No one knew more about the Ecclesia than Sariah Knight.
Having been brought into the Ecclesia at a young age and raised by members of the clergy, she spent her entire life immersed in the church’s culture. She’d helped out in each branch when she was little, and became an expert in several of them as she grew older, particularly B3 (the military branch), E5 (the church operations branch), S8 (the education branch), and, of course, the secretive G13 (special operations branch).
The other members of G13 were nowhere near as knowledgeable on the topic, but that was to be expected, somewhat. One of the tenets of member selection was to gather people from a variety of backgrounds, and to not overrepresent any one group’s interests, including the Ecclesia’s.
Sariah was chosen by the Ecclesia for her devotion and expertise, King Garn represented his nation of Aeon, Lady Raschell was a noblewoman of Libertas, Bianca came from Jura, and the rookie Lance was from the Vash Republic, although he was more directly recruited from the Ecclesian Knights of B3.
Because of this, Sariah always took the reins whenever a mission involved Ecclesian matters, whether directly or not. While the church was not especially connected to this sudden appearance of the ULTRA Knight, her knowledge of world history, especially in relation to the ULTRA Knight, as documented by the church, was incredibly useful to the group.
“Hurrah!” King Garn exclaimed as Sariah and Lance returned to the G13 room. “Welcome back, Miss Sariah, Mister Lance! How fared the investigation?”
Sariah moved to her usual spot at the table. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Lance sliding into his own seat across from Lady Raschell, who appeared to be on the very last portion of her book, her eyes blitzing across the pages like a racecar. “It went well, Your Majesty.”
“Tremendous! What did you learn?”
Bianca let out a burp to announce her presence. “So is the ULTRA Knight back or what? I’ve got fifty bucks on this.”
“I won’t be able to tell without seeing him first hand,” Sariah said, ignoring the dramatic groan from the computer expert. “But, from what we’ve gathered, I don’t think it’s him.”
“Astonishing! What leads you to believe that?”
Lance took his eyes off of Lady Raschell and moved them towards Sariah. He, too, was surprised at her conclusion. Though he’d accompanied her on the investigation, he didn’t really know what he was doing at the time, but based on the questions Sariah had asked Mary, as well as their trip to the nearby cavern, he had been operating on the assumption that it was the ULTRA Knight that had been spotted in Humilde.
“This knight seems to be very, very similar,” Sariah answered, mentally going over all of the information she had been given. “He fits the ULTRA Knight’s height, and his armor glows the same color. The fact that he showed up in Humilde, which isn’t far away from the cave the ULTRA Knight originally came from, is a clear connection, as well.”
“Whoa, whoa, hang on a sec there, Mom,” said Bianca, swiveling her chair around to face the group properly. “Mom” was the nickname she had assigned to Sariah due largely to her age and how often she acted as the leader of the group. It was a bit of a silly nickname, though, because as far as she knew, Sariah didn’t have any children, and Lady Raschell did. “What’s this about a cave?”
In a strange turn of events, Lance cleared his throat and suddenly stepped in to answer. “There’s a, uh, cave outside of Humilde. When the ULTRA Knight first appeared, he emerged from a fissure inside that cave.”
If Lance had bothered to check Sariah’s face for her reaction, he would have seen her raise an eyebrow at him, but of course, all he really cared for was the opinion of Lady Raschell. His eyes darted over to her as his heart beat faster.
Unfortunately for him, the noblewoman was still completely absorbed in her book.
Sighing, Sariah then said, “That is correct, rookie. You’ve been…a great help to the investigation.”
“Good job, Lance,” said Lady Raschell without removing her gaze from her novel. That was fine; it still made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.
“Th-thank you, Lady Raschell!”
Bianca still wasn’t finished with her questions, however. “How do you know what hole he crawled outta? I thought you said the church didn’t have any documentation on him cuz he’s older than it or whatever.”
Lance, of course, did not have the answer to this question, so he passed the metaphorical ball back over to Sariah. “While there are no first-hand records of any of the ULTRA Knight’s activity, the church did have highly reliable sources during the early years of its establishment. We were able to write up a likely history of what happened, and we determined that cave to be the ULTRA Knight’s point of origin.”
“….Sounds like bullshit to me, but I guess we’re just supposed to take the church’s word for it, huh?”
“Egad!” King Garn blurted out. “Please, Miss Bianca, be a bit more tactful!”
“It’s fine,” Sariah said flatly. She had learned a long time ago to not let Bianca’s prodding jabs throw her off; they were all just feints anyway.
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“Sorry, Mom,” said Bianca, leaning back in her chair.
Now it was Lance’s turn to ask for elaboration. “But, wait….You said the knight Mary saw looked just like the ULTRA Knight, and he appeared in the same area the original one came from, but….you don’t think it’s the same guy?”
Lady Raschell’s fingers flipped to the very last page of the book. “Good question, Lance.”
“Ah, thank you, Lady Raschell!”
“Again, I’m gonna need more information before I decide,” Sariah responded. “But Mary mentioned that she had heard him speak, remember?”
“Yeah, she did,” said Lance. “He said ‘U-Knight’….or something like that.”
That, strangely, was enough to pry Lady Raschell away from her novel. Her eyes blinked in surprise as they connected with Lance’s for a brief moment before the latter’s scurried away. “What was that, Lance?”
“Uh, the, uh….the lady in Humilde said she heard the guy yell out ‘U-Knight!’ when he showed up.”
The noblewoman’s elven face shifted into a delighted smile. “Oh, is that his catch phrase? How charming!”
“Pffffft! Ahahahaha!” I’m sure I don’t have to tell you who that reaction belonged to. “What?! That’s so dumb!”
“Oh, hush, Bianca!” came the Lady’s response as she returned to her regularly-scheduled reading. “I think it is lovely.”
The King seemed delighted by that revelation as well. “Breathtaking! Do you suppose it is a shorthand of ‘Ultra-Knight’, Miss Sariah?”
“Probably,” said Sariah. “Given how many other similarities he has to the original, that makes the most sense.”
“So what’s the problem?” Lance asked. “Why don’t you think it’s him?”
“The original ULTRA Knight didn’t speak out loud,” answered Sariah. “Even when he swore to protect Planet ULTRA, he was communicating with the Mother Dragon in some other way. Telepathically, maybe. We’re not quite sure how it worked.”
Sariah knew that wasn’t a particularly convincing argument, and when she scanned all of the other faces in the room, that fact was further reinforced. It came as no surprise when Bianca then began her rebuttal.
“Lemme get this straight: this new knight looks exactly the same as the original, came from the same ditch, uses a stupid catchphrase that explicitly means ‘ULTRA Knight’, but you don’t think it’s him because he talks, and the church told you the original only communicates with psychic powers?” She reached for a can of soda, crackling the lid open with a kwishhhh! “Yeeeaaaah, sorry Mother Dogma. I’m not buying what you’re selling.”
“That’s fine. I get that it’s a weak point of contention.” Sariah said. “And like I said before, I’m not ready to make a final conclusion until I see him in person.”
She stood up from her seat, and began to head for the door (wall). “I’ll continue investigating tomorrow morning. Good night.”
“Indubitably! Good night, Miss Sariah! Meeting adjourned, everyone! Have a wonderful night!”
* * * *
ULTRA KNIGHT
* * * *
All five members gathered in the G13 room early the next morning. Normally, that would be incredibly unheard-of for Bianca, as she was always late whenever the meetings were held in the morning, often waltzing into the room half-an-hour in munching on one of her breakfast tacos, but it just so happened that she had fallen asleep inside the room, and thus never had the opportunity to leave and be late. We’ll take whatever victories we can get.
The meeting was not very long, at all, as everyone more or less had to go their own ways soon after. The Kingdom of Leotera, the Vash Republic, and Jura had been in some sort of conflict with one another for the past few weeks, and King Garn was trying his best to alleviate the tension between the three nations. He would likely be too busy to engage in G13 activity in the coming days, which wracked the big, lovable lizard man’s conscience with guilt, but Sariah was kind enough to assure him that she could handle the investigation from here on out.
Lady Raschell was also set to return home as well, as a celebration of her husband’s fortieth birthday would soon take place, and when the baron threw a party, he went all-the-fuck-out for it.
Bianca was probably just gonna continue doing whatever it was she spent her time doing on the computer. Playing games, streaming, chatting, probably hacking and stealing as well, honestly.
That left just Sariah and Lance to continue the investigation into the strange knight’s appearance. The Ecclesian Knights had found the remains of a recent battle that the knight had likely participated in, and from there, Sariah deduced that he was heading north, and so they planned to follow him.
Sariah excused herself to make a phone call, telling Lance to catch up with her at the front of the church when he was ready to head out.
As Lance stood up from the table, he glanced over at Lady Raschell. She had a wonderfully giddy smile plastered onto her face as she ripped the plastic wrapping from the book in her hands. She even stuck her nose up against the pages and took a big ol’ snifferoo. Gunmetal Robo Vol. 13: Machine On, You Crazy Diamech! The limited edition that included concept art and a bonus chapter, even.
“You, uh….” Lance began, although he had to clear his throat partway through to activate his big boy voice. “You really like those books, huh Lady Raschell?”
The elven noblewoman appeared to blush in response. “Ah, yes….It is rather strange for someone like myself to enjoy these, I suppose….”
“Ah, no, no, I don’t think it’s weird or anything! I, uh, I think it’s cool!”
“Well thank you, Lance.” Her eyes moved down to the front cover, and seeing it elicited a smile from her. “I had heard this series was very popular with young boys, so I started buying the books to read to my son every night before bed.”
“Did he like it?”
She nodded. “Yes, he did. But once we had finished the third volume, he seemed to grow out of them, and wanted to play those computer games instead. I have not read them to him since.”
A giggle escaped from her lips. “But by then, I found myself quite engrossed in the story, so I kept reading them on my own! They’re very silly, yes, but quite fun as well! And I find the protagonist’s growth over time quite inspirational.”
“Wow, they sound pretty good,” Lance said, although, truth be told, he didn’t really care that much. “Maybe I’ll try them out.”
The rookie nearly jumped in place as Lady Raschell grabbed hold of his hand in excitement. “Oh, that would be splendid, Lance! If you would like, I would be happy to lend them to you!”
“Uh, s-s-s-sure! That’d be great!”
“My husband’s birthday celebration is next week. You are welcome to come if you and Sariah are finished with your investigation by then. If not, I could always lend it to you at the next meeting, as well!”
“Oh, uh, I’ll definitely stop by!” Lance said, his mind hardly able to process what had just happened.
Lady Raschell then excused herself, saying farewell to both Lance, as well as Bianca, whom Lance hadn’t even realized was still in the room. Though, he didn’t really care at that point. He was on cloud nine; in nirvana!
His mind played back the memory of what had just transpired….the feel of Lady Raschell’s soft, gentle hand entwining itself with his own….the shimmer of her pink eyes as she looked up at him with joy….and the invitation! Oh, how beautiful those words were as she sang them from her lips! If only he could have recorded them to play them back in exact detail!
He stumbled towards the exit with a big, stupid smile on his face, completely oblivious to the outside world. That is, until Bianca chimed in, yoink-ing him out of his blissful dreamscape.
“Homewrecker,” she muttered, before sipping at her coffee.