Ryuu woke up on a tree.
Now, how Ryuu even got up on it would remain a mystery left unsolved, but it was clear that his presence on it was quite... forced. The otaku had his jacket's collar hanging dangerously on a thick branch.
What happened last night?
The plasma swordsman shook his head groggily, being unable to recall anything that happened in the previous night. He needed some serious jolt of energy to remember that crap, though he never did have the ability to remember things quickly and accurately. For some reason, however, he could tell that something very, very threatening to his pride occurred.
Ryuu grumbled as he punched the branch, breaking it to set himself free. He landed on his feet, looking over at the reason of why he was on an island in the first place.
Athalia Academy had itself blown up and, through the obvious excuse for taking a vacation, the students were sent to the island for training... and supposed "fun." Ryuu did not recall having that much fun in the island. In fact, there was mostly dissatisfaction from his stay with Athalia itself. He got his a-s kicked by two raging demons (yes, he can still remember that), lost that one unusually epic race, took an arrow to the knee, and nosebled like sh-t. Totally not worth it.
But...
At the same time, he had his first kiss taken from a pretty girl, got the chance to carry an elegant woman like a man(?), and was offered the choice of either farming melons or watching them grow abundantly in large amounts. Okay, so there was some satisfaction in his stay with Athalia, but he still had his justified reasons for hating it as well.
Then there was Maria Cross, the master of trolling. He can already see her laughing at his sorry a-s as he underwent through all of his tragedies. Oh, how he could not wait to show who was the boss around here...
...
...Not like I'm gonna be "boss" any sooner, Ryuu thought with a sigh. I guess I'll just go train.
The otaku walked out of the edge of the forest he had been hanging onto, heading toward the more populated areas of the island. As he walked, he heard a certain elegant charm come out of the trumpet that played throughout the island.
...I forgot who played trumpets. Did I get ane-esia?
And yes, Ryuu did not know how to say amnesia. He did say it like a gangster, though, further supporting everyone's view on him as a punk that took on the Yakuza itself.
Due to his sleepiness, the otaku looked like a deranged dragon that abruptly woke up from a deep slumber. His eyes felt heavy, his head leaned over, and his hands were in his pockets. Not exactly a good way to start out the day, but he still had the ability to kick some a-s if he needed to. The sunglasses-wearing student actually took the time to walk all the way to the training grounds, finding himself skipping brunch like the delinquent he was.
He dozed off in front of the entrance before he took one of the freestyle training grounds, meditating to reflect upon what he learned so far in his stay at the island.
Rebooting initial settings... Scanning main protocols...
...
...Readjusting initial settings.
A pair of orange eyes slowly opened.
Margaret Clementine found her body lying still in a cryochamber. After attending the very strange meeting Athalia held, she went straight back to her cryochamber for further analysis and upgrades. She felt no different so far, but still, she did not want to start being greedy with the kindness of the man who saved her from death. Margaret wondered if she was just being a burden to Nikola and everyone else, however.
The (reddish) orange-haired girl slowly lifted her body up. It felt noticeably lighter. Sitting on a stool beside her cryochamber was none other than Nikola Lovelock, who was playing Battleship with his own mechanical arm, E.A.R. He defeated the smart machine without losing once, which frequently caused the arm to give its owner a funny little smack. Nikola immediately stopped playing with his own invention when he saw Margaret stir into reality.
"Margaret," he said, his mechanical echos behind his voice dehumanizing his own identity. "Good, it seems that you are now able to wake up on your own, now. It took me three weeks- THREE weeks to get that stupid info chip to work."
Margaret's vision had not changed: she could only see extremely vague outlines of her surroundings. Red and blue were the only colors she could see.
She froze when she saw Nikola, however.
She saw a man with an iron mask, glows of yellow shining out of its eye holes. Some sort of arm stuck out of his shoulder plate, which constantly moved around Margaret as if to check her condition. Most notably, she could see his entire body. Outlines made his framework look incredibly messy, but she finally saw so many different colors at once. Most of the colors were dull, which made it a lot easier to take in the man's appearance.
"I have initiated a new program that can let you see my physical appearance," Nikola stated with confidence in his voice. "It will not work on others, but this will let you find me easier if you get lost."
Nikola did not state that he was also creating a tracker for Margaret to hold, which would significantly decrease the probability of her getting lost. There was an emergency signal beacon within her upgrades, though it would obviously be used if it truly was an emergency. He motioned the girl to leave the cryochamber as he stood up from his stool.
"Follow me, Margaret. I deem it a good time to give you your first mission."
Mission? What was a mission? Mission... mission... an important assignment...
Assignment... a task assigned to someone.
She was going to be given a task assigned to her? Margaret wondered what kind of task Nikola would give her. Wonder. She wondered endlessly as she timidly left the chamber with her frail body, following the relatively strong, upright inventor.
Nikola and Margaret entered the bar, which had very little people in it. Apparently, some sort of robotic impersonator of Nikola took his place during his absence as a bartender. Nikola asked the funny-looking clone of himself,
"How is business?"
The clone blabbered out, "MLG360NOSC0EP420BLAZEIT I GUT 31 KILLS."
"...Thirty one people, huh."
Nikola ignored the flaw-filled bartender clone of himself as he deactivated it. He then turned to Margaret with his arms crossed triumphantly.
"Now, I have business to do today. During my busy hours, you are to meet up with the students of the academy I am teaching!"
The inventor began to laugh like a triumphant moron. He enjoyed it whenever he felt like he was being awesome. It was a mere habit of his.
"Do not worry, Margaret," he said, calming down a little. "If something were to happen to you, we will assist you. Keep that in mind."
The orange-haired girl nodded, her frail body not moving from her position at all.
After a few seconds of standing still, Margaret turned her head to the exit of the bar. She quietly inched her way out of the place, her idle expression remaining as stoic as ever. Nikola watched the girl leave before getting into business. He had everything under control... hopefully.
Apophis remained still outside of the island, his body floating on top of the ocean water.
"...What in the actual f-ck am I doing here."
It was more of a statement than anything, for he would obviously never find an answer as to why he simply waited outside of some damn island filled with teachers that can kick his a-s quickly. Even if he was getting stronger, the stupid limits Lucifer put on his feasting forced Apophis to fall behind in terms of power. He did not want to speak back at the demon king, however, for he obviously did not gain the lord's trust yet. Not that Lucifer would ever begin to trust him, but still, there had to be some sort of edge he could take advantage of and get stronger with haste.
"...So why the f-ck am I just sitting out here?"
Apophis found out that he had no answer to that question either, so he shut his loose mouth. The next time he said that, it would be a statement as well.
He wondered if he would even be able to pull off his little stunt surprise on Athalia. Unbeknownst to him, however, the magic that suppressed his deathly aura from spilling out slowly began to dwindle. Some of his aura began to emit a little, though it remained idle due to how freaking bored he was.
