Ver continued to tease the Kraken about its cowardice, Wu and Lera sat down over the trunk of a fallen tree and took a moment to tale in everything.
"Now that was crazy." Wu said, scratching his head now that the weight of his actions finally started to materialize in his head, "Fuck."
"That was the right thing to do, right?" Lera asked, her eyes also unfocused as she leaned against Wu's shoulders, "Right...? Or did I just help you in mass vandalism?"
"I mean..." Wu forced a sip of water down, feeling incredibly weird now that Ver's pumping out that much fluid, "I mean. There is no way we are taking that thing back to Sonne. Not a chance. If anything, we need to take it as far away from it as possible."
"Yeah..." Lera nodded as Ver had finally stopped peeing into the crater. Minutes later, the Kraken's finally convinced. A whirlpool purple opened at the bottom of the small lake, and the Fuel Rock Prime fell right through.
Perhaps in due time, a lake will form here, and nature will recover.
As Ver turned and walked back to them while tucking in her shirt, Wu and Lera stood up from the trunk of the fallen tree. She gave them a thumbs up, and Wu lets out an audible phew.
"So...what now?" Lera asked, "Is Sonne safe to go back just yet?"
"Nope." Ver answered sharply, "The group known as the Inverted Questions had doubled down on the reward, and the Guild released the news of the demise of the first wave of Bounty Hunters after my reports. That only drew more attention to you two, as expected."
"But those are two separate issues, correct?" Wu asked, "There is the bounty from Sonne itself, and that from the Guild?"
"Yes, and Lera's only on the Sonne one with you being on both bounties." Ver replied, poking Wu's arms with her finger, "You are twice as popular."
"Not exactly the kind of popularity I would have preferred..." Wu said, his hands holding onto the broken One-Shotter pistol, "We cannot go back before we figure out something to do with the Fuel Rock Prime either. We need to figure out a way to contain, or deactivate its power. And to do that, we need to study it."
"I agree." Lera said, nodding slowly, "So that leaves us with not a lot of options."
They would have wanted to return to the Dweller's tribe, though neither Wu nor Lera is comfortable with leaving a bomb that just rocked an entire continent in the middle of his lab, which is in the middle of the settlement.
They need somewhere with easy access to water, and somewhere as far removed from human society as possible.
"Then...let's travel north." Ver said, "Go as north as we can go, all the way until we reach the ocean."
"Easy access to water, out of the way from absolutely everything...not a bad idea." Lera agreed, and the two girls looked to Wu simultaneously, "What do you think?"
Wu's looking down on the ground initially, and his facial expressions was hidden behind the shadow on his face. However, when he looked up, he had a rather...perverted smile?
"So this is it...a beach episode..." He mumbled as the two girls blinked confusedly. Then, he threw a fist up in the air victoriously, "Let's go! All the way north!"
As Wu, Ver, and Lera departed for the next place in their adventure, the other main players that indirectly brought Wu into this world had been having a really bad day.
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When the Fuel Rock Prime exploded in her hand, Kaire's life flashed before her eyes. It all started when she first discovered her potential to become one of the strongest Channelers through her special 'Big Girl' technique which transforms her into a titan. Then, she started rising through the ranks at the Infinite Academy before graduating as an apprentice into the Sky Guardian Corp.
She was initially stingy about paying the full price for her uniform, but little did she know, that same set of overpriced, overprotective, and overly awesome uniforms will have saved her life and her retirement plans years down the road.
As the wavefront of the explosion brushed against her body, the Sky Guardian Corp uniform sprung into life and wrapped itself ridiculously tightly around Kaire's body. As she rapidly shrunk down from her Big Girl form, the uniform shielded her from the worst of the impacts as her body was slapped away by the explosion and sent flying through the air back in the direction of the camp.
Kaire had already been knocked out by the impact then, but the Wave shield over the surface of the uniform continued to surround Kaire's body until she crashlanded hard on the ground and bounced through the fences of the Inner Earth's mining site and the gates of the mini-reservoir.
As ironic as it is, the flood gate was opened by Kaire's defeat, and the rush of pooled up river water returned life back into the lakes and the forest downstream even as the explosion destroyed a major percentage of the Endless Woods itself. A poetic justice from nature, perhaps.
Kaire's body was scooped up by the surging river water and she floated along downstream until her feet clipped against a set of rocks down in the mud by the lake.
It was another little while later before she became conscious of her surroundings again. A wild buck was licking her face, and she opened her eyes to see its adorable big eyes and ears looking down at her.
Her body was bathed in mud, and her Sky Guardian Corp's uniform was completely destroyed in the process of the explosion. However, the expensive Wave Shield Cast did its job in saving her life. Despite being alive, she had bruises all over her body, and her right ankle is swollen like an apple. Every breathe she took in is painful, and the left side of her ribs were also collapsed inwards.
"Shit man." She lied back and let the buck lick her face again, feeling at least some love from the wildlife that she didn't destroy, "I swear...I will kill all of you if this fucks with my plan..."
Wu had put her through a hell of a bender. First, he made her think that he's actually Yan, the Lostless Monster, then he stole the Fuel Rock Prime and her retirement plans from within her grasp. Is he going to steal her virginity next?!
Swallowing her frustration, Kaire pressed herself up and snapped her right ankle into place, the painful screams scaring the buck away and sending ripples through the lake. Then, she placed her finger around her left rib and forced it back where it should be, all the while reminding herself the ones responsible for her pain.
Eventually, she made her way back to the Inner Earth's main camp. Getting into her spare Sky Guardian Corp's uniform, she dismissed the rest of the miners as they returned from their partying, claiming that their day off had just turned into an extended holiday with the expenses coming out from her own paycheck.
With her management responsibilities overhauled, she rode into the city of Sonne along with the miners and headed straight for the Guild of the Bounty Hunters.
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The skirmishes and diplomatic tensions with the Ethereal Realm and the Kingdom of Talonia had been resolved at last, the culprits executed, and the Twin Generals of the Kingdom of Varous returned. With the Inverted Questions locking down the major outgoing communications from the Palace, the two of them returned without a hint of the turmoil that Sonne went through weeks ago.
Then, as their chariot crossed into the Sonne city bounds through the gates, dozens of ambushers appeared from the townhouses and unleashed a flurry of Wave-based attacks towards them. The chariot was blown up immediately, and as the two bodies of the Twin generals dropped down to the ground, squads of attackers then swarmed them and started beating into the figures when suddenly, the soldiers realized that they were merely beating into a set of puppets.
The group of attackers immediately halted their movements, confused by the scenes before all of them sensed two massive distortions in the local flow of Wave as a pair of figures strolled casually towards them in the streets. The two figures are both dressed in suits of shiny golden armor with the symbol of Varous over their chest.
The one walking on the right is a male, and he had golden-brown skin with long red hair tied in a ponytail. His eyes are large and bright, and his nose tall. He's currently absolutely devouring a sweet bun from the bakery while holding onto a handful of bags on the other hand. His presence in the Wave was noticeable as strength and dominance overflowed from his body.
The one walking on the left is a female which shared the exact same color of hair and similar facial features. Her nails are glowing white, and she slightly raised her hand as the puppets sprung to life and knocked back the group of attackers around them. Then, she clawed her fingers backward, drawing the puppets towards her before they all dissipated into thin air. Over her right eye, a dark stick man pattern pulsates with her every heartbeat.
"I honestly can't believe this, big brother. You are actually right this time." She said with a light smile on her face, "You need to close your mouth when you chew though."
"Who cares?!" He shot back and swallowed the rest of the bun, "Who are these people?!"
"I was wondering why the Palace had been non-responsible recently." The female continued, gesturing her fingers forward as if starting a dance in a ballroom, "Announce yourselves! Who do you work for?"
"KILL THEM! Kill the Twin Generals, and you will be rewarded heavily!" The leaders of the attackers commanded when suddenly, lines of Wave were attached to his arms, legs, and the trunk, and his head was suddenly turned all the way around as his neck snapped cleanly, his eyes looking hauntingly lifeless instantly. Then, as his accomplices watched on in horror, the leader channeled his own casts and laid waste to his own man.
"Sis...you need to chill out." As the slaughtering of the dark hooded attackers begun, the male simply continued walking while the female orchestrated the killing, "You are not you when you are hungry. Have a sweet bun."
"I...might take you up on your offers this time." She replied, "Save a Taro-paste flavored one for me."
"Only a weirdo likes taro paste..." The male rolled his eyes and stepped over a fallen body.
The hooded attackers were cut down mercilessly as the female switched from controlling the body of one hooded figure to the next. Then, as the rest scrambled and ran for their lives, the Sonne Security Forces finally emerged from behind the alleyways and executed the attackers on the spot before assembling towards the two and kneeling with one knee on the ground.
"The Great Twin Generals!" The commander said, his voice shaking in fear, "Please help our king! He's been taken hostage by a group known as the Inverted Questions weeks ago!"
"And you all let it happen?" The male asked, a bit of sesame paste lingering at the corner of his lips. His gaze was sharp, and the rage from within was apparent. The commander dropped into a further dogeza and slammed his forehead into the ground.
"I am sorry for my uselessness! Please save our king!"
"You may stand, commander." The female squatted down and helped the commander up with a smile, "We will deal with your failure later. Now, reclaim this city for me."
The stick man over her right eye glowed once, and a jolt of uncontrollable urge filled the commander's body. He rose up and saluted before leading the Sonne Security Forces to chase down the remnants of the Inverted Questions all throughout the city.
"Let's go." The big brother said, putting the rest of the sweet buns into his pocket and stretching his arms. Then, the female jumped and latched onto the body of her brother before he launched himself off the ground like a rocket and flew towards the palace located at the top of the hill in the middle of Sonne.
These Inverted Questions goons shall pay for their transgressions with blood!