Chapter 16: Setting Out
Far to the north was a hidden, high-tech facility. Inside was a minimal amount of workers, all working away on separate, secretive projects and files; to ensure the least amount of chances for their contents to spread. Deep within the facility was a room that looked similar to an office, but instead of a desk and chair, there was a large, round disk of metal that would normally be just that, metal. But on certain occasions, such as today, that disk held a holographic display that would cycle between what it showed, depending on what the one controlling it wanted to show.
In almost complete darkness stood a man, with the back of his white coat shimmering from the light of the hologram on the table. Though he was in deep thought, there was an air of poise as he refused to slouch for any reason. While deep in thought, a beeping sound rang through the room, originating from the glowing disk. Reaching over, his gloved hand slipped through the holographic image of Vale and pressed a button, opening the secured communications channel.
"Sir, a report just came in."
"Speak."
"It seems they're on the move. From our calculations, their destination should be Prunus, also known as -"
"The Pink City'. Yes, I am aware of it… Initiate the Golden Protocal."
"Yes, sir!" With the distinct crackling noise of the communicator cutting out, the lone man sighed with a multitude of emotions. As his sigh finished, he turned around for the light to momentarily glint off the area right above his right eyebrow.
"I wish it didn't have to be this way."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
With my training coming to a pause and the other adults being brought up to speed about the plans, there was about a day until we set off. Having trained in one way or another every day for the past 6 years, it felt strange to do nothing. So much so that in the end I gave in, and began doing simple exercises in my room, such as push-ups, sit-ups, and more. In between I ended up looking into the full body mirror located across from my bed.
Looking back at me was a well developed ~12-year-old. To my knowledge, since I am rarely around others my age outside of Ivy and Trivia, I am a little taller than average, though I'm unsure whether that is from the continuous training or genetics, with muscles that were both perfectly balanced and in top-shape for someone my age. Faint but still visible was the scar on my right shoulder that I received when I was 4, which would sometimes be covered by my cascading silver hair that perfectly framed my symmetrical face, and my golden eyes with practically imperceptible silver specks stood out perfectly with the rest of me.
Now I know how it sounds to say I am currently a lady killer and definitely will be moreso later in life, but just by simple observation and facts it is something that cannot be refuted. As I was poking some of my muscles while flexing them, nodding proudly at the power I could feel from them, I heard a knock as my door was opened.
Walking in was Trivia, because she lived a good distance away and it was easier for her to stay over for the night. What she obviously was not expecting was for me to be in just my boxers in front of my mirror, and as she remembered Maxwell's teasing words during our last day of training her face started heating up. Without knowing what to do she just stood there, red-faced and glancing around the room, attempting to look at everything that wasn't me.
Catching on pretty fast at what was happening, though not without raising my eyebrow at the fact she didn't leave the room, I quickly put on my black jeans and t-shirt to save her from prolonged embarrassment. "You can look again, I'm dressed." First glancing to make sure I was dressed, Trivia finally looked back at me and gave me an awkward smile.
*Ding*
{I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you… doing whatever you were doing in front of the mirror.}
"Don't worry about it…" Though now that she was here and had that reaction, with a smirk I couldn't resist the temptation to tease her a bit. "I'll have you know though, if you wanted to see me without my shirt on all you have to do is ask." Having walked into the room towards my bed, she then stopped and looked at me, with her face reddening until she saw my smirk, now fully aware I was teasing her.
We trained many things these past years, and one of the biggest ones I was made to focus on was my reaction speed. So the pillow that came at me at frightening speeds wasn't something I would be caught off-guard with, and I caught it right before it hit my face.
*Ding*
{You're luck you're cute, otherwise I would have no problem throwing something that could forcefully rip that irritating smirk off your stupid face}
"I don't know what you're talking about, I have a perfectly intelligent face! And besides, I can't be cute and have a stupid face." Flicking my hand upward, I placed my cheek into the cup of my hand while giving her a completely innocent smile.
{Highly debatable, since you're living proof of that.}
After a short period of us staring at each other, a short, silent giggle coming from Trivia was all it took for us both to break out into laughter. Once our laughter began to settle down, I tossed the pillow back to her and grabbed the remotes for the tv and console. We wouldn't have access to anything but our scrolls until we got back, so we ended up playing until we had to get to sleep.
When we got up the next morning we were given clothes I can only assume were specifically for us and this journey. From what I can tell Huntsmen don't really wear armor, so us wearing said armor is probably because of our lack of aura; the officers and guards obviously wore armor, but they were going to join us later with Cromwell. I assume Ivy was given a similar set of armor to us, because mine and Trivia's were matching. I wore mostly black clothes, and the armor consisted of a leather cuirass, arm guards, and shin guards. Once I finished, I waited in the living room for Trivia and my parents to be done changing. As Trivia walked out, I couldn't keep myself from doing a double-take. She wore a plain white shirt with dark brown pants, and although she had the same leather armor as me, she seemed to pull it off several times better.
"You look really nice." Though I wish I could've said more, my brain wasn't quite functioning as it normally does, so that's the best I could get out.
{Thanks. You too.} Thankfully it seemed to work, as she smiled brightly and held a light flush from the compliment. As we finished preparing, we waited for my parents, who didn't take much longer as they both walked out in what I can truly say is real fighting gear.
Maxwell had what I could only describe as a sort of long, leather coat that looked to be a mix of steampunk and gothic, with an undershirt that, although barely visible, looked to be a sort of metal mesh, something I once saw in Naruto, and finished off with black pants and boots. By his side was a katana in its sheath, and from the designs on both the handle and sheath it looked to be an important one.
Amelia had on something I was not expecting; an outfit that was very similar to what Black Widow from the MCU wears. I wasn't a big Marvel fan, but I believe what she had on was most similar to Romanoff's Endgame outfit. On her back were two chokuto blades, on her upper thighs were two pistols, and around her waist was a collection of throwing knives
I've never seen my parents in anything other than their regular clothes and hakamas during training, so the drastic transformation had both Trivia and I baffled, but in the best kind of way. They now looked more in their element then I think I've ever seen them, as if the weapons and outfits melded into their very being.
Snapping out of it, we proceeded to leave the house in the direction of the fountain, as that was the middle point between my house, the Cassinova residence, and the northern metro station, where we will officially begin our journey. The metro stations were set up as a place to rent land vehicles of varying sizes. Along with the vehicles, those traveling could hire guards in the form of soldiers, mercenaries, or Huntsmen.
Now standing at the fountain were the four of us, and walking towards us were the Cassinovas, who surprisingly all wore the same armor as Trivia and I. While Deagan wore similar black underclothes as me, Laela and Ivy both wore a green undershirt with black pants, though Ivy's shirt was a shade or two darker than Leala's. It seemed that this was the most common attire for non-Huntsmen because of its light, yet sturdy, protectiveness. And just as Trivia does, it seems Ivy pulls the outfit off better than I can. Noticing my lingering gaze, though slightly flushed, Ivy swung her hip out in an exaggerated fashion, stuck her hand on it, and playfully flicked her hair back.
"So are you going to compliment me or are you just going to keep staring?" Though her words seemed like she was full of herself, it was clear she was either forcing herself through the embarrassment or too focused on teasing me to notice. Without hesitation, I smirked in response.
"Well seeing as you got the compliment from it anyway, I think I'd prefer to keep staring." Though Ivy's face had been cooling down, it was now rapidly heating up again. However I did forget the evil plotter was here, as I heard a potentially dangerous 'fufu' coming from behind Laela's raised hand, hiding what I can only assume was her usual scheming smile.
'I normally tease Ivy and Trivia away from the parents, so I forget how close to flirting it actually is… this could be troublesome.' Thankfully the father duo came to my rescue and quickly got us all moving, though that did nothing to calm the plotting looks I was getting from Laela.
Once we finally arrived at the station there weren't many people planning to travel in the middle of no holidays, so we were able to be attended to pretty fast. Though it was a relatively safe route, there was always danger in being outside of city walls, so a few precautions were set for renting vehicles; one must have a minimum of a 2-man Huntsman squad or a small squad of guards/mercenaries, and they must state their planned destination/direction. It seems that Huntsmen really are treated as the elite fighters of this world, which I believe is perfectly fair from their several straight years of schooling meant for fighting. Though what I was not expecting were for my parents to pull out their scrolls and show a pair of Huntsmen licenses.
'I had my guesses from what I've seen and heard, but it feels different to finally see the license in front of me.' Even if it was hard to read them backward, it wasn't impossible, but since I had nothing to go off they seemed normal enough to me, though I wasn't sure what the 'United Powers' bit meant and I assume Vytal isn't the normal place for them to be issued.
Soon enough we had two carrier trucks, which were specialized for carrying supplies and/or people in small batches. The first one was meant for us Chronos, the Cassinovas, Trivia, Cromwell, and two guards in the front seats driving/navigating/scouting; on the other one were the remaining 6 guards; since we had the majority of the people most of the supplies like food, water, tents, and miscellaneous materials/items were put on the guards' truck.
As we all began packing our stuff into the trucks, with the guards mostly doing the supply shuttling, I began looking towards the giant wall that surrounded the portions of the city that weren't protected by natural barriers. I was finally leaving the city, and I couldn't contain my excitement. With each passing second I could feel it more and more, and there was no longer any registered danger.
There was only a feeling of looming adventure.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone