A strange, almost metallic voice came from the other side. The man spoke rapidly, his tone full of agitation. Karabell tilted his head and scrunched up his face. He could also hear other voices in the background. The Captain closed his eyes, trying to focus on the man's words. Where those words? He wasn't sure. Een let out a sigh and sat down on the side of the bed. The voice continued to talk, seemingly a bit calmer. Karabell looked at his friends. They all looked just as confused. They couldn't understand what the man was saying either. Were they missing something? Out of a sudden, recognition dawned on Lyra's face.
"That's English!" she shouted, jumping to her feet. "I didn't realize it at first because he was talking too fast. Give me that!"
Without wasting another second, Lyra grabbed the watch. Karabell couldn't do anything but stare helplessly at her. English? No wonder he hadn't understood a word. Still, the Captain had to admit that he had wondered many times what had happened to the rest of the world. Judging by the state Japan was in, however, he'd figured that other countries didn't have it much better. Until then, they'd lacked any means of contacting them, so he hadn't actually given it serious thought.
"Hello? Can you speak a little slower?" Lyra asked in almost perfect English. "If you have anything to say, I'll translate for you," she added quickly, turning towards Karabell. "My name is Lyra. I'm a member of Squad Ress. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
"Lieutenant General Zachary. Now that we got that out of the way, I'll ask again. How where you able to contact us? Who exactly are you people? And do you have any food?" the man retorted angrily.
Before she even got a chance to answer, Lyra heard another voice in the background, clearly belonging to a girl. Zachary's voice drifted away, as if someone'd pulled the phone away from him.
"I apologize for my friend's behavior. Zachary loves to show off. He's a lost cause, really. Lieutenant General Zachary... I don't even know where he got that idea from," she complained in an annoyed tone. "Introductions are in order. I'm Captain Rose Kron."
"How dare you speak to me in that way?" Zachary shouted jokingly. The sound of a hard slap and a pained scream followed the unwelcomed interruption.
"You can call me Rose," the girl continued like nothing had happened. "Have you met any persons from the past?" she asked without a hint of hesitation.
Lyra's eyes went round. So Rose knew about that. Lyra gave Karabell a look of apology. He had no idea what she and Rose were talking about, but she didn't have the time to explain. The Captain's smile, however, told her that he didn't mind.
"Three, including myself. I still have most of my memories, so I can speak a bit of English. Captain Karabell Ress, our leader, however, only remembers a few things from his previous life," Lyra explained, trying to emphasize the fact that she wasn't the one in charge.
"You've defeated one of those things, am I right? An ugly Aberration, like some sort of hybrid?" Rose's voice took on a grave tone. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but this is important. Based on the language you spoke in earlier, I take it you're Japanese. But if Japan is dealing with the same problem..."
"Precisely. Captain Ress defeated the Aberration's leader. It was a weird creature that slightly resembled a griffin. We called it the Ringleader. And, even though the Ringleader is now dead, the other Aberrations haven't perished. That pretty much sums up our situation. How're things on your end? Is the AAD still holding up over there? Assuming it's even a thing."
"More or less. Other persons from the past have managed to keep the Agency's American branch from being completely destroyed. Nowadays, however, its nothing more than a fancy name given to those of us who can wield a weapon." Rose paused and took a deep breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so depressing. I think you've figured this out by now, but I'm also one of those people. Much like your captain, I don't remember many things regarding my old life. I woke up around ten years ago. I was only fourteen, but even I quickly realized that the world had changed. Fast forward a few years, I found myself fighting against that thing," Rose explained, spatting out the last two words in utter disgust. "Listen, Lyra... I think it's plenty important we each share whatever information we have. Things have... gotten a bit crazy here lately. I'll try to keep this short, but I can't promise anything."
Lyra described the situation to Karabell in as few words as possible, keeping her voice as low as possible. It wasn't exactly an issue, since Rose wouldn't have been able to understand her anyway, but...
The Captain leaned back in his chair. Who were those people? Well, if they wanted to find out, they needed to agree to Captain Rose's suggestion. Plus, keeping those information secret wasn't going to help them in any way.
"Go for it," Karabell told Lyra.
*
The conversation lasted for about forty minutes. When Rose finally decided to hang up, Lyra was completely spent. She glanced at the others. Kei had gone back to her training, and Annie had returned to the other room to take yet another nap. Everyone else, however, had listened to the entire discussion. And, naturally, they hadn't understood a word. Lyra let herself fall onto the nearest bed, closing her eyes. Her stomach growled, reminding her how hungry she was, and causing Een to chuckle.
"So, what did she say?" Alice put her hands behind her head and stretched.
"A lot of things, actually."
Captain Rose Kron's team was comprised of no more than three people. Rose and Leticia both used piercing weapons. Peeling away the creature's scales and fur was Zachary's duty. Just like she'd mentioned, things were a lot more complicated in America. In terms of technology, they hadn't made any major breakthroughs. The poison they used was more or less the same as the one Karabell's team had used back in the Lower District. Their weapons and watches weren't any different, either. They didn't have many bases, and, based on the way she'd described them, they were nothing like Base Tau or Yuna. Their soldiers didn't spend much time in one place, doing everything in their power to avoid getting ambushed by the creatures. Rose had been especially shocked when Lyra had told her about Gull and Kirru. She and her teammates hadn't had any luck in finding an Aberrations that didn't wish to kill them in the goriest way imaginable.
"I haven't even gotten to the interesting part yet," Lyra mentioned, noticing the sheer awe written on Dante's face. Karabell was also listening with bated breath, but nothing she'd said so far had been especially concerning. So, Rose and her team hadn't managed to befriend Aberrations... If he thought about it, they'd just gotten lucky. After all, Gull had approached them first.
But the most important thing Lyra had found out was, by far, the fact that there were multiple Ringleaders. Upon hearing those words, the Captain immediately broke into a cold sweat. The one they'd defeated hadn't come to that world alone. Why hadn't he thought about that? It would've taken the Aberrations too long to reach other countries if that hadn't been the case. But he hadn't known anything about the rest of the world. How was he supposed to figure that out? What if there were other Ringleaders in Japan, too? Karabell exhaled slowly. No... It didn't make sense. Gull would've been able to sense them.
Lyra folded her hands in her lap and continued her explanation. The Agency's soldiers had spotted two such creatures in America. Oddly enough, the two Ringleaders hadn't seemed to be working together. They'd witnessed large groups of Aberrations fighting one another on multiple occasions. And, taking advantage of one of those battles, a huge squad had been dispatched and had eventually managed to kill one of the Ringleaders.
"That creature's done for. It's safe to assume that. Remember what the Ringleader told us? It was nearing the end of its life. I'm sure its the same for those two." Karabell leaned back in his chair. "What about the other one?"
"Nothing," Lyra said, shaking her head. "After the first one got killed, the second one went into hiding. It's almost as if it's vanished. Listen, Captain... I know it sounds wrong, but is that really our problem?"
"I know what you're thinking. But I've got to agree with Lyra. We've got more important things to worry about. It's not like we can do anything to help them," Een complained.
"I know, I know. Don't worry, I'm not planning to spend the rest of my days trying to solve an unsolvable problem. The only thing we can do for now is to keep in contact with Captain Rose. We'll continue to share any information we get with them." Karabell paused, looking at Alice. "I trust those guys for some reason. They took out a Ringleader without the Aberrations' help. They're probably a lot tougher than we are. So they'll be fine."
Dante stormed out of the room, shouting something about wanting to write everything down. Alice stared at the ceiling. So, they weren't alone. She didn't completely understand it, but the world was much bigger than she could have ever imagined. And much stranger. She couldn't help but wonder what Kar thought about all that. Rose, Leticia, Zachary... Hearing Lyra talk about them had strangely reminded her of the time she'd spent training at the AAD's base.
"At least we're not the only ones who haven't given up. We're not the only ones still fighting." The words left Alice's mouth before she could stop them.