What I thought was going to be a quick mission to defeat this woman became longer. Axycia seemed to find this place more and more interesting as we explored. Days past that turned into weeks from the first encounter with the Gas-mask woman and Ruby… she wasn’t really doing so good. She missed her friends, her sister and team, she cried herself to sleep almost every night which made me feel like a knife was stabbing it’s way into my heart. I took some time, a few hours in fact, to pull her aside and simply talked to her, try to calm her down and help her.

It seems that missing everyone wasn’t the only thing that was bothering her. Seeing Ken die right in front of her, reminded her of two of her friends in Remanent Pyrrha and and Penny. I listened to her talk about them, feeling myself almost be brought to tears. I didn’t know what to say when she was finished but simply hug her.

After that Ruby seemed a little better, I don’t believe she would simply get over it over one talk so I promise her if that she needs to talk I’ll be there for her.

The three of us also built a small campsite as well as a few other things. It seems aunt Axycia has knowledge of different things that she shared with the two of us to help her build. We had a place to sleep, a storage place, some walls, and a water catcher for some rain water.

We’ve had a few close encounters with the larger predators, a pack of some Rex like dino with horns. Though terrifying, they weren’t that hard to evade as they prefer to attack head-on. I’ve even spotted an actual T-Rex, luckily I was quite a ways away from it though that didn’t stop me from worrying that it might stumble upon our camp. Though it also didn’t stop Ruby to be upset with me.

“You got to see a T-Rex and you didn’t come and get me.” she grumbled as she carried a bucket of water over to some barrels.

“Sorry but I was quite away from the camp.” I said with a groan. Ruby didn’t say anything as continued what she was doing. “Don’t be like that, you’ve seen plenty of Dinosaurs already.”

“None of them were T-Rexs.” she pointed out. I rolled my eyes at this.

“It’s been like three months and she’s like this…” I muttered to myself.

“Honestly you both argue as if you were children.” The voice of my aunt brought my attention to her as she came back with pouches full berries, though I could see two extra pouches that no doubt contain the white and black berries. “Have you yet to venture further into the forest?” She asked, dropping the pouches beside Ruby. The latter taking out a red berry and happily eating it. I pulled out a map and opened it up to show Axycia.

“I traveled a bit further out yesterday and all I found was more trees and some open planes.” I told her.

“And a T-Rex.” Ruby muttered loudly enough for the two of us to hear. I glared at her as my aunt took the map.

“Alrighty then…” She said, looking at the incomplete map before drawing out a few things. Before I knew it, She returned the map with a full sketch of the forest along with the river. A big red circle was drawn around the volcano, the words peculiar was written within the circle. A red x was drawn just south of our position. “I’ve bumped into a survivor there, he’s apart of the tribe in the swamps, a bunch of peculiar fellows they are.” She said.

“Peculiar how?” I asked.

“This tribe appears to have been around for quite some time. Their armor is nothing like I’ve ever seen.” She answered back.

“Right… I guess we’re going to head out to find these people?” I asked her, studying the map as I asked.

“If you’re up for it, it’s not my choice.” She said, taking a seat next to the campfire. I never really understood why Axycia made it sound like I was the leader. Looking at the map a bit move before I closed it up.

“I think we should check them people out, maybe they can help.” I said. I saw a nod from my aunt as Ruby simply ate her berries. Frowning I thought back to the project I’ve been working on for some time and decided to us it as a peace item. Walking over to my workshop area I open a chest and pulled out my project. It looked like a large walking staff or cane of some kind of some metal that I found and foraged together and, after some time it was finished.

“We’ve been through a lot… haven’t we?” I asked the cane. There was a slight hum as I pulled out one of Molten Coils carriages. Attaching that to my belt I brought the object to Ruby. “Hey, peace treaty?”

“I don’t see why there should be peace between- what’s that?” she asked as she saw the item in my hands. I shrugged as Axycia looked over at us as she saw the cane.

“Oh, nothing much.” I said as I pulled a trigger on it. The cane expanded until it was a large scythe. It was much slimmer and a darker brown to Ruby’s Crescent Rose but there was a large burning gem up near the blade. Ruby’s eyes widen as she saw this. “Something cool.”

“Where… where did you get this?!” She asked, looking at the scythe with a familiar giddy look.

“I built it.” I said as I pull a trigger and it collapsed into itself and turned into a cane.

“Where did you get all the parts?” she asked. I gave her a small sad smile.

“Well… I uh, took apart Molten for this.” I said as I handed her the cane. “Take it.”

“B-But, you and Molten… you two been together for as long as I remember!” Ruby said, shocked at the idea I took my own weapon apart to make her one. I simply shrugged.

“Yeah, but I believe you could do better.” I told her as I pushed the weapon into her hands. She looked down at it and at me as I smiled and patted the cartage. “I still have her spirit.”

Ruby looked down at the cane before walking off with it. I walked over and sat down beside my aunt with a sigh.

“Do… do you think I did the right thing?” I asked her, seeing Ruby test out the scythe, the look of joy on her face seems to make me smile.

“Well, if seeing her happy was your main goal than yes.” She said before glancing at me with smirk. “Nothing beat seeing the one you love happy, doesn’t it?” She asked me, a knowing smirk on her face. I felt my cheeks go so red that they could’ve catch on fire.

“W-w-w-what d-do you mean b-by that?” I stuttered. “I-I-I was simply being a good f-friend and… and…”

“Sure you are.” my aunt said as she stood up. “I’m sure you mean that.”

I watched her walk away humming to herself and left me blushing at what she was saying. After that I ran to a barrel and dunked my head into it. Bubbles rushed past me before I pulled myself up and took a deep breath after that.

“You… okay?” I heard Ruby asked. I turned to her as she stared at me.

“Me? Oh yes, I’m fine. Totally fine. So fine I’m great! Are you great? I’m great. Great great great…” I soon stop rambling as Ruby stared at me. “I’m uh, going to get some stuff, later!”

I quickly moved towards the sleeping area as I saw Axycia holding something up at me. I couldn’t tell what it is but as I watched her put it in her back pocket and waved at me. I waved back confused as what she just did.

“Wait until your mother sees your face.” She said with a laugh. I simply let out a odd chuckle as I bet my face was red.

The three of us walked through the forest towards where these people are at. Axycia was walking out front since she would know the way as I held the map in hand. The outfits we wore were somewhat combined leather with the clothes we had on us. It was a bit odd looking but it worked.

“It says here we’ll be getting close to the spot, about five to seven minutes.” I said to the other two. We soon found ourselves exiting the forest and stopped between the border to the forest and a large swamp.

“Hmmm.” Aunty hummed out loud just before we heard a distant boom from within the swamp. “Oh would you look at that.” She said, looking up from the swamp and seeing a figure flying up before hovering in mid-air for a brief moment before plummeting back down, resulting in a loud boom of something impacting the ground hard.

“What is that?!” I yelled over the sound of the boom. Aunty walked ahead without a word, heading towards the direction of the figure. Ruby and I followed behind her, trying to keep up. It was kinda hard since we were going through a swamp. For Axycia she seemed to go through it no problem.

“She… makes… it… look… easy!” Ruby said as she slog through the mud. I grumbled a bit as we tried to catch up.

I heard a low growl nearby and stopped, scanning the area around but finding nothing. Ruby looked at me oddly and I just shrugged, thinking that I must be heading things. When we caught up with Axycia, she was in the middle of conversing with another survivor, this one wearing armor that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. The two of us stared at the armor for a few moments before I spoke.

“I want one.” I said.

“Me too.” Ruby agreed.

“How does it work?”

“What is it made out of?”

“What else can it do?”

“Are we getting giddy over some armor?” Ruby asked.

“Yes.” I answered. I looked over at her and saw, and what probably was on my face as well, was a large smile and giddiness on her. The two of us quickly trudged our way over to the two, now with more determination than before.

“Our plan was to hide out in the swamps, knowing the dangers it already contained along with strategic planning we’ve been able to hide from that menace for a while.” Spoke the person in the armor, by the sound of their voice it was male. It should’ve been obvious judging by his brute like physique. Behind him were two more armored individuals, these ones being female judging by their physique. “Recently we’ve acquired the means to build a forcefield and are currently in the process of building it, when it’s finish though, oh ho ho, this swamp will be untouchable!” He exclaimed, gaining the chuckles from his female companions. Soon the two of us got to the rest of them panting as they looked at us.

“Where… did you get… that armor?” I asked.

“And where… can we got some?” Ruby added.

“If not that, blueprints of them.” I also added after her. The man and two woman stared at us as we both smiled happily. The man coughed a bit, most likely to break the silence before speaking.

“Ah these aren’t that easy to obtain or even maintain. To even think about building these beauties…” He started, gesturing at his armor before saying. “You’ll need to prove yourself as a capable survivor by killing a Guardian of the Island.” He said.

“Our entire tribe chose to face the great Dragon.” Said one of the armored females.

“We defeated it and as reward, we learned how to use and create Tek gear like our armor.” Said the other armored female, both of their voices sounded the same.

“Aww~” Both Ruby and I groaned at not being able to take a closer look at the armor. This earned a chuckle from my aunt.

“Oh don’t be like that.” She said, chuckling as she did. As she turned back to the other three I was left alone with Ruby.

“Phoenix Rose.” Ruby whispered to me.

“What?” I whispered back. She smiled and lifted the cane.

“This, I’m calling her Phoenix Rose. Do you like it?” she asked. I stared at as I ran the name through my head before seeing her really close to me. I blushed a bit before nodding.

“Y-yeah. It’s a perfect name.” I said with a smile. Ruby tilted her head a bit but didn’t say anything as she smiled at Phoenix Rose in her hands. I caught a smirk from Axycia before she turned to face.

“Is it possible for that the three of us could hunker down in your village, we’ve been living out in the woods for quite some time.” Aunty said to the man. He took a step back and glanced at his comrades before shrugging and saying.

“It’s not really my say, I’m not head honcho of this operation.” He said while his two female companions looked at one another before looking at us.

“We could ask him.” They both said simultaneously.

“Yeah, he’s usually a friendly guy when not in outside excursions.” Said one of the females. My ears twitched at the sound of this.

“Who is this guy?” I asked the three.

“He’s name is Rockmond, we usually just call him Rocky.” The man said before snapping his fingers and saying. “Oh right names, we didn’t go through the proper introductions. My name is Edward, Ed for short and these two are my battle buddies, Heaven and Nevaeh. They’re sisters.” He said as they waved at us. Ruby waved at them as I looked up at my aunt.

“So… are we going to go with them or… what?” I asked.

“Depends, do you really want to stay out there in the wild?” She asked back, a curious brow raised.

“That also depends one if they have those red berries.” Ruby said. I laughed before answering my aunt.

“I think that answered that question.” I told her. Axycia chuckled at this before looking back at Ed.

“Again, it’s you can stay as long as our chief says yes. Now come on, this-” He was cut off as a very large alligator-like beast, leaped out from the water and trapped Edward within its jaws. I yelled as I jumped back away from the alligator as it thrashed around. Ruby, may be out of reflex, trigger Phoenix Rose and she extended to her full length.

“You think you can take a gator?” I asked. Ruby simply smirked at me. Though her smirked vanished when we heard Edward laughing. We looked at him as he grabbed hold of its jaws, his armored gauntlets taking on a bright blue glow as the beasts jaw was forced open and before we knew it, Edward was hovering just a few feet above before one of the twin sisters revealed an odd looking sword. I couldn’t question it quick enough before the metal blade was engulfed by a blue aura. With impressive speed she struck the gator’s snout, cutting it off with ease before she delivered the final strike on it scaly neck, cutting through its thick scales like it was nothing.

“And for good measure.” Edward said, grabbing the corpse of the beast and delivering a devastating punch that sent the corpse miles away. “Ah, nothing like a good sarco killing.” He said with a laugh once he touched ground. Both me and Ruby stared at him in silence shock as my aunt looked over at us.

“Three… two… one-”

“LASER SWORD!!!” the both of us screamed in happiness.

The three of them lead us through the swamp towards their village. The two sisters were a little ahead of us after both me and Ruby asked a million and two questions about the laser swords.

Axycia had been conversing with Edward, no doubt tuning us out as they spoke. Edward was mostly asking her about our lack of gems everyone else seems to have. Though Edward mentioned something about Ascending and how it affects the gem, intriguing me and my aunt.

“What’s up with these gems?” Ruby asked the two sisters. One of them looked back at her, I couldn’t tell who as they both wore identical helmets.

“These gems…” She began by gesturing at the protruding gem sticking out from her armored wrist. “Are our way of life. These things allows to check our vitals, hunger and thirst.”

“ We’re able to digitally store items in them, giving us a form of mobile storage.” Said the other sister, stepping into the conversation.

“Not to mention they allow us to improve our attributes, we can improve our health, our stamina and even our strength.” Said the first sister. I blinked at them, to which they titled their armored heads before realizing the situation and taking off their helmets, revealing their surprisingly long brown hair. Their facial feature were identical but their eyes were different. One had bright blue eyes while the other had a dark green color to her eyes.

“I’m Heaven.” Said the one with blue eyes. I nodded before looking at the other sister before she said.

“And I’m Nevaeh. Sorry, we keep forgetting our armor sets are identical.” Said Nevaeh with an apologetic tone, rubbing the back of her head as she did.

“Yeah, we’ve been thinking about painting our armors. We just need a load of berries to get started.” This time it was Heaven that spoke, showing off a pouch of berries tied to her hip.

“Cool~,” Ruby said. I nodded as we kept walking.

We stopped at a large blue, wavy wall but when Edward and the twins walked up to it, it opened up like a cool space door. They stood there, waiting for us to go through and once we did they followed suit, the door closing behind them.

When saw the village we could only stare in awe, seeing the many buildings made of similar metal to the armor. Many of its inhabitants enjoying themselves amongst one another in various colored armor.

“Alright Ed you’ve exactly ten second to tell me who you’ve brought and why.” We heard a voice, when we turned to the owner of the voice I was surprised to see a man wearing a pair of the armored leggings and boots. Its normally blue light were shining a bright golden one instead. The white armor plating was painted black with the exception of a few being gold. He had the body of an athlete, unlike the other men we’ve seen out in the wild.

I shook my head remembering the encounter with a primitive and territorial tribe, the men of the tribe looking as if they took way too many muscle giving drugs. Ruby looked at me oddly but said nothing.

“Sir, these are friendly survivors we’ve found out in the swamps. One of them asked the possibility of them staying here.” Edward said with a salute. This must be Rockmond then, the tribe leader. He looked odd, odder than the other survivors we’ve met. For one his amber eyes shone, like if they were machine. The next big thing was that some strange metal contraption was attached to his spine, running all the way down to the leggings, speaking of which the leggings themselves looked odd as well and instead of boots were mechanical feet.

“I get the dinosaurs, but cyborgs?” Ruby whisper to me. “It’s like someone misplace stuff from different times.” I giggled a little. The man soon faced us, looking at Ruby mostly, no doubt having heard what she said.

“You three want to stay here, is that right?” He asked, walking over to us as he spoke.

“Uhh, yes?” I said to him as I looked up. He then looked at Aunt Axycia before shrugging and saying.

“I’ve already made up my mind after we spoke, sure.” He said, backing away a bit as he spoke. “We’re just about done with the forcefield but we still need some more hands. If help is needed, you help, that’s how we work around here.” He said. I simply nodded.

“Right, got it.” I said as I looked at Ruby.

“Crystal clear.” she added with a thumbs up. He nodded, looking at Axycia and saying.

“You free to use my home, I had a guest room built just an hour ago.” He said, gaining a nod from us.

“Thank you sir.” I thanked him. Ruby did the same as she bowed a bit. He looked at us oddly but said nothing about it and walked ahead of us.

“Come on, I’ll show you the way.” He said, walking off making loud thumps with his mechanical legs. The three of us followed him from behind. My aunt simply looked ahead of us as both me and Ruby marveled at everything around us. When we spotted a spire being built by a few of the tribe members, I had to hold back the urge to ask how everything works. Heaven then revealed that the spire was indeed the forcefield under construction and almost finished by the looks of it.

“I’m still surprised that everything here has nothing to do with Dust.” Ruby whispered at me.

“Yeah, I wonder what they use instead?” I whispered back. She only shrugs.

“Don’t know, maybe some kind of energy gem or maybe…” Ruby and I started rambling off on some ideas as we walked. We soon stopped at a larger home, it was three stories high. The door was similar to the gate we entered from and like last time, it opened up once we close enough to it. We entered and found a well furnished living room, with a doorway that led into a short hall. A set of spiraling stair connecting this floor with the one above.

“You’ll be staying at the third floor, you’ll each have a storage crate to store some valuables and some spare clothes on your beds.” Rockmond said, moving aside and allowing us to enter, feeling the cold air from inside. “Right, forgot to mention the AC, it only has one option and that’s cold so you’ll have to excuse that.” He said. I felt the cold air but it didn’t really bother me as my tail was wrapped around me. Ruby shivered a bit though.

“I’ll take those clothes please.” she said as she shivered.

“Then head on up to the third floor.” He said, allowing Ruby to burst up into the stairs with rose petals behind her. This earned a surprised look from everyone other than me and Axycia. “She’s a quick, that’s for sure.” Said Rockmond, shaking his head a bit at this.

“You have no idea.” I said with a grin, remembering a time that I timed Ruby’s dash’s. “Anyway, I’m going to go up the stairs myself, if no one minds.”

“Just be down at sundown for supper.” Rockmond said before looking at Axycia. “Now about what you said before…” I was unable to hear the rest, having already gone up the first set stairs. The second floor was filled with weird gadgets and machines, there was even a large map of the entire area. By the looks of it , we were in a very large island. I spotted a ladder leading up, another one of those weird doors at the top. I climbed the ladder and it opened without as much as a peep from me. To my chagrin I didn’t know that Ruby was there already changing clothes. I yelped and dropped down the latter, causing the door to close.

“Sorrysorrysorrysorry!” I said quickly as I stayed there.

“It’s fine!” I heard Ruby said. Before long the door open and Ruby poked her head out. “It’s safe.”

With a sigh and a blush I climbed up into the room and looked around. I saw there were three large dressers, a full body mirror and a large window that gives us a view of the village. Also we had bunk beds with storage chests on both sides of the beds.

“Bunk beds!” I said happily.

“I called top!” Ruby said, somehow already on top. I saw her already changed to some warmer clothes as she smiled down to me.

“No fair.” I grumbled. Ruby simply blew a raspberry at me. I just made a face at her before sitting down on the bottom bunk. It wasn’t long before Ruby said she was going to go down to take a look around of the place before zooming back down the ladder, leaving me alone on the bed.

I sighed as I looked out of the window to see I still had time before sunset to go down, maybe I could take a nap before then. I sighed and looked away from the window to see… a blue woman standing near me.

“AH!” I yelled as I fell to the ground. “... Ow.”

“Oh no no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman said, her voice sounding like that of an echoy ghost. “I-I didn’t think anyone could see me.” She added. I groaned as I pushed myself up.

“It’s… hard to miss a glowing blue-” I stopped as I took the rest of her in, or in this case lack thereof. My face went beat red as I looked away. “A glowing naked blue woman in the room!”

“I lack the capabilities to project some clothing. As of this moment, this is the best I can do.” She said in an apologetic tone. I grumbled a bit before climbing up on the bed again.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked woman’s body before… what, the important questions first; who the hell are you? And don’t say Cortana.” I asked her, making sure to look at this woman’s face.

“My name… i-it’s Lana, yes Lana.” She said, placing hand on her head as if she had trouble remembering.

“You… don’t remember your name?” I asked her. Seeing her take a few moments to think about it I continued. “Okay Lana. What… what are you? You look like a hologram.”

“Because I am, I’m linked to the Ark and am able to project a physical image, though previous attempts have proven that none of the survivors are able to see me or hear me.” She said with a sad tone before looking at me with hope. “But you, you can see me.” She said.

“Yeah… I can definitely see you.” I said before an idea came to mind. “Wait, did you try to show yourself to my friend? She was just in here before bolting away.”

“Sadly, she was unable to see me despite my attempts.” She said, once again in a sad tone.

“Well, there goes the ‘not having a gem allows me to see’ idea.” I said before scratching my head as I felt my ears twitch. “Or maybe I’m a Faunus, maybe that’s it?”

“A Faunus? The word sounds familiar to me but I cannot quite recall.” Said the holographic woman. I simply shrugged.

“It’s kinda half human half animal.” I told her before asking her something. “What’s the Ark?” Her eyes grew wide and dull before saying.

“The Ark, better known as the Island is a large enclosed habitat simulating a tropical Earth.” She said in a monotone voice. Her eyes soon returned to normal and with the shake of her head she said. “That was new.”

“I’ll say, you kinda sounded like a robot.” I told her. I looked at her for a moment before asking. “You okay?”

“Yes, for now at least. I’m not sure how long I can hold this form.” She said, just as her body seemed to fizzle a bit like a glitch which freaked me out a bit. “This is the longest I’ve kept this form.” She said, blinking nonchalantly.

“R-right… well, if you can come back any time you can and we could talk more.” I told her. The idea of Lana being alone for so long saddens me. “And maybe work on making hologram clothes.” I said with a little snicker. This caused her to look down at herself in sadness, this must’ve been big deal for her. I put my hands up in an apologetic manner. “Or having you be in this form longer then before… I’m making this worse am I?”

“It’s alright, I really do need to work on the nudity situation. Perhaps toning down the realism?” She said, muttering the last bit to herself before fading away. My ears flattened on top of my head at the idea I made her sad. I looked around and saw a journal on one of the desks. Getting up I walked over and opened it. Seeing that it was blank I found a pen and started writing down what just happened. When I finished I opened a chest to put the journal in. I wrote ‘Lana’ on the front of the book before putting it in the chest.

“This might help you, Lana.” I said as I turned to the way out of the room to go find out what everyone is up to.

Author's Notes:

Got to love Viri and Ruby’s getting giddy when they see new weapons and tech.

Also so people don’t start saying this (Though I believe they will)
’Viri and Ruby sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

xD