"I know what I said, but is this really necessary?" Een heaved for breath, struggling to drag the training dummy up the wooden stairs. He hadn't expected Alice and the Captain to take his idea seriously. At last, Een plopped the dummy down in front of the house, collapsing right next to it. Alice's eyes sparkled with excitement. Een was starting to regret his actions more and more.
"Captain... Sure, I'm all for Kei starting her training as soon as possible, but are you sure about choosing a dagger as her first weapon?" Shono scratched the back of his neck.
"What other choice do we have? Besides, it's not a dagger. It's a knife. Well, two, actually. Hear me out, okay? They're small, light and can kill an Aberration. I doubt we'll need Kei to do that in the foreseeable future, though. A supporting weapon like a mace or axe would be too massive for her to carry into battle. Oh, there she is!" Karabell exclaimed, waving at her.
The girl ran towards them, beaming. She was wearing her new attire. Kei was pretty tall for her age, so Lyra had wondered if they couldn't find an uniform that fit her. Luckily, she'd found a few spares lying around in one of the rooms that had turned out to be just the right size.
"Now you at least look the part. Aren't you glad, Kei?" Lyra chuckled. She was relieved they'd finally managed to get rid of those weird clothes she'd been wearing. No one had asked any questions yet, but that was a risk she wasn't willing to take.
They spent the next three hours or so teaching Kei the basics. Since she was using piercing weapons, Karabell and Alice were her two main coaches. She was... astonishingly talented. After the first hour, she'd already damaged the training dummy quite badly. Well, it wasn't moving, and it didn't exactly have a way to counter her attacks, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless. She also seemed to have an incredible amount of stamina. Her movements were quick, but calculated. Even though it was her first time wielding those knives...
"Kar, what do you think?" Alice whispered, watching Kei land yet another hit on the puppet's torso before immediately distancing herself from it.
"She's better than Base Yuna's fighters, that's for sure..." He didn't know whether to be proud or concerned. Kei was ten years old. Where had she learnt to fight like that? Had she been in some sort of club? No, that probably wasn't it either. What kind of club would teach children to murder people with knives?
Suddenly, Shono called out to him. Turning around, Karabell saw two fluffy ears peeking out from behind a nearby building. Maybe Arago had gotten bored? No, it wouldn't have come all the way out there for that. Karabell asked Alice to watch over Kei for a bit and darted towards the creature. Arago shifted its weight from one foot to the other, smiling tellingly.
"First of all, that's incredibly cute," the Captain stated. "What happened? No, don't tell me. Did the Superior get here by any chance?"
Arago bobbed its head, gesturing him to follow. After telling the creature that he'd be back in a bit, Karabell went back to his teammates. He needed to inform them about the Superior. Well, Kei didn't really understand what was happening, but she was always happy to go on a trip.
Arago's new home was filled to the brim with Aberrations. They found the Superior sitting atop a large pile of debris, looking out one of the holes in the wall that served as windows. Karabell suppressed his uneasiness. Those creatures were their allies, they weren't going to hurt them. But no matter how many times he told himself that, he still remembered Frederick's words. An Aberration was just an Aberration. Even if they'd rescued them. Aside from the feathered Superior, none of the other creatures seemed capable of human speech.
"I'm sorry for taking so long. Both now and during the attack," the creature started, glancing at Shono's heavily bandaged arm. "Where's Frederick?"
Karabell felt the need to slap his forehead. In his hurry, he had completely forgotten about him. He quickly apologized to the Aberration and asked Lyra to go fetch him.
"Honestly, I've got so many questions, I don't even know where to start." The Captain drew in a breath. But he did. "I'm guessing you have a name, right? Calling you the feathered Superior seems... a little inappropriate at this point."
Karabell was pretty sure the weird noise that escaped the creature's mouth was a laugh. Its name was Gullinkambi. Karabell felt like he'd heard that strange name before, but he couldn't remember when or where. He asked the creature if it was alright it they called it Gull, since... Well, he didn't think any of them could pronounce its real name correctly. Besides, it was quite fitting, considering it was a feathered Aberration.
"It's fine by me. And about all those questions you mentioned... I'll be sure to answer as many of them as I can once Frederick gets here. I'm glad to see you're all in one piece. I didn't expect them to attack both Base Miu and Base Yuna almost at the same time. But we've kept our promise. We have protected Base Yuna. You should've seen the look plastered on Dante's face when he saw me. It was priceless."
Een's lips pressed tightly together. Was it really fine for them to be so relaxed? They were surrounded by Aberrations. However, if they'd meant any harm, they would've killed them already.
Lyra and Frederick entered the large building without any hesitation. Frederick was wearing his usual mischievous smile. The Commander cracked his knuckles as he leaned against the wall.
"Shall we get started? We don't have much time, after all," he said in a mocking tone.