Voltiana

Chapter Nineteen: Squad S-1

Dachii and Marachii walked into the huge "S-1 Mansion." They took in all the sights, all the technology, all the elegance. Fujii walked in behind them, wearing his charming smile again. Marachii looked around and saw the watching eyes of their teammates.

"Uh, hi?"

They didn't respond, but Luca gave a cordial wave. Dachii saw this and went over to Fujii, tugging his arm.

"Can I go home now?"

Fujii gave a brief laugh. "Haha! But why? Isn't this place fun? And those cool powers, we definitely need them!"

"Look man, I wanted to walk, and now I can, so——"

Fujii stretched out. "You know, to make it even more fun, why don't we get more used to what each other can do? Yeah, let's go...to the TRAINING ROOM!"

Dachii groaned, Marachii remained quiet, Akari rolled her eyes, Hikari gave an uncomfortable smile, and Luca scratched his face, shrugging.

"Okay. Sure."

5 minutes later, now in the training room...

Dachii, Marachii, and Luca stood on one side, and Hikari and Akari stood on the other side. Akari narrowed her eyes.

"Luca, why are you standing with those humans?"

"Cuz, why not?"

She rolled her eyes again. Fujii walked back and forth between the two groups. "Even though I have a good grasp of you three, I'm still a bit confused about the brothers' powers. So let's all put them to the test, eh?"

He looked at Dachii. "Go ahead. Show off what you can do."

Fujii pressed one of the many buttons on the wall and a huge training robot appeared out of the ground, slowly swinging two wooden swords.

Dachii looked at his hand. "Uh..."

As the other members stepped back, Dachii gulped. The robot came closer and closer. "Uh, the heck am I supposed to do?"

"Hit it!"

Dachii focused and pulled his fist back. His body began to have a faint light gray glow. The robot got closer and...

BAMMMM!

Dachii punched it back, denting its chest. The robot hit the wall, causing some debris to come down from it. Fujii clapped, smiling.

"Nice job!"

"Thanks, but can I seriously go home now—-?"

"Next!"

He pulled Marachii out of the pack, as the robot REPAIRED itself. Marachii nervously strolled forward, as the now-repaired robot made its way to him.

"Me? I don't think I can damage THAT!"

"Come on, you've got a nice Tech power! Use it!"

Marachii tried to concentrate, and almost on its own, massive metal tendrils propped up out of his back, flailing around uncontrollably toward the robot, hitting it a few times and knocking it over.

"Okay, great! You can stop now—-!"

Marachii tried to pull them back in, but the tendrils just sent him flying through the roof.

"AHHHH!"

3 minutes later, a frozen Marachii was brought back into the training room by Fujii, who used his power to unfreeze him.

"Sorry bout the ice! Didn't know what else to do."

"It's...o...kay..."

"Luca! You're up!"

Luca summoned his axes again. They seemed to just "come out" of his hands. As he knelt down and focused, he turned himself into a HUGE GORILLA. As the robot repaired itself once more, Luca charged at it and leaped high enough to reach its face, slamming his axes right into it, completely destroying it.

He landed back on the ground and shifted back into human form. His axes seemed to simply "absorb" back into his hands. Fujii nodded and clapped. "Nice!"

Then he turned around. "Go ahead, Hikari!"

"But sir, my power isn't really for this kind of offense—-"

"That's what you think! But you'll never know if you don't..."

He pointed his fingers at the robot, which was now fully repaired again. She took a deep breath and stood firm. Fujii leaned in and whispered to her: "If your power doesn't work, USE THE STRENGTH."

She nodded.

The robot came at her, and she tried to touch it. And...

...nothing happened.

It used a wooden sword and hit her in the face. "Ow!"

She ripped the sword out of its hands and threw it straight through its head with enough force to fully pierce through the entire thing. As she stood there, calming herself down, Fujii clapped and patted her on the shoulder.

"See what I mean? Still a deadly power."

Dachii and Marachii were confused. Luca leaned over to them, making his voice a little more than a whisper. "The Element doesn't just grant you power. It grants us all strength too."

Dachii had a perplexed look on his face. "Huh? If that's the case, what's mine?"

"I dunno."

Hikari calmly went back to her spot, wearing her smile again. Fujii motioned for Akari to come up. As she did, Dachii noticed her calm and confident demeanor. He leaned back over to Luca.

"So, those two girls, what's their story?"

Marachii slapped his head, and Luca kept his nonchalant tone. "Simple. Royalty."

"And that means?"

"They're better than us."

"Mmm. I see, I see."

As the robot came at her, Akari held out one hand and shot a GIANT energy blast, destroying the whole thing beyond repair. As Hikari cheered for her, Fujii only had one word: "Woah."

Then he had them line back up. "Okay, you three! Explain your powers to our human members!"

Luca went first. "Uh, Beast. Basically can turn into animals."

He shifted into a wolf to prove his point. Then he turned back into his normal form. He summoned one axe out of his hand. "And I can use this."

Marachii analyzed him, curious. Dachii was daydreaming by this point, so Marachii had to shake him to get him back to reality.

Hikari was next. "Uh, so Health? I can...um...heal things." Her hand began to turn pink as she showed it off. "But, I can't really test it here...because there isn't anything to heal, and if I use it as an attack you'll get hurt..."

Dachii was visibly paying more attention now. Marachii slapped his head again, shaking it.

Akari was last. "Energy. I, use energy."

She tossed a powerful energy blast at the roof, damaging it further. "Oh, wait. Sorry, sir."

"No worries, I'll fix it later."

He focused his attention on Dachii and Marachii, walking to Marachii first.

"So, Marachii? How's your power work?"

"I don't know. Weird...objects come out of me when I feel a certain way, and they act on their own, without any logic or pattern."

"And what way did you feel when these things came out?"

"Well...I felt stressed against her," He pointed at Akari. "And determined and focused just now."

"Mmm. I see. Well, you do have the Tech Element. The technology is in your BODY."

"In my...body?"

He walked over to Dachii. "Know how yours works?"

"Nope. Just based on what I want to do, I either move fast, hit hard, or jump high."

Everyone was puzzled by this, even Fujii. "Mmm. So it is a Power Type. Which one, I wonder..."

"Power Type?"

He formed a huge ice wall. "Hit this without using your power."

Dachii stared at it for a minute and then he punched it. The impact didn't hurt his hand, and to his surprise he did a lot of damage to it, nearly cracking the whole thing.

"Now hit it USING your power."

Fujii repaired the ice wall, making it twice as thick. Dachii thought about being stronger, and his arms began to glow gray again, and he struck it with a full-force punch.

The entire thing shattered. Fujii paced back and forth. "We'll have to run more tests later. I don't think you can control Earth, do you?"

"How would I know—-?"

Akari nudged Hikari. "Haven't seen any Element like that. What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, maybe the Bone one?"

"Possible."

Fujii looked around at the damage to the training room and sighed. He made a call to have a cleanup crew fix it up. In the meantime, he led the group back to the living room.

"Well guys and girls, I'll have to run off and do...things. Next order, get to know each other better!"

Before anyone could protest, he left the mansion. Everyone just sat in awkward silence. Luca broke it by pulling out some beef jerky and eating it. Akari groaned in annoyance.

"What? I'm hungry."

She didn't respond.

Dachii took this opportunity to sit between Akari and Hikari. He laid his arms on the head of the couch. "Well, hello, you two. My name's Dachii—-"

Marachii just slapped his head again.

Hikari tried not to look at him, and Akari crossed her legs and folded her arms. "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing, just your number, please—-"

"Go away."

Marachii tried his hardest to look away from the scene. Luca tapped him on the shoulder and whispered: "What's he doing?"

"Trust me. Don't worry about it."

Dachii sat back on the side with Marachii and Luca, shrugging. "Fine, I guess I'll talk to you later—-"

"Actually. Better idea. Fight me."

"H...HUH?"

Akari cracked a sly smile. "Back in the training room. Come on."

"Wait, I'm not a fighter——!"

She dragged him along to the training room, which was still partially in ruins. 5 minutes later, Hikari, Luca, and Marachii were watching as they both stood on opposite ends, watching each other. Hikari had a whistle in her hands as Akari smoothed out her hair.

"I want you to attack me. At full strength."

"What do you mean, FULL strength—-?"

Hikari put the whistle in her mouth. "Ready, set..."

She blew it. "GO!"

Dachii looked her up and down. She was wearing what only could be inferred as a "warrior dress." He nervously laughed. "You're really gonna fight me in that?"

"Mhm."

He braced himself. "I don't like hitting women, but if my life depends on it..."

She moved in a blur, appearing right in front of Dachii before he could process. But this time, compared to when he watched her fight Marachii, he could better keep up with her speed. He threw himself to the side as she smashed the ground where he landed.

"Come on, hit me!"

"Ugh, not this AGAIN! Wasn't the other guy enough?"

She appeared behind him again, and he just barely managed to block in time as she kicked him. "I'm not the 'other guy'."

Dachii threw a bunch of wildly aimed punches at her with EXTREME speed, but she dodged them all with EVEN GREATER SPEED. As he threw more and more, from jabs to haymakers, she began using her forearms to block the attacks.

Hikari grabbed Luca and shook him back and forth. "Wow, isn't she AWESOME?"

"Uh. Sure."

"Come on, have some more enthusiasm for your teammate!"

Dachii got thrown right past them, hitting the back wall so hard it caused a lot of the roof to fall and land on him. "Ow."

Akari dusted off her hands. "And I win."

Dachii quickly got up and got the rubble off of him. "Why doesn't my body hurt anymore?"

"Your power."

"And why did you make me fight you?"

"To see how strong you are, since you decided to talk to me."

He rolled his eyes. "Girls." Then he walked back to the others, who seemed impressed with Akari.

Akari looked at the other three, scanning. "Anyone else wanna fight me?"

Hikari and Marachii quickly stepped back. Luca summoned an axe. "Sure, why not."

In the next second, he was thrown into a wall himself.

"I win again." She walked back into the living room. Marachii analyzed the damage she'd caused. "Oh wow. Hope they don't charge for that..."

Dachii looked at Luca, who was making his way back. "Uh, so what is WITH HER?"

Hikari, smiling, stated: "She LOVES to fight. Helps her get better."

Dachii coughed. "And how does it help me?"

"I don't know! Get...better?"

They all made their way back into the living room. Marachii nudged Dachii. "Please don't flirt with the scary elf girl anymore. She's already kicked my ass once."

"That's okay, if she's strong that's a bonus. So I wouldn't be worried. Plus, you're fine now, aren't you?" He waved at the ladies, but neither of them seemed to notice it.

Marachii just shook his head.

And just then, they heard a powerful KNOCK at the door. It startled everyone, making them jump.

"OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!"

Dachii and Marachii both immediately recognized that voice: "Mom!"

As they opened the door, Kia immediately pulled them into a hug. "Dachii? You're standing...? Marachii...they let you go...?"

Still confused, she kept hugging her kids. "Are you both okay? Dachii, what happened in your room?"

"Um, an accident."

"An ACCIDENT? How can you WALK now?"

Well...I...?"

Akari and the others looked at each other, but they stepped back, not asking questions. Kia looked at the other three.

"You! You're the one who attacked my child at that event!"

"Look, woman, I didn't attack him, it was a—-"

"Where is your leader? I need to have a word with him!"

"Who do you think you are—-?!"

Morino appeared behind Kia, which made Akari quiet down. "Oh, sir."

He patted both boys on the head. "I'm glad you're both alright! But Dachii, what happened? Me and your mother were so worried! Did you use some device to fix yourself up?!"

"No, it was...an...accident..."

"And what does that mean?"

Dachii shrugged, and Morino cleared his throat. "Well, it doesn't matter at the moment. The big news is, they want you guys on a mission soon."

Dachii appeared annoyed. "Ugh! What mission? I want to go home!"

"They want us...to go fight the dwarves. We've got to gear up to go to Asmana Forest."

"What?"

"Yep. In a few days, we've got to fight a war."

—-